An Anniversary Lunch at Farm Bloomington

Today is our 29th anniversary

and the Foodie Husband and I had business

in downtown Bloomington today.

We decided to have lunch together afterwards.

I gave him a choice of three restaurants

and he decided on Farm Bloomington

since it was the closest one.

 Can't say I can blame him as it was cold and snowing.

 Not many people are out today because of the weather.

 The decor is interesting.

 Those are bedpans on the wall - between the bathrooms.

 Old quilts act as room dividers.

After perusing the menu, we ordered.

My husband ordered the omelet special of the day.

This had cheddar cheese, chorizo and ham.

It came with fries.

He liked the omelet very much.

 I ordered the Jim's Pork Burger.

This was a "house-made Pork Patty with Apple Butter

on Pullman Bread."

The server suggested cheddar cheese and bacon

and a side of Farm fries.

That sounded good.

 This is one tall sandwich.

 I cut the sandwich in half.

The pork patty is filled with peppers.

It was nice and juicy and slightly spicy.

The apple butter was made in house,

and the bread was artisan-made.

The fries were hand cut and

even the catsup was made in house.

But in the end I had to take half my food home with me

as I was full after just half the sandwich.

  

I will definitely come back here.

Chef Daniel Orr

has written two cookbooks.

I may have to see about getting them.

My wonderful husband

even brought me flowers.

Thank you dear!

Happy Anniversary 

and thank you for a lovely lunch.

Rice Salad and Turkey Tenderloin

The Foodie Daughter and I are on a mission:

a mission to get fit and healthy and to lose weight.

So I am trying to find healthier side dishes for our meals.

I think I have found a winner.

As an unexpected bonus,

even the pickiest eater in our family,

my husband,

likes this dish.

I had an idea,

an idea for a mixed rice salad.

But of course I could not find a recipe online

that I liked.

So I winged it as usual.

Follow along as I create culinary goodness.

 My mise en place:

Rice:

1 cup Royal Rice Blend (a mixture of white, brown, wild, and red rices)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water

Cook according to package directions.  Rinse under cold water and set aside.


Meanwhile prep the veggies:

1/4 cup frozen green peas
1/4 cup yellow pepper, diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 rib celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled and julienned

After the rice is cooked and rinsed, add the rice to the veggies and mix well.


Finally mix the vinaigrette:

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
Pinch black pepper
Splash Tamari sauce, not shown
2 tablespoons more or less honey

Mix with a whisk and while whisking slowly pour in extra virgin olive oil.  You will end up with about 1/3 to 1/2 cup vinaigrette.    You will not need all of this vinaigrette for the salad.  Only add as much as is needed. 

And now you have a rice salad.

 Veggies are prepped.

 We have a salad.

 And now we are talking turkey.

Tonight I decided to marinate the turkey tenderloin in a mixture of
2 tablespoons Tamari sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons chardonnay, not shown
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 cloves minced garlic

Now understand that I do not measure these ingredients.  I just pour them in.  It's a freakin' marinade, not a delicate science experiment.  But I do understand that some people are very uncomfortable with the idea of working without a net, as it were, so I attempted to approximate the amounts that I used this time.

What I can tell you is that I never make the same marinade the same way.  I change it according to mood and whims and the alignments of the highway construction cones.  So go ahead and play mad scientist and experiment with different flavors.  I usually just start with an idea in my head and start pulling ingredients out of the cupboards and the refrigerator and before you know it I have a marinade.  The one constant is that I always include an alcohol.  If you are opposed to using alcohol, then use a vinegar instead.  Just remember these guide lines: use an acidic ingredient, a sweet ingredient, spices, herbs, a bit of oil, salt in some form or another (if using soy sauce or Tamari sauce, then skip the salt), and  garlic.  Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, you cannot make a decent marinade without garlic.  And don't try to use that nasty jarred garlic either.  Get the real stuff.  The stuff that comes in the bulbs.  You know, that stuff?  You can find it in the produce section by the onions.  But just have fun.

Always burp the bag and place the bag in a container so that the marinade can have full contact with all parts of the meat and you can be sure that any leaks will be contained.

Sear the tenderloin over medium-high heat before lowering the heat to low and covering.  If you have a remote thermometer probe, this is the time to use it.  Set the thermometer to 155 degrees and walk away.  Rest assured that despite the fact that the over-cautious US Government standards call for turkey be cooked to 165 degrees, that at 155 degrees the turkey is cooked well enough.

I wouldn't recommend this temperature for chickens, though.  But then again, I have a personal beef with chickens.

And now for the plating.

You have to try this rice salad.

Trust me on this.

Lunch at Nadia's Bistro

A couple of weeks ago I had lunch at a new restaurant

in town.

Nadia's Bistro features Mediterranean 

and Indonesian style food

as well as American food.

