Grilled goodness and Fresh Pasta

Well this was a great meal I made from the usual suspects chicken, eggplant, red peppers, fresh angel hair and pesto.

Chicken: Marinated a few hours in advance in
Orange Juice
Lemon
Lemon Zest
Paul Newman's Caesar dressing and Italian
Lots of Garlic
Salt n' Pepper

Grilled up so its dank.

Then I had some cut up eggplant and red peppers that I rubbed with love and extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper and some fresh garlic. Grilled those along side the chicken for a yummy side dish.Then I made some pre-bought fresh angel hair from Market of choice and tossed it with some butter, Parmesan cheese and pesto from trader joes and market of choice.

Sorry for not having a picture of the final dish but I cut up the chicken in slices and served in on top of the pesto and the veggies on the side. we concluded the evening with dominoes and a classy game of beer pong.

Try these recipe you won't be disappointed.

Belly

Belly is a great new northwest inspired local eatery in the 5th street market area of Eugene. It is really added to the build up of the once run down and lame downtown district.

I went out for diner on a Friday night with my love and we came across it from the Internet.

Being a nice Jewish girl on shabbos I put my Jew bling on and order up the special which was the pork chop with a cherry glaze and served with deliciously smooth mashed potatoes and roasted kale it was so good. The pork chop was grilled to perfection with slight chard on the exterior that surrounded its juicy core.


The sauce was sweet and tangy and perfect for dipping the potatoes and cheesy herbed biscuit rolls that were served prior to the meal.

My boyfriend enjoyed the flank steak. It was served with fresh thick cut heirloom tomatoes. Red, Yellow, and Orange variety. The steak was served medium rare which I told him is the only way to have steak. It was topped with a yummy crunchy topping made of corn and other ingredients. It was accompanied with some fresh green beans to complete this hearty and homey meal.

Belly was legit for Eugene dining. The prices were awesome and moderate for gourmet, organic and local food. The setting was quaint and romantic. The area near the train tracks is really becoming a gentrified area in Lane county. When the train went by the restaurant rumbled and the train roared through, hardly interrupting are amazing evening. The seating is limited so go early or make a reservation because this place is going to get big and your going to want to eat there.

We were very inspired after our delisicio meal that we then went out to the movies to see Julie & Julia. It was a great ending to our Friday night together.

Simple and yummy party snack

Hello Readers,

Hungry guest that often come over to my house to play domino's usually don't eat before....so what is a girl to do.....

well I scanned the remnants of my snack cupboard and came up with this mix.

Everyone should try it.

MIX :
Tim's Hawaii Spicy BBQ chips, which are sweet and spicy.
New York Bagel Chips in the Everything flavor. (funny side note: the link will actually bring you to Amazon.com where you can apparently buy bagel chips...there are even used ones)
Corn Chips any variety, I actually took the remainders of my roommates chips.

I served this mix with salsa.

it went over very well.

WAFFLES!!!

So yesterday I ventured to 7th and Van Buren in eugene, OR for an Off the Waffle experience, I had only heard from word of mouth from some jews about these other crazy jews opening this waffle place where they have a book exchange and you can barter.

yes, I said barter.

they have a wall of barter needs and offerings.

their waffles are fucking amazing! they have these pockets of carmel sugar and it is devine!!!! its a must go.

the sons are also taking part in this neighborhood initiative to encorporate bartering on a small scale to create a community based on bartering similiar to a kibbutz in Israel or a co-op community.

Part 2

So we went down from Santa Monica boardwalk to Venice beach and I had a very mediocre sandwich in a small boardwalk cafe and then for group diner number one we went to this redic themed Italian restaurant that was near our hostel and we were pretty wiped out and sun burnt so a nice family meal sounded good. It was decorated with all this kitschy stuff and they give you a fake tour of the kitchen.






this is the pizza station
Also the salad station. It was very good for a chain
restaurant. Although I still have not heard of this
chain like Doug Wilson from Weeds would say,
"I wouldn't take a shit in an Olive Garden."
mostly because of our extreme hunger it all tasted bomb to us, even if it was totally blahhh on an other day.

