New Year's Eve 2013

It's New Year's Eve 2013, anybody have big plans?

I have a FABULOUS evening planned. Shredded curry chicken over rice with steamed broccolini and Angry Orchard Cinnful Hard Cider for dinner. Dexter on Netflix, working on crocheting, bed when I'm tired, and sleep like the dead. Introvert's favorite holiday.

We are alive, I swear. Just kicking off the kinks and working our way back.

Hope everyone had happy holidays.

Original Steer Meat Market (a return by GingerNinjer)

Dinner tonight is brought to you by slacker-dom yesterday. Crockpot roast chicken, seasoned with garlic and onion, cavity stuffed with sliced bacon ends. Served with rice and a little garlic Maggi seasoning, steamed broccoli on the side. Tasty. Hint of bacon reminds me of Mama. She loves bacon.

Rest of the meat is deboned and cooling. Carcass and guts are back in Crockpot... Stocking it up.

From one chicken (3.5 pounds for the curious) I am getting dinner tonight, a small casserole which will be at least 3 meals, AND two small pots of soup (one with tomato, one without) that will likely be another 6 meals. Stretching the chicken is key.(Does it sound like I'm bragging? That's not the intention... I'm just over sharing to make up for the lack of photos.)

I've been really quiet for a very long time and I have to apologize for that. But I'm facing a giant upswing in free time and will be using blogging, cooking, and crafting to keep the depression at bay during the job-hunt. Must have hobbies right?

But what does all of this have to do with the Original Steer Meat Market? I can explain. The Original Steer Meat Market is a block and a half from my front door. And I love it. I love to walk in and talk to the butchers behind the counter, some more knowledgeable than others. One younger man and I got into a debate about whether lamb and pork come from the same animal. Lamb. And pork. Yeah.

But I like the selection, I like the quality and I like that they don't give me a hard time about my wrapping requests. I'm a single female cooking for myself. In the fight against overfilling my refrigerator with leftovers I ask for the meat to be packed in half pound packages. And they don't even blink. In fact one girl (who's name I can't remember) and I chatted for a while about cooking for one and the wonder that is a Crockpot. Such a savior for the working stiff.

Also the place smells incredible (the do their own in house smoked meats), all of their pork products come from Carlton Family Farms a local homegrown source. Gotta feel good about that.

So, other than the lack of photos... Not bad for a return right?

What's on your menus?

~Ginger Ninjer

Wednesday dinner courtesy of Dancing Roots Farm

Greens from our new farm share.

                        Red potatoes from this weeks farm share with leftover steak and Normandy vegetables.

Your Fast Food Choices...

Hello one and all,

     I am curious.  Too curious in fact.  It is one of my catlike tendencies.  Here it is.... Do you have a favorite fast food restaurant.  No one faint.  Please don't panic and run screaming from the computer.  I know, I know. This is a food blog, why on earth would you ask me about fast food restaurants.  Because I think the reality is we all go to them at least once a month.  If you don't, high five.  You are now one of my food heroes.   
  
     My favorite fast food place is Del Taco.  If you are not familiar with the place here is a link.  http://www.deltaco.com/  I like it because I can get chicken there.  In more than one item.  For most places I eat at I judge whether or not to eat there  based on what I can eat there.  i.e. I am not in the mood for a fish sandwich today so McDonald's and Burgerville are out.  That is the only thing I can eat at those places.  I like Del taco because they put there chicken in taco and burrito form.  There are different sauce and ingredient choices (bean or no bean).  I get my plain, old fashioned, unsweetened ice tea.  

      Favorite meal at Del Taco is the 2 for $5 Classic Grilled chicken burritos, minus the "secret sauce" add chipotle sauce.   This I admit is not the healthiest meal in the world but, it is better than some guilty pleasures.  (Big Mac or McRib)  

      Did you hear some whispering somewhere?  Anyway, I thought if we all talked about our fast food purchases maybe we could see how healthy or unhealthy we are eating and learn some new ways to eat out on the cheap in a healthy manner.  Hey!  Stop laughing.  It could happen........
    

