Rob's Cooking - October Edition

Looking like a hot mess and playing with my food

Rob's been fairly busy this month. This means the gourmet meals at home have been few and far between. I have been left to fend for myself. {Throws self to the ground} Don't worry about me. I'll think of something.

Seriously, as much as I love my husband's cooking, it's a little too rich for me to eat on a day to day. Also add that his cuisine while delicious is not conducive to weight loss. He can eat his own cooking all day. Rob, like most men, has the metabolism of an army of hummingbirds. Contrary to popular belief, I can cook...palatable meals. I won't be cooking at the Emmy's, but it's good enough for me and when he's really tired edible enough for Rob.

Here are some of what he's prepared in the last couple of weeks. These weren't all cooked on the same day.

Pork Tenderloin with Mandarin Orange & Cranberry Chutney
served with brown rice and yellow and green beans


Crostini with Manchego Cheese, Spanish Dry Chorizo, and Sundried Tomatos


Mediterranean Inspired Salad with Artichokes, Hearts of Palm, Roma Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives and Red Onions topped with Bulgarian Feta Cheese

Bresola Rolls stuffed with Field Greens, Pine Nuts and Blue Cheese

This month also marks the first time Rob has participated in a food competition. He assisted his co-worker Cheryl in her entry to 4th Annual Smokin' in the Park in Viejas, California.

Cheryl is the owner of Auntie Shoe's Bodacious BBQ. Rob was her prep cook and assistant. Smokin' in the Park was a fairly large event. There were 52 teams in the competition. Auntie Shoe's Bodacious BBQ took 21st overall. They placed 9th out of 52 in the Ribs category. In order to have the perfect pieces for the judges to taste, they made A LOT of barbecue. A good portion of the leftovers came home with Rob. It was good, but I have to say that I won't be having any barbecue anytime soon. We had enough leftovers to last us a week and that's after we shared some with our neighbors and friends. There is such a thing as too much smoky goodness.

Cheryl preps chicken for the judges




9th place ribs


18th Place Chicken

Thanksgiving is coming up. So let's hope my personal chef will be available to cook our Thanksgiving dinner;)

Dinner with the Girls - August Edition

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Spark Woodfire Grill
11801 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 284-4215

This month's dinner was planned by Wendy. I was really looking forward to dinner. It seemed like such a long time since I had seen everyone. Sadly, prior obligations made me 1 hour late for the gathering. I am told that I didn't miss anything exciting, but I suspect that since I wasn't present I was discussed;)

Their specialties are their ribs and steaks. Because I arrived so late, I hastily ordered a woodfire pizza. After all, it's pizza. You'd have to work REALLY hard to jack that up. It was good enough. I gobbled it up without taking a photo of it. I did order dessert. I had the apple tart ala mode. It was average and not anything to write home about. Honestly, it tasted like it was warmed up in the microwave. It wasn't absolutely horrible because I had no shame in cleaning my entire plate. I think the ice cream saved it.

As always, the company and the conversation were worth the trip. I enjoyed catching up with everyone.

Supposedly, it was Wendy's "birthday". Last I heard, it wasn't September yet.
Either way, I think she enjoyed the free dessert.

Keren enjoying her dessert

Natalie in the midst of her storytelling.

Paola & Ali enjoy one of Natalie's stories. Keren counts our cash.

Although I didn't get to enjoy the entire dinner, it was a good time.

A tale of two meals

A nice benefit of being a Work-at-Home Wife is that I can meet friends for lunch. Today was one such day. I met Jeannette for lunch in El Segundo. The tricky part is that Jeannette and her husband Matt have decided to adopt a Vegan lifestyle. Although I am an omnivore, I thought it would be great to try a Vegetarian/Vegan Restaurant. Google is our friend. Through it, Jeannette found the oh-so-good Veggie Grill.

Papa’s Portobello

Grilled portobello mushroom, chopped
tomato, basil & garlic pomodoro,
caramelized onion, pesto, chipotle ranch.

I have to say that I was impressed. I ordered the Portobello Mushroom Sandwich (pictured above) with Sweet Potato Fries. Sadly, I did not bring my camera and all I had was my sad little camera phone. The food was delicious and not just delicious for Vegetarian cuisine. My favorite part of the meal was the Carrot Cake. It was so good that it disappeared before I could even snap a photo. The only downside to the place is that it's soooooo far from my house. 25 miles far to be exact. Otherwise, I'd be there quite frequently.

S Allied Way
El Segundo, CA 90245
(310) 535-0025

After lunch, we walked over to Sur La Table and ogled over the beautiful kitchen goods. I don't cook, but I can still admire the craftsmanship and dream about the culinary magic Rob could create with all those tools. We followed that up with a walk-thru of the nearby Whole Foods. It's at this point that I'm glad Jeannette is such a good and understanding friend. I did an politically incorrect thing. I dragged my newly Vegan friend to the butcher department and requested bones for Dottie - Not just any bones, but big Flintstone-sized bones. I couldn't resist. I know for a fact that Whole Foods has the best quality and best priced bones. I'm lucky that Jeannette has a sense of humor and isn't a Veggie Nazi.

