Monthly Archives: November 2014

Dining Out with the Dogs at Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ

We headed out to Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ because the weather was Forking perfect for patio dining, the location, and the dog gone reasonable prices.

The service is always warm and friendly. The patio is spacious and dogs get a pan of water.

We started with Big Glasses of Happy Hour Malbec and Happy or forking YAPPY Hour Steak Sliders to share with the dogs.

The Dogs were very FORKING interested in the Steak Sliders.

My human companion was very upset about some sort of garlic mayo spread on the sandwiches but managed to eat around it. The meat in the sliders was a little tough but sort of tasty and were almost fast food priced and better than fast food for the $6.00 for three generously sized sliders.

Soon our forking dinners arrive!

I receive my GRILLED Chicken Parmesan over Spaghetti Squash.

I like to slide the forking cheese off and put in on a slice of the garlic bread.

The chicken underneath was cooked better than they normally do chicken. It was juicy this time but almost forking tasteless and bland. My human companion agreed with me that it was tasteless. But the sauce was fresh and very rich with a single note tomato taste that was OK and good on the spaghetti squash.

Both dogs enjoyed the grilled chicken parmesan and the spaghetti squash.

My Human Companion had the Tortellini in a meat sauce with Hot Sausage. It came out with two forking big links of hot sausage.

He said the Tortellini in Meat Sauce with Hot Sausage was much better than my grilled Chicken Parmesan.

Both dogs were waiting for some more food.

I heard that the Hot sausage was really good.

We had a good time and ate a bunch of forking food. We all now need naps.

Forking Truth

Sous Vide Turkey Breast Directions

I’m forking using the Sous Vide to do some turkey breast meat.

Sealed in the bag is Turkey Breast, a carrot, a celery stalk, some sweet onion, salt, pepper, a chunk of frozen Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 4 leaves sage, 2 cloves garlic, sprig rosemary, and a sprig of thyme. If you have a more expensive vacuum sealer you can add liquid to your bag but most people have the one I do and need to add liquids as a solid.

Directions are to cook in the Sous Vide for 2 1/2-5 hours at 60 degrees C. that means 140 degrees F. The meat comes out forking perfect, it’s juicy and moist and seasoned just so. It’s hard to ague with perfection.

To do Turkey Legs you’d Sous Vide 6 or so hours at 75 degrees C or 167 degrees F.

I think I’m always going to use the Sous Vide for Turkey Breast. Next time I’ll vacuum seal the Turkey Breast with the Turkey Fat I just froze.

Forking Good!

The Best FORKING Macaroni and Cheese EVER!

I have been told that I make the best Forking Macaroni and Cheese. You will never get a Macaroni and Cheese as tasty as mine in any restaurant because the restaurant wouldn’t pack all the quality cheese I put in mine. (they’d forking go broke) I use the perfect seasonings for the cheese sauce, and make a delicious butter cheese cracker crumb top crust. I can’t give exact amounts of ingredients because macaroni and cheese is always made free style.

I always use a blend of cheeses usually around 6 forking kinds but always includes sharp cheddar and always some parmesan. I toss in whatever ends of cheese I have in my refrigerator. I NEVER use forking Velveta or cheese product garbage.

I think regular elbow macaroni is too delicate and usually use the Barilla Brand curled Horn Shape Pasta and if I can’t find that one I use the Pene Shaped.

I start by heating equal amounts of butter and flour. When it looks nice and cooked together well I start blending in milk. When that looks right I start adding cheese and go back and forth with milk and cheese, milk and cheese till it seems about forking right. I season the sauce with the right amounts of sweet paprika, cayenne pepper, ground white pepper and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

The Butter Cheese Cracker Crust is made by combining a stick of butter with Flour and crushed Cheese-its Crackers.

The Butter Cheese Cracker Crumb Crust

The crumb crust gets baked in the oven for about 15 minutes and then can be used as a topping for the macaroni and cheese.

This is how it looks COLD

As heavy as this is it seems to evaporate quickly.

The BEST FORKING Macaroni and Cheese EVER!

Forking Good!

