La Poste Eatery

For Valentine's Day this year, we decided to go out for a nice dinner.  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll remember that last year we went to a cabin in the woods near Walland, Tennessee (you can read that blog entry here).  We went for a smaller scale celebration this year because we are saving for a fun in the sun type vacation later in the year.

We happened to have a Restaurant.com gift certificate for La Poste Eatery and I'd been wanting to visit there for a while.  However, you had to spend $100 to get $50 off, which is more than we spend on a typical evening out.  That made it the perfect destination for our special meal.

Now, La Poste is a nice restaurant, but you could quite easily get out of there without spending $100.  We reviewed the menu (You can see their menu on their website) ahead of our visit and strategized, but didn't quite settle on a solid selection.  We probably should have, as we ended up overspending the discount by quite a bit, but it didn't matter-we had a wonderful time and all the little extras truly played into that.

Instead of my typical glass of red wine, we tried a couple of their cocktails.  I got a margarita like concoction called Taylor Made, and David got a mixture of fruit juices with rum called a Winter Storm.  They were tasty and strong, but not overly so.

We started with three appetizers, Baked Brie en Croute (Cheese is a puff shell like crust), Seared Scallops, and Pommes Frites.  Here is a blurry cell phone pic:

David and I both agreed that the Seared Scallops and Brie en Croute far outshine the french fries.  I wouldn't bother with the fries again.

For the main course, David got Fried Chicken.  He said it was ok, but that if we went back he would try something different.

I got the Butcher's Cut (daily special), which was a massive 12 oz. NY Strip Steak.  I would definitely get this again, though we would most likely split it.  Who needs to eat that much beef?

Under the meat pile was a delightful hash of sorts.  I have no idea what was in it, but it was yummy.  Probably a mix of potato, bacon, onion, and bell pepper. 

The only thing I didn't like:  The chef also made some sort of rectangle shaped crab meatloaf, which is hiding under the steak and the hash.  I'm not sure what was in that either, but it was dry and had the texture of an omelet.  I took a couple nibbles of it but didn't end up eating it.


I requested a glass of wine with dessert and the waiter sent over their sommelier to help me pick something.  He asked if I had any preferences, and I didn't, so he picked out a sweet cherry tasting red wine to go along with the bread pudding I'd picked for dessert.

Truthfully, I didn't end up caring for the wine that much, but since that sommelier had never picked out wine for me before, and I didn't give him anything to go on, you can't blame him for me not liking the wine he picked. 

I got the bread pudding for dessert.  I didn't remember to take a picture before I dug into it, so here it is with about a third of it eaten:

David had the apple crisp:

When I asked David what his favorite part of the meal was, he said, "apart from being with you?" and gave me a smooch :).  Such a love bird. 

We plan on going back to La Poste.  There are a few other dishes I would like to try (Crimson Pear Salad, Flatbread, Mushroom Ravioli), and I would like to sample more of their wine selection.

When we go back, I'll ask that we be seated in the smaller of the two dining rooms.  As we were leaving, I peaked into the smaller dining room, which seemed much more intimate and romantic, which is what I am usually looking for when enjoying finer establishments.  They also had church pew like seats by the entry door where two diners could sit side by side-that's always our preference instead of leaning over a table trying to talk.

La Poste Eatery is yummy.  We will definitely return there in the future.  Have you been there?  What was your favorite dish?

Eli's BBQ

Eli's BBQ will change your life.

News about this delicious bbq has been all over the web for months...first I heard about him serving food at Findlay Market.  Then I heard rumor that he was opening a shop in the East End.
I decided we had to make the journey.  I even had the perfect day in mind, Friday, January 6th.  This was the day of my LASIK surgery, and as I would be sleeping all day, I would have plenty of calories to 'spend' on my dinner.

As soon as David was home from work, I convinced him to take me down to the East End for some dinner.  Naturally, I was wearing my sexy LASIK goggles.    I was hoping someone would ask if I was Ray Charles but nobody did.

When we pulled up, I was greatly amused to see a man in a pig costume waving at cars while eating a pork rib.  Cannibal!!!  I snapped his photo while we waited for our meals.

David tried the smoked dogs, while my dinner was the pulled pork sandwich, which was tasty, but doesn't hold a candle to the dogs.  I had terrible food envy.  Luckily David let me share a bit of his.

