Tinga Poblano

I made Tinga Poblano a couple of weeks ago, and it turned out to be a versatile dish: it can be eaten either as a stew or used as a filling for tacos. Either way, it was smokey, spicy deliciousness. I found the recipe in Williams Sonoma Savoring Mexico. Pretty darn simple too.

Baking Weekend

This was a three-day weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Friday night, Derek and I went to the Blues Fest and saw three different bands from Louisiana (Zydeco: Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble and Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band; Brass: Rebirth Brass Band), plus Maceo Parker and Robert Cray.

Saturday was the Timbers game, which was fun, although the Timbers were truly terrible.

Sunday, I baked a very successful Cherry Clafoutis but forgot to take a picture of it. I found the recipe in Williams-Sonoma's Savoring France cookbook. I brought it over to my parents' house for dinner, and not much was left of it.

Today, I baked a Rhubarb-Strawberry Custard Tart (pictured here) to bring to a July Fourth barbeque. I haven't tasted it yet, but is sure looks good. This one came from Williams-Sonoma's Cakes, Cookies, Pies & Tarts.

Both recipes were quite simple.

Cheesy Foot

So my friend suggested I take the post-a-day challenge, which I think is a great idea. Depending on content, sometimes I will post here, and sometimes I will post on Brain Transplant Journal. So here we go, my first Post-A-Day: Cheesy Foot!

Saturday, I was at Derek's house, snooping in his refrigerator while he was off getting a taco. Finding some questionable cheese slices, I put one slice each in Tuco (black kitty) and Blondie's (gray kitty) bowls. Tuco was ON IT, growling at his cheese in enjoyment. Suddenly, he runs off with the mozzarella in his mouth. Where did he go? Derek's bedroom. Hmm. I check around for the cheese, and find that Tuco deposited it in Derek's dress shoe. Present! When Derek gets back from tacoing, I show him the cheese in his shoe, he laughs, then walks off, leaving the cheese there. Apparently, he promptly forgets about it.

Around 2:00 pm today, I get a text message from Derek, stating that he only just then noticed that he had been wearing a shoe with cheese all day. He said he noticed this morning that his shoe felt extra comfortable this morning, but didn't know why. He walked all the way to the Farmers Market on his lunch break with cheese shoe. Not sure how he finally noticed that something was amiss, but back at his cubicle, he took of his shoe, and found the mozzarella stuck to his sock.

Morals of this story:

1. If you want a comfortable shoe, add a slice of mozzarella.

2. I have a funny boyfriend, and he has funny kitties.

3. This ended up on the Kitchen Kat blog because it dealt with cheese.

Lamb Ragu

Last weekend, I realized that Touché has REALLY good food, after tasting the lamb ragu that Derek ordered. (We actually went back there for dinner later on that week before a Timbers game.)

In fact, I was so enamored by it, that I decided I needed to make lamb ragu at home. My tasty results are pictured on the left, and here's the Food and Wine recipe that I used.

Easy and really, really good!

Skip Casa del Matador

DON'T GO HERE:




















My friend Bruno felt like tacos tonight, but was up on NW 23rd. Where to go? I'd never been to Casa del Matador, so I suggested that. Turns out, that was a mistake. You want blaring music and frosted faux blonds from the suburbs? Go there. You want to spend $10.95 on mediocre tacos served with unseasoned, boiled black beans (seriously, the only seasoning on them was a sprinkle of cotija cheese) and numerously reheated generic "Mexican" rice. Go to Casa del Matador! You want only one napkin to share between the two of you? You guessed it! Casa del Matador. So you get the idea: this place was horrid. There was one bright spot, though: the drinks. My tamarindo margarita was really good and sprinkled with cinnamon, and Bruno's mojito was solid.
GO TO THIS TYPE OF PLACE INSTEAD:
Next time I want tacos, I'll be going to Taqueria Santa Cruz in St. Johns. Actual Mexicans eat there instead of transplanted Minnesotans who reside in Lake Oswego, and the tacos taste like what you'd get in Mexico, otherwise described as DELICIOUS. Oh, and they're all around $2.00. So yeah, if you want a taco, it's definitely worth a trip to St. Johns.

Felt Good Enough to Cook

Whoa! I haven't posted in a looooong time.

Last weekend, I bought ingredients for this very simple, but healthy and delicious dish, but have been too sick all week to make it. I don't mean *sniffle* *delicate cough* sick. I mean phlegmy, hacking cough, 101 degree fever sick. NOT FUN.

But today I feel BETTER. YAY! So I made this recipe I got from the Whole Foods Market Flavors Newsletter: GREENS WITH CARROTS, FETA CHEESE AND BROWN RICE, and it was a definitely a success. I was afraid it might be too plain, but it wasn't at all. Look at all that color! I could feel the nutrients seeping into me as I ate.

I used a combination of broccoli rabe and kale in mine and made two slight alterations to the recipe: I sauteed the onions in olive oil first before adding the rest of the vegetables, and used truffle-infused sea salt instead of plain sea salt. That's it! Try it.

Cholesterol Equilibrium

I have a theory that if you eat oatmeal and bacon during the same meal, such as breakfast, the oatmeal will absorb/remove the fat derived from the bacon, thus rendering it a cholesterol neutral meal. Scientists, any thoughts?