So lunch on Wednesday at Iron Works was amazing. I had said that I was going to get the salad bar but when we walked into the place the salad bar consisted of a bowl of lettuce and that's about it... so instead I went for the next best thing. I got the smoked turkey sandwich. Now, this place is definitely simple to the core. The sandwich is on a white sesame bun with sliced smoked turkey (not deli meat) with sliced pickles and raw white onions. That's it. Very plain. But amazing. I took off the pickles, some of the onions, removed the bottom half of the bun and ate it like an open faced sandwich. And then I doused, literally doused it in barbecue sauce. It was awesome! And really well priced. Way better than Lamberts, for sure
Lunch on Thursday ended up being at Portabla on west 6th. Sandella's had really bad reviews on Yelp so I got kind of scared and changed plans at the last moment. Portabla had been on our list of places to go for a while so it all kind of fell into place. It's a really cute salad/soup/sandwich kind of place with more upscale sandwiches that your regular sandwich shop. It reminded me a lot of Panera but on a smaller scaler, which is good because I asbolutely love Panera!
I got the 1/2 sandwich and 1/2 soup. The soup of the day was Tomato Fennel. It was flavorful but extremely salty - too salty! I got the Aubergine sandwich and it was absolutely amazing. A hot panino on ciabatta bread with eggplant, goat cheese, mayo and some other roasted vegetables. Apparently our waiter told us he didn't have enough soup left for two bowls so would it be okay if he just each gave us a cup and we could get another side? We ended up getting green beans but then he brough us each a bowl of soup anyway? I'm not sure what happened but... the green beans were deliciously green and crisp. I'd definitely go here again to try another sandwich! Their other soups sound good too - when we were leaving they were just finishing up a batch of baked potato soup! Even though ours was way too salty the place is worth revisiting.
This weekend I went to Houston, it was bliss.
Thursday night my mom made pan fried chicken with oven baked sweet potato, pinto beans and a spinach and tomoto salad.
Friday for lunch I made sandwiches which we cut into four and shared! One had cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers. One had sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and avocade. And another had provolone cheese, ham, avocado, tomatoes and mustard. For dinner we made coconut shrimp! And served it with a salad of spinach, arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, chopped pecans and vinaigrette.
On Saturday lunch was more sandwiches, like the ones I made on Friday. For dinner we went to a friends house, a Brazilian. And her husband made crepes the way we eat them in Brazil. I had mine stuffed with shrimp, tomatoes, garlic, spinach and mushrooms. I also made a cake to take with me from one of Ina Garten's cookbooks, I think Barfoot at Home but I'm not sure! It was the Lemon Yogurt Cake and it was divine! I don't really even like lemony things very much but this was delicious! A lemon-zest flavored yogurt cake with a lemon juice syrup soaked into it topped with a lemony-sugary icing. It was scrumptious! Earlier on Saturday I had made a Banana, Pecan, Coconut coffee cake from my Coffee Cakes cookbook. It was lightly spiced and so moist and flavorful! This cookbook is the same cookbook out of which came the Spice cake I made for Christmas... I'm really falling in love with it!
On Sunday I made french toast for breakfast. One of my mother's students brought us a fresh loaf of challah bread from the school my mom teaches at and the moment we got it I said -ding- french toast! Usually I just make french toast from my head throwing together some milk and eggs but on Sunday I followed the french toast recipe from my Williams Sonoma breakfast cookbook to a T. It called for orange zest and vanilla, some Cointreau, milk, eggs and sugar. I let the challah soak for about 10 minutes and then cooked it on a flat griddle. It. Was. To. Die. For. The flavor of the orange with the sweet challah. Topped with sliced strawberries and cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup... it was amazing. The day on Sunday was beautiful so for lunch we sat outside with a nice assorted spread of meats and cheeses and condiments and bread. That's my favorite way to eat lunch with my parents. Sure I end up eating way more than if I have just a sandwich on my plate but it's so fun to just sit around for two hours making your own little assorted sandwiches.
My parents returned from their trip to London and Paris and my mom brough me some awesome Darjeeling and Chai teas! She also visited various chocolatiers in Paris and brough back a box of truffles from Pierre Marcolini for us to try. Over the weekend we tasted various truffles and I have to say that they were okay, but my mother's chocolates are a million times better!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Enoteca Vespaio; Halcyon
So dinner last night with girlfriends went down at Enoteca Vespaio on South Congress. It's the more casual bistro version (and cheaper version) of its next door neighbor, Vespaio. One of my friends had another friend in town and so four of us headed down to SoCo around 6:45. Even though it was a Tuesday it was emptier than I though it'd be. We got seated immediately and the restaurant only started to fill up when we were headed out around 8. It was a hard menu choice for us since everything sounded so delicious but we finally narrowed it down. My plan had been to order the spinach salad but I was kind of craving some nice hot pasta so my plans changed at the last minute. To begin I ordered a Caprese salad which was... heavenly. Everyone else commented that it was very simple and tasted kind of bland. But that's the beauty of it. The creamy, milky fresh mozzarella and the vine ripe red tomato slices and the beautiful green basil chiffonade only dressed with salt, good ground cracked pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Bliss.
Following that the four of us each ordered our own entrees. Amy and I planned on sharing both of ours since we couldn't decide on what we wanted. She ordered pasta with fontina-stuffed veal meatballs in a tomato sauce and I ordered a pizza with pancetta and caramelized onions.
The pasta was... it was just perfect. Very thin spaghetti perfectly al dente with a very hot thick tomato sauce with big chunks of tomato. It was so comforting and satisfying. The veal meatballs were juicy and tender, very well seasoned and the fontina cheese inside was gooey and delicious (one of my favorite cheeses, which is why I pushed for this dish, how can I turn away veal and fontina?). The dish came with a piece of garlic bread which I absolutely loved. It was crispy and buttery and super garlicky. Yum-o! After my salad, the garlic bread and some pasta I only ate one slice of my pizza (which ended up not being such a bad thing...)
The pizza, unlike the pasta, was disappointing. The caramelized onions were sweet and delicious but the good kind of stopped there. The crust under the pizza was very thin which I usually love but here it was soggy instead of slightly crispy (can't be too crispy either, that's bad also!). The pancetta and cheese made the pizza extremely oily. The flavor was good but the greasiness and the sogginess were just too bad to overlook. I wouldn't give up on the pizza here though because the crust around the edges was delicious and so perhaps it was just this pizza with it's high level of grease made the pizza soggy?
