Amazon Fresh is ending automatic delivery. Nooooo! Amazon won't say why.

This is concerning for me. I've used Automatic delivery for years now. I don't understand why they would end such a nice feature.

The work of ordering won't change that much since my automatic delivery has been converted to a list that I can easily order from with one click.

What concerns me is the guaranteed delivery spot. In the past there were times I couldn't get overnight delivery unless I ordered two days in advance. Automatic delivery solved that. With Automatic Delivery, I knew my groceries would arrive every Sunday morning, even if the next day was a holiday and I was too busy to check my order on Saturday.

Amazon has been investing in their delivery service. Maybe they now have enough capacity to guarantee overnight delivery We'll see.

Ribs #2

This time I roasted the foil back for 4 hours on 225 and then four hours at 190. The ribs came out perfectly tender. RO didn't want his ribs broiled at the end, so I basted all of them with bbq sauce, and then only broiled half.

Both halves came out very tasty. RO insists the broiling dry's out the meat to much for his preference. For me, broiling gives you that great smokey, crunchy bbq feel and taste.

Slow cooked ribs.

I think these ribs are best when roasted for 6 hours. 5 is OK. 6 is that much more tender.

Pre heat oven to 220F

Brush ribs with a very light coating of your favorite BBQ sauce. Add pepper, cumin.

Wrap tightly in foil along with half a chopped onion and a few gloves of garlic.

Take the ribs out of the oven after 6 hours. Let them sit for 5 minutes.

The ribs will now be very tender, but not brown.

Take the ribs out of the foil, brush with more BBQ sauce, broil until brown.

Salmon Chili

Chop and fry up one large onion and a papper

Add a big can diced tomatoes,

add kidney beans

add cilantro-- two fresh handfuls

basil

oregano

celery seed

salt, black and read pepper. Season to taste.

Add Worcestershire sauce & balsamic to taste.

Fry up two salmon fillets.

chop into bite sized pieces.

add to tomato sauce

check seasoning.

From reddit...

First, I wanted to thank all the people who suggest recipes and tips. I've never made a real, "from scratch" cake before. The entire process took me about 5 hours (though that includes baking time and waiting for the crumb-layer of frosting to harden a bit, then for the entire frosting to cool before pouring the chocolate over it). You guys have definitely helped me discover that baking is more enjoyable than I had thought!
RECIPE
Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
This cake is INTENSE. Serve it in the thinnest slices possible, and keep a glass of milk handy.
Makes an 8-inch triple-layer cake;
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanut brittle (I skipped this)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. (Deb note: These cakes are very, very soft. I found them a lot easier to work with after firming them up in the freezer for 30 minutes. They’ll defrost quickly once assembled. You’ll be glad you did this, trust me.)
4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. (Deb note 1: Making a crumb coat of frosting–a thin layer that binds the dark crumbs to the cake so they don’t show up in the final outer frosting layer–is a great idea for this cake, or any with a dark cake and lighter-colored frosting. Once you “mask” your cake, let it chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm, then use the remainder of the frosting to create a smooth final coating. Deb note 2: Once the cake is fully frosted, it helps to chill it again and let it firm up. The cooler and more set the peanut butter frosting is, the better drip effect you’ll get from the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze.)
5. To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze, put the cake plate on a large baking sheet to catch any drips. Simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving. Decorate the top with chopped peanut brittle.

Peanut Butter Frosting Makes about 5 cups
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a commercial brand (because oil doesn’t separate out)

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze Makes about 1 1/2 cups
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In the top of a double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.

Celery seed

I have 1.5 pounds of celery seed in the spice cupboard. I don't know why I have that much celery seed. Hell, I don't know what to use celery seed for.

I'm starting to list all the meals I want to make regularly. If I leave that up to my mind, I make the same seven dishes over and over again.

Cabbage and onion in a beef broth
Chicken roasted anyway
salads with cranberries and red onion
beef wellington
salmon soup
ahi
lamb
brown rice with browned onion
steak
pork roast

More good scotch

Its from the Betty Bates memorial scotch collection. Seriously. My neighbor took his  in hesitance and bought lots of scotch with it.

Good scotch

Good wine

I made a Beef Wellington with tri-tip roast, and bacon, mushrooms and onions, rather than pate and duxell.

It turned out very good.

Schwan's

I've started using Schwan's home delivery in addition to Amazon Fresh.

One of my few complains with Amazon is that it's meat prices, especially beef, are on the high side. Of course, Amazon beef is all high quality. Much of it is organic or grass fed. But, sometimes I just want an inexpensive steak. That's where Schwan's nicely fits in.

Most of what Schwan's offers are fully prepared meals. They also offer a decent selection of steaks and roasts. Schwan's delivery isn't as convenient as Amazon Fresh. Delivery takes anywhere from 2 days to one week. They do offer unattended delivery.

Chili

I haven't made it in years. Since I'm trying to make meals that make lots of leftovers, I've started making it every week.

fry up...
1lbs turky beef.
onion

add big can diced tomatos.

With Chili #1, I used 2 cans kidney beans, plus the kidney bean water. One can tomato paste. 3 serano peppers

Chili #2 I used 2 cans black beans, drained. Two cans tomato paste. 2 serano peppers.

spices-- cumin, oregano, basil, garlic powder, celery salt.

#1 was a better chili. #2 was still very good. I'm going to try and reproduce #1.

Pho House Vietnamese in Renton

2844 NE Sunset Blvd Renton, WA 98056.

This is a great Pho Restaurant. Clean. Good food. Good service.

My partner surprised me with by purchasing a Vitamix 5200. I'm a little angry because it's a $500.00 blender and I don't like it when 'we' make big purchases without consulting each other.

On the other hand, it's a very nice blender. The design is very well thought through. With my old blender (blenders really) food would frequently clump in the blender and I'd either have to stop the blend and mix, or stick a wooden spoon into the blendar and risk having the spoon chopped up. This blender appears to have been designed to promote better cirulation. It also comes with a special tamper that lets you push foods around in the blendar without risk of smashing the tamper into the blades.

The sounds of the blendar sometimes worry me. It's not a quiet machine. The first time we chopped ice, it sounded like something had gone wrong. After watching the included DVD though, my worries have subsided. The blender can make loud griding noises. That's just normal.

The blendar can also heat soups. It doesn't have a heating element. The friction of the blades creates enough heat make a hot soup in about five minutes. This is useful.

What I like most about the blender is the quality of the purees. Food comes out smooth. With the old blender a puree created a considerable amount of pulp. The Vitamax obliterates the pulp. I no longer need to strain sauces or soups.

Amazon Fresh still ahead...

Amazon Fresh has been making changes that worry me. The minimum order with free delivery has gone from $30.00 to $50.00. Case discounts are no longer available.

I decided to compare Amazon Fresh against Safeway.com. As nearly as a could, I created the same shopping list on the two sites. The end result; the bills on the two sites were close; $154.59 on Amazon, $157.54 on Safeway . Safeway groceries were slightly less expensive. The $6.00-$10.00 delivery made the difference..

The delivery options are where Amazon really pulls ahead. Unattended and overnight delivery are very convenient. I can't imagine paying $10.00 for delivery during hour slot or $4.00 for a 4-hour slot.

Oh. Even better; tucked away on the bottom of the Safeway bill, but not reflected in the price is this line: "There will be a fuel surcharge of $1.68 for this order"

Amazon Fresh will remain my grocery provider.

A Terrible Beauty

http://www.aterriblebeauty.com/

How come no one told of this before? I love it. It's a wonderful Irish Pub that serves great food.

