Well hello there! Oh and Buffalo Wild Wings

I've had like 3 blog posts in my mind for the past couple weeks, but just haven't been able to sit down and write them - so hopefully after I get tonight's blog out, Ill get better about writing more consistently again.   Of course if that happens, I can pretty much guarantee it will all go downhill in about another 4 months when two little ones come into the picture.  But I'll at least try and give this a shot again because I feel good when I write :)

So anyways - now I'm back and tonight I'm writing about Adam and my interesting dinner experience.  This morning, I told Adam I would email him a recipe for a crock-pot chili to make for dinner, except with the craziness that was today, I didn't remember to email him until 5pm when I should have already left the office.   So that was off the table, but I was thinking making dinner MIGHT still be a possibility.   That was until I didn't leave the office until 5:30, heard on the radio that I was gonna be stuck sitting in "traffic" because of a bridge opening, so decided to take a detour to Buy Buy Baby and didn't get home until 7pm and in a bad mood.

I really needed to go for a nice LONG walk - like a good 8-10 miler.   But seeing as though it was 7pm, I knew I had no chance of that.   And Im still trying to teach Kalas the "fine art" of walking on a leash without pulling, which means I can't last more than a mile with all that pulling and attempting to train.  But none the less, the first thing I did when I got home was take the puppies out for a walk, because I NEEDED to relieve the stress of the day - even if Kalas's lack of training was not gonna make for a complete stress-free walk.   

By the time I sat down at home it was 7:30pm and nothing was started on dinner, and I already decided I needed to go to one of the great ice cream places in the area, Dairy Delite, since it was such a beautiful day and my day was so hellish.  In thinking of a place somewhat near, we decided to go out to Buffalo Wild Wings because we heard a bunch of great things about it.

Our experience was not  a good first impression.  The service was great, the atmosphere was fine, but the food was no better than "eh".   We had wings to start with and I decided I was in the mood for boneless wings, but the sauce we decided on was a dry rub, so our "wings" were really seasoned chicken nuggets.   And for chicken nuggets, they were still just moderate.   I had to use lots of the ranch dipping sauce - and I'm usually not much of one for ranch.   For dinner, I ordered a Buffalo Ranch Wrap and Adam ordered cheeseburger sliders.

My wrap just wasn't good, but nothing specific to talk about.   All buffalo sauce was at the bottom of the wrap.   The ranch dressing tasted more like mayo - which I hate, and the filling was just eh.   I only hate half of it before I gave up and ate all the fries for my dinner.   Adam's sliders were interesting.   Instead of making small little burgers, they created one large, long, overcooked slab of meat and then slapped it across three mini burgers rolls and called it sliders.   They didn't even bother to cut the sliders apart- they left that to Adam to do.

But what made the night the most interesting and worthy of a blog post was the older couple at the table next to us.   They weren't older, just older - I would guess 60's.   Definitely baby boomers.   The woman seemed to have a bit of OCD to her, but then at other times, it totally wasn't there.   I also thought maybe she had certain dietary restrictions, but this was over the top for that.   And for both of them, if those were the case, Buffalo Wild Wings isn't where those folks would typically go.   

I first noticed something when I looked over and saw that she had a half-filled nalgene bottle that she just put back in her gallon-sized ziploc bag and carefully closed up the bag.   I didn't think the Nalgene bottle was all that interesting, because I carry that or bottled water around with me a lot, although I don't take it out at restaurants, and I don't keep it in a ziploc bag.   Then I realized that she poured her own water....

As I was continued to watch the tv, I also kept an eye on them to watch the interesting situatin unfold.   At one point, she called the waiter over, and I'm not sure what she asked of him, but he walked away with her plate of food that was just delivered and he mumbled something like "you can't move it yourself?" as he was walking past my table.   He came back out with the plate, so I'm thinking she wanted like the tomatoes or something moved off her burger.  

When he came back, I watched her take her own napkins out of her bag and wrap them around the burger (just the meat) - seemingly to blot off all the extra fat.   I understand trying to watch your calories, but thats going a little too far - especially using your own napkins.   While she is doing that, I notice two more plastic baggies sitting on the table filled with various items that I couldn't quite figure out at that point.  

