The one and only Bacon Explosion. Weighing it at 4 pounds, it's pure pork pleasure with sausage rolled up inside! Not made by me, but it was well-received at my recent pork-inspired pot luck. Mmmmmm.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
All things pork
The one and only Bacon Explosion. Weighing it at 4 pounds, it's pure pork pleasure with sausage rolled up inside! Not made by me, but it was well-received at my recent pork-inspired pot luck. Mmmmmm.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Karibu Ethiopian
Karibu means "welcome" in Swahili (according to the menu), and this is a welcome addition to the multi-ethnic restaurant scene here. Located about a 1/2 mile east of IH-35 on East 7th and Attayac, Karibu seems to deliver on authentic Ethiopian tastes.
Weekdays, they have a lunch buffet, which is always a fun way to try lots of different things, and this didn't disappoint! From the photo of my plate of food, going more or less clockwise from the top: injera (the burrito-looking bread), fosolia (green beans), tikil gomen (cabbage, in the middle to the left of the rice, alicha wot (beef in a light curry herb sauce), kay wot (beef with onion, garlic, ginger & berbere spices), kik alicha (yellow split peas), kay misir wot (red lentils in a spicy sauce), and something that was just labeled as "Ethiopian bread." Not pictured, are the abesha gomen (collard greens w/ spices), but I did have a bite off someone else's plate. Everything was good, but what I really thought was outstanding (and I went back for more) were both the kay misir wot lentils and the kay wot beef dish. Both really had a nice layer of flavors -- mildly sweet, then flavorful and a touch spicy, those berbere spices at work! The beef particularly has a certain richness to it; the menu says it's cooked with purified butter (ghee?) which may account for that, as well as it's shine, without a greasy feel. Their injera is made of both teff and barley, but apparently one can order ahead of time an all-teff, and hence gluten free, injera. It was a very tender injera, and didn't taste quite as fermented (the dough takes about 3 days to make) as those I have had before.
Now I certainly don't claim to be an expert on Ethiopian food, and I have enjoyed the food of Aster's, both from the farmer's market and their restaurant; it's been a while since I have eaten their food, so I will have to revisit Aster's to compare. I would love to come back to Karibu and try the lamb dish that's on their menu. They had friendly service, and according to their website, live music on Fri and Sat nights. Worth a trip from South Austin to East Austin, for sure!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Cinnamon buns
Half of the programs on the Food Network drive me crazy! But there are a number that I do enjoy, and get some inspiration from. This past week on the Barefoot Contessa, Ina was making a quick version of cinnamon rolls using puff pastry dough. Mmmm!
I decided to make 24 mini rolls, rather than 12 standard. Good idea in theory, but it ended up not being so swift in practice. I overfilled the muffin tins with the brown sugar & butter mixture, and in the course of baking, their cups raneth over, and burning sugar became smoke and filled my kitchen, causing the smoke detectors to go off. Whoops! Well, at least I know they work, seeing how I was in Morocco when the time changed, and didn't install new batteries. Needless to say, the cats did NOT like all the noise, and I still have a couple windows open and ceiling fans going, an hour and some later. At least it's a warm February night....
So if you're inclined to bake, take a look at the recipe. Here's what I did differently. Walnuts instead of pecans and instead of raisins. Added a about 2 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips to the filling. And if I had to do it all over again, I'd use about half to two-thirds of the initial butter & brown sugar that you put in the bottom of the muffin tins (at least for the minis). These baked in about 18 minutes. After the smoke, I turned the oven off and let them sit in there for about 5 minutes.
Yummy! Very nice and sugary/glazed on the outer part, and still very squishy in the middle. Can't really go wrong with a little chocolate. I would put them on a tray before putting them in the oven. Fortunately, I have an oven liner on the bottom rack of my oven, which should make this cleanup process much easier. I would make these again! No yeast, no dough rising. Almost no fuss, no muss!
I decided to make 24 mini rolls, rather than 12 standard. Good idea in theory, but it ended up not being so swift in practice. I overfilled the muffin tins with the brown sugar & butter mixture, and in the course of baking, their cups raneth over, and burning sugar became smoke and filled my kitchen, causing the smoke detectors to go off. Whoops! Well, at least I know they work, seeing how I was in Morocco when the time changed, and didn't install new batteries. Needless to say, the cats did NOT like all the noise, and I still have a couple windows open and ceiling fans going, an hour and some later. At least it's a warm February night....
