Some food-related (mostly) things we enjoyed this week:

Friday night is a good time for a homemade margarita.  We made ours with Herradura Silver tequila, a sweet/citrus liqueur called Licor 43, fresh lime juice, a touch of agave nectar for sweetness, a little lemonade (because we didn’t have enough limes) and a tiny splash of olive juice.  It was a refreshing way to welcome the weekend.

We had yet another amazing meal at Malai Kitchen last Saturday.  Instead of my usual Stir Fried Glass Noodles (Pad Woo Sen), I branched out (for me) and tried the Sweet and Sour Crispy Noodles (Mee Krob), and now I have a new favorite noodle dish.  The thin noodles were the perfect texture and everything was flavored with just the right amount of savory and spice.  We even loved the tofu.

While watching the Atlanta episode of Anthony Bourdain’s show “The Layover” the other night, we were delighted to see a quick mention of the Sweet Auburn Curb Market as a place to visit in A-town.  We visited the market several years ago and really enjoyed it.

We have broccoli in our garden!  We planted the little guys back in the Fall and weren’t sure how they would do, since we’ve never grown broccoli before.  Just about the time we started to see the florets beginning to grow, I remembered that I don’t really like broccoli (I much prefer its tiny baby cousin, the broccolini.)  So I’m not sure what we will end up doing with our homegrown broccoli — maybe a beef and broccoli stir-fry, with a (lot of) tangy/spicy sauce (to mask the broccoli flavor)?  We’ll definitely use it — Dan never misses an opportunity to chop broccoli.

Some food-related (mostly) things we enjoyed this past week:

Lots of people have (sometimes very strong) opinions about their favorite hamburger.  We appreciate a good burger — especially since we don’t have them very often — but have yet to declare ultimate allegiance to any particular burger joint.  In terms of fast food places, both In-N-Out and Five Guys rank at the top of our favorites list, due in no small part to the fact that they each boast high quality, fresh ingredients, and because they both make a really good, quick burger.  Someday we’ll do a post debating Five Guys versus In-N-Out, but for now, the In-N-Out burger (always order it “animal style”) takes the lead simply because there is one about 3 minutes from our house and has a drive-thru, while the nearest Five Guys is about 7 minutes further away inside a mall.  And we are lazy.

We’ve written about our homemade beef tacos before, but they are good enough to garner mention as a favorite every time we make them.  We’ve discovered that when it’s just the two of us, the recipe yields enough leftover meat for what we affectionately call “Taco Mac” — a layered, casserole type dish made with taco meat, macaroni pasta, leftover taco shells, enchilada sauce and cheese.  It’s so delicious that we might actually prefer it over the original tacos!  We’re making Taco Mac tonight and my mouth is watering as I type this.

Favorite New TV Show Alert:  Anybody else watching Kevin Bacon’s new show, “The Following,” on Fox??  If not, and you like psychological thriller / suspense / drama television with top-notch acting, plenty of  jump-out-of-your-seat scenes throughout and one of the best evil-but-charming character villains since Hannibal Lecter, you should.  It’s so good that we get quite impatient waiting a week between episodes  (new shows air on Monday nights.)  But be warned:  it’s dark, and may not be one you want to watch right before bedtime.

I’m generally a follow-the-recipe kind of cook and rarely, if ever, come up with my own kitchen creations.  But, faced with a package of thin-cut pork chops that needed to be cooked and the inability to find the recipe I had originally picked for the pork when menu planning, last night I improvised.  I started with this recipe (simply because it called for thin-cut pork and other ingredients we already had on hand), made several changes along the way, and ended up creating a dish and sauce that we can’t wait to try again.  Nevermind that I accidentally overcooked the pork just shy of shoe leather, the sauce was amazing!  I followed the original recipe’s direction to coat the chops with miso and garlic, but used mirin instead of sherry (and next time will add a little ginger.)  After pan frying the miso-coated chops, I used more mirin to de-glaze the skillet, then added a little chicken broth, some chopped mushrooms and chili garlic sauce and simmered until it all thickened into a savory, slightly spicy Asian sauce.  It’s an adaptation to be sure (rather than a true original recipe — do those even exist?), but one that I personally consider to be a creative culinary triumph!

Some food-related (mostly) things we enjoyed this past week:

We’ve mentioned it before, and last weekend made a pilgrimage to the always awesome Asian grocery store, Super H Mart, for Dan’s kimchi fix (stay tuned for a post on kimchi fried rice in the near future.)  We’ve always been curious to try something from the food court there, and are so glad we finally did!  I had a noodle stir fry dish with chicken, Dan had a spicy Korean chicken dish (similar to this), and we were quite impressed with both meals, which tasted like they came from a high-end Asian restaurant, rather than a grocery store food court.  Our only disappointment is that we were too full to order anything from the little dumpling shop.  Next time.

Whenever I find calla lilies on sale, I usually buy a few.  We used them in our wedding, so I’ll always have a soft spot for them.  Plus they last at least a week if you get them really fresh.

We both have a soft spot for a nice lunch on a patio.  While the Northeastern half of the country is experiencing record low temperatures (sorry suckers friends and family who live in those places!), we’ve been lucky to enjoy a few unusual-for-January days with temps in the 70s.  Yet we will still likely have at least a few more cold-enough-for-a-fire-in-the-fireplace days before Spring officially arrives.  Fickle Texas weather at its finest.

I debated whether to post anything here, especially since it certainly is not a “favorite” by any means, but ultimately decided I couldn’t talk about our week without mentioning a significant family event.  Last week we lost our much beloved Aunt Ella, who passed away after a massive stroke.  Ella is my dad’s aunt and somewhat of a matriarch of our family.  Although she never married or had children of her own, Ella looked after so many of us in her very special, loving way.  Not just family members either — she touched lives and made a difference for countless people in her community, church (where she was a member for 80 years!) and life’s path.  She lived a long and fulfilled life — the kind that makes you stop and wonder what you might do to improve your own journey and live better — and passed the same way she lived:  with peace, grace and her quiet, comforting presence available to all the many loved ones who came to say goodbye.  We will dearly miss our sweet Aunt Ella.  May her soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.