Mama Bear

I made it to the mothership and of course the house was filled with freshly made goodies.  I decided I'd go traditional and enjoy some Nigerian fare.  Although I know how to make it, I usually don't do so too often because not enough people to feed.  I mean you don't make just a little bit of stew.  Check out the pot.

Anyway I decided to go with iyan (pounded yam), efo (spinach) and omi obe (red stew).  Mama held it down.

To eat, you mix together the efo and omi obe in the same bowl then cut pieces of the iyan (with your hand not a fork & knife!) and dip it into the stew.  Simply divine.

Now I'm in the mood for Nigerian cooking.  Maybe sometime this week I'll make something.

Dutchy Part Deux

On such a beautiful day, lunch outside is a must.  Lunch outside with Mr. G is a plus! I convinced Mr. G to try out the Dutchy.  As I said last time, I would go back for the curry chicken.

It was worth it :-) The chicken was very tender and juicy.  It wasn't as spicy as the jerk chicken which is unfortunate, but it was still extremely yummy.

I ordered a mini and Mr. G ordered a meal.  It was very enjoyable.  The mini was more than enough for me. I ordered a chicken pattie but I didn't have space in my tummy.  I ended up handing it over to my younger brother later in the afternoon.

Heading to RoCo (ha! who calls it that?!) tonight so stay tuned for at least one mama bear meal.

Home Cookin'

Mint alerted me that I had exceeded my Food & Dining budget for the month.  No surprise with stops at Buddakan, Mo Bay and a variety of other restaurants.  But hey, it's not like I can't throw down.  In my effort to continue my day of cheap eats, I decided to make dinner.  I snuck out of work a little early to run some errands.  Sadly I didn't actually get home until about 10.  But I was still determined to make dinner (even though I have plenty of leftovers).

I decided to combine two of my favorite proteins shrimp and chicken.  I've been eating a lot of rice lately so I made this a pasta dish.  Since it was so late when I started, I tried to short cut it as much as possible.

Shrimp & Chicken Rigatoni
1 box rigatoni
1 clove garlic, diced
1/4 cup onions
1 chicken breast, cut into cubes
1/2 lb shrimp
1/4 cup fresh tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup broccoli, cooked
1 jar pasta sauce
1 tbs olive oil
2 tsp crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Boil water and cook the pasta.  While the pasta is cooking, get to work on the sauce.  Heat the oil in a medium skillet.  Once it gets hot, add garlic and onion.  Once the onions are tender, add crushed red pepper and stir around for a minute or two.  Next add the chicken (seasoned with salt and pepper).  Let the pieces cook on one side for 2 minutes then turn over to the other side.  The bite size pieces should be done after 5 -7 minutes.  Check on your pasta, it's probably done!  Next, push the chicken pieces to the side and add the shrimp in the middle of the pan.  Shrimp only needs about 2 minutes on each side.

After the shrimp is cooked, stir everything together and add the tomatoes and the broccoli.

Stir then add the pasta sauce.  Cover the pan and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

After the sauce is cooked, I usually toss the pasta in it, but you can always serve it on top of the pasta.

If it wasn't so late, I would have made garlic bread or some side.  I also realize I haven't baked in a while so perhaps I'll do that sometime soon.

Comfort food

Rough day today so I really needed to get away for lunch and go somewhere comfortable.  I went to Q2 alone and ordered Spicy Fresh Basil.  I tell you this place never fails me.

I decided to try the spring roll this time.  Looks good right? They were much better than I thought they would be.  Piping hot though so had to be careful.  The sauce was really good too had a nice kick to it.  

And then the main course.  Look at those juicy pieces of chicken, those carrots that spicy sauce.  Mmm Mmm Good!

Of course the the good thing about going to this place is the rewards plan.  Since this was my 8th time eating here the meal was freeee.*

* It was actually my 9th time.  They didn't give me a frequent diner card the first time I went there.  Be sure to ask for one when you go!

Ha!

So much for nice dinner.  We were running late so we stopped at a "restaurant" in Mr. G's neighborhood. 

 

Pizza.  Nothing remarkable here.  It did the job in terms of providing some nutrition before we went to the show but other than that it offered nothing else.  The dough tasted like toast.  They were skimpy on the cheese and tomato sauce so I felt like I was choking.

 

Thankfully I got a plain slice.  Considering this is how they treat their toppings.

 

Those are mushrooms by the way.  GROSS.  but at least they had an entertaining sign.

Monthly(ish) Mixer

For the past few months, my office has held Attorney Mixers.  An opportunity for the lawyers to go in the conference room, eat some food and chat it up.  I usually go because of the tasty treats (surprise surprise).  Well today was that day and by the time I got up there, I was starving.  I was the first person in there so I was able to snap some pictures of the platters before they were ravaged. 