So if you're inclined to bake, take a look at the recipe. Here's what I did differently. Walnuts instead of pecans and instead of raisins. Added a about 2 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips to the filling. And if I had to do it all over again, I'd use about half to two-thirds of the initial butter & brown sugar that you put in the bottom of the muffin tins (at least for the minis). These baked in about 18 minutes. After the smoke, I turned the oven off and let them sit in there for about 5 minutes.
Yummy! Very nice and sugary/glazed on the outer part, and still very squishy in the middle. Can't really go wrong with a little chocolate. I would put them on a tray before putting them in the oven. Fortunately, I have an oven liner on the bottom rack of my oven, which should make this cleanup process much easier. I would make these again! No yeast, no dough rising. Almost no fuss, no muss!
Sazon
I had dinner at the interior Mexican spot Sazon last Friday night, and admittedly, I should have written this post when the food descriptions were a little fresher in my mind. I arrived just after 8pm to meet a friend. There was a guitarist playing music near the front door. As it was a Friday night, it was packed. And loud. And the musician. Great.
There's no formal host(ess) stand, so patrons just kind of wait inside the door. There didn't seem to be one person in charge of hosting, because at least three of the waitstaff came by and said there was seating available on the front patio, but as it was colder out, I said I'd like to wait for an indoor table. Other people came in, most of whom did go out to the patio which apparently has space heaters. Again, there's no one in charge of the seating, so to someone who does not frequent Sazon, it seemed completely disorganized. I had probably only been there 5 minutes (though it seemed much longer) when my friend arrived. We waited probably another 5 - 10, before getting seated, though the man who was clearing the table went first to a group that came in after us. (They politely said we had been there first, though I would have politely told the man that we had been there first if they had not... again, no one in charge...)
The physical space inside is not huge, and there is a bar that takes up about a quarter of the interior space along the back wall. There were maybe 15 - 18 four-top tables; didn't go out on the patio, so not sure how big it is out there. There's papel picado and sombreros lining the walls, and I think a neon beer sign on or near the bar. Casual atmosphere, appropriate decorations. The food is decidedly interior (as in authentic) Mexican, as opposed to Tex Mex. Looking on the back of their menu, they actually have a mission statement and a bit about their food, something that you usually don't see, and I find a nice & educational touch.
Turned out my friend had eaten a huge late lunch, and wasn't hungry. I had an early lunch and was starving. Chips (tasty, not greasy) & salsa (basic red, fresh, but otherwise fairly non-descript) arrived as we sipped on Mexican beers. I ordered one of their house specialties, the Cochinita Pibil, which is pork mixed with achiote and spices, and baked in banana leaves; it was served with grilled red onions, rice, black beans, and what they refer to as plantain chips. When the waiter asked what kind of tortillas (flour or corn) I wanted, I asked his preference, and he quickly responded that they make their corn tortillas there. If you can tell from my (ooops!) blurry picture, it's an attractive looking plate. There's no real complaints about it, but I think the pork was lacking in major flavor. Their plantain chips were thicker cut (half-inch in diameter) than what I would consider a normal "chip" in terms of bagged potato or even plantain chips, and to me it wasn't mashed and fried enough, at least how I like them! The tortillas were made with white corn, and were extremely tender, almost like flour tortillas. No real problems with the dish, but I am not sure that I would order it again.
I've been to Sazon maybe 2 or 3 other times, and I've always enjoyed it. I was glad to see they were packed on a Friday night in January (though it made parking more difficult), and hope that they will survive a slow economic period, though there were no indications that anyone in there was concerned about the local economy. It's a place I would gladly go back to, and explore other regional dishes. (And if you look at the contacts page on their website, you can see a much more focused picture of the cochinita pibil.)
