I love me some Linkin Park... they always put on such a fantastic show! I met Steph and Rae on Friday night for a little yummy food at the Gateway before the show. We went to Happy Sumo where I ordered a salad and watched Steph and Rae enjoy sushi... lol. But after dinner, we went to Kodiak Cakes Bear Country Cookies which I noticed on the way in because of the big "warm cookies" sign in their window. Sigh. I really could have done without knowing that place was there because wow were those some delicious cookies. I actually still have some of what I bought tucked away in my kitchen but it's taking all my self-restraint to keep from eating them all at once. After cookies, Rae headed home and Steph and I walked over to Energy Solutions Arena for the show.
Prodigy opened and the music itself was pretty good - nice sound which is unusual for an opening act - at least in the shows I've been to. The stage show... well, they didn't quite understand how to adapt to their Utah audience and as I mentioned to Steph after they got off, I'm pretty sure I saw some of their dance moves in the Breakin' movies back in the early 80's. Linkin Park, on the other hand, was completely awesome, as usual. We both texted in our code to get a free download of the concert (waiting for it to be available) and really enjoyed it - the live version of "When They Come for Me" was ridiculous. I was a bit bummed that they didn't do "Wretches and Kings," but they did my other favorites from the new album and most of the best songs from their other albums.
A few pics from my phone (hoping Steph got better ones on her little camera.)
Whew! Anyway, it was a blast, and thanks to Steph for coming with me! I had tons of fun.
And to follow that, what better than great food? I was recently chided for not posting recipes with all of my food pictures, so I'm including the recipe here. lol. (The exact quote was that it's "criminal" that I don't post recipes to go with the yummy pictures. lol. too funny.) This weekend I tried my first recipe from my Modern Mediterranean Cooking cookbook and it was fabulous... my first attempt at a risotto.
This is a Pumpkin, lemon and parmesan risotto (although the lemon is subtle). You take 4 cups of chicken broth and bring it to a boil and then throw in a good pinch of saffron and reduce the heat to keep the broth warm. Then, in a nice big pan (I use a 6 qt chef's pan), saute one finely chopped onion and 1-2 cloves of minced garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil plus 1 tbsp butter. Make sure you don't burn it, but you want a nice golden color. Once you get that, add in 2 pounds of diced fresh pumpkin and 2 cups of arborio rice (I used a combination of fairytale squash or cinderella pumpkin and acorn squash because that's what I had on hand. You can also use butternut - it's all good). You want to cook this and stir constantly for about 3 minutes and then add 3/4C white wine (or in my case, 1/2 cup chicken stock + 1/4c vinegar - no wine on hand) and stir until it's been absorbed. Then, you stir in 1/2C at a time of your stock that you're keeping warm over about 15-20 minutes. You want to make sure each 1/2C is totally absorbed before you add the next. I started tasting and seasoning with S/P at this point. Once you've added all the stock and the rice is nice and tender, season again with S/P as needed, remove from heat and stir in the zest plus juice of one lemon. I also added in about 1/2 tsp of fresh chopped rosemary and about 1 1/2oz of fresh grated parmesan (the recipe calls for those as garnish - I prefer them mixed in). Then serve it up hot with more parm and fresh rosemary on top. The recipe says it serves 4-6, but I'd say 6-8. 4 gives you ENORMOUS servings. 6 is good sized and works out to 9 points+ on WW. Dividing it into 8 would give you a nice side dish.
So there you go! I've got a few more recipes marked in this book to try soon. I'm thinking of doing a homemade pasta with bolognese sauce and some homemade baguettes this weekend. We'll see :)
Yay- a recipe. Now go back and include recipes for the other pictures. Or take less tasty-looking pictures in the future. Your pick.
Posted by: Melissa | March 03, 2011 at 02:10 PM