Chef Hugh Acheson’s Bread Leek Pudding Recipe

Bread Leek Pudding

This year in addition to the stuffings I make I thought I’d make a Leek Bread Pudding. I saw this Recipe on one of my magazines by Top Chef Judge Hugh Acheson so I thought I’d make it because it was very different than what I normally prepare and I thought the flavors in it would be appealing to most people.

The Pudding is described as Chewy Sourdough Bread Chunks with a custardy texture and creamy interior, golden brown with a crunchy topping. I did notice this recipe has more fresh thyme in it that what I’d normally use.

I couldn’t find any reviews on this recipe but latter after making it I found that this recipe is very similar to Chef Thomas Keller’s Recipe for Bread Leek Pudding. Keller’s Recipe differed by using Brioche Bread and a soft different cheese.

Ingredients set oven to 400 degrees (to be turned down latter)

6 tbsp. melted unsalted butter

2 tsp. minced thyme

1 1lb. sourdough boule, cut in one inch cubes

Kosher Salt to taste

fresh ground pepper to taste

3 Large Leeks (white and light green parts only Cut 1/2 length wise and then 1/2″ thick)

1 1/3 C. heavy Cream

1 1/3 C. milk

2 eggs plus 5 yolks

3/4 C. grated parmesan

Directions

Toss 4 tbsp. butter, 1 tsp. thyme, the bread, salt, pepper on a baking sheet.

Bake until slightly crisp (about 20 minutes). Let cool. REDUCE oven to 325 degrees. Heat remaining butter in a sauce pan on medium/high. Cook leeks until golden 7-8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium/low and stir in remaining thyme and 2 tbsp. water; cook, covered until leeks are tender,5-7 minutes; let cool. Whisk cream, eggs, yolks, 1/2 the parmesan, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until smooth.

Fold in bread and leeks; (pour on whatever dish you are baking with he just used the frying pan. I used a lightly oiled pan) Top with remaining parmesan

until golden brown and set (about 45 minutes)

Bread Leek Pudding

My companion had to taste it and a large forking corner is gone now. I was worried about too much thyme but the seasoning seems right. My companion said it was good but thought it was very oniony. I only tried a small piece and didn’t get all the leek flavor but did get a big crunch and custard in one bite. The texture is very unique. A very crispy crust as promised and a very custardy bottom up to center.

Forking Truth

EZ Almost no measure Apple Crumb Pie Recipe

EZ almost no measure Apple Crumb Pie

You can make a forking delicious Apple Crumb Pie in less time than it takes to go the the store and purchase a crappy apple pie. You don’t really need to measure because these pies are forking easy to throw together and do turn out delicious! My recipe is EZ because you blind bake the crust, bake the crumb topping and the apples separably but together in the oven and then assemble. Your pie will be tastier than any apple pie you purchase from your local supermarket.

Ingredients (Set your Oven at 350 degrees)

Apples (3-6 depending on size of apples) pealed and cored and cut in bite size pieces.

Sugar around a cup

Cinnamon depending on how much you like a little sprinkle on the crumb and a BIG sprinkle on the apples.

Flour around a cup or so.

Room temperature soft butter. I used 6oz exactly.

about 1/4 teaspoon of Kosher Salt

Forking EZ Directions

Take your soft 4oz stick of butter and blend it with what you eyeball as about the same amount of flour with a pinch of salt and mix and mix till it’s like play dough.

And then pat the dough into your pie pan.

Now make your crumb topping.

You need 2 oz. of soft butter and add your flour and a little sugar (a couple spoonfuls) and a sprinkle of cinnamon. You need enough flour to make the dough look like crumbs.

Put your crumbs on a small baking sheet.

Now make your apple filling.

Peal and core your apples and cut them in small pieces. Give them a BIG sprinkle of sugar and maybe 2 teaspoons of flour (so soak up juices) and a big sprinkle of cinnamon. Stir and microwave for 3 minutes and place on a small sheet pan. Bake all three pans for about 20 minutes and then assemble.

EZ almost no measure Apple Crumb Pie

Now you have your EZ almost no measure Apple Crumb Pie!

Forking Good!

