ethnic

lots of ethnic food this trip. portugeuse in mass, ethiopian today for lunch, vietnamese in niagara falls, and there's a new tapas and latin american place in downtown gahanna (over by where we rode the pedal boats). so glad i can eat again!

Poutine

Getting the runaround from the rental office. May this homemade poutine make it all go away.

Steak Frites

Tonight (thanks to Alex's mom and a buy one get one deal because are soooooo poor) we were able to have steak! I made steak frites! I pan-fried the steak, and deglazed the pan with french herb beef stock (that Sami and I made a few months ago). The fries were fried (of course), and then placed under the broiler to make them extra crispy. 

Hot Cheese

so there is a very regional specialty up here, confined to the working class neighborhood of fall river, mass. only place they have it is in hot dog shops around there. they take some good sharp white cheddar cheese, melt it and stir it up so its nice and gooey. pour it onto a steamed hamburger bun  and top it with chopped onion, yellow mustard and coney sauce. its only 2 bucks and its absolutely delicious! i had 2. its just such a unique and specialized sandwich. gonna make them at home sometime for a snack

White Rice

tonight's dinner was melange of long grain rice, harvested by buddhist monks in the foothills of some mountain. It was topped by a composed butter made from-butter.  yeah, my meals have mostly sucked for the last week, been on an all white diet. but leo did get a lobster roll yesterday from a lobster pound, i had a tiny bite and it was OMG the best lobster roll ever. I'll get him to post pics. Gonna try some real food today, hoping i will be good enough by the end of the week i can get homemade ice cream or fried clams. I am so hungry!!!!!

Bourbon Basil Peach Pork Chops with Celery and Swiss Cheese Risotto

Tonight, I went out on a limb to make something sorta fancy. I got to flambe peaches! It was awesome!

Recipe: (from Serious Eats)

Ingredients

• 4 thick-cut pork chops (approximately 1 1/2-inches thick)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 2 peaches, pits removed, each cut into 8 wedges
• Sugar to taste (optional)
• 2 tablespoons bourbon (such as Maker's Mark)
• 16 fresh basil leaves

Procedures

1. 1
   Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 400°F. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium high heat until shimmering. Add the chops and cook until browned on both sides, three to four minutes per side. Remove from heat and transfer chops to a large plate. Set aside. Discard excess grease from skillet.
2. 2
   Add the butter to the skillet and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Add the peach wedges, tossing to coat them in the melted butter. Cook, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until the peaches are warm and soft, 1 to 3 minutes depending on ripeness of peaches. If peaches are very under-ripe, add sugar to taste.
3. 3
   Remove skillet from heat and add bourbon. Light a long match and carefully wave it by the skillet to ingnite the whiskey. Allow flame to die naturally, then use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from bottom of pan. Season sauce to taste with salt, black pepper, and sugar.
4. 4
   Add the pork chops back to the skillet and top each with four basil leaves. Position the peaches on top of the chops. Transfer the skillet to the oven, and cook until chops achieve desired doneness, about 4 minutes for medium. Carefully remove the pan and divide the chops and peaches between four plates. Spoon some of the drippings from the pan on top of the meat and serve.

I couldn't find any fresh basil, so I used the minced tube basil they sell in the refrigerated produce section. It worked beautifully.

The combination was just amazing! The sweet/sour peaches, the botanical quality of the basil, just phenomenal. Absolutely the best thing I've made in some time!

Also, I went to get the recipe to post here, and when I started to type the name into google, I got this:

Thought that was amusing.

I have returned to internetland!

...and am immediately buried under all the stuff that required an internetland and was quietly piling up while I got chewed up by midgies and Ninja cried for days.

::facepalm::

This blog is really the Roy Orbison of Official Yeti Rabbitt and the Vampire Duckmen Fan Club fan club blogs.

Pterodactyl Porn

I literally saw an animated gif of pterodactyl porn on Tumblr tonight. I will not be posting it here, for obvious horror.

oh the memories