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Bulgur with Tomato and Onion

This dish was inspired by the Bulgur side dish served at my local Turkish restaurant.  I don’t think – or at least I don’t recall ever having Bulgur before my first dinner here.  My date and I went in for dinner and we were each given the choice of rice or bulgur as a side dish to our meals.  In true eating-on-a-date-fashion, we of course ordered one of each…and I then proceeded to hoard the bulgur for myself.  It was so tasty!

I think – no, I know what I liked so much about it was the tomato flavor in the dish.  It reminded me of one of my all-time favorite dishes – my Grandma Proulx’s Pork-Chops-and-Rice where the rice gets it flavor from tomato and onion….and is maybe the only time *ever* that I like the starch more than the pork in a dish.  Think about that – I am Pork Fest Queen after all! *smile*

So of course I decided to try to recreate this bulgur dish at home…and while it doesn’t taste exactly like the bulgur at the Turkish restaurant, I still really like it and am excited to have another great side to put into rotation.

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Filed Under: Diet-Friendly, Recipe, Savory, Sides, Vegetarian-Friendly

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The Coq Stops Here

February 25, 2012

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Coq au Vin with Egg Noodles and Green Beans

Coq au Vin is something that I like, but I have to be honest, tends to be a dish I only turn to when I have a glut of leftover red wine taking up too much of my precious fridge space.  But, boy – has this changed forever with my latest batch!  I’ve tried a number of recipes over the years, but last night’s recipe – based on a recipe from Bon Appetit from 2002 – was the best of them all.  So good, in fact, my recipe-wandering has stopped…and I predict that my next batch of Coq au Vin will be inspired by a craving rather than leftover wine. *smile* Read the full article →

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Filed Under: Do-Ahead, Mains, Recipe, Savory, What's For Dinner

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Potato and Kale Soup with Smoked Sausage

I love kale and potato together. I would eat Colcannon every week if I could…..but a girl can’t live by mashed potatoes alone, no matter how many vegetables you mix in!  So I did a bit of research for a potato and kale soup and after reading a number recipes for different versions of Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup came up with this version for myself

I recently tried Hillshire Farm Hot Italian Style Smoke Sausage and have been using it in everything since. I’m on a tear! *smile*  But any smoked bratwurst or kielbasa would work in this soup.  The smokiness from the meat gives a nice richness to this brothy soup.  And you can easily make it vegetarian by skipping the sausage all together.  If you want the veggie version to have that nice smokey flavor, simply add a few drops of liquid smoke.  But don’t worry, it will still have plenty of flavor, even without the smoke.

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Filed Under: Mains, Recipe, Savory, Soup, What's For Dinner

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The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

Music by George Gershwin

Lyrics by Ira Gershwin

Porgy and Bess

 
This has been one very talked about, heatedly debated and somewhat controversial revival – really re-working of “Porgy and Bess”.  This production takes the Gershwin’s original opera and changes it – both book and musically to make it into a theatre piece.  How well they’ve done it – or really if they even should have done it – is a matter of high feeling – on both sides.

I will say out front – I’m a fan of the opera “Porgy and Bess’ – but despite that, I was very interested and excited about the piece being re-imagined.  The music is so lovely and has some really interesting characters.  In the opera, which can feel very long in some places and the overwhelming-ness of the score can be a bit much for people – so I thought I streamlined version, with a bit more book and maybe a bit less full-opera-chorus would bring this American classic to a whole new range of people.  I was really behind the idea and looked forward to seeing it.

But once I did, I found itself stranded in a middle zone of part-opera/part-Broadway, and in the end, not enough of either.  The singers are all first-rate…but an example of the middle-ground-problem – the women sang their pieces in a very ‘operatic style’ but the guys sang like Broadway performers…and the two styles did not go well together.

So while I can’t whole-heartedly recommend it – if you are at all interested, do go and experience it.   And like I said, they can all sing – every last one of them…and the score, though a bit messed with, is still chock-full of that beautiful Gershwin music.   This will be a production that is talked about for years to come – and it’s always  fun when you can chime in on something like this armed with first-hand experience.

Richard Rodgers Theatre
226 West 46th Street
between Broadway and 8th Avenue
Now through September 30th

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Filed Under: Entertainment, NYC, Theatre

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After a morning spent at Heart Castle, this was the perfect spot to grab lunch before we started our drive down the coast.  We had been in San Francisco to attend the Winter Fancy Food Show (and visit my brother, Tom, who happily lives in the Bay Area) – and after 5 days in San Fran, we started a drive down the coast, with my sister Suzy in tow.

Our first stop was an overnight at a beach-front motel in San Simeon which put us in the perfect location to get to Hearst Castle first thing the next morning.  It was a beautiful day and Suzy especially enjoyed the grandeur of the castle – the blue-tiled swimming pool was her favorite part.  She declared she plans to have one of her own.  Once we finished at the Castle, we were more than ready for lunch – and headed to the Main Street Grill, just a few miles up the road.  Read the full article →

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Filed Under: California, Restaurant, Travel

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