The End of an Era

The Last Meal

Two years ago I was laughed at when I made the statement that when I moved out I was going to cook dinner for myself more than I would not. "That will get old real fast", or "It'll last two weeks a month tops", but after two years of living on my own I gained a love for cooking, and proved all the haters wrong. For me there was no better way to end a long day of school and studying then by cooking, and after two years I definitely learned a lot and think I got pretty good. Two years ago I would have never thought I would be blogging about my cooking escapades, but I am and am certainly enjoying it. Now I moved back home, It's definitely going to be an adjustment trying to get my mom used to the idea of me actually using her kitchen. I'm pretty sure half the reason she doesn't do so well at cooking is because she is afraid to let anything in her kitchen dirty. I'll show her it is possible to cook good meals and still keep the grease spatters to a minimum on the stove top. I think at least for the summer, since I've been grill-less for the past two years, I will try to do a bit more with it and just try to keep expanding my cooking and recipe repertoire. It's hard to believe I am already halfway through pharmacy school, I can't wait for two years from now when hopefully I'll be writing about my graduation from pharmacy school (hopefully I'll keep this thing going that long!).

With the move back home I also think it is time for a name change for the blog. John's Odyssey, doesn't really have much cache or really give a good description of the blog. It's basically a bad name, so I decided on a new one, Rx-ipe, I think its catchy and is much more descriptive of who I am and what I am doing with this blog. Hopefully you like, I definitely think its an upgrade.

Lost Finale Party

I can't believe it's actually over, and if you have not watched this tv show than I really do feel bad for you. I'm writing this after watching the finale so now I can finally say Lost is the best show of all time. The writing, acting, directing and story were all unbelievably good throughout its six seasons, every new show that comes out will be compared to it, some may be called "the next Lost", but that is unfair because I really don't think there will ever be another Lost, this was a once in a lifetime tv experience that I couldn't be more happy I was able to enjoy, although I do have to admit I started watching at the start of season 2 (I've since rewatched the entire series starting at the beginning multiple times), I was a hater all of season 1. It's kind of testament to the greatness of the show, that I was once a hater, but now completely obsessed, most people have a vague idea of the show but think to themselves how could it be any good, but if given an honest chance fall in love with the show. I've told many people to watch the first 4 episodes of season 1 and see if your interested, if your not by then, then you never will be, but if you are say good bye to all your free time for a few weeks because you will be obsessed. Not one person I've given that advice to has ever stopped after those first 4 episodes. The greatness to this show was all pending on a great ending and Darlton did not disappoint, I haven't stopped thinking about since last night, in my opinion it was as near to perfect as I could have imagined.

The party I threw for this event was of course themed around the show, we had dharma beer:

dharma tortilla chips, dharma pop and dharma guacamole:

as well as Lost inspired dishes like John Locke's World Famous Pulled Boar:

Kate, We Have to Go Back! (for seconds) Mac & Cheese, Hurley Hid All the Dharma Mayonnaise Cole Slaw, Charlie and Claire's Peanut Butter Surprise, Apollo Bars:

and a Lost Cake:

plus my friend Matt brought Jin Shoo-Sushi, my friend T brought boneless Mr. Cluck's chicken wings, and finally Rickert brought a fruit tray and chip dip. It was definitely more than all of us could eat, but that is the way it should be. I think the Apollo Bars were the biggest hit, they were made from a base of an oreo cake-like concoction I kind of just made up, topped with caramel, the stuff from an oreo and vanilla buttercream, covered in Lindt milk chocolate, they were about as dense is allowable by law, but they were awesome. I pretty much spent all day Saturday and Sunday cooking for this party, but since the finale ended up exceeding expectations it was definitely all worth it.

