Thursday, February 09, 2006
Sweet ass lamb
The Guilty Pleasures lives!
Hey guys, I figured I'd start TGP back up finally. I've been clogging my own blog up with food posts for too long when they really belong right here.So let's get right to it.
This is a pan-roasted rack of lamb with a dried cherry syrah sauce. The lamb has a composed salt crust on it; basically I took kosher salt, black pepper, garlic salt, fresh thyme, and pounded it up in the mortar til it was blended. I seared off the lamb first on the stovetop and then finished in the oven. For the sauce I steeped some dried cherries in the red wine (I knew you were wondering what the fuck syrah was) and reduced it down by half. I finished the sauce in the same pan that the lamb cooked in by adding a few pats of butter to thicken and flavor. The sides are, I think, my favorite part. First is wilted spinach with blue vein cheese. Wilt the spinach in a stupid hot saute pan, then take it off the heat and add a few chucks of the cheese and stir until it melts. It was amazing. The second is pumpkin pie spiced sweet potato puree. Baked two small sweet potatoes until they were very very soft, then used a fork and blended with salt/pepper/pumpkin pie spice until it was smooth. I posted the picture above this post so you can get an idea about how the side dishes are shaped. I won't go into it too much, but it's really quick and you use two spoons. I've always done very simple food and equally simple plates, but I've recently gotten into "composed plates". The trick is to make it look more appetizing than pretentious. I rarely succeed, but I have lots of fun trying. Used the "los planos" 2003 Syrah from Spain for the sauce, as well as for paring with the meal. It's my new favorite "everyday" wine.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Boston rocks
Hey ladies.
Me and the Missus just got back from celebrating our first anniversary in Boston this past weekend and it was kickass. Below you'll see a few pics from the weekend. We just happened upon a big Italian street festival one night and wandered through it. There were men who played in these neighborhood bands......they were 8 to 12 piece marching bands playing these classic old Italian songs. At least one of the bands started as early as 1918, according to what it said on the big drum that guy was carrying. It was kinda cool.
The next two pictures are restaurants that tried while in Boston. I would highly recommend The Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro (or BHHB) and Monica's (the Richmond Street location) to anyone visiting the city. The BHHB is a great bistro style French restaurant in Boston's swanky Beacon Hill neighborhood. The menu went like this:
First Course: Frisee salad with lobster and sauteed baby corn
Main Course: Steak Frites with an herb butter sauce
Classic French menu, and done very well.
I want to take a little detour here though. I had an interesting experience while at BHHB. While looking at the bar menu I noticed a nicely sized scotch selection. The scotches were laid out almost like a wine menu, with each one laid out in the following way: first the name of the scotch maker, then how long it has been aged, then the region of Scotland that it was made in. After looking over the list, I realized that my favorite scotches are all Speyside scotches. I guess this shouldn't be that surprising since the Speyside region is home to some of the most famous scotches, but I wanted to broaden my horizons a bit. After having a nice Macallan 12 from the Speyside, I ordered a Caol Ila from the Isle of Islay. These two malts were like night and day. I'm used to seeing malts that have a dark amber color, but the Caol Ila was light. I mean LIGHT. It almost looked like a ginger ale minus the bubbles. Looking at the color, I assumed it was also light bodied. Holy crap was I wrong. This thing was assertive. Very peaty and seaweedy and earthy and just freakin' in your face. I usually don't add any water to my scotch, but I've always heard that it "opens up" the flavors in the drink. This was my first experience with that technique. As soon as I added a splash of water to the Caol Ila, the flavors just mellowed and really came out of the fray and into the forefront. It will still take some getting used to, and I doubt I'll be dropping $60+ on a bottle from Islay anytime soon, but if nothing else is was a horizon stretcher.
And now I've gone on too much. I'll post later about Monica's, but I do need to say something about the 4th picture below. This is a bottle of first cold pressed olive oil from Sicily. I bought it from a little neighborhood shop in the North End of Boston. We broke it out and sampled it last night with some bread and it was just stupid good. Very very peppery and full of aromatics. Perfect over tomatoes or pasta or raw tuna or grilled charred raddichio (just like we did last night!).
