A Few Dinner Ideas

This is officially a cooking guide and a travel blog. I will be covering travel and cooking from now on. I hope you enjoy this post and try making a couple of my recipes.  I will not be posting on Wednesdays from now on so I can post higher quality writing on Sundays. Enjoy the post!

Recipes are:

Pasta with Curry

Serves Three

Ingredients:

1/2 Zucchini

1/2 Pound Chicken Breast (Pre-grilled with salt, pepper, and cilantro)

1 1/2 Cups Arugula

1/4 Pound Pork (Pre-grilled with salt, pepper, and cilantro)

Curry

Chili Powder

5 Baby Peppers, Red, Yellow, and Orange

1/2 Lemon

3/4 Pounds Spaghetti

Dried Chile Peppers

Half and Half

Paprika

4 Roma Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Cayenne Pepper

Instructions:

Depending on the size of the dish you are making, the amount of ingredients will have to be judged by eye. Put five dashes of chili powder and dried chili peppers in a large bowl. Next, take the pre-grilled chicken and cut it into large chunks and toss it with the powder and peppers. After that you need to slice up the small peppers and remove the seeds. Save the seeds. Toss the bowl again, and then chop the arugula into small pieces.  Mix it into the bowl. After that you need to put two dashes of curry, dried chili peppers, and paprika in the bowl. Do NOT mix this yet.  Slice three roma tomatoes and take out all of the seeds. These you do not need to keep.  After they are deseeded chop into fine pieces. Put the tomatoes into the bowl and toss. Enter three dashes of chili peppers into the bowl along with one dash of chili powder. Mix that and let it sit for two minutes or so. Chop the pre-grilled pork into chunks. Sprinkle curry on top of the pork, then mix into the bowl. Squeeze half of a lemon into the mix BY HAND. Put one or two dashes of every spice into the mix.  Chop more tomatoes and deseed them, and as usual mix into the bowl. Add two more dashes of chili peppers into the mixture if you like. Mix in a modest amount of olive oil. Finally, we reach the last step of preparation, take the pepper seeds and rub them with cayenne and chili powder. Put them into the pan and cook. Put olive oil into the pan and heat for one minute. Next put mix into the pan. If it looks dry add water. Cook on low heat and stir frequently. Add a little half and half in when finished. Cook spaghetti and serve under the dish you just prepared. Enjoy!!!

Salmon With Lemon Cilantro Rice

Serves Three

Ingredients:

3/4 Pounds Salmon Fillet

Honey

Cedar Wood Plank

Cilantro

Lemon

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Rustic White Bread

Brown Jasmine Rice

Instructions:

This is a more basic recipe than the first in this book. Start by making large chunks of the bread and putting it on an aluminum foil sheet. Take a brush and lather the bread in olive oil. Use a little more than you think you need. Salt and pepper the bread pieces and let them sit.  Take your salmon and de-bone it, then put salt, pepper and lemon juice on it. Cut the salmon into individual pieces.  Clean your brush and take a small bowl of honey and brush the honey onto the salmon fillet. Do not overdo the honey or you will be left with an unsatisfying, oversweet, and crusty salmon dinner. Let the honey start to dry. Next put the rice in the appropriate amount of water and bring to boil. Once boiling keep the lid on and turn down heat. Leave the rice in until no water is visible. As the rice is cooking make a small bowl of lemon-cilantro mix. Put rice in sieve to dry and then put into a mixing bowl. Mix in appropriate amount of the lemon-cilantro mix into the rice and keep warm. Take your cedar plank and put it on the barbeque. I am assuming you used the proper steps to get the plank ready for the grill. You need to have it soaked for a few hours before use. You can soak them and freeze them for use later.  Let salmon cook on plank and watch to make sure plank does not burn up. If it lights on fire squirt some water on it. While the salmon is cooking put the bread on grates of grill for a few minutes or until crispy.  Finally plate the rice with salmon on top of it. Lay a piece of bread on each side of it. Also consider using a greens salad as a side dish. Enjoy!!!

Scallop Dinner

Serves Three

Ingredients:

9 Scallops

1/2 Lemon

Butter

Parsley

Olive Oil

1 1/2 TBS Half and Half

Directions:

This is one of the more basic dishes using scallops, but it still makes a great dinner. To accompany the scallops make a basic salad with tomatoes, lettuce, lemon-parsley vinaigrette, peppers, and cucumbers. Squeeze a lemon and save the juice, and get a bowl of chopped parsley ready.  After the salad is prepared put a little olive oil in the pan. Now put a small chunk of butter in the pan and heat the pan on high heat for two minutes. If the pan starts to smoke turn down heat for a few seconds. If the butter is brown before the two minutes marker turn down heat and put scallops on. Also make sure that the scallops are lightly salted before putting them into the pan. Cook them for two minutes on each side and keep the heat of the pan just below smoking. Be careful of butter splatters while flipping. After they are cooked put them on a plate and set them to the side. Quickly turn off burner on stove and pour lemon juice in the pan. Swirl juice around for a minute then pour a decent amount of half and half in, about enough to make the sauce a creamy brown. Put in a few sprinkles of parsley in the sauce then pour sauce over the scallops. Serve two to four scallops per person with a good amount of salad and maybe some baguette or whole-wheat crackers. Enjoy!!!

