the goat cheese of breakfast morning...

Being sick for the week limited my cooking game and one of my biggest bear peeves is letting food go to waste. I squandered a yummy bag of fresh green beans this week and felt really bad. I was destined not to have the same thing happen to my precious goat cheese. This morning I was visited by the goat cheese of breakfast morning and I did something I normally don't do in Columbus as mentioned in previous posts -- I made an omelette. I did a 2 egg omelette with goat cheese, onions, and bacon. I plated them with a pepper tomato salad and rosemary seasoned potatoes. Hit them with my El Yucateco-trifecta and was in heaven. I love cooking breakfast! Betty missed out on this but I'm sure she's having good eats in Chicago.


B&W focus filter from picnik: goat cheese, onions, and bacon omelette, pepper tomato salad, rosemary seasoned potatoes; El Yucateco trifecta in the background; Seven Hills creme brulee blend in the mug.

kickin' it in the kitchen with 2 flip chicken...

I made some 2 flip chicken last night. For those not familiar with what I'm talking about -- I'm talking about grilling chicken on the stove but only using 1 flip to cook each side. 1 + 1 =2 flips -- not too complicated right. I usually do 5-6 minutes per side and the marinade and seasoning varies. Last night I needed to get rid of some lemons so I marinated the chicken in lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, and dijon mustard, and a little bit of this and that seasoning. For the sides I tried the Aunt Nellies Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage from Jungle Jims, a homemade goat cheese, tomato, pepper salad, and some browned potatoes with grilled onions.


2 flip chicken, sweet and sour cabbage, tomato, goatcheese, and pepper salad, and browned potatoes

The dijon mustard gave the chicken a mellow-winey-taste that complemented the cabbage and everything really tasted yummy together.

The only low part of the meal was the void of cooking for one since Betty was off to Chicago -- but all in all a good meal.

BBC presents Banana Bean Craving 2.

You think i was kidding when I said Banana Bean was one of our best dining experiences eva eva eva eva in Columbus. We snagged some good friends and persuaded them that they should join us for lunch at Banana Bean on Saturday. That's right twice in less than 2 weeks...technically three times if you count when they were closed on Monday.


shrimp and grits

Described from the menu as "...Cedar Key Shrimp & Grits - Smoked Bacon Etouffe and Creamy Goat Cheese Grits"

Betty ordered the grits. The shrimp was tasty but the grits were pretty underwhelming and bland. They could have used more flavor in the form of bacon, more goat cheese, or even more tomatoes and green onions. I was a little disappointed that this meal did not quite pack the punch that our previous days dining had provided. At the same time I finished Betty's grits for her after eating the below.

Islamadora Fish Taco

The fish on this taco was the Red Stripe Beer Battered Cod. I could not taste much if any of the mango habanero ketchup this time around. In all honesty I really wanted to enjoy this and it was pretty good but I definitely enjoyed the shrimp version of the fish taco more. The battered fish overpowered the other elements in the taco.



Our friend ordered the fried oyster po'boy pictured above.

It was my first time trying fried oysters and I thought the flavor was strong but pretty tasty.

All in all Banana Bean cafe came down to earth in terms of flavor the 2nd time around. I am not sure if this was because we had not let enough time pass between our last visit or if perhaps the flavors/chefs that day were off. At the same time I did not regret trying the food we had. It was still tasty and better than your typical fare. I still want to try their crab cake burger along with some of their other brunch items and have no reservation about going back there.

nothing beats kfc... khurmagiana freestyle chicken...

Betty and I do not normally eat a lot of Italian food out. Not sure why. I am not normally even a big fan of chicken parmigiana but i decided I would freestyle something together using some recent purchases from the Hills Market. I used Trader Joe's tenderloin chicken.


defrosted Trader Joe's chicken tenderloin patted dry.


seasoned-salt-flour; boring plain bread crumbs with Trader Joe's pasta seasoning; 1 beaten egg

I dredged the chicken in an egg wash with yolk - why waist it you know? Then dusted the chicken in a flour-seasoned-salt blend -- back in the egg wash again -- and then one final dusting in a breadcrumbs-Italian-pasta-seasoning blend.


boring prep shot. chicken browning on iron skillet

The linguine was delicious and cooked in 3 minutes. I used the Rossi Pasta Classic linguine from Hills Market. Marietta Ohio represent.

The pasta sauce was pretty good with everything as well. I used "Cleveland's Own Little Italy Pasta" sauce available at the Hills Market as well.

I also steamed some broccoli and cauliflower to accompany the meal along with a small mixed greens salad with goat cheese and tomatoes.

Oh. And I forgot that we also had garlic bread from Weilands bakery.


Betty and I really enjoyed this meal. There was an authentic restaurant style taste to the pasta sauce that made everything taste good together. Even nicer was that we had mother amounts of leftovers for lunch for the remainder of the week.


divide and conquer. kfc lunch for the week

her name is Bar-rio and she dances on the sand...

Not sure if it was work or something else in the air but I had the get-out-and-eat-bug this week. We decided to finally try Barrio Tapas after striking out at Banana Bean Cafe off of Whittier which we learned was closed on Mondays. We ordered a number of items from their seemingly delicious eclectic menu.


We started off with a pitcher of sangria which was half off for happy hour for $12. The idea that someone might drop $24 for a pitcher was shocking to me. Sangria was so so -- not even in the same ballpark as Barcelona's. The bread with the butter and spiced oil was nice but we only got 3 slices of bread. Come on now.