After "cleaning" her burger she puts it back on the bun, and takes out her own tin foil to wrap something up (never quite saw what she wrapped up) and put in her bag.   Next, she took out her own salt shaker from one of her baggies and salted her burger.   At that point she started to eat and our bill came, so we left - but I was really curious to stay and continue to watch them/her - because it was really weird and interesting.

I definitely understand dietary restrictions and sometimes bringing your own items.   But half the things she did had nothing to do with health, so I don't think it was a health thing.   Although everything she did could have fit into an OCD category, there is so much she didn't do that would have made more sense - such as bringing her own silverware over blotting the burger.   Or just not going out to that restaurant altogether.

Whatever the case - it made for an interesting night...

So many yummy desserts

There are a ton of desserts Ive been eyeing since I started to follow a bunch of different food bloggers the last month or so.   I starred the recipes and was just waiting until I had time to make them, which finally started to come this weekend

I was able to make a couple (and reviewed them here), but I made another one on Sunday so I could bring with me to Sunday dinner with my family.   

I had leftover desserts from Thanksgiving that I brought, so I didn't really need to make another cookie, but I had the butter out for softening, and I really wanted to try these, so I squeezed the time into the day to get it done.  

I put about 20-25 cookies on the plate for 8 of us, plus I brought the leftover pumpkin, white chocolate and mac nut cookies and 3/4 of a strawberry/rhubarb pie (no recipe as it came from the store) - and in addition to finishing off the pie, we pretty much finished off the new dessert (in addition to making a dent into the pumpkin cookies). 

It was so good, that I had requests for the recipe - so now that I got you all excited and never even mentioned the cookie - you wanna know what it is?

Too bad, just wanted to get you all excited :)

Obviously, Im just kidding.   They were caramel apple cider cookies and you can find the yummy delicious recipe here.   I would agree that you should heat the cookies up in the microwave for a quick 5 seconds to warm up the caramel inside, but even if you don't they still are fully of tons of yummy-ness as we never heated them up.

Enjoy!

The Thanksgiving Feast - Dessert Edition

Yesterday I reviewed the recipes I made for the main meal, and today I wanted to share some of the desserts we had on the dessert buffet table.   I had my guests provide the desserts, but then as I was procrastinating on cleaning the house on Wednesday and couldn't start the turkey and sides until Thursday morning, I decided to make some sweet recipes that Ive had my eyes on.

A couple weeks ago, I gave some ideas of what to do with leftover halloween candy, and I couldn't wait to make to make the recipe for leftover halloween candy bark.   So while I was doing my food shopping for Thanksgiving, I decided to also buy the ingredients I didn't have to be able to make this.   Instead of using bittersweet chocolate, I had dark chocolate chips on hand, so I used those instead.   Other than that, I followed the recipe.   It was good, but the idea sounded better than the product for me - but others really like this one - which was evidenced not only by the response, but also by the minimal amount left.

That wasn't the only candy bark I made though.   I also saw this recipe for halloween candy corn bark on one of the blogs I follow, and since I LOVE LOVE LOVE candy corn and white chocolate, this was right up my alley.   I have to admit - I can't wait to make some more!   Its almost gone and it was really good.   My one sister found this to be too sweet, but she also admittedly has the same issue with white chocolate  which accounts for this.    With that being said, I love the level of sweetness, but it could definitely go for a little less oreos (maybe 10 instead of 14) and a little more pretzels (maybe 2 cups)

The last thing I made was this recipe for pumpkin cookies with a few substitutions.   My turkey day surely was not a kosher affair (although it was a kosher turkey) so there was no reason to use margarine in place of butter, as butter is yummier, bakes better and isn't full of the trans fats that margarine is.  Also, I don't like walnuts, so I substituted macadamia nuts as they are a great compliment to white chocolate.    There also was another change to the recipe that wasn't on purpose.   While making the cookies, I was grinding sea salt into the recipe for the small amount of salt when my salt grinder broke and the sea salt went pouring into the batter.   I was able to pick most of it out, but there were plenty of sea salt rocks that I did not get out, so there was more salt than should be and it was in the form of rocks and not ground.   Many of the cookies do not give that salty flavor, but the ones that do still taste good, but I also like salted caramel and such.

