We moved!

Late notice, but I wanted to make sure that we will stick to the other ones before posting. Since Alan and I are mostly the ones posting here, and we have another blog, I just decided that it will be easier to stick to one. Here are the links!

Alanmine
Life with Miss T

Check us out when you get a chance.

Holiday Classic

Every holiday, we see similar pictures of this grand meal that we slaved over. We want to get it just right, so if we are going to show it off, it certainly should be the final presentation, the fruit of the labor.  This year, however, I am going to take another approach. You've seen my turkey plenty of times, some of you have even tasted it. For me, the sense of accomplishment comes not when everything is on the table and looking pretty, but afterwards:

Even better if whatever people were there are off somewhere with food coma.

We had a little Thanksgiving dinner the day after at home. It might have been the most from scratch meal I've made all by myself. Green bean casserole with my own creamy mushroom sauce, simple buttermilk drop biscuits, turkey giblets gravy (TWO things that let me play with roux!), and of course, the brined all night turkey. With a little contribution of mashed potatoes and stuffing from others, it was both classic and satisfying.

I guess if you really want to see the turkey, you can see it in action:

Good girl Hannah, you go after that turkey leg.

Unhealthy Eating

I don't think I remember the last time I ate this bad for a whole day. Started off with a bagel for breakfast. Lunch was a bowl of wonton noodles soup. Then dinner was half a crab with garlic noodle. Nothing but carb, protein and plenty of butter from dinner. Aside from the half of apple in the afternoon, there's virtually no fruit or vegetable. Now I just feel icky. Maybe I'll take up Chris' suggestion of going on a fruit and veggie diet for the next week...

Pop aisle

Pop aisle
Originally uploaded by Alanmine

We welcomed back Lucky supermarkets this month. I wonder where it went all these years though. I walked into the store and saw this sign in the first aisle...who calls it "pop" around here? Apparently Lucky went to live with a cousin in the midwest before deciding to come back to the big city. We wish small town girl Lucky the best of luck.

Honey Crisp apple is tasty!

One day last year, Chris came home from work and told me that he had the best apple ever. It has the perfect balance of sweet and tart with a great crisp texture. The variety of it is called Honey Crisp. That's great and all, but he to actually bring one back for me to try. He tried to get one for me at the end of the season, but since it's the end of the season, it was okay, definitely not great. This year, we made sure to look for it. The first time we found it at Whole Foods, grown in CA which was a little unusual since majority came from Midwest or Washington. It was delicious and got me hook as well. But at $3.99/lb, it's a bit pricey and we tried a few other places. The local Lucky had it, and those were pretty tasteless. Surprisingly, Costco had it and they were pretty good. They are still more expensive than the more common varieties, but I would recommend at least giving them a try. (The picture shows Talise going to town with a piece of it. Who knew that one tooth is so effective at eating apple!)

100% Healthy Dessert

Recently, after visiting some relatives, my mother and I went out for dessert in SF. We went to a place on Taraval across the street from KFC called "100% Healthy Dessert" or something like that. The interior was simple and modern like many of those restaurants that are marketed toward the Asian teens that have nothing to do any night and apparently aren't studying. I ordered a Mango GiGi which was basically a mango version of that sweet tapioca soup you get at the end dinner at some Chinese restaurants. Mom got Mixed Fruit with Noodle. The picture was the noodle part(taken on my camera phone so sorry). The noodles were probably coconut milk and gelatin but the cool thing was that it was long and thin like rice noodles. The multicolored round balls you see were called "Tadpoles." They actually had "tails." Supposedly good for brain development, immunity, and bone growth, I couldn't figure out what these "tadpoles" were. Unlike tapioca, they had a crunch when eaten. After a few bites, I felt like I was eating giant sperm and didn't want anymore. I'm willing to go back but avoiding tails.

Burger @ The Counter, Palo Alto

I've been hearing about this place for a while now. But since Chris really don't like to venture down to South Bay, I just never had the opportunity. For some strange reason, he suggested that we go visit the Kwik-E-Mart down in Mountain View (promotion for the upcoming Simpson's Movie). I quickly suggest we try out this place. There were a total of 8 (well, 9 including Talise), and I think we all enjoyed our meal. The only thing is that there are way too much decision to make. We all agree that it's best to start with the sauce and work you way through the rest of the option. My burger was consist of 1/3 lb beef patty on honey wheat buns with swiss cheese, roasted red pepper, grilled onion, grilled pineapple, scallions and peanut sauce. Yum! Oh, make sure to get the 3x3 too. It's their started with french fries, sweet potato fries, and fried onion strings. Their web site indicated that they are going through an expansion. One will be opening up in Walnut Creek, I guess I'll have another lunch option near work soon.