Day1 - Bacon Explosion

Friday Jan. 1, 2010: Charlie's House: Bacon Explosion.



Today, Charlie made the ultimate in bacon/pork amalgamations. It is basically bacon, wrapped in pork, wrapped in bacon. Somehow, he managed to stuff more pork in this very small space.

It was a little bit of magic. Somehow Charlie crammed three pork molecules into every one. I don't believe there is a better way to sum it up.



The only thing that was better than the pork explosion was listening to Ed, Steve and Charlie discuss the what percentage cheese can make other foods better. It was college all over again.

Thanks Charlie! Go Penn State!

Day208 -

Monday, November 3, 2008: My kitchen: Squash Soup

La Bella's down the street from us made what was probably the best squash soup I have ever had. I tried it tonight, and it came out ok, but not nearly as good as I hoped.

I started with this Acorn squash that was tough as nails. I'm lucky I did not loose a finger for real.




I browned it with some garlic and then added chicken stock and cream of coconut and ginger. This is where I fucked up. I should have added coconut milk, not the much sweeter cream of coconut, but I was not paying attention while digging things out of the closet. This made it too sweet.

It smelled great. When Troy came in the door he was psyched. It kind of smelled like Indian Pavillion.




I got to use this neat stick blender someone gave us. I've always wanted to make a soup that needed to be blended and today was the day.




Voila! A thick and creamy soup that was just a little too sweet for me.



I also made these little loafs of soda bread - the easier bread in the world to make. This isn't your traditional soda bread with raisins and sweetness. This is a plain loaf of bread suitable for dipping is soup. I think it only contains flour, buttermilk (I used milk with lemon juice), baking powder and some salt. It was really easy. I found a good looking recipe for authentic soda bread and will making that in the future.

Day312 - Yeah, it's a little like Heaven pie.

Friday, November 7, 2008: High Street Pub: Pumpkin mouse pie

Troy, Allen and I met Yana at the High Street Pub. I went here for my newness sometime either this year or last year. It is a quite restaurant with food that is more expensive (but good!) than what you expect for a Pub.

I had some kind of roasted pork tenderloin, veering away from the pulled pork that I would have probably liked more. I tried some of Yana's swordfish and it was really good. Much better than mine.

Yana and I split this. I think it was a pumpkin mouse pie, but Deb (our waitress and probably coolest lady on the planet) called it Heaven pie. And it was! Very very good especially if you are a pumpkin lover (I am a terrible pumpkin lover).

Is it as good as my Heavenly Mango bites. No. But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't eat a whole damn pie.




Later that night, after Yana and I fussed over Mac and Dank fussed over Toofy, Troy, Allen and I had a little Nerf war. Here is a secret - Allen likes to shoot you in the face, whether you are paying attention to him or not. I immediately changed my opinion that I would ever want to play paintball with him - Yana you were right!

Here is a video. We shot each other with beautiful freedom nerfs.

Day313 - Is that a grape?

Saturday, November 8, 2008: OLV Bazaar: mystery cake

Today we headed to the OLV bazaar to eat, push Anna around in a stroller and check out some crafts. Also, to lose at basket raffle.

We met Mark, Jodie and Anna and drove to OLV. I really wanted perogies, but they were already sold out at 1 p.m.. That would NOT happen back home - not until at least 6. But I don't believe that these were made by someone's eastern European grandma.

Troy and I split some crazy cake that I did not take a picture of. I looked like carrot cake, but had raisins, pineapple, and Troy said, cherries. And nuts and some other craziness. It was very good and I had a hard time stopping eating it.

Afterwards, we went to Target with M, J & A. Troy modeled this over priced silver wreath atrocity.



He is cute.

**How the rest of the day went - so Melissa remembers**
I talked on the phone with Rick about life and friends and death and life and all that other fun stuff. Kyle and Carla came over and they got to see Mac and eat Pizza and marvel at how large this iMac is. We ate pizza and Troy shot me in the eyeball with a nerf gun. Directly in the eyeball.

Day315 - Bangers and Mash

Monday, November 10, 2008: My kitchen: Bangers and Mash

I wanted kielbasie. But our sad kielbasie was sitting in the freezer for 6 months and was beyond freezer burnt.

Instead, we cooked up a couple of Turkey sausages that were in the freezer from something or other I cooked this year. They were hot because we do not like mild here.

Troy brought home some perogies via Jess, via Greg, via OLV (they use sour cream in the potato batter!). It was, ofcourse, super fucking good.

Day210 - Hot Damn Pt II

Monday, July 28, 2008: My Kitchen: Buffalo Chicken on a baguette.


I found this totally rad Buffalo chicken at the deli. It's a lunch meat, but tastes just like hot wings. Totally skrews with your brain just a little.

We put it on a baguette with some of the totally rad apple/celery slaw and there was lunch.





We took a walk to the park to feed some ducks and the mallard momma had a crush on Troy. Here is here stalking him a bit.

Day209 - Hot damn chicken.

Day 209
Sunday, July 27, 2008: My Kitchen: Avocado Chicken Skewers with Broccoflower.

