I waited until I could get to Wegman’s today to get my scallops.  I haven’t had them in a while, and have really been in the mood for them.  I sometimes wish we lived in DC, or at least a lot closer, so we could take advantage of the fresh fish markets.  But, we don’t, so I have to make do with the options out here in the country.  You want fabulous cow, chicken, lamb, or pork…no problem.  We have farms all over the place.  But really fresh fish?  So, Wegman’s is my vendor of choice for that.  I’ve purchased scallops from Wegman’s before, but the ones I got today were just in a whole other class.  I made a really butter-y Riesling sauce, then I pan-seared the scallops in a little oil, after sprinkling them with some sea salt and fresh-ground black pepper.  I actually intended to get a bottle of Pinot Gris for the sauce, but I passed by the French Rieslings…and the bottle of ’07 Trimbach (with the nice Wine Spectator 91 rating) jumped out at me from the shelves.  It was earthy and mineral-y, and completely French – really nice in the sauce, and to drink.

So, I know I’ve been absent for a while.  I did a LOT of cooking over the past week.  There’s nothing else to do when you are forced to stay indoors because the streets, and your freakin’ long gravel driveway, aren’t plowed out after 4 feet of snow fell between two blizzards in less than a week.  I attempted pizza dough one night.  Baking is still seriously my Achilles heel.  The dough wasn’t bad…but it didn’t have the texture it should have.  And it didn’t really puff up in the oven.  It’s a work in progress.  My homemade pizza sauce, however, was fabulous.  And I love that I can throw anything on a pizza and my daughter will eat it.  We busted out of the house last Friday, and then I didn’t cook all weekend.  Back to my fun this week!  And I have Brasserie Beck to look forward to on Saturday.  My daughter’s 14th birthday is coming up next week, and this is her pick for birthday dinner.  And Kirstin is flying in on Saturday night!  She’s on her way back to London from New Orleans….can’t wait to see her!

The snow started on Friday morning and didn’t stop until yesterday around 4pm.  Final total for Loudoun County, VA – 33 inches on average.  That’s what we have at our house.  This is seriously the most snow I’ve ever seen, and I grew up in Ohio.  We lost a giant tree in our backyard and I don’t think the plows will come down our road for another day or so.  SQ was already losing his mind yesterday.  But I have food!  The grocery stores were insane on Thursday, people grabbing things off the shelves as if they would be trapped for weeks.  Watching my daughter slog through the snow yesterday, which was up to her waist, to get to the neighbors’ house was hilarious.  The one-minute trip took her about 15 or 20.

So, what did I make?  I slow-roasted a brisket on Friday, kind of Southern-style, along with some garlic mashed potatoes.  This was kind of a no-brainer dinner – I did have to work on Friday.  And no, not in an office…I do have a laptop and a wireless connection, even out here in the country.  My daughter loves pasta, and if I haven’t mentioned it before, she could and would eat it every day.  She poked around and found a recipe for Baked Rigatoni with Sausage and Mushrooms on epicurious.com, and pleaded with me to make that.  Not a complicated recipe, but it just takes a while as you have to keep reducing things down.  It takes about 1 1/2 hours or so from start to finish, but it was SO worth it.  We popped open a bottle of ’05 Chianti Ruffina, which was really delicious after it opened up a bit in the glass.

Today is now Super Bowl Sunday.  Not that I give a crap about football, but I was feeling the need to make chili today.  Isn’t that what people normally do on this day?  I’m making a white chicken chili and some homemade cornbread.  I’ve played around with how to cook the chicken, and settled on poaching it in stock before adding to the hot stew.  I also add a lot of cheese to it – I like the Kerrygold aged cheddar for this.  It’s pretty easy to find and doesn’t overpower the other flavors.  I still can’t quite get my cornbread balance right.  I love the cake-y, kind-of-sweet cornbread, which I know is not very ‘southern’ of me, but I don’t care.  I will attempt again today, and let you know how it turns out tomorrow.  I don’t really care much for baking, and this is no exception for me…probably explains why I can’t easily find the fix.  I’ve also got some Granny Smith apples and a couple of boxes of all-butter puff pastry.  I think an easy apple pie is also in our near future.

I’ve got a pot of French press Mayorga coffee right now and the sun is shining, but it is really freaking cold outside.  Tomorrow may be interesting…I will getting very creative with meals.  I hope we get plowed out by Tuesday, but there’s also another snow storm in the forecast for that day.  It could be a very long week…

It was just sitting there, calling to me as I was getting some sliced London Port at the deli counter.  Very expensive, but really worth it kind of Gouda cheese.  Syd (yes, my daughter) consistently proclaims that she doesn’t like ‘cold’ cheese, but she gobbled this up.  It was all crumbly and had great flavor.  I could have just eaten that for dinner with some crackers and a bottle of wine.  I may go back and get some more tomorrow once VDOT plows the snow off the roads.  Syd’s counting on being off school again tomorrow.  I’m just irritated at having to watch it come down and cover everything up again.  Whatever – I made another yummy pork tenderloin for dinner.  I marinated it in some balsamic vinegar and garlic, then roasted it with some chopped up leeks.  And I keep trying to copy the highly memorable salad I had 2 years ago in Edinburgh, at a restaurant called Fisher’s in the City.  It took me a couple of months after we came back to figure out that ‘rocket’ and ‘arugula’ are the same thing.  It was the simplest salad – just the rocket tossed with some lemon juice and olive oil, homemade garlic croutons,parmesan shavings, and pepper.  I haven’t been able to find parmesan that good, but I’ve come really close.

I also got a Red Velvet Cupcake mix from Williams-Sonoma as a gift last week.  I made them last night, and though the end product was a bit dry we have successfully finished off all 12 cupcakes in 24 hours.  I don’t care much for baking, it’s my Achilles heel.  But these were pretty easy to make, and I cheated and used store-bought frosting.  SQ has stated a couple of times that maybe he should take up baking so we could be a great kitchen team.  I said I think that’s a great idea, but I secretly think that he doesn’t have the patience for it, or the time.  OK, I guess not a secret now…  Maybe someday, after he makes enough money for us to sell our house and move to France, he can take up baking and hone his photography skills.  Then we could do something crazy like sell sliders and cupcakes out of a trailer.