Frozen Veggies II

9oz frozen asparagus

9oz frozen baby Brussels sprouts

Heat a skillet it in a 450F oven. I turned on the convection as well.

After the skillet and oven get to temp, added about 2 tbsp oil to the skillet then dumped in the frozen veggies.

Roast for 20 minutes. Stir at 10 minutes to ensure everything is coated with the drippings.

Season to taste and serve.

Sam's Pit II

I heard about Sam's Pit from the Renton Hipster so I gave it a try.

I had a brisket sandwich with baked beans. Very good.

I'm a little worried that while the owner is a good chef, he may not know how to run a take-out-joint. Everything was a bit too quiet and a bit too disorganized.

Hopefully word will get around and this place will be a great success.

Novilhos Brazilian Steak House.

We were looking for a cheap Pho shop for dinner when we saw a sign pointing to Novilhos. A neighbor of ours had previously recommended it. So instead of spending $20.00 on Pho, we spent $200.00 on wine and wonderful Brazilian steak dinner.

Yes, Novilhos is a high end experience. It is worth it. Bring your appetite and pace yourself. It's easy to quickly fill up on the unlimited, beautifully prepared meat. In other reviews I've heard people complain that some of the meat was too dry. I think that's because they took only what was offered. We did get an over seasoned outer cut which wasn't to our tastes so we asked for a rare inner cut. The staff quickly brought it and switched to presenting us rare and not medium meat.

The bar looked pleasant. Next time we may just stop there for drinks and see what they offer in the bar menu.

Citrus Rosemary Tea

I love this when I have a cold.

One slice of lemon.

One slice of lime

One four inch sprig of rosemary

Steep in a cup of boiling water for five minutes.

Add honey for taste.

Add a shot of rum for extra medicinal value.

BBQ Sauce I

Two medium onions finely chopped

Two stalks celery, finely chopped.

6 cloves of garlic, minced.

Saute the onion, celery and garlic until brown.

Add...

50oz canned diced tomatoes.

1c balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup red wine

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 cups brown sugar

3tbsp Dijon mustard

1tbsp chopped rosemary

2 bay leaves

lemon zest from half a lemon

lemon juice from half a lemon

2tsp salt.

Let simmer for an hour. Fish out the bay leaves. Take a stick blender to the rest.

Strain.

Chocolate Sauce

Very easy...

1 cup coco powder.

1.5 cups sugar.

mix the sugar and coco powder together.

Heat 1 cup water till just boiling. Add 2tbsp corn syrup to the hot water.

Slowly pour the hot water and syrup into the sugar and coco powder. Stir constantly. until well mixed and smooth. If the sugar crystals don't dissolve then microwave the mixture for 30 seconds and stir a little more.

Pizza Dough IV

Finally, I've made good pizza. It's the no-knead recipe from FoodWishes.com I wouldn't say it's the best pizza I've ever had, but with practice and the right ingredients, it could compete. As a friend said "This is the kind of recipe you could use for the rest of your life."

Ingredients...

1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/2 c tepid water
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 c wheat flour
2 1/2c bread flour

What follows is all basic stuff. That's where I went wrong. In the past my pizza turned out mediocre because I was trying too hard, being too fancy, doing what I thought a professional pizza man with a pizza pallet and a pizza stone would do.

Simplify to make great pizza...

Mix all the ingredients until smooth. They should form a sticky, but not runny dough. If the dough is runny, add a little more flour.

Don't knead the dough. Let the dough sit twelve hours in a warm (70F-ish) room.

Pour the dough out on a well floured board and flour both sides. Don't worry about using too much flour, you can always shake it off later.

Cut the dough into four equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball.

Roll each ball out into a pie about 9 inches in diameter. If the dough sticks then add a little more flour. You can use your hands to form the pie if you want, but a rolling pin is easier and the pizza is just as good.

Sprinkle corn meal on one side of the pizza. Gently press the corn meal into the pizza.

Flip the pizza over and onto a metal baking sheet, corn meal side down.

Brush a little olive oil on the dough to seal it and help it brown.

Dress your pizza up. Use your ingredients sparingly. This is not deep dish pizza. A tbsp of tomato sauce, a little cheese, maybe some sliced ham or other meat. A little goes a long way here.

Put the baking sheet into the oven. Forget about the pizza pallet.

The recipe calls for baking the pizza at 450F for about 10 minutes. My oven is a little on the cool side so I tried 475F. It still needed 12 minutes. Next time I'm going to try 500F for 10 minutes.

Meals that turn out well...

Linguini with peas and tomato sauce.

Cut four chicken thighs to bite sized pieces. Saute with a diced onion and two minced cloves of garlic.

Sprinkle 1tbsp flour over the chicken and onion. Stir the flour in and cloat the chicken and onion.

Add one 28oz can of diced tomatos and one 14oz can of chicken broth. Stir well. Wait till the mixture starts simmering.

Add salt, pepper, basil or other herbs to taste.

Add 16oz peas. I use a bag of frozen peas. Brussel spouts, or snow peas also work.

Boil the Linguini.

Serve up.

Frozen veggies

I generally only buy 'ingredients' when I grocery shop-- no prepared food and nothing with chemical additives. I'll make an exception for ice cream.

So convenience foods are few and far between. At meal time, everything has to be cleaned, prepared and then cooked. Nothing I can pour out of a bag, heat and serve.

Except for frozen veggies. This is a surprise discovery. I've stayed away from frozen foods my whole life. My mother did much freezing and canning when I was young. And while I appreciated her efforts, the results were always mushy and bland.

On impulse, I tried out a bag of frozen veggies-- a stir fry medley. I poured them over a chicken while it was roasting. The results were very, very good. The veggies roasted in the chicken fat making them extra tasty.

Fresh veggies in your grocery store are really several days old and bred to survive the shipping process. After purchase, they may lay around my fridge or on the counter for several days or even a week before I get around to serving them. By that time they are fresh in name only.

Frozen veggies on the other hand were flash frozen hours after being picked and if you handle them properly they will stay well frozen for weeks.

If you cook them properly, it would be very difficult to tell they were not fresh. The trick is to not let them thaw before cooking. Take them straight from freezer to the fire, so to speak. The quick temperature change prevents ice crystals from forming and damaging the cells.

Thanks to the variety and convenience I'm adding them to everything. I've easily doubled my intake of vegetables. Pasta sauce with with peas and Brussels sprouts was good as was roast Boeuf bourguignon with roasted veggies.

Of course they do have their limits. They will never replace a fresh green salad and they tend to be a bit wet which means they don't brown well in a saute or stir fry. But when I look at my fridge, at the things that have molded, gone soft or just plain rotted and when I think over the times I wanted to eat more veggies but didn't because they were too much work to prepare, frozen veggies now have a well deserved place in my kitchen.

Pan fried roasts

Boeuf bourguignon do it. Cornish game hen's do it too. The result is tasty and tender meat.

The idea is that you brown your mean in a fry pan before you roast it. Some recipies say it's to 'seal in the juicies.' That's not true. Browning meat just makes it taste better.

Pre-heat your oven to 400F

Heat up a good cast iron skillet to medium heat with some oil or butter.

Dry off your meat. It won't brown properly if it's wet. Also, make sure your meat is cut so that it can properly brown on all sides. This means splitting a game hen into two.

Brown your meat on all sides-- two to five minutes a side. While you are browning, throw in some onions and spices.

The recipies for the B.B. and the game hen diverge here. With the BB you add a simple sauce with flour and butter to the beef.

Finally, put your meat (The B.B. or the game hen) into the oven and roast for an hour.

