Cheer Up With Food

If you're in the mood to eat a chicken dish, I highly recommend checking out  Flock & Fowl .  This restaurant specializes in making Hainanese Chicken Rice .  It's a simple dish consisting of poached organic, free range chicken with marinated cucumbers and preserved mustard greens as seen in the photo below.  You may dip the chicken in ginger scallion sauce, house made  sambal  (chile), and house made soy sauce for more flavor/kick (not pictured).  Also, the sides to choose from are organic egg, Chinese sausage ( lap cheung ), chicken broth, or more chicken rice: Flock & Fowl's Hainanese Chicken Rice with a side of organic egg- The chicken was tender and juicy!  If you're into lightly salted meats or just looking out for your blood pressure, I recommend this dish. On the day we dined there, the Chicken & Poached Egg Congee was the special dish of the day.   Congee   is a rice porridge that's common througho...

Earlier this year we went to Oregon for a little getaway from the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas .  We were out and about in Beaverton , Portland , and Corvallis .  I, of course had to see which restaurants in these areas were good to eat at : Aomatsu In Corvallis we ate sushi at  Aomatsu  and came in just in time for Happy Hour (8:30-10pm, Mon-Thurs).  Our favorite sushi roll from the Happy Hour menu was the Crunch Monster Roll,  which comes with shrimp tempura, avocado, crab, cucumber w/ spicy dressing covered in crunchy dressing (panko): Since my husband and brother-in-law have big appetites, the Happy Hour items weren't enough so we got the  Love Boat from the regular menu.  This entree came with shrimp and vegetable tempura, seaweed salad, Rainbow Roll, Tuna, Salmon, and Yellowtail Nigiri and Sashimi, and an eel roll: What I liked about Aomatsu other than the sushi was that they other offered Asian foods like Kore...

For Las Vegas Restaurant Week '13, my husband and I decided to go eat at  Michael Mina  in the Bellagio . Eating here was a wonderful experience!  Other than the food, the service was exceptional. For example, I liked how our waiter and servers told us the ingredients in each of our dishes.  I also preferred this menu instead of the a la carte menu.  Luckily, our waiter informed us that is menu always available as the  Sunset Menu .  This is a fine dining restaurant that's worth eating at on The Strip! Clockwise: Market Greens- This salad came with goat cheese , hazelnut butter, and pear.  The goat cheese stood out in a good way, it was delish! Heirloom Tomato  Soup- This soup was rich and tasted great with the toasted brioche , which I think had white cheddar cheese and prosciutto  on top of it. Phyllo  Crusted  Sole - This simple-looking dish came with  crab brandade , pea shoots, sauce dijon, and...

After watching the documentary, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead , I was inspired to eat more vegetables and fruits because I know I should be eating more of these two food groups! I've been making green smoothies every day mainly from fresh spinach or kale, fruits, hemp milk, etc.  So far I found great smoothie recipes from Allrecipies.com .  After a couple days of drinking smoothies, I was already getting results.  I felt more energetic and my face looked more clearer (no more little pimples)! Cheers to a healthy and yummy diet! 

Mint Indian Bistro  is my favorite Indian restaurant near my side of town.  There's such a variety of foods to choose from on their menu and all foods are listed under which region they come from.  Their menu is so informative it should be a standard template for all other menus!  The service here was great.  Servers were always around and I think they each had their own individual role. As for the food, my fiance and I both had curries and shared pani puri , an appetizer.  Pani puri is also a popular street snack in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.  The puri is the small, hollow, and round crisp where you poke a little hole on top and fill it with a spicy, tangy mint chutney mix.  Since the puri is delicate, it took me awhile to get a hang of poking a hole with the spoon gently: Photo from my  Instagram  account: @ab702

For my lovely friends' wedding reception, the bride ordered all vegan catered food from Pura Vida Bakery & Bystro  by Chef Mayra  and had customized drinks from their reception venue,  Artiface Urban Lounge . Artiface Getting ready Customized cocktail #1 for the reception- This drink goes out to the gin lovers. Customized cocktail #2 for the reception- An awesome "girly" drink, quite refreshing! Other choices of drinks to choose from The newlyweds :) Can you tell that these pastries are vegan? Chef Mayra preparing the cupcakes Kudos to the chef! Spreading the word Yellow everywhere! Vegan empanandas- Tasted exactly like a real empananda (I've had many in my lifetime)... I was addicted!  Inside the pastries were fake meats, potatoes, and of course other vegetables. If I heard correctly (hope I did), a lady who worked for Chef Mayra told me that these were Aruban  style pastries with cranberr...