Sunday, March 7, 2010

Saturday, March 6, 2010

The Grease Trucks Challenge!



So today was it. Alex took the Grease Trucks challenge. We were a decent size group: Kim, Jenny, Jen, Ryan, Paul, Vick, Peter, Alex, and myself. We all had a blast. For his challenge, Alex decided to go with the Fat Darrel, the sandwich that started it all. The Darrel consists of fries, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, and marinara sauce. Not a bad combo. I had a Fat Elvis: gyro meat, white sauce, lettuce, fries, and something else that I can't remember. Alex did pretty good! He got through four sandwiches before putting up the white flag. A respectable, if not gross, job. He didn't throw up, which shocked the hell out of me. I definitely have more respect for him after watching him go through this :)

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Blueberry Pie



On Sunday, Paul and I are taking a trip to upstate New York to visit my dad. I decided to make a blueberry pie to bring with us. Then I had the brilliant idea to make it a lattice top pie. NEVER AGAIN. I hated it. I hate making pie crust to begin with, and the lattice top just made it worse. So I made the crust, cursed up a storm, put it in a 9" pie plate, then filled it. Then it was time to make the lattice top. I cursed up an even larger storm this time and was very tempted to bludgeon my dog with the rolling pin, because I was 100% certain she was laughing at me. Sensing impending doom, she wisely left the room. The top got put on and into the oven it went. It baked, made the house smell good, then was finished. I'm not too pleased with the end product. It looks sloppy and messy. Paul, in his best fake-excitement voice, said it looked great. I'm not please with it, but whatever. It'll do.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Frog Legs For Dinner!!


My friend Alex wanted to get dinner tonight, and wanted something....meaty. I suggested this Chinese buffet that also has the meat carving station, he said yes, and off we went. What did they have when we got there? Frog legs, one of my favourite. I'm sure at a real restaurant, the quality and preparation would be much better, but these weren't too bad. They were lightly breaded and fried, and seasoned with salt and pepper. There was even a decent amount of meat on the bone. I know frog legs aren't for everyone, but honestly they taste and have a texture very close to chicken wings, but slightly firmer. Alex refused to try them, because he is a wimp. Okay, so MAYBE I shouldn't say he's a wimp since Saturday he will be taking the previously mentioned Grease Trucks Challenge, but still. Have some sense of culinary adventure.

Seafood Paella, Part 1

I've decided to make Paul a nice dinner and I'm gonna be making Seafood Paella. Regionally the ingredients in paella vary, but consists of a base of rice. For mine, I've decided to go with lobster tail, shrimp, mussels, squid, bacon, scallops, and little neck clams. The last time I made this was a few years ago, and I want to make something different for Paul, so I figure this is the way to go. I've never added bacon in the past, but I'm on a bacon kick so why the hell not? I'll probably do this next week at some point, and when I do pictures will be posted of the prep and cooking process, as well as pictures of the completed dish.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

A Top 10 In No Particular Order

I feel the need to write in this blog as often as possible, but sometimes I just don't know what to write about. The product of those times are my shorter filler posts, like the bacon and dunkin posts. My good friend Mike said to make a Top 10 list. So this time, I'm going to list my top ten favourite local places to eat. Even though it's a Top 10, this won't be in any order because sometimes it's hard to choose one or the other. I'll also link to each place (if available) and note whether or not Paul and I had a date there. So here goes.

1. Arthurs Tavern - 644 Georges Rd. North Brunswick, NJ
2. Old Bridge Diner - 1146 Englishtown Rd. Old Bridge, NJ (date)
3. Harolds NY Deli - 3050 Woodbridge Ave. Edison, NJ (date)
4. The Grease Trucks - College Ave & Hamilton Ave, Lot 8 New Brunswick, NJ (date)
5. Big Ed's BBQ - 305 Route 34 Old Bridge,
NJ
6. U-Yee Sushi - 675 Route 1 South Woodbridge, NJ (date)

7. White House Subs - 2301 Arctic Ave. Atlantic City, NJ
8. Sunny Palace - 1069 Route 18 South East Brunswick, NJ (date)
9. Tumultys Pub - 36
1 George St. New Brunswick, NJ
10. Triumph Brewing Company - 138 Nassau St. Princeton, NJ (d
ate)

Monday, March 1, 2010

Treasure Garden And The Perfect Night

Yesterday was a great day. Paul dyed his hair black for me because he knows I love it. He was also very cute and sweet with my all day, and I loved every second of it. He accused me of being in love with him again. I'm not. I love him, very much, but I'm not "in love" with him. Part of me wants to think he wants me to be, the other part thinks he's just entertained by the thought. Anyway, for dinner we went to Treasure Garden in Colonia, located at 616 Inman Avenue. It's a cute little Chinese restaurant and bar with a very intimate setting. Paul had the beef and broccoli with white sauce. I didn't get to try his, so I'm not completely sure what the white sauce was. It looked good thought. I had the sesame chicken with broccoli and pineapple. Very good. I also had a glass of plum wine, which smelled like cough syrup but tasted fantastic.


After dinner it was off to another movie, The Crazies (yet another remake). We met up with Paul's friend Peter (insert Peter, Paul, and Mary joke here), which is always a treat. Peter is a very sweet and fun guy and I enjoy when I get to see him. The Crazies was alright. Standard horror film predictability but with decent acting. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Alice In Wonderland comes out Friday, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing that. Until next time....