12/16
December 16th was my 38th birthday. Yay me! My friend, Basmin, took me out on what turned out to be a "girl date." Eww! But I had the best meal that I have had all year on that "date"-ewww. We had dinner at Riddles Penultimate restuarant in the University City Loop area. She even brought me flowers and champagne. Wow, I really scored on my first ever girl-date! Here's the menu:
APPETIZER: Mushroom caps stuffed with crawfish.
SOUP: New England Clam Chowder. Made with huge chunks of carrots, potatoes and lump crab meat.
SALAD: Romaine and Arugala lettuce with walnuts, blu cheese and a vinagrette.
VEGETABLE: Mashed Sweet Potatoes (Basmin) Pan Seared Spinach (Basmin) Brussel Sprouts roasted with Pine Nuts (Me)
ENTREE: I had the 12 oz. Fillet Mignon (Medium Rare) with grilled Vandalia Onions and Portabella Mushrooms.
Basmin enjoyed the Shrimp Sara, a seafood pasta with Tiger Prawns and fresh vegetables in a creamy white sauce.
DESSERT: Coffee with Kaluha and a scoop Kaluha Ice Cream (All for Basmin. I can't drink either coffee or Kaluha.)
Homemade Birthday Cake- A white cake with Vanilla Frosting decorated with a big ol "T" -Mine All Mine
Everything was prepared to perfection. The mushrooms were spicy and packed full with crawfish. It was baked with a light cheese topping, but I'm not sure what type of cheese was used. We ate those so fast. The soup and salad were served immediately after. ***Our busbaoy was THE BEST BUSSER ALIVE! I mean he was ON IT.*** Our meal was served in wonderful time. There was just enough "rest time" between the salad and the entree. I'm not much of a beef eater anymore, but I really wanted fillet mignon for my birthday. I was so happy with my selection. The meat was grilled PERFECTLY. The onions and mushrooms just melted in my mouth! OMG. I didn't want the meal to end. I savored every last forkful. When I FINALLY rested my fork on the plate and sighed with satisfaction our busboy was right there to clear the area. What a wonderful experience to share with a wonderful friend. Thanks Basmin!
When I got home I popped my bubbly, had a slice of cake and rested well!
12/25
My daughter Jasmine is home from college for the holidays. I knew that we were spending the afternoon and evening at my mother's house for Christamas, as we do every year. My mom usually prepares a huge Christmas dinner with both a traditinal roasted turke and a smoked one, a ham and ALL the trimmings. Since this year was to be no different 9or so we thought) and we still needed to eat before arriving at my mom's, I decided to make a simple Christmas breakfast.
My Christmas Breakfast Menu:
Baked Turkey Ham with Pineapple-Orange Glaze
Potatoes and Broccoli with peppers and onions in a cheddar cheese sauce
Eggs (made to order)
Cinnamon Rolls
Mango
Oranges
OJ, Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog
Our breakfast was very tasty and filling as well. I was a little worried that we might be a bit too full to enjoy the nights dinner. Thanfully we were.
This years Christmas Dinner was a disaster! For some reason known only to God and my Grandmother it was decided that this year's breakfast should come from a box! That's right, they bought one of those meals in a box, a complete pre-cooked holiday meal in a goddamn box! Why???? Not only was it a meal-in-a-box, but it wasn't even from a nice store. This fiasco came from Shop-n-Save. Anytime a store has an "-n-" in it's name you know it ain't so fancy. And to add insult to injury a family member decided to supplement our pre-cooked meal with some homemade side dishes. Apparently crap goes with boxed meals. Here's the menu of shame and horror:
A Roasted, Baked, or possibly Shellacked Turkey: I swear that turkey was stolen from a food magazine shoot. That's not to say that it was a picture-perfect bird, it just looked grotesquely unreal. Apparently you can't buy flavor in a box, because that bird tasted like the box. The cold, lumpy gravy didn't do much to conceal the lack of flavor either.
Mashed Potatoes: It seems that Shop-n-Save likes to take artifical potatoe flakes out of one box, mix them with some water, and then repackage them in other boxes. Tasted pretty much like soggy cardboard with butter.
SomekindofCranberryandOrangeJellywithchunksofunidentifiablefoodproducts: Uneaten.
Not in a box, but might as well have been:
Baked Beans: Why?? Why the hell were there baked beans on our Christmas dinner table?
Green Beans: By the time I got around to these, all appetite had vanished. I remember the feel of the beans and the bite of black pepper. That's all.
Macaroni and Cheese: This was truly the one dish I was looking forward to. I knew I could rely on some homemade Macaroni and Cheese to salvage my taste buds from that unholy meal. There's not too much a normal person with even very little cooking experience can do to mess up Mac'n' Cheese, right? And the family member that prepared this dish had been making it (and USUALLY [see below]very well, I might add) for years. So I was mortified to find out that she (obviously under some Satanic influence ) decided to add GREEN ONIONS and NACHO CHEESE SAUCE to MACARONI and CHEESE!!!!!!! WTF???WHo does that??? OK. I must admit that this years mac n'cheese, as GROSS as it was, was still better than the mac she prepared a few years back. At that time the devil convinced her to put HORSERADISH in it!! That's no way to celebrate the birth of Christ!I have to start a petition. She must never be allowed to bring the mac'n'cheese ever again.
Honey Baked Ham: I don't really know if it was honey baked or not. And since I don't eat ham i dind't taste it. I did hear that this was the best part of the meal. It figures!
