Where did October go?

Oh no!  An entire month slipped by, and I didn't write anything in my blog.  It was quite a crazy month.  We were out of town for at least one weekend.  When we were home, we had so many visitors that I was doing laundry for the guest rooms regularly.  (OK, so not hard to put sheets and towels into the washer and dryer).

I did eat out.  On the road, we had our usual lunch/dinner stop at Sheetz gas station.  Yes, I like their food.  I usually go with a Made To Order (aka MTO) chicken sub: 6 inch toasted white roll with chicken, provolone cheese, mayo, bacon, oregano, and black olives.  I've also started to get a cup of fries.  I really like their fries. 

In Buffalo, Darryl and I went to dinner with our great friend Katie.  We decided on Ilio DiPaolos in Hamburg.  Great food!  I ordered the tortellini with the house sauce and a side of Italian sausage.  In place of my salad, I had a great cup of french onion soup.  We all split some cheese covered garlic bread.  I figured I would order the tortellini because we were going to a wedding with a buffet and you never find tortellini in a buffet line.  OOPs...  Ok, so never say never.  We did have tortellini at the wedding, but this one was prepared with a white cream sauce and had specks of bacon in it.

We did enjoy the usual fast food stuff... Pizza at King's Dominion amusement park, Panda Express, pizza at Wegmans, Asian at Wegmans...

I also ate at Capital Ale House... three times in less than a week.  YIKES!  But I did have three different meals, a lamb burger, a cheese burger (on $2 burger night), and a cheese dip on steal the glass night.  I would have had more that last night, but I already had dinner on the table when we decided to go steal the Heavy Seas glasses that were on special. 

Best of all.... I got to enjoy another meal at King's Arms Tavern with two of my best friends from Buffalo.  After dragging Katie and Michelle all over Colonial Williamsburg, we had a wonderful meal at the tavern.  I did have something different than my meal from the summer... I went with the prime rib.  It was out of this world!!! 

Out side of my restaurant experiences, I spent many hours really focusing on school.  I really didn't try to make anything special for dinner.  I definitely did not try to copy any of the meals I had out at the restaurants. 

November is a new month.  I still have a lot going on at school, and there is Thanksgiving to celebrate, so my cooking time will still be limited.  However... I will be creating my famous Canadian Thanksgiving Meal (which normally is celebrated during Columbus Day weekend, but we had guests in town and a crazy month).  This year I'll be cooking for 40 or so people again and I'll be experimenting with some new recipes that I have found.  I think I will blog about that experience this month, and then jump back into restaurants again in December.

Sheppard's Pie, Lee's Retreat, Part II

I'm not sure if I said this in one of my first blogs or not, but this is definitely a learning experience.  Luckily I really enjoy learning.

So, how did my take on Lee's Retreat's "A Pub Above Sheppard's Pie" turn out?  I've been given the green light to make it again.  I do however, need to do some tweaking.

Overall, I would call this meal a success.  It was tasty.  Unfortunately, it was not as visually appealing as the dish I enjoyed at Lee's Retreat.  I was going to post a picture, but it looked like mashed potatoes with a side of dog food.  YIKES!  Luckily, it was pretty tasty.

I started with butter melting in my pot (the pot being big enough to hold all of the ingredients and fit nicely into my oven right from the stove).  Once the butter was melted, I softened some shallots without letting them turn too brown.  Then I mixed in just over a pound of lamb (in one inch cubes), thyme, and some salt and pepper.  I let the lamb brown slightly.  Then I added two potatoes finely chopped, enough Stonewall Stout to cover everything in the pot, and about a half of a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce (because my Joy of Cooking cookbook recommended it).  That all went into the oven for about an hour.  After the hour, I added carrots and some heavy cream.  Everything went back into the oven for another 40 minutes.  Then I added corn and peas (not the kind I had at the restaurant) and let it warm in the oven for another 10 minutes.

I made mashed red bliss potatoes that were boiled along with three cloves of garlic. 

Once everything was on the plate, we were ready to eat.  I did not do the lollipop lamb chop... but I figured that was some what of a decorative piece.

So, why is this a learning experience?  I used the recipe from Joy of Cooking (mostly).  I substituted the Stonewall Stout in place of chicken stock.  I liked that flavor.  It was nice and rich.  I made a much smaller batch than the book called for, so I cut down the ingredients... however, I did not cut down the cooking time.  My lamb was a bit overcooked.  The book called for potatoes to be finely chopped and that they would dissolve during the cooking process and thicken the sauce... but they didn't.  I just had these fine bits of potato floating along with the lamb and vegetables.  I did not have any potatoes in the dish at the restaurant.  With that all said, my sauce was not very thick.  I think I should have skipped the potatoes and used a thickening agent like cornstarch or rue instead.  Also, I think I should have stirred in the corn and peas at almost the last minute.  They really did not need ten minutes of cooking time.  They seemed overcooked.

Learning experience.  But I am really excited to make this again, and hopefully soon.  One really nice thing is that this meal did not cost very much.  I got the lamb half price by shopping at Wegmans and searching for the little orange "Special Today" sticker.  I think I paid $5 or $6 for the pound of lamb.  I always have potatoes around the house and corn and peas in the freezer.  Carrots are pretty cheap when you buy them in the produce department. 

I recommend this to anyone, just make sure you keep an eye on the "doneness" of your lamb, and don't add the corn or peas too early.

Lee's Retreat at Blue and Gray Brewing Co., Part I

Just over a week ago, a few of my friends and I decided to try out Lee's Retreat at the Blue and Gray Brewing Co.  It was a special girls night to blow off some steam and forget all of our nursing school stress.  We had a blast.

The night started out at my house with a glass of Passion Fruit Lemonade iced tea... a special tea from a company called Tealightful.  (Highly recommended if you enjoy drinking loose leaf tea! Check out their website).  We headed out together to the restaurant.  One fun tidbit... in order to get from my house to the restaurant you need to drive on Rte 1, Rte 2 and Rte 3 (not quite in that order). 

The restaurant is located in a very interesting area.  It's located in an industrial center, very close to A. Smith Bowman Distillery.  There are also some pretty cool train cars that have been converted into a museum by some very dedicated volunteers.  It's just a short drive away from Downtown Fredericksburg. 

We started with appetizers.  Two of the girls love calamari, so we has some Coconut Calamari.  It was my first time ever trying the stuff.  I loved the taste of the batter, but I wasn't too keen on the texture of the fish itself.  Also, I really had trouble looking at the whole squid things.  This is a personal feeling, I think I'll skip that from now on...  but at least I can say I tried it.

Dinner time!  I ordered the "A Pub Above Sheppard's Pie."  It is made with a special lamb stew, served over red bliss mashed potatoes.  Check out this picture of how pretty it looked!  All I can say is AMAZING! 

Let me start with the stew.  It's a lamb stew made with the in house Stout beer.  Stonewall Stout is named for one of the famous Civil War Southern Generals.  He was killed here in Fredericksburg, by his own men.  His arm was amputated and rests today at one of the local historical homes, Elwood, on the Wilderness battlefield.  (That's enough civil war history... if you need to know the rest of the story, go to a library.  I'll spoil the end for you... we still have 50 states, so the North won).

