Sunday With The Lanning's

Where were the Lanning's supposed to be today? Linda isn't quite sure so it seems. Last Sunday Janna and I invited the Lanning's over for Sunday dinner today, we made sure we told Linda and Evie and later in the week we told James. Linda forgot about it and high tailed it to Canada, our invitation slipped Evie's mind and thus the Lanning's appeared headed to the Pickerings for dinner instead of the Birn's. James is the only one who remembered which not only means he earns a gold star but it means he's the voice of responsibility at the Lanning house. In any event, the Pickerings agreed to come to our home and invite their family over later in the day so it all worked out in the end.
For dinner we served Boeuf Bourguignon, a lovely french version of beef stew. The beef is seared in bacon fat and the stew simmers away with a bottle of red wine. It was the perfect dish for a cold Sunday afternoon.
With our Boeuf Bourguignon we served some lovely oven roasted potatoes, cooked simply with salt, pepper and heart healthy olive oil.
For desert we served a lovely Coeur la Creme with strawberry sauce. Coeur la Creme is a wonderfully rich desert made with cream cheese, creme and vanilla. It's put in a special Coeur la Creme mold and parked in the fridge for a couple of days to drain. The result is a desert that will blow your minds and probably your hearts.
It is quite clear that Pastor Lanning's favorite dish is the Coeur la Creme. He was like a kid in the candy store.
We were glad to see the Pickering's stop by and we thank them for rearranging their afternoon for us. They seem to be eying the strawberry sauce and I can't blame them, it's awful good.
We didn't have enough spots at the table so we put Evie and Red at the kiddie table. You can see that Evie is having a terrific time sitting at the kiddie table. And here she thought that at 18 she would finally get to sit with the grownups.
James, the only responsible Lanning, was pulled away from his drum set long enough to enjoy dinner with us.
Believe it or not folks but Red actually ate today. I don't know how many times I need to say it but Red seriously needs to eat as she's gettin to skinny.
Even Seamus was shocked to see Red eating. He's told Daddy on several occasions that he thinks Red needs to eat more. Why he's even told me he would offer her some of his dinner. I politely told him that Red probably doesn't want to eat Purina One even though it will give her coat a nice shinny look.
We always enjoy having the Lanning's over for Sunday dinner. The fellowship we have with them is always top notch. Our pastor does so much for us and the church, I think it's important that we give back to him and his family and what better way than to have them over for a lovely dinner of Boeuf Bourguignon. We are certainly blessed to have such a good pastor and his wonderful family in our home.

Olives

On Monday Janna and I got to return to one of our favorite restaurants: Olives. Olives is located in the Gas Light Village in East Grand Rapids. In any event, the atmosphere is hip and pottery barn industrial. The food is outstanding. The only problem is the arrogance of those who live in East but I seem to fit in fine with them.

We've been to Olives on several occasions, so much so that we have favorite dishes. Janna raves about the Chicken Vesuvio. I am fond of the shrimp linguine in a lovely white wine butter sauce. I've had the braised short ribs before and they are also quite excellent as is the rigatoni. If you're a fan of soup Olives is the place for you, they always have a great homemade soup. We've had their beef noodle and tomato soup before and they're both quite excellent. The homemade noodles are wonderful and they serve their soup with grilled bread which is a lovely added touch.

On Monday I talked Janna into trying something different. I told her she would love the loaded baked potato which was loaded with lobster, fresh herbs and served with a brandy cream sauce. It took some prodding but she finally agreed to get it and what do you know she loved it. The lobster was sweet and succulent and the brandy cream sauce was apparently to die for. Needless to say, Janna was well pleased with her dinner.

I started my meal off with a bowl of their gumbo. I'm a big fan of gumbo and this one was not quite up to par. It was more of a spicy soup than it was a gumbo, had they advertised it as such it would have been top notch. But it was advertised as a gumbo and frankly it tasted as though there were no roux in it at all. My other complaint is that the sausage was way over cooked and thus dry and mealy. For my main course I decided that I didn't want to go hog wild so I got their wimpy burger which is served as three mini burgers with bacon and bleu cheese. The burgers were perfectly cooked and the bacon and bleu cheese added a wonderful kick. My only complaint is that the buns were soft bready creatures that tasted as though they had been purchased from the D&W across the street.

Olives is a solid restaurant with good service and good food. The menu is generally pretty innovative and I can't argue with the presentation of any of their dishes. They are plated beautifully. Olives is a solid 2 star and with a little upgrade would make a wonderful 3 star selection.

Our Review of Restaurant Villegas

Last Friday Janna and I went out with my folks to Restaurant Villegas in Okemos. Villegas is owned by Chef Eric Villegas of PBS' "Fork in the Road" fame. Villegas focuses on contemporary Midwestern cuisine, the excitement that the chef has for food is apparent in all of the selections available at his restaurant.

Villegas has been in Okemos for around 10 years and yet it's one of the few places I haven't been in Okemos. Granted, I was in college and law school for most of that time and now I live in Grand Rapids so maybe it isn't a surprise. In any event, Villegas is inviting with contemporary and rustic decor. The restaurant does a lot with the odd space that it has been given, while it's somewhat narrow and tight fitting it's still welcoming.

