Welcome to 2023!

Look at this steak. 

 

How beautiful is that steak? It has to be the most beautifullest steak I have ever seen. (Is "beautifullest" a word? Not sure.)

But it is lovely. And look at those sauces. I can't even tell you what they are. I recognize one of them as an herb butter of some sort? Anyway, they all look delicious. 

I saw this on Facebook, posted by an foodie influencer named Chimetime. 

He also posted the receipt.

$1000!!

 $1000 for a steak!

GLORY!!!

Welcome to 2023!

Is this how we're living in 2023! 

Man. Now I have seen Tomahawk steaks for $100 dollars or more. But I looked into it, and this seems to be that special Wagyu steak. That is top of the line. 

That steak was not cut from a City of Atlanta cow. Nope. 

So say I go ahead could splurge on a steak this expensive. I am lost with the gratuity. The tax is crazy too. Almost $300 in tax and gratuity. I think that would mess it up for me. 

But, this has to be a DREAM for a true foodie. To be able to say you had a $1000 steak is definitely an accomplishment. And it better be the greatest steak ever made, because this particular foodie will tell it like it is! But that is something else. 

I myself would've left off the bread and bottled water. That's an extra $20. But wait, might as well buy the bread and water if you can afford a $1000 steak, right?

I wonder what the ubereats total would be? I wonder if the steak would even make it to my front door?

LOL

I told my friend if she hears me talking about how I had this steak, she should know that I ran out on the bill.  Time that waitress delivers that bill and disappears, I'm dipping out!

And this fine steak is a reminder of how good people are living. I know this has to be the regular for some wealthy folks, where $1000 is the same as $10. And this must be a good price point and in demand because it wouldn't be that expensive.

Enjoy that $1000 steak, brother. I can't wait for the steak review! 

For that price, it better be beyond fantastic!

Favorite Things, Part 2

A Tail of Two Quails

I love trying new food. So recently I ventured out on trying something I'd never even considered until I saw it in a Farmer's market over in the Mexican/Asian district of Atlanta:

QUAIL.

Now here's my thing. I always thought quails were small, even smaller than Cornish hens. And I always thought they may be "gamey" (however you spell it), and that' the worst taste in the world to me. So there was really no need for me to ever eat one.

However, while perusing the farmer's market, I came across some quail that was already dressed. And it was dirt cheap, so I bought it.

Three dollars and some change for quail. You can't beat that!

So I looked up how to cook them. They could basically be pan-fried pretty fast. And that's what I did.

So this should have taken all of 10 minutes. Nope, it took longer. Maybe it would have been faster if I didn't use a grill pan, but geesh. I think it took some 20 minutes to cook them.

This was more than a notion. And I was thinking that "I could've grilled up some chicken wings. This too much trouble!"

Speaking of wings... look how small these wings are:

Wow. And NO.

It all looks pretty on the plate. And that's all well and good.

But I won't be eating them again.

First of all, they were good, because they'd been marinated in some type of light barbeque sauce or brown sugar and soy sauce... something. That was good.

But you know what it reminds me of?

It's the poultry equivalent to a blue crab.

You know how hard you have to fight with a blue crab to get a little crab meat from them? And you know how many blue crabs you have to eat just to feel full?

Yeah. Too hard and too many. And that's how these quails were.

In the Bible, the slaves had left Egypt, and God sent manna and quails from the sky.

And they the folks STILL had an attitude.

Well... I do understand why. Quails are a trip to deal with!

I don't want any more of those quail. I will only eat them if we are on some show like Survivor and a whole mess of quails fly by, and that's ALL we have to eat. So we have to chase them down and kill them.

But as long as I can walk into a grocery store and get a package of chicken parts, I'm good.

Yes. And amen.

M and M's Gone Wild

I'm not sure what's going on with M&Ms.

For as long as I can remember, there were only two types: plain and peanut. I personally like the peanut ones.

Then maybe a decade ago, new flavors came out. I can't remember off hand what they were, but I thought, that's odd... new M&Ms.

But last week, I saw a whole 'nother round of M&Ms...

And the M&Ms have gone wild.

COFFEE NUT

Yuck. Someone would have to buy that and let me try one. No way I would buy a big bag of them.

Then I saw STRAWBERRY NUT.

Yikes. Who thought that one up?