So! More cooking today. Surprise, surprise. This summer will probably be remembered for the insane amount of food I ate/cooked.

These are Avocado Chicken Skewers. The recipe was from Healthy Living. This chicken was marinated in soy sauce, garlic and chilies packed in adobo sauce. Then onto skewers.



Here is a head of Broccoflower - a hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower. It had the texture of broccoli, but the flavor of cauliflower. Weird but good.



I steamed it and then tossed it with garlic and olive oil. Really really good. The avocado bit of this was some avocado mashed with some spices. Really good as well. Troy almost ate it with a spoon.

Day208 - Really, it could go for more garlic, probably.

Saturday, July 26, 2008: My Kitchen: Roasted Tomato Mayo.

I'm not one to put a shitload of time and effort into on part of dinner. I don't have the patience to spend 4 hours to work on one ingredient of a 30 ingredient meal. That's why I buy my roasted red peppers in a jar.

So, it was a surprise that I spent an hour to make this mayonnaise. I doubt I would have unless it was for a quantity that could be used for weeks to come - like in this case.

First, you roast a whole head of garlic.




While that chugs away in the oven, you add all of this into a bowl. We've got salt, pepper, red pepper, celery, more garlic and applesauce.

**Quick note - I've been dicing onion and freezing it in a container in the freezer. It's making my life hella easier and it stays for a good long time. **




In a pan, roast tomatoes, rosemary, basil and salt and pepper until it literally falls apart.





Then, burn your precious fingers peeling the skin from the tomatoes before you dump it in a bowl with the garlic you burnt your fingers on and mayo.




Mix it up and keep it chilled in the fridge for a couple of months. If it will last that long. Troy has it about half gone already. So it was worth it if he likes it so much.




I also made some other crazy shit. Yana and Allen were coming over for lunch, and I love cooking for more that just us two.

This is a buffalo turkey burger. It kind of tasted like hot wings.




Instead of ranch or blue cheese, this slaw went along with it. I hate slaw, but I liked this very, very much. Two Tb of ranch, walnuts and 1/4 c apple and celery. Really, really awesome.




And oven fries. These are the only fries that I've ever made that came out good in my life. Trust me, I screw up frozen fries all of the time. The had a teaspoon of paprika, olive oil and some salt. In the oven for 30 minutes at 450.




So, yeah, I cooked a lot today. It took an hour just for the mayonaise and everything else was from scratch as well. All the recipes were from Healthy Living. It's pretty much my go-to-guide for cooking right now, and it hasn't let me down yet.

Day204 - Cookies!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008: My kitchen: cookies.

I thought these suckers would be good for my junk food addiction right now. If you eat the recommended serving size, by which I can totally abide by, they aren't so bad or high in calories. For some reason, I'm really addicted to chocolate right now. It's wierd. I'm usually not that kind of girl.

Day197 - I like to juggle hot pans.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008: My kitchen, Greek Pork Chops and Chocolate Souffle.

Both of these are from Healthy Living. Both were really, really good. I don't know that they are ideal for cooking in mid-July, but I'm probably just bitchy because we have no air conditioning in our kitchen and it can quickly get to be a million degrees in there.

The Pork Chops were killer and super easy. Just a marinate of sugar, worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano and lemon juice. Even though it was easy, they were still the best that I've ever made.




We had them with a greek salad. Haha. Funny.




I also made Chocolate Souffle. I think they were around 180 calories for a 10 oz casserole. I made them in these little casseroles that you would usually use for creme brulee. It all worked fine.

I mixed in mint chocolate chips because we were out of chocolate. I am the master of substitution.




I have no idea why I was making this face. Probably because making a souffle is hard, and it is only harder when your boyfriend is taking multiple shots of you making it.




Next you mix in eye whites. I was so frantic that my egg whites were whipped enough. Really. This was STRESSFUL. I just tried to remember everything I ever watched with Elton Brown.




In the little dish.




All baked. You have to eat these warm or the eggs will deflate and you will have nothing but a chocolate omelette on your hands.




Troy like the souffle, even though he hates, HATES custards of all kinds. I like it too, but I think it would be better suited for December or January when you need the heat. As you can tell, I hate the heat.

Day185 - Flakes of devotion.

Thursday, July 3, 2008: My Kitchen: Le Leche corn flakes.

I have a real love for Dolce Le Leche, which is a carmelized condensed milk. If you've ever had my little mango strawberry bites then you may know why.

I've found these corn flakes that are drenched with the condensed yumminess. They are only 100 calories a cup, making them fair friendlier than other sugar soaked cereal.




I'm kind of addicted now and will readily eat a handful for a snack. I'm not sure where you can buy them (I bought them back home), but I will gladly drive that far to get them. I told you, it's a problem…

Day 184 - Well, that is just nutty.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008: Meyer's Dairy: Grapenut Ice Cream

I don't know that I've ever even had a grapenut in my life, but I was so interested in the weirdness of the combo I had to go for it. Knowing that the grapenut is essentially a stale piece of toast, I was expecting something a little unsavory, but I was delighted when it turned out to be pretty fantastic. The ice cream had a taste of a coffee ice cream, or a really dark chocolate - just that underlying nuttiness taste.




