Jensen

I figured this thread would get a rise out of you.

Oddly enough, I've got this weird idea in my head that I should eat nothing but grilled chicken this week. Is that timely or what? Sunday night's dinner: Here’s how I made the chicken… 5 small skinless, boneless chicken thighs (you could certainly use breasts though) 1 lemon, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced 2 green onions, chopped 1/2 tsp. salt freshly ground pepper 1. Cut the chicken into 1/2″ wide strips and put in a non-reactive bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, giving each lemon slice a squeeze as it goes in the bowl. Toss all ingredients together to mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 2. Thread the chicken onto wooden skewers, alternating each chicken strip with a lemon slice. 3. Grill on a hot grill until cooked. Monday night's dinner: Grilled chicken pan bagnat from Epicurious Tuesday night's dinner: Based on a recipe from the Epicurious site, with the following changes: * no star anise (I couldn't find any at my store and it's not a spice I stock) * substituted mizune for chrysanthemum leaves * substituted pounded and grilled chicken breasts for the roast chicken * no sliced onion (I forgot! What can I say?) * substituted Chinese wheat noodles for Chinese egg noodles (on a whim) * added chopped green onions and chopped cilantro as a garnish Tonight is going to be meatloaf, made out of chicken and cooked on the grill.

Salade Lyonnaise Serves 1 as Salad. 1 slice bacon, chopped 1 T red wine vinegar 2 c mixed salad greens 1 T white vinegar 1 egg 1. Cook bacon until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. 2. Reserve 1 tsp. of bacon fat and discard the rest. Over medium-low heat, add red wine vinegar to bacon fat and cook until it thickens slightly. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. 3. Toss salad greens with dressing. Place greens on the plate and top with bacon bits. Set aside. 4. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add white vinegar. Reduce heat and add egg to pot. Simmer gently until egg is cooked (about 3-4 minutes). Remove egg from the water with a slotted spoon and add it to the salad. Keywords: Salad, Easy, Vegetables, French, Healthy Choices ( RG1306 )

Salade Lyonnaise Serves 1 as Salad. 1 slice bacon, chopped 1 T red wine vinegar 2 c mixed salad greens 1 T white vinegar 1 egg 1. Cook bacon until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. 2. Reserve 1 tsp. of bacon fat and discard the rest. Over medium-low heat, add red wine vinegar to bacon fat and cook until it thickens slightly. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. 3. Toss salad greens with dressing. Place greens on the plate and top with bacon bits. Set aside. 4. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add white vinegar. Reduce heat and add egg to pot. Simmer gently until egg is cooked (about 3-4 minutes). Remove egg from the water with a slotted spoon and add it to the salad. Keywords: Salad, Easy, Vegetables, French, Healthy Choices ( RG1306 )

Fava Vichyssoise This was inspired by a recipe in Saveur No. 84. Among other things, that recipe was heavy on the fat whereas this one is extremely low-fat. 4 lb fava beans, in the pod 2 T olive oil 1 c chopped onion 1 c sliced Yukon Gold potatoes 5 c chicken broth 1 c fat-free milk non- or low-fat yogurt 1. Shell the fava beans and parboil them for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Set aside. 2. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add chopped onion. Cook until soft, then stir in fava beans and potatoes. Add stock and bring soup up to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for about 30 minutes. Stir in milk. 3. Puree soup in a blender in batches until it’s somewhat smooth (the fibrous coating of the beans will prevent a completely “smooth” result). Put the pureed mixture through a fine-mesh seive. 4. Refrigerate until cold. Serve garnished with a tablespoon of yogurt. Keywords: Soup, Intermediate, Vegetables, Blender, Healthy Choices ( RG1305 )

