Don't worry...

be happy......

So the Cuse is down 18 in the first half to DePaul-what me worry? 

Nah, we'll come back and we did. 

A little late, but hey G-Town beat Duke today and Uconn went down to Marquette.  

So all in all a good day, minus the heart palpations.

 

Gloria Wright / The Post-Standard

 

Scoop to the Hooop!

 

And I managed to make a loaf of bread at the same time- multi-tasking I call it!

 

 

Cuse vs. DePaul @ 2PM!

Go Cuse!

Gloria Wright / The Post-Standard

Posting like Manly Men!

I'm a guy who likes to cook. I also like to write, hence this online journal. 

I'm not sure, but I suspect guys that blog have a more masculine viewpoint then women right?

At least in theory it should play out that way.

 So if you're wondering what in God's name is Tupper babbling on about, it's this post I found on How Sweet It Is, the regular poster Jessica had her brother do a guest post, and it's pretty funny.

The single male in the kitchen viewpoint, gotta love it.

Read it here -    How Meat It Is. 

Meat and...

potatoes.....

Yup, if you live in the North Country you gotta eat like you live in the North Country.

For crying out loud, it never got above zero today. 

I mean it was sunny, but it was cold, like really friggin' cold!!!

This kind of weather cries out for food that will warm you up. 

So I decided to make steak and taters (with some green beans to keep Mom happy).

Send-off for....

our favorite Irish lass.    

It's Friday, time for 

A breakfast good-bye.   

Like, if you're saying farewell, adding food can only make it better right? 

I gotta admit it, we're good.  

No, we're better than good, 

We're great.  

What a super bunch of people to work with.

They cook on a moments notice.....

Some of them were up at 5 am baking!

God, I feel like singing "We are Family" C'mon everyone join in!

   Here's the spread.

And the guest of honor-

Good luck and come back soon!

Great Potato!

Potato, potawto, tomato, tomawto........ 

oooops, sorry, got carried away-

It's potato, today.

I found these taters at Elizabeth's .  Parmesan Roasted......

Perfect to go with that steak. What steak?

That steak-

Filet of Beef au  Poivre

Yup, meat and potatoes......

Patty.......

Melt!

What to do with the ground beef I have in the fridge? When I saw this it became a no-brainer. The pic of Kevin's Patty-Melt sealed the deal.  I'm thinkin' of adding bacon.....

Stay tuned for the post supper report......

Update-Made the Patty melt last night per Kevin's (recipe plus a little bacon).  Nice switch from regular burgers.  As a matter of fact I don't think I'll ever make a regular burger again!

Wordless Wednesday...

Link...

And then

there were cookies!

So what to have for dessert (and late night snacks) after the spaghetti all carbonara?   I decided to try the recipe that came with the Adirondack Crunchy Granola I picked up at The Well Dressed Food Company yesterday.

Aptly named Adirondack Crunchy Granola Cookies, the recipe takes the traditional oatmeal cookie recipe, and with apologies to Emeril, kicks it up a notch.  The addition of the mix from WDF makes them delicious. For Christmas I'd received a jar of WDF's Campfire Caramel Sauce, so we drizzled that over the still warm cookies. Perfect complement to a great cookie.

The cookies passed the stiffest test known to man- my mother approved, and if you know my mother like I know my mother, that's a big deal.

Now when do I start the diet?

"Tuesday, what's for supper,"

said my better half.

You see, I'd gotten off easy the last two nights. On Sunday while I was tearing the pellet stove apart, she made a pork loin that was nothing short of outstanding.  Last night of course, we had hot pork sandwiches with french fries and gravy.

So tonight loyal readers it was my turn.  Another first for this aspiring chef, spaghetti alla carbonara.

I adapted the recipe from Leite's Culinaria.  For a weeknight it was easy to fix (under an hour) and needless to say, I had two helpings.

I substituted bacon for pancetta, other than that I followed the recipe as written.  The blend of cheeses,
Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, along with the subtle flavor of the bacon were perfect. Throw in some homemade italian bread and it's a very filling meal.
This recipe was a keeper.

Well Dressed.....

Foods that is.  Seeing that part of TupperCooks! mission is to highlight local dining and foods it was an easy choice to pick  Well Dressed Foods for a post.  What made it easy was A) It's located right here in Tupper Lake and B) They feature foods and products produced locally with an Adirondack flair.

Cuse goes to 20-1.

Rolls over Georgetown 73-56, and that's after being down 14-0 to start the game.

'Cuse vs. Georgetown @ 7PM!

Number 4 Syracuse takes on # 7 Georgetown in one of the best rivalries in the Big East-Go Cuse!

Lauren Long / The Post-Standard

Tupper, what's cookin' ?

