Today...

...spent a lot of time sitting with a patient. I took advantage of the chance to do some brainstorming for the Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown 3. I came up with a couple of ideas that I think are pretty solid. I'm looking forward to making 'em soon. Part of the fun is getting to eat your "homework"...lol.

Making Points with the Wife...

I was supposed to be be making my oven-fried chicken once a month...and I hadn't made it since the first time (oops!...askin' for trouble). So I made a batch of it tonight...a dozen chicken thighs. I added something to the coating, and made it more garlicky (can't offer details, since we're thinking of submitting it to the Ultimate Recipe Showdown). The chicken came out with this lovely dark crunchy coating, and oh-so-flavorful. We made it with a good, dark gravy tonight, for the mashed potatoes, and a pile of garlic green beans. And we are so full.

Food Fit for an Emir...

Tonight I made a palov, the national dish of Uzbekistan. There are at least a couple of hundred different varieties there, and probably as many different versions of these as there are cooks. I decided to create a big festive one, and so I made mine with lots of cubed beef (I didn't have any of the more traditional lamb), onions and carrots, dried apricots and raisins, cilantro and parsley, cumin, turmeric and black pepper. After all of this cooked for a bit, I flattened it all out, placed two big heads of garlic on top, and covered it all with basmati rice and boiling water. Then just turn it down and let it cook until all the moisture has been absorbed. I grabbed a big platter and inverted the whole thing out onto it. It looked glorious (I've really got to pick up some batteries for our camera. Grrr!) and tasted great. It was rich and savory, the meat fork tender, the apricots and raisins melting bits of sweetness in the mouth, the garlic cloves soft like butter...and it took some effort to stop before a food coma set in. Lol. I think the Emir of Bukhara would have been pleased with my efforts...

I LIke It!...

Food coma. Rachel Ray used the term today on the Food Network, referring to the state achieved after an afternoon of eating during a football game party. I know I've achieved a food coma before, and I know someone who eats, occasionally, like a big cat, gorging on something particularly tasty and becoming rather somnolent afterwards...

In the Kitchen Today...

Gina's having a really bad day with her fibromyalgia, but we had a pile of lemons we bought for the lemonade she makes that needed to be used, so I made it this afternoon. Its her interpretation of a Amish spiced lemonade concentrate. We bought a dozen lemons, which makes a double batch of concentrate...about a gallon or so, which reconstitutes to about five gallons of lemonade. Yummm! I love her lemonade!

I barbecued chicken Friday, since the weather permitted, and made my version of an Indonesian dish, ayam panggang kecap...chicken grilled with sweet soy sauce...one of Gina's favorites. I always try to make extra, as its customary for me to use some of the leftovers in a batch of nasi goreng, Indonesian fried rice. Which was what we had for dinner tonight. I make it as a one dish meal, chock full of barbecued chicken, onions, peppers, daikon, zucchini, celery, carrots, and tomatoes. Its flavored with garlic, ginger, turmeric, coconut milk, tamarind, chilies, and sweet soy sauce, and topped with fried garlic flakes and a drizzle of sweet soy. I make a ton, so there are more leftovers.

And since we finally had the cable TV hooked up this weekend, we've been watching the Food Network again. They're finally showing the season two episodes of the Ultimate Recipe Showdown, which means they are taking entries for season three. Thankfully, I have until the end of next month to get some entries in. I made it to the semifinals for season two, my first time entering a cooking contest. I really want to make it to the finals this time.

Catching the Kitchen Garden Bug...

I got a $50 gift certificate to Fungi Perfecti (http://www.fungi.com/) for Xmas, and I've been getting the annual barrage of gardening catalogs. Then, when I was at Walmart yesterday, they had a reasonable deal on seed potatoes. I am feeling the urge to plan a kitchen garden. I want to find a source for a few oak logs and use the mushroom plugs from Fungi Perfecti - I'm thinking of getting a hundred plugs each of Shiitake, Reishi, Maitake and Turkey 'shrooms. Good for cooking and great for health. I grabbed a bag each of Yukon Gold and Kennebec seed potatoes. There's an amazing difference between store-bought and fresh-from-your-garden spuds! And I've got a pile of seeds I've gathered over the years (some probably aren't any good now, but a lot of 'em are gonna' sprout). The yard gets a lot of sun, and we have quite a few spots where I could plant stuff. I might get some junk tires to put along the fence for the potatoes. I could just put up a board at the end of the row of tires to block the unsightly view...*rolling my eyes*. Yup, I've got the bug...

