Bro Brunch! Awesome brunch ideas for dudes: Green beans and Tilapia?

Hello again, this is the second installment of Bro Brunches. Today I want to tell you about a great brunch Red made for me one afternoon from some food we had leftover from a fabulous fun fish fry the night before. We eat a lot of fish and he makes a mean beer batter fish fry but I made the fish he used for this one.

 

One of our really good friends Deuce, named so, I think because they might know a few other Zach’s, which is his actual name, well anyways Deuce was over for dinner and drinks so we decided to have an indoor fish fry. Deuce is from Minnesota ( insert a Minnesota accent) and is bearded like Red and tall and giant like a viking. I only say so to give some background and cause he is pretty awesome and a good fish fry just seems better with a tall viking like friend hehe.

 

Anyhow, this recipe is super easy and we happened to not have much food in the fridge the next morning because we ate it all, so when Red decided to throw together a little brunch for us I thought it was super awesome that he used the fish.

 

This has 4 simple ingredients in it. Fried Tilapia, fresh green beans(a bunch) and fresh garlic cloves(4) and red onion (1).

Prep work:

-Wash your green beans and slice or pull off the ends, we had a bunch of them that I hadn’t thrown into the salad I was planning on having the night before.

–  Peel then Roughly dice up your garlic cloves.

– Roughly dice your red onions into medium pieces.

Stove time:

– Heat your skillet or frying pan and when it’s nice and hot throw in your green beans and let cook for like 5 minutes.

– Throw in your garlic and let cook for another minute and then add your onions and let those cook until they are almost transparent ( we like them a little crunchier but if you prefer them soft, let them cook until fully translucent)

-Add salt and pepper to taste.

-Add your Tilapia to the pan in a little melted butter and let it re-fry and get a hot.

Sidenote: If you have some parsley or chives you can throw that on top of the fish with a squeeze or two of a lemon if you have it. It makes it that much more delicious.

-Finally simply plate your food how you feel will look the best and sometimes Red even sprinkles parmesan cheese on top of things that you really wouldn’t normally put on but I will tell you this, I have yet to taste one thing he has put cheese on top of that it didn’t make taste amazing, try it and toss in things that feel good to you. That’s what makes it a Bro Brunch. If it doesn’t work out and tastes really gross you probably didn’t follow these very simple instructions, but never fear you can always try it again. hehehe

 

Sidenote: The photos I used here are courtesy of the internet. 🙂 I apologize for that but I hadn’t taken a photo of the food when he initially cooked it. This often happens when we cook because usually we are so excited about eating that before you know it the food is gone.

Dp challenge: singing the blues and how to lift your spirit.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/prompt-singing-the-blues/

We all feel down from time to time. How do you combat the blues? What’s one tip you can share with others that always helps to lift your spirits?

 

I really wanna say I power through the blues when I’m truly feeling down sometimes but that’s just not always the case. I usually stay in bed for as long as my conscience will allow me to, usually not longer than a full consecutive 24 hours. Which I think sometimes is the best way to transition into whatever moves you to feel better after. I usually eat the things that  make me feel more happy than bluesy on the inside then I wear my jazziest blush so that even if I am still a bit sad I look fabulous on the face front. This does help. lol Eventually I have to chat it out with a good friend, this is usually my cousin Jacqueline. No one knows and understands me quite as she does and she never sugar coats anything, so If i need to be told to just get up and move on she will tell me then sit and watch “criminal minds” and eat ramen. hehe That’s what works for me.

My advice to others to overcome the blues when it hits would be to honestly lay in bed for a few hours if it feels better but never linger longer than you necessary, eat that food that gives you comfort but don’t get diabetes doing so, and cry your eyes out if need be to that friend but be prepared for drying those tears soon after so you can see a solution clearly. 🙂

I hope this is good advice. 🙂

Bro Brunch! Awesome brunch ideas for dudes: Chicken from last night.

Hello all who might stumble upon this particular piece. I have decided that My Fantastic Food section is way too empty and what better way to fill up then with awesome Bro brunch’s. . My boyfriend Red ❤ ‘s to cook as do  I but he seems to have a particularly fabulous way in the kitchen at noon on a saturday or sunday morning after we have maybe had a little bit of a long night previously or sometimes he makes me brunch on the weekends if I am feeling under the weather or sick. We love to go out for brunch but don’t feel like it sometimes if it’s cloudy out or are just being lazy and really wanna eat in the bed with our jammies on 🙂

Now if you’re wondering what a Bro Brunch is I shall tell you, it’s a wonderful concoction of random food items found in your cupboard or fridge that a guy throws together to make a meal during the brunch hours, which is roughly 11 – 4 pm. Maybe there are weird  items and spices that you bought but never quite figured out what to do with in an actual meal. Or maybe you have a few pieces of a meal leftover from every nights dinner of the week. Well Red’s recipes all come about purely because he utilizes whatever is in the fridge, he adds a  bit of creativity and turns on his giant  headphones and off he goes.  I think his recipes can stand toe to toe with some of the great brunch’s I’ve had in NYC and other places. Plus he does a little food dance when he is excited to eat, I could be bias though lol.

