Stay-cation 2008

I kind of hate the term, but since someone else coined it, whatever: I took all of last week off from work in order to take care of some personal business.  Taking vacation from work but not going anywhere is called “Stay-cation” now… Honestly, it feels weird to not go anywhere, but I am trying to save money, so it made sense.  Even though I still went out… as the pictures will show! Friday, June 20, lunch: Exactly the reason I avoided street meat for so long.  Yes, I had a tummy ache later.  This awful place on Water and [...]

Harvest Buffet, revisited

I spoke of Harvest Buffet months upon months ago when we decided to hold my mother’s 60th birthday party there.  My family has been going to this place for years now- I’m not sure how we found it, perhaps back in the days of Harvest putting coupons in the Chinese newspaper- and though I go way more rarely than my sister and her brood, I do enjoy it.  And recently, I had the chance to go again for a party. I wasn’t going to take pictures and do another review, but I was surprised and pleased to notice that they fancied [...]

Babbo

A little over a month ago, I’d mentioned how much I detest Mario Batali here (skip to the second paragraph).  I even mention that in a month’s time, this digression/rant beceomes important; for you see, I had a good idea that B was going to take me to Babbo for my birthday.  And he did.  (I mention here that he didn’t believe me fully that it was impossible to get reservations; he wound up calling repeatedly, frustrated, for a few days straight in order to get a day/time that was doable for both of us.)  Because B doesn’t eat a lot [...]

Valentine’s Dinner

Someone recently suggested to me that because I cook [nearly] every night, cooking dinner for BF wasn’t special.  Bah, I say to this naysayer.  It’s not just about cooking, it’s about what you cook and how you approach it.  It’s special because it’s yummy, and though I possibly would if there weren’t such things as expanding waistlines, growing cholesterol, etc., we simply don’t eat like this every night.  I love sweet white wines.  I’m not a, um, wine-y, or rather, a wine snob, wine person, connoisseur, whatever.  I chose this because I liked it, plain and simple; it didn’t get [...]

My First Time… Making Duck

Pan Seared Duck Breast over Shiitake & Portobello Risotto This was my first ever attempt at making duck.  How did I do?  Eh… the duck tasted fabulous, but I think it could be better.  But I’ve conquered any fear I might have had, and so, yet another meat is added to my repertoire.  That can’t ever be a bad thing… The duck was very simply prepared- I made deep, deep scores in the skin, through the fat, right down to the meat (without scoring the meat itself).  This proved very, very wise- the fat rendered out and left succulent peeps [...]

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