Fire

Ricky surprised me on Valentine's day with reservations at my favorite restaurant, Fire. We've only been once before, but we both loved it so much, and here's why.

(all photos courtesy of the Fire website)

Our starters

Duck nachos with orange, jalapeño, Apricot crema, Cotija guacamole in wontons with a hoisin glaze.

Mushroom Fontina beignets with truffled aioli, parmesan dust, and herbes de provence.

We both had the mixed lettuce salad with candied pecans, Laura Chenel goat cheese, and a sweet chile vinaigrette.

Ricky had the pecan crusted red snapper with Caribbean mash, apple jicama relish and brown butter vinaigrette.

I had the rock lobster carbonara made with house made fettuccine, pea puree, a crispy poached egg, and tomato oil.

For dessert Ricky ordered the citrus mascarpone cannolis served with champagne macerated berries, pistachios, and white chocolate.

I had the warm apple tart with vanilla pastry cream, vanilla ice cream, and balsamic glaze.

♥

Drunken Waxwings

So today at work we had birds flying into our front windows and dying. It was horrible. Some wouldn't die right away, some did, and another one was pretty stunned and I just held it until it closed it's mouth and flew out of my hands. That part wasn't so bad. I remembered that last year this same thing was happening, so I called the Pensacola Wildlife Rescue and asked them about it. The birds (the woman knew right away what they were from my vague description) are Cedar Waxwings, a migratory songbird that passes through this area every winter. They eat overripe berries and get a little drunk off of the alcohol in them. Weird, right?

Anyway, I think I'm going to get some special decals to put on our windows to make sure the birds see them, we have huge windows and it's no wonder the birds just think it's open space. The woman at the rescue also told me that we can bring any injured birds to them, and told me how to take care of them until we can bring them by. That made me feel better.Poor things.

Source

What an odd day.

Chili!

I've never made chili before, but I was having people over for dinner and did that thing where I make something completely new to me because it somehow...eases?... the stress of having house guests. I don't know why I do this, it's dumb and I should stop.

Homemade fried tortilla strips, thanks for the idea Grandma!

My chili was the bomb dot com. Cubed chuck, jalapeno, poblano, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and a homemade chili spice blend with chipotle, ancho, New Mexico red chile, Mexican oregano, cumin, and coriander seed. I set up a toppings bar so people could just dress their own. Mine has raw onion, green onion, jalapenos, black olives, cilantro, and queso fresco.

Dessert was simple chocolate souffles with orange blossom whipped cream.
Just cream, sugar, orange blossom water, and orange zest.
How good is orange and chocolate? I want a chocolate orange milk shake. Someone make that happen.

Dan is here!

Ricky and I were friends with Dan Heise when we lived in Germany. We left and came to Florida (hooray.) and he got stationed in Turkey. Now he's here too, and he came over for dinner last week.
Snack board!

I cook a lot. A lot. I'm afraid of very little in the kitchen, but there are still things I just haven't done. Live lobsters, to name one, but I've also never broken down a whole chicken.
I know, shameful. Lazy me would rather just buy the sucker already cut up.
Not this day! This day I was feeling squirrely.

Thank you Shun, for making knives sharp enough to hack through chicken bones. Not to self: invest in a good pair of kitchen shears. The backbone was tricky. I'm open to shear suggestions.

I felt such pride! Watch out lobsters, you're next.

I stewed my dismembered chicken with tomatoes, roasted red peppers, cippolini onions, garlic, parsely, and prosciutto, then served it over saffron rice.
So wonderfully comforting on these oddly chilly Florida days.

Haircut.

My hair hasn't been this short since I was...five maybe? I really love it, especially the bangs. It's so strange to not recognize myself in the mirror!

Your barista may hate you...

-If you come through the drive-through and order 10 drinks.
-If you come inside between 7 and 9 am and order 10 drinks.
-If you argue over what Starbucks sizes are called. Seriously, I don't care if you don't want to say grande. Just say medium if you want, I promise that my fragile mind will still be able to grasp what you mean.
-If I call out your latte, it has your name on it, it's the only drink on the counter, and you still ask me, "IS THIS MINE?!?!"
-If you stand and stare as I make your drink. There's nothing I love more than feeling like a zoo animal. Love it.
-If you say "expresso." Get out.

