Dean & Deluca, Napa Valley

If you like cooking or you just like gourmet food, stopping at Dean & Deluca while in Napa Valley is a MUST! I'm so glad our friend Michelle reminded us about stopping there for lunch! Honestly speaking, I went freak'n nuts in there! I've seen their catalogs, I've been to their small coffee shop in NYC, but there's nothing like going to their BIG store! Wow! We were hungry and all I wanted to do was shop! My husband kept telling me that I'd have time afterwards, but it was helpless, I was tossing things into my basket like there was no tomorrow.

$59 dollars later (not too bad I think) I was happy. I bought a bunch of things and our lunch, so yup, the fact that I spent 59 buckaroos was no biggie!

Their sandwiches are big and made to order, as are their salads! We got the fresh mozzarella, tomato and pesto on focaccia and added some prosciutto to make it all the better! It was FAB-BU-LOUS! I wish I could have that for lunch today! In fact, I wish I was in Napa today, to go get it personally! Instead of getting a salad made to order, we got one that was made earlier that day that had goat cheese on it and pecans! Simply delicious! We got some other yummy snacks, beverages, cookies, and baking necessities and were out the door! See how HAPPY I am in the picture below!

The thing with Dean & Deluca, though, is that there's no place to really have your food, there's a little wall that you can sit on, outside next to the store, but you'd be in the blazing sun. So we ate at the winery across the street, although you're really not suppose to. The winery has it's own store/deli (that looked good as well) and of course they don't want you to bring food from elsewhere. We ere stopped as we were walking in and told that we couldn't eat our food there (we had 2 big white bags with "Dean & Deluca written on them). My husband told them we were going in to get some wine, so the guy let us through. . . they are really on top of that, so beware!

We went inside to get a glass of wine to go with our yummy food, but the store @ the winery was a mad house. I ended up buying about $17 bucks worth of merchandise (no wine though), and off we went to their picnic area to eat our "illegally brought in food" :) I'm a sissy for things like that, so I was a bit paranoid, but we were not bothered again. So, we had our lovely salad, sandwich, and the wine country soda on one of their picnic tables under the shade of a huge tree. There was a light breeze that afternoon, which made our lunch experience all the better.

Anyone want to go to Dean & Deluca in Napa Valley with me to go get that sandwich????

Bistro Jeanty - Napa Valley

Napa Valley is filled to the brim with fine dining establishments and Bistro Jeanty is definitely one of them. You walk in and you're suddenly transported across the Atlantic to a quaint French Cafe. Ooh - la-la! We didn't have reservations and had to wait about 15 minutes, not bad at all! I do recommend getting reservations though, we just happen to be there at a time of year when things are just starting to pick up, basically we were very lucky that we only had to wait that little. We were offered the opportunity to sit a their community table, a long table for 12, that you can sit at first come - first serve with other patrons. Not a bad idea, but we were going for that whole romantic Napa type feel and just weren't feeling the community table.

The food is to DIE FOR! Oh my lord! Our favorite thing on the menu was the "Creme de tomate en croute". That's tomato soup in puff pastry for those of you that haven't brushed up on your French lately :) I told the waiter, "this is the best tomato soup I've ever had" and he responded "it's the best tomato soup ever made!" He was so right! I'm salivating as I write this, that's how delicious, smooth, and decadent it was! I can seriously go on forever . . .here's a picture I took of it! Make sure to wipe the drool off you keyboards folks!

We also order and onion tart . . .c'est magnific! To top it off, it had goat cheese on it! I was in French food heaven! The onions were caramelized to perfection, the pastry was perfect, and the little side frise salad with the light vinaigrette was a wonderful compliment. Lord, maybe I shouldn't be writing this post before dinner, I'm so hungry and writing about all of this delicious food is simply torture!
For the main course we shared the Coq Au Vin, a creamy blend of chicken, mushrooms, bacon, and red wine stew. It was yummy, but it wasn't our favorite, but then again I think we just wanted more tomato soup! We ordered a side of Frites (aka French fries) as well!

