The Yummy Blog

It's here!

2009-10-16T10:54:00.001-05:00

New blog:

Mymarblerye.wordpress.com

something new

2009-10-06T19:40:00.003-05:00

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates. :( It's hard to get "into" my blog when I RARELY make any updates. To tell you the truth, blogger is NOT user friendly at all. I'm looking into new outlets and formats.

Don't worry though, I've got tons to blog about! (NyC trip). :)

Bagels without Guilt

2009-09-20T12:18:00.003-05:00

I LOVEEEE bagels. But with my chocolate obsession I don't need additional fatness to be added to my daily intake....that is until I found these!! These bagels are the exact same size as the big ol' Sara Lee bagels but only HALF the calories!! They taste delicious also! Glenn even eats them because it's 140 calories for one, 14 grams of protein, and 72% daily dietary fiber!!
http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/natures-grain/carb-check-original-bagels

Buffalo Meat!!!

2009-09-20T12:08:00.004-05:00

I love me some whole foods!! Why? Cause I get to try all these different types of meat and fish! I saw an article on buffalo meat and decided to buy some lean ground buffalo meat the other day and make some burgers!

The meat was darker than regular ground meat. Glenn cut up some red onions and mushrooms and used Worcestershire sauce.

Ha. My Iphone camera doesn't make it that look that appealing but it was REALLY juicy! We topped it with a slice of melted cheese. It tasted like a regular hamburger but they are suppose to be a "leaner" red meat! Yum!

Lettuce Wraps

2009-09-20T11:33:00.002-05:00

The only reason Glenn and I go to BJ's is for their chicken lettuce wraps. We had purchased some ground turkey meat and since we already had burgers this week I decided to try something different. I tried to follow the online recipe for PF Chang's Lettuce wraps but I forgot the soy sauce!! What a bad Asian. :( So I just followed my dragon lady insticts and whipped something up from what I had!

Marinated ground turkey in Worcestershire sauce, chopped up red onions, mushrooms, and water chestnuts.

Cooked the turkey meat with seasoning salt and pepper.

Then I added the mushrooms, onions, water chestnuts with some seasame oil, fish sauce, hoisin sauce, lemon juice, and white wine vinegar.

I was bit scared it wouldn't be good but it was pretty tasty!!!

Even Glenn was excited! The only thing missing was the chinese hot mustard sauce!

And yes we ate this one the floor in front of the tv cause UFC fights were on!

Packaged goods

2009-09-07T19:50:00.003-05:00

Glenn and I finally had people over for the UFC fight. Here's a quick pic of what we had for little finger foods:

1) Mini dark chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate chips->a hit! Loved the combo!

2) Edible arrangement that Glenn got for me "just cause". :)

3) chips and dip

4) frozen pinwheels I got at target. They were (except for 5) all gone by the end of the night!

Chola Indian Food

2009-09-07T19:32:00.002-05:00

Glenn and I think we "know" Indian food just because we went to my friend Avani's wedding and we've seen Slumdog Millionaire. We've had it about 3 times now but we always want more, to try new things. A resident at Scott and White told him about a place called Chola in Roundrock that we should check out. After singing "I lean like a cholo" a million times we found out that chola means chickpea in one of the southern Indian languages.

Glenn and Azeem RUNNING in to get food.

Excitement followed when we found out they had a lunch buffet on Saturdays. Apparently, Indian buffets offer a great variety and do NOT lack the quality of individually ordered dishes.

I don't know the names of anything. Starting on the top: rice cake, Tandoori chicken (soo juicy compared to Red Onion indian bistro), eggplant, goat, and chicken tiki marsala. In the middle is a piece of tilipia in indian spices. Everything had heat and had that kick of spices I have always wanted!!! The pita bread wasn't as soft and they didn't have the garlic flavor option. :(

YUMMY ALERT: Dosa: an light, crispy crepe (thinner than dessert crepes) with a mix of potatoes, peas, onions, and spices.

I could eat this all day long. The crepe tasted like a really thin fortune cookie and the creamy, spicy filling potatoes on the inside made the whole thing sooo flavorful!!! It was like an indian breakfast taco...only lighter (not calorie wise) and better!!! YUMMMM.

I forgot what everything was. These were my "oh I can still try some more stuff cause I'm not that full yet" dishes. Pass on these and get the curry stuff.

Dessert: WHY MUST YOU FAIL ME?! Where are the typical baklavas that Indian restaurants have?!?! UGH!!!

Clockwise:On the top is a sweet rice pudding (veryyy watery and barely sweet), that brown thing was AMAZING (fried dough smothered in sweetened condensed milk), mango mousse (where is the mango flavor? all I taste is cream fat!), and a SOUR rice with veggie mix.

I was very pleased that I got to try so many dishes!!! I found about 5 or 6 things I REALLY enjoyed (tandoori chicken, the tilapia, all the curried dishes, the fried dough dessert). Is it healthy? no. Would I go again and get more and eat too much? yes. Even our friend Azeem (he's brown) said it was good!

LuLu's Cafe

2009-09-07T19:18:00.003-05:00

As I've blogged about before, I LOVEEEE Man V. Food. The way Adam loves food and his excitement about each destination is such a treat to me! I feel his fattie pain everytime he "overdoes it" and starts sweating! I do that on a weekly basis too Adam! Anyways, on his season 2 opener, he visited San Antonio. One of the restaurants was Lulu's Cafe, known for their chicken fried steak and HUGEEE cinnamon rolls.

Adam sure left his mark at this restaurant! The front of the menu features his picture with the staff!!

Here's a picture of me with the gigantic cinnamon roll!! OMG. I was expecting something that ran out of flavor in the center of the roll and expected the outside of the pastry to be really dry because it took so long to cook...BOY WAS I WRONG.

They premake the rolls and warm them up in the microwave when ordered.

When we got the cinnamon roll, it was warm, the outer layer slightly crispy but the hint of cinnamon and the rich frosting was TO DIE FOR. IT was soo good! Mrs. Baird's...EAT YOUR HEART OUT! I tried pieces of the cinnamon roll on the outside, innerside, and middle (for "testing" purposes of course) and it was DELICIOUS, flavorful, sweet, decadent from the inside out!!! Only $5.99!!! All hobos should save their change and eat this cinnamon roll!!

The rest our meal came out after a 45 minute wait since the restaurant was PACKED. I got migas and I wasn't very impressed. NO ONE in our group got their well known chicken fried steak which was a disappointment. I saw someone order one in the table next to us and it covered the WHOLE dinner platter. delicious looking. I will definitely go back to try that and believe it or not...I want another cinnamon roll!!!

Alamo Pizza

2009-09-07T19:09:00.003-05:00

On our trip to San Antonio, Marcos and Lindsey told us about a place near their house, Alama Pizza. It's a real small pizza place with pizza slices, personal pizzas, calzones, wraps, pasta, etc. Outside is a pretty decent sized area where they have local bands play on the weekends.

Never heard of Alamo Pizza before but was super excited to see that it has been the winner of Readers' Choice pizza many years in a row!

I ordered a personal pizza veggie lovers. It had olives, green peppers, and red onions. You can see that a I got a piece of Roxann's pizza which had italian sausage.

NOT greasy at all!!! The crust was not too thick or thin but very crispy. The sauce wasn't that flavorful and it wasn't loaded with tons of cheese but it was still pretty tasty! I wish I had tried the other pizza flavors they offered: BBQ chicken, an Asian fusion one, etc because although my pizza was good, it tasted like a South Beach frozen pizza I can get at HEB, just a little crispier. I'm thinking the veggies didn't really add a kick of flavor like other toppings usually do. Overall, I would definitely give Alamo Pizza another shot!

Dead Fish Grill

2009-09-07T14:44:00.003-05:00

Dead Fish Grill is a nice restaurant in Belton that overlooks Belton Lake. Really romantic/nice place to go drinks and hang out in the Temple area. Glenn has been trying to take me there for awhile but I always want sushi!

Beautiful sunset view when we went. Here's a picture of me giggling. Glenn LOVES this pic since I look like a Mii character or some sort of Japanese chubby doll.

Appetizer: Crabcakes! I love crab cakes. These had a great flavor to them although they were on the thin side. Pieces of crab were in the cake! It could have been fresher tasting. I mean it was good, just not memorable. The sauce did nothing for me though, didn't taste like anything!

Since I had a big lunch (a post on that later) I ended up getting the Ahi Tuna Mediterranian Salad: artichoke hearts, olives, lettuce, tomatoes, blue cheese, new potatoes, and ahi tuna.

GREAT presentation. The ahi tuna had a kick in it's flavoring and the pieces were not too thin or too thick! The artichoke hearts added saltiness to the dish. The garlic bread was DELICIOUS. Full of butter and crunch! The new potatoes threw me off (since it was a salad after all) but the garlic and buttery taste had me at "Hello".

I would definitely get this again!

If you are ever in the Temple/Belton area, this is THE place to go. I didn't get a dessert or a mixed drink this time but I want to go again soon. For everything we ordered, plus tea it ended up being 30 dollars! NOT bad for dinner by the lake! A great bargain if you ask me!

Fiber One Muffins

2009-09-07T14:39:00.002-05:00

I've been a fan of the Fiber One products for a LONG time. Name it, I'll love it! Cereal, bars, yogurt....I love them all! When my friend Amanda told me about the muffins, I was beyond excited to try them out! I chose banana nut instead of the other flavor, apple cinnamon, because I know Glenn's loves banana nut anything!

