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

Not much cuter than a toddler holding hands on a walk.  Except maybe when said toddler voluntarily reaches up to hold his Aunt Kelly’s hand during said walk.   That’s so cute it’s stupid.  We enjoyed a wonderful visit with the most adorable red-headed nephew on the planet and his parents in Brooklyn last weekend.  Highlights (just to name a few) included an amazing dinner at Perilla in Manhattan (spicy duck meatballs are a must), a fun and fascinating trip to Governor’s Island, a leisurely delicious brunch at Prime Meats, spending time with Dan’s brother and his lovely wife, and watching our nephew have entire babbling conversations to no one on his toy cell phone (among other extremely endearing things he does.)  We don’t live nearly close enough to our extended families, so it is always worth the trip to go see them, and always sad when it’s time to part ways.  So hugs, backwards toddler waves and *muah* air kisses to all our family members — we miss you guys!

Another highlight from our trip that deserves separate mention is the chicken sandwich at Van Horn Sandwich Shop.  If you ever find yourself in or near the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn and you like fried chicken the slightest bit, you must try one of these sandwiches.  Stunningly simple — just a giant piece of perfectly fried chicken topped with a few shreds of coleslaw and placed between a toasty but soft sesame bun, with (very) spicy sauce and housemade pickle on the side — it may be the best chicken sandwich we’ve ever had.  Dan’s brother worried that he had over-hyped it, but once we tried it, we were more than sold.  I want another one right now.

Back at home, we commemorated our trip to Brooklyn with a pizza from our local Grimaldi’s.  The most famous Grimaldi’s is located under the Brooklyn Bridge and is a popular tourist attraction, in addition to serving outstanding pizza (supposedly the secrets are coal-fired brick ovens and something special about New York water.)  Lucky for us (and you if you live in certain areas of Arizona, Florida, Nevada, South Carolina and Texas), there are sister restaurants around the country that also use the signature brick ovens, have custom water systems and attempt to stay as true to the original as possible.  If you like New York-style thin crust pizza, Grimaldi’s is among the best.  And their meatball pizza is among our favorites — crispy thin crust topped with red sauce, mozzarella and wafer-thin slices of meatball.

Sometimes something so simple as decreeing Thursday to be Taco Night is enough to brighten up the whole week.  We used this recipe and were quite pleased with the results — well-seasoned beefy flavor with a hint of tomato and just the right amount of spice.  As good as they taste, these tacos are surprisingly easy to make and well worth the (minimal) extra effort to elevate them beyond the store-bought packet of taco seasoning to the level of Thursday Taco Night.

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

We had a much-needed rainstorm — the weirdly awesome kind where it rained hard while the sun was still shining — that resulted in temperatures cool enough to eat dinner outside (a very rare treat this time of year) and enjoy a beautiful sunset.

This summer we have had our most successful tomato crop ever.  We eat tomatoes with almost every meal, including breakfast.  One of our go-to favorite morning meals is a couple of hard-boiled eggs, some sliced tomatoes and a few triscuits topped with cream cheese.

There is a sports-field complex within walking distance of our house where we can watch the annual “Kaboom Town” fireworks, albeit from pretty far away.  The distance dampens some of the spectacle to be sure, but avoiding the traffic and parking debacle is a worthy trade-off.  As is being able to bring your own portable chairs and glasses of wine.

Our pool has not yet reached bath-water temps and is still cool enough for a refreshing dip.

Check out the video below about how to cut a hot dog into a spiral shape prior to grilling.  Cutting the dogs is not quite as easy as it looks and ours didn’t turn out nearly as pretty as the ones in the video.  But the technique really does make for a more delicious hot dog.  Dan loves it when science and cooking come together to improve a meal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/chow-hot-dog-spiral-cut-video_n_1643991.html

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

Dan’s mom was in town last weekend, and we took her to Remington’s Seafood Grill for dinner Saturday night.  I had one of the chalkboard specials (don’t you love a place where they write the chalkboard specials with chalk on an actual chalkboard?) — soft shell crab.  It was amazing — delicately crispy on the outside with sweet, delicious crab meat inside.  It was the kind of dish that is so good that when you ask your dining companions if they want a bite, you secretly hope they say no.

