Folks got me a present for my birthday, pretty stoked!

Prefacing this by saying that I don't like cucumber. I can eat it, if the pieces are small enough. With that being said, I tasted a cucumber salad made by someone, and it was delicious. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed eating it! I have no images of it, but I definitely wanna try to make it myself next time. And only a few ingredients, too (Idk the measurements, I'd have to ask her):

-Cucumber (of course)

-Minced garlic

-Green onion

-Rice vinegar

-Soy sauce

-Red pepper flakes

-The recipe called for sesame oil, but we didn't have that

If I ever find the recipe she used, I'll post it, it's really good, and I respect cucumber just a lil bit more now

Haha, I found it! We made a couple of changes, but it was so good

The beginning of a big ass batch of meat sauce.

Suppose I should have posted an after shot.

I froze all of it. Was planning on making a lasagne, but ran out of motivation. Turned out great though.

Pork, beef, lamb, chicken livers, canned San Marzano tomatoes, soffrito, a whole bottle of wine, oregano, smoked paprika, and Tony's as the meat and veggies were browning.

Also I used aged cheddar because I didn't want to open a new wedge of Parm, so some Italian will be putting a contract out on me shortly.

So....might have given my friends some food poisoning. Oddly enough I'm not sick, so it's narrowed down to the salad, fruit platter, or Bearnaise that I had to rush through because I fucked up the first batch and it separated on me. I didn't end up eating any of those.

My money is on the store bought fruit platter that was brought over, one bad cantaloupe and everything is contaminated with salmonella. I can't rule out bad lettuce or the salad dressing either. The salad dressing is suppose to be refrigerated, which it was when I bought it and at my house, but you never know.

Either way, one kid puked, and that family was on the toilet, minus the little boy who's already sick and didn't eat, just slept. The other couple was sick after 24 hours, and the one gal is pregnant and ready to pop, so I feel extra shitty about that.

IDK man, I'm usually a stickler for hygiene and safe food practices and it bugs me that I don't know exactly what caused it.

First time making creamy steak pasta. Lately I’ve been enjoying making homemade sauce, and it tastes so much better than the jar sauce. I used egg noodles & garnished with spinach and sun dried tomatoes.

The sauce was incredibly easy to make: Butter, minced garlic, salt and pepper, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese.

Looks amazing, and the steak looks perfectly cooked.

This guy popped up in my Facebook feeds last year and since then, his recipes have been the baseline for my own pasta sauces. He's also got some hilarious reaction videos where he just rips on Gordon Ramsey, as well as others.

A couple recipes worth checking out if you want to head to flavortown.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Penne alla Vodka

I don't always have access to guanciale or percorino, so I just use bacon and Parm and it turns out great.

Pasta is definitely the way to my heart. Thanks for the recipes! Penne alla vodka is so delicious

You know it's good when it's extra saucy.

Recently got a stand mixer. Excited to try and bake bread again :) Maybe when I'm less busy and less sick...

Threw together a pretty bangin burger. Pepperjack cheese, onions, pickled jalapenos, fries and barbeque sauce.

Had baked Alaska Flambé tonight for the first time ever. This dessert was superb. Delicate and delicious. White cake and macadamia nut ice cream. Rum and vodka stoli on the bottom. Meringue…burnt. To die for. 💕

I used my Maui rib marinade on some chicken last week. The flavor was awesome with the cinnamon and pineapple, the rest of it left a lot to be desired though. First thing I did wrong was put everything together first thing in the morning and let it marinate for about 10 hours. By the time I was rinsing it off, the chicken was damn near dissolving in my hand because of the ginger and pineapple, they are fantastic meat tenderizers. Then I threw it on the BBQ and it was just falling apart on it, and I over cooked it so it was dry dry dry. Like, I drank a whole beer to choke that chicken (lol) down.

Maybe if I'd tossed it in some flour and fried it up...

Anywho, it was a spectacular fail in front of my 7 guests whom I've never cooked for before. Life and learn.

omg 😂 at first i was like: what does Maui marinade taste like, pineapple? Then I was like oh no….not the overmarinading. Is the ginger flavor potent? I’m not a ginger girl myself. But I do like the citrus flavor that pineapple brings to some dishes. Then the dry cooking omg. And the 7 guests? Did any complain, or remark or did they all just pretend it was alright while you knew otherwise?

