The Georges of St. George

Geo my husband left and George my brother right

We had a wonderful day yesterday!  After church we went to the Elm City Brewing Company at the Colony Mill.  This may become a weekly tradition for us like the 99.

The food is amazing and so is the beer!  I don't drink at all but I enjoy a taste now and again of the beers they make on site.  My parents and brother decided to join us after church.  Dad treated us to a fantastic meal.  Thanks Dad!

An inspired chicken dish with maple syrup-Yum!

We like to watch the Patriots Game every Sunday.  We have great seats right in front of the widescreen TV at the bar.  It's fun to watch the game with other pats fans.  It also is nice to watch something without having to worry about the dogs barking, coming inside and outside, or generally interrupting whatever we decide to watch.   Geo and I can usually watch things in 5 minute increments before we have to pause the movie or program to attend to the dogs.

Today I am making two recipes from Fine Cooking.  These two are from the October/November 2009 issue.  They are  Brussels sprouts with toasted hazlenut butter and Duck breast with saba and grapes. 

I worked this morning on the toasted hazlenut butter:

1/3 cup hazlenuts (about 1 oz)

4 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1 1/2 tsp lightly chopped fresh thyme

1/2 tsp honey

kosher salt.

I love cooking with nuts it's so autumnal:)

The first part of this recipe involves toasting the hazlenuts at 400 degrees for about 5-6 minutes.

I used a cake pan for the toasting

Place the toasted nuts on a clean dishtowel

Rub nuts together in towel to remove skins

Take 1/4 cup of the nuts and pulse in a processor

I love this machine.

The finely ground nuts at last

Save the rest of the nuts to coarsely chop as garnish.  Now it's time to make lemon zest.  For two teaspoons of zest I found one medium lemon the perfect size.

The benefit of zesting is your hands smell like lemon:)

Cooking is easy when you get all the prep work done ahead of time.  The butter is on the counter softening.  Once I finish cleaning up the dishes and going on a morning walk with the dogs.  I'll write more.