Starving Kitten

NFL Play-off Pool Update

Posted on January 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

If you are keeping an eye on the very riveting match up between Greg and I on our play-off pool, here is the update!

The first game of the weekend was the Arizona Cardinals at the New Orleans Saints. New Orleans was favored by 7 points and the over/under was 57. At first, Greg and I had the exact same picks: Arizona and the over.

The second game was the Baltimore Ravens at the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts were favored by 6.5 and the over/under was 45. We both took Indy and the under.

We were not very satisfied with the lack of differences in our picks because that’s not very fun! So we decided to flip a coin and the loser had to change one of their picks. We did this twice and Greg changed two picks: He took New Orleans and the under and left his Indy/Bal picks as they were.

The results: We split the first game as New Orleans covered and it went over and the second game we had the same things so nothing happened, though we both went 2-2.

For Sunday’s games we had some good variation. The first game was the Dallas Cowboys at the Minnesota Vikings. The Viking were favored by 3.5 and the over/under was 47. I picked the Cowboys and the under and Greg had the Vikings and the over. We split again 1-1.

The second game was the New York Jets at the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers were favored by 7 and the over/under was 42. I picked San Diego and the under and Greg picked San Diego and the over. We went 1-0 and I picked up another game.

So the standings going into next week are: Greg 8, Eileen 7. Three more games to go with the victor getting dinner at Black Market Bistro!

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Winterfest 2010

Posted on January 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

Greg decided to name our most recent venture in small party hosting winterfest 2010. The party was more of a small gathering and featured some NFL playoffs, homemade chili, a Christmas-tree burning, spiked apple cider, and some good ole fashion beer pong.

We started off the day with a massive 2-hour long cleaning session and prepped for the party by setting up the fire ring and removing the tree from the house.

The fire set up

You were a good tree!

Next, it was time to get the chili going. In recent years we have used the crock pot to make chili but decided to try making it in the dutch oven this time around. First Greg browned the meat and transferred it into the dutch oven.

80/20 chuck

Then went in some other good stuff- chili seasoning, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, and several items not pictured, including cinnamon and chocolate powder!

After baking for several hours at 250 degrees the chili came out piping hot. Greg attempted to make this chili Cincinnati style, but the meat never really got down to the consistency he wanted. However, this chili was awesome! I think the dutch oven really made a difference and the flavors were really nice and complete. The party-goers must have agreed because there was nothing leftover 😦

chil-chil

The get together also gave some of our friends time to shine in the culinary sense as well. We got to sample these excellent bourbon cream mushroom pinwheels and homemade pretzel bites with cheez whiz (in the mini crock) for dipping.

These didn't last long...mmm....

Can't beat pretzels and cheez whiz!

Other culinary creations, which I forgot to take pics of (doh!) were crab dip and chocolate-peanut butter rice crispy treats!

The fire was a big success as well.

Cool pic of Heinz

Overall this party or gathering, whatever it was, was a lot of fun! We had about ten people not including Greg and I and I think everyone had a good time. I know we did!

Recipe for Chili- Cincinnati Style

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Posted in Uncategorized

Friday night

Posted on January 19, 2010 | 1 comment

Ahh yes it is Friday, finally. They can never get here too quickly and it was especially exciting because tonight we went out for dinner to Cristina’s in Wheaton. This place has GREAT Italian food and we can walk there from our house, which is an added bonus. It is so nice to leave the car behind sometimes.

Cristina’s has a charm about it that you don’t see a lot in this area. The owners were there seating people and checked in with us to ensure we enjoyed our meal. There appears to be a good crowd of regulars and we found ourselves to be some of the youngest people there (it was before 7pm!) at first, but as it got later some younger people did come in as well. It’s nicely lit and small enough where you may need a reservation, but big enough where you probably won’t. It’s a great date spot, but would also be nice to go with others. Overall, we just love it and food wise it always delivers a great meal.

We started off with La Caprese Completa: Fresh homemade mozzarella served with fresh sliced tomatoes, basil and olive oil. I don’t know how they always manage to have these delicious ripe tomatoes, but they do. Also, the olive oil they use is out of this world. This was a great way to start off the meal.

Both of our entrees came with salads (house or cesar) and we both chose cesar. You can’t go wrong with either choice here. Of course there was some fresh bread that accompanied the meal, including a rosemary focaccia-type bread and a classic italian white.