Then there's PECAN PIE.

Now, that might  be good if they have real pecan pieces in there. Hmmm

And there's CARAMEL

That sounds reasonable. I don't think  I want a whole bag of them. I am more of a fan of caramel when it's by itself, like the caramel squares.

Interesting...

I will let ya'll go try those.

I will stick to the peanut M&Ms.

The Burn

Something I love to dabble in from time to time is loose teas.

I find some good ones in bulk here and there, and that's always a fun thing.

I've found one that is especially complex at my local Whole Foods, and I just can't get enough of it.

Cinnamon cardamon tea.

There's a lot going on there. And it looks like there's more than cinnamon and cardamon there.



It's $30 a pound, but I imagine a pound is a lot. It's lightweight, and the amount in the jar comes up to about 8$. (Yes, I went back and bought it ALL after sampling a couple of teaspoons of it my first time buying it).

I like to steep 3 teaspoons at a time.

And I don't steep for the recommended typical 5 minutes for most teas. I steep for 30 minutes.

Because I'm hardcore like that.

And then I pour it over ice. (Because you know I'm not drinking it straight).

Oh...

The burn.

I can feel it burning in my chest. It's like I boiled some of the red hot candies for a LONG time.

The BURN.

Amazing.

It's akin to drinking some straight liquor.

LOL

And what's more amazing is that the two main components of this tea have some great anti-inflammatory and circulatory properties, and I can feel it.

How great is that.

But I can't get past the burn.

And you know what? I hate red hot candies...

...But this here will do just fine.

Wordless Wednesday: Kale Salad

Radiatore!

So...

I had a strange shaped pasta last month for the first time. It's called RADIATORE.

I purchased it at my local farmers market. I think I bought a pound of freshly made radiatore for $2.50.

That was some GOOD pasta. And it holds the sauce just right. I had it with tomato sauce, and I had it with pesto sauce. A little goes a long way.  I thought it would  go bad on me after 3 or 4 weeks in  the fridge, but it didn't.  I wish they would sell it in smaller amounts, though. I needed to make sure I ate it all before it went bad.

I am not a big fan of regular pasta, so let's just say that I have been on the look out for a sweet potato or butternut squash version. I've seen such veggie versions in other pasta types, but not this one.

So I wondered how hard it would be to make it myself. I looked around on YouTube for a tutorial. Here's something I came across:


Uh no. That's a bit too much going on. And unless I'm making pasta DAILY for a whole clan of people, it's just not going to happen.

Although this pasta machine looks pretty dope.



That is interesting. Still, we better be eating pasta all the time to get down with that.

I will just continue to be on the lookout for veggie radiatore.

That's simple enough to do...

And cheaper.

My First Taste of Thanksgiving 2016

So... 

I got to work early  (2 hours earlier than usual). And I have a slight attitude. I am like a young child who has been awaken a bit too early in the morning. I am a little listless. I should be okay by noon. We will see.

I am awaiting my assistant to finish weighing some samples so I can get started for the day.  This will take her awhile, and I know I can be a bit mean about things getting done quickly, so I have decided to just go sit somewhere and be quiet.

So before that, I went downstairs to another department to pay for some raffle tickets, as there is a mighty fine spa basket up for grabs from our yearly fundraiser. Me being a tomboy... I am only interested in the spa socks. But my best friend LadyTee (pictured here on my front porch)  is a girly-girl, and would really love this basket. It would make a fine Christmas gift (after I pick out what I want from it, of course).

Anyway, I arrived downstairs, and Sister J, who preached a mighty fine sermon the other day in her office (I posted about that last week), offered up some homemade  sweet potato pie.

Now she'd mentioned this before out in the parking lot. I was a bit perturbed because she'd blown her horn at me. Apparently I'd been stopped too long at a stop sign (I was trying to take pictures of the new construction/high rise. And there was NO ONE behind me at the time).

I felt better once I found out it was her... and once I found out about this pie.

And oh... how lovely was this pie.

First of all, I am a bit upset that the folks downstairs get to have nice refrigerators in their offices, while we up in the lab have to share big janky fridges that don't get cleaned as often as they should. We also have to deal with our lunches and condiments getting stolen. That's a whole 'nother story.

But that's neither here nor there.

That pie, though...

How lovely.

And look... there is stapler next to the pie.

