FoodMob! inspired hamburgers

This was the first time I took a picture of food with intentions of showing it to other people. I started watching a show on Revision3 called, Food Mob!. Irish chief Niall Harbison brings you a new kind of culinary show for a new kind of chef (those looking to learn their way around the kitchen). The show invigorates a robust online community where viewers are sharing, suggesting, and learning from each other's cooking.
So far there are 8 or 9 episodes and he teaches cooking techniques easy enough for a new-found cook to learn, or basics and gives good ideas for those of us that have been cooking for awhile. The team has good humor and works well together. This picture was my hamburger I had made one lazy weekend when I didn't know what else to make. A lot of what I put into it was inspired by Niall. I had placed the pic up on their Facebook site hoping to get my pic posted on an episode, but alas, it was not shown. Oh well. I feel good about sharing.

Mostly the ingredients are simple:
Ground beef
Worcestershire sauce
Shredded cheese mixed into the meat
Small portion of bread crumbs
Salt and pepper

That's it. Easy and taste really great. Cooked indoors in a pan, with a nice sesame seed bun. Next time I would put some lettuce and tomato, but I didn't have any at the time.

Food Mob! has new episodes every Thursday. Also check them out at FoodMob!

Oh Gyros

It was one of those night that we weren't sure what we were going to eat. Nothing at home sounded good, and most other places we had been before. My man and I got in the car, he drove. And just drove. He turned into a close shopping center to our home and got out of the car. I am slightly familiar with this center, but never bothered to pay attention to it. And I realized, all this time of living where I did, I had no idea that such a wonderful little jewel of a restaurant was there.

The place is Christos Pizza. Tucked away in a corner of a shopping center. It's a small local restaurant. You walk in and immediately see the kitchen. Humble tables and decor. Mostly Italian waterfront scenes. It's always busy. We have only been there together twice. During dinner time, don't expect great service. The waitress seems to forget about you. We always see the same guy cooking or tending the kitchen with a few other people helping.

Menu is basic Italian food mixed with some Greek. Pizza, pasta, soups, salads, and there is a plate called the gyro. Most of Americans know the gyro by now. The tender meat with cheese and the fancy, hard to say name, sauce. A gyro defined by wiki is: "

A Greek dish, consisting of lamb meat, tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce, and is served with pita bread. Gyros may also refer to the sandwich, which consists of the same ingredients."

I had never had one before I met my man. Never even heard if it. One of his favorites that he gets from another little place called Gondliers. was the gyro plate. So. since we were there, I was feeling in the mood for something different, I decided to give it a try.
Its nice to not have any expectations when it comes to new food. I got my plate and it was the size of a football. Big plate. The meat they use is a mix of beef and lamb. On one side of the plate was the pita covered in the meat, a generous helping of feta cheese on top and the hard-to-say-name sauce (tzatziki sauce). On the other side is the lettuce and tomato to put on your gyro. The meat is very tender. When you walk in, you can see the meat roasting on a rotating vertical pole in the kitchen. Salty, a little gamy with the lamb, but good flavor and texture. The sauce, perfection. Smooth, salty with the freshness of the cucumber and the hits of acidity. The feta salty to go well with the meat and sauce. There is an overabundance of the cheese. But I can over look that. The pits is a wonder texture. A little chewy but strong and spongy and it had been grilled on top of a flat surface to give it a grilled flavor. Mix these wonderful ingredients and you got a culinary explosion of wonderfulness in your mouth. Everything went perfect together. The lettuce and tomato I could leave out, its just filler. They also come with fries if you want. Which are basic fried potato bits. But the gyro, fantastic. I'm addicted. Like I said, we have been there twice, and I have gotten nothing but the gyro. The price is about $8.00 per plate. Not bad for the amount that you get.

I have since then tried different gyros. Gondilers and Great Wraps have gyros as well. My conclusion, not as good as Christos. But again. I have only have a few, and not way an expert on who's is best.

So if you are in the neighborhood and know where I am talking about, definitely try a gyro from Christos. If not, at least try one from your local restaurant. Its worth a try. Who knows, you might find the most wonderful thing out there.