Pork Chops

Since I started cooking I always shied away from pork chops. Growing up one of my least favorite meals to come home from school to was pork chops. I would never fault my mom for trying, because there wasn't a day we didn't have a home cooked meal and set family dinner time, but cooking meat properly was not her specialty. Her pork chops, no matter how much barbeque sauce, ketchup or other sauce you chose to dip them in, always ended up like a piece of leather (mom if you read this I mean it in the nicest way). I guess growing up and eating pork chops like that left me with the idea that pork was just always dry and took a thousand chews and a big gulp of water to swallow. However, the more I cook, and watch food related shows I feel like I am missing out by not eating more pork. So the other night I bought myself a nice bone in pork chop, brined it for a while and made sure not to over cook it and realized I definitely was missing out by not eating more pork chops. It was delicious and will definitely be something I eat more often. While nothing beats a good steak in my opinion, a good pork chop is definitely a good alternative.

Pork Chop

1 serving

For the Brine:

4 c water

1/4 c salt

1/4 c sugar

1/4 c cider vinegar

2 tbs yellow mustard

Add all ingredients to the water and heat it up so that all the sugar is dissolved. Then either add some ice cubes or put it in the refrigerator for awhile so it cools back down to at least room temperature. You don't want to put the pork in the brine when it is still hot, because the pork will start to cook. When the brine is cooled add the pork chop and let soak for a couple hours, refrigerated.

To cook the pork chop, take it out of the brine and dry it off. Season each side with pepper and maybe a little bit of salt, be careful with the salt since it will have absorbed some from the brine. Bring a frying pan up to medium-high heat, and cook it for 4-5 minutes per side, I brushed a little bit of barbeque sauce on each side of mine and cooked each side for an additional 30 seconds after that, if you are doing this factor in the extra 30 seconds per side into the total cooking time. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes then serve with sides of your choice, I went with garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized onions and some fried greens.

Eat well, Live well

A Blondie for Everyone

I may not be a baker (as I claimed a few posts back), but I do think everyone should have at least one go to dessert recipe in their back pocket, that they can call on if their in a bind. For me it is blondies. This recipe is so easy, quick and won't turn your kitchen into a war zone of flour, dough, batter and sugar, plus they taste really good. These blondies are chewy and sweet and great plain, or with most any other combination of flavors. I've made them with butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, peanut butter frosting, no frosting and they've all tasted great. This time I made four different combinations in one batch, to see if I could create the ultimate blondie.

The four ways I chose were, chocolate and peanut butter chips with a chocolate buttercream frosting, white chocolate chips with a vanilla buttercream, salted blondie with cookies and cream frosting and finally one that was specifically for my dad (since I don't really like nuts in my desserts) chopped toasted pine nuts in the blondie. After I tasted them all, I knew I had a problem, there was no way to decide which was best. They were all really tasty, I guess there isn't a combination that you could go wrong with, when making these blondies. I have a few ideas for some new flavors, I'm thinking maybe some kind of chocolate and bacon topping, or maybe incorporate some toasted coconut, or if I can finally figure out how to not burn homemade caramel I would like to use that somehow. Either way it seems the possibilities are near endless, so if your interest is peaked give these ones a try or create your own and let me know how they turn out.

Blondies

8 x 8 square pan

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 egg

1 stick of butter

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

any tasty treat you want to mix in

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and melt the butter in a large mixing bowl, then add the brown sugar and mix together.

Then add the egg and vanilla and stir together again.

After the egg and vanilla is mixed into the sugar and butter add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and stir to combine. If your adding anything else to the blondies, fold it in now.

Finally grease your baking pan and bake the blondies for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.

Buttercream Icing

(not much of a science to this I kind of just mix the ingrediants together to taste, the measurements are estimates at best)

1/2 stick of butter

1 1/2 cups powdered

1/2 tsp vanilla

1-2 tbs heavy cream

pinch of salt

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until smooth.

For the different flavors I just divided this base of vanilla icing into thirds. One third I added about a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder to for the chocolate buttercream. Another third I smashed up two Oreo cookies and mixed that in for the cookies and cream. The final third I just kept plain vanilla.

