Cooked: Lemony Farfalle with Wild Arugula & Asiago sauce with Pollo Empanizado & Crispy Beef

All that cupcake making had us hun-GRY! We decided to do the frosting on Sunday so I made a quick & easy dinner & enough pasta to last us for Sunday's frosting. I wanted a spa like pasta but with a light sauce so you felt like you actually ate something. 

My Buddhist Goddess Vinda  ♥, the dame that Shaka Buku'd me into the practice (Buddhism) I invited over to cruise by. We're both from Miami & have been club girls for YEARS, this was honest to God the VERY first time I had someone at my home on a Saturday night for dinner my whole life. I've been working at a club since the week after I graduated from High School, it was such an incredible feeling♥

It was for her the first time she had a home cooked dinner on a Saturday night for years & she appreciated it SO much. I am forever indebted to that girl. Here's our dinner.

The Star Studded Cast

Getting to use Dan's Jamaica Me Crazy spice again... SO good!
Turning the buttery club crackers into breading I got to de-virginize my brand new KitchenAid extremely sexy candy apple red processor I won from Bakespace.com

I ♥heart♥ Babette!

Ghetto Breading Station

Figured I'd spoil the Broads





Cheated, couldn't wait til Sunday so we had some samples of the Bellini Cupcakes for dessert

Perri had me over for Pilates before we finished the cupcakes & we were starving! I had enough pasta left over from the night before, but the chicken was a goner. I had some ribeye in the icebox (HA how retro) I defrosted it, whipped out the Jamaica Me Crazy & added the crispy beef & some romano on top of the pasta.

Why does pasta ALWAYS taste better the next day? My goodness this was so good. I especially loved the contrast between the crispy chicken & beef with the creamy pasta! ♥

Crispy Beef

Cooked: Hot Stuff! Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Cornish Game Hens with Fruity & Nutty Saffron Quinoa

So I have four major Dan's in my life, 3 Dan B's & 1 Dan O... they're my 4 Dan's of the Apocalypse. These men encourage me, support me, humor me, entertain me & are my lifeline. Dan O' Connor & my 3 B's... Berman, Bennett & the last one I won't say cause he HATES his name being "dropped" *snort* HA! 

They keep me on my toes & I love having the opportunity to cook for them. This time it was finally on for my Ber-Man♥. He's the leader of our Taco Tuesday crew & has really been essential in supporting me & keeping my spirits up during this turbulent fiscal year for me. 

My kitchen was a WRECK & he had been dying to show me his new wood floors he just put in. Let me fill you in on Berman, he works insane hours, drinks like nobody's business whenever he has the chance, is super low key, no frills, laid back, shops online ONLY, science loving Atheist, history buff,  smack talker, loves his cat... is it normal for a dude to love a cat so much?

I'm such a dog person I always flip when I find a guy I know has a cat... maybe it's because I don't like cats except for Hello Kitty, but she doesn't have a mouth & can't do nasty stuff with her genitals with it like other cats... oh & she's not real so she can't act like she's too good for me & she wears a dress so I don't get the hotdog end in my face... sorry rambling again, I don't like cats!

Here's proof of how much he loves the kitty, he commissioned a painting for his cat sitting in on a World War 2 summit with Stalin, FDR & Churchill... HA brilliant! ♥ 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

AND I need to emphasize again, he works very, very hard so he can be able to afford to spend the time with the people he cares about all over the Country... I have a massive amount of respect for him, well except for the fact he's a chronic texter.

I LOATHE text messages! I blog, Facebook, email even freaking Twitter... I'm a single woman that lives with a dog with an unlimited talk plan on my cell... sometimes I can go days without hearing or speaking to another human being therefore I completely oppose text messages & people who love to text can KISS my ass! Word.

The Berman doesn't do 4 legs so I settled to make my infamous stuffed cornish game hens, I wanted a twist so I wrapped mine in bacon... how could ANYONE not eat bacon?!?!?! Remember I said he was low key, I had NO idea what I was walking into. 

First off the floor was... stun-NING dark wood. He didn't tell me he re-did the kitchen countertops... sleek in black. Now mind you, I assumed his pantry would be bare except for a can of tuna, a jar of peanut butter, red bull, jerkey & some muscle fuel garbage... 

I came with bags of crap, even brought my own pots. The boy had a FULLY stocked spice section, I was blown away! All the utensils & rad KitchenAid cookware. I LOVED his spices especially this Johnny's Jamaica Me Crazy stuff, fantastic! 

This is really why I can't stress enough cooking at other people's homes & trying out ingredients you normally wouldn't buy. Of course this too he bought online, it's available on Amazon & Ebay I used both the seasoned salt & seasoned pepper flavors.

