MasterChef Cooking Classes

What does one birthday present and one mother's day equal? Two fabulous days at Le Cordon Bleu in Kendall Square for their MasterChef Cooking Classes! Their Saturday classes are three hours and they pack a lot into that time - almost too much. There were a few too many people in the classes in my opinion, making it difficult to get independent time with the chefs or with the ingredients (which you shared with a 'team'). Still though, the cooking classes were a lot of fun and I would recommend them to others!

Hearty Italian Cuisine

Minestrone Genovese

Sicilian Bread with Blessing

Risotto Milanese

Rabbit Brochettes

Apple Crostada

This class had two chefs and two classrooms full of people because it was so popular. They had pre-made the bread dough in advance, and just explained what they had done before we arrived - then we got to shape it and make the oil 'blessing' for it that it would be baked with and dipped in afterwards. I love fresh bread out of the oven so I wish we had gotten more direction on this one, but I also understand that you can only fit in so much with a 3 hour class, especially when you have a bread that must rise before shaping and baking.

Having all of the ingredients pre-measured and chopped was such a treat! It made cooking everything so much quicker and less messy! For each of the recipes the chef did a demonstration at the front of the class first and then we were sent back to our stations to complete that part of the meal. I liked this apple dessert because it didn't use a pan, but rather just folded the dough up and over the apples. This would've been better with vanilla ice cream, but it was still delicious and not overly sweet!

They also made fresh pesto, which is the key ingredient that makes Minestrone Soup "Genovese" compared to regular old minestrone soup. I learned that you never add uncooked pasta to soup, but rather always cook it in advance and store it separately, adding it to individual portions when you want to heat it up and eat. The pasta (ditalini in this recipe) will continue to absorb the broth in the soup, which makes it more difficult to season and the pasta will also get overcooked over time.

I'm not a big fan of rabbit - it's just got a bit too gamey of a flavor to me, and has seemed tough to me in the past. I was a good sport and tried it, but I would say I'm still not a fan. We wrapped ours in prosciutto and then skewered it with local sausage from Bianco's. We also used fresh rosemary to flavor the oil we brushed on the brochettes before putting them on the grill.

International Cuisine 101: Oktoberfest

Applesauce

Spaetzle

Veal Schnitzel

Bratwurst

Hot German Potato Salad

Braised Red Cabbage

I was excited about this class because I don't know much about German food and I like learning about new things! I've tried making spaetzle before and it was a major failure, so it was good to see it made by a professional and get some tips. The key here was putting the cooked spaetzel into an ice bath right away to stop the cooking before adding it to a sauce later on.

Apparently I've made 'spaetzle' before - but I've always called them cutlets instead. It's the same concept though, of dipping a protein in flour, an egg wash and then breadcrumbs, then cooking in a frying pan. The way we cooked ours in the class used WAY too much butter - that was pretty much the theme with everything we made actually! I typically make mine with turkey cutlets - we used veal in the class.

While they had already pre-made the bratwurst for us, they did do a demo of how to make it using the usual mixer attachment that many have at home. Seeing it made actually made me less interested in eating it - the concept of the casing for making sausage just ruins it for me and the use of fat in making the sausage also turns me off. It just makes you realize how bad sausage can be for you, particularly when not buying an all-natural or organic brand.

Overall, I think my favorite was the new take on potato salad and the braised cabbage, which was also made ahead and just demo-ed for us. I usually don't like potato salad because of the mayo in it, so this was a nice alternative with cider vinegar, roasted red peppers, bacon, and lots of other yummy ingredients! The cabbage was also amazing - such a great flavor and once I'd love to try and replicate myself!

The nice thing about these classes was that in both cases there was so much food leftover we were allowed to take plates home of the food we had made. I didn't love the team approach to cooking in these classes - probably just because of my control-freak nature in the kitchen, but in both classes we did get to meet some cool people and it made the class more of a social experience.

It was also really interesting to see how the chefs of the class interacted with the volunteer LCB students helping out for the day. It definitely shows you the students are at the bottom of the food chain - they weren't even paid for their time helping us at the class, despite the high cost of the class. That bothered me a bit, but I suppose as students in the LCB program the experience is good for them. There was a lot of, "Yes, Chef" coming from the students when the head Chefs asked them to do things throughout the class - and the students did all of the cleaning after we cooked, which I have to admit was a nice treat!