Local Travel

What would I talk about on this blog other than travel to far away places? Any guesses? If you guessed that I travelled to the Crossroads District in Kansas City to cook in my favorite restaurant called Extra Virgin, then you are correct! Before I get going with the whole story, let me give you some names and other information. The head chef is Michael Smith, and he owns another restaurant right across the hallway in the same building called Michael Smith’s. Yes, you read correctly, across the hall. Michael Smith’s is his more formal restaurant while Extra Virgin serves tapas and has a more casual and modern vibe to it.

Most of the time was working with Matt at the cold food station. Reed was in charge of the hot food station and Phil was the Sous-chef who triple inspected everything I made. He never found a problem though, . Then of course Michael Smith walks around overseeing both restaurants. Now the last thing I want to say is that they have a HUGE bucket of every ingredient.

Here is how I came to working at Extra Virgin. One day I was eating there and saw Michael Smith and went over to him and introduced  myself. He took a liking to me and took me around the Extra Virgin kitchen. I really enjoyed so I guess he remembered me. About a month later I saw him at Dean & Deluca, a nice-walk in kind of place in KC. I got up and reintroduces myself so he sat down for a moment. When I expressed my interest in cooking he told me about some high schoolers who came and cooked for a night with him and informally invited me to come.When we went to Extra Virgin a week ago to celebrate a visit my family from Germany, so I took the opportunity to ask when I could come. He said, “Come next Saturday at 5:30 pm.” And there you have how I came to cook there for the night. Now that you have all of the background information I’ll start with the story.

As you probably figured out I love to cook, so I was thrilled when my parents dropped me off at Extra Virgin and went to Michael Smith’s across the hall for dinner while I went to start preparing some food. At first, Phil was not sure if I knew what paprika was so he started with having me peeling shrimp and taking out the “vein”. I figured out what the “vein” was on the first shrimp. Peeling off shrimp shells is a boring, labor intensive project.  That was kind of my initiation into the restaurant for the night. At that point I did not see a enjoyable experience ahead of me. Then right when I was about to finish peeling the shrimp Michael (He said I can call him that even though I’m 11), comes up to me and literally shouts “We only have one rule here, don’t #@%* it up!” Of course he apologized but Reed, Matt and I all found it more funny than insulting. Then Phil found I was worthy of making things.

For the next fifteen minutes no one was ordering so Matt taught me how to make hummus, the watercress salad, yellowtail salad, chick peas, and a few other things. He also taught me how to use the deep fryer properly. Apparently there is a sort of “art of the deep fryer”. Things seemed complicated at first, but as the night went on things got easier as I memorized how to make them. The watercress salad had watercress, palm heart, a variation of cabbage, a sauce and a few other ingredients.

Into the restaurant came the reservation for thirty on the patio, and Phil went crazy even before they ordered. He must have forgotten to do something cause I was frying making potato chips in the deep fryer, mixing chips, plantains and bacon. Ten minutes later they started ordering and everybody was running around. I asked if this was very  busy because they seemed in a big hurry. Matt claimed that Friday was five times as busy. It seemed busy because I was making three yellowtail salads and four asparagus salads at the same time. It was not that busy though according to the cooks. Then Matt had to make a creme brulee, and it got sent back because it was short on the creme part. I got to eat it which was nice because I had not eaten for a couple hours.

Here is a description of the kitchen at the time I was there and the most orders where coming in. Five pita breads where on the grill, tons of pasta and chicken thighs where on the grill also. The deep fryer was completely full and Matt and where doing seven orders at once. Plates are out, bowls are out, more bowls come, more plates come, eight orders just came in = not to Busy. I think you get my point now. You probably got it a few minutes ago, but anyway. We continued on like this for two hours and then orders stopped and we only had one every five minutes. My mom came over and told me twenty minutes until we have to go. Side note, my mom has a way of effectively doubling time which is very helpful in some cases. Finally it is time for me to go home . I grudgingly followed my mom to say my final goodbyes. I thank Mr. Smith, Phil, Matt, and Reed for having me. Then I went home tired and hungry, but full of great experiences.

If you like my idea of not just doing a blog on travel, but including some interesting experiences of mine please tell me by writing a comment.

