Valentine's Day Dinner

Frank and I dined at my apartment for Valentine's Day dinner so we could spend the evening cooking and eating a mighty fine dinner without the usual restaurant crowds. As this picture shows we began the meal with a traditional Shrimp Cocktail with a glass of Chandon Brut Sparkling Wine - a nice combination. 

The appetizer was followed by a Frank-created modified Greek salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, a large block of Feta Cheese, all topped with Frank's version of Tzatziki dressing. This was a tasty salad which Frank will have to add to his Salad repertoire.

Next up was our entree - Filet Mignon with a blue cheese cream sauce. The filet was prepared perfectly - a seared exterior and a red rare center. OMG was that delish. Can you say 'YUMMY'. I prepared the steaks while Frank roasted some thin Asparagus spears. It was the perfect accompaniment.

We finished the dinner with 'purchased' eclairs for dessert. It was a nice, relaxing evening as we would prepare one course, serve and eat it before moving on to the next course. It gave us time to enjoy the food and the wine. We selected a St. Supery "Elevation" to serve with the entree, a very good match.

That's all I'm saying.

News Flash - 2/15/2013

METEOR STRIKE IN CENTRAL RUSSIA drove Lucia into hiding when she heard the TV news announcement about the meteor today. It took us a while to convince her we do not live in Russia and she did not need to be protected from objects falling from the sky.  

Lucia in hiding

Clyde Nabe's Photographs and Blog

I have added another blog to my list of "Blogs I Follow". My good friend and an accomplished photographer, Clyde Nabe, has added a blog section to his existing photograph website. I highly recommend you check out "Galleries" and NabesBlog, both accessible from the banner on his home page.(Click the link). Clyde has been a big help to me in learning some of the neat intricacies of Photoshop Elements, but I have a way to go to catch up with him. Thank you, My Friend

Sunset from my Balcony

Living on the 5 floor of my apartment building and facing to the west, I have the opportunity to watch some beautiful Florida Sunsets. Last Friday, February 1, 2013 I happened to see a beautiful and colorful sunset while Frank and I were preparing dinner. I rushed to get the camera, stepped onto my balcony, and snapped a few shots. Of the bunch, I liked this one the best. Enjoy !

From Skyline 5th
February 1, 2013

Bon Appetit

Wow I am way behind on some posts and I don't plan on catching up tonight. But a recently visited restaurant has been on my mind since we had lunch there a few weeks ago. I don't want to miss this opportunity to tell you about it, although in an abbreviated version. 

Our weather has been beautiful the last few weeks and it seemed like an appropriate time to head to downtown Dunedin and get a table on the water (OK, overlooking the water) at one of this restaurant's outside tables. 

Bon Appétit sits at the end of Main Street in downtown Dunedin directly on the waterfront. It was a beautiful day with temps in the mid to high 70s, lovely blue skies and a light breeze coming off the bay. It couldn't have been a more perfect day, especially in January, and it doesn't get much better that this.

The food was an all star supporting player is the already great day. Frank started his meal with a light, flavor-intense Crab Bisque, which he let me taste. Great I say! He followed that with an equally tasty dish of Truffle Mac & Cheese which I tried to steal from him. (jk)

I dove head first into their version of a lobster roll. Actually it was a open faced lobster roll which is on their daily menu. The "roll' was a slice of toast piled with the chunky, lightly-dressed lobster salad. The salad was very tasty and you could concentrate on enjoying the lobster meat instead of the usual large toasted hot dog bun. If I didn't know better, this could have been a creation of Jacque Pepin.

The small town of Dunedin is loaded with good restaurants and deserves a visit to see the town and try some of the restaurants. 

That is all I'm saying.

Merry Chrismas to Everyone

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Everyone

Philadelphia Visit

Another trip, it is. On December 4 we boarded a U S Airways flight from Tampa to Philadelphia to visit our good friend Deirdre who lives in Newtown Square outside of Philadelphia. She had arranged a visit to Longwood Gardens situated in the Brandywine Valley in Kennett Square, PA, for the evening of Dec 5th. Susan, another friend from my working days at CIGNA joined us for the Gardens and dinner. It was a perfect evening, with clear cool weather. The Christmas displays outside and inside in the Conservatory were as beautiful as you will see in the photographs which I will leave to speak for themselves. We were very fortunate as this was the best weather of the trip, a large portion of displays of decorated trees is outside. 

After the visit to the Gardens we enjoyed a lovely and tasty dinner at Half Moon Restaurant in the old Downtown of Kennett Square. The menu included standard fare such as, say, Bison, Kangaroo, Caribou Hot Dog, Gator Gumbo and other wild game options. They also served a mean Smokey Exotic Mushroom Bisque which was to die for, OMG. I'll take more please. But none of us ordered any of the exotic items from the menu but opted for the more traditional items. Frank and I had perfectly cooked and marinated Flat Iron Steak, Susan enjoyed a brie stuffed wood smoked chicken, avocado salsa sandwich, with avocado, while Deirdre, being the adventurous sort had, a basic hamburger (passing on the buffalo burger).

