Dinner and dessert, 9/25/11

So clearly I'm no food stylist... but my food is tasty at any rate.... last nite's dinner was Green chili roast pork, stuffing, and corn... plus the lemon mousse cheesecake for dessert!  And actually...the cheesecake was the most homemade thing of the nite...the other items merely required a bit of time in the oven or microwave (let me recommend the Armour brand green chili roast pork loin.. 5.50 @ Grocery Outlet)
...  but here is the recipe for the cheesecake:

Lemon Mousse Cheesecake

3- 6 oz tubs of cream cheese
1/2 can aerosol whipped topping (or actual whipped cream if desired) (you kinda have to guess at this one)
1 cup sugar
1- 3 oz pkg lemon jello
3/4 cup boiling water
the juice and zest of one lemon
Crust of your choice ( I used a lemon poundcake from a mix, (bought from the 99 Cents store) but you can use crumbs or wafer cookies)

Mix jello with boiling water and stir til clear.  Place in fridge to get cool and thick but not set.
In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar til fluffy., Then add juice and zest, then fold in whipped topping.  When jello is set, add slowly to cheesecake mixture til well blended.
Pour into crust that is set into a 9 inch sprinform, and let set up in fridge for a few hours.
Unmold and serve.
Number of servings depends on how many hungry people you have..

Review, Recipe, and Dinner

The review is a place I've been to before and liked, and wanted to share with my beloved and a dear friend.   I think everyone at least knows about the Landmark, in the Tower District, so I'll just get straight to the food...   I had the veal cutlet special,  my honey had the special New York steak smothered in bleu cheese and pepper, and my friend had the regular New York steak.  I'll say one thing about the Landmark..they aren't afraid of butter, or strong seasoning, because everything was rich and very flavorful (at times almost to a fault).  We started off with a relish tray, which you don't see at many restaurant anymore, but is a delightful throwback to another era... this included marinated green beans, black olives, baby corn, carrots, celery, and green onions.  We all had the salad (2 with bleu cheese, 1 with thousand island), which is a pretty standard mixed green salad (no one liked the beets).  My veal cutlet was served with a cream gravy on top, which kind of overloaded me on richness since I ordered the fettucini alfredo for my side.  The bleu cheese and pepper topping for my beloved's steak was tasty, but overpowering in the end and he had to scrape it off.  Both steaks were cooked properly and were very flavorful on their own...  they also both ordered the rice pilaf for sides... it was good..but ubiquitous 'round these parts... The bread that came with dinner was excellent, a sesame seed loaf that had been sliced and toasted with garlick butter.   We were also inspired to order dessert (chocolate cheesecake for honey, creme brulee for me).  He liked his cheesecake, and my brulee, was extremely rich, almost oozing butter (odd for a creme brulee but not offputting)..and the topping could have spent more time under the fire, as it was sticky and stuck to my teeth somewhat annoyingly.   The service was good...but the waiter made huge mistakes on our bill and the automatic addition of gratuity wasn't something we were used to, preferring to make our own decision based on service.  We asked him to refigure his mistakes which he did promptly and without arguing.

Tonite's dinner was much simpler..  It was what I call a "Polish Honeymoon"  or a polish sausage in a blanket of dough (I used refrigerated breadstick dough),  and tater tots with cheese sauce.

Finally, the recipe comes from my honey's craving for brownies..  
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour
 1 cup chocolate chips

Mix wet ingredients til well mixed, then add dry ingredients, pour batter into greased and cocoa'ed 8 X 8 inch pan.    Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.    While warm, dump chocolate chips on top and let melt, then spread over top evenly.

Recent Food...