-If you start out your order (which takes you 5 minutes to complete, of course) by saying, "Hehehe, I've never been to Starbucks, so I don't know!" How have you never been to a Starbucks? How on earth is that possible?
-If you ask me for a caramel macchiato with no foam. Uuuuuggggggghhhhhhh.
-If you finally get to the pay window in DT and say, "Oh, did I not say iced? And decaf? And soy?"
-If you bring in your own cup, hand it to me, and say, "I'm gonna need you to wash that out for me." Is your dishwasher broken? Hows about I break your thumbs too, jackass.

Apparently I'm feeling snarky.

Lavender & Vanilla

No words. Just cute pictures of cute cupcakes.

PS- If I bring cupcakes to an event and you don't like lavender, don't eat the flarking cupcakes.

Sheesh.

happy things

Today I bought new pasta bowls, and so pasta had to be made. I didn't want to go to the store, as I had been out of the house all day, so I just made a quick pantry dinner. A tomato sauce with red bell peppers, Italian sausage, and fresh basil over linguine. Done.

Why is fresh thyme so awesome? So versatile, so pretty. Especially when tied in a little bundle with twine.

Spicy Caribbean-style stewed chicken with coconut rice! I've made this before, only this time I used fewer habaneros and added green pigeon peas to my rice. Weird looking little things, but delicious.

Now for two random awesome things:

I had the privilege of spending the afternoon with this handsome man! Baby B! It's been a while, it was so nice to see him.

Aaaaand I'm now the happy owner of this fabulous and oh-so-soft Kate Spade Westbury Bess handbag.

Yay♥

Hodgepodge.

I very often make dishes that require a lot of ingredients and spices. I don't know why, it's just what I've always done. I've always used spices without caution. My Moroccan chicken dish is a great example of my spice philosophy: more is more!

Chicken thighs stewed in a mixture of fire roasted tomatoes, hot green chili, chickpeas, garlic, diced zucchini, and chicken stock.

The seasonings- Cinnamon, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, pomegranate molasses (ooooh yes), and coriander.

Served over couscous.

This is so delicious, and it's only better the next day. Try it!

A nice lunch for one! Linguine with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, red pepper flakes, parsley, and anchovy paste topped with a little parmigiano reggiano.

Awesome.

Dear Blogger

Thank you for being a bunch of raging morons who can't just allow people to have things look the way they want to. I changed to the new "template" thing, which sucks, and went to change back, but everything I've ever put on here to make this my own is gone.
You fucking suck.Love,

pork belly and french onion soup

I love all things pig related. Pork belly, though, has always intimidated me. It's so tough on the outside! Thick thick pig skin is a serious matter.

That my friends, is a thing of beauty. Porky goodness. A blank pork canvas.

After much deliberation I came upon the idea to toss mine in a mixture of cornstarch, salt, pepper, and five spice and then fry it until crispy. I tossed some carrots, celery, and onions in my wok along with lots of hot peppers and a nice spicy sauce I made with soy, sesame oil, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce, and ginger.

Crispy. Fried. Pork. Belly.

If I believed in heaven, I do believe it would be filled with pork belly.

This is one of my favorite lazy day dinners. French onion soup with Gruyère toasts (of course), strip steaks, and fries. That's it.

I've met people who think French onion soup is hard. It's not, trust me.

Thinly slice a few yellow onions and caramelize them in olive oil, butter, and a tiny bit of sugar. Deglaze your pot with sherry, add fresh thyme sprigs, red wine, beef stock and chicken stock, salt, and pepper.

Cook until it's nice and bubbly and the onions are soft soft soft.

Look at that! Three lines, it's that simple. ;)

new shoes!

Image source

So I finally received my new Asics Gel Speedstar 5 running shoes. Yes, I got the pink ones. If you know me, you know that pink isn't really my thing. Look how cute though! So bright! So happy!

If I'm getting up at 4 to work out, then at least my feet can be cheery, ya dig?