For extra goodness, pour a bag of frozen veggies over your roast. before you put it into the oven.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

I'm enjoying Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I'll admit I won't make many of the recipes-- calf brains anyone? But the chapter on sauces is excellent.

I'm pleased with how easy vinaigrette are. I will never use plain ol' olive oil and vinegar again. The trick is to use a little ground mustard to emulsify the oil and vinegar.

Till now, I sprinkled my salads with separate oil and vinegar-- simple and tasty but this has problems. Vinegar won't cling to leaves. It pours off the salad and pools on the plate. A vinaigrette on the other hand, stays nicely on the leaves.

For a good vinaigrette, use a ratio of two to one oil to vinegar. Add one eighth a teaspoon of ground mustard for every tablespoon of vinegar. Shake the ingredients in a bottle until combined.

Use any salad-worthy oil. As for the vinegar, you could substitute wine or lemon juice. Olive oil and white wine vinegar make a traditional vinaigrette. I substitute in balsamic and have no regrets.

The Forbidden Zone

The Forbidden Zone... The Forbidden Zone... Who recommended that I watch the Forbidden Zone? Step forward and get your spanking.

As a movie, Forbidden Zone is bad. It succeeds as a musical, or as an act of unrestrained creativity. The music is very good. The screen is full of the bizarre and original. This is what happens when very talented, very creative people get together and make a movie with no budget and no script. As I watched Forbidden Zone, my jaw dropped and I constantly thought "What the Hell!" But, I never wanted to stop looking. It's endlessly inventive.

I finished watching the included documentary about the Forbidden Zone. It makes a little more sense now. The Forbidden Zone is a series of musical numbers and performance art pieces. The plot was added afterwards.

Mark and I saw the Forbidden Zone through Netflix which recommends movies based on your ratings. We couldn't decide what to rate Forbidden Zone. Should it be one star, or five? Five stars because it is distinct, original and endlessly watchable. One star because it is a piece of crap. It's like watching an accident that doesn't end. You know that what you are watching isn't good, but you can't look away.

Roger Ebert likes to give great trash two and a half stars. The idea being that great movies come along so rarely that there must be room for great trash. In that spirit RO and I gave Forbidden Zone three stars.

Tomato Sauce

I finally bought "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." It's a great reference on technique and tricks as much as it is for recipes.

Case in point... tomato sauce. My old recipe is good, but the sauce is dark and more liquid than I'd like. I've always assumed that premade sauce from the store could be light and thick because they use industrial food additivies.

Skimming through MAFC, I ran into a tomato sauce recipe. What's different about this recipe is that it calls for sweating the veggies, not sauting and for the addition of some flour. These two changes seem to have lightened and thickened my sauce. I double checked with the "Joy of Cooking" No mention of adding flour.

Good job Julia.

Meals that turn out very well...

Pan sered salmon with roast asparagus, onions and mushrooms, served with quinoa or brown rice.

Prepare the quinoa, or brown rice.

Clean and trim the asparagus. drizzle with oil, salt & pepper. Broil for 10 minutes, turning after 5.

Saute the onions and mushrooms for 5 minutes. Mix with the asparagus under the broiler for the last five minutes.

Pan seer the salmon for 90 seconds a side.

If your timing is good, everything should be ready at the same time. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley and enjoy.

Sweet Potato Pie.

I want to make more pies. Not entirely from scratch, but that will come.

When I made beef wellington, I learned that I can buy pre made pastry. This opens a whole new world as I can make pies without having to make the crust.

My first pie was sweet potato pie. Google for the recipie. It turned out wonderful.

Cream pies seem easy and I know I love them. Cheese cakes are just a twist on cream pies, so maybe I'll make more of these.

Beef Wellington.

I made Beef Wellington as a birthday gift. The Wellington recipies are a bit more fussy than I usually go for. None the less, it turned out well and I will make it again.

Beef Wellington is a recipie that can be tweaked in many ways. At it's most simple, it is a tenderloin roast, covered with pate and fried mushrooms and onions, wrapped with pastry and then baked.

Expensive version-- use a very high quality cut of meat. The pate should be foie gras. Use truffels for the mushrooms. Make the pastry yourself.

Cheap version-- use a lower quality roast. Instead of pate use minced or chopped chicken gizzards and chicken breast. Use frozen pre-made puff pastry.

Egg Whites and Angel Food

I had a dozen egg whites sitting in my freezer since October 2007. I kid you not. When I need yolks, I'll save the whites in a dark corner of the freezer. Today I stubled on a zip lock bag of yolks dated to 2007.

So, I thought I'd try them out in an angel food cake-- Alton's recipie. I substituted regular flour for the cake flour and everything turned out fine.

Let me make that more dramatic-- I made an angel food cake with two year old whites, a flour substitution, an electric beater cranked to high and it still turned out great.

I love angel food cake. Especially with peanut butter and chocolate sauce.

Kennydale Beach Park After Dark

To stave off the heat, last night we went to Kennydale Beach Park to swim, to have a light picnic and to watch the sun set.

What a great place. After the life guards left, the beach came alive. People kept showing up, mostly teenagers, but many families as well. You could hear laughter everywhere. Of course, the best part of swimming someplace without a life guard is that you can do whatever you want. Lots of people were swimming outside the buoyed off swimming area. People were jumping off the rails, playfully pushing each other off the dock, playing tag in the deep water, floating on air mattress and all those other officially unsafe, yet fun, activities.

The sunset was beautiful and broadly red. Then the sky turned a deep dark blue. Perfect for swimming.

What goes around comes around...

Lard is making a comeback. It's mostly monounsaturated fat. Also, the food you eat with it is more rich than without, so you eat less.

White Sauce

I've been experiementing with white sauces over pasta. I've found an easy way to make them. I just have to get used to the proportions.

Last night I melted 2 tbsp butter into a small pot at medium heat. I sprinked that with 2 tbsp flour. After the flour and butter are combined I added 1 cup of milk. Then I whisked until thick

Mixing the flour with the butter to form a roux is what makes the sauce easy. For years I've added the milk to the pot immediatly after adding the flour. This makes clumps. Mixing the flour with melted butter first makes the additon of milk go easy.

My sauce was good but a bit thick. I'm going to cut it back to 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp flour.

Cafe Lure, Tapestry Saloon & Calico Cheesecakes

917 South Third Street Renton, WA

Cafe Lure, the Tapestry Saloon and Calico Cheescakes are three establishments, right next to each other, all owned and operated by the same couple.

The food is great. The decore is so-so. But the food is great. Did I mention that the food is great?

I've been to the Lure three times now. Everything we've ordered has been beautifly presented and very tasty.

Of course there are always a wide variety of cheese cakes for dessert.

Nettles II

Cooking with nettles is fun. I've made a great Nettle lasagna with them. It's just a spinach lasagna with nettles substituting for the spinach. The nettles are thicker and tastier than the spinach so they go well in the lasagna.

Stinging Nettle Lasagna

Stinging Nettle Lasagna is just my regular lasagna with stinging nettles instead of spinach. I turned out very good. The nettles have more texture and taste than spinach.



Get a 9 x 12 baking tin. Ready three layers of lasagna noodles. That's probably nine regular noodles.



You will also need a good thick meet sauce and a nettles and cheese layer.

Amazon Fresh II

A bit more on Amazon Fresh.

They tend to run out of products a bit more often than I'd like. So far I've missed thick cut bacon, the large Jiffy brand crunchy peanut butter and lemon grass. In all cases I could sign up for a notice. The item was re-stocked within a week.

