Love to eat turkey!

How do I love thee Thanksgiving? Let me count the ways...

1. I love that Thanksgiving is a national holiday with no twisted religious aspects attached to it. Yes I am aware of the fact that the pilgrims came here so they could worship as they pleased, I'm a first grade teacher after all, but that wasn't the real reason behind the actual day of thanks.
   


2. I love that it's a day of appreciation that everyone can be involved in, even if they are not American. No matter how bad things are, there is always something to be thankful for.
   


3. I love that it's a day for family and friends.
   


4. I love that I get to do my favorite things - cook, eat, and watch football. Hopefully next year I'll get to do another of my favorite things too.
   


5. I love that after I do all the cooking I can relax while everyone else has to clean up. And watch more football.


6. I love the smells of the food and the fireplaces and the cold in the air.
   


7. I love that I'm back in the Northeast so I can have a fire going in the fireplace.


8. I love the feeling of belonging, that everyone in every house around me is doing the exact same thing.


9. I love that I am no longer a professional chef, so I have the day off.


10. I love the Adam Sandler Thanksgiving song.
    

Restaurant Meme

I've been forced to do a meme. Forced I tell you! Blame Todd. Everyone else does.

The rules:
1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you.


Include the city/state and country you’re in.
Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Todd - The Forcer (Louisville, Kentucky, United States)
Brooke (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States)

2. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.

3. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

So here are my five favorite places to eat in Fort Lauderdale. It's nice to be doing this since I'll be moving away from this hellhole lovely place in the sun in the very near future.

Heart Rock Sushi - absolutely my favorite place in Fort Lauderdale. Not outrageously expensive, always clean, friendly service, and a great menu. And if you aren't into raw fish, there are plenty of other great things to eat that are actually heated to a proper temperature. The Spider Roll is to die for. Also, a shout-out to the Sushi Rock, mostly because it was the first place I went on a date after I moved to Florida.

Franco and Vinnie's/Il Mulino - two completely different places but both equally good Italian food. Il Mulino may have the best fried calamari I've ever had, including my own. It is also the only place outside of Italy where I will actually order spaghetti. Franco and Vinnie's has a special for two of Shrimp Scampi, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Chicken Piccatta that is absolutely orgasmic. Great pizza too.

Trina - this is one of those ultra-hip and trendy beach front hotspots. I don't go here very often as I am neither ultra-hip nor trendy. Also, I am poor. However, this is my favorite place for brunch - hands down the best Eggs Benedict in the free world. Or at least South Florida. Big ups for great service as well.

Rustic Inn - two words. Garlic. Crabs. So phenomenal you won't mind the noise or the service. What's better than newspaper covered tables, wooden mallets, pitchers of beer, and huge trays of crabs? Nothing. They even have a huge sink on the porch to wash yourself down with after you've doused yourself in garlicy buttery crabby goodness. Mmmmmm...you know you want some.

Southport Raw Bar/Kelly's Landing - these two places are in my neighborhood and both have amazing seafood. Southport is the place to go to have a few beers and fried anything that once swam. Kelly's is a little place right out of New England - with absolutely perfect steamed lobsters and wonderful service. The waitress there even gave me a discount because I'm a teacher - gotta love that!

Also, special mentions:
Zona Fresca - cheap Mexican food that is always fantastic. The place is always spotless and always mobbed. The boyfriends love it, so you know it's good.
Bimini Boatyard - sit out on the deck and watch the boats go by. Great spot for drinks and appetizers.
And I have to mention my favorite place in Boca - Uncle Tai's - for phenomenal Chinese food. Expensive, but worth it.

So there you have it, my favorite places to eat here in sunny Fort Lauderdale. I usually don't tag - but since it's in the rules I'm legally obligated.

I tag Egan, Rich, Chicky Babe, Michael, and Sizzle. I highly doubt any of them will actually answer the tag.

Bon Appetit!

Food Network

I got tagged by Sunshine for a cooking meme. Even though I'm a little memed out, I wanted to do this one since I am a former chef. She has turned me onto cooking blogs now, and I am so grateful that I will soon be working full time as I would never ever ever get off the computer with this new discovery. So here is the meme. I am not tagging anyone. But feel free to add any funny cooking/food stories in the comment section.

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own? I used to bake little cakes in my Easy Bake oven for my brothers and their stoned friends. Everyone would sit at my ladybug table and chairs in my little kitchen down in the basement. (I know I know, I've mentioned this before, but not everyone has read that post) Later, I had one of those cookie shooter gadgets. They were way cool. I remember helping my dad bake bread, and learning how to tell when to punch down the dough. Everyone in my family can cook, so just about all of my memories are food related. I still have my first cookbook too - The Pooh Cookbook - and I still make the PoohanPiglet Pancakes.

Do you have an old photo as “evidence” of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it? No, but here is my last-day-of-culinary-school picture. I'm down in the front - right in the middle - being squished by a boy. Where else would I be?

Mageiricophobia – do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat? I once had to cut up two dozen beef tongues for a catering job. I don't remember what the recipe was - some sort of anti-animal jambalaya. I was a vegetarian for 10 years after that. To this day the memory of it makes me gag. I would probably break into a sweat if I had to do that again.


