bear-eakfast of champions vs. 2.0 and 3.0: remix my mornings

As you probably know by now Betty and I like to do up breakfast on the weekends. I've started a new breakfast series called the bear-eakfast of champions (BOC) for the excessively hearty and delicious concoctions that I whip up. It all started with version 1.0. With out further delay ladies, gentlemen and fellow bear-ethren BOC 2.0 and BOC 2.0:


BOC 2.0: two slices of toasted Brownberry Health Nut bread topped with 2 eggs over medium with a layer of shredded WholeFoods salsa jack in between, a tomato, red onion, jalapeno relish, 3 slices of crispy bacon and breakfast potatoes seasoned with cajun seasoning topped with previously mentioned salsa jack and onions



BOC 3.0: ck remix on huevos rancheros meets chilaquiles: seasoned black beans with corn topped with pan grilled zuccini, squash and red onions, topped with jalapeno jack cheese, 2 eggs over medium all then topped with a scoop of sour cream and said tomato relish from BOC 2.0, accompanied with fried tortillas for dipping and of course el yucateco pasa doble to boot.

Both meals were fantastically delicious -- and no I didn't eat them both in one day. The only question is what should the next breakfast of champions feature? Holla' at me with your favorite hearty breakfast recipes because you know I'm game. Word is bear-log.

there's no pizza like home-ade...Dew's Pizza

2 months later... cholesterolking re-engages! it was like a torbear-nado picked me up and took me away from Kansas Columbus...but I've returned and I sure have a back-log of posting to do...and so we begin:
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Now for my unreaders--formerly my readers -- you know that my favorite pizza joints include Adriaticos, Hound Dogs and Surly Girl's. I also used to make some homemade pizzas from a variety of ingredients that included bagels, pitas, flatbreads and the like -- but really I have moved on from making pizza at home -- and in all honesty -- the pies were not really homemade because the crusts were not made from scratch... (Pause.)

Enter columbusyogurt's culinary skills what I will refer to as Dew's Pizza not to be confused with Dewey's pizza...:


homemade dough, olive oil + herbs, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, red onions, perfectly crisped bacon and TLC from columbusyogurt


said pizza from above baked to perfection


said pizza from above plated...


baked homemade dough, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and TLC from columbusyogurt


said pizza from above plated.

Have you stopped salivating? I sure haven't. This pizza was some of the best tasting, freshest tasting pizza that I've ever had in my bear-life. You know it gets the CK-signature yums-in-my-tums approval. Posting this reminds me that I need to wrangle the ingredients of the crust from Mr. Columbusyogurt (CY)...but with that being said -- homemade crust an amazing pizza does not make...as CY prepared the pizza there was a TLC element that comes only with prior pizza construction experience. CY formerly of Figlio's at one point in his career has detailed pizza blueprint knowledge that was very apparent in this culinary masterpiece. Everything about this pizza was fresh. There was no bottled/canned sauces or veggies. CY used only olive oil and herbs as the sauce on the first pie and only fresh tomatoes and possibly olive oil on the second pie. The mozzarella was fresh instead of store bought pre-shredded blends -- though I still profess my love for the quattro-formaggio from Trader Joes. The careful preparation of ingredients and the personification of calmness and coolness in the kitchen all translated into the amazing taste of this pie. At this time -- I should give praise to Mrs. CY for prepping the crust as well while CY was at work.

I will definitely have to consider revisiting home-made pizza goodness at the Chateau because as we all know...there's truly no pizza like home-ade...there's no pizza like home-made...doubly true if you are a Dew.

Word-is-bear-log.

the great shrimp boil comes to the Chateau!

For those that read this blog you may already know this -- but contrary to popular belief - bears do eat other things besides fish and that includes shrimp. As a matter of fact Betty and I have been on a big peel-and-eat-shrimp kick. I decided to try a shrimp boil in the fashion of classic New England and Southern Low Country dishes.


boiling water with sea salt, old bay seasoning, fresh squeezed lemon juice, whole lemons, potatoes, onions, and shrimp

I started the boil with the potatoes and onions for about 6 minutes, then added the corn for another 5 minutes and then added the shrimp -- which was frozen uncooked shrimp from Whole Foods -- for 3 minutes.


drained shrimp boil with half of lemon

Wasn't sure what to expect from this meal because it seemed too easy. Just heat some water, add some spices and then boil -- but it really was just that easy. Everything tasted delicious. The potatoes and onions were slightly overcooked as was the shrimp but no worries. I also whipped up a mayo-sriracha-old-bay-seasoning sauce to go with everything and Betty and I devoured our food. Can't wait to try this again with a slightly tweaked boiling time game plan.

bear-eakfast of champions vs. 1.0: prescription for pancakes

I decided to try out a recipe for pancakes that did not seem too complicated from our folks at Allrecipes.com. This is a big thing for a bear who is all about culinary improvisation rather than prescription: :

Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
Ingredients

• 1 _1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 _1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 _1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

unflattering picture of homemade blue berry pancakes, crispy bacon, one egg over medium and breakfast potatoes with cheese and onions

