Asian Fusion

I bought some soba noodles the other day and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I found an interesting recipe by Guy Fieri. I love Guy. He's Money! I absolutely love his restaurant, Tex Wasabi up in Santa Rosa (he has one in Sacramento, too). Anyway, this recipe turned out really good. I give Guy the credit, but I didn't follow it exactly. As for the veggies, I ommitted the napa cabbage (I used red cabbage instead), bean sprouts, & bok choy, simply because I didn't have them on hand. I would kick it up a little bit next time and add some red chili pepper flakes. I also used Ponzu flavored soy sauce instead of regular. I hope by giving Guy the credit, its ok for me to post it here...?

"Dang Cold Asian Noodle Salad, by Guy Fieri:

1 package soba noodles (I used 2 bundles and it was plenty...there were 3 in the package)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon hot chili oil
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (I cut it down to 4)
1 carrot, thinly sliced or julienned
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced or julienned
5 green onions, bottom 4 inches, thinly sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced napa cabbage
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced or julienned
1/2 cup julienned bok choy
1 cup bean sprouts, optional
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted, for garnish
4 tablespoons unsalted peanuts, for garnish

In a medium stock pot, boil water, add salt and cook noodles. When finished, place noodles in an ice water bath to cool. Drain and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine, sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce, hot chili oil, hoisin and extra-virgin olive oil. Mix thoroughly and then combine prepared vegetables and noodles.

Garnish with sesame seeds and peanuts."

I did not use peanuts, and I would let it chill for an hour or two next time, so that the flavors have a chance to marry. I didn't take pictures. I'm trying to remember to do that. I think this salad would go amazingly with Guy's Wasabi Sake-Tini!!! He puts powdered wasabi on the rim of the glass, mixes vodka & sake, and garnishes it with a pickled ginger stuffed olive. OMG! Yum! Guy, can you feel my love?

Tomorrow I'm going to make the Buffalo Chicken Soup that Stef at 365 Days of CrockPotting posted a few days ago. I marinated the chicken in the buffalo sauce before I baked the chicken tonight. I would have made it today, but I'm out of Velveeta. Well, its just not something I always have on hand. What can I say? But God, this soup...it looks so good!!! Can't wait to try it.

Meat Loaf

I had defrosted some ground beef, some sweet Italian pork sausage, and some spicy "Caprese" (?) Italian sausage, so I decided to go ahead and make a meat loaf. Its been a very, very, very looooong time since I've made meat loaf. The main reason being that my kids don't like it...actually, they just don't really like meat very much. Its getting exhausting trying to get them to eat what I make. Anyway, I followed Elises' recipe from her website, Simply Recipes. Love that site, btw. I was out of carrots & celery, so omitted that and the butter, and I am out of bread crumbs, so I smashed up some stoned wheat crackers. Funny name, but thats what they are called. LOL.

The goulash turned out really good. I had a bunch of mushrooms so I added those in for the heck of it and also to make up for the fact that I didn't have enough tri tip. I made a gorgeous cucumber salad, too, which turned out good. The Basil-Lemon sorbet? No so good. It was just way too sweet! And I cut the sugar from 2 cups to 1 and 3/4!! The basil was weird, but interesting. I should have used more mint, too.

My husband and I went to see "Burn After Reading" this afternoon. OMG, it was hysterical!!!! I was dying! There was this little old lady sitting by herself in front of me and she was laughing so loudly it cracked me up. She was laughing so loudly and for so long at this one scene where it was not even funny! It was sad, actually, but I won't give it away! Oh, why not? No one reads this! LOL It was when Brad Pitts' character was "offed"! I was bummed because he was so funny!! I won't tell "you" who else died, though! ;)

I am tripping out on how Twitter works. I mean, I get it, but I see something that sparks my interest and I try to follow the "conversation", but can't. Its kind of frustrating. There was some buzz about someone being on some talk show and I was finally, after lots of searching, finally able to figure out that a few of my favorite food bloggers are going to be on Martha Stewart on Wednesday. How fun! I'll have to tape it.

