Israeli couscous

Everwonder what you can make with israeli couscous? The oversized grain is a larger sized wheat granule that adds an interesting dimension of texture.

Starting With farmers picked tomatoes and onions,




The sizzling pops of bursting tomatoes, crackling herbs and sweet aromas of olive oil all waiting to be absorbed into large plump israeli couscous.

Goes well with herb basted chicken and a balsamic glazed strawberry mache:



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Paki indi bbq delight

There are some diamonds in the rough hidden in clairemont for good Indian/pakistani food.

Was treated to some grilled kabeb's, and tandori chicken:



Very flavorful, bursting With juices. The entire spread was impressive.




The charbroiled peppers and tomatoes were charred to perfection:



Will have to track this place down. If their restaurant experience is as tasty as their catering, a food trip might just be needed!


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Wellington- steak and martini's

The newest addition to the café blue and red door restuarant Group is Wellington. Set for the martini drinking meat eaters, the addition has enough character to tame the carnivore.

A small and intimate interior has roughly 12 or so tables. Modern contemporary dark decor is accented With bold color paintings. A small bar línes with mirrors accentuates the dark interior.

As you can imagine, just about every modification of martini's exist. From vodkas to gins, your favorites aré definately available.

The food selection is focused around meat: tartare, filets, ribeyes and of course the Wellington preparation: a puffed pastry Covered steak preparation.

The service was fantastic from the start. Well informed happy people Greated you With the menu's selection.

The fresh Green mesculine salad With blue cheese and candied walnuts was great:




The Roasted tomatoe salad With cracked pepper and hot oven bread was delicous:


The 8 oz filet mignon was requested medium rare to savor the flesh's flavors. Acconpanied With grilled asparagus and hot baked yukon potatoes.. All topped With a chimichurri Sauce was fabulous:



The strawberry rhubarb tart was an amazing explosion of baked goodness. Definately a place to return to.

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Scallops and noodles

Scallops are an interesting food choice. High in protein, seared scallops are often best served on beds of rice and noodles.

On this occassion, the fridge was bare, running low on crucial staples, a little creativity was required.

Japanese sea scallops were sauteed in a buttered herd du Provence sauce to an aromatic simmer.

Served with noodles prepared In a thai peanut sauce with dill and broccoli, the French Thai flavors synergized quite well:







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Simply Chicken and rice

So how many ways can chicken and rice be prepared? Curried, roasted, herbed, buttered, fried, smoked, stuffed, baked and basted with everything from aubergine to zucchini, the poultry can go far. A challenge would be to come up with a distinct chicken and rice dish for every day of the year..

The Spanish castenadas were clapping away for some saffron peppered paella style rice.

A dry roasted and white balsamic vinegar sauteed chicken meat asorbed the zesty orange, lemon and sesame seeds. Greenified with a little garlic flavored broccoli with oregano and thyme, the chicken and rice dish lives on:







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Mahi mahi spring festival

The vernal equinox is upon us and fresh catches are bountiful. A little zesty Italian party jumped into the saucepan. Onions, tomatoes and garlic danced with oregano, thyme, and sage in a grassy green olive oil, popping with cracked pepper and sea salt:




Sizzling with vigor, the aromas waken up the hungry beast. Enter the mahi, slowly basting in the Italian love affair to a simmering perfection:



This little Italian inspired love fest paired well with the flavors of the east: basmati rice sauteed in cardamon, cumin, onions, turmeric and dill:





Bridging together worlds apart, the savory and tantalizing bites brought out the rich and powerful berry and spice in a 4 vineyards carneros Pinot:




Here's to a welcome to food globalization! Inter-flavor marriages..lol

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Mama's bakery Lebanese good- el Cajon blvd

So running around from appt to appt, a little colorful building saying "mama's kitchen" caught my attention. Not knowing what to expect, stopped by to check it out.

To my surprise, it was a Lebanese food stop with a Lebanese bakery!




This little place had my favorites, lebneh, shwarmas and a variety of other middle eastern treats. Happy to see the thyme thick olive oil paste was an offering. Had this every morning in Lebanon with some flatbread.

A chicken shwarma came wrapped in traditional flatbread, roasted chickn covered in tahini and veggies:



Pleasantly surprised. Will have to come back to try the full menu... And the desserts looked fabulous:



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Breakfast pizza

It's a little surprising why breakfast pizza's haven't taken off. Afterall, cooked eggs, sauteed veggies in a roasted tomatillo salsa with melted mozarella and spice to wake you up is always a good thing... Hello...!