But even better than these recipes were some of the desserts my guests brought.   Hubby's Aunt and Uncle (FILs brother) made two AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS pies that she made last year as well.   From here on out - this is what they will always be bringing :)   If you want to try your hand at these recipes, you can find them on her blog here: Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie.

Another of hubby's aunts (MILs sister) brought her yummy brownies.   I don't know this recipe - but she has been to three of our gatherings and brought these brownies each time - and I wouldn't have it any other way.   I am not a big chocolate lover - but these are nice and fudgy and perfect for chocolate lovers and chocolate not-so-lovers!

And for the healthier options, my mom brought some delicious fruit, which amazingly was the first thing taken by two of the kids (even before the "dinner").   To accompany the fruit, I made a healthy pumpkin dip - it tasted good, but was overlooked by the yummy, unhealthy stuff - which just means more for me when I try to get back on diet today (or more like Monday when I can "dump" all the unhealthy food on my co-workers).

A Thanksgiving Feast

For the second year in a row, Hubby and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house, with a lunchtime buffet, for our family (minus MIL and FIL) and in addition to having a great time with our family, we had some yummy (and not so yummy) food, and I wanted to share the recipes I made and the reviews.

Hubby carving his first turkey

The center of any Thanksgiving is (supposed to be) the turkey.   Although we hosted Thanksgiving last year, my parents graciously made the turkey last year, so this was my first time making the turkey and hubby's first time carving the turkey.

"Grilling" our turkey

For our turkey, I was searching different recipes, when I randomly found this one for BBQ Turkey.   I really don't know how I found it, but it really caught my eye and sounded really interesting, so as soon as I saw it I knew it was the one, so we grilled our turkey.   As you can see from the picture, although it cooked on the grill, we really didn't grill it, in all reality the grill was just an outdoor oven, as it was cooked in the roasting pan.

Some of the turkey plated - YUM!

As for the recipe, I did make some adjustments.   I couldn't in my right mind include 2 - TWO! - cups of butter in and on the turkey.   That's EIGHT (correction - this is FOUR, which is still a lot of) STICKS!    I think in the end, I used 1/2 stick to a stick, so about 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup - much more reasonable.    For the chicken soup base, I was going to use chicken stock, but all I had was chicken broth, so I used that.   For the onions and apples, I cut all that up, but I barely crammed 2/3 of it in, so I just threw the rest around the turkey to add to the gravy flavor.   I also only used about 1/2 of the bottle in the turkey, so I also put that in the roasting pan to keep everything moist and add flavor.   Then I just let it cook.     I set my alarm for 4 hours, but for some reason it never went off and 45 minutes after it was supposed to go off I realized I never took the turkey off.   The sugar in the (dry) wine caused some burning, but it didn't burn the turkey or anything - and it all turned out delicious!   I actually would probably overcook again to add that flavor to the turkey and the gravy.

Now, although the turkey is the center of Thanksgiving, everyone really fills their plates up with the sides (as I just ate a plate of leftover sides - YUMMY!), so that is really where I put a lot of my thought and time.   I had everything planned out for the recipes and then the night before when I started one of the sides that could be made early and reheated, I realized I didn't look at the recipes to see how many the recipe was able to serve - UH OH!!!  With that, I used what I had on hand to increase the serving sizes, all of which worked out fine but one of which could have been better, so without further ado - the sides:

The soup simmering...

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup - My sister is allergic to apples, so I substituted pears for apples.   That same sister is also a vegetarian, so I used veggie broth instead of chicken broth.   Other than that, I followed the recipe (btw - its missing the step where you are supposed to saute the leeks in step 2) and it was AWESOME!





Mashed Cauliflower - You can follow any recipe, but here is just a sample.   I made way more of this than needed - what can I say I have that jewish gene in me that makes me provide way more food than necessary.   For this, there really is no need for the reserved liquid, and you just need a tiny amount of oil for liquid and flavor.   I also then baked it to try and crisp the top and remove some of the extra liquid.   I thought this came out great and I got some good reviews.

Cranberry-Pear Sauce

Cranberry Pear Sauce - Typically we just have canned cranberry sauce, but I really wanted try to make one this year.   I was very pleased with this recipe.    Also, my brother-in-law made a gelatin cranberry sauce that was really good, so if I get that recipe, I will share.




