Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Belated Birthday Dinner!


My birthday was a week ago today.  And, Paul's was the prior Wednesday. Yes, he is exactly one week older. For his birthday, we celebrated by grilling a steak. Nick joined us and we had a quiet evening, just the way Paul prefers his day! Being my birthday was the day before Thanksgiving, we were a bit busy to celebrate together.

So, last night, I decided to treat myself to my birthday dinner.  Why did I wait until yesterday? Because, Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at Coastal Seafoods!  This may be one of the few reasons I am glad to be my age.



Oh, and then for the fact I am old enough to collect my pension!




Back to the topic...We love Coastal Seafoods.  It is the best place to buy fresh fish and seafood in Minnesota. I wanted to try this recipe from Food and Wine Magazine.  Nick slid into home base right before we went to buy the salmon, so he lucked out again with a good meal at the Geier ranch.

Our dinner was Pomegranate-Glazed Salmon with Armenian Rice.



I highly recommend both recipes. The rice recipe calls for fresh mint. My mint plant said goodbye for the season and I didn't splurge on it at the grocery store.  However, next time I will. The salmon glaze recipe calls for pomegranate molasses.  The grocery manager at Kowalski's, who walked down the aisle while I was searching, told me they stocked it for a short time after it was featured in Oprah's Magazine



and thus caused short term demand. (Now, there's one powerful woman!) However, the product was expensive and didn't sell, so they no longer carry it in stock.  He recommended I make my own. So, I slowly simmered the seeds and juice from 1/2 a pomegranate in 1/4 cup of mild molasses for 30 minutes.  It turned out beautifully.  We decided the edamame makes a nice garnish, but it could have more presence on the plate, so I am going to experiment. I have not cooked much with these beans, so it is fun to stretch one's tastes.

We have some entertaining on our schedule in the next few weeks.  If you read this and are on our guest list, you may be able to offer your opinions on this dish. It will be making another appearance in our kitchen soon!!

2 comments:

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

Yum - that looks delicious - as usual!

And I kind of had a knee jerk reaction when you said you were a senior citizen!! It just doesn't seem possible. I feel the same way about my parents. When I think of senior citizens, I think of the cheap people who would come out to Whitey's in Grand Forks for the early bird special and tip me nothing. Or come in on Sundays after church and once again, tip me nothing. But I guess I should have been more understanding at the time and realized they lived through the depression so have a little harder time parting with their money.

Whoa, went off on a tangent there. Anyways, I'm glad you get the SC discount, but I think you'll be like eternally 35 or 40 in my mind or something!

Unknown said...

Lisa,
Coastal is quite generous in its senior discount. Not many places consider 55 to be senior. So, that is why I am excited to qualify! We know we are fortunate to have retired at the "young" age we did. We have chosen to live a simpler life style though, to make this career change. No complaints will ever be uttered from either one of us! However, I cannot speak to those who are cheap, no matter the age or income bracket! If I choose to go to a restaurant, whether I am on a fixed income or not, I will always appropriately compensate the server. It probably might be because Nick is slaving away making ends meet in the service industry! Senior citizenship (whether I qualify or not) should not entitle one to be cheap.
And, I prefer to also remain 35 in my mind as well!
Thanks! Love you so much!!!