yes, i know

i have been extremely lazy with my posts and have had several wonderful trips since my last post. sedona, seattle, portland and even france! more importantly, i have lots of pomme frites pictures to share.
here are pictures of a few fabulous bites i've had in between the trips.




(picture to the left) getting invited to brunch is always a treat. who would have thought peas and eggs go so well together? yes, that is a piece of bacon on top of the salad.


(above) finally made it to paggi house some time ago and had the most refreshing salad. it was a LOBSTER AND ENDIVE SALAD with Chioggia Beets, Mache, Tarragon Butter. so tasty that i forgot to take a picture before i started eating it! my goal is to try to recreate this dish for my friends. i definitely want to make it back for their happy hour soon. their new outdoor seating area is amazing.



(picture to the right) my recent discovery of pork belly is dangerous. the east side king trailer is dangerous. Roasted pork belly in steamed buns, Hoisin sauce, cucumber kimchee and green onion. add a side order of beet fries while you are there. i mean really.

my first paella

making paella always seemed so intimidating to me. it is actually quite easy (easy for me to say since i didn't do much of the constant stirring). i don't know why, but i always avoided any previous attempts in making it. but i visited my best friend recently and knew she would be up for the challenge. actually, i knew she would make anything when it involved us drinking wine while cooking (right sally?).
there were lots of first's for the both of us. the first time we bought, cleaned and prepared mussels. first time making paella. first time, in a long time, we were able to cook and drink together. i have to say it turned out pretty good! we both agreed that it needed some salt and garlic, but overall it was tasty. it was a fun evening. after little baby jane went to bed, we started out with a martini, crackers and a nice stinky cheese. finished it all off with some nice wine and a homecooked meal. good times.

lunch

i get excited at work when i have a yummy lunch to look forward to. it gets me thru the day and i also know i only have a half of a day left when i am finished. today, i had leftover chicken that was shredded and placed on top of a arugula, spinach salad with cucumbers, carrots and sunflower seeds. i usually keep a jar of homemade dressing (olive oil, whole grain mustard, shallots, salt, pepper) around too. today's lunch was also accompanied by homemade pita chips (cut up pita, tossed with olive oil, salt and dried oregano) toasted in the oven and roasted red pepper hummus. so yummy... and not too bad for me either! ugh, it's only 2:30! 4:30, where are you?

strawberries!

can you really go wrong with picking fresh strawberries from the garden?

i love going camping. hiking, campfires, friends, good times, good food. to me, each camping adventure is a fun food challenge. this trip, i decided to cook whole chicken on the campfire. originally i was going to use a little bbq grill that is stored in the pop-up camper, but then decided to use the campfire pit. the charcoal briskets were placed underneath the grill and we had no idea if this was going to work or not. was the fire going to burn the chicken to a crisp? will we have to eat chips and dip for dinner?

when i picked up the chicken at the store, i had the butcher take out the backbone so it would lay flat on the grill. i then placed some lemon slices underneath the skin. rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil covered the bird before it was placed on the fire. i also used the top from the bbq grill to cover the bird for even cooking. the moment of truth came when i needed to flip the chicken over. i have to say, as soon as i flipped it and saw how golden brown the first side was, i got really excited. it was actually working! the final results were yummy, yummy. the chicken was still moist and tender, the skin was golden. the happy dance began. along with the meal we had foil pouches of zucchini, squash and onions. dessert consisted of an apple crumble cooked in a small cast iron skillet over the fire. overall, dinner was a success!

what can i come up with for the next trip?

day 4, the final day

we went out with a bang at our last trailer stop at Gourdoughs. i don't really like sweets, so i wasn't as excited as others (like my sister) about this trailer. usually i skip desserts or steal from others at the table. one bite is just right for me. but everything changed once the sweet delights were ready for us to finally taste. the night before, there was a 45 minute wait for an order and we decided to skip the trailer. apparently they got slammed with a group of about 30 people showing up at the same time. it was definitely worth the wait. they had plenty to choose from, making the selection kinda difficult. i am so glad we had 5 people in the group in order to try out several selections. again, i would take a plate full of french fries over anything sweet, but these donuts were really, really good. the outside was slightly crispy. the toppings were perfectly portioned with the size of the donut. my favorite may have been Mama's Cake with yellow cake batter filling and fudge icing (bottom left). no wait, maybe the Granny's Pie with caramel, pecans, bananas & graham crackers (bottom right).