Dinner last nite was kind of a traditional Yankee thing..... fish cakes, baked beans and coleslaw...   it was more of a way to get rid of all the whiting filets in my freezer (thus freeing up valuable space for wedding food).  In the process, I cooked something different, and finally found that perfect coleslaw dressing recipe. (Recipes to follow).   
Breakfast was more unusual (ok..unusual for most people, not necessarily for me).  Was planning on a chicken sandwich with the leftover roast chicken and stuffing...  but I forgot I needed the chicken for the 99 cent Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce I found at Grocery Outlet yesterday (another NEW thing for me and more on that later.)  So, after picking the chicken off the bones and putting it aside for dinner, I ended up eating stuffing, 2 fish cakes, coleslaw and baked beans.   And finishing the whole thing off with the rest of that amazing sea salt caramel gelato.   Hopefully I can work that off this morning by working on the backyard.
Now regarding the tikka masala sauce...   As much as I love Bollywood, clothes from India and music from India, the food and I have never been friends...too many aromatics for my liking, and now that I'm deathly allergic to cashews and pistachios, I have to really be careful anyhow...  but I've always WANTED to like Indian food.  So when I saw this sauce yesterday, and made sure there was nothing deadly in there, hey, for 99 cents, why not?  So we'll see tonite how it works out...adding chicken and peas to the sauce... with rice and naan on the side..

Coleslaw Dressing:
1 cup light mayo
1/2 cup sugar (vary to taste)
1 TBSP cider vinegar
1 TBSP horseradish mustard
1/2 tsp celery salt
Whisk together til well blended

Fish cakes:
Indeterminate amounts of cooked whiting, breadcrumbs, mayo, dill weed, garlic salt lemon zest, lemon juice and horseradish mustard.  Mix in one beaten egg.   Mix until thoroughly combined and form into small patties.  Cook over medium heat in well oiled pan until golden brown on both sides.

The Acapulco Thing....

So we lost Acapulco...   I personally enjoyed their Sunday Brunch very much... it was a lively colorful atmosphere, and the food was not like other Sunday brunches in town...and it was good... very good...  the tortillas made right there, the sweet corn tamales, the salads with interesting dressings, the meat dishes, the fresh fruits, the huge containers of orange juice and horchata, and the dessert table...ohhhhhh the dessert table, with its mini mousses and flan and wonderful cookies and warm churros...  sigh...     there was also a sentimental aspect to this place,  it was where my love sang to me, in public, in front of my friends..  2 songs in particular,  Elvis's Can't Help Falling in Love (our first dance song for our wedding), and Elton John's Your Song (which I'd always wished someone would sing to me).    Double sigh..

Fresno loses a lot of chains, not that the chains necessarily close down elsewhere, just here..  which is funny considering  Fresno's love affair with chains..    We've lost Claim Jumper, Grandy's , Hot n Now, Krispy Kreme , and now Acapulco.   Yes, I know, I've complained about chains and now I'm complaining about losing them...   (I particularly miss Grandy's, H & N, and Krispy Kreme).  Not all chains are bad, some of them have some really nummy stuff,  I'd prefer to eat (and have Fresnans eat) at local mom and pop establishments..but sometimes you just get that craving in the middle of winter for a hot, freshly baked, off the line, glazed donut (and don't wanna wake up at the butt crack of dawn to get it).    

I understand the restaurant biz is fickle, and 80 percent of restaurants fail in their first year...   and we've lost local places too... ( I really miss Goodbody's. )  and long standing chains fail for lots of reasons..   maybe I just hate saying goodbye to places where I have fond memories..   new restaurants will come in, chain or not, and they will be good (or not), and more will go...  I guess its like the ebb and flow of life itself.. something we all have to get used to.

I Always Forget to Take Pictures...

Mainly because I don't have camera...or a phone with a camera...or a phone...     ANYHOW...
Went to Highland Games today and noshed....   my first time for haggis, we also had a lovely bit of Welsh Cakes.. and a steak and mushroom meat pie, an alleged English sausage roll...and some well made strawberry mead... loved listening to the music...seeing all the lovely men in kilts (I LOVE KILTS), and watching a bit of caber toss...   but back to the food...

