Palmers East

Since Halloween is on a Saturday this year, the school and work places were having Halloween parties on Friday. I took J and D to hubby's office around 4 to walk down the hallways, pick up candies, enjoy all the "so cute" praises, and do some admiring of other little kids in return. Afterwards, we decided to grab a quick dinner in Redmond. We wanted to go to the Stonehouse, but were turned away as they were all booked at 5:30!!! *sigh* Another time. So we walked over to Palmers East around the corner.

To say that Palmers East isn't a suitable place for little kids is an understatement. There was a long L-shaped bar, quite a few bar tables with stools, a small dance floor, and a few random shaped tables. But since we didn't want to walk in the rain to look for another place, it had to do. As the place was all decorated with spider webs and such, it was kind of fun. J corrected hubby and said the place wasn't scary, but spooky. =)

The people were friendly, most menu items were on the cheap side. I got the linguini with Shrimp in garlic cream sauce. Hubby got the turkey "Mile High" club, a triple decker with bacon, cheese, crisp lettuce, tomatoes, and mayo on sourdough bread, with fries and a Caesar salad. Since they don't have a kid's menu. The kids shared an entree BBQ chicken. The portions were very generous. Both BBQ chicken and linguini came with a side salad. This is definitely one of those places that people come for quantity and price over quality. Hubby's club was loaded with turkey breast. My linguini was drowning in the cream sauce that I didn't want to think about how much calories there were. *wince* (I would have preferred if it was loaded with shrimp instead of carb. ;) The kids, unfortunately, didn't like the smoke flavor of the BBQ, but enjoyed the turkey breast, fries, and my garlic bread. While nothing was exceptional, it wasn't bad either. The Caesar was the only thing we thought that wasn't worth the price. For $7, it was just bunch of mediocre Romaine lettuce with some parmesan and croutons, nothing special. This wouldn't be consider expensive anywhere else. But compare to the rest of the menu, it wasn't a good value. (The linguini and the BBQ were both only $10! The club was $8.)

Besides the obvious, it was also very difficult to feed the kids there as the place was dimly lit. I could barely see the food, let alone cut and dissect various parts. (Yes, I'm a messy one at restaurants. When food comes, more often than not, I need to separate/scrape things so that D wouldn't be accidentally eating something diary.) So of course, we will never go back. That said, it seems to be a cheap and maybe even interesting place for guys to go grab a drink after work. So hubby might give it another shot sometime in the future.

Palmers East
7853 Leary Way NE, Redmond, WA 98052
(425)867-3837

Shiro's at Last ...

I have been longing to eat at Shiro's for a long time. However, since hubby doesn't eat raw fish, I have been patiently waiting for the right opportunity with any of my sushi-enthusiastic friends. At last, my patience paid off. A friend of mine came to town. Even though it was last minute, we still made it to Shiro's.
Located in Belltown, the decor was very unpresuming. The small restaurant had about 17 tables. The bar area was full all night, but we were able to get a table after waiting only for a few minutes.
Since Shiro's is known for having the fresh fish, we went with one order of Omakase sashimi, and one order of Kaiseki dinner. (I wouldn't really call that Kaiseki though. Kaiseki is much more elaborate. This was more an Omakase dinner.)

Our Omakase sashimi contained two pieces each of albacore tuna, tuna, marinated tuna, salmon, yellowtail, geoduck, smelt, scallop, and four pieces of Sugata sea urchin. The scallops were a little unusual as they were wrap in seaweeds. I don't remember ever having smelt before, and surprisingly I didn't mind it at all. The sea urchins were the catch of the day. They were so fresh and sweet, I could have devoured a whole plate of them. Everything was super fresh, but all the pieces were really small. And for $50, I was hoping for some more interesting choices.