Myers and Chang - Cheap Date Night!

The Improper Bostonian has a "Tasting" section towards the back with tips on special events at restaurants around Boston. I peruse it occasionally for ideas on new places to try out and I love coming across different deals to check out around the city. One I had my eyes on for a while was 'Cheap Date Night' at Myers + Chang, on Washington Street in the South End. Every Monday and Tuesday starting at 5:00pm, the restaurant offers special shareable menus for just $40/couple. The Chef, Joanne Chang, is the genius behind Flour Bakery, which I've always enjoyed, so I thought her and her husband's Asian restaurant just had to be good.

Myers + Chang
1145 Washington Street, South End

We made a reservation to be safe, which the restaurant recommends, but I actually think we would've been okay getting a table for 4 without the reservation. We went around 7pm on a Monday night. They have  5 separate menus in different themes that you and your date can pick from! The options are The Healthy Date, The Hot Date, The Vegetarian Date, The Pig Out Date, and The Seaside Date.

We opted for The Healthy Date:
Thai ginger chicken salad
Shiitake + Chinese greens dumplings
Pan roasted soy glazed salmon
Bok choy and wok-roasted shiitakes
Brown rice

Thai Ginger Chicken Salad

Some of the dishes were spicier than I anticipated - particularly the salad and salmon. I loved the bok choy and the dumplings were pretty good too. The amount of food was perfect - not a crazy amount but we certainly didn't leave hungry. Our friends decided to order their own dishes instead of choosing a pre-selected date night menu. Apparently their 'Mama Chang's Pork Dumplings' are one of the house specials, but we didn't get to try those this time. The Seaside Date also had some dishes that sounded tasty, but a few of them were marked as being spicy so that ruled the option out.

They also have a Dim Sum Brunch I'm interested in checking out so that might have to be the next time I head to the area! It's just down the street from one of my other South End favorites - Teranga!

Asian Kale and Baked Tofu Salad

Inspired by my recent frittata recipe with kale and the fact that my friend had gotten kale at the grocery store - we found this recipe from Clean Eating Magazine and set out to cooking! I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but don't let it scare you off - it's just the sauce that takes lots of ingredients! If you've ever cooked Asian food in your kitchen, it's likely you have all of these things already.

Asian Kale and Baked Tofu Salad
Inspired by Clean Eating, we basically kept the recipe the same!

1 container of very firm tofu, sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 TB fresh lime juice
2 TB low-sodium soy sauce
1 TB honey
1 TB peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1 bag of washed and chopped kale
1 small cucumber, sliced
1/2 cup of baby carrots, shredded
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cups shredded white cabbage (pre-bought bag works fine!)
1/2 cup shelled and cooked edamame
sesame seeds

1. The first step is to cut and dry off the tofu. I usually cut it into my pieces and then place it between a double layer of paper towels, trying to squeeze out some of the liquid naturally in it. Then spray a baking dish with pam or olive oil, add the tofu and set aside while you make your sauce.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
3. In a blender, blend together all of the ingredients on the list from the garlic down to the sesame oil. Take out about 1/4 cup of the mixture and pour over the top of the tofu. Try to flip the tofu over once or twice to get the sauce on all of the sides. Bake the tofu for about 30 minutes, making sure to turn the tofu over about 3 times during the baking process.

4. In a large bowl (you'll see I used a pot because I didn't have a big enough bowl), add all of the kale and pour the dressing over the top. Next you have to massage with your hands, making sure that the sauce gets all over all of the kale. This massaging process helps to wilt the kale. If you're not sure if it's massaged enough, try a bite and if it's still too tough for your liking, massage some more and hopefully it will wilt more.
5. I also sauteed the cabbage in a pan before adding it to the rest of the salad so that it wasn't as tough as it would be uncooked. The heat from the cabbage also can help to wilt the kale a bit.
5. Add the cucumbers, carrots, scallions, bell pepper, and edamame, along with the wilted cabbage to the kale. Toss to combine and add the baked tofu once you're ready to serve. The last step is sprinkling lots of sesame seeds on top!

