discovering quinoa

I heard a lot about quinoa this year, but had yet to try it. I'm still not really sure it is, but from what I understand, it's a seed that has amazing nutritional properties. It's a whole grain, gluten free, and according to our bag, it's "an exceptional source of protein containing all eight essential amino acids and is high in iron, calcium, magnesium, B vitamins and fiber." A while back, we found organic quinoa, by Earthly Delights brand, at Costco of all places and decided to buy a 4 lb bag.

Well the 4 lb bag sat for a while...hey I was out getting married & honeymooning and such. And I guess I wasn't really sure what to do with the mysterious quinoa. But this month, my copy of Food & Wine arrived in the mail, and in it I found the most delicious sounding recipe: Bacon Quinoa with Almonds and Herbs. Can't go wrong with bacon right?

Right! It was a great recipe, and pretty easy too. I've used it twice in the past 2 weeks! I would definitely recommend it if you need a good quinoa recipe! You can prep the herbs in advance, and then the actual cooking time only takes about 30 minutes. The article said this makes a good side dish, but honestly, it's so filling, you can make it a whole meal. Now that I've had quinoa, I wish I could describe it, but I can't. It's just a new and different taste all its own.

Here's some pics to enjoy:

I'm usually not a big fan of parsley, but the fresh parsley went really well with this dish.


We toasted our own almonds. The recipe called for toasted, slivered almonds, but I had a several pound bag in the fridge from Costco and didn't want to waste money on a small bag of slivered almonds. So we just threw our almonds in the food processor and did something more of almond chunks, then toasted in the oven. I think they turned out just as good!


The complete dish in the pot:


The finished product! I also made a side salad of diced yellow & green peppers and cucumbers. I have become a HUGE fan of making my own dressing...ever since Raegan got me hooked on her homemade dressing. It's really fun and it tastes different every time. This dressing was fresh squeezed lemon juice from 3 lemons, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and the leftover fresh chives & parsley from the quinoa recipe. Also had whole grain mustard, roasted garlic, salt & pepper. Yum! And a little feta on top :)

chick-fil-a news!

Today, Ryan's dream came true. Chick-fil-a is going to add spicy chicken sandwiches to their menu next year! Any time Chick-fil-a adds something new, it's a big deal! Can't wait to try it :)

review: chez raegan & other food news

I confess, I'm a slacker. Can you believe how much has happened since my last post? After I was so excited about Palin's running feature, she announced her resignation as governor, and now she officially has resigned as governor of Alaska. Man how time flies!

I felt compelled to blog again because yesterday I had THE BEST salmon I've had all year. And I didn't have it at any restaurant...I had at my new favorite Sunday lunch spot, Chez Raegan. Hehe. My sister-grandma Raegan had Ryan & I over for lunch after church on Sunday. She got some wild Alaskan sockeye salmon on sale at the Fresh Market and fried it up in a grill pan with fennel, lemon, salt, pepper and oil. I had one filet and then went back for another half, I just couldn't stop eating it! For the sides, she made an awesome salad with fennel and homemade dressing, and sourdough bread with brie. Mmmm. It was a great summer meal and I told Raegan that she could cook for me every Sunday and I would gladly pay her. And it was so good I had to blog about it, plus she asked me today why I hadn't blogged about it yet :) I wish I had pics but I was just so hungry and into the food that it was all gone before I thought about taking any pictures. She also inspired me to start cooking again...I mean, I try to stay home and cook to save money but I haven't been very creative lately. But Raegan, hats off to you. I want to be creative like you :)

In other news, I've had the pleasure of trying 2 new hotspots: Varasano's & Morelli's.

First Morelli's.

This place is just awesome. They have all your standard sweet ice cream flavors, and then they have all kinds of exotic & savory flavors, like corn! When I lived in Puerto Rico for a summer, my weekly indulgence was corn ice cream with cinnamon on top. When I asked for cinnamon on top of my corn ice cream at Morelli's, I got more than one puzzled look. But I promise, it's good. It's not quite as good as my corn ice cream in PR, but it's the closest I've found in the US. Also, they have some of the best waffle bowls I've ever had.

Next up we have Varasano's. I read about Varasano the man a couple years ago. He was on a quest to find the best NY style pizza. He would throw pizza parties at his house and rig his oven to do crazy things in order to achieve the perfect char & crust. He also kept track of all the best pizzerias and had a pretty intense ranking system. Of course, I disagree with him because I think Grimaldi's is the best pizza I've ever had, and I always, always crave it. But of course, I haven't been to quite the number of pizzerias he has, so I'm probably wrong.