The place itself is very cute inside, quite small and intimate but very cute and comforting at the same time. If you want a great comforting pasta dish with a nice atmosphere, I definitely recommend this place.
After a little digestion we headed over to Halcyon. I had been there once before I really wanted to take the other girls there because I love the atmosphere and vibe of the place. We got there around 9 and, again, it was a Tuesday night so it wasn't exactly as happening as say on a Thursday of Friday night a little later, but there were quite a few people, all on the laptops for some reason? The real reason I wanted to take them there was for their s'mores! They bring you a little candle-fire thing (like what you would put under fondue kind of) along with chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers and you make your own s'mores! For four of us they brough us 8 graham cracker sheets, 2 bars of Hershey's milk chocolate and maybe 10 marshmallows? Our flame went out right at the end and so she took our tray away to relight it and came back with another bar of chocolate, more graham crackers and more marshmallows! Apparently a co-worker didn't know she was just relighting our flame so she set up a new tray. S'more for for costs $9.
It's so fun to sit and do this with your friends (and of course it's delicious, you can't go wrong with s'mores). It makes for a really nice dessert and end to a great night. I also had some kahlua on the rocks... I had never tried Kahlua before, only Bailey's... I think I like Bailey's more, it's surprisingly less sweet, I thought Kahlua would be less sweet but alas it isn't. :)
Lunch today will be at Iron Works. And tomorrow before I head home Amy and I are going to eat lunch at Sandella's. I just got a coupon from them in the mail and it looks good so we're going to give it a try! That's a lot of eating out, huh? Oh well...
Following that the four of us each ordered our own entrees. Amy and I planned on sharing both of ours since we couldn't decide on what we wanted. She ordered pasta with fontina-stuffed veal meatballs in a tomato sauce and I ordered a pizza with pancetta and caramelized onions.
The pasta was... it was just perfect. Very thin spaghetti perfectly al dente with a very hot thick tomato sauce with big chunks of tomato. It was so comforting and satisfying. The veal meatballs were juicy and tender, very well seasoned and the fontina cheese inside was gooey and delicious (one of my favorite cheeses, which is why I pushed for this dish, how can I turn away veal and fontina?). The dish came with a piece of garlic bread which I absolutely loved. It was crispy and buttery and super garlicky. Yum-o! After my salad, the garlic bread and some pasta I only ate one slice of my pizza (which ended up not being such a bad thing...)
The pizza, unlike the pasta, was disappointing. The caramelized onions were sweet and delicious but the good kind of stopped there. The crust under the pizza was very thin which I usually love but here it was soggy instead of slightly crispy (can't be too crispy either, that's bad also!). The pancetta and cheese made the pizza extremely oily. The flavor was good but the greasiness and the sogginess were just too bad to overlook. I wouldn't give up on the pizza here though because the crust around the edges was delicious and so perhaps it was just this pizza with it's high level of grease made the pizza soggy?
The place itself is very cute inside, quite small and intimate but very cute and comforting at the same time. If you want a great comforting pasta dish with a nice atmosphere, I definitely recommend this place.
After a little digestion we headed over to Halcyon. I had been there once before I really wanted to take the other girls there because I love the atmosphere and vibe of the place. We got there around 9 and, again, it was a Tuesday night so it wasn't exactly as happening as say on a Thursday of Friday night a little later, but there were quite a few people, all on the laptops for some reason? The real reason I wanted to take them there was for their s'mores! They bring you a little candle-fire thing (like what you would put under fondue kind of) along with chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers and you make your own s'mores! For four of us they brough us 8 graham cracker sheets, 2 bars of Hershey's milk chocolate and maybe 10 marshmallows? Our flame went out right at the end and so she took our tray away to relight it and came back with another bar of chocolate, more graham crackers and more marshmallows! Apparently a co-worker didn't know she was just relighting our flame so she set up a new tray. S'more for for costs $9.
It's so fun to sit and do this with your friends (and of course it's delicious, you can't go wrong with s'mores). It makes for a really nice dessert and end to a great night. I also had some kahlua on the rocks... I had never tried Kahlua before, only Bailey's... I think I like Bailey's more, it's surprisingly less sweet, I thought Kahlua would be less sweet but alas it isn't. :)
Lunch today will be at Iron Works. And tomorrow before I head home Amy and I are going to eat lunch at Sandella's. I just got a coupon from them in the mail and it looks good so we're going to give it a try! That's a lot of eating out, huh? Oh well...
Monday, March 23, 2009
Upcoming
Tomorrow: Enoteca Vespaio (finally!!) on SoCo. I'm thinking of ordering one of the following salads (yes I'm an avid read-the-menu-before-I-go-to-the-restaurant kind of person):
SPINACH: baby spinach, radicchio, candied walnuts, mushrooms, gorgonzola dolce, fire roasted peppers w/ pancetta vinaigrette sm $7/ lg $9
NICOISE: big eye tuna confit, arugula, radicchio, hard boiled egg, tomato, haricots verts, new potatoes, kalamata olives w/ lemon citronette $13
Wednesday: Iron Works BBQ on Congress and Red River
I'm thinking of either getting the All-you-can-eat salad bar. But I mean, come on, it's a BBQ place and I really need to compare it to Lambert's, right? So, being a little more realistic I'll probably get either the order of sliced beef or smoked turkey. The plates all come with a side of potato salad, beans, bread, pickle, onion, barbecue sauce. I'm going to replace the potato salad with a green salad and avoid the bread (as best I can, it is my weakness after all).
Tonight I had my first run at making tofu at home... it didn't go so well. I didn't really follow a recipe either so maybe I should do that next time. I bought extra firm tofu, cubed it and then planned on "searing" it on each side so that it would be browned but that didn't really work out. Either way, I stir fried it with bok choy, bean sprouts, mushrooms, carrot, onions, garlic, gingner, miso paste, soy sauce, red curry paste. Although the tofu was kind of mushy the flavor was delicious and all the veggies were crunchy. It ended up making a lot and so I have lots of leftover. The nice thing is that it was a much greater veggie to tofu ratio, which makes it nice and healthy but still interesting because there was so much going on! I guess it would have been good served on rice or with with some Asian-type noodles but I liked it just as it was, veggies and protein. Yum!
