Category: Main Course

Chicken, Main Course

Butter Chicken

by Wendi16 Comments on Butter Chicken

I like to think that what we call a dish is a pretty reliable indication of what the main components are.  For instance, if I say lemonade, you can pretty easily discern that a main ingredient is lemons.  If I say eggplant parmesan, you would most likely guess it has at least some eggplant in it.  And if I say bbq chicken, you would expect chicken bathed in some type of barbeque sauce.

So would someone kindly tell me what role butter plays in butter chicken?  Since the answer seems to be “nearly nothing”, why in the world is it called butter chicken?  When I hear butter chicken, I’m thinking the chicken is going to be dressed in some type of rich, buttery sauce.  I am most certainly not expecting my chicken to be swimming in a spiced tomato yogurt sauce.

Which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy butter chicken.  Or that I wouldn’t make butter chicken again.  I just think that when the powers that be were handing out recipe names, someone was distracted when butter chicken’s turn came up.  I really shouldn’t fault the recipe that it has a bad name.  You shouldn’t either.  Forget I even brought the matter up.

Butter Chicken

BAH Note:  I was so thrown by the fact that there is  so little butter in butter chicken that I failed to pay attention to the fact that the chicken needs to sit in the marinade overnight.  So not only was I disappointed by a lack of butter, but I had to wait an extra day to find out whether this was a deal breaker.

Adapted from Anna Johnston

  • 6 ounces plain greek yogurt
  • juice from one lemon
  • 1 teaspoon tumeric
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 14.5 ounces petite diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1 cup heavy cream

Combine the yogurt, lemon juice, tumeric, garam masala, chili, cumin, and ginger in a bowl.  Stir to fully combine.  Add the chicken and stir well to completely coat the chicken.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Heat the butter and oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onion, cardamom, cinnamon, and bay leaf and cook for approximately 5 to 7 minutes or until the onion begins to soften.  Reduce the heat to low and add the chicken, marinade, paprika, diced tomato, and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the cream and simmer for 10 minutes more.

Serve over rice and enjoy.

{printable recipe}

Chicken, Main Course

Flashback Friday – Remain Calm

by Wendi6 Comments on Flashback Friday – Remain Calm

Flashback Friday

The following originally appeared on 7/31/08 at Exit 51.

Remain Calm

On my way into work today, I noticed something odd. That I noticed anything at 8am is remarkable. But I digress. What I saw was about a dozen large ants scurrying about the side of the building.

Now, I don’t mean meandering along the ground. No, I mean zigzagging their way up and down the exterior. Vertically. Which made me wonder, do the ants ever realize that they’ve left the ground? Continue reading “Flashback Friday – Remain Calm” →

Food Memories, Main Course

Food Memories – The Professor’s Black Beans and Rice

by Wendi28 Comments on Food Memories – The Professor’s Black Beans and Rice

Debra was one of the fabulous bloggers I met over the summer at the Potluck.  Her blog, SmithBites, was one of my summer finds.  Through our twittersations, I learned that not only is Deb the life of the party but she has a heart (and I’m guessing a house) big enough to love an entire clowder of cats.  Yes, I did have to turn to my good friend Google for that term.  Thank you very much, now we’ve all learned something today.

Her food memory originally appeared on her site, which just happens to have the tag line “Food That Connects Us”.  I had emailed her about participating in the Food Memories project and when she offered this story, the story of the first dish that her future husband ever made her, I couldn’t type out my thanks fast enough. It also came to my attention that Debra has special ninja powers protecting her posts.  The details of that discovery aren’t pertinent to anything other than I think having ninja powers is pretty cool.

The Professor’s Black Beans and Rice

There is a running joke in the family that The Professor and I never dated . . . and we didn’t . . . even though we spent quite a bit of time together, it was never, ever called ‘a date’. Once we decided we were getting married, the wedding took place within 10 days – yes, you read that correctly, 10 days and it was quite lovely.  But the first meal The Professor ever cooked for me (on a ‘non-date’ night of course) is still one of my all-time favorites and always takes me back to that house on 38th Street, the galley kitchen and the cute little dining room with hardwood floors.

