Friday, December 12, 2008

Comfort Food: Johnresa Style

I have not had a comfort food meal in a while. I have been having many take out meals and I have been cooking some fast meals. I have not made any real stick the ribs meals in a while. The other night I decided to make something nice and homey. I made sirloin steak and shrimp stir fry with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli. Everything was pretty good. The stir fry and broccoli were very delicious. I did make the mashed potatoes a little too salty. Other than that it was a pretty alright meal. Maybe I will make something better tonight.

I give this meal a big fat:

C+

Sushi Lunch...YAY!!!

I love sushi. It is one of my favorite foods. I have yet to find a sushi I did not like. I was craving sushi the other afternoon so I ordered some from Beansprout in Malden. Beansprout is a Chinese restaurant but I think they have some pretty good sushi. I ordered the maki-mono platter. It came with a tuna roll, spicy salmon maki , and california maki. There was a little seaweed salad in the corner of the plate and it came with miso soup. It was quite good and very filling for only $8.99. Maybe next week I will order that again.

I give this meal a big fat:

B

Cafe Belo Rodizio in Everett


I have been to a few different locations of Cafe Belo restaurants. They just opened one in the space that housed the short lived Pantanal. I was going by on the bus the other day and I saw a sign offering all you can eat rodizio for $8.99. I am a fan of Brazilian food so I could not wait to try it. I went the other day with a friend for lunch. There were around 10 cold dishes, 10 hot dishes, roasted vegetables, fried plantain and yucca, and about 8 different meats to choose from including garlic beef, roast pork, sirloin, and chicken hearts. I had chicken salad, baked cod with eggs, olives and other veggies, fried yucca, chicken hearts, and roasted pork. I tried a few other things but these were the highlights. Everything I had was great. I washed it all down with a cold glass of cashew fruit juice. Some of the hot dishes were a little cold but other than that I was more than satisfied.

I rate this meal a big fat:

B-

Finally Edible Rice and Beans

Anyone who knows me knows that despite being a good cook I have always had issues making rice and beans. It seems like no matter what I do it came out tasteless and bland. Not this time. I used some chicken broth I had reserved from when I made gumbo. I used that and the juice from the canned beans as liquid. I added some assorted spices and it came out so good I could have cried. I topped it with some "Shrimp in Garlic Sauce" that I made. I cannot wait to make this dish again.

I rate this meal a big fat:

A

Are Peppers Supposed To Taste That Way????

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger sub from Neapoli in Malden. I asked for cooked mushrooms and green peppers on it and extra mayo. These was by far the strangest tasting peppers I have ever tasted. They were oddly tart. Not acidic but tart. It made my whole sub have a strange tart flavor. Even the smokiness of teh bacon could not mask it. Shame on you Neapoli for serving me strange tasting peppers. I will of course still order from there because their other stuff is good. I will just remember not to order anything with those godawful peppers.

I rate this meal a big fat:

D-

My First Time with Gumbo

I ordered this cookbook last week and reasoned it would only make sense if I actually cooked something out of the book. I decided to take a stab at making chicken gumbo. I had all the ingredients on hand besides the sausage but I figured it would taste just as good without that...it did. It took around 2 and half hours to cook and it was worth every minute. It was spicy, savory, and just flat out tasty. There was so much I ended up having it for two days. Now those are some leftovers I do not mind eating.

I rate this meal a big fat:

B

Steak and Cheese Please!

Okay so as always I was feeling a little lazy...lol. I wanted to make something tasty but quick. I stir fried some shaved steak, onions, peppers, and mushrooms and I topped it with some sharp American cheese. Stirred together and served with some biscuits it was a beautiful thing. Trust me it tastes better than it looks in the picture.

I rate this meal a big fat:

B

Bao Bao Reloaded




After all the food at Xinh Xinh we still managed to find room for dessert. We headed to Bao Bao Bakery over on Harrison Ave. I loved the desserts we had there before so we ordered those two (white chocolate cake and blueberry cheesecake) as well as two others (strawberry cake and kiwi cake). The kiwi cake was just alright. I am not sure if I feel kiwi should be used on cake. I think of kiwi as more of a fruit used for tarts. The strawberry cake was fluffy and delicious. The blueberry cheesecake was as delicious as before. My only complaint was that the white chocolate cake tasted stale. The cake was sort of crusty on the edges and not nearly as fluffy as the time we had it previously. All in all we had quite a sweet time there.

I rate this meal a big fat:
B

I Heart Vietnamese Food



The day before Thanksgiving me and the crew decided to head to Xinh Xinh for some Vietnamese food. We all ordered pork chop and rice plates. We ordered chicken wings and fried spring rolls for appetizers. The chicken wings were okay but nothing special. The pork chops were grilled and very tasty. Their spring rolls are the best there is in my opinion. I decided to try an avocado shake for the first time because someone on Chowhound.com said they were delicious. They were right. That was the thickest creamiest most delicious shake I have ever gotten there. I think that just may be my new favorite drink.

I give this meal a big fat:
B
.

You Can Do Wonders With Leftovers

The night I had the roast pork I was trying to figure out if I could do something to spruce it up the next day so I would not feel like I was having the "same old same old". I ended up taking the pork and chopping it into cubes, adding some more spices, and adding mixed vegetables. I served my "Spicy Pork Stew" with white rice. I liked this dish better than I liked the one the night before. Now the challenge is trying to make that dish again.

I rate this meal a big fat:
A