I ordered the Taste of Woody's (heh heh), which includes spare ribs, BBQ pork loin, beef smoked turkey, broasted BBQ chicken, and of course, two sides. Oh, and Texas toast. I wanted cole slaw and onion rings as my sides, and they didn't even up-charge me for the rings. Score. I actually wanted to order a different sampler, but they were out of brisket. This was fairly late in the dinner hours for this sort of place, so I wasn't too miffed about it, since they had plenty of variety in their combo platters.

Wednesday night, I headed to Cincinnati with Tim & KG to see THE Greg Dulli. I rarely talk about my likes outside of food here, but let me make this very clear - Greg Dulli (of Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers & Gutter Twins fame) is the only man besides my husband that I will love until my dying breath. Not the same way, of course. I love the Dulli in a mildly creepy, obsessive way - not an ironing his shirts and dealing with his mother sort of way.

And as much as I wanted to try the Drunken Noodles, I went for the Tamarind Beef.

The portions are huuuuuuuge, considering the price. You could easily order one dish between two people, like most Asian-fare restaurants. I only tried a nibble of the stir fry, since I was trying to avoid the shrimp, but what I had was great. Crisp veggies, light sauce, and beautifully plated.

Last week I had a lunch meeting in the party room of ele Cake Company in West Carrollton, mostly because they were one of the only places in town letting us use a large private space for free on such short notice.

I ordered the BLT salad and chicken tortilla soup, and both were good. The soup was a bit on the spicy side for me, so I didn't finish it due to developing heartburn. The salad was great and had plenty of bacon on it (bonus points!), a nice mix of greens and a wonderful dressing. They also brought a small tray of cheesy triangle breads fresh out of the oven, and those were tops. Garlic-y and lots of flavor, but still small and light enough that we didn't feel guilty polishing off the whole tray.

I couldn't believe my husband had never had a dish that contains his own surname. I mean, if you're bob Smith and there was a dish called "Pork Chops a la Smith," wouldn't you have tried it by now? Well, now that it's my namesake, too, I figured it was time to try recreating another one of my childhood favorites - Chicken a la King.

Melt butter over medium heat and add drained mushrooms and green pepper, cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Blend in the flour, salt, and pepper and cook over low - stirring constantly, until it's bubbly.
Stir in instant bouillon, milk, water, and reserved mushroom liquid. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly and cook for 1-2 minutes without reducing heat.
Stir in chicken and pimiento and heat through.

Last weekend we headed to Young's Dairy for the first time with our buddies Matt & Ginger and their baby nerds. We goofed around, looked at the baby goats (Satan's most adorable creation) and their creepy sideways pupils, then sat down for an early-bird dinner at the Golden Jersey Inn. Basically, I was only interested in the fried cheese curds, but I knew if I just ordered three plates of them for dinner, I'd be hawking Activia harder than Jamie Lee Curtis by Monday.

I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to make chilaquiles for dinner. It's one of the easiest dishes ever if you use pre-made ingredients. Even if you make everything from scratch, it's still only about a 30 minute dish. Here's what you'll need:

Wendy's Pick Two: Their new deluxe salads are totally legit, and now you can opt for a smaller salad and pair it with one of their value menu items for just $4.99. Today for lunch I had the chili and BLT chicken cobb salad and it kept me full until well into dinner-cooking time.

Long story short, we made some big mistakes with a client and I needed to smooth things over. Nothing really says "mah bad" better than baked goods. I'm usually at a loss for family-owned bakeries in Huber (besides Old Glory, which is pretty out of my way) - but last week Dayton Dining/Dayton Most Metro had a little blurb about a place on 202 that I wanted to check out. It sits in the partially hot pink parking lot that used to be Patty Cakes, just past Harshman.

We have BFD at least once a week here, and usually we're fine with bacon, eggs, and some fried taters (mmmhmmm). But, sometimes I like to switch it up and use a different breakfast meat, or find something fancier to do with the eggs. Making a quiche has always been my greatest culinary undoing. It always overcooks on the bottom, and is never fluffy and decadent like it should be. This may have something to do with my 30 year old stove - which thankfully, since I've made these baby quiches last week, is now with Appliance Jesus in Stove Heaven.

I found a basic quiche filling recipe from a Julia Child recipe and tweaked it with the fillings I wanted. Here's what you'll need:

2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 C half & half
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cracked pepper
1/2 C shredded Swiss cheese
6 strips of bacon, cooked & crumbled

Coat a mini or regular muffin pan with cooking spray and preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, whisk your eggs, cream, salt and pepper (I like to add a pinch of cayenne, too). Divide the egg mixture evenly between the cups until they're about 1/2 to 2/3 full, then sprinkle each cup with bacon crumbles and Swiss cheese. Of course, you can use any kind of quiche-friendly meat and cheese you like, but this is Quiche Lorraine, fools. So, the bacon & Swiss are a must.

Bake about 25 minutes or until centers are completely set. You can tell by slipping a toothpick into the center - if it comes out clean, they're good to go.