Since I’ve been trying to support local small businesses this week, I thought I would make my way over to Kismet Cafe for breakfast and a coffee drink. I’ve gotten back into the habit of making my own four days a week, so having a treat day works. Kismet Cafe opens at 6AM, so I made sure to head down there when they were opened, and then I had time to quickly have breakfast at home before I started my work day.
I decided to do something a little different for breakfast this morning. When I’ve gotten food from Kismet Cafe before, I would only get a toasted bagel with cream cheese. I ordered a sunrise sandwich with egg, sausage, and cheddar cheese on a Challah bagel. I really like the Challah bagel, and the texture was perfect for this sandwich. The sausage had a really nice flavor. The eggs had great consistency. Not too hard and not too fluffy. The melted cheese gave it the extra little oomph. A great start to the morning, and a breakfast sandwich I will order again.
I also ordered a peanut butter mocha Kismeccino. This is a frozen coffee drink, and it was made right. It was a bit too dark and foggy to take a picture in front of the sign at the store, so I took one with one of my wall decorations inside my house.
When I walked into the store, they let me know that they were really appreciative that I stopped in. The positive feelings that they had made the start of my day great. The food and coffee drink made it even better!
Tonight I was able to go out again after work to try and support the local small businesses. I’ve written about Smoky’s BBQ before and have been several times since, but haven’t been keeping up with writing about them.
As was the case yesterday, I made sure that my health was in order before venturing outside. It was much warmer than I would have preferred, and tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. We were supposed to be having rain today, but it hasn’t happened yet, so my window of opportunity to get some dinner was there.
There are always plenty of good options, but today I was in the mood for a combo sandwich. I had half pit ham and half pit turkey. I added tiger sauce and mustard, and then had a side of Cole slaw. This Cole slaw was awesome. All of the flavors came together well, and the consistency was perfect. I wish I had gotten more than just one, but maybe I’ll just venture out again next week if they are still open.
The sandwich itself was fantastic as well. The ham and turkey are sliced thin and are very easy to bite through. The pit cooking gives them a nice, smoky flavor as well. The tiger sauce was strong. Some of those bites of horseradish really got to me, but it was well worth it. The sandwich roll held together really well, and the flavor helped to enhance the flavors of the meat and the tiger sauce. I really enjoyed my dinner and look forward to making my way back there sooner rather than later.
Hope everyone is staying safe and staying positive!
These last few weeks have been very different. This past week in particular, even more so. With everything going on, a lot of stores are closed, but some restaurants are open for Carry-out, Drive Thru, and Delivery. I think that the larger corporations will be able to weather the storm, but the small businesses are going to struggle.
During a normal work week, I work from home and don’t go out anywhere until the weekend. I decided to change things up this week, to try and show some support to the small businesses while I can. I’m still cautious and making sure that I am okay before leaving the house. Yesterday, I decided to make my way over to Big Belly Deli, which is a favorite of mine.
I had checked online earlier in the day and saw that their special was blackened chicken nachos with guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. That was reason enough for me to get out of the house after work. Although I really enjoy the food there, the people who work there make it even better. The person who greeted me immediately called me by my name, which made me feel more welcome. I asked if they were still serving the nachos, and they confirmed that they were. These were really good nachos. The blackened chicken has a great flavor. The chips were warm and crispy. The cheese was melted just a little, but not too much that it was all gooey. And the bites with the accompaniments were even better. This was a great batch of nachos, so I was happy that I went out and got these.
They also had some nice looking desserts. I went with the Saint Patrick’s Day themed cake. The cake itself was very moist and the frosting was light and fluffy. The lucky charms marshmallows were a nice touch, and this was a great way to end the night. I’ve always enjoyed their desserts, and this was no exception.
I was happy to support one of my local favorites. And with the people that work there greeting me so enthusiastically, it was definitely easy to stay positive.
I know it’s a couple of days early, but I decided to make myself some corned beef and cabbage today since I’ll be busy working on Tuesday. Even though I work from a home office, I prefer as few distractions as possible during the work week. I bought the corned beef last weekend and today was the day to cook it. My plan was to get the meat started, then go out to the grocery store and pick up some potatoes, cabbage, onions, and carrots to add later.
