Music Update

A few new CDs a while ago...

The Killers - Hot Fuss - Love songs 2-4 (Mr Brightside, Smile Like You Mean It, Somebody Told Me), not surprisingly, the ones that are/were in high rotation on the radio. Rest of the CD is good, but I find myself just skipping back to those three

Death Cab for Cutie - Plans - their last CD (my first of theirs, Transatlanticism) really grew on me; this one has not grown as fast. Nice mellow stuff, not enough to hook me into putting it back into the CD changer after it gets kicked out

Kaiser Chiefs - Employment - this is a fun CD, but honestly it didn't catch my attention. Listened to it on the plane on the mp3 player and liked it, but too much better new stuff when I bought it - will have to give it a second chance.

Have gone about a month now with no new discs - which is nice to have the time to revisit the bunch I bought over the summer (and get in touch with a few old friends - I like having Garbage in the CD player).

Skipped Interpol and OLP last week (still fighting a cough, and no one else interested). Nothing else coming up, sad DCFC is skipping the Cleve (will probably have to get used to it - but I'm NOT driving to Ann Arbor [is a whore] to see them. Or anyone).

Recipe - Pizza Sauce

This changes depending on what cans are available at the store (tomato puree is often hard to find in the 15 oz size)

1-2 lbs ground beef
Oregano
Basil
Garlic and Onion Powder
Bay leaves
2 15 oz cans tomato sauce
1 8 oz can tomato paste
2 15 oz cans petite diced tomatoes (or diced italian style)
1 15 oz can tomato puree (optional; can substitute extra can of tomato sauce)
Chianti or other italian wine
Parmesian or Romano cheese
Baking soda (optional - cuts heartburn)

In massive saucepan, brown and drain ground beef; season with salt, pepper, oregano, basil, onion,garlic while cooking (optional - add 1/2 white onion and/or minced garlic while cooking)
In same pan, add all of the canned ingredients; set to low heat. Use 4-8 oz wine to clean cans, pouring remaining contents into saucepan (pour from one can to another, 4-8 oz TOTAL; water can be used as a poor substitute).
Add spices to taste; add one large or two small bay leaves (these must be removed prior to serving)
Add 1/4 cup grated cheese
Add 1/4 tsp baking soda (will cause sauce to foam and turn slightly orange - more can be added to cut heartburn, but will make sauce VERY sweet)
Simmer for 30 mins to 2 hrs, stirring and tasting occassionally.

Serve with remaining wine and your favorite Barilla pasta (recommended - thin spaghetti with thinner sauces, rotini or shells with meatier sauces).

Option B - Meatballs

Make sauce without beef

2 lbs ground beef, or beef-pork-veal mixture
1 cup breadcrumbs
Basil, Oregano
Parmesian or Romano cheese
2-3 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Wash hands
Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper if desired
Mix thouroughly with your hands (it's cold)
roll a small amount of mixture between your palms into a ball (I like quarter sized balls or smaller, but that takes longer. any bigger than a baseball, and it will take a LONG time to cook)
place on baking sheet (with grating/drip tray if you have them)
repeat til mixture is gone
Bake about 30 minutes, or until middle of larger meatballs are no longer pink.
(optional - scrape the grease off the bottom of the tray)
(optional - place cooked meatballs in pan of sauce)

Recipe - Quick Chicken Pizza

1 12in Boboli Pizza Crust (wheat if you like, but not thin)
1 15 oz can petite diced tomatoes (I like the store brand cause they don't put too much additional crap in there)
1 medium green bell pepper
1 small red onion
1-2 grilled chicken breasts (could be exchanged with diced ham or even ground beef if you're not so healthy)
8 oz provolone cheese
4-8 oz mozzarella (or some combo of the two)
Balsamic vinegar or BBQ sauce (optional)

Grill the chicken beforehand and dice into small cubes - I like a little salt, pepper, garlic and/or onion powder, and either oregano and basil or light curry on the chicken to give it a little flavor. Italian dressing as a marinade/baste is good also.
Heat oven as directed on the pizza crust.
Dice pepper and onion - you may want to start with 1/2 of each and see how much topping that gives you.
Drain tomatoes as best possible; spread on pizza crust.
If desired, sprinkle vinegar or bbq sauce over tomatoes for a little extra flavor.
Spread peppers, onions, and chicken on crust
Place in oven for 6-7 minutes
Remove from oven; cover with cheese and return for 4-5 minutes.
Switch oven to broil; leave pizza in til cheese is golden brown
Remove, and let stand for 4-5 minutes before cutting.

Bahama Breeze

My new goal (one of many, ever changing, ever forgotten goals) is to keep track of the places I've eaten/drank/hung out in town, to both give an idea of the different places in Cleveland, and to serve as a reminder to find other places. No duplicate items from the menu! (If there's nothing new left, time to find a new place).

Today we rallied to go to Bahama Breeze on the east side, at Chagrin and I-271. There was a special promotion today - a number of restaurants nationally were donating a portion of sales and/or profits to hurricane relief (www.dineforamerica.org). The choice of places in the area was pretty much BB, Outback, or Olive Garden. As we try to do a "happy hour" type place (more bar than grill), BB seemed like the place to go. Plus, Tomsic's brother works there, so always happy to pour more funds back into "the family".

No beer specials - had a 20 oz "Aruba Red" - like Killians with a little less clean finish (I prefer the bite at the end) for $2.75.
Bob ordered Coconut Shrimp as an appetizer, but they brought the wrong ones (fire roasted jerk shrimp) so we wound up with the wrong ones for free (yes there is such thing as a free lunch). Not bad, the bread in the butter sauce was the best part.

For dinner I ordered the Oak Grilled Center Cut Pork Chops (I don't intend to be this detailed usually, but the website has a handy menu online) wish skin-on mashed potatoes and broccoli. There was a tangy dipping sauce which was good in small quantities (seemed like a dark tomato vinegrette, or something similar). Decent pork chop (I chose the "light" portion, so there was one chop instead of two), but nothing like the ones in the Bahamas (thin, more spice, and melt in your mouth). The broccoli was surprisingly good - or at least tasteless (which is good), so it wasn't entirely nutritionless.

I'd go for it again, but would probably try something else. It didn't stand out enough to make me crave it a second time, but a good pork chop is always a nice option at a restaurant.

We didn't stick around too long after eating; there was a decent crowd there (packed at the bar) when we showed up, but it had thinned out by the end of the evening. Being in a booth in a corner is not the best situation for mingling, but there were a few hotties that breezed by. Overall, a nice alternative to TGI Fridays/Applebees, but I prefer the hole in the wall places (and the beer specials).