Lunch-sized Manicotti Yeah, I know it's been a month. Drop it! Please. I'm back to tell you about pasta, delicious, ooey-gooey pasta! When I was a kid, my favorite cuisine was Italian. What's not to love? You have: tomatoes, cheese, meat, and carby-carb-carbs. All of the best and most essential food groups are present in a beautiful mouth bouquet. I also loved super rich desserts I could only eat a few bites of before feeling sick. All of that leads me to my quest to eat at Contos in Lake Stevens. Yes, you called it, the home of Chris Pratt. Super dork, turned super hot, home-town hero, this is not a sentence, and I don't know how to stop or go back... He's married to the beautiful Anna Farris, of Edmonds, WA. Together they make me proud everyday to be a Washingtonian. I know there are celebrities from ever state across the nation, but I value comedy above all else, and these two prove that those gray PNW days leads to funny, funny people. For some reason I only ever seem to want to try this place on Sunday afternoon, and they aren't open until 4pm on Sundays. However, this past Saturday I was inspired and able to take my whole family. Embrace the damage. This Toasted Ravioli was an amazing cheese-filled bomb. Yum! The limited-time Turtle Cheesecake! The pictures captured here are a mere glimmer of the beautiful meal we enjoyed. My husband got the pastrami-dip. My son ordered their beef gyro. My daughter ordered their kid's Alfredo. Everything served to us was delicious and visually pleasing. I fell as though I sound like I have a problem, and I don't care. If you live in the area, and love classic Italian cuisine, you should run to Contos, pronto.
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For the past couple of years, I've had a dream of running a local non-profit food truck (or coffee stand) that employed people in need of work experience. The proceeds would go to the non-profit that ran the whole deal, and everyone involved would be filled with joy. The seed was planted when I was attending college in New Jersey, and my dad took me to a cafe that served amazing quiche. At the register, a card boasted that 20 cents of every dollar went to women escaping domestic violence situations. I thought "what could be better?" People want to buy food. They want to feel good about themselves. Why wouldn't you sell them food that makes them feel as though they've done their good deed for the day? The dream grew when I visited FareStart in Seattle a few years ago for a wedding. The food was excellent, and no one felt badly about the celebration, because FareStart employees those that have been deemed "unemployable" for whatever reason. They take these individuals, and teach them cooking skills, so that they can have gainful employment, and we all benefit with tasty, tasty food. Of course, this dream usually involved me and the non-profit I was working for, but I am always game to celebrate another's victory. Today I visited Cafe Works in Everett. I went halfsies with my coworker. So, I got to enjoy half of The Pilchuck, and half of the Cam. I was ready by the time we got there. I had to walk in the cold, windy rain, for half a mile, uphill both ways (well not uphill, and only .4 miles both ways, but super cold and rainy). There wasn't much of a selection. There are some breakfast items, a delicious assortment of pastries from Petite Sweet, and a variety of savory sandos. I have to say, I think simplicity is sweet. I know that menus do better when they are parred down, and everything I tried here was great, so the menu is working.
Cafe Works is doing great work benefiting both Housing Hope and Cocoon House. I've never felt better about a lunch I've had. We even split a bear claw, and then checked out the furniture shop. Please visit this awesome place and EAT UP MY FRIENDS!
I know it's a gross pun. Sorry, not sorry. I'm not always a fan of puns, but when I am, they are pho related. There are so many great ones, and the best are totally NSFW. You can goggle it yourself. I'm not going to spoon-feed you. Although my mother cooked a wide-variety of cuisine growing up, Vietnamese was not one of them, and growing up in New Mexico, there wasn't a whole lot of exposure. Of course, there was a growing population of Vietnamese immigrants when I left, and now I hear that pho is pretty popular in NM. My first exposure to Vietnamese food was through the home cooking one of my coworkers would bring to shift. I remember, vividly, choking down florescent-green rice and seafood(?) that required more chewing than I was comfortable with at the time. I have a huge problem with wasting food, and I also hold a personal value that food offered should not be refused. I ate the meal, and smiled politely, but my pregnant belly was not happy. Fast forward a few years. I'm working in Seattle, in an office setting, and I have a cold. I'm most likely disgusting, but I can't go home. My employee offers to get me pho. What? He says it's like chicken noodle soup, but better. Better? It's amazing, and this one moment is not only my introduction to pho, but the start of my love affair with sriracha. Pictured above is 1/10 of the sriracha I like to put on my Pho, I was sharing with a friend, and had to add more to my spoonfuls. Pho is delicious. It really is a more perfect version of chicken noodle soup. I actually think it very similar to posole. I suppose almost every culture has developed their own comforting and inexpensive soup with a plethora of toppings you can do with or without, depending on your resources at the time. All I know is that this beautiful dish led me to my favorite hot sauce, and have I mentioned that amazing bahn mi (also banh mi)!? These beautiful dishes were most recently tasted at the South Everett Pho 36 (AKA "Golden Pho"). You should check it out. Definitely worth your while. Eat up my Friends!
