Possibly Not Even Worth Writing About . . .

But I will anyway.









  
I did not eat this today.  It looks good though doesn't it?  It's Chicken Paprikash from foodtv.com  I may have to try it for dinner one night.  If for no other reason than to see if you really can prepare it in 20 minutes as advertised.  I love "easy" meals that you are supposed to be able to cook real quickly on a weeknight but somehow they turn into a major production between boiling water and chopping things and what not.  If you really want to eat something in 20 minutes then just give me like 2 or 3 things that are in a jar I can dump out together and heat up.  End of story. 

My lunch was the last of the beef tenderloin from Saturday night, and a big helping of Melba toast with Boursin cheese.  Neither of those things make a great photo which is why I have a pic of something else.  I slightly warmed the meat but not enough to fundamentally change the doneness from medium rare.  Found some salt in the kitchen and there you go.  Lunch.  I ate the toast and Boursin while on a conference call that someone had the nerve to schedule during lunch.  It is not cool to be on a lunch call where the majority of the people are in one location getting a catered lunch while you and 2 other saps sit at your desk not eating or eating cheese and Melba toast.  No offense to the cheese and Melba toast.  I have a crazy wicked weakness for Melba toast anyway. 

I had dessert today too.  The office had chocolate cream pie in honor of Chungry turning 50.  You would never think he is that old to look at him.  That, plus he has the appetite of a much younger man.  Oh and now it seems we have cupcakes for the occasion too!  Strictly for research and blogging purposes I will go get a cupcake. . . .

Hmm they all seem to be chocolate or look like they are all chocolate.  No one seems to know what they are.

This seems to be chocolate with some vaguely mocha tasting frosting.  It's ok.  Moist, but I still think I prefer the baby bundt cakes.  Now I need a glass of milk.  That was overkill.

so, where was I? oh yeah.  Don't need to rate my meal b/c it was more of the same leftovers.  That is about as boring as having dumplings over and over again. You know who you are.  As far as the desserts go I can't even say that it's fair to rate a chocolate cream pie.  I mean can you ever have a bad one of those?  How do you screw up whipped cream and pudding?  In the alternative, is it possible to make a really outstanding choc cream pie?  I like them but can't say that I have ever had one that was WOW.  As a general pie category I will give the chocolate cream pies of the world a 3.  The cupcakes I may refrain from rating all together.  They are so subjective.  These for me were just meh.  Best thing about them was that the frosting was not cream cheese or buttercream.  I'm guessing a ganache.  Maybe it's time we all stop with the $3 cupcakes and go back to making them with a box of cake mix and frosting in a can?  Please?

Le weekend . . .

So much going on over the weekend.  The parents in-law swooped in for a few days and it seems like the biggest thing we do with them is eat or talk about eating.  I already talked about the rotisserie chicken in my last post.  What else?  Oh yeah, on Saturday night we got a baby sitter for #2 and #3 child and went with Father In Law and Wife with #1 son to Perry's Steakhouse in The Woodlands.  Pretty crazy swank for a restaurant in a strip mall.  It's a nice shopping center, but no matter how you dress it up it is still for all intents and purposes, a strip mall.  A pig in lipstick or whatever that saying is.

We all went with the Restaurant Week menu, a filet with lump crab meat for me and the two guys had the Perry pork chop.  I don't have a photo of the chop but maybe Hubs will send it to me.  I think one would have fed our whole table.  The waiter brought it and did some song and dance about its preparation I only half listened to.  I was too busy sucking the last drops of vodka off the ice cubes in my vodka tonic (which was flat by the way.  How does that even happen?).  What I heard was blah blah brown sugar blah infusion blah blah ribs blah blah three days.  So I gather from that they do something to the pork chop for 3 days before they cook it.  Well, good for you.  I had a bite of leftover and I can say the ribs were mighty tasty the rest of the chop though just tasted like plain pork.  You are obviously wasting your time on the 72 hour thing.