Stuff I'm making

I'm making Hungarian Goulash for dinner tonight. I wanted to try to do it in the crock pot, but I don't think I have time. I suppose I could do it anyway and have it for dinner tomorrow night, instead. But then what will be for dinner tonight? I'm obviously craving some comfort food! Because meatloaf sounds good, too, but no one else in my family will eat it. You know what else they won't eat which makes me mad? Manwiches....or Sloppy Joes, whatever. Who doesn't love a Sloppy Joe?

I made the best Tiramisu yesterday! Its the first time I made it and well, it turns out that I'm really good at it! LOL You just beat together 3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 TBSP strong coffee or espresso, & 2 TBSP brandy or cognac for about 3 minutes. Fold in 8 ozs Mascarpone cheese and beat for about 4 minutes until smooth & creamy. Then in a separate bowl, you whip 3 egg whites & a apinch of sugar until it forms soft peaks. Dip the bottom half of 10-12 lady fingers into espresso or coffee, then layer the cheese mixture on top, sprinkle some cocoa powder ( I used Green & Blacks organic), keep layering, and Well-a! Tiramisu! My kids complained that it was too wet on the bottom, but I think its perfectly delicious and my husband agrees.

I put the freezer barrel in the freezer two days ago so I guess I ought to get busy and make that Basil Lemon Sorbet I've been meaning to make. Doesn't that sound good? It has mint in it, too. Yum.

I'm not keeping up with this blog much. I love reading all the other great food blogs out there!! I'm totally addicted to it. Between the weight loss blogs and the food/recipe blogs, I am on the computer way too much!! So, having said that, I better get myself into the kitchen and figure out how to do goulash in the crock! My meat is still frozen, sooo.....yea, I'm kind of screwed. I wanted to brown it first, but this was a last minute idea..well, I've been putting it off for over a week now, so not so last minute. I'm rambling, but who cares? I have no readers! LOL

Ca Bianca

This past weekend was our girls spa getaway for Melissa's birthday. I pretty much planned the whole thing and it was kind of stressful! I mean, how hard is it to decide between a facial, a massage, or both? I personally went for a facial and a pedicure and it was pure bliss. My complexion is glowing and my feet are sooo soft and my toenails are Tangerine Scene. I don't really know these girls too well, but I've been invited to hang out with them on occasion. I met a few new ladies and we all had a blast.

The birthday dinner was held at Ca Bianca in Santa Rosa. It's in a gorgeous white Victorian House with the most beautiful garden in the front yard, which is surrounded by a white picket fence. We had a reservation for 9 since 3 ladies missed spa day and were just meeting us there. We were greeted and seated right away in a small room located near the back of the house. Our waitress was great, the service was excellent, and the food was delicious. Now, I had not eaten all day and I was famished, so it may be that reason that I felt that the portions were small, but in retrospect, I still do think they could have been larger. Especially since we had 9 people sharing appetizers. We started with Beef Carpaccio, Caprese Salad, Eggplant, and Polenta. They were all amazing and delicious! For my entree, I had the Chicken Picatta. The chicken itself was delicious, but the sauce could have been more lemony and the side was a tiny portion of salty, diced potatoes & bell peppers--it reminded me of a breakfast hash. Again, the portion of the entree was very small for this ravenous girl. The waitress brought out a trio of desserts with a candle for Melissa: Chocolate Mousse w/ mini Biscotti, Apple Tartlette w/ Vanilla Ice Cream, and Tiramisu. Delicioso!

Picante, Bobby's Cafe, & Jason's

This post is dedicated to White on Rice Couple who reminded me that I promised to review these restaurants soon. I'm so glad you liked my blog and I hope it comes in handy! :) Thanks for your comment!

