Darcy’s deep within her pursuit of a medical degree, switching in and out of exhausting rotations. Yet on Saturday night she had a break in the madness so we got together to share some dinner and good times.

Darcy, having recently started receiving Cooking Light (the magazine), made an elaborate lamb sauce pasta dish with a salad side. Take a moment to appreciate the glory:

That’s ricotta cheese and mint garnish atop a heap of mouthwatering deliciousness. This hearty dinner replaced every bit of wanting hunger with satisfaction. Well done Darce!

We followed our meal with the movie Helvetica, a documentary exploring the origin and influence of the font Helvetica. This is pretty much the movie of choice for typography enthusiasts. For me, the movie very strongly presented the question: should a font act as a transparent messenger for the words it portrays, or should a font add emotion, color, and significance to the content?

Thanks to Darcy for a wonderful time.

Last night I made a most epic Broccoli dish. The recipe was taken from the highly revered everyday food magazine. I can’t speak highly enough about the quality of the recipes within this publication. For those of you who appreciate foodstuffs, I recommend giving Everyday Food a try.

So! Let’s talk broccoli.

When I make broccoli it usually comes out pretty blah. I usually make it for its healthy qualities and it’s certainly never the highlight of the meal. Last night’s broccoli, however, put all other broccoli to shame. Here’s what I did:

Preheat oven to 450

Two med heads of broccoli
Two Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 garlic cloves, left whole and uncrushed
Coarse salt and pepper

Toss it all together onto a rimmed baking tray, bake for 20 minutes tossing once in the meantime

Results: Garlic Spicy Roasted Broccoli.

Try it and let me know if you agree!

Oh Sunday, I decided to spend some time in the kitchen. I recently received the latest edition of my Everyday Foods subscription and inside it had a recipe for a very hearty looking Beef Bourguignon. After my black belt pre-test on Saturday, I thought I might need some extra protein, so this seemed like an appropriate choice.

This recipe called for a dutch oven (or cocotte), so I went ahead and picked one up at Target. Mine is a 6 QT Lodge cast iron enamel coated beauty.

I love red.

The dish itself was heavy. It had mushrooms, carrots, 3 lbs beef, bacon, garlic, onions, tomato paste, flour, wine, and chicken broth. It cooked for nearly 3 hours and came out epic. (Similar recipe here)

Served with a side of mashed potatoes, it was the perfect meal for a Sunday feast.

I strongly recommend the recipe, the magazine, and the pot.

On Sunday I drove north to visit Tom and Mykal at their stunning new abode. Their kitchen is a dream. It has more storage and counter space than any I’ve seen. There’s an island, great lighting, and a layout that provides plenty of room for three cooking people. They have a gas range and electric oven and with the kitchen sharing a vast open space with the living room and dining room, it’s a wonderful layout for entertaining.

Sunday’s theme was Italian. We decided to make some homemade ravioli, focaccia bread, and veal bacon wraps, served with italian soda and a tart and a layered espresso pound cake for dessert.

The Focaccia Bread!

I’ve never made ravioli before. We made a ricotta and butternut squash fillings; the ricotta was served with a homemade tomato sauce while the squash was served with a homemade alfredo. Handmade Ravioli is a lot of work. The pasta dough and fillings are easy enough, but the packing folding and sealing goes slow. I think this was great for a special occasion, but I can’t say for certain I’ll do it again any time soon.

Two Might Bowls of Ravioli

Part of the dessert was a simple yet elegant pear tart.

The Pear Tart!

The pears were sauteed in sugar with a splash of balsamic vinegar. We added a touch of nutmeg and some cinnamon and then baked it in a tart crust that Mykal had prepared. The result was highly rewarding for the effort involved.

Our other dessert was an elaborate soaked pound cake layered with chocolate mousse and served with whipped cream. The espresso flavoring was perfectly potent and it made for a wonderful conclusion to the meal.

Special thanks to Tom and Mykal for sharing their wonderful new kitchen. One can always count on great times and great foods when Tom and Mykal are involved.

Method 1: Theoretical
According to this site, “commercial butter is 80–82 percent milk fat, 16–17 percent water, and 1–2 percent milk solids other than fat.” We have a little salt in there too.

