making dinner

So for how much I love eating out...I really love eating in. I'm not a good cook by any means, but I try! I thought I would share some of my proudest moments over the past week or 2 from dinners at home.

First, I made the BEST fried green tomatoes I've ever had in my life. I couldn't believe how good they were! I used Marvin Woods' recipe from Home Plate Cooking (if you'll remember from the good ol' days of Turner South).

Here they are all sliced up pretty:














We even tried frying up some of the tomatoes I've been growing, but they weren't as tasty.














We fried 'em up, and then we were surprised at how simple it was to make such amazing tomatoes. You just dip the slices in egg, then dust them with a mix of half flour, half cornmeal, salt & pepper.















Another favorite is the garlic chili shrimp that we happened upon at Publix. We were just looking around for food for dinner and saw the free samples of shrimp. One bite and we said "we're making this for dinner." So we took a recipe card and bought all the ingredients needed. Ryan fired up the Foreman (hey we are too lazy to go down to the pool grill, plus the lady at Publix used a Foreman!) and he made the sauce too. I really didn't contribute much to the making of this meal, but I was really impressed with the recipe and how well it turned out! I was proud of Ryan!

review: Home (revisited)

Home
date of visit: 6/26/08

kiwis:
service: 4
taste: 4
ambience: 4

So we went back to home when my sister was in town...


I have to say I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I was still wowed by most of the food, and will most likely eat at Home again in the future. I just might not be as excited about going.

It was definitely more crowded this time, now that the word is out that this is where Richard Blais can be found. It took a while for service to start. This time there was no tasting menu. So for Snacks, we had Deviled Duck Eggs and Fried Green Tomatoes. Both were superb! I really enjoyed the tomatoes - they were cut vertically instead of horizontally and the fry on them was perfect.

For appetizers we had the Crab Cake and the Chicken Fried Sweetbread. The crab cake was pretty good, had a nice spice to it. None of our party had ever tried sweetbreads before, so we figured now would be a good time to do so. They are very...interesting. This will probably make me sound so pedestrian, but I have to admit, I didn't like them too much. They were so squishy in texture and tasted like a big piece of fat to me. I ate a couple bites, trying so hard to like them and have an open mind. Since every gourmet thinks the world of them. But honestly...I just didn't like them that much. Oh well.

For main course I definitely lucked out with the best entree - swordfish. I was expecting a modestly sized steak, but instead got 2 pretty big pieces of fish. It was cooked perfectly, with a nice spicy rub. You know how swordfish is very steaky and can be very dry? Well this was just about the juiciest swordfish I've ever had. It was great! Ryan had a steak that was just a steak. Nothing too spectacular about it. And Holly had fried chicken. Again, nothing too spectacular about it. Good, but not great. The side dish of mac n cheese was actually more enjoyable to me than the chicken was. Along with our entress came some vegetables, served family style. They too were nothing to write home about. In fact, I can't even really remember what they were...mashed potatoes, carrots...2 others...hmmm

Dessert was cool. I got the Moon Pie with Coke float. The dry ice used to make the float made cold vapors billow all over my plate. Pretty neat! Holly got red velvet cake with cream cheese ice cream, and Ryan got pecan cake with sweet tea ice cream. Both were yummy.

So overall, it was a good experience, just not as great as it was the first time. But upside was that we saw Dale, also from Top Chef season 4, and our server told us that he was being courted to open an Asian restaurant here in Atlanta. It was pretty cool to see him & Richard together talking. I almost felt like I was on the TV show! haha :) I always had a soft spot for Dale and his filipino cooking (Dale thinks it's the next big thing)! I hope he brings it here.

review: Home

Home
date of visit: can't remember

taste: 5
ambience: 4.5
service: 4

Yeah...it's been a while. I went to Home about a month ago, to celebrate a promotion, and then totally got swamped and never wrote about it. But it is definitely one of the best restaurants in Atlanta now, and that's not just because of the star power of Top Chef finalist Richard Blais. Ok...it is.

We opted for the tasting menu that night, which meant Chef Blais would take items off the regular menu and put his own little spin on them. I highly recommend doing this if you go to Home and the option is available (apparently he's not there every night).

Amuse Bouche - oyster with tabasco pearls
I'm not any oyster person, but i slurped this one down. The tabasco pearls were really, really cool. He used liquid nitrogen to make them, and they were similar to dippin dots.

Course 1 - raw fluke with duck skin
I didn't even know what fluke was. It's fish. Raw fish with crispy duck skin. Doesn't sound like it would be good, but it was delicious. The fish was very delicate, the duck skin was a perfect contrast in texture. And tasted just like bacon!

Course 2 - shrimp & grits
Notice "shrimp." Just one shrimp. But it was the best cooked shrimp I've ever had. I'm not sure how he cooked it, but I need to learn. The grits accompanying the shrimp were also good, and also some dehydrated pineapple, foie gras, and some kind of smokey sauce. The flavors were all distinct & different but still managed to complement each other.

Course 3 - pork short rib
Ah yes, a dish I was waiting to see! It had peaches :) Which made me love Richard in the first episode of Top Chef this season, when he made peach pizza. Nothing like a Georgia homeboy representing the South! (ironically I think he's originally from NY, haha). Anyway! Pretty much the most tender rib I've had (until I got to course 4), and the peaches & coffee bbq sauce were great!

Course 4 - beef short rib
This is the most tender, juicy, flavorful rib I have ever had. It was cooked for 48 hours and served with a horseradish foam (foam!!), creamed potatoes, and beets. Beets? Ew right? No...these were good beets. If you hadn't told me they were beets, I would have never known. They were delicious, and again brought out the earthy flavors of the beef rib. Yummmm

Dessert - pecan cake & sweet tea milkshake
I am just blown away by his creativity. Sweet tea milkshake! Another thing I need to learn...and make every day...especially in the summer...

So Home, amazing food, amazing chef. My only complaint is the music in the dining room. It just doesn't go along with the menu & the restaurant decor. And really they might want to rethink the decor. It's a little stuffy. But the service was good!