Do you guys have Burger??

Apocalypse Mom, Redneck Widow, and Ginger Ninja all walk into a Walmart in the middle of the night. Sounds like the opening to a bad joke? Keep reading it gets worse.

So, many of us have problems with crowds around the holidays as people become rampant A-Holes and forget a little thing called mutual respect. So we avoid the holiday crowds in certain places. Luckily for us these places are generally open 24 hours a day. So, when we needed a last minute Wal-Mart trip, we decided to leave the house about 10:30 at night. No big deal, midnight wal-mart trips are usually cause for much hilarity around here. We put on our best PJ's, afix our worst southern accents and head out of the house giggling like crazy people. :) (Which is to say, we get up from wherever we're sitting and hop into the car.)

After about an hour and a half inside the Mart of Wal, we decide we have had enough but we should grab midnight munchies on the way home. Ginger Ninja has a craving for Burger King and there is one in the parking lot of our friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart... Handy that. So, we pull into the drive thru, commenting on how nice it is that they cover their ordering station. We listen to the opening pitch of guess what we have on sale, and we proceed to order.

"Hi, can we get an Angry Whopper with Chicken instead of Beef please?" I ask of the nice speaker that is blinking please order when ready at me.

"No!" It says back without hesitation

"Wait, what? Excuse me? Did you say No?" I ask, shocked.

"Yeah," Come this teeny bopper voice. "We're not allowed to do that, and I don't have any chicken. We turned off our broiler already."

"Your drive thru is open 24 hours, right?" I ask in confusion

"Well, Yeah," comes the reply, as if I am stupid cause I don't get it.

"Nevermind." I said as I pulled around and ignored her as we pulled away. Up the freeway we sped to the next Burger King between us and home. We pull in and are greeted by a friendly voice. I ask again:

"Can we get an Angry Whopper with chicken instead of Beef?"

"Oh yeah, but we're out of burger."

"What?"

"We don't have any patties."

"What do you have?"

"Chicken, and anything deep fried."

"Right, of course." I look at the girls expectantly, Apocalypse Mom shrugs while Ginger frowns at me, she has her heart set on a Whopper.

"Alright, nevermind, have a great night."

So up we drive to the very last Burger King between us and home, get to the drive through and ask my favorite question I have ever asked a fast food restaurant drive thru!

"So, do you actually have burgers?"

"Well, um... yes?" Answers the poor kid behind the speaker.

"Can I get an Angry Whopper with Chicken instead of Beef?"

"Yes, but we don't need burger to do that." answers who I assume is the manager. He sounds very amused.

"Awesome..." So then I begin to rattle off our order. To the nice man's credit, he got everything right.

So, kids, the moral of this story is that if you get midnight munchies and absolutely need Burger King, I wholeheartedly recommend the one at 122nd and Division! It is a good place and they are good at their jobs. Today, in cooperation with 99.5 The Wolf, a percentage of all their proceeds went to Dornbechers Children's Hospital!  So go there and spend money!

Christmas and the Holidays!

While running various errands and shopping it is inevitable that I am out of the house at meal time. Yet, with the holiday shopping I try to go cheap and fast... (no comments from the peanut gallery please). So there has been a lot of fast food lately. Which results in midnight drive through runs to all night fast food joints.... which leads to ridiculous questions... But that is another post.

So, we went adventuring and Apocalypse.Mom and I stopped at Pizza Baron. It is a cute little Pizza shop at 122nd and Division, in what is left of a dying strip mall. I had been there years ago with Painter Lady, and years before that with my parents. But memory often tricks me into thinking things are way better than they are. Unfortunately, that is how it went with Pizza Baron.

