Melrose Grill

Okay this was fun.  The Critic set me up on a date... with my good friend The Photographer (because I can't find a better name for her right now... so when you've come up with one... because I know you are watching to see when this one is published and YES I'm about a month over due so most sincere apologies... anyway, let me know what you want to be called.  You're likely to be featured a lot around here, you know).

She suggested Melrose Grill and I was all for it because I had never been.  When I got there, I was even MORE all for it.  Oh my gosh, where have you been all my life???  I love this place and can't wait to go back.

First off, I sat at the bar, near the end, watching the chefs work in the kitchen.  I think I've made it abundantly clear that I could never tire of this type of entertainment.  It's the difference between watching sports on TV and being there watching the action live.  No substitute.

Second observation... make sure you are hungry when you come here.  That might seem obvious but the plates of food are HUGE and if you arrive hungry, take more than half your entree home, you will feel over full and have at least two... maybe three meals of leftovers.  And it will all be worth it.

Third observation... Best. Scallops. Ever.  That's saying something.  Because I have definitely eaten enough scallops to make sure I'm right about this.

Lastly... I have the best friends on the planet and today just proved that.  Love spending time with that Photographer!!!

Beautiful salad of tomato, balsamic, blue cheese, and onion.  The blue cheese was too strong for me, but I will forgive them.  I just love this place too much.

Seriously gorgeous.  I added the steak skewer because it's a steak house and I figured I'd be missing out.  I wouldn't have.  I am literally drooling looking at these scallops and wishing I had even one right now.  Each one of those can easily be cut into about 8 very filling bites.  They are the size of my palm.  No kidding.  Drool.

Fuji Teriyaki

After looking and looking, I do not see a post about Fuji yet.  That borders on sacrilegious.   And I just learned how to spell sacrilegious.  Weird.

A long time ago, long before there were The Guys or even a Coach Foodie/Critic, there were two kids just getting their start in the dating world.  Long before that, was a future Critic who loved going to a place called Fuji Teriyaki.  I cannot count the number of times we have made the trek to this amazing little whole in the wall.  I cannot count the number of times they have remembered The Critic.  I cannot count the number of times we have craved this food.  Best. Teriyaki. Anywhere.  I promise.

Once we were married and moved further south, we found we couldn't frequent this gem as much as we wanted.  After I don't know how long, I walked in, with The Critic, and they were SO excited to see him.  And handed me a dust covered pair of sunglasses that I had left behind the counter!  True story.  They remembered him, they remembered the sunglasses were connected to him.  And months and months later, they were truly excited to see him.  And THAT, is one of many reasons why I love this place.

This is not the first time we have taken The Guys here, but it has been a while.  Thankfully, everyone loved it and I'm sure we'll be going back to "The Place With The Meat and Rice and Those Really Neat Lamps That Keep You Warm" as The Big Guy called it.

Chicken Katzu, no salad (which means extra rice) -- Big Guy's favorite (be careful, that is BBQ sauce on the side.  Do not, REPEAT DO NOT, poor over precious coveted sauce covered rice

Jumbo Teriyaki Chicken -- No salad LOVED BY ALL!!!

Chicken Gyoza -- Favorites of all but The Big Guy.  More for us!

Return to Cals

There is a church down the way that has a Parent's Night Out from time to time... leave the kids in their care to sponsor some youth mission trip, pay what you want.  The fun part is that we enjoy joining up with a few other couples, letting our kids all play together, then heading out for a big of grown-up talk time.  With food.  Tonight, we went to Cal's.  THANK GOODNESS they have been improving the salt level.  Though the brussels sprouts actually went a bit to the other extreme.  Cal's is not my favorite restaurant but for proximity to home, it will certainly do, from time to time.

Brussel sprouts -- very good until you got to the bottom, which were just greasy, salty, overcooked, mush.  Top ones were delicious, though.  I'd give these a try again... maybe.

Roasted squash... not to be repeated.  Too much butter, squash not cooked enough.  Not my favorite at all.

