Monday, 4/11/2011

Ben took today off to extend our vacation a bit.  Even though I had to work a couple hours this afternoon, it felt like an extra day of vacation with him home.  Tomorrow Ben and I are going to start an Atkins diet.  I'm addicted to carbs right now and need to cut back.  I can only seem to cut back when I follow a strict plan.  Since Atkins worked for me before, I know I can do it.  I am thankful that Ben is willing to try it with me.  It would be hard to follow it while making him foods I can't eat.  Since tomorrow we will have to cut out almost all carbs, we went out for the last carb-loaded meal we will have for a while.  

We finally had a meal at Jak's Grill.  We've heard nothing but great praise for this restaurant.  We got there just after 5:00pm and were seated right away.  Ben and I each had a burger.  I went with pesto mayo, bacon, and cheddar on my burger.  Ben stuck with the standard red pepper mayo and added bacon and blue cheese.  The burgers were outstanding.  The Seattle Metropolitan magazine ranked them in second place behind Zippy's Giant Burgers for the best burger in Seattle.  We do not agree.  Jak's should be #1.  There really is no comparison.  We both opted to upgrade from french fries to potato pancakes.  The pancakes were good, but I preferred the fries I swiped from Katie's plate.  Katie had chicken strips and fries for her dinner.  For dessert, Ben and I each got a chocolate mousse layered cake a la mode.  Yes, we could have shared, but I didn't want to.  Katie had a single scoop of vanilla ice cream.  

I am sufficiently STUFFED.  I think I will be ready to cut out carbs tomorrow:)

Wednesday, 10/27/2010

Tonight we grilled the pork chops that I didn't defrost in time for last night's meal.  The pork chops were part of the bulk meat purchase I made at the beginning of the month.  They were beautiful, bone-in chops that were full of flavor.  We dredged them in Char Crust's roasted garlic and peppercorn dry-rub.  I've been very pleased with how long the dry-rub has lasted us.  It was definitely worth the purchase price.  The pork chops came off the grill moist and delicious.  

We each made an iceberg lettuce wedge salad to go with our chops.  Ben used blue cheese dressing and blue cheese crumbles.  I used Italian dressing on mine.

Note: It's been a busy week since I updated the blog.  I remember what Ben and I ate each day, but can't remember what Katie ate each day.  Forgive me for leaving her off of a couple posts while I catch up:)

Thursday, 10/21/2010

Last Friday I picked up some short ribs in Kalbi marinade from the Fred Meyer meat counter.  I thought we would have them over the weekend, but we never did.  I wanted to use them tonight, but was pretty sure they were not going to be good anymore.  It must be my lucky day, because they were still good!  Ben grilled them on direct high heat for 5-6 minutes.  We had iceberg lettuce wedge salads to go with it.  My salad was exactly as I wanted it to be.  1/4 of a lettuce head + bacon crumbles + Kraft's Zesty Italian Dressing = tasty salad.  Ben's didn't turn out as I expected it to.  I got him blue cheese crumbles and assumed we had a blue cheese dressing in the refrigerator.  While it is hard to tell if blue cheese has gone bad, Ben was pretty sure the dressing wasn't good anymore. He opted for the same dressing I used, but was not thrilled with it. 

Katie was willing to eat some rib meat, but mainly just ate grapes and cheese.  

I cooked up a pound of bacon tonight so that we could use it for our salads and then breakfast over the next couple of days.   Rather than using a frying pan, I baked the bacon.  I lined an old cookie sheet with heavy duty foil and then placed two square, metal cooking racks inside the sheet.  The racks had to overlap to fit, but it allowed me to use the entire sheet's surface for bacon.  I covered the racks with one layer of bacon and put the cookie sheet into a cold oven.  I then heated the oven to 400 degrees with the bacon inside.  I first checked on the bacon after 27 minutes.  When it wasn't done yet, I continued to check on it every 3 minutes until it was done enough for my taste.   For thin sliced bacon, 27 minutes is often enough.  For the thicker, leaner cuts of bacon, it takes a while longer.  The cooling racks keep the bacon out of the rendered fat.  This is a method Ben learned from Alton Brown on the Food Network several years ago.

I was just about to write about how sad it is that we can no longer watch Alton Brown's show "Good Eats" on TV anymore.  We gave up cable in January and it has not been available on Hulu.com or through Netflix.  But, as I was pulling up the show to link to it for the blog, I found that there are five full episodes currently on the Food Network's website!  So, if you want to learn about salmon, canned tuna, celery, popovers, or home freezing...check it out here:)  You learn a lot about the food itself and then how to prepare it.  We've learned a lot from Alton.

Sunday, 4/18/2010

We left Spokane at 2:09pm. Katie had not napped yet and was asleep within 3 minutes of leaving the driveway. She slept until Moses Lake when I needed to stop to take a nap. Ben kept her occupied with cheese so that I could sleep. After a 20 minute nap, a bathroom break, a cookie and milk shakes, we were back on the road. Katie got really whiny around Ellensburg, but finally fell asleep and let us get to North Bend before waking up for dinner.

We ate at the North Bend Bar & Grill. There are lots of fast food options right off of the freeway, but if you go just a mile or so into town you will find this great restaurant. Ben had the Black & Bleu Caesar Salad- a caesar salad with blackened tender loin steak and bleu cheese crumbles. I had a Northwest Blackened Salmon Sandwich with a side caesar. The sandwich had a delicious dill sauce on it. Katie had a little bit of my salmon, a few bites of honeydew melon, and...cheese:) Oh, and she really enjoyed drinking water from to-go cup with a straw. The straw was definitely the highlight for her. If you need to stop for a meal in North Bend, take the time to sit down and enjoy it at the North Bend Bar & Grill.