Anyway, the first time we went, we did the Slice of Heaven promotion, which was all you can eat pizza for $13? Something like that...I think it was so popular that now you can only do it late at night one day of the week. I can understand why...I thought the kitchen was going to crash, pizzas were flying out by the minute and still there were hungry tables clamoring for more (including ours!) It was so great though, every pizza we tried was deeeeelicious. The only one I didn't care for was a caramelized onion. It was good the first time, but the cheese was very pungent and thick, so I didn't care to eat more than one slice. Unfortunately that was the flavor of pizza we saw the most that night! haha. I liked the crust, but sometimes it was a little too sour for me, and not enough char. My favorites that night ended up being Nana's - classic mozzarella, tomato and special sauce. My other favorite was something that looking at, I thought I would hate. But once I took a bite, I scarfed it down. It was the Chica Bella - arugula with lemon on top of ricotta & mozzarella cheese. We're talking so good that Ryan & I tried to replicate it many times at my apartment afterwards. Sooooo good!!

The second time we went, it wasn't quite as crazy and this time we knew what our favorites were. We all settled for Nana's pizza. And this time the crust was pretty darn near perfect. I felt like I was almost back in Grimaldi's.


I'm kinda craving one now, aren't you?

one wk down

So I made it through a whole wk of boot camp! Phews. Thursday was the toughest day. I got called out so many times for doing things wrong and then had to do even more to make up for what I didn't do right! Embarrassing and hard. Friday was actually fun though. Also hard, but we did a little obstacle course of sorts that I found fun. Today we were inside since it rained yesterday. It wasn't too bad until we did one of the things I dread the most...bear crawls! They are really hard to do inside. I actually had gloves to prevent blisters from the track, but I think they just made my hands more slippery. Plus we had just done a lap of lunges. I'm pretty good at lunges - I mean I have strong legs, I was a runner and was always working on lengthening and strengthening my stride. But after prolonged lunges, it's hard to get down on the ground and crawl like a bear. Another hard thing was at the end, we did reverse burpees down the length of the basketball court. So we got down, kicked both legs out (like doing a pushup), then walked our hands backwards while keeping our legs straight so that we were eventually standing up again. And then we got medicine balls and did a squat and then threw it at our partner. Who knew an 8 lb ball could have so much force!?

We also turned in a week's worth of food logs today. I can't WAIT to see what the coach writes on mine. I am sure it will be a humbling & eye-opening experience.

Ok next I am going to blog about the marathon. I'm feeling inspired listening to my Lady Gaga Pandora station. Thanks Lauren/Elliott :)

rutabagas

Today I tried rutabagas for the first time ever! (Forgive me mom, if you've made rutabagas when I was younger and don't remember.) Anyway, they were very interesting! It's hard to describe/compare them to anything since I've never had them before! I think that I liked them though. Of course, I got them at a very trustworthy place, Carver's, the reigning king of Southern food in Atlanta, in my humble opinion. I still don't even know what rutabagas are, but I found this awesome website - Advanced Rutabaga Studies Institute - headquartered in the rutabaga capital of the world. Haha. Awesome.

So who loves rutabagas? Who can even really describe how they taste?

the highlander

I'm not going to do a full post about The Highlander. I just wanted to say that their chili rocks! Oh my gosh, it is soooo spicy. I feel like my mouth is burnt, but not in a bad way! It's chock full of beef and beans and peppers...plus bonus! Guy Fieri visited and you can watch him & Chef Ice make the chili together here. Really, really entertaining. And makes me totally comfortable ordering the chili again, knowing everything that's in it!

disney marathon: The Wave

For pre-race dinner, we went to The Wave. It's located on the first floor of The Contemporary and it's relatively new. I really like the entrance tunnel, felt very swank and non-Disney. We checked in and were promptly seated.

Our server was really nice & funny. My sister ordered hot tea (she was sick) and all the tea was organic and in silk sachets with a cute little pot. So, she started a trend and almost all of us got hot tea. It was good!

Being the runner, I was on a semi-strict diet, and the restaurant was really easy to work with when modifying menu items. Most if not all the menu items were organic and/or local products. For an appetizer, I got mixed greens, which was a step above your standard salad. Holly & Shane got the crabcakes, which had a nice spice to them. Ryan got a hazelnut soup which was very...interesting. Don't know if I could eat a whole bowl or cup, but it was a different taste/texture - fun to try.

