Brownie Cupcakes

See the original post here.

This time around, I just put them in little cupcake tins for portion control. The cooking time shortened to about 15 minutes.


They're so cute.


So instead of eating a piece of brownie, I ate two cupcakes at a time... which doesn't really work for portion control.

Best, Movie, Theatre, EVER

It's official. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is a dream come true. An outdoor theater with food and BEER! It's the greatest ever!!!

Explore for yourself

We haven't been there yet because it's in Texas. But one day, we will head to Texas... just for this theater.

Mmmmmm

Sorry about the lack of updates lately, but life has been hectic with my final defense, comp exam, certification exam and interviews coming up.

So here are our latest youtube/culinary amusement...

It's like "mmmm" "mmmm" "mmmm" ... "ugh" "mmm"


Is that a saw?
From the Clinton Station Diner?

Will be back when we can.

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares

I have to admit to my obsession of Food Network during my college years. O the glory days of Iron Chef (the original Japanese version) and Mario Batali, how I miss you so. However, lately I find myself changing the channel because of shows like the semi-homemade hilarity. That aside, here is something (brought up by my brother and he has a good point) that always bothered me about Food Network:

On the food tourism shows like "$40 a Day", there is absolutely no food criticism.

Sure, I am open to the possibility that maybe Rachel Ray or her staff are just that good at finding hot spots... but what are the chances that they are always right? And, we never really get to see her finishing a meal after taking a few bits.

My beef with this is probably why I enjoy this new series...

From Wikipedia,
"Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is a Channel 4 television program hosted by British celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay. In each episode, Ramsay visits a failing restaurant and acts as a troubleshooter to help improve the establishment in just one week. Ramsay revisits the restaurant a few months later to see how business has fared in his absence."

The guy curses all over the place and is really fun to watch. Apparently, there will be an American version of the show called "Kitchen Nightmare" starting this year.

Click here for Gordon Ramsay's homepage.

Lastly, Ramsay also hosts Hell's Kitchen, which I have not seen yet. I am planning to start after I catch up on this series...

Spring World Restaurant

This restaurant serves Szechuan and Yunnan cuisine. I frequent this place with J or my family. In fact, this is the only restaurant in Chinatown that my youngest brother willingly eats at. However, if you cannot stand spicy or greasy food, I would suggest you to stay away.

2109 S China Pl
Chicago 60616
(312)326-9966
Information from Centerstage

Monday to Thursdays 11AM - 10PM
Saturday and Sunday 10AM - 10PM

My family mostly orders from the dinner menu. You should be aware that this restaurant does have a lunch menu on weekdays that is more affordable (ranges from $3 to $5 per set meals).

This is what I order when I'm with J:


Beef Fried Rice $5.95 - I usually tend to stay away from fried rice, but this isn't bad and J NEEDS this


Scallion Cake $3.95 - I usually stays away from this too, but J NEEDS this as well


Spicy Preserved Pork $8.95 - this place makes its own preserved pork and it's some pretty good stuff


Boiled Beef in Spicy Szechuan Sauce $8.95


Pork with Garlic Sauce and Napa with Dried Shrimp - this is a lunch set (our rice and soup came separately)

Other memorable items:

Across the Bridge Rice Noodles $ 6.95
Sea Bass Steak $14.95
Preserved Pepper Style Fish $12.95
Lam Stew & Fish w/ Sour Pickle Casserole $11.95
Chicken w/ Hot Pepper $ 8.95
Szechuan String Bean $ 6.95

There is plenty of other dishes that we haven't tried. In my opinion, this is one of the best authentic Chinese restaurants in Chicago.

Return to Utica

We ALWAYS start our day at the Beehive (see previous post).


Greek skillet! I was dreaming about this the night before... mmm...

After a bit of shopping and bumming around before check-in, we hung around at the Starved Rock Lodge. We didn't get to go out on the trails thanks to the heavy rain. So instead, we hung out at the back door lounge (aka BAR) before, during and after lunch. J loves their cherry cheesecake martinis and I usually enjoy the local draft beers. For lunch, J ordered the chicken parmesan sandwich on garlic buns (the daily special recommended by our cute waitress) and I ordered the fried grouper. Basically, lunch was great and we never expected any less. Afterwards, we fooled around the pool... and back to the bar! A warning about the long island ice tea though, it was the strongest I've ever had. The following are our dinner selections:


The Rock Pot Pie. J proclaimed this "the best chicken pot pie ever!" The fluffy pastry piece on top is super-fluffy.