The produce and meats have been high quality.

Delivery has been punctual.





-

Amazon Fresh

I like using home grocery delivery. There is no convenient grocery store around me so grocery delivery saves me a couple hours a week. The scheduled delivery and the minimum purchases force me to plan ahead which kills impulse buys and means I eat out less often.

In the past I've used Safeway.com. Unfortunatly their fees are slowly increasing. Last year I could get free delivery for orders over $75.00. This year it costs $10.00 for orders over $150.00.

Since I'm buying for two, $150.00 in groceries is too much. The vegitables go bad or I run out of perishables before my grocery list is up to $150.00.

Safeway's delivery schedule isn't that convenient. If I order today, my groceries are delivered tomorrow night. Yes, technically they could be delivered between 10am and noon tomorrow, but I have a day job.

Along comes Amazon Fresh.They have free delivery on orders over $75.00. Amazon also has unattended predawn delivery. If I order by midnight, my groceries will be on my door stop by 6am the next morning.

Refrigerated and frozen goods are left in returnable freezer totes.This is so good. I can reasonably spend $75.00 a week on food and the perishables

Safeway.com has a larger selection than Amazon Fresh. For similar items, Amazon appears to be less expensive than Safeway.I'll be using Amazon Fresh for some time to come

Stinging Nettles are in Season

Weate stinging nettles yesterday. They pop up all over the back yard. Mark heard that you could use them as food so we gave them a try.

Stinging nettle tea is nice. It tastes like green tea with a little bit of a sweet after taste.

When you cook a nettle, it gets rid of the sting. When cooked it tastes much like spinach but a little thicker, a little more firm and with little more texture.

Raclette III

Raclette is great for sea food. The slower grilling time makes it hard to over cook shirmp or scallops. The food hits your mouth hot and tender.

Raclette II

The food stretching abilities of raclette continue. Last night we fed four people with one chicken breast, one steak and a mix of vegies. And we were all stuffed at the end!

In Praise of Raclette

I love my raclette. What is raclette? It's a table top grill and broiler. You can cook little packages of food exactly the way you want. And, it's propertly hot when you eat it.

The slower cooking process of the raclette has another benifit. It encourages us to eat more slowly. You can't cook more than four or five forkfulls at a time before you need to prepare another little tray of food, so the meal is slowed way down.

Which is perfect for me because I tend to scarf my food down.

When you eat more slowly, you eat less. I swear I eat a third less food with the raclet than with a normal meal.

Raclette is also very convienient and easy to keep clean. All I have to do is chop up some veggies and meat and the meal is ready.

Pizza Dough III

Slowly my pizza dough is improving. It is now tender and crisp. I still have problems getting the pizza off the palette and onto the stone, but that's a matter of practice.

The more I make pizza, the more I realize that a great crust is as much about technique as it is about ingredients. I have to take my time. This isn't a recipie that produces pizza in under an hour. And I have to go slow to make sure the crust is thin. I use a rolling pin and I dust with flour every time the pizza dough becomes sticky.

This should be enough dough for 4 8'' pizzas.

Ingredients...
2 tablespoons sugar.
2 teaspoons Kosher salt.
1 tablespoon pure olive oil.
3/4 cup warm water.
1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
1 and 1/2 cups bread flour.
1 teaspoon instant yeast

Mix together and kneed. I kneed it in my stand mixer for 15 minutes. If the dough sticks too much, then scrape it into a ball, sprinkle the ball with flour and keed some more.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled dish. Cover and let rest in the fridge for 24 hours. I've read several "Worlds Best Dough!" recipies and all of them have this rest stage. It is important for the dough to develop and soften up.

When the dough has rested, take a quarter of it and make it into a ball.

I raise the dough in a microwave.

I put a cup of water in the microwave and nuked it on high till the water was boiling and the interior of the microwave was steamy.

I set the dough ball on a plate, covered it with a wet cloth and microwaved it for 20 minutes at 10% power. I checked plate after 10 minutes to ensure it wasn't too warm or dry.

Next, I rolled out the dough. I went slow. I started the dough with a rolling pin. And I dusted the dough with flower every time it got sticky.

It is important for me to to start with a rolling pin. While it is romantic and authentic to roll out pizza dough with only your hands, a rolling pin is fast, easy, more consistant and no one will taste the difference.

I rolled out the dough till it was as thin as the rolling pin could make it. Then I let the dough rest for five minutes and rolled it some more. I went slow.

Then, I dusted the dough with flower and finished stretching the dough out by hand. In the end the pizza was thin, so thin I could almost see through it.

Again, I dusted the pizza palette with four and corn meal. Put the pizza dough on the pallet, lightly cover with tomato sauce and the ingredients. The operative word is lightly. Too much water from the sauce or ingredients and the pizza will be soggy.

Baked at 450F for 10 minutes. Next time I'll try 500F.

Gazpacho

I've been making Gazpacho's lately. You don't need to follow an exact recipie.

Take a slice of bread. Get it wet. Throw it in the blender.

Add one quarter cup of olive oil to the blender.

Add one and a half cups of diced tomatoes to the blender.

Add one cup of seeded and peeled cucumbers to the blender.

At a tbsp vinegar (balsamic or sherry) to the blender.

Add one small hot pepper to the blender

Add one quarter of an onion and two cloves of garlic to the blender.

At this point, I keep adding vegies to the blender till the blender fills up. Try a bell pepper, or carrots, or celery, or zuchini.

Blend for two minutes until everything is a liquid-- a soup.

I strain my gazpacho, but that is not necessary.

Roasted Dinners

I heard about roasted dinners from the Splendid Table. I've been making them fairly often-- they are very easy and work well for week nights.

The basic idea is that you take a bunch of food that will cook at about the same rate, or tastes good when over roasted, prep, oil and spice the food, put it on cooking tin and roast at 450F for 45 minutes.

More details..

When I get home I preheat the oven to 450F.

Now, I decide what I want to cook. All hard veggies work well. Try carrots, squash, potatoes, snow peas, brocholi, zuchini, onion.

I take a variety of veggies, tonight it's potatoes, carrots and brocholi, and cut them so they will cook at about the same time. The potatoes are more thick than the carrots since they cook faster.

Next, I toss with some oil and herbs.

Place the veggies on a baking tray next to a few thawned chicken pieces.

Place everything in the oven and roast for 45 minutes.

If your chicken comes out over done, then the next time, try putting it on the baking tray directly from the fridge, instead of letting it warm up to room temp.

Chili

I am neither Southern, nor Spanish, nor Mexican. That means I can make Chili with beans and without peppers and not feel bad about it.

Mark insists this makes the best chili he has ever tasted.

The recipe happened by accident. I made beans with diced tomatoes one night, then dressed it up with meat the second.

In a pressure cooker, brown one diced onion and four cloves of garlic.

Add one pound of dried beans (I used the Costco bean mix), 32oz of canned diced tomatoes and 16oz of chicken stock.

Pressure cook for 1 hour.

Get your meat ready. Stew meat would be good. I used a mystery roast in the freezer. Cube the chucks of meat.

Brown the meat on two sides. Season a little. Add 32 oz diced tomato and juice. Pressure cook for 15 minutes.

Mix the beans with the meat. Season appropriately.

This dish is even better if you let it sit over night in the fridge.

One of the reasons this recipe is good is the two separate pressure cooking's. The second, shorter cooking of the tomatoes and meat allows the tomato and meat to each have distinct flavor and texture. As opposed to the "It all tastes and feels the same" food that happens with long cook times.