Lol.

Dinner in North Africa...

That's where we ate tonight...sitting in our living room. We had...

A beef stew of the Algerian Jews: beef slow-cooked 'til meltingly tender with a pile of grated onions, diced tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, and harissa(a North African chili paste).

A salad of romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, mini sweet peppers, onions, daikon, cucumbers, olives and feta cheese, tossed with a dressing of extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and fresh mint.

Kesra, the country bread of Morocco, a round, yeasted flatbread with a coarse crumb and thick crust, made with wheat and a little corn.

It was very tasty. We are pleasantly full. There are ample leftovers. (Yay leftovers!)

We ran pretty late this afternoon, trying to get errands done. Thankfully, its a pretty easy dinner to make. But there was one thing I decided to simplify: the harissa. I am a big fan of taking the time to soak dried chilies in hot water. Its what I do when I make my chili. There wasn't time this afternoon. So I made an Easy Harissa...

Easy Harissa

2 ounces ground New Mexico chile powder
1 ounce ground hot New Mexico chile powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground caraway seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons water

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until a smooth paste results. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator. Should keep for at least a month. Makes over a cup.

You may cover the top of the paste with additional EVOO, to help it store longer. If you want a hotter harissa, you may use a hotter chile powder or add a little cayenne pepper. This version is not terribly hot, but that is the way my wife prefers it.

Sundaland Supper...

the cool evening air tells a tale
of chicken over a charcoal fire
garlic galangal and lemongrass
star anise and kecap manis
of smoky goodness pulled apart
with greedy hands swiftly consumed
shadows toss restlessly about
characters in a wayang drama
gamelan echoes faintly in the dark

I'm Fat and Happy...

Gina cooked prime rib and Yorkshire pudding tonight. I made the gravy (I'm the official gravy cook at home...lol). And dinner was wonderful. I'm so full. This has usually been our Xmas dinner, but we haven't done it for the last two or three years. I've missed it. I'm going to sit here and digest for a bit, then get some rest...

Fun Stuff...

We were at the Salvation Army today, where Gina picked out a darling dress for our granddaughter (a $50 dress for $1.99!), while I grabbed an older ('84 reprint of a '72) spiral-bound cookbook, Tony Chachere's Cajun Country Cookbook, that has some "fun" recipes, like "Brice Palmer's Fried Alligator", "Coot in Soy Sauce", "Smothered Snipe", "Baked Juicy Swamp Rabbit", Louisiana Cajun's Squirrel Stew", "Baked Coon and Sweet Potatoes", "Cleve's Smothered Armadillo", and the ever-popular "Tony's Nutria Sauce Piquante". Lol. There are a lot of other, more "mainstream" recipes. I'm looking forward to looking through it in more depth later...

The Last Couple of Days...

Yesterday I made version 1.0 of my sweet entry for the Pillsbury Bake-Off. The second cookie sheet ended up as v.1.1, as Gina and I felt that the entry needed to be shaped differently. I am not, generally, a baker of sweets. That is Gina's realm. So...I am learning at the same time that I am working on this contest. We didn't really know how long it would take things to bake, since we are making the recipe as we go. The second cookie sheet, things went better in that department, too. We were very pleased with the flavor of the finished product. Appearance still needs some work (and practice). Preliminary reviews from coworkers have been favorable.

I made a big pot full of our homemade (never) refried beans.

And I came across a write-up in the Portland paper of a kitchen that I love!

And a Little Dark Culinary Humor...

The New EASY Button...

A Night for Something Comforting...

We're both feeling tired and just a bit under the weather, so we wanted some simple comfort food. Its a dish we got from my mother, that she called "Beef Stroganoff", though it has only the vaguest resemblance to the real Russian dish. We've added a couple or three things to the recipe over the years. Regardless of provenance, we find it very tasty and comforting...and ridiculously easy. Here it is...