Black Beans & Rice, packaged salad mix, non-fat bottled Italian dressing, a roll with ‘lite’ butter and non-fat ice cream for dessert; he was eating a low-fat, vegetarian diet and I was eating a full-on fat, lots-of-meat diet.  It gives us both a good laugh whenever we talk about it  but he cooked for me people, and he was wooing me even if he didn’t realize it.  I moved into that house after we were married and together we created a home.  There were a multitude of meals made in that kitchen – some triumphs and some major fails . . . uhm, like the dish created by The Professor which included barbecue sauce and dried chickpeas that hadn’t been soaked . . . but hey, I count myself lucky – his mother reports that, as a young boy, he used her blender to grind up worms, seeds and heaven-knows-what to feed a baby bird he had found.  And that’s exactly what I love about The Professor, he’s fearless when it comes to trying new things!

But there were also some terrific meals prepared in that kitchen as well; things like Crab Cakes with Red Pepper Remoulade, Hummingbird Cake, Strawberry Angel Food Cake, Pork Chops with Sour Cream Horseradish Sauce, coconut cream pies, strawberry jams and Spaghetti.  We had wonderful gatherings and parties in that house too:  Grandma’s 80th birthday party, Mother’s Day Brunches, a sister-in-law’s birthday that involved a ‘Jenny Gymnast’ doll (get Cheryl going and it’s laughter so hard that tears stream and you find yourself wishing you’d worn Depends), Easter suppers and a Thanksgiving meal for 15 where we were packed so tight in that dining room, that if anyone needed a potty break, everyone had to stand up to let you pass.  Happy sigh . . . such wonderful, wonderful memories and ones that I will always cherish.

I’m still a meat-eater but much, much less these days; The Professor now eats meat as well and I’ve recruited him over to the dark side of full-fat, real food (using less) rather than a bunch of artificial and chemically altered fats.  Our palettes are always eager to explore the culture and world around us.  Oysters, duck, bison and vegetables like ramp, patty-pan zucchini, kale or tomatillos and even some of the old standards like meatloaf or pot roast have been given a unique twist using a few new ingredients or techniques.  And 12 years later, he still cooks for me.

What food memories do you have about dating or ‘non-dating’ whether it’s one you cooked or ate at a restaurant?

The Professor’s Black Beans and Rice

BAH Note: I’ve never been a beans and rice gal but I really enjoyed this dish. I may have added a few items that weren’t authentic to what The Professor served Debra that night but when I told her about adding cubed turkey and sliced avocado, she was all in favor of my decision.

  • 1 small onion diced, about 1/2 cup
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 1 15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup cooked rice
  • 1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
  • 1-2 tablespoons chopped green onion or cilantro (for garnish)

Heat the oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat and saute the onions and garlic until the onions are soft. Add the rice and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until the rice is heated, and add the beans and cumin (if using). Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes until everything is heated through, adjust seasoning, and serve garnished with green onions or cilantro.

{printable recipe}

Main Course

Commitment Chili

by Wendi38 Comments on Commitment Chili

I haven’t been watching the Barefoot Contessa the way I used to.  There’s something I can’t quite define about the current season of her show that I’m not enjoying.  But I happened to be watching the episode where she had Devon Fredericks on making her award winning chili and no sooner was the show over than I was online printing out the recipe.

I don’t know how many people Ms. Fredericks usually cooks for or how big her dutch oven is, but there was no way I could make the recipe without scaling it down.  Gallons of anything is not a scale I feel comfortable working in and I personally don’t have a single pot that would hold that much chili.  So I made my adjustments and got to cooking.

Now I knew that this recipe needed a long cooking time so I purposely got to work early in the day.  I like to exaggerate a little so I tweeted that I was making some crazy 6 Hour Chili.  And then about two hours later once everything was cut, seared, stirred, and the chili was actually simmering away I went back to twitter and said that this should have been called “6 Hour, 2 cutting board, 5 bowl, every utensil you have will be dirtied chili” because of the mass destruction the recipe unleashed in my kitchen.  At least I had a good long time to clean up the mess.  A few loads of dishes later, the chili was still simmering away at which point I decided that instead of calling it 6 Hour Chili, I ought to call it Commitment Chili because deciding to make the recipe calls for you to commit to get from start to finish.  There aren’t any shortcuts with this recipe.  Not in the time it takes.  And not in the ingredients you use.