I can't remember for the life of me what we had for dessert! I know, I must be getting sick! I can forget a lot of things, but a dessert???? Such a travesty!!!

Don't forget about Bistro Jeanty when you're in Napa and order the tomato soup, maybe order two servings of it just for yourself! Mmm!

Many, Many THANKS to our friend Gena for recommending this fine restaurant! We will definitely be heading back there on our next trip to Napa!

You "MESA" with me?

Of course not, you can't mess with Bobby Flay or his restaurant Mesa Grill in Las Vegas! I'm a Food-Network-holic. . .I have a serious problem, I know! But the only way to cure the problem is to go to the Food Network chef's restaurants and inject their creation into your bloodstream! As you know, we were in Vegas last month and I was dying to go to Mesa Grill. It must be all those Bobby Flay Throwdown matches I've been watching lately. I must say that the food and service at Mesa Grill was magnificent! Everything was delicious, I was on a Bobby Flay food high as was my husband and the whole gang we were with. Fabulous food, fabulous times!

My husband and I shared the Goat Cheese Queso Fundido, Smoked Chicken & Black Bean Quesadilla, the Sixteen Spice Crusted Chicken and for dessert Profiteroles. Oh and I can't forget the 2 Margaritas that I washed dinner down with, whoo-hoo were they GOOD!

Here are some pictures of the quesadillas, of the gang, and of us acting silly :)


Bobby Flay's food rocked our world!

Viva la France, Viva le Buffet!

You can't go to Vegas and not experience at least one buffet. Buffets are a dime a dozen in Las Vegas, they're taking over the city! Ha! Seriously though, there are many and they appeal to every size wallet. On of my favorites, Le Village Buffet at the Paris Hotel, is $17 buckaroos for lunch, it doesn't exactly break the bank and that's a good thing :) Considering I've been back for three weeks already, this post is a little late, but when have you known me to blog on time? Hee,hee!

For my main lunch course, I loaded my plate with (clock wise starting from the top). . .Pesto Penne, Garlic Broccolini, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower mash, turkey with gravy, Apple wood sausage (My Favorite!), creamed spinach, pork something, and 1 ravioli (since I'm on a diet), J/K! See the lovely non-retouched pictures below.

As you can see above, my dessert plate was about the same size as my main course, no little dessert plates for me! I'm a baker with a sweet tooth, can't help it! Again (clock wise starting from the top), you'll see I had a lemon filled macaroon, a cheese blintz (Which I didn't like and didn't eat all which is so rare for me!),a generous portion of bread pudding with fresh whipped cream, a mini creme brulee, a delicious cannoli, and last but not least . . .a chocolate chip cookie.

Everything other than the cheese blintz was fabulous! If you're ever in Vegas and don't know what buffet to choose, give Le Village Buffet a try, you won't be sorry.

What happens in Vegas, STAYS in Vegas. That includes calories :)

Sweet Cuban Pork Loin, Que rico!

I wrote this over a week and a half ago. . . before we left on our trip, but things got so crazy at the last minute, that I wasn't able to upload this delicious post! So, here it is, a little late, but better later than never, right??? Without further adieu, I give you Sweet Cuban Pork Loin!





I've been trying to post this all week, but I've been a busy little bee and tomorrow morning I'm off to Las Vegas and then to Napa Valley, I can't wait! Since we're not going to be in town for Easter, I made a lovely dinner for my family that consisted of stuffed pork loin , homemade black beans, avocado and tomato salad, and rice. My Mom brought over her "hitachi" rice cooker and made the rice for me since we don't have a rice cooker because we almost never have rice at home unless I'm making risotto. I can't tell you how GOOD my Mom's rice is! Lordy! That's a whole other post one of these days! It's fantasic all on it's own!