For Glenn's sake I used egg whites and applesauce instead of oil to make the muffins even healthier! I also made mini muffins instead of the usual serving size.

DELICIOUS! So soft and flavorful. I went back and got the apple cinnamon flavor to bake next week!!! They did not feel low fat or high in fiber at all!!! As I said again, I love fiber one products!!!

Turkey Burgers!

2009-08-15T12:36:00.002-05:00

We've been thinking about getting a grill for awhile now. We just don't know either to get a gas or a charcoal grill! We are also...lazy! Anyways, I got this little stove top grill some time back but I haven't used it yet. Glenn had gotten some ground turkey meat so I decided to use it. AMAZING! This stove top grill doesn't give us the satisfaction of the mesquite or smokey flavor that comes with a regular grill but it sure was easy, quick to clean, and tasty! I will definitely recommend this grill for apartment dwellers like myself!

"grilled" some red onions, mushrooms, and jalapenos.

Turkey burgers: seasoned it myself (thankyouverymuch) with Worcestershire sauce, seasoning salt, pepper, onion powder, chopped jalapenos, red onions.

Cut up a sweet potato, seasoned with seasoning salt, pepper, and olive oil. Threw it in the oven at 450 degrees for 40 minutes.

When the burgers were almost done we added a slice of gouda cheese and some guacamole.

OMG. I hate to say it, but I'm amazing!!! Maybe it was the Worcestershire sauce....but either way the burgers were flavorful and juicy!!! I think since I made them on the smaller side, they didn't overcook or have time to get dry. The veggies were good but I overdid the pepper. The sweet potato fries? delicious as usual!!!

Even as I type, I'm already planning my next turkey burger making!!!

Shrimp and Scallops

2009-08-15T12:27:00.002-05:00

Glenn and I loveeee seafood. I was craving big chunks of scallops and so I busted out my cooking light cookbook and decided to "treat" Glenn to a homecooked meal.

Ingredients: dijon mustard, shrimp, scallops, zuchinni, carrots, and onions.

I don't have the recipe with me :(

Overall the dish was delicious! I ended up cooking the shrimp and scallops to the right texture! The sauce was a bit on the tart side but once it was mixed in well amongst the shrimp, scallops, and vegetables it was a-ok. I'll try to find a link to the recipe but for now, just know that Scallops+shrimp=crazy delicious.

Yoplait Delights

2009-08-15T12:23:00.002-05:00

New product alert!!!

I LOVE yogurt and I love chocolate! Chocolate pudding cups believe it or not, do NOT satisfy me. Glenn was nice enough to pick up this product for me at HEB. Yoplait has made a new product that is a chocolate YOGURT. I tried the chocolate yogurt with raspberry yogurt topping. DELICIOUS. Not only did I get my active cultures for the day, I also get a sweet treat! Try them! Flavors are: chocolate&raspberry, creme caramel, lemon torte, triple berry creme.

HELPPP MEEE

2009-08-04T16:22:00.005-05:00

Someone needs to rescue me! I can't stop going to Sonic! Their icecream is just soft serve and the toppings are things you can get at the convenience store...then why can't I stop going there? I look forward to the thick and fatty soft serve on a 3x weekly basis!

HELP. ME.

Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

2009-08-04T16:12:00.002-05:00

I admit it, I haven't been cooking alot of new recipes lately. That's why on my first weekday off I decided to cook something for Glenn. He was on call the night before so I wanted to cook him something easy (for me) but healthy (for his sake). I found a recipe for Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Vegetables and decided to give it a try.

Cut up some zucchini, onions, roma tomatoes and mix with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Top with chicken breast that had a coating of garlic, olive oil, lemon juice.

Baked for 40 minutes with a midway tossing of vegetables.

The veggies were great! I love the flavor of cooked fresh vegetables with olive oil. The chicken? :( I tend to over cook chicken because I HATEEEE raw chicken or undercooking it. It was a bit dry :( But the flavor was there...but still dry.

New Snack Obsessions

2009-08-04T15:53:00.003-05:00

Good news: Granola bars can be a healthy meal replacement or snack if you are on the go. Bad news: tons of calories and sugar and I eat them as snacks...ALL THE TIME! Either way, I love granola bars!!!! They are sooo good! I would actually choose to eat a granola bar over a candy bar. FACT! My favorite thing is to browse the granola bar selection at Whole Foods! They have almost every flavor of every brand out there! HEB disappoints and good luck at Wal-Mart!

Odwalla Bars: Decent size for a snack (hahah I eat alot) and depending on which flavor you get, you get little chunks of deliciousness. The strawberry pomegrante, banana nut, and the sweet and salty peanut are my favveeeesss. Seriously, they taste homemade!

Kind bars. Delicious. I like to get the fruit and nut delight, almond & coconut, and walnut and date ones. Big pieces of nuts (heh) held together by a sweet coating that tastes like marshmellows! Soo good! I'm drooling as I type. I tend to want two when I do eat them though so watch out! Apparently they sell them at Starbucks now!

Red Onion Indian Bistro

2009-08-04T15:38:00.004-05:00

Glenn and some of his College Station buddies decided to have an Indian dinner. We had to drive all the way to Killeen (30 minute drive) but I was pretty excited. Other than the one time in NYC, I have never really had Indian food! The place is right off the highway in Killeen.

Instead of ordering an individual meal, we decided to order a group dinner meal that fed about 4-6 people. Glenn's friend assured us it would be plenty of food...NOT! I was still hungry! Oh well.

I forgot what all the dishes were but we had some Tandoori chicken (marinated in yogurt and spices), Chicken Tikka Masala (chicken cooked in a creamy sauce with fresh tomatoes and oriental spices), garlic Naan, Naan, seasoned white rice, Palak Paneer (Indian cheese cubes and spinach cooked in spices and herbs), Vegetable Malai Kofta (cheese stuffed in vegetable balls, cooked in mildly spiced creamy sauce).

The naan was good, but who doesn't like bread! My favorites ended up being the vegetable malai kofta and chicken tikka masala...why? CAUSE OF THE CREAMY CURRY SAUCE. It's the WORSE thing for you but the creamy, spicy, sauce was delicious with the rice! I loved every carb/fat filled moment! The group meal was great cause I got to try everything. I was not THAT impressed with the other dishes...now don't get me wrong! It was good, but I expected more Punch! more heat! and it just didn't deliver. Would I go there again? Yes! There are so many more vegetable and lamb dishes I want to try! All in all, it was good...but I expected more flavor.

Lamb Treat!

2009-07-15T19:01:00.003-05:00

Lamb is sooo good!!! If someone tells you it isn't, then they haven't had properly prepared lamb! It's actually extremely fatty so that's why Glenn and I usually have lamb on special occasions or on "oh what the hell" days. We got a pound of lean cut lamb at Whole foods and instead of following a recipe, I did my own thing!

It actually came out pretty delicious. I marinated the lamb overnight in soysauce and brown sugar. I cut up some onions, mushrooms, and cooked the lamb in additional soysauce, cinnamon, rosemary, salt, pepper, and a dash of cumin. Served it with some brown rice and broccoli (Glenn's favorite)! The lamb was so tender! It wasn't dry at all! The dish was a pretty sweet dish so I think next time I'll go easier on the brown sugar but increase the saltiness with some Worcestershire sauce!

LAMB IS YUMMY! Good bye!

ZTejas Southwestern Grill

2009-07-15T18:47:00.005-05:00

Ztejas is the place for first dates in Austin. So of course, Glenn has never taken me there. I'm a fan of southwestern cuisine (actually any food to tell you the truth) so when it was suggested we go there for Brunch....I said a "hells yea". Deliciousness and fattiness ensued.

Fresh warm cornbread greets you while you wait for your food. Soft, moist, and it even had pieces of crunchy corn in it with each bite! Yummy! Especially with a ton of butter!

Everyone except me ordered brunch. When you order brunch you get your choice of an apple bran muffin (which is to your left) or a banana nut muffin. The banana nut muffin was sweet but super soft and fresh. Glenn's apple bran muffin was TOO DELISH! It had chunks of carrots in it with a sweet cinnamon flavor. It was basically a fluffy carrot cake without the frosting. YUMMMY.

So while the guys got protein in a form of eggs, Diana decides to get the smoked chicken chile relleno: grilled poblano pepper stuffed with chicken, pecans, apricots, raisins, spices, and jack cheese served with picante sauce and black beans.

OMG. I've been wanting to try one since Bobby Flay made one on his show "Throw down with Bobby Flay". It was really good. The chicken was sweet from all the fruit pieces but you also got the heat from the spicy peppers! The cream cheese just enhanced the savory dish!

. Heavy meal but damn, was it good! The chicken inside the pepper was so tender! I couldn't stop eating this!

Now I understand why this is a date place...the food is freaking good! Aphrodisiac! Everyone in Austin has probably eaten here already but if you haven't, please check it out! Ztejas

Midori Sushi

2009-07-15T18:42:00.002-05:00

Before the era of Yama, there was Midori Sushi. Located in north Austin, this place was our place to gorge. We decided to have a nice dinner there Saturday night. Now, you know I love Yama but Midori was pretty delicious. If you don't want to travel to Round Rock to Yama, Midori is the next best choice. It's one of the top 3 rated sushi restaurants in Austin!