I'd like to note that I didn't love this salad leftover, and the salad also wasn't quite wilted enough for me. I'm not sure if I needed more massaging, or if I'm just not that used to eating kale yet, but it was a little tough for me. My favorite parts were the tofu and the sauce - which I could easily make again with different sides instead of the salad.

Asian Cabbage Mango Slaw

My parents had some friends visiting from Europe last weekend which overlapped with one of my weekend trips home. I volunteered to be on cooking duty for the weekend visitors and with their allergies, I was up for a challenge. Originally I thought there more allergies than it turns out there were so I was tasked with cooking without corn, soy, gluten and dairy. No small feat! After planning an Asian themed night for the Sunday, I was grateful to realize that I was okay to cook with soy because you guessed it, almost anything Asian likely has soy sauce in it!

Asian Cabbage Mango Slaw
Adapted from SkinnyTaste.com

1 bag of pre-shredded cabbage slaw with carrots (should be about 2-3 cups)
1 mango
1/4 cup diced scallions
3 TB rice vinegar
1/2 lime, juiced
1 TB low sodium soy sauce
1 TB sesame oil
sesame seeds

Empty the bad of shredded cabbage into a large serving bowl. Slice the mango into thin slices and add that to the cabbage, along with the scallions. In a small bowl mix together the vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil - don't substitute the sesame oil with another kind, the sesame flavor is an important one! This part could be done in advance but only add the dressing about 1/2 hour before serving. Just before serving stir again to make sure the dressing is coating all of the salad and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top!

Along with this Asian Slaw, I also made grilled vegetables and an apricot ginger marinated pork kebabs! The night before I made lemon basil chicken breasts with a tomato bruschetta on top, grilled veggies and my favorite lemon basil grilled shrimp!! I love summer time grilling!

South African Food Adventures

Last month I had the opportunity to travel to South Africa for work - I know, not a bad job, right?! Before leaving I was really looking forward to learning more about what types of foods were traditional there. The only things I had heard about were this beef jerky like snack called Biltong, and that the 2nd city I was going to be in was Indian food central. Given that neither of those things were making my mouth water, I set off to try and find a local cooking class. I didn't have any luck there either! It has been just a couple of weeks since I returned from this trip and I would say that I had three unique, local food experiences and I'm glad to be able to share them with you here.

Hotel sushi, fruit and salad - this is what you get
when you try to be healthy on a work trip

I was surprised to see every type of cuisine possible in restaurant form, except ones that stood out as local African food. For the first few days the food I ate consisted only of salads, sushi, greek, and hotel continental breakfast. I was so excited to see one of my favorite DC casual restaurants, Nando's, all over Johannesburg - and yet, I sadly found no opportunity to actually eat there. The common phrase throughout my trip when I missed out on something was, "I have to leave something for next time" so Nando's was left for next time! I have also had my fair share of dinners at hotels, which I am all set with for the year.

On the fourth night of my trip I was graciously hosted by South African parents of a student of mine. It is common to have domestic helpers in their households, and so their domestic helper cooked an amazing, traditional African meal for myself and a number of other guests from my school that are spending their summer in South Africa! The white sphere in the front, called 'Pap', is a traditional porridge made from ground white maize that had a thick consistency. The only thing sort of close to that texture I can think of is polenta maybe. It doesn't have any sort of strong taste because it is meant to be served under another dish with lots of flavor on its own! On this night it was served with a spinach dish, a pumpkin and roast meat stew, and a couple of sides I opted out of because they were deemed spicy - a tomato relish/chutney sort of sauce, and another meat dish. One of the traditional appetizers they served was a grilled sausage, usually "braaied" (aka barbequed), and the dessert was to die for - a sort of bread pudding that has British ties and was served with fresh mango and ice cream. I could've eat the entire tray, and was so happy to find it on a menu a couple of nights later at a restaurant in Durban!

Tofu and Shrimp Thai Noodles

So this dish was originally supposed to be pad thai, but any time I make it it never quite comes out the same as what you order at a Thai restaurant. On top of that, when I started cooking I realized I didn't have the right kind of noodles, but that's okay - you make the best with what you have! I'd say even though it wasn't pad thai, it still came out good and while it looks like a lot of ingredients - if you do any sort of asian cooking in your home you probably have a lot of these on hand already anyway!

