Chili & Chives

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food." -George Bernard Shaw

MY JOURNEY THROUGH FOOD

Duck, Duck, Buffalo

Aug 22, 2015

Duck, Duck, Buffalo

It was Round 2 of HRW for Talal and I. We went to Rainbow Lodge. It's known for gamey meats. The three-course meals had a variety of game meat options. I gravitated to the duck gumbo. It wasn't a hot as I would have liked, but it was as good as Roy's fresh gumbo. My second course was buffalo short ribs over shredded, raw brussel sprouts and extremely soft wheatberries. The raw brussel sprouts with shredded cheese gave the crunchy texture that the rest of my plate didn't have.

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Stuffed

Aug 14, 2015

Stuffed

I was stuffed. Talal was stuffed. The pork chop was stuffed. On my drive over to Talal's from BMC, I brainstormed dinner menus. I decided on a warm, hearty meal. I started with white cheddar polenta and builded up. I sauteed carrots and pearl onions with some red wine, butter, salt and olive oil. Layer #3 was wilted spinach with lots of garlic. Last, but not least, I stuffed a boneless pork chop with prosciutto, tarragon and more of the cheddar. It was such a big meal, that I

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In Tina's words - Tarweeqa

Aug 10, 2015

In Tina's words - Tarweeqa

Today's menu consisted of the usual Lebanese brunch: Kishik, Balila, Eggs with Awerma, Olives, Jams, Labneh, Feta with Zaatar, tomatoes, and vegetables. "It's a Suki Thing" was involved here. After we finally napped and digested, it was time to make dinner. We made Tabouleh with White Quinoa instead of Burghul (thus Gluten Free) and French Fries from scratch. We are on a mission to make crispy fries. I tried frying in the wok with fresh oil and frying them twice. We are getti

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Lick

Jul 19, 2015

Lick

Yasmeen recommended Lick Honest Ice Creams to me in San Antonio. After our filling burger-brunch at Boiler House, we said goodbye to Pearl with a sweet treat. I tried the Goat Cheese, Thyme and Honey Ice Cream. This was my Instagram post for National Ice Cream Day. At Lick Honest Ice Cream In San Antonio With Talal #icecream #yummy #sanantonio #lick

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Southerleigh

Jul 18, 2015

Southerleigh

After a long, exhausting day at Sea World, Talal and I showered and walked (ran) over to the River Taxi. As Daddy had recommended, we purchased a ticket to ride the river from one end to the other. It was a soothing and serene hour-long journey. We caught our breath and relaxed as the sun slowly began to set. Near the end of the trip, we went through a canal lock that pushed water in and pushed us up to the higher water level. Not long after, we reached the end. We had about

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Who said you can't feast on a Thursday?

Jul 3, 2015

Who said you can't feast on a Thursday?

The menu for our dinner with Rima and her niece Cindy was... A beautiful beef tenderloin with portobello mushrooms - marinated in Balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, minced garlic and olive oil Williams Sonoma's Heirloom Tomato Tart - The crust is buttery and crispy. The filling is a simple mix of equal parts ricotta and parmesan with lemon zest, salt and pepper. Brussel sprouts sauteed with sugar and Balsamic vinegar and last but not least, lemony potatoes. As I had seen in Ale

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This time, I'll write it down

Jun 23, 2015

This time, I'll write it down

Many years ago, mommy and I were home alone for a couple nights. Tina and Daddy were both away. I can't quite remember when or how long ago, but Mommy and I remember making and eating a delicous dinner. We never wrote it down. The only thing we could agree on is that it had pasta and eggplant. I called mommy on my way to my Adobe Illustrator class at UH. She remembered the pasta and we decided to make it. I grabbed some things from the store and came home. Mommy had started t

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Makloubeh

Jun 16, 2015

Makloubeh

Today, I made Makloubeh at home. From what mommy told me, the dish only has eggplant, but I vaguely remember eating the dish at Tante Nouha's having matchstick carrots and cauliflower. I decided to tackle this beast. I started with weeping over one & a half onions. Once they took their time and caramelized, I added ground beef and Teta's 7-spice blend. After the meat got crunchy (Daddy's words-not mine), I added a cup of rice, 2 cups of water, chicken boullion, salt and peppe

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Uchi

Jun 7, 2015

Uchi

For Talal's birthday, the dinner options were Aka's All-Day Happy Hour or Pappasito's. Since we were feeling sushi, but Aka didn't take reservations, Hammoudi reserved at Uchi. Talk about a major upgrade Tina and I rushed over from Emil's graduation ceremony at Toyota Center to Uchi, which was a whopping 2 miles away. We went with big eyes and much bigger appetites. The server was kind enough to talk through the bizarre language found on their menu. Eventually, we settled on

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A Pizza & A Stone

May 24, 2015

A Pizza & A Stone

For Tina's birthday, I got her a Myabi Offsett Bread Knife. I know I have a minor obsession with knives, but it was Tina's turn. Gift #2 was a beautiful, red-enameled pizza stone, using the logic of Jim Lahey's Bread Book. As always, our goal was to make the pizza crispy, which has not yet worked for us. We heated the stone at 500 degrees, pulled it out, placed the cornmeal, dough and toppings and baked for around 10 minutes on high broil. It was an intense operation, althou

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Maybe it's a Suki Thing...

May 23, 2015

Maybe it's a Suki Thing...

Maybe it's a Suki thing, but when I get going in the kitchen, I tend to spend my whole day there. After the scones and the pizza, we had about an hour 'til Sandra was meeting us to go to Pinot's. Just enough time for me to flip through a cookbook - even when I wasn't planning to make anything - and pick something to make (which we happened to have all of the ingredients for). There was a Hazelnut Brittle in a Food & Wine Cookbook. Despite all the dishes we used and washed, I

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Dinner in South America

May 3, 2015

Dinner in South America

I spent 2 years with this group of people. We spent hours together; day in and day out. We've cried together. Laughed together. Goofed off together. So much has happened over that time. I've grown tremendously, because they've pushed me to be better and work harder than I ever thought I was capabale of. To commemorate this amazing experience, I invited the group to dinner. Who would have thought that they would almost all be in attendance?! Professor Le Bon couldn't make it a

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La Condesa

Apr 20, 2015

La Condesa

I woke up at 4:30am on Sunday to take the boys up to La Grange for Day 2 of the BP MS150. While I was waiting at the hotel in Austin, I took it upon myself to pick a restaurant for dinner. I was choosing between Second and Uchi. In the meantime, Lauren, Erin and I went to brunch at Annie's. Once we picked up the guys, they decided they wanted margaritas.. Back to the drawing board. On our drive back to the hotel, we passed by a restaurant called La Condesa. Sounds like a plac

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