Still wintery so wintery dinner

I had put this beef on to cook on Wednesday, two slices of beef shank with a good hunk of marrow bone. I added three cloves of garlic and one dried red jalapeno (pounded to death with my mortar and pestle). Boy did it smell good cooking, which I did on the cooktop. On a warmer day I might have continued with the crockpot but it was chilly so on the stove it simmered.

I served it last night, as most stews etc do benefit from the time to meld more, and Yes! it was good. I didn't know if dh was a marrow eater but he is. Those carrots came from the Asian market up in Glen Burnie, and were two bunches for $1. (You are looking at half a bunch per plate.) Amazing to get baby veggies at that price, huh? I scrubbed them well, and steamed them, and when they were cooked you could have slipped the skins off. I didn't.

The 3rd portion of the meal was the potato and bacon 'pierogis' we bought in Cleveland. The kind I still long for are the ones with a dough outside, and savory cheese inside. Another trip to Cleveland has to happen, as it's a bit of a drive to the western suburbs of Chicago for them. They did cook up well tho, after defrosting, didn't they?

This is...

Something I'm surprised I like...Cleveland Ohio. Today's This is...comes from Victoria at Earl and Cookie and more players can be found over on Angela's button on the right column...the one that says This is. She's the hostess aka ThreeButtons.

taken on our March 2008 trip

I'm rarely surprised at food I like since I'm more surprised if I DON'T like a food. Shall we say I'm pretty much an omnivore.

But Cleveland to this East Coast snob was called The Mistake on the Lake. Puhleeze. But then DH booked us into a Residence Inn there on our way to Chicago, knowing I like a ResInn, and I was won over. Not just by the hotel, but the spaciousness of the city, the icy lake, the full moon, and oh yeah...the food.

On that March trip the Westside market was closed but I vowed that we'd be back for a shopping visit. Our first dinner in Cleveland was a Cambodian restaurant the small but uniquee Phnom Penh...again, who knew? This recent trip found us going to Little Italy and dining at La Dolce Vita, not once but twice. We went into a bakery first, to be sure of getting some pastry before they closed, but ended up getting free desserts both times at La DV. That's another story.

We each had our first taste of Sicilian olives and dh was won over to the olive camp. I had a Sicilian pastry, name escapes me, that sadly was only made on Sundays. No luck for more on our return on Thursday. So that too is for another trip.

original by crazy lembu

The Westside Market...oh yeah, we got there too. Check out that ceiling - very much reminded us of the market in Budapest. Pork up the gazoo and yes Judy, pierogis - tho not in the kind I'm used to. Occasionally there are small sacrifices to make in life. ;-)

Cleveland...try it, you'll like it!