When Eli came by the table to check in on us, I told him how much I liked the hot dogs.  To which he replied, 'those dogs are stupid!'  Which I can only imagine is short for stupid good!  He's right.  They are stupid good.  It's stupid how good they are.  Seriously.

We went back for lunch on Saturday as well.  What can I say?  It's tasty :)

Eli remembered us (probably because I was the only person wearing my sunglasses at night and I look like Ray Charles) and told me if we visited three days in a row we might need to join a program :)

David got rib tips and I got the dogs.  Again, I succumbed to food envy. The rib tips were amazing.  The dogs were amazing.  I left happy with a full belly.  I may need to buy a treadmill.

This will definitely enter our lineup of awesome dinner options.  Yum!!!

Lime Mousse Cake

Every once in a while, I make a recipe that is so delightfully tasty, I don't want to eat anything else.  I hosted a few friends for dinner on Black Friday and I made a Lime Mousse Cake.  The cake was more cheesecake than mousse, but it was absolutely to die for.  I definitely recommend making this.  My friends were nice enough to wait while I posed for a photo, and even to take the picture for me!

Here is a photo of the ingredients, prior to assembly:

For the crust, use a food processor to crumble some ginger snap cookies.  Not a traditional graham cracker crust, but a delicious variation.  The recipe calls for butter to hold together the crumbs,  You could probably use something else with less fat/calories if you wanted to lighten up the recipe.

Mix together lots of delicious ingredients like cream cheese, white chocolate, and lime zest.  You'll eventually add some weird stuff too, like unflavored gelatin and granulated sugar.

 In another bowl, make some whipped cream.  Then mix the two together to complete the filling.  This cake will hold itself together after an overnight in the fridge.  No baking required.

Smooth the top with a spatula, then use a knife to make a sweet note to your honey.

The rough edges are how you can tell it's home made.  I love my 'non-uniform' lime cheesecake with funny edges.

I served it with a few blackberries for garnish.  There are a bunch of different ways to jazz up this dessert, but it really doesn't need it.  It stands quite well on its own.

Do yourself a favor and don't count the calories in the recipe for this cheesecake.  Make it up for a party where there will be lots of people to prevent leftovers.  And for goodness sake, make sure you taste the batter.  ;)

Autumn Chicken Roulade

Have you ever made a roulade?  It sounds fancy, but it's really just a French word for a "Roll-Up."  You've probably had a pumpkin roll, which is a form of roulade.

I made a Chicken Roulade recipe from Clean Eating Magazine.  It was delicious.

I made two versions.  One with butternut squash for me; the other with sweet potato for my honey, who doesn't like squash.

I'd like to tell you that mine (with squash) was infinitely better than his (with sweet potato), but I didn't taste the sweet potato version and I have no idea if it was better or not.

So, first you chop up the squash or sweet potato and some shallots into small pieces.  Then you saute them into they are close to soft, but not quite soft.  You are going to bake them a little bit, so you don't want them too mushy.

While they saute, pound out some chicken breasts until they are thin.  I used 4 pieces of chicken so that we would have some left for lunch the following day.

Then you mix the mostly cooked vegetables with a little goat cheese, some bread crumbs, and some spices.  The recipe called for sage, but I didn't have any.  I used a rosemary chicken rub instead, and it was a good match.  Throw in a little salt and pepper.

 

You are supposed to use a piece of lean ham to wrap up the roulade, but I misread the label on the product I picked up at Whole Foods and ended up with some form of bacon instead.  Luckily, it only had 50 calories a slice, so I was still able to make do.

Now you are ready to roll up the roulades.  Start by laying down the bacon/ham, then topping it with a piece of pounded chicken.

Then you add on the squash/potato filling, and roll it up.  Firmly secure with toothpicks.  Don't forget where you put them!

Bake the roulades in the oven until the chicken is cooked.  Don't leave them in there too long...the chicken will easily overcook because it is so thin.  You could probably use a meat thermometer, but I just cut one open to see if the meat was still pink.

Make sure you pull out the toothpicks before serving.  The meat will hold itself together after cooking, so they won't be needed.

I served it with some Asian style stir fry veggies and a little quinoa.  That was mostly due to lack of planning for a side dish.  I was so focused on making the entree that I didn't put any thought into what to go with it.  Something seasonal would probably go well with this, like some Brussels Sprouts.