As for the raw food detox, I decided against it, for this week anyway. I'm going home on Thursday to visit my family and I want to be able to enjoy all of my mother's cooking. I hear the transition back to cooked food from raw food can be quite unpleasant so I don't see the need to put myself through that. Maybe when I have a full 7 days to myself I'll try again! Having said that, I have been incorporating a lot more raw fruits and vegetables into my diet. Today alone I ate a mango, pear, orange, strawberries and baby carrots. I also had low fat yogurt and cottage cheese. Low sodium butternut squash soup and then my veggie tofu stir fry (made with virtually no added fat). Not bad, huh?
Okay okay I had some dark chocolate (60%) too but, hey, I'm only human, and I let myself consider it a health food! Antioxidants! Yum!
SPINACH: baby spinach, radicchio, candied walnuts, mushrooms, gorgonzola dolce, fire roasted peppers w/ pancetta vinaigrette sm $7/ lg $9
NICOISE: big eye tuna confit, arugula, radicchio, hard boiled egg, tomato, haricots verts, new potatoes, kalamata olives w/ lemon citronette $13
Wednesday: Iron Works BBQ on Congress and Red River
I'm thinking of either getting the All-you-can-eat salad bar. But I mean, come on, it's a BBQ place and I really need to compare it to Lambert's, right? So, being a little more realistic I'll probably get either the order of sliced beef or smoked turkey. The plates all come with a side of potato salad, beans, bread, pickle, onion, barbecue sauce. I'm going to replace the potato salad with a green salad and avoid the bread (as best I can, it is my weakness after all).
Tonight I had my first run at making tofu at home... it didn't go so well. I didn't really follow a recipe either so maybe I should do that next time. I bought extra firm tofu, cubed it and then planned on "searing" it on each side so that it would be browned but that didn't really work out. Either way, I stir fried it with bok choy, bean sprouts, mushrooms, carrot, onions, garlic, gingner, miso paste, soy sauce, red curry paste. Although the tofu was kind of mushy the flavor was delicious and all the veggies were crunchy. It ended up making a lot and so I have lots of leftover. The nice thing is that it was a much greater veggie to tofu ratio, which makes it nice and healthy but still interesting because there was so much going on! I guess it would have been good served on rice or with with some Asian-type noodles but I liked it just as it was, veggies and protein. Yum!
As for the raw food detox, I decided against it, for this week anyway. I'm going home on Thursday to visit my family and I want to be able to enjoy all of my mother's cooking. I hear the transition back to cooked food from raw food can be quite unpleasant so I don't see the need to put myself through that. Maybe when I have a full 7 days to myself I'll try again! Having said that, I have been incorporating a lot more raw fruits and vegetables into my diet. Today alone I ate a mango, pear, orange, strawberries and baby carrots. I also had low fat yogurt and cottage cheese. Low sodium butternut squash soup and then my veggie tofu stir fry (made with virtually no added fat). Not bad, huh?
Okay okay I had some dark chocolate (60%) too but, hey, I'm only human, and I let myself consider it a health food! Antioxidants! Yum!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Raw food detox & Yogurt
My 24 hour water fast starts in one hour and I am, to say the least, nervous. I'm not one of those people, unlike some I know, who can eat one meal a day and be fine. Those that claim to forget to eat. No no, I am definitely not one of those. I wake up hungry. Hunger is the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.
So 24 hours of just water seems unthinkable. Of course, people all over the world do it, not out of choice but rather out of necessity all the time and so the fact that not eating for 24 hours is a choice I can make is quite a luxury. I'm thinking I'll probably feel very unwell at moments but after those hunger pangs pass you kind of forget about it... right? I'm going from 6pm-6pm! No food.
Why? Well... it's all to kick start a raw food detox that I will then be doing from Monday-Thursday. It's technically supposed to be a 7 day detox but I'm going home this weekend to Houston and I have a feeling that sustaining a raw food diet will be very highly unlikely, although I'll definitely do my best, just with no guarantees. I'm thinking I can eat mostly fruits, vegetables, salads, maybe yogurt? And definitely still no meat (it's been 6 days!).
So apparently this water detox can make you feel very clean and can give your digestive system a relief. I've already stopped eating meat since Monday and have desperately tried to cut back on bread, although it's been difficult. I've also cut back on caffeine.
Why am I doing this? Well... it all started when I wanted to see if I could not eat meat for a week. And then I found this raw food detox online and thought, hmm, that sounds interesting, how bad could a detox be for my body? Sounds like a good idea. I mean, as all raw foodists argue, we are the only animals in the world who eat cooked food. All other animals eat raw seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables. Makes sense, right? So I guess I can give it a try!
Now, I could never go 100% raw, I would never want to, for many many reasons. Firstly, it'd be too difficult to go out with friends and eat out. I'd miss out on things like bread and cheese and chocolate and pizza and burgers (not that I eat that very often, but when I want it, I want it). Some things are just too good to not eat. But I think that eating raw makes a lot of sense so I really think that I could incorporate more raw fruits and vegetables in to my diet. And I could definitely stay away from meat from here on out, especially chicken, for health and humanitarian reasons.
Okay, okay - I'm getting ahead of myself! First things first - 24 hours of no eating, only water. Let's see how it goes...
As a side note, I just wanted to review two types of yogurt that I've tried recently (another reason I could never go raw!):
-Cultural revolution, vanilla: This yogurt is interesting. As it says on it's packaging it has a cream top. I bought the 2% vanilla flavor. It is lower in sugar than most regular yogurt which I really like, that's the primary reason I bought it. When you open it and stir it together it is not very thick and it is lumpy, like traditional yogurt is. This texture might bother some people but it didn't bother me. The sweetness was pleasant, not too overbearing but not as subtle as in the Siggi's. I liked it a lot, I like being able to eat vanilla yogurt for less sugar than plain yogurt from other brands!
-Siggi's Icelandic style Skyr, pomegranate and passion fruit: Because it's strained it's extremely thick even thought it's non-fat and also very high in protein, 16g in 6 oz.! It's sweetened with agave nectar but is very delicately flavored, not extremely sweet like most yogurts on the market. The predominant flavor is the tangy natural flavor of yogurt with a delicate, faint flavor of sweetness and fruit. It's delicious! 100% natural. Made from cows allowed to roam free and eat grass, not treated with rBGH! It's expensive but worth it. With 120 calories and 11g of sugar per 6 ounces, it's a treat! Thick, creamy, non-fat, high protein, all natural. I can't wait to try the orange and ginger flavor, I hear it's the best!
