Christmas Eve Dinner...

(disclaimer: there was much more food than what i photographed, but i was too busy eating to take a photograph)

I celebrated Christmas with my parents for the first time in 4 years...we decided to do alittle potluck on Christmas Eve with a few family friends.

I decided to tackle my first prime rib :) With the help of my dear chef friend mLee, i obtained a recipe and an idea of what i wanted to do...get a bone-in prime rib roast, make a good rub of garlic, rosemary, and olive oil...I tried to capture the process i took in making it, but as you will see below, i did not do a great job in getting my camera out.


The 8 lb standing rib roast


The spices used for the rub


Fresh out of the oven, with a bulb of roasted garlic on the side


moose cookies that my friend made...they're like rockyroad ice cream put into a cookie. quite delicious (i'm eating one as we speak)


The gingerbread house (from a kit) that a few of the girls made.


The yule log cake that we had for dessert...unfortunately looked better than it tasted..

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

My sis made some delicious pumpkin pie (as reference on cathalinaK). she made the crust from scratch..and then mixed the pumpkin mixture. it turned out pretty well.

here are some photos of the process.


pouring the batter into the pie crust...


after the filling was poured into the crust...


after coming out from the oven..notice the crater...anyone know why?


first slice of yumminess.

Our Food System...

I came across this video...an interview with Michael Pollan..who is a writer..and has a very unique view on our food policy as a nation..

I'm currently reading through his book "Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" (thanks to Peter)...

Take a look at the interview here. You can read the transcript here.

He talks about how our food policy affects our health care crisis...how the food system affects our energy independence...moving school lunch to department of education...

one of my favorite parts:
"Cook. Simply by starting to cook again, you declare your independence from the culture of fast food. As soon as you cook, you start thinking about ingredients. You start thinking about plants and animals, and not the microwave. And you will find that your diet, just by that one simple act, that is greatly improved. You will find that you are supporting local agriculture, because you'll care about the quality of ingredients. And you know, whether you're cooking or not is one of the best predictors for a healthy diet. It's more important than the class predictor. People with more money generally have healthier diets, but affluent people who don't cook are not as healthy in their eating as poor people who still cook. So, very, very important. If you don't have pots and pans, get them."

E'Tutto Qua

270 Columbus Ave * San Francisco, CA

This past Friday went out with a group of friends for a night out on the town...decided to give E'Tutto Qua a try before hitting up Bubble Lounge (sorry! no pictures, no post) Our reservations were for 7:30, but at 7:15 our friends called to say that they were stuck in traffic by SFO. So i called the restaurant and asked if we could push our reservations back and the maitreD was very nice about it. good thing we pushed back our reservations, it took us a good half hour to find parking :( no fun...

The food was delicious here with homemade noodles, lotsa italian accents all around, and a great atmosphere!


(debuting my new logo!)

elbow pasta with Italian Sausage & Mushrooms in cream sauce


Spaghetti Neri Squid Ink pasta with Seafood


Swordfish Pasta Special


tonnarelli di mare Homemade Spaghetti noodles with seafood


Scallop Pasta Special


Shells from our delicious meals

There were too many dishes to write a lil blurb about each. I didn't get to try all of them, but the reaction from the rest of my party indicated that the dishes were all good.

Paws: 4.5

Bouchon

at the Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd S * Las Vegas, NV

Was in Vegas a few weeks ago with Ed and took him to Bouchon to celebrate his birthday. Now, if you don't know what Bouchon is...it's Thomas Keller's (French Laundry) Las Vegas bistro. I was expecting to be wow'd, which i can't say i was completely wow'd. The food was executed very well, however, I was not a big fan of all the flavors.

They brought us some delicious bread and butter, i love this kind of fresh, fragrant butter. Along with the bread they brought out some pistachios, i've never seen this before, but it was greatly welcomed!





To start off we had some appetizers...


Rillettes aux Deux Saumons
fresh & smoked salmon rillettes served with toasted croutons

This was a good appetizer, recommended by our waiter; Ed was a bit skeptical b/c there are minced shallots in it, but it came out pretty good, no strong onion-y taste. The salmon is preserved in a little jar with a later of solidified butter on top (see below). The croutons were a perfect accompaniment to the salty salmon. They were nice enough to give us extra croutons.


See that layer of fat that he's scooping out??


Soupe du Jour: Butternut Squash Bisque
Butternut squash bisque with a drizzle of oil and some currant compote

I really enjoyed this soup, it was nice and creamy, and the currant gave it a nice kick to freshen it up. The bread was a great dipper for this soup.

To the main entree


Bay Scallops Special
Scallops on a bed of brussel sprout leaves and chicken of the woods mushroom with a balsalmic/shallots reduction sauce

The scallops were cooked really well, to the perfect temperature and texture. I wasn't a big fan of the mushrooms, but they were something new and interesting. The sauce was good, but alittle too tart for me.
This dish also comes with a roasted shallot, but due to someone's dislike of all things onion, they kindly didn't plate it.


Poulet Roti
roasted chicken with puff pastry tartelette, ratatouille, garlic chips & chicken jus

The chicken was again executed very well, moist throughout. The puff pastry surprising held up under the mass of wet sauciness. I found that I am not a fan of the flavors in ratatouille. I was quite full after eating this.

Overall, i think this was a good place to go to for getting my feet wet into Keller's cuisine, definately a lot easier on my wallet than French Laundry. The food was fresh and well executed, and i think my taste palette is just not developed enough for French food.

Paws: 4 (bc my expectations were too high)