Filet Mignon

If I was in on death row, filet mignon and potatoes would be my final meal, hands down. I've only have filet mignon at restaurants, so I was a little more than skeptical to try cooking one myself on the stove.

It didn't disappoint. I mean it was no Ruth's Chris, but it was good. We made a goat cheese and fig jam appetizer. The main course was a bacon-wrapped filet with roasted fingerling potatoes and green beans, garlic focaccia bread, goat cheese and dried cranberry spinach salad, followed by bananas foster for dessert. All of the ingredients for tonight's meal were from Trader Joe's. I didn't take pics of everything, but here's the main course and salad.




I'm finally getting to the point where I feel comfortable in the kitchen. If I see a recipe, I'm confident that I can pull it off. My next step is to make a meal for myself BY myself during the week. We'll see how that goes.

The last 5 things I have bought...

I'm 100% sure that you couldn't care less about what the last 5 things I bought were but here they are...not including fast food purchases which seriously make up 90% of my purchases. (In case you're wondering, my most recent purchases were: Chick-fil-A, Elephant Bar, Chick-fil-A, Pick Up Stix, Angels Stadium, Henrys, Chick-fil-A)

RileyHallDesign.com: $10.49
I'm finally getting serious about getting some of the work I have slaved over the past few year online. Buying the domain was the first of many steps in getting my work online. There's nothing up at this point so don't waste your time going there yet. I'll keep you posted.



Haircut: $30.00
I got 75% of my hair cut off tonight. Courtney (at Salon One on Lake Mission Viejo...she's great) gave me a trim tonight. With summer around the corner, it was time for the shag to go. I tossed around the idea of buzzing it all off, but I don't want Courtney to go without my $30 a month so I decided to keep a little on the top.



Cooking Tongs and mixing bowls: $24.73

Allie, my personal cooking coach, and I went to World Market because I needed kitchen stuff badly. She was tired of having to flip pork chops with those crappy little spatula spoon things. They really suck and they melt, which REALLY sucks. Who wants melted rubber in their pork chops? So a good pair of OXO tongs were in order as well as a nice set of white mixing bowls, which will nicely double as a bowl to catch the leaking water under my bathroom sink if need be. (Don't tell Allie though)



Flight to Napa Valley: $21.40

Here's the deal. When I flew back to California from Texas at Christmas I took a later flight and got a flight voucher. That's why this trip only cost be 20 bucks. Several friends and I are flying to Napa for a few days next month to get away and relax. Allie, the aforementioned personal cooking coach, has grandparents who own a a vineyard in Napa so that is where we are headed for a weekend of relaxation. I haven't been north of Bakersfield, which is a hole, so I'm stoked.



Hoodie: $36.81

I'm not a fan of shopping for clothes, but I when I do buy clothes it's usually some kind of jacket. Ask my mom. She refuses to buy me anything that resembles a jacket or hoodie or anything like that. That's all I seem to buy. Well, this is an oxford shirt with a hood. It's the perfect blend of preppy Southern boy and lazy Laguna Beach Saturdays. I think I'll wear it come summer. We'll see. You might see it on e-Bay.

Tapenade and Pork Chops

It was meal #3 with Allie. I couldn't even pronounce most of the ingredients we used this week. Roquefort cheese? Kalamata olives? I'm sure these are foods that most people know, but not this guy. Velveeta? Yes. Roquefort? Huh?

I'm finding out that the hardest thing about cooking is making sure that everything for the meal is ready at the same time. If you cook vegetables, you have to make sure that they are ready to be served when the meat is ready. Ugh...that's when I'm like, "Screw it. Throw it in the microwave."

This was the most challenging of all the meals Allie and I had attempted, but it was also the best overall meal.






The photos are courtesy of Tim Moore.

I'll post pics from this past weekend's meal very soon...filet mignon!

My 2nd Cooking Lesson

It's week #2 of my cooking lessons with Allie. I'll admit I was little less involved in the prep of this meal. I kept getting distracted and would wander out of the kitchen. Nonetheless, the meal got main with about 20% of my involvement and 80% from Allie. (photos courtesy of my roommate, Tim Moore.)

We did our shopping for this meal at Henry's. I love Henry's. It's healthy and oatsy and their produce is good, but it's tough to find some ingredients because it's such a small grocery. I think we are going to stick with Whole Foods from here on out.


MENU

Appetizer:
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo

Main dish:
Chicken Tacos

Dessert:
Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Bar

Confession: The peanut butter chocolate granola bars were completely inedible! We put one on a plate just to take a picture of it, but the peanut butter I had expired 2 years ago. We didn't realize it until we started cutting it. We couldn't get rid of the fast enough.