what a twist!

tonight i write from my kitchen.  that's right.  lizzy is in the kitchen, and not just to get something from the fridge.

lizzy made dinner.

don't get scared, now, the house is still standing.

in the oven as we speak is ina garten's mac and cheese.  fancy, no?

i'm pretty sure i screwed up somewhere along the way, as the cheese sauce was not as cheesy as it was saucy with pieces of cheese in it, but i mixed it in with the pasta, and put more cheese on top before adding the tomatoes and breadcrumbs. (yes, i made them myself.  aw snap!)  hopefully it won't kill us.  better still, it might just taste good.

but i will have to get back to you on that one.

don jose

a friend of my mom and russell said don jose was their favorite mexican restaurant.  so, the other night, we decided to go there instead of driving all the way to tinga.  i had been there once before and was not impressed, but i thought perhaps it was worth a second try.

i was definitely underwhelmed.

everything was just... alright.  except the refried beans.  they were really tasty.  everything else just kind of fell flat.  my beef enchiladas were good, but lacking in flavor besides salt and cheese.  i expected the red sauce to taste like more.  eric got one of the platters, a chicken tamale, a chili relleno, and a cheese enchilada.  he liked the cheese enchilada the best out of the 3.  i tried a bite of the chicken tamale, it was better than my beef enchiladas.

in the end, we were full, but not satisfied.  next time, we will just make the trip to tinga.

lovey's pizza

i am a big fan of lovey's white pie with spinach.  it's a yummy thing.

(their plain pizza is also quite delicious, if you're not into the whole sauceless pizza thing.)

today's episode: tomatoes and challah

yes, i realize these things don't entirely go together.  but they are two of our recent purchases at trader joe's.

first lets start with the trader joe's whole peeled plum tomatoes with basil.  they fit the bill so far for puttanesca.  though, recently, we discovered something about canned tomatoes.  when you look for a brand of canned tomatoes, you want the ingredients list to read 'tomatoes, salt.'  unfortunately, trader joe's felt the need to add citric acid and calcium citrate.  this will be our only adventures with these tomatoes.  (the tutto rosso we usually buy also have citric acid in them.  my goal the next time we need tomatoes is find a brand that's just tomatoes and salt.)

our next new adventure in TJ's is the challah rolls.  they're quite lovely!  slightly sweet and soft, yet dense, with that nice shiney challah crust.  great for sandwiches, dinner rolls, buttered roll for breakfast, whatever you need. i highly recommend them.

more trader joe's.

today i had the chicken enchiladas with organic sour cream, both tj's products.

quite delightful!  they probably would have been even better if i didn't overcook them in the super nuker.

to clarify, our microwave is ridiculously powerful.  in order for things not to be overdone, you have to subtract roughly a minute from the cook time.

i made the mistake of cooking the enchiladas at the 6 minutes of the recommended 6-8.  so, they were a bit dried out.  BUT!  still delicious!  and they smelled so yummy that my brother-in-law came downstairs asking if there was any left.  alas, not a bite!

he says the tj's steak burritos are great.  i haven't tried them yet, though...

i am also drinking tj's unsweetened iced black tea.  it tastes homemade right outta the bottle, but i've thrown in some mint leaves for an extra somethin' somethin'.

penang

so, this is far overdue, but i just realized i never wrote about it...

last sunday, the 24th, kate, moko, nick, eric, and i went to penang in east hanover.  kate had a good idea by suggesting it, we hadn't been there in a minute.  plus, nick had never eaten malaysian food before.

as usual, we got the roti canai, which is always lovely.  its this crispy yet chewy pancake, which you dip into a chicken curry sauce.  i could drink the sauce.  its that good.  nick liked it enough to eat the piece of chicken on the bone at the bottom of the bowl.

we also had the chicken penang satay, which is good, but i've had better.  the chicken tends to be a bit oddly textured.  i'm not sure if its a marinade issue, or the way its cooked.  its not bad, by any means, its just... strange.

we wanted the honey squid, because that's just awesome, but that night they were out.  this is ok.  next time.

kate got the shrimp puff as an appetizer.  i wasn't a big fan.  if you like shrimp toast, you'd like it, but i'm a picky bitch when it comes to shrimp toast.

for dinner i got pad thai.  i was very much in the mood for something warm and noodley.  i thought about the red curry, because that's also delightful, but i just didn't want chicken for dinner.

nick went the safe route and got the sesame chicken.  it was the closest thing he found to the only other asian food he's eaten, chinese.

eric got hokkien char mee, which is another noodle dish.  its made with big thick noodles, as well as shrimp, squid, pork, and veggies, in a soy sauce reduction of sorts.  he enjoyed it, no leftovers.

truth be told, i don't remember what anyone else got.  all i know is kate threatened moko not to touch her leftovers, because she wanted to eat hers for lunch the next day.

warwick valley winery

the warwick valley winery has to be one of my favorite destinations on a beautiful day.  its a gorgeous drive to a gorgeous winery with gorgeous scenery and gorgeous wine!

this past sunday, we hit up the winery after spending a few hours apple picking down the road at och's orchard.  there were a bunch of us, so we found a nice big shady spot under some trees.  we spread out a blanket, bought some wine, beverages, and food, and had ourselves a lovely little picnic.

our red was their red dirt red.  its a table wine, "mineraly"as eric puts it, but once it breathes, its beautiful.  we had some left the next day, and it was even better.  the fruit notes could really come out, and it made a spectacular drink for both our picnic under the trees, and our lunch out on the deck the next day.

for our picnic spread, we had 4 sandwiches and a pizza.

the first sandwich was sliced turkey breast, bacon, cheddar, cranberry chutney, and honey mustard.  we had to get 2 of them because one didn't suffice, we all wanted a piece.

the rest of the sandwiches are not on their usual menu, but were delicious all the same.  there was a roast beef, cheddar, horseradish, and carmelized onion sandwich that was wonderful, and definitely filling.  they did not skimp on any of the ingredients.  the roast beef was tender, too.

then, there was a waldorf chicken salad sandwich.  i avoided it, as i am not a fan of waldorf salad in any form, but will, michelle, and maria loved it.  even sean was munching on the chicken chunks falling out of michelle's half.

then, there was a lobster roll of sorts, on a ciabatta hot dog bun.  will didn't expect much of it, as we were at a winery not a seafood market, but he was pleasantly surprised in the quality of the lobster and devoured it before anyone else could snag a bite.

the pizza was the four cheese pizza, gouda, gorgonzola, mozzarella, and swiss with a red sauce. (you can get it with white sauce, too)  i could have eaten the entire pizza by myself.  the crust was as good as anything you'd find in the best pizzaria, and the combination of cheeses created such interest on the tongue that you just wanted to keep eating.

their fries were also spectacular.  will and eric think there is beef tallow in the fry oil.  yessie and i were just concerned with eating them all.  most of the sandwiches came with a little green salad and an orzo, olive, and feta salad.  the green salad had potential, but it was kind of soggy.  i had a bite and left the rest to everyone else.  the orzo salad was sadly lacking in anything but orzo.  the little bits of olive and feta spiced things up a bit, but it would have benefited with more of those two things.

i'm already dreaming of another weekend that involves a trip to the winery.  but maybe it could be a less busy weekend....