I like the idea of the stapler being on top of the fridge. That way, one can get work done and get their lunch together all at the same time. This is good use of work  space and time.

Back to the pie, though.

She cut a huge piece, even though I wanted just a sliver. I didn't complain, though.

  I took it though. It was free. And free is always a blessing.

*church jogs in the corner*

Anyway, Sister J was proud of her pie.

I took a bite.

SOOOO good.

Even though it was too daggone early in the morning to eat sweets. I needed the pick me up, though.

"I made it with Stevia," she said.

"Really?" I replied.

I could hardly tell. And the pie was just right. I don't like my sweet potato pies all sweet and dripping with oil and butter. This was just right.

"It's my Grandma Mattie's recipe," Sister J added.

"I bet she didn't use no stevia in it."

"No she didn't. She said 'Pass me that domino sugar."

LOL.  Yes Grandma probably did say that!  

I promptly bought my raffle tickets for the spa basket. I went and  harassed spoke to Lady K in an adjacent office (she thinks she will win the spa basket. I THINK NOT)....

And I came on upstairs and ate my pie.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I pinched off of it until it was all gone.

I tried my BEST to save it. Tried. It would've gone nicely with my salad for lunch. But it did not work out.

Sigh.

Good eating, though. Real good eating.

And I best get to learning how to use stevia in my desserts.

This is what I am thankful for today. The little things.

A good piece of pie and a good laugh.

Wait... that is much to be thankful for. 

Happy Thursday

Happy Thursday to you!

And I have a post I meant to put up on Monday or Tuesday!

Shame on me. Oh well.

Anyway, I have been eating raw for the month. I am near the halfway point, and it seems to be going well enough.

My goal this weekend was to explore a couple of raw restaurants, one I am familiar with and a new one.

So I'd been itching for some raw nachos from Lov'n it Live, a raw spot down in East Point.

Got 'em!

And they were GONE. I finished those off... quickly.

For later on in the week, I bought some raw lasagna. I wanted to try this because my sister had been talking about it. Now my sister is FINICKY. And when my sister likes something, you better jump a fence, catch a train and steal a car to get to it...

So I did all that... and I got it!

Ooooooooh weeeeeee! It was good. And it lasted awhile. Good stuff.

My FAVORITE find this weekend was a restaurant a couple of miles from my house:

Tassili's Raw Reality... 

One word: FANTASTIC!!

I had some great raw corn, raw okra and raw "Stir-fry".

(There is that Callie. Her facial expression says... something. I don't think she was as enthused as me).

Not sure how they did that. But it was GREAT.

I had some raw cake also.

Blew me away. Not sure how they pulled that off, but I am not surprised. I have had raw apple pie and other raw desserts in the past.

Now, the most interesting meal I had from there was a kale wrap. I wanted it wrapped in a coconut wrap (not eating wheat right now), but they were out of those. So they wrapped it in SEAWEED. 

It looks a little scary. Seaweed. I've only had that as part of my sushi California rolls.

But it was filled with some goodness... kale, tomato, avocado and whatever else!

How WONDERFUL!!

It was enough for 2 meals. And I mean I was FULL.

I'm so glad I found a raw spot so close to my house. I have to make sure I regulate myself though, where I don't spend all my spare change up in there. Let's just say I have been up in there 4 times since Saturday. Hmmm....

So it was a good exploration.

I am so happy I ventured out. I found some places where I can kick a little variety into my raw month.

Some Things Shouldn't Be Microwaved...

So...

My coworker Lady M brought in what I thought was microwavable popcorn.

"You want this, LadyLee?"

I, like I said, thought it was some microwavable popcorn. I rarely eat it. I prefer to pop my own.

I like to pop it on the stove top with a little olive oil and sea salt. You know, like we did before the invention of microwaves.

But she handed me the package. It was not popcorn.

It was microwavable pork rinds.

"Ewwww," was my immediate response.

"Don [her husband] bought those," she said. "You can have them."

Who on earth thought of the idea of microwavable pork rinds? Why would one even want that?  Can't you just go to your local 'hood gas station and buy a bag of pork rinds? Why go through the trouble of placing them in the microwave and waiting around on them to "pop" or warm up, or whatever they do in the microwave.

Needless to say, I didn't want them. But others in the cubicle area were interested, and Lady M went downstairs and "popped" them in the microwave.