Popovers

I've been making Popovers instead of serving buns or bread with the meal. Very tasty. I don't have Popover cups, so I use a pie plate instead. The result is kind of like a Welsh Pudding.

This recipie comes from Good Eats...

Put 1 tbsp of butter into a pie plate. Put the pie late into the oven and heat to 400F.

Mix 1 cups of milk, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp melted butter.

Now, mix in 1 cup of all purpose flour. I take a stick belder to it just until smooth-- about 30 seconds.

When the oven has finished heating, swirl the butter in the pie plate around. Pour the batter into the pie plate.

Let them bake for 40 minutes. Take out and stab holes into them to let the steam out.

The Joy of cooking has a few more suggestions....

Try using 1.5 cups of milk instead of 1 cup. Bake at 450F for 15 minutes and then 350F for 20 minutes.

If you want crispy Popovers, take the popovers out of the pie plate and put them on a wire rack. Turn the oven off and let the popovers sit in the oven for 10 minutes.

The Red House

410 Burnett Ave S, Renton.

So good and so affordable.

Wine is priced at retail plus a five dollar corking fee. You can have excellent wine for under $20.00!

Try the beets with sherry, garlic and Gorgonzola. I'm serious... try them. This dish elevates beets from Germanic side dish to great cuisine.

Tomato Soup.

Finely chop a carrot, a stock of celery and an onion. Sweat these in a sauce pan until soft.

Add 64 oz of diced & seeded tomatoes. Add 8oz of chicken stock.

Simmer for 30 minutes or pressure cook for 15.

Take a stick blender to soup to make it nice and smooth.

Season to taste.

Pressure Cooking

I received a new pressure cooker as a gift. Now, many slow cooked foods are practial week night dishes.

I made an excellent beef stock in under an hour. With thirty more minutes I turned the stock into a french onion soup which my partner claims is the best he has ever had.

Dried beens can cooked in under 35 minutes. If you presoak first, it takes less than 15 minutes.

Vegitarian.

Lately, I've been eating vegitarian every 2nd or 3rd night. This has two advantages. First, it's cheaper. Second, I enjoy my meat more. Cooked animal is even better if you didn't have cooked animal yesterday.

Pudding...

Coco powder, flour and corn starch often clump if you are not careful when mixing them into a liquid. You can avoid this problem by shaking them up in a large container, rather than mixing with a spoon or whisk...

Chocolate pudding...

In a sauce pan on medium heat, melt one tablespoon of butter.

In a large sealable container add...
half a cup coco powder.
half a cup sugar.
3 tablespoons corn starch.

seal the container and vigorously shake until combined.

Now pour two cups of milk into the container, quickly reseal it and vigorously shake some more

pour the mixture into the sauce pan. Stir often with a spatula. Don't walk away-- the mixture can quickly develope a thick layer on the bottom of the pan.

When the mixture starts to thicken and simmer, set the temperature to low and let simmer for one minute more.

Pour into four dishes

You can add some frozen fruit and serve hot, or put the dishes in the refrigerator and serve later cold.

Fritata

This turned out well. It takes about an hour to make, the it's worth it.

Put half a tbsp of butter and half a tbsp of oil into a pie plate.

Put the pie plate into an oven and heat to 400F. The idea is to heat the pie plate and oil up so that when the egg mixture hits it, a quick and thin crust will form to prevent sticking.

Break five eggs into a measuring cup. Add milk to bring the measure up to two cups. Wisk to combine.

Find a cup of filling-- I used left over vegitables-- and chop the filling into small pieces.

When the pie plate has heated up and the oil is popping, pull the plate out of the oven, swirl the oil and butter around to coat. Now, quickly pour the egg & milk into the pie plate. Don't mix or scrape the bottom.

Sprinkle the filling all over the eggs.

Cover with half a cup of grated cheese.

Bake at 400F for 40 minutes.

Rice Pudding.

Lately I've been taking left over rice and making rice pudding. Very taste. Very easy.

Take one cup of cooked rice.

Add three cups of milk and half a cup of sugar.

Heat on medium until a simmer is reached, then turn down to low.

Stir regularly to avoid burning.

When the milk is mostly absorbed, beat one egg with one third a cup of sugar.

Temper the egg & suger with one cup of the rice & milk-- that is, take a cup of rice & milk and slowly pour it into the egg & sugar, beating constantly. This will heat up the egg and prevent it from curdling.

Mix the egg & sugar back into the rice & milk.

Add half a teaspooon of vanilla extract.

Heat unti thickened.

Cool down.

For bonus points, make rice pudding brulee. Spoon the rice pudding into a bowl. Place a teaspoon of sugar ontop of the rice pudding. Take a blow torch to the sugar until it melts.

Crackers

You can make your own crackers. They taste good!

One cup flour-- or various flours. I've tried this with half amaranth flour plus half bread flower and half whole wheat, plus half bread.

half a teaspoon salt.

two tablespoons oil.

three tablespoons water.

one teaspoon seasonings. Any kind. Rosemary is good.

Mix everything together until it forms a ball. You may need to add more water.

Roll the ball out on parchment paper. Roll as thin as possible.

Bake at 400F for 15 minutes-- peek at 10 minutes to make sure nothing is burning.

Splenda.

Mmmmm Splenda. Sugar and chlorine together at last!

Seared Ahi with Finger Potatoes and Asparagus

Mark enjoyed this meal so much that he asked me to write it down so I could reproduce it again and again. The meal was seared ahi with finger potatoes and asparagus.

I marinated the ahi in

• 2tbsp sesame oil
• 2tbsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp ginger.
• pinch of salt
• pepper

I seared the ahi at medium high heat for about 40 seconds a side.

I plated the ahi on a bed of lettuce and carrot strips with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

For the potatoes, I sliced each finger potate in half length wise, springled with oil and paramsan chease. I then roasted the potatoes for 40 minutes at 400F.

I roasted the asparagus for about 10 minutes at 400F. I served with a pat of butter.

More No Kneed Bread...

The bread recipie continues to evolve. I am now use dough from the old batch as a starter for the new. This way I don't need any yeast-- the last expensive ingredient.

In a large bowl mix until combined....

• 2 cups of bread dough starter
• 3 cups hot water (1ooF)
• 1 tbsp kosher salt.
• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
• 5 cups bread flower

The dough doesn't need to be smooth. Just make sure there are no big flour clumps.

Pull off about 2 cups of the dough. This will be used as a starter for next time. Put the starter into a sealable container than can hold at least 4 cups.

Split the remaining dough into two lumps. Put each lump into a greased & floured bread pan. I cover the pans with plastic wrap.

Rest the dough and the starter in a warm spot, I use a heating pad. Let them raise till doubled.

After everything has risen, put everyting into the fridge for up to two weeks.

When you want bread, take a pan out and let it rest at room temp for about 30 minutes.

Put a broiler pan on the low rock in the oven and preheat to 450F.

Put a cup of hot water into the broiler pan. Put the loaf on the rack above it.

Bake for 30 minutes.

The Joy of Cooking calls this a mixed starter method. It says that over time the dough will take longer and longer to rise. Slow rises improve the taste. If the rise ever takes too long, you can boost things the next time by adding a teaspoon of yeast to the mix.

More bread.

The bred recipie is still evolving. I've reduced it, added some whole wheat flower and pour it into loaf pans for rising. This way, when I want fresh bread, I grab a pan and pop it in the oven.

Mix...

• 1 tbsp kosher salt.
• 1 tbsp yeast.

into

• 2 cups hot water (100F)

Add...

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1.5 cups whole wheat flour.

