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! 

Anthony's on Pier 66

I am SUPER unhappy with the Blogger app at the moment... I had beautiful pictures of this meal and they have completely disappeared.  :-(  Same with several other restaurants we have been too recently.  I was going to update the blog and now I'm just in a bad mood.

For now I'll simply say that if you plan to go to Anthony's, you must get the crab and corn chowder.  And take me with you when you do.  I love that soup.  Love.  The food is great.  The soup is divine.  Just remember to add salt.

Roy's in Anaheim

Welcome to Roy's!  Well, Roy's in Anaheim.  The Critic and I have been looking forward to this meal for 3 years.  3 years ago we went on a Disney vacation and stayed less than a block from this Roy's, but didn't realize it was the same ROY'S we went to in Kauai for our 10 year anniversary trip.  We ate at that restaurant twice, ordering the same food both times... that's how much we loved it.  If that doesn't mean anything to you, you don't know us very well.

So fast forward to this surprise Disney trip we had for The Guys and it was a given we were eating at Roy's in Anaheim.  Yes, it's outside of the park.  No, it's not that far.  We all hiked the mile or so to get there and probably did less walking than we did inside the Disney parks.  And we still had plenty of time to ride all our favorite rides before the park closed (I think we left at 11:00 pm, but oh well, it's vacation, right?).

The food was good.  Not as amazing as we remembered from Kauai, but still delicious and all-in-all we are super happy we got to return.  I will say the highlight for this was the treatment of The Guys.  When I made the reservation online, I knew they would be going the extra mile for them.  From chopstick pals to personalized desserts, they did not disappoint.  Which makes sense, given the ridiculously expensive kids meal price!  Oh well, again, it's vacation, right?

To start the meal, we had edamame.  This was an experience with the good and the bad.  The bad?  It was overcooked.  As one who makes edamame at home often (we had it last night for dinner in fact) I do not understand this.  I think you have to really try to make soggy edamame.  And if you're using this as your "free bread", you'd think it would be pretty easy to get this perfect.  Oh well.  The good was that rather than just having sea salt on it, they sprinkled on this mix of red chile, sugar, and salt.  And it was GOOD!  The Critic is looking forward to experimenting to make his own at home.  On properly cooked edamame, no less.

Next up was The Canoe.  I have absolutely no pictures of The Canoe because that's just how fast it disappeared.  The Canoe is a sampling of about 5 different appetizers... ours included some sushi (which we both surprisingly enjoyed), lobster pot stickers, some braised short ribs, spring rolls, grilled shrimp... I don't remember but it was delicious and gone in a heartbeat.  My honest favorite part of The Canoe was listening to a lady ordering for the table at a business dinner she was clearly hosting say "I took the liberty of ordering 3 "Ko-Nae-Hoes" for the table.  Seriously?  That made me LAUGH!

Now for the main dishes.  Here is The Critic's dish... butterfish.  Let me tell you, he wins!  We always have that unwritten contest in a restaurant... who makes the best choice.  This was kind of like cheating, however, because this is the dish we know and love from our Kauai trip.  If you go to Roy's, get the butterfish.  Always.

Next up, my dish.  Meh.  I got the mixed seafood grill or something similar.  It included a scallop, a lobster tail, a shrimp, and a crab cake.  Underneath it was a risotto that had macadamia nuts in it I think... here's the deal.  The scallop was AMAZING!  I love scallops.  I love them best when they are cooked right, and this certainly was.  Best thing about it was that they asked me how I wanted it cooked!  How crazy is that?  They wanted to know if I wanted it cooked "rare" or "cooked through".  I informed her I wanted it cooked "correctly".  She did not disappoint.  It was delicious.  The shrimp was okay... but we'd already had a couple of those on our Ko-Nae-Hoe (still laughing!).  So I wasn't too amazed.  Same with the lobster tail.  It wasn't pulled out of the shell and needed something to dip it in (such as, oh, butter...).  It was fine, but not amazing.  Then the crab cake.  Sigh.  I tried a couple bites and didn't love it but couldn't figure out why.  You know why?  They had mushrooms in it.  Mushrooms!  I don't get it... well, and I won't get it again.  And that's the same with risotto.  Sigh.  Why can't people just put that on the menu???  Nothing saddens me more than expecting one thing and getting one of the two foods I really don't like.  It's kind of like they are trying to sneak them in to see if I still don't like them.  Guess what?  I don't.  Oh well.  That scallop was (almost) good enough to make up for the disappointment.

 

Check out this awesome kid's plate!  This was the salmon.  How great does that look?  I love when a kid's menu item doesn't dumb down to the younger people.  The salmon was good too.  This was FIT's plate, but truth be told The Big Guy ate most of it.  In the background you see The Big Guy's plain pasta.  Sigh.  Can't teach an old 6-year-old boy new tricks, can you?  I'm working on it!

 

Last up dessert.  The Critic and I split a delicious chocolate souffle.  Picture?  Nope... again.  There is a direct correlation between our hunger level and picture taking for sure.  But I did get a picture of the personalized dessert place each of The Guys got.  In chocolate sauce, just below where the picture ends, they had their names written in chocolate sauce!  My friend said "It's like dessert for little foodies!" and it totally was.  The Guys were super impressed and so were we... which, as we all know, is the point.  

In N Out

Surprise!  We totally surprised The Guys with a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim California.  After a plane ride we all needed a "snack", just a couple hours from our dinner at Goofy's Kitchen at the resort.  Since that is a buffet, we certainly wanted to go hungry... but not as hungry as we were.  So our "snack" was our first taste of an In and Out Burger.  And guess what?  Surprise surprise... I'm not a fan.  Too greasy, and what is up with the raw onions???  They had delicious looking chopped up grilled ones... what are they for?  One of the great mysteries of life to be sure, and one which I'm not likely to answer anytime soon.  In and Out Burger, I'm choosing Out.