Wrong, but funny!
Wrong, but funny!
We started off the night with a great dinner at Matt’s in the Market—the perfect place to be on a cold and rainy Seattle night. It was warm and cozy at the bar, with a bird’s-eye view of the ‘kitchen’. We marveled at the fact that they can turn out so much food with two single burners and an oven.
We ordered the pan-fried smelt with bacon braised chard and garlic aioli for an appetizer. Mmmmm. The smelt was so crunchy and it paired wonderfully with the tangy and salty chard. Zach had the lamb shank with charmoula, which really was delicious, but I am so spoiled by my beef short rib recipe, that it didn’t really compare. I had the pan fried trout with pancetta and calvados-braised lentils. I was a little worried that it would taste too much like the appetizer, but it was very different with sweet and fruity overtones. It was sooo good.
Then we dashed off to see Sedaris speak at Benaroya Hall. I laughed until I cried until I hit my head on the back of my seat from laughing so hard. He talked about monkey slaves and now I want one. I’ve decided I will teach my foster monkey to fry bacon in the mornings and take my cat for walks around the neighborhood while I’m at work.
And though it seems like the night couldn’t get much better, it did. We played some pool at the Nite Lite and then Zach schooled me at darts.
It was pretty late at this point, but we were getting hungry again and we weren’t ready to go home. So we ended up at 13 Coins, where we talked to this guy in the lobby who was wearing the most unbelievably ugly Gucci shoes. (Just because something has Gucci logos all over it, doesn’t mean you should wear it. In fact, it probably means you shouldn’t.) Anyways, we got a great booth and split the believer, which my brother turned me on to. And, oh do I believe.
I used to have an English boyfriend and he took me home to England one Christmas. I loved England, but was dismayed by the food; everything was boiled to death or ‘mushy’. Apparently England is populated with geriatrics.
The one thing that I liked was the English Breakfast a.k.a the “Fry-Up”: sausages AND bacon, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, Heinz baked beans, soft-boiled eggs and toasted soldiers. I got hooked on the soft-boiled eggs simply because I fell in love with egg cups.
It turns out that my new boyfriend had never tried a soft-boiled egg. I was amazed—first off because he is an egg lover, and second because I have this cabinet filled with egg cups and usually when people have never seen them before, they ask what they are.
So when I found this out, I made him soft-boiled eggs (boil water, gently drop in eggs, return to a boil, reduce to a simmer and take out after 3-4 minutes). After cooking the eggs I put them into egg cups and chopped off the tops with an egg topper. We sprinkled salt and Worcestershire sauce in the tops, then dipped in our toasted soldiers (toasted and buttered bread sliced into thin strips that fit into the holes). I also cooked A&J Meats’ pork and apple sausages, which also fit nicely into the holes and were delicious coated in bright yellow egg yolk.
After reading about the giant gerbils, I started craving rabbit. I’ve never actually cooked it before so was a little surprised when I opened up the package. If it tastes like chicken, shouldn’t it look like chicken?
The back legs looked normal enough, so I left them alone. But then you have these two long pieces of meat that are attached to the backbone and they have these weird dangling ‘flaps’. After consulting several cook books, I finally figured out that you roll them up into little logs of bunny meat and then tie them like a roast. Generally you don’t eat the front paws, but since I was doing a braise, the book said to include them for flavor.
I browned, braised and tasted. I couldn’t believe what an amazing sauce the rabbit made. I paired it with a chorizo bread pudding, similar to one I had once at Eva. It was delicious! A little difficult to eat because of all the bones, so next time I’m going to figure out how to de-bone the saddle and tie them into medallions.
Please note: Not all bunnies are for eating.
I am so disheartened. Not even a plateful of bacon would console me.
I woke up at an ungodly hour (for me, anyways) to pouring down rain… a perfect day for campaigning. We arrived at this crazy Ballet school in Ballard where they were handing out assignments and Hostess cupcakes. After waiting around, we finally met our team leader, who was nice but kooky; she drove us to our neighborhood in a car that was decorated with fairies.
We probably knocked on about 60 doors and talked to a handful of people, but saw only one Bush supporter, thank god. So I was feeling optimistic and excited about election night.
By the time we made it home we were soaked and freezing cold (apparently, my left shoe is not waterproof) and warmed up with some blueberry tea. I managed to drink a little too much and had a hard time getting dinner on the table, but we assembled some quick Fontina ravs made with won-ton skins. Then I made poached beef with leftover stock and some braised bok-choy.
By the time we finished dinner, Florida had been called and I was starting to feel sick. We watched the Daily Show (I heart Al Sharpton!), which was frighteningly sad-you could tell the cast was having a hard time finding the humor-but it was a welcome relief from CNN.
I went to bed devastated and stunned.
After eating so much caramel over the weekend, I was craving something healthy, so I made a quick seafood salad with crab, smoked salmon, butter lettuce, tomatoes, avocados and a russian dressing. Yumm.
Then we carved some pumpkins. Mostly because I wanted toasted pumpkin seeds.