The chef is from New York.

It has taken me this long to post

because I didn't have my camera with me that day

and had to take these pictures with my iPhone.

Then I couldn't get the pictures to load onto

my computer.

I finally had to text the pictures to the Foodie Daughter

and then she emailed them to me.

Convoluted.

But it worked.

 Nadia's Bistro.

 It was fairly quiet the day I was there,

but it was also later in the afternoon.

 The menu.

 The lunch menu.

 I asked for ice water with lemon on the side.

I got lemon on the left side. 

I wanted it on the side.

Not on the side of the glass.

I also had to wait nearly five minutes for a straw -

after I had to ask for one.

 A basket of freshly baked bread, both whole wheat and white,

was brought out along with a plate of extra virgin olive oil

with dried herbs.

This was nice.

I was told that the specials of the day were a soup and samosas.

I ordered the Brisket Philly Sandwich, 

which was a "super tender Angus beef topped with

caramelized* onions and Swiss cheese.  Served with fries."

The online menu notes that the chef keeps a secret stash of 

cheese-whiz in the back if desired.

*By the way, it would behoove any restaurant

to carefully proofread their web site to catch any errors

as the description for this dish read "carmalized."

I asked that the fries be served extra crispy.

Instead, they arrived barely crisp.

In fact, the first one I tried was still slightly frozen.

Fail!

I had to ask for catsup for my fries

and again it took nearly five minutes for 

the server to bring the catsup to the table.

The sandwich was very good,

if not particularly authentic, 

as I do not believe that Swiss cheese is the cheese

of choice in Philly.

But I'm in B-town, so that's okay with me.

Towards the end of my meal

the hostess brought a survey to my table,

asking that I fill it out so that they can improve 

upon their service and the restaurant.

So I let them know what I liked:

the sandwich and 

the friendly and knowledgeable staff.

I also let them know what I didn't like:

the lemon on the side of the glass,

the wait for the requested items,

the not-extra crispy fries and

the fact that they had used frozen fries 

instead of hand-cut potatoes to begin with.

However,

I do believe that overall this place has potential

and it can be good.

I will give it another try

- in a few months.

Sunset over Southern Indiana

Capturing a beautiful sunset is more difficult

than one might imagine.

Often times the conditions simply are not right for 

a lovely sunset.

Either there are no clouds from which the sun can reflect

as it sets,

or there are too many clouds and the sun simply

slides down behind them unnoticed.

And then on the rare occasion when the conditions are 

just right for a beautiful sunset,

one might simply miss it, being busy with other things.

 I finally caught a sunset this evening.

 Enjoy.

Sometimes it's just a matter of being in the right place

at the right time.

The Eight Days of Ham

- The Wrap-Up?

This year it seemed as if the Eight Days of Ham

would never end.

Perhaps that is because after eleven days

we still have ham left?

Yeah, that could be it.

 I was left alone on New Year's Eve,

so I had a ham loaf sandwich

on the Seventh Day of Ham.

(We had ham sandwiches for lunch

and we went out to eat for dinner

on the Sixth Day of Ham.)

 On the Eighth Day of Ham

I stuffed some ham in boneless pork loin chops.

 First I cut slits in the pork loin chops

and then placed a bit of the ham and some

honey mustard in the slit.

 Then the pork loin chops were seasoned with 

kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

These were sauteed in a bit of olive oil 

over medium high heat until the internal temperature

reaches 140 degrees.

Remove from the heat and cover with foil.

Allow to rest and to bring the temperature 

up 5 to 10 degrees.

If desired, deglaze the pan with a bit

of white wine or sherry.

Pour over the pork loin chops.

Moist and tender and perfectly cooked.

Served with coleslaw and this is my take

on the traditional German good luck

New Year's meal.

I was asked to make ham salad

with the remaining ham.

And so I did.

By this time I was so tired of ham

that I neglected to take pictures.

But by now you know

what the ham salad looks like.

We still have ham salad left.

Hopefully, someone else

with eat that ham salad for me.

An Unexpected Snow

We awoke this morning to find some white stuff

falling from the sky despite the fact 

that the Weather Channel insisted 

that there was no snow in the forecast

and indeed no snow falling at that moment.

Sure.

Whatever you say.

 Then how do you explain this?

 And this?

 Well?

 I have been asked by the Foodie Daughter to pass along

a message to certain people (and you know who you are):

"Quit doing the snow dance.  

I have people and I know where you live."

 She's just kidding...

I think.

 Kids, gotta love 'em.

Well, at least I'll get to find out how my new car drives in

snow today.

Happy winter!

Happy New Year

From the Foodie Family

To Yours

  

May This Year Bring You Much Happiness and Joy

And May You Find Good Things

Coming Your Way