darell eats

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This court is in session!
Calgary Court’s vast selection of Chinese cuisine overwhelmingly delicious

August 21, 2008

by Darell Hartlen


A few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a co-worker. It went something like this:

“You guys are invited to a very special gathering I am planning this week. Many of you have expressed that you want me to show you what real Chinese food is. I have decided to organize a trip to the famous Calgary Court Restaurant. Just show up, and I will decide what to order. The likes of ginger beef and deep-fried squid will not be ordered, but you can rest assured that the food will be good. Please prepare yourself physically and mentally for this gathering!”

With an invitation like this, how could I not accept?

Click here to read the whole story on FFWD's site.

When I made my ribs and pulled pork a few weeks ago, I froze a bunch so that I could bring it with me as a "Thanks for letting me stay at your house"-type gift to my in-laws.

I also decided to try Atomic Buffalo Turds, which despite the name, turned out amazing.

Here are some pics... the frozen stuff reheated amazingly (good to know) and the ABTs were eaten within minutes of being unveiled. Good times!


First you seed some jalepenos and stuff them with cream cheese, cheddar cheese and some spices.


Then like all good foods, you wrap them in bacon.




Then onto the grill... about 350 degrees for as long as it takes to cook the bacon.


Soooo good!


The reheating ribs and pork.



Stay tuned for more vacation eats...

Choose your own chocolate adventure
Choklat owner Brad Churchill’s customized treats
Published August 7, 2008

Have you ever thought about where chocolate comes from? Chocolate is a dominant part of our culinary lives, but do you know anyone who has ever actually made chocolate from scratch? Before I met Brad Churchill, owner of Choklat, opening Friday, August 8 in Inglewood, I had not. It’s not too surprising, as Churchill’s company is only the second in Canada now doing it (Soma Chocolatemaker in Toronto is the other)...

Click here to read the whole story on FFWD's site.

Tomorrow is Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen.

My understanding of how it works, thanks to the small print on DQ's Miracle Treat Day website is that all "Blizzard proceeds from participating North America locations will benefit your Children's Miracle Network hospital. Proceeds are sale price minus cost of ingredients. BLIZZARD, DQ and ellipse shaped logo are trademarks of Am.D.Q. Corp., Mpls, MN © 2007."

Nothing says "It's all about the kids" like trademarks and "sale price minus ingredients."

Out of curiosity, I checked out the nutritional information on a large Oreo Blizzard.



Holy crap!

Now I'm conflicted. I mean, I love kids. I believe the children are our are future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be.

But I digress... I want to be alive when my kid grows up, too. Eating 1,000 calorie desserts is probably not the way to go. And this is coming from the guy who cooked over ten pounds of meat last weekend. At least I can pronounce what went into that food.

Ever wonder what's in a Blizzard? I did too...



Ahhh, who am I kidding? All self-righteous, healty-eating propaganda aside, I've eaten Blizzards many a time before and I certainly will again.

Maybe I'll get a medium though...

On a final note, here's a funny commercial with Chris Farley's brother that makes me giggle.

Don't you hate it when you go to pull your banana out of your bag only to find it all bruised and inedible?

Well, I sure used to. But not any more. Not since I found the Banana Guard!



It's one of those simple ideas that leaves you saying, "Why didn't I think of that!?!"



At work today, someone said, "They should make one for apples or peaches, too."

Well, I guess they were listening, because when I got home tonight and Googled their website, low and behold, there they were already promoting the Froot Guard. Now that's customer service.

There's a recurring theme starting to develop here: I finally got off my butt and did something. Well, know what? It feels good. I think I'll have to keep this up.

So for lunch today, I took a drive down to 17th Ave here in Calgary and finally paid a visit to Tubby Dog.

Located at 103-1022 17th Ave SW, Tubby Dog is the type of place that you'd see—and most likely will someday—on The Food Network.

After a cursory search of the internet, I found Tubby Dog's menu and was able to weigh my options ahead of time. As a side note, thanks to my amazing grasp of simple math, I was also able to calculate that for $62.25, you can buy one of each of their signature dogs... but that's something to ponder for another day.

It was really hard to talk myself out of Sherm's Ultimate Gripper: a hot dog wrapped in bacon then deep fried, topped with ham, homemade chili, cheese, mustard, bacon, hot peppers, onions and a fried egg. Don't you fret though, I'll be heading on back to Tubby Dog soon enough and will post pictures—possibly even video—of that adventure too.

I decided that on today's trip I would sample the A-Bomb. Topped with cheese, bacon, mayo, mustard, ketchup and potato chips, it just sounded like the right choice for today.



