Valentine's Surprise

This February 14th, or as some of you know it, Valentine's Day, I awoke to the smell of Bacon... well Turkey Bacon. Lauren got up extra early, went to the store, and made a delicious breakfast. Before I get to the breakfast, a quick side note about her trip to Harris Teeter.
Lauren later told me that it was a very odd assortment of people. Unusual for our Harris Teeter, other than one or two other female customers, the store was filled with males doing some type of last minute shopping, getting flowers, balloons, cake, who knows what at 7:30am. Just interesting and something to think about.
Back to the breakfast. So we have the Turkey Bacon at bottom, going clockwise, the bowl on the left has some delicious biscuits beneath the cloth. The glasses and carafe are filled with fresh squeezed orange juice, pulp in. I mention that the pulp was left in because Lauren hates it, and as an act of compromise I ended up straining the rest of the carafe (luckily I got to keep all the pulp for myself, some would call it selfish, but I think of it as a compromise) for a pulp-free end to the meal. Continuing to 12 o clock, is a delicious fruit salad, with banana, apple, strawberry and yogurt. There may or may not have been other fruit, delicious though and it was the gift that kept on giving for a few days. The omelets are next with mushroom, cheese (not sure what kind), onion and basil. Last but not least a nice card at my plate. What a sweet girlfriend.

I hope you had a fun day of St. Valentine yourself.

Anotherthyme a review

Friday night is a big date night here in the triangle. My girlfriend and I decided to join the crowds and head out to a well recommended establishment, Anotherthyme. Cute play on words, I know, especially after I read more about its predecessor, Somethyme on their website. The recommendation I got was, "... great food, you will probably get terrible service, but great food."
I neglected to tell Lauren about the bad service part. Off we went. The drive wasn't too bad, and Durham is either up and coming, or up and came and now blooming. The amount of money that went into the historical downtown district was worth it. Nice restaurants, restored Tobacco Warehouses complement the new buildings like the Durham Performing Arts Center. Get out to see a show if you haven't yet. That's for Anotherthyme. On to the restaurant.

We showed up 5 minutes before our reservation at 7pm and were promptly greeted and seated. Anotherthyme has a normal menu along with a specials of the week menu, which gives it some spice, if you are interested in never eating the same plate twice.

We started off with a plate of "Crispy Calamari ~ with Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa & Cilantro Aioli" ($7.50)The tiny Calamari, about the size of jawbreakers, were perfectly cooked, lightly breaded, and the sauces provided two great flavors. I only wish there were more sauce served with it. It was some of the best Calamari I have had. A

On the the entrees. Forgive the pictures, it was low-light with little more than candlelight, and Lauren strongly discourages the flash at restaurants. Lauren had the market price ($23.95) Seared Pumpkin Crusted Yellow Fin Tuna. The tuna came cooked medium, and was divine. Served on a bed of greens, Yicama, and naval orange sections, it was quite the combination of flavors. I'm not one for Yicama, but thoroughly enjoyed the Tuna with the Citrus. Lauren enjoyed it all and even brought home half.

That was probably in part due to the fresh bread that was warmed and served with a pad of butter. We went through 8 pieces (2 baskets) of this complimentary delight.

My plate was disappointing. I ordered the Indonesian Curried Vegetables. ($16.95) It tasted like a bunch of nicely cooked vegetables thrown onto a plate with a tiny bit of great tasting chicken, and a tablespoon of a rich curry sauce on top. The cashews were huge and didn't feel like they belonged. Nothing really gelled with the dish. The rice was mostly overcooked. And I was really expecting more curry sauce. It lacked in the full flavor I have come to expect for dishes with curry in the title. I was just glad the rest of the plates were great.

We also ordered a cute half-bottle of Collovray & Terrier St. Veran, Burgundy, France '05 ($18). I'm not a wine expert but enjoyed it, as did Lauren.The service left a little to be desired. Although, I must say it got better as the evening wore on. As soon as the waitress saw how fast the water disappeared the first time, she kept up, while still giving us space.