Anyways... sorry for the tangent.  As I was saying, the lamb stew is made with Stonewall Stout, lamb, corn, carrots and what I think are snow peas.  The sauce of the stew had a nice rich flavor from the beer.  The corn added a touch of sweetness, as did the carrots.  The peas were really good as well.  I did eat some of them, but I did leave some on the plate as well.  The lamb was so tender and wonderful.  I could taste how all of the flavors were absorbed into the lamb.  I think that is why I like cooking with lamb, it's a great piece of meat that will pick up it's surrounding flavors.

The stew was served alongside a good helping of red bliss mashed potatoes.  I really enjoyed the mashed potatoes.  They had a wonderful flavor to them that was almost sweet.  I think I could taste garlic in them as well.

On top of the potatoes sat a marinated lollipop lamb chop. The marinade had a lot of flavor, salt, garlic and a few other spices.  It all went very well with the chop.  Unfortunately, the chop was a little overdone for my taste.  If you ever watch me eat a steak, you would swear it was never cooked.  I'm not that crazy with lamb, but I do like it more on the medium-rare side.  This one was definitely more to the medium-well to well side.  None the less, the flavor was still amazing and it was an artsy touch to the plate. 

To go along with my meal, I enjoyed a glass of Stonewall Stout.  The saying is correct, "I'd give my right arm for another Stonewall Stout."  I really enjoyed it.  I am a fan of stouts.  I've tried some really bad ones in the past, but this one is great.  It starts off a little bitter and then the taste matures in your mouth to a wonderful coffee flavor.  I almost think I can also get a hint of chocolate as the taste continues to mature.  It's a perfect combination.  (perhaps this is why I like sour patch kids as well... the bitter start, the yummy finish).

So, I recommend you do like my friends and I did, and visit lee's Retreat.  It was a nice retreat from the stress of nursing school for us, and can make a wonderful retreat for you.

Here's the website:  Lee's Retreat.  Here's the website for the Brewery: Blue and Gray Brewing Co.  Their address is: 3300 Dill Smith Drive, Fredericksburg, VA 22408.  Phone: 540-371-7799.

Fish and Chips, Seasons Restaurant, Part II

Good Morning! I would just like to start out by saying: Dinner Rocked last night! 

But now I'll admit, it was not exactly how I planned it to turn out.  Read on... I'll explain.

I found a great recipe in the "Joy of Cooking" cookbook for the beer batter.  In the cook book, it is used for shrimp, but I figured it's really the same concept, minus the shell.  (Which, minus the shell is good for me, since I'm allergic to shell fish).  It involves flour, baking powder, salt, two eggs, milk, and of course: beer.  I used some Yuengling beer we had in the house... and since you only use 3/4 cup, I just had to finish what was left over.  I also added a bunch of spices to the batter to give it some heat, similar to what I could taste at Seasons.  I didn't have any Old Bay, but next time I make this, I'm gonna be sure to pick some up.

For the fish itself, I wandered over to my local grocery story (aka Wegmans), and inquired with the gentleman behind the fish counter, what would be the best to use.  Of the choices he had there, the cod made the most sense.  It was a white fish that would stand up well to the frying process and was sturdy enough to be cut up into slices.  I grabbed about a pound and was on my way.

Once home, I cut the fish into strips.  Here's where my dinner differed from the one I had at Seasons.  I did not cut my pieces into very small strips the way they did.  I really liked the way they did it, and next time I want to get a thinner piece of fish so I can do that.  My pieces turned out to be way too big, and we didn't end up eating all of the fish.  I guess I'll find out how it will taste as leftovers for lunch today.

The next process was to soak the fish pieces in the beer batter for a half hour.  During that time, the batter became nice and thick.  Each piece of fish was nicely coated when it came time to fry them.  While waiting during this soaking process, I decided to make my own fresh french fries... but I baked them in the oven rather than heating more oil (than the oil I was heating for the fish).  I do have a deep fryer, but I haven't used it yet.  I really should pull it out and try it some time.

The fries went into the oven as I poured vegetable oil into my electric skillet (which has it's own thermostat and would keep my oil at just the temperature I wanted it).  Once the oil reached 365 F, I let my preciously battered fish swim away!

Each piece fried for about two and a half minutes on each side, making sure the batter was yummy gold and delicious.  I then drained them on a plate lined with paper towels. 

The meal turned out to be a huge success.  I was complemented on my accomplishment with the batter sticking to the fish.  (We've tried this before, and we ate the batter as a side dish to the fish we cooked... not so good).  I added some spices to the fries before they went into the oven and they turned out spectacularly.  Slightly hot for my taste, but still wonderfully cooked. 

Overall, I'm excited about making this meal again.  The only problem I found, my house smells like the fish this morning.  The fish did not have an odor when I brought it home from the store, so I think it's just the natural "fish cooking" smell.  My mom's solution when she cooks food at home: burn a few candles for about an hour.  You know, it actually works.  Guess I need to find a few candles.

It was really nice to do a great job with dinner last night.  I'm in the middle of writing a big paper for school, so I was worried my heart might not be into cooking.  It was actually a really nice break and perked me up.  Then, after dinner I decided to give the paper a longer rest and joined some friends at a Civil War dance lesson.  It's ballroom dancing meets hoop skirts... except we don't actually have to dress in the civil war outfits.  It was great to expend some of that energy.

Today, after this is posted, it's back to writing my paper.  I really enjoy writing these blog entries better... plus, they involve food.  My paper, not so much.  :)

So, I encourage you to visit Seasons Restaurant in Williamsburg and try this dish.  Once you've done that, I encourage you to come home and make it for yourself.  Not counting the wait time on the batter, it was a quick meal to make. 

Just a quick editor's note, I'm slightly changing the way I name my blog entries to include the main dish.

Seasons Restaurant, Merchants Square Williamsburg, Part I

This is another dining experience that is over a month old.  On our first night in Williamsburg, we decided to eat at Seasons Restaurant and Tavern located on South Henry Street in the area known as Merchants Square at the far end of the Colonial Williamsburg historic district.  It was within walking distance of our hotel and there was a bus stop near by if we wanted to use Colonial Williamsburg's shuttle system.  (This system came in handy on the nights we had late programs, and by the end of the week when we just couldn't walk anymore).

The decor of the restaurant was unique.  Our table was on a "front porch."  The walkway sort of resembled a street, and then there was another "front porch" that was facing our way.  The doorway from our "front porch" lead into the bar area.  Another area looked like a large garden patio, with another area looking like a large dining room of a colonial home. 

I decided to enjoy a Season's Sangria, made with red wine, spirits, and fresh fruit and fruit juices.  It was really tasty, and probably a little dangerous because it didn't taste like there was any alcohol in it at all.  I did also have two glasses of water... we did spend the day walking around Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement.  Later that evening we were joining the Continental Army for a great evening program.  (I figured it would not be the best thing to enlist while under the influence).

For my meal, I enjoyed a very interesting take on Fish and Chips.  The french fries were lightly covered in a batter and then fried.  The batter was a very effective means to help hold the extra salt I applied.  Here's the interesting part:  rather than getting one large piece of fish... my fish was cut up almost like chicken fingers, and individually battered and fried.  The beer batter had a nice consistency and wonderful seasoning.  There was a kick of spice to it.  I think it was Old Bay seasoning.  The fish itself was nice and moist and flavorful as well.

We decided to skip dessert and instead enjoyed one more glass of water.

I really enjoyed this restaurant.  Our waiter was friendly and knowledgeable.  He gave us some great tips about what to see and where to go while in Williamsburg.

You can visit Seasons Restaurant and Tavern's website to learn more, or just show up at 110 South Henry Street, Williamsburg, VA 23185.

