Midsummer night sail to watch the full moon rising and discuss the state of the world. Buckets of sangria, prosciutto and melon, crab dip, cheeses, bbq flank steak, spinach salad, bow tie pasta salad, blueberry pound cake, lemon pound cake and more sangria.
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Pork and eggplant stir fry.

A nice German Riesling.

Organic Beer Can Chicken, grilled asparagus, sorrel and arugula salad...

Chicken wasn't as good as Palena's, but beer can chicken is damn fun anyway.

K

I've always kind of wondered about that aspect of beer can chicken. Can you really tell the difference using an organic vs. a non-organic can?

A serious response to your helpful call on my misplaced modifier:

If you're making beer can chicken, don't bother with that expensive can of Boddingtons. The type of beer really doesn't matter (though a can filled with water just doesn't have the same effect). I use Budweiser, which I believe is as close to organic as Robocop.

And can you even get organic beer in a can? What a waste.

Soft tacos filled with shrimp (pan seared with a bit of cayanne & garlic), avocado, cucumber and wasabi mayo.

First roasted cauliflower of the season is in the oven. Husband came home and said the apartment smelled purple.

Will also have some sort of salmon that I must decide about in the next little while.

The best Steak House in DC
I know where it is...

At my place:

Rock shrimp (the ones that Trader Joe's sells are great) with parsnip puree and basil



And apricot-frangipane tartlets. This year is the first time I've had fresh apricots and I'm really loving them.

Clams baked in tomato sauce
Sautéed zucchini and artichoke bottoms in couscous

Big bowl of blueberries with strawberry sauce and whipped cream

Canales Meat's "American Cut" pork chop -- a mammoth piece of pork that is roughly a 2 by 2 by 8 rectangle.

I dry rubbed it for a day in a mix of kosher salt, chili powder, Adobo, and a touch of garlic powder. The original intention was to grill it, but with the rain I broiled it for 40 minutes, turning 90 degrees on the vertical every ten minutes. After broiling and letting it settle for about 5-7 minutes, I sliced it into medallions and topped it with a slightly warmed reduction of champagne vinegar and chili flakes.

It was the bomb!

Clean out the fridge stir fry -- chicken, carrot, red onion, basil in a chile paste with garlic.

Had the first chance to cook a decent dinner in quite a while last night: Chicken breasts from TJ's (which I think are quite good) poached in finely minced onion and butter in the oven under buttered parchment a la Julia. The butter had been previously used to sauté some mushrooms, and after cooking the chicken I added them to the reduced poaching liquid with cream, stock, a dollop of mustard, and a dousing of Savennières. I sliced the chicken into medallions and served everything in the pan, a Bourgeat copper oval fry pan that my wife gave me for my birthday. Very old-fashioned, very bourgeois, very comforting. Tonight I'll try my hand at some Szechuan shrimp.

Smoked Butt:





Happy 4th of July.

picnic in Malcom X last night to the music of the drummers:
Crab Cakes with mustard creme fraiche (a la Bob Kinkaid, and with thanks to our brand-spankin' new Giant--$10 for a pound of backfin blue crab!!!)
Spanish Tortilla
Flowery salad greens from the market
Stinky cheese & salami
& nectarines as the drummers wound down.

I love summer.

Nice butt, Bill.

We're home from the beach and ready for some decent food. Tonight:

Hot dogs & corn on the grill
Cole slaw with homemade buttermilk dill dressing
Potato salad
Cold beer
Watermelon
Berry shortcakes

Popsicles while watching the Rockville fireworks. Happy Independence Day!

Every once in a while, I do a blow-out Mexican meal. I owed someone a fabulous meal in return for one she cooked for us, and since my daughter is in camp, I had the time to devote to preparation.

Botanas:
Verduras en escabeche (marinated carrots, onions, celery, garlic cloves, cauliflower florets and jalapenos), guacamole and chips, salted pepitas

Prosecco- Zardetto

Ensalada:
Jicama, naranjo, cebolla roja, confit y chicharron de pato (jicama, orange and red onion salad with duck confit and cracklings).

Sparkling rose- 2004 Cremant de Loire Lambert

Tamales:
Uchepas con huitlacoche y hongos, mole verde (fresh corn tamales filled with corn fungus and oyster mushroom, green mole).

2003 Falanghina dei Feudi di San Gregorio

Plato:
Barbacoa de cabrito (leg of young goat marinated in citrus adobo, wrapped in banana leaf with avocado leaves and slow-roasted over charcoal), frijoles refritos, arroz con asafran (refried beans and saffron rice).

2002 Hartford Zinfandel, Russian River Vinyard
2001 Seghesio Zinfandel, Home Ranch

Postre:
Coconut flan, mango-tequila salsa, papaya-lime sorbet

2001 Bonny Doon Muscat, Vin de Glaciere

Does anyone know where I can find an emoticon with motion that's salivating with gusto?

cjsadler and I made a Father's Day dinner for his dad and family a few weeks ago. I should have posted these images then but I just uploaded the images from my camera this weekend.

