"I'm thinking about starting a Blog", I tell my husband at dinner tonight. When I explain the concept, I'm ready for him to go back to eating and talk about the weeds popping up in the backyard. Instead, I'm met with a different reaction... intrigue. So I'm diving in and starting it. Tonight. Because if I don't, I won't. Will I keep up with it? Probably not. Let's be honest. That's not really what I do. I'm great at coming up with good ideas, but continuing them? Not so much. Thankfully that's not been the case for the kids... I've been continuing staying home and raising them for nearly 6 years. I digress. See? It's what I do. Okay. The blog. The concept. Here it is. We eat out. A lot. A lot more than we should. But a little over a year ago, I came to realize something. Dining out is my splurge. I'm a pretty frugal person by nature. And unlike a lot of people who eat out, I actually can cook very well (no, I can! Really! Ask my husband!). But I do enjoy the whole dining-out experience.
The inspiration came from a recent dining experience at Poppy in Seattle. Let me start by saying that I *loved* the concept of this place. Small sides to go with a single protein... a basic tasting menu on a plate. I am a side dish's best friend. But a funny thing happened at that meal. Rather than sitting and just gazing at my husband while we enjoyed the food, he pointed out some of his favorites. I began to realize that my trained culinary skills (read all the food competition shows I spend hours watching on TV) were allowing me to dissect certain dishes and giving me the idea that maybe I could recreate a couple at home. So I tried. And I did. While sitting at the table, I popped out my iPhone and made a list of all the flavors I detected. I made a mental list of how I might accomplish this at home. I copied down two ideas. The first was a cream chard recipe... I call it creamed spinach for grown-ups. Oh my. It's delicious. I have dreams about that one. I admittedly love it more than my husband. But he was also holding out for the second recipe I analyzed that night. Roasted cauliflower. Made it tonight. It was a wild success. My husband is so ecstatic that it worked. I told him I would make it again some time and he said, "Ya think?!?!"
So the concept is simple. I will chronicle our dining out adventures. The hope is that three things happen.
First, as I go, I will have an organized list of places we've gone and the food we've enjoyed. I eat out the way I cook (or rather, the way I used to cook before I had kids). I would make a dish and my wonderful husband would say, "That's delicious. It's too bad we're never going to have it again." The same is true for dining out sometimes... there are just so many places I want to eat and there is only so much room in my stomach! But I'd like to remember that the Capital Grille's lobster mac and cheese and prosciutto wrapped mozzarella is WORTH going back for, even if their spinach salad falls flat.
Second, this is an accountability journal for me. If we eat out, I will write it down. Hopefully this will limit the number of lunch drive-thrus and other quick stops we have. Dining out should be a special experience.
Third, well, if someone identifies this and wants to give me a free meal to try out their new restaurant, ummmm... I'm not stopping them! No, my husband explained it best. I have a dream, people. I have a dream to be one of those judges on Iron Chef America (not the original one... too many fish eyeballs and bull testicles that can find their way into dishes!) or Chopped or any other food competition show. I admit I'm sadly obsessed. So this is my small way to be able to do that.
And that is all... we'll see where this heads. Right now, it heads to bed, as I didn't dine out today and spent an awful lot of time on here already.
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