 

I sampled many of these delicious treats and as always shrimp was what I found to be most delicious.  There were two types of shrimp. Both were refreshing and well seasoned but the red curry marinated shrimp was my favorite.  It's just hard to go wrong with shrimp.

 

The samosas were also good but they did not have enough filling and I found myself throwing out large portions of unfilled dough.  The chicken was well seasoned but I didn't love it.  Something about room temperature chicken just doesn't do it for me. 

 

I didn't try out any of the cheese but there was a ginger cracker that tasted amazing.  Overall pretty good. In case you're wondering what else was there

Not sure when I'll leave the office since I took a break, but it'll definitely be before 9:30 so we can make it to another film at Tribeca!  Maybe Mr. G will find somewhere nice for us to eat.

 

Oldie but Goodie

Even though it was FREEZING outside, I needed to get out of the office for a quick break.  Lucky for me, my younger brother was in the neighborhood and decided to grab a quick lunch with me.  Since we needed food fast, we decided to go with fast food.  Oh Chipotle how I love you so.  While others may frown upon my love for the McDonald's owned Mexicanish "restaurant" I am proud to say that I eat Chipotle burritos. The sight of them used to make me cringe, but everything has changed since my first bite. I remember the first time I had a Chipotle burrito like it was yesterday.  College Park, Commons 4. Spring 2004.

 

My burrito is basic.  Rice, black beans, chicken, tomatoes, medium salsa, spicy salsa, a little bit of cheese and lettuce wrapped up in a warm tortilla.  Some people prefer corn tortilla but I'm a big fan of flour tortillas. 

 

Mmm it was very good.  Although when I got to the bottom, it was pretty salty.  Not sure what happened there, but I still ate every last bite.  

I'm sure I'll be hungry before dinner time but I don't even know what's for dinner.

Oh what a night!

I left the office early today and it almost felt like the early days when I started this blog (approx. 3 weeks ago).  However, I was leaving the office to attend a client event at Saks.  This Women's Initiative event was a great opportunity for women lawyers at my firm to meet and mingle with female clients and contacts.  For me, it was also an opportunity to sample the hors d'oeuvres and catch up wit Ms. O!

It was difficult to snap pictures of everything they passed around without being too creepy, especially when i wasn't eating it (prosciutto with asparagus and mini sliders).  I did manage to snap a few pictures.

That beauty is the crab cake.  Oh and what a delicious crab cake it was.  I'm fairly certain I consumed the equivalent of two dinner sized portions of crab cakes.  Delicious and filling, but it certainly did not stop me from indulging in other treats.

That is one piece of a california roll (in Ms. O's hand) and as served on a bed of chopsticks with a side of pickled ginger and wasabi.  As Ms. O said, I would love to see the person who actually eats the ginger and wasabi.  You and me both!

Last, but certainly not least the chicken quesadillas cheese quesadillas mini quesadillas.  Each server had a different name for this delicious little treat.  I don't think I actually tasted any chicken.  What I did taste was a warm piece of tortilla with melted but not gooey cheese.  I wish they brought this by a few more times.  It was presented on a platter of thin tortilla chip strips.

After all that snacking, you would think we would give up on food but instead Ms. O and I decided we would continue by having a real dinner because if you're standing and talking when you eat, then it doesn't really count.  We planned to walk over to Ninth Avenue and find something, but as we walked on 50th, we saw this restaurant and decided to enter.  I have previously visited this restaurant for lunch and ordered take out on one of the late nights at the office.  However, I was excited to try out dinner.

Our server Tony was very chipper though it was difficult to understand him.  I asked whether the grilled shrimp lunch was available for dinner and I got this beauty instead.

That's Chicken and Shrimp in a spicy sesame sauce with Bok Choy and sweet potatoes.  Sooo good.  As much as I like chicken, I really do love shrimp.  However, when the two get together I suddenly feel like all is right in the world.  The shrimp were arranged like little soldiers diligently awaiting deployment into my tummy.  I was more than happy to oblige.

Ms. O had a bite of the chicken and commented that the sauce was sweet but had a nice kick to it...also known as PERFECT! All in all a fantastic night. Perfect blend of work and play.  

The Recession is Over!

Two free lunches! At work!! Back to back!!!  I'm happy to report to you all that the recession is over!  Okay well maybe not really because this was a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) lunch, but eating at the office like this took me back to the summer associate days and the pre-layoff part of working.

