This is one of those perfect weeknight entertaining dishes that looks impressive but is incredibly easy. It's a kind of cross between a chicken milanese and a latin chicken milanesa a caballo. The best part about this recipe is how make ahead friendly it is. You can bread the chicken hours before you need them and pull them out and fry them whenever.

They are exceptionally moist and the truffle salt adds such a luxurious level of flavor - even I was surprised at how well all of the flavors really meshed together. The crispy coated, moist chicken, the umami earthiness of the truffles, the acidic bite from the lemon-dressed salad, and the creamy richness of the poached egg. If you have it on hand I can't imagine that a drizzle of truffle oil would hurt the finished dish, either.

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I don't typically think of myself as a baker. I'm much more comfortable chopping and dicing than I am scooping and measuring. This focaccia, however, is easy enough that anybody can make a beautiful loaf of flavorful, fluffy bread in just about no time flat.

The only required equipment, other than the ingredients of course, is a stand mixer. The dough really needs to take a beating while mixing and hand mixers just aren't going to be able to muster enough power to get the job done properly. My Kitchen Aid, affectionately named Trogdor the Mixinator, makes quick work of it and makes me look like a damn good baker.

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When we lived in California finding fresh figs in season was like the chances of being cut off in traffic - guaranteed to happen. I happily gorged myself on several varieties of figs from any of the three farmer's markets within walking or biking distance.

After moving to North Carolina it's been a tad more difficult to find some of the foods I took for granted. I find it especially obnoxious to be buying the same produce here grown on farms 15 minutes away from where we lived along the Central Coast. Let me tell you, strawberries from a farm 15 minutes away and strawberries from a farm on the opposite side of the country are worlds apart and it's worth the extra money to buy local.

I recently walked into a local "gourmet" grocery store and asked an employee in the produce section when they'd be getting their figs this season. He then asked me what figs were.

Ugh.

I found some this weekend in Maryland and managed to stop myself from eating them all out of hand. I wrapped the rest in prosciutto and stuffed them with my favorite mushroom infused brie. In a word, delicious. I like the departure from the standard gorgonzola stuffed figs, the mushrooms add an interesting musky flavor that works with the saltiness of the prosciutto and the sweetness of the figs.

If you're not familiar with mushroom brie it's often labeled as Champignon, the French term for mushroom.

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Although I typically walk the straight and narrow when it comes to Asian cuisine, I can't help but love the slap-in-the-face-of-traditional-Asian-cuisine guilty pleasure that is the crab rangoon.

It is shamelessly awful and wonderful at the same time. Wholly a creation of the "American Chinese" bent, crab rangoons are an unknown in Asia - and rightfully so, in my opinion. However, the fact that they are little more than a shameless attempt at pandering to the palate of your typical American schlub doesn't make me love them any less.

Creamy and crunchy with just a hint of umami from the scallions/garlic and then dunked in a cloyingly sweet, outrageously fake red sweet and sour sauce they're a guilty treat I can't resist when ordering Chinese takeout.

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This was the first application for the recently arrived garlic scapes. They added a perfect amount of freshness to the typically heavy dish without deviating from the traditional flavors too much.

I did learn the difficult way that I must remember to not salt the pasta water for carbonara, however. So take that as a lesson learned from my experience - unless of course you feel the need for a salt lick in your life.

Carbonara is great served with a light salad on the side. Or perhaps your entire vegetable drawer to make up for the decadence of pasta, eggs, cheese, and fatty pork.

Nevertheless, it's worth it.

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