For entrees, I got the sustainable fish of the day, unfortunately I can't remmeber what kind of fish it was. I subbed out the sides for whole wheat pasta, which I asked for but was not mentioned anywhere on the menu. What luck, right? The fish & pasta was only ok. My dish was definitely the least colorful and boring of the party. The other entrees were chicken pot pie, lamb, seafood pasta, and a flank steak. Everyone enjoyed the entrees, I don't know that I would characterize them as spectacular.

What was really spectacular was the desserts. 5 kiwis all the way here! There are 3 or 4 different dessert trios to choose from, and they also have a selection of sorbets (that I would love to go back & try!). The trios are very well thought out, awesome mixtures of flavors and textures. Really a delight for the senses. And just the right amount so you're not over-indulging. We tried:

Creamy indulgence - raspberry cheesecake, coconut panna cotta, chocolate passion-fruit mousse
Winner: tie between cheesecake & panna cotta - both were perfectly textured and very fresh on the fruit
Loser: Passion-fruit mousse - I didn't like the flavor combo here

Crispy/crunchy - braised pineapple, baklava, zucchini carrot cake
Winner: all 3. This was my favorite trio as a whole. Who knew braising pineapple could taste so sinful?
Loser: no losers here!

Decadent flavors - salted caramel chocolate mousse, blueberry on yogurt gelato, lemon cornbread with panna cotta
Winner: salted caramel chocolate mousse. My absolute favorite of all the desserts. I am starting to shed a little tear right now just thinking about how good it was and how long it will be til I taste something as amazing.
Loser: no losers here, the gelato and cornbread were also good.

Debbie's birthday was the next day, so she got special treatment :)


After dinner, we all headed to bed! I layed out my marathon outfit (my favorite race day shirt & lucky socks - wore those socks at every race last year), tied my commemorative championchip to my shoes, and pinned my bib on to my shirt.

And the next morning...

disney marathon: The Contemporary

So after the Expo, we headed to our hotel, The Contemporary. Honestly, I don't think there is a more perfect place to stay when running the marathon. The concierge let us check in 3 hours early and was so just so darn nice about everything. I had to keep reminding myself not to be surprised...this is Disney. They are always that amazing.

Anyway, we took our bags up to the room which was in the main tower with a lakeside view. Really beautiful. I had never stayed at The Contemporary before, so I didn't really know what to expect, the outside is so old looking (although I know back in the day it was supposed to look really modern, ah how times change!)


What I really loved about The Contemporary was the quiet. Maybe they weren't completely full, or maybe families just don't stay here often. But it was very quiet & relaxing. The only times it was loud was when character dinner was going on in the 4th floor Grand Canyon (open air atrium where the monorail goes through) and when they had a night music show on the lake, maybe around 9pm? I love kids, but this was one weekend where I didn't want to deal with the noise, ruckus, crowding etc that happens when there are tons of excited children around.

We got to go to the pool both when we got there and the hours after the marathon. So relaxing! The waterslide was really fun, and I loved the hammocks!

I loved seeing the monorails come through every day. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of them coming through! :( Darnit. We ate a couple times at the Contempo Cafe which is in the Grand Canyon atrium. It was neat - you order your food at kiosks, pay for it, then sit down with a buzzer that goes off when your food is ready for pickup. There were lots of healthy options, but you could still indulge with a cheeseburger & fries if you wanted. I especially liked all the whole wheat breads and the option to have green beans on the side. Not over-cooked, water-logged hammy green beans. Fresh, crisp green beans with a soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds. Yum! I was really happy with this little place. My favorites were the turkey, apple & brie sandwich and the grilled chicken & monterey jack sandwich. Delicious!

What really makes The Contemporary good for marathon day is the monorail. It's only one stop from the hotel to the Ticket & Transportation Center, where you can hop the monorail to Epcot. And the resort monorail ride was almost empty. The monorail to Epcot was relatively crowded, but not uncomfortably so. No driving, no bus riding. We were amazed at the traffic jam we avoided.

We enjoyed a beautiful moonrise? Not sure the term. But it was really pretty right before we went to my last meal before the race!

chick-fil-a

My absolute favorite fast food and one of my food weaknesses...Chick-fil-a! I seriously could eat here every day and be happy...and very fat. So I don't. But there have been long periods of time where I make Chick-fil-a a weekly appointment.

