Giving It a Try

Well here goes nothing.  I have been talking to so many people about creating a blog. But let's be honest, what is so interesting that I have to say? Well, I have no answer to that, but I do cook a lot, so if you read this and merely get a review of a good (or sometimes awful) recipe, then job well done.

Update
If you don't know me, my name is Alex.  I graduated from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville this past December. I currently work as a legal secretary/receptionist.  I was fortunate enough to find the love of my life, Caleb, who will soon be my husband, come August 4, 2012 - see wedding website.  CANNOT WAIT.  I am obsessed with pinterest, twitter, facebook, Draw Something (game), TV shows, and not studying for the OAT (Optometry Admissions Test). Oh yeah, I will be attending (hopefully) the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee once Caleb graduates from law school (University of Tennessee, College of Law). But the very thing I am most obsessed with is Hercules.  He is a half Yorkshire Terrier, half Toy Schnauzer aka Schnorkie.  And he is adorable and smart and the best little baby anyone could ever ask for.  And that's about it.

So, last night the event that inspired the creation of this blog occurred.  I cooked a meal that Caleb deemed "the best I've ever done".  Now, if you know me or Caleb, you know that I cook... A LOT. I love it, everything about it. I love being stressed over four pots on the stove, one baking inside and several random kitchen gadgets on the side.  Everything about cooking de-stresses (word?) my life.  Anyways, back to cooking.
I made Citrus Salmon with Orange Relish as well as a crispy potatoe roast.  Now, For the salmon, which I've cooked all different ways. I've made it asian style, american, glazed, with brown butter sauce, and probably several others that I can't think of.  And for Caleb to say it was the best ever... now that is saying something.  But the piece de resistance (french?) was boiling the marinade and then pouring that over the salmon before adding the relish to the top.  And as Caleb said, "you really do need the red pepper in the relish".  (Side note, I hate peppers, red, green, yellow, what have you).
Now, the potatoey goodness I created. Just a note, DO NOT MAKE if you do not have a mandolin. Pictured to the right because I recently realized (thanks to Kristian and Stephanie) that most people have no clue what that is.
Anyways, I used that nifty little gadget (props to my mother for gifting me hers) to create that goodness, pictured below.  I followed the recipe exactly, but it probably could have used fresh garlic.  Now I know this is out of the ordinary, but I learned from my momma, I keep my garlic in mass quantities in the fridge already minced.  I spend about two hours every few weeks peeling and mincing several heads of garlic to fill up this jar.  And on a lucky occasion that I go home and mom has just minced her share for the month, I steal hers.  So needless to say, I love garlic, a lot, and I use it in pretty much EVERY recipe, even if it doesn't call for it, and I usually double it.  Gosh, no wonder I don't get very many kisses from Caleb.

 Anyways, back to reality, pictured about is our dinner from last night.


After looking at my facebook I realized that are some other things I'd like to share. First, This past weekend was Fashion Week here in the great city of Knoxville.  Now since my beautiful best friend in the whole wide world is an over achiever and volunteers/works for every internship possible, she was able to get me into all of the events... FO FREE (waffle fry voice).  Below you can see that I was able to drag Caleb to two of the events :)

 

also, a group shot of myself, Hillary, and Kristian from left to right.  

So that was my weekend, but the really exciting part was that Caleb decided to be super sweet and give me a break and cook me a lenten dinner on Friday.  (During the Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday, I follow Catholic practice and abstain from  eating meat.) Now, since I usually cook dinner, this means that Caleb has to eat a fish dinner also (insert evil laugh, just kidding).  Anyways so this is how we started the weekend. As you can see he made crab legs that were steamed in a mix of water, beer, and old bay.  DELICIOUS, also, he made some white rice, a very delicious but time consuming artichoke, and tomatoes (the way mom taught me to eat crab).  The tomatoes have fish sauce on them or as the Filipino's call it, patese.  (probably spelled wrong) Oh, by the way, in case you couldn't tell, I'm asian, well Filipina to be exact.  That's right, Caleb and I are in an interracial relationship and will soon join the statistics. 

So that is how we started the weekend, how we spent it, and we finished it with  my best meal ever, oh and of course we went to church. Amen.