So if you have a fear of commitment, then perhaps you should avert your eyes now.  Because once I say that this was some of the best chili I’ve ever eaten, you’re going to want to know how to make it.  And I can’t be held responsible for what actions you take after that.

Last chance….

…Ok, this was some of the best chili I’ve ever eaten.  It was worth the 6 hours, 2 cutting boards, 5 bowls, and every utensil it took to get that beautiful bowl of chili.  It was also worth the $20 I spent on brisket.  Like I said, there are no shortcuts.  And the brisket is really what sets this chili apart for me.  The big hunks of tender beef make this a dish that I would be proud to serve to company.  For real, if I say that I’m making 6 Hour Chili, you need to find out what time dinner is served and then just happen to be in my neighborhood around that time.

Commitment Chili

Adapted from Devon Fredericks

BAH Note:  Even after adjusting the amount of cayenne, chili powder, and red pepper flakes I used, the chili still packed a lot of heat.  The next time I make it, I need to find a way to cut back further on the spice.  Because no meal is enjoyable if it overwhelms you.  And you can always add more spice but once it’s in there, it’s in there.

BAH Note PS: After this post published I had a few folks say that the likely culprit for the level of heat was the cayenne.  Next time I’m going to turn down the cayenne to about 1/4 teaspoon and see where that gets me.  Kathy recommended “several tablespoons of ancho and regular commercial chili powder plus I throw in a couple of whole jalapenos and my chili is only vaguely hot” and over on Facebook Wendy said “The 1 tsp cayenne is absolutely blistering. Cut that back to 1/4 tsp and use additional chiles – I use a blend of chiptole for spice, smoke, and fruitiness, ancho for richness, pasilla and guajillo for a prunelike fruitiness”.  Thanks ladies.  I can’t wait to implement these ideas.

  • 2 1/2 to 3 pounds beef brisket
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 large green pepper, diced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 cups tomatoes, chopped (with their liquid)
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup strong coffee
  • 1 (15 ounce) can black or kidney beans

Pat the brisket dry with paper towels, cut into 1 inch cubes, and season with salt and pepper.

Heat half the oil in a dutch oven over medium heat and sear the beef in batches, adding more oil as needed.  Transfer the seared beef to a separate bowl.  Saute the onion and garlic in the same pan until softened, approximately 5 to 8 minutes.  Add the chili powder, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and cumin to the pan and cook for 1 minute.  Add the green pepper, bay leaf, tomatoes and juices, and the seared beef to the pan.  Bring to a boil, cover the pot with a lid, and reduce the heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.  After 2 1/2 hours, stir in the coffee, add salt and pepper to taste, cover and simmer for another hour.  Add the beans, stir to warm through, and serve.

{printable recipe}

 

Food Memories, Main Course

Food Memories – Pork with Carrots and Potatoes

by Wendi13 Comments on Food Memories – Pork with Carrots and Potatoes

Jennifer Walker, the force behind My Morning Chocolate, perfectly illustrates the point of this project. She has a great memory of a dish with only the vaguest notion of the workings of the dish. I’m like that. I know other people are like that too. My point is that we’re not alone in this.  We all have our own personal food stories. I’ll let Jennifer tell you about hers.

Remember when Will Ferrell in the movie Elf says that elves have four food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns, and maple syrup?  As a child who willingly ate very few healthy foods, I would have fit right in with this sugar happy family from the North Pole.

I had my own four food groups then: Skittles, candy corns, jelly beans, and Cheerios.  (The plain kind only, please.  Hey, something had to sop up all of that sugar!)

I could have eaten anyone under the table in these foods.  A pound of Skittles?  I could put them away in an evening.  A box of Cheerios?  I ate straight from the box, handful after handful, while watching TV.

