Churrasco

Brazilians know soccer. They know samba. They know the beach. And they know barbecue. Man, do they know barbecue. Imagine a large sword skewered with bacon wrapped filet mignon, grilling over an open flame. Next to it are more swords, each skewered with cognac marinated chicken, tiger prawns, chili lime rubbed pork, flank steak, and more. As each sword is ready, a traditionally dressed waiter slices a piece of carnivorous delight onto your plate. This is how Brazilians do churrasco (shoe-hahz-koo).


I can't remember what this was, but it was good!

Gratefully, we don’t have to go all the way to Brazil to have churrasco -- a churrascaria (shoe-hahz-kah-ree-ah) opened up here in Portland a few years ago, much to our delight. So when it came time to celebrate Xang’s “my middle name is carnivore” birthday last month, Brazil Grill was a no brainer.


The birthday boy with his plate. Can you see his eyes glazing over?

We sat down and anxiously turned our disc to the green side, indicating to the waiters that we were ready to gorge. And they pounced. Much like the waiters at dim sum, they swarmed until our plates were nearly overflowing. And that was just the first round. We ate until our stomachs were content, and our eyes glazed over as much from the cognac-soaked chicken as from the dizzying array of meats that were offered to us. And then we ate some more. It’s funny how you can be stuffed, and I mean stuffed, then a waiter walks up to you with a sword full of juicy pineapple covered in a cinnamon sugar glaze that’s hot off the bbq and suddenly, oilah! There’s room in your stomach!


Cinnamon-glazed Pineapple is a specialty of the house. We try to re-create it at home sometimes, and it's never the same!

Since it was Xang’s birthday, we got dessert, compliments of the house. So…apple cinnamon empanada it was. Yum! Apples flavored with cinnamon and baked into a flaky pastry…it’s actually making my mouth water again!?

Burgerville

So...I'm not always a huge fan of fast food. But, on occasion, I confess to giving in to a hankering for a Filet-O-Fish from the Golden Arches. Since moving to the Portland area though, I've discovered Burgerville. They're Oregon-owned, and promote healthy, sustainable business practices (local ingredients, used only when in season, recycling and composting, using local vendors and farmers, hormone-free eggs, and they even offer affordable healthcare for employees, just to name a few).

So in keeping with their seasonal ingredients, every season brings a new item to their menu. At various times during the year, you can find chocolate hazelnut milkshakes (Oregon being known for its hazelnuts), Walla Walla Onion Rings, pumpkin milkshakes, strawberry shortcake, and more.

Currently, rosemary is the featured ingredient at Burgerville. If I didn't keep a check on their Rosemary Shoestring Potatoes, they would quickly become an addiction. It's a good thing they're seasonal! "...fried crispy, tossed in rosemary and garlic infused olive oil, then dusted with rosemary seasoning," as their website describes them. Yum-o! (excuse me, as I channel Rachel Ray).


Today, I had their chicken strips and fries, and substituted the rosemary shoestring potatoes. And let me tell you, these are not your ordinary chicken strips. They're juicy, white meat and lightly breaded. They're so good, I usually bring them home to eat with rice and tonkatsu sauce.

I was so anxious to start eating, I forgot to take a picture until Sydney and I had eaten a few of the chicken strips =D

Mini Cupcakes

*I posted last night/early this morning, but when I went back to edit a paragraph, I ended up deleting my whole post! Aaagh! All that writing! Oh well. I'm going to try again.*

As you probably guessed, I have a slight obsession with cupcakes. It's been a lot of fun trying to find the best, the sweetest, the cutest ones around, and I've just gotten started!

For Emi-chan's birthday, I decided to do mini cupcakes. First ones were for her Parent and Me class. Since I was the snack mom a couple days after her birthday, I decided to make some special ones. The normal thing is probably to go to a supermarket and buy a box of cupcakes for $6, but no, not for my precious baby. Only the best for the little princess. I had to make these beach going teddy bears I saw on Bakerella and My Little Mochi.