So 24 hours of just water seems unthinkable. Of course, people all over the world do it, not out of choice but rather out of necessity all the time and so the fact that not eating for 24 hours is a choice I can make is quite a luxury. I'm thinking I'll probably feel very unwell at moments but after those hunger pangs pass you kind of forget about it... right? I'm going from 6pm-6pm! No food.
Why? Well... it's all to kick start a raw food detox that I will then be doing from Monday-Thursday. It's technically supposed to be a 7 day detox but I'm going home this weekend to Houston and I have a feeling that sustaining a raw food diet will be very highly unlikely, although I'll definitely do my best, just with no guarantees. I'm thinking I can eat mostly fruits, vegetables, salads, maybe yogurt? And definitely still no meat (it's been 6 days!).
So apparently this water detox can make you feel very clean and can give your digestive system a relief. I've already stopped eating meat since Monday and have desperately tried to cut back on bread, although it's been difficult. I've also cut back on caffeine.
Why am I doing this? Well... it all started when I wanted to see if I could not eat meat for a week. And then I found this raw food detox online and thought, hmm, that sounds interesting, how bad could a detox be for my body? Sounds like a good idea. I mean, as all raw foodists argue, we are the only animals in the world who eat cooked food. All other animals eat raw seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables. Makes sense, right? So I guess I can give it a try!
Now, I could never go 100% raw, I would never want to, for many many reasons. Firstly, it'd be too difficult to go out with friends and eat out. I'd miss out on things like bread and cheese and chocolate and pizza and burgers (not that I eat that very often, but when I want it, I want it). Some things are just too good to not eat. But I think that eating raw makes a lot of sense so I really think that I could incorporate more raw fruits and vegetables in to my diet. And I could definitely stay away from meat from here on out, especially chicken, for health and humanitarian reasons.
Okay, okay - I'm getting ahead of myself! First things first - 24 hours of no eating, only water. Let's see how it goes...
As a side note, I just wanted to review two types of yogurt that I've tried recently (another reason I could never go raw!):
-Cultural revolution, vanilla: This yogurt is interesting. As it says on it's packaging it has a cream top. I bought the 2% vanilla flavor. It is lower in sugar than most regular yogurt which I really like, that's the primary reason I bought it. When you open it and stir it together it is not very thick and it is lumpy, like traditional yogurt is. This texture might bother some people but it didn't bother me. The sweetness was pleasant, not too overbearing but not as subtle as in the Siggi's. I liked it a lot, I like being able to eat vanilla yogurt for less sugar than plain yogurt from other brands!
-Siggi's Icelandic style Skyr, pomegranate and passion fruit: Because it's strained it's extremely thick even thought it's non-fat and also very high in protein, 16g in 6 oz.! It's sweetened with agave nectar but is very delicately flavored, not extremely sweet like most yogurts on the market. The predominant flavor is the tangy natural flavor of yogurt with a delicate, faint flavor of sweetness and fruit. It's delicious! 100% natural. Made from cows allowed to roam free and eat grass, not treated with rBGH! It's expensive but worth it. With 120 calories and 11g of sugar per 6 ounces, it's a treat! Thick, creamy, non-fat, high protein, all natural. I can't wait to try the orange and ginger flavor, I hear it's the best!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Zoot at Bee Cave
So last night my boss took me and two other interns out to dinner at a restaurant I had never head of named Zoot. It's on Bee Cave pretty far out past Resaca at a little shopping center named La Hacienda. It just recently moved there from another location and when we got there it was pretty obvious, the place is very underdeveloped, looks like Zoot is one of the first restaurants to move out there. They don't have their liquor license yet so they only offer beer and wine, for now. Their wine list is extensive but they said they only had a few beers to offer.
The menu was very fancy fare - foie gras, duck and the like. The front side of the menu includes appetizers, salads, soups and entrees a la carte. The second side of the menu has two preset menus, a Chef's tasting menu and a Farmer's market menu which was vegetarian. They each include 5 smaller courses for $67 or for $97 you can have a wine paired with each course. My boss decided that the latter would be the best choice (I had no problem arguing with her!).
This week I'm trying not to eat meat. It's been actually... not difficult per se, but it definitely requires me to be aware. Meat is not something that I crave, unlike bread and chocolate, but it is something that I take for granted in all my meals. When I think of dinner or lunch, my planning usually revolves around a particular protein, and so when I cut out meat (including fish) it's hard! So far I've stuck to... well let's see. Monday I had a salad for lunch and then an english muffin with pb for dinner. Yesterday I also had a salad for lunch and then Zoot for dinner (I chose the Farmer's market menu, I'll get back to that soon!) and today for lunch I had some tabbouleh that I had purchased at Whole Foods brought in from Tom's Tabooley on Guadalupe. And for dinner I had some cottage cheese with yogurt with strawberries and then a little later I had a big salad. It's been interesting, and I feel like it's good to give my digestive system a little bit of a break (after the weekend I had of eating!). I'm trying to go easy on eating bread also. But I can't cut everything out at once! I'm already drinking no coffee, again. I went through a period of not drinking coffee, a few months, but I recently started drinking it again. Then this weekend I drank way too much and thought I'd give my body a bit of a break with no coffee and no meat!
Anyway, back to Zoot. I ordered the Farmer's market menu which was difficult for me because I absolutely love meat! And the Chef's tasting menu included scallops, marlin, NY strip steak... oh, it was difficult. But, I'm glad I stuck to my plan! And it was still delicious! (And it better have been for that price!). I'm not much of a wine drinker, to be honest. I find it very harsh on the tongue, and I definitely felt that last night, with some more than others, but I'll get to that!
To start - warm mini baguettes served with butter. I ate one, without butter, it tasted just as a well made baguette should taste - I tell you, sometimes there's nothing better than just simple bread. And it reminds me why I forgo pasta, rice and potatoes for bread any day.
They also served us each an amouse bouche, very cutely on a spoon for each of us. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but let me tell you. One spoonful of A LOT of flavor. We were all in pure shock at how much flavor they managed to get into that one tiny spoonful. It was absolutely, incredibly delicious.
First course: Cracked wheat and fava beans with dressed spinach. The fava beans were the best part of this dish. I love beans and these were so creamy and well seasoned. The cracked wheat, seasoned, was interesting. Similar to the cracked wheat in tabbouleh, very textured. It was a very healthful, vegetarian way to start the night off. They paired it with a sweet white wine, I think it was my favorite wine of the night.
