Chicken Mole Enchiladas

Sunday afternoons were created for a few specific things: good movies, long naps, glasses of red wine, OH - and football.  All of which preferably happens whilst some decadent deliciousness bubbles away in my oven or slow cooker. 

And this deliciouness is what I made to stock my freezer in case I didn't feel like cooking when I got back from the Christmas holiday.  Of course, not all of them actually made it to the freezer.  But I suppose it would have been naive of me to think they would.  Especially when I braised the chicken in mole.

Bubbling mole in all it's thick, rich, chocolately goodness is exactly what I'd like to smell while I lay on my couch taking occassional sips of a big California Zinfandel, and slip in and out of conciousness while some movie starring Ryan Gosling plays softly in the background.  That is my definition of a perfect Sunday afternoon.

I'm A Screamer

Or so it seems.  Because that's exactly what I did when someone sent me this picture of the latest seafood selection at Whole Foods.

That looks a little too much like a snake for me.  Not that I'm scared of snakes...well, not when they're dead.  But that just looks disgusting.  Still...I'm no punk.  So weird flaccid phallic object be damned!  I had dreams of unagi-topped crispy sushi rice to fufill.

Dreams really do come true.

Duck Duck Goose

It's good to have foodie friends.  REAL GOOD.  I love that they'll get excited with me when it's truffle season.  It's fantastic when they text me pictures of slow roasted meats and soft shell crab club sandwiches. 

But the best part of having foodie friends is that they invited you over for Sunday dinner.  And when you arrive, you discover that they are in their "bistro phase".  And in response to being asked what exactly that entails, you're told:  "That means I'm confit-ing my own duck up in here!"  And to that I say:  HELL.  YES.

I love when people are in their bistro phase!!  Look at that!  It quite literally fell off the bone.  How can you not love a duck like that?  Especially when it comes with proscuitto macaroni and cheese, mustard roasted brussel sprouts, and potatoes with crispy shallots.  I mean...come on.

Fish Tacos

How is it that I just ran out of limes?!  For me, limes are one of those ingredients that I never check to see if I have before I start cooking, because I always have them.  Always.  Except the other night when I decided to make fish tacos.

So annoying.  I was forced to eat my fish tacos with a squeeze of lemon juice.  Ugh.  I'm a victim.

Fortunately, all the smokily-charred chipotle sauce I rubbed on my fish before i pan-fried it made me feel better about my life.

Neptune Oysta

Boston.  Excuse me...Baaaston.  There are plenty of things I love about Baaaston.  Sure Ben Affleck  is a good start (the Ben Affleck from "The Town", not the Ben Affleck from "Mallrats"...obviously).  But it also has a sunrise that looks like this...

Not a bad way to wake up.  It's lovely, yes.  But not nearly as lovely as what happens at Neptune Oyster.

Neptune is a tiny place.  And much to the chagrin of my friend, who I was 30 minutes late meeting, they don't even let you sit at the bar for a drink.  Frankly, I'm shocked she hadn't assaulted the hostess by the time I arrived.  Then again, we were in Boston.  And you know...you never who's a shank toting gangsta.

Anyway, all was forgiven, when we finally sat down, and these babies took a seat right next to our prosecco....

Wellfleets and Kumamotos.  Street name: Briney Goodness.  And I was only a few oysters in when my appetizer showed up. (Um, yes, they're quick to turn over a table there...hmpf...)

YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GOOD THAT WAS!  Let's look at it from another angle...

So let's just recap exactly what's going on here.  That would be what happens when you make a perfectly thin buttermilk johnnycake, schmear just the right amount of honey butter ontop of it, and then top THAT with smoked trout tartare, and then top THAT with little pearl caviar.  And then you take a bite.  And then you pass out a little from all the buttery-creamy-smokey-caviar poppin-goodness.

And when you finally come to.  And you open your eyes.  You see THIS...

See, here's the thing.  I am not a person who arrives at a restaurant unawares. I tend to read a menu at least once (possibly three or four times) before I get there.  And when I read the menu, it said the scallops came with some kind of braised pork shank, and my favorite: chanterelle mushrooms.  Well, apparently, they  ran out of chanterelle's.  Fortunately, they replaced it with the next most logical ingredient: DUCK CONFIT!  What?!  Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.