Still No Recipes...

I really have to get going on getting some of this cookbook up! I have been busy doing other things - such as eating a WHOLE LOTTA MEAT and making some pretty de-lish food. On Sunday I had made a pretty good Hummus (3 out of 5 stars), a better Tzatziki sauce, and an even better stuffed grape leaf dish. Why did I make all this Mediterranean food? I attended a dinner party with a Greek food theme. There was a lot of good things to choose from!
If you want to try the stuffed grape leaf dish go to Cooking Light
The only change I made to the recipe - as I always make at least 1 slight adjustment - is that I substituted a long grain/wild rice blend. I liked it - a lot of texture.
Today - I had an error, as I tried my hand at Tikka Masala. It was OK, not great. Definitely NOT GREAT. My husband made a kind of... sour face at first... and then slowly chewing the food, thinking too himself, "what the hell is in this dish?"
He powered through it, commenting at the end that it was "OK."
It was the cardamom. I might have put too much in because I have to admit that I felt the slight burn that only too much spice can cause. I think the next time I try to tackle that recipe, I will leave it for a Sunday afternoon. And maybe research a few more recipes. And maybe go to a few more Indian restaurants.

The Happiest Hours

My friend, Andrew, is the King of the Happy Hour. He knows where to go for a steal on de-lish food and drink that doesn't keep you out too late!

Emmers & Rye: 4-6pm Happy Hour - 7 DAYS A WEEK!! $3 Manhattans! WTF?

La Isla: 3-6pm Happy Hour - ALSO 7 DAYS A WEEK!! The appetizers are half off and $3 well drinks. The empanadillas are worth it!

Click on the links under SHOPS, RESTAURANTS, GROCERY, HAPPY HOUR.

Let's try this again...

This is a recovered blog. It used to be something else - something that was supposed to keep me motivated and accountable. But what I realized is that I am the only one who can keep me motivated and I can hold myself accountable. So I scrapped the original plan - mostly because I was bored with it after a week and thought it was a stupid idea to keep an online public diary of ones non-existent progress to... God only knows what!

So what am I doing here? I am turning this into my online cookbook. In April of 2008, I started to write a cookbook. The book was/is called "Trial and Error: The Recipes from the Food Laboratory of Michelle Fleming."

It is now May of 2010 and the book? Not finished. Why? Don't know. Will I ever finish it? Probably....? I don't know. However, since it is NOT finished, I will post it here. I will post the recipes, the stories about the recipes, my thoughts about food, and other random things here for you. And try the recipes out! Critique them! I need to know if they suck or not. It would be HORRIBLE to put recipes that are not edible in a cookbook.

So - off I go. Stories and recipes to come! I hope you enjoy!