Fry-tastic

This post from Whine Me Dine Me got me thinking about my idea of fantastic french fries. I commented on Ukrop’s potato wedges and how during my Richmond residence, these were my hangover cure (with chicken fingers and a large coke). But my all-time favorite fries?  In-n-Out  Burger on the West Coast is the freaking shit. You can actually see the employees take fresh potatoes and put them in a potato slicer then throw them in a fryer and voila! Fabulously fresh fries. Yum!

Fry-tastic!

And sweet potato fries, how I love thee.  Charleston, SC is reigning king of sweet potato fries.  Sermet’s Corner on King Street served me and my friend Sarah a basket of glorious shoestring sweet potato fries topped with parmesan cheese.  Sweet Lord was it good.

Not actual Sermet fries, but you get the picture.

I should be smacked in the mouth for divulging this guilty pleasure, but Chick fil-A fries?  Come on! Who doesn’t love them?!

Waffle Fries Rule

Monterey Bay post coming soon……

Racing and Wine Tasting

Much to my surprise, I’ve become a runner.  It’s a good thing too, considering my love for food, especially southern food.  I’ve successfully finished two short races in my young running career, both 5k’s and both completely different.  My first race was this past March at the Wounded Warrior 5K on the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.  The morning of the race, I was a nervous wreck. I had been training for it, but only ran the distance of the race once before the big day and never thought I would run the way that I did.  I was like Forrest Goddamn Gump out there on the Boardwalk!  I finally felt that runner’s high and just RAN.  I’ve never been an athlete, I didn’t participate in sports in high school or college, so crossing the finish line was the most amazing feeling.  I was hooked.  I immediately started to search for my next race. 

Wounded Warrior 5K <– I’m in there somewhere!

The Three Fox Vineyards 5k Race Through Tuscany was right up my alley.  A sporting event at a winery that includes a free wine tasting?  Absolutely!  Why isn’t every race at a winery!  ”The Race Course Will Take You Through our Gently Rolling Hills, Across our Peaceful (flat!) Meadow and Around Our Picturesque Vineyard” Perfect, I thought.  So, I invited my friend Leah, put my running shoes on and headed to Delaplane, VA for this seemingly perfect race.  Well, let me tell you what “rolling hills” mean.  It means torture, that’s what the eff it means, torture and pain.  It was the workout of my LIFE and four days after that “peaceful” race, I’m  lying in the bed with a heating pad on my calves, for crying out loud. It took me 37 minutes to trudge up those freaking hills.  The things I do for free booze! Geez!

 

Horrible Cliff Power shots….. Gross!

Done!

Northern Virginia is full of wineries.  They’re almost as prevalent as farms around here.  I see a winery sign every few miles it seems. Sorry all you local wine lovers, but I normally don’t like Virginia wines, (eh hem Williamsburg Winery?  Terrible.)  I love California wines and tend to stick with them when shopping for vino. If you ever get the chance to go to Napa Valley, GO and take me with you.  It’s fabulous.  Anyway….. Three Fox is indeed beautiful and just may have changed my mind about VA wines.  The hills are picturesque and a flowing creek runs the length of the property.  There are tables scattered throughout for your drinking pleasure, even between the grapevines, which I think is wicked cool.  The scenery alone would give me the patience for bad wine, that and having just run my 31-year old ass off.  Fortunately, bad wine was surprisingly not the case.   I’m no wine connoisseur but, I found the Three Fox wines to be fantastic!  And, they have quite a few awards to prove it, including a few from the San Francisco International Wine Competition, which apparently, is a big deal.  My favorites:  The Leggero Chardonnay, the La Boheme Voigner and the Il Signor Sangeiovese.  I had never heard of a Sangeiovese before, not that I admitted this to anyone, and will now be on the look out for it wherever I go.  It was delicious!  So light and smooth and easy.  The two whites were crisp and very dry, characteristics that are for me a must when shopping for whites.  Sweet white wine reminds me of Boone’s Farm and makes me want to vomit. If you’re like me in that regard, stay away from the Gatto Bianco, the winery’s most popular white (go figure).  I was so disappointed that it was so sweet because the bottle is labelled with a picture of the owner’s cat and it’s just hysterical.  For complete wine descriptions go here, I was too drunk to take notes.

