Various baked goods.....

Before we left for Cali, I baked 3 dutch desserts( Friesen thumbprints, tulband and an almond butter cookie) and some Magic cookie bars. I froze everything. On Thursday and Friday, I baked toll house cookies( with Raspberry swirl chips), peanut butter cookies, oatmeal scotchie bars, mollases cookies, white chocolate brownies, KA flour choc. brownies and banana bread. This was all for the wedding I on Saturday. While I was watching the Bridge and Groom say their vows, my friend Tom was downstairs making up the trays. He did a great job.

The burrito eaters......

We're back from California and we had a great time. We stayed with friends in San Rafael and made our way into SF three days in a row. We took the ferry from Larkspur and Robin navigated us around the city using the Muni. I think the meal we enjoyed the most was our burritos from La Taqueria Castro. Before we left, I compiled a 5 page list of recomendations. I checked Burritoeater.com as well. We love Mexican food and Robin especially loves burritos. I had the super vegetarian( rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, salsa, avocado and lettuce) and Robin had the Super Pollo salsa verde. Much later that afternoon, we made our way to Bi-Rite creamery in The Mission and had fantastic sundaes. I had a coffee toffee sundae and Robin had Brownie( we skipped dinner that night). The coffee was so intense, I was expecting something akin to Bryer's coffee but this was like downing a really cold cup of the most marvelous house roast( The ironic thing is I dont like hot coffee). Robin loved her sundae so much she made us go back on Saturday.

We flew home on Tuesday taking a red eye flight( never again!!!). We landed in Detroit around 4:40am(Eastern Time, 1:40 Pacific Time). We were so exhausted but needed to kill time until Trader Joe's opened at 9am. I had a wedding to cater this weekend and needed to pick up loads of cheese and other goodies. We went to Meijer and I shopped at 6am while Robin slept in the car. We then went to breakfast which we should have never ate because we both felt even worse after that. We went to Zingerman's to pick up bagels and then finally Trader Joe's. We much a quick trip before thru our beloved Target. We finally left Ann Arbor around 9:45am and then hit Nino Salvadggio's market on our way back to Port Huron. We picked up tons of Boar's head turkey, ham, roastbeef for the canapes. Then, when we got to Port Huron, we still had to go to Home Depot for a garbage disposal, keyless entry lock and air switch for the disposal( as an aside, The Canadian dollar is *almost* at par with the US dollar). We wanted to get these items while we each had a 750.00 customs allowance( since we were gone for a week). We wanted a few other things too, but our car was filled to the brim. We finally arrived home at around 3, unloaded the car and I went to sleep from 4pm-8pm. Since then, I've spent my days cooking and baking for this wedding( posts to come)......

Off to SF.....

We're off to San Fran for a week. Catch ya later....

It's too late to turn back now......

This really has nothing to do with our kitchen, but I wanted to post these for posterity. Yesterday, our sunroom was torn down in preparation for our new 24 x 24 bedroom. We wanted them to do the teardown while we were home( well, I was home, Robin was golfing) in case anything went wrong. I also had to hole up in the bedroom with the dogs because the A/C people were in and out( they had to move the unit).

The door to the sunroom is in our kitchen. I had to take the key out of the lock( it was in the deadbolt) because everytime I go into the kitchen now, I want to open the door. I'm weird like that. Anyway, I can't wait until this room is finished. The backyard looks even worse because after I took the last picture, they dug up even more dirt.

We ordered our appliances today. A GE Profile slide in Dual fuel range, A GE profile french door fridge, a whirlpool dishwasher( with stainless steal interior) and a panasonic over the range microwave. Very exciting. I can't wait to cook with gas again. I always had gas ovens in California, but its just not the norm here.

Chicken Tika Masala( CI).....

Here we have another winner from Cook's Illustrated. This was in the latest issue. Like most CI recipes, there were a few steps, but none too difficult. The only problem I had with this, was that my sauce started to separate. I think its my fault though because I didnt have crushed tomatoes( I used whole Italian tomatoes that I pureed myself). I also had no tomato paste and I didnt want to buy a can( they dont sell the tubes in my town). I'm really try to use what I have in preparation for the kitchen renovation. As it is, I had to buy a pint of heavy cream and a container of whole milk yogurt. The recipe also calls for 1/4 of chopped cilantro, but I didnt want to buy that either as we're leaving on Tuesday for San Fran. I also threw some frozen peas in with the brown basmati rice because I'm trying to clean out the freezer too.

In other news, I've decided on the granite( Labrador Antique), the kitchen pain( Benjamin Moore, Soft Chinchilla) and the flooring. I think we're going to buy the appliances tomorrow.

I also ordered the faucet on ebay( Delta Leland in Stainless Steel) and I found a pendant light for above the sink that I'm going to order.

Today our sunroom was torn down and they're digging the foundation for our new bedroom. Very exciting!!

Tortiglioni with Broccoli and Goat Cheese...

I whipped up this simple pasta dish 2 nights ago. To be honest, I wasnt expecting much since the recipe came from the back of the Decco Pasta box. I thought it sounded too simple, but really isn't simple sometimes best?

You bring a large pot of salted water to boil and add the broccoli stems. Then 2 minutes later you add the florets and the pasta and boil for another 10 minutes. I thought to myself that it was going to be way too mushy, but it really wasnt. In another pan you heat up some EVOO(3/4 of a cup which I thought was too much, I used less), crushed garlic( the recipe said 2 cloves, I used 5) and some red pepper flakes. You toss that with the drained pasta/broccoli. You then shave over some parmeseana reggiano( please do not use the stuff in the green can) and some fresh cracked black pepper. I added some goat cheese since this was my main dish. I breaded and baked up some boneless, skinless chicken thighs for Robin. I picked up this box of pasta( a shape I normally wouldnt buy) for .50 at a liquidation place and the brocolli was 1.29. What a thrifty meal!!

I'm seriously trying to use up what I have in the pantry. We're also leaving in a little over a week and I don't want to buy any more food before we go. When we get back, I have a wedding to cater( just the apps and desserts) and I'll be needing all the fridge space I can get!!

Speaking of fridges, we're looking at the GE Profile French Door Fridge for the renovation. We're also looking at the GE Profile Dual Fuel slide in range and the dishwasher? Comments?