The strawberry mead was delightful...not too sweet, not too much of an alcohol taste... very nice for a hot day..but boy..what a kick!   The Welsh cakes.. after they heated them up for you....YUM..  just sweet enough..  I had a sample of the lemon poppyseed and a whole cherry almond one.  (they are not quite a cookie, not quite a cake, not quite a scone but a mix of all three).  The meat pie was just the right size, with perfectly (almost too perfectly) flaky crust, and a filling that was very homey and comfort foodie..   the alleged sausage roll....I say alleged because the sausage rolls I've met before have been more of a pig-in-a-blanket type..this was encased in more flaky pastry...didn't quite work..  and lastly but not leastly.. (yes I just made that up)..   the haggis..one of those things that I'd been dying to try just to say I had (kind of like lutefisk, but not as nasty sounding)..   The haggis was better than I'd hoped..  not too offal (HA!), and the stomach bit was really lovely and chewy..    so it was a delicious day..       

and since I'm on the subject of food..     let's talk ice cream since it's still warm outside and I kind of indulged by making the mistake of going down the ice cream aisle at Vons..       they have a new brand of gelato, in plastic jars with lids that look like little peanut butter jars...  Talenti.. I was waffling between double dark chocolate and sea salt caramel... I got the caramel....  and it was so sensuous and lovely ....the cream bit was all intense salty caramel...and it had small dark chocolate salty caramels in it...   tasted really lovely with the sourdough baguette I got in the bakery department..    I also got Fair Goodness Cake by Ben & Jerry..   German Chocolate Cake ice cream..and cake pieces, and caramel coconut swirls (I missed the nuts though).   The kid got Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Snack (something about chocolate covered potato chips) ..very disappointing as I'd had it before...and since chocolate covered potato chips are a gift from God Himself...  I thought it would have been yummy...but it wasn't.. flavors got overpowered by other flavors and in the end it didn't taste like anything...   I got the man Ciao Bella Lemon Zest Sorbetto..   which I think he likes quite a bit.     

We were actually looking for B & J's latest flavor...Schweddy Balls.. based on the Saturday Live sketch of the same name.

Other than all that I've been eating monstrously healthy in hopes of not feeling quite so crappy...   so tons of spinach and tomatoes and cukes and low sodium and low fat this and that...and fruits and other veggies and no mayo on my sammies...and tons of whole grains...  and it really does help when I stick to it...            so...go on... live well...eat well...and..  don't take yourselves too seriously.

It's been awhile...

I know the feeling, just when you get interested in a blog you've found... and are waiting patiently (or feverishly) for the next blog...suddenly it just stops...    but I'm back, such as it is, at least to say I've been insanely busy with life and wedding planning, seriously stressed by my psycho ex husband's shenanigans, and just not feeling well...
We haven't eaten out much due to finances so I've nothing new to report on that front..  I've been cooking some rather plebian (albeit tasty) meals..  (pan fried whiting, homemade nachos, spaghetti and meatballs...etc...) but nothing that I felt would really interest my readers...   When I have more  food news (and/or wedding news) to report, then I'll give you a proper post..  Until then, enjoy some opinions on food related matters:

Why do the local food elite promote certain expensive (40 dollars a person) food events and then come back and say how disappointed that they weren't really foodcentric enough...while ignoring smaller, less pricey events? Fresno still isn't a food mecca unless you really get in there with "la raza"..  you're not going to find much hardcore foodiness among the rich white folks in this town (or even those trying to "pass")..  Local economics have shown hungry, well-heeled  Fresnans prefer chains...in nice neighborhoods.. which leaves out the really good stuff you can find say......downtown...  that's where the real culinary talent is...

Item number 2:  Just because a restaurant starts with "local" and "organic" products, doesn't mean they know how to cook them properly....  Those words are used as bait these days to lure in unsuspecting trendies, who will pay extra for restaurants who feature those words on their menus...    You can take a really good product..and screw it up (and half the time those trendies won't even know the diff, especially if the restaurant is in a prime location, or the mayor has eaten there).  One of my favorite dear departed chefs, the late Barbara Tropp, used to complain that older Asian chefs would rather use familiar products of unknown origin, than substitute local, organic products.... yes..and the result would be damned tasty because they KNEW HOW to cook it!  Frankly I don't care if something is "local" or "organic" (a scam in my opinion anyhow),  if whoever cooking it knows how to cook well, I'm fine with that.