In conclusion: I will probably run this race again next year, because I’ll do just about anything for free booze and a t-shirt.  It was fun, the wine was great and they have a refrigerator of cheese!  Yum!

Tony Ciccone is the Cheese and Macarone

Making sauces, especially long simmering marinara sauces, have always scared the crap out of me.  For this reason, Tony Ciccone has changed my life. Madge’s dad (yup, he’s Madonna’s father) was recently featured in FOOD Magazine, the same issue with the hilarious Three 6 Mafia spread (if you haven’t read my post about that, read it now!). Mr. Ciccone and his wife own and operate a vineyard in Suttons Bay, Michigan (with a special line of Madonna Wines).  The man already had me in awe  just for being able to grow grapes in Michigan. Then I made his meatballs and marinara sauce and I’m seriously considering sending him a love letter. Holy crap was it good! The marinara sauce has so many great, fresh ingredients with layers of flavor. Really, it could be served on its own with your favorite pasta and red wine, but the meatballs are such a nice touch.  I experimented on my husband and his friend with this dish and they just about gave me a standing ovation.  It’s damn good and I encourage everyone to make it, right now!

Sylvio Ciccone

The Madonna Wine Line

 *Note* I love garlic, but recipes that call for a lot of it frighten me.  The meatball recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of minced garlic. I was running out of time (as usual) and wasn’t about to mince it myself, so I used 1 tablespoon of the chopped garlic I had in my fridge and threw a few shakes of garlic powder in the mixing bowl. 

Ciccone Family Italian Style Meatballs as featured in FOOD Magazine.

1 lb ground beef or pork (or combination of both)

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 large slightly beaten egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons of minced garlic

2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1/2 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of dried oregano

1 teaspoon of thyme

Preheat oven to 375. Using your hands, mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl until well blended. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on lightly greased baking sheet or casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes.  Add to marinara sauce and simmer until ready to serve with pasta.

Ciccone Family Traditional Italian Homemade Marinara Sauce as featured in FOOD Magazine.

5 tomatoes, chopped

2 cans (15 oz) tomato sauce

1 can tomato paste

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small bell pepper, diced (I used green)

12 mushrooms, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

2 small zucchini, sliced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup red wine

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1/2 tablespoon of dried basil

1/2 tablespoon of dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon of dried sage

Add all ingredients together (except for the dried herbs) into a large pot on the stove.  Simmer on low for about 2 hours. Add the dried herbs and simmer another 1-2 hours. Serve with pasta (and meatballs!)

  Look at those beautiful ingredients!

Awe yeah, simmer that sauce!

 With the meatballs!

Man approved!

A Dinner Party with the Fancy Cordon Bleu

I’m not comfortable having “dinner parties”. They’re too formal for me and I don’t have the class to pull it off. My dear aunt gave me an Entertaining  book when I got married and I’ve barely cracked it. Its contents are extremely intimidating with seating arrangement and formal place setting charts, followed by hundreds of gold trimmed pages designed to keep track of your dinner parties’ guest lists and menus.  An entertaining journal, I suppose. My cousin is all over this sort of thing and does it with ease, making each of her guests feel completely comfortable and satisfied, as any proper southerner would do. Not to mention, she’s a fabulous gourmet chef.  I can only aspire to even compete with her (and you better believe I up my game when she’s on the guest list!)  I simply like having people over for dinner and showing off my skills in the kitchen, even though there is usually some sort of disaster that ensues.  I barely have a matching place setting and my silverware is down right embarrassing, but I don’t care.  I love working on a wine buzz and chatting with girlfriends while preparing a meal in my favorite room of the house.