I will be trying to make this meal tonight for dinner.  Wish me luck!

FOODE, Part II

When I think about a hamburger dinner, I think of two things.  First is the family trips to the fast food chain places.... I was a slow eater so all I ever heard was "EAT Rachel!"  I think I was also usually busy playing with my toy, the box, the crown, or trying to drink the ultra thick vanilla milk-shake (it's the finest of the flavors).  The second thought is of picnics and grilling out.  Those wonderful factory made frozen pucks of beef being tossed on the grill (hopefully they have been defrosted first).

I'm excited to say, that after trying the char-grilled burger at FOODE, and then making something very similar here, I actually like to eat hamburgers!

I started with some basic ground beef.  I have to admit, I bought the stuff at Wegmans with the little orange 'special today' sticker.  I think I've said this before, but Wegmans will put those stickers on products that are nearing the final days of being able to sell them.  The product is also usually marked down to about half price.  The quality is always still the best, and I think they make a habit of marking things down well before the end of the shelf-life.  I want to say the beef was 90% lean, but may have been as much as 95%.  (If I'm paying full price, I stick with the 80%.  I know it's not as healthy... but it is so much tastier!!!).

I decided to make the hamburgers about a half pound each.  I diced up some shallots, garlic, Parmesan cheese and some prosciutto.  Along with these ingredients I added Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper.  They were formed onto perfectly shaped patties and lovingly placed onto a nice hot grill. 

I used kaiser rolls (also purchased from Wegmans).  They are a perfect size for a nice big burger.  I split them open and added them to the grill for a short while until they were nicely toasted to a sun kissed tan color.

Once the burgers came off the grill at a nice medium well doneness, they were dressed with sharp cheddar cheese, ketchup, Dijon mustard and mayo (my burger had a dill flavored mayo, the husband had chipotle mayo... inspiration from Capital Ale House).  One day, I'll add the lettuce and tomato.... maybe. ;)

I really enjoyed eating my hamburger.  Although, I'll admit that at a half pound, I did not finish the entire thing, so my dog Fred also enjoyed it.  I think it was flavored differently than when I had it at FOODE, but it was because of my dining experience there that I decided to try fresh made hamburgers at home.  It did not take very long to make the patty, in fact, it was shorter than waiting for it to defrost.  I always forget to take things out of the freezer before I leave the house in the morning (which reminds me, I need to take dinner for tonight out).  Also, when you make your own patty, you can control the ingredients you use, the taste, and the size.  It was a lot of fun to make.  I think that will become a regular on my monthly list of meals. 

FOODE, Part I

Almost a month ago, I decided to take a "me" day.  Classes were starting soon, so why not.  I decided to head into Downtown Fredericksburg.  I only live five minutes away, but I find that I spend so little time down there.  Ok, so usually when I go down there it's for dinner at Capital Ale House and a trip to our favorite wine store The Virginia Wine Experience.  (It's a really awesome place, and Edwin is amazing at picking out wines that would go great with anything we might be serving for dinner.  Plus, he's getting to know us, and the types of wine we like, so he's got recommendations for us as we are turning the doorknob to the store.)  Other than that, our days downtown are usually limited to weekends or holidays, or the random day off when family might be in town.  When I was working it was hard because everything would be closed by the time I got off of work.  So, now I don't have quite the excuse and was excited to be able to spend the day. 

When I first started this blog, I asked for some recommendations on facebook for where I should go.  One of my classmates had listed FOODE.  As I drove downtown, I thought I just might go there.  There's a few other places I want to try as well, so at that point I was leaving my options open.  I was excited to find a parking spot on the street (although that meant I only had two hours to have fun, before I'd either have to move my car to a new spot, or pay a parking ticket).  I began my shopping at a new store in the corner shop of the new Courtyard Marriott.  It's called The Frenchman's Corner.  They have a wonderful selection of specialty chocolate, as well as a number of tea supplies and other specialty food items.  I really enjoyed looking around and talking with the owner.  She used to teach cooking lessons, but retired because it was hard to find fresh products... that was just a few months before Wegmans opened.  (Gotta love Wegmans!!).  I decided to ask her thoughts for lunch and right away she recommended FOODE.  Ok, there's two votes for the place.  I continued shopping as I walked toward the restaurant and got three more recommendations.  I'm sold.  Let's go.

I remember going to this particular location when it was a "garden" shop.  The storekeepers sold plant like things, and I think I saw a pack of seeds for a flower in there once.  So, I am excited that the storefront has a new life.  The "storefront" is actually not on the street, you have to walk through this really cute little patio archway which now has seating for the restaurant.  I was in love... a cute little spot.  Then you walk into the restaurant proper and place your order at the cash register, and then find a seat.  It was a pretty busy day, so I found an open seat at a long table where a few other single diners were sitting.  I should add that the place was pretty busy considering it was almost 1:30 when I walked in... and it stayed busy the entire time I was there.

After a short wait, my food was delivered by a very friendly waiter.  In the interest of time, I went with a char-grilled burger: (description from their menu on line) all-natural, grass-fed, hormone free beef*, bacon aioli, organic lettuces, sharp cheddar. served on a toasted bun with a side of FOODĒ fries.  The toasted bun came from another bakery downtown - Eileen's.  If you are a regular reader... you know I skipped the veggies. 

The presentation was unique.  The top bun was upside down... I thought about leaving it this way to eat, but in the end flipped it over.  The burger was juicy and flavorful.  The sharp cheddar was great.  I'm not a huge fan of eating hamburgers at restaurants, but I'm so happy I ordered this meal.  I loved every bite!  Even better were the fries.  They were just like the fries my mother makes at home.  Totally fresh, real potatoes!!!!!!!  Fried to a perfect golden brown color with a nice soft middle.  (Here's where my Dad would say... Mom's would be just a bit darker... like burnt brown).  To wash my meal down, I enjoyed a handcrafted root beer made by Maine Root.  It was pretty good, but I think I liked the Chowning's Tavern Root Beer in Williamsburg better.

So, I highly recommend this establishment.  I'm hoping to get there for dinner in the near future.  As you'll see in a little while, I had fun making hamburgers one evening to make a meal similar to this.

If you would like to check out FOODE, visit their website at www.foodeonline.com or go to the restaurant in person (which makes it easier to eat the food).  It's located at 1006 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401 (540)479-1370.

Even better... if you want to go for dinner, let me know! 

Blackstone Coffee, Part II

Breakfast has to be my favorite meal!  If I have a chance to make something, I usually pick eggs.  Today, I had some time before heading out to one of our local amusement parks (King's Dominion).  I decided to re-create my breakfast at Blackstone Coffee. 

I was smart...  I did my weekend grocery shopping this morning.  I picked up two croissants and the eggs.  I had bacon and sharp cheddar cheese at home.  Once I got home, I convinced Darryl that we needed to have a good breakfast before heading out to the amusement park. 

I fried up two pieces of bacon to what I like to consider perfection... that is with some fat still soft and white, and the meat cooked but not crisp.  While that was frying, I scrambled four eggs with some fresh ground pepper, salt, and a few spices I had laying around.  (Sage goes very well with eggs, and I have a forest of it growing in my garden).  Once the bacon was done, I drained off most of the grease and then fried the eggs in the same pan.  I was careful to leave the eggs as attached as possible.  I figured that if my scrambled eggs looked a little more like an omelet vs. a lot of little pieces of scrambled egg, it would stay on the sandwich better.  As they were just about done, I placed a slice of cheese on top and let it melt a bit.  Final assembly was pretty easy (thanks to leaving the eggs look like an omelet). 

