Tag Archives: seafood

New Fish, Blue Fish

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For dinner tonight we took Adam’s parents to the new sushi spot that just opened on Elmwood, Blue Fin.

My camera was dying and the lighting was low, so please excuse my poor photography.  The meal was delicious; I got one healthy roll and one fun roll.

For health, I ordered a California hand roll.

Hand rolls are my favorite sushi order, I love the texture of the nori.

For fun I ordered a roll to split with Adam.  This bad boy had asparagus, cream cheese, white fish, massago, eel sauce, spicy mayo, and tempura; I believe it was called the Blue Mountain Roll.

It was a great mix of flavors and textures, but very heavy; if you are ordering sushi to be healthy please be aware that rolls with cream cheese are neither traditional nor low-calorie.  They are tasty though!  I ate three pieces.

We were given chocolate with the bill.

We took the in-laws to Delish for local ice cream after dinner.  It was too cold outside for that to appeal to me, but I did pick up an adorable mini casserole dish!

They were on sale and I’ve been wanting one forever.

My mother-in-law is amazing; she was in the kitchen all day yesterday and she brought us pounds (literally!) of tasty foods.  She actually brought so much we can’t eat it all this week!  I portioned out the chilli into baggies in one cup servings and have them on a cookie sheet in the freezer.

That’s how I deal with all soup/soft leftovers, once they are frozen they are a cinch to stack and store.

I did a little bit of school work when we got home and I snacked on a snickerdoodle from my m-i-l.

I didn’t actually eat much real food today so I probably should have skipped the cookie; I’m learning.  We’ve got breakfast plans at 7 tomorrow so I’ve got to get to bed.  Sweet dreams all.

What is your favorite sushi order?

Disappointing Dinner

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I really try not to be too much of a Debbie Downer on the blog, but I don’t have many positive things to say tonight so I’ll keep this quick.  The husband and I got really jazzed about having a fancy date and it basically was a bust.  (Although that’s not to say that we didn’t have a good time being together :D)

I read about Groupon on Meghann’s blog recently and was excited to join.  Today’s deal was a $40 gift certificate for $20 at a spot we’ve been wanting to try, The Wine Thief.  I’ve been telling people about how I wanted to try their lobster for months so we decided to snatch the deal up.

It’s been a hectic (and stressful!) time lately so we were really excited about a fancy dinner date together.

We decided that I would order the lobster and Adam would order the scallops and we’d do some sharing.  Before I show you the food I want to show you an actual shot of the entrée menu –

Here was Adam’s dish.

A portion of scallops with a side of rice topped with chutney.  (Sidenote – Adam hated his scallops but the rice/chutney was pretty darn tasty)

Now here’s my dish –

Go back up and read that menu.  Here, I’ll even give you a shot of the two meal descriptions, from their menu.

I was not served lobster with a side of risotto, as the menu implies, but risotto with lobster mixed in.  Now that is either the most poorly designed menu on earth, or the description of my entrée is meant to deceive the consumer.  If the dish is “Lobster Risotto,” why does the menu read “Australian Lobster: risotto…?” 

Sadly, the lack of class I think the menu shows is almost besides the point because the risotto had 4 measly pieces of meat in it and was not even a properly done risotto.  *Steam*  Major fail, Wine Thief, major fail 😦

Adam hated his scallops – I thought they were actually pretty good, I ate 2.5 – so he only ate his rice and I ate a few bites of my mush and we both left hungry.  Our dinner date ended up being pizza from Wegmans.

Ugh.

What do you think – was the menu misleading or are Adam and I idiots?

What’s Up Doc?

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Thank you for all your feedback on the giveaway.  I really do appreciate every comment I get here on my little corner of the internet ❤

While I worked on my to-do list I this morning I also worked my way through a big pile of baby carrots.

I know people say that baby carrots are just trumped up packaging of the big guys but I really do prefer them.  Babies seem much crunchier and sweeter to me.

At lunchtime I turned to the freezer.  We have a pretty tight food budget this year and I try to snatch up frozen meals on sale so I tend to have a random assortment.  Today I grabbed a Lobster Cheese Ravioli from Healthy Choice.

I ended up being pleasantly surprised by the quality. 

The ravioli were delicious, even a little better than the Buitoni variety we tried the other day.  I liked the generous portion of squash as well, my only complaint is that the marinara sauce was too watery.

Actually, I guess my other complaint is that I’m currently starving!  To be fair though, 260calories held me over for a while, it’s not necessarily the meal’s fault that I’m ready to chew off my own arm.  The husband is having hunger pains as well so as soon as I hit publish I’m off on a snack hunt.

Big girl carrots or baby carrots?  Or carats?

P.S. Opinions on the font size?

Dinner for Two

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After our family time weekend it was great to spend the evening with the husband, just the two of us.  We even had a three course meal, Emily and Adam style.

First course, a big plate of green bean fries.

This is my favorite veggie to roast!  Tonight’s plate got a sprinkle of onion powder pre-oven that took it over the top.  My favorite are the crinkly ones, just like french fries!