For our entrees, Greg ordered the Vitello Benito: Tender slices of veal sauteed with shallots, balsamic vinegar and marsala wine topped with asparagus. I praise him for branching out and trying this dish. The veal was very nice and tender and had a marsala based sauce. It also came with linguine. I don’t know if they make their pastas in house, but they taste so fresh that they must be homemade. The pastas are so tender they just melt in your mouth. For my entree I did not branch out and ordered something I had before and loved. I had been thinking about all day and was not deterred by the big menu! I had the Gamberi Florentine: Fresh jumbo shrimp stuffed with spinach, feta cheese and fresh herbs. Topped with lemon-butter sauce and broiled to perfection. Served with linguine. This dish is absolute perfection in my opinion. I really want to try to recreate this at home some time soon!All in all, we had a fantastic meal at Cristina’s tonight and I already cannot wait to go back again. I have not yet become comfortable with the idea of taking pictures of my food in public so sorry for the lack of pictures! Maybe I will get there one day…

After dinner we checked out Dad’s Pub in Rockville, mostly due to the fact that it’s close and has live music. We have been there once before and I think the crowd really makes a difference here. Tonight, it was rather small and was most likely the spill-over of the happy hour crowd (ie: people were pretty nice and toasty by the time we got there). Also, it was apparent that there was a caps game that just ended as several people meandered the bar in their obnoxious red jerseys. Sorry, I could live without caps fans in my life. Anyway, we called it quits pretty early and headed home… looking forward tomorrow night’s “winterfest” at our house!

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Posted in Restaurant Reviews

Tagged Italian, Wheaton restaurant

Chicken Carbonara Casserole

Posted on January 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

It’s Thursday night and we have made some really good meals this week. Energy and motivation are slightly down for me, but not for Greg. He was the creator of this dish, which utilized some of the leftovers we had in the fridge. He ended up making what he dubbed, “chicken carbonara casserole”. Once you read the recipe you will see that it is a perfect title- except if you are expecting to see fettuccine noodles or some other pasta derivative. We aim to eat low-carb for most of the week, but this could have easily and quite tastily been served over said carbs. Honestly though, I didn’t even miss them. This was that good.

He started out the casserole by chopping up the leftover broccoli we had from the broccoli cheese soup, blanching it, and placing it on the bottom of the casserole dish.

Then added some chopped mushrooms, which he sauteed first with some oil, salt, and pepper.

Then he re-heated a leftover bacon and onion mixture and placed it in the casserole.

bacon makes everything better

He then chopped up some leftover chicken from last night and added that.

Now on to the good stuff: the carbonara sauce. For this he made a basic roux with some roasted garlic, added half and half and skim milk, “Italian” mix cheese and some grated Parmesan, and generous amounts of ground black pepper.

He then poured the gooey cheese sauce over the casserole and added another layer of the Parmesan.

Lastly, he baked it for about ten minutes, and broiled it for an additional 5 to get the top nice and brown.

After a garnish of fresh chopped tomato and basil, dinner was served!

After dinner we continued to work on the honeymoon planning. I think we have narrowed it down to the Domican Republic, but we still have some details to figure out, like which resort to go to. It’s hard to tell from the websites what they are really like, but at some point we are just going to have to pick one and trust our instincts. My only criteria is that I would like the resort to have a swim-up bar (priorities people!). Oh, and also that it’s clean, has decent food, and has some sort of nightlife 🙂 Hopefully, we will find just what we are looking for very soon and then we can really start to get excited for it! Below is the recipe for tonight’s dinner. I have to admit we did not measure out everything so these are my best guesses. We used the half and half and milk mixture to cut some fat but you can use 3 cups of any dairy that you like. There should at least be some fat in the dairy though as skim only may be too thin.

Recipe for Chicken Carbonara Casserole

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Posted in Chicken

Tagged bacon, cheese, chicken, dinner ideas, homemade, Italian

Thyme Roasted Chicken

Posted on January 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

As soon I as walked in the door this evening I was pleasantly greeted by the aromatics of this dish! Greg prepared the chicken by stuffing it with some sprigs of thyme and putting a serious coating of McCormick’s rotisserie chicken seasoning all over the bird. I definitely recommend this seasoning!

The chicken had a lovely self-timer on it and took about 2 and half hours to roast. We added some of my homemade creamed spinach and Greg made one of his favorites- instant mashed potatoes (which he spiced up with some remaining thyme and red pepper flakes).

Bird in the oven

We have made roasted chicken so many times before, but this was definitely the best one yet. It was so juicy and flavorful. The recipe for the creamed spinach is very easy also and you can pretty much use whatever cheese you have in the fridge, though the recipe calls for parmesan.

Recipe for Eileen’s Creamed Spinach

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Posted in Chicken, Sides

Tagged chicken, dinner ideas, low carb, low fat, thyme

Kaz Sushi Bistro

Posted on January 14, 2010 | 1 comment

I ventured into DC this evening after work to check out Kaz Sushi Bistro (1915 Eye St. NW). I had some high hopes for it, considering it was on the 2009 Washingtonian “best of” list and that the chef/owner is pretty well known in the DC area. When I first got there it was pretty empty, but by the time we finished dinner it was full. The decor was interesting because if you didn’t see the tiny sushi bar in the back you would have no idea you were at a Japanese restaurant. I guess that’s where the “bistro” comes in.