And even though I don’t remember the last names of all of my high school friends, I can still see with absolute clarity the time my Mom came home from the Giant with a bulk food bag of candy corns.  I was playing on my neighbor Phillip’s driveway while waiting for my Mom to return from the store.  When I saw her pull up, I ran across the street with a pep in my step, picked up the candy corns, and quickly returned to the driveway to eat my first one.

I ate one candy corn at a time, taking a small bite off the top, letting the soft sugar melt in my mouth, then working my way down.  As I chewed, I thought about how this lovely candy tasted like maple syrup.  With all the happiness that candy brought me, you can imagine how hard it was to get me to eat healthy food.

My Mom tried, probably the hardest with eggs.  “I made them really special this time,” she would say, handing me a plate of eggs with a pool of Ketchup on the side.  But the healthy foods just never took for me.   Except for Mom’s pork with carrots and potatoes.  Then I would pile my plate, sit next to my brother on the barstools at the kitchen counter, and systemically chow down.

The carrots and potatoes had a good flavor because of the pork juices.  But they were still vegetables, and that made them less fun than pork.  So I ate them all first.

Then I would move on to the headliner, my favorite part, the pork.  It’s been about 20 years since I’ve had that pork, and yet I can still taste the tender meat melting in my mouth, and the salty sweetness of the onion topping.  I know I ate other real meals back then, but the pork is the only dish I remember.

I don’t eat much meat these days, but I know that I won’t be able to resist pork with carrots and potatoes if my Mom ever makes it again.  Sometimes the best flavors are the ones we remember from when we were young.

Pork with Carrots and Potato

BAH Note:  In true Food Memories fashion, the “recipe” is merely a whisper of an idea.  Jennifer said that her mom didn’t have exact amounts for any of the ingredients and referred her to the soup mix box for specifics.  Sadly, neither Google nor Lipton’s had this exact recipe posted so I had to make some educated guesses as I tried to recreate this dish.  I’m not sure how close I got to what Jennifer remembers.  But the combination of pork, carrots, potato, and onion soup mix is pretty forgiving, even though I made a hot mess of it all.  Seriously, I cannot show you what this looked like…you’d never again trust my cooking skillz.  The instructions on the cooking bags said to use 1 tablespoon of flour to prevent the bag from bursting.  I used 2 additional tablespoons to try and thicken the juices into gravy.  After 90 minutes in the oven, I removed the pork and vegetables to a tray and carefully emptied the juices into a saucepan.  I simmered the juices over a medium low flame for about 8 minutes until they had reduced and thickened.

  • Pork Tenderloin
  • Onion Soup Mix (I used both envelopes that came in the box)
  • Water (I used maybe 1/4 cup)
  • Orange Slices (I used a can of Mandarin orange slices in no sugar added syrup)
  • Carrots (I used one bag of baby cut carrots)
  • Potatoes (I used two sweet potatoes)

Cut the carrots and potatoes so they are a similar size.

Put the pork tenderloin in a cooking bag, then add onion soup mix, water, orange slices, and the cut-up  carrots and potatoes.

Bake at 350.

“The time depends on the size of the roast,” according to Jennifer’s Mom.  “It usually gives you the time on the package.”

Main Course

Stuffed Portobellos

by Wendi27 Comments on Stuffed Portobellos

I don’t often choose meatless meals.  If I’m presented with the opportunity to choose a dish, I’m usually inclined to go with something that at one time roamed the earth.  Chicken, beef, fish, and seafood?  These are all good things to me.  I would make a terrible vegetarian because I like my bacon and steak too much to give them up.  So while I appreciate the value others put on being meatless, I appreciate even more that they don’t try and convert the world to that lifestyle.  That lack of pressure makes my occasional (mostly) meatless discovery all the more enjoyable.

Stuffed portobellos, how exciting could they be?  I’d say they are exciting enough to prompt one of my friends to ask when she could get a dinner invitation after seeing that picture on my flickr.  If it weren’t for the fact that she lives in Boston and I’m in Baltimore, I imagine she might have jumped in the car and come over looking for some leftovers.  Here’s what I told her:  each bite is a different set of flavors – smooth and creamy from the cheese, smokey from the bacon, sweet from the tomato, earthy from the mushrooms, and sharp from the balsamic.  I don’t know about anyone else but that description makes me wish I had a stuffed portobello right now.