Second course: Root vegetable soup with candied ginger! This was by far the best course. The soup was so flavorful, it was incredible. The flavor was superb. They paired it with a white wine which was quite smooth and went perfectly with the soup. It was just amazing... I could have just had a whole big bowl of that and it would have been a wonderful night!
Third course: Sweet potato gnocchi served with marinate beets! This was the coures that I was most excited about but which was the biggest disappointment! I absolutely love sweet potatoes, and I love gnocci. But they were very dense and pasty. Thick on the tongue, like it would stick to the roof of your mouth. The flavor was great but the texture, heaviness of it was too much. Gnocchi is tranditionally quite a heavy dish but this was just too much. The red wine they served with it was a Malbec blend from Argentina, still too strong for my tastes.
Fourth course: Ravioli with roasted artichoke hearts! The artichoke hearts were very strongly marinated. Flavorful but intense. The ravioli was simple, straight forward. Delicious but nothing exceptional. The filling was a ricotta or mascarpone mixture, I think. It was creamy, white and mild. It was pleasant, especially with such an intense side. The red wine that they served with it was extremely spicy and strong, too much for my tatstest!
Fifth course: Dessert! A very dense, dark chocolate pie with dried rose petals on top, a sprinkling of salt, and three roasted hazelnuts! Served with a scoop of... pomegranate (that would be my best guess) sorbet. It was delectable. The perfect combination of intense and light, bitter and sweet. The perfect ending. And they served it with a 20 year old Port wine which was... oh it was just intensely sweet and absolutely heavenly.
Apparently they change the tasting menus every so often and the sommelier chooses the wines each night depending on what he wants to serve.
So, obviously it's extremely expensive (and their tables were really wobbly, that's the only real complaint that I have!) but if you're looking for an indulgence, a peaceful escape from the city, this place was really wonderful. The food, the wine. The waitstaff are extremely polite and really know what they're talking about, which is always a really nice thing to have at a restaurant (and something not found often enough!)
All in all it was a wonderfully enjoyable meal. (And I still think the non-vegetarian menu would have been better! :P)
The menu was very fancy fare - foie gras, duck and the like. The front side of the menu includes appetizers, salads, soups and entrees a la carte. The second side of the menu has two preset menus, a Chef's tasting menu and a Farmer's market menu which was vegetarian. They each include 5 smaller courses for $67 or for $97 you can have a wine paired with each course. My boss decided that the latter would be the best choice (I had no problem arguing with her!).
This week I'm trying not to eat meat. It's been actually... not difficult per se, but it definitely requires me to be aware. Meat is not something that I crave, unlike bread and chocolate, but it is something that I take for granted in all my meals. When I think of dinner or lunch, my planning usually revolves around a particular protein, and so when I cut out meat (including fish) it's hard! So far I've stuck to... well let's see. Monday I had a salad for lunch and then an english muffin with pb for dinner. Yesterday I also had a salad for lunch and then Zoot for dinner (I chose the Farmer's market menu, I'll get back to that soon!) and today for lunch I had some tabbouleh that I had purchased at Whole Foods brought in from Tom's Tabooley on Guadalupe. And for dinner I had some cottage cheese with yogurt with strawberries and then a little later I had a big salad. It's been interesting, and I feel like it's good to give my digestive system a little bit of a break (after the weekend I had of eating!). I'm trying to go easy on eating bread also. But I can't cut everything out at once! I'm already drinking no coffee, again. I went through a period of not drinking coffee, a few months, but I recently started drinking it again. Then this weekend I drank way too much and thought I'd give my body a bit of a break with no coffee and no meat!
Anyway, back to Zoot. I ordered the Farmer's market menu which was difficult for me because I absolutely love meat! And the Chef's tasting menu included scallops, marlin, NY strip steak... oh, it was difficult. But, I'm glad I stuck to my plan! And it was still delicious! (And it better have been for that price!). I'm not much of a wine drinker, to be honest. I find it very harsh on the tongue, and I definitely felt that last night, with some more than others, but I'll get to that!
To start - warm mini baguettes served with butter. I ate one, without butter, it tasted just as a well made baguette should taste - I tell you, sometimes there's nothing better than just simple bread. And it reminds me why I forgo pasta, rice and potatoes for bread any day.
They also served us each an amouse bouche, very cutely on a spoon for each of us. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but let me tell you. One spoonful of A LOT of flavor. We were all in pure shock at how much flavor they managed to get into that one tiny spoonful. It was absolutely, incredibly delicious.
First course: Cracked wheat and fava beans with dressed spinach. The fava beans were the best part of this dish. I love beans and these were so creamy and well seasoned. The cracked wheat, seasoned, was interesting. Similar to the cracked wheat in tabbouleh, very textured. It was a very healthful, vegetarian way to start the night off. They paired it with a sweet white wine, I think it was my favorite wine of the night.
Second course: Root vegetable soup with candied ginger! This was by far the best course. The soup was so flavorful, it was incredible. The flavor was superb. They paired it with a white wine which was quite smooth and went perfectly with the soup. It was just amazing... I could have just had a whole big bowl of that and it would have been a wonderful night!
Third course: Sweet potato gnocchi served with marinate beets! This was the coures that I was most excited about but which was the biggest disappointment! I absolutely love sweet potatoes, and I love gnocci. But they were very dense and pasty. Thick on the tongue, like it would stick to the roof of your mouth. The flavor was great but the texture, heaviness of it was too much. Gnocchi is tranditionally quite a heavy dish but this was just too much. The red wine they served with it was a Malbec blend from Argentina, still too strong for my tastes.
Fourth course: Ravioli with roasted artichoke hearts! The artichoke hearts were very strongly marinated. Flavorful but intense. The ravioli was simple, straight forward. Delicious but nothing exceptional. The filling was a ricotta or mascarpone mixture, I think. It was creamy, white and mild. It was pleasant, especially with such an intense side. The red wine that they served with it was extremely spicy and strong, too much for my tatstest!
Fifth course: Dessert! A very dense, dark chocolate pie with dried rose petals on top, a sprinkling of salt, and three roasted hazelnuts! Served with a scoop of... pomegranate (that would be my best guess) sorbet. It was delectable. The perfect combination of intense and light, bitter and sweet. The perfect ending. And they served it with a 20 year old Port wine which was... oh it was just intensely sweet and absolutely heavenly.
