February 02, 2006
TBM
One of my favourite dining experience has to be having a Margherita pizza at Girimaldi's. As part of the New Year's celebration, we walked, sans kids, across the Brooklyn Bridge and managed to reach the pizza place just a few minutes before one.
Only one table was taken when we arrived, and by the time we had our second slice some twenty minutes later, the bustle exceeded that of the neighbourhood that it's in. The pie was piping hot, the sauce just the right consistency, the mozarella medium well, and the base nicely toasted. Crisp and chewy, everything you'd expect in a perfect pie. For $2 one could get a bottle of coke or any kind of soda. And for the small cost of the meal, you get a whole lotta Brooklyn love.
Posted by quickness at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
January 31, 2006
Tuesday's Coffee
I've cut down on coffee to about less than ten cups per week. It's liberating, except for those first few days when I used about eight tea bags per day trying to replicate the same coffee buzz. It didn't work, but I believed in myself when I thought I felt better.
Posted by quickness at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2006
Salmon with Rice Krispies
It's Sunday again and N wanted pasta with alfredo sauce.
I've never made alfredo since that time my body rejected a similar meal I made thanks to a stomach flu.
"Let's have it with salmon," I said.
"Salmon?!! But you don't eat salmon!"
"Yes I do. Sometimes."
And so we went shopping for herbs and spices used during one of the shows I happened to see in the Cooking Channel (or was it the Food Channel?).
Whatever it was, it required things not currently in our kitchen: half a box of rice krispies, corriander, fresh rosemary and thyme, cajun spice, parsley and eight tomatoes. We substituted regular vinegar with balsamic. It was nearly as old as Azmina, but according to the Vinegar Institute, vinegar has an (almost) indefinite shelf life, and self-preserving.
After nearly 3 hours in the kitchen, the crispy salmon with vierge sauce and roasted tomatoes were done; and this time, like long lost friends, my digestive system was happy to greet the spaghetti alfredo.
Posted by quickness at 11:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 10, 2006
Tuesday Dinner
Due to several reasons, I don't usually cook during weekdays.
However, I had some free time today and so I thought I'd do something quick.
The grilled filet mignon with linguini in light tomato sauce took around half an hour from the moment I took my tie off.
Posted by quickness at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2005
Non-Anaemic December
Filet mignon with basil; cheese ravioli in garlic, celery, one-hour tomato sauce. With roasted garlic. To ward off vampires.
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December 04, 2005
Vongole
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November 15, 2005
Super-Seven-Fruit Cranberry Sauce
Obviously when it was still cooking.
Posted by quickness at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2005
Big Bird
It's turkey season, and why not.
We've been having thanksgiving dinner at the same place for the last three or four occasions. Many thanks to those who had over the years ensured the perfect bird. A bird that had always been more than 15 pounds no less.
This year our roast beef is 7 pounds of prime meat. The thermometer, which we used for the first time, indicated that the beef would not reach "medium rare". Magic beef, I thought - one that would not cook. So it was a bit tricky to manage, but I thought it turned out ok. The mushroom and pepper sauce and the super-7-fruit cranberry sauce was not bad.
Countless blessings to thank for. A crispy bird,and then some... a lot more, in fact.
I felt ready. Give me question, and I can write a whole paper. Give me a turkey, and I would stuff it with a chicken that is stuffed in a duck.
Happy thanksgiving. Hope yours is as kind.
Posted by quickness at 11:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 28, 2005
Saturday Dinner
Before anyone criticises my lack of knowledge about certain bivalves, I'd like to point out that I have admitted that I didn't know about Pinnotheres Ostreum. There... I said it. I also admit that I have only opened less than a hundred oysters. I admit I might have swallowed several of those pea crabs whole.
Anyway, why does food feature so much in here? Well, since we don't live with our parents, who are incessantly worried about our health, we'd like them to know that we are indeed eating healthy. And not spending a lot on restaurants.
Saturday's starter was grilled tomatoes and eggplant, drenched with olive oil. And for the main course, barbecued beef strips, on tri-color fusilli with 5 cheese alfredo and pesto.
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August 21, 2005
Sunday Meal
Okay. I admit when I saw one large oyster among eleven others that we got this afternoon, I secretly hoped that I would find a pearl.