There's no formal host(ess) stand, so patrons just kind of wait inside the door. There didn't seem to be one person in charge of hosting, because at least three of the waitstaff came by and said there was seating available on the front patio, but as it was colder out, I said I'd like to wait for an indoor table. Other people came in, most of whom did go out to the patio which apparently has space heaters. Again, there's no one in charge of the seating, so to someone who does not frequent Sazon, it seemed completely disorganized. I had probably only been there 5 minutes (though it seemed much longer) when my friend arrived. We waited probably another 5 - 10, before getting seated, though the man who was clearing the table went first to a group that came in after us. (They politely said we had been there first, though I would have politely told the man that we had been there first if they had not... again, no one in charge...)
The physical space inside is not huge, and there is a bar that takes up about a quarter of the interior space along the back wall. There were maybe 15 - 18 four-top tables; didn't go out on the patio, so not sure how big it is out there. There's papel picado and sombreros lining the walls, and I think a neon beer sign on or near the bar. Casual atmosphere, appropriate decorations. The food is decidedly interior (as in authentic) Mexican, as opposed to Tex Mex. Looking on the back of their menu, they actually have a mission statement and a bit about their food, something that you usually don't see, and I find a nice & educational touch.
Turned out my friend had eaten a huge late lunch, and wasn't hungry. I had an early lunch and was starving. Chips (tasty, not greasy) & salsa (basic red, fresh, but otherwise fairly non-descript) arrived as we sipped on Mexican beers. I ordered one of their house specialties, the Cochinita Pibil, which is pork mixed with achiote and spices, and baked in banana leaves; it was served with grilled red onions, rice, black beans, and what they refer to as plantain chips. When the waiter asked what kind of tortillas (flour or corn) I wanted, I asked his preference, and he quickly responded that they make their corn tortillas there. If you can tell from my (ooops!) blurry picture, it's an attractive looking plate. There's no real complaints about it, but I think the pork was lacking in major flavor. Their plantain chips were thicker cut (half-inch in diameter) than what I would consider a normal "chip" in terms of bagged potato or even plantain chips, and to me it wasn't mashed and fried enough, at least how I like them! The tortillas were made with white corn, and were extremely tender, almost like flour tortillas. No real problems with the dish, but I am not sure that I would order it again.
I've been to Sazon maybe 2 or 3 other times, and I've always enjoyed it. I was glad to see they were packed on a Friday night in January (though it made parking more difficult), and hope that they will survive a slow economic period, though there were no indications that anyone in there was concerned about the local economy. It's a place I would gladly go back to, and explore other regional dishes. (And if you look at the contacts page on their website, you can see a much more focused picture of the cochinita pibil.)
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hai Ky on Oltorf & New Sweet Treats on S. Lamar
Let's start off by saying that I DID go for a 45 minute walk this morning, in the 70-something degree weather, this fine January morning. Which left me hungry. Fortunately, I had already arranged to meet a friend for pho, as other friends at work yesterday were talking about it, giving me that craving.
Hai Ky is a great little inexpensive place to meet your needs. Located on Oltorf, just before Burleson, it's in a relatively non-descript strip mall. We go in, sit, and are immediately brought menus, and asked what we want to drink. Having discussed it on the way there, we knew we wanted the crispy eggrolls and rangoon to start off, but we need another minute for the entrees. The very mellow (but polite) waiter (oh yeah, there is a head shop in the same strip center...) comes right back with the waters, and takes the rest of our orders. I will have the #13 -- Pho Tai, which is with eye round steak, and my friend has opted for #82 -- Mongolian Tofu.
The appetizers come fast... still hot from the fryer, but not just dripping with grease. The rangoon are shaped differently than how I've seen them in the past -- these are in half-moons, like dumplings, rather than in a wonton/tortellini shape. The cream cheese inside is screaming hot, but they are delicious. The eggrolls are tightly rolled, with a kinda mushy blend of pork, shrimp, and veggies. I think it's all pureed together, then put into the wrappers. They're tasty, but nothing to get excited about.
Our main dishes come when we're still blowing on the appetizers to cool them down. My #13 pho bowl is a large steaming bowl of broth, with thin vermicelli rice noodles on the bottom, very thin cuts of eye round steak, some veggies, and a side plate with a lime wedge, fresh bean sprouts, thai basil, and sliced jalapenos. It's a lot of food. Come to think of it, the waiter did ask me if I wanted the small or large when I ordered... didn't know I had a choice! I opted for the small. I still have leftovers. The broth is nice, you can taste the star anise in it. The meat is good and fresh, by now completely submerged in the broth, and hence cooked all the way through; when it was brought to the table, I could see bits of pink in the meat where the hot broth hadn't hit it yet. I use my fork to get at the noodles, and the Asian soup spoon to slurp at the broth. Nice contrast of textures and flavor.