(Photo taken on iPhone) We got a sushi/sashimi combo with the Marilyn Monroe. The sashimi was really fresh and thinly sliced. The roll was delicious. It had salmon inside and out and was drizzled with a (fatty) spicy orange mayonnaise sauce. Very good! I also enjoyed the apple sliced garnish!

<3

2009-07-05T11:26:00.002-05:00

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY from Bobby Flay!

My apologies

2009-07-05T11:22:00.002-05:00

My apology:
I haven't tried or cooked FRESH new recipes in a long time. I apologize. This is not up to theyummyblog standards. I've been busy with work and I'm in the process of moving so I apologize. I still hope you like my blog so I promise that in the next couple of weeks there will be great things!!

Possible spoiler alert: new apartment "housewarming" gathering, homemade protein bars, new bbq grill are seen in the next couple of months! Stay tuned!

Texas Land & Cattle

2009-07-05T11:09:00.002-05:00

Happy 4th of July!!! I had to work today so no BBQ for me! Luckily Glenn wanted to eat out so Tom, Glenn, and I ventured out to Harker Heights. We were planning to try this Indian Restaurant but to our dismay it was closed. I suggested Texas Land and Cattle cause as a student in Austin, I was IN LOVE with it. I guess my taste buds have changed because even though our food was good, I've had better and I expected/remembered more. :(

Sirloin Steak Salad: Steak, red onions, tomatoes, HONEY mustard.

I love a restaurant with great honey mustard dressing. I used almost the whole thing! The steak was very tender but lacked great seasoning. Had to dip it in the honey mustard with each bite...or maybe that was an excuse of mine to eat all the dressing.

Glenn said it tasted like I was eating f*cking big mac. :( Sad cause he was right...

For dessert we ordered the Peach Bread Pudding: peaches, raisins in a bread pudding with a bourbon sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Delicious. It was basically HALF a loaf of bread, squished, baked with custard, raisins, and peaches and served with ice cream. It was HUGE and it was DEVOURED. The dense bread was slightly sweet but the sauce and ice cream added enough sweetness per bite. VERY good. This was actually a "drier" bread pudding than I'm used to but it was still tasty. Great bread pudding can be found at Carino's!!! I swear!

This dessert put me "over the edge". I had trouble walking the rest of the night. So FULL.

Digiorno Tuscan Style Chicken Crispy Flatbread Pizza

2009-07-05T10:56:00.002-05:00

I want to make this clear that I am NOT a fan of Digiorno's line of pizza. It does NOT taste like delivery! It does taste like a frozen cheap pizza. When Glenn and I went to HEB though, we couldn't help but want to try their new line of flatbread pizza's though.

It comes in 4 "flavors": Tuscan Style Chicken, Pepperoni and Fire Roasted Bell peppers, Italian Sausage and onions, and Mushroom Medly

Glenn and I tried the Tuscan Style Chicken but I added some red pepper flakes to mine. I like everything spicy!

I was actually impressed. Maybe it's cause I haven't had "real" pizza in a long time but I was pleasantly surprised. It's not real salty like usual pizza but yummy. The cheese wasn't heavy but it was creamy enough! My favorite part was the crust. Although it was "thin" it still had enough savoriness and cheesy flavor to it that I felt like I was getting more crust than a usual thin pizza! Now if you are looking for a heavily topped pizza with oozing cheese, this is not for you. But if you are in a mood for a slightly heavier than usual thin crust pizza? Then try this! The crust was very tasty! Could have used a bit more chicken pieces and veggies...but hey...it's a FROZEN PIZZA!

Whole Foods Dinners

2009-07-05T10:42:00.004-05:00

Whole Foods: Expensive but it's so easy to pick up "ready to cook and serve" meals there! Guilty of being lazy lately! I promise I'll start cooking more once I'm done with moving!

Wild salmon with assorted sesame seeds and a jicama salad.

The salmon was super dry! I did not enjoy this wild organic salmon.

The jicama salad is so light and refreshing this time of year. Has a great crunch. Combined with carrots, green bell peppers! Yum! Not too heavy and perfect for bbqs!

Baked sweet potato, couscous with chickpeas, salmon, and curry mahi mahi.

yes it's alot of food. DON'T JUDGE.

Sweet potato: I think having baked sweet potato fries has spoiled me because this regular sweet potato was tasty but blah!

Couscous with chickpeas: big mistake. chickpeas and couscous are delicious...but not COMBINED! The softness of the couscous did not go with the heaviness of the beans. :(

Salmon: We baked a regular piece of salmon with salt, pepper, and parsley. Delicious. Way better than the wild organic salmon dish above!

Curry Mahi Mahi: I had great hopes for this. the seasoning was great but the fish was actually a little dry and had a fishy taste! WTF! VERY disappointed.

Bridal Shower Food

2009-07-05T10:38:00.004-05:00

You can argue with me on this: I feel like bridal shower, wedding shower, baby shower food can be better than food served at the actual wedding sometimes! Why? It tends to be freshly fixed foods without all the pretentiousness!

Amanda's Bridal Shower food: Fresh fruit kabob, fresh veggies with dip, and chicken salad on sour dough bread.

Snacks

2009-06-25T11:31:00.002-05:00

I snack all the time. That may be why I'm a fattie! Anyways, I enjoy snacks that have tons of fiber!!! As a woman, I need all the fiber I can get!

The whole line of Fiber One bars are TO DIE FOR. They seriously taste like candy bars! Try ANY of the flavors and you will not be disappointed. If you are, send me the rest of the uneaten box and I'll pay you FULL price.

I'm a fan of mixed nuts. This South Beach mix is amazing. Salty and satisfying, I find myself eating half the jar! Not good but sure delicious.

Easiest Dinner Ever!

2009-06-25T11:27:00.002-05:00

Delicious. Simple.

Salmon: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Season with pepper, salt. Cook for 20 minutes.

Couscous: Boil water with olive oil, then add cooked peas, chopped onions, couscous. Take off heat and let sit covered for 5 minutes.

That's it and it's delicious, fresh, and good for you!

Summary of San Francisco

2009-06-15T08:33:00.015-05:00

Amazing city. The houses, the hilly streets, the wharf, the 50 degree temperatures. Just gorgeous and healthy! Unfortunately, our diet wasn't. I'm just going to post pics of where and what we ate!

Boudin Bakery: A chain of bakeries/restaurants around San Francisco. FRESH sourdough bread. Very tasty.

Stopped by a place near the wharf for some ciopinno: soup with mussells, crab, clam, shrimp, fish in a tomato broth.

Ghiradelli Square: hot fudge sundae AND a peanut butter chocolate parfait

Random sidewalk cafe: eggs, toast, fruit.

Scoma's: the most delicious crab cakes ever, cold appetizer: oysters, clam, crab, shrimp, prawn.

Scoma's: prawn, lobster, crab in a butter glaze with pasta, rice, and veggies

Isobane: floating sushi boats: grab which plate you want when it comes by: rolls, sushi, sashmi, handrolls, etc.

Random dessert: Halo Halo- a phillipino dessert with purple yam icecream, cream, ice, and a mixture of beans.

Banana split: chocolate peanut butter, caramel, and rum raisin ice cream. This is the place's HOMEMADE ice cream!

The famed Mama's restaurant. Rated as having the best french toast in town.

French toast with bananas, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries with chocolate drizzles.

Dinner at a sidewalk restaurant: Appetizer- stuffed calamari with SQUID INK garnish.

Chicken baked under a brick with asparagus.

California pizza: basil and a variety of veggies.

Sear's Fine Dining: known for their dish of 18 mini pancakes

As if all the eating isn't enough. We treated ourselves to room service of veggie pizza and Turkey club!

Dessert crepe at a sidewalk cafe: NUTELLA, strawberries, and blueberries. DELICIOUS.

So long Tejas!

2009-06-03T10:35:00.002-05:00

Hey Guys! Just wanted to apologize for lack of post/updates lately. I haven't really been cooking that much. Anyways, I'll be in San Francisco and Austin all next week! That means no updates till after that. Trust me though, when I go on vacation, I sure will be enjoying some Yummy Eats! Till then!

Homemade Pizza

2009-06-03T10:29:00.003-05:00

Who the heck doesn't love pizza? If I ever were sentenced to death, I would pick pizza and a brownie sundae as my last meal. SWEAR TO G*D.

For a quick after work dinner Glenn and I usually make these quick pizzas.

Cook chopped red onions and shrimp (or any meat of your choice) with salt, pepper, and parsley.

On a whole wheat tortilla add cheese of your choice, the red onion/shrimp mix, more cheese and some freshly chopped tomatoes.

Stick this in the oven for about 6 minutes and you are done! The whole wheat tortilla is crisp and is only 90 calories! Quick meal but satisfies!

Fogo de Chao

2009-06-03T10:05:00.004-05:00

Glenn and I love excuses to go out to eat. So for our 2nd year anniversary we decided to go to Fogo De Chao. A Brazilian Steakhouse

Very nice atmosphere. Dim lights, wine glasses everywhere, servers running around to accommodate each guest. Loved it. Too fancy for us but we still enjoyed it.

When you are seated you are given a card like the one on the left. One side is green and one side is red.

You start off at the all you can eat salad bar that includes a variety of cheese, exotic meats, salads (chicken, pasta), international vegetables, etc.

When you are done with the salad portion you flip over your card to the green side and the fun/fat begins. Servers, each carrying a meat choice, rush to your table and ask if you want what they are offering. Meats include: top and bottom sirloin, beef ribs, lamb, pork chops, chicken, pork sausages, fillet Mignon, beef ancho.