So I was delighted to read that Chick-fil-a has been blessed with another year of double-digit profit! Phew. I don't know what I would do if Chick-fil-as had to close. And I think it is just so awesome, because I truly believe in and admire their business model. Of course, I could be biased. Chick-fil-a was my first ever job in high school. But the food is always good, fresh, and some of the healthiest fast food out there.

While I generally praise Chick-fil-a, there have been some that let me down. Fatty or grisly chicken, cold fries, unsalted fries, old tea, pickles on my sandwich when I ask for no pickles, undersized nuggets. Those things can really bring you down!

But here are my favorite Chick-fil-as, in no particular order (yes, they are all in GA):

Hapeville Dwarf House
This is the "original" so coming here for the first time was a special experience for me! Since then, it has been a go to for many many late night adventures (they are open 24 hours a day, except for Sunday of course!) And being a dwarf house, the menu is more extensive than your regular free-standing Chick-fil-a. You can either sit down and be waited on, or order fast food from the counter. Make sure you walk through the little dwarf door and check out the dwarf art in the sit-down area.

Turner Hill Rd.
If I have to make a food stop on my way home to Augusta, I always aim for this Chick-fil-a right outside the Perimeter. Oh man, it is good. Chick-fil-a in general is really good, but this one takes it a step above in every way: service, food, cleanliness. And they are consistently amazing, I've visited several times over the past years. These are hands down the best waffle fries I've ever had in my life.

Augusta Exchange
Gotta give a shout out to my first employer. The lessons learned & friendships made...how can I forget them? The operator, Michael Brown, is one of the nicest, most inspiring bosses I've ever had.

Howell Mill
Now I have to admit, I wasn't that impressed the first couple times I ate at this location. However, after I worked here for a summer and they went under a big renovation, my opinion has changed quite a bit! The operator, John Diamond, is awesome, he really knows how to save pennies. It has been a while since I last had mediocre food there. I also had a lot of fun here when Ryan worked there..."Can I order a side of pickles? Do you have any specials today?" Haha.

Sandy Springs
This one is so good that I felt compelled to write a Yelp review on it!

Chick-fil-a Headquarters
I was very fortunate one day to eat lunch with a friend who works at Chick-fil-a Corporate. So...they get to eat Chick-fil-a every day for free!!!! Oh my gosh. I was in heaven. If you ever have the chance to go, do it. Seeing Mr. Cathy's car collection is really cool...Batmobile! :)

I'm sure that there will be more favorite Chick-fil-as in the future :)

Hellas Restaurant

Hellas Restaurant
Tarpon Springs, FL - north of Tampa

kiwis: taste 5, ambience 4, service 4

This is the best Greek food I have ever had, period. Tarpon Springs is a Greek sponge-fishing village. Sounds funny right? I really did not know what to expect. You can go out on boat rides to see the sponges etc, but we didn't have time for that and besides, we were really there for the amazing food. We tried Hellas, which is right on the main drag and had the best aromas coming out of the kitchen. To start with, the spanakopita was amazing - huge phyllo triangles filled with fresh spinach and lots of cheese! Then Ryan & I split the combo platter that had gyro meat, moussaka, pastitsio, pitas, rice, vegetables, and dolmades. All of it was good, but very rich. I would definitely not be able to eat it all my own, as I could only eat a couple bites of the moussaka and pastitsio without feeling completely full. Ryan's favorite was the dolmades (stuffed grape leaves).

Then for dessert, the waitress recommended baklava cheesecake, saying that it would change our lives. She was right. It was a perfect cheesecake with honey and crumbles of baklava on top and inside the cheesecake. Oh wow. It makes me swoon just thinking about it. We got a picture of it right before it disappeared:


Unfortunately, the combination of being famished and the food being so amazing, we forgot to take a picture of anything else.

The atmosphere is cool, there are neon lights everywhere. You can sit on an open air patio. We saw lots of people getting the flaming cheese appetizer - will definitely have to try that next time! And of course, there were may "opa!" moments with guests downing ouzo. Really funny! And the service was also good.

Check out the bakery :)

epcot food & wine festival

Ok here is the rundown of our favorite food & wine from this year's Epcot International Food & Wine Festival.

