Chef Boy am I Hungry!

Addie's Sunday Night Family Dinner

2011-08-09T01:35:17Z

Last night my girlfriend and I redeemed a Groupon for Addie’s restaurant. Little did we know - it was Sunday night family dinner at Addie’s.

We had a taste of so much! Take these treats for example:

Fried chicken
Tri-tip
Pan fried trout
Candied carrots
Mashed potatoes
Fried okra
Salads
Blueberry and peach cobbler

I had never been to a meal like this before, but both my girlfiend and I really enjoyed it immensely!

If you haven’t been to Addie’s, I suggest giving it a try. It is located on the Rockville Pike, just over the border from Bethesda, in Maryland. The prices are around average or slightly above average for a solid restaurant.

Would You Buy a $90 Bread Slicing Knife? On Sale from $160?

2011-05-29T14:37:44Z

Personally, I would not drop almost $100 for a knife to slice my bread, because that would mean that I would have to have some really delicious bread to slice!

Sure, I truly enjoy Spring Mill bread, but they can slice it for me. Its expensive, but it is delicious.

Shun Knives

Apparently, however, there are some people who will drop some serious dough on a bread knife! Amazon has a Shun bread knife on sale for $90, marked down from $160!

This must be an incredible knife, it has twelve positive reviews:

They have another one for $135, marked down from $175:

If I had enough money to buy a Shun knife, I’d probably start with a standard chef’s knife, like this one:

B0000Y7KNQ

Well, I’m convinced. Shun knives must be truly awesome. When I become a multi-millionaire, I’ll buy one. Maybe two, or three…

Japone Downstairs

2011-05-07T13:49:25Z

Thanks to a restaurant.com coupon, I gave this place a try. It was just OK, but I’ll go back next month too - because there were some definite pluses. There was one piece of sushi I hadn’t tried before - uni - that I ordered by accident that was very good. Haha.

I also tried their spicy tuna roll which I will skip next time. Actually next time I will stick with nigiri sushi - tuna, yellowtail (theirs was great), but no salmon. I accidentally ordered smoked salmon and it was just not what I expected.

Their unagi (what I meant to order instead of uni) was very good too. I ordered only one because I had ordered so much other stuff.

I also bought an order of toro for $8 - it was OK, but not worth it.

Kitchen Tools via Amazon's 4-for-3 Promotion

2011-03-26T16:18:19Z

I’m going to buy these kitchen tools, which, thankfully, are all part of a four-for-three promotion, so I’ll get one free: chopper, teapot, tray, mortal & pestle.

The human-powered chopper is actually really awesome - it chops surprisingly well. I do wish it were higher quality though - I feel like it will only last a few years.

I also recently bought some Emergen-C from Amazon; it has lots of vitamin C and some other vitamins and minerals too - I like it!

Target Lasagna

2011-03-26T02:43:10Z

I made this lasagna from pasta I bought from Target. It came out wonderful!

Lasagna can take awhile to cook, but thankfully the pasta was “oven ready”. I would definitely make this again.

It was actually pretty expensive to make, too, because I used organic mozzarella and ricotta cheese, jacking the price up big-time. Still, it was worth it!

Peruvian Pasta

2011-03-11T05:40:23Z

This meal was AWESOME!!

Pomegranate = Yummy!

2011-01-24T03:08:47Z

I love pomegranates. My grandmother introduced them to me when I was little, and for its such a fond memory. She sat me down, brought over a strange looking fruit, which was even stranger when she cracked it open. The bright red colors and the pale shelling really intrigued me.

I don’t buy them often these days, but I did recently to share some with my daughter. She’s still too young to make heads or tails of the fruit, but I’ll surely buy one again in the future.

Pomegranate

Pomegranate Insides

Review of Silver Diner in Rockville, MD

2011-01-23T23:28:38Z

Today I finally made it to a Silver Diner! A friend of mine and I went to the one in Rockville, Maryland, on the Rockville Pike (the new location by Trader Joe’s).

We went for Saturday brunch, and there was a sizable line with about a ten minute wait. In my opinion, it was well worth it!

