January 2013 – Loving Food, Fashion, & Life

Fabulous Eating At Capital And Longhorn

Posted on January 29, 2013 by LFFL

Cedar Planked Salmon, Mac & Cheese, Porcini Rubbed Delmonico, Potatoes

Spinach Salad & Proscuitto Wrapped Mozzarella

Filet Mignon, Green Beans, Au Gratin Potatoes, Mac & Cheese

Cedar Planked Salmon with tomato fennel relish made with North Atlantic salmon with fennel pollen, roasted on a cedar plank & finished with lemon mosto & tomato fennel relish; Macaroni & Cheese; Porcini Rubbed Delmonico steak with 12-year aged balsamic; and Au Gratin Potatoes with a combination of cheeses, topped with fried onions & potatoes.

Prosciutto Wrapped Mozzarella with vine ripe tomatoes served with crostini, fresh basil & a balsamic glaze; Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing made with spinach, onions, mushrooms, chopped egg, & smoked bacon.

Sliced Filet Mignon with cippolini onions & wild mushrooms; French Green Beans with roasted tomatoes & fennel; Au Gratin Potatoes with a combination of cheeses topped with fried onions & potatoes, and Macaroni & Cheese made with campanelle pasta tossed in Mascarpone, Havarti, & Grana padano cream sauce topped with Panko bread crumbs & grated white Cheddar.

The food at Capital is always phenomenal and the service impeccable—at least the one in my hometown is! You’re really missing out if you’ve never experienced The Capital Grille.

White Grilled Chicken & Stuffed Portabella and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms at Longhorn Steakhouse

Grilled Chicken & Stuffed Portabella and White Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms

Salmon

Sierra Chicken & BBQ Chopped Salad

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Grilled Chicken & Stuffed Portabella topped with mushroom sauce with a side of Mashed Potatoes, Mixed Green Salad, and Grilled White Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms served over four melted cheeses.

Salmon well-done and extra crispy with a bourbon marinade served over rice; Mashed Potatoes; and Caesar Salad.

Sierra Chicken with tomato basil salsa; Mashed Potatoes; and BBQ Chopped Salad with mixed greens, bacon, Cheddar Jack cheese, tomatoes, fire-roasted corn, red onions, and chipotle ranch, topped with crispy tortilla strips and a BBQ drizzle.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Mashed Potatoes.

I have to say I absolutely love Longhorn Steakhouse! I get the same thing every time—either the salmon or any of the chicken dinners. Just amazingly good!

So, if you have nothing else to do today, find the nearest Capital Grille and Longhorn Steakhouse and plan to have yourself a good time.

Take-Away Life Lesson: You definitely need plenty of money for The Capital Grille—we’re talkin’ top-star-quality all the way, baby! But you deserve it!

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Food Adventures

Posted on January 22, 2013 by LFFL

Bone-in Pork Chop with sautéed Brussels sprouts, herb whipped mashed potatoes, and ham hock sauce.

Now that’s what I call a pretty pork chop. I barely wanted to cut into it. Needless to say, I eventually did and enjoyed every delicious minute of it. Mmmm Mmmm!

Chicken Fettuccini with wood-fired chicken, bacon, spinach, and smoked tomato cream sauce; and Macaroni & Cheese with fiore pasta, four-cheese sauce, & bread crumbs.

All I can say is this pasta fest was as good as it looked. But if you ever have to get up from your table to go track down your server because he doesn’t come back to the table for an eternity, it can take away from the experience. Needless to say, wasn’t happy about that.

Super Chief Philly Steak Sandwich with cheese, onions, mushrooms, & green peppers with a side of Tuxedo Fries.

I absolutely love this steak sandwich. Grab your food at the counter and make yourself at home at a table in front of a 5o-inch television screen and watch a game while you eat. This place is tucked away in a corner so it’s hard to know this place exists if not by word-of-mouth.

Kona Grill Macadamia Nut Chicken — Macadamia Nut Chicken

Macadamia Nut Chicken with garlic mashed potatoes & haricots verts served with shoyu-cream sauce & pineapple-papaya marmalade; Tomato Basil Bisque with onions, garlic, spicy croutons, & parmesan cheese; and Chicken & Vegetable Potstickers with soy sauce.

Of course, I had to take half of this yummy eating at the Kona Grill in a to-go box with me. And wouldn’t you know as I’m walking down the street, a homeless guy around 25-30 years old begged me for my leftovers. He Continue reading “Food Adventures” →

Ready For Cooking

Posted on January 15, 2013 by LFFL

Ahhh, my spices. I’m so ready for cooking, eating, and anything else that involves food this year. Now we’re talking. I love having so many seasonings to choose from. I can’t wait to get started. See how anal I am about having all my labels facing the front? Oh, and they’re all alphabetized. I’m so Colin Cowie. Yeah, that’s right. Talk about me all you want, but I can find the spice I’m looking for at the snap of a finger. And they just look so pretty this way.