"Not quite" Beef Stroganoff

1 pound round steak or London broil, thinly sliced into bite-size pieces, or more if desired
Unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 10.5-ounce cans beef consomme
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 pound wide egg noodles
2 cups sour cream

Toss the sliced beef in the flour, to coat. Shake off any excess flour. Place the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the steak and cook until it begins to brown, stirring often. Add the onion and garlic powder, black pepper, consomme (do not add water), ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Stir well and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the meat is tender and the sauce thickens, about thirty minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the egg noodles and cook until al dente, according to package instructions (usually about 7-10 minutes). Drain.

Remove the sauce from the heat. Add the sour cream and stir until thoroughly combined. Add the egg noodles and toss until the noodles are coated with the sauce. Serve.

Serve with a big green salad. Makes about 8 servings.

Options: If you want a more authentic feel to the dish, you could add some sliced mushrooms to the sauce. For a really authentic feel...use filet mignon instead of round steak. We've occasionally added a handful or two of petite green peas to the dish. My mother always added some poppy seeds when tossing the sauce and noodles.

They Just Came Out of the Oven...

...and all I can say is...OMG!

I'll just need to make 'em again a time or two before submission, but they are otherwise good-to-go. I am still going to submit my other entry idea, I think. I don't think I'll do more than the two.

Now its (way past) time for bed...

A Busy Day in the Kitchen...

I am tired, but it has been a productive day. In the morning, I put the chicken (for the Taste of Home contest) on to marinate. After that, I made an early lunch with the zucchini we had in the fridge that needed to be used. Gina loved it and let me know it was a definite make-again. That'll be my entry in the Better Homes & Gardens contest. After lunch, I made a little over a gallon of Gina's kecap manis, the Indonesian sweet soy sauce. That should keep her supplied for at least a little while...*laughing* I discovered I still had materials left over to do something, so I made a decent-sized batch of kroeung, the herbal paste of Cambodia...a delightful mix of shallots, garlic, fresh galangal and turmeric, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves. I'll bring some of that to work tomorrow for Silver Dragon. After that...yes, still working in the kitchen...I cooked the chicken, which turned out pretty good. And I am about to put a trial batch of our first Pillsbury Bake-Off entry in the oven (yeah, I'm running a little behind, but there's been a lot to do). This one is a savory entry, and I have high hopes for it, since its a modification of something I've made before. We were going to make a batch of a sweet entry we're working on, but we ran out of time. Same with Gina's Spiced Amish Lemonade. She's going to make that tomorrow. I'm glad I'm only working tomorrow and Tuesday before more time off...

A Pleasant Surprise!...

We were out running errands in Vancouver this evening, heading back from Jo Ann's Fabrics to the freeway when I spotted a storefront that said "Premier Euro Market". Intrigued, I hung a quick right turn into their parking lot and went in to check it out. A Russian and Eastern European market! I wandered around for awhile, checking out their stock. There was a section of Russian-language books and DVD's, a variety of lacquerware, beautiful dishes and other kitchenware, Russian herbal medicines, and tons of food! They had a lot of stuff that I wasn't familiar with and some I was (I'm actually more comfortable with Asian and Middle Eastern markets...lol!). I picked up some dried dill and some khmeli-suneli, a Georgian spice mix, tiny little corkscrewed Hungarian egg noodles, and a small box of banana cream-filled chocolate candies from Austria. They had a fascinating deli counter, and I decided I to grab a couple of things to try for a simple dinner tonight. I picked out a pound of Bobak's Krakow sausage (http://www.bobak.com/), thinly sliced, and some sliced white cheese. They told me it was "Russian cheese". Tasty stuff. I picked up a loaf of dark rye bread (sans seeds...Gina does not like caraway seeds in her bread) and some bottled sauerkraut with cranberries. When we got home, it made for a yummy grilled sandwich with some sweet-hot Russian mustard. I am eager to go back with a better shopping list. I know I want some sea buckthorn syrup, a jar of marinated mushrooms, and wild rose syrup. There were all sorts of fascinating things. I wasn't expecting to go shopping tonight.

While they don't yet have a website, they appear to have two locations:

(1) 11216 NE 4th Plain Road, Vancouver, WA (360) 885-9384

(2) 813 W Main Street, Battle Ground, WA (360) 666-6919

If you live in the area, check 'em out! Get yourself a big bag of frozen pirozhki and a jar of lecso.

Going Into the Weekend...

...there are a number of food chores for me the next couple of days.

