Catching Up

So it's been quite a while since my last post... the past few weeks have been insanely busy in many different ways... but I have still managed to get some quality cooking time in the mix, just no time to share about it on here, so this post will include pictures from several different meals...



...The first of which, I didn't cook, I am just sharing it now because it was so good that I wouldn't want to share it if it was sitting in front of me and you were sitting next to me. I ordered this dish at La Vera Cucina, a quaint and DELICIOUS Italian restaurant hidden in a large house in Monroe, NY. It was my second time being there, the first being in the summer, which was nice because they serve food on their giant wrap-around porch. This lobster/pasta dish was the special that night, and before we even left the restaurant, I couldn't wait to eat the leftovers... unfortunately I left them in Matt's parents' car when they dropped us off in Brooklyn and then continued on to Virginia, but they said it was delicious too... The dish incorporated shrimp, three lobster tails, and of my favorite types of pasta... perciatelli. I love how the sauce gets snoodled (I made that word up but it seemed most fitting) inside of the pasta straws. I am excited because yesterday I found some bucatini in the local area back here in Missourah.







The rest of the photos are of dishes I made. This one is enchiladas, but kind of fajita-style too. Instead of just meat & cheese, I add a little bit of onion, green pepper, tomato, and jalapeno to it, for a little kick and some extra veggie servings.

Then I add the sauce, roll 'em up, and bake the whole thing in the oven until the outer cheese gets nice and melty.

I also whipped up another Thai dish, though not nearly as yummy as my homemade peanut sauce. It was a chicken dish that had thinner noodles than my lo mein dish, and although I used my own judgement in type and quantity of sauces and spices to cook the chicken in, which turned out yummy, I tried a pre-mix red Thai chili sauce for the dish and it was vomitous. In keeping with what I learned about Asian cuisine, I added some crunch to the noodles with sesame seeds and some julienned shallots, etc. Overall, a dish that looks nice and would have tasted much better if I'd stuck to my own devices.

Lastly for this entry, which is getting quite lengthy, I made some Indonesian Ginger Chicken, courtesy of my wedding cookbook a la Catherine. Very simple to do, and the sweet honey soy ginger sauce was great over rice. Excuse the photo, I was hurriedly eating this dish, unfortunately, as I made it one morning prior to work, and never really got to enjoy it as a sit-down meal.

...More to follow!!