You Have $300 - Would You Buy A Burberry Cashmere Scarf Or Make A Rockin' Dinner?

Burberry.  Burberry is the beyond fabulous British luxury fashion house whose distinct tartan pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.  The FTSE 100 is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.  When 21 year old Thomas Burberry, a former draper's apprentice, opened his own store in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England in 1856 I'm sure he wasn't imagining that his tartan plaid scarf would, hands down, become one of the most desired scarfs.  Personally, I just can't thank you enough Mr. Thomas Burberry!!  Oh, and when I sell the first OkraLogic . A Girl Cook book I ...WILL....be buying the white Burberry trench coat with black quilted leather sleeves.  I mean, are you KIDDING me?!?  It is so beyond cool it leaves me speechless!

Now let's discuss what constitutes a "rockin' dinner!"  What would your $300 rockin' dinner involve?  Would it involve chicken?  Would it involve caviar?  Would it involve lobster?  Would it involve Porterhouse steak?  Would it involve fresh, out of  the water Alaska salmon?  Would it involve tomatoes?  Would it involve potatoes?  Would it involve onions?  Would it involve Funyuns, that oh-so-delicious onion flavored corn snack?  What it involve asparagus?  Would it involve pineapple?  Would it involve Feta cheese?  Would it involve blue cheese?  Would it involve scallions?   I mean, there are just endless possibilities of what constitutes a rockin' dinner!

So what to do, what to do.  What would you do with your $300.00?  Would you buy the fabulous Burberry scarf of would you make a rockin' dinner?  Hmmmm, what would you do?  I  know what I would do but you'll have to read to the end to find out!  (smile)

This would be my $300 rockin' dinner:

To StArT...Soft Butter Lettuce Blended With Crisp Hearts Of Romaine & Topped With English Cucumber, Vine Ripened Tomatoes, Feta Cheese, Purple Onion, Finely Diced Fresh Garlic, Fresh Lemon Juice, Extra Light Virgin Olive Oil, Red Garlic Wine Vinegar, Sea Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper.
(My love of salad came from my Pappy's love of salad bars.  I wanted to do everything Pappy did and if Pappy grazed the salad bar, then I would graze the salad bar too! Present day, I r-u-n from a salad bar when I see one because all I can think about are all the people who have sneezed or coughed over everything as they're making their salads and wiping their noses with the back of their hand before they put the dressing ladle back in the dressing bucket.  It's just too scary for me.  It's scary like "The Shining" scary - minus Jack Nicholson of course. I love Jack. Jack is not scary.  Salad bars are scary. I do love salad though!)

ThE mAiN eVeNt...2" Fresh Butcher Cut Porterhouse Steak Grilled By Chris To Medium Rare Perfection On The Big Green Egg.  This Beautiful Porterhouse Steak Would Marinate All Day In My Simple But Not Simple Tasting Homemade Marinade
(My love of steak ...I don't really know where this came - I don't have memories of Dad standing over a grill flipping sides of beef on Summer evenings.  I do however remember ordering steak at restaurants when I was a child and instructing the server to serve it medium rare ....and to please bring me another Shirley Temple ...with extra cherries.)  Yeah, I wasn't your "average" child.

HERE is the recipe for my simple not but simple tasting homemade marinade:
1 can of beer (flavor of your choice), 1 diced fresh garlic clove, 3-4 tosses of sea salt, 4-5 turns of cracked pepper, 1 toss of crushed red pepper flakes, 2 shakes of Tabasco.  Put all ingredients in a blender and blend for about 30 seconds.

AcCoMpAnYiNg...This Divine Steak Would Be A Steamed 6oz. Main Lobster That I Would Endlessly Dip In Sinfully Good Drawn Butter.  I don't have a recipe for the lobster - I just steam it!  Also, drawn butter is...well, it's just drawn butter! (lol)
(My love of lobster came from all the dinners I had at the "Red Lobster" with Pappy when I was a child.  there was nothing I would get more excited about than Pappy saying, "We're going to "Red Lobster" tonight Lee-See.  Sadly, the last time I went to the "Red Lobster" would be the evening Pappy, his second wife and myself were sitting in my favorite booth and I reached across the table ...reaching and talking at the same time...and asked his second wife with the puffy fire engine red hair, "Do you wear a wig?" ....and pulled her puffy fire engine red wig right off her head.  Yeah....it wasn't one of my best behaviors.  I was not taken to the "Red Lobster" again.   My Mother remarried and we moved to Suriname, South America about a year later so the fact I could no longer see the "Red Lobster" on the way to the grocery store with my Mother really helped the separation anxiety I was having.

