Out & About:

During a "productive" weekend morning my roommate and I sauntered over to Panya Bakery to indulge in croissants. This little bakery is a gem, if not for their pastries, then for their people watching.

I suggest the plain croissant.

Potato salad without the mayo. What the what?!

One of my all time favorite chefs and restauranteurs, Danny Meyer has a recipe for

Herbed Potato Salad with Bacon and Scallions

Hold the mayonnaise.

This evening we would be feasting on:

Soy Ginger chicken (I told you I was going to use more ginger)

Danny Meyer's potato salad

Steamed green beans

Danny (I refer to him as if we we're friends) calls for the potatoes to be boiled in herbed water.

A method I have not used before in my spud cooking.

The chicken is marinating

The bacon is frying

And all the while I am not getting splattered on.

Thank you mom & dad.

Potatoes, scallions, and bacon.

Ingredients to any great potato salad

Three hungry diners

A little feta for the green beans

And to a delicious Sunday meal.

Cheers!

Dinner Review:

All the elements of the meal separately were delicious, however combined it was a battle of spices. I'm not sure I would pair the chicken with the potato salad again. Instead substitute the ginger with BBQ chicken.

The perfect accompaniment to bud light, and Lobster?

Spicy Salmon Salad a la Sarah

(recipe originated from her friend's Mom)

We had to make two batches, we were a hungry group!

Greens

Black Beans

Red Onions

Corn

Mandarin Oranges

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Avocado

Cilantro

Tortilla Chips

Chipotle Salmon

Add as little or as much of each ingredient as you want, don't like cilantro, you don't have to us it.

No amounts were listed for a reason.

1. It's your salad

2. It was 4th of July weekend, no one was measuring anything.

The salmon was marinated in chipotle, grilled, and then cooled before being added to the salad.

Since we were occupying the grill with ears and ears of corn, we broiled it in the oven.

The dressing:

Ranch dressing

BBQ sauce

Ah-Mer-Ica !!!

I'm posting this a week late, but imagine it's the Fourth of July, you're in Martha's Vineyard, the yard is peppered with Bud Light cans, and the only thing keeping you on the straight and narrow is the fact that you're about to cook 13 lobsters... Welcome to dinner!

Hello 2lb fellow @ $9.99 a lb.

I think my favorite part about this particular lobster catch was the excitement a few of us had about racing our dinner.

There was smack talking, bets, and overall pride as we picked what we determined to be the fastest crustacean.

This ended shortly.

One of my friends, a good cook, nay a great cook, filled the sink with fresh water.

5 minutes later when I proceeded to check on my prize winning racer, he was barely moving.

With the lobsters near death in the saltless water we opted to rush the cooking process.

Accompanying our lobster dinner:

Rosemary Mustard potatoes

Corn

Spicy salmon salad (post later)

Lobsters of this size take about 15 - 20 minutes to boil.

Place them in the pot head first, and when they're done they will be a bright red color, and their tails will curl.

Dinner for 13.

Never the easiest, but thanks to Sarah, my salad making, lobster boiling, kitchen tool finding friend we managed just fine!

In addition to our rosemary mustard potatoes, we opted for, as my friend Katie put it, "fancy butter"

Rosemary and other herbs accompanied our dipping butter, and added a lot of great flavors to the meal.

It's a summer weekend, I know someone out there is eating lobster.

Crack 'em open and enjoy!

Thank you Kerry & Doug!

One of my dearest friends Tucker was in town, my older brother Ned was turning 28, and Kelly just moved to Texas with her fiance.

Sunday was a busy day, and deserved a celebratory and stressless meal.

My mom makes hands down the best ale marinated flank steak and with her recipe, and Tucker's credit card, we headed to Trader Joes.

It was nice to have Tucker as a co-chef, she's a great baker, chopper, stirrer, and cook.

Look at her go!

Fresh ginger is one of the most under utilized spices, at least in my kitchen I'm going to work on changing that...

The steaks marinated in the fridge for about 10- hours

I rotated them once at the 5 hour mark

Then seared them in the same fashion I had with the steaks PB and I made.

Some helpful oven cooking reminders:

- Remove the steaks from the oven just short of your desired doneness, as they continue to cook.

- Allow the meat to rest 5- 10 minutes before carving (so the juices can settle and be redistributed throughout the meat)

- There is actually a proper way to slice flank steak - against the fibers

Serve it up!

While the steaks marinated, we snacked.

And as we snacked I was presented with the cutest/coolest apron EVER. Tucker's parents had sent me new cooking flare for my birthday - I wore it all around the apartment, even when I wasn't cooking!

Thank you Tucker family!

Then we ate... (sans camera)

.............................................................................................

Sadly, I neglected to capture the whole meal.

Ale marinated flank steak

Fingerling potatoes

Spinach and feta

DELICIOUS

But the next day, we had leftovers!

Lets be honest though, leftovers can be just as fun!