There is no place like home

As much as I like to cook I have to admit it is still nice to go home and be spoiled by mom. I'm visiting for the weekend and my mom is prepared with all of my favorite food and drink.  Tonight we are having elk burgers with what was supposed to be mango chutney but turned into whatever ripe stone-fruit we had in the house chutney. It was delicious.  I helped a little (for some reason since I started this blog my mom is under the impression that I am an expert). It was so much fun to cook together.

Elk Burgers with Stone Fruit ChutneyElk burgers are delicious.  Like bison, the meat cooks very quickly and should not be overcooked (if you like your burgers well done, I would recommend not eating elk or bison).  I prefer elk and bison burgers to beef.  I find beef greasy and not all that flavorful.  Bison is readily available in most supermarkets.  Elk is  a bit harder to find, but obviously still available.

Tomorrow I am taking the night off and we are going to the Culinary Institute of America.  I can't wait!

Sometimes it's ok to be a glutton

Just in time for bikini weather comes two almost back to back nights of pure gluttony--dinner at Makoto in Washington, and the Culinary Institute of America's American Bounty restaurant in Hyde Park, NY.  My husband's birthday was yesterday and we celebrated at Makoto, one of the best restaurants in DC.  Dining at this Japanese restaurant is a unique experience.  Their sushi is amazing, but I highly recommend getting the complete dinner, a series of small plates that includes sushi, but for me the highlights were the other dishes.  I'll go into more detail on the restaurant review page, but I can't resist describing the first dish.  We started our meal with conch and wild mushroom soup served in a conch shell over "fire."  This  soup is traditionally cooked over a fire in Japan so it was served next to a flaming piece of blue lava. ok, I have no idea if it is really traditional or not, but I have no reason not to believe them and the flame was a completely gratuitous and enchanting accompaniment to the meal.  It just got better from there... 

I really enjoyed the meal because it was challenging.  I think that so many "gourmet" restaurants are simply variations of the same theme.  Although we had some familiar flavors at Makoto--ginger, mushrooms, avocado--there were many unfamiliar tastes.  Also, the way the flavors were mixed together was completely foreign to me.  Luckily I already hired a master chef to teach me the art of Japanese flavors.  Stay tuned for that adventure!

I am visiting my mom for the weekend which means lots of good food besides our trip to the CIA, and of course being spoiled by mom.  I can't complain.

Update on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 7:58AM by Klutz in the Kitchen

I've just been informed by the aforementioned Master Chef that he is not a Master Chef.  In fact, he is an Iron Chef.  Coming soon, Iron Chef America Battle Kitchen Klutz.  Let the battle begin!

Spring Peas

Sadly it is Sunday night.  Once the torrential downpours ended yesterday, it was a beautiful weekend in DC.  We went to dinner at Oyamel last night, a Mexican "tapas" restaurant.  It was delicious (you can read more about it on the "restaurant reviews" page) and highly entertaining.  As we were walking into the restaurant, two police cars pulled someone over, the guy ran, managed to lose his shirt before he was tackled and handcuffed by two police officers.  Meanwhile another officer (there must have been 10 policemen on the scene) started ripping open the seats of his car and removing a white powdery substance.  I love DC.

Pasta with Spring Peas and MushroomsIn honor of the first day of summer, I am writing a tribute to spring peas.  I love peas.  In contrast to the nondescript, vomit colored canned variety, peas are naturally sweet and not too starchy, and literally brighten up a meal.  You can eat them raw on salads, steamed, or in a multitude of dishes.  Besides peas, I bought some interesting looking "honey" mushrooms in the farmer's market yesterday, and some fresh tomatoes and mozzarella.  I'm going to make a pasta "sauce" with above ingredients as well as some garlic, basil, onion, and chicken broth.  I was thinking about adding some additional spices (mint and peas go great together.  I have an amazing recipe from the Culinary Institute for a cold pea soup with mint), but I didn't want to overwhelm the flavor of the peas.

I'm taking the night off!

Jannine, thanks for the amazing post.  I can't wait to try the grilled pizza.  It looks delicious. To all you kitchen klutzes out there, be a guest poster!  E-mail me at klutzinthekitchen@gmail.com if you are interested!

The Kitchen Klutz Dining on Take out ThaiSince it is my night off we had take out Thai food.  We usually order from Thai Square in Arlington--it's delicious and they deliver for free, but I switched it up a bit and we ordered from another highly rated Thai restaurant, Crystal Thai.  Of course I didn't tell my brother or my husband this...hah!  The blind taste consensus was that the food was good, but wasn't as good as usual.  For more details, my husband Jeff is going to write a review.

Update on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 9:18PM by Jeff

Hey, ya'll. My first blog entry. Up to now I have been an eater, rather than a blogger. As Mary's loving husband, I have been the beneficiary of all of the good recipes you have read to date. (I have actually gained 9 pounds since we started living together.) You would think her blog would be the best thing that ever happened to me. While I have benefited from even more good food than usual, I fear I have lost my wife. (Now take my wife . . . please). Mary now spends hours and hours in front of the computer screen. Our conversations go something like this, [Me] "Mary, do you want to go out of town this weekend?" [Long Pause] [Mary] "Hmmmnn." You get the picture. The blog has become the main topic of conversation in our household. Sorry President O.

Overall, I would recommend Crystal Thai, but give the nod to Thai Square. Check out my review

Look for my next guest appearance as Jefe, our cabanna boy (if Mary lets me post again after this).

A bit of Cobbler

I had the best bbq of my life today.  Actually, I don't know if it was truly the best bbq, but we were so hungry that smoked crap would have tasted delicious.  We decided to go for a bike ride which turned into a 54 mile bike ride. We were tracking our journey based on how much further we had to peddle to get to the BBQ shack (mile 44). But seriously, Carolina Brothers Pit BBQ on the WO&D trail is wonderful!

Its Memorial day and my original plan was to bake a rhubarb pie.  I was too tired and we didn't have enough time when I got home, so the pie turned into a cobbler.  The beauty of cobber is that it is easy to make, you can use virtually any fruit, and its yummy!  I like my cobbler tart with a nice biscuit crust on top.  Since it has a relatively low sugar content, it also doubles as breakfast!

Amazingly, I did not burn myself tonight.  The last time I made cobbler I placed it on my counter to cool and then reached up and over to get plate out of the cabinet.  My belly grazed the side of the extremely hot pan and unfortunately for me, my shirt pulled up when I lifted my arms up to reach into the cabinet, leaving a nice welt on my stomach.  Word of advice...don't burn your stomach.  it hurts.