Andy's Diner

Making the Most of...

the interminable wait for Tropical Storm Fay to do her thing, or not. It is the obligatory punishment for living in paradise: sitting for hours in front of the TV, watching the Doppler spin and trying to figure out what the implications will be for being on the "Dirty Side" of Fay. What does one do?

Make some Black Olive Tapanade and wolf it down on crusty pieces of fresh ciabatta.

Accompanied by a STELLAR $10 bottle of Primitivo. The wine buyer at Norman Brothers in Miami is an All-Star. Next storm update at 5 and 11.

Gettin' Creative at the Diner...

Came up with a cool one tonight in the Menu Lab... (that's what I call Sunday night when I cook things the kids might raise an eyebrow at... ;)

Jerk-seasoned grouper on curried lentils with a heirloom tomato and cilantro salsa on top. KILLER.

This is How We Roll...

We're "in the cone" here in South Florida, so we bust out the batteries, water, crank radio that doubles as a cellphone charger... and we wait to see if the Tropical Storm becomes a hurricane. The kids were supposed to have their 1st day of school tomorrow and it's cancelled. Think they're psyched? :)

The Calm Before...

With a storm on the horizon... you gotta relax and enjoy the calm

I made the muffins again, but this time with REAL blueberries, not the little pellets that come with the mix. 1,000,000% improvement!

To those of you who know, that photo right there is priceless! To those of you who may not, that is a piece of a homemade croqueta - which just happens to be the most perfect company to Cuban cafecito ever made. These delicious croquetas were made by the mother of a friend and were stunning in comparison with the ones you buy. The taste of the homemade Bechamel, the balanced mix of ham and chicken... to die for.

Dinner was a very simple combination of pizza with fresh herbs, some salumi and cheese to pick at and a nice red wine. Tropical Storm? Hurricane? Bring it on!

Extra Help...

Whew! Another crazy week, with a nice dinner of some ribs that I marinated in Cuban Mojo. I love marinating something the night before and knowing that when I get home from work, I've had some extra help making the dinner extra tasty!

Speaking of extra help... Aunt Lily came through with the delivery to my office of a BIG ole pack of Cranberry Oat cookies! Oh, we ALL dug them! Can't ya tell?

From the Back of the Recipe File...

The inspiration for this was Tyler Florence's Ultimate Chicken Cacciatore, which I saw a few weeks ago as I was waiting for Jamie Oliver's show on Saturday Morning. I made one of those mental "that would be a nice dinner" notes. The boneless, skinless chicken thighs on sale for $1.99 a pound at Costco brought it back to the forefront!

It sure was fantastic - was some oven roasted Yukon Golds on the side, and plenty of crusty ciabatta bread to sop it all up with.

My Reward...

I worked until laaaaaaaaaaate on Monday night. So I came back to my place and made a little sumpin' sumpin' just for me...

Roasted plums with Lactose-Free Breyer's Vanilla ice cream and crushed amaretto cookies on top!

Something to Go with the Wine...

After SUCH a sensational day, all I wanted for dinner was something to pick at, that would go well with the bottle of red that was already open...

I had some pizza dough that I had frozen and some leftover Amatriciana sauce, so I roasted some Portabello slices and added them on top along with some oil cured black olives and paper thin sliced garlic. Parmigiano all over the top... and I have enough left over for lunch at the office today.

Out of This World...

I've been a big fan of fellow-blogger Blue Lotus for years now. She has a fantastic eye for photography and provides exactly the view of Tokyo and her trips that I would love to see if I had the chance to visit Japan. In 2006 and 2007 she did pieces on the Obon festival, which I thought was such a wonderful celebration. Honoring those of our family who have gone before us resonates with me deeply. This year, I decided to take it one step further and visit the Morikami Museum & Gardens in nearby Boca Raton. 

Let me just say that you immediately feel thousands of miles from Boca; you don't even feel like you're still in Florida at all.

The link HERE to their site does a much more exhaustive job at explaining the location. All I can say is that it is literally like taking a vacation in itself. A MUST-SEE for those of us who live near and far.

In addition to the acres of peaceful, Qi-filled gardens and settings with benches nestled to and fro, there was an an amazing display of Bonsai...

And a killer cafe as well!

Hey, While Yer Up...

If you're going to be up in the dark on Saturday morning because of parental responsibilities, you might as well take FULL advantage of the extra time and make the best of it, right?

Duncan Hines Blueberry Muffin mix with strudel topping and "real wild Maine blueberries" (um, sorta...). I added some chopped pecans and some grated lemon zest to the batter in the hopes of making it more interesting.

Actually, they're pretty darn good. And it's good company to the Cuban Cafecito. What's the best part? The gurlz will wake up to the smell of fresh baked goodies for breakfast. That ALWAYS makes the day start well!