Mine does a smidge. It more or less tastes like a sweet sesame soy sauce and cinnamon. On the thin sliced shirt ribs it's amazing, plus the taste of grilling makes it divine. Even my dad who's not an out-of-the-box kind of eater really likes them.

I don't notice a ginger taste at all, it sort of gets overpowered by the all the other flavors, even the pineapple is subtle.

They were extremely gracious, and everyone I pretty chill since a lot of them either work in hospitality or have partners that do. I even got a standing invite for brisket, and another for pho. Two of the people who showed up earlier seen me throw it on the BBQ and how it was sticking and peeling from itself.

Tha poor chickens died twice for that meal.

Got home drunk as shit late last night. Heated up two slices of pizza and melted some shredded cheese and hot sauce between them as basically a really fucked up calzone.

My most creative cooking tends to be when i'm either drunk or hungover, and drunk me likes melted cheese apparently lol.

I like melted cheese all the time.

Lol same. Drunk me likes melted cheese and hungover me likes eggs. So if make myself a breakfast burrito or something at like 2-3 am then both sides are happy

Threw together a Greek Pasta Salad today for a cookout tomorrow. My fingers still smell of red wine vinegar and oregano. 🤭

I wouldn't be able to stop shoving my fingers in people's faces and asking "What does this smell like?".

Baked a smoked ham for an acquaintance's birthday/going away party and had some leftover ham. So fried it to death and added some shallots, carrots, half-day old rice, spring onion, kimchi, garlic powder, sesame oil and seed, Tony's, smoked paprika, MSG, and this Japanese BBQ sauce from Costco that is absolutely amazing.

Yesterday I fried up ham steaks and only fried it with Tony's and MSG, then put some of that BBQ sauce and some Dijon mustard on it and ate my heart out. It was pretty amazing, especially since I'm not typically a ham guy.

Anywho, here's my delicious fried rice abomination that's currently in the oven to keep warm.

I didn't take a picture of it, but I tried baking cake for the first time, and it turned out pretty great! Recipe for chocolate ricotta cake. My mom wanted me to bake it for her. The only suggestion she and I had was maybe a bit less powdered sugar for the frosting. It was delicious, but a touch too sweet for our liking. Also, instead of making it a tiered cake, I just made it into two separate cakes, cuz I didn't like the thought of stacking them. Not confident in that yet

Today, I'm testing out this recipe for a copycat chuy's tres leches cake. I'm surprising my mom with it as an early Mother's Day gift. I'll try to actually get a picture for that one. Wish me luck 🫡

It got the Mom Seal of Approval!

Made one-pan fajitas the other day, chicken, yellow/red/green bell peppers, white onion, a fuck ton of spicy spices muy caliente 🔥 and heated up tortillas and beans on the side. I stuffed one tortilla with all toppings and hot sauce and I was stuffed, so yummy.

Strawberry 🍓 jello poke cake. It was so moist and perfect.

Trying out a sourdough starter for the first time, cuz I wanna make cookies from the discard. I was even surprised with a sourdough starter jar as a gift, it's a charming lil thing

The recipe

Troubleshooting

Oooh! How’s the sourdough coming along? Did you make the cookies yet?

Passion fruit tart from a Michelin Star restaurant I went to a while ago! Chocolate ganache base, passion fruit gelee, coconut ice cream & shavings, honeycomb chocolate. I LOVED this dessert. It was so tangy and sweet at the same time. I’m not a big coconut person but they did it in a way where the coconut wasn’t overpowering and complimented the taste perfectly. I’m drooling just typing this.

The starter has been going along quite nicely. Its been doubling in size as it should, even with the not-entirely consistent feedings (which I appreciate). I collected 4 days worth of discard and baked the cookies with it today. I actually just pulled them out of the oven only moments ago. They look fine and taste pretty good, too. Soft and chewy, not too cakey, which I love in a chocolate chip cookie. I can taste just a small hint of sourdough. It's delicious! However, while I do enjoy it and feel proud that it went smoothly, I think I kinda prefer the cookies without the sourdough? I don't currently have a conclusive answer to that yet. But they are delicious, and I'd be down to bake them again

Edit: Unestablished starter and sourdough discard absolutely reeks though, ugh. It was worth it