Mini Lobster Roll Success

What a divine creation.  Simple & Light.

-Split Kings Hawaiian Roll toasted with honey/garlic/butter
-Special Mayo
-Lettuce & coleslaw mix
-Buttered Lobster Tail Shreds (Crab Boil)
-Boiled Shrimp Chunks (Crab Boil)
-Chives (garnish)

This was good.  I mean really good.  I would like to refine the special mayo portion of the recipe.  The special mayo must be super light to support the other elements...  Not to keep anyone in suspense by not releasing the 'special mayo' recipe that was used, but it needs to be ironed out on this end.

Put An Egg On It: Breakfast Edition

This is the stuff you make when you wake up bored on a Saturday when your PIC (partner-in-crime) is gone but you still wanna make breakfast for two.  (I ate both portions, but you should be a role model and not do that.)

Please to picture this with your mouth: 
-Half English Muffin
-Shredded Cheddar Shreds from the bag
-Browned Slices of Maple Sausage
-Herbed Ham Slices (Toss ham slices in a pan with a dash of butter, herbs and sugar just until warm)
-My Sunny Side Up Egg Pod (Its just a sunny-side-up egg folded)

It's enough to get you in the doghouse for not sharing and give you a heart attack in the same day.  Mr. Death-Plate says it all.

Mushroom & Sausage Risotto

This was dinner.  I sauteed mushrooms, browned some diced sausage and whipped up a quick risotto.  I also added umami paste to the risotto during cooking to see what would happen.  (It worked.)

Its topped off with the shavings of 3yr Gouda.
A super quick and simple flavor explosion that will dazzle. 

In hindsight, if you add some chopped shallots into the cooked risotto, that would be a fun touch.

Or if you add chopped shallots and some scrambled eggs to the risotto, you'd then have a 'Kick-A** Family Sized Fried Rice-otto'...  I'm thinking post holiday.  Nomz!

Lamb Bacon, Who Knew?

I was lucky to attend the ArtisinalLA show in Santa Monica, CA recently.  The show was immense and worth every penny of the $10-15 entry fee.  So much to do and buy and taste.

The people from Cast Iron Gourmet impressed me the most.  So many bacon flavors and bacon snacks.  And lamb bacon?  Yessss.  Aparently it is the seasoned belly of a lamb.  And it is tasty!!!

Ikea Meatballs

Dear IKEA,
  I heart your meatballs.  Who else will sell me affordable home furnishings and place a freezer with meatballs at the checkout...  No one.  I love you and your 2lbs of balls for under $4.

PS: Your creamy sauce packet is boss too.

Sweet Potato Vines Sciene Project

I came home one day to find my sweet potato budding vines.  Then, the vines started growing leaves...  I need to take a more detailed shot of the leaves beacause they are really beautiful.  They are green with purple veins and resemble insect wings.  I am really fond of insects in general, so I decided to keep the old potato to see if it would do anything interesting.
  At this point, it has only been growing like this for 2 weeks.  I remembered a school science project that I did as a child where we took Idaho potatoes and put them in a mason jar.  We suspended the potato only about halfway into the jar using toothpicks as a support system to hold it up.  (as you can see at left)   Then put enough water in the jar to get the bottom wet to feed it.  I remember the result was long crazy vines that my mom actually hung in the corner of our dining room because they were really pretty.  (It grew well inside with indirect light, so I can only hope that it will go crazy on my patio.  We'll see!)  The sweet potato has far more colorful leaves than the one I grew as a kid, so i'm really stoked to see if this is going to work again and what it will look like!

Kitchen Decorating

This weekend, I decided to spruce up my kitchen.  The cabinets are just regular boring creme colored with wood trim.  I live in an apartment now, and so redoing the cabinets is not an option.
  However, doing something like this is an option.  These are self adhesive decals from IKEA and will run you about 10 bucks for 4 sheets.  The photo at left is just a sample of the whole kitchen now.  The decals were pretty easy to apply and come off without ruining the surface.  The package mentioned that it is not suitable for freshly painted surfaces, so be cautious with that. 
  This was a really cheap and easy way to give my kitchen a whole new look for just $10!

UPDATE:  I just found some more of these decals at Aaron Brothers this morning. However, the price was $20 for a set.