PURE MEAT HEAVEN. I haven't had so much red meat in my life. When you are "done" with all the offers, simply flip your card over to the red side and they'll stop coming. Everything was roasted very well. Full of garlic, pepper flavor. I ate way to much. I wish we liked wine because everything would have gone well with a nice red wine. By the way, did I mention it's ALL YOU CAN EAT?

A picture of my sirloin, fillet Mignon, lamb, pork chop plate. (1 out of 3 plates I ate)

In addition to all you can eat meat and salad bar, we also got unlimited mashed potatoes, PLANTAINS (MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE), and some fried vegetable thing at our table.

And if you want to question how much fatter our asses can get? We also got THREE DESSERTS!

<-- Flan. Creamy with the caramel sauce being thick and not to sweet.

8 inch strawberry cheesecake. Creamy and rich. Not only was it covered in strawberries and strawberry sauce, they also drizzled some raspberry sauce on the bottom.

Fogo de Chao's signature dessert. A papaya ice cream. It tasted so light and not too sweet. I use to love it when my dad made papaya milkshakes when I was little and this is what it tasted like. Very fresh and perfect for the summer!

This place was amazing. I would suggest it for a great start to a "dude's day" or bachelor party. Women usually can't handle all this red meat. Needless to say, I was dry heaving all the way home after eating here. TOO MUCH FOOD.

Blue Fish Dinner

2009-05-13T19:31:00.003-05:00

Like I've said before, Glenn and I love to try new things from Whole Foods. We decided to get some fresh BLUE FISH! The fish meat is actually blue!!!

Fish: Chopped up some onions and tomatoes. Seasoned the fish fillets with salt, pepper, parsley, lemon juice, and tandoori seasoning to give it a kick. Baked it in the oven with some olive oil at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. Cooked at the same time as vegetables.

Roasted Vegetables: ONE OF MY FAVORITE DISHES!!!! Cut up onions, butternut squash, and sweet potato. Drizzled olive oil on top and seasoned with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Bake in oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes and then added the fish to the oven.

Close up picture of the fish to show you that it's BLUE meat!

I'm not one to brag (okay..maybe sometimes) but dinner was freaking good. The vegetables were perfect. Sweet and salty, soft, warm. Just wholesome goodness.

Blue fish has a very strong fishy taste but the acid from the tomatoes, lemon juice, and the onions really made the dish flow.

I know Glenn is happy, he had about 2 bowls of the veggies! Till next time!

Phil's Icehouse

2009-05-13T18:26:00.004-05:00

I can't even talk about this burger joint. I was speechless after going there. You can order different breads for your hamburger (wheat, sourdough, JALAPENO). They serve miniburgers. Their fries are a mix of regular potatoes with sweet potatoes.

The bread with delicious, tasty, soft. The burger patty was charred and tasted fresh and moist!

I'm speechless. I got a stupid little rinky dink miniburger and Azeem got a delicious big spicy burger.

I will post more about this when I go back and get a REGULAR sized burger.

Till then, Pleasee pleasseee go eat there if you are ever in Austin. It's also next to Amy's Ice cream!!!

http://www.philsicehouse.com/

Peanut Butter & Co.

2009-05-13T18:20:00.004-05:00

So Glenn and I are huge fans of Whole Foods! We try to buy new products to try every time we are there. Well, I loveeeeeee peanut butter and I can eat it out of the jar (what a fattie!). I also loovveeeeeeeee chocolate! So when Glenn saw the line of products from "Peanut Butter & Co.". I was sold!

I ended up getting the dark chocolate dreams peanut butter. HEAVEN. It's half gone after 2 days. :( Next time I'm definitely getting the white chocolate wonderful. Believe it or not, it's not too sweet and I can taste both the chocolate flavor with peanut butter undertones. VERY smooth.

http://www.ilovepeanutbutter.com/

That's their official website! I requested a catalogue for more goodies. They make peanut butter, peanut snacks, gift baskets (BIG ASS HINT), and etc.

Apparently they have a restaurant in New York City!!! That means I'm definitely booking a trip soon!

Just because

2009-05-10T19:52:00.000-05:00

Have a lovely Mother's Day.

I can eat these all day

2009-05-10T14:56:00.001-05:00

I love to eat these UNtoasted. Taste like chocolate pastries and they make me happy.

Yama Weekend

2009-05-10T14:49:00.004-05:00

Glenn and I were craving GOOD sushi so we knew we had to go to Yama on Saturday. We were not disappointed. Everything tasted BETTER than we remembered and we were super happy to have gone.

We ordered the Sashimi dinner, Orange roll, squid salad.

Orange Roll: Maybe they should change the name to green roll? They used green soybean paper this time and put some roe (fish eggs) inside the roll as well! They also used a blend of 2 sauces: a spicy green and orange sauce this time.

DELICIOUS. The sauce wasn't drenched into the roll and the flavors were fresh, not overpowering, a bit tangy and spicy and it all just came together! SO HAPPY!

FREE APPETIZER ALERT!!!! Beef tataki in a sweet and vinger ponzu sauce. It tasted good and the slices of beef were thin. Glenn liked it! But the sauce was a bit too sour for me and the thought of raw beef was too much for me to handle!

Mmm...all this talk of yama makes me wanna go again right now...

Baked Omelette

2009-05-10T14:38:00.003-05:00

As I have my love for Bobby Flay, Glenn loves that slut on the Food Network named Giada. We watched one of her shows and she made a REALLY easy baked omelette. We happened to have all the ingredients so we decided to make it for dinner.

Recipe here!

It tasted sooo good! Thick and fluffy eggs with not that many seasonings! What I loved is that we got to eat more turkey sausage (a new obession of mine).

This was so popular that we made 4 more batches of these that week. We tried to tweak the recipe each time though: chicken instead of sausage, SALMON instead of sausage, different cheeses, salsa in the mixture, etc. Azeem even made his own and brought it over for us to try!

Tilapia Burgers

2009-05-10T14:34:00.002-05:00

Who doesn't love a great bargain? When we were grocery shopping the other day we saw a 2 pack of fresh tilapia burgers on sale for 2 bucks! They were the jalapeno flavored tilapia ready to cook burgers found in the seafood department at HEB.

Placed the tilapia burger on a piece of toast, and added cheese, tomato slice, grilled onions and mushrooms and honey mustard.

Instant lunch for less than 3 bucks!

Beluga Sushi

2009-05-10T14:05:00.013-05:00

Glenn and I've gone to Beluga Sushi in Round Rock before and we were actually in town that day we decided to stop by with Azeem before we headed over to Ashley's. Visit belugasushi.net for more on their menu, location, hours, etc.

I've always wanted to order the Omakaze at Japanese restaurants so we all decided to try it. Omakaze is where the sushi chef selects your WHOLE meal, from appetizers to main course to dessert. Sorry for the small dark pictures but the restaurant lighting is a "no go" for delicious pictures.

Started off with a house salad: lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, red cabbage, Japanese dressing.

Appetizer 1: Tuna tartare with goat cheese and a wasabi sauce. Very flavorful! The punch of the tuna and it's spicy seasonings blended with the rich almost sour taste of the goat cheese. The wasabi sauce added another dimension in spicy but milky taste!

Appetizer 2: Tempura vegetables. Bleh. Tasted like fried vegetables which is always delicious. I got my sweet potato fix and Glenn got his broccoli.

Appetizer 3: Seafood ceviche. Shrimp, crabmeat, salmon, and cucumber in a miso sauce. The seafood tasted great but when you got to the cucumber, the miso sauce was TOO powerful and tasted too sweet and too sour!! Glenn said it tasted like "Marshall's Department Store". Great presentation though.

Appetizer 4: Fried salmon skin rolls. Fried with cream cheese and too fishy for my taste. Blah! Did NOT taste fresh.

Main Course: Sushi with eel, red snapper, white tuna, salmon, tuna. Fish was okay. Big chunks and was definitely fresh, but nothing special.

We all though this was main course 1 and was expecting a variety of rolls and sashimi to follow. But sadly, this was the only main course.

Dessert: Some sort of sweet bean custard with honey drizzled on top and whip cream. I enjoyed it for it's slightly sweet taste. A very Asian dessert due to it's underwhelming sugary flavor.

Now, we still like Beluga but we just wouldn't go there for the Omakaze again. The appetizers were great but what we really wanted was FISH FISH FISH. We were disappointed at the main entree and lack of rolls and would rather pick what we want next time. I guess we all are control freaks in the end.

Corona's De Oro Restaurant

2009-05-10T13:59:00.003-05:00

Glenn and I headed out for Allison's birthday dinner at Corona's De Oro. It's a little Mexican restaurant in Temple that we hadn't try yet so I was excited. Everything was really good and the portions were big but not painfully big. The service was lacking that day but we were also in a party of 20.

Glenn and I shared the mixed fajitas plate: shrimp, beef, chicken with green bell peppers and onions. We had some black beans on the side that were a bit on the cheesy side but none-the-less it was tasty. Tasted like many mexican meals I had yet not too salty. I did enjoy the fact that the shrimp pieces were pretty big!

Although it was pretty tasty, I don't think Glenn and I would eat there by ourselves since it doesn't really stand out in terms of taste and quality.

Utter Failure :(

2009-05-10T13:52:00.006-05:00

Utter failure. I always try to make things slightly healthier for Glenn's sake. We decided to have stuffed bellpeppers and mushrooms for dinner.

