Fresh and Easy

is so fresh and easy! I had a blast last Thursday night. Thank you, Oakley, for letting me be your guest. I think you have made me a convert. Can I join the monastery?

The following review is based on the NOM factor and has plenty of asides. Grab a napkin, you're going to need it for all the salivating.

And now on to the important stuff, THE FOOD.

First, appetizers – wine (La Giosa Prosecco – a sparkling wine, St. Helens Reisling) – there were also two types of red, but I stuck to the whites.

There were also fresh veggies, pita chips, bread, cheese, and NOM artichoke dip. I’ll have to get the list from @Fresh_and_Easy I want more of the cheese.

First off, I must say that @sallieb, @jennifervides, and Chef Mike put me right at ease. Usually I am a wallflower, and would have waited for Oakley to show up, but they got me going right from the start (thanks guys!) It helped that the conversation revolved around food. I really love food. The wine probably helped a little too.

We officially got started about 7:30 making pizza. 10 minutes from start to finish, minus the baking time. And even though it is summer time and often (especially this week in the Southwest!) too hot to turn the oven on, Chef Mike suggested using a toaster oven. Nifty. Who needs Pizza Hut when you have Fresh & Easy?

While the pizza cooked, the teams started on the other menu items.

Oakley, Lupe, and I worked on the avocado ranch dip for the steak fajitas (pictured above), Bernadette and her team worked on the Apricot Chicken Fingers, and Amy's team that worked on the Salmon.

What I loved about this demo is that we were able to improvise a bit (that's what happens when you get a bunch of foodies together). Lupe and I felt the avocado ranch needed a little more *oomph* (Oakley accused us of being ethnic, LOL! but all in love). Chef Mike had just what we needed, some lemon and salt.

• The pizza, with extra cheesy goodness -- NOM NOM
• The fajitas -- NOM NOM NOM
• The salmon (with Thai approved Peanut sauce) NOM - I'm biased. I cook salmon a lot and this was lacking ... something, but it was perfectly flaky and Oakley approved the peanut sauce (something I am not overly fond of).
• The chicken fingers with apricot mustard sauce -- OMGNOMNOMNOM -- had these for lunch the next day, leaving the pizza for my mom.
• Dessert -- absolutely sinful banana cream pie, divine tiramisu, and ogasmic chocolate cupcake. Need I say more?

For more nommage, check out the slideshow below.

Related sites and articles

• Temple of Fresh & Easy
• Bernadette's site
• Fresh & Easy blog (www.freshandeasy.com)
• Cooking with Chef Mike of Fresh & Easy
• Fresh & Easy flickr Group Pool
• Amy Anderson

3 comments Food, Foodie, photography, recipes, tweetup, twitter, wine