This was really delicious sushi. I used tuna, tobiko (flying fish roe), and avocado. But it wasn't the neatest I've ever made. Just look at those uneven pieces and the bits of rice on the plate. Shameful. I think the martinis may have been to blame. It was fun.

This was pretty good - a little too mild. So, I served Thai chili-garlic sauce with it. That was just the ticket. Normally, Nick likes this and Alex doesn't really care for it. Tonight, was just the opposite. Nick's teeth are hurting pretty bad from his new braces and he just doesn't feel like eating. Alex is really starting to get an appreciation for spicy foods. He had a couple tablespoons of the chili sauce with the macaroni and he had two big servings. I was so proud.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup dried elbow macaroni
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 cups Monterey Jack, shredded
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper
1/3 cup finely crushed taco chips

Instructions
Boil macaroni until it is al dente and drain. While the macaroni is cooking, in a large saucepan cook the bell peppers in the oil over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the flour, and cook the mixture, stirring, for 3 minutes. Stir in the milk and the yogurt, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring, and simmer it, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the Monterey Jack and the jalapeno pepper and cook the mixture over moderately low heat, stirring, until the Monterey Jack is just melted. Add the macaroni and salt and pepper to taste and stir the mixture until it is combined well. Transfer the macaroni and cheese to a shallow flame-proof baking dish, sprinkle the taco chips over the top, and broil the macaroni and cheese under a preheated broiler about 2 inches from the heat for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the top is browned lightly.

This Spicy Fried Minced Pork recipe is Steve's. Steve gives me more grief about keeping a blog than everyone else combined. He loves to point out what a big nerd I am. I think he's protesting a little too much. He enjoys my nerdiness because he (erroneously) thinks he's Charles Atlas by comparison. Any time his wife, Tanya calls him a nerd he says, "Jim is nerdier." Most of the time she buys it and counts herself lucky. I can imagine her thinking, 'At least my big dork of a husband isn't as nerdy as Jim. Whew.' I generously let Steve continue his delusion.

Wait. Who am I kidding? I AM nerdier than Steve - but not by much.

When Steve ranted about this recipe I suggested he blog it. But he wasn't falling for that. He did type it up and email it to me. This was absolutely delicious - certainly as good as Steve said. However, it was strange for me to cook this. I really had no idea what the final product would be. I realized when I pick a recipe I have an idea of what it will be. Naturally, this guides me when I make it because I imagine how each ingredient will affect the final product. On this one, I had no idea. So, I followed the recipe as close as possible and trusted that it would turn out. It did. Excellent.

For the pork, I ground up a couple pork chops I had in the freezer. Grinding it myself gave it a nice coarse texture. The only thing that I did that varied from Steve's recipe was I probably used twice the fish sauce and I couldn't find Kaffir leaves so I used the juice from half a lime.

When I was picking up ingredients at Krieger's in Cuyahoga Falls I saw they had morels. At West Point Market in Akron, I've seen morels for $189 a pound! Today, at Krieger's they had them for $19.95 a pound. I picked out five or six nice ones and when I went through the checkout they rung up at ninety-five cents. "Wait, I'm going to get more." I ran and grabbed a big double handful - $1.85. Holy crap, I need to get more. So, I bought a pound. I counted them - 148 morels. Woohoo!



I cut them in half to get out any bugs and soaked them in salt water for a few minutes. Now they're in the dehydrator. Tomorrow, after they're dry, I'll vacuum pack them and freeze them. I'll be cooking with morels for a year. Yo.

Ingredients
2 Garlic cloves
3 Shallots
1 in. piece fresh Ginger
2 Tbsp. sunflower oil
1 lb. ground Pork
2 Tbsp. Fish Sauce
1 Tbsp. Dark Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp. Red Curry Paste
4 dried Kaffir Lime Leaves, crumbled
4 Plum Tomatoes
3 Tbsp. chopped Fresh Cilantro
salt and pepper
boiled fine egg noodles, to serve

Instructions
Peel and chop garlic, ginger, and shallots. Saute for 2 mins, then add the pork and continue stir-frying until golden brown.
Stir in fish sauce, curry paste, and lime leaves and stir-fry 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5-6 minutes.

When ready to serve, stir in the cilantro and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve over egg noodles, yo.