So….. one of the my favorites and super easy things he made once with some left over stuff from the dinner I had made the night before literally only has 6 ingredients including the spices 🙂

Name:  Don’t have a name for this dish but if I have another beer it might come to me hehe

Ingredients:

– Chicken cutlet (from the night before, sliced)

– Yellow peppers ( I use them in salad and there were a few left over) ( sliced)

– Red onion ( That is always in the fridge 🙂 )

– 1 large egg

– Swiss cheese, or any cheese you have in the fridge really that you think might taste good on an egg( sliced or grated )

– Curry powder (optional but try it because you would be surprised how amazing it is) and pepper for seasoning.

Stove time:

– First things first, don’t forget to get some music going to bop your head to, gotta get into the mood for brunch. 🙂

– Next step is super simple and can all be done in the same pan. Heat a large frying pan or skillet, throw 2 or 3 tbsp of olive oil in when it’s nice and hot.

– Add a tsp or 2 of curry powder to the oil and a few dashes of pepper ( to taste) let cook for 2 minutes then toss in your sliced chicken. Let that re-heat and get a tiny crispiness to it, stir the chicken in the oil and spices for 3 or 4 minutes, more if you want the chicken to be crunchier.

– Push your chicken to the side of the pan and throw in your peppers for a second then the red onions and cook for one more minute.

-Push peppers and onions to the side with the chicken, make sure you have some oil still in there for your egg, crack your egg in the pan, cook it over medium ( or however you prefer) and right before it’s finished throw a piece of swiss on top to melt a bit.

– Get your plate ready or bowl ( like me, I try to eat everything in a bowl bc I am weird ) and put the peppers and onions that now have tons of flavor on the bottom, top those with some of the chicken strips that are all curry-fied and crisp and finally, top that with your egg with swiss on top. All done! Eat it!

You can even add small sauteed potatoes with it or other veggies cut up if you have them in the fridge and need to get rid of them.  If your cooking for more than one person make the chicken, peppers and onion mix and place it to the side and then make your eggs in the pan seperate and serve as you go. Its fast and uses just a few ingredients that you can add more to to make a bit more fancy or substantial if you want, like whip up a hollandaise sauce to throw on top of it all..

Let’s give a round of applause to the fabulous Red. Good job! Try it this way or do it differently and share it with me so we can try your favorite bro brunch.

Oh and don’t be afraid to open a cold beer with it because brunch is hardly good without a an adult beverage 🙂

Now we have gone out for friday nights of celebrations and had friends stay over the night before and Red has cooked brunch for us all in our hung over state, and well…. because he was raised right, you always make a little food for your still drunk buddies who crashed on the couch or leather chair in the corner 🙂 I’ve seen his guy friends testify in a court of public opinion to the amazing-ness of the breakfast/brunch things he manages to whip up. Smiling as I write this.

Ohhh and Keep an eye out for some amazing meatball recipes I have. Red is a funny and fantastical fanatic when it comes to meatballs so I am often trying to find new and inventive ways to jazz up the average meatball for him and sometimes I simply come across a wonderful recipe of someone else’s. Stay tuned for Meatball Mania.!

DP challenge: Writerly Reflections.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/writing-challenge-reflections/

 

One of the first times I chose to write on purpose and because I wanted to was when I was a teenager. I loved to read all the time. It had given me a chance to get away in my mind. I remember being thoroughly obsessed and absorbed with all things Anne Rice and Stephen King.  I had always kept a journal since the moment I could write and would constantly write random thoughts and ideas about any and everything that came to mind. One day when I was about 14 I decided to “write a book”. I did just that. Well, what I actually did was compile a list of all the poems I had written over the years when I had been sad and I decided to write them on the computer, print them out and then accompany them with an explanation of my state of mind when I wrote it and what the poem meant to me. I think I put 20 poems or so in it. I called it “A light in the dark”. My teenage self was very proud.

