Tirade about restaurants

Last week my husband and I had a very disappointing food week. First of all, I've stopped baking (at least during the week) in an attempt to lose weight, have been living off whatever is in the freezer, and had a horrible restaurant week.

When my mother-in-law was in town we decided to take her to Balboa Park on the free museum day (Tuesday). Whenever we visit that area of San Diego we like to hit up either the Garden Grill or Extraordinary Desserts. Since we're on a tight budget we thought the Garden Grill would be ideal. When we pulled up our favorite meditteranean place was replaced by a NY Giant Pizza place (that looked like a chain) that was under construction. The husband and I were truly heartbroken. There aren't any reliable and super affordable Lebanese-type restaurants up in our neck of the woods (or beach?).

So we hung our heads low and retreated home for whatever I could scrounge up. Then this past Saturday we were tired after running errands all day and decided to go to Big Jim's Barbeque. I never posted about my first trip there but I loved their sides, sweet tea, and spicy shrimp. I could take or leave the barbeque but the sides were true quality comfort food for Southerners. Even though the atmosphere was like eating on picnic tables in a run-down building, I didn't mind. My husband was thrilled to finally find some good sweet tea. We were excited to see if our first impression would hold true for the second visit.

Since we were craving some down-home food at a great price, we drove down the PCH towards Big Jim's. When we got to Encinitas we looked at each other and wondered how we missed the restaurant. On the drive back we realized that Big Jim's has been replaced with another restaurant.

We ended up going to Leucadia Pizza since we were starved but it wasn't very good that night (a lot of restaurants have an off night every now and then). Actually, it was pretty bad. So we're truly considering staying in for a long time just in case we're cursed.

Does anyone know of any good and authentic Lebanese/Meditteranean restaurants in San Diego?

We're actually looking into moving to Silicon Valley/the bay area this fall and I'm starting to get excited because we've just had a hard time finding restaurants here (with the exception of our favorite..Ba Ren) that taste great and are priced well. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are lots of great restaurants in San Deigo but up in Oceanside there aren't as many options as I would like. We mostly choose between pizza, Thai, pizza, sushi, pizza.

If anyone's reading this from North County (or should I say North Northwest County) and has some good restaurant options, please let me know.

Chocolatier

About a month ago, I received an email from a woman who offered me a chance to try Nestle's new baking chocolate and review it on my blog.* She works for an internet marketing agency called M80 that is promoting Chocolatier by Nestle. I was hesitant because in the past when I have done that I wasn't impressed with the product. However, she insisted that I could be honest and why would I pass up a chance for free chocolate? I mean, really!

So I picked up some baking bars and chips and headed home to decide what to make with this new baking chocolate. While I don't like Nestle's chocolate for eating, I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and use their baking chocolate for one of my favorite recipes.

The best chocolate bundt cake I've ever made was from an issue of Cook's Illustrated. The cake is moist, always comes out of the pan nicely, and is chocolate-y without being too rich. This would be the perfect recipe to see if the chocolate could pass the test.

Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted the same as I remembered it. The other time I had made this cake I used Scharffen Berger and Ghiradelli. Unless my memory fails me, this tasted the same as when I had made it with the other reputable brands.

Perhaps this recipe** is so good that you can use any chocolate? I decided to put Chocolatier to the test and see how it tastes in a slightly more "pure" form. See my post below for the results.


*In case you're wondering, I didn't get paid for reviewing the chocolate. So if anyone else has any free chocolate they want me to review. Please, contact me. (grin)

**I found the recipe already posted as a comment here.

Chocolatier Part 2

There's nothing like a warm mug of hot chocolate on the beach. That's what my husband and I drank last week as we sat on a private section of a public beach one late night while my mother-in-law babysat. We savored each drop and each moment alone together sans baby. We both agreed that this recipe is perfect for any cold night (beach or no beach).

SPICE UP YOUR NIGHT HOT CHOCOLATE

(Inspired by a recipe from Cost Plus' HOT CHOCOLATE cookbook, a gift from my sister-in-law)

7 oz. chopped chocolate (I used Nestle's Chocolatier, 53% dark chocolate)
4 cups 2% milk (I used Lactaid)
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. or to taste, ground toasted Sichuan peppercorns

1. Put milk in a heavy saucepan with paprika and Sichuan peppercorn (I sprinkled the peppercorns so that it covered the top and then stirred it all together). Heat milk until it almost reaches a boil.
2. Turn down heat, add chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. Make sure chocolate is well incorporated. Serve immediately or put in a thermos and take to the beach!*

*I tried the leftover hot chocolate the next day and it didn't taste as good so I think the hot chocolate tastes better the night you make it. We drank ours a few hours after I made it and it was still hot from being in the thermos.

Note: I decided to use the Nestle Chocolatier to see if it could pass the hot chocolate taste test. It worked fine in the bundt cake but I wasn't sure if it was good enough for hot chocolate. I honestly thought it was quite tasty and since 50-some percent chocolate works best for this recipe, I would recommend the chocolate to anyone. Even the occasional chocolate snob. While I will still vary which chocolates I use according to the recipe, I would use this chocolate again.

Festivals

You thought I was going to write a post about local festivals, didn't you? Well, I'm actually referring to the Jamaican fry bread called festivals. What a great name. I can definitely see this "bread" at a street fair or festival. These fried delights are light, crispy, and the perfect snack. I made them alongside jerk chicken and tostones for dinner. They would be great for a party or as an appetizer.

The recipe I used is from Steve Raichlen's The Barbecue Bible. Even though I accidently forgot the sugar in the recipe (3 T.) they turned out great. I suppose I would describe these as being similar to a churro. If you dust them with sugar and cinnamon they would make a nice dessert.



They look a bit like chicken nuggets but I promise you there is no chicken inside. Just a lot of fried goodness.