food

Review: Thai Terrace – Washington Twp NJ

I will gladly admit that I am a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to Thai food. I almost always order Pad Thai. That might seem boring, but I like the dish and it’s a good way to compare restaurants. Thai Terrace is one of the best I’ve had. The only complaint I have is that sometimes the spiciness is a little inconsistent. However, I’m willing to chalk that up to varying depending upon who’s cooking on a given day. They have four levels of spiciness. I usually go with #2, medium. It’s usually within my range of spice tolerance.

We also order typically a lot of appetizers. They have some really good ones. The pork dumplings are delicious. The chicken satay is incredibly tender. They also have one called Thai Shrimp Green Wrap that’s really unique and tasty. It consists of shrimp, peanuts, coconut, sweet chili sauce, lime, scallions, ginger and red onions in a lettuce wrap. It seems like a lot of ingredients but they all combine incredibly well.

We occasionally try new local Thai restaurants as we discover them, but we always seem to wind up back at Thai Terrace. The atmosphere in the restaurant is quiet and peaceful; the owners and their staff are really friendly and the food never disappoints.

Posted by Michael in Reviews

Turkey Brining Time

How are you preparing your turkey for Thanksgiving this year? If you’re not brining it, I suggest you rethink that. Yes, this post is my annual reposting of my turkey brining tutorial. It’s nothing fancy because brining your bird is not a complicated process even though

Check out my instructions and recipe here. I even made a few minor updates this year. After all, refining your technique is what cooking is about.

Enjoy and feel free to let me know how it turns out.

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food

Happy International Sushi Day

SushiApparently today is International Sushi Day. It sounds like a made-up holiday to me but do you really need an excuse to eat sushi? So go out and get yourself some tuna maki or something. Just watch the wasabe.

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food, Randomness

Why do we eat turkey and all the fixings?

TurkeyWe all know what Thanksgiving dinner means. It means cooking a turkey, some stuffing, a variety of vegetables, probably some sweet potatoes and biscuits. Oh and don’t forget the cranberry sauce. Dessert brings pumpkin pie and maybe some egg nog to start off the holiday season.

You’ve eaten this combination every year of your life but do you know why? Check out this article on CNN to learn more about this holiday tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food, Interesting Links

A Great Amish Buffet

Amish BuggyA few posts ago I promised a brief review of the restaurant that I went to in Lancaster last weekend. The restaurant was an Amish buffet called The Family Cupboard. You can also order meals, but we went for the buffet. Most buffets are basically a smorgasbord of mediocre food. We were leery that this would be the same. We had picked it out randomly from the Internet.

When we walked in and saw that there was a fair number of Amish/Mennonite folks eating there, we became more confident that the food would be good. As it turns out, it was really good. I went back for three plates plus dessert. There was a delicious meatloaf, buttered noodles that were clearly homemade and definately from a PA Dutch/German recipe. These sat alongside glazed ham, stuffing and seafood, pasta lima beans and on and on. The salad bar was your usual salad bar. I was glad to see it was all fresh and crispy, but what really made it special was a delicious house dressing.

For dessert, there was Turkey Hill ice cream as well as an assortment of desserts, but but what really caught my attention was the pies. I had a piece of pecan pie (my favorite) which wasn’t so great, but I went back for another piece and selected shoo-fly pie. It was delicious!

You can view their menu and get directions at FamilyCupboard.com.

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food, Interesting Links, Life

A Great Amish Buffet

Amish BuggyA few posts ago I promised a brief review of the restaurant that I went to in Lancaster last weekend. The restaurant was an Amish buffet called The Family Cupboard. You can also order meals, but we went for the buffet. Most buffets are basically a smorgasbord of mediocre food. We were leery that this would be the same. We had picked it out randomly from the Internet.

When we walked in and saw that there was a fair number of Amish/Mennonite folks eating there, we became more confident that the food would be good. As it turns out, it was really good. I went back for three plates plus dessert. There was a delicious meatloaf, buttered noodles that were clearly homemade and definately from a PA Dutch/German recipe. These sat alongside glazed ham, stuffing and seafood, pasta lima beans and on and on. The salad bar was your usual salad bar. I was glad to see it was all fresh and crispy, but what really made it special was a delicious house dressing.

For dessert, there was Turkey Hill ice cream as well as an assortment of desserts, but but what really caught my attention was the pies. I had a piece of pecan pie (my favorite) which wasn’t so great, but I went back for another piece and selected shoo-fly pie. It was delicious!

You can view their menu and get directions at FamilyCupboard.com.

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food, Interesting Links, Life

The father of the Egg McMuffin dies

Here in New Jersey when we think of a delicious breakfast, the mind immediately conjures images of a diner. I’m particular partial to a bacon and cheese omelet, with hash browns, some toast and a bottomless cup of diner coffee. However, sometimes you don’t have time to spend in a diner. That’s where my second favorite breakfast place comes into play. I like just about anything from McDonald’s breakfast menu, but the item that most people associate with McDonald’s breakfast is the Egg McMuffin. It was created by Herb Peterson in 1972. After 36 years and more sandwiches sold than he ever imagined, I’m sure, Herb passed away at the age or 89.

Some people’s legacy is on a headstone, Herb’s will live on on the McDonald’s menu board. 🙂

Read his obituary on CNN.

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food, Interesting Links

Cheeseburger in a can

Cheeseburger in a CanI think the post title really says it all. What else can I say, really?

Check it out at the Emeril Blog.

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food

Cheeseburger in a can

Cheeseburger in a CanI think the post title really says it all. What else can I say, really?

Check it out at the Emeril Blog.

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food

Hang from a crane and eat dinner

I enjoy trying new restaurants. Just last night I had a delicious dinner place that appeared pretty rough from the outside but had delicious food. However, I’m not sure I’d make it past the “front door” of the restaurant in this article from the Daily Mail. You are surved dinner while sitting at a table which is suspended 150 off the ground. It hangs off the boom of a crane. You and 21 other folks site with nothing but air under your feet as you eat a gourment meal.

The reporter who wrote the article couldn’t even bring herself to eat because of the height issue. There’s a good chance I’d have the same problem!

Posted by Michael in Cooking/Food, Interesting Links