Hey Jack It's a Fact, A Champs Getting Crowned

Superbowl Sunday 2021

I'm not really into football but I do love any occasion that calls for a celebration in snackage.  Plus, this year several people including my sister, kept assuring me that the Weeknd was incredible, so I was also anticipating a halfway decent Halftime show.  He was so cute and I may have liked it more if someone wasn't complaining about mediocre performances through the whole show. Miley Cyrus ended up impressing me though, as she tends to do and she brought out my Joanie, which was a sweet surprise.

  

Calzone 

Baked Feta - Hands down, thE most surprisingly delightful appetizer.  Tons of garlic, sun dried tomatoes, pepper flakes, herbs, good olive oil all baked around a block of feta, somehow creates a rich, taste sensation that is addictive as heck!  Warm crostini to dip in that festival of flavor is all you need.  This is what I'd call a super bowl. 

Pig Candy - Maple and Brown sugar coated bacon dries to a crispy sweet and savory treat.  This would be a great gift idea, maybe in a decorative holder.  This is special.  

Greek dip with fried wonton chips - most closely related to this recipe idea from the Savingdessert.com site. Very refreshing, lemony goodness!  I bought wonton wrappers for chile lime shrimp cups but realized I had over estimated my energy level, so I fried them up and used them for chips.  I didn't miss the pita one bit. 

little antipasto skewers. cute. 

Pear, prosciutto, arugula bites

Old fashioned Sour Cream and Onion dip with Potato Chips!  Is there anything better, especially when you haven't eaten this combo in years?

Great day....and a winter storm to boot

You're Living in a Past, It's a New Generation

Chinese Take Out from Hua Long.  The great thing about the counter girl at this local establishment is she hates everyone, she's an equal opportunity hater.  She's a young beautiful girl, maybe her parents own the restaurant and she clearly is on for bigger things but she helps out which is still a great character builder I believe.  But maybe it doesn't feel so great, a little hard for her.  Being a teenager in this town is tough enough.  But I like her spunk.  In a great way, it cuts out all the nonsense.  Things happen fast because there are only two things you do in this place, order your food and pick it up.  Small talk is out of the question and if you want spicy mustard, be sure to ask for it before she staples that bag if you know what's good for you.  She's not having any questions about the menu.  I get that.  Every single chinese take out has the exact same menu of 1000 items and they really are able to make any of them but you as a consumer should know at this point, what's in Kung Pao chicken for example.  And also get your drinks somewhere else because she doesn't like being bothered with finding you the right soda.  I'm assuming all of this to be true based off my 10 minute experience fetching food from Hua Long tonight.

I Felt in Touch with the Modern World

So as a very slow edging towards vegetarianism, there is a category that I'm inventing that is heavy on the vegetables in the meal and the meat sort of playing 3rd fiddle.  Like here where I roasted these carrots and mushrooms but underneath is a bed of ground beef in a white gravy with potatoes and more mushroom.  Topped with some carrot greens.  This really worked to eat all the vegetables yet I wasn't wanting for more in a half an hour. 

Plus, it's kind of pretty!

Another gorgeous item; I could not love my new bike bag any more!  It's a Roadrunner purchased from the 718 Cyclery website at 10% off.  It's just the right size, it still holds enough and everything you need.  One side pocket sort of stops you from adding too many small items.  I love it!  Still waiting for my free t-shirt but I would not be me unless something went wrong with my on-line purchase.  But my bud actually hand delivered this one to me, so no complaints.  

Bits and Pieces

A fun little side tonight of mac and peas! Started with a quick roux, chicken stock and a bit of milk, then added my bits and pieces of leftover cheeses, bleu, white sharp cheddar, and monterey jack. I also chopped up some leftover mushrooms and added frozen peas, a little cayenne and nutmeg and had me a kicky little side to go with my baked pork chop.

Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth

I got a little $3 package of pork meat and I remembered one of the first real recipes I got excited about making was from my Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I read that book like the bible. I still have it. Unfortunately due to my misspent youth, my recall is shot to all hell and I don't retain information very well and I often have to relearn things over and over. The recipe was Chili Con Carne, Real Texas chili with cubed beef chuck. Very simple recipe but it helped me understand that I could actually make something fabulous by just learning a technique. The technique was searing and then braising. I wish they would have named it that actually because it would be a few more years before I knew that's what it was.

So anyway I figured I could do a great pork chili, same method, stovetop. Roll the cubed pork in seasoned flour. Sear it on all sides, then add onions and lots of garlic. At this point its good to add a nice big bottle of beer but I just had chicken stock. For the chili powder, I went with a cumin powder blend with some chili but more cumin, cilantro and coriander and a bit of smoked paprika. Cover in a heavy bottomed pot and simmer for 2 hours.

It felt great to just make this quickly as if it were just boiling water. I'd come a long way from running back and forth to my recipe book. Serve this with some nice warm flour torts and beans and rice if you want a hearty meal. Now, what was it you were saying?