Mongolian BBQ - Dessert Course

Mongolian barbeque restaurants are becoming more and more popular for their endless possibilities of flavor and texture profiles.

Patrons select ingredients from a raw bar and hand them to employees to stir fry on a large griddle.  Many establishments offer several meat selections usually including chicken, pork, beef, tofu, and a token seafood item.  Noodles are also popular and range from lo mein to yakisoba.  There are lots of vegetables that include go-to stir fry veggies -  bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, baby corn - but also offer some more adventurous items - bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and cabbage.

Sauce bars are where the really creative stuff happens.   Most places recommend using 5-6 ladles of any combination of sauces for a single bowl of ingredients.  Venues have in-house versions of classic sauces - teriyaki, Thai peanut, and sweet and sour, to name a few - but also have unique offerings all their own.  Add some basic broths and oils, and you have a million different options for your sauce!  (Actually, HuHot has closer to 24 factorial, or 6.20448402 × 10²³, if I remember my formulas correctly.)


The options are unlimited!  You will wish your stomach was unlimited when faced when going through the buffet!   Mongolian barbeque restaurants in the San Antonio area are limited to  HuHot and a few recent openings of Genghis Grill.  Hands down the best Mongolian barbeque place I've been to was Fire+Ice in Boston. 


With so many choices, it's easy to let your eyes get bigger than your stomach.  Most of the time you won't have room for dessert.  The offered dessert menu doesn't impress with items like an Attila the Hun themed cheesecake.  You're going to want to save room for this stir fry dessert!  It's simple, fresh, and a very light way to end a normally heavy meal. 

Grilled Pineapple and Coconut
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut  (Look for it at the toppings end of the bar!)
- 1 cup pineapple chunks 


Sauces, one ladle of each: 
- teriyaki sauce
- sweet and sour sauce
- lime juice
- sesame oil

Extra toppings
- more shredded coconut
- minced raw peanuts


Combine all ingredients and sauces in a bowl.  Let the guys grill it up for you.  Top the grilled pineapples and coconut with some peanuts for crunch and more coconut for an extra kick.  You're going to want to pass this around the table, if your dining partners have any room left!

Twin Sisters

No, this isn't a blog about me and my twin, but another set of twin sisters who started a restaurant in San Antonio.  Twin Sisters Bakery and Cafe is a local favorite for "healthy" sandwiches and soups, and fresh baked goods.  I went to the Alamo Heights location and it was a really relaxed, cute place with very personable staff.   Everything on their menu was so tempting!

That day they offered Jalapeno Lemonade which was much more awesome than it sounds.  It added just a hint of the jalapeno flavor, but not too much of the spice.  It tasted a bit like they used the leftover juice from pickled jalapenos and dumped it into the lemonade batch.  Either way, it was really, really awesome.

The Greek Salad was familiar to most other venues.  The dressing on it was heavy on the olive oil with some thyme and olive tapenade.  But the soup was a cold Cucumber Avocado Soup and it was fantastic.  It had some flecks of red onion and cilantro throughout, but was fresh, bright, smooth, and tangy.  All around wonderful.  Perfect for the increasingly warm summer San Antonio days.  The Turkey and Cheese sandwich was also very excellent mainly due to the in-house made bread it was on.  It was a very soft wheat that actually added to the  flavor of the sandwich.  With the soup and sandwich came a cornbread muffin that was grainy and not too sweet.  Loving that adding excess sugar was not in that particular recipe.

Twin Sisters is probably more well known for their baked goods.  The Sweet Potato Muffin was quite yummy, similar in taste and consistency to zucchini bread.   The Lemon Bars were particularly excellent.  There wasn't a delineation between the filling and the crust.  One just kind of morphed into another.

If you're a local in SATX and haven't been to Twin Sisters yet, GO!  I lived in this city way too long before visiting this establishment.  If you're in town visiting, then there's a downtown location open for lunch just for you!