Tofu and Shrimp Noodle Stir Fry
1/2 container of tofu (firm)
9 med size shrimp, shell removed
rice noodles
1 egg, beaten

vegetables of your choice - broccoli, bell pepper, pea pods, carrot
1 TB fresh ginger
garlic
3/4 cup bean sprouts
scallions, chopped
1/2 cup orange juice
sesame oil
Sauce:
1 TB fish sauce
1 TB brown sugar
2 TB soy sauce (reduced sodium)
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 TB rice wine vinegar
1 TB sesame oil
1 frozen cilantro cube

Dinner with Friends - you don't always have to go out!

Sometimes I find myself looking at my calendar and finding that I have dinner plans every night in a given week - I don't like to go out to dinner that much so if I'm making after-work plans a good solution is cooking in! It's more affordable and certainly better for you - and your apartment is definitely BYOB!

Months ago my coworker had me over her condo for dinner - and given the late spring timing, we tried out a dish with cherries, which we both really ended up enjoying. It was good for after work too because it didn't take too long to put together. Ever since this dinner whenever cherries are on sale I try to find a new dish to try with them - they're not just for making pies!

We prepped the ingredients first - pitted and sliced the cherries in half, sliced some red onion, made a simple champagne vinaigrette dressing and tossed everything together with arugula.

Teranga - Senegalese in the South End

To celebrate a coworker's departure we had a nice team dinner out at Teranga in the South End - due in large part to my coworkers new position in an African Studies office. I'm so happy with whoever made the decision to go here because it was a really unique, delicious meal! The owner is from Senegal and the website tells a lovely story of how she grew up in a family of business owners, feeling the need to do so herself. 'Teranga' means hospitality in Wolof, one of the Senegalese languages. The Senegalese cuisine is a mixture of French, Asian, Arabic, and African concepts -                                                                                          and your menu options are vast.

Teranga

1746 Washington Street, South End, Boston
The location on Washington St. means street parking, but the meters stop charging at 8:00pm I believe. The restaurant is small - probably less than ten tables, but there is also a bar and overall the place is well decorated and classy. I love any restaurant with exposed brick walls. Given the smaller size, the servers are always available - and so friendly! When I go to a new restaurant like this I like sharing dishes so that I can try more than just one thing. With five of us ladies out we were able to try so many great dishes!

What to do with that leftover bunch of parsley?

How many times have you come across a recipe that calls for fresh parsley, for garnish? A lot. Parsley doesn't often change a lot in a recipe, but there are some recipes out there that have convinced me to buy that bunch of fresh parsley from the produce section. Inevitably I end up using a couple TB of it and then have an entire bunch of fresh parsley left, which doesn't last very long in the fridge. Along the same lines as the bunch of cilantro I had left a few weeks ago, I decided to try out a similar concept with my leftover parsley.

Chimichurri

Chimichurri is a typical Argentinean marinade/condiment - usually served with grilled steak, another Argentinean speciality. The most important part of Chimichurri is using lots of fresh parsley, and since I had it on hand this recipe is a nod to this flavorful green sauce.

1 cup packed fresh parsley leaves

1 TB white wine vinegar

2 tsp minced garlic

2 stalks scallion, chopped

Ground fresh pepper and dash of salt

1 TB hot water

1/3 cup olive oil

Ladies Dinner Night - Cauliflower, White Beans and Berries, Oh My!

As you saw last week I bought a head of cauliflower and used 1/2 for the Curried Cauliflower Soup, which meant that I still had 1/2 left. With my ACIS ladies coming over for dinner Sunday night I knew I wanted to incorporate this cauliflower into something, but I didn't know what. Then I remembered I saw Rachel Ray use cauliflower in a mac and cheese recipe, and I thought - that's perfect! I'll note that the ladies have very different food preferences - 1 vegetarian, 1 vegan-to-be and 2 we'll eat anything kind of girls (yes, one of those is me), so I knew I wanted to make something vegetarian, but still filling!


This was the first dish I decided on for a little something to nibble on while my friends arrived, I was still cooking and for catching up over wine!