I was so comfortable in his kitchen it was really hard for me not to take my pants off... EW you guys! It was because my jeans were too tight & stuffy... you PERVERTS! I like cooking in a dress or just a long shirt... duh! Anywho, so now I was in like Flynn, time to get my cook on. I started with frying some sage & putting them aside. 

I browned the ground turkey & added crimini mushrooms & dressing. He had beautiful Fuji apples literally minutes from eating dust so I decided to add those to the stuffing mix too, I've never done that before again the cooking at other people's homes aspect. Now I will add apples to my stuffing for good. 

Stuffed the bird, added the spices, wrapped mine in bacon & started the quick sear for that golden crispy skin I just adore so much then it was the big finish in the oven. The Quinoa I settled to cook in the microwave so I can keep the heat off my hair that I just got done.. damn Black girls & their hair. 

We drank Vodka & he put on MC Hammer's greatest hits mix tape... it was awesome. We laughed & ate our butts off. 

It felt so good to, in my own way, repay someone for all that they've done for me. Even though it was small, he REALLY enjoyed it... I'm still smiling just thinking about it. Thanks Berman, I will be raiding your kitchen more often, be ready! Please Hammer don't hurt 'em!

The star studded cast Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Cornish Game Hens:

I LOVE this Trader Joe's Trail Mix, loaded with Antioxidants & I usually add it to my Couscous thought it would be fun to add to my Quinoa also... it was, delish!

2 Legit 2 Quit.. HA! 

♥ 

Field Trippin': Hollywood Farmer's Market

Outside of the Farmer's Market on 3rd St & the Farmer's Markets I've been to on my travels I have never been to a local Farmer's market in my neighborhood... this one was so cool. Very small & intimate but packed with passionate people & fantastic flavors.

My BF Jen ♥ has a bun in the oven & this is her favorite thing to do on Mondays AND get her Tamale fix, seriously thee most MASSIVE Tamales I have ever seen! My favorites were the olive & tapenade table, the salsa & tortilla guy, the fish monger that had the most ginormous prawns I have ever seen... still alive, also! My absolute fave was Rose the honey lady♥.

She was so eloquent & passionate about honey, I love learning from someone that has such enormous respect for what they do & love expressing it. She used to be a truck driver, uncertain about what she was passionate about. On her travels she she met a beekeeper I assume they must have or she must have fell in love ♥♥♥...

I like to add stories to stories... sue me! She was just so delightful & informative about the process, the taste , the texture & the art of making honey. I've never been a fan of honey but thanks to Rose I am now... the avocado tree honey was my favorite. She gave me a pack of honey sticks & whole new respect for honey.

My other favorite moment was when Jen & I hit this vegetable stand on steroids! The size & pardon my expression... girth on some of these puppies were insane, for instance check out these eggplants: ♥♥♥

I squealed that I wanted to date one of them *snort*!

Seriously all the other eggplants at the other stands couldn't compare!

Jen of course had to one up me & go for the daikon... she's nuts & apparently likes 'em VERY big.

Oh man we were having a BLAST I wish I recorded it, giggling like schoolgirls & making all sorts of perverted comments, this cutie overheard us & suggested we check out the cucumbers... "they're packing too"

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... awesome, fantastic moment!

I kept posting onto & commenting to these pics on my Facebook, my friend Nick suggested I should do a show where I only cook phallic looking foods, I told them I would lose an entire male fanbase when I have to chop, grate, stick in a food processor & slice all that stuff up, I often wondered why Lorena Bobbitt didn't stick it in the blender before she booked it... HA, did I just say that out loud?!?!?!

My least favorite moment was the chicken guy with terrible social skills. He was just on my left one since I got there for no good reason. First insulting me when I brought my dog, Divi. I didn't know I couldn't have my dog there. Then he proceeded to insult my cooking when I asked were one half of the chickens roasting BBQ & the other half Lemon Herb?

He was like "those are for the Black people & those are for the Whites... Girl you must not know how to cook, those aren't cooked yet!" Dem are fighting words right dere "I CAN'T COOK?!?!?!?!" I am not a pussy willow at all I snapped back & said "And YOU must not know how to talk to women!" Douche!

I didn't say the douche part, just thought it HA! He was pretty embarrassed when his boy laughed at him. THEN came the remark that made me want to cut him! When Jen said she was pregnant, he said I was the one that looked pregnant... this guy must die! Don't buy his overpriced chicken or subject to his nasty attitude!

It amazes me how in this day & age we still have men that have absolutely no respect for women & get off on it, this is why I live between my headphones sometimes. Other than that it was a fantastic experience I will be back on a weekly basis, I will skip the chicken truck unless I feel the urge to show up there with some eggs & throw it at the Black Foghorn Leghorn on a budget!

The End.