Ok, So last night Ruth and I decided to go out for dinner.  This is not a particularly odd thing for us, especially on a day off right after a show closes.  Sometimes you just want to not have to cook.  usually on Sunday nights we go to her parent’s house for dinner, but since I had to go in to work to strike the show, I didn’t have time.

So, nothing super fancy, we decided to go to the Macaroni Grill in downtown Salt Lake.  We should have been aware that it was going to be an interesting dinner from the moment the host started talking to us.  Granted, it is Sunday night in Salt Lake City, business is generally slow so the restaurants probably don’t have a huge staff on, but, here is how things went down.  We arrived at about 5PM and the place coulod not have been more than 40% full if that.  There were empty tables in abundance.  The host (who we had to wait for) told us that there would be a 5 minute wait to get a table and that we were third on the list.

“Ummm hello! Empty tables!”

At this point I think we both kinda looked at the host like he had three heads and half empty restaurant.  So, he goes on to explain that the Olive Garden (around the corner) was closed tonight due to problems with their air conditioning, and therefore they were swamped with diners.

“Ummm hello! Empty tables!”

The least this guy could have done was sit us at a table, pour a couple glasses of water and give us a loaf of bread.  I mean really?! No, we sat in the waiting nook next to a whole bunch of other people who looked to be in the same mood that we were now in.

True to his word, in about 5 minutes we were shown to one of the many empty tables and so began the next interesting part of the evening.  The host seats us and hands us menus, explaining that there have been a few changes and additions and also making a recommendation for some dish that I forget.  As he walks away, our server shows up and just to give us some “refreshing honesty” tells us that she prefers some other dish over the one the host recommended.  I start my stopwatch.  We order drinks.

When our server returns with the drinks and bread we place our order.  Although the center of the bread is cold, at least it wasn’t still frozen.  The server does a descent job keeping up with refilling drinks.  In the mean time, two other servers try to bring us two different dinners, both for other tables in our section.  Maybe we should have just accepted them, they sounded pretty good.  But seriously, shouldn’t you know where you are taking the food when you serve it?

At about the sixteen minute mark our server returns with our food and a comment along the lines of “well the kitchen is really rocking it out today.”  That is a good thing, maybe they understand that it is not a particularly busy night back there and they have time to make our food!  We ask for a second loaf of bread and off our server goes.

Of course it was at this point that we realized that she neglected to offer us any fresh grated cheese.  So, when she finally came back with the bread we inquired to this end. “Well that will take a couple minutes, I have to go find some cheese…” was the reply we got, as if it were imposing on her to ask for cheese in an italian restaurant.  It is your job lady, bring the cheese.  When she finally does return with the cheese, we have both eaten half our dinner and she proceeds to cheese nearly half the table.  Thanks.

We finish up our meal and get the traditional question, “have you saved any room for desert?” Like we are going to let you try to serve us desert.  We ask for the check and a take home box.  When our server comes back with the box, she has to apologize for not having any more bags (to put the box in).  As if it is a terrible hardship to carry a to-go box across the street to the car.  And we really need one more plastic bag at home.  Oh, no, I won’t be able to carry this to-go box without a bag.  I should have made a big fuss.

It is unfortunate that you can’t leave a tip for the chef, the kitchen were the only people who seemed on their game.  I wonder what would happen if you left a negative tip on a charge receipt, I toyed with the idea for a minute.  I might try that next time.  Ruth still thinks that I was a generous tipper even though I left less than 10% of the bill.

Needless to say, it is a bad sign when one restaurant blames another for the shortcomings of the evening.

Once again I come to you with a post inspired by Mama Kat’s Writer’s Worksop.  This week, the prompt that struck me was number 5: “Describe a home cooked meal that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.”  I like to cook and even more than cooking, I love to eat.  Home cooked meals are definitely the best and I have to say, I don’t eat enough of them.  It would be much better for me in terms of my health and my wallet if I ate more home cooked meals.  I think that I really need to figure out how to make my schedule next year such that I can!