Please note: detox started on day 5

day 3

on sunday, we were able to fit in only one trailer. but man oh man was it a good one. i have noticed this particular trailer on a few occasions, passing it as i've walked to various restaurants on congress. crepes mille is my new favorite crepe trailer...for now. sorry flip happy crepes, i know you have been on the food network with bobby flay, but the crepe benedict definitely caught my attention. i think it was the horseradish that made it unique. it was a nice addition. the omelet crepes got the thumbs up as well. by the way, they deliver to the downtown and soco areas too!

day 2

started off the morning by hitting 2 trailers in one visit. we went to the south 1st trailer park and eatery. there you can find the torchy's taco trailer and the new man bites dog stand. the plan was to order a few things off of the menu, but of course we always ended up ordering our own meal. with our plastic knives and forks in hand, we cut bite size pieces for all 5 of us to share. i enjoyed the abe froman. it was a Chicago-inspired dog featuring a Vienna beef frank with yellow mustard, diced onions, sweet pickle relish, tomatoes, a dill pickle spear & celery salt. on the taco side, the chorizo, egg and cheese won the popular vote. my cousins were enjoying the trailer experience so far. so many trailers, so little time.

let the trailer adventure begin!

my cousins are in town and they requested that we fit in as many food trailers as possible during the visit. how can i say no to that? there is actually planning involved with this, believe it or not. which trailers serve breakfast? where are they located? when are they open? also, our plan is to remember that we should get a couple of different items on the menu for all of us to try. that seems to be key at this point. snack portions! we have to save room for the other trailers, of course! first stop on the menu was lulu b's vietnamese sandwiches. grilled pork with thin strips of cucumber, carrot and cilantro on a soft french bread.

i heart lulu.

the perfect french fry?

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/an-easy-way-to-make-french-fries/#more-5433

brunch

brunch is one of my favorite meals. not necessarily because you can get breakfast items during most of the day, but i think it is due to being able to decide if i want something sweet or savory for the first meal of the day. i do admit that i usually go for the savory items on the menu.




the best part is that someone else at the table will also go for something sweet too. best of both worlds! most recently, i had brunch at south congress cafe. i haven't been there in a really long time because i really didn't get that excited about their menu. they also did away with their bar area in the back after getting in trouble for building the deck without a permit...it was a pretty cool place for happy hour. anyway, i have to say that i enjoyed brunch saturday morning. i can't resist anything benedict on the menu. this time i had a crab cake benedict that was topped with a homemade quiche and crispy prosciutto. other dishes at the table included a smoked brisket hash and the migas.

**other notable brunch places include sagra, enotecca, woodlands and the snackbar. next on the list is cisco's. i am excluding any taco stands or mexican restaurants on this list on purpose. that is an entirely different category of breakfast/brunch places to be discussed at a later post. : )

springtime!

the first signs of spring. what is yours? bluebonnets? buds on the trees? hummingbirds?

mine is queso, salsa and margaritas at hula hut on a warm, sunny day.

sunday dinners

we have been spoiled the last 2 sunday's. our friends have kindly invited us over for a homemade dinner. gnocchi last week, oven baked chicken and mac and cheese this week! this sunday's dinner also included fried plantains for a quick dessert. i was hesitant to dip it in sour cream, but it did not disappoint me. the entire dinner was lovely. i also enjoyed sitting in the living room listening to the jazz records. who was the artist again?

new workout diet

is it wrong to eat a pork chop, 2 eggs, hash browns and a biscuit after you work out? had a lovely pilates workout at castle hill fitness on saturday, but we couldn't resist going down the street to the Counter Cafe on lamar. i must confess that i finished every bit of it. so far, i have had some great meals there. you have to time it just right due to the limited amount of space in this cute diner. it is fun to sit at the counter and watch them cook up a storm. their burger was even listed in Texas Monthly as one of the top 50 best burgers in texas. good burger, but too much bread for me. i like for the burger and bun to match up, personally. sandy's, p. terry's, hat creek and mighty fine are my favs right now. probably more to do with my obsession with french fries, but still good burgers.