First, a quick synopsis. I love Epcot. Growing up, my favorite park was (and is) the Magic Kingdom. I mean, c'mon! Cinderella's Castle?! I'm a huge fan. But a very close 2nd, like missed it by a hair, is Epcot. I love love love all the countries in the back of the park. The food, the costumes, the "educational" rides, the grandiose faux buildings, the shopping...did I mention the food? I just love trying food from all over the world. So imagine my delight when I grew up past the age of 21 and discovered through my amazing Aunt Debbie, a Disney connoisseur, that there was a FOOD & wine festival at Epcot!! Ever since I turned 21, we have made it a family tradition to go to the festival. And it's not just the permanent countries that have food - there are cute little booths everywhere with small plates & wine tastings. You can't go much more than 10 steps without running into another booth. And it's Disney, so everyone is super happy that you are there. No snobbery here! It's also really nice to have so much walking to do and other sights to see...all the walking makes you more hungry, so you can eat more food, and drink...and so on and so forth.

My advice on how to really enjoy the festival:
1. Don't eat the day before.
2. Wear really good walking shoes and elastic band pants.
3. Save up some money before you go, because each plate/wine taste ranges anywhere from $3-$6. And if you have 30 or so countries to hit, and you want multiple plates from each country, it very quickly adds up. (I spent about $100 on the festival food & drink this year, and then an additional amount of money on wine to bring home with me.)
4. Put your money on a festival gift card. Not only does it help you budget (limit yourself to spend only the amount you put on the card), it is very easy to use - it's the size of a matchbook and comes on an elastic spiral bracelet, so you have it handy at all times. No fidgeting through purses, wallets etc. Makes life so much easier!

Ok on to the food & wine, my top 8 favorites! (There is just too much to write about, so I am limiting myself to the best of the best.) There's no guarantee these dishes and/or countries will be represented next year, but if they are, these are your must-eats & drinks.

1. Salmon & arugula salad - Canada
Divine. This is the only plate I went back for seconds on. It wasn't exotic or crazy, but man, it was delicious. Cooked perfectly with a maple & honey glaze that wasn't overly sweet. Yummmmmm.


2. Mofongo, pina colada - Puerto Rico
I spent a summer living in Puerto Rico. I absolutely love the food there. Unfortunately, I have yet to find quality Puerto Rican food in Atlanta. Thankfully, Disney does Mofongo right. It's basically a heap of mashed plantains cooked with pork. When I was in Puerto Rico, people would add whatever else they liked to it - here at Disney they made a shrimp salsa to go on top. Soooo good. I also had the best pina colada in my life here. Puerto Rico was new this year, and I really really really hope they keep it for next yr!

Mofongo on the left

3. Crabcakes, Lobster Roll, Sam Adams festival tent - United States
Hey American food can be exciting too! And, I LOVE seafood. So I was delighted to have a lobster sandwich with huge chunks of claw meat and a very crabmeat heavy, light breading crabcake. And, you could spend a whole day just trying all the different kinds of Sam Adams - draft & bottles. I love America.




4. Potstickers - China
Unfortunately, we ate the potstickers so fast we forgot to take a picture. But they are extremely delicious, if not the best postickers I have ever had. China also has chicken sha cha skewers that are pretty good.

5. Bay scallops - New Zealand
I'm not really a bay scallop fan - I prefer the big sea scallops. But these chilled bay scallops were delicious & refreshingly light.

Plus, hello? Kiwi crossing. Gotta give a shout out to the land of the kiwis!

6. Airship wine - New York
Our favorite new wine this year - Airship White. I've never had anything like it - I guess you could compare it to a Riesling, in that it's sweeter than other whites, but it's an entirely different grape taste. And it has a very grapey taste, which I really liked.


7. Spaetzle with mushrooms
Buttery noodles with a creamy mushroom sauce. Mmm.


8. Frozen Irish coffee
I know, kind of gimmicky. Probably not even "authentic." But oh my, so very delicious. That and it became a joke to our family and caused us all to laugh for at least 15 straight minutes.

This was taken after mom tried it.

So that's my top 8. And if I had to name a "loser", it would be Austria. They had a bacon dumpling with goulash. I love bacon, and I love dumplings. How could that not be a heavenly combination? Well the dumpling was a small disk of super dry dough. I guess the stew was supposed to offset the dryness? I don't know. I really didn't like it, and I was sorely disappointed. It may be the one bacon dish that has let me down.


So it was a successful trip:

Don't worry, this will last me at least til next yr! :)

catching up on epcot food & wine

Back in October, we went to Orlando for our annual family outing to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. Below is an album with my favorite pictures...I'll have a longer post later about the food!

Epcot Food & Wine 2008

catching up on...manila mart

So a while ago, I let you all in on a visit to Manila Mart. Not too long after the visit, we made some of the food, which I also briefly talked about in that post. But I thought I'd share a picture of the food, just to show you how good it looked! And tasted :) Next to the rice, you can see the lumpia - pork & shrimp. Not as good as my dad's, but tasty. The big white bun is a siopao - pork bun. We steamed them and they were perfect.