[Historic Aside: "Kennett  is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World because mushroom farming in the region produces over a million pounds of mushrooms a week." from Wikipedia.]

The next evening Deirdre, Frank, I and a friend from Prague, Vaclav, met in the University City district of Philadelphia for a great dinner at White Dog Cafe. I met Vaclav on my first trip to Praha and the Czech Republic when another friend suggested I consider using Vaclav as my tour guide for my three day stay. He is currently studying for a Masters Degree and attending the University of Pennsylvania. The White Dog Cafe focuses on locally source products. Frank and I both enjoyed "the Spicy Lamb Bolognese Sweet Stem Farms Ground Lamb, Severino Rigatoni, ‘Jersey Fresh’ Preserved Tomatoes, Organic Baby Spinach, Shaved Grana Padano, Whipped Basil Ricotta" *extracted from the menu. It was very tasty however just a tad spicier than I like. But I did lick my plate clean. Vaclav ordered a Hamburger with sliced pork tenderloin stacked on top. (I frequently use the menu on the restaurant site to aid my memory, but I was not able to find this on the currently posted menu. So just imaging a very nicely prepared tasty sandwich). Deirdre opted for the same sandwich but with only the sliced pork, omitting the burger. Maybe Deirdre, Vaclav or Frank can fill in the comments section for me due to my lapse of memory.

One night Frank prepared his "always good" and tasty Tilapia Meuniere. Yummy. 

The next day we visited the National Constitution Center across from Independence Hall. It was interesting multi-media presentation of the founding of our country. While interesting and educational it would not be in my "A" list of sites to visit when in Philadelphia considering the other places to see.

Finally, after forcing you to read through all of our activity and eating, here is a link to the photographs - primarily of the Longwood Gardens. The only regret was that Deirdre's adorable dog, Barney, didn't get to go with us to the gardens - he would have had hundreds of acres to play in.

Click on the photo to view the album in Picasa.

Philadelphia, PA Dec 2012

Thanksgiving Wrap-up

I don't want to let Thanksgiving end without a few final thoughts. 

First I am extremely lucky and thankful to have a cadre of friends and family supporting me through my health related issues. I am also thankful that I am still able to travel, and enjoy life. While there are an amazing number of family and friends who I thank, it is too many to list everyone, but you are all in my thoughts and best wishes for a great holiday season. One person who will not go unmentioned is my best friend, Frank. He is always there to give me support and encouragement and he is a great person and a fun traveler. THANK YOU, FRANK!

So it was appropriate that we started the Thanksgiving season with our annual Thanksgiving Eve dinner. We nailed another fine meal at my place. If anyone wants recipes let me know. The only one I will post is the Lemon Panna Cotta, at the end of this post which is my favorite dessert for any occasion. Try it, you can't go wrong.

Frank refers to this as our Italian American Thanksgiving and it was really good. Our main bird was a Roasted Rosemary Turkey Breast coated with a seasoned butter mixture of rosemary, sage, garlic and orange zest. For our sides we prepared an uncooked Cranberry and Blood Orange Relish (unfortunately, no blood oranges were available, so our back up was regular oranges but excellent just the same. Next up was a Butternut Squash Risotto (yummy) and Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta - both were great. We ended the meal with the Lemon Panna Cotta. We served a bottle of St. Supery Elu with dinner and a glass of Limoncello with the dessert. It was a great meal with a great friend.

On Thanksgiving Day we each went to our respective families - Frank to his sister's and I to my nephew's. Everyone, (except me) pitched in to prepare a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving spread. They had turkey two ways - one traditionally roasted in the oven and the other deep fried. Both were very flavorful and moist - good job everyone. For sides we had mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, my Mother's Creamed Corn Casserole. This is a tradition in the Simpson family since the 1950's and is a must serve at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The dinner was finished off with 3 different home baked pies - oink oink.

On Friday evening Frank and I attended "This is The 60's" at the Mahaffey Theatre in St. Petersburg. The show was a multi-media presentation with a live cast of singers, musicians and dancers - only 7 in all. They presented a fun-filled evening of 60's songs, film clips and TV shows from the decade. We both enjoyed the show but feel they slighted the folk movement and the Mo-Town sound. However with so much music coming out of the decade I am sure they had a tough time selecting the tunes. 

