Business On Top, Party On The Bottom

Sometimes, Chains Get It Right

Cedar Plank Salmon & Corn Zucchini Sucotash, California Pizza Kitchen

Bleu Cheese Steak Sando

Sorry sorry! Was away for a few days last week and Sam was in Chicago for the weekend so had no reason to get crazy with dinner. Anywho, back tonight with a pretty good take on steak. Turns out Blue Bleu cheese (spell it properly) can take a steak sandwich from here, to here (you know what I mean). Again, there's nothing complicated here, just throwing ingredients together more or less. The only thing you need to be careful with is your steak. Don't overcook or eating this bad boy becomes a jaw workout. Oh and the caramelized onions are optional, just adds some sweetness and texture. Enjoy!

Ingredients (Serves 2)
1 pound steak (your choice - I suggest rib eye)
1/2 Spanish onion, sliced
1/4 cup water
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup arugula or spinach tossed with 1 tablespoon balsamic vinaigrette (you can make basic balsamic vinaigrette yourself by mixing equal parts balsamic vinegar + extra virgin olive oil)
1 ounce blue cheese dressing or crumbled bleu cheese
2 ciabatta buns, sliced open and lightly grilled

DirectionsHeat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
Add the onions and the water and cook until carmelized (about 15 minutes)
Season the steak with salt and pepper on both sides, to taste.
Grill the steak for no more than 3 minutes per side over medium-high heat and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Toast Ciabatta buns
Place the arugula tossed in balsamic vinaigrette on the bun followed by the caramelized onions, steak and bleu cheese and dressing.

She's Exactly What I Need

I have no food for you today. I was lucky enough to spend the day with Sam and Ramon today so I decided to share some awesome lyrics from a great musician named Jeremy Passion. His song Lemonade does a great job of scratching the surface of how my relationship is with my best friend - my beautiful, beautiful wife Samantha. Enjoy.

She’s my sunshine in the rain
My Tylenol when I’m in pain
Let me tell you what she means to me,
Like a tall glass of lemonade
When it’s burnin’ hot on summer days
She’s exactly what I need

She’s soothing like,
The ocean rushing on the sand
She takes care of me
And she helps me be a better man
She’s so beautiful,
Sometimes I stop to close my eyes
She’s exactly what I need

She’s my smile when I’m feelin’ blue
She’s my good night sleep
When the day is through
Let me tell you what she means to me
(Yeah, she’s kinda like this)
Kinda like the feelin’ after your first kiss
Except that Everyday she makes me feel like this
Coz she’s exactly what I need

Magnolia Bakery, NYC

The next time you're in NYC (or Chicago, LA or Dubai), please do yourself a favor and stop in at Magnolia Bakery. In New York I'd recommend staying away from the tourist-swarmed location at Rockefeller Center, and opt for the one in my 'hood. It's something of a staple here, and rightfully so. They make the lightest, fluffiest icing - as seen on this pistachio cupcake.

Chicken Pot miniPie

 

I have to admit I troll around Pinterest more than is cool for a guy to do so. I realize that. But then I find things like Chicken Pot Pie cupcakes. What a fantastic idea. It's like eating a real chicken pot pie without the lingering, uncomfortable feeling that you just ate an entire pie by yourself. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, diced

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup mixed veggies

1 cup shredded cheese (your choice, this is where you can make it your own)

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp bay leaves

2 tsp onion powder1

1 tsp garlic salt

2 cans Pillsbury biscuits

Directions 

1) Preheat oven to 400 degreees 

2) Mix all ingredients (except biscuits) in a big bowl

3) Grease a 12-cup muffin tin and place the biscuits into each cup, pressing into the bottom and up the sides.

4) Spoon mixture into each biscuit cup and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

5) EAT!!

Bacon, Egg and Cheese: Sunny Side Up

 

Bacon, egg, cheese and a handful of spices. Couldn't be simpler. Enjoy your weekend!

Ingredients

- Bread (I used simple white bread today, but probably best on English Muffins)

- 2 strips of pork bacon

- 1 jumbo egg

- 1slice of cheese (normally not of the American super-processed variety, but it's all we had today...too lazy to go to the store this morning).

- 1 slice of heirloom tomato

Spices:
- Salt

- Black pepper 

- Rosemary (can you tell I like rosemary in my eggs?)

- Oregano

Directions
Season the slice of tomato with salt, pepper and oregano to taste.
Toast bread with cheese and tomato on top in a toaster oven for 4 minutes.
Cook bacon until crispy and brown. 
Cook egg "sunny side up" on a buttered pan and season with salt, pepper and rosemary to taste. Don't cook too long or you'll end up with a fried egg (an oozy yoke is the best part in my opinion).
Combine everything into a delicious breakfast sandwich (or eat as an open-faced sandwich to avoid eating 2x the carbs).