 My latest “dinner party” was this past Friday when my bff Janette came to visit me from Charlotte on her way to see family in Northern Virginia. Her friends Jack and Katie, whom I recently met at Janette’s pre-wedding festivities,  live in Fredericksburg. I took the opportunity to invite them over for dinner, for one, to see Janette, and for two, to make some friends!  What better way to make friends than to feed them?  The company was great, not a single awkward moment and there was lots of laughter. See what good food can do?  While I was cooking, Katie asked me what I was making. Not having a name for my main dish I said “Well, I’m rolling chicken with prosciutto, spinach and goat cheese then frying it in Captain Crunch.”  “It’s like a fancy cordon bleu!” she said.  YES! It is! And so it shall be named! Overall, dinner was a success, despite my catching a wine buzz too early and burning the oil, making half of my chicken rolls less than perfect. AND not buying enough prosciutto and making my husband go to the store, which delayed dinner by an hour and a half. And since I’m criticizing my work, I also think there was a little too much oil on the menu. I didn’t need to roast everything! If I had to do it over again, I’d probably prepare a nice fresh salad instead of the broccolini. See the menu below.

Here are a few of my tips for throwing a “dinner party”: #1) When it comes to the main course, serve something you’ve served before that you know is fantastic.  Feeding guests is never the time to experiment. HOWEVER, there’s no harm in experimenting with a small side dish. As long as it’s not the main focus, it really won’t matter too much if it’s a disaster. #2) Appetizers are key, even if it’s chips and dip.  You never know when you’ll get delayed in the kitchen.  I just feel that it’s polite. I completely overlooked this for my last party and felt terrible! #3) Use your stuff!  That’s what it’s there for! Don’t worry if it’s old or new or not part of a set.  It will look great on your table anyway. I buy all of my serving dishes separately and I stick to all white or glass pieces (check out this bowl from Target, it’s one of my favorites).  Paired with the awesome crystal pieces my grandmother gave to me, my serving ware collection is a lot of fun to use.

Janette, Jack and Katie’s menu for 7/2/10

Fancy Chicken Cordon Bleu

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Balsamic Broccolini

Honey Thyme Cornbread

Key Lime Cheesecake

Fancy Chicken Cordon Bleu (for 4)

TIP: If you can’t find thinly sliced chicken, do it yourself.  Lay the chicken between two pieces of parchment paper and smash with a meat mallet or a frying pan until desired result. 

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Captain Crunch, smashed into crumbs

4 thinly sliced chicken breasts

4 slices prosciutto

small bowl fresh spinach leaves

2 oz goat cheese

vegetable oil for frying

Pre-heat oven to 350. Lay flat 1 piece of prosciutto on top of each chicken breast. Place enough spinach leaves on top of the prosciutto to cover. Take a 1/2 oz slice (or more if you like!) of the goat cheese and place in the center of the chicken.  Take the end of each chicken breast and make a roll, securing with a toothpick. Heat vegetable oil over medium high heat. Mix the flour and Captain Crunch crumbs together in a bowl. Dip the chicken rolls in the egg, then roll in the Captain Crunch mixture.  Fry on all sides until golden brown. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

1 box of fingerling potatoes

1/2 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 tbsp olive oil

kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

1 tsp fresh rosemary (1/2 for dried)

1 tsp fresh thyme (1/2 for dried)

Pre-heat oven to 450. Wash potatoes and cut the larger ones in half, leaving the small potatoes whole.  Put potatoes, butter, olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbs in a bowl and mix with your hands until potatoes are evenly coated.  Place in casserole dish and bake for about an hour. Potatoes will be golden brown and crisp.  Yum!

Balsamic Broccolini

1 bunch broccolini

olive oil

kosher salt

1 (or more, to taste) tsp balsamic vinegar

Pre-heat oven to 450. Lightly coat the broccolini with olive oil.  Spread evenly on baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt.  Bake for ten minutes.  Place in bowl and toss with balsamic vinegar. Serve immediately.

These are a few of my favorite things

Stonyfield YoBaby Organic Yogurt  is awesome. My daughter gobbles it up within seconds and even I find it hard to resist.  It’s rich and creamy, yet light and refreshing! Our favorite is the vanilla.

