Spontenaity Rules! (And So Do Cheesesteaks!)

I tend to be a little spontaneous in nature and think that a healthy dose of the "don't even think about it, just do it" mindset keeps life interesting.  Feeling particularly spontaneous this morning (and remembering it was tax free weekend) I went all the way to Cambridge to purchase a fancy new camera and it was love at first click.  Many of you may not know this, but all of my photos up until this point have been with a Kodak point-and-shoot camera.  Absolutely no bells and whistles whatsoever.  It was time for an upgrade.  After some quick research, I was on my way with a new Canon PowerShot G11.  I'm so excited I can't even stand it!  I've been snapping pictures all over the place today just playing around with it and can't wait to use it for my blog.

Alright, enough camera talk, let's get to the real meat of the post (worst pun ever) and talk about last night's delicious dinner: Cheesesteaks with caramelized onions and fried mushrooms with homemade rosemary, olive oil and sea salt potato chips.  It totally hit the spot and was the perfect meal for a beautiful late summer evening.  

To start, I got all of my ingredients for this meal from The Meat House, Coolidge Corner's latest and oh so greatest additions.  I'm obsessed.  For real.  One of the managers actually told me the other day that he thinks I've clocked more hours there then some of his employees, and they are a hard-working bunch!  This place deserves a blog post of it's own (and it will get it) but the long and short of it, it's where local food comes to play.  A good portion of the store (about 30-40%) is local and the meat cases are are lined up, proudly displaying some of the freshest meats of varying cuts.  The atmosphere is fun (some of the employees were literally dancing around the store to some C+C Music Factory the other day) and the food is spectacular.

I had made the potato chips earlier in the day to make for less time spent in the kitchen and more time with my friends.  Homemade potato chips are amazing.  With such a rich potato flavor, and a hearty crunch, they are so much better than anything you can get in a bag.  The secret is to cut the potato slices real thin and soak them in water to remove some of the starch, which means a crispier chip.  

That being said, it is VERY important to dry the potato slices as thoroughly as possible be submerging them in the oil and never walk away from the pan once you've put the chips in.  Oil fires are nobody's friend.

For the Cheesesteaks, which were my take on the Philly Cheesesteak, (however, I kept calling them Boston Cheesesteaks.  Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?) I used a shaved steak which was cut just so delicately thin it was almost poetic.  Not to mention, it cooked up in less than 10 minutes time.  I topped it off with thin slices of American cheese, (chosen for it's incredible melting properties and subtle taste) which created sort of a cheese sauce that coated the thin shreds of steak.  Along with the fried mushrooms and caramelized onions, the steak was packed into fresh, soft sub rolls.   

It was an absolutely delicious night with great company, many, many laughs and so much fun.  Now, I'm off to take more pictures and play around a little more with my new camera.  Enjoy what's left of the weekend!