I come from a family that sat down every night to a family dinner all through my high school career, yet when I read this prompt, my mind immediately went to my grandmother’s house.  She is always ready with a meal no matter when you come over, planned or unannounced.  I suppose it is kinda the “Jewish Grandmother” thing to do, but it certainly was great.  I was lucky enough to grow up only minutes away from all of my grandparents, so we spent a lot of time with them and celebrated many holidays with them.

This post pertains to my maternal grandmother.  I have posted before on the subject of corned beef, mostly just giving my grandmother’s recipe and talking about making it.  This dish though, is one of my all time favorite.  I don’t remember what holiday I really associate corned beef with, I think it is Hanukkah.  In any event, it used to be an annual treat to head over to Nana’s house and know that we were going to be having corned beef for dinner.  usually served with mashed potatoes or Latkes.  Can’t go wrong when it is with latkes!

This home made corned beef is unlike any that you get at the deli counter in the supermarket.  I think it has a lot to do with the glaze that we make for it.  Ham glaze, mustard, brown sugar… It makes such a sweet glaze.  I think there is probably something also in the cooking the meat in ginger ale as well, but I am not a food scientist (might be a fun job).  All I know is that, when made right, this corned beef is so sweet and tender that it might even convert some vegetarians. (Well, that may be a little extreme)

I can’t think of any other food that really makes me feel as warm and fuzzy as my Nana’s home made corned beef.  It reminds me of my family and being together and it is quite yummy-in-the-tummy.  It isn’t terribly hard to make and it is lots of fun to eat!

I am dedicating this post to a blogger friend of mine, Ella Unread as she has been longing for good cookies.  This recipe is one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes.  The original recipe comes from the people at America’s Test Kitchen.  That is probably what makes the recipe a little more technical, but it is really yummy.  It is kind of a fun recipe to make as well.

You don’t have to do some of the things like bake on parchment paper, but it does help you clean up.  I did have a friend who, when making this recipe forgot that she was using baking sheets with no sides so when she went to turn the pans, the cookies (on the parchment paper) went flying around the kitchen.  I got a phone call that went something along the lines of “Ummm, Alex, how do I get chocolate chips off of the ceiling?”  Yeah, you should pay attention to that.

[recipe-show recipe=tcchocchip]

I haven’t actually had the time to bake this weekend yet, but I may tomorrow when we have a day off from the theatre.  I do get to do some fun cooking today though as I host a BBQ at the theatre between the shows.  It has become a tradition that we started during Les Mis when we didn’t have a lot of time between shows.  Now of course we just do it for fun on the two-show-days.  So, I get to be grillmaster for the afternoon and then smell like BBQ for the entirety of the second show.

So, if you enjoy some good chocolate chip cookies, let me know!  Also, don’t forget that if you have a recipe to share you can submit it.  I may try it out and feature it!

Even though my girlfriend is off to France for the week I am still heading up to her family’s home for dimmer tonight.  It is going to be a Corned beef collaboration.  I love an excuse to make this corned beef recipe, and this seemed like a good one!  I hope that you all enjoy this recipe as well.  It pairs well with mashed potatoes and challah rolls.  If you try it out, let me know what you think!

[recipe-show recipe=nanas-corned-beef]

I Have decided to try something new.  I like to cook.  I probably don’t do it as much as I should, especially when we get into tech weeks for shows (which I am about to start).  However, I try to do some kind of cooking or baking on the weekends so it seems like a good time to post up some of my favorite recipes.

I also like to try new things so I have set up an interactive recipe book.  If you try and like my recipes, or if you just have a recipe to share, you can.  Just follow this link to the recipe submission page.  Once you submit a recipe it will have to be approved, and then it will show up in the recipe file.  You can find the recipe file and submission page under the archives in the main menu bar.

Hopefully you will enjoy my recipes and I will enjoy yours!

Here is my project for this weekend, I happened to have some ripe bananas in the kitchen, so it seemed like it would be appropriate to make:

[recipe-show recipe=cc-banana-bread]