Samurai Sushi Review and Local Fave Rolls

I really love sushi, but it seems everyone in San Antonio has a particular go-to place for it.  I finally went to one that I know some people swear by: Samurai Sushi at Babcock and Wurzbach. 

It's a really unique atmosphere.  The decor was more of a family diner than the Japanese minimalist that you normally see at sushi places.

I normally opt for rolls over sashimi and house special rolls over classics. I ordered Edamame, the Ultra Tuna roll, and the Baked Lobster roll with a Kirin Ichiban to wash everything down.  The Ultra Tuna roll was your basic Spicy Tuna roll with an additional piece of tuna on top.  The Baked lobster roll was the basic California roll with a piece of lobster on top, covered in a sweet chili sauce and baked.  The tuna roll was pretty good, but not fantastic.  The lobster pieces were slightly overdone such that they were on the rubbery side, but the chili sauce was very yummy.  I ended dinner with a tempura ice cream, which was too big for just me, but quite tasty.  It was plain old vanilla ice cream, but the tempura had been sweetened.

Samurai Sushi was okay, but not great.  It was less stuck up than another local sushi chain and a smidgeon cheaper, but I'm not sure if the food is worth going back for.

Of the San Antonio Sushi places I frequent, these are my go-to rolls:

• Kona Grill's Picasso Roll - a California roll topped with yellowtail, jalepeno, and chili sauce.  It's not on the menu, so you'll have to ask for it!
• Sushi Zushi's My Spurs Roll - yellowtail, serrano, tomato and cilantro.  Light, fresh, and spicy, hits the spot on a hot summer day. 
• Godai Sushi's Z-Roll - yellowtail and green onion roll topped with spicy tempura crumbles.
  Love the crunchies, so unique and fun!

DOUGH Pizzeria Napoletana

Hands down my new favorite pizza joint.  What's not to love about hand-tossed dough, exquisite toppings, fresh made desserts?  They even have a mozzarella bar! 

DOUGH Pizzeria Napoletana is new to the Castle Heights area at Blanco and 410.  They specialize in certified Neopolitan style pizzas which means they follow very strict rules as to what ingredients to use and how the pizza is made.  But not only do they have fantastic pizzas, but their appetizers and desserts are also fantastic.

The day's appetizer special when I went was pancetta wrapped asparagus topped with a poached egg and shaved white truffle. It was positively amazing.  The pizzas are are big enough for two or three people, so share with some friends.  We added Sopressata salami to the Fontina pizza, which was Fontina cheese, oak-roasted mushrooms, caramelized onion, and Parmigiano Reggiano.  We ate all of it, including the crumbs.  The Italian sodas are perfect to wash it down on a hot summer day, or you can select from a very nice wine list.

This place definitely isn't for someone who is a picky eater or for someone who loves the super-cheap super-large super-greasy pizzas from the closest chain.  The pricing is up to twenty dollars for a pizzas, plus other toppings up to three dollars each, which is expected for top-notch sometimes imported ingredients.  They make whatever they can in house from cheese to desserts and get all the ingredients they can locally.

Follow @DoughPizzeria on Twitter for everything from announcements of daily specials and upcoming events to internet gems.

Breakfast Just Got Better

I've ventured out to a couple new breakfast restaurants that have been awesome. Egg and I is a national chain, but Sugarbakers is unique to San Antonio. 

Finally!  Something different for breakfast instead of heavy pancakes, greasy meats, and super sized omelets.  Granted, Eggs Benedict aren't the healthiest breakfast out there, but it's not something on the menu at most places.   I have been to a few of the San Antonio locations and the quality is consistent across the board.   The Crabcake Benedict is something a little different, but order it without tomato.  The measly slice doesn't add much and makes it hard to eat.  I think my favorite thing so far is the Breakfast Sundae, which is a yogurt and fruit parfait with a side of toast and a poached egg.  Their signature side that comes with everything are "ranch potatoes" - plain ranch style potato bits tossed with ranch-dressing-packet seasoning.  To me, they don't taste like much and I prefer a side of fruit instead.  There's still a lot of things on the menu that I'd like to try - omelets, scrambles.  And that's only on the breakfast side of the menu!  There are tons of sandwiches and salads served for lunch as well.  This may be my new go-to breakfast place.