Fava Vichyssoise This was inspired by a recipe in Saveur No. 84. Among other things, that recipe was heavy on the fat whereas this one is extremely low-fat. 4 lb fava beans, in the pod 2 T olive oil 1 c chopped onion 1 c sliced Yukon Gold potatoes 5 c chicken broth 1 c fat-free milk non- or low-fat yogurt 1. Shell the fava beans and parboil them for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Set aside. 2. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add chopped onion. Cook until soft, then stir in fava beans and potatoes. Add stock and bring soup up to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for about 30 minutes. Stir in milk. 3. Puree soup in a blender in batches until it’s somewhat smooth (the fibrous coating of the beans will prevent a completely “smooth” result). Put the pureed mixture through a fine-mesh seive. 4. Refrigerate until cold. Serve garnished with a tablespoon of yogurt. Keywords: Soup, Intermediate, Vegetables, Blender, Healthy Choices ( RG1305 )

Greek-style Chicken Skewers 5 skinless, boneless chicken thighs 1 lemon, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 c fresh parsley, minced 2 green onions, chopped 1/2 tsp salt freshly ground pepper 1. Cut the chicken into 1/2″ wide strips and put in a non-reactive bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, giving each lemon slice a squeeze as it goes in the bowl. Toss all ingredients together to mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 2. Thread the chicken onto wooden skewers, alternating each chicken strip with a lemon slice. 3. Grill on a hot grill until cooked. Keywords: Main Dish, Easy, Chicken, Mediterranean ( RG1304 )

Greek-style Chicken Skewers 5 skinless, boneless chicken thighs 1 lemon, cut in half lengthwise and then sliced 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 c fresh parsley, minced 2 green onions, chopped 1/2 tsp salt freshly ground pepper 1. Cut the chicken into 1/2″ wide strips and put in a non-reactive bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, giving each lemon slice a squeeze as it goes in the bowl. Toss all ingredients together to mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 2. Thread the chicken onto wooden skewers, alternating each chicken strip with a lemon slice. 3. Grill on a hot grill until cooked. Keywords: Main Dish, Easy, Chicken, Mediterranean ( RG1304 )

Last night's soup was an Asian-style noodle soup:

At the moment, my favourite is pan bagnat: My favourite stand-by though is a vegetarian sandwich made with avocado, onion, tomato, lettuce, and Swiss cheese. (No sprouts! They taste like dirt!)

More than apparently. I no longer remember the details but I think they did a lot of work with YWAM (Youth with a Mission), a (religious) foreign community development organisation (fancy talk for "missionaries"). My sister and brother-in-law were involved with YWAM and I remember the Kerrs involvement as well (or I think I remember it...getting old really sucks). Lots of food-related stuff to talk about when you get into foreign community development! That old "teach a man to fish" stuff and all...

Even better, "bunghole!" ← ahh, yes, the gift that keeps on giving. i once gave my nephew a drum and a horn. ← We taught the Spawn how to do a "butthead" salute which was a lot of fun until she told her grandfather (the high-strung one) that he was a butthead. Life got decidedly less fun for a short while thereafter. If you're going to Sonoma for the day, then I vote for a cheese tour too. As long as you're there and all that. (What? I don't have a vote, you say?)

Okay, here's my dilemma. Despite a slightly pathetic plea, no one has posted any ideas about how to cook a meatloaf on the grill. The Spouse (AKA Grill Master of the Universe) is out of town so I will have to do this myself. (Oh, and braving the elements by turning the oven on is most definitely not an option as the AC is on the fritz and daytime highs are in the mid-90s.) So, if I heat the grill up, clean it, and then lower the heat until it approximates an oven temperature, that's good, right? I am resolved. Tomorrow, I will make meatloaf on the grill. I will!

No burgers in the Jensen household...we grilled chicken skewers instead. I really want to try the meatloaf challenge but I'm waiting to see how others are cooking the meatloaf on the grill. There is no way I'm going to turn my oven on in June!

