The day: Thursday, February 20th, 2014. The occasion: a belated Valentine's day celebration.
Bryan and I were both occupied by work on the actual Valentine's day. We previously decided to celebrate a week later when we were both available. I surprised him with an Xbox One. He gave me something even better.
I'm a big fan of Alton Brown. There's just something about his knowledge and his ability to goof off that makes him a great balance of awesome. He's the Bill Nye of food. I remember watching Food Network with my mom when it first started off watching How to Boil Water and Good Eats. It was one of my most clear memories and probably the beginning of my food obsession. So as a surprise, Bryan planned an entire day of Good Eats. Good Eat videos, recipes and the most important part, the food.
The man himself
He even dressed like Alton Brown!
Since we never cook together it was fun and romantic. Normally, one of us is in the kitchen and the other is on the couch. On this wonderful day we worked as a team to create delicious and blog worthy food. First up, crepes.
Crepes were something that I wish we had while in Paris, but sometimes you have to forgo food for sight seeing. So we made savory crepes, Alton Brown style with a poached egg, another food I've never made. Just in case you wanted to try it out yourself, here's his recipe.
Ingredients for crepes
Poaching it up
Poached egg with savory crepes
After running a few errands around town, we made our way to one of our favorite food shops, Cheese and Crackers. The surprise addict (aka Bryan) took me there under false pretenses. I thought I was going to receive some gourmet chocolate truffles or olives and cheese. To my surprise, the man behind the counter handed me a whole red snapper. I was relieved and elated. I know it's kind of strange, but luckily Bryan embraces the fact that I would choose fish over chocolate. Here's the recipe, it's not Alton Brown, but still adventurous and still good.
My soon to be salty steamed friend
Taking out the gills
Stuffin' dat fish
Salted little fishy
Ready for extraction
Tada!
For our next adventure, I was told to stand in the kitchen and close my eyes. Immediately after I opened them, I screamed, jumped and ran in the other direction. About two feet in front of me were two live and squirming lobsters. My squeals caught the attention of our very curious dog and so did the lobsters. Here's Alton's recipe for stuffed lobster.
Curious little puppy
Split
Stuffed
Stuffed lobster with sauteed mushrooms and asparagus
To round out the evening, you must have dessert. This one is also not an Alton recipe, but still simple and delicious. And since Alton made a cheese souffle in his episode, we can forgive him. Mini chocolate souffles anyone?
Whipping some egg whites
Stiff peaks... and my own bowtie
And we're folding, we're folding...
Completed chocolate souffle
I know Bryan is going to consider this a personal challenge to outdo himself, but this was the best date I've ever had. Not only did I get to cook with my love, I got to conquer some of my culinary fears and I was rewarded with delicious homemade food all day. I could die happy now. Oh and watching the dog freak out about the lobsters was pretty entertaining too.
-Akemi-chan