You really don't want to go healthy if you head to Sugarbakers off Basse Rd behind the Quarry Market.  You'll miss out on their specialties!  It's a local find that bakes everything on their menu right in their kitchen.  Breakfast varies from omelets to french toast to quiche.  The Caramel Apple French Toast is phenomenal.  The Florentine Scrambler is good for someone who doesn't want a sugar overload in the morning.  The biscuits are also fantastic.  I plan to head back there to stock up with armloads of their baked goods.  The cookies they had on display looked so tempting, but I was too full!

Hill Country Goodness

Needing a short getaway and fun-in-the-sun activities, I packed up the car and the dude and headed out to Fredericksburg last month. Probably one of the best trips I've taken in a long while.

We stayed at a Starstruck Cottage which was super cute and absolutely perfect for our purposes. It was about a block off the main street, but still really convenient to everything. The two-person jacuzzi was exactly what I needed to rest and relax, but I found it somewhat difficult to use for getting-clean purposes.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Texas is big. Really big. Filled with little towns. Among them is Luckenbach. This marked my first visit to this particular little town. I learned how to pitch washers, but unfortunately still lost to the dude. I didn't care for the opening band, but Doug Moreland was very cool. They have (mostly fried) munchies available, but the jalepeno poppers were the best.

The next day we packed up early and headed out to Enchanted Rock. I haven't been since high school, and it was much cooler than I remember it being. We hiked up the easy side and climbed down the hard side. I sustained only minor injuries. (I wouldn't be me unless I hurt myself somehow!) We picnicked near the primitive areas and then took the long way back to the car. It was an awesome workout. Climbing down between all the boulders was challenging, but so much fun. It made me feel strong and outdoorsy.

We tried out a bunch of gear while at Enchanted Rock. We took our lunch with us in an REI backpack cooler, which worked out really well. We used one compartment for our food and another for towels, knives. We had some extra room, which we used to hold trash we picked up while on our hike. The food stayed cold even though we were out in ninety degree weather. We also grabbed a hydration pack that I was so pleased with. It is meant for biking, so has a lot of pouches to put bike gear in, but it held our bandages and sunscreen as well as two liters of water. It also kept chilled while we were out and about. I'm itching to try it on a run, but alas that hasn't happened yet. I also wore my Vibram FiveFingers Sprint on the hike. I got laughed at for using my “monkey toes” when climbing down the rocks, but I was really pleased with them. I am a huge Vibram fan and sing their blessings every time someone asks me what's up with my shoes.

While in Fredericksburg, we went to a couple restaurants that I hadn't been to before. We had dinner at Hondo's on Main Street. I ordered the nachos, which were decent as far as nachos go. The dude got chicken fried steak which came with a phenomenal poblano cream sauce. They also serve some very wicked margaritas, so watch out for those. On the way out of town we ate at Sunset Grill which honored a coupon from the B&B. It was a great find, recently reviewed in Texas Monthly. We had a little bit of everything from their breakfast menu and were incredibly satisfied. 

 All in all, a great trip!

Orlando Trip Recap

Okay, I know this is several weeks belated, but I had a blast in Orlando and wanted to share some pics.  There are more on Facebook, but these are just a few to go along with my favorite memories of the trip.

Universal Studios is definitely a more adult oriented place. Walking around the park with a cold beer is definitely encouraged.  The height requirements on most of the rides means that almost everything is geared toward older kids.  I did a lot of meandering on this trip since I had a lot of days to spend at the parks.  You could definitely do the circuit on these parks in two days based on the crowds when I went.  Take the time to enjoy being an adult at Universal Studios, then go be a kid at Disney.


A huge shout out goes to Mark J. who served as my local tour guide and drinking buddy for the duration of my trip.  I had a blast running around the town with you, Mark!  Another shout out goes to the best bar, Finnegan's, and the best bartender, Dan.  