The first time I realized how truly impactful words can be and how much the written word actually meant to me was when my Aunt Vicki basically forced me to write something for my mothers funeral. Which at first upset me but in retrospect am so glad she did. I wrote a poem. I am not even sure where the poem is anymore.  But it gave me a voice and a platform to express my grief in way that I think was ultimately healthy.

I am new to blogging, only a few months in now and up until very recently always played around with the idea of actually one day writing a real book. I always thought my lack of actual literary training and the fact that I didn’t actively choose to become a writer as adult deemed me a writer in the hobby sense. I soon realized, once I was apart of a community of others, blogging about all types of things for so many different reasons that a writer is nothing other than a person without fear to write, a person who possesses a flame that they refuse to let die out. A wonderfully exciting revelation as I step into the next phases of my life. I realized through all the sci-fi books and English historical fiction novels set in the 1400’s that my minds ideas can be endless and relevant.

These are my writerly reflections.

Cassandra ❤

Daily Prompt: Young at heart.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/prompt-young/

What are your thoughts on aging? How will you stay young at heart as you age?

My thoughts on aging on super positive, this may be because I am excited about turning 30 in just 9 days. 🙂 My overall thoughts on aging have always been pretty good although people assure me I will feel differently when I am much older. I learned at a super young age just how fast life goes by and that you really gotta cram all you can into it while you can whether it’s education or love or adventure or traveling and you have to leave some space for doing nothing at all too. So that is what I have always tried to do and now when I look back on my 30 years of life I am excited to be older because there is hardly a day I haven’t tried to be better than the day before. I have to say I don’t  have any honest regrets.

Getting older for me is pretty fun because it just seems like I am hotter and hopefully smarter with every passing year. lol.  What I do to honestly try to stay young at heart is exercise, because there is no drug like endorphins. I am one of those obnoxious people who is happy even before my coffee. 🙂 I try to do a lot of silly things when I am not doing important serious things.  And I when there is something that I really want to try or eat or do I do it. but mostly I try not be negative if I can help it and try to go skinny dipping whenever I can and always always dance like no one is watching. Which is pretty funny because i often look like a drunk noodle when I dance around 🙂

 

Pink Hair!

This is about the color my hair will be this weekend courtesy of my fabulous cousin Jacqueline who is coloring it for me for my Birthday which is on the 1st of April, I will be the big 30! So excited!

Daily Prompt challenge: What music played in your home growing up and what effect did it have on your music taste?

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/daily-prompt-papa-loves-mambo/

They say it takes a whole village to raise a child, this must be true since almost every member of my family at some point in time have all pretty much took a hand in raising the some 15 cousins or so in my immediate family. So the music that I grew up with I guess is somewhat diverse and that very well might be the cause of my musical tastes and preferences as an adult now.

I think it only right to start with my grandpa, Amos, he was probably our families patriarch and all my cousins father figure at some point in time during our childhood. He was an insane lover of jazz music.  I was forced to listen to jazz music in my grandpa’s Chrysler 300 when he would drive me to ballet classes as a teenager sometimes after school and we never talked during the 30 minute drive. He would gently drum his thumbs on the steering wheel at every red light and occasionally I would glance over thinking, in my teenage, still developing mind, ” seriously, this song again?” lol Which is hysterical at best because my teen idol was Mariah Carey and every boy band cd that I was fortunate enough to get my hands on in order to make absurd dances to in the basement with my cousins. 🙂

My mother drove a baby blue Buik for a bit during my eighth ninth and tenth years. A detail I still can’t understand why I remember. And she would listen to Luther Vandross constantly and Sade. She said once that it was the sultry slow seduction of the artists voice that made her fall in love with the music, and ultimately you just had to dance slow and you’d find your rhythm. I do not exaggerate this even a little by the way. My mother was one for the flair and dramatics and never once in her life I think did she ever just simply answer a question, well … simply. So you know, her answer was in response to me finding her one night dancing alone quietly in the big green house we lived in once when I couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t sleep either. We were both in rare form that night having shared such a moment with each other.

I have wonderful memories of being surprised at myself embracing the Method Man and Tupac cd’s that my older brother would leave on top of his cd player when I was younger. Some of it I liked for reasons I wouldn’t understand until much later having spent my entire life a ballet dancer and later discovering the different facets of dance that stem from diversity in music.

So I guess I was incredibly effected by all these types of music. There is literally a single playlist of songs from at least 5 or 6 genres of music spanning at least 4 decades that , unknowingly, well until I wrote this,  have helped shape my tastes in music today.

– slow or fast, dance on! 🙂

My favorite bovine bounties.

