Eating Omaha…Vidlak’s Brookside Cafe

 Sunday post church breakfast with John and Debbie on our quest to sample local Omaha fare, we stopped at Vidlaks for breakfast. Just a nice little neighborhood place that is always busy and for good reason.

Brenda and I don’t eat a great deal at one sitting and every time we share an entrée, these nice folks bring it to us split on 2 plates. No up charge, no eye rolling, just a big portion cut ,down for 2 people. I love this place! 

I talked Brenda into the chicken fried steak breakfast with eggs and hash browns. Too much for me alone but perfect portions for each of us. Our favorite breakfast is the Cheesebuger Omlet but we have that a lot so time for a change up. It delicious, lots of coffee refills and great company. 

Eating Omaha…Stoking Goat

 Being our anniversary this weekend and needing to use a gift card to this family of restaurants that includes Taxis and Stokes, we ventured out to eat at Stoking Goat in northwest Omaha. Listed and casual dining and being in a casual mood, we went about 5ish and found all day Sunday Happy Hour. 

The menu includes all sorts of interesting combo sandwiches, moderately priced and discounted drinks. We started with a very well made Kentucky Mule. Balanced and tasty it went well with dinner.

For starters, on the happy hour menu, we tried the onion dip with house made chips and Parmesan Crusted Chicken Thigh. The chips were crisp and delicious and the dip was great with a roasted onion flavor.

The chicken thighs, sliced thin and very crusty and crisp served with a sweet sauce were delicious. 

We split a Horseradish Steak sandwich that came on a Demi baguette with cheese and a side of truffle fries. Delicious medium rare Rib Eye that was melt in your mouth tender with a nice horseradish bite to it. 

The service was attentive and while not a busy place on a Sunday evening, it’s a beautiful place to grab an inexpensive meal. 

Townline BBQ sauce.

 

Townline BBQ Sauce

1/4 pound butter

3/4 cup minced onion

1/2 cup minced garlic

2 lemons, zested

5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 1/4 cups ketchup

1 cup tomato juice

3/4 cup light brown sugar

6 tablespoons molasses

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup chili powder

4 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons chipotle puree

Eating Omaha….Capri.

 We had company Sunday and Mat had watched a newscast about a new Italian eatery very close to us. On Tuesday we were able to visit with our good friends, John and Debbie Birge and maybe resurrect the Eating Omaha blog at the same time. No reservations except for 6 or more. Very tiny place and we got there at 6 and snagged a table for four. Several later customers were turned away due to very limited seating. 

This venue is actually in the back of a sports bar called Tanners. The owner has several venues in town and Capri shares a kitchen with the sports bar out front. Cool idea to fly a new concept with minimal risk.

Since this was a new endeavor the interior space was not much to talk about. Clean and utilitarian with a bar and friendly bartender and a single waiter the night we were there, all the tables were full. 

The menu boasts traditional Italian fare, large portions and very well executed. We sampled the Chicken Piccata, Lasagna and Chicken Parmesan. All very tasty and large portions. The Lasagna had a bit of heat to it, the ladies loved the piccata and the Chicken parm was crispy and loaded with cheese. The pasta was a bit over cooked but the sauce was a nice compliment to the dish. Great prices and included a delicious salad. I had Ceasar and the rest had the house salad with various dressings, all good. Nice list of cocktails but I had a beer. The waiter started us to 2 loaves of crispy garlic bread. All in all a great place to grab a bite and not break the bank. The 2 of us was $58 including tip. Can’t complain. Great food, great company. 

Curried Shrimp

 I need new flavors in my Lenten life. Today is Thai Curry with shrimp.  Completely vegetarian except for the shrimp which is allowed during our fast. I used the recipe link below and made my own red curry paste from pantry stores. Yum! 

https://www.foodiecrush.com/shrimp-in-thai-coconut-sauce/

Red Curry Paste

https://www.thespruceeats.com/thai-red-curry-paste-3217309

Rack of Lamb

I had a bit if an issue Fruday. The freezer popped open and a lot of meat thawed. I cooked, roasted, grilled all morning. 

One of the thawed packages cas a full rack of lamb. I pulled up Ina Gartens recipe and followed it to the letter. It did not disappoint.

I made a rub of 1 1/2 tablespoons salt, 3 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup dijon, 2 tablespoon fresh rosemary ( I used 1 tbls of dry) and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. I crushed everything into a paste in my mortar and then smeared it on the top side of the racks and roasted at 450 degrees for exactly 25 minutes. Removed, tented with foil for 15 minutes and had the most succulent medium rare lamb I could ask for. Sadly it was about 7 am when these came out but I had a chop for breakfast anyway. Honestly they are delicious cold as well. 

Sourdough Recipe I liked….

 https://www.theperfectloaf.com/beginners-sourdough-bread/print/10711/

Great thing about this recipe is that 3 flours are used in the bread giving great texture and tooth to the final product. My starter was super active when I began this morning and resulted in nice rises, a nice overnight ferment and sizable loaves. I only have one Dutch oven so the second loaf had more time to grow. I might just leave them to rise longer as more airy pockets and less dense loaves. Honestly, these were fantastic with a slight tang to them. I’m sure that will get better as my started matures. 