My mother-in-law makes some amazing comfort food, and some great recipes to make with the kids. This recipe is a family favorite, and is definitely something you want to invite your children, or adult children to participate in. Everyone can decorate their own slice if you so desire. I particularly love the fruit pizza because the fresh fruit is obviously healthy, but my heart knows I'm eating a giant sugar cookie with frosting! Equipment Needed 2 baking sheets 11x14 Ingredients Veggie Pizza 2 tubes of crescent roll dough 1 cup sour cream dried seasoning packet (ranch or spinach and herb) fresh sliced veggies (any you like) Fruit Pizza 1 tube of sugar cookie dough 8 oz. cream cheese (do not use low-fat) powdered sugar to taste fresh sliced fruit (any you like) Instructions 1. For both recipes, spread dough out onto the 11x14 baking sheet to form a crust - bake per instructions on package or until done 2. Let crusts cool 3. Mix sour cream and seasoning and spread onto crescent roll crust, mix cream cheese and powdered sugar and spread onto sugar dough crust 4. Decorate your pizzas with fresh sliced veggies on the crescent roll pizza, and fresh sliced fruit onto the sugar cookie pizza Eat up my friends!
It's no secret that I love a good red wine. I tend to prefer Cabernet, because my dad once told me that it was more complex than Merlot, and that opinion has stuck. When I first turned 21, I went to the local liquor store every Thursday after closing the college dining hall, and bought something new so that I could "educate" myself. Having grown up in New Mexico and now living in Washington, my favorite wines are from those two states. What can I say? Loyalty is one of my top personal values. I'm revealing my hand here, but I very, very rarely pay more than $15 for a bottle. I've learned that my palate is not discerning enough to care/notice beyond that point. My favorite wine of all time was a Cuvee Rose from Temecula, CA for $35 a bottle, but it was not a dinner wine. About once a year I spring for an all out dining experience. I know some people scoff at the price of high-end restaurants, but for me it's the same as buying concert tickets, or something similar for a hobby/interest that brings you great joy. Most recently, while on a work retreat, I had the pleasure of taking my long-time friend to dinner at the San Ysidro Ranch Stonehouse. While I waited for my friend to arrive, I perused the wine book. I'm not kidding. It was a book. There was an index and page numbers. I'm pretty sure it went to at least page 70. At any rate, my job was to find a decent wine I could afford. The cheapest bottle in the book was $35. When my friend arrived I asked what she'd prefer to drink. She said red, but added "anything but Merlot. It gives me headaches" A heart-sinking moment, the bottle for $35 had to be a Merlot! Our server, seeing our indecisiveness, said he would send over the sommelier. Ahhh! I can't talk to a sommelier. I will totally look like a fool, and they'll know I'm cheap. "Ok," I said with a gulp. The sommelier sauntered over to our table in all his glory, and asked us what we like to drink. I said we like red, no Merlot, and (trying to sound cool) that we'd like something local. He kindly explained that because of the climate, Santa Barbara was known for Chardonnay, but if we'd like a red, that Pinot Noir was also grown locally, just a bit further out. I told him Pinot Noir sounded lovely. He asked if under $100 was alright. I swallowed my tongue. No seriously, I sheepishly said that was great, and felt grateful knowing that they had a bottle for sale at the low, low price of $5,000! I feel that I have to remind the reader that I work for a non-profit. The wine was fabulous. I didn't look at the break-down when I paid. I was scared and slightly ashamed, so I don't know how much I was charged for this bottle of Melville Pinot, but I did see it in the Santa Barbara airport for around $30, and you can buy it online for as low at $26. From my experience, many restaurants charge you $8 a glass, for an $8 bottle, so that gives me an idea of the price I paid. Where am I going with this? I had an amazing meal. Not pictured is my friend's Parmesan Crusted California Halibut, because I took a terrible picture. Lessons learned, maybe it's ok to say "no" to speaking to the sommelier? Most importantly, when your server mentions something like house-made mint-chocolate-chip ice cream three different times, just say "Yessss!"