Presuming standard atmosphere conditions, the water will boil at 100C (212F). The fats and solids should raise that temperature a bit as boiling point elevation can be accomplished by adding compounds to a solvent. Wikipedia reports that milk solids brown around 150C. My first idea for a crude estimate would be to calculate the boiling point as a percentage of composition. ~80% milk fats and ~20% water = 132C. This however is probably not realistic. It’s more likely that the water will begin to boil first, then the milk fats will brown.

Temperature estimation for that butter in the pan: 115C – 120C

Method 2: Anecdotal
On Tuesday, I splashed some boiling butter on my face. I now have two blistering welts on my forehead.

Temperature estimation for that butter in the pan: freakin’ hot.

I expect a lot from ice cream store Ben & Jerries. I’ve never been disappointed!

Check out this ice cream cozy that my roommate Brian has.

the cup and the pint.

the pint… in the cup

perfect!

SO AWESOME!

I always kinda knew that the day would come when I would reduce my meat consumption. This might come as a surprise to those who knew me when, as a practical joke, I hung up a shower curtain decorated with T-bones in a vegetarian friend’s apartment.

I can’t say I’m going vegetarian, because, really, I’m simply leaning in the direction of vegetarian. For the time being, I have decided to reduce my weekly meat intake. The catalyst for this decision was the realization that these guitar lessons that I love so much are very costly and I need to trim other parts of my life to compensate. This realization coupled with this article that had been festering in my brain for the past few months made me realize that through bulk purchases and careful planning I could greatly reduce my grocery costs while maintaining an enjoyable healthy diet.

I’m not cutting meat out completely as this isn’t a decision based on principles. At Thanksgiving I’ll enjoy the turkey, if a recipe calls for chicken broth I won’t avoid it, and if I have a huge hankering for meatloaf I’ll indulge, but I probably won’t keep meat as a standard item on my weekly grocery list.

So far this week I’ve eaten really well. Some of the meals have been: vegetable curry with rice, roasted squash and apple soup, tomato pie, and last night I made a black bean and sweet potato chili. It’s been delicious. If any of you have recommendations for affordable vegetarian meals, please feel free to leave a comment.

Yesterday, Shaun and I decided to cook some pizza for dinner. We do this somewhat regularly, but last night’s dish was special.

Shaun had the clever idea of topping our pizza with Pizza Rolls.

It’d be like some weird meta-pizza. Pizza, with pizza as a topping. Recursive pizza? We thought about also adding a frozen pizza, but we didn’t want to go crazy.

(more…)

This past Wednesday Sarah and I went to Blue Hills at Stone Barns in Westchester, NY for dinner.

As I mentioned last week, this is no ordinary restaurant. The most obvious difference is that the chefs will cook meals for you from what is available and freshest, not cookie cutter meals from a typical menu. Sarah and I had very high expectations and I’m excited to report that we were not even remotely disappointed. I find it a rare opportunity to be so utterly stunned by quality and presentation. I have never tasted food like I did on Wednesday, and I fully suspect that I won’t again until I return to Blue Hills at Stone Barns. I honestly did not know that food could be so delicious.

Our reservations were for 9:30pm. Upon arrival we parked the car and walked up a stone path into a beautiful courtyard. We entered the restaurant and were escorted to our table. The table was a rectangle one, up against a wall. The greeter pulled the table back allowing us an opportunity to step in and sit side by side on a bench facing the restaurant. It was a unique seating arrangement. The room had, at most, 30 tables. Some were large circular booths, others edge seating like ours.

This was not a place where I felt comfortable playing paparazzi – I took no photographs inside the restaurant. Instead, where necessary, I drew some MSPaintings to get the basic idea across, and also scoured the internet for photos from those more bold than I.

The room itself had a tall white parabolic ceiling contrasted by elegant curved I-beams. In the center, was a large wooden table with a huge arrangement of leaves and greenery extending upwards from a vase. The far end of the room had a mural separating the dining room from the kitchen.

Ulterior Epicore posted this picture in his flickr set.

Our waiter approached.

He was of medium build with a shaved head and thick rimmed dark glasses. He wore a suit with a tie decorated with the colors of Blue Hills at Stone Barns.

“Would you like to start your evening with some champagne?” he asked. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but in retrospect this restaurant is a celebration in itself and to start with a champagne toast now seems quite fitting.

Our waiter brought the wine list. Since our visit, a few have asked what the nationality of the food was, but really… it was a blend of tastes and cultures that can only be described as American. There were French, German, and Spanish wines on the wine menu, but Sarah chose an Italian variety. Our waiter noticed that I did not order a wine and offered to bring over their selection of non-alcoholic grape juices. I agreed, and decided to go with a beautifully sweet non-reduced white Navarro grape juice. I wouldn’t think of grape juice as elegant, but that’s exactly what this beverage was.