Plus being around my dad this holiday weekend made me remember that I was supposed to post these a while ago. Expect many more "catching up" type posts...

thanksgiving reflections

Happy Thanksgiving!

The half marathon was good - the last half was really hard! 4 hills :( But downhill to the finish so that was nice :) My #1 fan Ryan and a coworker from Turner came to cheer me on. Of course, I'll have more details & pictures later...some time. So behind.

But today I just wanted to reflect on all the things I am thankful. As I ran today, I kept singing  an old summer camp song in my head...

I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart

I will enter His courts with praise

I will say this is the day that the Lord has made

I will rejoice for He has made me glad!

He has made me glad! He has made me glad!

I will rejoice for He has made me glad!

And of course that song brings me to Psalm 100, which I read this AM before the race. My favorite phrase is "Know that the Lord, He is God." If there is one thing I am most thankful for this year, it is the way that God has continually revealed Himself to me and helped me to know Him more deeply each day.

And I think of the things I love and write about each day, running, this country, food, my relationship with God. 

I am so thankful that I can even run - I have 2 legs that work and amazingly can run for multiple miles at a time. I've ran this past year pretty much injury free. I've had an amazing supporter in Ryan, without whom I would not be at this point. And I've had some amazing friends & family, who came to what races they could and supported me emotionally through each one. I've been able to run some pretty cool courses and met some great people. Running has stretched me mentally and challenged me physically, and it has been quite a blessing, even on the days I've dreaded it.

I am so thankful for this country. Our freedoms that I take for granted each day. I was reminded today of the sacrifices our fellow countrymen make when a group of Marines ran past me in perfect lines, singing "left right left right" and carrying the American flag, tall & proud. I think of my aunt who served so many years in the Air Force and continues to work to keep our country safe. I love these men & women, the sacrifices they have made for me. I love this country and the values that we stand for. God bless America!

I am so thankful that not a day has gone by that I didn't have food to eat! And that I've gotten to try a lot of new foods and learned how to cook (and save money). I take this for granted every day, I don't even think about how blessed I am when there are so many people around the world who are starving or lack sufficient food.

And as I said before, I am so glad that I've grown a little more this year in my relationship with God. He's really taught me daily discipline in spending time with Him. I've also learned a lot more trust in Him in the area of money and finances, especially in these uncertain times. It's been so liberating! And I've been able to get more involved with my church and grown in a Bible study there and in service opportunities in the community & world. For these things I give the most thanks, and give Him all the glory!

So happy Thanksgiving y'all! Hope you ate a lot of turkey today :)

getting in touch with my filipino side

I'm so behind on posts! Too much going on!

So a couple weekends ago, my dad visited and we had some great time eating bbq (Jim & Nick's), watching the Wings Over Marietta airshow at Dobbins (soooo cool), and then checking out Manila Mart and Ranch 99. It was a great time getting in touch with my Filipino side, not to mention it was quite an adventure!

By adventure, I mean treasure hunt. It was extremely hard to find Manila Mart. We later found out that the store is in a transitional time right now and will be opening at its new retail location on Nov. 2. But until then, they are tucked away in a warehouse in a confusing office park. We drove around for 30 minutes trying to find it...my dad called a couple times trying to get directions.

We finally found this sign tape on the back of a van in a parking lot:


Whew! Finally there...we walked up into the warehouse and strolled 1 back to back aisle of dry goods and several freezers with meat products and...ice cream!!! Yummmm.


The frozen items I got were ube (purple yam) ice cream, pork & shrimp lumpia (eggrolls), siopao (pork buns - my filipino grandmother peels them like onions and eats them), and pandesol (dinner rolls). I tried the ube the same day we bought it, and it was very interesting. Not quite what I remember and a little on the salty side. It was still good, and I may have to buy some beans, fresh coconut and shaved ice to make some halo halo with it. A couple nights ago, we steamed the siopao and fried the lumpia. The siopao was very good. I can't believe it was frozen! The bread was so soft and the pork was really juicy and tender. Yum! The lumpia was good, but it just doesn't compare to my dad's. I may try a different meat in the future. I have not yet tried the pandesol. Honestly I forgot I had them because I was so enthralled with the other stuff. I can't wait til they move into their new store, because then they will carry Goldilocks bakery goods. I have only been to Goldilocks a couple times out in LA but oh man, is it tasty!!!

