Duck Goes Moo!

They’ve discovered a cure for not having heartburn… still, I am a bit tempted to try to make this dish, but I haven’t mastered making chicken fried chicken yet.

Dude… Kool-Aid Pickles. I am not even fracking joking:

link

I added a drink recipe of mine to ExtraTasty, the Dr. Soteropolis!

http://www.extratasty.com/recipe/2399/dr_soteropolis

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0198609906/

For those of you who do not know, this is a turkey-stuffed with duck-stuffed with chicken. Only in America are we so rich and prosperous that we stuff food with other food.

You know what’s surprisingly delicious? Pepperoni Pizza dipped in Lobster Bisque.

You know what’s surprisingly not delicious? Hawaiian Onion Krunchers dipped in Bacon & Horseradish Chip Dip.

Have you heard the news? Stephen Colbert did appreantly as he reported on the “Colbert Report”, his nightly O’Reilly/Hannity spoof, that the Gateway Grizzlies are now going to be serving “Baseball’s Best Burger”.

This special treat is a bacon cheeseburger servered with doughnuts instead of regular buns. There has been much a buzz about this in the area, and a national figure like Stephan Colbert giving a “Tip of the Hat” to our local sports team for bringing us this forbidden delight is only going to bring it more into the spotlight.

But wait… this sort of thing has been in existance already. The Gateway Grizzlies are not the inventors of this work of dietary porn.

In an episode of the animated version of Aaron McGruder’s “The Boondocks”, the character Grandpa started his own resteraunt where he featured a burger called The Luther, named after Luther Van Dross, the portly soul singer. The burger had a pound of grilled beef, bacon, cheese, mayo and was served between two donuts.

Did the Grizzlies get their idea from The Boondocks? Perhaps, but “Grandpa” might of gotten his idea from an actual diner in Decatur, GA.

Here is a blogging that reports on Mulligan’s, where they serve several other ungodly concoctions of delight. Here is a picture of a geniune “Luther”:

I still had a bunch of tomatoes and a bell pepper left over from making chili so I decided to take an aim at making some red pasta sauce. Here is the recipe I used:

Main Ingredients:

1 Bell Pepper (any color, but I used a yellow one )
3 Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Virgin Olive Oil
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 Cup Red Wine

Spices And Stuff:

Dash Crushed Red Pepper
Dash Season Salt
Dash Paprika
Tea Spoon Chopped Onion
Tea Spoon Oregano
Tea Spoon Basil
Tea Spoon Black Pepper
Tea Spoon Paprika
Tea Spoon Garlic

Added After Heat:
Table Spoon Flour
1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

What I did first was core and blanche the Tomatoes, peel and slice them up, and then put them into a sauce pan. Then I added the Olive Oil, chopped up Bell Pepper, Red Wine and the Bay Leaf.

I boiled this mixture for a good ten minutes or so and then added in all the Spices and Stuff. I kept lightly boiling and stirring the mixture for about a half on hour.

Then I took it off the heat and mixed in the Flour and Parmasan Cheese plus some additional dashes of the earlier spices to flavor.

I then added the sauce to some fetucinni I had boiled earlier and served it with some multi-grain bread covered with a honey-butter mix I made.

Today I did something I never did before: I made chili completely from scratch.

Here is what I used:

Main Ingredients:

Handful of Stew Beef Chunks
Handful of Turkey
Handful of Black Beans
1 Tomato
1/4 Cup of Virgin Olive Oil

Peppers:

2 Jalapeno Peppers
1 Bell Pepper

Spices and Such:

1 Table Spoon of Chopped Onion
1 Tea Spoon of Ancho Chili Powder
1 Tea Spoon of Chipoltle Powder
1 Tea Spoon of Chili Powder
1 Dash of Black Pepper
1 Dash of Cayenne Pepper
1 Dash of Garlic Powder

What I did first was core the tomato, boil some water, and blanch the tomato to remove the skin. Then I chopped up the Tomato and put it in a pot with the Olive Oil on medium heat, stirring until I had a nice tomoto paste.

Then I chopped up all the Peppers and threw them into the pot along with all the Spices and Such. I let that cook for about twenty minutes with a light boil, stirring occasionally. Then I threw in the Stew Beef Chunks along with about 1/2 cup of water and let that cook for about an hour on a light boil, stirring occasianally.

Then I threw in half of the Black Beans and some more water and let that cook for about 5 hours, adding water as it would boil down and stirring occasionally of course.

Then I threw in the Turkey and the rest of the Black Beans and cooked it for about another hour until it cooked down to a nice consistancy.