It is restaurant week in DC and they had a decent deal, which I passed on. For $35 you could get your choice of appetizer, six nigiri pieces and two rolls, and dessert. Since I am not a big dessert person and I really wanted miso soup, which was not an appetizer option, I passed on the deal. I ended up getting miso soup, a green salad with ginger dressing, and six pieces of nigiri (two each of mackeral, salmon, and one of their specialties: tuna with toasted almonds) a la carte. I have to say it was just ok. I mean you can’t really mess up sushi! I was less impressed with the miso soup- it was red miso and had some other veggies in it other than the typical nori. The salad was pretty unimpressive and small. The sushi was great, but overpriced. In terms of the food I think I would have been happier going to Moby Dick in Wheaton, but meeting up with my friends was well worth the trip and the price!

When I got home there was a big box from Bed Bath & Beyond awaiting me. This is what we received:

A Cuisinart Espresso Machine! I have always wanted one of these and I cannot wait to make my own espresso drinks at home! I will definitely be breaking this bad boy out this weekend.

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Posted in Restaurant Reviews

Tagged DC restaurant review

Seared Tuna Salad

Posted on January 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

Tonight we made seared tuna salads. We experimented with four different types of rubs/marinades for the tuna steaks. These included soy sauce, crushed black pepper and garlic powder, old bay and mexican chili. They were all delicious in their own right and it was fun to get different flavors with each bite.

The rare tuna steaks

Some serious searing action going on

The four types of tuna, cooked medium-rare

Shredding carrots with the new grater (check out the "storage" container at the bottom)

Seared tuna salad

In terms of what salad dressing to use, I must reccomend the ginger miso dressing by Genji. I don’t know if it’s sold everywhere, but I have found it at Whole Foods in Silver Spring and Rockville. It is SOOOO good.

Recipe for Seared Tuna Salad

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Posted in Salads

The Perfect Sunday

Posted on January 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

Even Bogie enjoyed the down time!

Today was the perfect lazy day. We lounged around all day, watched football and braised some beef! The first game was very disappointing as New England just didn’t show up at all. The second game started off similarly but became a really good game and it was nice to just lay around all day together.

It’s NFL playoff time! For the third year in a row Greg and I decided to do an NFL playoff pool where we pick each playoff game’s winner and over/under based on the spread. At the end of the playoffs, the loser has to take the winner out for a nice dinner. This year’s dinner will be to Black Market Bistro in Kensington. I have been very successful in years past, but got off to a rough start yesterday going 1-3. Greg went 4-0 so I had some ground to make up today. Unfortunately only one out of my four picks differed from his, but it was a winner! Going into next week Greg has 5 and I have 3.

For dinner, we decided to break in our new dutch oven! We scoured the internet for recipes and ultimately went with this one by Emeril because this was the kind of meat they had at the grocery store. Also, the dutch oven is made by Emeril too, creepy.

This was one of the only times that we’ve followed a recipe and the cooking times were spot-on. That was exciting and we actually got to eat a Sunday dinner before 8pm! It came out really tender and it was very easy to shred. It needed a little seasoning, but overall it came out great and was very tasty!

At the half-way point

After shredding the beef, we put it back in the pot. Here is our version of Beer-braised pot roast in the dutch oven

the final product

Recipe for Beer-Braised Pot Roast and Vegetables

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Posted in Beef

Tagged Beef, dinner ideas, homemade, roast

Souper Saturday

Posted on January 11, 2010 | 1 comment

Ok. I know this title is a little much, but I assure you they won’t all be this awesome. Just kidding… I just couldn’t resist. This Saturday was pretty great though. We woke up after a good night’s sleep, which is always much needed after the work week. We spent much of the day hanging out and got in an episode of Big Love before football came on. It’s freezing outside so I decided to make broccoli cheddar soup for dinner, using this recipe from CDKitchen.com, which attempts to mimic Panera’s version.

This recipe came out great! The last time I made it, I tried the whole pureeing thing. I really didn’t like the consistency of it, as the tiny bits of broccoli gave it an odd texture. This time around, I cut up the broccoli into really tiny pieces and did not puree it. This left the soup velvety and thick. I think it was very similar to Panera’s version and it was delicious! Next time, if I add chicken again, I will probably make the broth a little thinner by adding another cup of chicken stock and another cup of half and half so it will be more soupy. With the chicken and all the veggies it was pretty thick, but still really good and overall, pretty easy!