Food Weekend...

Here's a recap of food from Greek Fest and the Rib Cookoff:  BTW, the trick to enjoying both of these events is to get there early, get a great parking space, beat the crowds, and the heat.

Greek Fest:  So many options but...not everything was ready when we got there (don't understand if the vendors KNOW the start time is 11 AM, wouldn't they time their stuff to be ready at 11 AM?)..   but we were able to start with a standard Gyro.. no onions..   the best one I've ever had is still from the Fresno Fair,  this one had way too much tzaziki and that combined with the drippy tomatoes made it one messy sandwich..  half the meat was tasty and somehow half was kinda dried out.. we had to wait 10 minutes for the oil in the fryer to heat up for the Greek Fries (again, why not start heating it earlier?) ..These were standard crinkle cut fries, tossed with garlic, feta, and oregano.. tastier when you got to the bottom and there were more toppings...otherwise pretty standard fries..  my daughter brought back some Haloumi (grilled Cyprus cheese on top of pita and cucumber), Spanokopita, and Tiropita (Spinach/Feta and Feta, both in phyllo..like a Greek quiche). LOVED the Tiropita! very rich..   We then went for lamb chops...SO SO SO good.. and very inexpensive.. at 2 dollars a piece.  At some point we also tried a cinnamon flavored ouzo, and totally great Greek lager .   There was also a Greek wine tasting...which was actually quite disappointing, except for the Greek Muscat which was remarkably light for a dessert wine.  We then moved onto pastries (to try and absorb some of the alcohol in my blood so we didn't recreate the Serbian Fest Slivovic church tour mishap.).  We tried four types, a pecan chocolate baklava, a powdered sugar butter cookie, a phyllo and custard pastry and a cake flavored with orange peel and coconut...all very good.

Then we went on to the Church tour which I highly recommend to anyone who appreciates architechture and art... it was breathtaking..(and I didn't trip...yay me!).  It was also very interesting learning about the history of this particular church and the history of the Greek Orthodox church in general. 
Before we left the Fest, we stopped by the food hall for some mousakka and lamb shank to go..  skip the lamb shank which didn't have much meat on it, and was alternately greasy and dry, and always have the mousakka.. the best in town as far as I'm concerned.

and hey, we got a to see the always entertaining and everypresent Kopi..  always a good time :)

Rib Cookoff:
Unlike the Greek Fest, all was ready to go when we got to the Rib Cookoff, we decided to go with rib samplers at as many places as we could, and split them..  The best of the bunch was with last year's winners Porky and Beans, crusty, sweet, sticky, and they gave us even more than we paid for..  got a lovely surprise from the Aussie team (besides the cute guys with sexy accents) in the form of shrimp skewers..best grilled shrimp ever...anywhere... it was well seasoned, NOT rubbery or overcooked...just delicious... with or without their fantastic Raspberry Chipotle bbq sauce...  they can keep the "Aussome" cornbread though...too sweet and cakey.  The rest of the ribs were average, sauces above average.  We also tried to share a sandwich comprising of dry pulled pork, barely cooked maple bacon, drug store ham, and "pepper jack" cheese product.  On a disintigrating bun.  Gave that to my fiancee, between him and the dog they made short work of it.  Overall, I think I'm over ribs, I liked the alternate meat selections and the way everything was set up...lots of shaded seating...very important here..   the only thing I'd wish for was a dessert booth...one likes something sweet after all that protein (sorry..didn't mean for that to sound dirty....it just DID).  

So yeah, we had a tasty weekend... even got a few donuts out of the deal ...thank you BINGO DONUTS (SW corner of Shaw and Blackstone).