The meat that I picked up had already been brined and seasoned, which definitely made it easier for me. I put the meat (just under 2 pounds) in the crock pot and added about 4 1/2 cups of water. I added garlic powder, paprika, pepper, and coriander for seasonings, and also added a roughly chopped half onion that I had stored in my freezer. The meat was put in fat side up. I did not trim the fat prior to cooking. The water was just over an inch up from the bottom of the crock pot. It didn’t completely cover the meat, but it was more than half way covered.
I set the crock pot to low and then went on my way to the grocery store. My plan did not work out quite like I was hoping. The grocery stores have plenty of empty shelves. I was able to find some carrots and some cabbage, but the potatoes and onions were completely gone. Slim pickings, but I knew I could make do with what I had. At the 4 hour mark of the meat cooking, I added some roughly chopped carrots (1 pound bag) and roughly chopped cabbage (one head of cabbage). I kept it at low heat and let it go for another 3 1/2 hours, until the meat was to temperature. I waited until it was over 175, only because I was confident that it would not be too tough.
This picture does not look perfect, but I’m okay with that. The fat on top of the corned beef hides the color. The outside of the meat was not the bright red that I was used to seeing, which has me wondering if I did it right.
When I cut into it, against the grain, I saw that nice familiar red color. It looked a much brighter red than this picture is reflecting. This was not rare meat, the redness of the meat is due to the nitrates that are added during the brining process.
When I was ready to eat, I plated the corned beef and added some cabbage and carrots. The corned beef was very tender and delicious. It had the flavor my taste buds have become accustomed to, so I feel like I did a good job with this. The carrots were very tender and slightly sweet, which provided a good balance to the meat. The cabbage absorbed all of the flavors during the cooking process, and were very tender as well. This was definitely a good meal to make once a year and I look forward to having some leftovers on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Eating this well definitely kept me in a positive frame of mind. Not having additional onions or potatoes worked out better for me. All of that additional food would have made me feel even more stuffed. Stay well!
Ah, March. Great time of year. There were some great people born in the month of March, as well as some so-so people. Nod and a wink on that one. But for me, March is the time for Shamrock shakes and for corned beef. Sometimes in Sandwich form, sometimes with Cabbage, and sometimes in some other extraordinary way.
I am a fan of French Twist Cafe. Not just because it’s close to me, but because the coffee drinks and food are really good. I had the Reuben Crepe last year, so seeing that it was back for March, I knew I was going to order it again.
The Reuben Crepe comes with Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, caraway seeds, and Thousand Island dressing. I’m not the biggest fan of sauerkraut, but I can take it in small portions from time to time. This is one of those occasions.
I’ll start by saying how much fun it is to watch them making the crepes right there. Seeing them layer the food on, and then watching as they put on the finishing touches for the presentation.
As nice as it is to look at, it’s even better to eat. The crepes on their own are very good. There is the perfect bite through texture in the middle, and the nice crispness (without being too crispy or crunchy) on the outer edges. This was easy to cut through, which meant that the corned beef was not tough. The sauerkraut was not overbearing at all. It provided a nice textural accompaniment, but the flavor blended well with the corned beef, Swiss cheese, Thousand Island, caraway seeds and the crepe. I enjoyed eating this crepe, and look forward to getting it again if it’s available next March.
Good food and a happy stomach makes it easy to try and stay in a positive frame of mind.
This has been a fun week for me. In preparation for some food that I want to make tomorrow, I decided that I would try my hand at making fresh sourdough bread. This is mainly because I could not find any raw sourdough bread in the grocery stores, so this ended up working out for me. I tried to find if there was a standard recipe for a starter, but there are many variations (some called for a thinner starter, some called for a thicker starter). Some required very precise measurements. When I cook, I am not usually precise, but when I bake, I try to be precise with the main ingredients. Since there were so many variations, I tried to do my best and see what happened.
I started this on Sunday, since most recipes said it would take about 5 or 6 days for the starter to be ready. I used just over 3/4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of water. Mixed it up, put it in a bowl and loosely covered it with plastic wrap. It seemed to be a bit thick, but I didn’t want to overthink things.
Monday night came and I was ready for phase two. It had set for 24 hours and did not look as thick. There was a little moisture around the outside edges, so my first thought was that I didn’t mix it all the way, but I think this was more just the natural process.
