Chocolate Stout Beer Float w/ Rum Glazed Cherries

Beer.

I love it. Seriously, if it was a person, it would embody all cultures, styles, taste, and personalities. Beer is the most interesting man in the world. That's why beer can transform itself into a dessert. Now, it can't be any old beer, it's gotta be one with character. It has to have hair on it's chest, a utility knife, and some survival skills.

That is why chocolate stout is in order. Specifically, I used Young's Double Chocolate Stout. The texture, flavor, and color of the beer is just outstanding for this recipe. If you don't have it available, that is all good. Just make sure you are using a chocolate, or really smooth and mellow stout. I mean, really, this stuff should be Billy Dee smooth, no bite at all. What you want is a mindblowing combination of all flavor senses. Lemme
'splain.

We have the beer, which is a smooth bitter flavor. Then we have the rum glazed cherries, which give us tart and sweet. Also, we throw in some more of that sweet smoothness with melted milk chocolate with smooth clarified butta. Finally, we take it to the next supreme level of awesomeness with roasted peanuts and smoked salt.

That's right folks. This is not your kid's float. Pure fantastical flavor;

One Awesome Pan: Roasted Mediterranean Chicken

Easy.

I'm not a huge proprietor of easy. My recipes tend to sometimes go on for ages. (See example here) Ages.
I just like a bunch of complex flavors, that compliment one another, and sometimes they tend to take some... well, time to make. The end result is usually totally worth it, and I end up with something ridiculously scrumptious, but as complicated as the dickens. Not so here.

I found myself this evening staring at chicken thigh and drumstick quarters, completely dumbfounded as to what to make. I have a thousand dry ingredients, but none of them meshed, giving me culinary anxiety. I hummed and hawed, wondering how to turn these simple cuts of poultry into something fantastic and blog-worthy. I thought of Mediterranean chicken, but refused, simply because I wanted a knockout combo. A smack your auntie in the jowls kind of ingredient that would command attention. Alas, I found no such thing. However, when I saw the 2 kinds of olives in my fridge winking at me from a chilly afar, I succumbed to that first idea that popped into my noggin.

These already tasty veggies have no idea what's in store for them - Next level deliciousness. 

Pork Chops with Lavender Honey Dijon Mustard

Lavender. 

It doesn't connotate the manliest of visions. And truthfully neither does Dijon mustard, but take those things and add honey to them... well, now you're talking anti-manliness. That is okay however. Sometimes you need to add a gentler touch to pig parts to make them tasty, and that is exactly what we did with this recipe.

Now, just because the ingredients sound frilly, doesn't mean this dish lacks in flavor, in fact, it packs quite a frilly flavor-punch. The spicy dijon naturally goes with the honey, but I wanted to use some of the fresh and fragrant lavender growing in my sparse, not-taken-care-of garden. This herb also goes well with an obsession of mine; mustard.

Mustard is one of the simplest condiments, but the infinite variation of flavors that it can convey, along with tang, heat, sweet, texture, so on and so forth are amazing. If you don't believe me, head to a gourmet grocery store and check out the gourmet mustard section, look at all of the flavors, types, and marvel. Then look at the price tag. Some are just outrageously priced, for a simple mix of seeds or powder, vinegar, and seasoning or spice.