something old...something new

we got a new csa basket this week...

i am excited about the fall bounty. we got broccoli and chard in the last basket but cauliflower and butternut squash were basket newbie and they piqued my autumnal kulinary interests. tonight, i made a (new to me) butternut squash recipe along with an (old-as in, i have made this before) swiss chard recipe.

something new: butternut squash gratin with blue cheese and sage
holy cow. seriously. this dish was appealing to every sense. the butternut squash was vibrant to look at and had that distinct gourd smell (reminds me of pumpkin carving, which i'm doing tomorrow). the sage brought its own unique smell. nothing better than fresh herbs when cooking. the sweetness of the squash and the richness and sour of the blue cheese combined so perfectly.
something old: sauteed swiss chard with parmesan cheese
good and good for you. the garlic, white wine, and lemon provide and a great juice for this green. the red onion and the parmesan cheese (as with the last dish) are this yin and yang of taste.
and these two are very visually appealing parts of my dinner. i love lots of color on my plate--it means lots of vitamins and minerals (k, a, c, e, potassium, iron).
now onto the cookies... :)

(not so secret) family recipe

my aunt carol lee makes the best beef stroganoff. period.
my mom and my grandma have made beef stroganoff but both of them will step aside and readily admit that my aunt makes the best. so i sent my aunt a note (like a real note on paper in the mail) asking for said recipe. she shared the recipe. but as most family recipes go, it was not written down with specific quantities, making it a little difficult to replicate.

tonight was my first attempt, and it was not a bad showing at all. i figure it will take a number of times to get it right. it looks like stroganoff and tasted liked stroganoff (it was actually very tasty) but it was not quite my aunt's. that's ok. i'm up for the challenge.
(side note: it took me years to get my mom's potato salad down, but it is worth every attempt now that i have it.)
guess i will have to make a trip to colorado to visit them, so that i can taste it again and makes some notes of my own...r&d trip sounds good to me.

i'll snicker your doodle...anytime

snickerdoodles are not just for christmas anymore. not like they were limited but with their cinnamon-sugar deliciousness, i only see these cookies around the holidays. like most goodies, only around christmas. but i say snickerdoodles at any time. all you need to help make these cookies more festive for one holiday or another is different colored sugars.

 

i made some of them black and some of them orange...and then i mixed the black with the orange for this last batch. not only were they scrumptious, they were so fun to look at (for the 5 seconds before you ate them). you can always make these with white sugar crystals for "no color" at all, but what about yellow or light blue for spring? a favorite color for birthday treats? or match to a theme for a shower or party? i highly recommend williams-sonoma, they have lots of colors to choose from, but you can find lots of colors at your local grocery store.

fresh new box...fresh new dinner

oh me oh my...fresh new csa box. lots of the same stuff as last box but still very tasty. some notable additions: eggplant, dandelion greens, chard, and plums.

tonight i made a ratatouille pasta (thanks cooking pleasures) with eggplant, zucchini and cherry tomatoes - it was almost as if my cooking magazine called my csa and told that what i was getting. amazing! surprisingly quick to prep and full of color and texture. not bad for a thursday night after a really long week.

i had a plum after dinner (small but full of flavor). and i have never had dandelion greens, so i eagerly await crossing that kulinary frontier! until then...

csa=colorful salads for allie

i near the end of my first csa box and am already eagerly awaiting the next box (in two short days). in the meantime, i find myself trying to use the last of the veggies and made this delectable tomato and cucumber salad. i cut a bunch of red and orange heirlooms, whole grape tomatoes, cucumbers, homegrown basil, and green onions and mixed a little oil and red wine vinegar with salt and pepper. o. m. g.

so simple and yet so good!

restaurant week part 2: 525@inn at the park

it is san diego restaurant week and i look forward to exploring new restaurants...and i love a reason to get (kinda) dressed up for date night with my man. i scoured the online menus and was convinced that this place would be good (main course included the beef duo, the seafood duo, and the pork trio) - chris was convinced too.
the name of the restaurant online was a little misleading. i thought it was at the top of the hotel so i was a little disappointed. that being said, when we arrived we were seated right away (see review of posedion for how not to honor reservations).
we had a bottle of syrah--oh lah lah!
me: butternut squash-apple soup, seafood duo (local ahi and scallop), and the cheese board.
my partner: scallop crudo, beef duo (shortrib and tenderloin), and death by chocolate cake.
there was definitely some strategery involved in the ordering so that we could maximize the number of foods tried. we both tried everything on the table. personally, i think the bookends of my meal were the most delicious. as a psychologist, we call this the primacy and recency effects (such a dork, i know). but that butternut squash-apple soup was both sweet and savory all at the same time. it brought back some childhood sense memory for chris, and although he couldn't quite pinpoint it, he also enjoyed the soup. the ahi was was good (don't get me wrong) but i have had better fish at other places. the shortribs were very tasty but the tenderloin was overcooked.
but let me tell you about the creme de la creme. the. cheese. board. holy cow--literally, these cows (and goats) were blessed to make such delicious milk that made such delicious cheese. next time, i will cut to the chase, er, rather, the cheese. and next time, i also want to try the bar at the top of the hotel...
http://www.innattheparkdining.com/

restaurant week part 1: poseidon

it is san diego restaurant week and i look forward to exploring new restaurants. this is the first one i went to this week. i made a reservation (for 7:30pm) with the open table online reservation system. my best good gal pal from carlsbad drove down and i drove up from mission valley are were on-time. we were informed that it would be a 45 minutes wait, and when i asked about our reservation, she rolled her eyes and said that meant that there were still tables to be seated immediately before us.
question: why take reservations if you aren't going to honor them?
when we are finally seated, we are first taken by the wrong hostess to the wrong table and then returned to the front where we were taken by the correct hostess to the correct table. thank the stars. we have a table.
sdrw menus were full of good choices and a few bottles of wine at great prices. so we ordered a bottle of the rose and we both had the sea bass. she started with the crab cakes and said they were great. i started with the pistachio-crusted brie and it was heavenly. rich, creamy brie covered in pistachios and baked until the brie was warm. it was served with three varieties of crackers, grapes, and a jalapeno jelly. amazing. with the rose, it was a lovely way to start the night and made us forget about the reservation ridiculousness.
then our main course arrived...only they are not what we ordered. mine was not the right fish, with not the right sides and a side of gnocchi, whereas my friends was close but also not right. both were overcooked and dry as jerky. not knowing what we had been served we stopped eating (as my gal pal has severe food allergies). our server came back to ask how our food was and saw that these were not the right plates. before we could even ask what they were, she said they were the table next door's plates and she was sorry and would go get ours. almost immediately, our food came, correct food, perfectly cooked. it looked great. it smelled great. it tasted great! now we got that taken care of...we ate and chatted up the night. we ate and sipped our bottle and ate some more. it was a great meal. when those were cleared, desserts were brought. we both ordered vanilla creme brulee and it was delectable.
all in all, it was "a-ok" (my yelp rating)
the reservation system and your hostesses at the front of the house were a joke. 45 minutes later and attitude to boot is just not acceptable. the food was amazing, but we wouldn't have gotten it if your food runners knew what they were doing. your server was amazing. she apologized for our wait, was attentive, corrected other's mistakes and then apologized for those too. i think there are just too many other places locally as viable options, why would i come back to risk all of this again?
looking forward to the next restaurant on the list tomorrow night...hope it's better