Wow. I talk a lot.
More later this weekend.
.Robb
Me and the Missus just got back from celebrating our first anniversary in Boston this past weekend and it was kickass. Below you'll see a few pics from the weekend. We just happened upon a big Italian street festival one night and wandered through it. There were men who played in these neighborhood bands......they were 8 to 12 piece marching bands playing these classic old Italian songs. At least one of the bands started as early as 1918, according to what it said on the big drum that guy was carrying. It was kinda cool.
The next two pictures are restaurants that tried while in Boston. I would highly recommend The Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro (or BHHB) and Monica's (the Richmond Street location) to anyone visiting the city. The BHHB is a great bistro style French restaurant in Boston's swanky Beacon Hill neighborhood. The menu went like this:
First Course: Frisee salad with lobster and sauteed baby corn
Main Course: Steak Frites with an herb butter sauce
Classic French menu, and done very well.
I want to take a little detour here though. I had an interesting experience while at BHHB. While looking at the bar menu I noticed a nicely sized scotch selection. The scotches were laid out almost like a wine menu, with each one laid out in the following way: first the name of the scotch maker, then how long it has been aged, then the region of Scotland that it was made in. After looking over the list, I realized that my favorite scotches are all Speyside scotches. I guess this shouldn't be that surprising since the Speyside region is home to some of the most famous scotches, but I wanted to broaden my horizons a bit. After having a nice Macallan 12 from the Speyside, I ordered a Caol Ila from the Isle of Islay. These two malts were like night and day. I'm used to seeing malts that have a dark amber color, but the Caol Ila was light. I mean LIGHT. It almost looked like a ginger ale minus the bubbles. Looking at the color, I assumed it was also light bodied. Holy crap was I wrong. This thing was assertive. Very peaty and seaweedy and earthy and just freakin' in your face. I usually don't add any water to my scotch, but I've always heard that it "opens up" the flavors in the drink. This was my first experience with that technique. As soon as I added a splash of water to the Caol Ila, the flavors just mellowed and really came out of the fray and into the forefront. It will still take some getting used to, and I doubt I'll be dropping $60+ on a bottle from Islay anytime soon, but if nothing else is was a horizon stretcher.
And now I've gone on too much. I'll post later about Monica's, but I do need to say something about the 4th picture below. This is a bottle of first cold pressed olive oil from Sicily. I bought it from a little neighborhood shop in the North End of Boston. We broke it out and sampled it last night with some bread and it was just stupid good. Very very peppery and full of aromatics. Perfect over tomatoes or pasta or raw tuna or grilled charred raddichio (just like we did last night!).
Wow. I talk a lot.
More later this weekend.
.Robb
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Update your frigginass blog already
Ok, so it's been a while. A long while. Let's just say that this summer has been somewhat of a dry spell for The Guilty Pleasures. Brad is doing his secret agent man training, which I'm sure we'll be able to coax a post out of him about. And I've been fairly busy with Cooper and other summer activities. I actually have a confession. I'm not proud of it, but here it is: to help offset the fact that my wife doesn't get paid over the summer (she's a teacher), I decided to cut my spending on alcohol and tobacco products down to zero. I'm not proud of it, but there it is. But rest assured, as the summer is dwindling, that time is quickly coming to an end.
So, during this difficult and trying time, I've had to rely on my ever shrinking stash and the generosity of others. So today, I took advantage of the generosity of my fellow blogmate. For my birthday, B sent me an amazing humidor and a cigar. The humidor is beautiful and much needed. The cigar, a Saint Luis Rey Reserva Especial, was also a thing of beauty. Dark wrapper. Box pressed. Great looking band. I decided to spend an afternoon out on the back patio with a cup of coffee and a smoke. So after a clip and a touch of the torch (yeah, I stole that from a cigar blog that I've been wasting my time on today), we were underway. It was a really nice smoke; medium bodied and well balanced through the experience. I usually don't smoke a cigar all the way down to the nub, but I came perilously close to burning my fingers on this one. As usual, good work on the cigar selection, Brad.
