Runs with Spatula

Chet and I have been obsessed with a certain meatless dish for the past couple weeks.  We were in Dearborn a few weeks ago and just happened to be really hungry when we were passing by a Lebanese Restaurant that we had never heard of.  Ollie’s Lebanese Cuisine has several locations in the metro area.  We were there with our friend, Karen and we ordered several items, including a half deboned chicken, hummus and almost as an afterthought decided “what the heck, Tomato Kibbe sounds interesting, add that too!”

When the Tomato Kibbe hit the table, I swore it was a plate of raw lamb.  I even asked the waiter if he had mistakenly given us the “real” kibbe by mistake.  This is seriously one of the most delicious Middle Eastern dishes I have ever tasted, and living in Michigan, I have eaten a lot of them! It was full of tomato, onion, pepper, bulgar, lemon, olive oil…you name it, we tasted it!  A hush fell over the table as Karen, Chet and I devoured 3/4 of the plate. We took the rest home.  Chet rarely eats left overs, but believe me that he was standing in the kitchen (in his underwears) eating kibbe with a fork when I woke up the next morning!  It was THAT good!

I researched the availability of this delicious dish locally over the next week.  We have a couple favorite Middle Eastern spots in the Lansing area.  I made my typical weekly stop at Jerusalem Bakery and was happy to see that they had a “Vegetarian Kibbe” available but they didn’t have it that day.  I actually stalked them that week and was disappointed to find that they didn’t have it at all that week.  We pick up fattoush and hummus there nearly every week, so we will continue to watch for it and try their version when it is available.

The next week, Chet and I had to travel to the Detroit metro area again and actually planned our drive around getting MORE kibbe!  We realized that there is an Ollie’s in Brighton and made plans to stop there on the way.  We ate half an order there and took an order to go for our friend, Karen.  The next morning we were again eating the leftovers for breakfast!  We quickly realized that Karen might be out of luck on her order of kibbe.  That afternoon, in between March Madness games, I called Karen and with only a minimal amount of arm twisting (maybe just a suggestion?) talked her into driving to Brighton on a quest for more kibbe!  It was pretty insane, but we did it and made it back in time for the Lehigh game.  I brought three sides of Tomato Kibbe and all I can say is “that is a LOT of kibbe.”  This is what it looks like:

WOW…that is a LOT of kibbe!  Chet and I had a nice dinner out on the balcony the next night.  I plated the kibbe and dressed it with a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil and garnished it with Parsley and we were in heaven.  I ate so much Tomato Kibbe over a 5 day period that my mouth was raw from the acid in the tomatoes!

We ate most of this for dinner that night and I still took more for lunch the next day!  It was good with vegetables, but not as good as with the fresh pita bread.  I have shared several stories and pictures of this with a friend of mine who is vegan and gluten free.  We have great plans for making something similar to this dish with quinoa in place of the bulgar.  Hopefully this will be a Meatless Monday post in the NEAR future!  After eating the better part of TWO QUARTS of tomato kibbe, we were a little “kibbed out.”  Just today, Chet started asking for kibbe again!  It might be time for another drive to Brighton.

So here I am, researching tomato kibbe (or kibbeh) recipes online.  I have found a few resources and plan on trying them soon.  Once I have this worked out, I will start working on the gluten free substitutions.  I have a feeling that this will be a “go to dish” for a long time to come!

I have blogged about The Golden Harvest before.  The meal I had there this weekend was so blog worthy that I had to revisit it.  There is nothing like breakfast at Golden Harvest.  It is my favorite local breakfast spot.  I have a few favorites, but this one is at the top of the heap.  That being said, I do not go there often.  For one thing, my diet cannot handle it!  I am sure there is someone out there who can have a relatively healthy breakfast there, but it is not me!  I often joke that they should have a side of Lipitor on the menu and I mean that pretty seriously!  The other issue is that you have to have time to go there.  If you arrive five minutes after they open, you will wait in line.  You need to get there early or sneak in at the end in order to not wait!  It is so worth it though.  If you are dining solo, you can often find one seat open at the counter.  You also need to be open to sharing a table with strangers.  I have done that several times and they have been some of my most memorable meals there.  You never know who you are going to meet!

My nephew is home for his college spring break and I thought this was the perfect time to introduce him to the experience of Golden Harvest breakfast.  Plans were made with him Friday night by text message.  Is there any other way to communicate with a 20 year old? I imagined the look on his face when he read my text telling him that he and his girlfriend needed to meet me by 8:00 AM.  I promised him that it would be worth it.  I arrive right at 8:00 AM as the line that had formed to the curb was filing in the door as it opened.  I parked quickly and hopped out to jump in behind them.  Paul and Betsy were right behind me and we got the LAST TABLE in the opening crowd.  I think they realized then that I wasn’t just pulling their leg to get them out of bed early during spring break!

Our breakfasts did not disappoint.  I have always wanted to try their cheese grits and we ordered a side of it to share.  It was the creamiest cheesiest grit concoction I have ever tasted.  Ordering an appetizer at breakfast is not advisable though.  You don’t want to ruin your appetite for the main course!  Pauly and I probably ate half of the bowl.  It was as rich as the richest Mac and Cheese you can imagine.

Paul ordered from the Daily Special Board and had the “Yard Sale” that included three slices of various flavors of French Toast plus a plate of potatoes and choice of eggs or meat.  It was enormous and the name was very fitting!

