Dreams

Unlike Veronica, I rarely remember my dreams.  The other night though I had a dream that I was on a cooking show t.v. challenge and Gordon Ramsey was the judge.

Our first challenge (there were 10 of us) was to make mini sliders and French fries – we could interpret that any way we wanted but he said the main goal was to make sure that they sliders were mid-rare.

I decided to make a reuben slider – beef patties, grilled corned beef, bavarian sauerkraut and melted swiss cheese.  Everything was going great, but I could sense that people thought my burger might win, and when I went to go drop my fries, no one would let me near the fryer.

By the time I got my fries done, I had ignored my beef sliders and they were way past mid-rare, and on the verge of being burnt.  But I could hear Gordon counting down “10, 9, 8 . . .”  I had no other choice than to plate what I had.

He came to my station and asked what I had made.  I explained that I had made reuben sliders.  He took one bite, smashed the slider on the table and screamed “you donkey I told you I wanted the sliders mid-rare!  These are awful!”

But the next challenge was to make any dish you wanted.  I felt I had to redeem myself, so I decided to make a salsa burger using my baja fresh salsa, deep fried battered jalapeno slices and pepper jack cheese.

As I was putting my dish together, Gordon walked by and asked what I was making and I said “a salsa burger.”  He laughed and said I was crazy to try another burger dish.

This time, however, everything came out perfectly.  The slightly buttered toasted sesame bun, the medium rare burger full of flavor and juicy.  When Gordon took one bite, his eyes closed and he opened them up, looked straight into my eyes and said “that was the best burger I’ve ever had in my life!”

It makes me laugh just thinking about that dream!

Yesterday I had a taste for a sausage McMuffin from McDonald’s, so I had that with a Florida tangerine.  Does your McDonald’s show the calories of everything on the drive thru menu?  My sausage McMuffin was 370 calories.

I ran some errands at lunch time, and then came back and made some nachos.  Have you tried the Artisan chips from Tostitos?  I bought these because they were on sale – normally $3.99 a bag, but they were 50% off.

8 chips were a serving, so I made nachos with leftover beef and black beans, topped with chopped cucumbers, romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese and diced peppers.  So good!

Most people in Illinois know what Lou Malnati’s is.  It’s a pizza place that started in the early 1970’s and now has 34 locations in the Chicagoland area.

Considered the oldest family name in Chicago pizza, Lou Malnati’s is as rich in history as its pizza is in flavor. Lou got his start in the 1940’s working in Chicago’s first deep dish pizzeria. Lou Malnati took his pizza expertise to Lincolnwood, a northern suburb of Chicago, where he and his wife Jean opened the first Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria on March 17, 1971. Lou was known for his fun-loving character as well as making Chicagoland’s best pizza. Loyal patrons lined the streets on opening day for a taste of his delicious deep-dish creations. Lou always thought it was funny that an Italian should open a pizzeria in a Jewish neighborhood on an Irish holiday. But that was Lou’s style, he loved all types of people and didn’t care much about what people thought.

There is a Lou Malnati’s store front restaurant a few miles from my office that only does delivery and take out.  Tony thought they had a take and bake pizza, and sure enough, they did – $11 dollars for a small deep dish sausage pizza.  They will actually ship this pizza to anywhere in the United States!

The instructions said to take the pizza out of the tin container, wipe out any condensation, pour some olive oil in the bottom to cover the pan, and bake for 45 minutes at 425.

Here is what my deep dish looks like:

While the Lou Malnati’s pizza was good, especially the crust from a frozen pizza, we still prefer the homemade version – I think mine is actually thicker than Lou’s! (that’s what she said!)  But in the end, you can’t beat party pizza Friday!

At the recommendation of Rachel, I plan on renting Perfect Pitch this weekend, probably on Sunday when Tony is watching his football games.  Have you seen it yet?

Question of the Day:  Do you remember your dreams?  Enjoy your Saturday!  I’ll be back on Monday with my Top 12 posts of 2012.