I got the recipe for the pork loin from a Throwdown with Bobby Flay episode that was recorded here in Miami :) How appropriate! On the show, it was actually made with pork shoulder, but I had a pork loin and that's what I was gonna use no matter what! I made Roberto Guerra's recipe and I can see why this Cuban recipe could not be beat by Bobby Flay. Here's the recipe = Stuffed Pork Shoulder "a la caja china"

I made some changes, I used guava paste instead of the shells and used proscuitto since it was the only type of ham I had on hand.
The pork was MUY RICO!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!

Feta Chicken

I originally posted this on the group blog I belong to (Butter & Love), it's so yummy, that I just had to add it here too! I hope you enjoy, it's very good!


Baked Chicken Breast with Feta

2 Thin boneless skinless breasts of chicken ( I pounded the heck out of them, great if you're stressed)

1 pkg. Atheno Feta Cheese (8oz) ( I only used ½ of the package and bought the crumbly kind)

Lots of butter (I omitted this, you'll see why later)

Grated Parmesan cheese (½ to1 cup)Two Eggs, beaten ( I only used 1 egg)

Real bacon bits (I used "real" bacon, 4 slices cut up into little pieces and some of the fat removed, the why I added no butter)


Preheat oven to 400-425. Pound chicken breasts till very thin. Dip chicken breasts in melted butter dip in eggs and dip in Parmesan cheese. Slice pieces of feta cheese to cover each breast, sprinkle bacon bits on top. Melt MORE butter (1/2 a stick for about 4 breasts) in the baking dish add chicken breast cover with tin foil and bake for about 20 minutes.


*Okay, here are my TWEAKED notes to the preparation:
Preheat oven to 400-425. Pound the heck out of your chicken breasts till very thin. Beat your egg and add any desired spices, I used a little Sazon Completo (note, don't add any salt, the Parmesan/feta will add enough salt to the dish). Dip chicken breasts in the beaten egg and dip in Parmesan cheese that you've sprinkled on a plate. Place the Parmesan covered chicken breasts in a oven save dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle pieces of feta cheese to over each breast, then sprinkle bacon pieces on top. Popped it into the oven UNCOVERED for 25-30 mins. I cooked it a lot longer than the recipe calls for because the feta releases a lot of liquid and if I follow the directions above I would be too watery and not appealing. My way though, is right on the money! Once the 30 mins have passed, I turn on the broiler to high and keeping a watchful eye, broil the chicken for another 5-7 mins. I like the bacon to get crispy and the cheese to brown a little :) Ovens differ, so just keep your eyes on it during the "broil" stage. Take it out and let it sit a minute or two, you don't want to burn your mouth on your first mouthful!

We enjoyed this with a nice side salad and I hope you enjoy it any way you'd like! :) FYI: This is low carb as well, so any of you on low carb diets can get your eat on!

Chocolate Chip Cookies! Anyone? Bueller?

I was so in the mood to have a GOOD Chocolate Chip Cookie yesterday afternoon, that I got home and went straight to baking, still in my heels from work!!! LOL! Baking in heels, can you believe it? Ha! Goes to show how much I really wanted to bake them cookies.



Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1 package semisweet, (12 ounces)
chocolate chips
*If using self-rising flour, omit
baking soda and salt.


Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugars, margarine and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls about 3 inches apart onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are set. Cool completely; remove from cookie sheet. ABOUT 1-1/2 DOZEN COOKIES; 360 CALORIES PER COOKIE.

My comments: Of course, I didn't want to make too many (Yeah right!), I am on a healthy kick after all! I cut the recipe in half and it was just perfect. For the egg, I couldn't exactly cut in half, so I just used 1 egg. It was totally A-OKAY, the cookies were fabulous! I used 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips. So divine! For the nuts, I used un-salted almonds. Oh and I took all the pictures myself :) Some with my little pocket camera and the others with one of my Husband's professional cameras. You'll notice in the pictures on the very top, that there's one that shows HUGE cookie and a smaller one next to it. I made that big'ol cookie for nieces, who just happened to call me as I was writing this up to say how "delicious" the cookie was and to thank me :) What perfect timing! Happy Baking!