After Manila Mart, we went to Ranch 99. This is a huge Asian supermarket on Buford Highway. My dad LOVES their tamarinds. For $2.99 you get a huge box of them, and he eats them like candy. I'm not a huge fan of them, but he thinks they are a great deal and great quality. He also got some great looking baby bok choy and some other produce I can't remember. But the best part was that everything he bought total was way under $10. You can find some amazing deals here. Just be wary of the meat & seafood dept. I'm sure the food is fresh & good, but I totally freaked out when I saw soft shell turtles for sale to eat. They were still alive, just swimming around in a plastic tub of yucky looking water. Ughhhhhhh :( I will never walk by that case again.

review: Seven Sushi

Seven Sushi
date of visit: 10/10/08

kiwis:
taste: 3
service: 2
ambience: 3

So Seven Sushi replaced Fune Sushi in the Spire. They have a lunch buffet for $11.95, and it's much better than Fune's buffet. More selection, better tasting. But their regular menu is not as good as Fune's. So I will probably only go here for lunch, but that's ok since it was only ok.

I understand that they are "new" and this particular day, they were down a server who called in sick. But man, the service was horrible. We waited soooooooo long to get something to drink. That was very frustrating since we were gobbling up food off the conveyor belt with nothing to wash it down with.

Oh yeah...the conveyor belt. So so so cool. I love watching the food come & go around. We were luckily seated right in front of the sushi chef so as soon as he put something on the belt, we snatched it right up. Haha!

There was no nigiri or sashimi on the belt, only rolls, but they were good rolls. Rainbow, california, tuna, salmon, shrimp tempura (my fave!), super crunch. There was also a large selection of non-sushi items: potstickers (deeeelicious), teriyaki chicken (grilled & fried), fried rice, noodles, crab salad, salad with ginger dressing, desserts. I DO NOT recommend the cream puffs. I popped one into my mouth and it was FROZEN. Big no no!


But yeah, it's your average sushi place that gets bonus points for a cool conveyor belt and negative points for service. I definitely prefer it to RuSan's sushi buffet.

sweet 100 update

My little sweet 100 tomato plant continues to grow & produce tomatoes! They're so tasty & juicy too :) Yummm. I picked off 10-20 tomatoes the other day:

weekend restaurant round-up

Maru Sushi
date of visit: 10/3/08
kiwis: taste 4, service 4, ambience 4

Thanks to a friend's review of Maru Sushi, I was totally craving sushi all last week. Then voila, Ryan got a full time job, so we had reason to celebrate and go to a nice dinner. Thank goodness he was feeling sushi too!

I would never have stopped here on my own. It's on the end of a little strip of stores in South Cobb. But the service is awesome, everyone is so nice, and the sushi chef is incredible. The fish is so fresh, and the attention to detail is impeccable. The prices are so reasonable too. I really liked the neighborhood feel to the place. It seemed like everyone that came in knew the owners, or knew someone else in the restaurant. I would love to become a regular here.

Taco Mac
Perimeter location
date of visit: 10/4/08
kiwis: taste 3, service 4, ambience 4

I love Taco Mac...some are better than others though. This location is great! This is my 2nd visit to this Taco Mac, and I went with a couple friends for lunch/GT football. We started with the queso, which I have talked about previously, and we quickly wiped it out and ordered a refill. Our server was really good for a busy game day. It was almost like she could read my mind...I would think "we need more chips" then 2 seconds later she would appear and say "do you need a chip refill?" It was awesome!

The only thing I was disappointed to find out was that there is essentially no difference between Mild, Medium, and Hot wings. They all have the same sauce, they just put a different amount of sauce on the wings. I felt kind of cheated. Shouldn't they always put the same amount of sauce on the wings, and the sauce varies in intensity or amount of peppers in it? That's how I would do it...not putting less sauce on the wings. But the server was nice and brought me some extra sauce when I found my wings only half covered.

Other than that, it was a great visit.

OK Cafe
date of visit: 10/4/08
kiwis: taste 4, service 4, ambience 4

There's just something strange about OK Cafe...like why is only OK? And not good? Or great? I could never figure this out...

The food is always pretty good. It depends on what you get. This particular visit, everything was delicious. Especially the pot roast and mashed potatoes, which my mom ordered. I loved my strawberry milkshake (I can attest that it is made purely from milk and ice cream), and we also got strawberry shortcake for dessert.


