Happy New Year

My resolution this year is to blog more, blah blah blah... yada yada. To kick start that, here is our New Year's Eve feast as prepared by Lauren.
Homemade Cocktail Sauce: Ketchup, Horseradish, (maybe Lemon Juice?)
Shrimp: Peeled, De-veined, cooked in a Shrimp Boil with Garlic, Onions, Spices, etc. Then chilled and dried in the fridge between paper towels.
Cannelloni Bean Salad: Cannelloni Beans, Olive Oil, Crushed Red Pepper, Salt, Black Pepper, Garlic, maybe a few other things.
Crackers
Baked Brie, Puff Pastry rolled out, insert Brie cubes Raspberry Preserves (or any fruit or jam here), and Walnuts (or any nuts, shaved almonds also work well). Fold up, Brush with Egg Wash, use a small piece of puff pastry for the bow decoration and bake.

Serve with Chilled Champagne and Pomegranate seeds. Great New Year's Eve!

-The Food Monster

Buzz Seafood and Grill - World Famous Garlic Cheese Bread

Recently, The Food Monster was married and spent a lovely time in St. Lucia for a week. Just north of Rodney Bay. To follow is a series of foods and reviews of some of the delicious food that sampled that week. Enjoy.

Buzz Seafood and Grill part 2 - Avocado and Lobster salad
Lobster was in season while we were in St. Lucia and our first night out brought us to Buzz Seafood and Grill. This appetizer of Avocado, Lobster, some sort of very light sauce (probably a citrus based sauce with a hint of cream) was outstanding and one of the best appetizers for the whole trip. Their avocados are enormous and even more tasty than their small North American counterparts. If you can order this in season on St. Lucia, give yourself a treat!

Buzz Seafood and Grill - World Famous Garlic Cheese Bread

Recently, The Food Monster was married and spent a lovely time in St. Lucia for a week. Just north of Rodney Bay. To follow is a series of foods and reviews of some of the delicious food that sampled that week. Enjoy.

Buzz Seafood and Grill part 1
Their menu claimed that their Garlic Cheese Bread was world famous. So, we decided to have one of the most Americanized Italian foods at a Seafood restaurant in the Carribean. Wow, it really was good. Lots of gooey cheese (probably 2-3 different kinds), lovely garlic flavor. I'm sure it was dripping with butter underneath and a nice light crunch to the outer part of the baguette. Along with the Avocado and Lobster salad, it was a great way to start off the meal.

Anotherthyme a review

Friday night is a big date night here in the triangle. My girlfriend and I decided to join the crowds and head out to a well recommended establishment, Anotherthyme. Cute play on words, I know, especially after I read more about its predecessor, Somethyme on their website. The recommendation I got was, "... great food, you will probably get terrible service, but great food."
I neglected to tell Lauren about the bad service part. Off we went. The drive wasn't too bad, and Durham is either up and coming, or up and came and now blooming. The amount of money that went into the historical downtown district was worth it. Nice restaurants, restored Tobacco Warehouses complement the new buildings like the Durham Performing Arts Center. Get out to see a show if you haven't yet. That's for Anotherthyme. On to the restaurant.

We showed up 5 minutes before our reservation at 7pm and were promptly greeted and seated. Anotherthyme has a normal menu along with a specials of the week menu, which gives it some spice, if you are interested in never eating the same plate twice.

We started off with a plate of "Crispy Calamari ~ with Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa & Cilantro Aioli" ($7.50)The tiny Calamari, about the size of jawbreakers, were perfectly cooked, lightly breaded, and the sauces provided two great flavors. I only wish there were more sauce served with it. It was some of the best Calamari I have had. A

On the the entrees. Forgive the pictures, it was low-light with little more than candlelight, and Lauren strongly discourages the flash at restaurants. Lauren had the market price ($23.95) Seared Pumpkin Crusted Yellow Fin Tuna. The tuna came cooked medium, and was divine. Served on a bed of greens, Yicama, and naval orange sections, it was quite the combination of flavors. I'm not one for Yicama, but thoroughly enjoyed the Tuna with the Citrus. Lauren enjoyed it all and even brought home half.

That was probably in part due to the fresh bread that was warmed and served with a pad of butter. We went through 8 pieces (2 baskets) of this complimentary delight.

