Artisan Filet Mignon Tasting

A few months back, I discovered the The Oliver Ranch Company's Artisan Steak Tasters Pack through a Twitter convo with CEO & Founder Carrie Oliver. The idea is basically like a wine tasting, but with steaks. Tasters have the opportunity to discover four unique styles of steaks from natural and organic ranches across the country, each specializing in a different breed, diet, geography and aging technique. While there were several cuts to choose from, I opted for the Filet Mignon taster pack. Little did I know, my whole understanding of steak was about to change. More pics and tasting results on the next page!

Catch of the Day (Literally)

What is better than steamed sea bass? Homemade steamed sea bass. What's better than homemade steamed sea bass? Catching it after a beautiful day of fishing! For B and my two year anniversary, we put on our sea legs and sailed out for a 5-hour sunset-enhanced fishing trip on the Brooklyn VI. Four and a half hours into our Lower Bay excursion, B finally caught a handsome black sea bass. The next evening, we steamed the fish using a variation on the traditional Chinese steamed fish recipe that I learned from Cooking Channel star Ching-He Huang during the LUCKYRICE Talk & Taste cooking demos. More pics, the recipe, and comprehensive food adventure on the next page!

Sake & Cheese Tasting

Ever since B and I attended the Sake & Cheese tasting class at New York Vintners last fall, I've been wanting to recreate a similar event in my own home. So last week, I made up my mind to host a series of "Peek & Eat" events, with the first being for sake and cheese. I opened the invite to a handful of friends, but wanted to limit it to eight attendees in order to keep it orderly and intimate. To my surprise, all of the spots filled up really quickly. (Sorry to those who didn't see the Facebook invite until it was too late! I promise to make it more accessible next time!)

Celery, Pear & Hazenut Salad

On Sunday, I decided to host a small dinner for my two college buddies D & M, both who I haven't seen in ages. M used to be my roommate, but now resides in SF and happened to be in town for business this week. We weren't able to get together last Friday for lunch, which is why I was able to go with S to ENJB, so we made an alternate food date. She also invited D, a mutual friend from school. D just recently got engaged (congratulations!) Her gorgeous ring almost needed its own seat at the table. :P

Comfort Food

I have been quite busy over the last couple of weeks and have really missed cooking with B. So this weekend we made it a point to go all out with a "Southern Comfort" dinner that consisted of chicken fried steak, diced potato gravy, spicy macaroni and cheese, and creamed spinach topped with fried onions. Intense right? The meal, or at least the protein of choice, was B's idea. He caught the end of a Cooking for Real episode with Sunny Anderson on the Food Network and was totally sold on making some chicken fried steak. I naively thought that it was just another form of chicken...

The "JD" on Raynaud Dinnerware

By popular demand, I made a batch of Japanese BBQ chicken for R's Superbowl party. This time, I tried using wings instead of just drumsticks and thighs. Although you don't get nearly as much meat per piece, you end up with more pieces for the party. After purchasing a splatter guard, the frying part was much easier to manage/clean up. These pieces are also showcased on my new Thomas Keller Hommage Porcelain plates by Raynaud. I snagged them off of RueLaLa at 30% off of the retail price. Love them!

Mini Reese's Cup Brownie Bites

As soon as I saw the recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Bites on Savory Sweet Life, I planned on making them. However, sacrificing more precious (storage-scarce) kitchen space on a mini cupcake pan was not ideal. Fortunately, my resourceful friend A happened to have the necessary bakeware. She agreed to lend her equipment for a portion of the finished goods (bonus: I also convinced her to help me with the production process). The recipe was easy to follow and a breeze to make. The bites were an instant hit at the office and a great birthday surprise for my friend P. By the way, he's got a killer new album up. Go check it out!

Belated Birthday Noodles

It is Chinese tradition to eat noodles, ideally "longevity noodles," on your birthday to symbolize your wish for a long and happy (carb-filled) life. So naturally, a big bowl of noodles in broth with a hearty pile of roast duck, char siu pork, and Chinese kale was waiting for me when I arrived at my parent's home. Everything really hit the spot and a great start to the weekend.

Eyecandy Ingredients

From top to bottom: shiitake mushroom, Napa cabbage, chopped ginger, dumpling ingredients.

More Dumpling Experiments

What is better than a few dumplings? More dumplings!!! I decided to use up my leftover wrappers and make some on my own. As I didn't have any guests to satisfy, I had the freedom to experiment with the recipe. Being the nerd that I am, I actually made three batches of filling and assigned one as the "control" group and the two others as "experimental" groups. I'll save you from the nitty gritty, but here are the highlights in my observations:

Dumpling-Making BDay Party

For my birthday last year, I rented out the VIP room at Blue Owl for a lively cocktail party. This year I decided to focus on the food, so I hosted a small dumpling-making birthday party at home with a handful of friends. I haven't made dumplings since my early teenage years while living in the middle of Indiana. Thanks to Grace of gracenotes nyc and my mom (who didn't think that I could pull this off), I had a pretty good idea of how to make the filling and run the show.

Blue Bugs on a Log

One of my favorite snacks as a kid was the "Bugs on a Log" creation. They were fun to make, fun to eat, and also were relatively healthy! This time, I decided to make them with a little twist.

Caramel Cake

Earlier this month, I was told about this great recipe for caramel cake. It required a flour sifter, which I didn't obtain until recently (one of the many thoughtful Christmas gifts from B). Of course, I should have read the recipe more thoroughly since it also utilized an electric mixer (which I still don't have). Since I already had all of the ingredients measured out, I figured that I might as well try it using a more manual approach and hope that it would work.

Garlic Roast Chicken

What happens when you take a 3.5lb organic chicken, stuff some minced garlic underneath the skin and inside, basted the outside with butter, salt & pepper, roast it at 475º F for 40 minutes (20 on both sides) and then at 375º F for another 20 minutes? This glorious evening snack. I probably consumed about a third. Now what to do with the rest...

Chicken Soup

I'm not usually a soup person, but yesterday I had a huge craving for some homemade chicken soup. So I pulled out a recipe from from my lengthy "to cook" list and made nearly a gallon of chicken soup/broth. I think that will keep my craving at bay for some time. The broth was very savory and had some heat to it (I poured in quite a bit of black pepper). I absolutely loved the organic chicken. The meat fell right off of the bone and was incredibly juicy. Lastly, the sweet potato and yam added some wonderful sweetness. I dropped in some wild mushrooms into the soup too to mix up the textures.

Christmas Dinner

For our Christmas Day dinner I decided to put my beginner cooking skills to the test and make a hearty meal consisting of: Pork Chops with Country Gravy, Garlic Smashed Potatoes, and Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans. Everything came out very delicious and surprisingly well timed. B definitely helped to keep things moving at a smooth pace. We also paired the meal with a bottle of Momokawa Organic Junmai Ginjo, which turned out to be a great idea. The pork and bacon were also organic. Before I sat down to dinner, I quickly took some photos of my plate (as seen above) under my new Lowel Ego lights. Love them. Notice the difference?