Sweet Potato Casserole - This is one of the recipes that I realized I might not have enough, but I happened to have a can of Yams, so I used that to supplement the sweet potatoes.  I also didn't add the pecans because Im not a fan of them, and I also killed the health factor by doing a little more than scattering the marshmallows.   But with that, I also made a smaller one without the marshmallows for the vegetarian family members and those that don't want all the sweetness.   I think the fact that this was pretty much gone sums up its rating.

Spinach Gratin - I kinda screwed this one up - and I wasn't a fan of it, and I don't think others were either.   There were tons of leftovers, but I do have to say it was better the next day, but still not something I would make again.   Now with all that being said, I really didn't follow the recipe and did some other things to mess this up.

• I didn't think it was gonna be enough so I added an extra package of spinach and then guess-timated what I needed to add from the other ingredients without actually sitting down and doing the math
• I put the spinach in the fridge overnight to defrost, but forgot to take it out in the morning to fully defrost.   Because of that, the spinach was still pretty much frozen, and I decided to take my chances and rush it and didn't take the time to defrost it under hot water and squeeze out all the liquid.   I tried to soak some of it up with some extra flour
• I used 1% milk instead of 2% because I knew we would never drink the extra milk leftover if it was 2% (I usually buy skim milk)
• I put A LOT of parmesan cheese in there to again soak up the extra liquid - which it didn't do at all.
• I didn't bother to measure the cheese on top and just loaded it up

I might give the recipe another shot later on following it more accurately, maybe add a little more salt and nutmeg because it still needed some flavor - possibly add another spice, just not sure what.

Beer Cornbread - would go great with Chili

Beer Cornbread - I made this using yeungling.   It was good, but probably would have been really good with a lighter beer like a Hefeweizen (Blue Moon).








Check back tomorrow for some of the dessert recipes...

Philly Cupcake

Catching up on old posts that I meant to write, so lets see if I can remember enough to be able to write all my food reviews :\

The day that Adam and I went on our Philadelphia Chocolate Tour we had a mile walk back to our car (where we started the tour) from where we ended the tour.   Other than stopping at doggy stores (I just can’t resist cute dog stores!), we spotted a cupcake place!   Adam and I watch cupcake wars whenever we see it, and those cupcakes always look so good, that I can’t resist the gourmet cupcake shops, so this was no different.   The good thing is, we don’t go into the city much, so I don’t fall sucker to them too often.   

This time, there were a bunch that looked yummy, so we picked up a half dozen – with the intention of splitting each of them.   Except Adam doesn’t always think, and on his day off – while I was at work – he ate a whole cupcake and didn’t share any with me!   So I decided to do the same to him that night, except I did it right in front of him – HA! 

Anyways, like I said in the beginning, this was a little over a month ago, so here is my best memory of what we picked – and my reviews:

Carrot Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

When we got home, Adam and I each picked out a cupcake and split it, so this and the next ones were the ones we first took out.    The icing on this was perfect for me, possibly a little rich for those who don’t LOVE icing.    The icing wasn’t so rich that it overpowered the cake, they were the perfect combination.   The cake was also yummy, nice and moist with good flavor. 

Lemon Cupcake with Lemon Blended Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting 

Adam is a huge lemon lover, so it was no shock that he wanted this and it was the first one he chose.   There was also a strawberry lemonade that looked good, but they were very similar, so I made him pick one.   Adam and I were both fans.   The lemon wasn’t anything crazy – and again the frosting wasn’t overwhelming when paired with the cupcake, but maybe a little rich for those that tried it on its own (but I think only people who love icing and the richness it provides do that J)

PhillyFetti (Vanilla Cupcake with Sprinkles Baked in and Vanilla Buttercream with Sprinkles and Glitter)

This is the one Adam didn’t share L  So no review for you…

Banana Rama Cupcake (Banana Cupcake, Banana Buttercream with Nilla Wafer and white chocolate drizzle)

This is the one I didn’t share with Adam J   And it was YUMMY IN MY TUMMY!   I love me my vanilla and some banana!   The only thing that would have made this even more perfect is some peanut butter!  (which they have a couple cupcakes with PB that I do want to try!)

Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting 

This was the only one that I was disappointed with.   It was a little dry, but it also sat for about 3 days before we ate it, so at first I let it slide, but then we ate the last one the next day and that was super moist still, so I think it was the cupcake.   The icing was good on its own, the cupcake not so much – on top of it being dry the flavor didn’t really grab me (maybe because it was dry).   When I took a bite with the icing and the cake, it wasn’t so bad, but I wouldn’t buy it again.