But to let you in on what is always good:
milkshakes
pancakes - huge & melt in your mouth, no need for syrup!
hamburgers - they were reeeeeally good when Van was still the burger cook
grouper sandwich
french fries - they have a really addictive seasoning on them
veggies - I'm a big fan of the veggie plate, especially with fried green tomatoes (the veggie of the day on Mon & Thurs) and a baked sweet potato with all the fixins - brown sugar, walnuts, butter
corn muffins
carrot cake - I don't even like carrot cake. This is soooo good though.

Here are the foods I usually avoid:
chicken pot pie - really hard, tasteless puff pastry on top
meatloaf - dry
rotisserie chicken - also dry
squash casserole - sometimes has a weird taste to it

But it's a good place to go for average comfort food & really nice service. Saida is the coolest host! If she's your cashier, you'll feel like you've known her for years. And if you're in a hurry, Ok Take-away is a great option. Beware the pay-per-pound - you may not think you're getting that much food, but the pounds really add up!

Also it's a bummer that they don't serve breakfast all day :( But they do have brunch on the weekends :)

review: carver's

Carver's
date of visit: 10/2 & 10/3/08

kiwis:
taste: 5
service: 5
ambience: 5

Oh. my. goodness. This place is heaven. Everything I love about Southern food. I don't know why it took me 6 years to finally go to this place. And now that I've gone, I want to go all the time. I can see this turning into a bad addiction.


Sorry I don't have pictures of the food. I couldn't restrain myself from eating once I sat down. And then once I started eating, I couldn't stop eating and take a picture.

But here are some pics of the outside, and then right inside the door. On my Thurs visit, we went around 1:30 and there was no line, but less veggie choices. But today around noon, we had to wait in line. Many more choices for veggies, and I got the last fried chicken breast! :) The thing wtih Carver's is that once they run out of food, it's gone. And even though they say they're open til 3, if they run out of food, they close. So it's always good to go early!


So I've tried the veggie plate and then fried chicken. Perfect. The veggies I've tried & loved every bite: green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, cream corn, broccoli souffle, sweet potato casserole, potato/ham/cheese casserole, mac n cheese, sliced tomatoes, fried okra. There are probably 10-15 more vegetables that I have yet to try. The possibilities are endless! You also get a bread: cornbread, mexican cornbread, biscuit, hush puppy, or cheesebread. I've tried the biscuit and the cheesebread - again both are perfect. Oh and don't even get me started on the sweet tea. Nectar of the gods. With awesome crushed ice you won't find anywhere else.

The ambience is just right for this kind of joint. The owners are Robert & Sharon Carver, and they are so nice! You can tell how much they love their restaurant and the food they make. You sit at big tables with people you don't know, but that's kinda fun! And the pictures & funny plaques & art on the walls are great. This is such a unique place and a treasure of Atlanta. I could happily eat here every week. Maybe Mrs. Carver can give me cooking lessons.

review: south city kitchen

South City Kitchen
@ Vinings
date of visit: 9/22/08

kiwis:
taste: 4
service: 3
ambience: 4

So last week, Ryan took me up on the 25% off South City Kitchen night. I'm soooo glad we went! This restaurant is now on my "Could eat every week" list.

The service was pretty good, but slacked off a little at the end. The ambience is really cool, very classy with a modern edge to it. For appetizers, we got gouda fritters and scallops. Oh. My. Gosh. The gouda fritters are soooo amazing. If you are a melted cheese lover like me, these little balls of goodness will make your life. The scallops were also pretty good, great sear on them. I wasn't really sure about the cucumbers that came with them though. Kind of an odd combo.

We also had a basket of biscuits and cornbread muffins. I don't know why the brought butter, because it was not needed! The little biscuits were so flaky on the outside, and doughy on the inside. They melted in my mouth. Ohhhh. And then corn muffins were also good.

Then our entrees: a vegetable plate (mashed potatoes, green beans, asparagus, butter bean succotash, mac n cheese) for me, and a pimento cheese burger for Ryan. Ryan said "this is the best burger I've ever had." Strong words!!! He said the Old Bay fries were just ok. I was impressed with my veggie plate, it was a lot of food! I especially enjoyed the bean succotash. My only complaint was the amount of green on the plate. Lots of green. But it was delicious green.

Then dessert. Ah, banana pudding. I LOVE banana pudding, and South City Kitchen did not disappoint. The pudding was light and the flavors right on. Yummmm. We also tried a chocolate bread pudding that was verrrry rich. I couldn't eat more than a couple bites. I preferred the banana pudding over the chocolate.

I can't wait to go back! Anyone want to go? :)