Ingredients
4 lamb chops
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
4 cloves garlic, chopped
Kosher salt
Black pepper
fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

1 cup dried cherries
1 cups cabernet
1 1/2 cups peppermint stems and chopped leaves
2 T sugar
1/2 cup water
1 T cornstarch

Place the lamb chops in a ziptop bag and add olive oil, rosemary, and garlic. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat your grill. Season lamb chops with salt and pepper. Grill until internal temperature has reached 135 degrees. Let lamb rest for 5 minutes before serving with sauce.

Place cherries, wine, and mint stems (but not leaves) in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by 2/3 and then remove stems. Whisk in chopped mint leaves and sugar. In a small bowl, mix together water and cornstarch to form a slurry, and then add to the cherry sauce.

Ingredients
¼ seedless watermelon, diced (about 4 cups)
1 cup salty feta cheese, broken into teaspoon-sized lumps
¼ cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
extra virgin olive oil – to drizzle on top
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Toss together watermelon, feta, and parsley. Drizzle on oil and season with salt and pepper.

Ingredients
2 big yellow onions, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves fresh garlic coarsely chopped
2 (10-ounce) bag fresh spinach, rinsed
2 1/2 cups frozen petite peas
3 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh Mint Cream, recipe follows

Saute onions in the butter in a large soup pot over high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent onions from sticking until they begin to soften about 10 minutes. Add garlic, lower the heat to medium and continue cooking for another 10 minutes until onions are translucent. Stir in spinach and saute until wilted about 5 minutes more. Add peas and the stock to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove soup from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Using a stick blender puree soup and bring to simmer over low heat.

To serve, ladle soup into 4 large bowls and top with about 3 tablespoons of the fresh mint cream.

Mint Cream
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh peppermint leaves
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream
Salt and pepper

In a bowl, using a whisk, combine all ingredients until smooth.

I've been planning on taking Alex and Nick to New York City. Denise, their mom and my ex-wife, wanted to come. The trip we took out west a couple years ago went so well I agreed to bring her along this time too. The boys seem to like it. We were there from June 10th - 14th.

Naturally, I was excited about the food possibilities of New York. I knew that I wouldn't be able to explore culinarily the way I'd like with my vegetarian sons and their mother, who was a vegetarian for years until just a few months ago. With a few exceptions, I wouldn't be going for the food.

New York style pizza was an obvious choice. 42nd Street pizza near the Hudson river was a pleasant surprise. Excellent pizza.


Notice the lack of toppings. See? It's not all about me.


We couldn't eat the whole thing. This was a good food start.





For lunch on Sunday we went to Mary Ann's Chelsea Mexican. We were looking in through the window trying to decide if we wanted to go in and a guy sitting near the front window gave us an enthusiastic thumbs-up. We laughed and went in. He said to us, "I've been coming here for twenty years - you'll love it." We did. It was fantastic.





For a snack Sunday evening, we went to a NYC staple - Papaya Dog. Small grilled hotdogs with sweet papaya drinks. I know, it sounds weird, but it works. Denise and Nick had ice cream. Alex had a mango drink. It was cheap and not bad.





After walking through Central Park from the Guggenheim to the Natural History Museum we found this deli/grocery near the Natural History Museum. It was carryout and we all had something we liked. Okay, this is important - Nick had the best bagel of his life here. Nick is a bagel hound. He eats more bagels than any other foodstuff. We ate lunch in Teddy Roosevelt Park and it was a nice picnic. But for Nick to have the best bagel of his life is certainly noteworthy.

This is a pretty sad picture but my Cuban sandwich was delicious.





For dinner Monday, we went to Little Italy. I've never seen so many restaurants crammed into a few blocks. I knew we weren't going to go wrong. We ate at Positano Ristorante.

I had Spaghetti alla Puttanesca and a glass of Montepulciano. It was delicious but I would have liked it better if it had more anchovies in it.




Nick HAD to have a cannoli. Denise and Alex wanted gelato. I wanted espresso. We all got what we wanted here. I don't remember the name of it but it was good. Nick liked the cannoli but we all agreed that Corbo's Bakery in Cleveland made better.


We walked from Little Italy to Chinatown. There were several amazing fish markets. I wish I would have had a place to cook. Everything looked so fresh. The crab were still moving. I'd never seen such a variety of shrimp as this.





Tuesday for lunch, I forced everyone to go to Les Halles. It's an authentic French bistro. I love their cookbook and I really wanted to try their frites. Besides MOMA and The Met, this was a must visit for me.

I had Maguez, Frites, Salade. (Moroccan lamb sausages, french fries, & salad) It was terrific. And the frites were superlative.