It was feeding time, so I mixed in the same amounts of flour and water as the first day, covered loosely with plastic wrap and let it be.
Tuesday night arrived, and it was looking a little thinner, but there weren’t any bubbles or anything. This is when I was starting to question if I had done it right. Even though the recipes said it could take a couple of days to start seeing bubbles, I had doubt. The recipes also said it should be kept at a temperature of 70-75 degrees. I keep my house between 60-65, and I had it in a glass bowl, which felt even colder. So I was questioning whether or not this would work.
I did another feeding, and had my fingers crossed that something – anything – would happen.
Wednesday evening came along and I was happy. There were a couple of bubbles in there. Not many, but at least some. I had some optimism. It didn’t taste any different, though (I took little tastes every night, just because I’m weird like that).
It was time to feed it again. I had not factored in all of the days I would be adding flour and water, so the original bowl I started with got to be too small. I had to upgrade to a larger bowl (which happened to be plastic). Loosely covered it, and let it go.
Thursday night arrived and I was happy with what I saw. There were quite a few bubbles, and it started to have an “aroma” to it.
I did my evening feeding and let it be for another day.
Friday night came and then came the words. “Feed me, Seymour!”. This was really odd, since my name is not Seymour, and I did not name this Audrey II. For those of you who get the reference, thank you for rolling your eyes. For those of you who did not get the reference, you can roll your eyes later. The aroma had definitely become more distinct. I now understood why they call it sourdough.
I wanted to try to do a test run on Saturday, so I decided to take some of the starter aside. I fed the starter base and let it sit.
I took out one cup of the starter.
I added 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt. I mixed it all together, put a light layer of oil on the top, covered it loosely with plastic wrap, and let it stay in the bowl to sit overnight. It was still a bit sticky, which I think was a mistake on my part.
When I woke up in the morning, there was not much of a change to the dough. I added a little flour to it and turned the oven on to 400.
I put a little bit of flour on a baking sheet and placed the bread on top of it. I then gave it an “X” on the top. There was still another 10 minutes before the oven was ready, and it started to rise a little within that time. That let me know I messed up with how I put this all together. No matter, I put it in the oven for about 45 minutes.
The house had a nice sourdough bread smell to it, so I was a happy camper. I checked the temperature with a thermometer (it should be around 210 in the center), and it was ready to cool.
I learned quite a few things with this test run. I should have made the dough a better consistency. It was too sticky, which meant it needed more flour. I think that the additional flour might have helped with the rising. I’m no food scientist, so I could be wrong. Once I had it at the right consistency, I should have given it more time to rise. I also should have baked it on parchment paper or used some cooking spray. It stuck to the pan in a couple of places, and it was not fun when it was time to clean the pan.
As far as the flavor goes, I was happy. The outer crust was hard, but not overly chewy, which is one of the things I don’t really like about sourdough bread. The inner part of the bread had the familiar flavor. Biting into it reminded me of the flavors that I’m used to. It was a bit dense, but that was probably because I did not let it rise properly.
So what I have is a gassy, dense sourdough starter and sourdough bread. Gassy and Dense – just like its dad. Awww. I’m glad that this first batch did not turn out perfectly. I got some of the basics down, but I need to learn. I’ve made different types of bread before and they all worked out. This will just take me some more practice. Trying and failing is better than not trying and regretting. Stay positive!
This past Friday, I received an email from one of the grocery stores I frequent, Harris Teeter. There was a weekend only special: buy 1 rack of baby back ribs, get 2 free. That is a deal that is just too good to pass up. As soon as I finished work on Friday, I made my way to the grocery store. There were only three left when I got there, so I really lucked out. I would have considered waiting until Saturday morning, but we were expecting some snow and ice, so I figured I’d play it safe. It’s a good thing, too. We didn’t get too much snow, but we got a lot of rain, which turned to ice very quickly. My car was iced over, so I would not have been able to go anywhere.
I don’t remember exactly when I got this BBQ Pit Crock Pot, but I am glad that I did. I don’t believe they make these any more, which is a shame. I Haven’t used it since I moved back to Maryland 4 1/2 years ago, so it was long overdue for some usage.