Next up, to round out the weekend, we enjoyed a wonderful meal at our favorite French Restaurant  - St. Petersburg Brasserie downtown on Central Ave. Frank loved his Steak Frites and I was gushing over the Roasted Duck Breast served with Celeriac Rosti, Spicy Cherry Gastrique. OMG, have I mentioned how good it was. Both Frank's steak and my duck were perfectly cooked to a rare degree of doneness. We paired the meal with a very nice bottle of 2010 Shooting Star Pinot Noir from Stelle Vineyards in California.

That's it for Thanksgiving 2012 - Thanks one more time to my family and friends - I am truly a lucky guy.

As promised - the LEMON PANNA COTTA recipe follows. I skip the sauce and serve it with fresh raspberries.

Lemon Panna Cotta with Blackberry Sauce

For convenience, chill these individual eggless custards overnight before serving. The sauce can also be made a day ahead.

Yield: Makes 6 servings

Panna cotta

Vegetable oil

1 cup whole milk

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 vanilla bean

5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup crème fraîche*

2 tablespoons grated lemon peel

Sauce

3 cups frozen blackberries (about 12 ounces), thawed, drained, juices reserved

3 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar

3 tablespoons crème de cassis (black-currant-flavored liqueur; optional)

  

For panna cotta:

Lightly oil six 3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups. Mix milk and cream in heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to simmer. Remove from heat. Cover; let steep 30 minutes. Remove vanilla bean.

           

Pour lemon juice into small bowl; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes. Stir sugar and gelatin mixture into milk mixture. Stir over low heat just until sugar and gelatin dissolve, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in crème fraîche and lemon peel. Divide among ramekins. Cover; chill until set, at least 6 hours or overnight.

For sauce:

Puree 2/3 of blackberries and all reserved juices, brown sugar, and crème de cassis, if desired, in blender. Strain mixture into medium bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids in strainer. Stir remaining blackberries into sauce. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

Run small knife around each panna cotta. Place bottoms of ramekins, 1 at a time, in bowl of hot water 45 seconds. Place plate atop ramekin. Hold plate and ramekin together; invert, shaking gently, to turn out panna cotta. Serve with sauce.

That's all I'm Saying !

Dick & Frank's Fantastic Fall Foliage Adventure

So it is that time again, our photographic followup to our last cruise. Hopefully you have read the blog, especially the hits and misses. I have set up two albums on Picasa with a lot of frustration - no thanks to Google and Picasa. Grrrrrrr   :-(

The first is a short version with 30 photographs culled from the original 200 +.

Dick & Frank's Fantastic Fall Foliage Tour - Short Version

The second is an extended version, consisting of 94 photographs. 

Dick & Frank's Fantastic Fall Foliage Tour - Extended Version

If you get bored easily with other people's vacation photos, I would opt for the short version.

The majority of photographs were taken by Frank. I owe him a big THANK YOU, for frequently taking the time to search out the sights when I was getting fatigued and I didn't feel like walking any more. So, he was the primary photographer and I was the editor. Good work Frank!

Your comments would be appreciated and please report any problems with the links

We hope you enjoy the photographs

Dick and Frank

Miguel's is French

Tucked away in a corner of a non-descript strip mercantile building on Siesta Key, FL you will find an excellent French restaurant. This was our first visit to Miguel's (link) based on a recommendation our dining companions from New Jersey had received from someone in their condo complex. Eileen and Michael were visiting for a week and met up with Frank and me at this 25 year-old restaurant for a fine evening of dining and reminiscing The decor is traditional and rustic - a charming space that was packed with locals when we arrived for 7 PM reservations. (Note - I would always make reservations here especially in the season. They offer Early Bird specials which attracts a large crowd earlier in the evening. It is Sarasota of course.)

Naturally, the menu leans heavily to the French side, while they do have a few Italian items for the early birds. 

Some of us started the meal with La Soupe du Jour a wonderfully rich and flavorful Sweet Potato Bisque. From the Entree menu I opted for the Lamb Shank, the special for the day. I want more :-). It was cooked to perfection with a lovely dark sauce - tender and moist, I cleaned my plate. It was served with potatoes that had been roasted with the lamb which added a great flavor to the potatoes. 

Frank order Le Canard Roti Maison - roasted young duckling served with a l'orange sauce. I had a taste and would agree with Frank that it was top notch - again tender, moist, and tasty.

Eileen enjoyed her Le Boeuf Diane - beef tenderloin tips nicely sauteed with mushrooms, garlic, brandy and demi-glace served with puff pastry. 

Michael selected Le Petit Filet Mignon, a nice 6 oz steak, with a béarnaise sauce.  He proclaimed to meal to be great.

We expected the meal to be pricey, but with drinks, soup, entrees, house salad, dessert, and coffee/espresso the bill came to $50 per person. Not bad in my opinion for this quality of dining.

We were all very pleased with the entire dining experience at Miguel's and highly recommend it to anyone visiting the Sarasota area.