Best food was definitely Mythos in Islands of Adventure. I got the Risotto of the Day and it was amazing.  It was Spinach and Oxtail Risotto with Beef Medallions and Asparagus.  It was really amazing.  So flavorful and hearty.  I wanted to eat it all, but I just couldn't get any more inside of me.

My favorite area of either park was Seuss Landing.  I absolutely loved the Cat in the Hat ride, which is very Winnie-the-Poo-esque for Disney fans.  My sister and I have an inside joke about being Thing 1 and Thing 2, so that was probably a huge factor on why I liked it so much. 

The best ride by far was Simpson's.  It replaced Back to the Future, which gave me a headache the first time around.  It was a fun ride, even though I'm usually not a fan of the 3D with moving cars.  I remember getting a wicked headache from my head slamming against the side of the Back to the Future car when I rode it last.  I laughed so hard in this one.  It's one that doesn't get old when you ride it over and over because there are little things you pick up on each time.  I rode it three times.  Honorable mention on best ride goes to Men In Black.  I'm sure if I got a score more than 50,000 it'd be higher up on my favorite list.

The best roller coaster was Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket.  You get to pick the music that plays during the ride. I picked Kanye West's "Stronger" and it definitely added to the experience.  I didn't get a chance to ride it and compare to other songs.  The coaster itself was really cool, but the pick-your-own-soundtrack was definitely ingenious.   Honorable mention for best coaster goes to The Mummy, a dark air-conditioned roller coaster, similar to Space Mountain.  Very well done.

I missed the opening of the Harry Potter area by a month and only saw the teasers of the tops of buildings from afar.  I was able to get to see the map of what will be where and it looks like it will be a lot of fun for Harry Potter fans.   But since the employees have since been let into the area, it should be okay to share the map with all of you!

Restaurant Adventures in SATX

I apologize for the recent post hiatus. Life's been busy!  But I do have stories to tell!  I have made it out to several new-to-me restaurants the last couple of weeks.

First was Blue Star Brewery.  This place has been on my list of places to go for a while.  My Basic Prep class met for dinner as an end of semester celebration.  After only seeing my classmates in our required uniform, it was interesting to see everyone in street clothes.  While there, I got a tasting flight of all their beers made in house. The Pale Bock and English IPA were okay, but I'm not really a fan of the hoppiness of pale ales.  The one I didn't like at all was the King William Barley Wine that was reminiscent of my stinky running shoes.  But then, another friend loved it, so to each their own.  The had a cask-conditioned stout that was okay, but again not my cup of tea.  There were three I really liked: a stout that smelled like chocolate and was very drinkable; a pale bock that was like a light Mexican beer; and an excellent amber that was my favorite of the lot.  The brewery also had pretty good munchies, a step up from normal bar food.

Cappycino's and Cappy's are locally owned restaurants in Alamo Heights right around the corner from Central Market.  I have a friend that works there, so I got great treatment while I was there. 
Cappycino's is more of a burgers-pizza-coffee shop kind of place.  I got a seat at the bar that overlooked the kichen so I could chat with my friend.  I got the Mediterranean Grilled Cheese Sandwich - fontina cheese, tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. Absolutely fantastic.  And the honey vinaigrette on my side salad was quite excellent too.  Top it off with a lovely decaf latte and biscotti, and I'm hooked.  Absolutely going back there again.

I got personal delivery of Cappy's. Mind you, this is not a standard service, I've just got the hook up.  I got a crusted halibut on some vegetable fettucine with a butter sauce.  It was incredible.  I also had some bites of the Catch of the Day, but I didn't remember what the fish was.  It was a grilled steak like tuna, but sweeter and not as heavy.  the chef's special vegetables that day were a mixed vegetable medley that included yellow beets.  I also had some wilted spinach.  It's so easy to have bad wilted spinach, but this was some of the best I've had.  I am really impressed with the menu and creativity in the dishes I've tried.  I can't speak for the dining experience there, but after a quick walk in, I am intrigued and want to eat there for real.