“Are you familiar with how we do things at Stone Barns?” our waiter asked as he handed us menus.

“On the right, you’ll see the options for courses. The farmer’s feast comes in two different sizes. The eight course meal and the five course meal. They both have the same quantity of food, though you will get a greater variety with the eight course meal. Additionally, on Wednesdays and Thursdays we offer a three course meal.”

I think it’s safe to say that this trip was a treat, so to do anything other than go for gusto would be sinful. We chose the eight course meal.

“On the left,” our server continued, “you will find a list of ingredients that we have available in the kitchen tonight. Everything is fresh and is from either the Blue Hill farm or other local farms which are noted below the ingredients list. Take a look over the ingredients and then I will return and ask some questions.”

And look we did. The list was epic. From the simple “eggs” to the exciting “Nasturtiums” the list had all sorts of different greens and meats. Our server returned and began his interview.

A picture of the ever-changing menu, from this restaurant review.

“Any food allergies here?”
“No lactose please,” Sarah raised her hand
“Does your lactose intolerance extend to goat cheese? or butter?”
“Goat cheese and butter are fine, just no milk.”
“Are both of you okay with nuts?”
we nodded
“eggs?”
we nodded
“duck? lamb?”
we nodded again
“seafood?”
“I think we’d like to avoid seafood.” I replied
“Very well. Avoid both shell fish and fin fish?”
“Actually, fin fish is okay. Just no on the shell fish.”
“Excellent! Thank you both very much, your first course will be out shortly.”

And he zipped off.

Not three minutes later, a server came bustling out of the kitchen with two wooden blocks in hand. I had seen the impaled fruit and vegetables on the website so I was extremely excited that this would be the first plate.

There were five impaled vegetables: A large stalk of fennel, fresh cherry tomatoes seasoned with salt, two green gherkins, small yellow tomatoes, and two green leaves (omitted from the drawing above). The vegetables had all be seasoned with salt or otherwise and were so fresh and delicious. The cherry tomato was as good as best tomato I’ve had from my father’s garden.

Not moments later, another server appeared carrying a wooden block. He placed it on the table, and announced in a thick accent “Corn Syrup.” We nodded in confused appreciation, and he left.

“Corn Syrup?” Sarah turned to me in mild disgust. “Is that what he said?”
“I’m not sure, let’s ask the main waiter when he returns.”

“Excuse me” I asked, intercepting the head waiter as he passed, “we missed the introduction for this food. Could you tell us what it is?”
“Cauliflower soup.” he replied.

And oh heavens was it delicious. It was warm and tasted like heaven. Also, it renewed our faith in the restaurant after it had been shaken slightly by our poor hearing. Next up were tiny unmatched tomato burgers and tiny sesame seasoned zucchini impaled on long wooden spears. The tomato burgers were bite-sized and bursting with deliciousness. I think the single bite it took to eat that tomato burger might have been the finest of the night. Truly a perfect blend of tastes.

I don’t like zucchini. I loved this zucchini; it was salty and the sesame seeds added a slight crunch.

Next up, a new server brought out a selection of prosciuttos and face bacon.

Face bacon.

I actually found a picture of the face bacon from this website which had a review of the restaurant. Here goes:

It tasted like a really good bacon. I have no bad words for anything that tastes like delicious bacon. Next up, a new server brought two short flutes of a clear liquid. Tomato gazpacho. The transparency was remarkable given the extremely fresh and potent tomato flavor. Tomato, it turns out, was a prominent player in the evening’s dinner. Presumably because this is prime time for tomato harvest.

At this point, Sarah and I got a little nervous. We counted seven plates, and we were worried that we only had one course left. When our main waiter returned to refill our water glasses, we commented on the deliciousness of the meal. “Excellent,” he replied, “and we’re not even quite through the first course!”

Once again, Sarah and I got a little nervous. This time because we realized that we had a lot of eating left to do.

The first course was concluded with a extremely beautiful presentation of a tomato caviar soup. From across the restaurant came two servers each holding a tall white ceramic pitcher and a bowl with a wide wide rim, not unlike a flipped sombrero. One walked to Sarah’s side of the table and the other came to my side. In unison they placed the bowl down in front of us. Just off center in the bowl was the caviar. The two servers raised their pitchers and, again, in unison poured the rich tomato soup over the eggs. The soup had a dark smokey flavor. The caviar wasn’t remotely fishy, but instead had a robust texture and added to the soup’s richness.