The taste?  It was out of this world!  Now, if you read my Part I blog, you know that the coffeehouse used pre-cooked eggs.  Freshly made eggs will almost always top pre-cooked eggs.  I say almost always because burnt eggs are just gross. 

Was my sandwich better?  Yes, and no.  Yes: the taste was out of this world... I think I'm going to make it again tomorrow, which means another run to Wegmans in the morning.  So, why the no?  The only days I have the time to make this sandwich are when I don't have class or something else going on first thing in the morning.  On those mornings I'm lucky to drink a breakfast shake or maybe even get a quick bowl of cereal in.  On those mornings, it would be much easier to buy this sandwich out at a place like Blackstone Coffee.  I hear the little shop on campus makes a good breakfast sandwich too.  Outside of the pre-cooked eggs, the sandwich at Blackstone Coffee was amazing... I would sacrifice the fresh cooked eggs for the convenience any time... as long as I don't have the time to make it at home. 

Moral of my story... if you have time to make this great sandwich at home... go for it.  If you don't, definitely try the one at Blackstone Coffee. 


Thanks for reading!

Blackstone Coffee, Part I

Nursing School has kept me busy since late August (even though we had "Quake Break" for a week, we still had assignments to work on)... and will keep me very busy for the next couple of weeks.  With that in mind, I didn't want to just let my blog sit on the back burner, like giblets simmering away on Thanksgiving.  Instead, I decided to combine school and the blog by visiting a coffee house and enjoying some food while consuming endless knowledge from my Pediatric Nursing text book.  Who knew that the growth of an infant was so complex?

Today, I decided to pack up my books and head around the corner to Blackstone Coffee.  This was not my first visit here, in fact, I met the owner while I was still promoting tourism for a local government.  Don and Paula Merritt are wonderful people... the kind of people you want owning and operating a local gathering place.

You can visit Blackstone Coffee's website to learn all about their history, or their Facebook page to check out all the cool things going on. 

Blackstone Coffee started out in the outskirts of Fredericksburg, (not quite in the City proper) with a really tiny shop and a great roasting operation.  Today, that location is still used to roast all of the coffee beans they serve and sell in their new cafe in Eagle Village, just across from the University of Mary Washington campus in the City of Fredericksburg.  The new cafe has plenty of seating for groups to meet, students to study, and live music performances.  You can purchase coffee beans or ground coffee to make at home, as well as a great deal of beverage options to enjoy in the cafe.  There are also a number of food options from special New York City bagels, quiches, pastries, desserts, sandwiches, soup..... all made by Chef Elan.  Future plans include adding a wine bar and related food.

Today was a nice break from the stress of school.  My fellow classmates can agree that this week back from "quake break" has been a bit stressful with skills check-offs, tests and quizzes.  It was nice to know that today, all I had to do was study.

To make the studying more enjoyable, I stopped in at Blackstone and ordered a breakfast sandwich and a medium roasted coffee.  My breakfast sandwich consisted of eggs, bacon and cheddar cheese, served on a toasted croissant.  I really enjoyed it.  The only time I ever splurge and eat breakfast outside of my house is when we are driving somewhere and stop at a Sheetz gas station for food.  (Don't get me wrong, Sheetz is pretty good at making fast food... better than most of the fast food options out there).  Eating at Blackstone was a real treat.  I could taste the freshness in the croissant.  The cheese was a much better grade of cheese, and my bacon was cooked to perfection, not a crumbly mess.  The eggs were better than fast food restaurants, but you can tell they are pre-cooked eggs.  At the same time, usually when places use pre-cooked eggs, they destroy them in the microwave.  My eggs were perfect!  Still nicely moist.  Overall, I really enjoyed my breakfast.  I don't think I could enjoy it more here at home... especially because I'll have to do so much work... mess up some dishes, actually cook the food, and then clean up my plates afterwords.  I will still make it here at home, but for this meal, it will be better enjoyed at Blackstone. 

I can't wait to go back... and maybe next time I'll get dessert for breakfast. 

Thank you for reading!

Eating out during a hurricane...

It has been a crazy week when it comes to Mother Nature!  First she shakes Virginia with a 5.8 earthquake on Tuesday, canceling nursing school for a week and breaking an ice wine glass in my house.  (OK, we also had a picture fall off the wall in a spare bedroom, a candle in the guest bathroom had to be fished out of the toilet, and a bunch of games for the Wii were scattered throughout the living room).  Thursday night, Fredericksburg is hit with a "freak storm" with high winds, heavy rain, and lots of lightning.  It was during Thursday's storm we were able to see the physical damage to the house from the earthquake, both back doors were leaking water.  Luckily it just took some caulking to fix.  Friday was calm, but Saturday ushered in Irene, a category 1 hurricane with wind gusts of up to 40mph and about 4 inches of rain.  I think I would say that Thursday night was a little worse than all day Saturday.

My restaurant adventures began on Thursday.  We had guests that arrived during our storm.  Afterwords we decided to go out to eat.  The storm knocked out power to a great deal of the City of Fredericksburg, but found TGI Friday's to be open.  I decided to go with my normal chicken fingers and fries.  Nothing exciting, and a meal I cook regularly (using a really cool recipe from Bisquick).  I will not be writing about this one.

Saturday, we decided to brave the rain and went to the Spotsylvania Towne Center to see the new bookstore, Charming Charlies and Le Gourmet Chef.  While there we stopped at the pretzel place for a quick snack, and then to A&W for a hot dog and cheese curds.  I'll admit... I'm the one who wanted the cheese curds.  We got the hot dog just so we could say "We chased down a dog in a hurricane!"  OK, long story... guess you had to be there.

Saturday evening, we decided to take our guests to Capital Ale House in Downtown Fredericksburg.  This is definitely one of my favorite places to go downtown.  They have approximately 65 beers on tap and an additional 300 in bottles.  You can find something for everything.  The staff is very knowledgeable about the beers and can recommend one or a few for you.  You can also get samples for $.25 each.  The food is also amazing!  I have not had a bad meal there yet.

So, I said this is one of my favorites... admittedly, my visit on Saturday was my second of the week.  We were there Wednesday night with some other guests.  Wednesday I had a great lamb burger with brie cheese and Dijon mustard, served on a croissant, with the baby spinach held (one day I may be brave enough to actually start eating those pesky green things).  The lamb burger was well seasoned with rosemary and perhaps some thyme.  The rosemary was very strong, and sorta overpowered most of the other flavors.  I've had this burger before and it was amazing every other time I've had it.  It comes with a side of frites and a flavored mayo for dipping. 

On Saturday, we ordered an appetizer of the frites with the four flavors of mayo: garlic, dill (my favorite), chipotle, and regular.  It was raining pretty good outside, and the wind was blowing pretty strong as well... I would say sustained winds in the upper 20mph.  The power went out.  Our meals were not quite ready yet, but the kitchen could not continue to cook because the vents were not working.  The manager was really great about it and gave us a Bavarian pretzel with three different cheeses, two sausages, grapes, and a mustard dipping sauce, all free of charge.  The cheeses were a yellow cheddar, smoked Gouda, and a mild Swiss.  The sausage were two types of polish sausage, the fresh and the smoked.  Under the circumstances, it was a great meal.  Oh... and not that I got my main meal, but being true to my challenge, I ordered the Cheddar Beer soup.  I would really like to try to make this at home, but I really would like to try some at a restaurant first.  I was also saving room for dessert... the chocolate cake with ice cream is the best!

