neurological dryer lint

we had a kind of multi-part celebration of our anniversary this weekend... yesterday we headed up to columbus and hit up COSI, i'd never been (at least not that i remember) and renee hadn't seen their new building. we had a great time - it's funny that whenever we do grown-up stuff (like go to the symphony or whatever) it's so much less fulfilling than when we go mess around and have fun. i cannot wait to take our kids up there.

afterwards we went to easton and did dinner at smith and wollensky's, a great-but-not-stunning steakhouse. it was a beautiful day and we drove the whole way up with the top down... my forehead is pretty burned, duh, thanks sun.

so tonight after renee got home from class/work we did fondue. now i haven't been cooking much lately - we've been busy, and more than that i've been uninspired. so this afternoon i was in the kitchen trying to figure out what to have and i had an epiphany - sauce idea after sauce idea exploded in my brain until i had four distinct creations that i had to write down to keep lucid. and by jove they all worked.

i diced up two pieces of chicken into 1" or so pieces, made about two dozen, and got them ready to fry - flour + paprika coating, followed by egg wash, followed by breadcrumbs with dried oregano and salt... heated up the oil in the fondue pot... and then the sauces:

sweet pesto:
1 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey
1/2 cup olive oil

chop in food processor/blender, add oil to texture.

lemon garlic cream:
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 lemon
1 Tbsp black pepper
1/4 cup grated romano cheese
1 clove garlic

chop garlic, sautee in melted butter. add cream, juice of lemon, cheese, allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes until cheese is melted. add pepper and lemon zest to taste.

sweet teryaki citrus:
1/2 cup teryaki sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup brown sugar

stir ingredients over medium heat until boil; reduce heat to low, let simmer for 5 minutes to thicken.

quick and dirty BBQ sauce:
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp ground mustard
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup red wine
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

mix ingredients over medium heat until boil; reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes to thicken.

i'm pretty hyped... it's not as good as the dr. pepper barbeque sauce but it stacked up pretty well.