Crispy Cajun Catfish. I couldn't believe that I ordered this for dinner after I had the fried grouper for lunch. The fried seafood here is just that good and I can't get enough. Both fish were incredibly fresh, and the seasonings were perfect. Even though they were fried, not greasy at all.

I'm not sure why we like eating in the bar area. Well, there's the alcohol, the view (of the river-ways of Starved Rock National Park, we always giggle at the people running inside from the rain), and the service (always friendly and efficient). Other items that we tried on other trips:

Sweet Potato Fries - nothing makes beer go down smoother

BBQ Baby Back Pork Ribs - tender, finger-licking good

Pot Roast of Beef - average, the beef was a bit tough

Roast Turkey Platter - very comforting, reminds me of Thanksgiving without the chaotic cooking

See here for the complete menu. I think we are going to try the Buffalo Shepards Pie and Walleye Saute next time.

Couscous

1445 W. Taylor St.
Chicago, IL
(312) 226-2408
website
reviews

Monday to Sunday 11:30am - 9:30pm

The reviews on Centerstage were all positive and we were feeling adventurous this day. And, I forgot to bring the camera because I was starving and my brain ceases to function when I'm hungry.

When we first walked in, the waitress (the only one around) shot us the dirtiest look. There was only two other couples in the restaurant. A little unnerved, we sat down by the window and proceeded to order. First of all, the review said none of the entrees exceeded $10 which was absolutely wrong, because the special of the day was tender lamb shanks and costs close to $20. This was the first time I've been to a Middle Eastern styled restaurant so I was a bit overwhelmed and asked the waitress for advice. Other than the lamb shanks, she had no other suggestions and I was not in the mood for lamb. We ordered two appetizers in addition to our entrees. I can't remember what we ordered specifically because everything was bland. Even our hunger can't make the food taste good.

Was it because it was the restaurant's downtime (Saturday night around 6)? Did we order the wrong things (falafel and breek with beef)? Was it us? I have no idea, but it will be a while before I trust Centerstage for eatery advice again.

Lastly, the glimpse of the kitchen we caught from the cashier's desk looked like sanitation might be an issue.

UNSAVORY EXPERIENCE! Not coming back, ever.

India House

1473 W Schaumburg Rd # 1521 (Cross Street: Ellington Drive)
Schaumburg, IL 60194
(847)895-5501

* Mon-Thu 11:30am-2:30pm, 5pm-10pm
* Fri 11:30am-2:30pm, 5pm-11pm
* Sat 12pm-3pm, 5pm-11pm
* Sun 12pm-3pm, 5pm-10pm

The buffets are available Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

India House was strongly recommended by my brother. The buffet is affordable and a great way to try various India dishes. Seating was prompt and the service was ok. The waitresses were nice, but seemed overwhelmed with clearing tables (which they did very efficiently). For more reviews, click here.


The meat was tender and flavorful.


Indian bread! We have such a thing for Indian bread.


Not knowing what most of the stuff was, I just grabbed random dishes. My favorite was the tandoori chicken which is laying on the rice.


J's plate.


This was the moment of the night. This restaurant has this table set up at the back end of the room. Seeing the little puff balls there, I got curious and inquired the waitress about them. She replied, "oh these? You just fill it with this sauce here and pop it into your mouth." To which I replied, "cool, let's try some." So I went back to the table and shared my findings with my brothers and J. Somehow, the guys thought I said that these puff balls were deserts so they got rather enthusiastic. We thought it would be cool to pop them into our mouths at the same time, kinda like downing shots. 1, 2, 3 and the looks on our faces were indescribable. I'm not going to say anything more about them here except that everyone should try it "FILL WITH SAUCE AND POP INTO MOUTH" as an initiation rite for this restaurant.

This place was fun. I think we will definitely be back.

Rizzata's redux

See our original post here.

Last time we were rushed. This time, we were still rushed.


Deep dish pizza with pepperoni, italian beef and canadian bacon.


What makes Rizzata's pizza great is the cheese... see how cheesey it is? And it's also the tomato sauce, which always taste wonderfully fresh.


Calzone with italian beef and pepperoni. Again, their low-fat mozzarella cheese is sooo good.