Other than the Curried Vegetables, I would recommend this restaurant as a great place for date night in Durham. We are both looking forward to trying the other places in town.

Got a recommendation, email The Food Monster at thefoodmonsterblog@gmail.com

Photo Essay: Sweet Fr î tes! Part 2

You can find Sweet Fr î tes! Part 1 here.
This will be a photo essay of photos John David took on a beautiful afternoon when flowers were in bloom outside, making the famous Sweet Potato Fries. Enjoy his food photography skills.

Homemade pickles

Pickles are easy to make. At least, they were once my girlfriend had taught me. You just need some sort of vinegary solution and some cucumbers. For added flavor, slice a few onions and throw them in too.


Ingredients:
Cucumbers, sliced
Onion slices
Apple Cider Vinegar (although, I didn't have any and used 90% rice vinegar and 10% balsamic)
Water (equal parts to vinegar)
Salt and Pepper

Put them all in a tupperware or a bowl with a seal, and throw in the fridge overnight. The serve as a side to anything from burgers to brauts.

Guest Blog: Momma Fran, Green Tomato Sauce

To start off the week, I have a story and recipe from one of my favorite guest bloggers, my Mother. Last time, she left you with a recipe for simple Fried Green Tomatoes. She continues to give you something to do with the unripe tomatoes as she recalled this story and recipe one night.

If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Food Monster, email me at TheFoodMonsterBlog@gmail.com

Enjoy!

-The Food MonsterPhoto: Courtesy of ExploreAsheville.com


While eating my fried green tomatoes last night, another memory came to mind and since it involves green tomatoes, I thought it might be timely to share. My husband was definitely born a hundred years too late as he was of a pioneering persuasion. To fulfill a dream of his,
off we went to Alaska for one year, and ended up staying six. His ski patrol leader was a real estate agent who described the merits of owning a duplex in a less-than-booming town 13 miles outside of Anchorage.
Attached to one end of this one-story, three-bedroom, concrete block long rectangle, was a two-bedroom, mother-in-law apt; on the other end, a green house.

Since only one day that summer beckoned to us to swim, it was easy to understand why the tomatoes did not ripen. There they sat in the green house, a zillion little green tomatoes hanging on the vines.

Never wasteful with food, I picked them all, the night before the first frost, sometime in the first week in Sept., washed them, quartered them, then froze them. A short time later,
I put them in a very large soup pot and cooked them to make spaghetti sauce, with lots of chopped onions and garlic. I was flabbergasted!! It was the BEST tasting spaghetti sauce I had ever had! So good, that thirty years later I still remember it.

Recipe:
Quarter Green Tomatoes

In a cast iron skillet as the iron is added to one's diet, or non-stick pan if that
is what one uses, Saute:
Several large onions
Many cloves of garlic

Add sauteed onions and garlic to soup kettle along with quartered green tomatoes
and a small can of tomato paste and or tomato sauce

Cook until tomatoes are the consistency of a sauce

Add whatever spices you like in terms of chili powder or fresh chilies
1 TBS Old Bay Seasoning (always kicks any recipe up a notch, especially, turkey soup)

This is the basis of a basic tomato sauce to which one may add whatever
ingredients, protein-wise, one may like for spaghetti recipies, lasagne, chili, buritoes,
chicken, beef or seafood.



There you have it, another great recipe for Green Tomatoes. Thanks again Momma Fran!

Asian Themed Night Part 2: Chicken Stir-Fried Rice

This is the part 2 in a 3 part series from one night of gourmet Asian cuisine.
You can find Part 1 here.

One housemate is a picky eater. I shouldn't say that, he actually doesn't try foods he thinks he won't like. That makes him well a little difficult when we have family dinner. It also means, we get another wonderful option to tantalize our taste buds. This was the case for Asian night.

