yes, i know

i have been extremely lazy with my posts and have had several wonderful trips since my last post. sedona, seattle, portland and even france! more importantly, i have lots of pomme frites pictures to share.
here are pictures of a few fabulous bites i've had in between the trips.




(picture to the left) getting invited to brunch is always a treat. who would have thought peas and eggs go so well together? yes, that is a piece of bacon on top of the salad.


(above) finally made it to paggi house some time ago and had the most refreshing salad. it was a LOBSTER AND ENDIVE SALAD with Chioggia Beets, Mache, Tarragon Butter. so tasty that i forgot to take a picture before i started eating it! my goal is to try to recreate this dish for my friends. i definitely want to make it back for their happy hour soon. their new outdoor seating area is amazing.



(picture to the right) my recent discovery of pork belly is dangerous. the east side king trailer is dangerous. Roasted pork belly in steamed buns, Hoisin sauce, cucumber kimchee and green onion. add a side order of beet fries while you are there. i mean really.

my first paella

making paella always seemed so intimidating to me. it is actually quite easy (easy for me to say since i didn't do much of the constant stirring). i don't know why, but i always avoided any previous attempts in making it. but i visited my best friend recently and knew she would be up for the challenge. actually, i knew she would make anything when it involved us drinking wine while cooking (right sally?).
there were lots of first's for the both of us. the first time we bought, cleaned and prepared mussels. first time making paella. first time, in a long time, we were able to cook and drink together. i have to say it turned out pretty good! we both agreed that it needed some salt and garlic, but overall it was tasty. it was a fun evening. after little baby jane went to bed, we started out with a martini, crackers and a nice stinky cheese. finished it all off with some nice wine and a homecooked meal. good times.

lunch

i get excited at work when i have a yummy lunch to look forward to. it gets me thru the day and i also know i only have a half of a day left when i am finished. today, i had leftover chicken that was shredded and placed on top of a arugula, spinach salad with cucumbers, carrots and sunflower seeds. i usually keep a jar of homemade dressing (olive oil, whole grain mustard, shallots, salt, pepper) around too. today's lunch was also accompanied by homemade pita chips (cut up pita, tossed with olive oil, salt and dried oregano) toasted in the oven and roasted red pepper hummus. so yummy... and not too bad for me either! ugh, it's only 2:30! 4:30, where are you?

strawberries!

can you really go wrong with picking fresh strawberries from the garden?

i love going camping. hiking, campfires, friends, good times, good food. to me, each camping adventure is a fun food challenge. this trip, i decided to cook whole chicken on the campfire. originally i was going to use a little bbq grill that is stored in the pop-up camper, but then decided to use the campfire pit. the charcoal briskets were placed underneath the grill and we had no idea if this was going to work or not. was the fire going to burn the chicken to a crisp? will we have to eat chips and dip for dinner?

when i picked up the chicken at the store, i had the butcher take out the backbone so it would lay flat on the grill. i then placed some lemon slices underneath the skin. rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil covered the bird before it was placed on the fire. i also used the top from the bbq grill to cover the bird for even cooking. the moment of truth came when i needed to flip the chicken over. i have to say, as soon as i flipped it and saw how golden brown the first side was, i got really excited. it was actually working! the final results were yummy, yummy. the chicken was still moist and tender, the skin was golden. the happy dance began. along with the meal we had foil pouches of zucchini, squash and onions. dessert consisted of an apple crumble cooked in a small cast iron skillet over the fire. overall, dinner was a success!

what can i come up with for the next trip?

day 4, the final day

we went out with a bang at our last trailer stop at Gourdoughs. i don't really like sweets, so i wasn't as excited as others (like my sister) about this trailer. usually i skip desserts or steal from others at the table. one bite is just right for me. but everything changed once the sweet delights were ready for us to finally taste. the night before, there was a 45 minute wait for an order and we decided to skip the trailer. apparently they got slammed with a group of about 30 people showing up at the same time. it was definitely worth the wait. they had plenty to choose from, making the selection kinda difficult. i am so glad we had 5 people in the group in order to try out several selections. again, i would take a plate full of french fries over anything sweet, but these donuts were really, really good. the outside was slightly crispy. the toppings were perfectly portioned with the size of the donut. my favorite may have been Mama's Cake with yellow cake batter filling and fudge icing (bottom left). no wait, maybe the Granny's Pie with caramel, pecans, bananas & graham crackers (bottom right).









Please note: detox started on day 5

day 3

on sunday, we were able to fit in only one trailer. but man oh man was it a good one. i have noticed this particular trailer on a few occasions, passing it as i've walked to various restaurants on congress. crepes mille is my new favorite crepe trailer...for now. sorry flip happy crepes, i know you have been on the food network with bobby flay, but the crepe benedict definitely caught my attention. i think it was the horseradish that made it unique. it was a nice addition. the omelet crepes got the thumbs up as well. by the way, they deliver to the downtown and soco areas too!