Dinner with the BFF, Sugar, and leftovers!!

My preggers BFF(who loves food as much as I do) came over last night for a grilled steak dinner made by yours truly.  We had a lovely time catching up and stuffing our faces until we were full to capacity.  The baby, HER momma and godmomma need to eat...right??  I am not the master of the grill when it comes to bbqing steak so I had to throw them back on for a bit, as they were still mooing when I went to serve them.  When cooked to our liking, we enjoyed them with baked potatoes(cooked on the grill) with butter and sour cream, shrooms in a delish homemade sauce, and corn on the cob which I could have boiled for a bit longer.  My bad!  Overall, it was a filling and tasty supper.  We both put a hurting on our plates but I still ended up with one full steak left after all was said and done.  Score!!!  I was already thinking steak quesadillas made by the hubs, steak and eggs for breakfast, etc.  

Today, the husband and I decided to grab some coffee and a snack for a late breakfast at Sugar Baking Co. and Restaurant in Rozzie.  The place is adorable and bright with a wide open storefront window to let the breeze in.  The old Boschetto's Bakery sign hangs on the wall to remind us of the previous, half a century ownership.  There are a good amount of tables and a small counter to sit at in the dining area and the bakery is located in the back of the building.  You can order any baked goods and coffee at the bakery counter which is convenient.  The assortment of fresh, homemade bread on display made me want to order one of each but I refrained.  I definitely could not live without carbs!!!  The coffee was strong but good.  I could tell by looking at the croissant that it was just going to be mediocre and it turned out I was correct.  It was on the smaller side and not as buttery or flaky as I tend to like.  I tried a bite of the homemade blueberry muffin and it was scrumptious.  The halfmoon which I ordered for an afternoon snack had sweet, smooth chocolate and vanilla frosting but the cake/cookie part was dry.  I will go back for a late, sit down breakfast (served until 3pm) and/or lunch and dinner.  The menu which I look forward to sampling, looks interesting with tons of fresh, locally grown ingredients.  The staff was friendly enough.  I give Sugar in Rozzie a temporary score of C+.

A couple of hours after our visit to Sugar, I was starving so I decided to cut up half of the leftover steak from last night's dinner and throw it in a frying pan with the shrooms and sauce and cook it all up.  While that was warming, I made a cup of Minute Rice to go with and BAM!! Deliciousness in ten minutos!  When I hear people say, "I don't do leftovers," I want to smack them.  Some of the best dishes I have come up with were derived  from a mixture of leftovers.   So don't be a leftover SNOB!

Tavern at the End of the World, Cambridge Street, 02129

My cousin is in town from Florida so the hubs and I went over to C-town for dinner with mi madre y mi prima. The Maternal unit is always hip to the new places to try in and around the city so she suggested Tavern at the End of the World.  She also had a clipping with a review of the joint from the Boston Globe to present to us.  I can always tell how an eatery will be from the parking space we get. We, (the hubs) scored a spot right smack  in front of the place.  Word!!  The bar and restaurant were pretty dead so we had our choice of seating which was cool.  It was clean and neat with an open kitchen.  The dude who greeted us/served us was diligent and precise with taking and delivering our drinks and orders.  He didn't balk when my mother wanted to switch up her fries for homemade mashed potatoes which were lumpy and freaking tasty.  But he pretty much had a personality comparable to the bottom of my flippy flop! The music was blaring tunes and Irish flair was about.  I was very disappointed that they didn't have my fave brewski, Smithwicks on tap so I settled for Miller Lite in a bottle.  Can't go wrong with that choice.  The menu was sraighforward with several Irish themed options such as bangers and mashed, shepherd's pie, etc.   For an appetizer, we shared a delicious chicken quesadilla.  It was served with sour cream and homemade salsa and as I called it, Irish cole slaw (various cabbages and vinegar).  The portions of the fish n' chips served with a homemade tartar sauce and Irish cole slaw and chips (perfect hand cut fries), were heaping and piping hot.  And the meals were served on cute, little fish shaped plate.  I am not a seafood type of girl so I didn't sample the fried fish.  But the consensus was a double thumbs up.  My mother had plenty to bring home for one or two more meals.  Can't say the same for my man...he has a VERY healthy appetite.  My cuz ordered and loved the chicken pesto with tomato and brie toasted on homemade, thickly sliced, awesome bread served with fries.  I took a little nibble and it was yummoooo!  Lastly, I ordered the grilled maple ham, cheddar, and tomato on the same delish bread and fries.  The best part was dousing the fries with malt vinegar, just like I was back in the Auld Sod.  The combination is like no other and the sangie was the bomb!  I would have loved if a pickle had been served with it because I love me some pickles!  The prices were reasonable and the menu had several pub fare options.  There was only one dessert choice which was, I think, a fried Mars Bar.  The lack of sweet options was a disappointment because I LOVE dessert.  We opted for another beer and negged the candy bar.  Overall, I give Tavern at the End of the World a B.  I will totally go back and I believe it would be a cool place to catch a game and have some apps and beers.  Most importantly, the fam and I had a good old time!!