BEFORE

AFTER

Betsy was able to do some damage on the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Waffle!  I don’t know where that petite girl puts it, but I was impressed!  You could smell the peanut butter before this even hit the table.  I had one small bite at the end of my meal and it was really awesome.  I watched Zane sprinkle sugar on the split banana before throwing it on the grill.  It was pretty decadent and over the top.

I tend to order whatever omelet is on the special board when I go there.  Saturday’s special included portobello mushrooms, bacon, onion, leek, garlic, chives and aged white cheddar cheese.  I ate about half of the omelet, two bites of home fries and gave my toast to Paul.  The best part of their omelet is the cheese that is on top and then fries around the edges of the omelet into frico on the grill.  Eating there this weekend reminded me of sharing a meal there with my friend, Duane.  He is a vegetarian and typically orders the special omelet sans meat.  After sitting at the counter and watching what goes on and off that grill, I like to remind him that NOTHING coming off of that grill is truly vegetarian! That grilled is seasoned with years of pork fat and it is a beautiful thing.

It was a great meal and more importantly I got to spend time with my nephew, Paul and his girlfriend, Betsy.  It is important to take advantage of times like this and spend time with family.  I have to keep up my “favorite aunt” status too!  Paul was born when I was in grad school and living in Arizona, as was his family.  I had him so conditioned to the phrase “whose your favorite aunt?”  That when he was a toddler you could just say “favorite” and he would replay “Amy!”  Now he likes to tell me that I am his “favorite Aunt Amy.”  I of course hear that as “You are my favorite Aunt, Amy!”  It is all in the punctuation!

So what was the verdict on this meal for him?

THUMBS UP!

I have had a very lazy New Year’s Day.  In fact, I have had a very lazy holiday break as a whole!  Corky and I had planned on traveling to Phoenix for the two weeks but changed our plans at the last minute.  We have two weeks on hold with a rental house there, so we will be planning something for later in 2011!  Luckily, we like the heat there, because the next time I will have two weeks off is summer break and that is when the rental is most available!

I was a very negligent blogger in the last quarter of 2010.  I have plans to blog more regularly in the new year, although I don’t want to state a bunch of blogging related resolutions here!  Maybe one day I will be a real blogger who researches posts and blogs a few weeks ahead of holidays with ideas and recipes that I have tested and tried out and share with you with ample time to make them for your holiday!  That is a bit lofty.  This blog’s tagline should read “hey, I made this” or “hey I ate this here and really like it!”  I am a home cook who likes to eat and likes to share creations with others.  I am not a planner and not timely with the posts.  My neighbors think I am crazy when they see me taking a picture of my dinner (outside in natural light when we have it) before I eat it, but hey, that is me!  I am also the crazy lady pulling out the camera in a restaurant!

Because of my blogging negligence since August, 2010, I have a lot of pictures that I hope to share over time on here.  I still can’t believe that I haven’t shared the stories of our Labor Day weekend trip to Philly or my birthday dinner at The Girl and The Goat in Chicago!  Life has been pretty crazy, but 2011 should be a little calmer.  We shall see.  Those two events are on my “to do” list. 

I started out this New Year’s Day with plans to make a traditional Southern New Year’s Dinner.  I bought Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens.  Since one of my “goals” for the new year is to not waste food, I decided to turn those black eyed peas into chili with the Longiza (can someone tell me how this is different from chorizo?) that was in my fridge from last week’s trip to the Honeybee Market in Detroit.  I wish I had a recipe to share, but what started as loosely following this recipe from Homesick Texan turned quickly into a typical chili making experience for me.  I used the longiza, onion, garlic, chicken broth, black eyed peas, canned fire roasted tomatoes, ground chipotle pepper, the juice of a lime, a touch of cinnamon, a little Piloncillo or Mexican Brown Sugar.  It tasted a lot like the chili I made for the BWL Chili Cook-Off in 2008.  It wasn’t the Hoppin’ John that I envisioned making when I bought the Black Eyed Peas, but I was very happy with it!  It needed a little chopped cilantro, but I was not about to head to the store just for that, especially since that would have involved changing out of my pajamas!  I settled for a sprinkle of shredded cheese and a dollop of greek yogurt.

Since I also had a bunch of Collard Greens, I needed to come up with something to do with them.  I could have cooked them up with some onions, garlic and bacon, but then I remembered this recipe that I bookmarked yesterday!  The recipe from Ezra Pound Cake is exceptional.  I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, except I used regular cream cheese instead of the low fat variety and 2% Greek Yogurt in place of the sour cream.  This dip is so flavorful that I am sure it is great with low fat dairy as well. 

I have resolutions for 2011, but haven’t put them down in writing or really put them into words in my head yet.  The BIG resolution for both me and for Corky involves getting “back to our fighting weights”, also known as the weights we were when we started dating over six years ago!  This picture is of the two of us at my niece Jenny’s wedding in 2005.   

This picture is hanging up in my bathroom and on the refrigerator as a constant reminder of how skinny we once were!    I had Weight Loss Surgery in December, 2003.  While I am not happy with the weight gain I have experienced, I am still close to 100 pounds lighter than I was in 2003 and thankful for that!  2011 will be a year of going “back to basics” and following “the rules” that I have gotten away from.  One other thing that I know is needed and I know that I won’t be able to maintain a healthy weight without, is regular exercise.  My biggest goal in this process will be figuring out a way to get active and STAY active in 2011.  I am open to suggestions on that. 

Here is to a 2011 full of activity, good food, moderation in all things, good friends, family, love and good health!