For the Kaiseki dinner, we got the simplest one for $60. It came with one appetizer, Shiro's famous black cod, sushi, sashimi, soup, and dessert. The appetizer was one Kamoto oyster and Smelt Nanban, marinated smelt with fresh sliced Walla Walla onion. The smelt was interesting, it tasted as if it was cooked. I wonder what kind of marinate they used. The sushi and sashimi that came with the meal were pretty standard. The five sushi pieces were tuna, marinated tuna, salmon, shrimp, and yellowtail. The nine sashimi pieces were three pieces each of tuna, albacore tuna, and yellowtail. Just like the Omakase sashimi, the sushi and sashimi were really fresh. The yellowtail sashimi was so sumptuous that it melted on my tongue like butter. However, I thought the selection was rather boring. Shiro's renowned Black Cod Kasuzuke was a piece of succulent broiled kasu black cod with perfectly balanced sweetness and saltiness. It was so tender, (I don't want to say this again, but I don't know what else to say,) "it melted on my tongue like butter". The original recipe was featured in the New York Times (now that is a good reason to go through the archives =). The cod was served with a piece of eggplant and some narazuke pickles. Towards the end of the meal, they brought us the miso soup and Chawan-Mushi. The miso soup was delectable and loaded with tofu. The Chawan Mushi was a steamed egg custard with Shiitake mushroom, fish cake, spinach, shrimp, chicken and ginko nuts. Maybe it was the soft custardy texture, maybe it was the slightly savory taste of the custard (instead of tooth-achingly sweetness of a standard Western custard), but my friend didn't care for this one too much. Steamed egg custards are very common in Chinese cooking, even though we don't normally add seafood and other ingredients. It's comfort food for us. If you've ever steamed an egg custard before, you know it's very temperamental. This one was very well made. For dessert, we got two pieces of mochi ice cream, so we went with green tea and strawberry. Both were excellent. The mochi was so soft, it was probably the best mochi I've ever had.

Even though I was a little disappointed with the selection, it was still a great dinner. As small as the sashimi pieces were, I was full for hours, so I probably wouldn't be able to finish if the pieces were bigger. Next time, I think I will opt to sit at the bar on one of the nights that Shiro works to witness his creative powers. =)

Shiro's Sushi Restaurant
2401 2nd Ave (Battery Street), Seattle, WA 98121
(206)443-9844

Not Your Average Chicken Soup

Tonight's dinner was soup, soup, soup. It was the ultimate chicken soup day at my house as I went a little crazy and made three different chicken soups. They are all based on recipes from Soup, Superb Ways with a Classic Dish published by Hermes House. All turned out well, but I wouldn't recommend anyone making all three on the same day. =)

The first two were Chinese style soups, clear and delicate, best as an appetizer, super quick to make:  The Chicken and Asparagus Soup was so simple, just the two main ingredients plus some seasoning, anyone could make it in a few minutes as the last addition to their meal. It was delightful. Chicken, ham and shrimp are the three pillars in the Three Delicacy Soup. If you use cooked shrimp instead of raw, just add them at the end. If you don't like the pungent flavor of raw scallions, add them to the stock with the meat as I did so that my kids wouldn't pick them out.The last was a hearty Chicken Minestrone. It was a little more time consuming, but a meal in itself. I didn't have all the ingredients, so I improvised with what vegetables I had. I used chicken breast instead of thighs. I also eliminated peas and Parmesan completely (if you remember, D is allergic to peas and diary). For the pasta, I used bow tie. Even with all of these substitutions, the soup still tasted great! The only problem is that it was a little dry.

Culinary Experience in the Butter Country

The morning of L's wedding, F, hubby and I were in search of a decent lunch place in the vicinity of Bloomingburg. We stumbled upon Culinary Creations Confections and Cafe in Pine Bush. Pine Bush is a small town (but still bigger than Bloomingburg =) and the "butter capital of the world" as the sign by the Chamber of Commerce claims. Hmm, that explains why we were given a whole stick of butter with our bread the day before. We are in the butter country!

The Culinary Creations is a cake shop that doubles as a restaurant. As you step in, the counter are filled with slices of cheesecakes, bundt cakes and cupcakes. There is also a wedding cake on display for people who want to special order cakes. The lunch menu contained of sandwiches, paninis and salads was hanging on the wall for takeouts. We were shown to the adjacent room when we expressed the wish to dine in. It was a very whimsical room. The walls were painted in pastel colors of egg york yellow and moss green with white trim, decorated with photos, prints, and a mirror. It felt like a different world from the rest of Pine Bush and its neighboring towns.