Dove Dark Chocolate Promises  have replaced cigarettes for me.  I found a pack last week at the counter in the grocery store and opened it immediately.  I am truly an addict.

Azar’s  Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Hummus was a staple in my fridge.  Unfortunately, it’s only sold in Azar’s itself and local grocery stores in Hampton Roads.  Since I’ve left my beloved home in VA Beach, I miss it fiercely.  Anyone from the area coming to visit must pay an entrance fee of hummus.

Papa Weaver’s Pork Sausage – I met Papa Weaver at the Gordon Road farmer’s market and he promptly sold me $30 worth of pork.  He was cooking fresh sausage on a grill then called my beautiful daughter a boy and told me the sausage would ruin my girlish figure.  He could have said I looked like a baboon’s ass and I wouldn’t have cared.  It was the most delicious sausage I have ever tasted.  So, not only did we buy the sausage, we bought pork chops, pork steaks and chorizo.  His products are free of any preservatives, hormones or antibiotics.

Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Poultry Seasoning - This stuff rocks. I use it all the time. See Chicken Pot Pie, Minus the Pie.

Three 6 Mafia….my new culinary heros

So, I’m in the grocery store last week, trying to find something worth cooking for dinner (our store out here in the sticks makes me angrier each time I go. I have to drive 15 miles just to get a decent cut of meat for crying out loud!) when I came across the magazine isle.  My eyes were immediately drawn to FOOD Magazine with Wolfgang Puck’s Oscar worthy face smiling at me from behind a golden statue topped dessert.  Across the top of the front cover was printed *Katie Lee*Rocco*Three 6 Mafia*Tosca Reno*  Wait, what? THREE 6 MAFIA?! Sold! And I tossed the magazine in my cart.

The short article, Cookin’ Ain’t Easy…..Unless you’re Three 6 Mafia, was most definitely worth my $5. There they are, gold grills and all, cooking with Mr. Puck himself in his renowned Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills, the ultimate in fine dining. Oscar winners themselves, (remember It’s Hard Out There for a Pimp?) DJ Paul and Juicy J are self-proclaimed foodies who are soon starring in a new reality show, appropriately entitled Cookin Ain’t Easy, in which the rap duo prepares dinner parties for celebrities and such in the Three 6 Mafia mansion. AH! What I wouldn’t give to be on that guest list!  Juicy J says “It’s not your everyday cooking show. We set it up like it’s a club–cooking with a disco ball! There’s gonna be girls dancing and maybe a DJ playing some music. It’s gonna be crazy!” Yes, Juicy J, it IS going to be crazy and I can’t fucking wait!  Television genius!

Three 6 Mafia and Wolfgang Puck grilling steaks

Katherine Hepburn’s Brownies (AKA, the easiest, most delicious brownies you’ll ever make)

I’m shamelessly stealing this recipe from Lori Longbotham’s Luscious Chocolate Desserts. Or, according to the Food Blog Alliance-Recipe Attribution (see my blogroll), I’m adapting it.  Ms. Longbotham adapted the recipe from Katherine Hepburn’s recipe published in Family Circle many years ago. Upon doing a little research, I found that Mrs. Hepburn’s brownies are quite famous and this recipe is everywhere including epicurious, saveur, and the joy of baking. Well, Katherine, these brownies are indeed deserving of the attention.  I actually keep the ingredients for them in my kitchen at all times. I really love salty sweets, so I use Kosher salt in this recipe so that every now and then I get that perfect salty sweet bite.

Katherine Hepburn’s Brownies

1 stick unsalted butter

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 325. Butter and flour an 8×8 glass baking dish. Melt the butter and chocolate together  in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth.  Remove from heat and add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla and stir until well blended.  Add the flour and salt and stir until blended.  Fold in walnuts and transfer to prepared baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out not wet, but sticky, with only a few crumbs).  Cool completely in the dish on wire rack. If you’ve got time, chill and then slice!