Apparently they change the tasting menus every so often and the sommelier chooses the wines each night depending on what he wants to serve.
So, obviously it's extremely expensive (and their tables were really wobbly, that's the only real complaint that I have!) but if you're looking for an indulgence, a peaceful escape from the city, this place was really wonderful. The food, the wine. The waitstaff are extremely polite and really know what they're talking about, which is always a really nice thing to have at a restaurant (and something not found often enough!)
All in all it was a wonderfully enjoyable meal. (And I still think the non-vegetarian menu would have been better! :P)
Monday, March 9, 2009
Siena
So last night for Austin Restaurant Week Amy and I chose one restaurant to go to and we finally decided on Siena. We chose it for the price, which was markedly lower than what we would have paid for each dish separately any other night, and because the menu sounded delicious. And it was.
I had the salad to begin. Quite small, mixed greens in a light sweet vinaigrette with a generous portion of perfectly crisp bacon, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and a few slices of apple. It was the perfect size to begin the meal with. We also each got a roll with olive oil to dip into. The bread was night, almost the texture of a traditional baguette but more ciabatta-y? The crust was seasoned and yummy.
For dinner we both decided on the trout. Initially we each wanted to get something different but neither of us wanted chicken. They had a pork dish but I've eaten pork recently so I didn't want pork and Amy ordered the fennel sausage and cannelini bean soup so she didn't want pork either. The third dish was a handmade ravioli, which wasn't really calling to either one of us. So the trout it was, and can we just say wow?
A huge fillet of trout delicately crusted with walnuts, topped with a very rich lemon butter sauce and four sauteed shrimp. With a side of sauteed spinach with garlic. Wow. It was incredible. The butter sauce was almost too rich, and we definitely took our time getting through the whole thing! We didn't want to rush and we didn't want to leave leftovers so we sat and waited til we fit it all in! With dinner I had a glass of Riesling, which was heaven, Amy had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
After we had taken at least an hour and a half with our entree and waited at least another half hour just chatting and letting our food settle, we finally ordered dessert. We decided to share the panna cotta and tiramisu -- initially we both wanted the chocolate torte but upon seeing it it looked so small and run of the mill that we decided to get the less than common desserts. We also each got decaf lattes with Bailey's.
They brought the Bailey's in a separate small apperitif glass -- is it wrong if I say that that might have been the best part of the evening? The frothy latte was served in a big mug with a biscotti on the side, it was absolutely indulgent and delicious. The desserts were a nice sweet ending to the night but nothing amazing. The panna cotta, which I've never had before so I don't know what to compare it to, had a lovely texture and a tangy flavor, a result of being made from yogurt. It was served with a port wine reduction with figs which was heavenly, the figs may have been my favorite part. I'm a fan of all things custard, pudding, flan, creme brulee so I really enjoyed the panna cotta.
I've never been a big fan of tiramisu, I always just think it's okay, and this was no different. The genoise, isntead of lady fingers, were very moist, soaked, alledgedly in espresso and liqeuer and rum, although I couldn't taste any semblance of alcohol. The menu said it used mascarpone cheese, which I've also never had before so I couldn't tell you if it was the real thing, but whatever it was it was delicious. The entire dessert was very delicately flavored and really enjoyable. It was nice, especially with the latte. Amy really din't like the texture, but I enjoyed it. Like I said, nothing incredible, not a dessert that I would say "Oh I looove tiramisu!" but of all th ones I've had, this one is up there, and it was worth every bite (and every dollar!).
All in all the ambiance was wonderful, the location was beautiful, the restaurant was beautiful, our waiter was super patient with us (we were there for FOUR hours!). We really took our time to enjoy each little morsel, and we did. It wasn't the best meal I've ever had, by far, but it was the most enjoyable, by a long shot. If every restaurant would let me have a three course meal over the course of four hours, I would be a happy woman (I just need to work out and make a lot more money first!).
I had the salad to begin. Quite small, mixed greens in a light sweet vinaigrette with a generous portion of perfectly crisp bacon, walnuts, gorgonzola cheese and a few slices of apple. It was the perfect size to begin the meal with. We also each got a roll with olive oil to dip into. The bread was night, almost the texture of a traditional baguette but more ciabatta-y? The crust was seasoned and yummy.
For dinner we both decided on the trout. Initially we each wanted to get something different but neither of us wanted chicken. They had a pork dish but I've eaten pork recently so I didn't want pork and Amy ordered the fennel sausage and cannelini bean soup so she didn't want pork either. The third dish was a handmade ravioli, which wasn't really calling to either one of us. So the trout it was, and can we just say wow?
A huge fillet of trout delicately crusted with walnuts, topped with a very rich lemon butter sauce and four sauteed shrimp. With a side of sauteed spinach with garlic. Wow. It was incredible. The butter sauce was almost too rich, and we definitely took our time getting through the whole thing! We didn't want to rush and we didn't want to leave leftovers so we sat and waited til we fit it all in! With dinner I had a glass of Riesling, which was heaven, Amy had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
After we had taken at least an hour and a half with our entree and waited at least another half hour just chatting and letting our food settle, we finally ordered dessert. We decided to share the panna cotta and tiramisu -- initially we both wanted the chocolate torte but upon seeing it it looked so small and run of the mill that we decided to get the less than common desserts. We also each got decaf lattes with Bailey's.
They brought the Bailey's in a separate small apperitif glass -- is it wrong if I say that that might have been the best part of the evening? The frothy latte was served in a big mug with a biscotti on the side, it was absolutely indulgent and delicious. The desserts were a nice sweet ending to the night but nothing amazing. The panna cotta, which I've never had before so I don't know what to compare it to, had a lovely texture and a tangy flavor, a result of being made from yogurt. It was served with a port wine reduction with figs which was heavenly, the figs may have been my favorite part. I'm a fan of all things custard, pudding, flan, creme brulee so I really enjoyed the panna cotta.
I've never been a big fan of tiramisu, I always just think it's okay, and this was no different. The genoise, isntead of lady fingers, were very moist, soaked, alledgedly in espresso and liqeuer and rum, although I couldn't taste any semblance of alcohol. The menu said it used mascarpone cheese, which I've also never had before so I couldn't tell you if it was the real thing, but whatever it was it was delicious. The entire dessert was very delicately flavored and really enjoyable. It was nice, especially with the latte. Amy really din't like the texture, but I enjoyed it. Like I said, nothing incredible, not a dessert that I would say "Oh I looove tiramisu!" but of all th ones I've had, this one is up there, and it was worth every bite (and every dollar!).