Wow. Just wow. I ordered mine to go, envisioning me sitting in my van, windows rolled down, enjoying this fine summer day. Well, there was no way that it was going to happen. When they say toppings, I think they might mean that the hot dog is the side. There was overflow of toppings that ended up on the other side of my container when I opened it and I had absolutely no idea where to begin. I must have sat there for 30 seconds just staring at this thing. At that point I made the executive decision to get out of the vehicle and eat outside.

There was literally no way to pick it up without touching toppings. So, I did the only thing I could. I championed up, picked it up and took my first bite.



It was amazing. Adding potato chips to hot dogs is something I've been doing for years. The extra crunch adds a texture profile to the hot dog experience that I really enjoy.

The balance of all the flavours was well done and the dog itself had a really nice snap. The bun, or what I could find of it under everything, was also very nice.

Tubby Dog is also fully licensed and has DJs on Friday nites. According to their website, they're open "really late".


Here's the full menu. Lots more options to try in the future.

Well hello there!

I finally sucked it up and bought the BBQ smoker that I've been talking about for months. After just one use, I can safely say that this is one of the coolest things I own.

I assembled it yesterday afternoon and then, as per the instructions, I had to season it. Basically, you just run it once for about an hour, with wood and all, but without any food.

By then it was about 4:00 PM... Really, I should have just called it a day. There would have been ample time and opportunity to cook both the ribs and pork shoulder that I had bought the next day.

But, I'm not really very good at being patient, so I decided to make the ribs anyways.


Here's a shot of the smoker itself. It's a Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain propane smoker.
That's one of our cats, Jack, in the background. He weighs in at about 27 pounds.


After looking at about 50 rub recipes, I ended up taking some common elements and making my own. I think it needs a little tweaking, but for a first attempt, I was really happy. Now I can join the ranks of BBQers everywhere and deny others my rub recipe because it's a "secret". If you'd like to know it, I do accept PayPal.


I ended up trying the 3-2-1 method for cooking ribs, and I think that I'll be sticking with it for the forseeable future. It was really easy, I was happy with the results and low maintenance.


This was right at the three hour mark, just before I wrapped the ribs in foil for the next two hours.

Unfortunately, I don't have my digital camera right now, so all of the pictures were taken with my cell phone.

By the time I took the ribs out of the foil for the last hour on the grill, it was too dark outside to take any more shots.


Here's a shot of the final product. I was almost 11:00 PM, but it was well worth the wait!

I've already got a pork shoulder on the go today as well.

Good times!

Well, it's just about time to dust off the old keyboard and start up the blog again.

Stay tuned...

I just ate two.

johnny k's corner



Hello, Kiddies! This first post will be my attempt to introduce you to the spicy goodness that comes from the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. of A. This region is roughly considered to be everything that borders the Gulf of Mexico, but I want to focus on the foods that come out of the New Orleans-area and the Mississippi and Alabama gulf coasts. One thing you must understand about people down here, be they Creole, Cajun or just good ole rednecks: if you can drag it out of the water, we will eat it. If you coat it with something really spicy, even better. If you do the first two steps and then fry it... look out baby!

Last night, I came up with a tasty little casserole that's quick and easy. I made enough for two. You can double it for more people. Here's the recipe:

Spicy Cheesy Crabmeat Casserole
1/2 box Seashell Pasta, cooked and drained.
1/2 cup Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing (i used Ken's Steakhouse brand)
1 can medium pitted black olives, drained.
1 can real crab meat (or 1 cup fresh lump crabmeat, if you can get it).
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (more if you like it spicy)
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese.
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground marjoram (or oregano)
1/2 tsp Tony Chacere's Creole Seasoning (or Creole Crack, as i call it).

-Prepare the pasta according to the box. Drain very well.
-Put the pasta in a casserole dish and drizzle with the olive oil, then stir.
-Mix in all ingredients except the cheddar/mozzarella cheese.
-Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly.
-Eat it up. I totally pulled this recipe out of my rear, from stuff that happened to be in the pantry. I do this often -- somtimes it's just o.k. Sometimes it rocks the house. This one rocks!

Next up: my very own Red Beans and Rice recipe that will leave you smiling, all the way to the bathroom. Spicy good!!

So I've enlisted the help of a couple of friends and we're going to try and get the blog rolling again.
For now it'll stay the same format, but we're working on a new look and possibly a new name.

In other news, we bought new cookware today. At 50% off, it was hard not to!

It's Rachael Ray's (Yum-O!) Hard-Anodized Cookware, in a ten-piece set.

All I've used it for so far was to heat up some soup, but it did a bang-up job of that. We'll keep you posted as we use it more.

Queso Fundido

1 cup white wine
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 pound Monterey Jack, grated
1/2 pound goat cheese crumbled
2 poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 pound Spanish chorizo, grilled and finely diced
6 cloves roasted garlic, smashed to a paste
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Bring the wine to a simmer in a double boiler. Add the mozzarella and Jack cheese and stir until melted. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes. Place in a fondue pot and serve with flour tortillas and blue corn chips.