Sounds like I did it wrong, what with the vegetable side dish mis-match and all.  Guess I'll have to make it again!

Nanny's Apple Cider

My grandmother is a great cook.  Several of my favorite recipes are also family favorites from her kitchen.  Now that the cold weather is upon us, it's time for one of her classic recipes:  Apple Cider.  This is a really simple recipe.  It smells delicious, tastes delicious, and is downright...delicious.

My grandmother says that she believes this cider recipe was posted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer years ago.  She moved here from Cleveland over 30 years ago, so trust me when I tell you that this recipe has stood the test of time.

Did you notice the remnants of my cool Halloween manicure in that picture?  The apple cider was made for our Halloween party, and like the pumpkin bread, is unfortunately long gone.

In case you can't read the image from the picture above, here are the ingredients:

Nanny's Apple Cider
 
1 gallon Apple Cider
1 stick of Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Whole Allspice
1 teaspoon Cardamom Seeds
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
3 Orange Slices, each studded with 5 Whole Cloves

You can go two ways with the other spices.  One way is to dump them all in the cider and then strain it before serving.  I think that's a little too time and labor intensive, so I usually make a 'homemade tea bag' with a paper towel and float it in the cider.  One day I will get really fancy and buy a tea ball...

After the spices have been added, the cider should simmer for 30 minutes with the orange slices floating on the top. I'm rather fond of spearing the orange slice with the sticks of whole cinnamon.  I think it looks pretty when you float them in the apple cider.

My mom recommends preparing the cider a day in advance because she thinks its better after its been reheated.  So, if you've got the time, you should definitely do it that way.  If not?  Still delicious.

Pumpkin Bread

Do you like fall?  What about all the tasty foods that come along with the changing of the seasons?

I set out to make some pumpkin bread recently and am amazed at the delicious recipe I found.  Even more remarkable is that this recipe is designed to be used for a Pumpkin Bread Pudding (with Spicy Caramel Apple Sauce, no less).  I suppose if you are going to make a bread pudding, you should make sure that the bread is extra delicious!

Disclaimer:  My pumpkin bread didn't last long enough to become bread pudding, so you'll have to try that one yourself, if you've got enough willpower.  Or, enough pumpkin to make a few loaves.

The ingredients in the recipe are simple enough:

Fairly standard, yes?  Notice that the pumpkin is just standard pumpkin, not the kind that's ready to be poured into a pie.  I have an astonishing number of spices on my spice rack, so I'm always thankful to use them in a recipe.

First you mix up the wet ingredients with a stand mixer:

And the dry ones in a separate bowl.  I know this is simple, but I totally got it wrong the other day ;)

Then you mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones until you have delicious pumpkin bread batter ready to pop into the oven.

I enjoyed this recipe so much that after I sampled it, I immediately made a second loaf.  We shared this at our halloween party, and I am thinking it will make another appearance at Thanksgiving.  Yum yum!!

Halloween at Queen City Yam

I didn't have time to get all my fun Halloween posts published before the holiday was over.  David and I went to several haunted activities and I had too much interesting stuff to write about and not enough time!

Here is my Halloween wrap up post on pumpkin carving, seed toasting, and our costumes.

This is my pumpkin.  And, a view of my awesome IKEA spice rack :)  It's actually three spice racks combined and I have absolutely no more room on there, so I hope I don't need any new spices anytime soon!

I was too busy carving to take any action photos, so here is the finished product:

I love that his mouth is asymmetrical.  I think it makes it extra spooky.  The bat hanging in the background doesn't hurt.  ;)

After I was done with the carving, I wanted to toast up the seeds for a late night snack. 
First, I separated the seeds from the goo.

Then I spread them out on a cookie sheet (in a single layer, not like the pile in my photo)

Then I added seasoning.  I wanted a sweet but salty and spicy pumpkin seed, so I mixed in a few different ingredients.  Brown sugar, kosher salt, Dee Felice Jazzed Hot Sauce, and Worcestershire Sauce.  Plus a little butter and garlic.

When the seeds were roasting, my kitchen smelled like a summer time bbq.  Until the seasoning started to burn off on the foil.

I think I was lucky that the seeds themselves didn't burn, because I definitely had the oven on the wrong temperature.

Still, the seeds were quite yummy.

For Halloween itself, we dressed up as Batman and Poison Ivy. 

I hope you had a Happy Halloween!