Quickie: Snacktime w/ Chef Derek II

Posted by Erin L. in Quickie, via Blackberry and tagged with dessert, galette, nectarine, Quickie, snack time, summer, whipped cream August 19, 2009

Chef Derek to the rescue, again! Woke up at 4am to get to work at 6am, so needed a midday pick-me-up to regain any chance of productivity. Today, he delivered this delicious Nectarine & Granola Galette to my desk with a bowl of fresh whipped cream. Wish we had snacktime like this every day!

Netarine & Granola Gallete

P.S. I have 4 meals in the queue waiting to be blogged about so you can continue to drool over their deliciousness! Between lots of wedding planning @ work and a visit from Mama, running low on blog time. Promise updates SOON!!

Quickie: Snacktime w/ Chef Derek I

Posted by Erin L. in Quickie, via Blackberry and tagged with biscuit, dessert, peach, peaches, snack, strawberries, strawberry, summer, whipped cream August 12, 2009

As many of you know, I not only love cooking, eating, & sharing meals with friends & fam – I work in the food biz, too! This November I’ll celebrate 6 years with Max & Me Catering. I moved up the ranks from the greenest of banquet servers to my current title of Senior Sales Manager. I have the not always glamorous, but very rewarding, job of planning weddings, fundraisers, convention events, & corporate galas from the the menu & timeline to the look & “feel” of the events. But enough of all that… it’s really the food I care about!

Today, Sous Chef Derek made us an awesome summer afternoon snack! Possibly the best “shortcake” I’ve ever had & damn sure the best biscuits! Apparently some sort of process involving freezing & grating butter & sour cream is what makes them so scrumptious! Can’t wait until the next Max & Me snacktime…

Homemade Biscuits a la Derek w/ Strawberries, Peaches, & Fresh Whipped Cream - via Blackberry

Weekend Update: Mmmm, Bacon Sunday

Posted by Erin L. in Weekend Update and tagged with bacon, banana, basil, blt, breakfast, brunch, italian market, lemon-thyme, mayo, pancakes, parsley, philadephia, romaine, strawberries, tomato August 4, 2009

Sunday morn, the man & I made a quick Italian Market trip for some fresh bacon! We popped into Cappuccio’s Meats (1019 S. 9th St.) for 2lbs & headed home for a very late day brunch for 4. My awesome mama sent me Kona Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix from Hawaii, the perfect main course. I’m glad I remembered I had a heart-shaped pancake mold in my kitchen gadget stash, as they were adorable & delicious with ripe bananas & strawberries!

Heart-shaped Banana Kona Chocolate Chip Pancakes (breath), Fresh Banana & Strawberries, Bacon, & OJ

Bacon Sunday wasn’t complete without another round of fried piggy greatness! The next best way to serve bacon besides straight-up at breakfast is the trusty BLT. I stuck to a pretty traditional setup of Bacon, Ripe Tomatoes, & Romaine on Country White Bread.

My man requested some Garlic-Herb Mayo to finish it off & I couldn’t let him down! The result was perfection on a new level!

Shallot-Garlic-Herb Mayo – Classic Hellman’s w/ minced Garlic & Shallots, sauteed in bacon fat (of course!), & chopped Parsley, Lemon-Thyme, & Thai Basil

BLT w/ Sauteed Garlic-Shallot & Fresh Herb Mayo on Country White Bread

Visit my Flickr Photostream for more pics of my Heart-Shaped Brunch & Garlic-Herb BLT!

Weekend Update: Asian Edition – Part 3

Posted by Erin L. in Family-Style, Restaurant Rewind, Weekend Update and tagged with BBQ, kimchi, korean, miga, Philadelphia, photobomb, plum wine, restaurant, river crab, sake August 4, 2009

Friday was my sister’s 27th Bday so we celebrated with a Korean BBQ dinner at the new Miga in Center City. I’ll spare you stories of the horrendous service and just skip to the fun parts! Starting with the Japanese River Crab Photo Bomb a la Greg:

Japanese River Crab Photo Bomb

More photos of the teensy-weensy Japanese River Crab & festivities after the jump…

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Weekend Update: Asian Edition – Part 2

Posted by Erin L. in Family-Style, To Taste ~ Recipe, Weekend Update and tagged with bok choy, chicken, chopsticks, dinner, ginger, Japanese eggplant, mushrooms, Philadelphia, recipe, rice, sesame, snow peas, to taste August 4, 2009

Thursday, I made a visit to my favorite (bc it’s close & I’m lazy) Vietnamese supermarket, aptly named Asia Market. Philly’s Washington Ave is lined with your choice of Asian markets, shops, & restaurants directly perpendicular to the famous Italian Market. I was certainly excited on this visit as now that I have a BlackBerry (aka my Frankenberry), I can look up all the crazy products encountered on my Asia Market excursions! This time was a quick trip for familiar dinner items for Friday night & some kitchen staples: Shallots, Fresh Ginger, Snow Peas, baby Bok Choy, Japanese Eggplant, & some chopsticks.

I had “plans” for a Friday night at home, cooking dinner & enjoying some TV/relaxation. A quick Google search for “chicken bok choy recipe” brought me to Food & Wine’s Ginger-Sesame Chicken w/ Mushrooms & Bok Choy, and thank goodness I had some fungi in the fridge! I always interpret recipes into my own taste, so I omitted the red peppers, prepared the baby bok choy on the side, & added my own splashes & dashes to the sauce. This recipe will def stay in my back pocket, especially for the brown sauce! I finished the meal with some white rice & good laughs via The Love Guru.

Ginger-Sesame Chicken w/ Mushrooms

Baby Bok Choy

Weekend Update: Asian Edition – Part 1

Posted by Erin L. in Restaurant Rewind, Weekend Update and tagged with bento, japanese, lunch, maki, Philadelphia, Raw, restaurant, spicy tuna, sushi, sushi roll August 4, 2009

Without intention, I had the pleasure of enjoying a weekend full of Asian cuisine.

The Weekend: Asian Edition began with a perfect lunch at Raw, a Japanese restaurant in the heart of the Gayborhood at 12th & Sansom. I enjoyed the amazing company of my business partners/great friends (& a little one that kept extra big smiles on our faces). Raw is certainly a great deal for lunch with their Bento Boxes running around $14. I opted for the Tuna Bento, featuring:

(8) piece Spicy Tuna Roll ~ (2) pieces of Tuna Sushi ~ (2) Cucumber-Avocado Rolls

(2) Crab-Cucumber Rolls ~ (2) Shrimp Shumai

Green Salad w/ Carrot-Ginger Dressing ~ Vegetable Tempura ~ White Rice