I decided that I would be doing a dry rub for the ribs. I started by putting a mixture of apple juice and orange juice on the bottom of the pot. I then used some of my dry rub mix on the ribs.
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon turmeric power
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon citric acid
I’ve used this before and it’s worked out quite well. There’s no salt in there, so this makes a good low sodium meal.
The slabs were a bit too big for the pit, so I had to trim them in order to get them all in the crock pot. I woke up early, so I was able to get this started on low heat right around 5:30 AM.
Although it was probably ready sooner, I didn’t touch it until 2:30 PM. I confirmed the temperature of the meat was at least 170, and it was good to go.
It took a little maneuvering to get them out of the pit, but they looked great to me.
They were nice and tender and had some really good flavor to them. I had some rice and some sauces for dipping, although I also liked eating them as they were.
I’m not always a fan of ribs, but I usually enjoy baby back ribs. They tend to have meat that is easier to get to and easier to bite through. These slabs were “extra meaty”, and it was true. I ended up eating more than I should have, but still have plenty of leftovers that will get me through the week. Now that I’m working from a home office full time during the week, these will provide a quick and easy meal when I need to take a short lunch break.
I’m glad that I was able to use my BBQ Pit Crock Pot again. It’s been too long since I last used it. I will probably use it once or twice a year, but it’s definitely worth having for weekends like this. Clean-up may be a bit rough, but the flavor and ease of cooking makes it worth it. Having my food taste even better than expected sure made it easy to stay positive!
The Cannoli Crepe is my favorite crepe at The French Twist in Sykesville, MD. Earlier this week, when I saw that they were featuring it again, I knew that would be a destination breakfast for me.
I’m already a fan of The French Twist, and enjoy many of their crepes, but this one is something special. The outside is a traditional crepe, so you get the good flavor of the crepe and the crepe texture as well. The inside is a cannoli cream with chocolate chips, so when you bite into this, it’s like biting into a huge cannoli, but without the hard crunch. The flavor of the cream is very rich and sweet. The chocolate and powdered sugar topping (and the side of whipped cream) add to the sweetness. This would make a great dessert, but I’m okay with sugar at any meal, so I had it for breakfast. The size of this crepe is tremendous. It would be good as a shareable meal, but I was able to devour this on my own.
I had a mocha frappe to go with it, so I really loaded up on the sweets and the calories for breakfast, but I am okay with that. The French Twist always does a great job with their frappes, as well as their crepes. It’s easy to have a positive day when you start the morning with something as delicious as this meal.
I made this soup yesterday. There are a few different components to it, and they all worked really well together.
INGREDIENTS
3 medium carrots
5 red potatoes
1/2 onion
8 cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons fresh ginger
2 Tablespoons fresh turmeric
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
2 Tablespoons Sesame oil
Ground Pepper
5 cups broth
2 1/2 cups water
OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
2 pinches Citric acid
1 package udon noodles
PEANUT BUTTER SAUCE (Ingredients below)
1/3 cups creamy peanut butter
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 Tablespoon Teriyaki sauce
1/2 Tablespoon hot sauce
I had some home made chicken broth on hand, but broth from a store will also work. It doesn’t have to be chicken broth, just a broth of your choosing.
The first step is to preheat the oven to 400 degrees. I chopped up the carrots, potatoes, and onions. I also chopped the garlic. I smashed once to remove the skin, and then smashed again to have it broken down into large chunks. If you would prefer minced or chopped up, that will also work.
Coat the bottom of the roasting pan with olive oil. Add the carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic. Swish it around to get as many pieces coated as possible. Ground some pepper and swish it around again. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes.
While the veggies are roasting, cut up the ginger and turmeric. If you prefer to have them minced of finely chopped, that will work. I enjoy the flavor of biting into fresh ginger, but it’s not for everyone. When the 15 minutes of baking are done, take out the vegetables. Add the ginger and Turmeric, and then drizzle with the Sesame oil. Swish around and continue to bake for another 15 minutes.
Once the vegetables are ready, you can remove them from the oven. Let them rest about 5 minutes. The carrots and potatoes should have a slight firmness on the outside and should be soft on the inside.