On Sunday, the weather was perfect!  Beautiful blue skies, comfortable temperatures and a bit breezy.  We decided to head out to Potomac Point Winery, in Stafford County, VA.  The power was out there, but the tasting bar was still open and the Bistro was serving a limited menu.  We decided to have lunch there.  Darryl and I split a cheese platter (with a dill Havarti, brie, and muenster), pita bread, preserved cherries and olives.  It went very well with the bottle of wine we got for the table, the La Belle Vie.  As we were finishing our meal, the power returned, so we were able to get a tour of the winery.

Besides the lamb burger, I will probably not be making these meals and blogging about it.  If you've been to my parties, you've experienced similar cheese platters.  I've also served the chicken fingers at a few parties. 

If you would like to visit Capital Ale House or Potomac Point Winery, please visit their websites: Capital Ale House and Potomac Point Winery. 

Inspiration from my other meals!

I know my challenge is to eat at a different restaurant, and then make the meal at home... but I thought I would write about some of my other meals, that were in some way inspired by the meals I've made so far, or by the great Williamsburg Cookbooks that I bought to make my tavern meals.

I had a turkey breast in the freezer, so I defrosted it, seasoned it like I normally would do a turkey for my special "Canadian Thanksgiving" meal, and popped it on the grill.  I did the tavern potatoes as well, slicing small potatoes into wedges, coating them with oil and seasonings, wrapped them in foil and put them on the grill as well.  For my vegetable I chose corn on the cob from the farmer's market.  I made biscuits from scratch (using a recipe in a Williamsburg cookbook) and a gravy in the other Williamsburg Cookbook.  I really enjoyed this meal.

My turkey was wonderful!  Nice and juicy, full of flavor from the thyme, rosemary and sage (all fresh from my garden).  It was skinless, but the outside was grilled nicely and had a bit of a crunch from the herbs.  The potatoes came out perfect... the way I wish they would have come out when trying to replicate my King's Arms Tavern meal.  They were very flavorful from the olive oil, sprig of thyme, salt, pepper and onion and garlic powders.  They had a nice crispy outside, with tender potato inside.  My biscuits were pretty good.  I liked the taste, unfortunately I should have watched them a little more closely, or removed them from the oven while I went out to the grill.  I stayed by the grill for just a moment too long and when I came in, my biscuits were quite brown, but not burnt.  I was disappointed in the corn I bough from the farmer's market.  We were not the first to feast on it, and there were many kernels that never developed properly.  I was kinda shocked by this, since all the other produce I get from that vendor is usually perfect.  I guess that's why they had the little sign "please do not open the husks."  Only the very top was damaged by corn worms.  The rest of the corn that was edible did taste pretty good.  I just boiled water, and then applied butter and salt once they were done cooking.  The gravy was really good.  I really thought about cutting down the recipe to make less, but the book said it was to be served with a pound of turkey... I had a piece of turkey that was just over a pound.  I had enough gravy to feed a small army.  It was very flavorful.  I have to admit though... when I warmed up the chicken stock, I did add the same herbs I used on the turkey to add some flavor to the stock.  I could taste the thyme later in the gravy and I'm happy I did that.  Overall, a very successful meal.

After my failed attempt on Friday, I wasn't in the mood to cook Saturday.  But I was back into it on Sunday.  I decided to use leftovers up... mostly the chicken and the gravy from turkey.  Low and behold, a Williamsburg Cookbook had a recipe for "King's Arms Tavern Chicken Pot Pie."  Hum... chicken, gravy... all I had to add were the potatoes and some carrots and peas.  I pre-cooked all the veggies, and then made a nice pie dough (also found in the Williamsburg Cookbooks).  Put them all together and I had two beautiful pies, ready to be eaten.  We ended up having these for two nights because they were so big.  You'll notice in the pictures that one has an R and the other has a D... well, I prefer the dark meat, and Darryl likes the white meat, so that's how I made each of ours.  They were wonderful and tasted so much better than the ones in the freezer section in the store.  I bet they even had a lot less sodium!

Well, hope you enjoyed this distraction from my normal restaurant/cooking stuff.  I had lunch at a cool little place in Downtown Fredericksburg that I'll be writing about soon, and tonight, I'm headed to Park Lane Tavern with some friends.  Wow... I'll have a bunch of writing to do.

King's Arms Tavern, Part II

I was so excited last week Tuesday when I was grocery shopping.  I always check out the meat department at Wegmans to find these amazing little orange stickers that say "special today."  Usually they can be found on meat that is nearing the last days it should be sold.  Of course this is Wegmans, so that date is sooner than any of my other local grocery stores... Giant would probably try to sell it for another week, and I don't even want to guess how much longer Food Lion/Bloom would wait.  Anyways, as I was looking around the beef section I noticed two beautiful Fillet Mignon's half price!  I got both of them for $13.  YES!  I could try to recreate my King's Arms meal!!!!  Since it was my favorite, I was really excited.

When making my weekly menu out, I decided to put the King's Arms meal on Friday so that I would have plenty of time to make it.  Well, by the time Friday rolled around, I was really tired.  I didn't feel like cooking, and I don't think Darryl did either.  But I could not let the beef go to waste.  I decided to make the meal anyways.

The Williamsburg cookbook had a short cut for making the brown sauce using gravy mix.  I decided not to try that, since everything I've been making has been just about from scratch.  Also, I didn't have the short-cut type ingredients.  Darryl makes a very similar brown sauce, and we usually freeze a bunch in ice cube trays, so I thought I would use that.  You just pull out a few cubes right before the meal is ready and pop them in the microwave.  Heat and serve.

I cut up the potatoes like I'd been doing for all my other meals last week, seasoned them, and wrapped them in tin foil to put on the grill.  They were taking about a half hour or so to cook, so I went ahead and put them on the grill and went back in the house to get the beef ready.  I should have looked at the thermometer on the grill to see that it was oh... 500 or so degrees.  I had been cooking the potatoes around 350 degrees. 

I just lightly seasoned the beef with salt and pepper and just a touch of garlic and onion powder.  Took them out to the grill and put them on.  I got beautiful grill marks on each side, but when I cut into the larger steak, it was still very red.  I decided to leave them on just a few minutes more.  We enjoy our meat medium-rare.

Ok, time to talk about the disaster I should have called dinner.  First, we didn't actually have any brown sauce in the freezer.  I think I found something that once perhaps was... but it was now an icy clump of mess that you may find on the side of the road after a really bad snowstorm.

My beef, well, I over cooked it.  It was a medium to medium-well.  I read in a cookbook that you want to pull the beef off a few minutes before you think it is done, because the meat continues to cook.  Now I understand why.  Besides being cooked more than we normally like, we did eat it and enjoy it.  I probably could have used a little more salt and pepper because they were thick pieces, but overall it was pretty good.

Now for the potatoes.  Does anyone need any extra charcoal for their grill?  Yep.  Burnt to a crisp.  I even have the picture to prove it:

I know, they don't look so bad, but the smoky flavor given off by the ones that were bad penetrated all the other ones.  Besides, if you flip over the good looking ones (if you can even get them off the tin foil), you will find they are just as bad.

You'll notice, I have not talked about any vegetables...  that is because I didn't make any.  My anti-veggie protest of sorts. 