All in all the ambiance was wonderful, the location was beautiful, the restaurant was beautiful, our waiter was super patient with us (we were there for FOUR hours!). We really took our time to enjoy each little morsel, and we did. It wasn't the best meal I've ever had, by far, but it was the most enjoyable, by a long shot. If every restaurant would let me have a three course meal over the course of four hours, I would be a happy woman (I just need to work out and make a lot more money first!).
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Pot roast -- SUCCESS!
So here's how it all went down... I bought a slow cooker! I didn't grow up in a household that used things like slow cookers or rice cookers - my mother's a chef who grew up in a very traditional Brasilian household where everything was handmade from scratch and time to make things like gnocchi was in abundance.Unfortunately, I no longer live in a world where I have that time, so I finally gave into my long time desire to own a slow cooker. And my first experiment? A pot roast! It was so exciting, I couldn't wait! I had read a couple of recipes but I really just threw into the pot what I had.
1 onion chopped2 carrots chopped
4 cloves of garlic, whole
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 lb lean beef top round roast
about 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
scant 1/4 cup ketchup
scant 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
Mustard powder... maybe a teaspoon or 2?
Plenty of salt
Dried parsley
A couple of shakes of salt-free all purpose seasoning
Throw all of that in the slow cooker pot and set on low! I switched it on around 9 am and switched it off at around 7 pm when I ate. At the last minute I added 2 zucchini, chopped.
And can I just say... it was amazing. I was scared it'd be too... salty? Not too salty enough? Not flavorful?
Firstly let me say that when I walked into my house it smelled... unbelievable. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I took the whole piece of meat out of the slow cooker and it just fell apart. I pulled it all apart into smaller pieces and returned it to the pot and mixed it in with the sauce and vegetables. It was so flavorful and moist. Not too sweet, which I was also worried about because of the barbecue sauce and ketchup.
I just couldn't believe how easy and delicious it was! And so many leftovers! (I'm sending some home with my sister tomorrow because my mother is salivating to try it!) Now I can't wait to try every other recipe from Cooking Light - there's a paprika braised chicken that looks amazing, and chili of course. And there's a recipe for over night oatmeal from The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook. I can't wait!
I went to Target today and FINALLY got my hands on the new copy of Eating Well, time to go read and sticky note all the recipes I must try.
Oh, and for Austin Restaurant Week Amy and I have decided to go to Siena on Sunday. I can't wait! I just don't know how I'll eat an appetizer, entree and dessert without feeling sick! I'll need to pace myself!
Quesadillas
From Cooking Light I got the recipe for goat cheese and corn quesadillas.
I bought extra thin corn tortillas and used them. They were quite small but ended up really being the perfect size for lunch paired with half a cup of refried beans and some slices of tomato.
2 corn quesadillas
1 oz. goat cheese
1 oz. corn kernels
A few pieces of caramelized red onion
1 tablespoon tomatillo sauce (I bought a mild fire roasted green sauce from Arriba, all natural ingredients, and it is DELICIOUS!)
Just spread the goat cheese on one of the tortillas, scatter the onions and corn, top it with tomatillo sauce and the other tortilla. Heat the griddle pan to medium-high heat and toast each side. I think I started with my pan on too low heat because the tortillas didn't really crisp up like I wanted them to. But regardless of the slightly too soft tortillas (which made it hard to eat like a quesadilla) the flavor was amazing! I also added about 2 tablespoons of the tomatillo sauce to the refried beans. It was all heavenly.
I bought extra thin corn tortillas and used them. They were quite small but ended up really being the perfect size for lunch paired with half a cup of refried beans and some slices of tomato.
2 corn quesadillas
1 oz. goat cheese
1 oz. corn kernels
A few pieces of caramelized red onion
1 tablespoon tomatillo sauce (I bought a mild fire roasted green sauce from Arriba, all natural ingredients, and it is DELICIOUS!)
Just spread the goat cheese on one of the tortillas, scatter the onions and corn, top it with tomatillo sauce and the other tortilla. Heat the griddle pan to medium-high heat and toast each side. I think I started with my pan on too low heat because the tortillas didn't really crisp up like I wanted them to. But regardless of the slightly too soft tortillas (which made it hard to eat like a quesadilla) the flavor was amazing! I also added about 2 tablespoons of the tomatillo sauce to the refried beans. It was all heavenly.
Lambert's
So yesterday for lunch I went to Lambert's with some work colleagues. We all ordered the one meat two sides lunch plate for $12 and then proceeded to share a coconut creme pie for $8 (which they described as individually sized but after lunch the three of us ate it up and it was more than enough!).
We went for a late lunch, around 1:45, so the restaurant was virtually empty so service was fast and our waiter was super nice and helpful, recommending the pie and greens (he was right on both counts).
I ordered the brisket (supposedly rubbed with brown sugar and coffee), the bacon braised collard greens and the carrot and jicama slaw.
When you first arrive they bring you little miniature cornbread muffins, the two bite kind, served with butter. They were moist and flavorful with little bits of jalapeno here and there.
The entree came and it wasn't as big as I had heard it described. The servings of the sides were each maybe 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup and the meat itself was maybe 5-6 oz. The collard greens were hands down the best part, perfectly wilted, perfectly seasoned, so delicious. I ate those right up! The slaw was really nice too, super crunchy because of the carrot, jicama and cabbage. The dressing was super light, nothing drenched in a creamy sauce. It was almost citrusy and minty, really refreshing complement to the spicy bbq.
Now onto the bbq. They serve house and hot bbq sauce at the table for you to use at your leisure. I went for the house and it was a nice blend of sweet and hot although a little too tomatoey for me. The meat itself tasted nothing of coffee, I'm not sure it was meant to, and although it was flavorful it was... dry. And that is unforgivable. Brisket is a meat which because of it's high fat content should never be dry, it should be juicy. And although the pieces I got were quite lean with just a little fat around the edges it still shouldn't have been as dry as it was! I doused it in house bbq sauce which made it absolutely delicious, though.