You could make this a completely meatless dish.  You could.  Me, I like it with bacon.  Like I said, presented with a choice, I’m going to choose bacon each and every time.  And I’m ok with that.

Stuffed Portobellos

Adapted from Jen @ How To: Simplify

BAH Note: You’ll want to serve this in a shallow bowl.  Once you cut into the mushrooms, the juices mix with the cheesy filling to make a rich broth in your bowl.  I recommend you use some french bread to soak it all up.  As you start eating the the dish, it will look like a train wreck on your plate.  But it will be delicious.

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 4 large portobello mushroom caps, stems removed
  • 3 shallots, diced
  • 1/4 cup chevre or other soft goat cheese
  • 1 medium zucchini, diced (1 generous cup)
  • 1/2 pound ripe tomatoes, diced
  • 1/4 pound bacon

Heat your oven to 350 degrees and line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.  Place the mushrooms on the sheet pan.

Whisk together the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl.  Using a pastry brush, brush the tops and bottoms of the mushrooms with the vinegar and oil.  Place the pan in the oven and cook the mushrooms for five minutes, flip the caps over so that the gill side is facing up and cook for ten more minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large frying pan until it is crisp.  Let the bacon cool and then crumble it into a medium bowl.  Drain the bacon grease from the pan into a small bowl.  Wipe out the inside of the frying pan and return one tablespoon of the reserved bacon grease to the frying pan.  Add the shallots and cook over medium heat until they just start to soften, approximately three minutes.  Add the zucchini and cook until they are tender and begin to become translucent.  Transfer the shallot/zucchini mixture to the bowl with the bacon.

Add the diced tomatoes and cheese to the bowl with the bacon and vegetables and gently stir until the cheese has completely melted.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and then scoop the vegetable/cheese mixture into the mushroom caps.  Return to the oven for 5 minutes to heat through.  Serve immediately.

{printable recipe}

Main Course

Korean Style Marinated Skirt Steak

by Wendi25 Comments on Korean Style Marinated Skirt Steak

Once upon a time, my brother and I used to get a subscription to Games Magazine as a gift from our grandmother who lived in Detroit.  She used to send all kinds of cool story books, puzzle books, picture books.  She was all about the books which may explain my (genetic ?) predisposition to curl up with a book and shut out the rest of the world.

I don’t remember a whole lot about Games Magazine except that there would be these picture puzzles that I could never figure out.  How the hell is a 9 year old supposed to understand that showing a line drawing of rope with the two ends coming together represents ‘making ends meet’.  Or that the drawing of two doctors is a ‘paradox’.  Clearly, my lack of understanding those picture puzzles left an impression on me because all these years later, that’s all I remember about the magazine.  So what does Games Magazine have to do with cooking?  Nothing except that when it came time to tell you about Korean Marinated Skirt Steak, I didn’t have a single picture of my dish that I wasn’t completely mortified to post.  I might not have understood those picture puzzles as a kid but they sure are coming in handy right now.  And let’s all be glad that Grandma did not send us a subscription to MAD Magazine instead of Games.  I can only imagine what lesson I would have taken away from that.

Korean Style Marinated Skirt Steak

Adapted from Fine Cooking

BAH Note:  The notes that I hastily scribbled down on the page I ripped out of Fine Cooking said ‘tender, balanced flavors, hell on my grill pan’.  We really did like the flavor the marinade gave to the meat.  I’d have to say it was salty sweet with some ginger heat.  But be prepared to have to scrub the hell out of your grill pan afterwards.  If a recipe calls for soy sauce, I typically start with half as much as the recipe says and add more a teaspoon at a time.  With this recipe, the 3 tablespoons called for is just right.