So, my lesson?  Don't give up, but don't cook something nice when you really don't feel like it.  Perhaps I should have made my chicken pot-pies that day... (those were made from left overs from the Shields Tavern dinner).

I plan on attempting this meal again.  And I will make sure my head is in the game when I do.  It was an awesome meal at the tavern, and I think it could be an awesome meal here.  Perhaps I'll make it for a group and even include the relishes and creamed Spinach.

The King's Arms Tavern, Willilamsburg, Part I

The King's Arms Tavern was my favorite... no FAVORITE dining experience in Colonial Williamsburg!  Rather than just a meal, this was a dining experience from the moment we walked in through the door.  We were seated at a small table on the very edge of the one dining room we were in.  The table was right next to a window and had a perfect view into the kitchen when the waiters and waitresses walked out.  Our table was also near the door to the next dining room, so most of the waiters and waitresses had to walk right by our table.  Sorta high traffic, but also a nice distance away from the other diners in the room.  It was also nice that we could see the different meals as they went by, which helped us make our decisions.  Our room was decorated very nicely with carpeting and wallpaper and nice candle holders and looking glasses (mirrors).  We had an early reservation at 5:00pm because we had an evening program to attend, so the room was lit by daylight.  Our waitress was amazing!  She was so friendly and knowledgeable, and very entertaining. 

Not long after being sat, we were told all about the history of our dining room.  Then our napkins, and their size, were explained to us.  The napkins were like mini-tablecloths!  Why so big?  (good question... same one I had... so happy we are on the same page!).  Well, the napkins were traditionally tied around the neck since the tavern was frequented by your upper class or gentry level of society.  The diner could tie the napkin around their neck to catch any food they may drop and protect their beautiful clothing.  Apparently they didn't have quite the clothing collection I have in my closet.  :)  The waitress then noticed the puzzled look on my face and said "I bet you are wondering why they may have dropped food?"  Please tell!!!  Forks were different... they really didn't hold food like they do today, so diners would use their knives to shovel food into their mouth.  (I know, red flag... mom always said "don't eat your food with your knife!"  Good thing times have changed.)  Since I was wearing a summery button-down shirt and a skort, I opted to place the napkin in my lap.  The table of teachers from California opted to tie them around their necks. 

We started our meal with a cheese plate.  There were four cheeses: gouda, sharp cheddar, bleu and brie.  There was also some green grapes, two strawberries cut into slices, and a piece of French baguette bread.  It was all delightful.  I really enjoyed the bleu, it wasn't super strong.  It was dry but spreadable.  The brie was a mild brie.  The cheddar and gouda were pretty standard.

Remember how I said this was more of a dining experience than just a meal?  Well, it was time to learn about relishes.  Our waitress brought a sample of three different relishes.  There was pickled watermelon rinds, a corn and pepper relish, and then a very salty ham mash relish.  I tried the pickled watermelon a few years ago on another trip to Williamsburg and did not enjoy it then, so I skipped it this time.  The corn was interesting, it's served cold.  I could taste the corn and red and green peppers, and then I'm pretty sure there were pickles as well.  I don't like pickles.  I did not care for the ham relish at all... again I think I tasted pickles.  I'll admit, I have trouble being adventurous with my food.  Upon serving these relishes our waitress explained that now-a-days, if you relish something, you cherish it.  Back then, if you relished something, it meant that you put relish on your food to hide the stale taste of the meat.  Don't forget, they didn't have quite the same methods of preserving meat like we do today, nor did they have refrigerators.  I know I don't like my meat once it's lived in the refrigerator for more than a few days.  During the "relish" stage of our meal, we were also presented with a basket of bread, again a bread that would have been served by the tavern in the 1772.  It had the density of a pound cake, but it was not as sweet.  Definitely more dense than bread that would be served at a restaurant today.  I enjoyed it with some butter that melted right in.

Meal time!  I ordered Deuling Beef Collops: two fillets of Beef that were served over a bed of roasted red potatoes with a brown sauce and some yellow and green squash.  If you have read my other posts, it will not shock you that I only took a small bite of my squash.  It was cooked nicely, but it's a vegetable and and really didn't have any more of that.  My potatoes were wonderful.  They were nicely roasted with a hint of rosemary.  The beef was good.  I did ask for medium-rare.  It was slightly more done than I would have liked, but I also order knowing that each own cook has their own idea of each level of doneness.  And really, only one of the beef pieces was more medium, the other was just about perfect.  They both still had an amazing taste.  The outside was nicely seared with the simple flavor of salt and pepper.  It paired nicely with the brown sauce.  Speaking of the brown sauce, you could taste the complexity of flavors, from the first layer of carrots, onions and the bouquet of herbs, to the second layer that had more onion and tomato.  Really the sauce was a perfect complement to both the beef and the potatoes.  It was also a useful tool to hide the fact that I was eating some of my veggies. 

It's a good thing I proof read... I almost forgot.  During our main course, the waitress brought out a bowl of creamed spinach.  This was another traditional item that would be found on the dinner table.  There was shredded Parmesan cheese on top.  I tried the cheese, but I'm sure you've already guessed that I skipped the green part.  Sorry, I just can't do spinach.

When our waitress came to collect our empty dinner plates, she asked if we enjoyed it.  Our answer "we definitely did NOT relish our meal!" It was perfect and did not need to be hidden by the relish.  :)  She cracked up laughing and you could tell she was impressed that we had listened to her earlier.

Time for dessert.  I had the Chocolate Williamsburg ice cream.  It was amazing, but I was a little disappointed to find out it was no longer actually made in Williamsburg.  Williamsburg rather contracted with Eddy's to produce it.  It does make sense from a cost standpoint, and it is the same recipe as before.  It was rich and creamy and amazing.  Darryl had a signature dessert called a Syllabub.  It is a wine-laced cream whipped to a froth, seasoned with lemon zest and garnished with seasonal berries.  He really enjoyed it.  There was a strong lemon flavor.  I was only able to grab a very small spoonful to try before being told that if I really wanted it, I could have ordered one for myself.  :)  There is a recipe for the Syllabub in the cookbooks I bought, so I do plan on making it at some point.  I'll need help eating it though, the recipe serves 8. 

So, back to the "experience," we had the chance to meet the tavern keeper.  She was excited to hear that we were from Fredericksburg and wondered if we knew her cousin.  We played along and said we'd visited with her many times and she is doing well.  We learned more about the history of the tavern and heard stories of some of it's more famous visitors.  I bet you would like to hear who those visitors were... but you'll have to visit the tavern yourself to find out.

We were also entertained by a roving musician.  Our dinning room had the pleasure in participating in a few sing-a-longs, the most memorable being about Nottingham Ale, the finest of all the ales.  After the song, we asked our waitress if we could try this ale and were disappointed to find out that they didn't carry it.  We didn't actually expect them too, so we weren't truly disappointed.  But we did jokingly give our waitress a hard time about it.  She was really wonderful.

As our meal finished and we paid the $150ish bill, we walked out very full.  Our waitress did give us some pointers on some of the things to see and do while in Williamsburg and promised us that our dining experience at The King's Arms Tavern would be our best.  She definitely was not wrong.  It was by far the best dining experience we had while in Williamsburg.

Thank you for reading!  I hope you enjoyed my tale of The King's Arms Tavern.  If you wish to visit from home, you can check out this website to The King's Arms Tavern.  The history of the tavern can be found on the last page of the dinner menu.

