Tofu, the other meat.

Tofu. It's bland and tasteless in it's natural form. With the right ingredients, tofu can come to life.



I bought this tofu from the Korean Western Oriental Market on Spring Mountain and Valley View. It's deep fried tofu with Korean red chili paste. For $2.99 it's a good buy. The flavors matched really well. The tofu was firm with some saltiness. It's not the best deep fried tofu that I've ever eaten but for the price, it's not bad.

My favorite Thai restaurant is Pin Kaow located on Rainbow and Robindale. I eat here at least 4 times a month and sometimes twice in one week. The hubby and I used to go every Friday but we can't stand their Friday night "singer." The "singer" hurts my ears. He's like one of those people that try out on American Idol who thinks they are good but in reality they are toned deaf. Anyways, this blog is not about music. Let's just say, you've been warned. (I hope they don't read this and spit into my food. Remember, I'm your loyal loyal customer.) The restaurant is decorated in Thai style. There's an elephant head on one wall and a shrine of some Thai ancestors on another wall. It's comfortable and clean. The servers are always nice and continuously ready to refill your water. But we don't eat here 4 times a week for the ambiance, we come here for the food. The hubby's favorite dish is here is the Pad Kee Mao with fried tofu spicy- number 7. What brings this dish together is the basil with just the right amount of soy sauce. Most Thai restaurants carry this dish but Pin Kaow is really consistent and gets it just right 99% of the time. I do find that other Thai places makes Pad Kee Mao too greasy but not here. I usually order my all time favorite Thai Beef Salad spicy level 7 (the dressing on this salad makes me lick the plate and sometimes I really do! Ha!) but tonight I can't do beef. I've had too much beef in the past week. This girl is beefed out. Tonight, I ordered the Catfish delight. It's battered catfish fillets in a yummy thick sweet curry sauce (spicy number 8 tonight). It was really spicy tonight but oh so good. The curry here never fails to match the lightly salted fried fish fillet. This is definitely a must try dish.

Green Day!

Mmmmmm, the aroma of corned beef. I started cooking my corned beef last night at 7pm. It went straight from the plastic package into the slow cooker. Then I added the seasoning packet that came with it and 3 cups of water. My slow cooker was set on low for 8 hours.

My corned beef was so beautiful this morning. It was steaming hot and absolutely fork tender. It was hard to slice the hot piece of meat but hubby and I could not wait. He was already wide awake with hunger and ready with the stone ground mustard. Within 20 minutes, the 2 lbs of corned beef was devoured in it's entirety. Ah... now full and ready to start our day! Or perhaps more sleep? :)


Do Mexicans celebrate St. Paddy's Day?

After work, the hubby and I pondered what to eat? I really didn't want to cook tonight. The hubby wanted Mexican but I wanted wonton noodles with a side of guiyum(sp?) squid-it's Chinese style salt and pepper squid similar to calamari. We were too tired and didn't want to drive down Spring Mountain so we opt for the Mexican restaurant near our house- Lindo Michoacan.

After taking 15 minutes to decide on what to order, I ended up ordering the Fajitas de Res (just good old steak fajitas!) and the hubby went adventurous and ordered Mole Poblano. By the time our dinner arrived, I've gone through 2 servings of their house salsa. I don't know what they spike it with but I could drink this stuff all day. It's balanced just right. It's a bit smoky, salty, sweet and with just the right amount of heat. I love it!

My steak fajitas was good but not great. The seasoning was perfect but the steak was somewhat on the dry side. However, the house salsa made everything good. I was dipping every bite into the salsa. (hmmm, maybe that's why my stomach is on fire right now- ha! yes, good salsa) The hubby's dish is really just chicken in mole sauce. The mole sauce was above average but nothing special. Overall, our dinner was not too bad. The hubby and I would go again and give it another try. Next time, maybe we will order seafood. It's rumored to be their specialty.
I was eying the whole deep fried tilapia tonight. I betcha it will taste great in the house salsa! LOL



The hubby's Mole Poblano.


On the yummy scale, the hubby gives it a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the yummiest).

Today's Menu

I love cooking. I love cooking so much that last night I dreamed of making my husband breakfast. I didn't have all the ingredients at home but I had a plan.

This morning I made a fabulous Flat Iron Steak sandwich with a basil garlic chimicurri dressing. Yum Yum Yum.

Ingredients:
1 lb of Flat Iron Steak
1/2 teaspoon of Garlic Powder
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 teaspoon of salt
olive oil
5 basil leaves (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 a lime
French bread
1/4 lb of sliced baby swiss cheese

Basil Chimicurri dressing- Combine the basil and garlic with 1/2 a lime and 4 teaspoon of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

I marinaded the flat iron steak overnight with 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of olive oil.

I prefer to pan fry my flat iron steak instead of grilling it. I love the crispiness of the pan seared meat especially steak. Flat iron steak tastes best cooked medium rare.

Heat the frying pan, make sure is nicely heated. It takes approximately 3-4 minutes per side on high heat for medium rare. Then remove the steak from the pan to a cutting board. Let it rest for a few minutes.

In the meantime, cut a 6 inch piece of French bread, add 2 slices of baby swiss and toast it. Make sure the cheese is all melted on the bread.

Now slice the flat iron steak against the grain and half of it to the toasted bread. Lightly drizzle the basil chimicurri dressing on the steak and enjoy.