Jewish Apple Streusel Cupcake

This was delicious.  It was perfectly moist even though it was sitting for 3-4 days.   I’ve never seen this in the form of a cupcake, and in all reality it was just jewish apple cake baked individually as cupcakes – no icing or anything cause that would just be weird.    I would recommend it and would probably buy it again.

Overall, the cupcakes for the most part were good.   Id definitely go back there, especially since there were other flavors that look good that Id want to try.   They were normal sized cupcakes, so nothing crazy overwhelming, but I guess if Im paying $4 for a cupcake, I might want a little more – but with that being said, $4 ain’t that bad for “gourmet” cupcakes that were yummy.

Food, Food, Food

In the coming weeks, you will be seeing a lot of posts about food - mostly sweets, but a few restaurant "reviews".   

Adam and I went on a Philadelphia Chocolate Tour using groupons I had purchased last October for half price.   More to come in a much more thorough posting, but a quick review: for the price I paid, its definitely worth it, for the price they charge normally - Im not 100% sure.    Keep in mind, I'm VERY cheap (or frugal as many people like to call it), and thats really what it comes down to.    If I were single and only had to buy one ticket, I wouldn't mind buying it at full price, but since I have to buy 2 tickets for Adam and I, its more pricey than I like to pay for a date day/night for us.   I might look to do it in Boston and/or Chicago where I have personal and business trips planned to and they have sister companies (and I now get $5 off since Im a loyalty card holder just for doing one tour...)

Additionally, tomorrow starts the first of two weeks (weeknights only) of restaurant week in Philly.   Since Adam and I have date night on Monday nights, I figured this would be a good chance to check out restaurants we wouldn't necessarily be willing to check out.   I picked two restaurants that I actually had never heard of, but I based it on what they were offering on their restaurant week menu and the fact that they had to be an expensive restaurant to begin with (because its not a deal unless they are normally pricey).  And of course who had availability as I didn't realize it was going on until the other day.

So look for these reviews over the next few weeks, as soon as I get the chance to write everything out and upload the pics.    Hope you enjoy it, and I promise to try and intersperse it with other life events so my blog isn't so focused on food.

Lucky Bones Restaurant in Cape May, NJ

On Adam and my recent day trip to Cape May, NJ we were looking for a place for lunch in between our winery visits, so we searched for a place through the Google Places app on my phone, and decided upon the one that didn't take us into "downtown" (as the wineries weren't in that location).   The closest place I saw that sounded good was Lucky Bones Backwater Grille - so we went.

When we got there, I noticed that they had a sign for a grill night at Cape May Winery & Vineyards - our next stop - and on the way out I noticed a wine barrel with Cape May Winery & Vineyards logo on the barrel end, and finally on the way to the car, there was a Cape May Winery & Vineyards truck.   I figured they had some partnership going - I later learned at the winery that they are actually owned by the same person, along with a well known, fancy restaurant in town - the Washington Inn and a cute store in town that Adam had shopped at last time we were in - Love the Cook.

Anyways, back to lunch.  We got there around 1:15/1:30 and the parking lot was packed, and when we got in, there was a little bit of a line.   Nothing major, but in the end it just ended up being a back-up in getting people seated, not a wait.

When I looked them up on google, it said that they were known for the sandwiches and brick-fired oven pizzas - so at that point I was originally thinking a sandwich, but if Adam and I could agree on a pizza, I could easily go for that.  Once I looked at the list, there were like 4 or 5 that I could easily choose from, and same for Adam.   Our thoughts crossed on 2 of them and finally settled on the Shrooms and Cheese Pizza.

After we ordered and were chatting, I noticed on the wall their soup of the day, and it sounded really delicious, so Adam and I decided to ask the waitress if we could order 2 cups of that in addition to the pizza.   It was a Jersey BLT Soup.   I really wanted the soup without the B, but I knew that wasn't possible, so I just hoped that it wasn't too crazy with the bacon.   I love tomato soup, so I hoped the tomato might be able to overpower the bacon.    Im glad I took that chance, because it was perfect for me.   There were small pieces of bacon bits (real ones) throughout the soup - and provided good texture, but the flavor wasn't overpowering.   The tomato soup portion was DELISH - we both scarfed it down.   The lettuce part was cute - provided as garnish on top.   If that were on the menu when we go down there again, I would definitely order it!

