good eats...

Last Friday night the bf and I went out to one of our favorite fresh fish places here in town.  They had a special listed on the blackboard; grouper with a lobster sauce.  Mouthwatering, right? Unfortunately they ran out of it just as we were ordering.  We made other choices, but apparently bf couldn't get the grouper off his mind. 

On Saturday he found some freshly caught grouper at our local market, along with some lobster.  He brought it home with the question "do you know how to make lobster sauce?" 

We went online to get some ideas and this is what we came up with after a few "improvements" to the recipes we found online:

a salad of mixed greens, fresh NC strawberries, avocado and almonds with a vidalia onion vinagarette to start

blackened grouper with lobster sauce
we made a lot of lobster sauce and didn't want to waste a drop of it

the after


It would be an understatement to say it was a hit. Later that night, as I got into bed and was almost asleep I heard the bf whisper in the dark "don't you think that lobster sauce would be good with quiche?"

Por favor, ven a cenar

In an effort to stay true to my intentions to write a post at least once a week, I will post a recipe!


This past weekend the bf and I hosted a dinner for friends who have just come back from a few months in Central America.  What were they doing in Honduras, Guatemala and San Salvador for a few months you ask?  That's just how they roll.  They're both retired (well and happily! and young!) and often spend several months at a time driving - yes, driving! - all over the continent.  Most years they spend at least a good part of the winter in Mexico and/or Central America, fishing, spending large amounts of time in hammocks (that last part may or may not just be in my imagination) and generally just living the dream.  My dream, anyway.


Anywayyyy... they came back to town just after New Years so we had a Mexican style dinner (as a former Californian I like to think I know my way around Mexican food, but I don't know anything about Central American food, although I suspect it's similar). Apps consisted of Ceviche with shrimp and scallops, and for dinner I made my favorite chicken enchiladas, cheese enchiladas and some Mexican style rice, and one of the guests brought an avocado salad.  It was all delicious, but the biggest hit of the night was the Flan we had for dessert.  I've made this before and it is incredibly easy, which of course makes it even better, right?  But honestly I was surprised at the reaction of my guests - they loved it and we finished it off quickly!


Flan

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 5 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small nonstick saucepan, heat the sugar over medium heat. Shake and swirl occasionally to distribute sugar until it is dissolved and begins to brown. Lift the pan over the heat source (4 to 6 inches) and continue to brown the sugar until it becomes a dark golden brown. You may slightly stir while cooking, but continually stirring causes the sugar to crystallize. Pour caramelized sugar into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish or a large loaf pan, and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan evenly.
3. In a blender, combine sweetened condensed milk, cream, milk, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for one minute. Pour over the caramelized sugar.
4. Place the filled casserole dish into a larger pan and add 1 inch of HOT water to the outer pan. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until set.

This is actually one of the "mini-flans" I made before.  I forgot to get a picture of the bigger one I  made for this dinner.

**A couple of notes:

When I made this flan before I used a large muffin pan and made 18 or so individual mini-flans.  This time I used the casserole dish and there was enough to make two!  Also, in the muffin pan it did set up in about 50 minutes, but in the casserole it took more like 75 minutes (maybe a little more). I would suggest just checking to see that it's "set", however long that takes.

It's important to bake the flan pan inside another pan with the hot water.  If you don't it will crack and not look very appetizing.

Flan can be made with a lot of "extras" - fruit, etc., but I made it plain and honest, and it was fabulous.

before and after...

"Life is a combination of magic and pasta." ~ Federico Fellini




Before

And after...

Mushrooms stuffed with Crab and Shrimp, grilled asparagus, and Angel Hair Pasta with Tomatoes and Basil in a White Wine Sauce. Yummy. Somewhere between these two pictures we moved inside - still not quite warm enough to eat on the patio.  Soon.  Very, very soon.

ahhhh...

The one good thing about being sick?  I feel so damn good when it's over.  Being sick makes me remember that without our good health we don't have much, and it makes me so grateful for my normally healthy body.   I still have some sniffles, and to be on the safe side I took some Sudafed this morning, even though I didn't feel terrible. And I skipped the gym this morning for one more day (it's scary how easily I  could get used to this skipping the gym thing - especially when it is so beautiful walking around the garden with my coffee at 8 am!).  But, for the most part I feel excellent!  Ahhh...life is good. 

As you might expect, I haven't done much lately, but Mother Nature didn't stop.

The Irises are beyond beautiful.

This beautiful climbing rose is one that I never even knew existed until I started cleaning up the gardens last summer.  It has rewarded me with dozens of blooms so far this year!

What can I say?

Before I started feeling puny I did get around to cleaning up the front yard.  I trimmed all the liriope back and now the sidewalk looks twice as wide.  Not sure if you can see it in the picture, but the Lady Banks Rose is blooming on the arbor. The Jasmine won't be far behind and the fragrance will be unbelievable.

Also went to opening day for the Farmer's Market and found a new bakery.  This Foccacia was SO good!  And the fresh strawberries (in salad) were sweet and beautiful.  I noticed there were several new egg suppliers.  They all had pictures of their hens, and the coops and yards where they kept them.  I always like to see where my eggs come from.

While I've been lying low with this cold/allergy/whatever thing, my office has been moving.  We moved just one flight up where where we were in this historic old building in downtown Wilmington.  I'm getting pictures of the new space now and hope to have them up tomorrow.  Speaking of tomorrow - I'm hoping I'll be back on my bike to get to work tomorrow.  Haven't felt up to it for several days now, but with gas prices going up daily, I'm thinking I better get back on it!