I did enjoy this little "appetizer" and would use it as my mail meal.  The pork belly and onion marmalade was tasty.  I like my grits much better... think I could bring them in and ask them to put them on the side instead?

Panera

I'm not a fan of fast food, and I know this place definitely has its problems, but I truly enjoy the following meal at Panera.  BBQ Chicken Chop Salad, Macaroni and Cheese, and Chai Tea.  Mmmmmm... Thanks for the date, FIT!

Volleyball = Red Robin

I do not subscribe to the "Red Robin... Yum!" slogan.  I would rather go nearly anywhere than Red Robin.  But when The Critic's volleyball season ends, that is where we go.  We tried to take them to The Rock for pizza once and we were the only ones who enjoyed it.  So Red Robin, here we go.  And this actually works out because The Big Guy ALWAYS wants to go to Red Robin (because he likes a plain cheeseburger with apple slices and a big 'ol basket of fries sitting right in front of him with all the apple juice he can eat).  So having a set "this is when we go" works for me. 

Last time we went I had this super tasty little burger that I totally forgot to blog about... twice.  Bad me!  Anyway, I was excited for it because, while I can't remember what was in it both times I remember thinking it was actually a pretty tasty sandwich and, if I didn't eat the fries, it didn't hate me as much as burgers usually do. 

So, in a rare turn of events I was looking forward to going this time.  Until I got there.  Because that delicious little whatever-it-was burger is no longer on the menu.

I hate "limited time specials".  Hate them.  Because if I like them, I can't get them anymore. 

I looked through the entire menu... had a hard time coming up with something to eat.  My favorite conversation went back and forth with The Critic:

What are you getting?
Depends on what you're getting.
Depends on what you're getting.
Well, nothing looks good to me so I just figured I'd eat half of what you got.

Notice it doesn't say who said what?  That's because we both had the same thought.  However, an idea intrigued me that I couldn't shake so I finally tried it.

They have "protein style" burgers which take away the bun and then wrap them in lettuce.  The more I thought about this, the more I thought if I do that and then chop it up, it will be kind of like a burger salad.  So I decided to do that with the Banzai burger but asked them to hold the mayo.

Guess what?  It's pretty good!  And it didn't leave me feeling like the burger hated me.  Which is good.  So next time I go, definitely going to "protein style" a burger and try and enjoy myself.  Thankfully the next volleyball season doesn't end for several more months (or even start for a couple more weeks) so I have time.

AND.... guess who played???  ME!  Haven't played volleyball for several years, but it sure was fun.  And I didn't even do anything to mess up horribly.  Thanks for letting me play, Critic (and team).  Just might do that again sometime. 

The Ram with The Fam

Happy birthday to my mom meant a fun art day and a "quick" family lunch at The Ram at Kent Station.  And by quick I mean the world's slowest service you have ever ever seen in your entire life.  My sister was quoted over ONE HOUR after walking in as saying, "I've changed my mind... I think we'll get served faster at Duke's." 

For me, The Ram brings back glory days of my college years.  Right across the street from Willamette University's campus where I lived and breathed for 5 years of my life, I have had many a Ram burger... and it's where I was introduced to my first (of many) Long Island Iced Teas.  I don't do those anymore.  Really... not kidding.  But for me, The Ram = amazing burger and wonderful food.

Except I don't really like burgers anymore.  Well, as I think I've said before, it's more that burgers don't like me. 

So The Critic and I decided to split a steak sandwich with au jus to dip it in and a side of onion rings (most of which went the the critic for the same reason as above... they don't like me very much).  So I ordered a nice little side salad as well.  And I never got it. 

Oh well... in this case it was definitely the PEOPLE who counted, not the food.  Happy birthday, Mom.  Maybe next time we really will go to Duke's. 