Second course, shrimp and lobster ravioli with garlic butter sauce.

I’d love to have you think I was a good enough wife to have whipped this up on my own, but in reality it was a Buitoni sample I got to try via the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program.

This was from their Complete Meal for Two line.  The ravioli and garlic butter sauce cook in the time it takes to boil water so I didn’t have high expectations but I ended up being very impressed.  This was the quickest, easiest meal but it tasted restaurant quality.  The sauce was rich without being too heavy and I thought it was well seasoned.  The ravioli were stuffed full and I found huge meaty chunks of shrimp and lobster.  Plus, at 500calories a serving I found my portion to be very filling, probably from the 21grams of protein.  My only complaint with the dish is that it had 49%! of your daily sodium.  Adam and I both have good to low blood pressure so this is ok for an occasional indulgence for us, but be careful if you are watching your sodium levels.

Dessert.

Breyer’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough sandwiches.  I saw the box on sale today and just couldn’t resist.  I adore ice cream cookie sandwiches but I had a random allergic reaction to a Chipwich in college so I haven’t had one in years.  No reaction tonight, unless you count the exclamation of utter bliss!  For 160calories I was blown away at how generous the portion was.

The cookies were chewy but not at all soggy and the filling tasted like vanilla froyo.  The cookie dough pieces took it to a new level.  Full disclosure – I actually ate my dessert before dinner 😀

What was the last “fancy date meal” you prepared?  I feel like I tend to make “girl food,” but bacon mac and cheese is on the menu for tomorrow so we’ll see if I can’t make the husband swoon yet!

I Am NYC Homesick

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I had an amazing time at BlogHer, but it’s always great to be back to reliable internet home!  I hate to rush through a recap of a good time, but it’s after midnight and I did miss my husband!

If Thursday night was a healthy living fail, Friday night was a blogger fail – I forgot my camera!  We attended an art gallery at BlogHer and then walked down to Lexington Ave for some fabulous Thai food.  I stuffed myself silly 🙂  When Camile e-mails me her photos I’ll post some up later.

Saturday morning there was a long lull between breakfast and the first session so we decided to walk over ‘late’ and just pick up breakfast along the way.  I got a bagel with egg and turkey bacon, no cheese,

and a Zico coconut water.

Everything was super tasty but I knew the expo hall had samples waiting so I stuck with half of my bagel.

Later in the morning I sampled a new “dessert” line from Yoplait.

So good, I can’t wait until these come to Buffalo.

Lunch was vastly improved over the first day as well.

A bean salad with yellow raisins,

green beans,

and a small piece of salmon.

For dessert I grabbed a Jello Mousse Cup, also good.

Later in the afternoon I also snagged a blondie,

and a baggie of apple slices.

At 5, Camile and I met up with a group of bloggers for some green juice and a power walk.

[thanks for the group shots, Kath!]

I went with spinach, parsley, carrot.

I’ve been missing green juice like crazy since we moved to Buffalo, so this hit the spot!

We walked around Central Park for an hour or so, then hightailed it back to our hotel so we had time to make it back to converge with the group for dinner.

We went to Eatery, which was wonderful.

I ordered the Adobe Salad, which came with grilled chicken, smoked bacon, jack cheese, blue tortillas, black beans, buttermilk dressing, and honey chipotle dressing.

The honey chipotle was out of this world.  I ate about half of my salad in total.

We spent some time at the BlogHer Gala (mostly people watching and marveling at the mommy bloggers boogieing down) and then made the long walk back to our hotel.  To say we were delighted to find a Pinkberry mid-trip would be an understatement.

Just yum.

I got a small original (tart) froyo, topped with yogurt chips, coconut, and praline crunch.

OMG.

This morning Yelp turned up a brunch spot right down the road with tons of rave reviews, Penelope.  It was set up like a country kitchen and the eclectic touches abounded (the coffee cups didn’t match!).

It was too freaking adorable.

And my brunch was out of control.

FBLT – fakin’ bacon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato with black pepper balsamic mayo, served on sourdough with homemade french fries.

Delicious.  The mayo put it over the top.  It was monstrous too; I only ate a couple of fries but I still could only down 3/4 of the sandwich.

On the way out we stopped by the killer dessert case,

and 7.5hours in the car later I was splitting a peanut butter blondie with Adam.

During that 7.5hours I also consumed a Rockstar.

Camile had read about JP Bullfeathers on my blog and requested that for dinner.  I don’t know what is up with me and chicken fingers lately but I went with the buffalo chicken sub.

With blue cheese for dipping, duh.

I spent the rest of the evening showing the husband my swag.  Oh gosh, you guys, the swag!  I’ve decided I have a mildly unattractive level of excitement about the freebie coupons.  Could be a problem.

Do you have a favorite brunch spot in your neighborhood?

48hours of Fun

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Aaaargh!  Two (FULL) days worth to recap?  I actually debated not writing this post but I’ve blogged every single eat since my 25th birthday and I’d like to keep that streak going.  I’m keeping this one pretty dry though.