The #82 tofu dish is quite lovely too. There is a next of crispy fried egg noodles on the bottom of the plate, topped with 1/4 inch slabs of the tofu, which has been nicely char-grilled, like they do pork. Great flavor to it between the grilling and the sauce, and lots of sauteed green onions and chives accompany it. So as we're sitting there eating, my friend asks me if I've been to the new Pie Slice bakery on S. Lamar. No, I hadn't, nor have I been to the new Moonlight Bakery, also on S. Lamar. So we hatch a plan... she'll pay for our lunch (a whopping $16 and change), and I'll pay for our desserts. And off we go!
We go to Moonlight first... sort of in an odd location, next to Batteries Plus, but it must be working for them, as we were part of a small wave of 4 separate customers that descended at the same time. Painted in nice bright colors, a lovely glass case of the day's treats welcomes you. There were cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls (2 kinds), palmiers, croissants, kolaches... the eyes got REAL big, and the stomach said "oh no!". After much oohing and ahhing, we settled on a palmier and chocolate croissant, which we split, and a couple cookies for me to take to our hairdresser friend, who I had an appointment with in an hour. I've nibbled on the palmier, which is heavenly! It's really crisp (no sogginess here!), buttery, and flaky, just as it should be. I only took a little bite of the croissant so far because I am so full, but it too seems lovely -- you can see all the layers, and it tastes like good quality semi-sweet chocolate on the inside.
Then up the street to Pie Slice... these 2 spots are no more than a half mile apart, and both on the west side of Lamar. (For those who know where the Horseshoe Lounge is, Pie Slice is in the building directly north of HL, between it and La Feria.) Pie Slice offers pies, cakes, muffins, cookies, and a few other sweets, as well as having a full-service menu with everything from breakfast tacos to pizza to sandwiches and salads. The desserts in the case looked fantastic. It didn't take too long though to decide on a piece ($4.25) of the chocolate espresso pie. A rather generous sized piece was cut, put into a box, and off we went. So back to my house, were we we dove right in! It was fantastic. Now those who know me, know I am picky about pies because of the crust -- a crust makes or breaks the pie. I love baking my own pies, because I really like making the crust, call me crazy! This pie had a fantastic crust -- chocolate chips, walnuts, and a touch of cinnamon in it. And you could taste some butter, though I think it probably had some shortening in it too for the flakiness. The filling was a dense chocolate mousse with a noticeable espresso flavor, but not overpowering. Then, it was topped off with real whipped cream. OH MY GOD. I really can't wait to go back and try more. A friend who I saw over the weekend has been in there a couple of times for the "real" food, and had good things to say about it, so that bodes well. (Sorry, photo's a bit out of focus.)
Meanwhile, I have eaten more than intended today! I think I need to go for another walk before I eat another sweet potato burger and fruit for dinner! Oh, and my hairdresser friend gobbled down the Moonlight cookies and said they were fantastic too. So while E. Oltorf has always been a Vietnamese food destination, S. Lamar is becoming the homegrown-bakeries hot spot! All the better for me, in my 'hood!
Hai Ky is a great little inexpensive place to meet your needs. Located on Oltorf, just before Burleson, it's in a relatively non-descript strip mall. We go in, sit, and are immediately brought menus, and asked what we want to drink. Having discussed it on the way there, we knew we wanted the crispy eggrolls and rangoon to start off, but we need another minute for the entrees. The very mellow (but polite) waiter (oh yeah, there is a head shop in the same strip center...) comes right back with the waters, and takes the rest of our orders. I will have the #13 -- Pho Tai, which is with eye round steak, and my friend has opted for #82 -- Mongolian Tofu.
