pshort

Our hotel was actually called THE hotel at MandalayBay which was a seperate hatel in the opposite corner of "the property" but all connected together. I was very impressed with The hotel itself. Impeccibly clean, very nice staff and fast efficient service. I would definitely stay here again.

There was one major disappointment, though. We went to THE Cafe for breakfast and it was terrible. Any time a couple spends more than 30 bucks on breakfast, it had better be good. It wasn't.

Our waiter was grumpy and innattentive, the food was greasy and big, and the menu was just uninspired. The ONLY great thing about THE Cafe was that there was FUNNEL cake on the menu!! Yes, my friends, I had funnel cake for breakfast at a foofy cafe in Vegas. AND it was cheaper (4$) than at the Idaho Fair ($5).

The race start and finish line were in the parking lot of the Mandalay Bay, so we decided to stay there for our trip, which was an outstanding choice. It was awesome to just step out the door to the start line (except that it was actually about a mile walk across the "property" to the parking lot:)

Mandalay Bay is filled with great restaurants. No fast food (read: affordable) but we could walk throught the row of shops to the Luxor next door, which has fast food.

So after the race, and after a very long nap, we ended up at The Burger Bar, which had the game going and a great selection of burger-type food. SM had the turkey burger with dijon and I had a great Salmon Burger with a shallot-red wine sauce. Getting to the restaurant took way too long, (even though it was only about 300 yards) and I swore quietly under my breath while SM helped me navigate the stairs next to the out-of-order escalator on the way back. Old blue-haired gamblers with their cigs were passing me right and left, but the fact that my knees were still functioning at all was a najor blessing.

What a crazy place! This Hotel complex is pretty much a square mile (The pool area alone is 11 acres). There are 27 different restaurants, and three different conventions happening at the same time. After our walk through the expo, we ate in the House of Blues, under a huge tree (inside, of course). The pizza magarhita was fantastic and the chicken quesadilla was yummy! I love it here!!

I LOVE Panera Bread. I wish we had one here in the TV, but, alas, we don't.

There is one in Seattle, and also one in Coronado, so whenever I can I visit them for the 4 Cheese Baked Egg Souffle (never mind the ridiculous name - what souffle isn't baked or made with egg???). So, I decided this week to re-create my yummy fav breakfast item. I figured there had to be SOMETHING out there somewhere that would give me a clue about how to make it!

I searched the internet high and low, and found relatively little. I started with the Panera site, which does have recipes but not the one for the souffle (still a pretty cool thing for them to do). I did, however, discover a list of ingredients (hooray!) which I can use to work backwards.

Next I looked for copy cat recipes, and I only found this one, repeated several times under different people's blogs and recipe sites (at least give some credit, people!) The recipe looked ok, but not quite right. I liked the idea of the croissant fridge dough (Pillsbury) as a short cut (I knew I wouldn't be making croissants from scratch in my time frame) but the ingredient list didn't match the Panera site, so I kept looking. If I used the Pillsbury dough for the crust, then I really only needed a Souffle recipe that was close enough to match the ingredients from the Panera site. Looking back at it, I noticed baking powder and onion. Hmmm... So I searched for souffle recipes with baking powder and onion and found this one which looked just about right. If I sub the cheeses from the Panera list with the cheese in the recipe, I might just get close. The only thing missing was the oil. So I'll throw some in the batter for kicks.

Time for the test: I set preheated the oven, set up my mini-tart pans, layed in the croissant dough, poured in my souffle batter and cooked them up. And they were YUMMY!! Not perfect, but pretty darn close.

So I have always struggled to get all of the Thanksgiving food to the table hot at the same time. I have tried writing out a timeline, I have tried delegating last-minute pieces of the meal, and it just doesn't ever come together. And really, it isn't just Thanksgiving that this happens. Anyone of my friends who has been at our house for a party would tell you that the meal happens in stages... a new part arriving every 20 min or so while I stand in the kitchen and chat with guests while I cook. It's really kind of a progressive meal in one location.

Anyway, I decided this year to try multiple crock pots. This would be my key to success. If everything was bubbling away, hot, I could focus on the turkey and it would all be perfect, right?

I got the turkey going, calculated the time, and announced to SM that dinner would be at 3pm. (Turkey cook time + 30 minute rest + time to carve). Right away I felt that tug of "what if it's not all ready at 3? Should I just say it will be some time this afternoon?" but no, I stuck to it, and got to work.

First I got the potatoes boiling - and the big white slow cooker out for them. Then the dressing - got it all done and into the big red slow cooker I borrowed from dark-haired girl. Then the sweet potatoes went into the little white one, along with the corn into the other little white one. All afternoon I picked off one side item at a time and got them happily warming in their own plug-in pots. By 2:30, the bird was done, the gravy was going on the stove (soon to be transferred into the little black crock pot) and the rolls were sitting in the pan, ready to be warmed in the pre-heated oven. Wow. Magic.

At 3:05, we sat down to eat. I couldn't believe it. (Actually, we picked up our plates, and walked down the counter, dishing up from the "buffet" of crock pots, all in a row.) Great meal, warm food, and all is well. MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

5 days with great friends, beautiful ocean, and sun. And some of the best food in the country. Bring it on!

Quizznos broccoli cheese soup in the Boise airport was good, btw

Gmak. Yati and I picked raspberries and Blackberries today. It was a blast. They were big huge berries so ripe that they just fell off in my hand.