There were even instructions.

I'm a bit taken aback with the instruction to "Watch!!!" Those three exclamation points make it loud and clear: you best not walk away from it.

I bet the smell of burnt pork skins is worse than the smell of burnt popcorn. Any day.

It looks simple enough.

Looks like some pork skins. I tasted one. There was salt on it.

Why would one put salt on an already inherently salty pork skin?

I don't know.

"Don needs his behind whooped for buying those," I said.

"They're Laury's," she said.

And we all know about Laurys season salt.

"That ain't the same Laurys, hon," I said. "Nope."

No it is not. But it's obvious that there is a market for microwavable pork skins.

And I'll let ya'll deal with that. It's definitely not for me.

Baking Cookies, Part II

I have had a goal this year of baking cookies for everyone in my general cubicle area, where there are upwards of some 25-30 folks. So I have everyone's birthdays listed and I have a general idea of what type of cookie they like. I usually bake chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies, and people choose the type they prefer. Some like nuts, some don't. I baked some chocolate chip cookies today for one of our biologists in celebration of her promotion... and she likes chocolate chip pecan cookies with dried cranberries. (Those are GREAT! She and I are the only ones who like those).

I'd worked on a butter cookie recipe earlier this year. It was a variation of a simple 5 ingredient recipe out of Darius Williams' cookbook Stories from My Grandmother's Kitchen.

So my coworker, who we call YoYo or Yodi, wanted something different. She wanted butter cookies.

And that's what I was making at 7:00 am this morning.

I brought out my cookie cutters and surgically cut the dough into nice shapes.

What's interesting here is that Yodi had her grill worked on (had oral surgery) a week ago. I made the dough, but had to hold it in the refrigerator until her mouth was straight. This actually worked out well, since I now know that I can whip up this dough and store it in the fridge in a plastic bag. It takes a couple of hours for it to come up to room temperature, where I can roll it out. That is a good thing to know.

So I baked up the cookies this morning. I bagged them up and presented them to her, bootleg decorations and all.

Happy Birthday, Yoyo!

Even though it is belated. Her birthday was back in November. I have no idea how I missed that.

Maybe I need to type up my hastily scribbled birthday list so I can remember.

She didn't seem particularly phased by it.

"How were the cookies, Yoyo?"

"They are good," she said as she held up a cup. "And I had to go get some good coffee to go with it."

I'm not sure where she got the coffee, as it is just too nasty and dreary to be walking outside. But it was a cup of coffee that she bought outside the building.

I think she had about 18 cookies. And I listened as she talked of going home and making some chocolate ganache for them.

She comes up with some interesting ideas for the butter cookies. She has a "Top Chef" type of mind. I don't. But I listen intently!

Enjoy your cookies, Yoyo!

Thoughts on Something New...

I like to eat or drink something new periodically, and this fall I bought a jar of macadamia nut milk from Treehouse Milk.

I'm not a big fan of macadamia nuts. I am more of a fan of the pecans and cashews.

But I had never seen "macadamia milk" before. I think this is because macadamia nuts are expensive. I've never bought any, but people ask if I bake macadamia nut cookies.

The answer is always.... Uh, no.

Anyway, I bought this milk. The cost? $9. During the last week before my sister left for UAE, I took her to my favorite little gourmet grocer, The Mercantile, and we saw it.

Pricey! But it's made locally, with no additives. Worth a try.

It tasted... alright. Very thin. No sweetness. It tasted like watered down skim milk.

I drank it. But I don't want anymore.

Why? Because it costs too much. And it didn't blow my skirt up. I will stick to my almond, rice, and cashew milks. I like oat and hemp milk also.

I looked at this and thought "This must be something white folk drank."

LOL! I don't know why I think like that! I need to change that mentality!!

It did have the macadamia nut taste. It was definitely macadmia nut milk. I don't care for macadamia nuts, so that is most likely why I was neutral about it. I ain't GOTS to have any more of it.And I think the major problem (or benefit, really), is that it doesn't have all the additives, some of which are considered not good for us. So it tastes different. I have to admit that it tasted very clean, if that makes any sense.

They do have a cashew milk, though. I may try that next time. They also have pecan milk. I want to try that one, too. So I will buy more milk.  I just like supporting businesses in my community :)

Anyway, I had another thought... This must be what breast milk tastes like.