I googled a recipe for stuffed bellpeppers and used ground turkey, tomatoe paste and tomato sauce, various spices, and then I sprinkled some feta cheese on the top These didn't come out that bad but if it wasn't for the tomatoes, the turkey meat would not have tasted like anything!

I also made spinach and artichoke stuffed portabello mushrooms. Recipe from an episode of Rachael Ray

It was disgusting because I used FAT FREE ricotta instead of full fat. It tasted like NOTHINGNESS and blah and wet. Gross.

I was so disappointed with these two meals. The bellpepper wasn't THAT bad but it wasn't up to theyummyblog standards.

I love this man!!!!

2009-04-21T20:30:00.004-05:00

Anything that has Bobby Flay I'm addicted to. I watched 4 episodes of Throwdown with Bobby Flay after work one day! From "Boy meets Grill" to "Iron Chef"....I can't get Bobby out of my head! I want to taste his dishes and conquer the world with him!!!!!

I must go back to NYC and eat at Bar Americain!! I must meet him!!!!

Spinach and Feta Salmon

2009-04-21T20:20:00.002-05:00

We cheated this week with dinner. Instead of making our own fish cuisines we bought pre"gourmet"ed meals at whole foods. Delicious though!

Glenn made some baked sweet potatoes fries: seasoned with brown sugar, cinnamon. Very good! I've always made mine spicy, with black pepper, seasoning salt, and garlic so it was a good change to have something sweet on the plate.

On right: We bought these salmon pinwheel things at Whole Foods. Ring of salmon with spinach and feta cheese stuffed in. Very good! The feta cheese after awhile was a bit salty and heavy but still tasty. I think next time though, Glenn and I could easily whip this up ourselves.

Waffle Maker Alert!

2009-04-21T20:16:00.003-05:00

Lauren and Bob gave us their waffle maker a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had time to try it out. After a trip to whole foods this weekend, I got a rush of inspiration and cooked up a great breakfast for Glenn and I!

I cooked cherry tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and chicken sausage (which were stuffed with spinach and feta cheese).

After the waffles were cooked I put a dollop of Greek yogurt on top and drizzled some warmed up maple pumpkin butter on top.

Lordy lordy! I love peanut and almond butter but when we saw maple pumpkin butter at whole foods we knew we had to try it! It's so sweet and rich! We didn't even need syrup!

It was a great breakfast but I think I could make the waffles a little crispier next time! I'll definitely be using the waffle maker on a weekly basis!

Yama Sundays!

2009-04-21T20:06:00.003-05:00

It was a Yama Sunday and Tom and Azeem actually decided to join us! Glenn and I are always psyched to help our little restaurant succeed!

Azeem was being sophisticated as usual. Cap and tongue out was necessary of course.

Our usual waitress brought us out FREEEE Edamame to start out with. Glenn and I were craving the duck roll but we knew they only served that Monday through Fridays....but WOWZERS! They made us 4 duck rolls as appetizers! Not on the menu!! We were so excited. So fresh, crunchy, salty yet sweet. We love the duck roll. The meat was a little on the fatty side this time though. :(

The only thing new was the Catepillar Roll we ordered. Traditional roll of eel inside with avocado on the outside. I actually enjoyed this roll more than the Dragon roll...although they are almost identical. Not too much eel sauce on the outside so I could really enjoy the eel NOT just the eel sauce.

Luke's Grilled Chicken Kabobs

2009-04-21T20:00:00.002-05:00

UFC 97 took place at Seth and Luke's! Awesome house with "stadium seating". Last time we went we had chips and dip but this time Luke made grilled chicken kabobs for us

Grilled chicken pieces, squash, red and green pepper, onions. Great flavoring but a little on the dry side. He cooked it on the grill outside then finished it in the oven. The vegetables were perfect, just the chicken was a little too done. Tasty none-the-less!

Tomodachi Sushi

2009-04-21T19:43:00.003-05:00

Tomodach is a Sushi restaurant on Parmer in North Austin. It's right behind Riata Park so we've been there before with Jay. We enjoyed ourselves last time and since we couldn't go to Yama, we decided to come here again!

Sushi Bomb: Tuna, white tuna, salmon, and red snapper sushi. Ponzu and a spicy chili sauce was drizzled on top. The taste was INTENSE. It tasted good but I usually like to eat my sushi and sashmi with very little sauce so I could enjoy the fresh fish. Very flavorful but definitely not for real sushi lovers.

Dynamite bowl: Shrimp, mushroom, roe, calmari mixed a cream based sauce on top of a bed of rice. Very tasty! Huge chunks of shrimp. The creamy blend of sweet rice and the seafood was very satisfying. A must try!

2 pieces of Eel sushi

Mt. Fuji roll: soft shell crab, spicy crab, avocado, and escolar on top. This roll was topped with one of my favorite fish! It was delicious and I could taste both the crab and the fish at the same time! The only downside was the creamy sauce that was drenched on top and on the bottom of the whole roll!

Our food was great at Tomodachi....the only thing I would ask next time would be for less dressing on EVERYTHING! Let's enjoy things simple okay? :)

Robertson's Choppin' Block

2009-04-21T19:33:00.003-05:00

On our almost weekly trips to Austin, we always see Robertson's Choppin Block off of I35. Allison told Glenn they made good jerky so we decided to stop by and check it out.

What a quaint little place. Not only do they have sausages, beef jerky, fresh ham sandwiches but they also sell an assortment of nuts, chocolates (yum!), candies, candles, lotions, etc. Definitely a place to go to for gifts and Christmas/Kwanza!

We ordered a bit of the beef jerky and turkey jerky. At $25 a pound I expected deliciousness that is off the charts! Alas....the beef jerky was in thin pieces that were really hard. I think a tooth broke! The turkey jerky was more moist but to tell you the truth, I would perfer to buy myself some teriyaki beef nuggets they sell at the local 7-11!

Turkey Sausage always on my mind!

2009-04-21T19:27:00.003-05:00

Glenn found sound turkey sausage at HEB (our local grocery store) and we've been cooking up a storm with them! We cooked them in eggs and as a snack! I had bought some whole wheat wraps and I was craving something filling and cheesy!

Turkey Quesadillas! Whole wheat wrap with 2 slices of colby jack, cut up cooked turkey sausage, onions, mushrooms. For toppings: guacamole and salsa.

I first cooked the turkey sausage, mushrooms, and onions with: seasoning salt, black pepper, chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon. I placed this all on one side of the tortilla, folded the tortilla over, and cooked it in the oven at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.

This was sooo good! Spicy, FILLING, and cheesy! Glenn and I made this 3 more times that week! We varied the spices and cheeses each time!

Regular Yama Sunday

2009-04-21T19:15:00.003-05:00

On the way home from McAllen, I met Glenn for sushi...where else??? YAMA! My friends are beginning to call my blog "The Yama Blog". We can't help but eat there cause it's so good! Sara Sahm thinks we order "a gourmet meal each time" we are there!!! As Cartman would say "I do what I want!"

We ordered more than pictured here but I will only feature new dishes on The Yummy Blog.

Gyoza: pan fried pork dumplings. Very soft won top exterior, not too oily. Tasted like gyoza at any other Asian restaurants but very tasty.

Futo Roll: egg, shrimp, crab, cucumber. Very plain roll but it was still great tasting. More of a pallet cleanser since it was a slightly sweet roll with not much fish. Very filling and thick pieces!

I can't believe Glenn let me order Salmon fried rice! It was very good! Huge chucks of salmon in fried rice! I love it when fried rice has bean sprouts in addition to the regular vegetable mix! Very good! Not too greasy and not saturated with the taste of soy sauce!

Le Lai in McAllen, Texas

2009-04-21T19:03:00.003-05:00

It was a food fest when I went home for Easter. I ate Double Daves, at Roxann's BBQ, homecooking and all but I went to Le Lai for some Thai Food! I've been here before but only ordered Mandarin cuisine so I was excited to try their thai plates.

Of course I ordered the Tofu Pad Thai. The noodles were thinner than I am use to and the sauce was more sweet than spicy. It tasted good but it didn't satisfy my "pad thai craving".

Chicken Mango Salad: I could NOT stop raving about this dish. It has sweetened dark pieces of chicken on a bed of shredded red onions, MANGO SLIVERS, carrots, cucumber. A garnish of peanuts and basil top it off. It was so tasty! I was eating thin slices of mango with my meal and it just came together! It was extremely fresh and crunchy! Dipping each biteful in the traditional thai fish sauce added additional flavoring! YUMMY! I will definitely come back for this dish!

Yummy Yama

2009-04-08T17:54:00.003-05:00

Wednesday and I'm off. Why not drive an hour to get sushi? Glenn and I walked into Yama and the owner immediately recognized us! We were stoked!!! We had never been there for their lunch menu before so we were excited to try some new items on it!

Tuna tartare. Didn't taste any different than what I've tried at other restaurants before. Still good but nothing unique. The peppercorn encrusted thin slices of tuna were lightly pan seared.

We had never ordered the sashimi deluxe before today! Came with tuna, salmon, red snapper, escolar, and white tuna. Big chunks that tasted so fresh!