I was recently cleaning out my pantry, and had some leftover canned pumpkin from pumpkin season, and I really didn't want to leave it until Sept. 2016. I also didn't want to make something overtly pumpkin flavored since it's January. I took to Pinterest to find some sneaky ways to use pumpkin and still bake some deliciousness. I found this easy-peasy recipe that only requires a box of brownie mix and some canned pumpkin puree, I loved that it was only two ingredients. It sounded easy, healthy, and I was going to kind of bake. Pro-Tip - Never trust a food-blog with the word "skinny" in it. When my son came upstairs he asked me when I was going to bake these. They had been in the oven for 30 minutes. He said they tasted likes chocolate-pumpkin-jello. My daughter (ever the optimist) said she loved that she could "bite" the brownies using her lips. They indeed tasted like chocolate. They did have a hint of pumpkin. They were vegan, which means no cholesterol. They tasted like there was no cholesterol. This is a good example of Pinterest gone awry. If you want a brownie, my advice is to eat a proper brownie. If you want to eat brownies, and stay skinny, try not to eat the whole pan. I will say that these would work as diet food, because I had no desire to keep eating them. They do make a delicious ice cream sandwich however. Oh shoot! That's like saying bacon makes salad better... Part Deux I figured since the boxed brownie and pumpkin mix was so easy, and my husband doesn't like chocolate, that I would find a pre-made blondie mix and make those as well (same day, same mistake). He scoffed. He didn't believe there was such a thing as a blondie. I later learned that he did know what they were, but had grown up calling them "cookie-bars." Sadly, our closest grocery doesn't carry blondie mix. So, I quickly took to Pinterest while at the store. Again I didn't want to buy much in the way of additonal ingredients. I was cleaning out my pantry. I found a gluten-free, vegan, paleo, blondie recipe. I though, "why not?" I may never learn. I should have known when the recipe said that sugar was optional, and that the author loved the natural sweetness of the mashed bananas on their own. I did put in the optional sugar, cause Mama didn't raise no fool. These have also been baked for 30 minutes, and still look like I'm on a raw-food diet. My sweet girl said these were bitter. The spices they have you use are not in balance with the minimal ingredients. If you forget the term "brownie," and "blondie" these might make a good breakfast bar. They have banana, pumpkin, and nut-butter (I used peanut because I'm cheap). In the end they got old and sad, and I gave them to our dogs as treats. I'm all for eating healthy. I love and support my vegan friends. I've went the vegan route for Lent before, and it was long enough for me to say crazy things like, "this vegan cupcake is just as good as a regular cupcake," but I think these two recipes are a case of authors that haven't had "real" food in a very long time. Maybe they just hate food...
I have to start this entry by letting everyone know that Senegambia Cooking Restaurant is delicious. That said, it's the only restaurant where I've almost died. This Vimto soda was a super fun try. It's raspberry and blackcurrant flavored. Have you ever played around with writing your own obituary? I hadn't until this last week. Here's what I've come up with so far.
Thankfully that's not what happened. I'm a Red Cross certified CPR/First Aid instructor, so the thought that kept running through my mind was "I know you're embarrassed, but don't run to the bathroom. People die in the bathroom!" My employee Michelle, also an instructor, asked if I needed back-blows. I shook my head "no." I kept coughing and was able to "gracefully" cough into a napkin. My other colleague (who shall remain nameless) told me he was ready to pull out a chair so I could help myself. Ha! I was so grateful to be surrounded by knowledgeable people, but this is not always the case. The wonderful interwebs tell me that an average of 3,000 adults die from choking every year. I suggest that, if you don't know what to do to help yourself or someone else in this situation, sign up for a class today! If you can't afford the cost, there are many free programs/classes online. Please educate yourself. After crying over my lunch, I finished most of it, and helped Michelle with her Chicken Afra (pictured below).