Mix until combined. I put all the ingredients into a large sealable container, shake and then stir a little to get rid of any flour clumps.

Split the dough between two loaf pans. Let it raise in a warm spot until more than doubled (Min of 2 hours). I use a heating pad since my home is on the cold side.

Put the loaves in the fridge for up to two weeks. Bake as before.

Next, I'm going to try eliminating the yeast and using some of the dough as a starter. This is covered in the "Joy of Cooking" under "Mixed Starters" so it should work. I'll have inexpensive and easy to make fresh bread whenever I want. Yum!

Chocolate Ganache

I am having great luck with ganache. Basically, you take a 50/50 mixture of dark chocolate and heavy cream, add sugar, mix, whip and serv.

Ch0p up 8oz dark chocolate.

In a sauce pan mix the chopped chocolate with 2 cups heavy cream and half a cup brown sugar.

Heat on medium until everything melts and mixes. About 170F.

Chill.

Whip.

This is very rich, so while it's great on it's own, it's better to team it up. Try banana's brule or berries.

I have had excellent results with the No Knead Bread recipie.

I am going to modify the recipie the following ways..

1. Instead of cutting off a piece of the dough, I'm going to raise and rest the dough in tin baking pans. This way, come baking time, I don't have to form the dough. I'll let it rest for 40 minutes and then bake.

2. I'm going to include whole wheat flour in the mix. First 1 cup whole weat and 5 cups bread flower. If that turns out well, I'll try 2 and 4 cups respectivly.

No Knead Bread.

I got this from the Splendid Table. It turned out great.

It's an easy to make dough that you keep in your fridge for up to two week. The originators claim that the taste of the bread improves if you age the dough in the fridge for a few days before baking. I had great results almost right away.

Combine... 1.5 tbsp of kosher salt. 1.5 tbsp yeast. 3 cups. 100F water. 6.5 cups bread flour. I put it all in large container, sealed the lid and then shook until everything was combined. I removed the lid and covered with a wet cloth. Then I wrapped the container with a heating pad on low and let the dough sit for about two hours. By that point it had tripled in volume. Then I put the container in the fridge and let chill for 5 hours.

To bake, put a pizza stone and a broiler tray in the oven and preheat to 450F

Hack off a piece of the dough, about the size of a grape fruit. Gently form it into a ball, trying not to squeeze out too many bubbles. Let the dough rest for 45 minutes.

Pour a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Bake for 30 minutes.

Bananas Brulee

I love Bananas Brulee with ice cream. I can make it in about five minutes. It looks like and tastes like an expensive fancy dessert.

Split a banana into two. Set them flat side up. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar on each banana. Whip out the blow torch and brulee just like a creme brule.

Add a scoop of ice cream.

Drizzle with a sauce, chocolate or caramel work well.

Stainelss Steel Pots and Pans

About a year ago, I switched away from non-stick pots to stainless steel. For the most part I like it. Stainless steel doesn't have to be handled carefully. You can poke with forks and flip and scrape with spoons without fear of scatching the non-stick coating.

Yes, sometimes the cleanup is more difficult. I was tought a trick by a friend. When food is stuck to the bottom of a pot, put a couple of teaspoons of dishwasher detergent into the pot, add some hot water and let it soak over night. By the next morning the food will be liberated.

We don't know why it works. It just does.

Creme Brule With a Blow Torch

For the first time I have made creme brule with a blow torche. I'm supprised how easy it is. Sugar easily turns to a nice caramel wafer when you add fire.

A word on blow torches-- while cheap is nice, make sure the blow torch you buy can handle being tilted. I bought a $10.00 torch. It makes the brule just fine, but it rapidly flames out if I tilt it more than fourty five degrees. This means I have to tilt the food instead which is difficult when the food is covered with sugar.

I am going to brule much more-- bananas and maybe even pizza by first baking the dough, then adding the toppings and applying fire.

Saar's Mart

I'm am very impressed with the Saar's grocery on Sunset. I'll admit that Saar's is a low-income now-frills chain and that from the outside, the Saar's store looks old and unkept. But, inside, it's all very clean, well stocked with good prices.

This particular Saar's makes it's own tortillas on premis. Yum!

The wine selection was excellet. The vegitables look great.

Now, a word on the meat. It was all very inexpensive. But, the beef appears to be unaged, sub choice cuts. Don't shop here if you are looking for a great steak. You will find a good roasts for slow cooking or hamburger. But, the pickings are slim if you want to eat rare.

Fortunatly Shawn & Ted's Quality Meat is not too far away.

Pizza Dough II

The Pizza dough is getting better. I swapped the table salt for kosher salt. That helped improve the rize.

It's still too dense more my tastes.

Lemon-grass coconut soup

Lemon-grass coconut soup is very tasty and not too hard to make. The ingredients are a bit specialized so I should make one large batch of broth and then use that several times.

For the broth-- simmer, but don't boil...
28oz coconut milk
64oz chicken broth.
3 stalks lemon grass
1 or 2 sliced hot peppers.
3 crushed cloves of garlic
1/4 cup shredded ginger.
1 tablesoon asian chille sauce.
rind of one lime.

There are lots of extra's you can add to the broth like fish sauce and lime leaves. I never have them on hand and the broth always turns out well.

After 30 minutes, strain the broth. You can save it or use it right away.

To use the broth, heat it up to a simmer (not a boil)
Add 3 chicken brests sliced half inch thick. Simer for five minutes until cooked.
add 1/2 cup slice basil.
add one cup sliced mushrooms.
2 tbsp lime juice.
season to taste.

Don't simmer too much longer or the chicken may get tough.

Pizza Dough

I have been struggling to make great pizzas. My pizza dough is still not stellar. But, I am perfecting the toppings.

I don't have a great recipie yet, just some notes. I am trying to achieve a thin crisy pizza, not deep dish.

A cheap pizza stone is much better than a pan.

Watch for water. It will cook out while you are baking the pizza leaving you with a soggy mess. Use sauces sparingly and perfer thick sauces. Don't put whole slices of tomato on the pizza. Tomato should be cored and seeded.


These were the ingrediants for my last pizza...
2 tablespoons sugar. 1 tablespoon salt. 1 tablespoon pure olive oil. 3/4 cup warm water. 2 cups bread flour (for bread machines) 1 teaspoon instant yeast

Kneed pizza doughs longer-- this develops the gluten which allows you to stretch the dough thin. 15 minutes worked well.

My dough still came out too tough and not crisy enough. In the future, I'm going to make the following changes....

1. cut back on the salt by one teaspon.
2. Swap in a quarter cup of whole wheat for for a quarter cup of bread flour.
3. Bake at 550F instead of 500F
4. Stretch the dough even thinner.

Rice Pudding.

It's easy to make and tasty.

Take about a cup of left over rice.
Add two cups of milk and a quarter cup of sugar.
Mix.
Simmer for 30 minutes. I started on medium heat then moved to low as the simmer took off.

Beat an egg with a quarter cup of sugar.
Temper the egg/sugar mixture with a cup of the rice-milk mixture.

Add half a teaspoon of vanilla to the rice.
Add the tempered egg mixture to the rice.
Mix
Keep on low heat for about five minutes.

Chill and then serve. I drizzled a little bit of honey, jam and cinnamon on mine.

Pizza Crusts

I've been experiementing with pizza crusts trying to make the perfect thin crust. So far I've only managed to make it work by using bread flower, resting the dough for 24 hours in a refridgerator and by baking on a pizza stone.

I like to include some whole wheat flour in the dough, but it stops being thin crust when I do so.