Festive Holiday Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Festive Holiday Cranberry Sauce

I wanted a traditional tasting cranberry sauce but just very slightly elevated. I know I nailed it because my companion always thought he hated cranberry sauce and tasted mine and said it was really good. The hibiscus syrup is unique but has a very similar flavor to the cranberries and doesn’t compete with them and seems to make the cranberry flavor a little deeper. The small touches of spices just add a small amount of balance still keeping the cranberry sauce very traditional.

Ingredients

24 oz. fresh Cranberries

2 Cups Sugar

1 3/4 Cup Water

1/4 Cup Hibiscus Syrup

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

small pinch of Kosher Salt

small pinch of Aleppo Pepper

(Forking EZ Directions)

Just bring to boil in your sauce pot.

Then reduce to simmer for around 45 minutes.

Festive Holiday Cranberry Sauce

Forking Good!

Weird Bathrooms in Restaurants in the Metro Phoenix Area

Bootleggers Modern American Smokehouse Phoenix AZ (right across from the bathroom sink you get a view of the toilet seat from the handicapped bathroom)

WHO THE FORK wants FORKING PEEPHOLES in the restroom? Some idiot or pervert was very misguided in their decision to install several peepholes in the two ladies stalls in this forking restaurant.

Bootleggers Modern American Smokehouse Phoenix AZ

It’s immoral and forking disrespectful to say the forking least.

Bootleggers Modern American Smokehouse Phoenix AZ

At first I thought the wood just had natural holes but then I looked closer.

Bootleggers Modern American Smokehouse Phoenix AZ

The holes sure forking look hand drilled to me!

Other restaurants in the Metro Phoenix area have made unusual and weird bathroom choices.

A certified Pizza Restaurant in Scottsdale Forno Fabri 1949 has semi clear walls between the bathroom stalls so you can see the person next to you do what they do and THEY CAN FORKING SEE YOU TOO! I don’t understand the appeal there, do you?

A small Fish Cafe Restaurant Coconuts Fish Cafe in Scottsdale has the Toilet Paper dispenser installed by where your toes would be…I don’t get that one. Maybe it was accidental? Maybe it has been changed since I was there. Not so weird but funny maybe the dispenser was installed by a forking hamster.

At one of area’s Top Chef’s Restaurant Christopher’s and Crush Lounge has a weird communal sink installed between the Ladies and Mens Rooms. It’s a water flowing from the ceiling between the ladies stalls and the mens stalls. It looks really pretty but you can accidentally grab someone’s forking strangers hand who’s across from you while you rinse off.

A Beard Nominated Chef’s Restaurant Bink’s Midtown used to grow his herbs in the restroom until someone complained about it in their review. Nobody wants forking fart scented herbs in their food. I note the herbs are no longer growing in the bathroom.

In Gilbert AZ at Joes Farm Grill the bathroom has a TV in the wall playing SCI FI and lots of Sci Fi memorabilia adorn the walls. You sure can forking space out there!

Maybe the FREAKIEST of all the bathrooms I’ve been in around the Metro Phoenix Area is located in an Old Town Scottsdale Restaurant AZ 88. Large roomed completely Mirrored restrooms. You see everything all around you and above you. Very freaky and weird. I hope none of the mirrors are two way. Mirror mirror on the wall why are you all over a forking bathroom stall?

Some of the restaurants in the Metro Phoenix Area have FORKING WEIRD Bathrooms.

Forking Truth

Barbecue is all Forking Different

Brisket from Little Miss BBQ Phoenix AZ

I’ve had BBQ from several BBQ Places in the Metro Phoenix Area over the past few years and some forking differ so much from the others I wonder what the Fork BBQ really is.

Smoky, Fatty, Dry, Saucy, Sweet, Tangy, Crispy, Wet, & etc.

The definition of BBQ according to Merriam Webster is… “To Roast or Broil on a rack or Revolving Spit over or before a source of heat”.

Then I wanted a more specific definition and it got forking confusing.

Kansas City Style BBQ-Slow Cooked Meat smoked over a variety of woods and then covered in Thick Tomato and Molasses Sauce.

North Carolina Style- (Lexington) Vinegar based red sauce seasoned with ketchup usually pork based BBQs.