Next on the agenda, Cooper news. He's healthy and continues to grow. He loves to greet guests with a lick in the face and a hearty hump of the leg. He seems to prefer the left leg. Not sure what that means.
Lastly, I plan on trying to do at least a weekly update on the blog from here on out. I guess we'll see how that goes. And I'm sure Brad will also be glad to throw a post at you guys periodically as well. Until then, go out and buy the Amos Lee album, and while you're at it, pick up Ray Lamontagne's album as well. You won't be sorry you spent the money.
So, during this difficult and trying time, I've had to rely on my ever shrinking stash and the generosity of others. So today, I took advantage of the generosity of my fellow blogmate. For my birthday, B sent me an amazing humidor and a cigar. The humidor is beautiful and much needed. The cigar, a Saint Luis Rey Reserva Especial, was also a thing of beauty. Dark wrapper. Box pressed. Great looking band. I decided to spend an afternoon out on the back patio with a cup of coffee and a smoke. So after a clip and a touch of the torch (yeah, I stole that from a cigar blog that I've been wasting my time on today), we were underway. It was a really nice smoke; medium bodied and well balanced through the experience. I usually don't smoke a cigar all the way down to the nub, but I came perilously close to burning my fingers on this one. As usual, good work on the cigar selection, Brad.
Next on the agenda, Cooper news. He's healthy and continues to grow. He loves to greet guests with a lick in the face and a hearty hump of the leg. He seems to prefer the left leg. Not sure what that means.
Lastly, I plan on trying to do at least a weekly update on the blog from here on out. I guess we'll see how that goes. And I'm sure Brad will also be glad to throw a post at you guys periodically as well. Until then, go out and buy the Amos Lee album, and while you're at it, pick up Ray Lamontagne's album as well. You won't be sorry you spent the money.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Cooper Calhoun
Hey guys.
Just wanted to have everybody welcome the newest edition to the family: Cooper.
He's a 10 week old yellow lab/terrier mix who we adopted from an animal rescue organization here in Jersey. You could not ask for a better dog. We decided to name him Cooper after Clemson University's huge library on campus. I figured that I spent so much of my life there in grad school, I should somehow figure out how to attach some positive feelings to the place. This seemed like the perfect way to bring life full circle.
Just wanted to have everybody welcome the newest edition to the family: Cooper.
He's a 10 week old yellow lab/terrier mix who we adopted from an animal rescue organization here in Jersey. You could not ask for a better dog. We decided to name him Cooper after Clemson University's huge library on campus. I figured that I spent so much of my life there in grad school, I should somehow figure out how to attach some positive feelings to the place. This seemed like the perfect way to bring life full circle.
Sunday Mornin'
Always has been my favorite morning.
And what better way to spend the morning than with a cup of coffee, a good cigar, and Barron's? This has been my newest guilty pleasure lately. Of the several different cigars I've tried during my regular Sunday morning mini-vacation, I've found that I really enjoy this one: a Montecristo brown label. It's a very mild cigar, which I prefer when smoking so early in the day. It's nice and nutty and goes perfect with a good hazelnut coffee, although when I was back home in Anderson SC I had a great cup of Guatamalan dark roast with it and that was awesome. It's the simplest of the Montecristo's that I've had; much less full-bodied than some of the others. But I don't think I'm a full-bodied cigar smoker yet.........I'll be there soon Brad, don't worry.
And what better way to spend the morning than with a cup of coffee, a good cigar, and Barron's? This has been my newest guilty pleasure lately. Of the several different cigars I've tried during my regular Sunday morning mini-vacation, I've found that I really enjoy this one: a Montecristo brown label. It's a very mild cigar, which I prefer when smoking so early in the day. It's nice and nutty and goes perfect with a good hazelnut coffee, although when I was back home in Anderson SC I had a great cup of Guatamalan dark roast with it and that was awesome. It's the simplest of the Montecristo's that I've had; much less full-bodied than some of the others. But I don't think I'm a full-bodied cigar smoker yet.........I'll be there soon Brad, don't worry.
