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.

Random thoughts. . .

Doing some late night food prep so I can get my rotisserie on right after work tomorrow. Yee haw!!



By the way Trader Joes, we have gone through 3 bags of this in as many days. It's like crack for the whole family!!

Lunch Round Up . . .

I have been remiss in my postings this week and am getting behind.  Here is a brief recap of what has been going on with lunch and the menu for today:

Monday:  Called to duty as lunch companion again.  And went for dumplings, again.  Pork chicken combo with spicy sauce instead of mild.  The spicy is only marginally so compared to the mild so I'll be getting it from now on.  Dumplings were good.  Wrappers not too doughy which is always a plus for me.

And while we are at it, let's check on the quality of lime garnish Starbucks is putting into its Refreshers.  You may recall the last one I got was pretty gross.  Here is the most recent lime slice:

Eh, not much better.  Not sure why this Starbucks repeatedly has old yucky looking limes.

Tuesday some of us piled in the car and took a field trip to Arby's.    As I was on the heels of the Trader Joe's burrito fiasco I wasn't that hungry and had a salad with Diet Mountain Dew.

That was not a typo.  I did indeed have a Diet Dew fountain drink at the Arby's.  I know you're jealous.  The fountain Diet Dew is hard to come by.  It was heaven.  Salad was good too.  Very fresh.  First salad I have ever had at the Arby's.  My usual fare is the junior roast beef, potato cakes and jamoca shake.  To mix it up I will have a french dip.  Since I didn't get my usual I took a picture of my friend's food.

You see here he got curly fries in lieu of potato cakes.  While I do like the Arby's curly fries, as a lifelong potato cake person I cannot personally advocate for the curly fries, but will not hold it against you if you get them.  Our other co-worker had ordered a chocolate shake before I could stop him.  After extolling the virtues of the jamoca shake he went back and changed his order then concurred that it was indeed a fine shake.  While we ate, known Arby's fanatic, Favorite Lunch Buddy 1/Ducky Momo regaled us all with tales of living in NYC and trekking far distances to the only known Arby's on the island and singlehandedly educating the franchise about the appropriateness of serving potato cakes all day vs. just at breakfast.  And I have to agree, who doesn't know that? That is just criminal to deprive people of potato cakes after 10.  Oh that's right, it was an Arby's in New York City.  Combined with a Cinnabon.  Down in the West Village.  So many reasons why they would be completely clueless as to Arby's tradition.  Reasons, but not excuses.  There is no excuse for running an Arby's that way!  Anyway, Arby's was a pleasure as always, and we all left happy.  Do I even need to rate it for you?  Fine then.  A 5 with a RECOMMENDED.

Indeed!

Which brings us to today, Wednesday and leftover Trader Joe's chicken enchiladas.

They are not quite that color, I used an Instagram filter b/c they came out kind of dark and I wanted to show some details.  Details of an enchilada are kind of impossible though.  Especially leftover enchiladas.  So these came in a pack of 4--clearly 2 servings thank you very much Trader Joe's.   Hubs got these for dinner Monday night.  He ate most of it and thought they were just ok.  I tried them then too and will say I thought they could use more ranchero sauce and the chicken was dry.  What a difference a day and a half makes.  Leftover these are fabulous!  I could still use a little more ranchero sauce on them but overall very nice.  Great melding of flavors.  Chicken is nice and tender now and moist.  Not too much cilantro.  Not a big fan. People over use and it drives me crazy.  This is just right.  Ranchero is nearly 100% the way I prefer it.  Little bit of a beef stock undertone and not too much of a just plain tomato flavor.  Good hint of garlic.  Reminds me of my favorite place back home.

 

Here is the unfiltered shot after I have eaten about half of it.  Please excuse my dirty utensils!  Just overall feeling very pleased about this lunch.  From a calorie standpoint, it's 590 for both enchiladas.  If I'm being honest I should have only eaten one.  That started out my intent but I got carried away but my enjoyment of them.  No bundt cake for me later.  Which reminds me, we just got a Nothing Bundt Cake next door to the Trader Joe's which makes it all to easy to go buy cake.  And they are f'ing good.  I need to check on those calories.  I'm sure they are just short of catastrophic.  So far we have had cinnamon swirl, white chocolate (that I had none of b/c Hubs and Little Dude ate the whole thing before I could say Boo), white choc with raspberry and chocolate chocolate chip.  No one liked cinnamon but me, but it was really nice.  All the flavors are great.  Not too heavy which unfortch makes it easy to eat the whole thing.  And by whole thing I mean the small 4 inch cakes, the Bundtinis.  And yes, you do feel ridiculous ordering a Bundtini.  I just ask "for the small one there".

Oh, ratings.  Cake and enchiladas I would actually give 5s to and recommended.   

