October 2011 – The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Seattle Restaurant Week!

We participated in the Seattle Restaurant week (was on going for 2 weeks) this week mainly because I wanted to experience it without spending so much money. We really enjoyed it a lot, although all of us agreed that we can’t eat like this everyday. We dined at the Melting Pot in Bellevue, and Sip and Wine Restaurant here in Issaquah Highlands. Melting Pot is always fun to do because it’s a fondue restaurant and we don’t do fondue here at home. Hubby mentioned that we should be doing fondue because it’s not that expensive and versatile in the sense that we can do different types of cheeses and chocolates for dessert.

greens with gorgonzola and other yummy friends!

Pepper Steak!

We had this simple stir fry steak last week. It’s not really worth writing the recipe because there’s no recipe that I followed in this one. I just marinated the sliced beef then marinated it in bottled steak sauce then stir fried it together with bell peppers. I just love the colors of the dish because it reminds me of Italy, one of my dream countries to visit:)

Short Ribs in Red Wine!

A few weeks ago Hubby mentioned that he missed my short ribs dish while I was vacationing in the PI. This dish is so easy that I’m happy to oblige his request! I know my sister, who is staying with us, is also into short ribs so I was kinda excited to make this and see how she will like it! Let’s just say that she said “she doesn’t mind having this once a week!” Thus, I will be making this dish again sometime this week:)

browning the meat, the least fave part of the cooking process!

This is my second time to prepare this dish. The recipe can be found at Food network,under Claire Robinson’s “Red Wine Braised Short Ribs”.

Weekend Fun:Leavenworth, WA (part 2)

Here’s more of our weekend trip to Leavenworth!

Weekend Fun: Leavenworth, WA (part 1)

We spent a great day at Leavenworth, WA. yesterday and it was such a nice day to visit the lovely town:) It was so nasty going there (pouring rain, foggy, windy) but so worth it when we finally arrived and enjoyed the place during the Fall season! We spent our New Years 2010 here and got to see Leavenworth during the wintertime, and let me tell you, it’s really the classic winter wonderland place:) I was excited because it’s Rosell’s (my sis) and Riley’s (our cute Schnauzer) first time to see the place. It was such a perfect day to be there, sunny and the changing of the leaves colors, so many fun things to experience. We did some wine and beer tasting, ate a yummy Italian dinner, and shopped at Smallwood farmers market! I’ll have 2 posts of our Leavenworth adventure because Hubby took a lot of nice pictures that I want to share everybody:)

Flat Iron Grill!

I cleaned our front and backyard this week and wasn’t up for cooking dinner after that, so I declared to Hubby that “I deserved some steak” LOL…so off we go to Flat Iron Grill and used a coupon that I purchased a while ago. I always order their Flat Iron 10 oz. with salsa criolla, goat cheese polenta and chimichurri! It’s so good:)

Mt. Towndsend Cheeses: house marinated olives, panzanella crackers & gastrique

Pickled Beet Salad H.F.O. bulls blood beets, arugula, goat cheese, beet chips & white balsamic vinaigrette and Steak Tartare picholine olives, capers, dijon, shallots, crostini & quail egg

Flat Iron 10oz * salsa criolla, goat cheese polenta & chimichurri (I shared with hubby with this dish!)

thank you living social,we got this meal cheap:)

WIWW

I’m participating again at ThePleatedPoppy for WIWW! It’s been a very nice fall season here in WA this past week, sunny yet chilly so I had to wear lots of sweaters and my super comfy black boots!

Just have to include this pic! so pretty:)

sweater=hollister,jeans=abercrombie,boots=nordstrom,coach bag,scarf=borrowed from sis

same outfit except for the top (from jcpenny)

sweater=tory burch,pants=F21,boots=nordstrom,coach bag

French Onion Soup!

This is the first dish that I prepared after my vacation from PI. With the cold weather and fall season officially here, there’s no better time to make some yummy soup! I got this from the food network website and looks like Tyler’s recipe got the highest rating:) This is one delish soup!

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 quarts beef broth
1 baguette, sliced
1/2 pound grated Gruyere

Directions

Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn’t burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

When you’re ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the Gruyere and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.

Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.

Alternative method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

Weekend Fun!

This weekend was such a fun time with my sis and Hubby! We watched the movie 50/50 with Joseph Gordon Levitt and we loved it. You’ll laugh and cry at the same time (I recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet). Then we had some yummy Italian dinner at Maggianos (bellevue square). Saturday, it was movie time again at the cheap theater(3$ per movie) we watched Captain America and The Devils Double (so disturbing and depressing).

Tagliatelle with Prosciutto and Orange

I got this recipe from Bon Appetit ( the Italy issue, May 2011) and let me tell you that this pasta dish was super easy and surprisingly yummy! Orange and Prosciutto, just two ingredients that I’ve never had together in my pasta before:) I’ve always loved Prosciutto so I knew I had to make this dish. We liked the dish and most likely I will be making this again, but I’ll have to remember next time to “follow” the recipe exactly because I “doubled” the amount of the prosciutto (was too excited!!) and it came too salty (DUH!!!).

You’ll need:

12 oz. egg tagliatelle or fettuccine(preferably fresh)

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

2 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into 1″ pieces

kosher salt,zest and juice of 1 orange

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

fresh black pepper,1/4 cup finely grated parmesan

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Season with salt; add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally,until 1 minute before al dente, about 2 minutes for fresh pasta,longer for dried. Drain,reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add prosciutto; saute until browned,about 3 minutes.

Add reserved pasta water,orange juice,half of zest, and cream;bring to boil. Add pasta; cook,stirring, until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cheese and divide among warm bowls.