We went back to Picante's the other day because we were in the mood for fish tacos. I should have tried the pork to see if it was any better than last time, but I just wanted a fish taco. It was really good with grilled Mahi Mahi, red & green cabbage, a slice of avocado, and salsa verde. They have the best salsa! I really do like Picante and I'm sure we will continue to go there.

We finally had a chance to try Bobby's Cafe in downtown San Rafael a couple of weeks ago. I was not very impressed with either the ambiance nor the food. The service was ok until our waiter disappeared for about 15 minutes at the end of the meal, making us wait way too long for our bill. We couldn't wait to get out. We ordered 2 items off of the "Specialties" section of their menu: Fish & Chips and a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. Both were just terrible. The fish was overly battered & greasy. The chicken was like a frozen chicken tender and the baguette it was served on was too hard to bite into. I wish Bobby and his crew all the luck, but we won't be returning any time soon. Maybe they serve up a good breakfast; I don't know.

Now Jason's, on the other hand, was delicious!! His old space was in an industrial area of San Rafael and did well there for a little over 3 years. Well, when Giorgio's moved out a few months back, Jason didn't waste any time moving in. And I have to say, maybe he should have. The decor was a little bit tired and I would have liked to seen at least some new, updated carpet. I have a few complaints regarding the service, but the food was actually pretty amazing.

We did not have a reservation, so we put our names in around 6:40 pm on a Saturday. We were quoted a wait of 40 minutes, then they said 45-60. Not a good sign especially since there were clearly several unoccupied tables. We decided to wait in the bar and have a cocktail. At about 7:30, we were offered a deuce that we saw at least 2 couples refuse (they did not appear to have a reservation, and I even asked one couple if they did, and they said no), so we of course refused. It was right in front of the kitchen and I wanted to be in the dining room or the patio. Well, at 8:00, I was quite upset. I was hungry and cranky. I told the hostess, who I think was Jason's mom, that we had been waiting well over an hour and we'd seen many people who came in after us being seated. Turns out the other, younger hostess was somehow under the impression that we were waiting for the patio. No idea how she thought that, but whatever. So, we finally get seated, waited at least 10 minutes before we were greeted by our waitress, Jennifer. I'm just going to leave it at this: the table service did not improve and was very, very slow. She didn't seem bombed, just not in a hurry, I guess.

We ordered the Dragon Prawns appetizer which was out of this world!!! Tempura prawns are drizzled with a wasabi aioli sauce, chili oil and tobiko on top of a cucumber salad. Yum! We also shared a delicious bleu cheese salad. Then for our entree's, my husband ordered and enjoyed the Seared Cajun Ahi Tuna, which was served with a mango salsa over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes, and these amazing crispy tempura fried green beans on the side! I ordered the Blackened Rib Eye Steak, which was cooked beyond the medium I asked for, but it was still delicious, and served sliced over a bed of jalapeno mashed potatoes that were to die for. We did not have room for dessert, but next time--and there will be a next time--I'm going to have the Bananas Foster.

Bottom line: Check out Picante, avoid Bobby's, but run as fast as you can to Jason's...but be sure to secure a reservation!!

Aurora Ristorante

Wow! An authentic Italian restaurant complete with authentic Italian wait staff & chefs! We have been wanting to try Aurora's in Novato for quite some time now, so last night we finally decided to check it out. After reading a few reviews, we were a bit apprehensive and I kept saying, "I hope its really good because I'm starving!". Well, it was fabulous!!! We cannot wait to go back.

We were greeted immediately & seated at a large booth right by the front door. Next time I wouldn't mind getting a bit more into the dining room, but we were content. The decor was nice and warm, the walls were adorned with artwork by local artists, and the place was packed! And a bit loud. I think it would also be nice to sit outside on the lovely patio on a nice day. Our waiter, Luca, was so sweet and attentive! We loved Luca. His Italian accent was adorable.

