cheeky and a plus one

Sandwiches from Cheeky:

 Fried chicken, gravy, coleslaw on a biscuit

The gravy was a little chilly, but no big deal, probably because it's gravy and everybody likes gravy. This was actually Joey's sandwich, so I only had a little bite, but it was really good. The fried chicken was just a little peppery and the right amount of crispy/crunchy, and the coleslaw was a nice touch to complement the fried chicken-gravy heaviness. Lots of textures going on in this sandwich-- creamy, crunchy, crispy, flaky--you know, all that good stuff.

The less attractive pork chop sandwich with caramelized apples, onions, and spicy mustard

This was good, but didn't really blow me away or anything. I can think of other pork sandwiches I liked more. Although, those were of the pork belly variety and I guess it's just not fair to compare any other sandwich to the bliss that is pork belly. Anyway, I like pork and apples together. I wish the mustard was a little more kick-y though, that would have been nice with the sweetness, but it wasn't very spicy to me. And that's saying something because I can't even eat spicy Cheetos.

Ricotta and roasted grapes crostini

Ew, look at that horrible faux marble laminate top of my sickly yellow kitchen. I swear it's so much more pleasant to look at in real life and in the day time. So I made dinner for Julia yesterday and started off on this really high note but then it went real south real fast. But first let's talk about how good this crostini was. I've never roasted grapes before and they were amazing! All that sugar comes bubbling out and they are so delicious, especially when they're paired with that creamy ricotta (I added salt and pepper too). Then I also roasted beets for the first time...it was close-your-eyes easy, but since I only recently started liking beets, I had never done it before and was sort of nervous. BUT THEN, the part that I definitely have made before, I screwed up so hard. And it wasn't even the hard part. I bought this fresh gnocchi and I had these big plans with sweet potatoes and squash and sage butter, then I freaked out when I dropped the gnocchi in the boiling water (while it was still frozen, I know this isn't where I messed up!) and it just looked like it was turning into goop. But I gave it a little time and they weren't floating to the top, but then I just freaked out more and took them out. It was over 2 minutes and I was afraid I was over-cooking them...turns out I just undercooked them. I mean, they got a nice crispiness on the outside once I put them in the pan with the sage butter..well some of them did. I dunno, it tasted good, but had a funny texture. Oops. Maybe next time...