drAnn's Art

Duke's Steakhouse

In line with my philosopy that artists have to eat, here is a work of art from our favorite Hemet restaurant, Duke's Steakhouse:

Yes, this yellow sweet potato is 9" across and slathered with butter and brown sugar.   I looked at it while I ate a bowl of clam chowder and a fraction of their scrumptious filet mignon.  Dessert was a non-alcoholic strawberry colada.

Oh, they served awesome onion rings, too.

Usually I order rack of lamb when we go to Duke's because it really is phenomenal, both spiced and cooked to perfection.  Of course, I always choose their sweet potato, and last night's steak was exceptional.

Needless to say, the high point of the evening was when June-na came by to greet us.  Other terrific servers have waited our tables the last several times we ate at Duke's, but she was our first and always remembers us and stops to say hello.  This, in addition to the wonderful food, keeps us coming back.

 

Chocolate Mousse in Pyramid Shape

Looking for an online review of The Gourmet Room at Don Laughlin's Riverside Resort in Laughlin, Nevada, the first one that came up mentioned this dessert:

But the review did not have a picture of it and I did, so here it is.  Mmmmmm, tasty and also a work of art.  That did not stop me from eating it.

Lights Across the River

We took a ride upriver a few miles tonight to go to the post office and drop off some mail.  It looked so wintery on the other side.  Usually the bright lights from the resorts reflect in the water and show a pretty rippling effect.  Tonight it was as black as dark night and the room lights look almost like stars, except for their rectangular formation. 

This is shot from the Long John Silver's/Taco Bell.  We keep seeing their new fish dinners advertised on TV.  I like that LJS is finally offering unbattered cuts of fish.  Battered fish is tasty, but we don't need all that starch and oil.  Just give me the fish!

Ah, but they had the new "Fully Loaded Nachos" advertised on the door so we ended up getting that...and a Big Bell Box Meal.   We sat around munching on that and looking out over that dark river at the bright lights of Nevada, so near and yet so far. 

Everything Except the Tomatoes

We have green cherry tomatoes that we hope will ripen to a nice red in time for a Christmas Salad, but these are store-bought.  Not so the greens, however. All of those we grew hydroponically indoors with no dirt and no bugs.  That is my definition of organic ;-)

The fenugreek sprouts were "hatched" in the Easy Sprouter.  We buy the dried seeds by the pound, as this is our favorite sprout.  I also saved some of the sprouts to plant, as we like to saute and eat the bitter greens they will soon produce.  They are good in a variety of skillet dishes.  Fenugreek is known to help regulate blood sugar, so not only is it jam-packed with b-vitamins, but it has other health benefits as well.

Those are tender green amaranth leaves in the center, and Mizuna to the left.  Top and right are lovely sprigs of purslane, an Omega-3 rich green that is good fresh or cooked in soup and/or beans. 

Retirement is so cool.  We grow stuff.  We photograph it, blog about it, eat it, sleep, and grow more the next day. 

Today We Threw out the Toaster

Obsolete technology.

Yesterday we threw out the convection oven.  It was dark, took up too much room, and was a bear to clean, but did it ever nuke pizza good.  No matter, so does the NuWave, countertop appliance with infrared cooking technology, but it also makes killer steak, fish, and poultry. 

The NuWave's footprint is not as small as it looks in the informercial, but because of the need to put the dome somewhere when putting food in or taking it out, count of reserving 24" x 15" of counterspace when the appliance is in use.

Remarkably lightweight, the NuWave was a breeze to clean.    At a closed height of about 13 1/2" it stores under most countertops, and this is important, because I have read online reviews of the product that state it is 16 x 16.  Maybe that is for an older model or maybe it is just a mistake, but reading that almost had me backing out of the idea of giving this tool a try.

We are going to toss the egg cooker, too, because for breakfast we placed a couple sausages on the 4" rack with 2 slices of frozen bread and then I put a little butter in a couple of custard cups dropped an egg into each, pierced the yolks, and placed this in the drip pan below.  Then I pressed "Cook Time" and "10" and "Start."  Everything came out perfect at the same time.  

It is hard to say which was better, enjoying a delicious fast and easy breakfast or not having much to clean up afterwards.   Also, with all those other counter top appliances gone, there will be more room next to the sink for when we are cleaning our paint brushes.  Hubby had to chill a while when we first retired, but now he is back to painting.  Wahoo.  The scene he is working on now is darling.