Roasted duck roll bento box. Glenn is NOT a fan of duck so when he LOVED this dish I was quite surprised. Bento box came with vegetable tempura, sushi rice, japanese salad, pieces of california roll. The main dish was AMAZING. Pieces of roasted duck with a light layer of sweet sauce (I think hoisin sauce), onions, and romaine lettuce wrapped in a chinese pan fried pastry. It was a little greasy but the sweet yet salty flavors of the duck were to die for! It came with 2 big pieces and Glenn and I were pretty full after this!

The owner kept persisting dessert and said it was on the house! So of course...we couldn't say no. Red bean ice cream. Not a very strong "red bean" flavor to it so it was light and not super sweet. Very good!

What a fabulous lunch! Glenn couldn't stop talking about the duck roll and I'm sure we will be back on Sunday! I'll be in the Valley this weekend but I might stop by Yama on my way back home! Mmm....typing about the duck roll is making my mouth water!

Till next time.

Oikos Shrimp and Salmon Chowder

2009-04-08T17:32:00.009-05:00

I have been obsessed with Greek yogurt for about 2 months! It's creamier than regular yogurt so I feel like I'm having a sinful cup of full fat ice cream. It tastes delicious and is oh-so-satisfying. Glenn enjoys it as well and we saw a recipe for Oikos Shrimp and Salmon Chowder on one of their containers!

http://www.oikosorganic.com/Recipes/recipe_Shrimp_Salmon_Chowder.cfm

Link to their site! We actually used sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes!

The final product. I messed up!!! The last step is to "fold" the greek yogurt into the soup slowly so the yogurt doesn't "curdle". Well...it curdled!! So sad! It still tasted really good but as you can see, it doesn't look like traditional creamy chowder. :( Next time I'll cool the soup down significantly before adding in the yogurt! The spices with the seafood still tasted great!

Azeem came over and brought over a dish! He made green bean casserole but added turkey sausage to it! It was really rich and satisfying!

Everyone thought it tasted good...but the curdling ruin the presentation! :(

Katie's Custard

2009-04-08T17:26:00.007-05:00

I love dessert!!! After going to Kitok we decided to try Katie's custard. Their radio commercials are always heard! The place is an order and sit outside custard stand. They have a variety of menu items you can order such as banana splits, fudge sundaes, custards with mixings, etc.

I ended up ordering the vanilla custard with Heath in it. I think it was just an excuse to eat a Heath bar any way I could get it!

The texture was pretty creamy. Azeem got vanilla custard with peaches and Glenn got the turtle sundae which had caramel syrup, pecans, and chocolate syrup. I enjoyed my concoction but Glenn and Azeem were....once again not impressed. It tasted like Shakes. This wasn't anything special...yet again. Sorry Waco!

Kitok's

2009-04-08T17:16:00.008-05:00

There's this place in Waco that my technicians rave about. It's Kitok Restaurant. It's a place that serves greasy burgers, oriental fries, and oriental food! It's not a fusion restaurant! Just a diner that serves burgers AND Chinese food. Odd combination which sounded enticing. Azeem and Glenn drove up to meet me for dinner after work one night. We've been wanting to try this place out for awhile.

The famed Oriental fries. Basically a bunch of onions and carrots shredded up, dipped in tempura, and fried. Pretty tasty! It was something different but not something to stop the presses about. Would I eat this again? Yes but on the other hand, anything fried is delish.

I ordered the egg burger. What a fat ass!!! A regular ol' burger wasn't bad enough, I added a fried egg and cheese to it! Very good! The bun was greasy with butter and the meat was tender and well seasoned. The cheese and egg added a kick of creaminess to it! Very good...a mid-step above a Sonic burger.

I'm glad I finally got to come here. Overall, if someone from work was to get something to go from here I would order something. I wouldn't go out of my way to try this place though. Interesting concept but just not as impressed as I was wish I had been. We also ordered some chicken and fried rice....too bland. Azeem and Glenn liked their burgers but they wouldn't want to come all the way to Waco for a "Sonic burger" again.

Rachael Ray's Ground Gyros

2009-04-08T17:01:00.008-05:00

So Glenn and I watch the Food Network channel about 2 hours a day! Seriously. Anyways, we caught an episode of 30 minute meals and wanted to try this ground gyro recipe that was featured on there. I love gyros and it looked easy!

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=1648

There's the link to the recipe! We didn't make the waffle fries with gravy but we made everything else! We also used ground turkey meat instead of lamb! Lamb is better but turkey (to Glenn) is healthier.

Toppings we put in our gyro. Banana peppers, tomato, cucumber slices.
Tazaki sauce: Greek yogurt, cucumbers, lemon juice, cumin.
Turkey loaf which will be sliced: ground turkey, spinach, feta cheese, spices.

Placed the turkey slices, toppings, and tazaki sauce into a slice of pita.

The tazaki sauce "made it". Turkey isn't a meat known for it's flavor so it didn't really have any flavor!! :( Next time I will definitely stick to the original recipe. It still didn't taste bad but it didn't turn out as flavorful as I would like.

And this is why I'm fat....

2009-03-31T20:01:00.003-05:00

So I'm a huge fan of cookies, chocolate, sweets, and FIBER!!! I love snacking and love to browse my local supermarket for new delicious finds! Here is what I'm chowing down on the past couple of weeks.

Kellogg's FiberPlus bars. Each bar contains more than 35% of the dietary fiber you need for the day!! LOVES IT! Girls can't get enough fiber!! They seriously taste like you are sinning. Rich chocolate taste....I seriously think it's richer than a 3 musketeers bar!!! They come in 2 flavors: chocolate chip and dark chocolate with almonds.

http://www.kelloggsfiberplus.com/Default.aspx
Head over to their site for a 75% off coupon!!!

Quaker Morning Minis. This is the new product Quaker has made! They are mini cookies that are baked! What a great snack to have. They come in 2 flavors: Cinnamon and rolled oats or (the ones I got) peanut butter.

Soft and chewy they are a great snack. Not gonna lie though...I might eat 2 or 3 to get my "fill"!!!
http://www.quakeroats.com/products/oat-snacks/morning-minis/peanut-butter.aspx

Head over to their site for more info!!!

Turkey Sausage Dinner

2009-03-31T19:54:00.004-05:00

After work tonight, I was just gonna get Chiptole for Glenn and I but decided that we can just make some sandwiches at home.

I walked in and Glenn had made dinner!! What a surprise and boy did it smell good!

Sorry for the bad quality picture, I used my camera and not Glenn's so the quality is not up to par.

He bought packaged turkey sausage and cooked it with this tofu pasta we got at Whole foods. Chopped tomatoes, spinach, onions, red pepper flakes, and various seasonings in olive oil made for a great brothy sauce.

The pasta with the thick cuts of turkey sausage made this meal very hearty and filling. I still got seconds though!

http://www.miraclenoodle.com/

Click on the link above to read more about our tofu noodles! Tasted just like ramen!

Allison's balls

2009-03-31T19:47:00.003-05:00

Before Glenn's friends and I went to Cadaver Ball, we went over to Allison's for some pre-drinks. In true great hostess fashion, she made us a homemade appetizer!

I'm not exactly sure how she made these (please post recipe Allison!) but they were extremely rich, decadent and tasty.

She mixed goat cheese, cream cheese, and pistachios into a ball then baked them with some bread crumbs sprinkled on top.

Goat cheese has sharp flavor so these little balls were very satisfying. What made it even better was that they were still warm from the oven! I ended up having two of these!

Yama Tres

2009-03-31T19:29:00.004-05:00

So Glenn and I spent a night in Austin cause his friend Zach Jones was in town. In the morning we headed to Yama for another great lunch/dinner (we order alot). When we got there our waitress Kate (she found my blog!!!) let out a yelp cause she recognized us! Great service followed!

Started off with the shrimp spring roll. Glenn was disappointed because it was fried but it was tasty. The shrimp inside the spring roll was pretty large and fresh!

Alaska Roll: snow crab and shrimp inside with crab meat and spicy sauce on the outside. The crab meat on the outside was a bit too much because I wanted to taste the gem of the roll: the snow crab inside!! I love me some spicy sauce but I wish I had asked for it on the side. Sauces are great with rolls but to really enjoy sushi, you must taste the fish.

Overall very tasty but next time I might ask for the sauce on the side!! Snow crab inside was VERY tasty!

In addition to the pictures posted here we ordered our Chirashi and Orange roll. I already have pictures of these posted in previous entries so I won't waste your time!

Dessert. Poor Glenn let me choose desserts!! We ordered the Plum Wine ice cream. Such a cute presentation that came with 3 cherries! Delicious taste and wasn't as creamy as I thought. It actually had an icy consistency.

Also ordered the sweet rice balls. VERY good. It was a gooey texture and the balls didn't really have that much flavor except for the light sweet after taste. It was coated with ground peanuts and brown sugar. Delicious.

Great end to a fabulous weekend! Yama has been a weekly (but expensive) tradition we have had for the past month! Hopefully we'll get a chance to visit it again very soon!

Till next time!

Allison's Yummy Fiber Surprise!

2009-03-23T19:58:00.010-05:00

Allison was nice enough to invite a couple of us over for dinner Sunday night. It was the last night of their spring break so I thought it would be a fun shin-ding. For those who don't know her, Allison is a fabulous baker and can make tasty home cooked concoctions. She makes cupcakes and cookies pretty often. Yum!

Here is Allison slaving away at her CrockPot.

Azeem, Glenn, and Tom. I will mention them often in this blog because they like to eat and I like company or "lab rats" for my kitchen meals.