Dinner at Shields Tavern, Williamsburg, Part II. It's my turn to cook.

Ok, the picture doesn't do the dish justice.  I did take it with my phone.  And, this is only my plate, so you'll notice there's only a few bites of squash in the upper corner.  :)

I think I did pretty good with this dish.  I decided to plate it a little differently than it was plated at Shields Tavern... let each food item stand on it's own and put the Madeira sauce in the middle.  There's a reason for that... read on.

I decided to cook almost everything on our grill, kinda sorta in the fashion that would be done in colonial times... except that they cooked in a kitchen that was not attached to their house and had a fireplace and coals and such.  I figured the grill was outside of my house (although run off a gas line attached to the house).  The whole idea of having a separate kitchen was a great idea.  You didn't have the smell of the food lingering for hours in the living spaces, and if your kitchen burned down, you didn't lose your whole house.  I hope to NEVER burn down my kitchen, and I really wish I had cooked the Madeira sauce outside.  My house smells like onions, still, today, and I made this meal yesterday!

I'll start with my least favorite item: the veggies.  I got some green and yellow squash at the Fredericksburg farmers market by Hurkamp park.  I like that I can get the variety of fresh produce daily at that location... helps with fresh meals.  I cut them into 1/2 inch thick pieces, brushed on some extra virgin olive oil (evoo) along with some salt and pepper.  They went on the grill for about 6-8 minutes as the chicken and potatoes were finishing up.  I'll admit, I did enjoy them... and think I'll make more for dinner tomorrow. 

The potatoes:  red potatoes I picked up at the farmer's market as well.  I cut them into equal-ish sized wedges, coated with evoo, salt and pepper.  I put them into a foil pouch and placed them on the grill for about 20 or so minutes.  They turned out really good.  Nice and soft on the inside.  Slightly crispy on the outside.

The chicken:  I borrowed this recipe from a weekend trip we took to our friends' house in Waynesboro, VA.  They made an awesome beer can chicken.  So did I.  The recipe is in a Weber's cook book "Real Grilling."  I figured it was a great way to make a roasted chicken.  It used the same herbs I could taste on the chicken I had at Shields Tavern... thyme and rosemary, and a hint of garlic.  The recipe also calls for paprika, which I did use, but think I should have used a spicier pepper to more closely mimic the kick the chicken at the restaurant had.  This was one of my "live and learn" moments.  None the less, the chicken was great.  Very moist on the inside and out.  Very flavorful from the herbs and spices, and nicely crispy from the flames that enjoyed the dripping fat.  (another live and learn moment when I opened the grill to a bonfire).  In the picture above, you are seeing just the leg and thigh... I'm more of a dark meat fan, so Darryl had the pleasure of enjoying the white meat.  During carving though, I did sneak a piece and it was just as moist as the dark meat.

The Madeira Sauce:  this was probably my best "live and learn" moment.  First off, don't cook onions in a house with closed up windows.  Like I said, my house still smells like onion.  This is one of the recipes I took from a cook book I bought in Colonial Williamsburg: "Favorite Meals from Williamsburg."  In the book, the sauce is introduced for the Yuletide Supper and served on top of boneless breast of chicken with Virginia ham.  I don't want to give away the whole recipe, but it does involve minced carrot, minced onion, butter, beef broth, flour and about an hour of simmering.  Then you make a second flavor layer by simmering shallots in Madeira for about 10 minutes.  You mix the two layers together and simmer for another 15 minutes.  Serve warm.  My flavor was great, you could really taste each ingredient, and I used low sodium beef broth, so it was not too salty.  My only problem was that it was so thick.  Even thicker than gravy.  I had to stir in extra beef broth to thin it out.  This is why I decided to serve it in the middle of the plate and not over any of the ingredients, allowing the diner to add as much or as little of the sauce to their food as they desired.

As much as I really enjoyed the Whipped Chocolate Pudding, I did not make it as a dessert for this meal.  I will make that another time when I have dessert loving people around to help me enjoy it.

So, overall, I would definitely cook this meal again.  It was a bit time consuming since the sauce takes about an hour and a half, as does the chicken, but it was a really good meal.

The cost?  Well, I spent $5 at the farmers market, but picked up potatoes for two days worth of meals, garlic, a red and green pepper, the two squash, an onion (which I only used a very small part of) and two carrots (again, only using a small part of one carrot).  Wegmans came in handy for everything else.  With the chicken, broth, Madeira, butter and beer (only using a half a can), the total meal for the two of us, with some leftovers, cost about $30.00.

Dinner at Shields Tavern, Williamsburg, Part I

I loved Williamsburg!  While there, we took the time to eat dinner at two of the historical taverns.  The first one we ate at was King's Arm Tavern.  A wonderful experience that I will write about later.  The second one we ate dinner at was Shields Tavern.  You can check out their website here: http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/visit/diningExperience/shields/index.cfm.

Our reservations were at 5:45pm.  We arrived about 15 minutes early and were seated right away.  We sat downstairs in a room that was at the very end of the tavern.  I believe the kitchen was directly behind us, but they did a great job of hiding that from us (except when people like me do a little bit of snooping).  There was not much decor in the room we were in except for the candle on our table, which was lit.  In fact, there were no electric lights, so had the sun set, I think we would have had a wonderful dinner by candlelight.  But, in August at 5:45pm, there is still plenty of sunlight.  The building did have A/C, which was nice... it was so hot and humid outside that after walking around all day our clothes just seemed damp.  Since they use the older style panes of glass in the windows, there was condensation on the outside due to the high humidity.  That was a neat effect on the windows.

We did not start our meal with an appetizer.  I'll be honest, I don't remember what Darryl had for dinner, so I'm not going to write about that.  I enjoyed the Barnyard Chicken.  It was a half chicken that was roasted with herbs and served with a Madeira sauce over tavern potatoes and vegetable of the day.  The vegetable was yellow and green squash.  My chicken was perfect!  I am a fan of dark meat over the white meat, so I started with the leg and thigh.  The skin was crisp and had the flavor of thyme, rosemary, and garlic.  There was also a spicy kick to it, but I'm not sure which pepper it was.  Did not taste like black peppercorn, more like a cayenne.  It did have salt and black pepper as well.  You could taste the seasoning in the meat as well, and the meat was perfectly moist.  The Madeira sauce was very good.  It was not quite as thick as a gravy, so it did not have a heavy overbearing presence.  It was there as a background flavor that worked nicely.  You could pick up hints of onion and carrot in the sauce. 

As I'm sure I've said before, I'm not a big veggie fan.  Admittedly, I only had a few bites of the squash, just enough to see that they were nice and soft and well flavored with salt and pepper.  The simple flavors let the taste of the vegetable shine through.  I did enjoy the few bites I took.

My potatoes seemed to be the only problem.  I don't think they were fully cooked.  They were small red potatoes that had been cut into wedges and then roasted with simple flavoring of salt, pepper and oil or butter.  The Madeira sauce was poured over them as well.  They still had a bit of a crunch to them.  They were still edible and did still taste good.  I did not complain or send my dish back.  Darryl had the same potatoes and his were done perfectly.

You can't go to a nice place like this without having dessert.  I had the Whipped Chocolate Pudding.  It was wonderful.  It was more like a mouse the way it was whipped until light and fluffy.  The whipped cream on top was a perfect balance to the more semi-sweet chocolate underneath.  I think I also picked up a hint of cinnamon in the pudding as well.  There is a special sipping chocolate (hot chocolate) that was served in the reproduction of the colonial coffeehouse... it had a similar taste.  I should have purchased the mix while I was there and perhaps I could describe the taste better.  It was not as sweet as the hot chocolate we drink today.  I rather enjoyed it!

