Protests Can Make a Difference

My good friend and fellow blogger, Rosie Hawthorne, 

of Kitchens Are Monkey Business fame,

just emailed me to let me know that

she had received word that SOPA and PIPA 

had been dropped after the protests

that were waged on the Internet

and millions of people had sent

letters, tweets, facebook messages

and phone calls to lawmakers around the country.

Because of these peaceful

but powerful actions,

the right people heard our voices

and they listened.

This is how you run a protest.

More Minx High Jinx

Cats are curious creatures

by natures

and Minx is no exception.

This often leads him into some 

interesting situations.

 This morning as the Foodie Daughter was

putting dishes into the dishwasher,

Minx decided to investigate.

 He has been intrigued by this dishwasher 

ever since we got it this past summer.

 He's checking things out.

 Now he's posing for the Foodie Daughter 

who is also taking pictures of him.

It's a curious world to a cat.

Stop the Madness

Today many major websites and some bloggers, 

such as Cake Wrecks and

Kitchens are Monkey Business,

are voluntarily blacking out
or simply protesting SOPA and PIPA,

proposed legislation that would censor

the Internet and greatly restrict information

to regular users in an effort to 

combat illegal piracy.

Of course, piracy is a bad thing

and should be stopped.

But stop it at its source

and not by restricting links

as these proposed legistations

are aiming to do.

That will hurt everyone, honest or not.

As a blogger, I frequently post

links to recipes and I even will

post links to Youtube videos

from time to time.

I even have a Youtube video imbeded

on this blog.

Even though I have never claimed 

that these are my links, 

my recipes or my videos,

and I always give credit where credit is due,

these would be illegal under the new legislation

and I could be shut down simply for having 

those links on my blog.

SOPA and PIPA may have been proposed 

for the right reasons,

but they are not the right answers.

Let your local lawmakers know that you are

opposed to these proposed legislations.

Go here to learn more
and to let your voice be heard.

Punish the pirates and not the Internet

and the many honest users.

As it is, SOPA and PIPA
are like using a Sherman tank to swat a fly.

And yes, I know I'm old-fashioned,
hush you.

A Snowy Day on Indiana University Campus

Winter finally decided to visit us,

with temperatures in the teens

and a bit of snow.

We lucked out in that we only got about a half an inch of snow

instead of the one to two inches that had been forecast.

I had a meeting today at the IMU,

so I decided to take my camera with me

and get some shots of the winter scenes on campus

for those of you who crave snow.

 The snow covered banks of the Jordan River.

 Dunn Cemetery next to the IMU.

 Beck Chapel in the snow.

Just be glad you weren't out in the weather with me.

The temperature may have been 19 degrees,

but the wind chill was about 5 degrees.

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.