GMAK freezes them in ziplocks and she has at least 20 bags. SM would love this!

Tomorrow, for breakfast, French toast with Raspberry syrup!

Today at mom's we had chicken salad for lunch. Yum!!

Chicken Salad mix: Shredded chicken, Mayo, diced celery, chopped cashews, all mixed together.

We had this on crossiants, which made a YUMMY sandwich. It is quite refreshing, especially cold on a day where it's 100 degrees here.

Yati suggested cut up red grapes in the mix. I'll be trying that next time.

mmmmm

I had the most amazing bowl of soup I think I've ever eaten, at the Seattle airport of all places.

It was at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, where I stopped for a glass of wine during a very long layover in Seattle. As far as I can tell, this might be the recipe.

It was creamy and sweet and almost tasted like a dessert. It had the same kind of sweet flavor as carmelized onions. It was amazing. I wanted to lick the bowl.

I'll be trying this soon, for sure!

So SM and I tried a new restaurant yesterday. Buffalo Wild Wings opened last year, SM spent the football draft morning there, watching the action on 37 huge TVs that hang from every corner of the place.

Last night was my first visit. And it was good. After my initial confusion over what exactly a boneless chicken wing was, (its a chicken nugget, of course) I ordered a flatbread thing and SM got a 12 pack of "wings" that were "spun" in flavors: 6 teriyaki and 6 bbq.

Impressions: This is definitely a guys restaurant. From the 5 million TV's to the cardboard nacho container that the "wings" come in. Fun for every once in a while. Not for very often.

I love Ashland food.

So dark haired girl and I left for our annual trip to Ashland this morning. It was a beautiful 9 hours of driving and we saw a lot of beautiful country. Our everning meal was at Pasta Piatti, in a cool building which I immediately recognized from when SM and I went 5 or 6 years ago (it was a veggie sandwich shop at that point).

The pasta was very good, we all ate a bit of each other's meals and I ended up wishing (of course) that I had ordered the Ravioli Di Zucca (squash ravioli with browned butter!) instead of my dish, the (good but not as good as the actress') Cheese Tortillini. Dark haired girl had the Gemeli (chicken, sun-dried tomato, cream sauce, etc) which was also great. I think I liked it better than she did, but I love sun-dried tomatoes.

Service was great, food was the quality I expect for Ashland, serving portions were huge (midnight snack tomorrow night!) and building was cute.

Tonight's cooking experiment: Can I make "Happiness" (not funeral) potatoes on the grill?

Stay tuned.. If this works I may have to eat them every single day.

This onion soup is fantastic.

Onions from the garden, sage from the garden. Took a long time, but very little maintenance.

Yummy!!

Dessert for July 4th with The Librarian and his family: this on-the-grill cobbler recipe, courtesy of Rachel Ray.

Made with peaches from the store and 6 raspberries and 2 blueberries from my garden. Very, very good. Needed more fruit, and was excellent with coffee and a scoop of vanilla on top.

Best thing about ham for Christmas dinner: Ham leftovers.

Today: Ham with Au Gratin Potatoes

So very naughty... but tastes soooooooooooooooooo good.

Christmas Dinner Menu:

Rachel Ray's Dr. Pepper Ham (Ham + Dr. Pepper in crock pot... YUM!!)
Idaho mashed potatoes
Maple Glazed Carrots
Spiced Acorn Squash
Corn

For dessert - haven't decided yet.

Made and eaten in PJ's. If I can't have dinner with family, then dinner in pajama's is the way to go!

I miss you, family!

I bought this today. And I love it.

I've had a $50 gift certificate at Bed, Bath & Beyond forever (hoarding again, yes, I know.) I just have been waiting for the right thing, and today I found it. I've been working through the box of apples I bought right before Halloween, and I decided I wanted to try applesauce. After reading a bunch of info online, I found this explanation of applesauce making - including a recipe of sorts - and tried it out this afternoon.

It was great - warm and just a little spicy and wonderful. I just tossed the apple slices (skin and all) into a pot with water and spices (allspice, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, cloves) let it simmer until it started falling apart, and then ran it through the mill into a bowl. Skins, etc. stayed in the mill, and beautiful, perfect applesauce ended up in the bowl. It was so easy!

The funny thing is, I know both my grandmothers probably had one of these contraptions. I just didn't know I needed it until now...

Cheesecake Factory: Factory Fresh Apple Dumpling - 1230 Calories, 45 grams of fat.

PF Chang's: Banana Spring Rolls - 1860 Calories, 97 grams of fat.

wow.

Sunday Breakfast: Maple Bacon Thyme Quiche

Yum!

Ok, partial yum.

I used mom's crust recipe but followed the baking directions for the quiche recipe. The crust was flaky and beautiful, but baked way too long and was tough.

The inside was wonderful. The maple syrup was so sweet and yummy and blended perfectly with the sharper thyme taste (from my herb garden on the deck, it's still alive...) The onions looked like pieces of bacon when they were done. I didn't use much bacon at all so it was a bit healthier (although a cup of cream negates any tad of healthy...)

I think I will use the yummy inside as a fritata (quiche without a crust) which will reduce the cooking time and also a bunch of the calories.... Mom's crust deserves pumpkin pie!