Gina and I sat down today and brainstormed on an idea for a Pillsbury Bake-Off entry. I am not a frequent baker of sweets, and can use her input. She's a better baker than I. By this afternoon, we had a plan of attack in place and the outline of a recipe. Picked up some items we needed from Albertson's this evening. We are going to do the first trial run of it sometime Sunday, I think. I had already outlined an idea, last night, that is an adaptation of something I already know how to make, but I don't think I'm going to make it this weekend. We have until April. We're working on a third idea, but its not much more than that just yet. I don't know that I want to send in too many different recipes. It might be better to concentrate on just three or four, and make sure they are as good as possible.

I need to make the kecap manis tomorrow. When I first started cooking SE Asian food, I was unable to find any Indonesian sweet soy sauce, even living in the Inland Empire of Southern California. I suppose if I'd looked harder in the greater Los Angeles area, I would have found some, but it seemed like a lot of work. And I had found a couple of recipes for it. I've been making it for years now. The recipe has evolved, as I season mine - the commercial varieties I've seen lately are all unseasoned, take shortcuts, and lack the depth and body of flavor of the homemade stuff. Gina loves it! So its a must do.

And then there's the healthy poultry entry to make for the first of the Taste of Home contests. That is going to be dinner one of the next two nights. Picked up the stuff I need for that tonight at Winco.

Oh...and I grabbed a bunch of lemons. I am going to try and sweet talk Gina into making some of her delightful Amish Spiced Lemonade...its heavenly and so refreshing.

My Georgian coworker will be on shift Monday when I go back, so I want to make a second batch of khachapuri this weekend and bring her one to try. Coworkers will be guinea pigs for a lot of contests this year...lol.

About time for bed. G'night, everyone.

Last Night's Dinner...

I was exhausted by the time I got home from work last night, so I was quite happy to come home to my wife's chicken and dumplings. She had thrown her easy version together, which is derived from the recipe her grandmother gave her. For those who want a quick, but delicious, batch of chicken and dumplings, here's the recipe:

Easy Chicken n' Dumplin's Darlin'!

4 cups chicken stock
1 cups dry white wine
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 small onion, diced (optional)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (optional)
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 large bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 cups shredded or cubed, cooked chicken
For the dumplings-
2 cups boxed biscuit mix
1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
2/3 cups milk
To finish (if needed)-
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour combined with 1/4 cup cold water

In a 5 qt. kettle, combine broth, wine, celery, carrots, onion, thyme, nutmeg, bay leaf and parsley, salt, pepper, and chicken, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer. While the pot of chicken is simmering, make the dumplings.

Combine baking mix, thyme, nutmeg and parsley in a mixing bowl. Add the milk and stir the mixture until the milk has just been absorbed into the biscuit. Knead the dumbling mixture, by hand, just until it forms a ball and has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Pinch of walnut-sized pieces, roll into balls, and lower into the simmering broth. Cook uncovered, for 10 minutes, then cover and simmer for 10 more minutes.

The pot of chicken and broth should have been thickened by the cooking dumplings. If it has not, you may thicken with a paste of the flour and cold water.

Serve piping hot. Makes 4 "manly" or 6 normal servings.

Yes! The Big One is Coming!

The 44th Annual Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest is beginning! Entries are do in April and the prize, of course, is $1 million dollars. I will definitely be entering, and I'm hoping Gina will enter, too, since I know she is the better baker of the two of us. I am posting a linked banner below. Good luck to those who are entering...

Strange but True!...

When I was working on my mole sauce this weekend, I toasted some sesame seeds and tossed them, still hot, into the food processor with some roasted peanuts. As I worked on grinding them up, the smell of fried bacon began to fill the air!? The smell was so convincing, Gina asked me if I was cooking some bacon. She has synasthesia, and gets a visual component with smells. She'll see various colored geometric shapes with different aromas. She was getting the same one she would see with bacon. Very odd.

There is a new bacon-flavored mayo-type spread out there that is vegetarian-friendly. Do you suppose...?

Been Hibernating...

Cooking has been very simple since Sunday night's contest madness. We've been living on burritos, ham-and-cheese quesadillas, pizza and quick pasta, steamed veggies...lol.

I've got the healthy poultry dish due in just over a week, and the vegetable supper in about two-and-a-half weeks. Not too worried about those...I just needed a breather after this first one. But I had to see how I'd do under pressure.

