Category: Food and Drink

It’s Cajun Food Night!

Isn’t that a beautiful painting for this post? Titled “Decatur Evening, it is by Artist Dianne Parks- http://dianneparksgallery.com/

My daughter doesn’t cook, but somehow she lucked out- her boyfriend does! Even better, we got included in this round of Cajun Night at his family’s home. Woo hoo! My exposure to Cajun is extremely limited, and what I’ve had I have not liked. I’m glad to say that I have now enjoyed a couple of dishes that I would LOVE to have again.
So what wine goes with jambalaya and crawfish étouffée? The adults need something to drink, after all. We skipped the suggested beers that populated the online searches and brought a Viognier to share. Should have bought the Zinfandel, too… Tonight’s bonus- the Hanger 24 stout we had before dinner.

I am so very glad that we were able to have dinner together despite how late we kept all the kids up on a school night. We may be bad parents, but at least I found out that I like crawfish! It’s all good. You know what will be fun? Reading this post tomorrow morning after all the wine and stout have worn off. Yep, it’s all good!

Cajun food and a really great Viognier... gotta post the name of the wine.
Cajun food and a really great Viognier… gotta post the name of the wine.

Downtown Sushi…

We had a few hours to kill while waiting to pick up the son from an event downtown and tried a new-to-us sushi spot-

Sushi Deli 2 http://www.sushideliusa.net/

Those were some great prices on noodles, appetizers and sushi, and the winner was the Yakisoba. Lots of vegetables cooked just right, great flavor to the sauce and good chicken, too. I’d pass on the Udon soup there, the tempura was good with it, as was the broth, but I think the noodles were prepared ahead of time and just reheated in the broth… that might explain the low price. Good overall, but for the noodles. Sushi Deli seems to be known for its specialty rolls, and they did look great as the servers brought them to other tables.

IMG_5300
Sushi Stop 2 Potstickers; Assorted Nigiri; Chicken Yakisoba and Tempura Udon

I wouldn’t go again, but neither would I discourage someone from going there. You sure can’t beat the price, and the atmosphere was pumped.

Recipe Swap

While paying at Trader Joe’s, the cashier and I enjoyed swapping recipes made with TJ’s ingredients-

Mine-

Chicken Won Ton Soup

1 qt chicken broth; one beaten egg; 1/2 package TJ’s Chicken Cilantro Won Tons; 1 T soy sauce; 1/2 t sesame oil; sliced green onions. Bring broth to boil, and while stirring, drizzle in the beaten egg. Add the half package of wontons and simmer according to package directions. Stir in soy sauce and sesame oil, and top with some sliced green onions.

Hers-

Parmesan Potato Casserole

1 bag frozen parmesan garlic potatoes; 1 jar Alfredo sauce; 1 bag shredded sharp cheddar

Whoops- all she told me were the ingredients so I had to make up the rest of the recipe… I layered the potatoes and the jar of sauce with about one cup of the cheese. That was it! She said don’t worry about having too much sauce, it will look like too much, and it did. It was. I’d add only half the jar, next time but I probably could have used more cheese.

I guessed on the time and temp- 45 min at 350, uncovered for the last 15 minutes, and served them with baked, seasoned chicken pieces and a side of simple, plain broccoli (to soak up the cheese sauce, yeah!).

NOT light on the calories… wow. File this under comfort food! I skipped dessert and will be eating lighter tomorrow for sure. BUT, everyone liked these potatoes, from the teens to the husband!

Anyone else have any sure-fire comfort food combinations that they love? I adore recipe swapping!

Pho for Me

On our quest to try some new eats! This time we tried a restaurant that many people have been telling us to try, a chain called Pho Ca Dao. According to one of my kid’s teachers, if you aren’t swearing, you aren’t pronouncing it correctly… I hope she wasn’t pulling my leg.

The daughter’s boyfriend helped us order and he picked some winners. We loved the soups, the pork with rice noodles were meh. Egg rolls- fabulous, spring rolls- less so. I think I am spoiled by having friends make home made spring rolls on many occasions, though.

IMG_5245
Yum! Beef with rice, pork with rice noodles and egg rolls, spring rolls, beef pho and chicken pho with all the condiments- love the sprouts, basil and cilantro!

I’m really glad I finally tried some of the dishes from Pho Ca Dao, and am sure that we will hit it again- great dishes at a surprisingly low price. Here’s the menu, via allmenus.com:

http://www.allmenus.com/ca/san-diego/32447-ca-dao/menu/

New Menu Monday- Carnitas… from Heaven!!

Pulled pork is fabulous in the crock pot; sprinkle a lot of onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper on a pork shoulder butt and 4-8 hours later you have a magnificent meal. With BBQ sauce for the meat, we round it out with a baked sweet potato and maybe green beans. We all love it.

Tonight we are making carnitas with the same cut of pork and swapping out the sweet potato and green beans for a boat load of cilantro, chopped onions, pinto beans and tortillas.

I love me some Pinterest- that’s where I dug around for the carnitas recipe. This is what I found:  http://www.afamilyfeast.com/carnitas/#_a5y_p=1366830

I changed up the recipe only a bit- freshly made mini corn tortillas instead of the suggested flour, and I tossed everything together on the baking sheet- the onions, garlic and I squeezed the citrus juices and 1/3 cup of bacon grease over everything. I only used oregano, salt and pepper, too, and skipped the other spices. I don’t think we missed the one pound of lard to cook the meat in, either… the bacon grease and pork fat from the meat was puh-lenty. But read the original recipe, it looks great as-is.

It was FABULOUS!! Seriously, try the recipe, and if someone really does cook it in the lard, I’d love to know how it turned out.

This was so good, I’m going to serve it to my mother-in-law. Yep. That good.