For Mother's Day, Mom requested to go to Los Barrios, recommended to her by some of her coworkers. It was also the subject of an episode of Bobby Flay's Throwdown about puffy tacos.  I didn't actually have the puffy tacos, since they're not my favorite Mexican fare.  I had Pollo a la Salsa with a poblano sauce, which was really pretty good, but fairly heavy.  Mom had enchiladas.  The salsa had the heavy flavor of tomato sauce and had a good kick to it.  Pretty good, but not my favorite.  On the table they also had a kind of chimichurri that was really mild but had great flavor, mostly of cilantro lime and garlic. 

I loved finding these new San Antonio only places after going to a lot of chains in the past couple of years.

Whirlwind Weekend and Race Report

This weekend included the most driving I've done in a long time.  But I successfully both went to the Poteet Strawberry Festival and the Ausin-American Statesman Capitol 10K.

Poteet is actually a lot closer than I had thought it was.  I decided to hit up the festival before heading out to the Cap10K expo.  I got there right when it opened up, and was able to walk around the whole thing really quickly.  I got some strawberries in a "walkabout cup" as I walked by some of the vendors.  They were the best I've ever had - juicy and not super sweet.  I also picked up the recommended strawberry shortcake and a slice of strawberry bread.  The whipping cream and cake kind of destroyed the taste of the strawberries.  The strawberry bread was offerred by the local band boosters.  It tasted a lot like zucchini bread, with some pinkish swirls throughout.  The cake and bread were okay, but not nearly as good as the strawberries in their raw form.  I only wish I was headed back home so I could buy up a case.   I wish I could have stayed longer to see more of the rodeo and food events.

   

 

I met up with my high school friend Chris for dinner at Iron Cactus.  Chris and I caught up on a couple years of events and hopes.  He has mastered the talent of understated sarcasm that makes his storytelling so great to listen to. We split the Tuna Ceviche for an appetizer and I had Lobster Tacos for dinner.  Since they're known for their tequila selection, we also had a couple of margaritas each. The tequila of choice was Republic Repasado.  It was so worth it.  I highly recommend it to anyone in its vicinity.  (They have other stuff on the menu other than seafood, if you're not into it.)  They have a sister restaurant on the Riverwalk, so I will definitely be attempting to get down there as soon as I can. 

 

Race: Austin-American Statesman Capitol 10K

Distance: 10K

Goal Time: 1:24 to 1:30
Personal Record: 1:21:42

Actual Time: 1:16:46 (12:22 min/mi)  NEW PR!

The Cap10K is promoted as the largest 10K in Texas.  They weren't lying.  I got up ridiculously early to make sure I got a parking spot near the finish.  I'm glad I did.  I got to the start line around 7am, after procuring coffee and food.  he start line looked like this when I got there.   I killed time by warming up, stretching, and reading Wicked Lovely on my B&N eReader on my iPhone.  It's so convenient to have a GPS, phone, mp3 player, camera, internet, and book all wrapped up into a little sleek package.  

 

It looked like this at 8am.  The weather forecast said cloudy with 10% chance of precipitation.  It began drizzling around 8:15 and didn't stop until I was driving home.  The drizzling made it a little cooler and is an acceptable consolation prize for high humidity.  The race started late, like they always do, but at least not by much.  My start was about three minutes after gun time. 




My Polar heart rate monitor wasn't picking up either my heart rate or my footpod (for pace), so I had no idea how fast I was going or how close I was to my max HR.  I was going by just how I felt.  I recorded my mile splits and was surprised every time.  I wasn't going too hard. I walked through hills and water stations.  I just kind of kept going.  In the first half I thought that somewhere down the course I would have some issue that would slow me down, but it seemed like everything was aligning just right.  I was working hard, but feeling great doing it. 


I was super excited when closing in on the finish I knew that I was going to get a PR.  At that point, I could tell I was beginning to overheat, so I just kind of cruised to the end.  It was around mile 5.5 or so that I came up on this guy - the Music Man - who was providing running commentary.  Literally.  He had a record player and a microphone and was talking to the crowd around him.  He was hilarious.  I hung out for a little bit near him and he helped me keep smiling like an idiot all the way to the finish line.