Pffftttt...
I found something alright. At first I thought it was a stomach sac. Upon close inspection it was a transparent baby crab. Inside the giant of an oyster. Alive. Possibly dying a slow and painful death inside a pool of digestive oyster juice.
A vomit burp would have killed off any apetite that I had left. I wouldn't have been able to eat something which is in the middle of having its dinner. I thought the oyster grew so big that it could swallow a baby crab. N said it grew big because it ate things like baby crabs, and other things. That thought totally blacked out any ideas of washing the giant oyster and frying the carnivorous bi-valve.
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May 21, 2005
Sailor
What does one do after being told "You are wrong!" after trying to explain that marinara does not necessarily mean seafood?
Post it here of course!!! I had already wasted my breath explaining that in many Romanic languages, using the root word mer, mar or mare for "sea" would usually mean that you'd have to use "fruits of" before the word for "sea" to mean seafood. Except, of course in Spanish, where seafood is mariscos.
Arguing that with someone who has atleast three pasta marinaras a week, on average, is like picking a fight with members of Skid Row 15 years ago.
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April 12, 2005
Pre-Dinner Conversation
Can you imagine how the conversation just before dinner went?
"Hey.. this looks good... I better get the camera."
(N carries on what she was doing... being used to this)
Flash. Flash. Flash. Flash.
(Get up, change position)
Flash. Flash. Flash.
"Oh, I'm glad you made the mushroom pepper sauce."
"mmm-hmm." Flash. Flash.
(Note: Yes, it was as good as it looked)
Posted by quickness at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2005
Sunday Starter
Just to show people that N can take photos too, and be as good.
Posted by quickness at 07:54 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2005
Hootchy-Kootchy Raks Sharki
There is just something about belly dancers that I can't really explain. Simply, they are UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLY hypnotic. More so to me than your average person. You know.. hip-hip, shaky-shaky hip-hip... hip-shake, hip-shake, shaky-shaky hip-hip...
Everytime I go to such a place (which is not very often... really), I could somehow imagine the devil himself appearing every second or so in the dark background, horned, with all of its red glistening skin glory, smiling in the shadows. The belly dancer would have the same powers as Lady Sylvia in Lair of the White Worm. The place, wherever it is, would have aura of the TT Twister inn in "From Dusk Till Dawn". Do I turn myself away from such places? Did the people in Lair of the White Worm and the TT Twister go to their homes and watch reruns of Seinfeld when the party's just begun? I didn't think so.
In a restaurant in Jersey tonight, while celebrating a birthday, again my guard went down to its minimum, my mind busy computing non-sensical thoughts, my body in a state of stupor. After coaxing friends around the table to take turns to dance with her, the belly dancer turned to me. Pressured by all those thoughts and the memory of a time when I completely froze in a similar situation 3 years ago, I was hypnotised into getting up. I had such high hopes of moving to the tune of the furious drum beats. And I told myself I could do this; I reminded myself that I didn't have model looks and was always skint as a student but I nevertheless had my share of luck, ergo, I had game. BUT NOOOO!!!! It appeared that my dance was UNIQUE and SPECIAL. I prayed for James Brown's legs, but it was way too late... and apparently, my soul was sold the moment I stepped into the place.
After much more music and dance, the night finally came to an end, my soul was returned with the check, and we drank for long-life, health, happiness and ever-flexible hips.
N, if you're reading this, I tell ya, I have to be exposed to these devil things more often - you should understand... I need it to up my defences.
Posted by quickness at 03:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 27, 2005
Fish
People who know me can tell you that I don’t eat fish. It’s the regular cooked ones that can make me sick. I can take McDonald’s Fish Fillet easily, but not other kinds of fillet. Fish fingers are ok, while fish cakes are not. Too fishy if you ask me.
I can actually take cooked salmon, but it would usually mean that I would have to stay off fish for about a month or so, to recover.
I am not sure whether I could actually enjoy this.
Grilled Salmon.
Put in hot grill / pan / skillet thing. Grill for a few minutes making sure not to overcook. Put in some chopped red shallots in skillet.
Posted by quickness at 01:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack