Food, Food, and more Food!

I have been enjoying all sorts of delicious food lately, and it feels like heaven. Seriously, heaven. I discovered a new place to grocery shop. Harmon's. It's awesome. For those who have never been, you should go check one out. Some examples of cool things they have there that I have not yet purchased:

Edible flowers
Dry Aged Beef (House Aged)
A Cheese section that is the best in Utah other than Caputo's
All Sorts of Weird Fruits
Marshmallows for roasting that are about 4in long

I could go on. Anyway, I have bought all sorts of yummies from them. They have delicious artisanal breads, and my favorite is a sourdough bread with white chocolate and pecans. It is amazing! In fact, I have decided I need a good sourdough recipe so I can make up my own breads. (Ben and Laura, I know you guys have some great bread recipes!)

I also bought maitake mushrooms, which I turned into an AMAZING pasta with some scoparolo cheese from Caputo's. It was a pasta I make pretty often, but the mushrooms and cheese took it to a whole new level. Amazing! They also have other cool mushrooms there, like enoki, oyster, chantarelles, and blue foot mushrooms. I think I will be trying them all before too long.

I bought a dragonfruit. It was gorgeous, but not that tasty. It was a lot like a kiwi, but very bland. They have other cool fruits that we may try in the future.

THEN, we went to Caputo's. We bought cheese and olives, as always, and some new Valrhona chocolates. But the coolest thing we got at Caputo's was.... a Truffle! A black truffle, to be precise. Usually prices at around $800 a pound, we got a screaming deal at just $200 a pound. Luckily, truffles are very light. We paid $6 for one. I wish we had gotten more. Oh well. We made a delicious dish out of Mario Batali's cookbook called Turkey a la Bognese. Basically, it was turkey breast (found at Harmons) breaded and sauteed in butter, then topped with shaved parmaggiano reggiano, shaved truffle, a layer of prosciutto di parma, and finished off with grated pecorino romano. Then you bake until the cheese is bubbling and shave the rest of the truffle on top. It was good and simple. The truffle acts as a flavor enhancer, and also adds its own musky, earthy, mushroomish taste to the party. I liked it, but wish there was more truffle on it. My fault for buying a small truffle.

Anyway, I have been glorying in all of the delectable goodies I have been eating. AND it has the bonus of making me feel like a true gourmand.

Tuesday Adventures

Well, I know it is not Tuesday. Or Wednesday. So I am running a little behind schedule- so what? Tuesday was an adventurous day for me... Well, okay not too adventurous. But more so than usual. I don't know why I am blabbering on in such a weird fashion.

Tuesday for Mutual, we had a Progressive dinner/Get to Know Your Leaders night. I got to kick it all off with appetizers. Salad was suggested, but did I do salad? No way! A chance to show off some cooking AND make people eat new things? Opportunity Taken! So I decided to do 3 different types of crostini and one other appetizer. Being myself, I am a HORRIBLE time manager. So did I get it all set out and ready by the time everyone showed up? No. Did I have half of it done when everybody showed up? No. Oh well. I did get everything finished about 10 minutes after everyone showed up, which was pretty good for me.
I made Crostini with St. Andre cheese and pink lady apples, crostini with chevre, arugula tossed in balsamic vinegar, and roasted red peppers, crostini with sauteed bacon and red onions, and insalata caprese, which is tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil drizzled in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. They were pretty delicious! Judging by the amount that got eaten, the St Andre cheese and pink lady apple were the favorite.

So, we move on to the other houses, and I had a wonderful time listening to embarrassing stories, looking at old photos, and learning funny little quirks about my fellow leaders. I get home, and sit on the couch and look down and notice a HUGE hole in my jeans! AND it was right on my inner thigh! Yikes! I immediately remember that I had been sitting cross legged on the floor at the last house and become somewhat embarrassed. I mean, this hole is probably a good five inches. Oh well, I guess that just happens sometimes. At least it wasn't in the crotch, hmmm?

Bob Loblaw's law blog lobs law bomb?

So... You know how sometimes you have something that you want to blog about, because it is on your mind all the time, but then you don't have time to do it? And then all of a sudden it's been over a week, and you realize that you don't really care about documenting that particular thing anymore? Consider it done. But since I don't want nasty comments about how dare I keep you all in suspense, I will give it a much shortened time slot.