The finish line was a mess.  With getting a PR, I wish I had someone waiting for me that I could celebrate with.  I have decided that this is a requirement for all prospective significant others - willingness either to run events with me or wait at the finish.  But it worked out well for me today since I don't think I could have found someone in that cluster or human madness.  I managed to procure a banana and a bottle of water.  I passed at least one person that had three bottles of Vitamin Water, two bananas, and two or three bags of chips.  People like that are the reason why I bring my own food to eat after most races.  As a slowpoke, I usually don't get refreshments by the time I get to the finish.  I waited in a ridiculous line for a free massage.  I think I deserved it, don't you?

It was a great weekend all around.  On the way home I got the same feeling I get after I finish my cooking classes.  A vibrancy, a high, that I can only relate to feeling like I want to make out with someone, or go jump in puddles.  Something, anything, just to get more living into a few more seconds. 

And now I'm back and will all too soon return to the regularly scheduled grind.

Mad Tea Party

So this weekend I got to go to Alamo Drafthouse's Mad Tea Party!  This was one of their special events complete with a special three-course menu.  

The party included a showing of Alice In Wonderland.  Both of the Drafthouse venues in town had this special, but I opted for the non-3D version of the film. I'm not a huge fan of watching films in 3D.  I have enough problems with astigmatism without movies playing with my depth perception.

I love the pre-show entertainment that  Drafthouse has. Did you know that Disney's Alice in Wonderland was its third feature length film?  And how could the introduction to this movie be complete without a clip from Edward Scissorhands? They got in a tribute to Tim Burton with Nightmare Before Christmas.  I was most surprised by the inclusion of some clips from an old TV version of Alice in Wonderland.  We had this on VHS recorded from when it originally aired when I was growing up.  The recollection of Through the Looking Glass is solely from that version.  I would love to watch it again, but haven't been able to find it anywhere.

First course was a Shrimp Ceviche in cucmber cups with champagne.  This was my favorite course.  They were the perfect little bite-size noshes.  The cucumber cups were star-shaped.  I wished the theater had more light in it so I could tell how they cut the cucumber into that shape.  But alas, it shall remain a mystery.  The ceviche had a good spice in it; it tasted like sour cream, cayenne, and paprika.  I am definitely a champagne fan.  I didn't used to be, but now I like having champagne to celebrate the everyday.  The Wycliff was a brut, which I prefer.  It had only a little bit of sweetness, with a bit of an apple taste.  I doubled up and got a small bottle of Korbel Brut to sip through the rest of the film.

The second course was a Eggs Benedict with honey-cured ham on sourdough with Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.  The poached eggs were good, and the ham was tasty, but my sourdough was all sorts of soggy.  I absolutely despise soggy bread.  It's one of the few textures I can't deal with.  The green onion butter that came on top was okay, but not fantastic.  I was impressed by the KJ Chardonnay.  I normally veer away from both "brand name" wines and chardonnay.  I don't particularly like sweet wines, and most of the chardonnays I've had are too sweet for me.  This one had more of a citrus flavor and paired nicely with what I ate of the Eggs Benedict.

The third course was an apple tea cake with Earl Grey tea.   I love hot tea.  I've mostly had green tea lately, so it was nice to have a black tea for a change.  The Earl Grey was nice, though I normally like it stronger.  I probably have let it steep for longer.  You needed the tea to eat the tea cake.  It was muffin-shaped, but a bit on the dry side.  It was like an under-sweetened individual-sized apple coffee cake.  Okay, but not great.

The movie however was a great remake of the classic tale that most people know but hardly ever have read.  My version of Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland had oodles of footnotes.  The book shows why using contemporary slang and obscure politics are not a good idea.  It sounds like nonsense now, but every one of the nonsense words had solid definition.  I liked how they kept some of the great details from the book though: for example, the chess board, the pots flying around in the kitchen, and the queen screaming for her tarts. hey gave the story more a direct conflict - the White Queen versus the Red Queen.  It made it a bit more accessible to modern audiences.