Asked my buddy Mike earlier today. My response was nuthin'!   This post is a digression from our primary mission, which is discussing food. This is the post that has to do with living in the Adirondacks.

You see our pellet stove, which is our primary source of heat stopped working on Thursday.  Yup, just stopped. So I resolved to fix it as soon as possible.  Being a world class, olympic quality procrastinator I made it until Sunday morning before a sincere effort was made.

To be straight up with you all, I was kind of hoping it'd fix itself. No such luck!  I'd so rather be blogging or cooking or eating, but the stove called.

Syracuse 76- Marquette 71.

Solid game by the Cuse if not totally consistent,

Kris Joseph can play. I mean how many of us have a 42 inch vertical?

Go Cuse!

What's your favorite???

Poll from Slice.

I'd have to say I've never met a pizza I didn't like, or eat, well I don't do anchovies.

So what do you like, and where do you get it?

Orange.....

Cuse style!

Cuse vs. Marquette @ 2PM

on Saturday-

Big man should have a big game!

Go Cuse!

EMN, 2nd Installment........

or Thursday's for Pizza Part 2 or our 2nd installment of Eating in the Middle of Nowhere......

Alrighty then- It's Thursday and it's my birthday, and Mom offers to take us out for dinner. No brainer there, also no cooking and no dishes for all parties involved.  So we head off to Little Italy on Park St. in Tupper Lake.

I gotta admit, it's one of my favorite places to eat in Tupper. Why, you ask? Well, simply because it has great pizza IMHO.

For starters, garlic knots of course, with a little marinara on the side.

 Those knots are for you Cait and Pat!

Antipasto, prior to the main course, of course.

Entrees....

Mom had the Fettucini Alfredo with shrimp.

My better half had linguini with clam sauce.

And I had pie. Yup, just like Dean Martin sang, When the Moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore'!

And just to disprove a myth-You can have your cake and eat it too!

And so, here I sit, stuffed. Plenty of leftovers, which was planned. Pizza for breakfast, pizza for lunch....

Outstanding meal.

Here's a pic of the dining room.

Time to hit the couch.......

Installment 1: Eating in the Middle of Nowhere......;..

Well, not quite nowhere, but it feels that way sometimes up in the mountains from a culinary standpoint.  The Adirondack Park covers 6.1 million acres (9,400 Sq. Mi.) and has a year round population of 130,000 hardy souls.

Lots of trees and squirrels, not many people.

Tupper Lake is in Franklin County which has a population of about 51, 000 folks.  Hamilton County, which is adjacent to Franklin has a population of a little more than 5000 people.  Syracuse, NY by comparison has a little under 150, 000 people and covers a little under 26 sq. miles.

Fortunately we've got some fine restaurants with great chefs who serve up superb dishes in our area. By our area I mean about a 60 or 70 mile radius If you want it, you gotta go and get it!

Eating in the Middle of Nowhere (EMN) will endeavor to feature dining spots that are worth the trip, again and again....

For our first installment of EMN we'll head south 20 miles to Long Lake (Hamilton County) and feature The Cellar Restaurant

The Cellar is owned and operated by Eric and Brooke Hample along with their business partners Michelle and Ali Hamdan.  Eric is the executive chef. He graduated from Paul Smith's College with a degree in Culinary Arts with a minor in baking.  His specialties are his fabulous desserts.  They have a wide range of foods on their menu.

In the Winter they're serving dinner from 4:30-8:00 pm on Wednesday and Thursday and 4:30-9:00 pm on Friday and Saturday.

They Feature Specials each night:

Wednesdays are "Wacky Wednesdays"
     Jan. 27 is German Night
     Feb. 3 is Ham & Scalloped Potatoes
     Feb. 10 is Greek Night
     Feb. 17 is Seafood Steam Pots
     Feb. 24 is Lebanese Night

Thursdays are "Toasted Sandwich Thursdays"
     Toasted (or not) Deli Sandwiches- Choose your favorites to build a fabulous sandwich!
         *meats/salads, cheeses, vegetables, dressings and special sandwiches every week!


Fridays are "Fish Fry Fridays"

Saturdays are "Sizzlin' Steakhouse Saturdays"
     Jan. 23- Cowboy Steak
     Jan. 30- Skirt Steak
     Feb. 6- Sirloin Steak
     Feb. 13- Flat Iron Filet
     Feb 20- Porterhouse Steak
     Feb. 27- Cube Steak/Steak Tips

Check out the Cellar, it's worth the trip!

  

Thursday, gotta be pizza.....

right?  

So you've all seen those goofy lottery commercials right?  All it takes is a dollar and a dream- o.k., I've got a dollar and I've got a dream. So let's wax hypothetical here.