F and I shared a bowl of tomato Florentine, the soup of the day. It had all the right components, spinach, tomato, pasta, crouton, etc. But it was rather bland. All of our sandwiches came with a green salad and pita chips. To call these pita chips crunchy would be an understatement, they were so thick and hard. We weren't exactly happy about the lack of an alternative. The sandwiches were HUGE. Each of us ended up eating only half. My chicken and hog panini contained a huge piece of chicken breast, layers of ham topped with mustard. The chicken was a little under seasoned, but it was OK. Hubby's Cosmo Turkey BLT was loaded with more than an inch thick of oven roasted turkey breast slices, topped with tomato bacon salsa and an avocado Gorgonzola dressing. F got an Asiago eggplant panini, the Asiago crusted eggplant pieces were sandwiched between roasted red peppers, provolone, and wilted greens. This one looked rather unappetizing. And the fact that the eggplant was fried didn't sit with F very well.

Instead of stuffing ourselves trying to finish the sandwiches, we decided to save some room for desserts. Even though there were a large number of cheesecakes and bundt cakes, the flavor varieties were rather limited with pumpkin dominating the choices. We ended up with a pumpkin cheesecake and a cherry mousse cheesecake. Both were decent, the cherry mousse looked like a mess though.

It felt like we were sitting in someone's cute little room since we were the only diner during lunch. I'd go here again if I ever ended up in this part of the country with nowhere else to go as the atmosphere was pleasant. But don't expect too much of the food.

Culinary Creations Confections and Cafe
52 Main St, Pine Bush, NY 12566
(845)744-5220

X X'd

This weekend, my best friend L got married in upstate New York. Hubby and I flew into JFK Friday morning on a red-eye. Even though we were exhausted, food was still my first priority. After couple of hours of browsing and driving, we arrived at Restaurant X and Bully Boy Bar in Congers, New York for lunch. Restaurant X was one of the establishments in Peter Kelly's Xaviars Restaurant Group. Some reviewers even believed that the Peter Kelly's restaurants were better than many Manhattan eateries, so I had high hopes. I chose this one over his other restaurants because they offered a seared foie gras on the dinner menu which I had specially requested for our lunch.

Congers is a small town about 2 hours from New York. The restaurant had a free-form pond in the back, with the fountain spraying and a swan swimming, it must have been very picturesque on a sunny day. As it was pouring on and off on Friday, it looked as if it was flooding. The place opens for lunch at 12, and we were the only ones there at 12:30. Even when we left at 2, there were only about 6 tables.

Hubby went with the $25 3-course prix fixe special. He started with a frisee salad with grapefruit, walnut, and goat cheese. It was a nice salad, simple and refreshing. I had my pre-arranged Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Served Two Ways - a warm tartlet with figs and seared foie gras, and a chilled parfait with lingonberry. (Only $14.50!) The tartlet was OK, I liked the figs. The seared foie gras was on the thin side, and slightly over salted, but it was still a good dish. The parfait was intriguing with the sweetness of the lingonberry. I've never had a sweet pâté before, it was pleasant for a change. Whenever I've had pâté, it was always served with some toast of sorts. However, this one only came with two piece of over salted sesame crackers which didn't even last half way through the parfait. I was left feeling kind of silly eating the parfait with a spoon. (Maybe that's why this is the only place that I've been to that calls this "parfait" instead of "pâté" or "terrine". Hmm, I wonder...)

For entrée, I ordered the rock shrimp and seafood cake with spinach and lobster sauce. I was expecting something similar to crab cakes, maybe 2 or 3 discs. What was presented caught me off guard, as it was one big ball almost the size of a baseball. It had big chunks of shrimp meat, you'd think I'd appreciate that. It wasn't bad or anything, however, after eating it for awhile, there was just too much of it. And it tasted very similar to a Chinese shrimp dumpling (Har Gau) that you can get at any dim-sum place. Hubby had the flat iron steak with truffle potato puree, haricot vert, and port sauce. The steak was very blend if you didn't swipe some sauce for every bite. The truffle flavor in the potato puree was so overpowering that I couldn't eat it at all.

