chicken souvlaki with tzatziki

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as I rummaged through my cookbooks making my shopping list I ran through the Epcot Food & Wine Fest book.  I saw what looked like a pretty easy recipe with fresh flavors for chicken souvlaki.  We made it tonight and I served it on warm tandoori na’an with crumbled goat cheese and vinegar dressed butter lettuce.  Fantastic fresh and fast Greek food.  Garlic breath notwithstanding.

chicken souvlaki
2 T Olive Oil
1 T Lemon Juice
1 1/2 t minced garlic
1 1/2 t oregano (I used dried)
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1# chicken breast tenderloins (cut bite size)

tzatziki
1 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup finely diced cucumber
1 T minced garlic
1/2 T Olive Oil
1 t  lemon juice
1/4 t salt

For the chicken – whisk together all marinade items.  Add chicken chunks and let sit for about 30 minutes.   While chicken marinates, mix all ingredients for tzatziki and hold in fridge.
Preheat large non-stick frying pan with just a touch of olive oil.  Saute chicken until cooked through.

While the chicken cooks and rests toast water sprinkled na’an.
Place chicken, vinegar dressed lettuce, goat cheese crumbles, and tzatziki on the na’an.
Enjoy!

beef and orange stir-fry

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I’ve been feeling bad about taking the exhausted way out of dinner lately and caving to the frozen and prepared foods aisles at the grocery store so I pulled out some cookbooks with fast or express in the title and made the shopping list.  I flipped through Good Food Fast which is a kitchens of Martha Stewart cookbook and found beef and orange stir-fry.  The recipe is here.  It was super easy and took the amount of time it took to bubble some yellow rice.  We used stir-fry precut beef from the market to make it even easier.  Our fun red bowls and chopsticks made it feel like something a little special.  It tasted good with a bit of extra soy dashed on top.

sushipop

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Five Spice Apple Fritters

it’s our three-quarteriversary!  We celebrated our third year tonight of our first – we were married on Leap Day so our anniversary hasn’t quite come around yet – at a fun new place in Oviedo called SushiPop.  They have a really exciting menu full of molecular gastronomic treats and sushi.  We had a fun assortment of things to try out multiple parts of the menu.  It is a fun and funky atmosphere with anime style drawings on the wall and funny dressed up waitstaff, not quite cosplay but fun.  Ponyo (I want ham!) was playing on televisions on all sides.

Starter One – The low rider sushi roll – tempura shrimp with chipotle lime sauce, avocado, chives and micro cilantro.  The soy came in fun lab style serving pipettes.
Starter Two – Shishito Poppers – Japanese sweet hot peppers stuffed with cream cheese and fried in panko with lime wedges.  The lime made them really zingy and fresh.
His – 3 Little Pigs – pork chop with fuji apple chutney, pork belly demi-glace  bacon brussel sprouts.
Hers – Dark and Smoky Salmon – hoisin and pistachio glazed salmon block, slow cooked purple potatoes, butter poached asparagus with a ribbon of raw salmon.

Interior View from our table – Z was able to watch Ponyo and I could see the sunset

Dessert – Apple Fritters – 5 spice apple fritters topped with cinnamon cream cheese, maple ginger ice cream and candied bacon.  Can I tell you I’d buy a deep fryer to make 5 spice apple fritters.  Wait for that.

nordstrom cafe

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I’ve spent many happy hours in
different Nordstrom cafes.  Throwbacks to a time when ladies shopped and lunched.  A quiet place for relaxing and refueling for the grueling hours of shopping in front of you.   I’ve variously been there with my grandma, mom, sister, niece, friends.  It is sort of a cross between a cafe and a bistro serving crafted salads and sandwiches along with long cooked meats and sauced pastas.  Z often takes me for Saturday lunches.  My favorite sandwich-a warmed ciabatta with sliced chicken, balsamic onion jam, herbed aioli, and arugula alongside impossibly good fries and kalamata olive dip.  My favorite sandwich is only a ‘chef’s special’ and I despair of the day it falls from grace.  His-a cool citrus turkey with manchego on wholegrain.  This is where he realized he likes the salty bite of olives.  Good food and good memories.