You convert that dollar to a ticket at the local lotto terminal.   Stuff into your wallet and forget about it, because the last thing you won was a goldfish at the county fair in 1973, which your mother promptly flushed down the toilet because she was afraid the cat would knock the bowl over and eat the fish.

But, not this time!  Hypothetically this time we win, let's say we win enough to pay off all our bills and take a cross country tour in one of those Winnebago things. Like this one...

Needs a paint job, but gets great gas mileage they say.

 I think 20 million would do it, why be greedy?

Okey dokey, the post has pizza in the title, what does this fantasy about winning the lottery have to do with it? Glad you asked.

My first hypothetical cross country tour will take us to 8 spots around the continental US of A to taste the following 8 pies (from Adam Kuban's Top 8 Pizza's of 2009 @ Slice ).

First stop- The Bronx for Louie and Ernie's Sausage and Onion Pie. Actually, this pie didn't make the top 8, it would have been #9, but who's countin'?

 I need it (hypothetically) right now!

So our first hypothetical trip is planned. Want to join us?

(Stay tuned for the next leg of the trip........)

Line-up..........

Hey, " Is supper ready yet?"

Boneless Chicken Breasts stuffed w/ cream cheese, garlic, and basil

Tonight's meal was a  new recipe. Found a similar one on Allrecipes and modified it a bit. Simple enough for a weeknight.

Ingredients: Cream cheese (8oz., I used about 6)
                  3 boneless chicken breasts
                  3 or 4 cloves of garlic (chopped in my mini-processor)
                  Dried basil
                  4 slices of bacon (which I pre-cooked in the microwave for a minute)
                  Salt and pepper to taste
                  2 tbs. butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix the cream cheese, basil and garlic in a bowl
3. Butterfly the cutlets
4. Season the inside w/ salt and pepper
5. Spoon the mixture into the middle of the breasts
6. Fold/roll the chicken up, wrap 2 or 3 slices of the bacon around and insert toothpicks to hold
7. Place in the pan and brush with butter
8. Bake on 350 for 35 - 45 minutes or until it's nice and brown and juices run clear.

The finished product, with fresh steamed carrots and rice.

Tasty and pretty rich with the cream cheese, next time I'll probably try a different kind of cheese. Actually, there are a lot of different fillings one could try. Have to think about that one a bit........ Or I could just resort to the old standard, which never fails, Cordon Bleu. Oh well, off to the kitchen to bake some more bread.

Millionaire Bars

These look so good it's scary-like a giant Twix bar-Check 'em out at Recipe Rhapsody.

(Silly Wabbit, Twix are for kids-Big Kids, like me!)

Cuse on a roll!

Final Score Cuse 84, Notre Dame 71. Good game, 3-0 on the road for the past 5 days.  Wes Johnson had 22 and Andy Rautins 21 for the 5th ranked Orange. I'm lovin' this season kids!

Wes hustlin' after a loose ball.

Cheese, Part deux......

I ran across this a few weeks ago, the most expensive cheddar in the US.  And I gotta admit I'm tempted to try it, even if it is $50 a pound. Aged for 15 years, it must be tremendous.

Hook's Cheese

 

Doesn't that make your mouth water? 

Cheesy Stuff.......

Sitting here pondering a post and nibbling on some cheese and crackers I decided to post about cheese.  Why cheese?  Well, since you asked I'll have to tell you.  Cheese is simply one of life's little pleasures.  There are countless variations that serve as appetizers, alongside a meal or with dessert.  And, what goes better with a fresh baked baguette thean a chunk of sharp cheddar? 

In the summer when we spend time at our camp in Cape Vincent I frequently take the 10 mile ride into Clayton, NY where I visit Gold Cup Farms Cheese Store, home of River Rat Cheese.

Locally produced, it has a variety of cheeses that are of exceptional quality.  I'm a big fan of sharp cheddars and their XXX Sharp is really tasty.

And naturally, if you're buying block cheese you'll need some cheese curds for the ride home. Love that squeak it makes on my teeth.

So if you're wondering what to get me for my birthday, or next Christmas, or the 4th of July you know....

SU vs Notre Dame @ 7 PM

Third road game in 5 days-win this one and we go 3-0. Going to have to stop the big guy for the Irsh. Luke Harangody is a beast.

Go SU!

Bread, Part 2.....

or is it part 3? Not sure. But here's a play by play for the loaf I made as per the directions below. And what's very cool is that there is no kneading whatsoever. If you want to teach kids how to bake a great loaf this is the recipe to start with.

Boule recipe

Yeast and salt.

Add some water.

Add the flour.

Rising on the pellet stove.

On the pan, ready for the heat.

Best darn loaf I ever made.