My good, good, beautiful friend Lori, told me about his crazy hole-in-the-wall. My family loves a buffet, and especially a Chinese Buffet (read - any Asian buffet, because they tend to combine locally). What! a Chinese Buffet with sushi? Yeah! That's a thing in Western Washington. I love sushi, and I do eat buffet sushi. That said, my eating of said sushi is kind of a dare. I frequently leave the buffet wondering whether food poisoning will happen, and feeling slight queasy. I haven't gotten sick yet. Iron-Gut Prettyman! This was my first course: Schezuan Beef, Chow Main Noodles, Gyoza, Short-Ribs, and Shrimp Cocktail. Super healthy, and very protein-laden. Next I had the sushi, which consisted of: many types of roe, seared ahi tuna, salmon, etc. I have never seen a more beautiful sushi bar. My final course was a savory wonton soup. The broth was great, the wontons were perfect. I was a happy lady indeed. I should tell you that the buffet is a bit pricey. I also see that they are closed as well. RIP Hong Kong Buffet.
This entry is long overdue. I don't even know where to begin, except by conveying my overwhelming excitement and sheer joy when I heard a New Mexican restaurant was coming to Everett in 2012. I actually didn't hear about it, but happened to drive down Hewitt, headed towards the water, and I saw the large banner. Yellow and red, caught my eye. I saw the Zia symbol next, and then "The New Mexicans" in large letters. I immediately pulled over, called my husband, and told him I was coming home, and then we were all going out to dinner. I realize that those of you not from the great state of NM might be thinking "everyone loves their hometown food, what makes New Mexican food so special that I'd want to try it?" I know I'm biased, but anyone with a recipe can make grits at home, same with a good Philly cheesesteak, etc. The thing about New Mexican food is that it's difficult to find Hatch Chile. That's the key ingredient, and while it's getting a little easier (I've found frozen Bueno at the Marysville Albertson's, and one year the Everett Farmers' Market was roasting fresh), for the most part it's too hard to find good green chile in Washington state, and I can't imagine that I ever would, say I lived in Middle-America. The New Mexicans is not the first NM restaurant in Western Washington. When we first moved here in 2008, we found the Santa Fe Café in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle. I happily ordered their green chile tamales, only to find out that they had gentrified New Mexican food. This means they can charge more for less food. While they're more than welcome to do that, I wanted sloppy servings of meat, cheese, chile, beans, and tortillas. They do not offer that. They offer small, healthy portions, that provided little comfort, even if they might be the better life choice. I don't even think they're getting fresh chile's. They tasted like canned. Never mind though, I just looked up their information to give you a price estimate and chile facts, and have seen via Yelp, that they are closed. Now I feel a little bad... ...not so bad that I won't show the New Mexicans' amazing sopapillas. I will admit that they are a bit doughier that the ones from home. The air pocket in the middle isn't perfect, but they are cooking at sea-level, as apposed to a mile-high. Did you know that Albuquerque is a mile-high, just like Denver? They're served with honey butter and a honey bear. So delicious!
So which menu item is my favorite?
Everyone I've recommend this restaurant to has loved it, and everyone I've taken here, frequently brings it up as their go-to lunch suggestion. I forgot to mention that the décor is lovely, warm and golden, with Southwestern art, and an nice patio out back. They also have amazing dessert, even a cinnamon-roll the size of your head. I'm hoping a nod to the Frontier in ABQ (though the taste and size has declined). If you haven't been there, you should run.
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AuthorI can count on one hand the foods I dislike, and I'll typically even eat those. Typically frugal, but I'll pay top dollar for an amazing/unique dining experience. Never passed up a free meal, which has led me to become the #36 ranked eater in Major League Eating. July 4th, 2020 will be my third time competing in the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest at Coney Island. I've been on ESPN. That's right people, I'm an athlete. Archives
August 2019
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