Oh and this time it, it was good. Toasted olive pile soaked flatbread topped with fresh eggs, sauteed and slightly burnt onions, exploded baby heirloom tomatoes and fresh dill all to be blanketed by an interlaced mesh of hot smokin mozarella... Yum:



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Steak pit: snowbird Utah

The steak pit, centered at the center offers a variety of meaty dishes.

Sautted mushrooms were brought out first, baking in a light herb butter sauce:




Accompanie with a fresh pumpernickel loaf:



The house salad, came prepared with sides of home made blue cheese or freshly prepared ceasar:





A hearty 8 oz wagyu filet, yes folks wagyu beef baby! Came nicely done medium rare with grilled asparagus:




A close up of the mouth watering beef with a dab of the house made blue cheese was fantastic:



All fully completed with a big, bold and beautiful Australian Shiraz wishing tree bottle:




The meal was satisfying. All you need know is a hot toddy by a fireplace to seal the experience.

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El chanate- snowbird resort Utah

It's ironic to find a Mexican restuarant within a snow covered resort in Utah but there below the piles of snow, el chanate cantina is serving up over 30 types of margueritas.

The almondrita, an almond enhanced reposada tequila was quite invigorating.. Sweet citrusy almond flavoring :




Appetizers offer a variety of crisps: an Americanized crispy Mex pizza style presented on a fried tortilla, this one with spicy jalepenos and sprinkled with black beans. Oddly enough it reminded me of the Mexican pizza taco bell offers (do they still sell that? What was Mexican about it again?.. Hmmm):



The carnitas chile verde came out in a bowl, chunks of pork cooked in an oniony tomatilla salsa, went well with crispified tortilla chips. You can tell the tomatillo salsa was the bottled hernandez kind and not the shredded pork style but despite that, dipping delicious:



The tortilla soup was a little different, but good nonetheless. Chincks if chicken were simmered in a hearty tortilla crisp covered soup, with a spoonful of avocado thrown in:


The mud pie dessert was a coffee flavored ice cream and caramel drizzled pie on top of a chocolate Graham crust... Definately not Mexican but for the sweet tooth, went down well



It was deifnately Mexican influenced foods, tequila offerigs were good and filling plates.
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Forklift @ snowbird resort Utah

Power breakfasts are a must before skiing. The forklift restuarant is well situated before the ski lift.... No irony in it's name!

The breakfast selection is fantastic. The Italian egg Benedict were nicely poached eggs served on top of cooked prosciutto and basil all resting on top of toasted egg mc muffin.




The hollandaise sauce was requested on the side because you never know with these heavy cream sauces. The dill flavored hash browns are a house speciatly. They were fantastic. Cholula spicy sauce has made it out to Utah, and she married well with the dill hash browns.

They offered an interesting oatmeal cream brûlée combo. Oatmeal was cooked with bananas, walnuts and carmelized brown sugar. A bit of warmth, sweet and health in every bite:





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Porcupine - park city Utah

An après ski adventure always calls for good food, comfort goods and all thing that make you feel warm inside.

Porcupine's was just the happening spot. Busily occupied, mountain top nachos, gorgonzola covered baked chicken wings and other yummy sightings whizzing by.

The kithchen open and flaming:





The pints in front where up for grabbing!

The ahi tuna spring rolls where lump tuna wrapped in fresh veggies and flash fried outering, covered with soy sauce and light wasabi sauce were quite good:




The artichoke cheese dip was deadly delicious , hearty calories topped on garlic toasted bread:




The entrees where you're cosmopolitan circle done American. Tried the tequila lime chicken served on jasmine rice with jalepeno slices, red onions, red peppers and just for kicks, asked for a side of chile verde:




Interesting combo of spice and bitterness with crunch due to the celery. Definately satisfactory for comfort.


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Turkey wraps...Trader Joes specials

Chipotle move aside, TJs has all the ingredients for a great spicy turkey wrap.

Starting with the roasted pepper turkey, cooked with a little olive oil, onions, mushrooms, fresh dill, sautee to a nice crispy brown. Crackled pepper and mozarella to finish, wrap up in a lavash bread wrap.. And actually cook it in a pan to give it a slightly burnt outering, while harmoning the flavors inside. This one ws sprinkled with a little paprika, ground pepper and sea salt.



Served with some spicy roasted tomatoe salsa and some sauteed broccolli, another great possibilty to make from TJs.

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Route 66 LAX

Airport diners can either be an occasional food stop on a connecting flight, an active sports bar crowd or a dismal excuse for a food place.

With your basic burger and beers hard to go wrong. LAX airport doesn't have much food offerings, even Gordon Biersch doesn't offer bar menu!