To end the meal, we shared a vanilla crème brûlée which was very good, but not good enough to turn things around for me.

Overall, I felt that the value was great, where else can you get foie gras two ways for under $15. The inspirations were good, but the execution was lacking. If I ever find myself in upstate New York again, I might try the Xaviar in Piermont or the X2O in Yonkers with a supposedly stunning view. But I don't think I will patronize Restaurant X again.

Restaurant X and Bully Boy Bar
117 N Route 303, Congers, NY 10920
(845)268-6555

Shrimp and Corn

I'm bringing J up as a proper food snob. Every night, I ask hubby which protein he'd like to have for the next dinner. Last night, while I was still listing pork, chicken, beef, J looked up and said "I want ribs". I was caught off guard, but pleasantly surprised. As you know I don't like making decision, likewise, hubby likes to shy away from these minute decisions too. So now, there is a new decision maker in the house! I switched my focus to J. "Yes, there are ribs, and we also have shrimp..." I didn't get to finish my sentense before J jumped to the new favorite. "Shrimp!" So, shrimp it is! In an earnest attempt to not make the same dish as a few days ago, I came up with this shrimp and corn dish that was very vaguely based on a few "crystal" shrimp recipes.

Shrimp and Corn

1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, patted dry
2 kernels of ears of corn (or 2 cups of frozen corn, or 1 can 15.25 oz of corn kernel, drained)
1 green onion, shredded
3 slices of ginger (or shredded, my family doesn't like to eat ginger, this way they can be easily picked out)
2 tbsp oil

Marinate:
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
pinch of ground white pepper
1 tbsp water

Coating:
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp water

Instead of buying already peeled and deveined shrimp, you could also get the easy peel ones. It took about 10 minutes for me to peel the whole pound. However, shrimp has 2 veins, one along the back and one along the inside. The deveined shrimp I've ever seen only has the back vein removed. So it would me another 15 minutes or so to devein them.

I made this in one non-stick pan without even a wipe in between the ingredients. This way, I didn't need to add more oil, and cleanup was super easy.

Mix the marinate well. Toss the shrimp in the marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Mix the coating agents well, set aside.

Heat the oil, add the green onion and gingner, stir a few times to release the aroma. Add the shrimp, when they are no longer transparent, remove from the pan. Add corn to the pan, stir a few times. Add the shrimp back in. Add the coating mixture, stir a minute.

Shrimp in Tomato Sauce

My kids like shrimps. Instead of the normal boiled shrimp served with my simplified cocktail sauce (ketchup and lemon juice, as I never have horseradish or worcestershire sauce on hand), I decided to make the Chinese shrimp in tomato sauce today. It was a hit.

Shrimp in Tomato Sauce

1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, patted dry
1/4 cup oil
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 green onion, minced
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tsp water
pinch of salt
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp chili bean paste (optional)

Instead of buying already peeled and deveined shrimp, you could also get the easy peel ones. It took about 10 minutes for me to peel the whole pound. However, shrimp has 2 veins, one along the back and one along the inside. The deveined shrimp I've ever seen only has the back vein removed. So it would me another 15 minutes or so to devein them.

In a large bowl, mix the corn starch, salt, and water. Toss in the shrimp.
In the pan, heat the oil. Pan fry the shrimp in batches. Turn the shrimp over after they curl up and the tails change color. Remove when they are no longer transparent. Repeat till all shrimp are cooked.

If there is still too much oil left in the pan, pour most of it out, leave only about 1 tsp. Add green onion and ginger, stir till the aroma comes out, add the shrimp, soy sauce, and cooking wine. Mix and stir for a minute. Add the tomato paste and chili bean paste, mix. Remove and serve.