Mediterranean White Bean Dip
1 15 oz. can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
Head of Garlic, roasted*
2 TB fresh lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
1/3 cup olive oil plus 1 TB
1/3 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
1 stalk scallion, chopped
1/4 tsp salt and 2 grinds of fresh pepper
Veggies, Pita Chips, Marinated Artichokes

Dumplings 101 in Chinatown

In my freshman year at Bentley I had to take an Intercultural Communication class of some sort before I was allowed to study abroad. One of our assignments was to go to Chinatown, by ourselves - walk around, make observations and for extra credit, go out to eat for dim sum. Luckily, I had 4 friends in the class and as you can guess, none of us went to Chinatown by ourselves.

Seven years later I don't need a homework assignment to get me to go to Chinatown! Probably a year ago a work friend suggested we go for a girls dinner night at this highly recommended dumpling restaurant. I love dumplings, so this restaurant was such a fun find. You go here for dumplings - and while I've seen other people in the restaurant order other things, I'm not sure why they aren't ordering the dumplings! When this group of old work friends was getting together again last week, we ended up at this dumpling restaurant again - so what follows here is my guide to the Gourmet Dumpling House in Boston's Chinatown! You don't just have to believe me either - Yelp fans love it too!

Gourmet Dumpling House
52 Beach Street, Boston's Chinatown Neighborhood

My first attempt at Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

When I was on my winter break from grad school last year I made a list of recipes I wanted to try to cook - Stuffed Cabbage Rolls was on that list. Sadly, I never made it that far down the list though and so, here I am today, finally able to say that I have made stuffed cabbage rolls! I'm not even sure I made them in the traditional manner - but my version came out quite tasty, if I may say so myself. You could easily make these with a ground pork or ground meat instead, but I liked the ground chicken.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
1 TB olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
1 cup rice, cooked
1/2 cup mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tsp garlic
Napa Cabbage leaves
1/2 lb. ground chicken
1 tsp dried parsely
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt and couple grinds of fresh pepper
1 egg
3 TB ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cup homemade tomato sauce
2 TB parmesan cheese

Thai Peanut Noodle Salad

Because I took care of my St. Patty's Day green recipe quota last week with my Green Chocolate Chip Cookies, I'm all set for this week and allowed to make this thai recipe instead! I was supposed to have friends over for dinner last Friday but due to a second cold over a two week span, I had to cancel sadly. Rescheduled for last night, I was so excited to try out this recipe. A big thank you to Our Best Bites for the inspiration for this recipe, and to my friends for helping me chop all of the vegetables and for bringing some lovely wine!

Some things to note: This is a big recipe - there were just 3 of us and we easily had 2 or 3 portions left. We all agreed that this would be a good picnic recipe because the combination of cabbages would hold up to the sauce and not wilt over a period of time. There's a lot of ingredients here so don't be daunted - it just takes a bit of time to get everything chopped up. If you're pressed for time you can definitely make the dressing ahead of time so you don't have to worry about that part later.

Thai Peanut Noodle Salad
8 oz. linguini fini (a bit thinner than regular linguine) - we used about half of the box
3 cups shredded napa chinese cabbage
1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
2 cups thinly sliced purple cabbage
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 cup baby carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, halved and then sliced
1/3 cup red onion, very thinly sliced
1 chicken breast (marinated in a bit of OJ, soy  
                                                                                       sauce and garlic), grilled and sliced
                                                                                       1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts, chopped a bit

End of the Week, More Ground Turkey

At the end of my first full week at the new job I had some ground turkey I needed to use so I decided to make a good ole standby - ground turkey mexican soup. It's sort of a cross between a chicken tortilla soup and a chili - and it's fairly quick and I usually have all the ingredients on hand without having to make an extra trip to the grocery store.  When my parents came down on Saturday to help me go couch shopping I was able to offer up this homemade soup for lunch!

Turkey Fiesta Soup
1 lb. lean ground turkey (or chicken!)
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup black beans
1 can petite cut tomatoes, no salt added (plus one can full of water)
1 package, ortega chili seasoning mix
Dash of cumin, paprika, salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon paste
1/3 cup frozen corn
1 TB fresh lime juice
Garnishes: shredded cheddar, chopped scallion, cubed avocado, fresh diced tomato, sour cream

First Meal in the New Apt - Honey Soy Salmon!