The end result was a very delicious chili, one of the best tasting things I think I have ever made, even better than my hot wings. I will have to make a large batch of this sometime and invite some people over for some spicy goodness.

Hey, if you like Starbucks but hate how big all their cappocinos are then here is an article for you:

link

shh… keep it on the downlow though, if this gets out they might take away this hidden choice.

What’s a “Ripper”? It’s a deep-fried hotdog. I heard about this on the Food Network and I’ve been dying ever since to give it a try. The idea was first pionered at Rutt’s Hut in New Jersey, and has been steadily catching on. They call it a ripper because the fried dogs tend to bust open during cooking.

Despite my desire to try the rare cuisine I felt it was something far too unhealthy to eat without somekind of trade-off. So I made a deal with myself: clean off my filthy stove and then I can try to make some fried hotdogs.

I bought a bunch of Kosher franks, not because I am Jewish which I’m not (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but because I like the way they taste better than your regular hotdog. They cooked very quickly in my wok and I soon found something very disturbing about rippers: They squeal like slaughtered pigs while being cooked.

They did not look very appetizing, but once I bit into one I realized the reason for the craze. The skin had a very nice crunch to it, tasting a bit like bacon, and the inside was nice and juicy from the grease. This was definetely not healthy for me, but it was an interesting treat to have.

I would have posted a picture here, but I forgot to take a picture before eating them, and I’m not making any more for a while. Instead, here is a webjacked image from another site:

1 1/2 oz Rasberry Vodka
3/4 oz Kahlua
3/4 oz Light Cream or Milk

Ever since the Carribean Breeze, a very excellent fusion style resteraunt in Belleville, closed down I’ve been trying to think of a new place to get some of than pan-Asian-Italian cuisine I crave, plus a good excuse to go there.

I’ve met a girl named Amy through eharmony, a dating service that is far, far too expensive. She seems very nice and is quite pretty as well, and I didn’t post her picture here because I didn’t want to embarass her by posting her picture up on my blog. Last week I took her out to the Red Moon, a trendy fusion resteraunt located on 15th and St. Charles.

The place is very nice on the interior, which I forgot to take pictures of, but it serves a 7 dollar Jack n’ Coke that doesn’t need to cost 7 dollars. They have valet parking but no one came to park my car when I pulled up; though they did park my date’s car, go figure.

I had the some blackened sea scallops served with a wasabi sauce, rice, and gingered carrots:

It was very good, and the scallops were rather large, but not nearly as large as the ones served at the Caribbean Breeze. Amy had a pastry covered chicken and vegetable thingy with a curry sauce. The pastry was unbelievably crisp and melted on the tongue, plus the curry sauce was the perfect blend of spicyness and flavor. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of it.

For dessert I had the mango/caramel cheesecake,which was excellent:

Amy had the fruit soup with a coconut ice-cream topping:

All in all it is a nice place to go and isn’t too devestating on the credit card. The best thing of all is that there is no dress code, save the standard shirt + shoes = service clause.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot, they have great coffee!

I met my parents for lunch at Union Station and we decided to go to Landry’s Seafood House. While the phrase “seafood house” often conjures up images of rustic decor with faux natical knick-knacks lining the walls, this place turned out to be much different.

Immediately I felt out of place in my “slacker uniform”. The place was pretty shnazzy on the interior, looking very much like a gourmet resteraunt, but after eating the food there and meeting the staff I can definetely say it does not only just look like one.

I had the blackened catfish, which was very nicely spiced and was covered in a flavorful sauce and topped with shelled crawfish tails.

It was one of the better meals I’ve had in a while and I left the place quite satisfied. A great place to take a date or hold a business lunch. Next time I’ll dress a bit better for the occasion.

So come get some good friends and come on down to Landry’s for some very good eats and great service. Also, don’t forget to feed the koi!

The first time I ever tried Fusion cuisine was at the Caribbean Breeze, a gourmet resteraunt that was in Belleville for far too short of a time. My parents took me there once for lunch and I went there as many times as possible before it unfortunately closed:

http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/belleville/news/9905186.htm

For those of you who do not know, Fusion cuisine borrows from many cultures across the globe, and doesn’t really have a specific definition but this one seems to do a fair job:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_cuisine

I treated several of my friends out to a meal at the Caribbean Breeze before it closed; I felt I had to share the gift of fine cooking the only way I knew how: with a credit card. The place really was that good. I even attended the closing day, which was also chef Mitsuo Miyashita’s birthday. It was kind of sad, but the food and wine was good enough to make it a happy occasion on my side.

There are some Fusion resteraunts in St. Louis I might try out soon. A couple have caught my interest:

Redmoon: http://www.redmoon-stl.com
Mosiac: http://www.citymosaic.com