I still have to make the kecap manis for Gina. It'll have to wait until the weekend, though, when I am off for three days.

Done, Done and Done!!!

With eleven minutes remaining on the clock, I am done! With my wonderful wife's assistance, I submitted an entry apiece to all three categories of the Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest. The recipes are...

(Savory Category) Pan-Pacific Duck with Easy Mole Sauce, Tortillas and Grilled Scallions - Mexican Mole meets Peking Duck.
(Sweet Category) The Ifrit's Sweet Embers - slightly spicy chocolate candies filled with nuts and dried fruit.
(Beverage Category) Cocoa d'Annam - cocoa with a bit of a Vietnamese flavor.

There were bumps in the road - like discovering in the final half hour that the word count for the duck recipe cooking instructions were 50% too long. The laptop suddenly starting to act strange. I think settings changed, but there wasn't time to pursue it...only to switch to the desktop. Being so tired I can barely type or think.

And then there was our (autistic) son, who was helping his mother remove the offal from the bird's cavity, grabbed the neck and thought it was...the duck's penis. He promptly flung it across the room, where the dogs began to fight over it. He's shrieking his violation to the world. Meanwhile, the cats are trying to climb my wife's legs to get at the duck. Then the liver slithered out. Our son, believing that the liver is really a placenta, is sure that we killed a pregnant hermaphroditic duck and begans to loudly gag and threaten to report us to the SPCA. The dogs are still fighting and the cats are growling. And my wife has rendered duck slime (fat) all over her hands.

Nor was our son happy to see that there were still a few tiny feathers on the carcass. He fled the room babbling about "it was a white he-she..." and poured bleach all over his hands. My wife is trying to scrub her hands clean so she can clean his burning hands. She's thrown open the windows and the snow is trying to blow in.

I have been informed that ALL (in the unlikely event of) future duck preparations are strictly my own. Love only goes so far...

It did taste good.

I was the only one who'd eat white pregnant he-she duck...

I did hear good things about my cocoa last night.

Progress on the Scharffen Berger Project...

I am exhausted. I haven't gotten enough sleep over the last week, not by a long shot. I feel a bit feverish and under the weather.

Despite that, the Beverage Entry for the contest is done, except for the actual filling out and submission of the entry form. And it tastes good. I am just finishing my mug (it is spiked, and I am feeling mellow now...). Gina liked it a lot.

I am definitely behind schedule on the Savory Entry. It is proving a challenge. We'll see.

Gotta' go do a bit of work and then try and get some rest.

Looking Ahead....

While I work feverishly to finish this first contest, I need to start tracking other contests that are coming up. So far, I have come across these:

From Taste of Home I see these -

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Contests/Recipe-Contests/For-the-Birds/ - this one is due by the 15th of this month and involves the use of turkey or chicken, must be healthy, and offers a $600 prize.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Contests/Recipe-Contests/Go-Nuts/ - for this one you have to use nuts, and get it in by February 1st, for a grand prize of $500.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Contests/Recipe-Contests/Best-Loved/ - their biggie, with four categories and a grand prize of $25,000. Entries are due by March 1st. Competition will be fierce for this one.

Better Homes and Gardens has one coming up -

http://www.bhg.com/recipes/win-money/ - two categories (Crave-worthy vegetable suppers and frozen desserts) can yield a $400 prize and entry in the annual grand prize contest worth $10,000. Entries have to be in online by the 24th of January.

Texas Rio Star Grapefruit has the Fit, Fun and Fabulous Recipe Challenge -

http://www.riostarchallenge.com/ - the main ingredient is a given...lol. Entries are due by 15 February and they are given out a grand prize valued at $5,000.

These should keep me busy for the next couple of months. There's probably more out there. I haven't looked to deeply yet.

An All-Too-Brief Field Trip...

Somehow, I had gotten through life to this point without stepping foot in a Whole Foods Market. My online search for a Scharffen Berger source between work and home showed one just a few blocks off my route home, and a call verified they carried what I needed, so I stopped by there tonight and picked up some semisweet and bittersweet chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa. I could have wondered through there for a looooong time. A foodie haven. *happy sigh* I didn't want to leave.

