Zinburger

Yet another new burger joint has popped up in our area. Blah blah blah, burgers and fries, but Zinburger also has a full bar!

Dan and I may or may not have gone twice within one weekend.

Mahi Sandwich

Zucchini Fries

Veggie Burger and Sweet Potato Fries

Bacon Bloody Mary

Granted, I'm not exactly the top choice to review a burger joint, since I don't eat burgers, but Dan and friends all enjoyed theirs. The mahi was really flipping good, the zucchini fries were a bit of a letdown, as was the veggie burger. But, it was more than made up for by the Bloody Mary.

Oh man,

If I felt guilty before, now I really do....I cooked pork chops.

Bleh.

As I'm sure has come up before, I don't eat pork. I don't like pork. I think it comes from a Fire Science class I had where I learned that if you enter a burning building, and smell bacon, you are in trouble. But, I digress.

My parents had defrosted some boneless pork chops for dinner, and never used them. As much as I hate pork, I hate to waste food even more.

So, for the first time in my life. I cooked pork.

I followed this recipe from Allrecipes, for Parmesan Sage Pork Chops. and I have to say, they looked pretty good. My family ate them, and said they were tasty. I changed the cooking times, because my piggy was boneless, and didn't use fresh sage because who the hell has fresh sage.

I'm starting to feel guilty,

posting nothing but restaurant food...but here's some more.

This is from a late lunch at one of our favorite spots, Cuban Petes in Montclair. We usually like to go in the Summer, when you get to eat in the adorable outside area, but it's cold and rainy now. At least the food always make you think of warm beaches.

I had the Caribbean Flounder, served with plantains, rice and beans.

Dan had a mix of Tapas: Bacon wrapped Dates, Manchego Cheese and Spinach Empanadas, Chorizo, Crispy Pork with Fried Plantains, and Hazelnut Stuffed Goat Cheese.

And we washed it all down with:

Made with lots of this (highly recommended)

It's almost enough to make you forget how miserable the weather is getting.

Basketball and Tzatziki

Last weekend Dan and I, along with my parents went to see the Nets play the Celtics at the New Prudential Center.

Dan is a big Celtics fan, I couldn't care less about basketball, but he swore there would be good eats at The Rock. He was right. After a quick tour of the options, I picked Greek.

Vegetable Gyro and Spinach Pie ($10 total!)

The Gyro was good, but the Spinach pie was probably one of the best I've ever eaten.

Smash Burger

Before heading out to a concert, we stopped in at our brand new Smash Burger for a quick dinner. It's funny how someone can be anti junk food, but still excited to try a brand new fast food restaurant.

Smashburger is slightly different than your average fast food burger joint. Everything is cooked to order, and you can pick from an impressive list of toppings and condiments.

Dan got the New Jersey Smashburger and Fries

I got a "Smash Chicken" sandwich with Avocado, and Vegetable Frites

Meh. The food was fine, but I wouldn't be heartbroken to never go back.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

After a visit to the farmers market, we ended up with a giant bag of pobalano peppers. They got shoved to the back of the fridge, any by the time I remembered them, they were a bit past their prime, but perfect for stuffing.

Here's my take on Stuffed Poblano Peppers

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Cut a "T" into each pepper, removed the seeds and stems, washed them, and lined them up on a lasagna pan.

3. Saute an onion in EVOO until tender, add 2 links of turkey sausage, casing removed. Break it up into crumbles as it cooks.

4. Add frozen corn and 1 cup of salsa to the mixture, adjust seasoning as necessary.

5. Stuff the peppers with the mixture, sprinkle with cheese (I used a Mexican blend), additional salsa, and bake about 30 minutes.


They were super tastey, but the peppers will a bit firm, I think next time I'll try to microwave-steam them first.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Every Thanksgiving my family makes a vegetarian pasta dish, almost exlusively a baked ziti. This time I wanted something different. I thought that a Butternut Squash Lasagna would be nice and "harvesty". It came out perfect, but again, I was sick and didn't take any pictures of it while it was beautiful. Instead, here's my four day later leftover cold lumch lasagna. Sorry.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
1 cups chopped onion ( I only used 1/2 an onion- picky eaters)
10 cup fresh spinach
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded sharp provolone cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1 (15-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese
3 cups diced peeled butternut squash
3 cups Marinara
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles

Grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.
Place Squash on a baking pan, coat with oil, salt and pepper, and roast in oven until tender.

Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add spinach; sauté 1 1/2 minutes or until spinach wilts. Combine provolone, parsley, salt, pepper, eggs, and ricotta cheese in a large bowl.

Spread enough Marinara in the bottom of a lasagna pan to lightly coat. Arrange noodles over sauce; spread 1 cup cheese mixture over noodles. Arrange cups squash over cheese mixture; spread 3/4 cup sauce over squash.

Arrange noodles over sauce; spread 1 cup cheese mixture over the noodles. Arrange onion mixture over cheese mixture; spread 3/4 cup sauce over spinach mixture.

Arrange noodles over sauce; spread Marinara evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Cover each pan with foil.

Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes.

Hong Kong Eats!

It seems like ages since I last updated this page, and I apologize. I was traveling, and then came down with a monster cold. I was so out of it on Thanksgiving that I managed to forget to take pictures of all the yummy food.

So, here I am catching up. First, some eats from Hong Kong!

On my first day I traveled to Lantau Island to visit Po Lin Monastery and Big Buddha.

Admission to the Monastery includes a vegetarian lunch.

Vegetables in Broth

Bok Choy with Mushrooms,

Tofu with peppers, Spring Rolls

The food was comforting and tasty. It was food that I would make for myself. Of course, I made an ass of myself attempting to use chopsticks.

I spent the next day exploring Kowloon. It was HOT! I was tired. And lost. And thirsty. And lost. And did I mention tired? I wouldn't normally pick fast food while traveling, but I stumbled across a McDonald's stand and ordered something cold. I'm not sure what I asked for, but I got a cola slushy. It was heaven.

On my third day I happened across the Tai Cheong Bakery, whose egg tarts were featured on Samantha Brown's Asia! My god they were fantastic. I bought one for me and one for Dan to try when he got home from work, and he's lucky he got to try it. They're under a dollar a piece, and easily one of the best things I've ever eaten.

I didn't take pictures of most of our main meals, because I didn't want to look even more out of place. I'd rate the food as overall "good". I didn't eat anything I didn't like. We ate at Celebrity Cusine, the restaurant of Mr. Cheng Kam Fu, one of Hong Kong's most famous chefs, and I was (nod to Michael Kors), underwhelmed. The food tasted fine, but was overpriced, and, come on, radish roses, really?

We ate on an outdoor patio atop the stunning Victoria Peak, at

The Peak Lookout a restaurant with a menu varied enough to give Babu Bot's a run for its money.

We ate at Coast which I will forever love because that day's specials included a chickpea soup. Soup, made from CHICKPEAS! Oh hell yeah!

Oysters

Chickpea Soup

Beer Battered Baramundi

Roasted Pumpkin Pizza

Strangely, our most authentic Hong Kong dining was breakfast at the airport before returning home.

I would eat this everyday if I could.

Szechuan Chicken and Vermicelli in Fish Broth

Noodles with Pickled Vegetables and a Fried Egg

All in all, a fantastic trip. I added a new continent and its food to my list, and have absolutely no regrets (except maybe not buying more tarts).