In any case, the NuWave is a keeper and all the old stuff is going out.   This oven encourages healthy eating because it makes fresh food so delicious. For instance, just before tossing last night's Rib Eye Steak on the rack, I cut a summer squash down the center and put the halves face up on either side of the steak.  Perfection! 

One thing I really want all my readers to note, however, is that until you get the hang of how and when to lift the dome up and away from the hot food, please use oven mitts!    The NuWave will not overheat your kitchen like a regular oven, and the dome does not get very hot, but if there is any moisture in the food, steam will rise and it is possible to get burned fingers.  It is also easy to forget that although the high-impact plastic dome does not get exceeding warm, the metal rack inside does.  This is mentioned in the instruction booklet, but it cannot be said enough for those of us just starting to use this technology for the first time.

Finally, since more than a few NuWave Oven buyers have had their plastic domes crack, it is important not to let the warm dome touch a cold surface.  I have two suggestions for that:

1.  Plan ahead and be sure you have room to set the dome down gently somewhere safe until you get the hang of using the provided dome holder, and

2.  Consider placing a silicon potholder on top of the dome holder, so the plastic will not come into contact with the metal. 

I have a square silicon pot holder with little bumps that keep it from slipping, and its bright red color is a reminder to be careful. 

NuWave Oven As-Seen-on-TV

I am sure glad there weren't any good old movies on TV a few weeks ago when hubby stumbled across an infomercial for the NuWave oven.  He called me over to take a look and we were both enthralled.  I got right online and started reading all the reviews.  Nothing convinced us that we shouldn't try the product, so we ordered one and it arrived yesterday.  On the way home from our mail drop, we stopped at the supermarket and coincidentally found a tender young chicken whole chicken on mark-down.  

We save so much grocery money buying food that is on markdown that we didn't have any reservations about plunking down $149 for the latest model with an updated electronic digital display and free carrying case.  As lightweight and portable as this gadget is, we have no intention of carting ours around, but we thought it would make a nice dust cover to house it in when we are away on extended trips. 

The infomercial we saw pretty much focused on chicken, and they made is look impossibly delicious, with absurdly minimal effort.  My kind of kitchen appliance!  But would it work?  You be the judge:



We are a little unclear how anyone could get a whole turkey into this cooker, but no matter, the chicken was just wonderful.  It was every bit as moist and tender as the TV ad promised.   One thing they could have stress more, though, was that steam will be hot when you first take off the lid, so be sure to wear oven mitts!  That said, the appliance really does run cool compared to a regular oven.  Cooking time for this big juicy bird was exactly one hour. 

Even Artists Have to Eat

This salad turned out really good:

One of the ingredients was fresh marjoram, harvested from our Aerogarden Deluxe computerized garden. 

Other ingredients included dilly beans, baby limas, kidney beans (juice, too!), onion, celery, and nopalitos.  We buy ours locally, but Dona Maria's has a nice description this these succulent cactus pickles HERE.

What else?  Cilantro, and yes, when fresh is not available, the little frozen cubes work great in this recipe.  Sprinkle it with black pepper and and douse with olive oil and this salad starter will keep well in the refrigerator for quite a few days, although it is unlikely not to get eaten rather quickly.

Just before serving, however, I stir in a couple more perishable items:  cucumber and tomato wedges.

Here is another photo, showing the marjoram from my own "hot house" before I sliced it up:

A note about cilantro.  I have only met one person who doesn't like cilantro, but once we read a restaurant review for a Vietnamese soup place in Oakland, California and the writer, who was apparently unfamiliar with this herb, described it as "hot." I think he must have confused it with another ingredient.  We tried the restaurant ourselves and found the soup he mentioned good enough, but quite bland. 

Flowers Speak Louder Than Words

Time to Shout:

This is the sort of silly nonsense I sit around drawing in the motel room after a day of driving.

The salmon probably would have loved some peas, but when Chef Kitty invited the salmon for dinner, he had something else in mind.

We didn't have salmon that night, but the Quiznos sandwich was tasty.  When I wrote this article for Helium (Our Favorite Fast Food) they had not started serving flat earth fruit chips.  Not every Quiznos has them, but WOW, yummers.  Just watch out for the sugar!  They taste sweet because they are, well, SWEET!