These are a few of my favorite things! Part I

For some reason "Sound of Music" is big during Christmas time. My cousins learned picked up English (or diction?) from this movie, and since they ate with me I felt this was appropriate as a title.

Also it's true.

On the East Coast there exists a little town in PA that makes beer that is only good because you can't get it on the west coast. Also it is good with food.

Also comes in "Black and Tan," folks!

Like this food:

Apparently all Asian grocery stores have always had these peanuts, but the parental generation has been holding out on this 99¢ gem until now. It's different from the chili/spicy peanuts you get in American stores. This flavor is more like the chili you get in the little jars at the restaurant table.

Be careful... it is horribly addicting and you will want beer.

The other thing the East coast has that the West does not, is Full Key -MD. Don't be fooled. The one in Gallery Place-Chinatown is okay. But it's not as good as the one in Wheaton. For some reason when I order these dishes elsewhere it's just... not. good. Even relatives from LA and NYC want to eat here when they're in town. Cantonese-crack!

You've seen this before, but this time it was something I ate: steamed egg and shrimp on rice

For future ordering reference: "Wat dan ha yun fan"

We also go roast chicken, black bean clams, and stir fried beef/rice noodles:

Close ups you say? But of course!

The sauce is so good on rice. There's jalapenos and onions slow simmered with these bad boys.

Ingredients are simple, but it's actually harder to make at home than you think!

Oh yea, we also got some other noodles, but I forget what it's called. Pork strips and snow peas. The noodles are crunchy but get soft as they absorb the sauce.

Bacon stuffed Etta's

My friend had a genius idea for her birthday: everybody must bring something stuffed, and bacon must be one of the ingredients. I was going to cheat and make jalapeno deviled eggs (see Thanksgiving) and just add bacon.

Turns out, when you try to plan in advance and boil the eggs ahead of time, but don't remove the shell you're going to just have a bunch of yolks. My co-workers said that eggs have a membrane inside that kind of dips up on the wider end. If you poke a hole or make a tiny crack on that end before you boil it you should be good.

Experiment for next time. Instead I made stuffed mushrooms:

The biggest appeal was that it had all 4 food groups! Veggies (spinach, onion, mushroom), Carbs (bread), Meat (duh. bacon!) and BLUE CHEESE! (used Saga).

Mmm. So melty. Actually, I would have preferred a lighter cheese. The blue cheese over powered everything else (or I used too much). Goat cheese would be my substitution, and I used turkey bacon so you can pretend to be less fat.

Went to brunch with B and Mar at Etta's! I've been waiting to try that place for forever! Unfortunately I wasn't in a breakfast mood. So I got crab cakes!!

Mar got the special of the day - which I forget the name of.... let's just say slow cooked ham.

Are you drooling? Because I am.

Market house corned beef hash: sister in-law needs to try this. It comes with habanero ketchup! (Did you know habenero is not spelled with the ñ?)

Yummy crab cake with buttered kale and fries. (Green thing is tomatillo sauce). Most of the time I find crab cakes to be too breaded and takes away the flavor of the crab. I don't know what was holding this thing together, but it was all crab meat! mmm

Next Etta's goal: Make it for "crabby hour" --> how can you resist a name like that?!

♫ Tis the Season for Clogging Arteries ♫

November is Dine Around Seattle month. Good chance to sample some fancy (or the not as fancy, but questionably priced) restaurants for $30.

Smash and I went to Nishino's - which my work used to hire out the chefs for our Holiday parties back in the times of plenty. Pricey, but fresh fish and they have inventive rolls. Plus the Central district just doesn't get explored as much as it should.

I got the wine pairing option, which meant dessert came with sake! I haven't been much a fan of it in the past, but sake is definitely growing on me.

I think it's the sourness. I'm not sure. Anyway, they had yummy cakes made by Hiroki’s Specialty Desserts, because what's the point of the title of this post if I didn't shove heart clogging food into each meal??

Green tea tiramisu and pumpkin something cheesecake.

Sorry, I should update more often. I'm beginning to forget what I ate!!

I re-visited my favorite lasagna recipe to test out my new deep dish ceramic cooker! The scraper is not designed for lasagna I don't think. I probably should have cooked something else the first time I used it to get that "base." The premise is like a wok or the grills you would use camping. You grease it up, and don't wash it. As you keep using the dish it'll develop its own non-stick layer.

I don't know why lasagna's always runny. I think maybe because I shove more spinach and mushrooms than the recipe calls for. (it cooks down... so why not? besides the runny-ness). That's what makes it "lean" right?

This meal re-affirmed how much of a foodie my friend is. We geeked out over my recipe books and planned a feast that is probably not going to happen. But it'd be so good if we actually made it...

Speaking of which, the Stranger had an article about fried foods. I'm not much of a fried food person in general (in fact, feeling a little nauseated as I type this) BUT! they also said corn dog! I have soft spots for certain types of fried food that come and go. And after reading about their interesting spin on corn dogs how can you not want to try out the Unicorn?

Start out with your basic chili cheese corn dog -

Ok it looks a little bit like poop, but it was good! Not very wow-good. Just more like -hm. Why haven't I thought of this before? It's good.- good.

What I really loved was the cat-dog!

That's right! catfish! On a stick! Deep fried in corn dog breading with orange sauce! I have no idea what the sauce is. Website says "frank's red hot aioli." Anybody else thinking of a buffalo wing spin off from the red hot?

They also had deep fried burger (bleh. kind of like a mini Big Mac).

and Mac and Cheese (I have out grown you, plain cheddar mac&cheese. I prefer sharper cheeses like Dubliner and Gruyure).

Seriously, it was like part American cheese part plain cheddar.... yich to American cheese.

And what would a blog post these days be like without a contribution from my Ladies' Dinner Club?

Psych it's brunch. (Remember when it used to be spelled "sike" or was I just illiterate back in the day?)

I was an hour late but they saved me a plate. Cousin met the host for this meal right before the event so I had a couple of days of anticipation after hearing the cooking process.

Top: pumpkin cake, poached eggs with spinach and tomatoes and short rib hash.

The hash was rubbed with kona and cooked ahead the day prior. You know what that means? A tender piece of meat. With caramelized onions, peppers, asparagus, and potatoes. Savory goodness.

But there was more!! I just couldn't fit it all on one plate.

Pumpkin scones with home made maple icing, chocolate-peanut butter dipped oreos, peanut butter cookie with a Reese's mini

Yes, you see seconds of the hash and the pumpkin cake.