The pancakes were very easy to prep and bear oh bear did they taste soooo good. I suppose with as much butter in them as the recipe prescribed I could do no wrong -- but this was truly the breakfast of champions. Perhaps I could get used to this whole recipe thing...the link for the pancakes are below:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Good-Old-Fashioned-Pancakes/Detail.aspx

the return of the 2-flip: middle eastern 2-flip chicken

Back to the kitchen for some 2-flip chicken. Recall 2-flip chicken got it's name cause you only need to flip it twice to cook it. This time i marinated the chicken in turmeric and lemon juice and then topped it with the heatwave seasoning. I also made some lemon rice with bhasmati rice, fresh lemon juice and rind and chicken stock. Grilled up some zuccini, squash and onions as a side. Also made season some greek yogurt with cucumbers, onions and spices. Smacked some Trader Joes hummus in the middle crowned with a pita chip. Very fresh and tasty meal. I flip you not.


turmeric lemon chicken with lemon rice, grilled zuccini and squash, yogurt and hummus

and then a gyro salad comes along...with the taste to carry on...Jimmy V's Grill & Pub

Betty and I decided to stop in at Jimmy V's Grill & Pub to grab a bite to eat after spending the afternoon venturing out and looking at real estate. I ordered the gyro salad while Betty got the cheeseburger


gyro salad with gyro meat, pitas, olive, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions & feta

The salad was tasty, refreshing and gargantuan. I got to get my gyro fix with all the seeming lightness and nutrition of a salad. I would like to take a moment to note that thin cut gyro meat is a rarity in Columbus these days. If anyone knows of a place that slices and serves thin cut gyro meat holla atcha' bear.


cheeseburger with American cheese and fries

Betty reported that her cheeseburger was classically delicious. I had a bite and agreed.

This was probably our fourth time going to Jimmy V's and I must say that every visit has been consistently fresh and tasty. Definitely worth checking out if you're interested in bar food with Greek flare.

eating exhibition volume 1..The Ohio State Bear at the fair...

Betty and I ventured out to the Ohio State fair to meet up with some dear friends. I was excited because this was my first time going to the fair and I was excited to see, smell and eat all the foods that I had heard about over the years. It's safe to say that I made up for all the years that I had not been to the fair and truly put on an eating exhibition.


fried cheese stick and fair fries...

When we entered the fair I was ready to eat and we started with whatever was in close proximity - in this case a fried cheese stick and french fries. The fried cheese stick was decent. Was more batter-y in the manner of a corn dog but can you really go wrong with fried cheese? The french fries were yummy as well.


cinnamon-sugar dusted fresh fried baby donuts

I had read about the above donuts from columbusfoodie's blog and decided we had to try them based on the glowing reviews. These were one of my favorite foods that we tried that day. Freshly fried donuts topped with cinnamon and sugar. The donuts were warm and soft and melted in your mouth when you ate them. Not like any donut I've ever eaten -- sinfully delicious.


fair pep pizza

Yep still going strong -- i just had to try fair pizza. The slice was lukewarm but still had a pretty standard taste that was better than your average pizza joint. Simple tomato sauce, simple cheese and plain pep not bad -- though perhaps not really necessary on the consumption list of everything I ate that day.


strawberry and mint chip ice cream from the dairy barn...

Up next was trying out the ice cream at the dairy barn where they have the famous butter cow. We ordered ice cream -- and I thought perhaps the ice cream was made fresh that day when we ordered but later saw a sign for Velvet ice cream -- so maybe it wasn't fresh. Either way I was underwhelmed with it. Part of the reason for my apathy towards it was that we decided to be frugal and have our scoops in one cup which saved us ~$2.50 rather than ordering separate cups. I had the mint chip and Betty had the strawberry which didn't really blend well together. The ice cream reminded me of ice cream from back in the day. Simple yet ultra creamy -- but beyond that- nothing remarkable. I suppose that works for most folks but I think Jeni's and Graeter's have me spoiled and have my taste palette expecting more with action packed flavors and unique ingredients.


chicken and noodles


thanksgiving dinner

Yep. Still going. The above picture looks like something you might get from a lunch cafeteria -- which having grown up on Indian food -- I admit I always had a curiosity for cafeteria food. That being said I really enjoyed my chicken and noodles and Betty's Thanksgiving dinner. The only complaint being the styrofoam plate and bowl -- and that they ran out of cranberry sauce.



caramel topped apple dumpling with scoop of vanilla and cinnamon ice cream

Last food purchase of the day I promise. Closed the food-filled day at the fair with an apple dumpling. Definitely saved the best for last. This originally just came with vanilla ice cream but I thought it'd be good to mix it up with a scoop of cinnamon. Very tasty. The apple betty was piping hot and the ice cream with it was tremendous. I loved it.

I had a great time at the Ohio State fair catching up with dear friends, learning more about Ohio's wonderful wildlife and livestock and eating way too much food. We hope that this year will start a tradition of us going every year with our friends.