Like I said it isn't much of a science, just start off with the basic vanilla, then you can pretty much turn it into whatever you want.

Eat well, Live well

Spaghetti Aglio err... Cipolla e Olio

Typically during the school week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been the days where I cook what I wanted and didn't have to worry about making anything for my brother. Over the last couple of weeks though, we've gotten into a habit of having another pasta dish on Tuesdays, and when my brother gets into a routine, it is kind of hard to get him out of it. We were trying to decide what to have this past Tuesday, he wanted carbonara again, but we just had it last week and I don't like cooking the same thing week after week so I suggested aglio and olio, it had been a while since we've had it, and it sounded good to us both so that's what I made. Aglio and olio really just means garlic and oil, which is really all you need to make this dish, but I add a little bit more to it, and it is still probably the easiest meal I make.

Google Translate tells me onion is cipolla in Italian so maybe I should be calling this recipe Cipolla e Olio, because it is definitely more oniony than garlicky, but the idea for it comes from the traditional dish, aglio e olio. My favorite food are probably onions, and I incorporate them in most meals I make, but this one is loaded with them, even more so than garlic. I also add anchovies to the oil, and before you tell me you don't like anchovies, and wouldn't want to use them if you give this recipe a try, I will say that I've never actually even eaten a raw anchovy, when you fry them in the oil they just melt away. You wouldn't even know anchovies were in this recipe if you weren't told, they just add a kind of deeper almost nutty flavor to the overall sauce. Next time you're in the mood for an easy pasta meal give this recipe a try and be prepared for a dish you'll want to make over and over again.

Spaghetti Cipolla e Olio

serves 3-4

2 medium onions, sliced thin

5-6 garlic cloves, minced

5-6 anchovy filets

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup pasta cooking water

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1-2 handfuls of fresh spinach (optional, I had it mixed in with mine, my brother didn't)*

pinch of salt, be careful with it because the anchovies will add a decent amount of salt on their own

1 lb. spaghetti

Bring a frying pan to medium heat, add the oil and when it starts to ripple or smoke add the anchovies. Break them up and allow to kind of melt into the oil.

Next add the onions, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Allow the onions to caramelize and brown up, at least 20 minutes. Add the garlic to the onions with about 5-10 minutes left of cooking, the garlic shouldn't burn since there are so many onions in the pan.

While the onions are cooking bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the spaghetti to al dente. As the noodles are cooking set aside the 1/4 cup of the starchy water, then add to pan with the onions.

When the noodles are to you're desired texture drain them and toss with the onion mixture and parmesan, and serve.

*if using the spinach just set aside a little bit of the garlic and saute with the spinach until a bright green in a separate pan and toss together with the noodles, onions and parmesan.

Eat well, Live well

Will the Real Cake Bow$s Please Stand Up

I finally watched an episode of Cake Boss the other night. I couldn't have been less impressed. Unless that guys cakes taste like the absolute best thing of all time then, in my opinion he is not that good of a cake maker. For me the cake is all about the icing. When all you do is put three cake layers covered in fondant on top of each other I'm not that impressed. He doesn't even mold them or do anything really that extravagant to them, maybe it was just the episode I saw but I know if I needed a wedding cake I would not buy it from him. Maybe I haven't ever had that good of cake before, but I feel like the difference between the actual cake of the best cake in the world and cake made from a box bought at your local supermarket is not that big. For me icing is what separates the great cakes from the just alright cakes. That is why I call my brother Vinnie the Cake Bow$s, not to be confused with that lame cake boss. While he does still only make his cakes from a box (which I burn him about), the icings that he creates are sublime.

a mad scientist with sugar and butter

The cake he made this past weekend was definitely his best, a hybrid chocolate and banana cake. The banana part had a peanut butter, butter cream frosting in the middle and chocolate buttercream on the outside, while the chocolate part had a vanilla buttercream with some crushed oreos in the middle, and chocolate buttercream with a few oreos covering its outside layer. I should have just eaten cake all weekend for every meal, because these cakes were unbelievable. The crazy thing about these cakes is how moist they stay too, since the he uses a buttercream icing, the cake actually gets more moist with age, and the flavor is always better with each consecutive day of the cakes life (which usually isn't very long).