About two weeks ago, our bathtub faucet started leaking. I mean really leaking. It was driving me nuts! You could hear it all over the house (even with the TV on) AND it was hot water, so it was like living in a sauna. Ugh. I seriously thought I was losing my sanity. (As a side note that I find somewhat humorous, I took a video of it to show you all how annoying it was, and turned my camera sideways so it would fill the screen better. I guess I forgot that you can't rotate a video!) Anyway, our landlord came to fix it the next day (Thank Heavens!) but had to cut a hole in the wall and it turned into this massive two week project. Mainly because he would come over for a few minutes every day, but still! It was annoying. Now it is fixed, but way too difficult to turn the water on or off. Joy.

Anyway... I spent yesterday doing lots of cooking, and remembered how much I love it! I am ashamed to admit that I have not been doing much (okay, really any) cooking since I got preggers, since I am just tired and unmotivated. I have been living off of cereal, produce, and peanut butter. Jason had been bugging me to try my hand at making panna cotta, which is a delicious dessert that's a cross between jello and creme brulee. So I decided to do me some cooking. I made panna cotta (which was surprisingly easy) as well as bread, since I had been craving some ollies. Those who don't know what ollies are- shame on you! They are like homemade lean pockets, but eight million times better. Hard to describe. The panna cotta was good, but a little too gelatinous for me, so I will be tweaking it before I post it on the Sautee blog.
But the bread!! Mmmmm, I had forgotten how delicious it feels to have your hands in warm bread dough and feel the flour in it. It's the best kind of therapy, and it tastes delicious too! I have decided I need to mend my errant ways and show my kitchen love again. If I start now, I may just have enough energy to do some meals before I have the baby, right? Haha!

On another side note, I finished reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, and all I can say is "Ahhhh!!! When is the next book coming out?!??@??!?" It's an awesome book, and I don't think I will be able to bear the suspense! What's going to happen! AHHHH!!

PS- Bonus Points to those who get my blog title allusion!

Exciting Food News!!

So, yesterday I finally stopped procrastinating. I have been wanting a panini press for a long time. I mean, a LONG time! Like longer than a year. But I never got around to getting one. I'm not sure why- I mean, they aren't THAT expensive (I paid $40 for mine) and they are super fun. So, yesterday I decided to just suck it up and buy one. (A big Thanks to Julie- for motivating me to get one as a means of helping others!) And, I have to admit- I am SOOOOO excited about it! It came with quite a few recipes, but I am mostly excited to start inventing things. All sandwiches are better as a panini. Plus, they are so easy to use! So, yeah. I know you are all jealous. Except for you guys who already have one. But still.
As a general update- everything here is going fine. Well, at least as fine as it ever is. I am excited to say that I have been awesome at keeping up with my dishes lately. Which is quite a feat if you are A) Amanda, B) without a dishwasher, and C) have been cooking elaborate meals. Okay- not too elaborate, but plenty of dirty pots and pans that need soaking. The diet thing- you ask- well, it's going ok. I seem to have lost a little steam, yet again, but it will pick up soon, I'm sure. Maybe after I finish off that german chocolate cake I made the other day... (see http://thesauteepan.blogspot.com)

Cupcake Frenzy!!

Me- chomping down on one of those delicious cupcakes! (PS- like the earrings? I'll post them later...)


So, I was having the WORST craving for baked goods lately! I mean, bad! I would be in the grocery store, just drooling over all their day-old stuff. Even stuff I don't really like! So, I thought before I got too bad, I had better make something tasty myself! I went over to Faith's and we had a blast making cupcakes! Her two-year old, Grace, was in candy heaven. Who knows how much sweet stuff she ate! It was loads of fun! Oh- the blank spot was a cupcake I ate. It wasn't very cute, so I didn't feel the need to document it.
Now- a little guessing game for your enjoyment. (And Faith is not allowed to answer, as she already knows all the answers!) What are my cupcakes portraying?
I'll give you a hint to get started. This guy is feeling sheepish. Or maybe guilty.
Hmmm- classics, classics, classics!
Okay- I'll give you one. This one is portraying absolutely nothing. Hey- I'm not THAT creative!
Katie- This one I did Just For You! Oh, and I smeared one of the eyes. But you get it! This one is also my favorite, I think.
The only one, well almost, that isn't a person.
Ahh- the memories!
Anybody watch Cartoon Network?
Umm- this one turned out different than I meant it to be, but I still have a firm idea of what it is.
Okay- this one is a little tricky. Bonus point for anybody who can figure it out!
Her wart fell off. Or rather, one of them did.
Not really sure what this is. Scared red-haired kid? No idea. Maybe he's just dumb. It was my first one -give me a break!