Just as we finished our soup, our pizza came out.   The size was perfect for Adam and I to share and I loved the thin crust that they had.   It turned out to be really good, but not something that I would order over and over again.   As I said, the crust was perfect for me, there were a lot of mushrooms of a few different types - unfortunately I couldn't identify which types.   It wasn't cheesy at all - just the right amount - it was just missing an extra flavor of something.   Not sure what additional flavor would have done the trick for me, but maybe a little bit of truffle oil (but that would have caused the price to jump).   Although I said I wouldn't order it over and over again, I would order it again - but there were lots of other things on the menu that Id like to try.

Oh - and the prices were very affordable - if you go to Cape May and are looking to drive around and not stay in the historic area - I would definitely recommend this for a lunch spot.

Ocean City, NJ Restaurant Review

My mom rented a house down in OCNJ this week, and Adam and I were down there for a few days, and everyone who was there on Monday night went out to dinner just off the boardwalk at a place called Bloom N' Tulip.   My mom selected the restaurant based on the fact that she was able to get a good deal for the restaurant on restaurant.com.  I don't think we could have all had a WORSE restaurant experience.

There were 16 of us - 13 adults and 3 kids (2, 3 and 3 1/2).  I had called that morning to make a reservation for all of us, so they were well prepared for the large group.   By the time everyone showed up, we were about 15 minutes late to the reservation, which I initially felt kinda bad about - but no longer do after our experience.  

The atmosphere wasn't anything spectacular to write home about, but nothing awful either.  Once everyone finally arrived, it took about 20 minutes to get our drink orders, another 20 minutes to get the drinks, another 5 minutes to get bread (of which my mom had to specifically request and the waitress had a lot of attitude), another 20 minutes to get our food orders taken - so we were there for well over an hour before our orders got taken.    Once they finally took our orders, things finally got moving - but by this time, the kids just wanted to run around the restaurant, and the only reason we hadn't just left was because of the certificate we had.  

When the food FINALLY came around, it took forever for everyone to get their meals, and my cousin who got a salad was one of the last ones to get her meal, even though that was the simplest of the meals - and my brother-in-law almost didn't get served because she forgot to bring his out.

Unfortunately for my family, the bad review doesn't stop with the poor service.   I had ordered stuffed shrimp with sides of mashed potatoes and apple sauce.  

I knew the apple sauce wasn't chunky because my uncle asked before orderering, so I was a little disappointed to begin with, but Im pretty sure the extent of the kitchen prep for the applesauce involved opening up a jar of motts applesauce and pouring it into the bowl.   It tasted fine, it just wasn't anything special, and nothing stood out about it that made it seem "homemade". 

The mashed potatoes aren't a very different story.   When I got my meal, I saw someone else ordered theirs without the gravy, and I originally wished I would have thought to do the same.  Im glad I hadn't done that because the potatoes were so dry and bland the gravy added some flavor and moistness.   This time I think that the kitchen preparation involved in making the mashed potatoes was mixing a box of potato flakes and water (with too much flakes) and then taking an ice cream scoop and scooping it into a bowl.

The stuffed shrimp weren't too bad in flavor, but the filling felt like it was a whole lot more filler than crab.   After eating one and a half of the three stuffed shrimp, I was done.

That was just what I ate, but Adam and my uncle both ordered rice pilaf, mu uncle specifically didn't see any other sides he wanted so he got a double order (cause we got 2 sides with out meals).   The rice "pilaf" consisted of white rice and lots of butter, so my uncle finally said something (rightfully so) after staying good for not compaining about anything else earlier.   Here is the basic jist of the conversation:

Uncle: I ordered rice pilaf, this is just white rice with butter
Waitress: Thats what our rice pilaf is - white rice
U: Rice Pilaf is not white rice
W: Well thats what our rice pilaf is
U: Rice pilaf isn't white rice, it has the other stuff in it
W: You got what you ordered, white rice
U: I ordered rice pilaf
W: This is our rice pilaf - its white rice.