For starters, we ordered my favorites: Beef Carpaccio & Caprese salad. They were delicious! The beef was thinly sliced and had capers and a slight drizzle of dijon mustard, and the Caprese had thick slices of tomato topped with thick slices of fresh mozzarella cheese, strips of basil, and a drizzle of olive oil. My daughter had a Caesar salad and it was light and devoid of anchovies, which we appreciated!

On to the entrees. My daughter had the Mushroom & Sausage Pizza, without the mushrooms. She liked it alot. My husband and I decided to share two dishes: the Tortellini with Proscuitto & Peas in a creamy white sauce and the Chicken Saltimbocca, which was served with some steamed veggies & what appeared to be scalloped potato slices. Both dishes were excellent!!!

We even decided to order dessert, which is rare. I had the tiramisu (lady fingers, rum, espresso, & marscarpone) my daughter had the affogato al caffe (vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and espresso), and my husband had proffiterol (tiny cream puffs, chocolate sauce, & ice cream). Again, they were all absolutely delicious and made in house by their passionate pastry chef!

Aurora & Carlo Scatena also own Arrivederci and are co-owners of Caccicucco Cucina Toscana here in Marin. We've been to both places a few years back, but those visits were not as memorable as this visit was. Aurora rocked our socks!

Branching Out

I'm getting bored of doing only restaurant reviews. I think I'm going to start writing about other stuff, too. Like running and recipes. My primary blog (at extrapounds.com) is about weight loss and I have a "following", if you will. Here, I never get any hits at all, no one reads it, so I can maybe be more open. And talk about more than just weight loss, food, & exercise--or lack thereof.

So, I'm a runner. It took me a long time to get here, but I do love to run and I've already done a half marathon, a 10K, and a 5K. I've been shopping around for another 10K and I think its gonna be either the Golden Gate Presidio Trail 10K or the Embarcadero 10K-they are both on November 9th. I wanted to do the Napa Valley Stomp 10K on September 27th, but we have tickets to the Giants/Dodgers game on the 26th. And there will be beer involved. My husband I are planning on staying over so we don't have to drive home. We usually take the ferry, but its a night game, and I don't think it will be running that late. It doesn't matter because I won't fee like running the next morning anyway. I'm excited about seeing my beloved Dodgers! I hope they win again like they did when we went to the game on July 6th. I'm from Los Angeles, what can I say? I like the Giants, too. After all, my favorite color is orange.

Anyway, the problem is that I've been slacking off on the running. Big time. I've only run a little over 6 miles this month!!! I have 2 more days, so I could probably get in another 4-6 miles, but still. On average, I like to run 3-4 miles a day, preferably 4-5 days a week. My goal is to get back to that. Which is why a race is in order....I need something to train for!!! I have had all kinds of excuses not to run: its too windy, its too hot, too humid, etc. But the real reason is I'm just too lazy. Sometimes the gear is just too much of a hassle! Those sports bras are torture chambers, the lycra sticks to my skin when I sweat, and every time I put my running shoes on the dogs start barking and jumping because they know that I will be walking them as my warm up. You know, just writing this makes me realize that those are such lame ass excuses! LOL Just lace up my shoes and go running already!

Ok, so I enjoy running and love the Dodgers. I also love the Rolling Stones. I love the beach and love to shop. Oh, and I'm on a womens doubles tennis league that I enjoy. I also love to cook and have been obsessed with some really great food blogs that I've found. I've been adding them randomly-without permission. Oops. I think thats ok, though, isn't it? I mean, when I see my name on someones friends list I get a little smile on my face. I love all my friends over at extrapounds.com. I've lost 44 pounds with the help of that website and all the friends I've made. But I've been blogging there for over 2 years now and I am feeling like I've worn out my welcome. I still need to lose about 10 pounds, but its not happening. I'm eating ok but I am not exercising as much as I should. That needs to change.

I'm excited that I have a new place to write! I still need to review Jason's new restaurant in Greenbrae. The food is fantastic! Next time!

Shelley