The pulled pork sandwhich was prepared with a light BBQ sauce and served in a kaiser role with hidden onion rings and a French fries:


The salad was not very impressive



When forced to stop, route 66 can take you there if you're absolutely famished and about to faint!

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Pomegranite dynamite

Have you ever stopped to wonder what you can do with pomegranite seeds? These little anti-oxidant powerhouses are sweet and tangy and pack a powerful little punch to a variety of things, from salads to couscous to a variety of dishes.

This time decided to try something different and make a cheese topped flatbread sprinkled with juicy pomegranite seeds and fresh dill:



A surpirsingly nice combination of flavors. For a little variety, a scrambled egg cooked with roasted tomatoes, onions an pomegranite seeds complemented the first flatbread. A little seed goes a long way.

For dessert, carmelized pomegranite seeds in a little balsamic vinegar reduction goes fabulously over soy bean vanilla flavored iced cream.

Here's the little guys bubbling away:



Here they are melting into the ice cream to seal the flavor:



Anti-oxidant heaven...

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Chicken soup - what's in your bowl?

For those who have made chicken soup, subtle methods of cooking bring out the flavors and the heartiness of a good chicken soup. It's not a flavor that's well captured in canned soups, whether it's progresso, campbell's or wolfgang pucks...

Today I was surprise by some homemade chicken soup for my consumption from fellow foodie DG. The chicken was well cooked, rich with juicy chicken broth, egg noodles, celery and carots. A disclaimer was made upfront: I don't have fresh spring peas, but my soup is good, so you have to try it! And good it was:



What's in your bowl?

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Sandwich emporium

Another great lunch from sandwhich emporium. The southwest chicken chipotle on toasted sourdough with oozing spicy chipotle sauce, avocado and roasted chicken makes for a mouth watering treat:



It's a bit of a mess, so eat discretely... Lol

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The Hole - pt loma

With all the watering holes around SD, everyone had been raving about the Hole since I got here. A typical Sunday drinking spot, with cheap drinks and an outdoor atmosphere, finally got to experience the Hole.

Ironically enough, this popular hangout for the gay community is a ways down from a catholic church. Lol... The scene is basicallly flip flop Sunday beach meets recovering party goers. Casual, very. Lively crowd, with pitcher drinks pouring your favorites for 12 bucks. The Lynchburg lemonade or south Carolina tea in the face of the sun smells like the beginning of a good time.

The place does not have much food, but they do offer grilled burgers and dogs. The burgers, with charbroiled onions are quite good:



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Fundraising events and their food

For those who have been to fundraising events, you have virtually no choice in the food selection.. And for the most part, you know you will likely get some chicken or overcooked meat, and only for the more upscale events fish.

This time, the Victory brunch event put on a great event at the Catamaran hotel.

The salad was your spinach raspberry California basic. The entree was not your typical brunch, but pesto seared prawns and a petite filet, with vert greens and mashed potatoes




With bottomless mimosas, great event, moving speeches and a lot of active community members.

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Bangkok Hillcrest

With the various places for Thai food, Bangkok was a questionable entry. Always walking by the place, the interior seemed clean and white... Literally. It actually reminded me Of the Cafeteria in new York because of the white sterile interior.

With the lunch special, tried the Thai basil chicken.:



The chicken was tasty but came out all minced up. The brown rice was a bit dry, however the spicy peppers and basil masked it. A sweet vinagry side sauce was different.

A Tom sum salad, shredded papaya with shrimp was ok. Much better presentation than several other Thai reatuarants in the area:



The pa nang- cocunut milk curry was spicy an flavorful




Not sure why we were given some miso soup but out it came:




Overall, the food was tasty.

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Mona Lisa PIzza

I got to experience a place I don't think I would have ever actively chosen the other night. I'm well aware if the Mona Lisa in little Italy, actually their sub sandwhiches are pretty good and the little market does have unique offerings.

Mona Lisa's sister restuarant is in LA Gardens. I didn't know one existed being from LA... Lol.

The restuarant itself, as I'm told, hasn't changed since the 60's. It's definately a family orientated place.

Putting my personal pizza bias aside, we custom ordere two pizzas: a standar pepperoni and cheese and one with chicken, bell peppers and mishrooms.

Our hostess was particulalry well spirited and uberly positive character, which gets the place points. Eating with happy people is so much more a better experience regardless of the food.

The pizzas were overloaded with cheese, and had minimal tomatoe sauce, bu the dough was freshly prepared. A little on the thicker American side but overall ok.



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