Since this is a historic attraction, in a tourist destination, you can expect to pay tourist prices.  Dinner was quite pricey.  My main course was $25.50 (not including tip or tax).  I'll let you know what I spend to recreate it in my Part II post.  Overall I did not mind spending the money on the meal.  The money goes back into Colonial Williamsburg and their ongoing efforts of presenting history. 

I would go back to this restaurant again.  In fact, I did.  Actually, we had lunch there earlier that day.  I had a really great turkey, swiss and bacon sandwich (hold the lettuce and tomato please) that came with fried tavern potatoes (that were perfectly cooked).  It was a fresh turkey breast, so I will work on recreating that meal again soon.  And I'll tell you about the meal at that time.

Williamsburg, VA

All I can really say is WOW!  I just returned from a great and much needed vacation to Williamsburg, VA.  We checked into our hotel Sunday night and literally walked in the door of our house within the last hour.  There was so much to do that we will need to go back again, hopefully soon.

Being away from home for that long means one thing: lots and lots of eating out.  We managed to eat at every Colonial Tavern in one way or another.  Most of the food was amazing.  I did have a plain ham and cheese sandwich for one lunch which I do not plan on writing about... or the day we got really lazy and just had pizza for dinner.  I've already talked about pizza.

I don't plan on starting to cook any meals until at least Tuesday, so I won't describe any of the restaurants yet. 

Today I'd like to jump into my own personal past as a tourism professional and talk a little bit about Williamsburg and the Historic Triangle.  My experience was just amazing.  Admittedly, I am exhausted and plan to sleep for at least three days straight.  I know my legs could really use the break.  Once we parked my car in the hotel parking lot, it did not move!  There were shuttles from the Williamsburg Visitor Center to Jamestown and Yorktown as well as one that looped around Colonial Williamsburg.  For the most part, we did walk around Colonial Williamsburg, only catching a shuttle at night after some of our evening programs.  During the day was exploring Colonial Williamsburg by foot, and touring though the many houses, taverns and shops that were set back into the colonial time period.  Every single interpreter knew so much about the various place they were representing, showcasing, or the character they were reenacting.  Every one of them were friendly and welcomed questions, many times without breaking character unless you were asking questions more geared towards today.  We attended three evening programs and during each we encountered the same great knowledge and enthusiasm from every cast member.  I got to enlist in the Continental Army, attend an inquisition of a military officer, and be a juror for a witch trial.

Of course, what vacation would be complete without a little shopping?  I did get a nice little tea set that I will proudly display in my nice living room, and a set of cookbooks.  OK, I admit, the cookbooks are to assist me as I try to make the meals I got to enjoy on my trip.  There were also a great number of recipes that I didn't get to try at any of the taverns, so I would like to try them at home.  As always, I will share the results with all of you.  As for the recipes... well, you'll have to support Colonial Williamsburg and purchase the books for your self.  Sorry.

With that, I must get going.  I know I just got back, but I'm sneaking away to Buffalo for the weekend.  :)

Wegmans, Part II

I made my pizza tonight.  It was different than the one I had at Wegmans, but it was still pizza inspired from my trip and lunch at Wegmans.

I used the Wegmans pizza dough, shredded mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce and pepperoni (not shown in the picture).  Then I added some cherry tomatoes and jalapenos from my garden along with a green pepper (also from Wegmans-straight from the farms) and some smoked fresh mozzarella.  It turned out really good.  Next time I should probably use a little bit less cheese, but I really love cheese. 

When I make my pizza, I spread out the dough and then put it in the oven at 375 for about 15 minutes.  Then I take it out and put on all the toppings.  I have found it is best to put all the veggie things under the cheese.  This is where I have to admit, I am not a fan of veggies, so the peppers go on only half the pizza for my husband.  I did put tomatoes on the entire pizza... so I did get at least some veggies.  I bet mom will be proud!  Once everything is on, the pizza goes back into the oven at the same temperature for around 15 more minutes.  I wait until the cheese is all bubbly and starting to get just a hint of a brownish color in some spots.  Take the pizza out and let it sit, just so that when it's cut, the cheese doesn't all ooze off. 

The final product:

Wegmans, Part I

Ok, so Wegmans is really not a restaurant, it's more of an experience!  Today I had lunch at my local Wegmans here in Fredericksburg before doing some grocery shopping.  I had pizza.  Just plain old cheese and pepperoni pizza... oh wait, it had sausage on it too.  It was good.  It hit the spot.  I was hungry after volunteering at a local clinic and needed something before I did my grocery shopping.  It did make me think... hum, how about pizza for dinner tonight.  I really enjoy making pizza at home.  I picked up some fresh smoked mozzerela cheese, pepperoni and the Wegmans premade pizza dough.  I'll comment later to let everyone know how it turned out.

:) Rachel

What Restaurant Challege really means.

I've decided to challenge myself.  I want to do something fun, something enjoyable, and something that can help me learn to do more.  I love to go out and eat.  I grew up in Buffalo NY where you could go to a non-chain restaurant every night for a whole year, and even some days for lunch, and NEVER go to the same place twice.  It was a vast treasure chest of amazing food.  Then, I moved to a small town in Virginia.  I admit, I love it down here, but, I do miss the food of Buffalo.  Fredericksburg was once a very small town (it is an independent City here in VA).  Over the last 10 years or so it has grown by leaps and bounds... and with growth comes chain restaurants.  I didn't know where to eat when I first moved down here, so I would ask my new friends.  They would recommend the chain restaurants, mostly because they were the "latest and greatest thing."  I spent way too much time at Applebees and TGI Fridays in my college years.  Now I want chef owned restaurants where the menu changes seasonally.  Don't get me wrong, I do still head over to the chain restaurants when I'm just not in the mood to cook and I want some familiar comfort food.

I've lived in Fredericksburg for almost six years now.  I did, over time, and thanks to my previous job in tourism, learn that Fredericksburg does have a number of chef owned restaurants.  Downtown is a great hub for these little places.  My favorite so far is Bistro Bethem.  We go there for special occasions: birthdays, anniversaries, and any time we have great news to celebrate.  One special occasion was when I found out I was accepted into nursing school at the local community college.  School is great, and I really think nursing is my calling in life.  But a person needs hobbies, right?

I have decided to take on a two part challenge.  Part I involves the restaurants themselves.  I am challenging myself to not eat at the same restaurant in at least a six month time span.  If I do, I have to try something different on the menu.  (I really like to order the same things when I go to a restaurant... like Buffalo Wild Wings and my honey bbq and medium wings, always the flats with blue cheese and extra celery for Darryl).  The goal is also to stay away from chain restaurants as much as possible.  I will review the restaurant on my blog, and talk about my meal.

Now for Part II: After eating at a restaurant and reviewing it here, I will then attempt to make that meal at home.  This is where my hobby comes in.  I want to learn how to make all different dishes, not the same six meals I make every week.  I think both my husband and I are really bored of the same thing, week after week.

So, my plan is to start over the next few weeks.  I am going to be traveling for the next week, which means a lot of eating out.  I'll keep those notes and write all about it when I return.  And then I'll cook.  Feel free to recommend some of your favorite restaurants and your favorite meals.