My favorite products the bovine gave us:

1. Yogurt. If you don’t like yogurt because of the consistency than I guess you just can’t get on board with yogurt. But it’s so good! I can not imagine living without it. it’s so creamy and they can even put flavors in it. Enough said. There is greek yogurt and not greek yogurt and all kinds of other yogurts :-). The word itself is Turkish in origin and it’s origin is said to be traced as far back as the Neolithic Peoples of Asia in 6000 b.c. and it is said to have been created by accident when the enzymes in the carrying cases (animal stomachs) curdled the milk basically making yogurt. So glad that happened. Thank you!

2. Cheese. There are all kinds of cheese made from different animals and I love them all! But I want to say that there are so many wonderful cheeses that come from the bovine that deserve their due. These are just a few of the cheeses made from cows milk that I love.

– Gouda, A Dutch, hard cheese that is amazing to nibble with beer or red wine. It’s so Gouda! lol

– Asiago, produced on the Veneto foothills in Italy, I use this cheese on sandwiches and salads. Also works well as a midnight munchy, standing with the fridge door open and eating it all by itself until your tummy hurts. So worth it. 

-Brie, A soft french cheese that I love pairing with a side of grapes and crackers or little toasted bread thingy’s.– Cheddar, one of my favorite cheeses, I prefer sharp cheddar which is produced as the cheese is aged. I literally put sharp cheddar cheese on and in everything. Sandwiches, salads, sauces. I eat it by the slice and sometimes I cook purely around the cheese creating things that will explicitly taste good with it.

3. Buttermilk.  It’s the liquid left behind after churning butter into cream. It is such a magical little concoction.

4. Cream cheese. This wonder is super high in fat content, that’s probably why it is so damn good 🙂 , and is usually made from un-skimmed milk and then enriched with additional cream. I eat cream cheese, like most people on bagels usually, but I can not wait to share all the other amazing recipes that involve cream cheese. It’s texture and fat content make for very interesting combos.

5. Curd. Curd is obtained by curdling (coagulating) milk with rennet or an edible acidic substance such as lemon juice or vinegar, and then draining off the liquid portion. The increased acidity causes the milk proteins  to tangle into solid masses, or curds. Fun fun fun.

6. Ice Cream.  Well ice cream is just simply amazing. I actually don’t really eat ice cream, but I will have a small bite of someone elses hehe if it’s vanilla or cookies and cream, my boyfriend loves when I do that. My love of ice cream I think stems from the fact that so many people love it and as I love to bake, make pastries and desserts I find it so fulfilling, all the wonderful things to be done with it. Nothing makes me happier than an intricate desert that involves ice cream.

There are so many things that come from the cow that are wonderful and I decided that this will be the introduction to many more articles in my bovine section where I will highlight some really awesome recipes, my own and others that include great bovine products.

I think what makes me the happiest about cows in general is that they are so wonderfully beautiful and offer us an abundance of nourishment and smiles.

So stay tuned! 🙂  and MOooo!

Daily prompt: 3 things you believe to be absolutely true and false.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/daily-prompt-i-believe/

Three things I believe to be absolutely true:

1. I believe people to be inherently good. I truly believe this my with my whole heart and know that in feeling so I may be categorized as an eternal optimist given the fact that humans are capable of so many horrendous things. But I think the natural conflicts that exist within us is the cause of those types of things and environment perhaps. I believe we are born with a general goodness that can be blighted out for all kinds of reasons and like a muscle whatever that inside us that is nurtured an exercised will ultimately thrive.

2. I believe in love at first sight. Now I don’t think a fully comprehensive well-rounded love of a soul mate that ultimately takes time to develop happens at first sight but I do think that ones true soul mate, if you’re so lucky to be self-aware enough to find yours, can feel at first sight something in-explainable and powerful when you first see one another..

3. I believe, and I hope it doesn’t make me sound too silly, that the mind is a powerful tool and anything at all can be truly be accomplished. We are so complex as humans both emotionally and physically and the things we conquer and over come are at the very least unbelievable. When motivated to the point of exertion I believe that there is simply nothing the mind can not do.

Three things I believe to be absolutely false:

1. I don’t believe the hitting of children in any way at all is beneficial to them for the future. After all once you’re an adult solving your issues through any form of violence can and usually do lead to legal repercussions of the worst kind. Words are the most powerful form of teaching.

2. I don’t believe in the term “theory of evolution” because after all it isn’t a theory at all. There is too much scientific evidence to that proves it.