Now we are all caught up.  Tomorrow I will more than likely be having my leftover Trader Joe's Chicken Tikka Masala.  Stay tuned.  I know how thrilling that sounds.

Random Tuesday Breakfast Post . . .

Throwing out a little extra love today for my faithful readers.  A breakfast post!

I'm eating a Treader Joe's black bean and cheese burrito.  280 calories, which I am psyched about and also have a hard time believing.  This is a big ass burrito folks, and it has cheese, and it has a tortilla wrap.  Both of which are notoriously not calorie friendly.  I dumped the salsa on the top.  I just can't eat these without some Pace on top.

Usually I always eat Amy's, but I have to tell you, now that there is a Trader Joe's by my house I think I am switching to these.  I am actually shocked at how good I think this is and how much I like it.  Cutting it in half is a trick I learned from Chungry.  Hahahahaha, no not really.  I jest.  He makes it too easy.

Also- maybe b/c this started out refrigerated versus frozen but the tortilla stayed nice and supple after microwaving.  Calling a tortilla supple sounds kind of gross doesn't it?  Let's say soft then instead.  Point is, It did not that get that post microwave cement hardness requiring an electric knife to cut through.

All in all this little experiment was quite the success I think.  Yay Trader Joe's!  I know technically a bean and cheese burrito is not breakfast food, but I started eating them for breakfast a long time ago.  At this point it is firmly in my head that this is a breakfast food.  I don't see any reason why it can't be.  Embrace the burrito for breakfast.  You will like it.

4.5 microwaves
Recommended!!!

Ed. note:  well I thought it might be too good to be true so I just checked my nutrition label again.  Calories ARE 280 BUT the serving size is HALF the burrito!! So, now I am pissed.  Who eats half a stinking burrito?  That is just insanity.  And whats-more, now I have packed away 560 calories because I ate the whole damn thing.  New rating is a 3 for stupidity b/c making something that people will eat ONE of and calling it two servings is ridiculous and I daresay misleading.  I retract my Yay and replace it with BOOOOoooooo.  Jerks.

Catching Up . . .

Wow!  I completely forgot to post my Friday lunch post.  I forgot because I had to borrow a phone to take pics and then forgot to send myself said pics.  Friday was quite the special occasion too and I would be remiss in not blogging it.

Special occasion is twofold.  1) we went to Luby's!  and 2) Chungry came with us.  Growing up in Oklahoma, Luby's, the old Furr's and Picadilly were staples in the "nice" family dinner rotation.  I don't think I'm alone here on that either.  And honestly, who doesn't love a good cafeteria?  If you don't then I can only ask, what's wrong with you?

LuAnn platter with fried fish, cooked squash and fried okra.  Fried okra always good.  I didn't even have to salt it myself because Luby's is on top of it people.  I know you think the fried fish sounds gross but let me tell you 3 out of 4 people at our table got it and we ALL concurred it was GOOD.  It's like that scene in Ratatouille when the food critic takes the bite and has his good childhood memories flash in his mind's eye.  It's just, Ahhhhh. . . .  squash was pretty good.  Lots of garlic and lots of salt, although not as thoroughly soggy and boled the way I really like it.  I had to ask the guy to dig from the center of the tray instead of the edges where it was crisper.  Again- childhood memories.  My aunt and my mom made a mean cooked squash.  If I could have it fixed like this everyday I think I could eat this everyday, thus I will award the elusive 5 microwaves and a recommended.  All hail Luby's!

 My neighbor with his fish, mac and cheese and green beans.  Mac and cheese got a meh.  Bonus celebrity appearance by Sam Kinison!!

Oh man, I forgot my roll y'all!  Uncool on my part.  See how shiny it is from the melted fake butter brushed on the top?  It was warm and yeasty and muy delicioso.  The end.  Also props to our server Starr who was, in all seriousness, very lovely to us and refilled our tea.

Quickie

Just a short post while I'm in the car. Running errands and #2 child fell asleep. Needed a few minutes to let her sleep so I pulled into Sonic. Mama also needed a diet coke for her splitting headache.

I like Sonic. I won't try to act like I don't. My regular meal is a corn dog and tots or a burger. On a whim I ordered the first thing I saw on the menu: chicken fried steak sandwich. No mayo.
You know what? I don't hate it. Yeah it's a processed unnaturally shaped square cfs patty but it was piping hot and crisp. Tomato was fresh and lettuce was cool and crisp. So all in all not bad. I can see doing this at home with maybe some spicy gravy? Anyway, I only ate half. I don't need to look at the nutrition menu to know this has too many calories. I did run 5 miles yesterday but still. . .

I'll give this a 3.5 and recommend it. Chances of me eating this again are slim bc it just doesn't fit my sonic profile. But a good change up.

Ok. Off to the store.