It’s the little things in life that make me happy—like salt & pepper bowls. I get to dip my fingers inside these bowls just like the chefs do on TV and then I get carried away—sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle into the food, water, etc., that I’m preparing. The salt & pepper feels so good in between your fingers, too. I had so much fun the first time I tried this that I think I over-salted and over-peppered whatever it was I was cooking at the time. I just couldn’t stop dipping my fingers into the bowls and sprinkling, dumping, and tossing all over the place. Told you—it doesn’t take much to get me excited and make me smile.

I’m also loving my new Ninja Kitchen System 1200 Blender/Food Processor. It’s so scary. The blades are killer sharp! If you need anything puréed, blended, chopped, sliced, diced, creamed, or whirred—I’m your girl. I’m having so much fun pushing buttons, I’m blending things I probably shouldn’t be blending.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, sprinkle some salt & pepper with your fingers all over the place and buy yourself some fun kitchen objects to make cooking easier for you. And don’t forget to organize your spice rack alphabetically—you’ll find things so much easier.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Stop using the blender to try and shred paper and rocks just because you’re fascinated by how sharp the blades are.

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So I Guess I Need To Buy A Camera

Posted on January 8, 2013 by LFFL

As you can probably tell, you need to buy an actual camera if you’re going to be a blogger. Being at the mercy of my Android cell phone means taking at least 10 or more pictures of each object in the hopes that at least ONE of them will turn out clearer than all the others. It’s pathetic—especially when I’m taking food pics. It doesn’t go over so well. The food is getting colder and colder and if there are people around I’m cooking for all I hear is ‘not pictures again, are you done yet, I’m hungry, when can we eat, the food’s getting cold.’ (They’re very rude guests.)

Now, it could just be my particular cell phone. I have, after all, seen some fabulous pictures taken with cell phones. So I’m sure I just need an upgrade. But I still think an actual camera is the way to go if you’re going to be blogging for the world. So, until then, you’ll just have to grin and bear the cell-phone-quality pics. It’s all I have to work with for the time being.

In the meantime, I’m reviewing what Consumer Reports has to say about cameras. This is my go-to source for all information anytime I think I’m going to spend big time money (usually anything over $1.75) on something. After all, they went through all the trouble of doing all the legwork for me–saving me the money, time, energy, and effort of doing it myself. The least I could do is analyze their research before plunking down huge sums of money on something just to have it fail on me in a year and trying to return it to no avail. Granted, I can’t always review everything I need in CR before I purchase something—but I try to when I can.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, get to know Consumer Reports and buy yourself something new.

CR and I have an unbreakable bond that no one can tear apart. I appreciate them like no other, they’ve always been there for me and haven’t failed me yet! My heart is theirs.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Subscribe to, thank, invite to dinner, write a love letter to Consumer Reports.

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My First Blog Post

Posted on January 1, 2013 by LFFL

Happy New Year, everyone! I am so excited about my new blog and another new year to make my (our) life as fabulous as I (we) possibly can! I can’t wait to share with you the different things that I do in my life to have fun and to learn and experience new things—and I can’t wait to hear about yours.

I mean, my life is not always THAT exciting or anything and it’s sometimes boring as you will soon see—but I try to do what I can for me—even if it just involves food. Whatever floats my boat at the time, makes me happy, gets me excited, let’s me feel like I didn’t totally waste my day or my life in general.

But trust me, I’ve had and still have plenty of wasteful moments—(like the time I sat in a hospital waiting area for 12 hours twiddling my thumbs and looking at the walls all the while thinking of the 50 magazines I had sitting on my floor at home because I could never find time to look at them—and here would have been a great opportunity had I remembered them). But now I just try not to have so many wasteful moments anymore if I can help it.

First order of business—learning to blog. Because I’m a novice at this, I am still trying to figure this thing out—so bear with me. Any helpful feedback will be greatly appreciated. If you have any blogging tips, notice any errors or something that doesn’t seem to be working properly, or have any thoughts in general about this blog or anything else for that matter, I welcome your comments and suggestions (see my Contact page). I know I will get better at this as I go along.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, contemplate what makes you happy, makes you smile, brings you joy, or will make your life go in the direction you want it to go. If nothing else, you can always learn to blog and/or send me your blogging tips in the comments below.

Until we meet again, here is my first blog post. My hope is that with each post we can all find a ‘take-away life lesson’ of some sort—no matter how big and meaningful or small, silly, and mundane. I hope you enjoy this blog overall and that we can share our love of food, fashion, and life together. Cheers to you, my new blog, and our fabulous lives!

Take-Away Life Lesson: Find any reason to sip on some good champagne. O-Kaaay!