Panera Style Egg Souffle and Smoked Turkey

I decided to do some cooking this weekend. My first project was to smoke a turkey. I have been wanting to do this since I purchased my WSM cooker last May. The recipe I used involves brining the turkey 24 hours and then letting it dry -- The complete recipe can be found he

http://virtualweberbullet.com/turkey6.html

It was OK, not the best turkey I have ever had. I doubt I will go through all of the work again.

My next next project was to make some egg souffles (Panera Style). A few years ago, I purchased the recipe from TopSecretRecipes.com. My wife mad them for me a couple of times, but she didn't have any remekins (Ceramic cupcake like holders), so they didn't look pretty. They did taste great though.

For this batch I decided to try egg beaters. They are healthier and easy to cleanup (No eggshells). I also decided to use whole milk instead of heavy cream.

Glenville Queen Diner

Last night my wife and I were in Glenville, NY for her dentists appointment. We decided to hit the Glenville Queen Diner. We were promptly seated. The place mats had a blue and white design on them (Looked Greek to me), so I decided to get a beef gyro pita. It was very good. My wife had the turkey dinner. She ate about half of it, but couldn't finish it because she filled up on the salad and soup. I sampled some of the mashed potatoes, there were definately some potatoe chunks in it. To finish off the meal, we got a cinnamon horn pastry. The waitress offered to cut it in half and grill it for us. It was very good and only $2.59.

At first, I was a little dissapointed to find out that they charge extra for fries on the beef gyro. I choose not to get fries because it was after 7pm. It actually made my meal a little healthier(A good thing), which would make my doctor happy.

Wings Over Albany

I do intend to post pictures, but I still need to program myself to whip out my Blackberry before I chow down.

Wings over Albany is a little chain restaurant in Guilderland that specializes in boned and boneless wings. I almost always order the boneless because they are less messy. They have FIVE levels of heat in buffalo style sauces and 17 other flavors of sauces.

My experience is very limited here, I have only ordered three menu items. All have exceeded my expectations. The only sauces I have had there are the buffalo style sauces. They have named their buffalo sauces Wimpy, Crusin' Altitude, Red Alert, Jet Fuel, and After Burner. I have only had Red Alert and Jet Fuel. I almost always get Red Alert. Five years ago, I might of have gotten Jet Fuel once in awhile, but not today. If you get Jet Fuel or higher, prepare to tear up. You'll also need a 2L bottle of soda. The boneless wings themselves are very tender and juicy, and not really as crispy as you would expect from your average boneless wing, not really a problem for me. The blue cheese is top notch in my book. Nice and chunky. A slight modification of the straight boneless wings is a buffalo chicken wrap. I usually order this with extra lettuce which sort of makes it a hand-held salad. The last menu item that I am familiar with is their fries. They are very good. You will not be dissapointed.

I always order in advance, whether I am taking out or eating in their 6-7 table dining area. It takes about 20 minutes when they have no customers for food to come out, and if it is lunch time, probably 45 minutes.


I usually eat here about once every two weeks. They are located on Western ave across from the west most Crossgates entrance. Their phone number is very easy to remember 862-WING.

Introductions

I've always been interested in blogging, but never really like the idea of sharing my personal life with strangers on the internet. I have decided to start a food blog to share some of the my non-personal food experiences with the world. I will be writing about eating in, taking out, and eating out. I have found that comments on blogs are sometimes just as good the original posting. From time to time I will ask questions of you to get these comments rolling.

As far as eating in, my wife does most of the cooking as I am usually working on other household projects. I do cook from time to time. I do all of the outside grilling and smoking. I use a Weber Summit 450 and a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. Inside, I like to make crepes (I was inspired by Ravenous in Saratoga). I guess you could characterize my cooking ideals to be minimal preparation and cleanup.

I also like to get takeout. Cleanup is easy. You can save $3-$5 per person without the drinks and tips. It saves you the time of sitting down, ordering, waiting, eating, waiting for bill, etc. Almost everywhere I like to go has takeout. Some of my favorites are Wings Over Albany, Bros Tacos, Pizza Unos (Mixed Double Deal), Salsa Rita's, Outback, PapaJohns, and even PriceChopper.

Eating out is more complicated. We both work, and sometimes it is fast to come straight home to eat or to get takeout. Eating out just takes too much time sometimes. Even on the weekends, we need all of the spare time we can get. However, we do like to go out once in awhile. There are lots of good places around Exit 9 in Clifton Park. When we can't decide on one, we end up at Craker Barrel.

Now for some questions for you:
1. What are your favorite quick preparation / cleanup meals?
2. What is the best place for take out within 3 miles of your house and why? (Albany Area)