We stopped eating things like doritos and artificially flavored chips a while ago when both John and I decided we just didn’t like the constant thirst and weird effects we got from all the MSG. The other day, however, we happily discovered the new ‘Naturals’ line from Frito-Lay and indulged in some white cheddar cheetos. (I’m a big white cheddar popcorn fan – particularly smartfood brand.) They were really tasty, no weird side effects, and it was fantastic to once again be able to munch on more than just regular potato chips. Perhaps today we’ll try one of their other ‘natural’ concoctions – it’s like a junk food revival or something – LOL.
Category: Reviews
Happy Cafe
John and I came out of the grocery store the other day to find a flyer/menu under the windshield of the car for the “Happy Cafe”, a new Chinese restaurant in town. A few days later we stopped in to take advantage of their lunch specials – $5.15 a platter, which included rice, soup of the day, hot tea, as well as a few interesting bite-sized appetizers, and the option to have it all without MSG, which we requested. The food was excellent – fresh and tasty; the restaurant itself was tiny (I think it only had 8-9 tables) but had a very peaceful atmosphere, and was very new and clean.
If I’m going to a new Chinese restaurant, I usually order something like Sweet & Sour Chicken, since it’s pretty standard and I can get a feel for their cooking style – so that’s what I had. The veggies were excellent (at some restaurants they are really dry despite being covered in sauce), and the pineapple was juicy, chicken was crispy and not greasy. John had Szechuan Triple Delight, having meant to order the REGULAR Triple Delight, but it was a tasty mistake and he enjoyed the spiciness without his tongue melting or anything – LOL.
So, we give the Happy Cafe two thumbs up, and will definitely going back again for lunch. It was also just nice to have a NEW place to eat lunch in town that was also so surprisingly affordable.
Wine and Fish Crackers
John was making a homemade tomato sauce a few days ago and decided to open a bottle of zinfandel to add a bit of wine to the sauce. The sauce came out excellent, and tonight we decided to actually try the wine directly, with a few ‘sea creature’ cheesy crackers. Tres classy, no? The wine: Ravenswood Vintners Blend, 2002 California Zinfandel. It certainly lives up to the saying on the label, “No wimpy wines” – no kidding! It’s really potent and ‘throaty’ if you can glean our meaning. The kind of wine that warms your fingers and toes before you finish half of the first glass. The taste itself is pleasant and tangy, but disappears quickly, leaving you with more of a powerful aftereffect than with a taste on your tongue. (And the tri-raven Celtic logo on the front is a plus too.)
Review: Scrambl’z Restaurant
Today we tried Scrambl’z in Morgan Hill (California), an extremely cheery diner with smiley faces on the back of every server.
The food was excellent, and came in huge portions. I had a Chicken breast with bacon and BBQ sauce melt, which came on a big Kaiser roll. The plate came loaded with thin shoestring fries. The sandwich was called a “Green Slime” as an homage to 1950’s horror movies, but the only green on the plate was the half dill pickle.
Kristen had the French Dip, and our friend had the Fish & Chips (ok they’re fries, but I’m not British so I’ll forgive them). The service was excellent, our waiter was attentive but not intrusive, and very friendly. And the decor was… vibrant, as you can tell by the photo to the right. It was a mix of happy 50’s diner with happy… well, just happy. *grin*
A Few Sour Grapes
In our ongoing adventure in learning about wine, we bought an unknown brand to go with our Christmas meal: a Covey Run Cabernet Savignon from Washington State. 
We had an eye of the round roast, baked potatoes, and baby glazed carrots for the meal, which was splendid, but which conflicted horribly or was completely overrun by the flavor of the wine, which I wasn’t overtly fond of just by itself either. It seemed to have a sour taste that had nothing to do with ‘robust flavor’. I wonder if it might have been better with something more zesty than your basic meat and potatoes, but that might have added even MORE conflict to the taste – just not sure. In any case, it was a learning experience – maybe next time I’ll stick to a Merlot when making a roast beef, and only kick the wine selection up a notch when we have an enthusiastically marinated steak or the like.