With the soup came a basket of homemade potato bread served with a side of Blue Hill butter, churned right there on the premise, and a small dish of tomato salt. If regular salt were AM radio, than tomato salt would be no less than having Soundgarden beamed directly into your living room via lases from space to play a personal concert for you and your loved ones. Tomato salt is great.

And thus concluded the first course.

Things got much more straight-forward after this first course. Instead of a wide assortment of greens and meats, the rest of the courses were served on a single plate. At the beginning of our meal, our waiter reported that we could expect six savory courses and two sweet courses. Our next plate was a tomato sorbet which, despite its name, was considered savory.

This Blue Hills dish looks very similar to our tomato sorbet. I found it at the Spamwise Chronicles.

This dish had a light strawberry something on top and was a fresh stepping stone into the next course which came out shortly thereafter.

Now, it should be noted that I don’t love fish. I can swallow it if I must, but it’s not a personal favorite. Meanwhile, Sarah dislikes cauliflower – though she had been impressed with the earlier soup. Still, we were both hesitant when our third course reached the table.

It was a piece of Sturgeon on a bed of curried cauliflower.

I love fish.

This was the most delightful cut of fish that has ever existed. Sarah also enjoyed the cauliflower. I now honestly believe that if you give your most detested food to a highly skilled chef who has access to the freshest ingredients, then anyone might become a believer. Granted, we were unable to test this theory with my most detested food, the olive, as it was not on the ingredient list.

Before our fourth course, a waitress came over with a glass nest within which there were four eggs.

“As a precursor to your next course, I wanted to tell you a bit about our eggs here at Blue Hills. We have 1,500* chickens on site which share their time between grazing in the fields eating worms, grass, and grubs and time in our rolling egg houses where we feed them only fresh vegetables and grains. This lifestyle yields extremely flavorful, colorful, yolks.”
*paraphrased. I don’t remember the exact number of chickens, though it was definitely jaw droppingly high

Moments later we were brought a just slightly cooked egg atop mushrooms and kale. Once again, I can’t speak highly enough about this dish. Sadly, I could find no pictures of this dish on the internets and it’s extremely hard to MSPaint a cooked egg.

By the time, Sarah and I had been at the restaurant for about an hour and a half. We were halfway through our dinner and we were very nearly stuffed – but I knew that there was no degree of fullness that would prevent me from eating the dishes they put in front of us, they were too good.

Next up was course number five. It was duck served on top of seasoned carrots and almonds. There was a slight sweetness, like cinnamon, on the carrots. The restaurant staff gave us knives, but there was no need. The meat was so tender that you could cut through it with a half-melted plastic spoon.

I had trouble finishing this course. The sweetness of the carrots coupled with my sweet grape juice and the limited space in my stomach made for a challenge. I did my best, but didn’t finish every carrot. For this I am ashamed.

We had a slight break before our next meal. The table was cleared and our head waiter returned to let us know that the main course was on its way. Moments later, large white places were placed before us. The server reported that this was lamb neck served with small potatoes, onions, and broccoli.

It was divine. Seriously. The food was stupidly delicious. This meal has setup my mouth for many moons of disappointment.

Our two sweet courses came next, and here was the only time when Sarah and I were served different dishes. I received a fromage blanc served on a bed of sorbet. Sarah received a grape sorbet served with fresh fruits. The second sweet course for me was plums served with ice cream. Sarah got plums in some sort of sweet sauce.

Lordy.

We decided to order a cup of tea to conclude our evening. We decided on chamomile served with a side of honey – from the blue hill bees. Earlier, the people sitting next to us had ordered differently and a large cart covered in greens from which the waiter would personally cut up your desired tea fillings and mix the tea for you there.

Looking back on the night, I can only speak praise. We counted 12-15 servers who helped serve our table and every bite was heavenly. Friends. I know it’s expensive. I know it might be a drive. But you must go to this restaurant. You haven’t experienced food until you’ve been served at Blue Hills at Stone Barns.

I will return.

Tomorrow I’m taking Sarah to an exciting restaurant. It’s called Blue Hills at Stone Barns and it is extremely unique. It has received high accolades and seems like perhaps the ultimate dining experience.

