Saturday, April 27, 2013

MEGA STUFFED All the way across the sky

Here is a little departure from my normal writings on restaurants and meals cooked at home. This is not so much a review or recipe, but more of an acknowledgement of awesomness. Those who know me well know that I love oreo's. In fact, my brother thinks I have a problem. He once said that if it was possible, that I would inject the filling directly into my veins like a heroin addict. And not just any oreo's, specifically double stuf oreo's. I love the filling. So imagine my surprise and delight a few months ago when they came out with these:
Yes, the MEGA STUF oreo. My prayers of more cream filling had finally been answered. It is almost like two double stufs put together. You can actually see two "squirts" of filling in the cookie. In any case it is a shame that these are limited editions. I really was hoping these would be a permanent addition to the grocery store shelf. Anyway, since my oreo problem is out in the open, I have to ask that if anyone sees anymore of these to please act as and enabler and buy and send me a package. Thank you in advance. 

Friday, April 19, 2013

Atomic Showdown

I survived
This evening Mel and I went to Quaker Steak and Lube for a bite to eat. They have this 2 for $22 deal going on where you get one appetizer, two entree's, and one dessert. If you haven't been to Quaker Steak and Lube it is a lot like Buffalo Wild Wings. If you haven't been to a Buffalo Wild Wings, then I don't know what to tell you. In both cases, both are known for their chicken wings and different sauces. We started with their chipotle bbq chicken quesadilla's. They were pretty good, especially paired with a little ranch. Next, I got a 6-pack of boneless wings with the Louisiana Lickers sauce. It had a little bit of heat, but nothing too bad. It also had a hot sauce and black pepper taste to it. It was pretty good. Mel had a boneless wing salad minus the blue cheese with their bbq wing sauce on the chicken. It was ok but nothing special. For dessert was this apple caramel nachos with apples in a caramel sauce, ice cream, and "chips" (more like a flatbread or pita) dusted in cinnamon sugar. It was really good. 
Chipotle BBQ Chicken Quesadilla

Louisiana Lickers Wings
Dessert Nachos
But for me, the most memorable part of the meal was doing the atomic wings challenge. It is their second hottest sauce at 150,000 scoville units, about the same as Thai birdseye chili's. I didn't think that it was as hot as the hottest sauce at Buffalo Wild Wings, blazin, but it was harder to eat because it was a lot thicker. The worst part of the challenge was the sauce was pretty thick. So it would get kind of stuck in the back of my throat. I also thought the taste of the blazin sauce was a little better than the atomic sauce. But over all it is just a stepping stone to the triple atomic challenge, their 500,000 scoville wing sauce. I had to eat the atomic before the triple atomic. One of these days I will complete the triple atomic challenge as well.
Atomic Wings


Paella, Paella

I haven't posted in a little while because I have been incredibly busy. I have been trying to pick up shifts at work (I am on call), coach a high school girls varsity soccer team, have a mentorship (like an internship), oh, and I have been studying my butt off for my certification exam. Despite all of this going on I managed to find time to make a killer plate of paella.


I started by dicing half an onion and mincing three cloves of garlic. In a sauce pan I warmed some beef broth. Normally I use chicken broth, but I didn't have any. I also opened a can of garbonzo beans and then diced some pork jowl bacon as well as de-boned four chicken thighs. In a pestle and mortar I ground up kosher salt and saffron. I then added a garlic clove and made a paste with the salt, saffron, and garlic. I added a little bit of stock and then added it to the sauce pan to infuse into the broth. In my paella pan I seared the chicken, skin side down until it was golden brown and crispy. I then flipped it over to sear the other side. I removed the chicken and then added the bacon. Once it started crisping up I added the onion, followed by the garlic once the onion started turning translucent. I then added some sweet corn and the garbonzos. The rice followed. I used arborio rice, the same as used for risotto. If I can find it I like to use bomba rice, but arborio is similar enough that it works nicely as a substitute. You have to cook the rice a little bit in the oil so it can absorb the broth better and cook right. After a minute the chicken was added and then broth added to cover the rice. Over the next 20 or so minutes, broth was added once it was all absorbed. Once the rice is cooked, let the liquid evaporate and be absorbed so the rice on the bottom starts to caramelize. Oh, I almost forgot, I also added some time, basil, rosemary, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper to season. On the side are some homemade pita chips.

I think it turned out good. It was a little different then other paellas I have made, mostly because of what I had on hand. But the flavors were there. The chicken and bacon were good, and the corn and garbonzos added depth and sweetness to it. The rice turned out perfectly with a nice brown crust on the bottom. Mel liked it a lot. She said it was her favorite one that I have made. She took leftovers to work, and one of her coworkers commented that it was comparable to paellas she had when she was in Spain. That was nice to hear. I think I will be making this one again.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Peppino's: Possibly the best pizza in GR?

Yesterday, the 10th, Mel and I went to Peppino's on Kalamazoo by Celebration South. We wanted to go out and pizza sounded good. We had been meaning to go for a while, and it seemed like a perfect time to go. Originally we were thinking about going somewhere like Uccello's. But then we saw the new Grand Rapids Magazine that rated Peppino's as the best pizza in GR based on their panel of experts. We had to see if this was the case.