Sam

Boston

Today I will be telling you about Boston. Many of you might have been there before. Boston, like many places I have covered has beautiful architecture, and good food. Boston has more of a European feel than most East Coast cities. Some people don’t think so though. Boston is also in my opinion more quaint then most East Coast cities. If you have not been there do not expect a New York commercial style city. As a I said before, I think it is more of a quaint city.

The hotel I am recommending is the Sheraton Boston Hotel. Although, if you are going to Boston for a very important occasion this might not be the hotel for you. The hotel is nice, accommodating, and in a location close to everything.

In Boston you can always go with the approach of tour busses to bring you around the city which is not a bad idea at all. It is not the thing for you who like the walking around experience. Going further into entertainment going to Harvard is so much fun. Walking around in on the campus is a great way to appreciate the people who built it. When you are finished you can go and get yourself a sweater or something else at the bookstore if you would like.

Boston

You can also do what I recommend in just about every post, which is taking a walk through the city. Here though I want to recommend a specific walk which is the Freedom Trail. As many of you know the  Freedom Trail covers many historical sites from the Revolutionary War. The trail is about 2 1/2 miles long and is laden with red brick. Sometimes the brick becomes a bit hard to follow though, so beware. You can get a freedom trail map at the visitor center in case you do get lost and can’t find the trail. Even if you don’t have a map people are usually friendly enough to give you a bit of direction. Some of the sites along the trail  include The Old North Church, the site of the Boston Massacre, and  Paul Revere’s house.

Paul Revere’s House

The last attraction I want to mention is the Boston Museum of Science. It is a great family attraction, and it is fun for all. You can find everything from space exhibits to physic exhibits. People say it is an affordable, fun, and interesting.

The last thing I will cover are restaurants. The first one I am recommending is Delfino Restaurant. It is an Italian restaurant in a nice, quaint location. It can get a little loud when it is busy. The food is describes as sensational and delicious. It is on the more expensive side but nothing near a $50 for a entree kind of place. The second place I will recommend is Pizzeria Regina. As you can probably guess it is a pizzeria. It is in a bit of a tight space and busy but the staff does not get exasperated and is nearly always friendly. The pizza is a step above average. I hope you enjoy!

Sam

Denmark

Denmark is another beautiful country in Europe (you will find I will be covering many beautiful countries and cities in Europe). It has a comforting environment, great architecture, good food if you know where to find it, and people who speak English. The fact that a lot of people speak some or a lot of English makes communication much simpler. Also, if you think we have good ice cream then Denmark will blow you away. It might be me, but I think Denmark has just about the best ice cream I have ever had. Other than that I only have one announcement. The announcement is that we have hit 150 views. Three weeks and 150 views means we have gotten 50 views a week. Remember to tell your friends if you like the blog! Anyway, on with Denmark.

Copenhagen:  

I will only be covering one city, Copenhagen will be that city. Crown Plaza Hotel Copenhagen Towers is a very nice hotel that is a great value. In fact, it was named a top value by Trip Advisor. Tight, is international cuisine. Tight is described as a good value  and simple. Some dining in Copenhagen can be over-the-top pretentious. So, that makes the simple dining is a big plus. The second restaurant I would like to recommend is Cap Horn. The cuisine is traditional bistro mixed in with some typical Danish food. For those of you who are into “the organic thing” like my family, most dishes at Cap Horn  are made of organic ingredients.

Since I’m only covering one city, I will be covering more attractions in the city. Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park. You can also consider it part garden. It is what you might consider “a good old fashioned  theme park.” Rides include a couple of roller coasters and something that lifts you up around 100 feet and spins you in pods. I didn’t have the guts to get on it. Maybe it is because I was eight when we went to Denmark. You can also participate in activities that you would be able to find at a renaissance fair. One of these activities target shooting with bows and arrows. Tivoli Gardens is a great place to spend a day or night.

Some other things to do in Copenhagen include Segway Tours. For those of you who don’t know what a Segway tour is here is your explanation: A Segway tour  is a tour of the city on a kind a two wheeled bike that is motorized. Here is a picture:

All in all Copenhagen is an amazing city with views, architecture, good food, and good attractions. If you even go to Germany try taking a couple days to come to Denmark. Everything about it is amazing and beautiful. Coupled with good food it is a must see place in Europe. I can’t wait to here what you think of this place Denmark!

Some of you might arrive by air, but it is really fun to drive to Copenhagen from Germany. Imagine this, there are now bridges that connect the Danish Jutland with the other parts of Denmark and you can drive over these long, astounding celebrations of modern engineering.

Here are some other Copenhagen experiances that made our top ten list:

- A boat tour of the harbor

- A visit to the Rosenborg Castle and seeing the crown jewels there

- Sitting and watching bicycles pass you (surprisingly fun).

- Listening to street performers in shopping zones

Sam