There are not many desserts I would rather have than these cake creations, and it is all about the icing. To become really legit, Vinnie will have to eventually start making the cakes from scratch, but as long as he keeps creating icing the way he does now, it really doesn't make any difference to me.

The Cake Bow$s, son!

Eat well, Live well

Kitchen Disaster: Foodapalooza Update

Wednesday went from excitement for mexican to complete disappointment. I love mexican food and think that I'm able to cook it pretty well, but what happened the other day definitely made me think differently. I planned on having chicken enchiladas with a tomatillo salsa.

Both components tasted awful, I couldn't even finish the meal. For me dinner is the part of the day I look forward to the most. I am at school and study all day so being able to finish the day off with a tasty home-cooked meal makes me feel good, and is really something I look forward to every day. What happened Wednesday was a major disappointment and left me depressed until dinner the next day, it was hard to fall asleep that night thinking about how bad it was, plus being hungry was a constant reminder of an unsatisfying meal. I was definitely longing for a meal like what I had the week before while visiting my sister in Boston.

We went to a restaurant called The Chart House, which was absolutely unbelievable. I had a surf and turf that consisted of prime rib, shrimp scampi, and a side of lump crab meat and garlic mashed potatoes with chocolate molten lava cake for dessert. It was so good, the awfulness of what I created had me longing for a meal as complete as that one. Everything was cooked to perfection and tasted absolutely great, I will never go to Boston again without going to the Chart House and would recommend that if your in Boston do not miss out on this superb restaurant.

The cupcake I bought for dessert on Thursday to make up for the mess on wednesday, a maple cupcake with as much frosting on it as cake (the way I like it), with a fresh maple syrup drizzle, also helped to get me out of my awful dinner funk. I guess it isn't a complete loss when a bad meal is made, it does help to give me perspective and let me know that cooking is a learning process, and the only way to get better is keep trying and cooking even if what you make isn't very good. I love to do it so I won't let it bring me down too much.

Plus this weekend might as well be called Foodapolooza 2010. When my brother and I stay in Kent for the weekend each day is usually completed with a gluttonous meal, and we kind of have a few go to meals that we consider our "weekend meals". Friday is either beef stroganoff or spaghetti carbonara, Saturday is either chicken francais or the best fried chicken sandwich ever and Sunday is always linguine with chicken parm and sometimes fried cheese. Plus my brother will cook an over the top cake that we usually finish by ourselves over the weekend.

We figured there weren't going to be to many more opportunities to have weekends like this at our place up here since we have been going home most every weekend now, and we are moving out and back home at the end of May. The stroganoff last night was as good as I've ever made it and tonight we decided on the chicken sandwiches which should be as good, and if there is one thing I can count on it is that my spaghetti is always great, so there are no worries there. As for the dessert my brother is actually making two cakes a chocolate cookies and cream and a banana cake, so I might just have to eat a whole cake myself. Overall, what happened wednesday was certainly disappointing but what has followed, and memories of unreal meals past got me through it. Partake in Foodapolooza yourself, but don't be mad at me if you wake up with a couple extra pounds Monday morning.

Update:

The gluttonous weekend of Foodapalooza was quite the success, full stomachs, greasy cheeks and sugar comas. The chicken sandwiches were as great as expected and pose a few questions when compared to francais. The chicken parm and spaghetti also could not be beat. The sauce I made this time may just have been the best I've made yet which is exciting, considering I made enough to freeze for at least the next month. As for the cake, it was unreal, and easily the best my brother has made...the Cake Bowss is back! The cake will get its own post soon, in the mean time enjoy some pictures from Foodapalooza '10.

Eat well, Live well