August 2006 Archives

Ever since we saw "Talladega Nights," the line "I love crepes" has become a bit of a running joke between Kev and I. Last week, he told me that he never has eaten crepes, so I made them last night.

I have an electric crepe maker. Yup, one of those things you get as a wedding present, and can't quite figure out where it came from to bring it back, so you keep it. Over the years, I'm glad that I did, because it's fun to use. It looks something like this one, but with a cord in the handle. It's basically an 10-inch round heating element that's coated with a frying-pan surface. It's got an 8" or so handle. The idea is that you make up the batter and pour it into a pan that came with the crepe-maker. When the thing heats up, you dip it in the pan, a thin layer of batter sticks, cooks, and you have a crepe. Repeat that for as many crepes you need.

To fill them, I grilled two chicken breasts, then sliced them up. I made a filling of onions, garlic, olive oil, and green onions, thickened with flour, then thinned out with chicken stock, white wine, and heavy cream. I put some of the chicken in a crepe, then some of the filling, then rolled them up and baked them for about 15 minutes in a 350F oven. Once the crepes were made, I thinned the filling out a bit more with white wine to make a sauce to cover them.

Kev didn't like the idea of the olives, so I filled his crepes with chicken and bbq sauce. :-)

My teen is one week away from being a "Ramblin Wreck from Georgia Tech," and hopefully also "a hell of an engineer!" As such, we've been allowing him a bunch of "last request" meals. He specified Bud's Broiler, shrimp po-boy, grilled steak, and bbq shrimp.

I did the bbq shrimp tonight. 5 pounds of jumbo (15-count) shrimp, spread out on pizza pans. slice up two sticks of butter for each pizza pan. liberally sprinkle each with black pepper, lemon pepper, cayenne, and sage. Bake for 25-30 minutes until shrimp are pink and tender. Serve with french bread for dipping in the butter.

I brought home a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Starke's, but it was bad. Which is a shame, because we've got a bunch of wine in the restaurant...plan b was a bottle of woodbridge sauvignon blanc that was just fine. all is good in the world...

xposted to yatpundit:

It's good to travel outside the city and drink microbrews with the knowledge that we have one back home that holds its own. Now New Orleans Magazine reports that Abita is having a 20th birthday bash:

Abita Brewing Co. will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the company’s founding with a birthday bash at the Contemporary Arts Center on Aug. 12. The band Better Than Ezra will perform, free Abita beer will flow all night and proceeds from the $20 ticket price will benefit the Louisiana Restaurant Association’s hurricane relief efforts. For ticketing information, go to www.Abita.com.

Good beer and a good cause!

I've spent this past week in San Diego and ate at a few interesting places:

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza: we started wtih steak skewers, then a five-cheese pizza and angel-hair pasta with sundried tomatoes. The pizza was the best of the three, excellent sauce.

McGregor's Pub: Just bar food (nachos) and Guinness, but both were tasty.

Roppongi: An asian-fusion place in La Jolla. Had Seafood Bento Box:

That's a tempura shrimp, marinated ahi on the left, a couple of pieces of California Roll, Tuna Sashimi, Yellowtail Teriyaki over steamed rice, pickled cucumber, and seaweed salad. I washed it down with a sake sampler:

Sadaf: This is a Persian place on Fifth Ave. in the Gaslamp Quarter. I started with Kashk-E-Bademjan, which is Sauteed Eggplant, Onion and Garlic, blended into a paste. Topped with Kashk (Whey) and fried Mint:

Followed this starter with a Cornish Hen Kabob with Cherry Rice. Dessert was Bamieh, which are small fried pastries with honey in them, and hot tea.

While eating at Sadaf, I noticed a wine bar across the street called The Grape. I walked over there after the meal and had a flight of Ports, 10-, 20-, and 30-year vintages. That was just what I needed to fall asleep on the redeye home!