While Allison was cooking and the guys were talking, I decided to pose with Allison's porcupine beanie baby. Super cute! (Talking about me!..jk)

Started off with a spinach salad. SURPRISE ALERT! She put plantain chips in it!

This was impressive. She made empanadas and put black beans and plaintains inside! The crust was flaky goodness and the insides were warm and just felt good in my stomach! I love plantains and this salty empanada really made my day!

Inside shot of the empanada

The main course was really good! She cooked the chicken in the crock pot in a sauce of cream of mushroom and salsa! The chicken was extremely moist and juicy! The sauce was tasty but not heavy. It definitely felt like a home cooked meal. A side of black beans and onions finished the dish.

Mmm. Very good and I even took 2 of the empanadas home! They will be good as a snack or as a light lunch! Thanks Allison for dinner!

After a 2 hour conversation about genetic defects that can occur when pregnant, we decided to watch Slingblade. Great end to a fun weekend!

Till next time!

Yama Part Deux

2009-03-23T19:30:00.007-05:00

So after a Saturday night out in Austin, Glenn and I decided to make Jay and Trisha go with us to Yama Sushi. They basically got suckered in. We told them it was a 10-15 minute drive and little did they know that Yama was in Round Rock. MUAHAHA. Either way, they were impressed with the sushi but not their chicken teriyaki. Yumminess ensues.

A picture of Yama sushi. Once we sat down the waitress said [insert Asian accent] "You guys are back!". Glenn and I were impressed and excited. Recognition with a smile means we might be favorited regulars...which might lead to yummy freebies.

We started off with the shrimp lettuce wraps. The lettuce that came with it were neatly rectangular shaped pieces of cut lettuce. Not the usual flap of a lettuce leaf. The taste wasn't unique or spectacular but still tasty. Glenn liked this unique lettuce piece although I enjoy the larger pieces of lettuce.

FREEBIE ALERT!!!! The waitress came back with this cucumber and tuna salad that was "made from the chef so you can try". YUMMY FREEBIE! The taste was okay but the chunks of free fish were awesome. It had a sesame seed oil taste with a hint of spice. I wouldn't order this by myself but it was a nice gesture from the chef!

Ordered the chirashi like last time: raw pieces of fish on a bed of sushi rice.

A five piece order of Escolar

Orange roll: had to taste this dream again!

New roll!! Gozen: yellowtail and salmon inside, topped with eel on the outside. Extremely tasty but the eel and eel sauce was such a powerful taste that I couldn't enjoy the yellowtail or salmon on the inside. Delicious but we could barely taste the differently between this roll and the traditional dragon roll!

Overall, delicious and a FULL experience. Glenn and I got our Austin sushi fix for the day.

On the way home we drove by a Sonic and I made Glenn stop. I've been craving a vanilla cone so bad!!! I was so happy to get it. My tummy hurt after all this food but man...was it worth it!!!

ps. if you guys are interested at dining at Yama sushi, here is a link to their menu http://www.diningoutwithrobbalon.com/review/yama/menu.html

till next time!

The end of the Yummy blog?!?!?!?

2009-03-17T20:24:00.004-05:00

I've always considered myself "the girl who would and could eat everything" but I was saddened by a recent picture of myself.

No I am not sad by the fact that 1) I am with Azeem who looks disgusted or 2) I'm holding up a ghetto menu from a West Indies restaurant or 3) I'm wearing a sweatshirt from high school that says "Joe Mama"....

Instead, I am saddened by the chubbiness and roundness of my face. Now I know I have a Mongoloid skull due to my Asian heritage...but still...

A ten pound weight gain might mean this could be the slow demise of theyummyblog.

Till next time....maybe....

Pork Chops!

2009-03-17T20:17:00.002-05:00

If you know me and have been to Cheesecake Factory with me before then you know how much I love their Jamaican Shrimp dish. (drool alert!). So I've been trying to find an easy dish to cook at home that incorporates the peppery dishes from Jamaica. When we went to Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago I bought a Jamaican Jerk marinade and Glenn decided to get us some pork loin chops and behold: DELICIOUS EASY DINNER.

Marinaded the pork loin chops in Jamaican Jerk marinade overnight. Then also made sweet potato fries (Glenn and I ate LOVE these). I had this sweet potato fries+pork combo craving from a recent Oprah episode!

Anyways the meat was tender and the seasoning really soaked into the meat! It was peppery with a hint of spice! Glenn cut up the sweet potatoes and seasoned it with garlic salt, seasoning salt, and pepper.

Such an easy meal and it satisfied my cravings. Anyways, so many entries in one day! Gotta go eat my dessert now! Till next time!

Yama Sushi Roundrock Texas

2009-03-17T19:58:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning I woke up really late. We had a late night of driving home from Plano. Anyways, Glenn was already up and decides to take me to Whole Foods/Central Market and have sushi at a new restaurant!!! As if my food tasting wasn't good enough this past weekend!!!

He googled a couple of restaurants in the Round Rock/North Austin area and the only one open at 12 was Yama sushi. We had never heard of it before but it got pretty good reviews on google. I don't know how accurate that is but we went anyways.

Dear Jesus, we are in heaven. The place was small and the prices were steep but the meal was delicious. Glenn and I ate in silence during the meal cause we wanted to savor each bite!

Started off with the squid salad. Never had it before! Unlike most Japanese salads that have a strong vinegar taste, this was sweet and spicy at the same time! This was really enjoyable...so enjoyable I bought a pint of this at Central Market afterwards! Not going to taste as good as this but hopefully I'll be satisfied none-the-less.

We got an Orange roll. I'm not lying when we say we LOVED this roll. We have never had a roll this good in a LONG LONG TIME. It was wrapped in orange soybean paper instead of the usual seaweed. It had tuna, salmon, avocado, and cucumber inside. No dressing on the inside or outside. We LOVED it. Having a soybean wrap enhanced the flavor of the fish and rice. Without the strong flavors of the seaweed wrap or any dressing on top, we were able to enjoy the true flavors from the fish. We ended up saving the last 2 pieces as our "dessert"!!

I'm still dreaming of this roll 3 days later!!!!

We also ordered the Chirashi. It's sashmi cuts of fish on top of a bed of sushi rice. The waitress said "sushi chef make special for you" so I don't know if the chef liked us or he added "happy ending" to it but it was so good! The cuts of the fish were huge chunks! Everything was so fresh and beautiful! Had escolar, tuna, egg cake, white tuna, salmon and NO ARTIFICIAL CRABMEAT!

We also had an order of the eel, salmon, and escolar sashmi! 5 pieces each. These are our favorite fish to have. We were high-fiving each other when we got 2 bonus pieces of Japanese egg cake (sweet and tasty at this restaurant). Everything was so fresh and in big pieces.

We were so happy at this place. Glenn even ADDED to my tip!!! Now that really shows you how happy we were. Please go visit this restaurant in Roundrock when you have a chance. It's in the middle of nowhere but it's so fantastic.

Favorite Sushi place to date: YAMA SUSHI!!!!

Mango Thai Restaurant

2009-03-17T19:49:00.003-05:00

So for dinner we decided to go to Mango Thai Restaurant. I actually wanted Cheesecake Factory that was at the Frisco mall but the wait was looking to be an hour and a half so we decided to try this place out. I LOVE me some Thai food so once again, Bryan had to venture out of his comfort and try something. He was actually a great sport!

We started out with chicken and beef satays. The beef was a little too thick and chewy for me but both meats were seasoned thoroughly.

I ordered Thai noodles with chinese brocolli, brocolli, shrimp, chicken, and other random vegetables. It tasted good and was what I was craving (Carb addict alert!) but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. My mom actually makes a dish exactly like this when she's lazy. Sorry Mango!

Glenn's dish was the "winner". Scallops, squid, octopus, shrimp in a spicy thai glaze served hot on a skillet. Way healthier than mine and was actually spicier!

Meal was good and they were playing Xmen in the restaurant so it wasn't bad. Nothing amazing and I probably would want to try another Thai place next time I'm in Plano.

Zenna Restaurant

2009-03-17T18:56:00.006-05:00

On Saturday, Glenn and I went to Plano to hang out with Bryan, Glenn's brother. Bryan was in town to visit some childhood friends so we made a day trip out of it. We decided we wanted sushi (of course) and we saw Zenna Restaurant. A couple of Glenn's friends from Plano have been and they enjoyed it so we decided to try it.

It is off the highway and serves Japanese and Thai cuisine! BOTH ARE MY FAVORITES!!!

Bryan (poor thing) had to endure and try what we ordered because we are selfish and was super excited to eat asian cuisine that is not from central Texas!

BTW due to all the pics I will post in this entry the pictures will be smaller. Sorry!

Ordered Basil Chicken spring rolls. Typical delicious flavors, nothing new but still good.

This was a VERY pleasant surprise. Since it is a Thai/Japanese restaurant, instead of the typical miso soup, they served a thai coconut soup to start us out with. It had mushrooms and brocolli in a creamy/lemony soup base. VERY good.

We also ordered a Thai egg omlette that had turnips in it. It tasted like an old breakfast dish my mom would make "back in the day". Tasted like good ol' fried egg to me!

We ordered a captepillar roll. Not impressed. I couldn't taste the eel at all and the avocado was too thick and its taste masked any other flavor the roll offered! :(

As usual, we ordered a sashmi combo. The pieces were thick! The fish wasn't the freshest I've tasted but it was a good assortment and variety. We got tuna, salmon, escolar (fave!), white tuna, and stupid imitation crabstick meat.

