Sauteed Cauliflower

I try and eat a lot of fruits and vegetables every day, but sometimes I am lax. Worse than that, sometimes I buy vegetables because I want them, forget about them, and then buy more of them. That's what happened to me this week. I wanted cauliflower while I was at the store, forgot I had it and bought more the next time I was at the store. So today when I made stirfry, I had far more cauliflower than I could use. I made the stirfry, and then sauteed the rest of the cauliflower. I used a simple recipe. I just sliced the cauliflower into 1/2 inch slices and dropped them into a frying pan with hot olive oil. I let them brown and added a little salt. It is such a simple preparation, and yet it is so delicious.

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Chamomile Creme Brulee, part 1

So, this is my first two part post. It stems from the fact that I have recently become obsessed with infusing creme brulee with a chamomile flavor. I made my first attempt last Sunday, with my friend, Leah. We tried to steep chamomile tea bags in the warmed cream. This was a failure. We ended up with vanilla creme brulee. It was delicious, but it was not chamomile. Thus, I set about my current obsession. I decided that attempting to steep the chamomile was a mistake. Instead, I decided to infuse vodka with chamomile and use that infusion to flavor the creme brulee. Step one has been completed. I have the chamomile infusion. It smells and tastes like chamomile, and it has a beautiful amber color. I used a tiny airplane bottle of Finlandia vodka for the infussion substrate. Here is a photo of the process and of the result. Stay tuned for part 2, when I attempt to use this concoction to flavor a creme brulee.

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Passion Cafe

I very rarely write about restaurant food, but I found a real Tenderloin treat. Passion Cafe is a little French bistro on Sixth just south of Market. There is an upstairs terrace and the food is excellent. The lady had a goat cheese tartine and I had a tartine with ratatoui and anchovies. Both were delicious. Oh, right, also, they have $3 beer for happy hour. It is a great new place in the TL, and I hope that it does well.

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Beef Stew

It's been a while since I have posted. Sadly, I had a terrible cold. I did make it to the grocery store in my convalescence. At the store, all I wanted was the warmest, hardiest meal I could imagine. Beef stew is about as hardy as it gets. I used the recipe in Alice Waters's Simple Foods cookbook as a basis for this stew. Ms. Waters might suggest that the secret ingredient to her stew is the 3 tablespoons of brandy or the 2 cups of wine. They are key ingredients, but I tend to believe that the secret to this stew is the giant bowl of seasoned meat. The flavor is great, but next time I think I am going to add more vegetables.

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Habenoro Chicken Quesadilla

It has been a while since I posted, and for good reason, the lady and I went to Mexico for her birthday. We had a great time visiting her family and seeing the sights. I was inspired by our trip, so I made habenero chicken quesadillas. For the record, there is no ñ in habenero, which means 90% of the time I mispronounce it. Here are pictures of the quesadillas and there preparation.

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