On to my meal-- started with a Caesar that had some actual anchovies in it and anchovy paste to which I say thank you for that.  Hard to find anyone who does that anymore.  However it was almost canceled out by the mayo base of the dressing.  Therefore, not "real" Caesar dressing.  I'll take it though.  Still had good bite and good flavor.  Nice portion.

Steak came topped with crab meat.  I think I would eat just about anything that came with crab meat.  Crab was pretty good.  A couple of bites that were a little too mushy but overall maintained its crabiness and flavor which is probably quite a trick in Texas.  Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think crab is indigenous anywhere near Texas.  Steak could have used more seasoning.  It was pretty bland, but nice cut of meat.  I always order med rare.  This was just on the cusp of going over into medium.  I like it just this side of rare.

Sides for the table were creamed spinach and the potatoes au gratin.  I have to say the spinach was some of the best I have ever had.  EVER had.  Maybe with original Smith & Wollensky in NYC being THE best.  This was a close second.  The bread crumbs on the top really made it.  Loved it and worked very hard to restrain myself from eating the entire dish.  Potatoes were too cheesy for me.  They were ridiculously cheesy.  Cheese strings were everywhere.  It was overkill.  And I love cheese so you know when I say something had too much cheese, it was legitimately too much cheese.  Way too much cheese Perry's.

Dessert was the trio sampler.  Just the right amount of everything.  I could have had some more crème brûlée though.  I got a bite of cheesecake, a couple bites of crème brûlée and then a bite of chocolate mouse that was very un-moussey.  it was more like truffle filling.  Thick enough I could cut it with a fork and then stab it with my fork to eat it.  Not sure mouse is supposed to be so thick you can stab it.

I also had a very nice half bottle of Rex Hill pinot noir.  I was supposed to be "sharing" it.  The 'rents got the bananas flambe which was set on fire tableside.  #1 son really loved that.

Overall good meal.  Restaurant week prices and portions were good.  It seemed kind of expensive to me otherwise, but there is always a crowd it seems like.  I'd go back to try something else and get a full brulee.

I'll give Perry's a 4 and a recommended.  Decent leftovers as well.

Let's See . . .

Where are we now? Oh yeah I left off with the tikka masala.

As promised on Thursday I had leftover Trader Joe tikka masala. The photo has mysteriously disappeared so no visual. I think I may have saved it at work. Anyhoo, it was pretty solid. The sauce had more of a butter chicken flavor however the two are pretty close in terms of ingredients. Spicy, but not too much. Chicken was kind of dry, but not terrible. Honestly i don't think I've ever had tikka masala that wasn't dry Not much to say about it. It was good, not great.

Friday I went with Favorite Lunch Buddy and Primary Lunch Buddy to Corner Bakery. You know I had the thi coconut soup but this time I went with the Asian chicken salad. Lettuce was fresh is about all I can say. Not real impressed. Hardly any chicken and no veggies to speak of. Pretty bland even with some dressing. The cookie even let me down. Not nearly as chewy and moist as usual. Not a great end to the week. Left work early so that kind of made up for it.  Oh almost forgot, my little roll that came with the salad that is usually the bomb?  Totally hard and over cooked.  Boooo.  And that's all I have to say about that.

For dinner we had the rotisserie chicken I got ready the day before. We did 2 which turned out to be too much. One of the chickens caught on fire which we caught just before it turned tragic and the chicken was a waste. We saved it and it was fine, just lost the skin.  The other chicken was great though!  Threw some hickory chips into the smoker drawer on the grill. Chicken came out with some nice flavor between that and sitting over night in the rub.

Dessert was mini bundts from Nothing Bundt Cake. Yum. Way better than cupcakes. Period.

So a 3.5 for Trader Joe's tikka masala. 4 for the chicken ( my prerogative) and the Bundt cakes get a 5 and a very recommended. We got an assortment of favors. All good.