We also got a sushi combination. Big disappointment. We expected a delicious variety of fish like the sashmi plate but instead we got huge portions of the "reject" fish! Sure we got tuna, egg, and white fish but we also got regular shrimp, octopus, and two different roe! The roe was too bitter in that large of a quantity. We enjoyed the sashmi much more.

Regular fat ass me had to get dessert so we got TWO. On the left is a coconut custard on black sticky rice and on the right is a sticky rice with mango dessert. Both were minimally sweet, as is with most asian desserts, but still tasty.

Overall the sushi at Zenna wasn't spectacular. I will still go to try more of the Thai dishes but I was not impressed with the sushi served. This place is opened till 3 am so kudos to them for providing drunken patrons an ethnic choice!

Mom's Hot Roti West Indian Restaurant

2009-03-17T18:39:00.008-05:00

So after work on Friday Glenn, Allison, Azeem and I decided to drive 30 minutes to this restaurant in Killeen called "Mom's Hot Roti West Indian Restaurant". It was raining all day, roads were wet, and it was about 30-40 degrees but we all made the journey to try this West Indian Restaurant.

Well I've never had West Indian food before so I was super excited. The restaurant was not what I imagined. It was after 5 so there was no dining area open for us to eat at but they were kind enough to let us sit and dine there anyways since we told them we were from out of town.

The menu was mostly curry based. From chicken, beef, goat, and oxtail to various fish. Well the only fish they had was fried tilapia that day. NO salmon and to get anything steamed would take 30 minutes. So Glenn didn't get anything.

I ended up getting (see picture above) the oxtail meat with some seasoned cabbage and fried plantains. I also ordered 3 roti so that we can all try some. Now oxtail meat was all fat. ALL FAT. But of course it was seasoned in this curry spice juice so it was tasty. The cabbage was just salty cabbage nothing special...The plantains were good, but on the other hand have you ever had anything fried that is NOT good? Roti was delicious. It's a west indian style bread/tortilla food that you often eat with a meal. It was like a thick tortilla but they had some sort of pea curry paste inside. It was very different and delicious. Overall the food was indeed tasty and it was interesting to try but it was a little on the greasy side. I don't know if I would drive another 30 minutes to eat there again but I will definitely try another West Indian restaurant!

ps. Azeem and Glenn were not impressed. We ended up going to Chiptole afterwards.

Last one...

2009-03-12T22:15:00.000-05:00

Okay, had my bedtime snack. Now I'm really going to bed!

Sorry folks!

2009-03-12T21:48:00.000-05:00

Had to work all week so no new or delicious foods to blog. Lots of frozen meals, chocolates, and chips. :( Might have some new restaurant blogs after this weekend though! Till then, remember to keep eating!

Oh yea....I took a dorky pic of me with my camera....Don't pay attention to the sign...ALWAYS feed me!

Shows I can watch all day!

2009-03-10T09:01:00.001-05:00

I've been watching ALOT of Food Network and Travel channel shows. There are two shows though that intrigue, delight, and mortify me....in a good way!

Man vs. Food: Basically the host goes around the country and finds establishments that boast HUGE meals that their patrons can't possibly finish in one sitting. For example: 12 pound burgers, biggest tacos, spiciest indian dish ever, etc. It's painful to watch this guy sweat and breathe hard while eating but he's a funny guy and he makes me want to love and enjoy food even more!

Unwrapped: Everyone I know watches this show! It shows how certain treats are made per episode. For example last night's show was titled "movie munchies" so they'll show how popcorn or Junior Mints are made. I hate it cause this show airs at 10pm sometimes so I end up eating a snack while watching this show!

Double Delicious Dinner Entries!

2009-03-09T19:30:00.001-05:00

So last night I made an Indian dinner. I was lucky to have some company enjoy the meal. Everyone said it tasted good but I was a little more critical. I wish the sauce was creamier and more spicy! Either way I still had 2 servings!

*Dessert cooking: Creamy raisin dessert called Gajar Halva*

*Curry with chicken, carrots, sweet potato, broccoli*

*Wild rice*

Finished product. Very tasty, just a dash of spicy flavor. This curry didn't have a strong coconut flavor though. Allison brought over another indian dessert so we had two indian treats!

Tonight Glenn made dinner. He made burgers with swiss cheese, mushrooms, and onions on top. Then we were extremely generous with our guacamole. It was very moist and just right. Of course it's time for dessert so I must go!

BTW Allison bought over a Kinder egg for me!!!! I'm so excited but I haven't opened it yet...I just can't bare to spare my one egg!!! If I do end up eating it I will definitely post pics!

Curry Dinner Night!

2009-03-08T15:14:00.000-05:00

Gonna enjoy my delicious Cadbury creme egg until dinner tonight. Making curry with some yummy creamy Indian dessert. Hope it goes well. Azeem and Allison are coming over. I think Allison is going to bring a kinder egg!!!! Posting dinner results later :)

Recent home cooked yummies

2009-03-08T14:58:00.000-05:00

So Glenn and I live in a small city so in order to enjoy great tasting food we have succumbed to cooking our own food! Not bad so far :) but lots of dishes to wash!

This morning Glenn made blueberry pancakes. We found a recipe that included yogurt and cottage cheese in the pancakes. We also made blueberry syrup to put on top. Glenn actually made all this! The pancakes were of really thick consistency and filling...but I still had seconds! The blueberries were delicious! Glenn even splurged and put a dollop of Cool Whip on top! Azeem came over and enjoyed a pancake as well!

Dinner from earlier this week:

We love fish so I decided to make Teriyaki glazed sea bass along with some roasted vegetables. I chose butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and onions as my vegetables. I've had a craving and love for butternut squash recently. Both recipes can be found on multiple sites through google. Everything turned out moist and tasty and even Glenn was surprised at my skills!

Kinder!!!

2009-03-07T23:33:00.000-06:00

OMG!!! So Glenn's friend Allison told me about these delicious amazing candy/toy things from Germany!!! They are called Kinder eggs and after eating the chocolate shell you can get crazy toys!!! Look at the picture to the right!! They are AMAZING toys that are inside! Gadgets! They are banned in the US....I can understand why, one munch from a fat kid will probably choke him. Either way, I want one!!!! Someone get me one!!!

Recent New York Trip Yummies

2009-03-07T22:51:00.001-06:00

NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!

One of my favorite cities. I feel like my soul and stomach belong there. It's a fantasy of mine to live there and try a new restaurant/bakery/cafe a day! Ahhh a girl can dream. My most recent trip to NYC was all about food. From visiting Zabar's Jewish grocery, to chinatown bakeries and restaurant week....I ended up gaining 3 lbs! I didn't take many pictures cause it was so cold and I didn't want to take my hands out of pockets but here are 3 photos:

This is me at Pinkberry. I love anything green tea flavored such as mochi, candies, so yogurt is a given! My favorite toppings at Pinkberry are leechee and fruity pepples. Although I admit there are better yogurt places, I love the commercialization of Pinkberry. I just close my eyes and enjoy the sugar and pretend I'm in an episode of Gossip Girl.

Crumbs. I wasn't able to stop at any bakeries on my first trip to NYC so this was a must for my second trip. Delicious! Gourment flavors such as Hostess, caramel chew, vanilla, etc. Head to their website to look at pics! http://www.crumbs.com/cupcakes/taste I ended up getting the red velvet one and a black and white one. Jesus! I should have taken pictures but if I were to have a wedding soon, this bakery would definitely play a big role in it!

Sushi Samba. I'm not going to lie, I chose to go to this sushi establishment due to celebrity sitings in my UsWeekly. We went for lunch so no Hilary Duff or Nicole Richie sitings for me! We had sea bass and miso anticuchos for an appetizer, along with an El Topo Roll, and then got a sashimi lunch combo as well as the ceviche combo. Great, presentation and unique rolls. Their cuisine is a mix of Japanese, Brazilian, and Peruvian. Mmm. Delicious. The waitresses were tall, skinny, and blonde...I still ate my food though! Only in silence.

Current Yummy Snacks

2009-03-05T20:04:00.000-06:00

So I don't eat UNHEALTHY foods all the time but I just tend to eat ALOT of a good thing. The snacks I can't stop munching at so far are "healthy" and delicious!

Kashi has come out with a new line of fruit and grain bars that TO DIE FOR. I feel like I'm eating dessert each time I have one. They come in Dark Chocolate and Coconut, Pumpkin pie, and Raspberry chocolate! Delish. Check out the line of Kashi products at kashi.com!

BONUS: Sign up for your free kashi entree coupon on their website now!

I also have the urge for salty snacks as well. I found these Popchips at my local grocery and they are fantastic! Apparently they aren't baked OR fried...they are made through applied pressure and heat! Delicious! Check out their site http://www.popchips.com/

Since I live in a small town I don't really have a great selection at my local grocery store so I decided to order some muffin tops online at http://www.vitalicious.com/.

I ordered the chocolate super sampler! They are loaded with FIBER! And what woman isn't a fan of that?!

Welcome to my taste buds!

2009-03-05T19:50:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone!

If you know me, like truly know me then you know that my life is all about food! From cooking, finding the newest and tastest snacks, to going on vacation to experience new cuisine, I'm all about food! So I'll be posting here when I find new treasures and treats and even show you guys what I have cooking here at home! Any questions, comments, and finds of your own are deliciously appreciated!