Place the roasted vegetables into a large pot. Take 1 cup of the broth and add it to the roasting pan. Using a spoon or spatula, try to scrape up any bits of flavor that may have been left on the roasting pan. Pour it into the pot, then add the rest of the broth and the water. If you are cooking with low sodium, you can add in the pinches of citric acid. Cook on medium heat until it comes to a slow boil. If you want a basic vegetable soup, it would be ready at this point. If you want to add things to it, then you can start adding them in. I added a couple of different things to this soup.
The first thing I added was a peanut butter sauce. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, vinegar (I used distilled white, but rice wine would also work), Teriyaki sauce and an optional hot sauce of your choice. Once these are all combined, they can be added to the soup.
I also had a package of udon noodles. Cut them into cubes, so the pieces will be much smaller when cooked. After the peanut sauce is incorporated, let the soup get back up to a slow boil, and then add the noodles.
Once the udon noodles are added to the soup, it should cook for another 5 minutes. The cubes should be broken apart by that point. The soup will still be thin, but the color will change after the peanut butter sauce is added.
Once the noodles have been incorporated, the soup is ready to be served. The flavors of this soup really go well. The peanut butter sauce provides a nice kick to the soup, and it also has a nice balance with the noodles. There are bites of ginger, turmeric, and garlic that add a punch of flavor and freshness to the soup. The roasting of the vegetables help to add a bit of a deeper flavor than if they were boiled, and the outsides of the carrots and potatoes have a nice textural bite to them.
This soup put me in a happy place, and I look forward to eating more as the weather continues to get colder. Enjoy!
Yesterday, I managed to make good use of the leftover chicken from the Roast Chicken I had made on Sunday.
I made chicken curry. There were a couple of extra steps that I added, and I think that they worked for me. I didn’t do strict measurements for everything, so some of the measurements listed are going to be rough estimates.
12 ounce can of evaporated milk, minus 1/4 cup (for cashew curry paste)
3-4 cups of boiling water
1 Tablespoon plus one teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 roast chicken (cooked)
The first thing I did was roast the cashews. I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. I put one cup of cashews on a tray lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray (I don’t think it really needs the cooking spray). Depending on your oven, this should take 10-15 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it, since you don’t want these to burn. Remove from the oven and set aside. Once these are cooled, place in a storage bag and run a rolling pin over them. This is what I used for a topping.
The next step was the paste. I put in the cashews, ginger, turmeric, garlic, curry powder, and evaporated milk into a blender and then blended until it got to a nice, thick consistency. If you want a spicier curry, feel free to add something that will give more heat to this mixture (more curry powder, more ginger powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, etc.). Regarding the evaporated milk, I bought a 12 ounce can and used 1/4 cup in this mixture and saved the rest for later.
The next step is to prep the veggies. I cut the carrots, potatoes, ginger, turmeric and garlic and set aside in a bowl.
Start cooking the onions, butter and oil on medium-high heat.
Stir often. Once the onions are translucent, you are ready for the next step.
Add in the curry paste mixture and start stirring until it is all incorporated.
Add in the veggie mixture, 1 Tablespoon curry powder, ginger powder, and the broth. Continue to stir until it is well incorporated, and then add in the rest of the can of condensed milk.
Bring this to a slow boil and then add in the water. If you prefer a thicker sauce, you can start with 1-2 cups and keep adding later until the desired consistency. Bring this to a boil again and then let it boil for 30 minutes, stirring often.
Stir in one teaspoon of curry and then add the chicken. Bring the temperature down to medium heat and cook for another 30-60 minutes, until the curry is the desired consistency. I waited about 10 minutes after I added the chicken and then started cooking the rice.
Once the rice and the curry are ready, you can plate your food. I prefer my sauce to be a little thinner on the first day, since it tends to thicken with time. I also like to have my curry over my rice, but if you prefer them side by side, then do that. I topped it with the rough chopped roasted cashews. You can have peanuts, hard boiled eggs, bacon, chutney, pickled veggies, hot sauce, etc. Whatever makes it unique to your tastebuds, I say go for it. I really enjoyed making this and eating this yesterday, and looking forward to eating the leftovers. A very positive Monday for me!
If you’ve eaten or made curry before, what types of veggies have you put in there? What kinds of toppings have you added? I’d be happy to hear from you.
Noninsightfulness 