Also, a pizza stone is mandatory. Without one the crust is sloppy and wet.

I can make a decent tomato sauce from canned diced tomatoes. The secret is to separate the juice from the fruit. Add a little vinegar and wine to the juice and simmer it down. Roast the fruit with some onions till browned-- say 45 minutes at 450F. Then combine the two and blend with a stick blender. Add your herbs, spices and seasonsings.

101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less

From the New York Times. Many of them sound great.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dining/18mini.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Grilling

I love grilling. I use our propane BBQ year around, but much more often in the summer.

Last night we had grilled shrimp and steak.

The steak was loin tri tip. I enjoy loin tip steaks. They are very tender and easy to grill. Plus they are very affordable. They are smaller and don't look as good as a regular steak so you aren't charged regular loin prices.

The shrimp was also tasty. Next time I'm going to brine them first-- half a cup of salt, half a cup of suger, two cups of water, soke the shrimp for 30 minutes.

Experiments in Whipped Cream

I've discovered that my stand mixer quickly and easily makes whipped cream. I'm trying to use this to my advantage to eat less store bought ice cream and more easily home mode desserts.

Waffles, berries and whipped cream are great. Cherries and strawberries are in season right now, so eat up!

It looks like whipped cream is not a tempermental ingredient. It can take many additions yet still whip up. This is very different from merengues which refuse to foam if they are too warm or touch fat or over beaten or...

Last night I made an easy chocolate mouse.

Melt 6 oz of bitter sweet chocolate with one quarter cup of milk, and honey to taste. I'm really not sure how much honey. Maybe 3 tbsp.

To melt, microwave for 30 seconds, stir, repeat 3 or 4 times.

Once melted add 1 cup heavy cream. stir. Microwave again. Stir again. Repeat until combined. Don't let the mixture get too hot though.

Once mixed chill in a freezer for 30 minutes.

Once chilled froth on hi in a stand mixer.

Spoon into dishes. Chill in a refrigerator. Mouse recipes tell you to chill for four hours or more. To be honest, I ate some right away and it was delicious.

Serve with berries or cream.

Bleach, Water and Vinegar

A combination of bleach, water and vinegar is a better sanitizer than bleach alone. Make sure you add the bleach to the water before you mix in the vinegar. If you don't you will release chlorine gas and send yourself to the hospital.

The ratio of bleach and vinegar to water can be adjusted depending on how much kick you need. For anthrax, the EPA recommends one part bleach, eight parts water and one part vinegar.

I don't need to kill anthrax. For day to day sanitizing try one oz bleach, five gallons of water and one oz of vinegar.

I have a spray bottle that contains one teaspoon of bleach, one pint of water and one teaspoon of vinegar. I spritz it in on cutting boards, in my sink and on my counters.

If you are wondering about the chemistry behind this-- bleach is more effective with a lower PH. But not too low. Something just below neutral. If you Google around, you can find efficacy graphs of bleach at a given PH.

Roast Potatoes with Chick Pea and Vegetables in a Tomato Curry Sauce.

This was easy. I'm just writing it down so that I remember to do it again...

Roast Potatoes for two.

Stir Fry some chick peas and vegis just so that they caramelize a touch.

For the sauce, mix 28oz of canned diced tomatoes with a small can of tomato past. Add a teaspoon of curry powder, teaspoon of coriander and some garlic.

Mix the sauce with the vegis. Serve over the potatoes.

Ice Cream

Last night I made ice cream using the Good Eats "9,8,3,2,1" recipe. The ice cream is very good. I may need to let it churn longer though.

Also, the recipe is not cheap and Mark ate most of it at one serving. I have to figure out what side desserts to serve with it, to help stretch it out.

Loves Landing.

Loves Landing is a neighborhood bar off Airport way in Renton. Mark says the crowd is like a high school crowd that forgot they had grown up.

Loves Landing has two claims to fame.

First claim are their burgers. They are excellent. Big, tasty and on a fine and fresh bun.

Second claim is that they have kareoke every night. Some of the singers are not that bad.I recommend it.

Grilled Chicken and Asparagus salad for two.

Wash and oil about 8 stocks of asparagus. Cut to get rid of the woody parts.

Wash and oil a shitaki mushroom. Cut into eights.

Wash and oil and season four chicken thighs.

Warm up the grill. Set it to indirect heat.Start grilling the chicken and asparagus. Close the cover.

Three minutes later flip the chicken and asparagus. Add the mushrooms to the grill.

Close the cover.Three minutes later flip the chicken, asparagus and mushrooms.

Close the cover.Three minutes later, check that the chicken has hit 160F.

Slice the chicken.

Arrange the chicken, mushrooms and asparagus on two plates of mixed greens. Add a few orange slices. Dress with a good dressing.

Everything turned out very well.

Next time I may try aging the yogurt for seven hours instead of six. Regardless, it is still tasty.

The creme brulie took two and a half hours to set, instead of the ninty minutes listed in the recipie. I glazed the brulie with one heaping teaspoon of sprinked brown sugar. I think one table spoon may be better.

Granola was good. 8 cups of oats may be too much, so next time try 6.

Busy today...

Today I started making Yogurt, Creame Brulie and Granola.

The Yogurt and Creame Brulie are all day recipies. I'm half way through them now. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Yogurt... 4 cups milk, 2 tbsp honey, half cup powdered milk. Heat to 120. Cut off heat. When it's cooled to 115 or below, add one container yogurt with active cultures. Wrap in a heating pad and wait six hours.

Creame Brulie. Joy of Cooking's recipie with the 3 whole egg option. In the oven it took two and a half hours to set. The recipie says ninty minutes. I have to be extra careful with water baths-- remember the water will rise as you add the creme containers to it.

Granola. 8 cups of oats, half a cup canola oil, 2/3 cup honey mized with random nuts and grains until it looked right. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes, stiring every 15 minutes. I never follow a strict recipie when I make granola.

Changes

I'm changing this blog a little. I used to eat out often. But, for the past six months or so, I've started cooking at home much more. I'm also putting more effort into it and making good meals.

I'm going to start blogging about my cooking. Just so that I can remember.

Last night I made Chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and grilled on the BBQ. I used indirect heat with the indirect burners turned to medium. The breast took about 20 minutes. They turned out very good.

The rest of the meal was spaghetti with a cream sauce that I froze a while back. I added some vegi's to the mix and served.

I wish I could remember the details of the cream sauce. I think it's trick was using chicken stock instead of water.

Dino's Pub II

Dino's has remodeled and got new furninture. It's gone from being a decent hole in the wall bar, to being a nice hole in the wall bar.

They have also expanded the menu.

The changes haven't scared off their customers. It looks like it's attracting more.

Dino's Pub

Dino's is a dingie local bar off NE 44th in Renton. The staff is friendly even if the service is slow.

There are three reasons to go to Dino's. The first two... $9.99 prime rib night on Wednesday. and $9.99 steak night on Thursday. In both cases a salad, baked potato with all the fixings and garlic bread come with your mean. The meat isn't always the best, but hey, your paying $9.99.

The third reason... It's not Denny's. There is a Denny's right behind Dino's. However unless it's 3am, and I'm very hungry, and no other place is open, I avoid Denny's.

Mucho Bueno

We went to Much Bueno on the recomendation of the Renton Hipster And, well, RO's margarita ended up having chips of glass in it. Aside from that, the food was good, plenyful and well priced.

The Fin and Bone

A very good restaurant-- seafood and steak house. We had great service.

As usual, Mark ran into martini problems. His martini came back warm. He did complain, but he saw the bartender put his old martini over old ice and a used shaker.