Corn Chowder revisited.

 I planted corn this year and our rabbits had a feast, destroying every sprout except for the 10 or 15 I threw in the raised beds. It grew and produced but I was too late to harvest and it dried up a bit. Got 9 nice ears but not for regular consumption. I made chowder instead or re hydrate the kernel and then pulverize them with the immersion blender. I planted white corn and I used the silage to put into a new raised bed. Everything in the chowder today came from the garden except the dairy of course. 

Corn Chowder

6 ears corn cut off the cob

1 medium onion chopped

1 jalapeño, diced fine

1 clove of garlic

1 tbl butter and olive oil

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 cups of milk

1 cup veggie broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup buttermilk cause I had it leftover

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Salt and pepper to taste. 

I sautéed the corn, onions, jalapeños and garlic in the butter and oil till the onions started to become translucent. I added the thyme, milk and broth next and let the mixture come to a simmer for 15 minutes. I ran the immersion blender through after removing the thyme leaving it still a bit chunky then added the cream, Parmesan and buttermilk to finish. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Swiss Chard....

 So this year we have an abundance of tomatoes, radishes, beets, basil, sage and Swiss Chard both a rainbow and regular variety. Leafy and verdant green with colorful stems I made a meal of it tonight. So tasty and fresh. The nice thing about this is cutting a few leaves,  it comes back in days. 

So...what to do with it? Tonight is a meatless night so I used shrimp as my protein and went to town. This recipe served just the 2 of us perfectly. I had mine with a few tablespoons of rice to sop up the delicious liquid. 

Shrimp and Swiss Chard

1 pound of shrimp, raw, shelled. I used 20-24 per pound.

A bunch of chard. It cooks down so pick more than you think. Shred the leaves and chop the stems. 

2 cloves of garlic, chopped coarse

1/2 red onion or sweet yellow onion, diced

2  T olive oil

1T butter

Red pepper flakes 

Salt and pepper

1/2 lemon zested and juiced

Optional: 1/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese

3 T heavy cream. 

1/2 cup of rice per serving. 

In a large skillet, melt the butter and heat the olive oil. Add the onions and chard stems then the garlic and red pepper. Sauté till the onion is translucent and the stems are tender then add the shrimps and cook till just done. 

Add the shredded chard leaves and turn with a pair of tongs until it wilts a bit. Salt and pepper to taste then add the lemon zest and juice. Stir till everything is coated. 

Add the cheese and cream and a lovely sauce will form. Serve over rice if you like. 

Diabetes...my current journey

 About 10+ years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I have a poor genetic profile that might have contributed to my pre disposition or maybe just my poor daily habits and lack of movement. Not sure which. I am not inclined to beast mode and run and jump with the rest of people and my advancing age certainly contributes to that lame excuse but...here I am. 

So excuses aside, I actually watch my blood sugar like a hawk. Over the years I had access to several wonder drugs and treatments that pretty much dried up when I started Medicare. After reviewing my list of medications pre Medicare, and finding several would cost me over $600 a month, I opted for insulin therapy. It’s not that I don’t make insulin, I’m just resistant to insulin in general. This causes my blood sugar to rise despite meds that kick the crap out of my pancreas. So, the administration of exogenous insulin seems to help.

I started my journey with a few victories, a few let downs and now I am just trying to stay the tide. I’ve had some success with mechanical pumps and sensors so that’s the route I am traveling today. While the clockwork pump V Go 40 served me well for a few years, I was not getting the precise control I wanted and a month ago I abandoned the device for an Omnipod device and switched sensors to a Dexcom G6. I was using a FreeStyle Libre sensor but had issues with accuracy. 

My buddy Andy is 30 years my junior and a muscle head but we share a common diabetes thread and advice with each other. I embarked on this new therapy territory that he had been using for a while. 

So, with insulin capped at $25/month I fill my Omnipod with 200 units that will only last me 2 days, not the three days the company touts. My basal rate is high, 3 units an hour, combined with my boluses I use all 200 units in about 48 hours. The great thing now is that my G6 is monitored by my phone widget. Alarms are set for high BS alerts over 200. I can then ask my Omnipod pump to calculate my bolus dose, based in my carb intake and current BS reading. I can then ask it to deliver all at once or aver a set amount of time. Don’t be fooled, I still monitor my carb intake in detail and can pretty much tell you within a gram or two how many carbs are in any given food. I eat light everything when it comes to breads, pastas and hidden carbs in Chinese food, BBQ sauces and the like. 

So...how am I doing? The goal for me is to stay in target at least 70% of the time. My target is between 70 and 180. I like to keep it in a narrow range between 80 and 140 and this system really helps maintain that range. Currently I enjoy a target of 75-85%.  Doing well, thanks for asking. 

My journey is anything but typical. My boy Ben is a DNP Hospitalist in Council Bluffs. He says it is rare for most type 2 my age to have any idea what their last sugar was or even when they last checked. His patients ride well over 200 or more and suffer all the ills associated with having a BS that high. Apparently, I am amongst other things, a bit anal retentive but in a good way maybe.