Monday, July 28, 2008

Ruth's Chris Steak House

Boy I have been super lazy about updating my food blog. For instant, we went to Ruth's Chris 2 weeks ago but I have not yet blog about that. Finally, today (after my memories of the event had faded much) I am now posting about that WONDERFUL meal. Anyways, time has pass and now I must blog about it as best as I can.

(Here I was, in the car on the way to the restaurant, fixing myself up to look cute for KAR!)

We was super excited about this chance to go eat at a nice steak house, especially since I was feeling particularly carnivorous and was craving steaks. After many days of mulling over about where to go to eat, it came down to Morton's steak house versus Ruth's Chris. Eventually, Ruth's Chris was where we decided to plop down our money.

(Above was Kar, waiting for food and feeling very hungry! See that unhappy face) *GRUMBLING TUMMY GRR GRR GRR*

We started with a Pomegranate Martini which was made with Ketel One Citroen Vodka and Cointreau orange liqueur, shaken with fresh lemon and pomegranate juices, served in colored sugar-rimmed glass accent with an orange peel. It was quite delicious and we both enjoyed sharing this drink very much.

Influenced by Crab Week on the Food Network (from watching Alton Brown), we decided to try their Crabtini appetizer. Crabtini is "Colossal" (their description - not ours) lump crabmeat tossed with the house vinaigrette & Ruth's Chris Creole remoulade sauce in a chilled martini (hence crabini!!! clever No?) glass. This was also good. Very light and fresh and creamy.

For our meat dishes, Karthik went with their Cowboy Ribeye - a huge bone-in ribeye that was well marbled and deliciously juicy. I went with the T-bone steak. I must say, their steak was my 2nd favorite. Despite very simple ingredients to season their steaks (butter, salt & pepper, and parsley) they manage to make it soooooooooo delicious. All of their steaks are prepared the same way and the only variety is the cut of the meat. Ruth's Chris is also known for their HOT HOT HOT steaks & plates. All steaks are seared to perfection at about 1800 degrees. Damn good steaks I must say. The only draw back is variety because all steaks taste the same. We also got the Potato Au Gratin side which potatoes served in a cream sauce, topped with melted sharp cheddar.



Not just a regular Ribeye but a Cowboy one - like a MANLY piece of meat, not for boys =o)

T-BONE (Delicious)




Potato side to share

Lastly, we had some Chocolate Explosion or something Molten Chocolate cake. I can't remember what it was and it's not listed on their online menu. Oh well, delicious piece of cake there...



Us, bellies fulled = Happy folks. Look at our smiles full of teeth...

I would definitely go back to Ruth's Chris.

Friday, July 11, 2008

I feel like Chicken tonight...

Last week, I took advantage of a good sale on chicken at Fry’s and bought 2 packs of chicken drumsticks because they had a “buy 1 get 1 free” deal. I couldn’t resist FREE CHICKEN so now I have quite a bit of drumsticks at home but it was not a problem, I decided to make another chicken dish! I was thinking of making something Indian but Kar said “oh chicken curry like your mom made?” I thought about it and figure OK I’ll give it a try. It’s intimidating because my mom cooks without exact measurement. Her style is one learned from experience so a little bit of this and a little bit of that, to taste! It’s very hard for me to cook like that because I NEED exact measurements. Anyways, I was gamed and called my mom up for her secret recipe and of course, it was a little bit of this and that. Ultimately, it turned out just fine by some miracle. We ate it with a French Baguette but it can also be eaten with plain rice. Delicious, this curry was different than the previous chicken curry because it was slightly sweet, more similar to Thai-style curry. This time, Kar was super motivated and took the pictures of the food himself. He did not allow me to eat until he was done. I had to wait despite being so hungry!!!!!





Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Italian madness

Over the weekend, the both of us went to see Hancock starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, and Jason Bateman! It was a pretty good movie and Will Smith managed to open another summer blockbuster successfully. It seems like he always have some big movie opening near July 4th, every year. Anyways, in the movie, they have Thursday Night Spaghetti Madness or something like that, so I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs. Although I have made spaghetti many times before I have never made meatballs. Lucky for me, I discovered another yummy recipe from recipezaar and as a result, delicious meatballs in our tummy for dinner on Sunday.

Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Garlic Toasts


Although the meal was pretty good I did not make enough sauce for the spaghetti so I made more sauce and pasta on Tuesday. Eek - toast were a little burnt this time but still good!



This was pretty easy to make and keep well so now we can also pack it for lunch! Woot!

Kar and I usually try to buy grocery carefully so we can save money! Why not right...so I was pretty proud that I was able to save 39% this time. We normally average around 20-25%! Highest rate of savings so far...


Recipe Link: Meatballs
-Please note that the recipe called for ground chicken, but I used ground beef instead.

Butterfields

I love relaxing weekends where you wake up by beautiful and bright sunshine instead of the annoying beeping of an alarm. Then a nice breakfast with friends/family. That was what we did last Saturday at this lovely breakfast restaurant called Butterfields. Butterfields was reasonably priced and very delicious - the best thing there were their PANCAKES!

There we were, preparing to go to Butterfields


We started with freshly squeezed orange juice - initially I didn't want any but Kar suggested I order my own (mostly because he knew that if I like it I'd probably drink all of his)...

empty one was mine (was veryyyyyyyy fresh so drank it in one gulp...practically)

Kar had the Pancake stack with Pecans and Raisins.


I had the Steel Cut Oatmeal with Caramelized Brown Sugar and Bananas. It was so filling I only manage to finish half


It was such a lovely morning...=o)

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

FOOD, Food, food...

I had wanted to keep this blog updated regularly but on a day that I had wanted to post last week, this site wasn't working right so now, all the pictures are piling up and I cannot recall properly when I made these food.

I think on Tuesday last week, I was browsing for some chicken recipe on www.recipezaar.com and stumbled upon this REALLY popular chicken dish - Japanese Chicken Drumsticks (drumsticks because they are Kar's favorite.) Over +500 people seemed to be happy with this recipe so I made it. It was easy and pretty tasty, with hardly any fat. I removed some of the skin and kept some skin (fatty!) because Kar likes the skin. The picture does not too look too tasty cuz it was dark when we took the pictures but very easy and delicious with rice.



Then, sometimes last week - can't remember now, we ate Tilapia and rice for dinner. This is why I should post regularly but ahhh I was busy browsing internet and watching movies at night. No time for updating this blog. I also made one of Kar's favorite Korean dish - normally it is a banchan (side dish) and he lovessssssss it. We eat at this one Korean/Japanese restaurant called Takamatsu and we always ask for extra of this fish cake.

Tilapia/Salad/Zucchini (my dinner)




Tilapia/Fishcake/Rice/Yogurt (Kar's dinner)



Kar was quite happy due to the fish cakes - he loves that stuff...

Below, fish cake preparation




Recipe Link: Japanese Mum's Chicken
Recipe Link: Fish Cake Stir Fry