What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown? I'm not so into gadgets anymore. The most disappointing was probably the vege/fruit juicer - they sound like a good idea, but they are really not worth the trouble. I have all the usual - food processor, coffee bean grinder, hand held cheese grater, etc. I do love my KitchenAid Mixer. It's so very pretty. I long for a Francis Francis cappuccino maker - but since they are approximately the cost of a month's rent - that isn't happening anytime soon.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like – and probably no one else! I love mixing things up! I'm into mixing my condiments. I like mayo on everything - and often I'll add hot sauce to the mayo too - that is fabulous. I also like to mix salad dressings together. Honey on ricotta cheese. Pretzels and cream cheese. I used to go to this local place back home and order clams casino and pizza. Then I would dump the clams casino right on the pizza - to the horror of all my friends. Now it's on the menu.

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?
Pasta. Even though I constantly try to give it up for carbs. A world without pasta is a world without sunshine.
Pecorino Romano Cheese - for the pasta of course.
Popcorn - I put Pecorino on popcorn too. Don't knock it til you try it.

Any question you missed in this meme, that you would have loved to answer? A lot of people have said which celebrity chef they would most like to work with - and though I have found that most celebrity chefs are jackasses in general - I wouldn't mind working with Tyler Florence. If he's a jackass who cares - he's hot.

Three quickies:
Your favorite ice-cream: Hazelnut gelato
You will probably never eat: Haggis or puffer fish
Your own signature dish: Soup (signature dessert: sticky toffee pudding)

Bon Appetit!

Breakfast of Champions

I'm having strawberries for breakfast. Big - and I mean big - ripe, juicy, red strawberries. If there was a boy here it would be a very sexy experience, but it's just me in my jammies with a horribly stuffed up nose and incredibly puffy eyes. Damn allergies. It's not a pretty picture. At least I brushed my teeth.

As I devour my mutant strawberries, I can't help but think of how my breakfasts have changed over the years. Yes, I know it's a completely inane thing to contemplate, but at least it's keeping me somewhat lucid now that the Benadryl is starting to kick in. Breakfast is affected (or is it effected? I always get those mixed up) by many factors: age, location, finances, and of course - current trends. I'm sure there are others. Better to not get too deep with this. I'll stick with age, mostly.

When I was little, breakfast was the best meal of the day. I would race down the stairs at the crack of dawn, scamper into the kitchen, and behold the plethora of colorful cereal boxes filled with sugary goodness. Which would it be today? Crunch Berries? Count Chocula? Lucky Charms? Cheerios?!!? How did they get there?? Hmmmm...actually they aren't that bad once you dump a cup of sugar on them. Lucky Charms were my favorite. I would pick out as many of the marshmallow charms as possible so that when my brother came in he would get a bowl full of brown crunchy bits. Life was good.

In my middle and high school years, my eating habits were all over the map. I tried every diet there was to keep from going over 105 lbs. Anything over that caused complete meltdowns. All meat, all cheese, grapefruit before meals, hot water after them - whatever the current fad diet I was on was what dictated my morning meals. Until it was summer - then I would have nothing but watermelon. All watermelon all the time. Life was easy in summer.

In college, and culinary school, I was constantly surrounded by food. It became something I worked with, like clay, so I completely lost interest in actually consuming it. Unless a hangover was in play, then it was one of three things: a Dino's sub, cold pizza, or cold Chinese food. Otherwise, breakfast was the same everyday. Coffee and cigarettes. Breakfast of champions.

Now we come to the travel portion of the program - the mid 20's. Breakfast is now dictated by location. Europe pretty much followed along with college - coffee and cigarettes. Only the coffee is much stronger and the cigarettes much more expensive. Sometimes a roll was involved, but that was usually ignored. Breakfast was not only dictated by location, but also by funds. Hence the ignoring of the rolls.

Australia was a whole different story. Breakfast in Australia consisted of several choices: baked beans on toast, spaghetti on toast, Vegemite on toast, or a trip to the local fruit stand. I ate so many kiwis I'm actually allergic to them now. Things got better when I started working at the Blue Marina Cafe, then it was back to coffee and cigarettes. Again, strong and expensive. If I got to work early enough, I could attack the fresh from the oven scones. Otherwise I didn't bother with them, once you have had them fresh from the oven, you can't have them any other way.

Hong Kong is a blur. I don't really recall breakfast there. Or much else for that matter.

Now I eat whatever I feel like for breakfast. Sometimes I'm good and have Grape-Nuts and skim milk. Sometimes I'm bad and have pancakes and bacon. Sometimes I go out with my friends and have whatever strikes me at that moment. Sometimes I cook for me and my current squeeze. Cold pizza is still a big favorite, as is cold Chinese. Coffee and cigarettes - not so much now. I've given up the smokes and the caffeine seems to bother me more now that I'm older - see? Age is the key factor!

And then there are the days I just like to have a big bowl of mutant strawberries. So ....what's for lunch.....