Uh, I wouldn't know. I just remember my mother pumping breast milk from her breast with a manual pump, and then storing it in the refrigerator for my brother and sister when they were newborns.

I wouldn't know what breast milk tastes like. I was too chicken to taste it.

Anyway, I have a funny story.

My mother had made biscuits one Sunday morning back in 1981, when my sister was just born. My stepfather and I really liked the biscuits, so much so that we had seconds.

"Those were some really good biscuits," my 11-year-old self said to my mother.

"Sure were," my step-father said.

"I'm glad you liked them," my mother said. "Because I'd ran out of regular milk so I used breast milk instead."

WOW!

UGH.

My stepfather and I were... speechless.

And for years, whenever she made biscuits, I paused.

That was just a funny story.

This was a good buy, a good "something new". I want to try more of their milks.

Before and After: Crock Pot Green Beans

Before...

After...

Repost: A Red Pepper Oldgirl

*Since Ginae wants the recipe, and Laura and Sasha are all O_o, here's an old red pepper ketchup post. Enjoy!

I like Old school things.

And when I say Old school things, I mean Color Purple Celie Oldschool types of things.

I like doing stuff they had to do back in the day just for fun...

Stuff like canning!

I only can one thing: red pepper ketchup. I make it every couple of years, so I got the BRIGHT idea to make it the night before I was due back to work (after being off for 12 days).

I haven't been able to find any organic red peppers for some reason. So I found some the other day at $2.99 a pound. (I saw some for $6.99 a pound here and there, but I didn't want to pay that much).

Here's my recipe!

As you can tell, the recipe is well worn, pages all smudged. It looks like one of my grandmas's recipe books.

Or one of Celie's recipe books.

That's Oldschool right there.

Here are my mason jars, justa sterilizing and boiling away...

Here are my ingredients!

Diced red bell peppers (9 cups), onions (5 cups), garlic and ginger.

Honey, that all took me an hour to cut up. It felt longer than an hour.

Here's my spice mix.

That took about 15 minutes to mix up.  My kitchen stills smells strongly of cloves.

Here's everything cooking and stewing down.

I let that stew for an hour!!

Then I pureed it all in my blender.  I added some light brown sugar and apple cider vinegar and let it cook down for a good hour and I canned it all up.

And here we have it! My red pepper ketchup!

That's good stuff. I didn't finish until one in the morning. My back was on fire from all that standing and stirring. I was not a happy camper the next morning.

But at least I had my ketchup. That's all that matters.

I probably won't make anymore for awhile.

Unless I have another Color Purple Celie moment.

From Apples to Pie!

I am thinking back on my best "adventure" of the week.

For me, of course, it was the bloggaversary giveaway. You should have seen me, standing and staring wide-eyed at Commander Get Jiggy Wit It as she pulled names. It was so exciting. Congrats again to the winners.

My other adventure was making bootleg apple pies.

One of the supervisors of a group in my cubicle area lives way out in "the country" somewhere. I tell you, I don't see how people drive 50 or 60 miles to work one way. I am thoroughly spoiled by my 4.6 mile one way drive to work. Spoiled rotten.

Anyway, country living has its perks. I bet he breathes good fresh air. That's better than this inner city air.

He has a big apple tree. And he brought a bag of apples to work.

Yes. Those are real apples off a tree. There are even leaves and sticks in the bag.

I took two apples. People were around here munching hard on them, saying they were good and fresh. This made sense to me. I read somewhere that to get the nutrition of an apple grown in the 1950s, you would have to eat 5 apples now. That is such a loss. So apples from a good apple tree close by (not shipped 3000 miles from some Washington state grove) should be super good.

I took my apples home, and I peeled them.

Then I cubed them up and boiled them with a little sugar and pumpkin spice (nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon)

And I unrolled a crust and made some turnovers. Two apples were just enough to make 3 turnovers.

Here are the final apple turnovers.

Stop laughing. I told you they were bootleg. That means make them however you can. I was not trying to win an apple turnover contest. I was just trying to work it out, honey.

The best thing was that these were GOOD. They were very tart, as I didn't use much sugar. But that's the way I like them.

I have some fresh blackberries in the fridge. Maybe I will try this with those next time.

And I'm sure they will be just as bootleg as the apple turnovers.