My plate was disappointing. I ordered the Indonesian Curried Vegetables. ($16.95) It tasted like a bunch of nicely cooked vegetables thrown onto a plate with a tiny bit of great tasting chicken, and a tablespoon of a rich curry sauce on top. The cashews were huge and didn't feel like they belonged. Nothing really gelled with the dish. The rice was mostly overcooked. And I was really expecting more curry sauce. It lacked in the full flavor I have come to expect for dishes with curry in the title. I was just glad the rest of the plates were great.

We also ordered a cute half-bottle of Collovray & Terrier St. Veran, Burgundy, France '05 ($18). I'm not a wine expert but enjoyed it, as did Lauren.The service left a little to be desired. Although, I must say it got better as the evening wore on. As soon as the waitress saw how fast the water disappeared the first time, she kept up, while still giving us space.

Other than the Curried Vegetables, I would recommend this restaurant as a great place for date night in Durham. We are both looking forward to trying the other places in town.

Got a recommendation, email The Food Monster at thefoodmonsterblog@gmail.com

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Finally, I am out of my Thanksgiving food coma enough to type on the keyboard. Wow, what a holiday, 5 days devoted to Food, Sports, and Family/Friends.
Here in Los Angeles, the three roomates, Yo Soy and her mother, a couple of friends, and I all gathered for a spectacular feast of gluttony. I will try and talk about some of the dishes in the next couple of posts including this one about Crab Stuffed Mushrooms.
I originally used the recipe for Christmas last year, and it was such a hit. A simple recipe which can be expensive if your crab isn't on sale, but it is worth using real meat. Enjoy!

Photo Essay: Sweet Fr î tes! Part 2

You can find Sweet Fr î tes! Part 1 here.
This will be a photo essay of photos John David took on a beautiful afternoon when flowers were in bloom outside, making the famous Sweet Potato Fries. Enjoy his food photography skills.

Homemade pickles

Pickles are easy to make. At least, they were once my girlfriend had taught me. You just need some sort of vinegary solution and some cucumbers. For added flavor, slice a few onions and throw them in too.


Ingredients:
Cucumbers, sliced
Onion slices
Apple Cider Vinegar (although, I didn't have any and used 90% rice vinegar and 10% balsamic)
Water (equal parts to vinegar)
Salt and Pepper

Put them all in a tupperware or a bowl with a seal, and throw in the fridge overnight. The serve as a side to anything from burgers to brauts.

Guest Blogger: John David, Sweet Frite!

A photo essay of Sweet Fr îtes Part 2 can be seen here.

Sweet Fr î tes!

So now that everyone’s closeted away all their white and come to terms with the dwindling days of summer, I thought I’d finally write my guest blog post on our labor day cookout…now only ten days too late J

The Labor Day weekend up at our little hill-top hideaway was eventful. On Sunday, the whole gang participated in an annual Echo Park Scavenger Hunt—legs were shaven, tattoos were inked, and certain teammates wound up making out in a dumpster. L.A. fun at its finest.

Needless to say, we were all a tad tuckered come Monday. And so the idea of a cookout met only half-hearted enthusiasm and ill-attempts at actually putting together an official mayview barbeque. But of course, the evening rolled around, the food monster and his goons got hungry, and we decided to throw together a late-night, labor day cookout.

One trip to Von’s and one disgruntled phone call to the Von’s manager later—don’t ever solicit a food monster on an empty stomach—and we were back in the compound kitchen, cooking up a spread of Labor Day deliciousness. Uncle Cray made his carnivorous burger bliss; the food monster stirred up some sweet sangria, per my request J; and I tried my hand at hamburger sans viande…a.k.a homemade veggie burgers.

But my pride and joy was beside the soy on my plate: the homemade side sweet potato fries. And so I’ll keep my first guest blog post short and sweet. I know you’re all on the edge of your seats, mouths-watering and patience-waning. Without further ado, the recipe for the perfect post scavenger-hunt, oh golly I have to go to work tomorrow with no eyebrows, late-night, bittersweet, labor day’s almost over and we’re not gonna get another long weekend ‘till thanksgiving, Sweet Fr î tes Sweet Potato Fries:

Ingredients:

· 4 or 5 Large Sweet Potatoes

· Olive Oil

· Honey

· Cinnamon

· Sea Salt

Instructions:

· Slice the Sweet Potatoes into hefty slices, based on the particular size fry you fancy.

· Scatter the slices across a greased baking sheet.

· Generously shower the wedges in olive oil.

· Bake at around 375-400 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

· 5-10 minutes before removing from the oven, swizzle honey over your wedges and powder them with cinnamon and sea salt.

· Remove, let cool, and enjoy.