Our appetizer was homemade mozarella with a sundried tomato pesto.



Asparagus and ricotta ravioli with a sweet pea coulis was the first course.



The main course was veal scallopini with a lemon cream sauce and broccoli rabe.



And finally -- dessert...carrot cake roulade with caramel and candied pecans. The recipe is from the Kinkead's cookbook. It took 4 attempts to get this cake right but it was worth it! After the first try, we realized the recipe was a bit off and called for way too much flour.



cjsadler was in charge of the apps and the main course. I did the first course and dessert.

Binni

Homemade as in your home? That's pretty impressive. How does one make their own mozarella?

Homemade mozarella is easy once you get the hang of it (and the results are great). I can post some details later (I don't remember exactly what temperature guidelines I use and need to consult my 'notes'). All that's required is rennet (I get mine at Wegman's), citric acid and a thermometer. Or if there's ever something along the lines of the shindig at Mike's I'd be happy to show you how (I'd host something, but there's no room in my tiny DC condo).

Grilled marinated chicken. Green salad. Corn on the cob. Victory Prima Pils

Above pictured smoked butt mixed with chili powder, cumin and garlic disguised as taco filling with mango salsa.

Watermelon and feta salad. The combo of watermelon and feta, which I had for the first time last summer, is surprisingly great. Try it. Saw some recipe in Gourmet that used pickled rind on top too, so I added that.



Then some penne with pesto (I finally was able to get my basil to grow)

And a bing cherry phyllo roll for dessert. We picked 18 pounds (!) of cherries at Cherries on Top in Flint Hill and I'm still using them up.

grilled sausage and shrimp, and eastern shore corn and vegetables.

Steak au Poivre with boiled potatoes in creme fraiche.

Started out with an aperitif of Lillet and lemon before getting down to business on the steak.

Did the steak following the recipe in The Les Halles Cookbook, with very good results using a decent-enough NY Strip from Harris Teeter. Very nice crunchy crust of pepper. Need to learn to settle down and let my sauces reduce more, though. No matter, it was all good. For the side, I boiled cubed white potatoes, then drained and folded in creme fraiche, chives, a little nutmeg, and some lemon zest, then finished with white truffle oil. Last night at Firefly I was standing there by the bar, smelling somebodies truffled fries for 20 minutes, so something was getting truffled tonight! These proved a good counterpoint to the peppery steak.

Served with a 2001 Columbia Crest 'Grand Estates' Syrah, which was a name that stuck out in my mind following my review and careful annotation of the $15 wine thread, which I then neglected to sync to my PDA before I left to go grocery shopping. It did well.

Having not thought to pick up something at the store, dessert consisted of Eagle Rare 10 year old bourbon, and some Lindt balls, which for some reason I DID grab. No digital camera, so no photo: picture a steak and some potatoes with chives, and not-entirely-reduced (but most of the way there) pepper/cognac sauce, and you're at least halfway there.

Homemade greek salad, grilled fresh wild sockeye salmon and grilled sweet corn w/ a greek rose (who's name escapes me at this time.)

Pre-dinner snack of sauteed chicken liver, s&p, little bit of booze mashed and smeared on toast.

Beet salad with olive oil, champagne vinegar, goat cheese and basil chiffonade

Roast chicken stuffed with tarragon and garlic cloves

Sweet corn

Humbolt Fog with an indifferent baguette

Very nice Macon-Fuisse ('01, name escapes me) with dinner

Last Night: Just the usual baby back ribs grilled to perfection -- found the ideal rub-- it's called Gunpowder Pig Rub. I think Jacques uses it for his butt. The piece de la resistance was the first fresh fruit tart of the summer
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Edited to say @#$%! Can someone pm me and tell me how to add a photo to a post.

Thanks.

For dinner tonight, I'm making:

Tuna poke salad w/ mango pineapple salsa

Greek cucumber-tomato salad

Grilled dry-aged rib eye steak

Sauteed spinach and mushrooms w/ garlic

Rice (eh, the 888 should give the reasoning away...hee hee)

Chocolate foundue w/ strawberries and bananas

I'm debating on the tuna - should I make it poke style or make it more ceviche style. I like the flavors of the poke - soy sauce, sesame oil and a pinch of chile fakes but the ceviche is cool, too. Hmm.

Friday - Dinner was at Firefly with friends

Saturday - I made cjsadler a long overdue birthday dinner. The first course was caramelized apples and gruyere on wild rice-walnut-orange bread from the Golden Door Cooks Light and Easy.



The main course was salmon with a shrimp ragout from the Kinkead's cookbook.



A cheese plate was next. A couple of cheddars, gruyere, and a blue cheese.



And dessert was blueberry white chocolate cheesecakes from from Alice Medrich's A Year in Chocolate. Sorry, bad picture - too bright.