3. I think the idea of the american dream is false. The idea that someone wants to be a better person in every way possible and chooses to work hard to get their slice of the pie to take care of their family and be successful is a dream that is universal. Can’t for the life of me figure out why it’s called the american dream especially when in this country there are attempts to systematically set up some people for failure. I love america and am truly glad to live here but that dream of prospering is a human one and is accomplished within us wherever we are. 🙂

The perfect marriage, whiskey and beer.

Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey!…. I chant out loud whilst waiting for the bartender, slowly sipping on my beer of choice. That’s the dialogue that plays out in my mind when I’m over do for a little zing with my zang.The zing being some dark liquor and the zang being the carbonated beverage we call beer! Sometimes for me there is nothing like having a beer with a whiskey neat on the side. There are just some occasions where a beer alone simply will not do. hash tag fact.

If I’m known to be a beer girl then it would be misleading and inappropriate of me to not share the true love story of the single beer meeting  the single whiskey at a crowded dim-lit lounge area and knowing for sure they were meant to be. Because after all a marriage is the coming together of two things that both compliment and enhance the beauty and strengths of the other. One holding steadfast where the other may fall short.  Now a strong knowledge of whiskey and beer I believe comes with time and tasting. I have so much to still learn but I also am often excited about all that I’ve learned thus far, not only about the simple every day Jameson that I can rely on being at most establishments with a bar but others that you might only encounter through curiosity, recommendation or chance.

Beer and whiskey are two sides of the same coin, says Dave Smith, a distiller and whiskey blender at St. George Spirits. “I was a beer drinker before graduating to whiskey—and I suspect most folks are the same. We recognize flavors and aromatics in whiskey that are echoes of what we love in beer because they both come from grain but go on to different destinations.” So poetic is this description I could not have said it better myself.

Now I have researched many a master brewers mention and recommendation for pairings, read countless blogs and forums on what goes best with what but, honestly I think that the ones I have actually tried have given me a good amount of insight so far as to what pairings I might enjoy now and in the future. So I will highlight some pairings I have already enjoyed  and those I plan to try  on the advice of older, wiser and more drunk individuals who make their choices for all types of reasons. Some people enjoy a beer paired with a whiskey or bourbon that have similar flavors to compliment each other while others enjoy very contrasting pairings that bring their own unique tastes in the end.

If you want to start pairing but don’t know quite where to begin, maybe your knowledge of whiskey and bourbon is minimal (like mine) or you find yourself intimidated by the endless options of beers to tap into, you can begin here with these general pairings and graduate slowly from there.

1-A Stout beer is perfectly paired with an Irish whiskey:                

Guiness + Powers irish whiskey= This is how they drink it in Dublin and for that reason alone it works for me.

Guinness + Red Breast irish whiskey

Innis & Gunn’s Irish cask stout + Jameson black barrel whiskey = A great combo of a 60 day aged beer in whiskey barrels giving a deep rich finish and a 12-year-old whiskey with notes of orange peel, chocolate and hazelnut. An honestly amazing pair and I am not a stout drinker. I’m not sure how regularly available these are at most bars but worth an ask to taste.

Brooklyn dry Irish stout + Jameson = I’ve read that the blend of grains make this beer have an espresso like feel with chocolate and coffee flavors afterwards. Yummy yummy with  even just a shot of Jameson if you prefer not to sip on your whiskey.

2-  IPA ‘s and  Pale Ales are enhanced by any type of  Rye or Single Malt in my mind:

Bear Republic’s Racer 5 + Deaths Door = This beer is grapefruit-y with a 6% abv and the whiskey is 100% organic wheat and barley so fun all around for the taste buds I think.

Brooklyn Lager + Old Overholt Rye whiskey = I’ve never personally paired these two but I have heard many a good review on how delicious a pairing it is. Plus Brooklyn is one of the really great breweries.

Irish Red Pale Ale + Bushmills single malt

Smithwicks Irish ale + Wild Turkey rye = Not my favorite whatsoever but I’ve come across too many people who seem to genuinely enjoy this pairing not to at least share it with others. Because although Wild Turkey has never called out to me it might be an undiscovered favorite for you. 

There are of course so many others that are amazing together but the above briefly illustrates a small place to begin when expanding you afternoon buzz and love of whiskey and beer. I love IPA’s more than any other  style of beer there is and I will try a new one any time I get a chance. I often don’t pair my IPA’s with whiskey at all actually but for all the other beers that make me smile with their crisp beginning or stouts that fill me up when I’m feeling kind of lite there is always a good whiskey I can count on to go with it. It’s up to you to get unnecessarily drunk on your quest to find a great pair and marry them together.

This is one of my favorite whiskeys, I don’t often find it in bars but when I do I’m that much happier for it.

So drink up and be merry, safely of course. 🙂