I ate a pizza sandwich for lunch.

The Ground Meat Cookbook - 204 Intriguing Recipes

We tested out our new deep dish pizza stone this evening and it works just dandy.

Sarah made some whole wheat pizza dough this afternoon which was ready for me when I got home.
One batch is good for two pizzas as well, so we've already got enough for another pizza sitting in the freezer for another day!


I started by rolling out the crust and emptying it into the new dish. I slightly greased the dish with pam, too.
I then added a layer of fresh minced garlic and a thin layer of pizza sauce.
Ok, I just lied. I used some basil & tomato pasta sauce as that's all we had.
Then I added chopped mushrooms, red peppers and ham.
Then I topped off the whole thing with a mixture of shredded mozzarella, shredded cheddar, parmesan and a bunch of italian spices.
Next stop was the oven!

18 or so minutes after being in the 425 degree oven, it was done!

It could have used just a few more minutes in the oven, but overall it was great.

I made some pea soup tonight for the first time in quite a while. It was awesome.

One of the best foods ever thought up is poutine. I can't remember if I've already blogged about it, but that doesn't matter. It's easily a food worthy of more than one blog.

Over at the wikipedia, they describe it as:

Poutine (pronounced, roughly, poo-tin, or peuh-tsin) is a popular junk food snack consisting of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered with hot gravy.

While I admit it's not the most appealing food ever made visually, it certainly tastes like heaven.

I really should be blogging more. I'll do my best to post new stuff soon. If you've got any special requests, please let me know.

Cheers,

Darell

Someone with a big stomach and an even bigger deathwish just made and consumed a monstrous sandwich packing almost 30,000 calories.

Here's the breakdown:

Food	Calories
Fried Mushrooms – 15	450
Bacon – 14 pieces	990
Onion rings – 18	1140
Ground Beef – 1/4 lb.	293
Corndogs – 2	540
Swiss Cheese – 4 slices	425
Provolone Cheese – 4 slices	397
Cheddar Cheese – 4 slices	455
Sliced Ham – 1/4 lb.	184
Sliced Turkey – 1/4 lb.	181
Pastrami – 1/4 lb.	394
Sliced Roast Beef – 1/4 lb.	200
Bratwurst – 1	510
Braunschweiger – 1/4 lb.	580
Wheat Bread – 1 lb.	1030
Lettuce – 1/2 head	25
Feta Cheese – 4 oz.	350
Italian Salad Dressing – 6 oz.	480
Oregeno – 50 grams	438
Salt & Pepper – 50 grams	0
Butter – 1/2 lb.	1600
Parmesan Cheese – 100 grams	465
Canola Oil – 154 Tbsp.	18,432
Total	29,559

Hey, at least it's got lettuce on it. That makes it kind of good for you, right???

Full account here.

I went to a buffet a few weeks ago and they had tons and tons of good stuff.

They also had a "kids section" which had hot dogs, mini-hamburgers, pizza pops and lots of other fun stuff.

So it's no secret that I have a serious addiction to Mexican food. It's also not that surprising, seeing as I was born and raised in San Diego. But in the last couple of years, I've really tried to combine my love of Mex with my love of cooking. But, like so many ethnic cuisines, making a dish that tastes truly authentic can be a real challenge.

About a year ago, my family and I went to a birthday party for a little girl that lived on our street. The family is from Mexico, and every time we'd go over there, the smells from the kitchen would make me drool more than my 7 month old son. On this day, while the kids ate cake and sandwiches, Maria served up for the adults the most amazing birria I'd ever had. Birria is essentially Mexican pot roast. Same cut of meat, same cooking style, but thousands of miles away from the comfort food that I grew up eating. Believe me, you've never had pot roast like this.

Birria (Mexican potroast)

Note: There are no spice measurements, as Maria doesn't measure, and does it all by instinct. When I make this, I use about 1-2 tablespoons of each.

- 2-3 lbs. chuck roast (or carne pescueso)
- 2-3 guallilo chiles (I've also used ancho, pequin, and New Mexican chiles, or a combo of multiple types. Have fun with it, but just watch the heat. A great guide to dried chiles can be found here.)
- cumin seed
- black pepper
- thyme
- mexican oregano
- 4 large garlic cloves
- .5 inch peeled ginger
- pinch of salt
- 2-3 bay leaves
- .5 cup fruit vinegar (apple cider vinegar will also work great)

1. Remove stems and seeds from chiles. Cover with hot water and let sit for half an hour.
2. Into a food processor, add rehydrated chiles (skins removed, if possible), garlic, cumin, black pepper, thyme, oregano, salt and ginger. Process with just enough of the chile water to make a thick paste.
3. Put meat into a slow cooker and liberally coat with the spice paste. Add the bay leaves and vinegar and enough water to create an inch of liquid in the pot (you don't need too much liquid; the meat will make and release quite a bit as it cooks).
4. Cook on high for an hour or two (until the liquid is near boiling) and then turn heat to low. Cook forever (or at least, 4-6 more hours). The longer it cooks, the more tender the meat will be.