Mrs. Hepburn, baking extraordinaire

Chicken Pot Pie, Minus the Pie

This recipe is one of my best. It’s modified from Rachel Ray’s recipe.  This dish is definately best served in the winter, but it’s so fun to find fresh peas and lima beans at your local farmers market. How fun! It’s perfect for out of town guests on their first night in your home because it’s serves easily and is very welcoming (and they’ll think you’re the best cook ever after their long drive). AND, my 16 month old daughter, Maggie, loves it, and that’s saying something. I serve them with Paula Deen’s Sour Cream Muffins (a triple bypass in a muffin tin). Salty, savory, comforty goodness!

Sour Cream Muffins (I usually bake these first because they’re so easy and have to bake for 30 minutes)

2 cups self-rising flour

2 sticks melted butter

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and spoon  into ungreased muffin tin (there’s plenty of grease in these babies so they’ll pop right out of the tin).  Bake for about 30 minutes

Chicken Pot Pie, Minus the Pie

3 chicken breasts, seasoned with poultry seasoning and cooked, then pulled apart (with your hands!) into a seperate bowl

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

2 medium size potatoes (I like yukon gold, but any will work) skins left on, diced

2 carrots peeled and diced

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (recommended Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Seasoning’s Blend. Don’t get the grocery store brand! It’s green and terrible!)

onion powder to taste

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1 cup dry white wine

5 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup or generous handful fresh or frozen green beans

1/2 cup or generous handful fresh or frozen lima beans (I bet speckled would be really fun!)

1/2 cup or generous handful of fresh or frozen corn

1/2 cup or generous handful of fresh or frozen peas

couple pinches of tarragon (optional)

Heat large soup pot over medium-high heat and add olive oil and butter. When the butter melts, add the potatoes, carrots, bay leaf, onion powder, and poultry seasoning and season with salt and pepper. Cook 5-6 mintues to soften.  Add flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in wine and cook 1 minute (wine will bubble and ingredients will get gooey!). Add chicken stock and put a lid on the pot, raise the heat, and bring to boil. Add chicken and simmer for 5 minutes. Slide in the green beans, and lima beans and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in corn and peas and simmer for about 3 minutes.  Stir in tarragon, season with salt and pepper (if necessary) and let sit for just a couple of minutes. Serve with sour cream muffins by placing them in the bottom of your bowl and ladling this soup over top.  Maggie says “Delicious!”

Dune Burger & The Colington Cafe

dune burger

My husband, daughter and I will finally be going back to Nags Head next week for a few days of total relaxation.  Ahhhh…. finally.  Nags Head is my most favorite place in the world to be.  My grandparents retired and built a home on MP 14, sound side, the home I spent many summer weeks in and every Thanksgiving until I was 12.  There are many traditions my family kept in our many years of vacationing in the 252. Sam & Omie’s, my dad’s most favorite place in the world to be, (as long as there was a cold Budweiser in his hand) Oregon Inlet to see the fishing boats come in, and shopping at the Tanger Outlets, are just a few of these traditions. Since I’ve become an adult and experienced the Outer Banks on my own for many years now, I’ve created a few of my own. All I can think about right now is a freakin’ Dune Burger!

On my first wedding Anniversary, my husband and I went down to South Nags Head for about 4 days. We were married in Nags Head, so going back for the first Anniversary seemed only natural.  I remembered that my friend Allen used to rave about Dune Burger. He used to say it was the best burger on the island. In my formative years, I never took him seriously because the place was a total dump and never even looked like it was open.  On my anniversary weekend, I felt it was time to give it a try. Not only was Allen right, but Dune Burger is quite possibly the best “fast” burger I’ve ever had. I’d compare it to In-n-Out Burger in Cali, sans the customers, cheery employees, reputable looking establishment and speedy service.  This place is the epitome of  the term “dive.”  It still never looks like it’s open. I’ve never seen more than 1 car parked in front of the damn place. There are only 2 picnic tables in front of the building to sit down and eat. When you go up to the counter, you feel a little strange, like “am I in the right place? Is anybody here?”. But rest assured, someone is there, a local of course, whom you may feel should wear a hair net. And you better bring cash as Dune Burger is not equipped for credit cards. Fortunately, Dune Burger is located right next to Sam & Omie’s, a full service restaurant with a full service bar! When Tony and I order our burgers, we know it’s going to take about 15 minutes, so we mosey into Sam & Omie’s and enjoy a frosty adult beverage to kill the time. Only in Nags Head can I leisurely wait for my “fast food” burger to arrive.  A Dune Burger is meaty, cheesy, juicy, greasy love served on a slightly toasted bun. The flavor is unbelievable and I savor every bit, making little noises with each chomp (mmmm…., ohhhhh….., holy shit this is good). When I get to the last few bites, I slow down, not wanting it to end and think to myself  “Damn! I should have ordered another one!”