We started with a basket of onion rings. They were good. The batter was nice and crispy and it didn't taste like it was fried in old oil. The onion was sweet and not overpowering like can happen with a strong white onion. I wouldn't make a trip to eat them, but it was nice they were there.


We ordered two 10" pizzas. The first one here is the Chipotle Chicken pizza. It was a very "American" pizza, especially compared to the pizza reviewed below. The sauce was a chipotle mayo, with chicken, tomato, and cheddar along with mozzarella. I didn't really get much of the chipotle taste or heat. I thought it was going to be a little bit spicier. However, Mel said she could taste it. The chicken was pretty flavorful and tender. That was nice, as chicken can get dry on pizzas. The tomato was a brilliant touch. It added a nice bit of acid to an otherwise heavy pizza. Ill get to the crust with the next pizza. Overall it was a good pizza.


This is the Roma Pomodoro pizza. It features a base sauce of pesto olive oil. Basically it was a pesto with some more olive oil drizzled over top. It had a great fresh taste of basil. It also had a nice bit of garlic that was in the back ground but was noticeable. It was a nice touch in balance with the rest of the pizza. The toppings consisted of marinated tomatoes, red onion, and fresh basil and spinach. The toppings were in perfect balance with each other. The spinach and basil brought a nice fresh, green, "herbalness" that complimented the pesto, onion, and cheese. The mozzarella was gooey and when pulled apart was stringy. I don't know if it was fresh or a really good shredded, but either way it was of high quality. The tomatoes added some acid to counter the richness of the cheese and the sweetness of the onion. The crust was possibly the best crust I have had in GR. It was thin, yet the doughier parts around the edge were chewy and tender with good texture. The bottom was solid throughout, and it didn't get soggy in the middle like often happens with pizza. Ever since our trip to Italy, Mel and I have been searching for a pizza that takes us back there. This is the one that so far has been the closest to doing that. We both agree that this pizza, specifically the Roma Pomodoro, is the best we have had in GR. Much better than Rose's (which, although good, is overrated in my opinion), better than Uccello's, and better than Brick Road Pizza. 

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Quick Dinner Idea

So, seeing how right now our cupboards and fridge is getting pretty bare, I had to be a little bit creative with dinner the other night, and it had to be a quick made dinner. I was hungry.

I was thinking about what sounded good, and something Asian sounded good. I cut up a quarter of an onion, and crushed and minced some garlic. I also had a chicken thigh and removed the skin and bone, and then diced it up. I also grabbed some quick cook rice and garbonzo beans (aka chickpeas). The chickpea idea came from some Indian dishes that use chickpeas in a curry. I started by cooking the onion in a mix of canola oil and chili oil. I also started heating up some water to boil. after a few minutes I added the chicken, then the garlic after a few more minutes. I added the rice to the boiling water then removed it from the heat. Meanwhile I added the chickpeas to cook with the onion, chicken, and garlic. When the rice was done I added it to the pan. Following that I added some soy sauce, fish sauce, sriracha hot suace, lime juice, Madras curry powder, lime juice, and coconut milk. I let that simmer for another 5 minutes to tighten and thicken up a little bit. I then spooned it into the bowl and topped with peanuts. Total cooking time was less than 20 minutes and only two pans used, one for the rice and another for everything else. 

I thought the flavor was pretty good for just throwing things together. I ended up with a mix of Indian, Thai, Indonesian, and southern Chinese flavors. It had a nice acidity from the lime that complimented the heaviness of the coconut milk. There was a little heat, but not too much. The natural sweetness from the onion also added a nice counterbalance to the other flavors. The peanuts added some texture to the bowl. I might have to try and perfect this one.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Follow the Yellow Brick Road Pizza

On Good Friday, after going to a Good Friday service, Mel and I stopped by Brick Road Pizza in the East Town area on Wealthy. We had been there together once before, sometime last year. I forgot to write about it then. I am not making the same mistake twice. Its a fairly nice sized place that tends to cater slightly toward the hipster crowd that frequents the area. But by no means does that make it inaccessible to everyone.


We started with some breadsticks. They were pretty good, with butter and parmasean on top. They were made fresh and the bread was pretty good. I would put them in between Uccello's and the Reservoir's bread sticks in terms of size and butteriness. They were reasonably priced too for the portion. A nice start to our late lunch.


We decided to make our own pizza, even though they have a ton of different pizzas catering to all people, from vegetarians to the carnivores and everything in between. We decided on splitting a 12" pizza topped with bacon, caramelized onion, and roasted garlic. The crust was done really well. It was nice and crispy on the bottom and wasn't soggy in the middle. The cheese was melted nicely and was of a good quality, as it had a nice stringiness to it when the slices were pulled apart. The bacon was crispy and went well with the sweet caramelized onions and roasted garlic. It was a nice pizza and well deserved of the reputation Brick Road Pizza has.