So, on Valentine’s Day Rob and I had dinner at White Castle.  Many White Castles around the country actually have table service on Valentine’s Day.  You call and make a reservation and they bring you a menu (with a coupon for a free White Castle on a future visit) and a waitress takes your order and brings you your food. They also took pictures of you and they finally posted them online the other day.  There was kind of a mix-up over our picture and I used the White Castle contact page to ask where our picture was.  Not only did they follow up by phone, but they sent us a thank you letter for our feedback with coupons for free sliders. So, anyway, I think we’re going to do this next year again.  It was a fun time for a low-key Valentine’s Day.  I highly recommend it if there’s a participating White Castle in your area.

Here’s our picture (heh- it’s like prom).  

Here’s a slideshow of my pictures.

I totally rely on Trader Joe’s for quick, frozen heat-n-eat dinners that are easy to make and not too bad for you.  Here are the last two we had:Monday night: Mandarin chicken (supplemented with brown rice and broccoli):    Sunday Night: Chicken Gyoza (potstickers) with raw carrots. Mmmmmm…  Friday Night: Not from Trader Joe’s, but from Costco- Mozzarella, Basil, and Tomato Wheat Ravioli.  Plus special Karen Leep recipe Chicken with Italian Breadcrumbs.  well, to be fair, it’s not too special- if you know what it’s called, you know the recipe.  But it’s the love that makes it good. LOL.   

Last night, Rob and I went to the Adobo Grill here in Indianapolis. There are a couple in Chicago as well, so if you’re in either of these cities, you should go.  Anyway, we went there on Tuesday and had some small plates and margaritas and guacamole.  The waiter told us that weeknights from 4-6 they have $1 tacos if you sit at the bar, and Thursday was half-price margarita night!  So, we decided that we’re going to happy hour it over there on Thursday nights as much as possible.  They have the best fish tacos in town and next week I’m going to try the steak and the pork tacos al pastor.  The only thing that was full price was the guacamole.  So, we’ll probably be spending many Thursdays there.       

So, I don’t know how many people know this, but I am actually a pretty decent cook. Recently we had a party where people claimed I made the “best grilled cheese ever” and I’m pretty sure they were being sincere. I know grilled cheese isn’t hard, but I think people could taste the love. LOL. Now that the house is clean, I hope to have some small dinner parties at some point. Plus it will be incentive for me to keep the dining room table clean.Last night I made some Japanese chicken. It’s one of my go-to recipes that I use quite a bit because it’s just so darn easy. Last night when I was making it, it was seriously almost perfect. The chicken was browning so perfect that it looked like I belonged on Top Chef or something.Anyway, next time I make it, I’m going to try and take my camera in the kitchen, because I never think of doing that until I am unable to walk away without risking burning the food.Anyway, I also had another little epiphany while cooking dinner last night. I need to just ditch my spatula/turner things. I probably only need like two of those for pancakes and eggs. Tongs are just so much easier and more sensible. It’s so easy to turn pieces of chicken over or stir fry or whatever. I really don’t know how I went so long without discovering the joy of silicone-tipped tongs. I need to get one more set, if not two, of tongs like this pair I already have (but I am on the lookout for a fun pair like the kids tongs at Williams-Sonoma):Anyway, here’s the chicken recipe. I cook some rice in the rice cooker and then we heat up some vegetables (last night they were thai style soy ginger carrots from Trader Joe’s) and it’s a great meal that’s tasty and good for you. It’s pretty spicy, so if you don’t want so much spice, just scale back the red pepper flakes. Enjoy! Oh, and make extra rice so the following morning you can make hot cereal with rice, milk, cinnamon, and honey. Yum yum!Chicken nanban recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb chicken thigh or breasts if you prefer
• 1 onion It’s surprisingly tasty with the onion, but if you don’t have one on hand, you can still make the recipe and it doesn’t suffer. It’s kind of optional.
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 4 tbsps sugar
• 4 tbsps soy sauce
• 1 tsp chopped red pepper
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil I use a little blend of canola, flax, and olive oil that I make to maximize the good fatty acids.
• *katakuriko starch or corn starch for dusting I use corn starch.

PREPARATION:

Thinly slice onion and soak in cold water. Mix soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and red pepper in a pan and heat on low heat. When the sugar dissolves in, stop the heat. Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Dust chicken with katakuriko starch or corn starch.

Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry chicken pieces in the pan until brown. Pour the spicy and sour sauce over the chicken and stop the heat. Drain onion slices well and serve on plates. Place chicken pieces on top of the onion. Pour the spicy and sour sauce over the onion and fried chicken.

*Makes 4 servings