Sunday night, snow is coming

I have decided that there are two mentalities in Richmond when snow is imminent ...

Mentality 1 (Everyone in Richmond who is not me): OMG, the sky is quite literally falling ... get out of my way slow person, I need to get to Martin's and buy enough sliced bread and milk to feed the small army that I appear to have hunkered down at my house to wait out the snow.

Mentality 2 (Me): Oooh, snow ... well, guess I'm going to be at the house for a bit, seems like the perfect opportunity to try out something new that I've been thinking about for a while.  Let's go see what sort of fun things Whole Foods has that everyone is ignoring since they're all buying sliced bread and milk.  Oysters?  Well you can't have dry aged NY Strip without some of those to start ... Whole yellowtail snapper?  Yes please ...

Because of these divergent mentalities, tonight's dinner does not feature either milk (I did put a splash in the potatoes, but that's only because we had it on hand) or sliced bread.

Choptank Sweets oysters on the halfshell
Horseradish optional

The main course tonight was broiled dry aged NY Strip over shiitake & pepper mashers with sauteed asparagus and salad.

Dry aged NY Strip w/ Asparagus and Shiitake & Pepper Mashers

Shiitake & Pepper Mashers
3 medium/small red potatoes
3 small sweet peppers
7-8 large shiitake mushrooms
1 tbsp milk (a little more can be used if you prefer them more creamy)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup cheese (I prefer Italian 6 cheese blend)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Wrap potatoes in aluminium foil with a light coating of olive oil and salt, cook on 425F for about 45 minutes (or until soft).  Remove the seeds from the peppers, chop peppers & rough chop mushrooms.  After 30 minutes on the potatoes, heat a sautee pan with a little oil to medium high heat until oil runs smoothly.  Add the mushrooms and peppers, cooking until the mushrooms release and then reabsorb their water.

Once potatoes are soft, transfer to a mixing bowl and mash (skin and all) using a potato masher or a sturdy spoon (I prefer wooden).  Add the milk, cheese, mustard and pepper & mushroom mixture, stirring it all to blend.  If you want the potatoes to be creamier add a bit more milk (a little at a time to the consistency you prefer).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Plate and enjoy!