A Break

Consider this blog to be (temporarily?) on hiatus. I appreciate the three of you who take the time to read and respond but I need to focus on a couple of other projects right now.

Fix-It-Fridays: Breakfast On-The-Go

My tummy, much like my brain, takes awhile to wake up in the morning. It's next to impossible for me to eat anything before I leave the house in the morning, meaning I have to grab something at the office.

The additional difficulty for me is fitting a grab-and-go breakfast in with my diet plan. The best way for me to lose weight is limit my carbs substantially. This means no bagel, toast, english muffin, granola bar, breakfast sandwich, hashbrowns.

So, fix it! What's your on-the-go breakfast plan? Any suggestions for something easy I can prepare ahead of time or even just bring along to work?

A Tale of Two Chardonnays

Two Charonnays. Both light, fruity and non-oaky. Both lovely with crabcakes.

The one on the left, 2008 Charles Shaw International (from Australia). The one on the right, 2008 Millerick Road. The one on the left, picked up at the local Trader Joe's. The one on right, flown back from the actual Larson Family Winery in Sonoma, Ca. The one on the left, $3. The one on the right, $18.

In a blind test, I'm not sure which I'd pick though you can be sure which most people would turn their nose up at if they saw the bottle. Truthfully, I'd say you can't go wrong with either one.

Tomato, Basil & Mozzarella Sandwich

This is one of my favorite sandwiches EVER and so simple!

The tomato and basil were grown in our own backyard. The bread came from a vendor at the farmer's market. We toasted it up, just crusty on the outside, still soft and chewy on the inside, brushed on a small amount of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, topped with the tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella (from Trader Joe's).

Perfection.

What's your favorite sandwich?

Pine Station Red Table Wine

This is another bottle we purchased on our trip to California. Milat Estate Winery is a tiny little family-run winery.

The Pine Station Red Table Wine is described on their site as:

Full bodied, with rich aromas and flavors. Excellent house red that exhibits black fruit from the Cabernet, raspberry and clove from the Zinfandel, and a subtle softness from the Merlot. A great everyday wine.

A great casual red, it would probably go well with just about anything though we paired it with pizza. Personally, I'm a big fan of Cabernet and Zinfandel so anything combining the two is a good start for me. I'm not sure I'd continuously buy it in the store for $18 per bottle if this came from a major supplier but this one had a more sentimental draw since we picked it up in person. Definitely worth a try if you're rambling through Napa. And definitely worth a visit - we had a blast at the tasting where we met one of the brothers that operates the place.

Grilled Pizza

Here's one of our latest culinary obsessions - making our own pizza.

Yeah, we've made our own pizza for years but always using pre-made crusts. Now, we're rolling the dough ourselves and it feels like we're doing so much more. Of course, we're also making a total mess of things so I don't know that more is better. But it sure is yummy!

This particular pizza concoction was sloppingly transferred to the pizza stone and transported to the grill. Look at the awesome mess I Joe made by rolling the dough in more of an oval so it ended up hanging off the one side!

Toppings on this one are homemade basil pesto, sundried tomatoes, grilled chicken and fresh mozzarella. Mmmm, so yummy. See how the cheese even turned nice and golden? That there is the result of almost burning it pure skill.

Since then, we've also made a ham, onion, thyme and Gruyere pizza but we did that one in the oven. We had better luck with the crust not looking like a mutilated tire on that one but I forgot to take photos before we dug into it.

Mmm, pizza...

Fix-It-Fridays: How to Boil an Egg

There's more than one way to skin a cat (is that an inappropriate reference for a foodish blog?) and there's more than one way to hard boil an egg.

Some people claim a very specific method to boiling eggs. They even make a very specific little uni-tasker for this purpose - the egg timer! Yet there's no method to my madness. Sometimes I bring the water to a boil first. Sometimes I throw the eggs in before it boils. I don't set any timers so I just boil them until I remember to go back and turn the stove off. Usually this is before all the water has evaporated from the pan. Is it possible to boil eggs for to long?

I've always wondered if there's a correct technique and yet I rarely have problems.

So, fix it! What's your version of the proper way to boil an egg? Do you add anything to the water? Submerge in cold water? Peel while still hot or wait until they cool down?