This shoe weighs a *beensy* 7.3 ounces. I wear a 7 in running shoes, and usually go up a half size due to the squishy socks I like to wear, and this one fits perfectly. I'm excited to hit the gym in my new happy shoes!

My new favorite cupcake

My favorite brownie is a dark chocolate lavender brownie. Very often I look at various sweets and think, "Can I cupcake that?"

Yes, I can cupcake a lavender brownie. I can also pair said brownie with a salted caramel swiss meringue buttercream.

So good. So good!

the little things

Chicken marsala with roasted broccoli. Ricky loves marsala, and he always requests that I serve it over German noodles, which I find hilarious. Delicious, but hilarious.

Macadamia crusted black grouper with green beans and smashed fingerling potatoes.

Farfalle with smoky tomato sauce.

A batch of coconut and saffron cupcakes for Sydney's birthday.

Homemade pizza with kalamata olives, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and feta cheese.

The strangest cat in the world.

Sausage and white bean soup. Red kale, pasta, hot Italian sausage, cannellini beans, diced tomatoes, and chicken stock. That's it. I'll definitely be making this again.

I do not believe in god.

Nope. Not in the slightest. I'm an atheist, I have been for several years.I take no issue with people who have faith in a god. I understand the appeal, and I get that some people really, truly, need to believe in something more powerful and important than themselves.I just don't. I don't need to, I don't want to, I have no questions that need answers or voids that need filling. I have been through some relatively serious sh*t in my day, and not once have a thought that I couldn't make it through on my own. I've never felt the urge to pray, I've never needed to not feel alone.It was brought to my attention today that some people believe that atheists are angry, miserable people. Funny, I've never met one who feels that way. I love the earth, I love science, and I have the utmost respect for the universe and this planet that brought all things into being. We came from nothing. Nothing! Why isn't that fascinating enough for people? It blows my mind. I'm a good person, I think. I think stealing is bad, I think murder is bad, I think lying is bad, and I think you should respect your elders. I just don't think that anything will happen to me if I don't do those things. I don't believe that there are any after-life related consequences for being a jackass. I just choose not to be a jackass, based on nothing but my own moral compass.I have a pretty firm grasp on right and wrong, and I don't need fear to help me decide. Fear of going to hell, fear of god's wrath, etc. etc. etc.I was raised in a family that believes in god, I attended church more times than I can count. I have read the Bible, the Torah, and the Qu'ran. I just don't identify with any of it, and find it very hard to look past the scientific evidence out there. It's amazing! I don't know why I'm writing this. I guess it just upsets me that so many Christians I've met think that atheists are miserable, confused people. I've had more people than I can count try to convince me that I'm wrong, that there is a god, and that I better say I believe it or I'll go to hell. Not once. Not ONCE have I ever tried to force someone not to believe. I've asked questions, tried to understand better where they're coming from, but I've never tried to change someone's mind for them.If it makes you happy, and it helps you be a better person, and it makes you feel safe, then it's a good thing.I'm perfectly happy, and I love and respect what I am. Nothing is going to happen when I die. I'm going to lay in the dirt and rot and I'm more than okay with that."We ourselves are made of stardust"-Carl Sagan-

Hmm...

The other day at work we got into a conversation about class.

Particularly in women. Particularly, where has it gone?

Seriously, I'm so tired of seeing 20-somethings who dress like Kesha and don't know a thing about anything. These little hipster brats who think that the only thing that matters in life is smoking cigarettes, wearing clothes from Urban Outfitters ("No way, I only shop at thrift stores"), and strictly buying music in vinyl.

(Don't get me wrong, I myself have a massive record collection, but I also understand that nobody f*cking cares about that crap.)

Why don't women want to be... women anymore? When did we start looking up to people like Paris Hilton and not Katharine Hepburn? On NYE I saw young women who were dressed like gothic prostitutes. It was terrifying. Depressing.

At some point you're going to have to grow up, Peter Pan. Peter Penny? Why does it all seem like dress up to me? Like someone used a little too much of her mommy's Lancome crayon kohl.

You look ridiculous.

Really, really, truly, ridiculous.