To serve, use two forks to partially shred the meat into big chunks. Dish up meat into bowls with generous amounts of the cooking liquid. Serve with diced white onion, chopped cilantro, lime wedges, hot sauce and fresh corn or flour tortillas.

Note: if you don't have a slow cooker, heat the meat and liquid in a Dutch oven on a stovetop over medium-high heat until the liquid is near boiling. Then put the pot, covered with foil, into 350 degree oven for 2-4 hours.

Check out this awesome gadget.



You can order it here.

The make your own Kraft pizzas are good when you add extras onto them. We used pepperoni (cut thick at the deli counter), green peppers and cheddar, mozzarella and asiago cheeses.

yummy!

2 matt blogs in one day!!! Can you believe it?!?

Well, I just came across this link, and it was too good not to share.


the Chippie!!!

Now this is a blog that I can really get behind. Good stuff.

This dish was the product of one of those "what do I have in the house that I can throw together into some semblance of an edible meal" times. Luckily, the final product was not only edible, but so good that it has been added to my permanent repertoire.

Directions:
I like to use boneless chicken breasts, as they're the easiest to stack upon. I also cut them in half to maximize the chicken to toppings ratio. I marinate the chicken in an olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper marinade (a good balsamic dressing works well, too). While the chicken is marinading, I grill up some thinly sliced eggplant brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with s&p. Then, I grill up the chicken to the point where it's just underdone.

Now it's time to stack. I've experimented with some different toppings, but this is my favorite combo.

In order, from bottom to top:
- chicken
- eggplant
- fresh basil
- roasted red pepper
- thick slice of mozzarella cheese
- tomato slice

After you've assembled your stackers, you can put them back on the grill, but be careful! In the interest of time, I usually use jarred red peppers, and they tend to be a bit oily. Oily middle stacker component = slippery sliding stacker mess waiting to happen. An easier solution is to just assemble your stackers on a jelly roll pan and then throw them under the broiler for a couple of minutes. Everything is cooked, you just want to heat them up and melt the cheese.

Enjoy!

Yup. We're pretty lucky around here in that both of us like to cook.

Here's some pics of the meatloaf as well as the chicken pot pie that Sarah has made lately.

Tonite, we took part in The (First) Really Big Cook-Off. The idea is great and simple, a recipe is posted and everyone makes it. Then the results will be compiled and posted. It will be neat to see how different and yet similar everyone's turned out.

This was a really cool experience as this was something that I never would have tried without the encouragement of this event, and I'm darn glad I did.

Here's the recipe I followed:

Ravioli with Potato, Watercress and Cheese
Serves 4-6

Make a point of using 2 delicious, contrasting cheeses, for example a strong cheese like Gorgonzola or a creamy taleggio and a hard cheese such as pecorino or Parmesan.

6 sheets fresh pasta (cut out into 36 circles or squares, or use 36 wonton wrappers)
2 pounds all-purpose potatoes
4 cloves garlic, peeled, chopped
4 or 5 good handfuls watercress, large stalks removed, plus extra for garnish
1/4 cup butter
10 - 12 oz. cheese, extra for garnish
Grated nutmeg, to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Wash and peel the potatoes, put them into well-salted, boiling water with the garlic and cook until the potatoes are just tender (it is very important not to under- or overcook them). Drain them and let them sit for about 5 minutes to enable the excess water to evaporate (if you overcook them or don't drain them correctly they'll be too moist and your filling will be too wet).

Sarah and I went grocery shopping this afternoon and got all the stuff. We ended up switching the watercress for arugula, as that's all we could find and went with ricotta and asiago cheeses.

Making the ravioli was much easier than I would have thought (especially using the won ton wrappers) and we'll certainly be trying this with other ingredients in the future.

I made the first ravioli. Here's a pic of it with the top off.

All you do then is moisten the edges with the egg wash and top it with another won ton wrapper.

Sarah was so into it that she made way more raviolies than me in the end.

Here's a picture of the end result.

While we were on vacation, we cooked up some super tasty steaks the one night.

Extra special thanks to my awesome in-laws, Vic and Anne, who picked them out for us!

Thanks to the people over at Fresh Approach Cooking, I will be participating in The (First) Really Big Cook-Off!

The idea is simple, a recipe is posted and everyone makes the same thing, sending in their submissions. It should be neat to see how similar, yet different the results are. I'll post up mine when I male it.

Matt had gone missing.

He was last seen going into a 7-11.