The appetizers come fast... still hot from the fryer, but not just dripping with grease. The rangoon are shaped differently than how I've seen them in the past -- these are in half-moons, like dumplings, rather than in a wonton/tortellini shape. The cream cheese inside is screaming hot, but they are delicious. The eggrolls are tightly rolled, with a kinda mushy blend of pork, shrimp, and veggies. I think it's all pureed together, then put into the wrappers. They're tasty, but nothing to get excited about.
Our main dishes come when we're still blowing on the appetizers to cool them down. My #13 pho bowl is a large steaming bowl of broth, with thin vermicelli rice noodles on the bottom, very thin cuts of eye round steak, some veggies, and a side plate with a lime wedge, fresh bean sprouts, thai basil, and sliced jalapenos. It's a lot of food. Come to think of it, the waiter did ask me if I wanted the small or large when I ordered... didn't know I had a choice! I opted for the small. I still have leftovers. The broth is nice, you can taste the star anise in it. The meat is good and fresh, by now completely submerged in the broth, and hence cooked all the way through; when it was brought to the table, I could see bits of pink in the meat where the hot broth hadn't hit it yet. I use my fork to get at the noodles, and the Asian soup spoon to slurp at the broth. Nice contrast of textures and flavor.
The #82 tofu dish is quite lovely too. There is a next of crispy fried egg noodles on the bottom of the plate, topped with 1/4 inch slabs of the tofu, which has been nicely char-grilled, like they do pork. Great flavor to it between the grilling and the sauce, and lots of sauteed green onions and chives accompany it. So as we're sitting there eating, my friend asks me if I've been to the new Pie Slice bakery on S. Lamar. No, I hadn't, nor have I been to the new Moonlight Bakery, also on S. Lamar. So we hatch a plan... she'll pay for our lunch (a whopping $16 and change), and I'll pay for our desserts. And off we go!
We go to Moonlight first... sort of in an odd location, next to Batteries Plus, but it must be working for them, as we were part of a small wave of 4 separate customers that descended at the same time. Painted in nice bright colors, a lovely glass case of the day's treats welcomes you. There were cookies, brownies, cinnamon rolls (2 kinds), palmiers, croissants, kolaches... the eyes got REAL big, and the stomach said "oh no!". After much oohing and ahhing, we settled on a palmier and chocolate croissant, which we split, and a couple cookies for me to take to our hairdresser friend, who I had an appointment with in an hour. I've nibbled on the palmier, which is heavenly! It's really crisp (no sogginess here!), buttery, and flaky, just as it should be. I only took a little bite of the croissant so far because I am so full, but it too seems lovely -- you can see all the layers, and it tastes like good quality semi-sweet chocolate on the inside.
Then up the street to Pie Slice... these 2 spots are no more than a half mile apart, and both on the west side of Lamar. (For those who know where the Horseshoe Lounge is, Pie Slice is in the building directly north of HL, between it and La Feria.) Pie Slice offers pies, cakes, muffins, cookies, and a few other sweets, as well as having a full-service menu with everything from breakfast tacos to pizza to sandwiches and salads. The desserts in the case looked fantastic. It didn't take too long though to decide on a piece ($4.25) of the chocolate espresso pie. A rather generous sized piece was cut, put into a box, and off we went. So back to my house, were we we dove right in! It was fantastic. Now those who know me, know I am picky about pies because of the crust -- a crust makes or breaks the pie. I love baking my own pies, because I really like making the crust, call me crazy! This pie had a fantastic crust -- chocolate chips, walnuts, and a touch of cinnamon in it. And you could taste some butter, though I think it probably had some shortening in it too for the flakiness. The filling was a dense chocolate mousse with a noticeable espresso flavor, but not overpowering. Then, it was topped off with real whipped cream. OH MY GOD. I really can't wait to go back and try more. A friend who I saw over the weekend has been in there a couple of times for the "real" food, and had good things to say about it, so that bodes well. (Sorry, photo's a bit out of focus.)
Meanwhile, I have eaten more than intended today! I think I need to go for another walk before I eat another sweet potato burger and fruit for dinner! Oh, and my hairdresser friend gobbled down the Moonlight cookies and said they were fantastic too. So while E. Oltorf has always been a Vietnamese food destination, S. Lamar is becoming the homegrown-bakeries hot spot! All the better for me, in my 'hood!
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