Archive for "Food and Drink"
Saturday Night
Posted on January 19, 2014 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink, Things to Do.
Saturday was a pretty busy day for us. We were up late watching Goldfinger
I had originally planned to attend Melissa’s Zumba class at Zeal at 8 AM on Saturday morning, but since I was up so late I ended up nixing that idea. I couldn’t stay in bed all day though because I had my own Zumba class to teach at Andover YMCA at 11 AM. Not that I would have. I rarely ever sleep in, even when I’m up all night.
After my Zumba class we went shooting at Bullseye with Cory and April. Then after that we had a couple of events: Cutter J the Absurdist at the Donut Whole and then The Fabulous Fleshtones at Walkers Bar & Venue.
Before going out for the evening, Brian made us some roast beef and cheese eggrolls. We made some the other day and we loved them but there was something missing. Brian decided we needed some Arby’s sauce. We ended up going by Arby’s on the way home from shooting and picking up some curly fries and Arby’s sauce for our eggrolls. What a brilliant idea! The sauce was exactly what the dish needed.
For dessert Brian fried up leftover lumpia wrappers and sprinkled cinnamon sugar over them. Those turned out really great also.
We had a little bit of time to chill at home before our first event. We arrived at the Donut Whole just in time to watch our friend Aaron aka Cutter J the Absurdist perform. This guy is amazing! Here are some videos I took of his performance.
Not only does he masterfully mix music and visuals throughout his performance, he also sings, plays with spoons, and tap dances. I’ve never watched anything like it. He’s not just talented, his creativity is out of this world.
After his performance we were off to Walkers Bar & Venue for the Fabulous Fleshtones. We’d never been to Walkers. It’s pretty new. Our friends’ gig was the perfect excuse to check it out. Apparently, Walkers is the new hangout in town. The place was packed.
The Fabulous Fleshtones were great as always. Their music is so different from the music we were listening to at the Donut Whole just moments before, though. I’m always amazed at our eclectic taste in music. LOL.
Anyway, that’s our weekend in a nutshell. How was yours?
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Metro Grill II
Posted on January 11, 2014 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
I’d been wanting to try Metro Grill II since they opened the restaurant but we hadn’t gotten around to it until recently. Brian and I hadn’t been eating out for one and, secondly, when we do eat out we end up using convenience as a key deciding factor. So we end up eating where we work, play, or are going to be rather than going out of our way for a restaurant. Don’t get me wrong. We have done that, but that’s not what usually happens.
Anyway, we fully intended to make something to eat at home yesterday but the stars just lined up for us to try Metro Grill. When we went to see grandma yesterday at Victoria Falls, we drove by the restaurant. It’s located just North of Kellogg in one of the commercial strips along Andover Road. So that’s where they’re located!
At that very moment it seemed as though a lightbulb materialized out of thin air over my head. “Why don’t we just have dinner there tonight?” I asked Brian. “I’d been wanting to try it.”
We arrive a little bit before six o’clock and there were no other customers yet. I think we were their first diners of the evening.
Here are some pictures that I took of their dessert display.
Even though the desserts looked fantastic, I was worried at first. “How good can this place be if there’s no one here at dinner service?” I wondered. However, three people showed up as we were mulling over the menu and other groups of diners trickled in as we were waiting for our food and while we were eating. We were just early I guess, but we are a couple of old farts and we prefer to eat dinner before seven. LOL.
By the time we left they actually had a decent dinner crowd. We didn’t linger. We just stayed long enough to eat our meals and then we bounced because we still had to move furniture around for my World Party Party and then we had to head over to the Candle Club to watch The Fabulous Fleshtones perform.
Here are some pictures of our dinner.
Brian had the Cuban, which he said is good but not as good as other Cuban sandwiches he’s had. He said they use dill pickles instead of sweet pickles, which gives the sandwich a slightly different flavor. Another thing that’s different about the Cuban at Metro Grill is the shoestring potatoes that you see sprinkled on top of the sandwich. Those are also inside.
I had the fontina chicken with mushrooms and asparagus. All of that served on top of white rice. I’m a rice eater (lover?) so that helped me decide what to have for dinner. They have a wide selection of menu items and when I checked FourSquare for recommendations it seemed like everything was good. If it weren’t for rice, I’d probably still be trying to decide what to have. LOL.
The flavors were delicious but the presentation of this dish was a little lacking. Everything seemed like it was just piled on top of one another. The plate they used to serve the dish is also quite small. After the pile of food and the bread on the side there’s barely any room to maneuver. I would recommend serving this dish on a bigger plate. I would probably leave the bread off too because I usually eat bread or I eat rice. It’s either or and not both. For me, anyways. Other people probably feel differently and it’s good to have options, I guess.
I’d been craving fruit salad since I ate the last of what was left of mom’s fruit salad so I ordered their fruit salad for dessert. It was good but it just seemed like a bunch of fruit mixed together. And, again, the presentation was blah. There really isn’t much there. With the beautiful desserts that were on display, I really hoped that this would come out prettier. You can’t even see the coconut shreds, which they put at the bottom of the bowl. I would have sprinkled that on top of the fruit salad.
