A duck dinner

 

A few months ago we were given a gift: a whole duck breast, wrapped and frozen. One of the goals written on my “things to cook in 2007″ list is “More Duck!” so I’ve been wanting to try it for awhile - I love duck in restaurants but have only once tried cooking it.

 Things did not go swimmingly. When J. got home he took the duck out of the meat drawer where it had been defrosting, to find that the bag it was in was not leak-proof and there was raw duck juice all over the place. He was cleaning up the mess when I got home. I took the duck out of its packaging and poked at it a bit - it still had a chunk of rib cage attached. Every recipe for duck breast that I have is for boneless. Sigh. I tried to debone it, but I am utterly hopeless - a previous attempt to cut up a whole chicken resulted in tears and recriminations against various cookbook authors who said it would be easy. So J. deboned the duck, showing a level of patience and persistence which is obviously beyond me.

Indian meatball soup

Leftovers are a wonderful thing, especially when you can use them to create a totally new dish. It tends to lead to exceptionally flavored food that cannot be replicated and can’t be written as any useful sort of recipe, as in: take one container of cumin-seasoned pork broth from the freezer, mix in a container of  cauliflower simmered with ginger and turmeric from last Wednesday and last night’s chicken meat that was roasted with fresh bay. Find some canned beans to throw in there, too. 

Cookbook: Baking Illustrated

J and I have been religious subscribers to Cook’s Illustrated for years. We keep every issue, and occasionally drag the whole pile out and paw through it looking for that really great shrimp recipe we remember seeing - was it last month? Hmm, no, actually, it was two years ago…so we get to see all the old issues again and maybe find something new to try. And don’t get me wrong, Cook’s isn’t always perfect - they know nothing about Mexican food, and frequently their product reviews have not a single thing that’s available on the west coast. But many of their recipes have become gospel in our household, and sometimes you just want to be able to find it quickly.

Review: Shea’s Lounge

After spending a surprising amount of time wandering around the new-and-improved Seattle Art Museum, we felt a need to go find some dinner. As the designated food obsessor, I suggested a few options, and we decided to check out Chez Shea. J and I have been to Matt’s in the Market twice before, but we’d never been to its next-door neighbor, and everyone liked the look of the bistro menu, so into Shea’s Lounge we went. This turned out to be exactly the right thing to do.

Last gasp of summer

The weather this week is just gorgeous, so we’ve been eating down on our patio every night. When the air is warm, the sun is filtering down through the bay laurel and the wisteria, and the grill is heating up, it’s like a little fantasy of the south of France. This happens maybe five times a year, so we try to make the most of it.

Review: Star Bar

 

So we finally made it to Star Bar. Not that long ago this was a rather granola-looking smoothie place, but the last time we walked down Commercial Avenue in Anacortes we saw this slick looking restaurant and thought, “Why haven’t we eaten here?” We decided to visit as soon as we had an excuse, and decided that surviving the first week of school (for J) and surviving a week of getting their house painted (for our friends) would do.