Pan seared and then chucked into the oven like my friend taught me.

I made beouf bourguinon last weekend for Mother’s Day.  It cooked for about 7 hours… red wine, carrots, onions, garlic, beef broth and some herbs.  And endless straining through cheese cloth to get the sauce clean.

Now I’m eating it at work while watching Lost, minus the fancy presentation with the fingerling potatoes and carrots.

Man cooking for 12 people is no joke!!!

Just found this picture on my phone from last weekend.

I grilled some carne asada and pollo asado and they looked so good I had to take a moment to bust out my camera and take a picture first.

Brought it from home and cooked it in the small oven we got here.

Got it cooked medium in a toaster oven somehow!

Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, rye, horseradish sauce, beer.

I get home around 6:30p everyday, so the only way to get dinner on the table in a timely manner is by cooking what I can the night before.

It’s 10:30… now I can take a shower and watch a little TV before bed.

I bought 2 turkey legs and roasted them with herbs and vegetables to make the hugest pot of gravy ever.  There’s literally enough gravy for two dinners here.

First I rolled up some pounded chicken breast with prosciutto, spinach and cheese.  I tied it up with bucher’s twine.  Then I seared it on all sides in some rosemary and garlic infused butter and olive oil.

I deglazed the pan with some chicken stock and cooked the rolled chicken with some orzo, tomatoes and more rosemary.

It always feels good when everybody is fighting for the leftovers.

This is what I made last weekend… but I was too drunk and hungry to actually know how good it was.

Well I guess I’m an old white lady. Heavens to Betsy!

I forgot to take pictures of the roasted red potatoes and carrots and the gravy I made from the drippings (and horseradish sauce!).

It was like a mini Thanksgiving meal. Maybe I’ll do this next time everybody comes over… it was a bit too much work for just 3 of us.

I made these the other day… they were pretty good! Using some milk soaked bread and a pork/beef combo made a really big difference.

Sorry for the bad cell phone pics.

Deep fried to finish off what the Big Mac started.

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to have yakitori at home so that we could afford to eat it more often… so far I’ve found a lot of these grills that are much too small…

Here’s a cool one… it’s long so you can put a lot of skewers on it, but the sucky thing is – it’s electric! I’m pretty sure to get the authentic taste, you need to use charcoal.

Here’s one that is way too small, but at least it uses charcoal. I’m gonna have to get 3 of these! One for each person!

So far I’m not sure what to do… I don’t really like either of those 2 grills.

Here’s the recipe courtesy of Wolfgang Puck:

(Oh, if you’re gonna cook it, here’s my suggestion – instead of spending all the time finely chopping the carrots, celery and onion, just put them in a food processor)

Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 pound ground chicken
* 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
* 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
* 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
* Pinch chili flakes
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup dry white wine
* 2 cups tomato sauce
* 1/2 cup tomato juice
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
* 1 pound penne pasta

Directions
Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the olive oil and heat. When the oil is hot, add the ground chicken and cook until well browned, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme, and chili flakes and cook until the vegetables are softened, about 5 to 8 minutes. Carefully deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Reduce until the white wine is almost completely evaporated.

Add the tomato sauce and juice and simmer until a thick sauce consistency, about 20 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Cook the penne in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta and set aside. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water to the sauce. Add the drained pasta to the sauce along with the Parmesan and toss well. Serve in a large bowl garnished with parsley leaves.

Had a pretty productive day – I took care of a little side work, patched a hole in my 20″ tire (stupid nails), even had time to cook a pot roast for 5 hours, AND Elise was smiling all day.

My pot roast served over a bed of mashed potatoes.

It’s fettuccine pasta tossed with butter, pecorino cheese, and arugula. I topped it with some jumbo shrimp and chicken in a pesto sauce. And because I saw some fresh large scallops at the market, I cooked up some scallops and put them on the side.

Elise is almost 5 months!

Saturday night

Sunday lunch

Last night I made a dish with some shell pasta, mozzarella, basil, parmesan cheese, sauce made of tomatoes and chicken stock, and meatballs made from romano cheese, ground chicken, italian parsley, panko breadcrumbs. Italian food reminds me a lot of Chinese food in that many dishes are just different combinations of the same ingredients.

It was pretty good… and we were all full. But not as full as Elise.