The main ingredients that we were going to use for Sushi involved either crab or shrimp, and Seaweed paper to roll them up in. Difficult housemate, wouldn't try any of the three.The solution. Boiled rice, marinated semi-grilled chicken, and chopped vegetables, all fried up in a wok (skillet, my wok is on the East Coast).Ingredients:

Marinade:
2 TBS of Soy Sauce
2 TBS of Lime Juice
1 TBS of Lemon Juice
2 TBS of Olive oil
2 TBS of Italian Dressing
2 TBS of Rice Vinegar
Splash of Pomegranate Juice
Drizzle of Maple Syrup
Salt and Pepper

1 pound of Chicken Breast, fat removed

Head of Broccoli, washed chopped,
1/2 large white onion diced
1/2 Red Pepper, Chopped


Cube chicken, place chicken and marinade in a bowl, refrigerate for at least an hour.
Cook Rice, while rice is cooking, add a small pad of butter, and 1 TBS of Olive Oil, and 1 TBS of Canola Oil (or some other vegetable oil) and 2 TBS of water to a wok, heat up the oil then add above vegetables.Stir fry until Onions are translucent.
Sear or Grill Chicken.
We have a middle grill part on our stovetop that has recently been repaired. However, There is no drip pan that I am aware of, so I used foil and faux grilled the chicken on the outside, then finished it off in the wok.Add seared chicken, rice and 1 TBS of Soy Sauce, when Chicken is fully cooked and everything is mixed up, serve.

Join me next time as I finish off the series with Handmade Sushi!!!

Guest Blog: Momma Fran, Fried Green Tomatoes

I am going to interrupt my series on Asian night, to bring you a guest blog post by none other than my mother. Momma Fran as she is known to my peers, could always be heard at athletic events as the one concerned mother yelling, don't you push him Number #22, I have my eyes on you... Also, she has an infectious laugh that can be heard anywhere around Hendersonville. Theater productions seek her out for Dress Rehearsals to give the actors confidence before opening night. More importantly though, she has been a huge inspiration and supporter in my culinary exploits. I think it started with my blueberry muffin stand on the side of the road that my brother and I had, she of course made sure we never burned ourselves or the muffins. So, without further ado, I present to you, Momma Fran in her food blog debut.It is that time of year again--the end of the harvest season is fast approaching and what to do with those tomatoes that keep ripening and ripening?
Of course, pick them before they ripen! I visited a friend last night who has a very healthy garden because she is a worm farmer...but that is another story.
She sent me home with some beautiful green tomatoes when I exclaimed that I had all of the ripe tomatoes I could use without them spoiling.

Everytime I think of fixing fried green tomatoes, the movie version automatically comes to mind. So you might want to fix this recipie for dinner tonight, and watch the movie: FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!!

(The Food Monster: read as Fried Green Tomatoes!!! Mom, loves typing in all caps)

Recipe:
Quantity: one big tomato for each person or several medium-sized ones, having just the faintest blush of pink coloring, cut into 1/4" slices.

(The Food Monster requires several big tomatoes)

Add just enough Olive Oil to cover the bottom of a non-stick or cast iron frying pan. One does not need to use the most expensive Olive Oil for frying.

Plastic sandwich bag with flour --my first choice is whole wheat.

Coat the tomato slice in the flour bag.

Add the oil just prior to placing the flour-coated tomato slices into the pan
(If you prefer butter or a combination of the two, use just enough to keep the tomatoes from sticking, and to get the flavor from the butter, oil, or butter/oil)

(The Food Monster: As an aside, I use the butter/oil, combination when frying an egg, as I think the 100% oil is too overpowering of a flavor for a fried egg)

Gently fry for 3 mins. on each side, turning. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.

Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Oh, summer tastes to savor!!



So, there you have it, one of the simpler ways to make Fried Green Tomatoes. I hope you enjoyed this guest blog and are beginning to appreciate where I get my personality from.
Here is a photo taken from my HS graduation, 6 years ago, the resemblance is striking I know. I guess I need to take a more recent photo of Mom and me.