We shared a bottle of Cotes du Rhone. It went really well with the salmon.



Sunday - Dinner with friends

Apps were roasted peppers with leftover walnut-orange bread. I don't have pictures of the rest of the meal but we had gnocchi with tomato sauce, chicken milanese, and ricotta mousse with fresh berries and chocolate-orange-walnut biscotti for dessert.

I can't top that! Wow, great pictures and food.

I am, though, enjoying my rissotto with sweet corn and asparagus.

Last night was pure comfort food. Kung Fu chicken flavored ramen noodles with gai lan. The Chinese equivalent to mashed potatoes. Ahhh.

I need to cook dinner for a vegan in a few weeks, so I've been doing some experimenting.

Been trying to copy Mandalay's ginger salad and got a little closer, but not quite there yet.

Then, fresh corn polenta* with roasted mushrooms and red pepper puree.



*I can't eat enough of corn this way. The simple version, from J. Pepin is just to puree up corn in a blender (add a little water if needed) and then cook it for a minute or so. The natural cornstarch thickens it up.

I have an old-style gadget that I can use to scrape/shred corn off the cob and it makes instant creamed corn in less than the time it would take to cut the kernels off the cobs. I cooked the corn puree with some sweet butter and a little bit of heavy cream, a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of salt. It was incredible. After dinner, I found one of my dinner guests in the kitchen, using her finger as a spatula to get the last bits left in the saucepan the corn had cooked in.

I have one of those and found it completely useless. It tore up the kernels and that was when I could get it to work. I'm going to stick with my knife.

When I finally got the kernels off I made a roasted corn and avocado salad with a cilantro lime vinaigrette. That went with a very rare flat iron and garlic fries. (Damn you Bilrus for bringing them into my world ) Dessert was broiled blueberries.

Beef fajitas and a bottle of Montecillo.

Peanut loved the sauteed bell pepper, but wasn't so hot on the skirt steak. As always her meal was supplemented by some Joe's O's.

Dinner on Sunday was a barley risotto with fava beans from Paula Wolfert's Slow Mediterranean Kitchen. We had caramelized carrots and onions with the risotto. Yummy meal though the picture doesn't do it justice.



Dessert was a blueberry lemon (well, orange, because I ran out of lemons) ricotta souffle from Peter Berley's Fresh Food Fast. It was good but we're not souffle fans (this confirmed that fact). We had a few bites and then finished up the blueberry pudding cake from the night before.

Grilled tuna steaks.

Mango salad

Corn on the cob (still not quite at its best)

The crappy wine mentioned here. Quickly replaced by a glass from an already opend bottle of Picpoul.

Peanut had some mango and some corn.
And, of course, some Joe's O's

Take out from Cafe Asia... would have been delivery but they don't deliver to my 'hood. Sad very sad...

Omaha strip steaks (xmas gift) and fresh corn that was soooo super sweet! Joe, you need to go to the stand on Georgia Ave just after RT. 28 and you will not be disappointed

Hmmmm.
Gives me an excuse to go to the driving range, Olney Golf Park, almost next door.

(FWIW - easily the best golf practice facility in the area)

You need to find a new source because I had some amazing ears this weekend. Roasted them up and made a corn and avocado salad with a lime cilantro dressing. I ate it before a big bowl of very garlicky spaghettini with meat sauce.

Fresh corn sauteed with various squash, butter, S&P, fresh basil and a little cream and fresh tomato added with the heat off. Topped with shrimp and more basil. Macon-Fuisse to drink. Fire Fly Farms Mountain Top Blue with Atwater walnut raisin bread for dessert.

Grilled tenderloin with Montreal steak seasoning, served over mixed greens salad tossed with Point Reyes Blue dressing and chunks, sauteed vidalia onions and tomato from my patio.

Looks good, Bill.

After Sunday's bacchanalia we just had my favorite pasta -- penne with kale and sausage. Inspired by Chef Power, I also made a simple tomato salad with a lime and olive oil dressing and a little s +p.

Wine was "Les Viguiers", Cave de Rasteau coop, CdRhone, 2003. While drinkable, this wine showed how problematic the 2003 vintage is going to be for southern French wines -- very hot and thin -- not the best vinatage for this wine.

Pan-fried (too hot to grill) Bison ribeye (from Cibola Farms) with garlic and paprika.

Squash blossoms stuffed with basil and piave vecchio (and one with ants, but I ate them anyway).

Arugula and Mustard salad.

Ginger-lime sorbet and a white nectarine for dessert.

Had Widmer Hefewizen along with it.

A Thai stir-fry. Used blade steak, which is a cheap cut I really like lately (tender, fairly beefy). Right now Safeway has it on sale for $1.99/lb.

And some peach and blueberry cobbler.

Chicken Tikka with Raita and Garlic Naan.

The naan was a frozen one from Trader Joe's and was damn good - better than I've had in a lot of Indian restaurants. Can't quite say that about the the chicken, but it wasn't bad.