Good to the last drop...Dunkie Donuts!

There are no words that can express how much I absolutely LOVE Dunkin' Donut's coffee.  Not the bagels, not the donuts, just the coffee.  The food is horrible.  Actually, horrible is not a strong enough word but I don't feel like resorting to my thesaurus because it is all the way in the living room on my new, awesome bookcase.  The food is just not how it used to be...fresh!!!  Not that I haven't indulged in Dunkie's food before.  Oh!  Believe me, I have.  Sausage and cheese on a croissant, cookies, almost every kind of donut and/or bagel to name a few.  I even tried the little hash brown thingies.  Why?  Because I was hungry? Nope!  Because I was with people who ordered food and I did not want to have food envy right as we pulled away from the drive-thru.  Or, someone simply asked if I would like anything and I was trying to be polite.  Manners, you know!   Don't get me wrong...I will eat Dunkies but would definitely prefer Anna's in Wrox for donuts (my fave is the plain and their coffee is pretty good) and Roche Brother's or pretty much any real bakery for bagels and croissants.   Speaking of the best croissants, without a doubt, Canto 6 in JP or Fornax in Rozzie (both have delectable bakery items).  I do have to admit, I enjoy a munchkin or seven once in a while if they happen to be in front of me.  So back to the coffee and the reason for this babble and this entry.  Today, I changed the way I like my iced coffee made by Dunkie's.  I will have to try this concoction for hot coffee, as well.  Usually I take whole milk (because they don't have 2%) and one sugar.  Whether it be medium or large...that's how I roll.  So...two thumbs up for a medium, iced with skim milk and one sugar.  MMM MMM Good!

Oh and the spelling of donut/doughnut is WHACK!

Mi Comida de Lunes on the barbie!

Yipeeee!  The void has finally been filled.  Word!  Yesterday I decided to marinate some boneless chicken in my own little made up mixture.  I tend to look through recipe books and on-line for various ideas to use when deciding what and how to cook.  From there, I combine many different ingredients that make sense to me.  I cut the chicken into thin strips and doused them in Ken's lite Italian dressing, teriyaki sauce, hot sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion.  I let that sit in the fridge for about 24 hours.  To accompany the meat part of the meal, I sliced a couple all purpose potatoes and a small onion and tightly rolled them up in some handy dandy tin foil after spraying some PAM and sprinkling some salt and pepper on them.  We had some HOT Italian sausages in the freezer which really needed to be cooked so I grilled those up as well.  Let me add, I don't know why I even bought HOT sausages because I hate them.  I am sure I had some sort of crazy recipe in mind at the time like a gumbo or something.  I put the potatoes and sausages on the grill first for about 40 minutes to assure they would be almost cooked before I started bbqing the chicken tenderloins.    I am very weird about making sure stuff is way done!  The secret to the awesomeness of the chicken is BASTING the bird at least two to three times.  I was a bit lazy with the veggie sides....I heated the man some canned corn and I had beets in vinegar...a summertime favorite of mine.  So all and all mi comida was pretty healthy minus the sausages.  And might I add the chicken was freaking delish!!!!  Even the hubs who hates boneless chicken said he enjoyed it.  Per usual I made enough food for at least 3 people so I sent the leftovers to my dad-in-law.  He likes my food and that makes me very happy!  Here's hoping dessert, the whoopie pie from a place called Butter that we picked up today at Todesca's in Rozzie is yummy!!!

Filling the void

For the past couple of days I have been starving and unable to "fill the void."  It really sucks and is very annoying.  I have tried everything from mozzies, a pastrami sub with shrooms and American cheese, chicken fingers, sausage and cheese on an english (thanks to my man), pork fried rice, and if you can believe it....more chicken fingers (again thanks to dhm).  Yes,  I was full for about a half hour after each little snack but none of it satisfied my hunger.  So today I found my mother's stuffed peppers in the freezer from my birthday dinner feast.  I was like YESSSSS!  Nope.  So I decided to eat the leftover pork fried rice.  Nope.  Then, I decided to make garlic bread with marinara sauce for dipping which usually does the trick.  Nope.   At this point, I would pretty much make anything if only I could come up with a food idea that I know would fulfill my unhealthy appetite.  UGH!

I heart food!!!!

I love cooking and eating.  And I enjoy going out to eat on a regular.  I especially love trying new places and various kinds of cuisine.  A couple of friends suggested I start a blog to share my thoughts and opinions on the love of my life....FOOOOODDDDD!