Birthday, food, kitten, Giant Lumbering Tardmobiles

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Gordon continues to be a ball of adorable energy.

He's growing up so quickly!

Coco continues to be unamused.

A while back I made some flank steak "rolls", coating one side with cream cheese, chives, spices, and binding them up with twine.

They were pretty amazing! The mushrooms were coated in olive oil and Italian spices, and the roasted asparagus were insane.

The next night's leftovers featured a baked potato. Microwaved, haha.

I then roasted a duck which I stuffed with celery, apple slices, orange slices, and spices. Basted every 10 minutes with Cabernet Sauvignon.

Oh hand cut bacon from Mullers. How I love you.

Gordon LOVES to destroy the Indy legos inside the coffee table.

"What, me? I was just sitting here".

We celebrated Lisa's birthday with her family! She is now three.

Doesn't look a day over two!

More gratuitous Gordon.

He likes to SLEEP on my shoulder when I'm in the basement working on stuff. Jesus it's adorable.

I went to Wegman's and got some goodies for my home made Chinese food (below). Also, Naan!

Giant Lumbering Tardmobile at work that does not know how to fucking park.

I dug up some of my old favorite drawing tools - some of this stuff is over ten years old! Weird that I have a Rapidograph "mint in box"! Those Pink Pearls are the old kind that smell right - NOT like hot dogs! Also, made in the US and NOT Malaysia! It's funny how you find that you have emotional attachments to the strangest seemingly random things...

GORDON, AKKKKK

He's the best.

Lisa and I went to Philly this past weekend to celebrate her Birthday! We got cheese steaks from Pat's.

I recently got a GPS unit and my god it made the trip stress free.

We then went to the Franklin Institute to see the Body Worlds 2 Exhibit!

It was a great afternoon!

Airplane outside of the Franklin Institute.

Benjamin Franklin statue!

Hey Lisa, show us Franklin!

I always feel compelled to take a pic of a dome from directly underneath, when I'm under one.

Here's where I park my Lunar Lander.

I love old aircraft art.

And old aircraft!

This was a cool LED wall that responded to cell phone signals. the stronger the signal, the more the wall would light!

Here is Lisa, and her big heart!

We then went to the hotel and checked in. From there we could walk to the Reading Terminal Market, where our minds were blown by the staggering array of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, and spices. All sorts of vendors sold their wares as well. Amazing. Later, we walked to Chinatown where we had a delicious dinner! Lisa got a hot pot and I got filet!

Next door to the restaurant was an Asian grocer, which was a lot of fun to browse through!

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and drove to Kanella, which we had seen on the Food Network show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". It was seriously straight to the top of our personal lists of the best foods we have ever eaten.

We didn't have a reservation, but they seated us outside anyway. Whew!

I ordered a Lemonnana, which is now my favorite Summer drink. Wooooooooo!

Lisa got a Greek coffee, which was also apparently delicious.

We both ordered the Cyprus Breakfast! Please believe me when I say, this is seriously the best thing I have ever eaten. Those that know me know how much I don't care about breakfast. I could eat this dish all day, every day. Two eggs fried in olive oil, halloumi, lounza and bread. There were so many subtle flavors that built upon each other, with the cheese being salty sweet, the eggs poses sing a pleasing crunch from the olive oil, the pork being smoky and salty, the bread being fresh and soft, and the salad in the center providing a cool refreshing note. It was perfect - harmonious, salty, delicious... Kanella in Philadelphia - I love you!

Like I said, when we got home, I set about making my own Lemonnana!

Last night I cooked Char Sui! Chinese barbequed pork. It was succulent and so tender!!

It went into a Won Ton-like broth I put together with chicken stock, sesame oil, a dash of rice vinegar (and a dash of Mir in - why not!), a shallot instead of scallions, and soy sauce. Lisa said it was AWESOME! I agreed.

More Gordon, home improvements, Knives knives all kinds of knives!

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Gordon likes to carry Marcel around from room to room - here he is, dropping one of Marcel's balls onto the floor.

Simon seems interested in the toy every once in a while.

He's either shadowing Gordon, or is recoiling and crying like a little bitch when Gordon tries to play.

I roasted some garlic - mmm!

I went a little crazy and made an orgy of food for lunch last weekend. From left to right:
Cannellini beans, rinsed, marinated in sun dried tomato vinaigrette.
Mixed field greens, with balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Walnuts!
Awesome thin-cut top shelf steak, marinated in balsamic vinaigrette with a dusting of garlic salt.
Olive and sun dried tomato Tapenade.
Sun of Italy sun dried tomatoes, patted down to remove as much oil as possible.

French bread - brushed with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkled with Sun of Italy Italian Spice Mix - lightly grilled!

So Gordon likes to be swaddled. We think he likes to be warm - who doesn't?

It's a one way ticket to hard sleeping.

Bundled up and heating up fast!

So he'll eventually "vent" and one looong arm stretches out from the cocoon.

This weekend we had cheese, water crackers, and sangria. Wensleydale with cranberries, and Cypress Grove Chevre "Truffle Tremor" - yum!

Last night I grilled a steak, and brussel sprouts that Lisa had rolled in sesame oil and sea salt (then drizzled with Soy sauce).

I also grilled a handmade Old Bay Sausage from Muller's deli for Lisa!

We got a new rug for the back room on Sunday. I am waiting for the cats to christen it with vomit!

Lisa also made new curtains!! Fortune cookie curtains! I also finally got a magnetic knife strip in the kitchen, so functional!