Will catch up on more tomorrow. Right now it's nap time.

It was, you know, OK . . .

Today was a work lunch to meet a new employee who had flown down from the Mother Ship.  Reservation for 7 at Line & Lariat, the revamped restaurant in Hotel Icon.  The old placed was called Voice, which was a stupid name.  Voice food was good but the service always sucked.  The restaurant revamp did not include a service revamp.  It is still slow as molasses and clueless.  Ex: we had a reservation- walked in and were the only people there other than staff and had to wait while they pushed tables together for us and rearranged chairs.  Seriously people.  You knew we were coming what is the deal?  This happened before as well when it was Voice and we had to stand around in the bar that time for 30 minutes before a table was ready.  What is the deal?  I don't get it.

So we sit down after this tortured furniture rearranging goes on for 15 minutes.  The waiter was so soft spoken you could barely hear him so it's a good thing there was about zero other ambient noise.  Turns out it is also Restaurant Week here in H-town, which I was totally clueless about so we get the regular menu and the RW menu.  Several good looking choices, a red snapper, a gumbo and shrimp and grits.  Ultimately decided on the tomato salad and then the shrimp and grits off the restaurant week menu b/c it's cheaper that way--that's just how I am.  Someone also ordered truffle fries for the table which I did not get a picture of but arrived perfectly hot and crisp and as noted by one of my esteemed colleagues, just the right amount of truffle oil.

Seems like it took forever for the tomato salad to get out to the table.  We finally concluded that there was one person in the kitchen so everything was made and plated one at a time because that is how everything came out.  Salad had a nice variety of tomatoes, French feta and a vinaigrette dressing.  Truly fantastic salad.

Very nice portion too, especially for a prix fixe menu.  It was generous, not stingy at all.  Also the bread that came to the table was very nice too.  I was skeptical when it was first brought out but the yeast rolls were very good.  Flavor just right, moist and dense but not too much.  The onion cornbread muffins were also very tasty.  Moist with good flavor. A hint of jalapeno, but not overwhelming.  Good cornmeal to flour ratio so they were real corn muffins as opposed to being real cake-like.

And then we sit some more while we wait for entrees to be brought out one at a time.  I went with shrimp and grits.  One of my standards if it is on the menu.  Line & Lariat had a gumbo too but for some reason it didn't appeal to me today although someone else got it (FLB2 was in attendance).  Shrimp was fried in this version with some panko bread crumbs it looked like.  It was actually very well done and nice.  A little on the salty side but the grits were so bland that turned out to be a plus.  And you can see it was served with some sauteed greens.  The were a little bitter but not bad.  Fairly standard preparation with some garlic and oil.  You know, it was fine.

 
The red ring around the grits is hot sauce.  It wasn't enough to make any impact in which case, why bother?  As a garnish it's ok but when the menu lists something as part of the dish you generally expect to taste it don't you?  Right? Or am I just crazy to think that?  It also said grits with cheddar and bacon.  Not much though.  I know those are yellow so look like they are some nice cheesy grits, but do not be mislead.  Grits were smooth and creamy but lacked in flavor.  It was ok if you ate them with a bite of the fried shrimp but if you like grits for grits sake then they were disappointing.  I ended up full but not being satisfied which is a pretty crappy way to leave lunch.  I suspect I'll be hitting the deli downstairs for a Skor in the next 40 minutes.  Also a big waste of calories which means I'll have to go run tonight for at least a little bit.  I am joining a running club though so that should help.  Why?  I guess I probably have not mentioned I am training for a half marathon after Christmas.  I've never run one before and historically have not really enjoyed running that much so its kind of a big deal.  I am enjoying the running when its not 98 degrees out but I have a ways to go before I'm ready.  Shrimp and grits are not helping either.  Soon I will have to get serious and cut out sweets and then where will we be?  Some pretty boring blog posts perhaps!  For now though, I am off to get a Skor and a Gatorade.  Then I will be UNSTOPPABLE this afternoon.

