Rating: 💋 💋 💋 💋 💋 (duh.)
Today I bring you our first travel post. We are casting aside our blazers, throwing a swimsuit or two in a bag, and getting the heck out of New York City. Time for some sun and relaxation at the small little beach town off the Jersey coast known as Stone Harbor.
I also know it as Home. (awww)
My sister and I took off work Friday and marched ourselves straight from our offices to Port Authority Thursday night, eager for beach time, quality chats with our family members, and home cooking.
To be fair, we eat in more than we dine out, so we technically eat at home a lot, but there's nothing like food cooked by my Mom. I'll show you my cooking one of these days, but today is all about honoring the woman whose meals made me fall in love with food in the first place.
Friday night's Welcome Home dinner menu included French bistro whole filet of beef slow-roasted in fresh tarragon with basil-mayonnaise dressing, basil-parmesan grilled corn, tomato-feta salad, a baguette with Kerry Gold Irish butter, and our tried and true favorite wine, rose.
So let's munch through this plate together.
First, we have the steak, cooked to pink perfection, tender, juicy, and seasoned subtly, topped with a scrumptious, garlicky mayonnaise. Basil is always a good choice, and we always look forward to this dinner because the sauce is so good, pairs beautifully with a nice steak, and makes enough for leftovers that can be used on sandwiches, dolloped on eggs in an upgraded Benedict, or mopped up with bread.
Then, there is the corn, a new recipe for my Mom that went over very well. It was a nice change of pace having the corn grilled and cheesed up rather than steamed with butter. Love a good steam, but I also love not having a chin smeared with butter. It's like in high school when my friends and I considered foods that would be good or bad on a date. Most foods are actually kind of bad when you think about it - so I don't - but corn on the cob? Definitely would have to be well into the relationship before you can be like "Hey honey, give us a kiss" as your butter beard drips off your face. Oh God. I am uncomfortable just thinking about it. This Parmesan corn could maybe come a bit sooner. If butter gives you a beard, this Parmesan just gives you a lil five o'clock shadow at most. Cute! Okay, you know what. No corn on dates. But enjoy it as often as you can on your own cos it really is a yummy dish. In this case, not only did my pores experience the joy of being clear clear of butter, the corn just also tasted super good. Basil is alwayssss a good choice! Also, grilled corn might not be new to the foodie universe, but it was my first time getting to try it and check yes! I hope it's not my last because the slight smokey flavor was one my taste buds would love to meet again.
On to the salad course, Shannon and I especially love this tomato-feta melange. It is a classic in our household. Heirloom tomatoes are probably my favorite variety of the fruit, because their bright colors and fresh flavor symbolize the taste of summer to me. Definitely way more flavor than a cherry or grape tomato, which I avoid at all costs. The dry yet creamy feta bounced off the sweet tomatoes well, and the white wine and red onion vinaigrette added a slight tart to the dish, melding the cheese and tomatoes into the delightful dish you see before you in the slideshow. A fine balance was created, and my family rejoiced at the taste. I would like to point out that, again, that green herb you see? It is basil. You simply cannot go wrong. Basil is the king of the herb kingdom and don't you forget it.
And of course, we got a good fresh baguette - as indicated by the crackle of the golden crust and the elastic texture of the bed that indicated it was not too dry and soft but not overly dense - and warmed it before spreading it with Kerry Gold Irish butter. We reserve Irish butter for special occasions, and its deep gold color belies its rich flavor. Someone once pointed out to us that it is higher in fat, but here's the tea on that, my friends: "low calorie" foods tend to be processed and filled with unnatural ingredients. It's actually better for you to eat the natural foods that might have a slightly higher fat content, just don't melt an entire bar onto your bread and you'll be fine. Also, life is short. Irish butter is hands down the best-tasting butter I've ever encountered. If you're gonna have butter, go hard or go home, am I right? That's what my Mom taught me and I am sticking to it.
So, in a word, the dinner was bliss.
And now, for dessert.
Here we have the piece de resistance: my Mom's chocolate chip cookies. They are their own celebrity in our social circles. My mom made them for me to bring to college so I would make friends, and I have never met a person whose eyes didn't glaze over as they entered nirvana with their first bite. It is my family legacy, making these cookies, and my stress about that is exacerbated by the fact that no one my mom has shared the recipe with has been able to replicate them. When my Mom makes them they are soft and pillowy and filled with melted chocolate chips that ooze out with every bite and soak into the golden cookie crust. Other people make them and they are good, but smaller, denser, flatter, and not quite so gooey. Good, but not good enough for me to make my family proud. In order to live up to my Mom's legacy, I need to be able to recreate the above batch perfectly. It is A Big Deal.
Rest assured, I started making these cookies for bake sales in high school and they turned out just like my Mom's. HUUUUUUGGGEE sigh of relief.
Which is almost as good as the sweet sweet sigh I gave when I came home to these beauties and got to taste heaven once more.
So that is what home tastes like to me - a delicious home cooked meal prepared by my Mom, tasting of love and comfort and basil, and the alpha omega of chocolate chip cookies, both in size and ymmydeliciousness, all enjoyed with with my lovely family. I kiss my fingers to the chef five times. With every bite I experienced true joy, and the only downside was having to drag myself back to New York, knowing I would have to leave that loveliness behind.
It is okay though. More good eats lay hidden in the city's grid, and I am eager to hunt them down.
XX,
MK
***Update: My dad has just informed me that the corn recipe was his and he grilled it, so to give credit where credit is due, both my parents earned those five kisses to the chef
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