gnocchi

we were looking forward to some tasty broccoli fresh from the garden this week. they are looking good and i even see lots of tiny sprouts shooting off of the main stem. hmmmm...what should we make? steamed broccoli with meyer lemons from our tree? stir fry broccoli? Or just eat it raw?
i found the perfect thing to do with it. a good friend made some homemade gnocchi and we got an invite for dinner. it was yummy. light and fluffy pillows of pasta. he did really well for his first time. his slow simmered sauce with bison complimented the pasta. oh, and the broccoli from the garden was steamed and shared the plate.

a trip to venice.

no, not venice italy. jean and i visited our parents in venice, florida over the weekend. my mom had a surprise birthday party on saturday and she had no idea we were part of the surprise. she was in such shock, that she didn't come near us for about 30 minutes. needless to say, we all relaxed and had a good time after some yummy filipino food.

i really enjoyed the new restaurants we tried during this trip. angelo's italian market was super cute. it was just down the road from my parents. market turned restaurant with just a few tables inside. we were not able to sitdown and eat (reservations required), but ordered some lasagna to go. jean found the case full of italian sweets.


mom took us to lunch at a thai bistro that she seems to frequent. we were headed to the outlets, so we shared a few dishes for fuel. i am not a big sweets person, but i definitely enjoyed the thai doughnuts with a peanut dipping sauce. little pillows of dough that were warm and melted in your mouth. the sauce had just the right amount of sweetness to it.















all mom kept talking about was a restaurant with the best fried chicken around. she claimed it was the best she has ever tasted, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, salted to perfection. well, of course we had to go try it! it was an amish
resturant called Troyer's Dutch Heritage. as you can see, i had to try it all. the buffet had just the right amount of choices. not too overwhelming. by the way, the chicken was wonderful (but still comes in second to jan's fried chicken). they made everything from scratch and even had a storefront with lots for sale. bread, cheese, pies, cookies, peanut butter, meat, salsa, preserves! i had to get a small strawberry pie for us to try. is it wrong that i had it for breakfast?

you can't go to florida without having seafood. Captain Eddie's Family Seafood. fried seafood served in a gigantic boat dish, of course. ok, it wasn't the best thing for me, but it was really good. i had the coconut crusted shrimp and catfish. the coleslaw was creamy yummy, hushpuppies were perfect and a stella to wash it down with.

i'm beginning to enjoy venice more and more now!

Onion Creek Kitchens at Juniper Hills Farm

for those of you that have not been able to experience the beauty of Juniper Hills Farm, you must put that on your to-do-list now! sign up for a cooking class or stay the night at the cabins. a group of us spent the weekend relaxing, eating and drinking. on friday, we took homemade dough, made individual pizzas from a variety of toppings and cooked them in the outdoor oven. pesto, chicken, sausage, onions, alfredo sauce...whatever combination you craved. saturday night, asian foods filled the air. Wonton Sesame Crisps with Wasabi-Lime Cream, Chinese Broccoli Stir Fry with Garlic, Chinese BBQ Pork and Singapore Sling's topped off the evening. one drink equals 1/2 bottle of wine, so i was told. they were yummy! to complete the weekend, we made brunch for our lovely hosts. dutch pancakes made in the cast iron skillet, sausage, fruit, potatoes. oh and burnt bacon...courtesy of yours truly. another fabulous weekend with friends. how can you go wrong?

Pork belly, you say?

had a lovely dinner at Fino last night. small plates are a perfect way to try out a variety of items on the menu. but i have to say it works best with a small group. i am always sad when the plate is passed around and when it finally reaches me, i get the tiny remains of what was once a perfect bite. this was my first time trying pork belly and i must say it was lovely. salty goodness with a fennel, orange slaw, accompanied by spicy peanuts. the combination was perfect. one day i would like to try an entree, but the small plates continue to make me happy. thumbs up to the calamari, fried goat cheese and spicy fennel sausage flatbread. the tempranillo completed the meal. although i should say my company completed the evening. shhhhhhh....V!

new phone!

ok, it has obviously been a long time since i have posted. but since i haven't given out the blog address to anyone, it probably does not matter. i have a new phone with a much better camera now. my hope is to take more pictures of my food and blog about it. a few friends encouraged me to post more often and not worry so much about it (beware, my grammar and spelling sucks!). i should have lots to talk about since we all will be going to juniper hills farm this weekend to eat, drink and be merry!