Do me a favor. Next time you’re in the Outer Banks, make the trip to this roadside gem.  You will not regret it!  MP 16.5 Beach road.

tripadvisor.com

Another Nags Head ”must do” that I can’t say enough about is Colington Cafe. My husband and I first went to Colington the day after we got engaged. In fact, my husband had planned on proposing to me there at dinner, but said he “couldn’t wait that long” and proposed the day before on the beach.  This home turned restaurant is the Outer Banks’ best kept secret. Most tourists don’t know about it because fortunately, it’s not located on the bypass with the likes of Hooters and Jimmy’s Seafood Buffet. You have to be looking for this place to find it and look for it you must as you will not be disappointed with this charming restaurant.  The decor is something out of a retirement home with lots of pink walls, fake flowers and hats hanging on the wall, shocking at first, but trust me, that’s the last thing you’ll notice once you take your first bite.  They do not have a liquor license and only serve beer and wine. I normally drink wine with dinner anyway so this doesn’t bother me a bit. The menu is fairly simple with items like Filet De Mer and Shrimp Scampi, but they keep it interesting with appetizers like the Tartines Provencal and always mouth-watering specials. You are gauranteed fresh, perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth dish in this culinary hideaway. I’m prone to ordering the Filet & Crab Cake because I rarely pass up the opportunity for a killer steak and most people know how I feel about crab cakes. How can I say no to both?  The service is fantastic, though a bit slow at times, but whatever! You’re on vacation, chill out!  Reservations are usually required, especially in the summertime.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the reviews on trip advisor, only one moron gave it 3 stars on the first page. 

Intro

First let me begin by saying that the title of my blog sucks and is totally not creative, as am I.  But I do love food, that much is true. I know, I know, who doesn’t love food? But here’s what I think: I think that some people who claim to love food, really don’t. They love eating. I used to be one of these people. I claimed to love food, but really I just loved the act of eating and the feeling of being satisfied after this act. These are important parts of loving food, yes, however, I don’t feel that I knew enough about food to love it. In fact, I didn’t know shit about food.  I ate what was comfortable for me and I rarely tried anything new. I knew nothing about what a good restaurant was supposed to be and ate where it was convenient and not too weird, and in turn, wasted a lot of money on mediocre meals. Now, I’m not saying that I know a lot about food now, not at all. I have much to learn and the chief reason I began this blog was to push myself to learn more, cook better and try new things. And of course, share successful recipes with my friends. I’d say, I still don’t know shit about food. But, I appreciate it and know now that I truly and passionately love food.  I love different flavors and textures and especially unexpected combinations.  I love using herbs, fresh and dried, and the smell of garlic cooking in oil. I love the way green tomatoes look in my white bowl or cutting open a bell pepper to find that weird pepper baby inside of it. I love to see mounds of fresh fruit and veggies at a local farmer’s market and buying tons of it, knowing some will go to waste, but being positive I can find perfect recipes to use them all. I love the first bite of something new and fabulous I’ve prepared and the feeling of accomplishment that yes, I made that! I love ordering something on the menu that I can’t pronounce and have never heard of, it’s so exciting. And man do I love a good steak, filet, medium rare with the perfect sear. And crab cakes, I love crab cakes, mine especially, because I really do make the best.