North Carolina Eastern Style-Is Whole Hog BBQ with vinegar and pepper sauce (no tomato)

South Carolina Style- is THREE FORKING DIFFERENT STYLES

Savannah River-peppery tomato or ketchup

Central- The Yellow Carolina Gold Sauce (yellow mustard, vinegar, brown sugar, spice)

Pee Dee- Whole Hog BBQ, spicy watery pepper sauce

Memphis Style- BBQ Ribs “WET” and “Dry” Wet Ribs are brushed with sauce. Dry Ribs are seasoned with Dry Rub. Memphis is big on BBQ Sandwiches too.

Texas Style- Some Texas BBQ may have German and Czech influences.

(cowboy style)-Goat or Mutton directly cooked over Mesquite.

South Texas- Cow Head cooked under ground

Alabama- Mayonnaise and Vinegar White Sauce BBQ used as a marinade and dressing. Alabama BBQ is usually Chicken.

Then I read about more endless styles

California Style, California Santa Maria Style, Hawaii Style, Kentucky Style, Oklahoma Style, Virginia Style, and the different Asian Styles, Chinese BBQ, Thai BBQ, Japanese BBQ, and Korean BBQ.

Barbecue is all Forking Different!

Thee Pitts Again Glendale AZ

Leo’s Island BBQ (Hawaiian) Peoria AZ

Bobby Q’s Phoenix AZ

Tom’s Thumb Fresh Market Scottsdale AZ

Pork on a Fork BBQ Grill Phoenix AZ

Forking Truth

More Dining With Dogs

AJ’s Patio Arrowhead Glendale AZ

My dogs are just so forking STINKING Cute! I just had to add these pictures to my blog. If you don’t like dogs just FORKING SKIP this post.

Not all……. but many of the patios around the Metro Phoenix Area are forking dog friendly.

So we take them out as much as possible. They enjoy the ride and they usually enjoy the food.

Nova Lox Bagel from JJ’s Delicatessen Scottsdale AZ

The food isn’t always dog friendly. (sometimes it’s not forking people friendly) (I note you need to check the list of foods your dog can’t eat from your Veterinarian and or on the ASPCA website or other websites)

Cucina Taglianti Glendale AZ

Both dogs enjoy Italian Food.

And other food too.

AJ’s Glendale AZ

Even when it isn’t food they like both dogs still enjoy dining out.

They are both….

Very well behaved.

We always get BIG Smiles when we forking take them out!

Forking Truth

The Saddest Forking Thanksgiving Ever

The Thanksgiving Feast in a Bag Potato Chips by Boulder. A full Thanksgiving Flavored Dinner of Potato Chips.

Turkey and Gravy Flavored Chips.

I found these inedible. These were the forking worst of the bunch for me. There is a nasty powder on them.I can’t stomach them. It was sawdust and chemicals to me. My companion said they taste like cheap turkey gravy.

The Stuffing Flavored Chips.

They taste like thyme and little bit of poultry seaoning with a little bit of something bitter.

The Pumpkin Pie Potato Chips.

Something is missing. I get cinnamon, nutmeg, a tiny bit of sweetness, and something like a buttered potato.

Cranberry Sauce Potato Chips

These Chips have a Slight red tint added. They have a little tartness and a little sweetness to them with a potato taste. They taste almost like children’s strawberry breakfast flavored cereal but with potatoes.

Maybe Sherif Joe had these chips made for the prisoners in his jail for their Thanksgiving Meal? Because these would make the Forking Saddest Thanksgiving ever.

Forking Truth

TheForkingTruth

Forking Thoughts on Food and Restaurants

Monthly Archives: November 2014

Dining Out with the Dogs at Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ

Like this:

Sous Vide Turkey Breast Directions

Like this:

The Best FORKING Macaroni and Cheese EVER!

Like this:

Chef Hugh Acheson’s Bread Leek Pudding Recipe

Like this:

EZ Almost no measure Apple Crumb Pie Recipe

Like this:

Festive Holiday Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Like this:

Weird Bathrooms in Restaurants in the Metro Phoenix Area

Like this:

Barbecue is all Forking Different

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More Dining With Dogs

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The Saddest Forking Thanksgiving Ever

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