Last Wednesday I woke up too groggy to go to class, so I had myself a mental health day (you know those are needed).

I gave my sister a call to see if she was busy so I could pop in to see her and her new baby Dolce.. <3 him!

We decided that we were going to make sushi together  (from scratch obviously) so I brought over my zojirushi rice cooker, some bamboo mats, chopsticks. And we went to Mitsuwa to get the rice, rice wine vinegar, noori, tuna, salmon, cucumber, avocado, and the other things we were going to put in the sushi.

I love making sushi, it’s so simple its just the chopping and cooking of the rice that sucks. Takes about 45 minutes of cooking the rice (it has to be rinsed like 10 times before you can actually cook it), and all the veggies and fish need to be sliced nicely to be put in the roll.

We bought caviar and I tired to roll it on the outside for one roll- major fail, I couldn’t get the rice off of the saran wrap. Otherwise we put the nori on first wet it a little, layer on the rice, fill it, roll it, then cut it (luckily I have a sashimi knife so it made cutting the fish and the rolls much easier).

All of the rolls were different, my sister even put sriracha into one of her rolls; YUM.

~food and love~

SORRY FOR THE DELAY!

Anywho, have you been on any fun food travels?

My friend Jackie turned 22 at midnight, so for her birthday I took her out to TGIFriday’s at Willowbrook last night. 

Flash back to last Friday.

“Jackie, I made us reservations!” “Where?” “TGI Friday’s”

^Me in a drunk stupor.

So last night I took her climbing, she did great on her first night. Then we and my two friends got to TGI Friday’s.

She ordered a Strawberry Daquri (the typical) and I got a cup full of yum

Berry Acai Sour

“Deliciously sweet and tangy, this refreshing cocktail is a blend of ABSOLUT Berry acai vodka shaken with fresh  housemade agavi sour and topped with soda and blackberries” 

YUM YUM YUM YUM 

It was actually perfect (except I’m not sure those blackberries were real because they were stuck in my teeth for two hours) the agave made it really sweet; but the lemons and blackberries made it tart. Not sure they remembered to put the vodka in it; but either way it was great =].

Eman got Jack Shrimp, HOLY CRAP YUM. there were spicy and delicious and gooey and juicy, and I wanted to keep eating them. The sauce ended up in my hair and I didn’t even care. 

For my entree I decided to be a piggy and ordered an 8 ounce flat iron steak (med rare) with mashed potatos and broccoli.

“This juicy 8-ounce cut of Black Angus steak is fire-grilled to perfection, topped with maison butter and served with your choice of two sides.  ”

The best part of the dinner was when the runner asked us to cut into the meat to make sure it was cooked right “as long as it’s nice and bloody its perfect”- YES IT WAS =] 

The Jack sauce is amazing and makes everything taste good, and the steak was so tender and delicious.

TGI Friday’s. you HAVE redeemed yourselves! 

~Love and Food~

A ‘quick’ lunch with Jackie turned into a visit to our favorite restaurant yesterday. Mediterranea (Montclair) is part Syrian, Lebanese, Italian, Turkish, Greek, Moroccan and Spanish. It is a family run business; part restaurant, part ‘popping’ hookah bar.

For lunch we ordered hummus (Chick peas with tahini, fresh garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil) and fried kibbeh (Wheat patties with ground beed, onions and seasoning). 

We also shared a ‘mixed fruit’ hookah (which was obviously the real reason for our visit)

Love this place; the more I eat it, the more I’m falling in love with Mediterranean food. I can eat it all day, every day.

Love love

~Love and Food~

Campania is a restaurant located in my home town- Fair Lawn. It became famous in 2006- although I’ve been going there with my family since 2000 (under different ownership- a different restaurant completely). Campania was purchased in 2005 (or 2006) by Joe Cernaglia, and was featured on Gordon Ramsey’s KITCHEN NIGHTMARE’s about 18 months later. On the shoe it became apparent that Joe was largely in debt and the restaurant was on a thin line of failure.

I’ve visited the restaurant maybe 5 times since the airing of the episode in 2007- the quality really depended on the day.

On Friday Sept. 25th, 2010 the body of Joseph Cerniglia was pulled from the Hudson River; he had apparently jumped off of the GWB and commited suicide.

My family and I visited the restaurant 2 weeks after his death (his ex-wifes family took over the restaurant; they were packed and turning away customers left and right, they created a new valet service and many other changed) much of the staff were familiar faces that we’ve seen for years it was a somber feeling; as well as exciting (a party was celebrating an engagement).

My parents and I all ordered the same dish; braised short ribs with egg fettucini and a bed of spinach.

First we were served warm crusty delicious bread with olive oil. Next brucetta with tomatoes, finally our main dish..

Yum. With a 1999 bottle of White Hall Lane winery- Cabernet Sauvignon. 

This was a great dish. All three of us cleared our plates 

We will be back to support the family, and remaining staff.

RIP.

