Nym came by so I made breakfast for him and Dave – Flying Spaghetti Monsters! These were cool cuz the pasta is actually baked into the meatballs. They were also really yummy. Inspired by http://dabbled.org/2009/11/make-a-yummy-flying-spaghetti-monster.html

More pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinguino/sets/72157622805693556/

Last Thursday I wanted to suprise Dave with dinner. I had him choose from a long list of animals, and he chose the most ordinary one: the chicken. It was a challenge to make chicken fancy, but I hunted through about 100 recipes before I came across the Chicken Saltimbocca on Food Network. Basically, its a jellyroll with layered chicken, prosciutto, and spinach, sprinkled with parmesan, and pan fried. I had to hold the whole thing together with wooden coffee stirrers, because anything else in the house would probably melt (I contemplating wiring it together) and a pot lid had to fit over it. After the chicken was done, I made a gravy out of the stuff it was cooking in. It was the most complicated thing I’ve ever cooked. The dinner was an absolute success.

We also went to Wurstkuche, which I’d been to before. It’s a specialty sausage place with an extensive beer and soda selection. This time I tried Elderflower, which was light and sweet. I also had the rattlesnake eating rabbit sausage, which is my favorite sausage in the world, and really yummy fries with pesto mayo and buttermilk ranch.

The first year I went to Japan, with Aka-san from Intermixi, there was a snake sushi and me and (I think conco?) were the only ones brave enough to try it. This sorta started the whole adventurous eating thing, and the last time I was in Japan, Kim dragged me over to the snake ice cream, so I had to eat that, too. Rattlesnake sausage is about a zillion times tastier than either of those dishes.

Old video of me eating weird ice creams, including snake:

We’ve been trying out lots of restaurants around Universal recently. Follow me on yelp to see my reviews. http://pinguino.yelp.com

I’ve had many people through the years tell me that I was a terrible cook. Rightfully so, since seafood pasta was dumping a can of clam chowder over some overcooked noodles, or mixing up a batch of Kraft Mac’n'Cheese. I’m not sure what it was that finally led me down the path of making things other than cookies and sushi, but eventually I developed an interest in it.

Maybe it was watching Nous throw together amazing Christmas delights out of things laying around in her kitchen. Maybe it was Vissago coming over and pretty much buying me a pantryload of spices cuz I didn’t have salt or pepper shakers. Either way, I can make stuff now and it’s pretty awesome.

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a recipe for Bacon Lollipops, so I made them and brought them to the beach. People were apprehensive at first, but at the end of the day, all lollipops had been consumed. The pecans were a pain to chop without a food processor, so it’s not likely I’ll make them again, but if I do I’ll make them smaller and put them in smaller sticks, and use fresh basil. Also, I’d mix bacon into the cheese. Recipe here: http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/ingredients-meat/bacon-pops-goat-cheese-balls-with-herbs-pecans-bacon-082974