HaNgIn' OuT...With The Divine Steak & Steamed 6oz. Main Lobster Would Be Asparagus Grilled By Chris On The Big Green Egg.  Ahhhh, Asparagus...I Love It So!  Now I Actually Marinate My Asparagus - Do You?  Hmmm?  Do You?  The Asparagus Goes Into A Large Ziploc Bag Along With The Marinade - I Shake It Several Times To Ensure The Marinade Touches Every Piece of Gorgeous Asparagus & Then I Toss It Into The Refrigerator Until It's Time For Chris To Grill!
(My love of asparagus - well, that came from Pappy too!  Pappy was a Farmer's Market lover.  He loved fresh fruit.  He loved fresh vegetables. He loved it all.  It was a really big treat for me to go to the Farmer's Market with Pappy. I thought it was so beyond cool that there were buckets and buckets of fresh fruit and vegetables that you could personally pick - it was like picking from your own tree or digging in your own yard.  It was just super cool and I loved it all - especially the asparagus!)

HERE is the recipe for my asparagus marinade:
Balsamic Vinegar, Diced Fresh Parsley, Minced Fresh Garlic, Sea Salt, Fresh Cracked Pepper & The Juice Of One Lemon.

HaNgIn' OuT...With The Divine Steak & Steamed 6oz. Main Lobster & Grilled Asparagus Would Be My Feta Mashed Potatoes?  I oh so do love me some Feta cheese!  I Could Actually Knock Out A Block Of Feta Cheese With A Fork In About 5 Minutes - 5 Minutes F-l-a-t That Is!
(My love of mashed potatoes ...you guessed it!  It came from Pappy!  When I didn't order lobster at "The Red Lobster", I ordered steak.  And what do you think I ordered with the steak?  Mashed potatoes with gravy!  I would make a well with my spoon in the middle of the mashed potatoes (like all kids do, right?) and then pour my gravy into the well and eat around the gravy - small bite by small bite - because I didn't want to the gravy well to break. I didn't want runny gravy mashed potatoes.  I would become very, very upset if my gravy "well" broke and my mashed potatoes with gravy turned into runny gravy mashed potatoes.Yeah, I wasn't your "average" child.  I became a lover of Feta mashed potatoes about 4 years ago when Chris introduced them to me.  They're simply slap-yo-mamma good ya'll!


HERE is the recipe for my Feta Mashed Potatoes:
Boil 8 chopped (skin on potatoes).  Drain and return to the pot - which should be on low heat.  Add 1/2 block of cream cheese (you can substitute light or fat free for the real deal), 2 pours of heavy cream, 1/4 stick of butter (salted or unsalted - do not use margarine), 1 block of crumbled Feta cheese, 1/2 small handful of chopped parlsey, 1/2 a bunch of diced scallions, 1 minced fresh garlic clove, 3-4 tosses of sea salt & 5-6 grinds of fresh cracked pepper.  Stir the ingredients until they are blended evenly.

ThE gRaNd FiNaLe... of this rockin' dinner is dessert.  There are so many desserts. There's cheesecake.  There's ice cream.  There's fresh fruit.  There's pie.  There's mousse.  There's bread pudding.  There's cookies.  There's brownies.  There's brownies with ice cream.. There's milkshakes. There's poached pears.  There's sorbet.    What's your favorite dessert? What would your personal grand finale be for your rockin' dinner?  Hmmm?  What would it be?

What's that you ask?  What's Lisa's personal grand finale of her rockin' dinner?  Well, I'm not a sweets gal.  I can very sweet but I'm not a sweets gal.  So, the grand finale of my rockin' dinner would be ....a take away box of the same exact meal so that the next day I could eat my rockin' dinner all over again!!

Oh, and I'd absolutely make my rockin' meal wearing my rockin' scarf!  ....look at my picture at the top of this page ....(wink, wink)

Always "Push The Parsley!"
~  A Girl Cook