Red light, green light

And boy, did I stay on green.

Fogo de Chao, you have my heart. Brazilian steakhouse, unlimited meat, amazing salad bar. *sigh* And yes, I am well aware you don't got to a Brazilian steakhouse for the salad bar, but this one was complete with hearts of palm, sundried tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, asparagus, marinated mushrooms, etc. This was not your typical salad bar. But never fear--I had a tiny plate from the salad bar. The rest of the meal?

Meat.

And more meat. You have a coaster in front of you with one side green, the other red. The green side means: 'Bring it on. I'll have more, please!' while the red side means: 'No, thanks. I am so stuffed to the brim I cannot possibly fit more meat!' There was to be had filet mignon, parmesan encrusted pork loin, house cut of sirloin, linguica, and my favorite, the lamb chops. Oh.my.god. The lamb chops. Peppery, perfectly seasoned and spiced, moist, amazing. I had my red meat ration for the week, but it was beyond worth it.

And dessert? Papaya cream topped with cassis. Smooth, light on the palate, refreshing. Does life get much better?

Halupki

Are you hungry yet? =) Halupki, or my family's version of pigs in a blanket, is a ground meat and rice mixture wrapped in cabbage (savoy works well since the leaves are so large) and cooked in a simple tomato sauce. Oh my. The cabbage adds such a wonderful flavor to the sauce. The neat thing is that you can change the herbs and spices in the meat mixture. It's almost impossible to mess up!


I think I've made it clear that I have a strong Italian background, but I'm also lucky enough to be a mutt and have some Czech in my family as well! (And by mutt I mean Italian, Irish, English, Czech, Scotch, German--phew!) But the only 'cultural' foods in my family are Italian and Czech. Growing up, Halupki was pigs in a blanket for me. There was no other form. I once went to a friend's house and dinner was pigs in a blanket. I was so confused when it turned out to be a hot dog wrapped in a croissant roll with cheddar cheese!! I guess that was my introduction to the American take on pigs in a blanket.

Veritable Venison

Look at those grill marks! Since my wonderfully relaxing week and a half at my parents was coming to an end, my dad decided to grill up some venison that he got from a guy at work. He marinaded the meat for 12 hours in the same marinade used for the fried pork roast in this post. The marinade helped to remove any gaminess that may have existed. Onto the grill with onions and cooked to perfection! I must admit that venison isn't my favorite, but it definitely wasn't gamey like I thought it would be.