For dinner Tuesday, I found this deli/grocery a few blocks from our hotel. This was ideal. Everyone got to pick out what they wanted. I had pretty good grocery store sushi and a little chicken salad.


Our last meal in New York was lunch on Wednesday. I hadn't had any NY corned beef. I forced everyone to go to Carnegie Deli.


Good pickles.


Holy crap! Just look at that sandwich. It had to be close to two pounds. I love corned beef. I try to have it at least once a year. Lou & Hy's - excellent (and sorely missed). Corky & Lenny's - terrific. Slyman's - fantastic. But this was transcendental. Tender beyond belief - it was almost falling apart. Lean without being the slightest bit dry. It had a mild flavor that fills the mouth. The bread would have been disappointing if it would have even mattered. Alex asked why they even bother with the bread. It really added nothing. I told him that without the bread they couldn't call it a "sandwich." If they called this "old dead cow soaked in salt water between two slices of stale rye," I'd still eat it. So should you. (Yes, I did eat all of it.)


Alex had latkes. Excellent. Some of the best I've ever had. I still prefer Corky & Lenny's.


Denise ordered "potato skins with cheddar and bacon 'bits.'" This is what she was served. It had to be close to a half-pound of bacon. I didn't try it but she liked it.


Nick's blintzes. If you thought my praise for the corned beef was profuse - stand back. Nick has never had a blintz. He was skeptical of everything on the menu and was leaning towards a bagel. I thought this a good idea. If you can't a get a good bagel in the Carnegie Deli what's the world coming to? After bagels every morning for breakfast and several lunches he was bagelled out. So, I steered him towards the cheese blintzes. Through a leap of faith on his part he decided to try them. I was already swooning over my corned beef when he cut his first corner of blintz. I was watching, hoping he'd like them enough to get a meal out of them. When he put the first bite in his mouth his eyes got big and he had a surprised look on his face. I asked, "Are they okay?" He gave me a big grin and nodded vigorously while he forked in his second bite. Okay, he was happy, so I returned my attention to the corned beef.

When I was half done with the sandwich (and already thoroughly full) I surveyed how everyone else was doing. I had a little bite of Alex's latke, I inquired about the bacon "bits," and Nick offered us a bite of the blintzes. He cut us off three bites and Denise, Alex and I all had a bite almost simultaneously. Wow. This was not just one of the most delicious things I've eaten while in New York, this was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. A few days later, I'm still a little shaken by the experience. How could they be this good? Someday, I'll have to go back for more.


New York Style Cheesecake. Terrific. Creamy. Sweet. There is nothing like it. But, the blintzes were better.

I've never eaten cooked radishes. This basic recipe was in the email newsletter by The Akron Beacon Journal's food writer Jane Snow. She described it as sweet. It was and it was delicious.

Ingredients
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino cheese

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Stir into hot pasta.

Ingredients
1 bunch radishes, trimmed and cut into quarters
2 T butter
Pinch salt
3 T Port wine
1 t dried tarragon

Instructions
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 T butter. Add radishes and salt and sauté until radishes begin to take on color.

Add port and tarragon and reduce. Add last tablespoon of butter and adjust salt to taste.

Wow. I know I've gone a little nuts with the steaks in the last couple months. Maybe I'm compesating for the lack of cow when I cook for my sons. I'll start taking it easy.

This was amazing. It was sweet and buttery with a nice black pepper bite. I'll make this again. I used Armenian brandy and it was wonderful.

Ingredients
Strip Steaks
kosher salt
coarsely cracked black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced shallots
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Season beef with salt on all sides. Place coarse pepper in a shallow dish and dip the cut sides of the filets into the pepper, pressing lightly to coat.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the steaks and sear on both sides until well browned, 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the steaks to an oven-proof baking dish and place in the oven. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes for medium-rare.

While the steaks are cooking in the oven, add 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter to the same saute pan used for the steaks. Add the mushrooms and cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown around the edges, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the skillet and reserve.

Remove the skillet from the heat and add the shallots and the brandy to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any browned particles from the bottom of the pan. Cook until reduced by half. Add the remaining butter and the brown sugar, stirring to combine. When the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is bubbly, whisk in the cream, reduce the heat to medium-high and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, until mixture is sauce consistency and coats the back of a spoon. Add the reserved mushrooms to the pan and season with the salt, and pepper. Serve immediately over warm steaks. Garnish with chopped parsley.