After his trip to L.A., Ole came home determined to recreate the Korean BBQ from Kogi Taco Truck here in Minnesota. This is his interpretation of the infamous Korean barbecue short ribs, stuffed inside a warm corn tortilla and covered in a healthy amount of Napa cabbage slaw and sriracha. A few times a year I go out of town for work, and while it is a burden for the family left at home, I try to make the best of it. My destinations are usually major metropolitan areas in another part of the country,... more

This steakhouse beef chili recipe is designed to warm you up in the middle of winter. It’s hearty and thick, and the chili works wonderfully with all your favorite toppings. It’s January. It’s cold. Something about the cold, gray days this month always makes me crave soup, but instead of soup, I made chili. The chili of my childhood was actually more like soup. It has a broth, and rather than a tomato sauce, it has tomato chunks. Additionally, like most things in my childhood,... more

If you’re getting together for the holidays, there’s a decent chance you’re also planning on eating a large roast of some sort. Break from tradition this year or throw a New Year’s dinner and do things up a bit with a filet mignon in a red wine and balsamic reduction with shallots and mushrooms. Ole grew up with Sunday dinners. After church his mom would have some type of roast waiting, and the whole family and sometimes guests would sit down to eat. With a family of seven... more

I haven’t been getting enough sleep. In fact, I can’t remember the last time in my life where I did get the recommended amount of sleep, which tends to be around six hours. I’m thinking it was probably sometime in middle school, before the piles of AP homework kept me up or long nights on the phone or a job or the ever-present worry, disregarding the four kids I had in there. And while this post here isn’t about sleep and worry, it is about radishes and how adding them to your steak sandwich... more

Fajitas are usually something I order at restaurants. I love to get a sizzling skillet full of peppers, onions, seasoned beef and a stack of warm tortillas. The dish is always a feast for all the senses. When it comes to Mexican food at our house, we usually stick to tacos, nachos or burritos. Recently though, I felt the need to leave leave the usual and venture into the chicken and beef fajita territory. Why should the restaurants have all the fun (and my extra dollars)? These particular fajitas... more

Frequent readers of this blog should be well aware that during certain times of the year our local grocer marks down the beef tenderloin to a price more representative of sirloin. When this happens, we stock up. We have shared a few ways we prepare this: on the grill as bacon-wrapped fillets or in a pan with a rich cognac cream sauce and plenty of pepper – au poivre – or herb-crusted and grilled. Occasionally however, I don’t feel like doing either one so a few weeks ago when I found myself... more

Maple and blue cheese meet in a perfect pair, on a bed of greens and a sweet, maple-glazed steak. This happens to be my favorite “meal” salad, and it needs nothing else. It’s sugaring season, when the sap in the maple trees is running, and while we do notice our maples in the backyard running, we don’t actually tap our own. However, down on the reservation where Ole works, they most definitely are participating in the sugaring off: taping and boiling, which inevitably leads... more