Lettuce Stems

Have you ever heard of a vegetable called "lettuce stems"? I saw this vegetable at the Asian grocery store the other day and they looked like mini trees. I was also intrigued by the fact that these vegetables were called "lettuce stems" because I never thought that lettuce had stems.  I once had to stir-fry iceberg lettuce in a class once and ever since then I have had the mentality that lettuce should not be cooked. 

I just chopped the lettuce stems up and stir-fried them in a little bit of oil and garlic.  I am not sure if I cooked it correctly because some of the pieces had a strong bitter taste to it.  The majority of the other pieces reminded me of a cross between broccoli and celery.  It was interesting. Would I buy it again? Probably not. 

Book List

In a previous post, I mentioned that Mike and I cancelled our cable TV subscription in October 2010.  I started thinking about it and since we turned of the tube, both Mike and I have been reading a lot more. Mike's book choices have gravitated more towards the classics, 4th grade children's books, and books I randomly leave around the apartment. I've been choosing books based on recommendations by others, book club selections, and books I've heard about in various media outlets.   
I've always loved reading books for pleasure, but I often read more books than I give myself credit for.

Here's a list of the books I've read since October:
Hunger Games Series-Suzanne Collins
(Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay)
*Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy-Stieg Larsson
(The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest)
*The Help-Kathryn Stockett
Onward-Howard Schultz
*Something Borrowed-Emily Giffin
*Friday Night Knitting Club-Kate Jacobs
Cinderella Ate my Daughter-Peggy Orenstein
*Fortune Cookie Chronicles-Jennifer 8. Lee
*Pomegranate Soup-Marsha Mehran
*Burnt Shadows-Kamila Shamsie
* denotes a book club book

I'd have to say that my favorite books have been the Hunger Games series and the Stieg Larsson trilogy.  Mike and I cannot wait until the "Hunger Games" movie comes out in 2012!
What have you been reading? Do you have any recommendations?

Boston Bakeries~Flour Bakery and Cafe

Flour Bakery was another Boston restaurant that I wanted to check out.  Joanne Chang of Flour was named as one of the "Outstanding Pastry Chef" in the 2011 James Beard Awards. 

This is a picture of the Cambridge location.  I am not the best driver in the world, so it took me a while to arrive at this little shop. Luckily, my Driver's Ed training came in handy as I easily parallel parked in coveted street parking.

I ordered the grilled roast chicken, brie, arugula, peppers, and caramelized onion panini.  Yummy.  When faced with a multitude of choices at restaurants, the key food items that I gravitate towards are "caramelized onions," "arugula," and "brie."  Although, if I were to go back to the cafe, I would probably order the intriguing "roast  chicken, avocado, and jicama .sandwich. 

I read a bunch of yelp reviewers and people raved about the sticky buns with sticky caramel and pecans. I thought it looked better than it tasted. 

Mmmm...now this lemon raspberry cake was good! I would recommend this cake over the sticky bun.  It was lemon pound cake, tart lemon curd, raspberries, and buttercream. 

On another trip back to Boston, a couple of co-workers and I checked out another location of Flour. I saw a bunch of people ordering the "house made raspberry seltzer" at the Cambridge location, so I decided to test it out. Yum yum! This soda was tasted like fresh raspberries...it was so good that I decided to make my own syrup and soda at home.  My only complaint about the seltzer was that it was too sweet for my tastes, but most beverages are too sweet to me.

Lemon lust-creamy, tart lemon curd. Let's just say that the "Flour" bakery makes a superb lemon curd.  This is the same stuff that was in the lemon raspberry cake. 

I also tried  the dark chocolate chunk cookie and that cookie was delicious too. Full of chocolate and not too sweet. 

Ooey-gooey caramel nut tart

Flour Bakery and Cafe

190 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge MA 02139

Boston Restaurants~East Coast Grill

Once in a while (when the schedule allows), I do take advantage of the perks of work travel.  One night, while we were working in a city south of Boston, a few of us drove up to Boston and had a nice dinner at an eclectic restaurant in Cambridge, MA called the "East Coast Grill."

Creamy Clam and Corn Chowder with chiles and sweet potatoes

Deep Fried mahi with sweet chili and herb salad. This dish was so good that I tried to replicate it at home.  I thought that an herb salad containing cilantro, thai basil, mint, and other green herbs was different from your typical salad containing lettuce.

Grilled vegetables

Grilled Spice Crusted Mahi Mahi with rice and beans, pineapple salsa, and fried plantains

Grilled cumin-encrusted shrimp with sweet potatoes, papaya salsa, and jicama slaw. This is the dish I ordered.  It was tasty, but the fried mahi appetizer I ordered was so much better than this dish.

Grilled Steak with sweet potatoes

Banana Split sundae with mango ice cream

I think this was a chocolate coffee pie.

Chocolate and peanut butter pie with a side of candied bacon

East Coast Grill

1271 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02139-1338

(617) 491-6568

Chicago Travels~Garrett's Popcorn

So...I thought the traveling was done for a while. I have a mini-trip tomorrow to Indiana. We'll be flying to the Chicago airport, so maybe I'll have a little snack of Garrett's Popcorn.

Garrett's is famous for it's "Chicago Mix" which is a mixture of cheese popcorn and caramel corn. The combination sounds weird and verging on the lines of "gross" but this sweet/savory mix is quite addicting. Whenever I would venture up to Chicago while living in Illinois I would purchase this mixture of popcorn. 

Yum!
Even though the cheese popcorn is bright orange and oily, this popcorn is delicious! Oh and beware, eating this popcorn results in orange-stained fingers.

Finally Done!

In less than 24 hours I should be back in Texas and done with all the work travel that has lasted about 11 weeks.  I haven't seen Mike in two weeks. He was gone for two weeks to California for a training for work. But since April there were probably times I had not seen him for over two weeks. 

I have not cooked a meal since April 13th.  I have tried pretty much every salad at Panera.  I can tell you what take-out restaurants have the best salads.  I cringe when I think about eating sandwiches, subs, pizza, or anything with a massive load of bread (especially pita).  I also will not be eating any fried food for a long time.  *end of my venting*

Yay! I can resume my normal life and get back to blogging!