The cast was perfect.  Johnny Depp, of course, who really excels at the oddball characters.  I liked his "mad" spells a whole lot.  His elocution of the Jabberwocky soliloquy was perfect.  Again, loved Anne Hathaway.  The White Queen's floaty-arm movements cracked me up.  I recognized Alan Rickman's voice as the caterpillar immediately.  Mia Wasikowska was lovely as Alice.  She looks so much like a young Gweneth Paltrow, another of my fave actresses.

Wonderland is obviously one of those places where you have to have a vast variety of colors.  So many movies use the absence of color as a statement, but here I think the intense and varied presence of color was an equally powerful thing.  It's used more often in fantastical movies, like in Peter Pan, but why isn't it used in more modern settings?  As I look around my desk right now I am see (my lack of a cohesive interior decorating scheme and ) lots of varied hues and shades of color. 

Just a random thought to leave you "curiouser and curiouser."

Orange-Champagne Salad

Last night in my cooking class our assignment was to make a salad to go with our salad dressing we made in the previous class.

Mine kicked @$$!

I'm super proud of it.  It was really pretty.  It tasted awesome.  We had to lay the plates out for group critique, and one of the other girls in the class said that I inspired her.  She wanted to eat my salad before she ate her own.  It made my day.  Quite possibly my week.

I have eaten a lot of salads.  I got tired of them really quickly, so now I look for unique ones.  So this assignment was right for me.   (If you're tired of salads, try some of the ones at California Pizza Kitchen!)

This one is made of shredded lettuce as the base, with orange sections, yellow bell pepper, red onion, and cilantro.  I'm calling the dressing Orange-Champagne Viniagrette.  It's made from champagne vinegar, olive oil, orange marmalade, garlic, salt, and pepper.   It was tangy with a sweet finish. I really enjoyed it.  And I'm a salad dressing snob. (Also from eating way too many salads.) 

My salad had some critique points about it.  Normally you should put diced items in salad so people don't have to chase them around the plate.  It was too large, as it's spilling over into the rim.  I shredded the lettuce with a knife, which will bruise it if prepared a while before serving. 

I don't know what grade I got on it, but it doesn't really matter.  I challenged myself.  I had fun doing it. And I inspired someone else.  That's all I really want to do in life.

Restaurant Review: Paesano's 1604

Paesano's is a San Antonio staple.  The Paesano's Restaurant Group has recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the original restaurant.  The location on 1604 opened up around the same time I came to San Antonio in 2005.  I've been to the 1604 location once for a work lunch and the Riverwalk location once for a dinner with Scott's family last year.  For Scott's birthday, Paesano's 1604 was our restaurant choice for our celebration.

We were seated in the enclosed portion of the patio.  It was an unexpectedly cold night, but even next to the exterior gate-like doors that open to the rest of the patio it was very nice.  I didn't have a good view of the rest of the interior, but I did like the light fixtures in our area, and the large marble tile was very nice.  If it was a nice night, like most spring and fall evenings, the patio would be a very nice place for dinner.

We started with a bottle recommended by the waiter, Mollydooker Boxer Shiraz.  It was more expensive than we were originally looking at, but it was an excellent bottle of wine.  It was spicy and fruity, just wet enough to be a refreshing accompaniment to the rest of the dinner and had a really smooth finish.  Instead of using sulphites as a preservative, the Mollydooker line uses nitrogen gas instead.  So they recommend to do what they call the "Mollydooker Shake" in order to distribute the gas before serving as an alternative to decanting.  This wine is definitely worth a repeat.  The manager said that it was difficult to come by, so we'll probably need to do some searching for it.

We started with the Mascarpone Garlic Bread.  At first, it looks and smells more like Parmesan, which they most likely used to get a bit of a crust on it.  But when you get into the middle of the bread, it has the creaminess I expected from mascarpone cheese.  Probably the cheapest thing on the menu, but it was excellent.

