ksu 41 texas 21

if you can believe it, that was the conceptual work for this meal. i was so happy to have beaten texas for the second straight year that i decided i would use the game as inspiration for what i should cook for marcela and i.

i still had the left over short ribs from the dinner with my parents in the freezer. i decided i was gonna use those no matter what, but what would i cook with them? honestly, i walked into the grocery store and was still buzzing from our win that i couldn't stop thinking of KSU. then it dawned on me, why not use color only as a conceptual idea? after all, that's what gets so many people to think their dinner was good! so how can i take purple and orange and convey a message of victory???? well, let's start with a carrot-ginger puree that we can put everything on top of!! then, i needed something purple. i have never cooked purple potatoes so i decided this would be the perfect time to try. after counseling with my dad, i decided a diced purple potato hash would work perfectly for a concept of "purple all over orange". i really was proud of this dinner. not only did it result from the wildcats winning, it really made me feel i could come up with something from an abstract idea. so, let's go cats and big xii north title....here we come!!!

leftovers...

i realized i had some dinners i've cooked over the past few weeks that i haven't posted anywhere. they weren't necessarily planned or done for a special occasion, but i recall them being extremely tasty and if you're gonna have a food blog, you might as well post to it! if anything, it's a reminder that marcela and i actually do eat well, even if it seems like we haven't had a real grocery shopping adventure in a long time!

i am not gonna really describe these as i don't recall what i was thinking or what the conceptual thought process was. that does bring up something, even if i don't totally create a concept, i always try and make some sense out of what i plan. i really have an amazing amount of respect for true chefs out there. it's hard enough to plan something out for one dinner, but night after night of expectant guests...wow. sooo cool. if i didn't know anything about architecture, i might say cooking is the most bad ass profession out there!!!

so, without further ado...

filet mignon w/ chocolate wine sauce on string beans



bacon wrapped scallops over pepper rings

introduction to fall

so my parents came out to help with moving mami into her new house, for big dave and i to play some golf, and of course, for another entry to the cooking blog. i was able to finally get them to watch an episode of top chef for some inspiration. now it may have appeared that my dad was doing some heavy meditation for our dish, i think he really was just catching up on some much needed rest!!!

so, 7 days before the official turn of the season, we decided to go for some heavier fall flavors. however, i really like the concept of serving an amuse bouche and though it's somewhat supposed to prepare you for what's for dinner, i figured i'm no executive chef and with the proper dinner guest arrival libation, i wouldn't have to worry about anyone voting me off!! i poached a slice of salmon in some chicken bouillon, celery, onions, and basil and then whipped up a cucumber soup to serve in the brand new demitasse cups my parents bought for marcela. the best thing about this is that it was my mom's idea and she said she got it from reading this blog!! so, even if nobody out there really cares to read this, i can always count on my mom to constantly care about me...i love you mom.




for dinner we took and braised our short ribs for 4 hours in a onion and pepper bath. we eventually finished them off on the grill. ideally we'd have braised them a couple hours longer and grilled them a few minutes less, but as mentioned before, we're no executive chefs...yet! then we used some baby red potatoes and prepared a twice baked potato with them. the final product was braised short ribs with grilled peppers and twice-baked baby red potatoes.



for dessert my dad whipped up his mix-master qualifying brandy alexander...



regardless of how this actually turned out, i sure do love cooking with my dad. i hope we can take what we learned from this dinner and really use it to take this "hobby" to the next level.