I’m not sure how much thought went into deciding what fruits to use but, even though it looked like a bunch of fruit mixed together with no rhyme or reason, they were able to create a good cornucopia of flavors in my mouth. I specially liked that it had bits of mango. I mean, who doesn’t like mango?
Despite my critique of the presentation, I did eat every bit of the fruit salad. Brian didn’t want anything to do with it, and I thought it tasted good. I still prefer my mom’s fruit salad though.
The verdict? Metro Grill II is not bad. Definitely worth checking out if you’ve never been. I have mixed feelings about the value, though. I thought my dinner was priced appropriately, but I thought Brian’s sandwich was on the expensive side because it didn’t even come with any kind of side dish. They could have put a few leaves next to it to increase the perceived value. Brian probably wouldn’t have eaten it, but it would have appeared more complete.
The quality of the food you get for the price is decent, but the place isn’t exactly a “cheap” place to eat dinner. It’s kind of in between fast food and nice. So perfect if you want somewhere casual to eat but want something better than fast food.
Oh, and one last thing, though I’m not even sure if it’s worth mentioning because it’s kind of a given for any restaurant with an open kitchen. Don’t be surprised if you smell like your dinner when you leave.
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NYE Shenanigans
Posted on January 4, 2014 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.
We had a couple of friends who hosted New Year’s Eve parties so we didn’t end up having our own party. Jay and Becca invited us to Sumo the day of but we were already committed. I think this was one of the few times that we didn’t ring in the New Year with the Dills.
Anyway, Jen and Armando hosted a fabulous NYE party with lots of amazing food. Click left and right on the photo above to see some of the dishes we enjoyed that night.
As much as we wanted to stay, we eventually had to bail after a couple of hours to attend the Elrond’s NYE house party, which was actually the first NYE party invitation that we accepted. It’s just a shame that we could not squeeze in all three NYE celebrations that night.
It was Elrond’s first party at his place so it was like a house warming party of sorts. It just so happened to fall on NYE. Anyway, he gave us a grand tour of the place. It’s actually very nice.
The house is in College Hill but it’s been renovated quite nicely. The kitchen has been updated with granite counter tops. Despite all of the improvements and updates throughout the house, which were well done by the way, the house still maintains it College Hill charm. It’s a really cool and perfect for someone like Elrond for sure!
Elrond who’s still getting settled in his new place had this large frame resting on the fireplace mantle. Brian was like, “Someone stole your picture!” In reality Elrond just hadn’t decided what painting to frame. Yes, ladies, this guy paints, makes furniture, lives a healthy/active lifestyle, and has a good job.
Before the rest of this blog post turns into an online dating ad, I wanted to share a photo that we took with the frame because it was just begging to be played with. LOL. Brian and I bailed around a little before eleven thirty so we could be home in time to ring in the New Year at home our own way. We have a “special” tradition.
As we were saying goodbye to everyone, Melissa asked if we were bailing to go to party #3. I explained that we had to be home before midnight.
She came to my Zumba class this morning and told me about all the shenanigans that happened after we left. Sounds like we missed a great time. She did say that Andrea explained our “tradition” or why we had to leave.
I really wish we could have stayed because it looked like the fun started after midnight (based on the Facebook photos, anyhow). I guess we could have left and then come back, but Brian and I didn’t want to stay out too late either because we also have a tradition of getting up early and putting in a few hours of work on New Year’s Day.
On the bright side, Elrond had such a blast that he’s decided to host a house party every month. Sounds good to me. I love parties! And the best part is that we won’t have to bail early next time.
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All American Diner
Posted on December 31, 2013 by Ching under Food and Drink.
We got to try All American Diner when we were in Oklahoma last Saturday. It was a beautiful day for a drive. Temperatures almost reached 60.
All American Diner offers great value for the price, but it’s definitely no Livingston’s. I can relate to the mixed reviews on Urbanspoon. I had the chicken fried chicken meal and it was just okay and my sweet tea tasted a little odd. Although, it’s good food relative to the price so you get excellent value.
After lunch we went to check out CHEF’STORE, where Brian found this giant immersion blender. We also stocked up on mixers. That place is awesome!
While we may not be going back for All American Diner, we’ll definitely be going back to CHEF’STORE to pick up some supplies! LOL.
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Breakfast with Grandma
Posted on December 21, 2013 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.
Brian and I took grandma to breakfast at Livingston’s Diner last weekend. It was her first time there. She got the Mickey Mouse breakfast, which she seemed to enjoy.
My favorite thing to get there is their corned beef hash.
There’s not many restaurants or diners here in town that serve it.
Mmmm… Homemade biscuits and gravy.
I didn’t get any pictures of our cinnamon roll because we annihilated it. The cinnamon roll disappeared from our table almost as soon as it arrived. How can you pass up their yummy cinnamon rolls, though? I would eat a dozen of them in one sitting if I could.
We got grandma a cinnamon roll to go also so she could have some at home later that day also. I think she really liked Livingston’s Diner. At least I hope she did. It’s probably one of my most favorite places to eat breakfast here in town.
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