Fiesta Fiesta!

The ten-day San Antonio festival known as Fiesta has begun! Living here for three years now, I still don't really know what it's all about and have opted to stay away from the crowds. (Lame, I know). Even my patient gave me a hard time for not taking advantage of the beautiful weather we've been having. I've been indoors cooking up some grub. (I also joined twitter, oy.)

Here's what's been cookin in the Ben/Jamie kitchen.



We got the recipe for this Halibut and vegetable rice in the Cooking Light magazine. We ended up using mahi mahi instead and I couldn't believe this recipe only took the 30 minutes they claimed it would. The fish was prepared with olive oil, salt & pepper. The rice is long grain white rice with grape tomatoes, corn, basil, etc. I would be more specific, but I lost the recipe! My apologies, but my point is--Cooking Light is legit. So tasty and quick.

After the endless wasted hours of watching Man vs Food we have something to show for it--the Juicy Lucy. We were inspired by the show to create our own version. All we did was put sharp cheddar and pepperjack inside the meat patties before we threw them on the grill. You really need to put WAY more cheese than you think you do for these to be successful.

I've been wanting to try my hand at this salad I keep having at restaurants. Some mixed greens from Central Market tossed with Granny Smith Apple pieces, goat cheese, candied nuts, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper.

We were on the hunt for Bison ribeye, but this top sirloin did the trick. I love me some beef.

So don't think I've been slacking on the restaurant front. Here are some SA shout outs:

Below you'll find some deliciousness from Godai. It's some kind of country/sushi fusion and all kinds of wonderful. I was skeptical at first, when we were only choosing from the happy hour menu, but since being back I can say the Heart Attack Roll, the Galleria roll and the Eve roll are to "dai" for. They are also opening a second location in the upcoming 1604 area.


I also visited Sugarbakers for some me time on Saturday and got taken on a date to Jason Dady's The Lodge. I can't say that Sugarbakers rocked my world, but I like what they are doing there. The Lodge was a (pricey) hit. I won't even try to re-cap what we ate, as you may follow the link to the menu, and because I don't know how to spell most of what was served. I liked getting surprise courses from the chef and the nutella dessert made my night. The restaurant building is actually an old house built in 1929 and we were seated in what was probably once an upstairs bedroom with a neighboring table of three middle aged ladies gabbing about their marriages and Catholic guilt, ay.

Stay tuned for reports on my Friendship bread. Sweet Jenni from our class thinks I am domestic enough to carry on the "bread starter" she gave me. I have very clear instructions so I think I can handle it. In four days I'll have a yummy loaf of homemade bread and some batter to pass along to three more friends.