Although in all honesty, today's lunch was nothing to write home about.  Boring green salad, pasta salad WITH SALAMI (GROSS!), an assortment of sandwiches, dessert tray and fruit platter.  Catered by Mangia.

The salad was too boring for me to bother with.  Lets be honest, throwing green in a bowl doesn't mean it's going to be delicious or healthy.

Pasta salad had SALAMI in it! Need I say more?

I went with the grilled chicken wrap.  Chicken was pretty good.  There was a spicy honey mustard sauce and greens that were not lettuce which helped pull everything together nicely.  I also liked that the wrap actually had grilled lines.  More authentic in my eyes even though it's grilled chicken not grilled wrap.

I ate many more cookies today than I clear to admit, that is actually why there's a gaping hole where the tongs are.   For the record, I don't regret a single bite!

Fruit is always good but the pineapples today were particularly refreshing!  Looking forward to the event tonight at Saks Fifth.  Ms. O will be there, though she will not be in charge of the food so I can't make any promises about what to expect.

Dinner...at the office

As predicted, meals are few and far between now that there's more work to be done.  If not for that free lunch earlier, I may not have eaten.  That lunch was at noon.  Even though my stomach started growling at 4:30, Seamless web brought me my dinner at 8:15.  The difference between a free lunch and a free dinner is simple.  Free lunch you can usually eat and run and since you have to be in the office anyway, it's no big deal because it's like a bonus.  Free dinner is an oxymoron.  It's not actually free, because you're still working!

 

Anyway, I ordered dinner from Thalia.  Spaghetti and sauteed garlic spinach.  I hate ordering things that I can make.  I mean seriously, my pasta is way better and even though I haven't made spinach in a while, I cook a mean vegetable (usually broccoli). 

The spaghetti tasted very fresh and I could picture someone in the kitchen making the pasta.  The sauce was sweet but not sugary.  

The spinach was also good, but not quite as tasty as the one I had for lunch. All in all a standard but pretty uneventful dinner. The good part about it is that they always give me too much so I end up saving the rest for lunch tomorrow.   Well, hopefully I'll be out of here soon. I already miss the taste of my home cooked goodies.

Lady Lawyer Lunch

Another women lawyer's event...another free meal!  The spread this week was MUCH better than last time. Grilled salmon, Grilled Chicken, garlic sauteed spinach, grilled vegetables, tomato pesto pasta, rice pilaf, green salad and the usual delicious fruit and dessert plates.

 

I was very impressed with the spread.  The salmon was accompanied by a tropical salsa.  I tasted mango and papaya but it's possible something else was in there.  Some parts were a little undercooked for my taste, but generally it was remarkable.

 

The chicken was also quite delicious.  I don't know what they used to season it but it as good enough that I didn't add any sauce.  It was accompanied by sauteed garlic spinach which was very fresh.  Sometimes the spinach is sauteed just a little longer than necessary but this was perfect! 

 

The pasta was also great.  Not as good as the one with broccoli last time but still really good.  I didn't try the rice pilaf or grilled veggies (no room on my plate!). 

 

I sampled the fruit and had one chocolate chip cookie.  

All in all a very satisfying meal, all the better because it was free!

The Al Sharpton and President Barack Obama

Yup you guessed it.  Mr. G and I went to Amy Ruth's for breakfast.  We arrived at 11:45 so we missed the breakfast, which ends at 11:30.  While we perused the menu, the waitress brought out a basket with cornbread.

It was piping hot and melt in your mouth good.  We didn't even need to use the butter that they included in the basket.  Then it came time to order.  Mr. G went with The Al Sharpton (Chicken and Waffles).  I couldn't bring myself to order it because I felt the moment had passed for breakfast, so instead I had President Barack Obama (Fried Chicken) with collard greens and candied yams.

The food came out within 15 minutes.  Right before it arrived, the waitress asked us if we saw the sign outside that said they didn't accept credit cards because their machine was broken.  HA! that sign has been there for SEVERAL MONTHS (at least 6!).  I've decided the machine is not broken, they're just trying to avoid paying credit card fees.  Can't knock the hustle, but not loving the dishonesty.

We didn't exchange many words during the meal, because it was just that good.  The chicken was well seasoned and even though it was white meat it was very juicy.  The candied yams had a moderate sweetness which is much better than the diabetes inducing version they usually serve.  Collard greens were pretty standard.

The Al Sharpton was intact when it arrived, but Mr. G started eating before I remembered to snap a picture.  I didn't finish my meal, but they provide take out trays with separate compartments so I took the rest with me.  Guess what's for lunch!?!

Overall the meal didn't take long, we were out by 12:20, but there was a long line forming when we walked out.  Oh and before we left, Mr. G spotted a local celebrity!