The chops were marinated in a mixture of leftover champagne, apple cider, oil, lime juice, ginger, cloves and salt and pepper, and then cooked on a hot charcoal grill. The sauce was made from the marinade, which was reduced with some diced pear added in, and some strips of uncooked pear added at the end. 'Twas pretty nice.

The marinade seemed much better, but I was still worried about the result, so I decided to do only half of the chicken with that, and make a simple (and actually keep it simple this time around!) Indian marinade for the rest. A sweet curry powder and a very small touch of cayenne pepper for a bit of kick (I used too little; it had no noticeable effect), salt and some more sour cream. Here, I made the mistake of using too much sour cream, and when I added the curry powder, the marinade's color barely changed. So I kept pouring curry powder in until I got the color I wanted — which meant I used way too much curry powder. To the point where the sour cream started lumping up. And of course, the curry taste was completely overwhelming.

The Thai style chicken actually turned out very well, though. Which I thought was funny... I think I might try to do another Thai style thing like this, but without pre-made things like the curry paste. Kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, lime juice, cayenne pepper — I don't know, but should be worth experimenting with.

Oh and one thing I liked about this meal, is using two different marinades. It's not a lot of extra work, and having the same meat being served with two different flavors makes for a more interesting and varied meal. Plus, if you're experimenting, you'll get experience from two different experiments at the same time. And with two, if one turns out bad, there's always a chance the other one might be good.

Well, damn. That doesn't look good at all. Chicken and apple sausages, with buns, grilled. I consider this blog a diary, but damn... That looks pretty bad.

Nevermind the steak, I've gotta showcase these veggies — homegrown and all. Not grown by me, but nonetheless... Not gotten out of a supermarket, which I figure is a good thing. Summer squash and zucchini. And there's also some potato wedges. Had to parboil the taters, mind you, before grilling them.

I generally don't like to have to skidaddle between the kitchen and outdoor to the grill, but this thing turned out pretty nicely. Steak au poivre is a real no-brainer, though. Just sauté the steaks over medium heat, remove to a warm oven to keep warm and deglaze the pan with a generous bit of brandy, whisk in a touch of Dijon mustard and some cream; Bob's yer uncle.

The first recipe I tried for this Indian potatoes-and-cauliflower stew was from the special features section on the DVD for the movie "Bend it like Beckham." The director included this wonderful little how-to thing where she cooked it in a restaurant's kitchen, while her mother and "auntie" observed in the background and offered various um, criticisms... It was pretty funny, but also endearing. I must have played that clip about a dozen times, to try get the recipe from it (the DVD did include a recipe, but it didn't reflect what she actually cooked).

Since then, I've found a much better recipe — not just better tasting, but simpler also. Of all places, it was from this Betty Crocker book. The last time I made this, it ended up very watery, and with a really pale color. Didn't look appetizing at all. But I'm very happy with the way this turned out. This stuff makes great left-overs, too. It's very typical for Indian stews to improve like that — it gets better as the flavors gets a chance to mingle.

Western vegetarianism is far more obsessed with meat than meat-eaters, with fake hamburgers and things like that. Indian vegetarian food is different. If I had to become a vegetarian, there'd be a lot of things that I'd miss. But with this dish, you don't feel as if anything is missing. I always think that everything is better with bacon, but not this one. It's complete, as is.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why on earth I've never done this before. I love bleu cheese. I actually got the cheese intending to use it for a pizza, but ended up just going with the standard parm-mozz thing instead. I'd never thought of melting this cheese until I tasted a wacky bleu cheese & caramelized pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. As weird as it sounds, it tasted fantastic. I want to do a pizza night and serve something like that for dessert...

Okay, I finally managed to figure this one out properly, so here's my recipe for pasta with breadcrumbs and anchovies. A very simple and tasty dish.

Ingredients, for two
Pasta, salt
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced/crushed
2 tsp chili pepper flakes
1 can of anchovies, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup toasted breadcrumbs

Method

1. Start the pasta water.
2. Toast the crumbs in the oven. I use the broiler, but be careful, because they turn dark very suddenly. It should only take a few minutes.
3. Start with the chopping and grating.
4. When the water is at a rolling boil, add salt and pasta. Let it go for about 12 min.
5. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the water.
6. Add everything to the pasta except the Parmesan and breadcrumbs and stir it together.
7. Add the Parmesan, and stir again (It is important that this happens quickly, so the pasta is still hot enough to melt the Parmesan. The reason why I add the Parmesan at the end is that if I do it first, it tends to clump up with the other ingredients).
8. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and if desired, extra parsley. Serve.

If you absolutely hate anchovies, I think this would be just as good with prosciutto.

Prosciutto, shiitake mushrooms, and moz and parm cheese. I ended up using more dough than I did the last time, so I had to lower the temperature on the stove, to ensure that the dough got cooked through. But I made sure to pre-heat the oven properly, so the pizza stone got enough time to warm up, which helps cooking it from below. Overall, I was very happy with this, but I don't think the picture does it justice. I should have added some basil leaves, I think.

Pizza is one of those things I'd like to get really good at. And reading the Breadmaker's Apprentice has helped. You've gotta have a good dough, for a good pizza. Slowing things down in the fridge for a day or two (probably more) allows the yeast to work its magic, and create a bread that actually tastes really nice — because it's not just the toppings that makes the pizza. The bread itself is very important.

Here's a shot of the underside — it's important (I think), to get a good crust. I don't like floppy pizzas. I mean, I'll eat Roundtable occasionally, but real pizza is different from that. Well, that's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it. =)

Oh, and the Chinese cleaver is just something I used to pick up the pizza itself. I use a standard Western chef's knife for almost everything I do.

Well this is a little awkward... I misplaced this picture, and thus didn't upload it. And now I can't remember anything about the meal. It certainly seems to be pretty unremarkable. I've got microwaved, canned peas and carrots, which I personally like a lot — it's an extremely simple side-dish. But it just doesn't look that good in a picture. Also, I recognize the shell-shaped pasta, which I know comes out of a package. So I was obviously going for a minimal effort kinda meal. I rarely use that kinda stuff, because I consider cooking a hobby, and not a chore. But in this case I think I ended up looking at it as a chore, heheh. Oh well.

Man oh, man, does this look like a piece of turd, or what? It's such a fantastic bit of grub; I mean it's just about the most optimal dinner you could ask for: you got your protein (salmon), your veggies (spinach) and your starch (puff pastry) all there. Yet it looks crummy. It's a damn tragedy.

But it's damn good eats, mind you.