Now down to our real business at hand, the food! I started my meal with a roasted pork soup. Chunks of pork, kidney beans and other vegetables are served in a wonderfully rich pork stock. This soup was a true delight as it's very rare to find a pork soup of any kind, much less one that is made with pork stock. For my main course I had smoked pork shoulder topped with a jalapeño cream sauce served with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and green beans. The pork shoulder was perfectly smoked and seasoned. I freely admit that I am not a fan of cream sauces and this one in particular added nothing to the meal. The Jalapeño cream sauce didn't have even the slightest hint of Jalapeño and didn't add anything to the meal. Thankfully, it was little more than a topper for the pork as opposed to a main part of the dish. The mashed potatoes were excellent, not to creamy which is exactly how I like them.

Janna had a lovely salad and macaroni and cheese. No, this isn't your blue box mac and cheese, this was high class mac and cheese. Janna said that it had a nice kick to it. My mother had this strange Quiche concoction that she said was quite good. My father went with the NY Strip steak with chili butter, mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. The steak was grilled perfectly and the chili butter provided a welcomed kick to this steak. The vegetables were grilled to perfection.

Now, one can't have such a nice dinner and not have desert. I had the crème brule which was absolutely perfect. The custard was set perfectly and the vanilla beans were pleasing to the eye and pallet. One always knows a good crème brule when the caramelized sugar crunches and did this crème brule ever crunch! Janna had a Verona chocolate cake which was perfectly chocolaty. The cake was moist and the frosting flavorful. I freely admit that I had more than a bite of her cake, the fact that I liked it says a lot since I really am not a fan of cake.

Restaurant Villegas is a wonderful place, the contemporary Midwestern cuisine is the best in the state. Eric Villegas has been putting together great menus for his place for a decade and it really shows. He's a top notch chef and a credit to the Lansing culinary scene. If anyone is going to Lansing anytime soon, I highly recommend Restaurant Villegas.

I Would Rather Be Here Today

Beautiful Florence

The Uffizi Gallery on the banks of the Arno.

Siena in all of its medieval glory.

The glories of Il Campo in Siena

Old world Cinque Terre

The lovely Mediterranean

Lovely Venice

The Grand Canal

It's Actually Cold And Snowy Outside

It's Sunday morning and it's freezing cold outside. According to Weather Bug, it's currently 2 degrees outside. Yesterday we were pelted with at least 8-10 inches of snow here in Alger Heights, perhaps more. Today we are expected to get another 2-4 inches, it's currently snowing and they said the snow showers are to continue well into the afternoon. I used the snow blower twice yesterday and will have to use it at least once today if I'm to get out tomorrow. Church has been canceled, which is quite unfortunate. However, with the weather conditions being what they are and the roads in a terrible state, it's for the best that we don't drive to church. Let's be thankful for the days in which we are able to freely go to worship corporately, days like this are a reminder from God of the blessings we have such as freely being able to attend corporate worship.
Janna's sad little car is covered in snow. She hasn't been out in a couple days and it doesn't look like she's going anywhere anytime soon.
My car looks like it has just as much snow on it. I'm going to have to make it road worthy for tomorrow. Thankfully, our snowblower is heavy duty and ought to be able to clear a decent path to Union Ave. for me.
For as cold as it is, the snow is beautiful.
This is a view of southbound Union Ave. Yes, I'm standing in the middle of the road. For a change it looks like almost no one has driven on the street this morning. In fact, you can barely tell the difference between the road and the median or folks front yards. Needless to say, it's going to be a very quiet day here in Alger Heights, with the exception of various snow blowers.
You can see here our sidewalk and pathway leading to the house. It looks like there's at least a foot of snow in our front yard, keep in mind the sidewalks have at least 3 inches of snow on it when this picture was taken.
Seamus is ever so excited about the snow. It comes up to above his chest but of course that doesn't stop him from romping around the back yard.
Seamus has made pathways in the back yard for himself and he rarely moves out of them. His face, chest and legs are covered in snow, he's our sweet little snowball.
And after five minutes outside it's time to come back in and warm up. Hot chocolate for all, except for Seamus who will no doubt enjoy a his Scooby Snack. Keep warm one and all and enjoy listening to sermons online this morning.

Birn School Of Culinary Arts Returns

Agnus and Buster came by for another cooking lesson. I was as excited as a June bride on a feather bed over this weeks lesson: Pork chops.
We made a lovely Italian pork chop, breaded with parmasan cheese and pan fried to a lovely golden brown. The key to making a good pork chop is to not over cook it. Most people think that pork needs to be cooked well done but this isn't so. Pork should only be cooked to medium to meadium well. Folks think that pork is going to kill you if it isn't well done, this isn't so at all. Don't believe in old wives tales, cook it a little less and it will be wonderful and juicy like ours.
Janna made some lovely roasted vegetables. Roasting them allows their natural sugars to caramelize, thus creating a wonderful side dish.
And what Birn dinner wouldn't be complete without our oven roasted potatoes with herbs. Fresh herbs and the right amount of rich, fruity olive oil makes this side dish absolutely perfect.
And what Birn dinner doesn't have a wonderful desert? Tonight we had Janna's world famous cheesecake with a wonderful blueberry sauce. The blueberry sauce was wonderful and fruity, the perfect summery addition to this cheesecake, and who doesn't want a bit of summer with the weather we've been having?
Janna is well pleased with her cheesecake. We're always happy when our guests leave full and happy. The one good thing about food is that it brings everyone to the table for fellowship and this is a blessing for all of God's people.
Unfortunately for Seamus, his evil step mother forced him upstairs. Don't worry son, Daddy will save you.