  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 5 scallions, minced
  • 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1 pound skirt steak, cut into 4 portions
  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Combine the sugar, soy sauce, scallions, ginger, and sesame oil in a small bowl, mixing until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Pour the marinade into a ziplock bag, add the meat, and let them sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.  Turn the bag after 10 minutes.

Coat a grill pan or nonstick frying pan with the vegetable oil and heat over a medium high flame until the oil just begins to smoke.  Remove the meat from the marinade and let any excess drip back into the bag.  Place the meat in the pan and cook for 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium rare.  Work in batches if you have to in order to avoid steaming the meat instead of searing it.

Transfer the steak to a cutting board to rest, covered with foil, for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

{printable recipe}

Dessert, Main Course

Flashback Friday – I Am

by Wendi5 Comments on Flashback Friday – I Am

Flashback Friday

The following originally appeared on 7/14/08 at Exit 51.

I Am

My own worst enemy.  There I’ve said it.

In anticipation of a crazy week, and because the line at the deli had twenty people ahead of me, I tried to cram several cooking projects into one short Sunday.  By the time the lower fat, vegan friendly, deep chocolate cake came out of the oven, I was well into pasta sauce for baked pasta, and had yet to begin the chicken or mushroom cream sauce for a casserole (think chicken and cream of mushroom soup bake with rice…only WAY better).  Somewhere between assembling the baked pasta and furiously trying to reduce the creamy mushroon sauce, I lost all enthusiasm and most of my patience.  And the cake had yet to be dressed. Continue reading “Flashback Friday – I Am” →

Fish, Main Course

Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze

by Wendi10 Comments on Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze

I don’t have much of a story to go with this recipe.  I can tell you that I “forgot” that the fish needs to marinate for 30 minutes before going into the oven.  I can also tell you that I was quite unhappy when I “remembered” this fact having come home hungry, late, and sweaty from a trip to the gym.  I guess the last thing I should tell you is that The Mistah and I kept giving each other big thumbs up signs when we finally sat down with Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze.  We were too busy stuffing it in our mouths to use our words.

Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze

Adapted from Bon Appetit

BAH Note: I can’t claim this trick as my own but I want to share it with you.  The person who sent me this recipe said her secret to broiling the salmon was to cook the salmon on the center oven rack for 6 minutes and then move it up to the top rack for two minutes more.  Obviously, you’ll want to position your racks before you turn the broiler on.  But I used her method and had great results despite my unnatural fear of the broiler.   According to the original recipe, you’ll have enough sauce for six salmon fillets.  I put half of the sauce in the fridge to use at another time.

  • 1/4 cup Asian or Thai sweet chili sauce
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger
  • 2 salmon fillets, with or without skin

Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and coat lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk together the chili sauce, soy sauce, and ginger in a small bowl.

Place salmon fillets on sheet pan (skin side down if applicable) and spoon chili sauce mixture over the top of the fish.  Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Set the oven to broil.  Using a spoon or pastry brush, baste the salmon with any marinade that has spread onto the sheet pan.  Broil for 6 to 10 minutes or until browned in spots and nearly opaque in the center.

{printable recipe}

Breakfast/Brunch, Main Course, South Beach Diet

More Cowbell

by WendiLeave a Comment on More Cowbell
image from http://www.istockphoto.com

While I’m away on my imaginary vacation, I’m leaving the pantry stocked with posts from Exit 51 that would have been part of the Flashback Friday series. The following originally appeared on 6/10/09 at Exit 51

More Cowbell

I love the Saturday Night Live skit with Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken about the rock band and the cowbell.

The point is that while what the band was doing was good, it would have been even better with more cowbell.  Do you ever have days like that?  Days where you’re in a groove, doing your thing, and you just know that if you could have a little something extra it would be phenomenal.  Yeah, you need more cowbell.

More cowbell can be anything – a steady breeze on a balmy day, all green lights on your way home, a leisurely nap on a lazy Sunday afternoon – anything that puts whatever you’re doing over the top.  The French have a phrase for it – je ne sais quoi – literally meaning I know not what.  Because sometimes, it’s something you can’t quite put your finger on.  Other times though, you know exactly what that cowbell would be. Continue reading “More Cowbell” →