Great Meal at Found Kitchen and Social House in Evanston last Friday night!

We celebrated my niece the newly honored Dr. Liz M. whom recently received her PhD. in Art History from Indiana University! We took her out to spoil her with great food and wonderful ambiance at Found restaurant http://www.foundkitchen.com/ in Evanston. This was our second time their and Liz and her husband Matt's first time. I must say we were all thoroughly impressed with all the goodies we had!

At Found they have shared plates and there were no picky eaters in our crew so we were all open to whatever the guest of honor Dr. Liz wanted! She was kind enough to let us assist on the picks. We started off with a Kale and Swiss Chard Salad with Nuts, Seeds, and Pears....what a great start to the meal! We followed up with Roasted Squash and Brussel Sprouts with Harissa Sauce, Cilantra and Pepita another outstanding choice! Next up another amazing dish Fried Butterball Potato Salad with Aioli, Celery and Pickled Peppers.....yo you gotta try dis!

Our final main course was the evening menus special and the picture below says it all!

New York Strip Steak on the bone with Bearnaise Sauce and Leeks, Mushrooms, and Bacon yum, yum, yum! I believe the Liz enjoyed her wonderful celebration meal!

 We finished up at our home for dessert for some cheeses and death by chocolate!

Nothing like talented chef wannabees coming together for dinner!

A big thanks to our friends John and Deb for inviting us over to feast on many amazing foods! Lots of laughs and great eats with them and many other friends. Let's see......on this plate above we have an amazing rack of lamb(Amy), flank steak(John), brussel sprouts with bacon(Brian), fingerling potatoes with onion and carrots(John and Amy), shrimp with white beans(Brian), and not shown seared scallops(me) cooked in Amy's pan that she seared the rack of lamb in! A great Saturday night and thankful to have been included with this fun festive group of friends! Once again hats off to all the chefs! Great job by all! Bon Appetite!

Let's talk turkey! Plus other recent foods on my menu for my ultimate love for food!

OK is it wrong to cook a 13 lb turkey two days after I assisted in devouring a 20 lb turkey at my sister's house for Thanksgiving? Let's start off by saying that our Thanksgiving dinner at Katy's was spectacular, spectacular! Great time with the family! It was so good we had to try and copy this great meal two days later! With the assistance of my wife and mother we preceded to accomplish this great feat! Our Saturday morning began with great holiday shopping deals at the mall in Madison and taking in a matinee movie! Then proceeded to come home and cook our turkey with Irmiter stuffing! This was the same Irmiter Stuffing recipe that my sister cooked and was my father's recipe and I must say I have yet to taste a stuffing better than this in all my years of eating stuffing....of course there is lots of bacon and hot pork sausage in this stuffing. Those who would like the recipe just ask and I would love to share! This is a picture of the one and only Irmiter Stuffing!

Did I mention on Friday the day before we cooked Lamb Trotters? What are Lamb Trotters you ask? I did as well! I found out that it is part of the lamb leg and it is delicious! Here is a picture of the finished dish Wine Braised Lamb with Garlic....which we served with roasted potatoes and rosemary. 

Here is the recipe below!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Wine-Braised-Leg-of-Lamb-with-Garlic-231736 

A Taste of Italy! Cioppino! Italian Style Seafood Stew withTomatoes and Basil

Made this last week! One of my favorite things to make on a cold wintry day! Makes for a great hearty supper! Serve it with a nice green salad, bread, and a crisp white wine and I guarantee happiness! This awesome seafood stew has shrimp, crab meat, clams, onion, garlic, oregano, fennel, tomatoes, white wine, basil.....so good!