Almost forgot-- Heirloom tomato salad is a 5 and recommended.  Shrimp and grits I will give a 3 to despite the strength of the shrimp.  The taste of the overall dish was just meh. 

Public Service Announcement-Disney

If you are a Disney person at all you are familiar with the fact that Walt DisneyWorld has been renovating Fantasyland since last winter.  Portions have been reopened already with the rest to follow shortly.  Highly anticipated is the opening of the new Be Our Guest restaurant in what will be Beast's castle.  The ability to make a reservation for BOG opened up yesterday on 407-WDW-DINE.  There was a bit of a kerfuffle yesterday though as to whether a reservation made via the automated system vs a real person counted and would be cancelled.  I am one of the people who got through to the automated system and made a reservation for January.  After I made the res. there was some chatter on the Interwebs that any res made with the automated system wherein you were not required to leave a credit card, would be canceled within the next day if you did not call back and modify to add a credit card.

Consequently I ended up going through the dedicated line at the Vacation Club to make a new res and leave the credit card info but I also emailed guest services and asked.  This morning I got my response back so for all of those who had troubles with reservations yesterday- this is the word now:  if you got a reservation number credit card or no, your reservation is GOOD.  so Yay!  if you have not called back to add a credit card--you are in the clear and can go enjoy BOG.  I am not going until January but I can't wait!!

Here is the complete text of the email I just got (bold by me):

From: Walt Disney World Guest Mail <guest.mail@wdw.disneyonline.com>
Date: August 21, 2012 10:07:15 AM
To: "theneals@mac.com" <theneals@mac.com>
Subject: Re: My Current Walt Disney World Reservation

Dear Diane,

Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World® Resort. We are delighted
that you are planning a visit!

Regarding Be Our Guest Restaurant

• If you made your reservation and received a reservation number, your
reservation is valid.
• If you did not leave a credit card number with your reservation, your
reservation will NOT be cancelled

We wish you a magical visit, Diane!
If you have questions or need further assistance, feel free to contact
us.

Please include your full name, E-Mail address, and reservation number if
applicable on all correspondence.

Sincerely,

Ann Polson
WDW Online Communications

PLEASE NOTE: All information is subject to change without notice and
should be confirmed just prior to your visit.








Original Message Follows:
------------------------
This morning I made a dining reservation via automated system at Be Our
Guest. confirmation # 422331231853 I was not asked for a credit card
to reserve and i am reading online that my reservation will be canceled
b/c of this and b/c the automated system is not supposed to be making
those reservations? Now of course I cant get through again to talk to
someone and provide credit card. help!?

Seriously, Dumplings Again?

Yes, my children.  It is with great sadness that I tell you Lunch Buddy often lacks in lunchtime imagination.  Once he locks on to a food he likes, watch out!  He will make you go with him to eat so often that you quickly reach maximum utility on the food likeability scale.  Since I have blogged about dumplings twice now (I will concede the pork was very fresh today) today I offer a dumpling haiku:

Order dumplings fast

Dip them and enjoy each bite

The food court beckons

Dumplings were followed by a chewy chocolate Great American Cookie.  A nice switch up from the iced sugar at Corner Bakery.  It was indeed chewy and just the right way to top off the dumplings.  Today's venti refresher had a more acceptable lime, rind still questionable looking.  By the way- a tour of the Interwebs tells me that the venti lime refresher has 80 calories.  Not bad.  It does, however, have an insane amount of sugar so we will have to go back to straight black tea.  Whah whah. 

Looking forward to the return of Chungry so I can go back to my Lean Cuisine and get off this cookie carousel.  No, of course I can't just stand idly by and watch people get cookies but not get one myself.  What is wrong with you?  The only way to avoid the cookie is to not stop for a cookie in the first place or just hide out in my office away from all the cookies.