Sugar Waffles

About a year and a half ago I went on a business trip with The Critic in Southern California.  I had a lot of time on my own and a place I found was The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  I was intrigued by how awesome they catered to those stay-at-home moms who like to drink coffee while letting their rugrats play and thought how neat it was to be equally into coffee and tea, for those poor souls who don't drink coffee (let's pause for a moment to feel sorry for them....  ....  ....  Thank you).

When I was there I ordered a tea something-or-other and then decided to try their waffle.  And my life forever was changed.  See, nothing spectacular led me to believe this would be a life-altering experience.  They didn't scream "DONUT WAFFLE" or anything like that.  I just remember her asking if I'd like it "heated or not" and I was a bit surprised and said, "Heated?  Right?"  And she said "Yep!"  Then I had it... and it was a donut Belgian waffle.  It was SOOOOOO good that I took The Critic for one after dinner that night as dessert.  It was better than The Melting Pot fondue we had the day before.  Seriously!

Fast forward a couple months and we were at Whistler B.C. doing our skiing thang while The Guys were in ski school and they had a donut shack on the top of the mountain.  We were wondering if it could possibly be the same thing/half as good.  And it was!  How often does that happen???

Well, not very often.  That was 15 months ago and neither of us have experienced this mecca of a donut waffle again.

Fast forward to Christmas 2011 and guess what my parents gave me?  A waffle maker!  And the paper wasn't even off the box before The Critic said "Now you can MAKE donut waffles!!!"  So I've been on a quest since then.

First, let me smash the hopes and dreams right now.  This is NOT a recipe for donut waffles.  I'm still looking for those.  But in an attempt, I came across a pretty fun alternative.  I give you.... Sugar Waffles.

I've used my waffle maker several times since that paper officially came off and I can tell you two things.  Waffle batter takes a LOT of steps and man is that sucker hard to clean!  I can't help with the clean-up ease yet (this one was a lot messier) but the batter was a cinch to make!  So to start, I opened a can of Grands buttermilk refrigerator biscuit dough.  And then my batter was done.  Yep!  DONE!  Three more ingredients and I'm done.

Pour vegetable oil into a bowl and turn each biscuit one time in it.  Put on the waffle maker.

Close and turn the waffle maker (I used the highest setting).  When finished, remove to a cutting board.  Cool for a minute, just until you can handle it.  Cut into slices.

Take each slice and turn it in melted butter.  Half a stick was enough for the 6 waffles I made this morning.

Take each slice and turn it in granulated sugar.  

I give you sugar waffles.  Well, I give you recipe for sugar waffles.  If you want me to give you one for real, call me up and let me know when to expect you.  Enjoy!!!

And when I finally figure out that donut waffle recipe, I'll post it as well. 

Ox Tail Stew

I made this:

 

Based on this

Okay, so there isn't a lot of similarity in the flavor profile, but ever since eating ox tail for the first time at the Salish Lodge, I have been inspired by the server who assured me anyone can cook it as long as you use a slow cooker.  Well, thanks to The Critic's Christmas gift to me of an electric pressure cooker, it's been on the list of must-dos.  And yesterday it was finally did!  I will say, it ended up super delicious, though I wish it had been more concentrated.  Let me tell you a little goes a LONG way.  Not only is that a ridiculously rich stew with a broth that is Guiness based, but it is served on a bed of my all-time favorite creamy polenta recipe.  As those chef-y people like to say, "The creaminess of the polenta balances out the richness of the ox tail".  And it does.  It was well worth the two days that it took to prepare it and it has a LOT of leftovers.  The best part?  It is one of those joyful dishes that is even better the next day.  Mmmm!  Deliciousness at its best. For those interested, this is essentially the recipe (though I did not have parsley in mine... now I wonder if I omitted it on accident?).  Since I refrigerated it overnight, I did not remove the oxtails from the pressure cooker while the vegetables cooked.  Once that was done, I did pull out each one and removed as much fat as I could and all the bones (except the one The Critic got... sorry Honey!).  So now you, too, can make this awesomeness in your own home.

And just to say it one more time, I *made* that!