Just for her, I documented Dottie's reaction to my purchase. Here it is for everyone's viewing enjoyment and entertainment.

A surprise for Dottie from Anne K. on Vimeo.

I am super embarrassed that I sound like one of those crazy dog ladies, but oh well! This is me.

This is the contents of the wrapped package

Dottie anxiously waits for her bone to cook

The anxiety had overwhelmed her and she's resting up for her BIG treat.

She waits for the signal to start chomping on her treat.

Last shot before the carnage.

Can we borrow your kitchen?

Typically, Rob makes his culinary creations in our teeny tiny kitchen. Our kitchen is so small that it makes a kitchen in a RV look huge. From time to time, we invite ourselves to someone else's house to make dinner. Tonight was one such night. We invited ourselves over to our friend Kevin's house. Kevin happily obliged and agreed to help.

Rob in Action (He does not like this photo, but I wanted to show him at work)
Adding Sun-dried Tomatoes to the Pasta

Kevin the Grillmaster slicing the tri-tip that Rob marinated and seasoned

Rob was in the mood to barbecue and have Italian food. This unusual sounding combo threw me for a loop, but I decided to just trust him. After all, I think I've already established that I am not Martha Stewart in the kitchen.

Here's the meal that he put together.

Beverages

Italian Sodas (Not pictured: Duck Pond Pinot Noir)


Appetizer

Fresh Mozzarella Medallions & Organic Roma Tomatoes
on Crostini served with Bruschetta sauce


Main Course

Tri-tip grilled to perfection

Sliced Tri-tip

Spaghetti Tossed in Sun-dried Tomato, Homegrown Basil, Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil Sauce

Blurry Photo of my properly plated dinner

Dessert

Trader Joe's Boxed Panna Cotta with Fresh Raspberries

Dottie Dots waiting for a tasty morsel to fall on the floor.
She's strategically placed near me because
she knows that I'm the weak and VERY clumsy link.

For those that are wondering, meals are not always like this in our household. This kind of feast only occurs on the days that Rob is off. More often than not, my dinner looks like this.

After all, a gal's gotta do something to keep from turning into this

Dinner at Rob's Bistro

In a continuing effort to be more budget conscious, Rob has been making dinner at home. If our dinners at home continue to look like this, I don't know if I'll ever want to eat out again.

Cod broiled with dill and capers.

Served with a side of brown rice and blanched squash

Shrimp served on a bed of fettuccine with red cabbage and red peppers in a thai-inspired sauce

Fresh Mediterranean Salad with Italian Salami with fresh crostini

Seared Ahi Tuna served with brown rice and a fresh Asian inspired herb salad

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

I suspect that Rob is trying to fatten me up. I guess i will be re-gaining the weight I lost while he was out-of-town.

Birthday Blowout - A Recap

Birthday Portrait by Jordana

Typically, my birthday celebrations consist of a quiet dinner with Rob and one or two friends. This year I decided to turn my birthday into an two-part Extravaganza.

The first part was on Thursday, my actual birthday. I had invited a few of my closest girlfriends to meet me for dinner and drinks. I haven't had an all-girl birthday since I was 6.

We started the evening at Camilo's California Bistro, which is in my 'hood. Service was unbelievably slow, but the fantastic company more than made up for it. I ordered one of the specials - Grouper with prawns. It was delectable.

My yummy dinner

Here are my lovely dinner companions.

Joellaann & Natalie

Paola & Janice

Keren & Marisa

Jenny & Jeannette

Wendy, Ali, & Jordana

As if dinner and fantastic conversation weren't enough, these marvelous ladies presented me with a cake, a card, and a gift.

photo by Jordana Hazel

Although not aesthetically pleasing, the cake was delicious. Jordana baked the cake. The buttercream frosting was delish although not "built for the heat" and melted en route to dinner. The fact that the cake was imperfect and a hilarious story to go with, made it the perfect cake for me.

I loved the card. It was hilarious and fitting.

Here is my birthday gift. A Craft Robo - custom die-cutter!


These unbelievable ladies got together to purchase my gift. Sneaky Wendy had asked me a few weeks prior what I was planning to purchase next for my design business. I had no idea that she was stealthily gathering intel. I was so surprised that I started to tear a little. As an added bonus and inside joke, Jeannette gave me a plethora of accessories. Rob will be pleased.

After dinner and cake, we headed over to Colorado Wine Company.

Paola, Jordana, Ali, & Keren

Natalie, Janice, Wendy & Jeannette

We got there a little later than I had planned. Thankfully, Jen the owner took care of us. We gabbed and drank until nearly midnight. The only reason why we didn't stay out later is that poor Jen had to close up shop and go home. We had kept the place open a half hour past closing time.

This is one of the best birthdays I've had in years. The celebration was better than any that I could have imagined. Thanks again, ladies.