 

Invisible Children + Warby Parker: Do More Than Just Watch

 

 

INVISIBLE CHILDREN

No doubt today you've seen KONY 2012 messages all over Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. First and foremost, I urge you to please watch this video from Invisible Children, the amazing organization behind the movement to eliminate Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) forces from Northern Uganda. Watch the video for details on the atrocities this man continues to commit in this region of Africa and please join the effort to stop him from forcing children to become child soldiers in his army. My wife Sam and I have been proud supporters of Invisible Children for the better part of two years now. I strongly urge you to at the very least educate yourself about what is currently going on in Northern Uganda. 

WARBY PARKER

Having said that, I also wanted to share with you another great organization, Warby Parker, producers of awesome prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses. Warby Parker designs, manufactures and distributes eyewear at the VERY reasonable price of $95. That's the price for ANY of their sunglasses or eyeglasses (prescription included!). How do they do it? It's a really simple business model, and they explain it all here.

Aside from great designs and a cheap, flat price WP does something amazing - for every pair of glasses you buy, they give a pair to a child in need. I am also a proud supporter of this noble young company who have set out to make a positive impact on the world.

WARBY PARKER + INVISIBLE CHILDREN

My sunglasses, Warby Parker Griffin for Invisible Children (pictured above), are a collaboration between these two awesome organizations. For every pair of these sunglasses that are purchased, Warby Parker donates $30 to Invisible Children who, again, is in the relentless pursuit of justice and safety for Northern Ugandans.

Please, please support these great organizations in their efforts to bring an end to Joseph Kony's crimes in Northern Uganda.

- G

Salvadorean Special

 

Now - if you are decedent of, or directly from, El Salvador and you haven't had this at some point in your life - shame on you. To the rest of you this might seem like a hodgepodge of omelet-ish ingredients + a really thick tortilla, but we the few (1.6 million or so?) Salvadorean Americans know all too well how many problems a tortilla tostada (toasted tortilla) can solve. Tortillas are to El Salvador what [help me out here please] are to the US. I want to say burgers or pizza, but those don't really justify....anyway, I digress...

Add a tortilla tostada to your basic omelet and all of a sudden you have a crunchy, salty, eggy, fantastic twist on a really simple breakfast food. Skip the sweet stuff this weekend (waffles, syrup, cinnamon toast crunch, whatever) and treat yourself to this super simple meal. Enjoy.

Ingredients
- 2 handmade flour tortillas
- 4 Eggs
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup extra virgin oil oil
- 1 turkey hot dog (optional, and could be replaced with any other meat you would prefer in omelet)
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- ketchup (optional)

Toast the flour tortillas in a toaster oven/conventional toaster until completely crisp on the outside. Heat extra virgin olive oil in a pan to 350 degrees. Cut tortillas into 8 slices and fry in the oil until medium brown on each side, about 3 minutes per side over medium heat.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper and rosemary.

Add sliced turkey hot dog (or other meat) to tortilla slices, cook for 2 additional minutes. Add egg mixture to the pan. Cook to your desired level of done-ness (I like my eggs a bit runny). Serve hot and add ketchup (or hot sauce) if desired.
 

In Between Meetings....Café Sorrelle, Boston

Blueberry & Kiwi mid-afternoon bite.

Old Bay Fried Chicken

Last year I tried my hand for the first time at fried chicken after watching the movie The Help (wait, what?). Great movie - and aside from helping to spread a powerful message on social justice - the movie made me want to cook some chikin'. I'd always figured fried chicken is best left to Popeye's (my fast-food guilty pleasure, by the way), but it turns out homemade fried chicken takes about 20 minutes to make and turns out so much more juicy, spicy and flavorful than the chicken some teenaged master-of-texting-while-cooking can throw together in the back of your local Popeye's.

There is nothing pretty about frying chicken so I'll spare you the process...just a few shots of the final product. This is a pretty basic fried chicken recipe, but I put a little Eastern Shore in it with some Old Bay in the seasoning.

I guess we could have gone with a healthier side dish but decided to throw caution to the wind instead with a baked potato with butter, sour cream, chives, shredded cheddar and bacon bits. Enjoy.

Old Bay Fried Chicken 

Ingredients (4 Servings)

-3 eggs

-1/3 cup water

-About 1 cup hot red pepper sauce

-2 cups self-rising flour

-1 teaspoon pepper

-Seasoning, recipe below

-1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces

-Canola oil

Seasoning:

-1 cup Old Bay

-1/4 cup black pepper

-1/4 cup garlic powder

Directions

- Beat the eggs with the water in a medium sized bowl.

- Add hot sauce so the egg mixture so that mixture turns bright orange.

- In another bowl, combine the flour and pepper.

- Rub chicken with the Old Bay seasoning.

- Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.

- Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot.

- Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. Dark meat takes about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes.

Looks like the proper place to buy a shirt.

J. Crew Men's Shop, Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ

Nothing like breaking in fresh leather.

Switching to spring mode.......by Timex.

 

Weekender watch w/Marine Blue nylon watch strap.