This conversation pretty much sums up all the talking we had with the waitress - she was COMPLETELY unorganized - the type of person who you would think wouldn't remember her head if it wasn't attached.

By the time our restaurant experience was done - we had been there for TWO HOURS!!   My mom complained to someone, and they pretty much just brushed us off.

To top off the bad service and "meh" food - the food didn't sit well with me at all.   I had to literally run to the bathroom two times in the next hour because it didn't agree with me.

But we got back at them!  Well not really - but there is a funny story to share.   My 3 and a half year old cousin, who is potty trained and hadn't had an accident in a while told her mom she had to go to the bathroom and then got off her chair and pee'd right on the floor.   Of course my little cousin felt really bad and my "big" cousin (her mom) felt even worse for her daughter.   But we never bothered to tell them they had a pee spot in the middle of their carpeted dining area.    And we ended up letting the kids run around the table.

Eventually, we finally got some boardwalk time with the kids.

So all in all - don't ever eat at Bloom N' Tulip in Ocean City, NJ - its at 10th and Ocean (but really on 10th), right off the boardwalk where Kohrs Bros and Steele Fudge.

Store Brand Food

After my last post about brand loyalty, I had a couple responses about buying store brand food and how there are certain things that just don't make the cut, and I agree with that sentiment occassionally, but overall, Ive had some great success with a couple stores and their store brands, so as I sit here eating my lunch with a delicious "store-brand" salad dressing, I thought Id write a review on a couple of the store brand items I buy.

When I go grocery shopping, I have no loyalty to any specific store (again with the loyalty).   I go anywhere from Shop-Rite to Acme to Giant to Wegmans to Trader Joes to Aldi to Bottom Dollar Food.    Depending on where you live, you might not have ever heard of most of these, especially the last two which have only recently started to pop up around my area.

The first time I went to Aldi, I was super disappointed.   First off, you have to have a quarter with you to use a cart.   You get it back when you lock it back in with the other carts, but I didn't have much change on me and out of the change I had, I didn't have quarters.     So with that, I knew I was only gonna pick up a couple items.   Then I walked in with coupons in hand and found the following:

1. The store was tiny.   I really enjoy my huge grocery stores where I have TONS of options.    When I was still in college and had a car in DC, I used to drive to big Giant in Bethesda 20 minutes away so I could have my big suburban supermarket.   
2. Then I started walking down the 4 aisles they have, and I noticed everything was off-brand - there wasn't a single brand name item to choose from.   (Reminder, I came prepared with all my coupons)
3. They are supposed to be known for their produce, so I went over to their produce section, which is about 8' by 4' large - and I wasn't too impressed.   

So I promptly left without a single purchase and shared my unhappy thoughts with family and friend.
A few months later, not sure why, but I decided to give it another shot - this time more prepared with what I was getting myself into.   For not having a large selection, they have a pretty good selection of healthier options.  So although I don't go there often, I do go there fairly frequently - and here are some of the items that I wanted to point out as good items:

• Baked barbecue potato chips - $1.99 - These are more in line with Baked Lays chips then Baked Herrs - but I actually think they are better than the other store brand options out there.   The BBQ flavor is a little more intense - but not hot or anything.   Before you know it - the bag is gone (I bought it on Saturday afternoon and finished it Monday night)
• Store Brand Corn Chex - $1.99 - Although I do agree that many cereals do not transfer well to store brand (specifically Cheerios and their store-brand counterparts) - these are just like Corn Chex - and cheaper
• Fruit Snacks - they always have different fruit snacks in different sizes, but many times you can find a 28 or 32 pack for $3+.   This last time, I got a 32 pack for $3.49.   Different brands of fruit snacks have different flavors and chewy-ness, so Im not sure what one the one I bought compares directly to - but if I had to guess, Id probably say Welches - but I could be totally wrong - all I know is they are yummy - Adam and I tear through them.
• Frozen Veggie Sandwiches (comparable to lean pockets) - I can't remember the ones I buy, but I think they are like a Santa Fe Veggie or something like that - all I know is that they are totally yummy - just as comparable to Lean Pockets.   Only negative is Hot Pockets has a thousand different varieties - Ive only seen this one

Anyways, those are the items that are standing out in my mind right now, but maybe Ill review more later.   In the beginning, I mentioned that I was typing this as I was eating my lunch with a delicious salad dressing.   The salad dressing came from Trader Joe's and is their Champagne Pear Vinaigrette with Gorgonzola.    It really is great!   And you don't need to overload the salad, just the recommended 2 TBSP is enough.   And this is coming from someone who just isn't a salad eater unless its loaded with lots of things that defeat the purpose of a salad - but this is my third day in a row with a salad (of which the spinach, salad greens, strawberries and fake crab meat all came from Aldi) - and I wish I had more at home to continue the streak because the dressing is just fantastic - so if you shop at Trader Joe's and see the dressing - Id buy it!

