End of Summer Vacation

Its our last big trip of the year. Fall and winter is time to focus, and stay home and be cozy. I can’t believe I was here 6 months ago, and now we are going back. I love it. Bahamas has become our special place.

This time we opted for NO rental car (its too confusing to drive there, we almost died last time) and we are staying on Paradise Island. This is because we ended up driving there everyday last time so this time we might as well just stay there. I’m excited to go back to the island and gets some R&R.

Then when I get back, I will buckle down and start a cooking schedule. Let’s do work son!

Are you guys having any end of summer last trips?

Posted on August 27, 2014 by miemo 0

What’s for Dinner: Smokey Bleu Pizza

Do you love pizza? My husband does. And as a die hard teenage mutant ninja turtle fan, I too love pizza. Fireworks pizza in Leesburg, is his favorite spot for his favorite pizza. Its a wood fired pizza with gargonzola, bacon and a balsamic reduction. Since I love a challenge…I tried to recreate it at home. It was a SUCCESS! Here’s how you too can have a fancy pizza for dinner.

Start off with pizza dough. Let’s be real here, if you wanted to cook this for dinner tonight, you would have bought pizza dough. Because that’s what I did, from trader joes.

Flatten it out. Really thin. I like to make two pies from one bag of dough to ensure a thin crust. Then I bake it slightly, without toppings, to make dinner ready, faster without worrying if my dough is cooked all the way through. While you do this, cook 6 slices of bacon until most of the fat is rendered out. Don’t cook all the way through though!

Slice half an onion into these ringlets (is that what they are called?) and caramelize them…in.the.bacon.fat.

Sauce up your pizza crust. Again, store bought pizza sauce from trader joes. He’s the man.

A little mozzarella to give a good base.

Bacon. You probably don’t need a picture of every step, but I was going to make it into an animation, then changed my mind.

Caramelized onion rings.

Pockets of gargonzola, that will melt into gooey deliciousness. Bold statement from someone who does not like any time of bleu cheese.

Something different, but works well. Shrimp. medium sized, pre cooked. Top it with a little more mozzarella and sprinkle of fresh rosemary. Because it works. Bake for about 7 minutes. Drizzle balsamic reduction… throw it back in there for another 3 minutes. Serve hot.

Smokey Bleu Fancy Pizza
Ingredients
1 packaged of ready to cook pizza dough
6 bacon slices
1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup of pizza sauce (more or less depending on how saucy you like your pizza)
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup of Gorgonzola crumbles
20 medium cooked shrimp
1 TBS fresh rosemary, chopped
Balsamic Vinegar reduction/Glaze

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450F. Roll out the pizza dough into a nice thin crust. Bake for 5 minutes, flip then bake for another 5 minutes. Pull it out and set aside to cool.

Cook the bacon strips until ALMOST done. Most of the fat should be rendered out. Set aside on paper towels to remove excess grease.

Assemble the pizza. Tomato sauce, mozzarella, then the additional toppings. Sprinkle a little rosemary at the end, then bake for 7 minutes. Drizzle balsamic glaze and pop it back in for another 3 minutes.

ENJOY!

Posted on August 25, 2014 by miemo 0

Puzzles!

Our lives are constantly on the go. The other day, my neighbor told me she feels like she should be going out and doing more things. Because she says we are always traveling somewhere, doing something, and it makes her feel like she should be more active.

Yes and no. Yes we are always on the go, much to the chagrin of my husband, who probably doesn’t want to do all the things I invite him to do, but does because he’s a good sport. I don’t know why I can’t sit still. I have so many books that I need to sit and read, but I feel like I’m wasting time if I’m not productive at all costs. But no, we aren’t ALWAYS on the go. For example there was a whole week of no after work plans (during restaurant week at that! Who are we?!) and we just did a puzzle.

Yep. A puzzle. We were at the book store the other day, and I saw puzzles, and I was like. I like puzzles, and I haven’t done one in a long time. Let’s do a puzzle honey! And we did. We chose New Orleans 1000 pieces as our first puzzle. What are we going to do with it? Glue it? Frame it? I don’t know. That seems so permanent. What if I wanted to do it again? Also, I plan to do more, so all these puzzles will take up more spaces than I would like in our house. Our tiny little condo. Inhabited by a giant puppy.

What would you do?

Posted on August 20, 2014 by miemo 0

Kalbi Cookoff

The other day, we had our friends Bear and Bona over. The Husband and Bear each made their own kalbi recipe and they “competed” on seeing who’s was better.

Turns out, their marinade was very similar and everyone liked everything. Along with those lateral cut beef ribs, we marinated flank steak (cut for fajitas) in a bottle of bulgogi mix. For sides we had spice cucumbers and korean potato salad. My contributions to the cook off.

What’s your favorite cookout recipe?

Posted on August 18, 2014 by miemo 0

Bacon Egg Toast Cups

These cute little guys are my favorite brunch thing to make. And apparently a favorite to eat as well! So I guess it’s about time I share the recipe. They are super easy to make, and always a hit.

Ingredients
1/2 stick of butter
12 slices of wheat bread
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar
12 slices of bacon
12 large eggs
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F. Rub down a cupcake/muffin tin (for 12) with butter. Using a rolling pin, flatten the slices of bread. Cut a circle out of the bread using a mug (approximately 3.5″ diameter). Cut the circles in half. Place two halves of bread, overlapping in each cup of the muffin tin. Arranging it so that it lines it like a cup. Sprinkle cheddar in each cup.