The LA Food Story part 1

So this one time we decided to stop in this quaint little town called Solvang.
It is down the 101 off of 41 from Kettleman City. It is a completely Danish themed town.
The town wanted to create an environment for the Danish immigrants and they thought if they build a school and a community around it, they will come and they did. they brought these lovely
AEBLESKIVER:
which are Danish pancake balls.
follow here for recipe

They were very delish. here we are enjoying this delicacy. Bethany and I were into it, and Stephanie just wanted the beauty shot with them. They are traditionally covered in raspberry jam and powdered sugar. YUM!

mmm Cheeseburger, Cheesburger, Cheeseburger

friday night diner

restocked beverages

Savory Pie thing

Well this is a new one.
I guess I have really been creative in the kitchen in these economic times and have gone back to use it or loose it methods.
IE what-the-F should I do with these many random items in my fridge before they go bad?
So this is what came of a Saturday morning creation.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
heavy cream, whatever was left over from the last quiche
left over roasted vegetable from the other night: carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, onions and garlic
ham
extra sharp aged cheddar cheese
a pie crust
maple syrup


Preparation:

I cracked the eggs in a big mixing bowl with the cream and added some cheese. how ever much or as little as you want. The I added the remaining Tupperware of veggies. I fried up the ham in a skillet with maple syrup. I thought it would be good to have a nice sweet and savory combination, probably my favorite taste bud experience. I cut up the ham after it was nicely browned with caramelized edges. added to the egg mixture. Add a pie crust to the baking pan and add ingredients in. I baked this in a 375 oven for an hourish I wasn't really paying attention to the time but when its nice and golden and slightly burnt at the top is a good time to take it out.

I think the outcome was very successful and delish. try it and let me know!

Roasted Diner

Beverages

Hypocritical Meal?

So tonight I had kinda a strange dinner. I made chicken fettuccine Alfredo and spinach and then I had some morning star veggie soy bullshit nuggets as well as REAL chicken, I was thinking its just some more protein...but it almost had the texture of real chicken nuggets. the strange thing was I really didn't HATE them....

Thank You...GREEN EUGENE.

Dinner tonight

I had potatoes my famous ones tonight and then heated up some doctored up left overs or as I like to call them L.O.'s
These were chicken cutlets that I soaked in egg and then breaded them with seasoned breadcrumbs with red hot chili pepper flakes, Parmesan cheese, basil, and 21 seasoning salute. the pasta is linguine with vodka sauce and fresh cherry tomatoes and covered and cheesed and baked off kinda like a mock pasta bake.

potatoes

kinda half ass video I got really distracted but.
take some potatoes. cut them. cut garlic, onion and mushrooms and roast with spiced like salt and pepper, 21 season salute from trader joes, hot pepper flakes. enjoy after about an hour.


Had a serious case of the mondays if you couldn't tell.

Sandy Sunday

Mmm Brunch once again, this time no prime rib.
Still an abundance of seafood casserole which I had some mild guilt taking.
The hard working server boys were just staring waiting for their turn.
On one hand I don't care about them because they are just local high school kids who don't talk to me and don't seem that interesting other then their cherub boyish faces. But I know they work 10X harder then me because well lets face it, like right now, I am blogging at work, and they are cleaning up nasty food debris.
But enough guilt I got a better pick while they watched.
The bartender for some reason got an official invite by Chefy to eat while I just followed because no one ever tells me its time to eat, which means I have to be extra scavenger like in order to get something good around here.
Fuck those blitzes that no one ever touches, I want the good stuff, and the prime rib is probably the most prized brunch option.
There was only fat left today.
So I had some turkey or chicken unclear what it is for sure, that was stuffed with lots of stuffing, and oats were spread about, assuming they were part of the stuffing. It was OK, it reminded me of The Century House Epicurean Shoppe. There was some light gravy, but obvi if there were leftovers it wasn't such a winner today out of the proteins.
Some eggs Benedict looked sad with oats on the bottom of their trey, maybe the oats scared people away.
Over all my favorite guilty pleasure of the spread is probably the soggy Cesar salad. I don't know why, but its just really good and covered in dressing and cheese. It reminds me of the time I spent a weekend with my friend Zach Rose in Portland, OR where after a night of bar hoping he indulged himself in leftover soggy Cesar salad.
The scallops are aways yummy with the rich seafood filling on my plate and the touch of sand in between my teeth always makes me think of the ocean, and sitting on the beach with a sandwich with sand inside.

Quiche

Brunch f-ing rules!

Getting up early on a Sunday for working the brunch shift at the yacht club officially has its extremely awesome bennys!

