Finally after months of waiting it had warmed up enough (about 32 degrees) and we could fire up the grill for a taste of summer! Perfect dinner of grilled cheeseburgers and Cantaloupe!

Story of this whole trip to follow

My sister and I stopped by this place called Pockets, after she picked me up from the train.  We had planned on making chicken wings but it was too late to marinate and get them all ready so we decided to make them for lunch the next day. This place was really good, and apparently very popular with the Chicago PD.  There were 3 tables of them when we walked in and 2 more undercover cops came in after us!

I went to the Bayou (117 South Butler Street Madison) with a friend tonight. I had never been there and neither had he. We both ordered Po-Boys, mine shrimp and his catfish (i think) He also ordered the Jambalaya ( I think now I’m getting it confused with Gumbo) but it had rice in it and was pretty good. Overall the meal was good. The waitress screwed up and gave me my Po-Boy dressed (with shredded lettuce, tomato, pickles and red onion) when I asked for it Naked (plain) and gave me normal fries instead of sweet Potato Fries. It wasn’t all that busy but apparently a couple at a nearby table ordered the exact same thing as we did except her’s was dressed and mine wasn’t, hence the screw up. The drinks (we both had a beer) were served in plastic glasses, which when you expect to lift up a slightly heavier glass to drink could be dangerously messy!

Overall it was a decent experience, with a great atmosphere, and good food! I think I’d go back!!

Spinach-Pear Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

*2 Bosc pears, cored and thinly sliced
*1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
*3 tablespoons water
*2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* 5 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
* 1½ teaspoons stone-ground mustard
* ¾ teaspoon salt
* ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
* ¼ cup (1 ounce) shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Combine pear slices and spinach in a large bowl. Combine water and the next 6 ingredients (through pepper), stirring with a whisk. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad, and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

A perfect Hanukkah Dinner!

My apologizes for the hiatus I was in Florida visiting my grandparents there for the past week. My one reader informed me she was tired of looking at x-mas M&M’s so I needed to update!

We couldn’t decide what to have for dinner so I volunteered my friends version of burritos. She makes them with a tortilla, beans, cheese, peppers and salsa. This version I made was basically a taco baked for a few minutes. We put hamburger, cheese, salsa, and lettuce. Rolled it up and baked it in the oven for a few minutes.

This was the first year that my sister and I has thanksgiving alone. We did it all turkey, stuffing, potatoes, 2 pies, etc. We had never made a turkey before it was a seriously learning experience. It cooked okay and turned out with a nice golden skin, but when it came to the carving we were stumped! It’s so hard!! We put Oregano and another spice I can’t remember in it! It smelled great!

Yesterday we had a chili cook off at work.  12 chili’s all together. Some were traditional and some were non traditional. They ranged from spicy to not so spicy, from beef to beans to pork.  As a way to eat the leftovers some of the staff decided that today would be chili-dog day.   My boss came up to me knowing about my photo project and asked if his plate looked good enough for my photo of the day.  I said yes. So this is my boss’s lunch from today!

Day 3 of this project with my friend Kelly (flickr)

Allison’s Spiced Pears and Pomegranate Salad

Kelly’s (flickr ) spiced pomegranate sauce over a pan cooked pork chop and served it with boiled green beans and almonds with a pomegranate garnish.

Recipe Origin: allrecipes.com Prep Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 10 minutes Servings: 4

Kelly’s spiced pomegranate sauce to go over a pan cooked pork chop and served it with boiled green beans and almonds with a pomegranate garnish.

Pan Cooked Porkchop Recipe

Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of two bone in pork chops. Put a half inch of oil in a large frying pan and let it warm up on high heat. Put the pork chops in the pan once the oil is warm and cook for a few minutes on each side, until the meat is cooked through. Once done, remove from the pan and place on a plate to rest.

The green beans were just boiled in water with a little salt and butter and topped with almonds and pom kernels once they were in the bowl.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 20 minutes Servings: 1-3/4 cups

My boyfriend and I frequently go to Ruby Tuesday’s. He loves the salad bar and their mini hamburgers. This time I decided to mix it up a bit and get a REAL hamburger. I had the bacon cheese burger. It was pretty good, although not perfect. The amount of bacon and cheese on one side of the burger was twice that of the other, which made my 2nd half of the burger quite boring.

Ingredients:
2 slices of Sara Lee Honey Wheat
Margarine/Butter
Pesto
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions
1. Melt butter in a nonstick pan over low heat.

2. Butter one of two slices of bread, then add a slice of your favorite cheese. Assemble.

3. Put the slice of bread that is buttered, butter side down on the pan, add the cheese. Apply pesto to the other slice of bread, cover the cheese with the pesto side.

4. Turn temperature up to medium. Check every few minutes to make sure the heat isn’t too high and causing the underside of the sandwich to burn.

5. When the underside of the sandwich is golden brown and the cheese is melting out the sides, turn over the sandwich and brown the other side over medium heat.

6. Slice diagonally, and enjoy!

For Halloween I dressed up like a cow, which I had made at 5:00pm tonight. I sewed spots on to sweatpants and a sweatshirt and made ears. I’m really proud of the ears! they were pretty great. I went to dinner with my friend E, she was a construction barrel. Very genius, especially with all the construction around here. Pictures of that and the pumpkins will be in the next post. We didn’t go out like most 20-somethings, almost but we ended up watching Priscilla, queen of the desert, which neither of us had seen in many years. A great way to spend Halloween evening.