Started off with the tuna ceviche and both versions of their empanadas.


tuna ceviche with base of lime, basil, siracha

The plating of the meal was the best thing about the ceviche. The lime was too overpowering and I failed to understand what they were trying to do with the taste. The popcorn I could care less for. The radish salad and plantain were tasty but it's not a good sign when radishes are trumping tuna.

crab, almond, goat cheese empanada with corn, pico, avocado puree

I really wanted to enjoy this but it tasted bland to me.


beef and bean empanada

I enjoyed this empanada a bit better but I couldn't really make out the bean that was with it. Beef was alright. Both empanadas had tasty puff pastry but in the end I would've been happier eating a Chili's southwestern eggroll.

At this point I found myself uninspired by the food but wanted to try more of the menu -- good for Barrio Tapas -- but bad for this month's credit card bill. We ordered the watercress & goat cheese salad along with the scallops wrapped in serrano ham. I'm glad we explored the menu. The salad was tremendous and the scallops were delicious as funk. Definitely some of the best scallops i've ever tried -- not no parkay -- not no margarine -- strictly butter -- strictly butter.


watercress & goat cheese with sour orange mojo, pistachio & goat cheese tostada



scallop and serrano ham with mango sherry vinaigrette, cilantro puree

When all is said and done Barrio Tapas is an alright place: a pricey menu with some tasty gems, a great dining environment and a prime downtown location. If we go back it'd be more of a stop off for a drink sort of place while out on the town.

Marcellas Reconsidered...

The evening of the New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) show found us being frugal with our parking so we parked in the Short North and bar hopped our way down to Nationwide. We decided to check out Marcellas. I had been to Marcellas one time before and thought they had pretty tasty pizzas with overpriced sweet cocktails.

We were pleasantly surprised to learn about the happy hour specials that were half off pretty much everything on the menu except for the 'L" on the right of the menu. Betty had the grapefruit Negroni with Bombay Gin, Campari, Sweet Vermouth, Fresh Grapefruit juice and tonic and the Milan Manhattan with Woodford Reserve Bourbon, Amaretto Di Saronno, Vanilla infused syrup, and Di Saronno soaked cherries. Both were pretty good but again too sweet for me. I tried the extra dirty gin martini with tanqueray and blue cheese stuffed olives. These were divine and gave the Refectory a run for their money in terms of best martini in Columbus. We ordered the pesto shrimp pizza with goat cheese and the margherita cheese pizza. Both were tasty and at the right price.


shrimp pesto pizza with goat cheese and roasted tomato

The above picture is a bit out of focus but i was pleased since it was from my new cell phone. Regardless it was nice to rediscover Marcellas and their happy hour prices. We will definitely be back there for happy hour with friends in the future.

home cooking...

Still trying to get caught up with all of my posts. Betty has agreed to let me live and we've cut back on the lean cuisine completely for the past 2 weeks which I've been pretty happy about so I'm back to cooking. I've been doing a lot of the same stuff I normally cook including mexican and santa fe. The pic below is my tony bourdain inspired dish of moroccan flavored beef with rice biryani accompanied with a pepper salad topped with goat cheese and hummus. Not the most pleasant looking of all meals -- but the taste was bold and I loved it.


Moroccan Beef with Rice Biryani + Pepper Salad with Goat Cheese/Hummus Dressing + Sriracha


nacho bowl with pepper salad

Hmm. What else am I missing. I made ground turkey enchiladas this week that were good. I included refried beans with bacon in the enchiladas. They were delicious. We also had Mom's mattar paneer with Trader Joes Nan that was bonkers. Then my mother-in-law came over for a visit and she made pasta which was mighty tasty. Reading this now makes me realize that I need to hit the gym twelve-fold this weekend.

morning star grillers...remixed

for dinner last night i decided to mixmaster ice out a twist on a veggie burger classic.

1 Morningstar griller crisped up to perfection.
Sabra extra garlicy hummus
1/2 toasted wheat pita
cous cous bean salad comprised of kidney and pinto beans
goat cheese salad with mixed greens, yellow peppers, and tomatoes

simple. different. and tasty as funk.

Goat Cheese Breakfast Weekend...

As we have eased back into cooking...I seem to have a crucial ingredient each week...kinda like Iron Chef's secret ingredient. Normally it's something that I have that due to excessive quantity needs to be used in a number of recipes...looking back -- 1 week it was brussel sprouts and I was able to serve it in a number of ways throughout the week. Then it was zucchini, squash, corn tortillas, chorizo, and chihuahua cheese. This week it was goat cheese. I knew it could work in salads but what else? I didn't really get beyond salads but here is what i did with it over the weekend.


so check this for Saturday morning:

We have 10 Ore-ida mini tator tots. 5 on the side. 5 underneath an egg served over medium. There are some goat cheese crumbs between the egg and tator tots. The egg is topped with 2 lean pieces of bacon. On the side is a yellow tomato, orange pepper salad with onions, seasoning, lemon juice topped with goat cheese and green onions. I love tomatoes with eggs. This meal was for the books an all time favorite. Definitely going to be making this for my parents.



alternative shot, slightly out-of-focus but no flash so you can see the color better. It's beautiful!


Sundays breakfast:

Okay so not all my concoctions turn out amazing but since i rarely if ever use a recipe who can blame me. I'm just glad Betty eats it and supports my creative concoctions. The above meal consisted of Israeli cous cous browned in bacon fat and cooked in chicken broth topped with bean cakes consisting of: kidney beans, pinto beans, spices, green onions, bread crumbs -- then topped with an egg over medium. The accompanying goat cheese salad consisted of cucumbers, yellow peppers, onions, and seasoning with a vinegar base. Pretty eclectic and perhaps too ambitious.
The overall reviews were positive but this meal had a tough act to follow from the previous days. The cous cous was still bland even after being browned in bacon fat and chicken broth -- so in the future I'd probably not include it. The bean cakes were good but lost it's flavor with the bland cous cous. Salad was tasty though.