The coconut creme pie came not as a slice but as a mini whole pie. The crust was quite thick and had a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate before the coconut pudding filling which made it extremely difficult to cut through - the three of us were grappling with our forks and spoons drying to get through it! The pie had a generous dollop of whipped cream on top. Overall it was delicious. The crust was flavorful, not too sweet, not the best I've had since it wasn't flaky or buttery or melt in your mouth amazing, but it was nice. The caramel and chocolate layer added a delicate flavor, not overpowering. The coconut custard was amazing. The pieces of coconut in it were to die for (I'm a coconut lover!) and it wasn't too sweet which I appreciate. The whipped cream on top was simple and delicious.
Overall, from reading this post one would assume that I'd give this place a raving review, and I would, except that... the brisket was dry. Now, yes the sides were phenomenal and the dessert was good but... it's a bbq joint. It's star should be it's meat. You can go elsewhere for delicious collards, good slaw and you can definitely go to a million other places with as good as and better coconut creme pie. So for a bbq place... it failed me. I am still on the search for perfect brisket. Next stop one of these days: Salt Lick, I think.
Next up? Goat cheese ad corn quesadillas for lunch, Pot roast (in my slow cooker as we, or I rather, um, type) for dinner, Tabbouleh sometime tomorrow or Saturday. And then in the spirit of Austin Restaurant week either Friday night or Saturday night Amy and I will be going to one of the restaurants offering a special menu. We've got it narrowed down to Judge's Hill, Zax, Siena and Chez Zee. I narrowed it down from the long list by first eliminating anywhere we had already been or places that were very mainstream and we'd probably end up going to one day (Perry's, Truluck's). Then I went through the menus and eliminated anywhere with a boring sounding menu and without a chocolate dessert! Right now I'm leaning towards Judge's Hill or Siena, we'll see!
We went for a late lunch, around 1:45, so the restaurant was virtually empty so service was fast and our waiter was super nice and helpful, recommending the pie and greens (he was right on both counts).
I ordered the brisket (supposedly rubbed with brown sugar and coffee), the bacon braised collard greens and the carrot and jicama slaw.
When you first arrive they bring you little miniature cornbread muffins, the two bite kind, served with butter. They were moist and flavorful with little bits of jalapeno here and there.
The entree came and it wasn't as big as I had heard it described. The servings of the sides were each maybe 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup and the meat itself was maybe 5-6 oz. The collard greens were hands down the best part, perfectly wilted, perfectly seasoned, so delicious. I ate those right up! The slaw was really nice too, super crunchy because of the carrot, jicama and cabbage. The dressing was super light, nothing drenched in a creamy sauce. It was almost citrusy and minty, really refreshing complement to the spicy bbq.
Now onto the bbq. They serve house and hot bbq sauce at the table for you to use at your leisure. I went for the house and it was a nice blend of sweet and hot although a little too tomatoey for me. The meat itself tasted nothing of coffee, I'm not sure it was meant to, and although it was flavorful it was... dry. And that is unforgivable. Brisket is a meat which because of it's high fat content should never be dry, it should be juicy. And although the pieces I got were quite lean with just a little fat around the edges it still shouldn't have been as dry as it was! I doused it in house bbq sauce which made it absolutely delicious, though.
The coconut creme pie came not as a slice but as a mini whole pie. The crust was quite thick and had a layer of caramel and a layer of chocolate before the coconut pudding filling which made it extremely difficult to cut through - the three of us were grappling with our forks and spoons drying to get through it! The pie had a generous dollop of whipped cream on top. Overall it was delicious. The crust was flavorful, not too sweet, not the best I've had since it wasn't flaky or buttery or melt in your mouth amazing, but it was nice. The caramel and chocolate layer added a delicate flavor, not overpowering. The coconut custard was amazing. The pieces of coconut in it were to die for (I'm a coconut lover!) and it wasn't too sweet which I appreciate. The whipped cream on top was simple and delicious.
Overall, from reading this post one would assume that I'd give this place a raving review, and I would, except that... the brisket was dry. Now, yes the sides were phenomenal and the dessert was good but... it's a bbq joint. It's star should be it's meat. You can go elsewhere for delicious collards, good slaw and you can definitely go to a million other places with as good as and better coconut creme pie. So for a bbq place... it failed me. I am still on the search for perfect brisket. Next stop one of these days: Salt Lick, I think.
Next up? Goat cheese ad corn quesadillas for lunch, Pot roast (in my slow cooker as we, or I rather, um, type) for dinner, Tabbouleh sometime tomorrow or Saturday. And then in the spirit of Austin Restaurant week either Friday night or Saturday night Amy and I will be going to one of the restaurants offering a special menu. We've got it narrowed down to Judge's Hill, Zax, Siena and Chez Zee. I narrowed it down from the long list by first eliminating anywhere we had already been or places that were very mainstream and we'd probably end up going to one day (Perry's, Truluck's). Then I went through the menus and eliminated anywhere with a boring sounding menu and without a chocolate dessert! Right now I'm leaning towards Judge's Hill or Siena, we'll see!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Cooking Light, inspired!
So my new copy of Cooking Light has a section of simple dinner, using 5 ingredients or less. So Monday night Amy and I decided to make the almond stuffed chicken. And can I just say, it was absolutely divine. And literally took me maybe 10 minutes to prep.
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half (butterflied). Salt, pepper generously. Add a wedge of laughing cow light garlic and herb cheese and sliced almonds. Close it up, pop it in the oven. 350F for... 30 minutes? I added a little water in the baking dish to keep it super moist (and it did). Of course I missed one big step that my parents would both have killed me for doing -- I didn't sear before finishing cooking in the oven. I know, I know the caramelization adds such flavor and color but... I couldn't be bothered. :-/ So just think it could have been even better than it was, which is surprising! As a side I just boiled some haricots verts, added a little salt and balsamic vinegar and voila. Easy, nutritious and seriously seriously delicious!
I bought ingredients to make two other recipes from Cooking Light tomorrow: Goat cheese and corn quesadillas and Pot roast (I finally bought a slow cooker so I'm super excited to see how that turns out...). I also bought ingredients to make Tabbouleh so I may do that on Saturday!
Today I'm going to Lambert's for lunch with the girls from my work. I'm thinking I'm going to get the one meat plate with two sides -- brown sugar and coffee rubbed natural brisket, carrot and jicama slaw and collard greens. And plenty of bbq sauce, of course. Yum! I read that the fried green tomato salad is one of the best things on their menu and I really do love salads so it's really hard to pass up (especially since it has crab!) but I've been craving bbq for a while so I really feel like to review this place properly I need to eat their bbq. I'll go back and try the salad another day maybe!
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