Troy ordered Rocky Road. He was pretty bummed to find only one piece of road in there. It was a definite Fail.




We kind of just spent the night wishing that we had the truck although it is out of commission for a bit right now. It will be rocking and rolling again soon, she just needs a little bit of TLC to get there.

Day183 - There must be a god because this cheese is too good.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008: State College: Ale House

Today Yana, Troy and I had a meeting at the Ale House. While we were there we had a little dinner that turned into a big dinner. But good, so good.

Yana had this martini that I think had mango in it. Very, very good.




Then we had this while we were waiting for our client to arrive. This may be the best cheese plate that I have ever, ever had. And you know me, I am a connoisseur of cheese.




See this cheese with the green specs? Havarati with dill. I could live in that cheese wheel.




After the meeting we ordered dinner although I think that we were all probably full from the best appetizer ever. In my quest for the best pulled pork ever, I order this one:




Very good. Great even if I must gush. It had this coleslaw on it. I usually hate cole slaw, but I believe that this has opened a new door for me. I know that it at least has apples in it and probably mayo. I think I'll spend my life trying to figure out the rest.




Great night. Great company and an awesome outcome to our meeting. Sometimes it's really easy to love life.

Day179 -
Friday, June 27, 2008: My living room: Strawberry crackers.

Tonight Troy was having a bad night. He was pretty bummed out about something or other and wanted comfort food to eat it all away. He actually yelled "I want comfort food!" when I questioned him, which was funny.

About 4 months ago I got him addicted to peanut butter and jelly cracker sandwiches. He never had them before and now he can't stop eating them. I think that is hilarious because I've been eating them with my pop-pop for years and years. I don't think that I'm lying when I say maybe 25 years.

OH. MY. God. I've been eating pb&j crackers for 25 years. My head… I'm getting… whoo… it's getting dark…

I'm going to forget that fact. Yikes. Anyolder, I used this strawberry jelly that Mark and Jodie brought us back from the beach forever ago. This was super yummy and I loved it and it calmed Troy down as well. Side note: I really need to learn how to can.




And I don't know if you can tell from the overabundance of food posts, but I'm working super long hours right now. The project is almost over, but I'm super tight on time until sometime around Monday.

Day174 - How do you like these apples!

Sunday, June 22, 2008: Allen & Yana's: Stuff and things.

Yesterday we took the truck for it's first drive out of the county to visit Jen and Derek. Today we took it for it's first ride over 7 Mountains to Yana & Allen's. It made it back and for succesfully. I mean things may have actually fallen off of it and water may have flooded in it, but you will have this.

Yana made super fucking good food. This pizza being one, the roasted red pepper stuff in the background being two. Yana, I think we need to have an Iron Blonde Chef cook-off.




Here is a picture of the Mr. & Mrs. with Troy going for a ride after dinner. I got to chill out with some dogs and cats. It was an even trade off.




Right after they got back it rained like cats and dogs. They very graciously let us park her in their garage. I think this maybe the last time that happens. Foolishly, they let it slip that they know where to "dump our bodies." Yes my friends, the truck is so bad ass that we have been threatened with death - by OUR friends! If we go missing, please check their garage.


Later, we played Apples to Apples. It was really fun. The only person who is more of a sore loser than me is Allen and that is comforting. Troy and Yana are pretty relaxed about winning or loosing. Oddly, their relaxation is not comforting.

We stayed super duper late. Crazy late. If we didn't have a crap load to do in the AM, and I didn't have a need for my own pillow, we would have stayed til morning, which was only a few hours away. To you both, thanks for a great night - it was much needed. Next time we are playing Pictionary. I feel like some blood may spill.

Day173 - Bellefonte-ing it.

Saturday, June 21, 2008: Around Bellefonte

Troy and I are officially cat watchers. Even better, our cat watching skills are at 2-0. All kitties have lived! Today we watched Mr. Muggles for the first time. That would be Kyle and Carla's kitty.

He hissed a lot. A LOT! But he chilled out after five minutes and was in love after I picked up his can of food. He kind of looks like a lemur.




On the way home from their house, we stopped at The Deli. Finally! It only took 4.5 years to eat there! Let's see. We both had a grilled Reuben - a first for me.




We saw this beautiful table topper that Steph made.




I tried this Sweet Tea by Schneiders - makers of some of the best OJ in town.




Troy agrees that it was awesome.




Then we had some home made lemon meringue pie.




We were both full, full, full until about 7 at night. Then I ate something else new - a meatball sub with Buffalo sauce on it. Yum!

Day169 - The kind of chicken wing I like.

Day169 -
Tuesday, June 17, 2008: The garage: Buffalo Wing Chips

Just because the truck is "done," that doesn't mean that it is DONE. It won't be done-done for another year atleast. So in an effort to completely fall of the wagon that is my diet, I bought these terribly good chips and ate about half of the container. Oh, and I had a milkshake to wash it down. Both were really good, but I'm in love with these chips a little.



They taste like a chicken wing without the chicken. That is a little bit of a mind trick, but I got over it fast enough.

MMMmmmmmmmmmm. Yummy. I know.