The service was accommodating to a fault, almost creepily so. They literally wanted to fix any problem we had just so we would order. And it didn't take long to figure out why. We were there for lunch, which consisted of pizza and salad bar. Pretty typical fare for a pizza joint now-a-days. We saw three other people come in, one was a regular. The place is decorated with team trophies and banners for all the youth sports in the area, and  they obviously back all of them. There is a big screen TV in the back room, an arcade on one side of the restaurant and a large fireplace in the middle.

It is a cute, quaint little place that looks to have been great at one time, but now is mediocre at best. Which is sad, it has so much potential. The food was ok... not bad, but not great either. It was an ok price for what we got, the salad bar needed a lot of help. But the service was good and quick and it was a quiet lunchtime retreat.

It is something I would like to see make a come back. I remember them being really terrific when I was a kid, and I would like it to be that great when I take my kids or grand kids (Someday, don't get any ideas boys) there. However, right now it is a place I would go if I didn't have anywhere else to try at the moment. And as it is surrounded by a Papa Murphy's, Burger King, Taco Time, and there is a Chinese place pretty close. I have a lot of other options.

But that is how my lunch at Pizza Baron went. What did you think Apocalypse.Mom?

Lily Market (or... SCOOOOOOORE! And the Death of the Widow)

I've driven past a dozen times, always thought it was just a little hole in the wall convenience store. Until one night the urge for chocolate was too strong and I caved to the siren song of Baskin- Robbins. I'm weak, I know. But it was good, so bite me.

Anyway, back on track. I pulled into the parking lot and was stunned to realize that the "hole in the wall" Lily Market took up the entire building!

I could see the shelves of cooking pots and 50# bags filled with rice. I made a mental note to return and check it out. Sometime when I didn't have my take out dinner rapidly cooking in the passenger seat.

(I ate the ice cream. Cherries jubilee and chocolate fudge. And it was wonderful!)

The next day I stopped in after work. KNOWING that such a trip would be detrimental for RedneckWidow's respiratory system. Wide eyed and wondering I wandered. Aisle by aisle, smiling and taking it all in. Too much good stuff, too many things I didn't know, but would soon be Googling. (there's that verb again!)

Dried Betel leaves are apparently for addictive fun times*  (*Author's note- NOT FOR CHILDREN!!!)

You burn it and it smells pretty.

The shiny pots are very light weight aluminum and the cast iron pans with the divots is for  Takoyaki but it looks like it could be used for Aebelskiver.  

Stylized Tiffin Carriers super pretty.

Farther back into the actual grocery I found aisles of dried noodles on one side and gorgeous metal tea pots on the other.

And then there were the fun finds in the grocery itself. 

Chinese Chicken sausages with edible collagen casing, BellaBabe friendly. Though too sweet for Apocalypse.Mom who described them as more of a breakfast sausage.

These bags of Pho noodles are bigger than my head! I mean fresh noodles are awesome, but how many people do I  need to be serving in order to justify buying this???

This case contains the Durian and durian products. 

8.5 POUNDS of Sambal Oelek. I am afraid.

And in the very very far back (IE the side I could see from the opposite street)... The deli case! Filled with freshly made Thai dishes that made my toes curl! I've been back 5 times in 8 days! They are starting to recognize me. But the steamed buns haunt my dreams.

Today when I went in for more pictures (whatever!) I almost wept because the woman in front of me ordered the last two steam buns. But that's fine, I'm mature. I only pouted a little. But I will be back, oh yes I will be back. Likely on Friday when they roast young coconuts packed with sweet rice. Mmmm yes, I will be back.

** A brief moment of humor. After that first trip I got home and was greeted by RedneckWidow and Apocalypse.Mom who wanted to know where I had been and when I was going to take them. So of course we went back that same night! And I warned RedneckWidow about the spices, don't let her claim I didn't! 

 ***Secondary note. I just checked out their website... There are apartments over the market!! If they allowed pets I would kill to live there!!