We both ordered entrees off the specials menu.  Scott had a Baked Tortellini that was very well done.  The tortellini almost tasted like it was made from homemade pasta, but I couldn't quite tell.  The tomato-cheese sauce that came with the tortellini looked kind of clumpy.  Overall it was good, but not quite memorable.

I had the Roasted Sea Bass.  I almost always go to fish when Scott and I don't split an entree since he doesn't touch the stuff.  He really missed out on this one.  The sea bass was cooked perfectly and it almost melted in my mouth with the tomato ragout sauce that came with it.  The peas that came with it were also cooked perfectly.  The Spanish style rice wasn't as sticky as I expected it to be.  I think they used a different grain of rice that kept the grains separate and chewy.  An excellent dish.

It's a little out of our price range for the everyday meal, but could be very doable with split portions.  It was a great place for a nice night out and we had a good time.  There's a reason why this restaurant has made it for 40 years, and I expect that they will still be serving dishes like these for another 40 years.

San Antonio Symphony Presents John Williams

Since I've graduated college, I have changed my involvement in the arts to one of being a patron, since that is something those particular industries need. I made another resolution for 2010 to remedy this: to do one artsy-fartsy thing each month.  For January, it happily coincided with my decision to take Mom to a San Antonio Symphony Pops presentation of John Williams music for her birthday.

I was reminded of how much I enjoy the symphony.

The concert was preceded by dinner at Rosario's, which was the first time Mom has been there.  It's in the King William district and on the main route for the First Friday art exhibits. I had the Pollo con Mole though I opted for the sauce on the side.  It comes "smothered" by default, but the smaller amount was very enjoyable. 

The venue was different than the previous concerts I attended, this time at the Municipal Auditorium. It was a beautiful facility in an art deco style and one of San Antonio's historic sites.  It appeared to seat more people than the Majestic Theater where I've been before.  Most of the floor seats were occupied.  There were a lot of school age kids there, which is a definite difference from the what I perceived to be the normal crowd.  Added bonus: more knee room than the cheap seats at the Majestic.

The concert was very good.  I knew almost every one of the tunes, which made the concert fly by.  I think my boyfriend was embarrased by Mom and me bobbing our heads in time with the music.  They played a lot of the memorable themes from Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Superman and Harry Potter.  Everybody knows those, right? They also played the theme from NBC news, which was much more beautiful in its full form than the sound bytes that you normally get.

Two songs from my high school band career stand out in my mind as incredibly fun to play.  They were both John Williams tunes and they both made the program: Cowboys and 1941.  Both of these were written before Star Wars and his catapult into legend.  I remembered how much it physically hurt to play those tunes during rehearsal and I felt bad for the horns and trumpets who had to play a whole two hours of similarly ranged music. 

There were two solo pieces.  The first on the program was "Viktor's Theme" from The Terminal which featured a clarinet solo.  It was an amazing piece.  The principal clarinet did a fantastic job with it.  It makes me want to watch the film again so I can listen for the theme applied in context.  The second was the theme from Schindler's List.  The piece is both moving and haunting, but I did not love the concertmaster's performance. There's something about fast vibrato that irritates me whenever I hear it and I especially don't think it worked for this piece.

This was my first Pops concert, so I wasn't expecting their "special effects."  They had characters in costume acting onstage intermittently throughout the concert.  It seemed really hokey and detracted from the experience.  But they weren't for me.  They were for the little kid sitting next to us who pretended to be the conductor and then totally geeked out when Darth Vader took over the podium for the Imperial March from Star Wars.  And for him, it rocked. 

Again, I was inspired by a symphony concert.  Listening to classical music always fills me with all the best hopes for myself and my future, with my shooting star dreams.  And best of all, it gives me a whiff of courage to continue towards those things, no matter where I've made it on my journey thus far. 

I highly encourage anyone to attend an arts event in their city if they haven't in a while.  Our cities are filled with creative and talented people who need an audience.  I know I'm going to go back for more as soon as I can.