Lets start with the chocolate fountain they had set up. Yummy for no reason. The spread was unbelievable for these Sunday patrons and the staff got the leftovers!

It included LO's of all kinds of delish. I helped myself to some Caesar salad, prime rib, seafood casserole which included: lobster, shrimp, succulent scallops, and cod. I also had some green beans and other various steamed veggies, and a diet coke. I went for the more savory option because lets face it, when in Rome, it the goods. There was also an array of breakfast option including eggs Benedict which according to health codes should be left out because the sauce has to be at a certain temperature at all times or it starts to grow bacteria (thanks A.Bourdain). Blitz's with jam, Belgian waffles, scrambled eggs which I think came from a carton, home fried potatoes (same family of fried goodness as the french fries they feed us), sausages, cream cheese and bagels, fresh fruit, cakes of all kinds. These brunch left overs don't even start to compare to the weekly grind of the other crap they often serve us the staff here. I am very happy getting up at 8am on Sunday knowing I will have some delish-ness lunch waiting for me. Also some manic over drugged yacht club women picking out the right color sweatshirts and visors.

Camp Food

At my Job I get fed, depending on the times of day I work depends on the meal. I work at a yacht club on the Marblehead neck. It is a great location to vacation and live all year round. As my friend Danny said, dear friend, Jewish counter part I could not be getting any more Waspy then working here but the pay is good and the work is easy. So I can't leave my desk, which is the front desk, so I eat here. Yesterday I worked from 9am to 9pm so I got lunch and dinner. for lunch I took a chance at the Canteen downstairs which serves the pool people and such for a more casual dining experience I tried the turkey club, the turkey was of good quality but the bacon was limpy and undercooked. The chips were great but they sure cut corners around here with staff meals, I was lucky to get some chips, no pickles or anything. The chips are great though. They are just like I got when I went to Jewish day school for lunch. uber thick and dry and crispy not greesy like lays. for dinner I got a light grill because on mondays and tuesday dining room service is different. the light grill consists of hamburger/cheeseburger, hot dog or chicken. I got some chicken again nothing else but a piece of grilled chicken with bbq sauce on it. I was really glad I got to go home early because I was pretty hungry after that piece of chicken.
Today I overheard the chef talking about making western sandwhiches for lunch today and I knew I wouldn't like that so I got something from the canteen today. this time I spoke to the head chef dude downstairs. all the bros work in the canteen or galley kitchen. all the young hott townie boys. so they hooked me up with a grilled chicken sandwhich with cheese and bacon and mayo with some chips delish as ever and some pickles. I asked for them on the side and they said it was pushing it. I went downstairs to pick up my lunch in a box with a diet coke and to my surpise I had made a good choice today. To my suprise again I was rewarded with a second lunch from the upstairs kitchen staff. that western sandwhich I was avoiding, but I could not, not eat it, that would be rude so I took it back to the desk and indulged in lunch number two which came about an hour after lunch number one. the sandwhich was suprisinly tasty, with a grilled buttered bun and a well cooked egg. it had little pieces of ham and onions and pepers in there too it came with these weird french fries, that are almost double fried, with a strange breading, they come with EVERYTHING! last friday was camp pizza and french fries.
to my suprise AGAIN! I actually got some fresh fruit on my lunch plate today, it was fab. I am warming up to the chef in hopes for some good leftovers eventually maybe a lobster roll by the end of the summer or something. fingers crossed! but the kitchen smells like a camp kitchen and the food they give us is probably about the same standard.

Tomato Scare

I should have known this evening was off to an odd start, with the weather. It was extremely windy and dark skied with pink coming through the storm clouds. We went to Pegasus Pizza near the University of Oregon. I was really in the mood for a sandwich and to my surprise they only have two sandwiches. Meatball sub or some weird warm chicken sub with terayaki or bbq, (gross). So meatball it was. half ass put together on a lame ass hoagie roll it was a sorry excuse for what an Italian meatball sub was all about. too bad my dinner wasn't the main cause of this blog entry.it was the sliced tomatoes that other patrons brought by themselves to put atop there pizza. . the only thing I can think of that would cause these odd tourist to want to bring their own sliced tomatoes was the tomato scare with salminila (sp). oddly though they still ordered pizza with tomato sauce which to be seems to defeat the purpose of bringing your own possibly safe tomatoes knowing you will still get poisoned by another establishments bad tomatoes.