applebee's

i'm always humbled by my aunt marcie's generosity at Christmas time. i know she can't possibly have all that much money, but she always spends so much on my siblings and myself. it's been even more gratuitous upon getting married. in recent years, her simple request of a list has been neglected by the pace of life and/or sheer laziness. this has resulted in her just sending gift cards. this year, along with the staple best buy winner, she threw in a gift card to applebee's. as an amateur food connoisseur, one would assume i don't eat at places like applebee's. well, you're wrong on two major levels. 1) unless you're a vegetarian (with this i hope i haven't awoken a craving), don't tell me you don't like a chicken fingers basket, and 2) have you tried any of their new marketing meals dreamed up by chef tyler florence? the latter of these two points is what makes me write tonight. i think it's pretty cool that a chain restaurant would actually look into the quality of their food with some serious consideration. now i know most of this is aimed more at revenue than reviews, but i still think it shows something. after all, not everyone can afford a $64 filet...WITHOUT a side dish! if we want people to learn to eat well and to eat for flavor as opposed to hunger, we must make a move towards this at the majority level. in other words, more family-style, chain restaurant's should follow in applebee's footsteps.

so, besides making some kind of statement, which i don't really like doing anyway, i decided to use chef florence's bruschetta burger as inspiration for marcela and i tonight with a blue cheese, mushroom turkey burger!!

lack of progress

i havent cooked anything worth writing about in a couple of months. .. hopefully i will change that this weekend!