~Wine and Dine~

The first Red Lobster was opened in 1968- Lakeland Fl. by Bill Darden. They focused on snow crab, calimari, and even invented popcorn shrimp. There are 680 locations as of present. Red Lobster is famous for their endless shrimp promotion; so I paid a visit last Tuesday.

I started with a plate of shrimp Linguini Alfredo and garlic shrimp scampi. 

All in all; I have NO CLUE what-so-ever how anyone can eat this. ever.

-Needless to say, this was all that I was able to finish on my plate (until the waitress forced me to finish the scampi before she brought out another round for me). The scampi was stuck together in a massive clump and was drenched in oil. It was very bland and heavy. The alfredo tasted alright, but the sauce was so thick that only about 4 forks full did me in.

HOWEVER. I do have a endless pit for a stomach; my next course was grilled shrimp… 

It was actually delicious; with cocktail sauce to cover it. The 10 peices of shrimp were served over a bed of rice, and was yummy.

So I ordered another serving. 

KEEP IN MIND AT THIS POINT I AM ABOUT 35+ SHRIMP IN…

And a third serving of the grilled shrimp… 

45+ shrimp later. I was satisfied.

Never again. Never ever ever again.

~Wine and Dine~

My sister turned 25 yesterday, with that obviously comes delicious food.

We went to one of the families usual restaurants Lisa’s Turkish Kitchen (http://www.lisasturkishkitchenonline.com/)

We first had a platter of traditional appetizers baba ghannouj (egg plant mashed with spices), labneh (my favorite: strained yogurt), choban salatasi (chopped salad of yum; tomatoes, feta, oregano, vinegar, cucumbers), palaki (potato, white beans and carrots), and some grape leaves. We had Tabbouleh also (bulgar wheat, vegetables and spices)

yum yum! A girl like me doesn’t know how to control her eating… so needless to say; I filled up on my appetizers.

The next course consisted of fried calamari and fried liver (odd choices for a Turkish restaurant; but oh well!) 

We were served family style so we had massive platters of lula kebab(ground spiced lamb), shish kebab (lamb), and shish tawook (chicken), they were served with a tahini + dill sauce, rice (with chick peas) pita, and salad… .

There is no other way to wash down delicious Turkish food than with an Australian Petit Shiraz (-_-). Bogle. win. 

Overall. Great dining experience. I left happy, with left overs (which spent the night in my moms car trunk; which didn’t stop me from eating them), and a smile on my face!

What is macaroni and cheese?

Andy walked into gym today with slice of pizza. As my stomach was eating a hole through itself; I studied the slice and said “Oh my god, its a ‘macaroni and cheese slice!” Nikki looked at the slice and said “no, its tortellini”

We then got into the discussion with Andy and Doug, of what macaroni is?

I’ve always thought that anything could be macaroni- pretty much a blanket term, like pasta. But, apparently spaghetti and ravioli are PASTA, not macaroni; what makes the difference? At some point I got flustered and said “you don’t call them shells and cheese, or elbows and cheese so why would I call it tortellini and cheese?” Although the point was made, no agreement was reached.

…Wikipedia to the rescue! “Macaroni is a kind of moderately extended, machine-made dry noodle. Much shorter than spaghetti (but not necessarily), and hollow, macaroni does not contain eggs. Though home machines exist that can make macaroni noodles, macaroni is usually made commercially by large scale extrusion.” 

First of all I had no idea that macaroni did not contain any eggs, and it could be anything with a hole in it. TORTELLINI HAS A HOLE IN IT, kind of. Anyway, I honestly just wanted to eat the slice. 

I’m really craving something salty and delicious, these  pita chips; just aren’t cutting it!

Pat’s was the original “Philly cheese steak” makers, until their rivalry Geno’s opened. Since then, both have had huge lines and their faithful supporters. “A Philly cheese steak is a Philly cheese steak?” I don’t know about that! I took a trip into Philadelphia today, and braved the floods just to dispel the truth between the sandwiches.

The restaurants are literally across the street from eachother, but with just a glance the difference between the two is major. I started at Pat’s the more understated of the two. They had a few picnic style benches and a wall length sign of “add-ons” that are available. They also had a sign of their etiquette… 

We ordered a “American Cheese wit, and mushrooms”

$9 later we received 

there was a lot of tender super thinly- sliced steak. The cheese wasn’t very prominent but the bread was soft, and soaked up a good amount of the ‘steak juice’. It was good, but underwhelming. After a few cherry peppers we crossed the street and went to Geno’s.

Geno’s reminded me of a carnival. 

It was most definitly a sight for sore eyes after a small sign in front of Pat’s

Geno’s was plastered in photos of police officers and their badges. They have a history of controversy for displaying a sign saying “This is America, when ordering speak English”. All history and controversy aside, we had a rivalry to judge; we ordered a steak whiz. 

compared to the sandwich from Pat’s the meat was very underwhelming. It was a thicker slice, but a lot whimpier on the portion size. The bread was tougher and much harder to chew, but I really did enjoy the flavor of the steak ‘wit whiz’ more than the ‘american wit’. 

This was a fun food battle; and I am happy that I nominated myself to take on the responsibility of being the judge. 

And the winner is…..