I found that these mini cupcakes were both easier than I thought it would be, and also harder than I thought it would be. The easy part: I decided I wouldn't make the cupcakes from scratch, but used a mix and canned frosting, for sanity and health reasons (my sanity and the kids' heathy. I'm not the best baker). Drawing the faces and bathing suits on the bears was easier than I thought it would be, thanks to edible marking pens. The hard part: finding decent bears to draw on (I ate most of the rejects...I don't want to look at another Teddy Graham for awhile), and frosting the cupcakes. I decided to use the easy-peasy frosting technique I saw on a Food Network show, where you take a plastic ziplock bag and load it up with frosting, push the frosting into a corner of the bag, snip the corner, and then pile your cake with fluffy frosting. When I tried it, it 1) got all over me and 2) looked like I had piles of white dog poo on the cupcakes. Not very appetizing. So, I had to refrost them before sprinkling them with blue sprinkles. In the end, I'm pretty happy with the results (the kids were, too, except for Emi-chan, who hates cake). What do you think?


For Satuday, we had a family birthday party. I had ordered 2 dozen mini cupcakes from Sibby's in San Mateo. My brother Jeff tagged along to help me pick them up. At first, I wasn't sure if I had the right directions. The address took me to a one way street behind a row of retail stores. All we saw were auto body shops. No bakery. I had Jeff re-read the directions to me. Then I saw it. Sibby's. A little pink oasis among dirt and grime. Once I saw the cupcakes, I was very happy I chose them.


Rick thought the cupcakes were too sweet. Emi-chan rejected them because they were cake. I liked them very much. Yes, the cupcakes were sweet, but you could taste the distinct flavors. I had ordered the variety pack, and we got (I think): Dulce de Leche, Carrot Cinnamon, Red Velvet, Grandma's Tea Cake, Choco Choco, and Butter Cup. I'm starting to get hungry again. Maybe I'll go and get a leftover cupcake :)

Bikkuri Donkey

I needed to meet Renee in Dotonbori to pick-up Jo (her son) for an overnighter.  Jo is Luke's buddy from church.  They (Renee and kids) just moved to Australia earlier this month. It was a farewell sleep over together.  Since we were in Dotonbori, we decided to eat lunch together at Bikkuri Donkey.  This is one of my favorite restaurants in Japan!

JoAnn, I'm sure you remember this restaurant.  We used to eat there after church for lunch.  It's a chain.  Each shop has a theme to their interior.  In Sakai the theme is pirates.  In Wakayama (at the shop we ate at) the theme is Miami Vice.  (Do you remember that?)  In Dotonbori the theme is miners.  It's always a surprise and fun.

The menu in all the shops is the same--Japanese hamburg.  

I had the oroshi hamburg.  It's my favorite.  It is, basically, a hamburger patty topped with grated daikon and a ponzu/soy sauce.  It's yummy.  It comes with rice and a daikon salad.
Luke had the hamburg with cheese on top (at the very top of the photo) and Jo had the plain hamburg.  They shared a plate of french fries.
So delicious.  BTW, don't you just love the name of this restaurant--Bikkuri Donkey.  Literally translated, "surprise donkey".  As far as I know, the hamburg is made from real ground beef, not donkey.

CreoLa, San Carlos, CA

After whining about not doing anything special for Valentine's Day, Rick finally got the hint and made reservations at a Cajun/Creole restaurant called CreoLa: A New Orleans Bistro. We had gone there a couple of years back but didn't have a chance to come back until this year.

Gran-Gran (my mom) and bro babysat Emi-chan while Rick and I were gone. A diaper mishap made us a little late, but the maitre d' quickly seated us with a smile and didn't grumble. The restaurant was very dark. Probably to put the patrons in a romantic mood, but because of that, none of the pictures I took came out very well, even with a flash, hence no pictures of the food. Oh, well.