Hope you all give store brands another shot if they are still cheaper than name brands on sale with coupons - and if you have an Aldi in your area - go check it out!

Peaches and Dinner

I had put a post up on facebook the other day for peach recipes because my mom and dad went peach picking the other week.   When (and why) they went, there was a deal that they got a container and could overfill it and paid a set price no matter the weight of the peaches.   You could overfill it as high as you wanted, it just had to all be in there.   Anyways, I took a couple dozen off their hands, and was gonna make a peach pie last week, but hadn't had the time to pull a recipe and buy the other ingredients.   Although I put the post up, I also looked up recipes on cooking light and found a couple - one for an entree and one for a side salad - that we had all the ingredients (at least the ones I wanted) for and were good options if I didn't get any other ideas.  

I did get one more idea from my friend Abbye for a Nectarine Galette (substituting peaches in of course).   I had all the ingredients for this, so I was gonna make this and the entree and skip the peach side.

For the galette - unfortunately the pie crust I had was all dried out, and even with the attempts I made at salvaging it, I wasn't gonna have any luck, so I skipped that idea and went back to the side salad.

On to our dinner, I made Peach-Glazed Barbecue Chicken Breasts (recipe calls for pork chops, but i don't eat pork).   I didn't grill the peaches because most of the peaches were too ripe for grilling, I just followed the rest of the recipe.   We only marinated it for 30 minutes, and it ended up being really good.   If we had time to marinate it longer, I can only imagine how much more flavor it would have had.

The side salad was for a Summer Peach and Tomato Salad.   We had a couple tomatoes in the house because we had just seen Adam's aunts and one of them has a vegetable garden and gave us a couple tomatoes.   They were so yummy and juicy!   I did a bunch of modifications for this:  

• I like cooked onions, but not really raw onions, because they just leave that flavor in your mouth for like 24 hours, so I skipped that (and we didn't have onions, so that was another reason to skip it).   
• I only used the 2 homegrown tomatoes we had, didn't go and buy and cherry or pear tomatoes (although that would have made it look prettier).
• I didn't have sherry vinegar, just sherry cooking wine and red wine vinegar, so I figured red wine vinegar would be the better substitute
• I added in fig balsamic vinegar because I thought that would be a nice addition (it was - but I think any balsamic vinegar would do the trick)
• I skipped the feta cheese because we were having this with chicken and I keep a (semi) kosher kitchen
• I didn't have fresh basil, so I used some of the dried basil, making sure I rubbed it to bring out the flavors.

With all those modifications, it was still a great side salad, and I can't wait to go home and eat some of the leftovers!

With that we had a successful dinner portion of our date night on Monday night.   The rest of the night wasn't so great - but that's for another time...

Culinary Circle Tikka Masala Review

I went food shopping at Acme last month, and they had some great deals going on some of their frozen meals.   One that jumped out at me was a skillet meal for Chicken Tikka Masala from Culinary Circle (which is their store brand).

As it was cooking - it smelled delish, so I was pretty excited.    Man was I disappointed.   It was disgusting!   The chicken was super fatty and gross, so I started to just pick around the chicken.   The rest was edible, but not good.

I had a curry rice in the freezer from Trader Joe's so I decided to try that.   I originally wasn't planning to make it because the frozen meal has rice, but since I barely touched the meal, I made this.   Well this was almost equally disappointing.   It wasn't inedible, or in all reality even disgusting, I think it just wasn't what I was expecting.    It was very heavy flavored with onions and had TONS of pearl onions in there and not very heavy flavored in curry.

Overall I highly DON'T recommend the Culinary Circle Tikka Masala - Ill let you make your own decision on Trader Joe's Curry rice.