I've made this tzizki sauce before, but this time I added fresh peppermint and greek oregano. So very tasty.

The rest of the salad had kale, red leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onions black olives and feta, and Israeli couscous.

The other plate was simply sliced apples, grapes, and sharp cheddar. Perfect.

 So first, Make this cocoa syrup. It is amazing and easy.

Ingredients



1 1/2 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa
1 orange zested
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
In a small pot, bring water and sugar to a boil and whisk in cocoa, orange zest, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until all of the solids have dissolved. Reduce sauce until slightly thickened. Cool to room temperature. Put it on everything.


Next the crepes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted (but not over heated


Directions


In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

Toppings
Fresh Strawberries from the garden
1 Lemon for juice
Sprigs of chocolate mint, sliced
Orange Cocoa Sauce

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

10 sprigs thyme, tied together

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes

1–2 teaspoons sugar, divided

1/4 cup (or more) heavy cream

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper



Melt butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add thyme, onion, and garlic. Cook until onion is completely soft and translucent, 10–12 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high; add tomato paste. Continue cooking, stirring often, until paste has begun to caramelize in spots, 5–6 minutes.

Add tomatoes with juices, 1 tsp. sugar, and 8 cups water to pot. Increase heat to high; bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer until flavors meld and soup reduces to about 2 quarts (8 cups), 45–55 minutes. Remove soup from heat; let cool slightly. Discard thyme sprigs. Working in small batches, purée soup in a blender until smooth. Return to pot. DO AHEAD Soup can be made 2 days ahead. Let cool slightly, cover, and chill. Rewarm before continuing.

Stir in 1/4 cup cream. Simmer soup until flavors meld, 10–15 minutes longer. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and remaining 1 tsp. sugar. Add more cream, if desired.


For the sandwich, I used some sourdough, buttered on the outsides, a very thin layer of miso paste on the inside, with some basil, ham and thick tillamook cheddar. I put this on the pan before turning on the heat to medium and kept it covered while it toasting.

 A solid breakfast right here.

English Muffins
2 eggs,
1 juiced and zested lemon
1/2 tspn cardamom
1/2 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
chopped hazelnuts.

I made the english muffin french toast, by splitting the muffin the night before and letting them sit out to get stale. This extra bite helps them absorb the egg and stay crispy and full of nooks and cranies when they are cooked.

For the glaze, I zested the lemon, then juiced it all out. I add the cardamom, and started mixing in the powdered sugar at about a large Tablespoon at a time, stirring until it was dissolved before adding more. I kept this up until it was thick, which took longer than I had expected.

Finally I just topped it all off with some hazelnuts to be fancy. Quite perfect.

 Muahhahaha! Successful Chinese meal made by me!

Though I did follow this recipe for the Drunken Noodles: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/dining/052grex.html

I did make some variations:
I used about 1.5x the amount of sauce that the recipe calls for.
Their recipe must have used a different type of noodle, because cooking for that long was over kill. I got some Wide Rice Noodles from Fubonn whose instruction read; cook in boiling water for 3 minutes, and then drain. You do need to keep this in some extra water to avoid them getting too sticky, or drain them and put them directly in the saute.
I used twice as many jalapenos, but could have done even more. It wasn't too spicy at all.
I didn't pick up any cilantro, though it would have been good. Instead I had thai basil, some other asian leafy herb, and some awesome mint leaves. Mint leaves are essential.
Finally, this recipe makes more than would fit in my large wok, so I cooked in batches. It is also good to add the noodles to the wok first, then the sauce, and let them cook until a couple parts start to brown on the bottom.
And again, I added extra sambal, so it definitely could have been spicier.


For the spring rolls:
1 package rice paper
Thai basil
Mint
3 carrots
1 cucumber
1 package scallions
rice vinegar
peanut sauce

The rice paper took a little practice. One recipe I read had you soak the rice paper for 5 minutes in boiling water. The package said to dip it in warm water for 5 seconds. I started with boiling water which made extracting the paper tricky. It would just come out of the water and stick together in a large clump. Eventually I learned the best method was to have warm water, dip the rice paper in for a literal second, just enough to get water to touch all parts, then lay it on a plate, add the shredded carrots, julienned cucumber and scallion, a touch of rice vinegar, the herbs and then wrap. After sitting for a minute while you composed, the rice paper became pliable and sticky. It was very easy to wrap up.
I purchased some peanut sauce to dip these in. Maybe not the best peanut sauce, but it was good enough, and easier than making it from scratch. I had too many other things going on in this recipe to worry about it.

 So you know it is getting nice here in Portland when my pictures of dinner are taken when the sun is still up and out.

I am lazy here so I am just going to link the two recipes I used for these dishes.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/orecchiette-with-roasted-fennel-and-sausage-recipe/index.html

Mom, you will be happy to note this has sundried tomatoes. Also, I used left over feta from the other recipe instead of Parmesan. I would also like to try this recipe with clams or mussels, or some combination of roasted fennel, tomatoes and mussels. And no one should be put off by fennel for a fear of black licorices flavor. Fennel, especially roasted is way mild.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-swiss-chard-with-feta/

This is the other recipe. It takes a bit of time to roast everything, but with plenty of feta and some lemon juice on top at the end, it is remarkably good. See, I just remarked on how good it was. I might have crowded the baking sheet, since I doubled the recipe, but I found it difficult to get the chard to crisp up instead of wilting and sticking to the sheet.

These tacos were excellent. I did a different treatment than I usually do for mexican food and it really paid off. There are a lot of ingredients here, but it actually came together really quick and easily.

Just make sure to marinate the meat, and roast the sweet potatoes before hand.


Part 1: The Meat
2 lbs pork country ribs, boneless.
chipotle in adobo
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp cayenne
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 cup water.

The day before, I mixed all these together and let sit in the fridge for 24 hours. I understand that country ribs aren't really ribs, but the gristle takes to the slow cooking well, and they have enough fat to have a ton of flavor. 2 hours before eating, put into a medium sized pot with a good lid. Make sure to only have enough of the liquid to be about an inch deep. You will want to braise these, not boil them, over medium heat for about 2 hours. Pull off the heat, take out the meat and the chipotles onto a cutting board and chop coarsely.

Part 2: The sweet potato base
oil
1 red onion
2-3 turnips
2 sweet potatoes, roasted for 30 mins at 400F the day before (they should be soft)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp dried oregano

Slice and saute the onion over high heat in a large wok. Over medium high heat, saute the chopped turnips. Chop the sweet potatoes into smallish pieces. When it is all soft, add the vinegar, water, and spices and stir together. The sweet potatoes should and it should be all pretty soft. Cook until the liquid is mostly gone, and you have a good pasty base.

Part 3: The Greens
oil
5 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
7 tomatillos, chopped
1 can pinto beans, rinsed
1 bunch chard, ends trimmed, chopped
1 Tbsp cayenne
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 tspn salt

The greens have the heat in this recipe. Saute the jalapenos, tomatillos, and beans. When they get soft, add the spices. When most of the liquid is gone, toss in the chard and stir until they wilt. Remove from the heat.

Part 4: The finishers
Corn tortillas
lime
cilantro
salsa

On a hot pan, crisp up the tortillas a touch. Layer on the sweet potato base. It should smear nicely. Top with the spicy greens, and then a few chunks of meat. Garnish with chopped cilantro, juicy lime, and some salsa.