There’s no menu at Blue Hills. Instead they bring out a list of ingredients, you point out which ones you don’t like, and then they prepare you a feast. The surprise of not knowing exactly what we’ll receive will make for a very fun night.

I hope to bring a camera, though I probably won’t be acting the tourist and taking pictures left and right. That said, I will be providing a full review here on the site. And if you’d like to get more information, head over to the restaurant’s website here.

Last night after a forearm splitting night of rock climbing, I sat at my dining room table and stared down at my lukewarm meal. There, in a misshapen tupperware, sat a half cup of re-fried beans topped with an unseasoned microwaved egg. This halfhearted pile of dinner was a result of two things:

- my complete lack of motivation
- my paltry excuse for a pantry

Actually, I think my pantry is pretty awesome. But my eldest sister who tried to motivate me on the phone insisted that I was clearly missing some key ingredients. For example, simply adding salsa would have changed this meal from a catfood stand-in to a delightfully fresh !Huevos Rancheros!

Alicia then sent me her suggestions for a dozen essentials for the ultimate pimped pantry. Let’s see how the Pantry of Rock performs.

The List:

1. coconut milk
2. salsa
3. frozen spinach
4. canned beets
5. quick indian and thai curry sauces
6. Annie’s macaroni and cheese
7. brown, red, and green lentils
8. lots of canned, diced tomatoes (no salt added)
9. canned beans – don’t forget about canned chickpeas!
10. canned fruits (Lite in water) – pears, peaches, pineapple, etc.
11. I am assuming you have lots of pasta on hand!!! Especially great is vacuum packed gnocchi.
12. And spices: chili powder, curry powder, etc etc.

The Pantry of Rock spot check performance:

1. coconut milk – Yay. though it’s old. we’re talking 2003 old.
2. salsa - Nay. For shame Mike D.
3. frozen spinach – Nay. Though I do have canned spinach, a fact to which my sister audibly vomited
4. canned beets – Yay. I have canned beets aplenty.
5. quick sauces – Nay. I have most of the ingredients needed to make a curry, but no quick sauces for those nights without motivation
6. annie’s – Nay. For shame Mike D.
7. colored lentils – Kinda. I have a wealth of green lentils, but no other colors
8. canned tomatoes – Yay. Diced, Crushed, Whole, Paste, the House of Rock lacks no tomato
9. canned beans – Yay. Me? not have beans ready for consumption? Impossible.
10. canned fruits – Yay. Especially Pineapple. I freakin’ love pineapple.
11. pasta – Yay. though probably not a sufficient supply
12. spices – Yay. including saffron! (thanks viv!)

End total 7.5/12 that would be a D. Actually, a D-
And if you didn’t count the old coconut milk then I would fail outright. I’m still quite proud of my kitchen’s stockedness but perhaps it does need a bit of a boost.

Do any of you have recommendations for the ultimate pimped pantry?

In no particular order

- The Persian empire for ice cream, and the imperial kitchens of Topkapı Palace for their contributions of Baklava.*

- Vivienne’s friend for her modification of the Tomato Pie

- The Tuscany people of the Prato village for their biscotti creation*

- Juan Mendez, the inventor of the burrito. (Awesome history here.)

- Aztecs and/or Mayans for chocolate.

- The inventor of Cheese.

- The legendary Khalid of Ethiopia for his brewing of the coffee bean.*

- Ancient Egyptians for pie.*2

* Wikipedia
*2. Source

Driving through Meriden, CT, you might see this sign just off broad street.

However if you’re in a rush, you might not notice the bottom sign there… a sign advertising a place called “Tacos mi Nacho.” And in fact, for the past three years I didn’t notice it. I knew there was a mexican restaurant, but I never would have been able to identify the name. During a recent visit to the House of Rock, Shamus did notice and promptly pointed out the restaurant to me. For those non-Spanish speakers the name of the restaurant translates to: “Tacos my Nacho.” Awesome.

What do they serve at Tacos mi Nacho?

According to the sign: Tacos, Burritos, Quesadillas, Tortas, Tostadas, Pozole, Menudo.

Sarah and I hit up the restaurant this past Sunday and I must say, I was very very impressed. The atmosphere was nothing special, cheap looking booths and an average looking cooking area. But the quality was high and was immediately apparent when they started us off with chips and four varieties of salsa.

For the main course, both Sarah and I got burritos. Here’s a picture of Sarah with her meal.

