Birthday Cake

My 11 year old daughter made me this cake for my Birthday...She has become a wonderful Baker!

100 have you tried list

the items underlined and italic are items I have tried.

1. Venison - grew up on this and I love it

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros 

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile - does alligator count? 

6. Black pudding

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush - I do live right next to Dearborn MI after all.

11. Calamari

12. Pho - I have many very close dishes but not this exact one

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes - grew some this year

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Partridge 

31. Wasabi peas - I have had Wasabi with my sushi, is that the same thing

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float - ginger ale floats are great too

36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects 

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk - Grew up on this, took years to be able to drink cow milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120

46. Fugu- I don't know how to do strick through on blogger so I will just state it - nope, not worth it.

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - every friday when I worked

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer - is on the menu this week as a matter of fact

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - I at one time worked at MickyD's

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - a good friend used to own an elephant ear cart, she made good money.

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain - I have made this

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho - I have made this

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill - several different kinds

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie - It gave me a tummy ache

78. Snail 

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum - oh yeah I think all the shel fish would kill me

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash - both kinds

88. Flowers

89. Horse - nope but I have had moose

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam - oh yeah baby

92. Soft shell crab-swelled up like a balloon, with hives

93. Rose harissa - if this is the same as harissa then yep, thanks Warda I do love it so.

94. Catfish - not much of a fan

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox - I made lox last week

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta - since I was a kid

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - best coffee ever

100. Snake

Beef and Cabbage Stir-Fry

This is just a quick recap of what I made for dinner last night, I do not want to forget what I did because everyone loved this dish.  There are no measurements because, truth be told, I don't really measure.

10 oz beef.  I just got the beef steak that was on sale.
soy sauce
rice wine
brown sugar
Korean garlic chili paste
Vegetable Oil
1 T. grated ginger
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

Cut the beef very thin and if the steak is thick cut again to make almost matchsticks out of the beef
Marinate the beef in enough soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, chili paste, and ginger to cover

stir fry the onion, set aside
stir fry the cabbage, set aside
stir fry carrot, set aside
drain the beef and set marinade aside
stir fry the beef for about 2 minutes, until cooked about 2/3rd s of the way through, set aside
add the marinade into wok and cook until bubbling.  add all the set aside ingredients into the wok and cook to mix well with the sauce and all is heated through.
Serve with steamed rice.

I would like to try this with a little plumb sauce added to it as well.

Winter Kale Salad with Squash

I went to a local Deli that I had recently discovered and they had a winter kale salad on the menu that I fell in love with.  Unfortunately, it was a seasonal and short lived item in the menu so I had to recreate my own version and I think mine is even better.

Salad

1 small Butternut squash

1 tablespoon butter (or olive oil)

salt & pepper

1/2 cup 5 grain mix* cooked to package directions

2 cups chopped kale

1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley

reduced fat blue cheese to taste

1/4 cup mixture of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds**

2 tablespoons home made vinaigrette 

Peel the squash and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.  Add the squash to a saute pan with the butter/oil,  season with salt and pepper, and cook covered over medium heat stirring occasionally until just tender but not mushy and falling apart. 

Clean and chop kale and parsley and toss with vinaigrette.

Layer greens, squash, blue cheese, seeds, and grains in a bowl respectively.  Enjoy 

Vinaigrette

I a small mason jar add 

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon mustard of choice

salt & pepper

Place lid on mason jar and shake up the dressing.

* The 5 grain mix I use has spelt, barley, rice, Kanut, and oats

**I actually used Good Sense Dietary snack mix that has sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, almonds, and raisins. 

  

Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

6 4 oz. pork loin chops
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
oil

In a small pan heat vinegar then add brown sugar, garlic, thyme and a little salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes until the sauce reduces slightly.  Set aside.
salt and pepper the pork, add 1 tablespoon of oil to hot saute pan.  Cook pork chops until browned on both sides and almost cooked through, add the sauce and cook pork in sauce for a few minutes until glazed and the pork is done to your liking.  we like ours medium well, not a follower of the cook pork until leather mind set.

Asparagus and Morel Tart

Store puff pastry brushed with egg and cream and topped with home grown asparagus, morels, and Parmesan cheese.  This was good but the other one I made like this but with caramelized onion was better.  Yum.