Last week, my friend and I went on a field trip to Petaluma and Sonoma to visit as many cheesemakers as we could find. We started out at Marin French Cheese where we took an abbreviated tour of the facility. I left with a small round of Petit Dejeuner, a small round of their blue cheese, and a somewhat larger round of Yellow Buck Chevre. The chevre was, in fact, a blended cheese. Apparently, they'd had a wee mix-up with their milk deliveries and so some goat's milk was mixed up with some cow's milk. It was really very good. Since we had time, we decided to head to Sonoma to see if we could find more cheese. Although we did find The Cheesemaker's Daughter rather quickly, we didn't buy anything there. Our reasoning was that we were on a quest for local cheeses and, although the cheeses offered there looked incredible, they weren't local. I knew there was The Cheese Factory in Sonoma as well as Vella Cheese. Of course, we found The Cheese Factory right away and, even though we were disappointed to have to settle for what was obviously a large-scale operation, we still bought a piece of cheese each. I picked up a small chunk of Pepato jack cheese. After making a complete circle of the town square, there was still no Vella Cheese. Ah, but I did find a phone booth with a phone book! It took just a minute to find their address and then to orient ourselves as to which direction that might be. At Vella Cheese, we tried a number of different flavours and, much to our chagrin, saw cheeses similar to the ones that we had just bought at The Cheese Factory. We would have much rathered purchased from Vella but I guess we'll have to wait until next time... As it was, I picked up a wedge of their Toma cheese, a piece of their white cheddar (complete with little calcium crystals...a sign for me that I'm sure to love that cheddar!), and a wedge of aged dry Jack cheese. With all that cheese now in my shopping bag, I was happy to have learned at Marin French that one can freeze cheese. So, the two small rounds from Marin French are aging in my fridge (they were still fairly young), the Yellow Buck is awaiting consumption, the Toma is completely gone, and the rest is in the freezer. As for the Toma, I am an instant fan. What a superb cheese for melting on things!

30 C is 86 F. (I'm bilingual.) You are absolutely right. There should be an international standard! When will the US be joining the rest of the world?

And presumably you're not dead yet...

I had soup today: a fava vichyssoise. Full details (including picture) are on the Weight Watchers thread.

It's in Old Sac on Second Street and is called "The Spud Shack". They do substitute shredded mozzarella for the cheese curd but the flavour is pretty close to being the same. In fact, the fellow told me that they do the same in their restaurant in Ontario and have no complaints about it. As Lexy said, a heart defibrillator and/or nitroglycerine tabs are optional. At the very least, someone in your party should know CPR.

I served the Rouge et Noir brie at my book club breakfast a few weeks ago. Even though I had it at room temperature, it wasn't as soft as I'd hoped for. (Full disclosure: I am a cheese heathen. I know nothing about how any particular type of cheese should be.) However, it wasn't their triple-cream (although I did look at that package with intense longing) and it hasn't stopped me from planning a "field trip" to the Marin French Cheese factory next week.

I honestly can't imagine poutine grossing anyone out. What's not to love about it? I found a place here in Sacramento that sells fries from "around the world". That's all that's on the menu...just chips. One of their menu items is poutine, called "Quebec fries". I ran in and ordered it as poutine and the fellow behind the counter said, "So, what part of Canada are you from?" (He was from Ontario.)

There used to be a Dutch deli in New West that sold Dutch licorice. (If the hankerings get too strong...)

A little creative googling shows a photo of Phil's here: click

I've eaten at the one in Suisun and the one in Sonoma and was hardly impressed either time. Only slightly better than Denny's, but hardly noteworthy. Then again, I was only there for breakfast and there aren't many chains doing anything exceptional for breakfast. ← I haven't had breakfast there. Usually we'll stop while we're on a road trip and Mt. Shasta City or Yreka comes along right around lunch time so I generally get a sandwich. I really liked their reuben and their beef dip is pretty good too. (For road food...)

For road food, I quite enjoy the Black Bear Diner. They're a small chain but growing (I hope not to their detriment!). They serve what you might expect from a diner but the food is really quite good...not too greasy and the vegetables are always fresh. I've been to three of their restaurants: Mt. Shasta City, Yreka, and Redding. The only one that I wouldn't bother going to again is the Redding one. Not sure why but there you go.