Alright. I’m here now, and it’s about time a woman cleaned up the place. Just kidding.

Well, Mark and i were thinking we should really start food blogging, so here’s an attempt.  Dinner last night was sort of a hodgepodge, but really tasty anyway.  Number one: Emeril’s french bread. I’ve made this recipe 4 or 5 times now, and i decided to spice it up- with garlic salt, a bit of mint, oregano, and fresh basil. Mark made the suggestion to put cheese on top as it baked. Yup, that worked well too!

fresh out of the oven

I have to admit, after 5 tries, i’m still trying to figure out how to roll these puppies up correctly. One day it will look like a baguette.

mark is a lovely hand model.

mark is a great hand model

and now a closeup…

mmm good

As i said, the rolling is still not perfect, but the herbs really gave it a nice taste.

voila

and now it’s a sandwich. Turkey, spinach, tomato, green onion, and 1-year-old New Zealand cheddar cheese (on sale for $3 at Kroger).

Now while the bread was baking, I was onto something else that i’m really proud of, because i figured out how to do it myself :) . Beer battered fries, or more specifically tonight: Guinness Chips.

Pretty simple: 5-6tbsp all purpose flour, plus half a bottle of guinness, and 3 thick-cut medium russetts. Feel free to drink the other half of the bottle.

batter for the chips

it should be really nice and thick, like a gravy. Coat those potatoes! Now, put some vegetable oil on med-high, and once it’s hot, throw ‘em in, a few at a time. Use a big pan if you can, so that they don’t stick together. Also make sure your oil really is nice and hot so that it can fry the batter on quickly, otherwise it’ll come off and sink to the bottom of the pot. Not good.

batch 1 of 4

Ok, so when they float, give ‘em another minute or two. You want them nice and brown, especially if you made them super-thick. Scoop them out, and sprinkle with salt.

Enjoy. I did!