This past weekend I moved into my very first apartment living by myself! It's all very exciting, as a cook especially - because I have the entire frigde and freezer to myself! (It's the little things that excite me). A big thank you to my family for helping me move in and up the narrow stairs to my beautiful 2nd floor apartment. The entire place was just re-done - so also exciting as a cook are the brand new appliances! I'm definitely not completely unpacked, but I've unpacked the important boxes - the kitchen ones! I haven't gotten my microwave yet, so I'm sans microwave this week. On Sunday night, after moving in, I was so tired that I just wanted oatmeal for dinner so I could get to bed - I put it in my bowl, added the water and ... realized I didn't have a microwave. So I had stove-top oatmeal for dinner Sunday night - I don't count this as my first meal in my new apartment - it's too sad. Instead, my dinner on Monday night counts!

Honey Soy Baked Salmon
2 portions salmon (mine was .82 lbs)
1/2 TB lite soy sauce
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 heaping tsp honey
2 tsp olive oil
1 scallion, chopped
1/8 tsp ground ginger
sesame seeds to garnish
1 cup broccoli, garlic steamed

Why go out for Asian, when you can cook it in?!

My cousin and I had been planning to go out for sushi, but in the end thought it might be more fun to cook Asian in! My dad had been asking me to make sushi again and I wanted to take a stab at Pad Thai again. So I took a look through my little Chinese cookbook, looked through my sushi notes to refresh my memory on making that, searched around online to find an improved Pad Thai recipe to try out and sent my dad to the grocery store in search of rice noodles, a lime, pea pods and a few other key ingredients. I even tried making up a batch of scorpion bowls so we could have the appropriate fun drinks with our dinner!

Sunday Asian Night: Salad with a Carrot Ginger Dressing, Shrimp Parcels with a Peanut Hoisin Sauce, Lobster and Shrimp Sushi Rolls, and Vegetable Pad Thai


Carrot Ginger Dressing

1 large carrot (I used 8 baby carrots) - peeled and roughly chopped
2 TB red onion, minced
1 heaping TB of chopped fresh ginger
2 TB miso paste
2 TB rice vinegar
2 TB sesame oil
1/4 cup oil (not sesame oil, more basic/plain)
2 TB hot water

This salad dressing is very similar to the dressing on the salad you get at a Japanese restaurant with your sushi, which I love! It's also very simple - all you have to do is put all of the ingredients (except the 1/4 cup of oil) in a food processor and blend together well. Then at the end, add the 1/4 cup oil through the hole on the top of the food processor and add gradually while the processor is running. The salad part consisted of romaine lettuce, thinly sliced red onion, mushrooms, cucumber and diced tomato!

Messiest Chicken Roaster Ever!

I've always struggled with getting my chicken roaster to taste as flavorful as I want it to - without adding a whole lot of gravy, that is. I've tried a lot of recipes - lemon basil, brined, butter rubbed - and now . . . Tandoori Rubbed! You definitely have to like Indian flavors and spices to get into this meal - but I thought it was a great alternative to the usual roaster meal. The only thing I wish was that every single roaster came with a pop-up to tell you when it was done. I still haven't mastered the art of being able to tell when my roaster is just done perfectly, but I've adjusted this recipe so that you can try your best at a nice juicy chicken roaster! We made sandwiches with this roaster, but you could also make it into a Sunday dinner by pairing it with something like a coconut basmati rice and vegetables.

Gone East for dinner Friday night ...

I love trying new, exotic recipes - and this one definitely counts. When asked what we were having for dinner, my answer - "African Stew." Despite the concerned looks I got, I went for it and in the end, everyone loved it. I am so appreciative that I have open-minded foodies in my life to cook for! For a while now I've been totally in love with eating Asian cuisine - though cooking it is a completely different story. I can never seem to get the right spices and flavor to the dishes I've tried, but one recipe I've gotten down is the fresh summer rolls you often find at Thai and Vietnamese restaurants.

Friday: Fresh Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce, African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew over Couscous and for dessert - Tropical Crumble