First I went to pick up her favorite flowers...DOH! no tulips...so had to go with her number two flowers...which are daisies. woot! Which is...kind of weird....and deja vu ish...when i was younger (highschool) i would always give girls that i liked daisies...they would always scoff and throw them away...ouch. but here i am...buying daisies...for boo.
Actually started off with a spinach/Arugula salad (she loves spinach) and cucumber coins with some balsamic vinaigrette. (not pictured cause i was running back and forth to make sure the food wasn't overcooked.)
Also had some hinted lime chips (mi corazone) and some really good quac (she loves quac...its great to find a girl that loves food as much as i do) to hold her over if any of my timing was off on the dishes. but luckily i wasn't...
Started her off with a lb of steamers...which she loves...another great thing, cause i don't like them. and what's even better is, she don't like shrimp...and i LOVE shrimp...so now i have someone to trade with. lol.
Then to the maine course. Four ~2lb Lobsters and 1lb of PEI Mussels. The Lobster and mussels were really sweet on their own, so they didn't need any kind of accents. Though i did have some hot sauce on the side. *wink
As she had cooked me dinner last week, i felt one good turn deserved another. Boo was extra-ordinarily happy with dinner...and completely surprised at how well/good the food was...and even more surprised as to where i got it from. hee hee hee.
In life i never took the time to stop and smell the roses...always moving forward and leaving a trail of destruction, turmoil and grief...that would fester in me...i'm glad that this time around i went back and smelt the roses...Love ya babes.
Baked Camembert Pasta - A Jamie Oliver Production.
"This recipe is so simple. All you need are a few basic ingredients and one of those little boxes of Camembert you can find in any supermarket. It cooks a treat, looks and smells wonderful, and your mates at your dinner party will just think you're the cleverest thing ever.Admittedly, pasta and runny cheese isn't the healthiest thing in the world, but it's so worth it once in a while."
serves 4-6: 1 x 8-ounce box of Camembert cheese, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, 1 pound dried rigatoni, 6 cups (approx. 6 ounces) fresh spinach leaves, and 4 ounces Parmesan cheese
To prepare your pasta: Preheat your oven to 350°F · Open the box of cheese and unwrap it . Place it back in the wooden container · Score a circle into the top of the skin, then lift it off and discard. Peel and finely slice the garlic · Pick the rosemary leaves off the woody stalk. Lay the garlic slices on top of the cheese, sprinkle with some pepper and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil. Scatter over the rosemary leaves and gently pat with your fingers to coat them in the oil . Grate the Parmesan
To cook your pasta: Place the box of cheese on a cookie sheet and put it into the preheated oven for 25 minutes, until golden and melted · Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil . When your cheese has 10 minutes left to cook, add the rigatoni to the pan and cook according to the package instructions. When the pasta is cooked, add the spinach to the pan - it only needs cooking for 10 seconds or so . Drain the pasta and spinach in a colander over a large bowl, reserving some of the cooking water. Return the pasta and spinach to the pan and let it wilt · Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of extra virgin olive oil and add the grated Parmesan · If the sauce is too thick for you, add a splash of the reserved cooking water to thin it out a bit · Season with salt and pepper and give it a good stir. Remove the cheese from the oven
To serve your pasta: Divide the pasta between your serving bowls · Either drizzle the melted Camembert on top or pop the box of cheese on the table and let everyone help themselves to a lovely, gooey spoonful
Boo figured that the pasta wouldn't be enough so she roasted a chicken too. yesh yesh i know...this one is totally a keeper...lol
I can not iterate how freaking good this dish was with the goey cheese, and then adding the roasted chicken amplified the whole meal. Very well done.
Summation: Awesome recipe, but the most important ingredient was definitely love. THANKS BOO FOR SUCH A GREAT MEAL!!! (^__^) you're the bestest.
So Yumi and i had been rampaging through flushing eating everything in site. We decided to finish off our day with some Pinkberry.
I admit, Pinkberry isn't the best i've had, but its good enough for a fix. As you can see
Yumi got a pomegranate and regular swirl, with capt'n crunch, kiwi, and blue berries.
I also got the pomegranate swirl, but with pineapples, kiwi, and strawberries.
The fruit was really good...which just completely accented the yogurt...droolz...
Summation: (you can click on the above pic for prices and calorie read out.) Again Pinkberry is a place that i can go for a fix...but don't get me wrong, i miss my favorite place in DC lol (yogiberry) CHEERS to all my DC PEEPS!!!
ee_ka, has been talking about this bbq joint for the longest time. I had been quite busy of late, so when one of my sunday's freed up, i was eager to try this place that she had raved about.
This is a video of how they cook some of their food. They don't use gas, they only use wood to cook all their food.
We were shtarving, so ee_ka ordered a ton of food...which in retrospect was kind of a bad idea...since she had 2 other places to take me to...(which in the end we never made it to since we had red meat overload here.)
Skirt Steak and Fries - $16.00
You can actually order it with either rice or veggies...of course we went for the unhealthy option of fries.
The skirt steak was perfectly cooked (medium rare) but it felt like it wasn't really marinated...like well cooked...but bland...
The fries were pretty good but nothing wow or special. mmmmm starch.
Pork Ribs with Rice (Family Platter) - $12.00
Nice crispy outside, hot moist meet on the inside that came off the bone. But again i got a sense of blandness...not really much flavor...which was a little disappointment...however, perfectly cooked.
The rice was actually pretty good. yummmmm.
Now what really made the grade, and i'm guessing this is the reason the meats tasted so bland, was the two sauces (other than the ketchup) supplied with the dishes...one was a hot sauce and the other a bbq sauce...which both were really really good, and even more amazing when you mix them...
Summation: The meats were really well cooked, all around juicy and mouth watering...and even though they had sauces supplied on the side....it still kind of bugged me that the meat wasn't more flavorful/marinated. *Shrug...maybe that's how they do things there? Whatever the case, i think i would like to go back and try it one more time before formulating my own personal opinion about it... CHEERS!!!!.
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