But... good service story... the waiter saw that Mark still wasn't happy with his Martini, so he got Mark a new Martini, and then asked why.

El Guacho vs the Melrose Grill

Let me start off by saying that I have had many great meals at the Melrose Grill. The steaks are excellent, the drinks are large and the service is friendly and efficient. I will go to the Melrose Grill again and again and I will always enjoy myself.

Then there is El Gaucho. El Gaucho is an A list restaurant in the middle of Belltown. Celebreties dine at El Gaucho and for good reason. The food and service are exceptional.

All staff are in tuxedos and they prepare your salads at your table. They bend over backwards to ensure you enjoy yourself. They have great pacing. You receive constant service without being rushed-- you feel like the table is yours for the night.

The food at El Gaucho is excellent-- large, very well prepared portions. Tasty and fresh ingredients. They end your meal with a fruit and cheese plate-- we had an excellent and large wedge of blue cheese.

So, comparing El Gaucho to the Melrose is a bit odd. But, it highlightes the dynamics of Seattle. And those dynamics have a direct effect on me-- I own a home decore in Kent-- a very nice home decore store in a city that A list Seattle would look down upon.

In Seattle, gap between rich a poor, or for that matter between rich and middle class is more prounounced than most cities. Thanks to boom in the 90's, companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks have turned tens of thousands of people into millionares and a half dozen or so into billionares. The result is a vibrant and pricy city.

So then, what about those of use who aren't poor, but still have to work for our money? We have three choices. Go deeply into debt to have a nice house or Condo in Seattle. Rent. Or live in the Burbs.

And that's where Renton comes in.

more later...

The Red House

Another great restaurant. It serves tasty tapas and excellent hand made desserts.

More importantly, they sell wine at retail plus a $5.00 corking fee. Let me repeat that. They sell wine at retail plus a $5.00 corking fee. I love having a good bottle of wine with my dinner that doesn't double the bill.

The chef and owner, Gino, is very friendly. When we questioned the waiter about one of our dishes, he passed the question on to Gino. Gino came out and told us all about our food-- the ingrediants and the recipies.

Melrose Grill

The Melrose Grill is my favorite steak house. It's in a restored saloon that's been around since 1901.

The Melrose is part of the revitalizaton of Renton. All around it the buildings look run down. It's on a quiet street with no foot traffic-- if you didn't know about it, you wouldn't eat there.

But then you go in. It will be full of people and the wonderful smell of food. The steaks are excellent. The martini's are great. They have many interesting beers on tap.

Good Stuff.

Oliver's is in Seattle. Very nice. Kind of pricy. Their Martini's are $8.00 a pop and on the small side.

On the plus side everything, drinks and food, tasted great.

Casa Durango

Even though we've been going to Casa Durango for months, I didn't know the name until last night. We've always called it "The good margarita place." and it does.

It also has good simple mexican food and mexican kareoke on Friday nights.

Good stuff.

The Muckleshoot Casino

Sure it's out of the way, full of cigarette smoke and you'll loose money in the slots while you are waiting in line for dinner. But, for $17.50, the all you can eat buffet at the Muckleshoot is a great deel. It has Dungeness crab and prime rib. Enough said.

Thai on Hilands.

Sunset Blvd in Renton is odd. Much of Renton is being gentrified. Many of the crappiest streets are close to trendy coffee shops and great restaurants.

Sunset isn't there yet. It's full of run down strip malls, closed stores, plaza churches and 2nd hand stores.

Tonight on Sunset, Mark noticed a hidden plaza behind a plaza whose largest tenants are a dollar store and a closed fabric store. We drove through the hidden plaza. There was a computer and copy shop, a day care center, a plaza church, and the "VIP Spa," whose windows are covered with black garbage bags. What's that about?

We drove out to the front plaza and peaked into the window of the closed fabric store. The sign said "Closed, but knock if you are interested"

Some homeless looking people were milling about.

Near where we parked was Thai on Hiland. We looked in. The customers looked normal. Since it was dinner time, we decided to give it a try.

Marc noted that the place looked like a repainted 'Skippers'-- the square booths and boxy windows. Every booth had a statuette of a puppy leaning over a "Welcome" sign.

We ordered 2 stars spicy, but the food was a bit too hot for Marks taste. We had the fresh rolls, the chicken pad Thai and a grilled prawn salad. The food was good, but not great. The ambiance was nice but not outstanding. In short, I don't regret going to Thai in Hiland, but I won't rush to go back.

I have this theory that the crappier a Mexican place looks, the better the food. The peak of Mexican cuisine would come from an illegal taco stand in a broken down buss on the side of the road.

Don't laugh. These places actually exist. The illegal taco stand on Rainier here in Seattle is great. Over the next few months I will review these places, and let you know the results.

Nasai Teriyaki

Ryan and I are close to concluding our tour of Redmond Teriyaki joints. After the Nasai, we only know of one more. Nasai was a good, if dull, penultimate meal.

Ambiance: Strip mall teriyaki joint; white tile ceilings; big lanterns that hung too low-- I bonked my head on one. The place was clean. The bathroom was clean. Sigh. I long for some excitement in teriyaki ambiance.

Seating: Ample. There were about a dozen booths and tables. The place was just about full as we left.

Beverages: A full line of Snapple, and two diet Cokes. Yawn. Been there, done that.

Quantity: Large quantity. Chicken special came with four gyoza.

Price: Chicken with gyoza was $4.95; as was Ryans’ Chicken without gyoza or salad.

Presentation: Clean plate with a pattern.

Blow Out: None! Is it just me, or is my digestive system adjusting to Teriyaki. I haven’t had a teriyaki blowout is so long. I’m bitter.

Bathroom: Clean. Boring.

Biggest disappointment. The art was normal. The pink lamps were odd, although they went well with Ryan's hair. The menu contained some good engrish phrases, but my camera blurred the picture up too much to read.

Taste: "It exploded in my mouth." Nasai conforms to the generally accepted teriyaki taste. Actually, I think the vat was fresh when we were served; Nasai is conformant plus.

e-Teriyaki

With a name like e-Teriyaki, my expectations were high. How could the restaurant taste as good as it's name implied?

Ambiance: Strip mall teriyaki joint that only used the equipment of previous owners-- "Hey look, this closed Japanese Restuarent left everything behind. I've got it! We can open a Teriyaki joint!"

Seating. Ample. There were about a dozen booths and tables. We were the only ones there.

Beverages: A full line of Snapple, and two diet Cokes. Ryan had to zip next door to the 7-11 to get a bottle of real coke. To be fair, as we were leaving, they brought in several cases of pop.

Quantity. Large quantity. They did not serve goyza. Ryan ordered without the salad, and got an extra scoop of rice.

Price: A bit expensive, but well worth it, especially considering the large quantity. The #1 was $5.25. Chicken-Beef combo was $6.45

Presentation: The food was presented on overlarge white china plates. The plates dwarfed the food, and made you think you were getting less than you actually did.

Blow Out: I thought there was going to be one, but it never happened. I'm suprised-- the Teriyaki sauce was so rich and... well... whatever it is teriyaki sauce is.

Bathroom: Is home to wonderful large plastic plant, and a step stool.

Biggest dissapointment. With a name like e-Teriyaki, you'd think they'd be in touch with the whole net thing, yet I found this: "Online order is not available at this time. Please order by fax, e-mail or phone.Thanks". Bah! Another bait and switch marketing ploy.

Taste: "It exploded in my mouth." e-Teriyaki conforms to the generally accepted teriyaki taste.

Truly worthy of a re-visit.