They had a 4 course Valentine's Day prix fixe tasting menu which I was a little nervous about because it was mostly seafood. For those of you who know me well, I don't do seafood very well. BUT to my surprise, I LOVED everything I had, ESPECIALLY the seafood items.

This is what we had that evening (sorry, I forgot what some of the items were called):

Rick:
Starter: BOLT deep fried oysters with bacon and ??? (Whatever was in it, they were awesome)
Second course:Fennel and crab Bisque (Yummm)
Third course: Grilled Grouper and ??? stuffing (The sauce was really rich and tasty)
Dessert: Chocolate and Peanut butter mousse with a short bread crust (So dense! So sweet! So good with coffee!)

Linda:
Starter: Dungeness crab cake (I could have licked the plate clean)
Second course: Salad with sweet vinaigrette and praline ??? (The vinaigrette was wonderful. Not too tart, not too sweet)
Third course: Shrimp and crab pie (I loved it! It was supposed to be crawdads and shrimp, but the crawdads weren't good, so the chef made a substitution)
Dessert: Beignet with fresh fruit, mango sauce, and whipped cream (I got only 2 little baby beignets. I could have eaten 5 more)

I think this is one of our favorite restaurants. The food is fantastic, the service is great. Only thing is we probably only go once a year because it isn't a cheap eats place. I think that makes it even more special.

Mini Cupcakes

Today, I visited a bakery called Chocolate Mousse in San Carlos. Once upon a time, it was called Chocolate Mousse, then Vivaldi's, then Vivaldi's Bakery and Cafe, then back to Chocolate Mousse. A little confusing. Rick and I got our wedding cake there when the bakery was called Vivaldi's. But I digress. I was specifically looking for cupcakes. When I got there, there wasn't much to in the display cases. I think I got there a little before closing. There were a few yummy looking pieces of cakes, cookies, a few pastries, and one display case full of Valentine's chocolates. After peeking around for a bit, I saw that they had a couple of trays of cute little mini cupcakes. Since I was in a bit of a hurry, I didn't ask what flavors they carried. I just picked 3 that appealed to me. And here they are:

Since I don't know what each one is called, I just called them: Choco chip, Lemon, and Pinky

I liked the lemon flavored one the best. It wasn't too sweet, nor was it too sour. The pink one was a little too sweet. The cake on all 3 were not dry. Yeah! I hate dry cake.

Here is Emi-chan eating the frosting off her cupcake. Just the frosting. She left the cake. She doesn't know what she's missing.

Chocolate Filled Malasada

I had my first malasada (Portuguese fried donut) 3 years ago at Leonard's in Honolulu. I loved it. Hot. Fluffy. Sweet. Not oily at all despite being deep fried. I probably could have had a couple more but I was full from eating (Rick and I were taken on an eating tour by some friends). Since then, I've kept an eye out for someone or someplace that carries/makes malasadas. Unfortunately, no luck.

I had practically given up on finding malasadas on my own, when one day, when I was browsing through the freezer section at Takahashi Market when I saw them! A box of frozen malasadas! And they're chocolate filled! I practically dropped Emi-chan to get into the freezer. I was ecstatic! But wary, too. I took my box up to the check out counter to ask the 2 young guys working if they had tried them. Their reaction was this: "These are awesome!" "I can eat a whole box myself." "Whoa! Check it out. We got chocolate ones. We gotta try these." And so on. I was encouraged.

Once I got the malasadas home, I had to try one. I microwaved one for a few seconds and it was still frozen. I put it back in for almost a minute and I got molten lava in the middle. I had to wait a couple of days to let my tongue heal from the burns.

Finally, I got it right. Warm. Moist. Sweet. The chocolate wasn't too sweet, but not bland, either. A little oily, but not too bad. It was good. Not as good as Leonard's, but still very satisfying. I'll have to see if they get in the regular ones and try them out.

Looks like a brown egg...

It's chocolate, no yolk!