We'll be eating some of my wife's wonderful navy bean soup and cornbread here in a few minutes, and then afterwards, we are going to taste the two chocolates and brew some cocoa. We need to see what I'm working with. And I have to work on the two recipes I am submitting - a savory entry, and a beverage. Fun times!

Contest #1 - an Update...

Alright...found the chocolate, and its on my way home. Maybe a mile or two out of my way, total. Got an idea for a savory entry. Still need to scope out their website better, look at past winners, read the contest rules really well...that kind of thing. Do a little research on my recipe idea. The first hurdle has been passed. Would it be too hard to do either a beverage or a sweet entry, too? Hmmm...

Cooking Contest #1: The Challenge!

The first contest coming up this month promises to be a bit of a stretch. Scharffen Berger is having its annual Chocolate Adventure Contest(http://www.chocolateadventurecontest.com/) . The 1st place winners in the sweet, savory and beverage categories each get $5,000 cash, assorted goodies, the publication of their winning recipes in print and online, and mention in Saveur magazine. The catch...the contest is up on the 4th of January, I don't have any Scharffen Berger chocolate (and have to find who sells it locally), and am working through the fourth. So...can I put something (or more than one something?) together in the next sixty hours. The cool thing is they want people to be adventurous: along with their chocolate, you have to use at least one of the following ingredients...basil, mustard seed, coriander, black sesame, black or pink peppercorns, chili peppers, coconut milk, kaffir lime leaves, matcha tea, mango, plantains, jicama, tapioca pearls, tamarind, cacao ribs, popping candy, wattleseed, or palm sugar. That puts it right up my alley and suggests a few things to me right off...

So...guess I better get busy, in between my actual work. Lol.

New Year's Dinner, 2009...

I've been itching to try my hand at the food of Georgia. The former Soviet Republic, that is. The problem is my wife's rather vicious sensitivity to walnuts. Walnuts pop up all over the Georgian cuisine. The stars finally lined up though, the auguries were favorable, and I managed to put together a menu I was happy with. So...this is what we ate for New Year's Dinner:

basturma

(marinated, garlicky beef kebabs)

narshrab

(a somewhat fiery, spiced pomegranate sauce)

khachapuri

(yeasted flat breads filled with three cheeses and fresh herbs)

anor va pioz salati

(an Uzbek salad of red onions, tomatoes, pomegranate seeds and cilantro)

Dinner turned out very tasty. The beef kebabs ended up a little more done than I would have liked, but were still tender and good, the spicy, tart sauce a great foil for the meat. The flatbreads were divine! The directions for completing the breads, in the book I was looking at, left a lot to be desired. By the time I was done making them we had figured out what the author probably meant. Next time I make khachapuri, I'll do things differently, get a neater appearance. During my time in Iraq, I developed a huge liking for the vegetable salads of the Islamic world. This was one of our all-time favorites, and went perfectly with the basturma and narshrab.

We have enough leftovers for all three of us to have the meal again tomorrow for lunch. I am going to take a bit extra with me to work for a couple of friends. One of my coworkers grew up in Georgia, and I want to get my "report card" from her (hopefully she's working Friday). I definitely put my own spin on the dishes, so I may not be totally authentic. We'll see.

I also made a big batch of my "refried" beans (I never fry them...they don't need it). The last few times I've made them, I have been flavoring them a bit more aggressively and we both like them better this way.

Anyway...we are sated now, and heading for bed. I count the dinner as a successful start to the new year.

Yes, Another Blog...

With the start of this New Year, I am going to be taking a more serious run at accomplishing something with my cooking. Gina (DB) and I have seen a very definite improvement in my culinary abilities over the last 6-8 months. I entered the Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown (season II) last summer and I made it as far as the semi-finals (untelevised), but didn't make the final cut. Then I started the new job, we moved, etc., and time slipped by. This blog is to help me keep track of what I'm doing in the kitchen, the contests I'm going to be entering (as many as possible), stuff of a culinary nature that catch my interest, etc. It also seems logical that if I state in a public forum that I'm going to enter this or that contest, its extra incentive to stay on top of things. It is my intention to get a cookbook or two published over the next five years and, ideally, land myself a cooking show somewhere. There are a variety of spice mixes, sauces, curry pastes, chutneys, and the like, that I make which I have been told are quite marketable. I have some ideas for restaurants that I have been developing over time. My determination has been renewed. This seems like a good way to help track the whole thing...