Sweet Treat

I have mentioned before that I enjoy cooking. I was planning to make a tiramisu for Valentine's Day. Homemade. The idea terrified me. I assumed that this Italian dessert was complicated to make. Plans changed and I wasn't able to get to the store in enough time and blame it on me being lazy, it didn't get made for VD. My mans birthday caused me to re think the idea of making it. So I was determined to make it for him. Instead of a cake or fancy party, tiramisu. There are tons of recipes for this dessert. Seems like everyone had their own twist and their own idea about what it should be made with, how much, and what flavoring. Which isn't a bad thing, I mean variety is the spice of life, right? So I looked for a simple, easy to do, recipe. One that won't cause me to be in the kitchen for hours on end making sure everything turned out ok.

I found one on Foodnetwork: Giada De Laurentiis. She is host of the show Everyday Italian. Looks easy, simple ingredients. Bingo! I get all the stuff together thru the week before the birthday. Have a difficult time finding the mascarpone cheese, and more of a difficult time pronouncing it. I finally go to the super cool local farmers market around our area. We love that place. So many new and exotic things. Anywho, find the cheese and get everything together. Make it the night before. I follow directions close to the point. I might have messed up on an egg or two. It calls for egg yolks, which i have a hard time separating the yolks and whites. Don't have a fancy separator at home so used hands. Lost a yolk or two. Mixed, added stuff other than the liquor that she called for, in fact I used Mudslide mix that was in the fridge. It's way to strong so I don't drink it. Get everything worked on, add the cheese, dip the ladyfinger. Every went smooth as it could for the first time making it. Put in the fridge over night.

It turned out great. Well, a few things could have been changed. I ran out of ladyfingers so it wasn't as solid as it should have been. I did not add the coco on top as you usually see it done. I had even bought chocolate to put shavings on top, but did not do that either. But, the flavor was fantastic!! Such a good coffee flavor, texture was ok. Cheese turned out better than I thought it would. So all around I am happy with this experience. My man was too and that was the point. A nice birthday tiramisu for him. I do have a few suggestions if you plan to make this, have plenty of ladyfingers, and use a deep dish that is about 8x8inches. Enjoy!

Here is the recipe of you would like to give it a try:

Tiramisu

whats in your mouth?

I love food. I like eating, looking, making, and discussing food. Some of this blog will be about food, the rest, like the title, random things from my head that I am inclined to share with you. I recently had a few days off from work and being such a nice girlfriend that I am, offered to bring my man lunch, while he was working. After we discussed what to bring, we figured Sonic. It close, its easy, its good. I get basic hamburger, which to me has way to much onions on there, and get his order in. Get the drinks, cause we all know that Sonic is best known for their drinks and desserts. I stop and think what I want to drink. I usually get the strawberry limeade. I don't particular like cherry, so I get strawberry. Usually that's my poison from Sonic. I was in a different mood, a inkling for something different. Coffee. I like coffee. When I was younger, I would drink hot coffee, two sugars, and lots of creamer (vanilla caramel) in the mornings. Past years I have stopped getting up and making it and adding to the fact that I am highly sensitive to caffeine, I had stopped all together brewing and drinking the stuff. I decide to get the Java Chiller, mocha flavored from Sonic. I pulled thru, waited for 10 minutes, it always is slow when I go and happily pay. The Java Chiller was coffee flavor smoothie texture, creamy, had some whipped cream and chocolate drizzles on it. Looks pleasing. Took a sip. It was the best coffee flavor and ice cream texture I have ever had. The creamy-ness of it was perfect. Easy to drink (with straw). Flavor was 50x better than a jomocha shake from Arbys. The little bit of whipped cream and chocolate was a nice touch to give it some extra flavor and make you think you are really getting a treat. That was about 2 weeks ago, I have been back just for the drink about 8 times. I really enjoy this drink. So if you happen to come across a Sonic and feel like a frosty cup of goodness, take my advice, try the Java Chiller. Way to go Sonic.