Oh man! Talk about value for the dollar! This thing was 6$ and tasted super fresh and delicious.

Here I am having almost completed my chorizo burrito.

Overall, I rate Tacos mi Nacho with 5 out of 5 stars for value, 2 out of 5 stars for atmosphere, and 4 out of 5 stars for totally delicious. Also? 5 out of 5 stars for awesome restaurant name.

As I travel to random places like Canton, OH I have the opportunity to go to some really crazy restaurants. The best of the best has been Brenners steakhouse in Houston.

It’s an expensive place but the food is amazing. I think the bill for two ended up being around $130 with only a single glass of alcohol. Way too much for me except for absurdly special occasions. There was another place in South Bend, Indiana that was excellent and cheaper but the name is escaping me at the moment.

This past weekend Sander and I hit up another place that might make it onto the list. It’s called Crave and it’s in Akron, Ohio. Our two entrees themselves were a little too shmancy. But the appetizer of skewered steak with a smoked Gouda fondue… daaaang. It was good enough to throw the restaurant into the network of great eats.

Eventually, I think it might be fun to write all those restaurants down and have a ‘best in the region’ and ‘best local’ collection of restaurants for those places that I visit on business. It’s way more fun to explore the unique restaurants then to go to TGIFridays and the like. Are there any restaurants that totally blow your mind in your region?

Schenk sent me a message last night. This is what it said:

Tonight, I made brownies.

They are named:
The Schenk Tank’s Chocolate Holocaust Brownies with Chocolate Napalm Ganache.

CAN YOU HANDLE IT?!?! (Answer: no)

It is the chocolate dessert equivalent of a great white shark with full sleeve tattoos being lit on fire and riding a surfboard out of a fighter jet going mach 5, then landing on a motorcycle and doing a wheelie off a jump over a canyon filled with pyrotechnics, diesel fuel, attack dinosaurs and monster trucks, with Motorhead playing in the background on a stage made out of stainless steel and carbon graphite suspended over a pit of sentient skeletons holding war spears and really metal-looking battle axes.

Here’s my MSPaint of Schenk’s concept.

There’s a hurricane of delicious coming to CT.
And its name is Guarapina.

Upon reading Alicia’s blog post about my Portland visit, I was reminded of the our trip to the Pambichi brunch place. Alicia, Dwane, Sarah, and I went on Alicia’s birthday to celebrate her life with Cuban delights. She and I both ordered a Guarapina: a beverage that mixes pineapple juice with sugar cane juice.

It was like drinking sugar Octane. I will go to the store this weekend and buy ingredients, I will make this luscious drink, and I will take pictures and document the deliciousness. Get excited. It’s going to be awesome.

Joanna told me to go to VooDoo doughnuts while I was here in Portland. The place is really strange. Really strange.

The doughnuts are even stranger. This is what I got:

Delicious? Yes. Sugar explosion? Also yes.
I couldn’t finish the whole thing. It was so powerful – like a sugar avalanche in my mouth.

Ruth works the lattes at her workplace and she’s introduced latte art to her little coffee shop. She sent out a few pictures last week and they are truly beautiful works. Check ‘em out!

These first two are called rosettas. Cute little ferns.

An apple

and my favorite, a heart.

Great job Ruth! These are awesome. If you find yourself with some time, I think MikeDiDonato.com readers would be extremely excited for a Video How-to.

Heck yes.

from Darcy.

This weekend I was introduced to this:

Cinnamon Toast Crunch a la Total Cereal.

I LOVE Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It is beyond good. So totally good. But it’s not very healthy. Total’s Cinnamon Crunch cereal seems to combat that factor. I will be eating it constantly this week and I will report back throughout the week on the deliciousness.

Day one report: Totally Delicious.

I took the night off last night to play some guitar, get some chores done, and cook some food. The night was a success.

Especially tasty was a quick banana bread that I whipped up. I had no idea Banana bread was so easy! Throw your ingredients into a mixer and then Bang. Bread. Outside of the one hour bake time, it’s really quick. This particular banana bread had flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, two eggs, a stick of butter, two mashed bananas, and a 1/4 cup of orange juice. The orange juice caught me a little off guard, but it added a really nice flavor.

The recipe called for nuts too, but I have mixed feelings about nuts in bread. To me, adding nuts to bread kind of seems immoral.

I never recommend eating a salad with a spoon.

5. Watermelons are very high in iron.

“Mini muffins are like muffin popcorn.”