Partially cook the bacon, rendering out most of the fat. Set on paper towels to get excess fat. Cut the bacon in half and arrange over cheese in the muffin tins. Be sure to flatten them out in the muffin cup.

Crack an egg into each of the muffin cups. Top with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven until egg whites are set, about 15-25 minutes depending on how you want your yolks cooked.

Posted on August 13, 2014 by miemo 0

21c Hotel & Museum: Louisville, KY

While we were walking around in the city, my grandma bladder was telling me that we should stop for a potty break. As soon as I mentioned it to Josh and Tyann, they told me to hold it, because the bathroom they were going to take me to, was going to be worth the wait. Wait, what?

They took us to the 21c Hotel and modern art museum. Yep. A museum that you can stay at. It was filled with lots of cool modern stuff. So the bathroom. For the guys bathroom, there is a two way glass in front of the urinals. While on the outside you cannot see inside at all. But on the inside, it feels like you are peeing on display for everyone to walk by and see. Josh told us it was very hard to pee with us standing in front of him making inappropriate gestures and faces. The women’s bathroom wasn’t as fun.

These penguins are also on the roof of the hotel. He became our new bff.

There’s an installation about the Chinese Zodiac, and the origins of the order and the animals. I never knew there was an actual purpose. The animals are in the order that they crossed the river in the race. The rat convinced the gullible ox to carry him across the river, then jumped off winning the race. What a rat. I am an ox. That is my ox face.

Vitya is a tiger…I don’t know why this creature has cheetah spots.

A tornado installation. Made up of things that would get swept away in a real tornado. I see what you did there.I wanted to give you a new view.

The museum was filled with really cool stuff and everything interested me, at least. But really…the bathrooms were the main event. Ha!

21C Museum Hotel
700 West Main Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40202

Posted on August 11, 2014 by miemo 0

Doc Crow’s, Louisville, KY

We went out to Doc Crow’s in Louisville, Kentucky for dinner. Its a nice place, pretty popping for a Saturday night, about an hour or so wait.

I liked the decor, its set up kind of like a train car. Really long aisle and tables on the side. We got the best seat in the house, right next to the window in front of the street so we could people watch. We were downtown so there were a lot of bachelorette parties going on. Lets just say, people were already taking off their shoes at 8pm. Come on ladies. Gross.

We started the night with beer, wine and peel and eat shrimp. They were boiled in Old Bay and served with cocktail sauce. The flavors were great, but the shrimp had that “I was frozen” texture to it. To be expected, Kentucky is landlocked.

Oyster sampler, came from 3 different places in Virginia. I don’t eat oysters, raw or otherwise. The other ladies liked them though!

Mother of all nachos. Housemade bbq chips topped with cheese, pulled pork, salsa, sour cream, jalapenos, bbq sauce. What is this madness? Delicious.

This is what I should have gotten. Loaded baked potato. Loaded with goodness that is bbq pork, cheese, and sour cream. OMG. Now I want more.

Tacos. I didn’t eat them because they were soft shell, but it looks tasty. He ate it so fast I almost didn’t get a picture.

Mussels were great. I’d go back for mussels.

Baby back ribs. Glad I only got half a rack. It was packed with seasoning, and served dry on purpose. But it was so caked on that it tasted like…chalky. I had to rub off some of the rub, and pour bbq sauce on it to get through a couple bones, but in the end it wasn’t worth it. Maybe because I like a fattier rack of rib, so if you like dry meaty, fatless ribs, go for it!

Either way the service, the atmosphere and the company was well worth it. The ribs didn’t put a damper on our night!Thanks again to this awesome couple for taking us out and about!

Doc Crow’s Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar
127 West Main Street
Louisville, KY 40207

Posted on August 6, 2014 by miemo 0

Road trip: Louisville, Kentucky

It is amazing how different each state is. As I do more travel on the ground, I realize that there are so many things to see on the road.

Friday, Vitya and I, my favorite road warrior (our relationship was built on crazy road trips, hence our “ride or die” motto) got in our rental car and drove the windy roads and mountains a couple states over to Kentucky.

I have never ever set foot in that state. EVER. I had no idea what to expect. I know I was super excited to see my friend Josh again and meet his fiancee, whom I’ve become internet friends with, IN REAL LIFE. Quick side story, on a related note:

Josh and I met at the How Design conference which took place in Austin, TX in 2009. It was my first time traveling alone for work in a new city. My company only sent me, and he was also the lone ranger from his company, Pizza Today. We sat next to each other at a talk and pretty much became instant BFFs. Michael Jackson dying that day bonded us forever. Oh, and he made sure I didn’t get murdered.

We stayed in touch these past 5 years, and in that time, he bought a a super cute house (with his now fiancee), added more animals to his posse, and proposed to the woman he had just started dating before we met. Tyann. We finally got to meet her after corresponding through social media. And a failed attempt at the Derby in 2012 (where we ended up in Myrtle Beach instead).

We love Tyann. So much. It’s ridiculous. Poor Josh. It definitely turned into a girls trip. We’ll bring our men next time! I promise. He was definitely a good sport, and tried to blend in with us. See how he has a margarita while we all had beers?