We did try several other items, such as the BBQ beef sandwich and the sausage lasagna. However, the sandwich was just average and J did not like the lasagna.

So our advice is to stick with Rizzata's CALZONES. Best, calzones, EVER.

Pegasus redux

See our original post here.

We didn't get quality photos of the entree during our last visit. So here's to making it up...





The food was great, as always. The only complaint that we would sometimes have is about the service. Sometimes, the service is great. Sometimes, you have to ask for the bread. We'll be back.... eventually, maybe.

Next up, the Parthenon.

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day

This is Paula Deen's Easy Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe. We've made this many times, and it's simple and tasty every single time. However, you must be warned, this recipe is not suitable for those with high blood pressure or coronary artery disease because of the butter and bacon.



This is the perfect celebratory meal for St. Pattie's Day. Bottoms up!

Fun with Slow Cookers

We had a busy weekend.


First try - Beef and Beer Stew. We choose Guinness for the beer and the beef turned out very flavorful. The sides were creamed spinach and sweet potato fries, which provided nice contrasts to the meat.


Second try - Pork Barbecue. This came out really good too. We used Famous Dave's Sweet & Zesty BBQ sauce.


Asparagus is one of our favorite sides. This was sauteed with olive oil and a splash of vinegar.


The sides assembled. In addition to the asparagus, we had whole grain rice and macaroni salad.


The finished product

Mitsuwa

Normally, we tend to avoid food courts like the plague. However, we were willing to make an exception for Mitsuwa. The food court has about 5 separate booths along with an ice cream stand and sushi bar. Out of the 5 booths, one stand served Korean fare, one stand served Chinese fare and three stands served Japanese fare. This day, J set his heart on ramen and I craved bibimbap.

100 E. Algonquin Road,
Arlington Hts., IL 60005
(847)956-6699
9:00AM - 8:00PM


Mitsuwa's liquor shop with a large selection of sake. It's too bad we aren't really into sake.


These food court displays are like window shopping, for food!


There was so much stuff to look at.


Today's special - juicy pork cutlet using top quality Berkshire for $8.95


Today's special - Mixed Vegetable Soba for $5.00


So many choices... still taking it all in.


It really took us a good long while to decide


In addition to the ramen, the small katsu-don set for $3.90 caught J's eyes.


I found my selection. Apparently, bibimbap in a stone bowl is called dol sot.


J's small ramen, which he enjoyed and reminded him of Naruto


My dol sot, I like the stone bowl because it keeps the food warm longer and makes the rice crunchy


My dol sot all mixed up


J's small katsu-don set as is


I rearranged it and opened the lid. He also liked this set with the exception of the egg on top of the katsu and the miso soup. The egg was runny and the miso was bland.

Overall, we quite enjoyed this experience.

Famous Dave's Bar-B-Q

1101 East Dundee Road
Palatine, IL 60067

Phone: 847-202-2213
Fax: 847-202-2214

Once in a while, we just need BBQ! You've probably seen these places around. It's decent enough, I suppose.


Sauces! I have a thing with sauces and since Dave's has a nice selection, we visit often. Our favorite, this time around, was "Sweet & Zesty".


We were frakkin' starving. Wings for appetizer. It wasn't really anything special, but like I said, frakkin' starving!


Ribs, ribs, ribs sated our hunger. Although this time around, the ribs on the end were really dry and tough.


Not from Daves's... we finally got that table-top tripod!


It looks... silly, hopefully useful in the future endeavors.

We received a little constructive criticism. Apparently, our photos need more commentary... ... ... FINE!

Made-Over Deep Dish Brownies

I got the recipe from here.

A little set-back today got me really, well, set-back, today. Nothing starts me back up like a little baking and sweets.





It didn't taste exactly like the brownies that I used to make with all the sugar, butter and eggs, but it wasn't bad. It tasted like chocolate-y bread, in a good way.

I really need to get that tripod from best buy. Having a little equipment malfuntion =/

Hawaii

Again, I didn't actually get to go. Looking at these however, I'm just amazed at the selection of seafood available in Hawaii. Look! It looks so fresh and colorful... like the top quality produce that you see on cooking shows.
























This is what my father ended up purchasing...


And this


And this too


The purchases were brought to a local restaurant to be cooked...


Don't you look familiar


Cooked with soybean paste


Veggie is good for you


Other misc photos from this trip




I love shrimp rolls

Can you tell my family has a thing for shrimps?