Enjoy the Fried Green Tomatoes and let me know how they turned out!!!

Asian Themed Night Part 1: Things Tempura

Blogspot has a new gadget, that allows readers to easily get The Food Monster's RSS feed. Just look at the right column.
This is the part 1 in a 3 part series from one night.
Part 2 can be found here.

Things Tempura:Kirby Von Scrumptious and I got together the night before the opening ceremonies for the Olympics to make Sushi. It turned out we made much more than that (I'm only talking food here). All of the food turned out to have an Asain theme to it, and is perfect to eat while watching the Olympics, the NFL, or for a midday snack.
We started with Things Tempura. This started out as Shrimp Tempura, however, we had lots of tempura batter left over and Kirby went to town, therefore, I call it Things Tempura now.

The Tempura batter comes from the easy recipe on the side of a Tempura box. I am not sure where Kirby got this box from, but we had it, so logically, we used it. I was ready to use this site, Shrimp Tempura Recipe before the box. The ingredients looked similar, so give it a read, at least for the helpful hints, especially tip #5 on how to keep the Shrimp from curling while cooking.
We bought pre-cooked shrimp, as they were on sale, and they worked just fine, pre-curled and all. So, we dredged them in the tempura batter, held them in the air for a couple of seconds to drip off excess, and put them right into the hot oil. We tempuraed (is tempura a verb, is there a past tense of said verb?) Shrimp, Carrot sticks, and Broccoli. The Broccoli turned out crispy on the outside, cooked on the inside, the carrot sticks could probably be a little thinner so they aren't a giant crunch stick. The Shrimp, needed just a little bit of Salt and Pepper afterwards. Once golden brown (Adam breaks down the term, "Golden Brown"), they were removed and plated with a simple dipping sauce, made by Kirby.

The dipping sauce:

A splash of Soy Sauce (you don't want to overdo it)
2 TBS of Wasabi Mayonaise
3/4 cup of Rice Vinegar
Small handful of toasted Sesame Seeds (Mitch Hedberg says: What is a Sesame...we never give it a chance...it's a street...)Final product, Shrimp Tempura, dipped in the sauce, I believe this is the hand of Kirby's boo, (man friend) Joe. Enjoy!

Beach Rewind -Lobster Tail and Baked Vegetable Medley

Oh the beach, what a fantastic wonderful, salty, sandy food-filled fun vacation spot. I had a fantastic time and am already looking forward to the week at the beach next year. Although the beach trip was filled with delicious food opportunities, I didn't have a way to upload photos or blog while I was gone. So, I will present you now with my Beach Trip Rewind, where I will go backwards through my trip starting with my last night in North Carolina, post-beach. (I actually have a story to share about Air Tran and all its glory, but that will have to wait until I am ready). My girlfriend decided that with Lobster Tail being on sale at Harris Teeter, that they would make a fine start for a post-beach meal. After picking up two, we went home and she made this fantastic meal. She started by cutting up the vegetables from the farmer's market, Tomatoes, Onions, and Green Peppers, adding in some Harris Teeter vegetables, Squash and Brocolli, and then tossing them with Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, and Basil, then placing them on aluminum foiled pan (greased). Then she baked them at 350 for I think about 20 minutes.
Once she got those started it was onto the Boiled Lobster Tail and Lemon Butter.
Bring water to boil, add Lobster Tails, cook 1 minute per ounce.
Add 3TBS of butter and 1 TBS of Lemon Juice together, and either heat slowly on stove or in microwave until melted.

Remove vegetables from oven.

Cut open Lobster Tail, and remove meat. Serve, with Lemon Butter for dipping.
Boy am I glad that my girlfriend can cook. It was a delicious meal, and was capped with a wonderful dessert. Which I will blog about next. Until then, get out to Harris Teeter, and eat up these lobster tails.