We updated (and improved) this black bean recipe by adding a jalapeno and a little bacon, and transformed the leftovers into a dip with sour cream, garden-fresh tomato and avocado.

The movie “21 Jump Street” just came out on DVD.  If you like a silly “buddy” movie with pause-replay-scene-missed-it-laughing-too-hard dialogue and physical comedy, then you’ll probably like this film.  And keep an eye out for cameos by the actors from the original TV show (which, ironically, was a serious drama.)

We love a good tuna sashimi with crispy wontons dish, and this one from Malai Kitchen is one of the best we’ve tried.  Unfortunately, it’s not on their regular menu so we’re not sure what all was mixed in with the tuna (onion? tomato? cucumber?), but all of the ingredients complemented each other well and did not overpower the tuna.  Malai is a great restaurant with lots of good menu choices, but this off-menu, periodic special is one worth stalking.

Dan sweetly brought home a “just because” bouquet of mixed blooms recently, and these white flowers have lasted almost 2 weeks!  Not sure what they are — they look like some sort of rose hybrid — but they are long-lasting and low-maintenance.  All I’ve done to them is remove any wilted blooms and make sure they have water.  They’ll probably last another week or so.

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

We took a little trip last weekend, guess where?  Nope, not Venice.  Vegas Baby!  It was everything that Vegas always is — indulgent, expensive, entertaining and exhausting.  We met up with some friends and had a wonderful time gambling, drinking, eating and otherwise enjoying the adult playground that is Sin City.  We also managed to come home with some money leftover, rather than donating all of it to the casinos.

Our favorite hotel in Vegas is the Palazzo — perfect location, big rooms, good service and great amenities.  We had an awesome view of the Strip and the mountains in the distance.

Back in the real world, we had a lovely Father’s Day dinner with my parents.  We attempted to cook our first “crop” of okra from our garden, but we left them on the plants too long.  We cut into one and it seemed very brittle.  Apparently you’re supposed to harvest them as soon as they get about 3-5 inches long or they become tough and woody.  Luckily, farmers know this and we had back-up okra from the grocery store.

There is something very satisfying about putting all your ingredients into the slow-cooker in the morning to transform into a delicious dinner that evening.  This recipe is one of our favorites.

The “Plah Lad Plik (Spicy Fish)” is Dan’s entree of choice at the Thai restaurant near our house.  It’s a whole red snapper deep fried with a sweet and red chili sauce.  The chef will remove the head upon request, but there is a little bit of very tender and sweet meat in the collar area that is worth a taste.  And if you’re going to eat a whole fish, you might as well leave the head on.

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

Dinner and a movie is one of our favorite date-nights.  Studio Movie Grill is our go-to theater and has good food and drinks.  Buy your tickets in advance and reserve your seats ahead of time.  (As an intellectual property lawyer, Dan was not fond of me taking a photo in the theater.  Obviously I did it anyway.)

Our local Kroger grocery store sells house-made tortillas.  These were still warm when I bought them.

This is one of our favorite salads.  We added thin slices of leftover pork for an amazing weeknight dinner.

Awesomely handy conversion chart for those of us not so good with the cooking or the math.  It’s also a magnet, and we keep it stuck to the side of our wine fridge.  I use it A LOT.

We love to travel, and the pre-flight glass of wine in the Admirals Club is a wonderful way to begin each journey.

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

Wonderful, briney oysters at Oceanaire last Friday evening.  Some of the best we’ve had around here.

On Saturday we drove out to Cedar Hill State Park and camped for the night.  It was a good trial run for our new tent and other camping equipment.  Camping is an awesome excuse to eat hot dogs.

And watch a sunset.

And toast 7 years of marriage (back at home.)

Although the traditional gift for the 7th anniversary is copper (representing prosperity and good fortune) or wool (representing comfort and warmth), and the contemporary gift is a desk set (representing boredom?), we decided to go with a fancy new blender instead.