I had the baby spinach, feta, and mushrooms omelette, and my friend had the California omelette. The interior was comfortable and clean, the service was helpful and attentive, and the food was delicious. The prices weren’t bad, either!

I will definitely go back.

Siu's Asian Bistro in Silver Spring, Maryland

2011-01-23T03:02:04Z

A friend of mine and I went to Siu’s Asian Bistro in Silver Spring, Maryland last night for a sushi dinner. I enjoyed our meal very much, and I realized its been way too long since I’ve had sushi.

It was incredibly cold outside, so I was glad we were able to sit one table away from the door, but it was still a bit chilly - not really much they could do about it though.

The Decor

The decor was nice, but the building they are in leaves a lot to be desired. Its basically in a chain-style storefront area, right next to a pizza shop of some kind. Not a big deal, and if it helps them keep their prices lower than some of the competition, I’m all for it.

Note: this restaurant is small. If you like gigantic restaurants, this place might not be the best choice for you.

The Service

The servers were not seasoned professionals, but they seemed to take their work seriously, and to be enjoying it as well.

The Food

The food was very good! I ordered salmon and tuna sushi rolls, yellowtail sashimi, and my friend ordered a specialty roll (whose name I cannot remember) that consisted of asparagus, cooked salmon skin, and spicy tuna on top. The specialty roll was DELICIOUS!

Overall

I’ll definitely return to Siu’s Asian Bistro. No doubt! Hopefully it won’t be so cold next time!

Here’s a link to their website:

Siu’s Asian Bistro in Silver Spring, Maryland

Match in South Norwalk Connecticut

2011-01-16T16:42:17Z

Last weekend I drove from Maryland to Massachusetts and back again, and while on the return leg, I had to make a pit stop in Norwalk, Connecticut.

While there, I chanced upon dining at Match. Its on Washington Street - the main strip in South Norwalk - and has a really nice setting.

While I’m not totally thrilled with the look of the logo, I really liked the design and layout of the restaurant. Its very tasteful, and simply smells great once you step inside.

For dinner, all I had was an appetizer pizza, the margherita, and it was soooo delicious! I didn’t want to eat anything too substantial because I still had about five hours of driving.

I hope to get a chance to go back soon and have a more substantial meal.

MORE Chicken Soup

2010-11-07T22:05:43Z

Yes, I have been cooking an inordinate amount of chickens and thus chicken soup.

Previously it has always been chicken rice soup, but the most recent time it was thick chicken noodle soup.

I basically followed the same recipe, but instead of rice, I used egg noodles and added some corn starch to thicken it up.

Cornish Hen

2010-10-28T05:15:11Z

I'm still on my whole chicken kick, and this week is was a cornish hen.

The picture of it came out lousy, but the bird itself was very tasty, as well as the subsequent soup!

Chickens and Chicken Soup

2010-09-17T20:14:59Z

I've been cooking a ton of chickens lately. Recently I've been using Harvestland chickens, but in general I try to use antibiotic-free, vegetarian fed chickens, and after I bake the whole chicken, I make chicken soup.

Both the chicken and the chicken soup have come out absolutely delicious lately. Check out this picture of the soup:

And yes, I use the whole chicken:

Beef Stew

2010-09-06T17:55:17Z

Today I'm making beef stew. I bought some Roseda stew beef, some carrots, a turnip, and a potato at Grosvenor. I should have bought some thyme as well, but thankfully I have some "herbs de Provence".

I'm following this recipe I found, minus the beef stock, tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce.

I'm going to let it cook for at least four hours.

How to Make an Awesome Omelette

2010-08-21T02:00:52Z

My sister is an excellent chef and she cooked this awesome omelette. The secret was all in the preparation. She prepared the vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, onions) first with a great combination of spices:

salt
pepper
herbes de' Provence

After the veggies were sauted over a medium heat with some high quality olive oil, it was time to prepare the eggs. For two people, I like to use four large eggs. My sister used a real whisk where I would usually just use a fork. We mixed in a little water to lighten up the whipped eggs then poured them into a hot buttered pan.

Then we lowered the heat and added the vegetables and feta cheese. So delicious.