T-Bone Prep

T-Bone Prep a photo by pjpink on Flickr.

To make herb-roasted T-Bone steak:

Chop up fresh parsley and oregano and a clove of garlic. Add just enough olive oil to mix and then add sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Rub the mixture on the steak and let rest at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a frying pan that can withstand high oven temps, heat on stove over medium-high. Place beef in frying pan and sear for about 2-3 minutes per side. Place pan in oven and roast for 20-30 minutes depending on how you like your steak. (Be careful pulling pan out of oven. Use oven mitts!)

SOJ 11/19/2011

Vendors still in abundance at the South of the James Market. We picked up our pre-ordered fresh turkey from Ault's yesterday. Quite a few vendors selling lovely looking lettuces and greens as well as persimmons and fresh ginger. Mrs. Yoder continues her donut reign. Two more Saturdays for the regular market. After that, the winter market kicks in.

Here are a few photos:

If you have local market photos, post them here.

Chasing Away the Marathon Blues

What does one do when the Richmond Marathon has one penned in on all sides? I'm glad that the marathon brings honor, glory, and, hopefully, some tourist dollars to our fair city. But I literally cannot go anywhere in a car until it's over.

This year we were smart and strolled over to Dot's Back Inn for brunch. After a Bloody Mary and a Mimosa we weren't caring that much about feeling trapped.

And then I had the Smithfield Benedict - English muffin, country ham, fried egg (over easy), and hollandaise sauce. Served with a side of home fries. Yummy!

Did Richmond have a marathon?

I want to thank the staff for making extra efforts to get to work. While they made us forget all about our brief inconvenience, they had to park quite a ways from Dot's and hoof it to work.

Veal Schnitzel

Veal Schnitzel a photo by pjpink on Flickr.

Tastebuds American Bistro is featuring Veal Schnitzel with apple-cranberry cabbage and roasted potatoes this weekend. Yummy.

They also have added a 2006 Beronia Rioja Riserva to their red wine line up. Lots of complexity and very tasty.

And if you have room for dessert try the lavender and black pepper ice cream. Floral with a hint of heat.

Breakfast at the Silver Diner

Surry Sausage, Potatoes, Eggs, Biscuit a photo by pjpink on Flickr.

The Silver Diner in Innsbrook has Surry sausage on the menu!

Overindulging at Lemaire

Before heading over to the InLight Festival a couple of weeks ago, we stopped by the bar at Lemaire to enjoy a cocktail, appetizers, wine, etc. We were lucky to grab a couple of bar stools. A couple of the tables in the bar area were reserved. A big party was whooping it up at the front of the bar. We arrived early enough to take advantage of $5 Manhattans and the 3 appetizers for $20 deal.

The Manhattans hit the spot.

We then ordered wine from the Discoveries List ($30 or less a bottle) - A Redtree Petite Sirah from California. Not too heavy. Very tasty. A decent choice given the variety of food we ordered.

BBQ Pork Quesadilla - lots of flavor and very filling. It was strange for me to be eating melted cheese on BBQ pork, however.

Fried Calamari - a bit different that what we are used to. This looked like it came from a bigger squid. Very tender. Although the menu stated crispy, not so much.

Tuna Martini - my all-time favorite app at Lemaire. Raw tuna with seaweed salad and accompanied by three types of fish roe. The red roe is the best.

Hubby also ordered the Virginia country ham and pimento cheese sandwich which he thoroughly enjoyed.

The sandwich definitely hit the overindulgence mark, but, still, a great start to the evening. Photos of the InLight Festival are posted here.

Mrs. Yoder's Donuts

Mrs. Yoder's Donuts a photo by pjpink on Flickr.

Get them hot at the South of the James Market on Saturday mornings. Yummy!

The Mill on MacArthur

Over the last several months we have eaten at The Mill on MacArthur three times. We always want to see a local neighborhood restaurant succeed, especially one that we can walk to. Unfortunately, our experiences have not made us enthusiastic fans. The first time we had breakfast at dinner - typical eggs, bacon, biscuit, potatoes. I was happy that we had a breakfast option, but the potato pancake was not to either of our liking. The Mill has since dispensed with breakfast food after 4 PM. Our second experience was much better for lunch - Black Angus Sliders and Oyster Po Boy. I loved the caramelized onions on the sliders and they were the perfect size. The oysters were decent. Both came with house-made chips. Also good.

Last week was our third trip. This time we ordered a couple of appetizers and a pizza. Hubby is always drawn to oysters, so he ordered the fried oyster starter.

It looked like the oysters were cut up into pieces instead of being fried whole. He couldn't really tell, but he was disappointed with the app.

I tried the grilled wings. I liked the grilled-ness and the wings were very meaty, but, otherwise, these wings were bland. No zip; no zing. The ranch dressing did not enhance matters.

We shared the pizza special: Philly Cheesesteak Pizza.

Not too bad; although hubby kept complaining the he could not taste the meat as much as he would like. The other ingredients overpowered the meat. The crust was crispy but a bit thick and a bit sweet. The more we ate, the more it seemed like refrigerated pizza dough from the grocery store. The crust just did not satisfy.

If we visit The Mill again, we will stick to the sliders and chips. If they ever replace the potato pancake with real mashed potatoes for the turkey blue plate, I will want to at least give that a whirl.