Mushroom Basil Goat Cheese Pizza

Mushroom Basil Goat Cheese Pizza

We got the hankering for some pizza one night. I will tell this story through pictures, the final products being from two different nights. The Pizza sauce made two pizzas, we used 2 crusts. . Ingredients came from Trader Joe's.

Mushrooms, cleaned, sliced, sauteed with minced Garlic
Basil, cleaned, ripped
TJ's Whole Wheat Crust, rolled out according to directions
TJ's pizza sauce Mushrooms and Garlic
Herb Crusted Goat Cheese from TJ's
Shredded Whole Milk Mozzarella

1/4 of the pizza was made without the cheeses for the Vegan that ate with us.

For an a little something extra,
rub a drizzle of Olive Oil into the crust, then a few drops of Honey, and a sprinkle of Cinnamon, which gives a slight sweetness to the crust and balances out any savory pizza.


Enjoy!

- The Food Monster

Guacamole

One night, I decided to use up the rest of pizza ingredients that I had lying around, so I made Mushroom, Basil, and Goat Cheese Pizza, which I will hopefully blog about soon, meanwhile Yo Soy! came over and made some Vegan Guacamole.

It was basically, my Avocado Salsa recipe, mashed up with a Mortar (Large Bowl), and Pestle (Fork), to a smoother consistency. One of the best things in the world, is the combination of lime juice, cilantro and ripe avocados.

3 Avocado
1 Small ripe tomato
1 small handful of fresh Cilantro, Washed/Chopped
Juice of 2 Limes
a little Salt and Pepper (I prefer Sea Salt or Kosher Salt) to taste

So grab some chips and ripe avocadoes and enjoy this mashed up version of Avocado Salsa!

Yai Fine Thai

Von Scrumptious, was startled one night, by the fact that on some food rating website, probably yelp.com, there happened to be a cheap Thai restaurant in the top ten of Los Angeles Thai Joints. Better than that, it is located on Vermont, which in my book, is considered East of Vermont (EOV). You bet your bottom dollar we went there that very night.

Yai Fine Thai
A newly renovated restaurant, that is nestled behind Fatburger, in between Rite Aid and Jons Supermarket on Vermont. This is the new local Thai powerhouse for my food group. But plastic diners beware, cash only.

We started off with some Seafood Cakes, a mixture of Crab and other seafoods.
They were pretty good, especially the sweet and slightly spicy dipping sauce. Von Scrumptious ordered Ginger Chicken (the top dish above), which wasn't my favorite but I would definitely eat it. (I am partial to Curries and Pad Thai or See Ew)

I ordered yellow curry I believe (above), which was a little on the warm side. Joe, a Green curry, which at Medium was HOT!!!!, too much for my tongue to handle. It was great reheated, with a little of John David's Pad See Ew (Tofu).
I of course had a Thai Iced Tea, which was great. Since all of the photos were taken on Joe's Iphone, I think he got tired of sending them to me, so no photos of the 4 Iced Teas that were ordered.

I have since returned and tried the Pad Thai, and more Iced Tea, real consistent, and from what I know, authentic Thai cuisine. Hit it up if you are ever EOV in Los Angeles, just beware the heat, they don't play around, I would suggest starting at Mild.

Enjoy!


Yai Thai
1627 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Malo - a malo review

My friends and I went to Malo one night for Chips and Margaritas. I was expecting the Mexican restaurants of the East Coast, all you can eat delicious, warm, salty chips, and cheap meals ($5.00-$8.95). What I got, was completely a surprise. The chips, while delicious were charged per basket. They had dry chips, and then chewy chips, which tasted a bit like they had been left in the oil too long. However, they were also delicious.
My housemate Joe got a Margarita or two, I think they were somewhere between $10.00 and $14.00 per glass, and not that great from what I gathered.
I ordered Carnitas ($6.00) and Guacamole ($7.00) for dinner. I was expecting a little bit more guacamole. The Carnitas were average and oh so tiny. The meat on them (pork) was kind of disgusting and poorly cooked, with tons of flavorless fat. The guacamole was super great. That might have been because it was really fresh and good, or because it sat next to my Carnitas. I believe it was because of the fresh Avocados Cilantro, and Olives for a garnish. Next time though, I would rather hit up a Taco Cart. At least there, I can get some kind of service and a refill on water when I am desperate.

I usually leave the contact info and address for a restaurant that I review, but don't bother going, the prices were a bit on the upside and normally that is ok if you get great food in return. This wasn't worth the investment of time or money.