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

We celebrated the long Memorial Day weekend and welcomed the unofficial start of summer with an entire pork shoulder that was injected and rubbed with seasonings and cooked for 16+ hours in the smoker, then pulled apart and served on rolls with a vinegar-style sauce.  It was amazing — some of Dan’s best work ever.

Thanks to a wild hair and a big sale at REI, we are fully equipped to go camping this weekend (cat not included.)  No, really, we are going camping.  And looking forward to it!

Dan has perfected his refrigerator pickles recipe (with cucumbers from our garden no less!)  Refrigerator pickles are really easy to make — no canning required — in just a few days and taste remarkably better than the store-bought version.  We’ll post the recipe when we make our next batch.

Crawfish are still in season around here and make a perfect (although messy) afternoon snack with a cold beer on a patio (in the shade with ceiling fans going.)

Our first tomatoes of the season ripening on the window sill.

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

Taste Addison:  A combination of food (over 60 Dallas-area restaurants set up booths offering their best and most popular menu items); music (2  different outdoor stages featuring live music all afternoon and evening — we saw Mat Kearney on Saturday night, great show!); arts & crafts (showcasing vendors’ beautiful jewelry, art and wares); and a mini-midway with rides and games.

Brunch at Jake’s:  Late morning, sitting on the huge (uncrowded) deck under the trees and overlooking the golf course, eating surprisingly (for a place that mainly serves bar food) delicious breakfast, sipping perfect mimosas.

Sunday Sauce and Meatballs:  Possibly Dan’s best signature comfort-food dish, made even better when shared (one of my brothers was in town — great seeing you Adam!)

Sushi Axiom:  New location in our neighborhood, enjoyed the “Cherry Blossom” roll, loved getting an unexpected, bonus dinner together when Dan’s business trip got cancelled.

Nudo Olive Oil:  Spring shipment of olive oil from our very own adopted tree in Italy!  A super cool and unique birthday gift from Dan’s brother and his wife this year (let’s be honest, our sister-in-law did all the work) — thanks, I & S!

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

On Saturday, we attended a food-truck-festival of sorts to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  We love food trucks (just beginning to become a “thing” here in Dallas) and festivals, and the LLS is an important charity.  We didn’t love waiting in line an hour and a half for a couple of tacos (as good as they were.)  It seems that we got to the festival at the exact busiest time of day — all the lines for every truck were very long.  But we’re still glad we went and look forward to sampling food from the other trucks as they cruise throughout our local area.

In addition to the long lines, our visit to the food truck festival was cut short by our need to go home and prepare caprese bites and proscuitto- wrapped melon for the first annual block party on our street.  Our next door neighbors (Hi Craig and Emily!) graciously hosted a giant bounce house on their lawn for all the kids.  While the kids bounced themselves silly, the adults enjoyed good food, drinks and conversation.  We’re a little embarrassed to admit that after nearly 6 years of living in our current home, Saturday was the first time we met many of our neighbors.  It was a fun gathering and we enjoyed meeting everyone.  We feel lucky to live where we do and look forward to getting together with our neighbors more often.  Chili Cook-Off in the Fall!

Although we didn’t get to spend Mother’s Day with either of our wonderful mothers, we celebrated them by treating ourselves to an amazing brunch at an old favorite restaurant, Terilli’s.  (It was the least we could do.  We love you Mom/J and Mom/E!)  Dan had the Sauteed Lemon Veal with poached eggs and hollandaise.  Wow.

Also wow?  The Chihuly exhibit at the Dallas Arboretum, which we attended Wednesday evening.  We’re working on a full post about it and will save our gushing comments for that, but it was a major favorite of our week, and we highly recommend you go see it if you’re in the Dallas area between now and October.

We’re trying to enjoy as much patio time as we can these days, while the temps still cool off a bit in the evenings.  Dan made enough delicious seafood paella for a small army on Sunday, and we made an event out of it by dining poolside.