The Black Bear Diner
To celebrate my birthday yesterday we went to my favorite place for steaks: The Black Bear Diner. Their steaks are on par or better than the fancier steak houses around here, plus the prices are much better.
The Black Bear gives huge portions, I love their ribs and sandwiches as well. My only complaint is the seasoning they put on their french fries. I’m 90% sure its MSG, judging by the weird physical reactions I always get after ingesting too much of that stuff.
Yesterday our waitress goofed a bit, bringing Kristen seasoned fries and then forgetting to return with the plate of unseasoned fries. She also forgot the obligatory slices of garlic bread that come with the steaks, so we had to ask for them. It all worked out however, and the steaks were as tender and juicy as always. I would have loved to have ordered one of their apple cobblers for dessert, but I’m pretty sure I would have exploded.
Live Life Uncomplicated?
I was browsing the wine isle in the grocery store a few days ago (Note: I grew up in NY state and still find it weird to be able to buy wine and hard liquor in a grocery store! (California)), and there was a bottle of wine on sale for $2.99. Since we’re still at the very beginning of developing our ‘wine tongues’ (I think I just made that up?), I figured it was a good thing to try the really cheap wines as WELL as the more expensive ones to give ourselves a larger range of experiences. I’d had Sutter Home Merlot before, but never a (red) Zinfandel, so I tossed it in the cart.
I know that Zinfandels are pretty mild wines, but I haven’t yet determined if this was ‘mild’ or ‘bland’. It wasn’t terrible at all, but mostly just tasted like, well, generic wine, and it didn’t pack any kind of a punch. John’s opinion is similar, “Drinkable, but not very interesting.” I suppose that’s why the back of the label says, “Our zinfandel is the simple choice to compliment life’s everyday moments. Enjoy Sutter Home wines and live life uncomplicated.” (Shouldn’t that be ‘uncomplicatedly’ (if that’s a word) since it’s describing the verb ‘live’?) Anyway, we give Sutter Home credit for being so… accurate in their labeling, and thank the grocery store for not making us invest too much for the experience, which was still enjoyable after all was said and done.
DeRose Wine
We tried another excellent local wine last week, this time it was a Cabernet Sauvignon from DeRose Vinyards. The wine had an excellent fruity taste which was smooth and not overpowering. This was easily a good cheese wine, and would probably go with almost anything
Nothing Like A Merlot
John and I finally cracked open a bottle of wine that he got last year at work for the holidays: A local wine, Pietra Santa, from the Cienega (See-YEN-eh-guh) Valley; a 1998 Merlot. The first sip packed a punch in the back of the throat, but the taste was very pleasant and slightly…. musky, in the good way that Merlots tend to be.
I’d definitely recommend this wine, and think it would probably go well with a steak dinner, provided the steak was cooked without a lot of added flavorings or marinades – don’t need too many flavors jumping around together when you’ve already got the wine going too. (Oh, and steak fries would be good also. We actually just had some potato chips with it, as it was after dinner, but it was an excellent combo, if not overly genteel – LOL!)
Also, drinking wine after 7 p.m. here has the added benefit of making our hands and feet feel a bit warmer tonight as well, of course. *grin*
White Chocolate Raspberry
We’ve been sampling the various store brand yogurts over the last few months. Albertson’s and Safeway’s seemed pretty good, but we found that Nob Hill’s “Sunnyside Farms” brand was a bit too sweet for our taste buds, at least in their berry flavors. However, just a few moments ago I had a “White Chocolate Raspberry” flavor yogurt and it was REALLY delicious! It was very creamy, with a subtle white chocolate smoothness and flavor and a ‘tint’ of raspberry. It wasn’t too sweet at all – in fact, I’d go back just for this one flavor – LOL. Oh, yes, and hardly ‘yogurty tangy’ at all – almost tasted like pudding, if pudding had live bacteria swimming in it – LOL.