-~-Sunday-~-   We did lots of sharing so my photos are more of a basic representation than a spot on accurate one.

We started with breakfast from Pano’s.

I ordered the Artichoke Omlette, which came with fresh spinach, artichoke hearts, and a a touch of basil pesto.  I also requested that they add broccoli and only use half cheese, pepperjack, i.e. there is cheese on the top but not the middle.

With some hasbrowns,

and a slice of sourdough.

Delicious, but I couldn’t come close to finishing; we packed up the second half for the husband. 

By the way – our leftover situation this week was ridiculous, at one point our fridge had 8 to-go boxes in it!!!

We spent a looooong time at a nearby outlet mall, which was tiring but amazing.  At some point I ate this baggie of dried fruit (kiwi, apricot, hibiscus).

And we had to at least get appetizers at Cozumel’s.

Complimentary chips and salsa,

Maryland Blue Crab and Avocado Handrolls.

I love how Cozumel’s has healthified Mexican food; the rolls were not fried, contained no creaminess or cheese, were stuffed with sprouts, and were totally tasty.

My plate –

Dinner ended up being a bit of a fiasco, everything closes on Sunday here!  We drove around for hours looking for a place and the husband’s new phone came in totally handy.  In the end we headed to Jack Astor’s, which was the perfect choice.

We shared lobster and crab dip as an appetizer.

For my meal I ordered the chicken fajitas, which came with cheese, sour cream, onions and peppers, lettuce, salsa, and smokey bbq sauce.

I never order fajitas but assembling my own meal was totally fun.  I ate two fajitas and then packed the rest up to add to our to-go boxes.

-~-Monday-~-   We had to get up super early to take my parents to the airport (boo!) so Adam and I stopped at a bagel place on the way home and got a tomato pesto bagel with salmon shmear to share.

We also split the leftovers of my omlet from Sunday.

It was actually a pretty great breakfast.

I was starving (all day, it was insanely annoying) so I also finished off the rest of my chicken fingers from the other night.

The husband headed to work and I passed out.  I didn’t wake up until around 1 and then I spent the rest of the day sneezing.  It was out of control, I sneezed at least 50times yesterday!  I don’t know what allergy flared up but I felt like death warmed over and even had to skip a friend’s birthday party last night because I couldn’t control all the snot running down my face (gross, sorry!)!

Mid sneezes and tissues I did find time to eat a bunch of crap.  Strawberry yogurt bar from Lindt.

This came from the outlet store and rocked my socks.  It was a single serving (love) and was creamy, and tangy, and crunchy, and perfect.

A piece of whatever this is –

my parents brought it; sort of tastes like a dried crepe with sesame seeds?

An entire bag of chips!

A small piece of banana bread with Smart Balance Light.

Dinner was at least healthy (and epic).

I topped a small bed of lightly dressed spinach with roasted yellow beets,

purple tomatoes,

crumbled goat cheese,

and candied pecans.

OMG!

The combo was out of this world, yellow beets are 10x better than regular ones.

Oh, and I also had a bowl of SmartPop kettle corn.

-~-Today-~-   I’m not sure what the day holds.  I have a terrible case of grumpies for some reason.  I have a dinner I’m excited about cooking and a trip to the gym is definitely in order because I haven’t worked out in 2 days.  We shall see….

48hour recap = 4 reader questions

  1. Have you ever tried beets?  Yellow beets?
  2. What is your favorite appetizer to order at a restaurant?
  3. What is your favorite flavor of Lindt truffle?
  4. Are you attending BlogHer this weekend?

It’s Certainly No Pop Tart

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In order to show you my breakfast I’m going to have to ask you to be a little bit open-minded.  Not so much that your brains fall out, but you know, no judgement 😀

Isn’t she a beauty?

That would be 1 Van’s homestyle pancake, eggs (I scrambled 1egg and 1egg white with 1T of butter and a big handful of spring mix salad greens), and half of a salmon burger topped with 2t maple syrup and Sriracha.

O.M.G!  This flavor combination was spot-on; I am all about the savory and sweet.  Plus, how often do I manage to squeeze seafood and vegetables into breakfast?!

What is the strangest combination you’ve had for breakfast?

Fish = Brain Food

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I’m not even going to talk about the work situation, just yuck.  But the food situation?  Fabulous!

Remember when I discussed how lovely today’s breakfast and lunch were?  Well dinner could hold her own.  (IRL at least, geez my photo lighting is el terrible!)

Gorgeous!

Roasted asparagus with lemon and evoo,

roasted edamame,

and my newest salmon patty recipe; Shallotta Salmon Burgers.

My parents bought us canned salmon at TJ’s last week and I think we put it to very good use.

We didn’t finish dinner until after 10:30 but somehow I talked myself into getting down on my yoga mat when I was done.  20minutes of stretching and strength training moves and I’d gotten in a workout for the day.  Something is better than nothing, and for how out of shape I am it wasn’t even a small something!

Tomorrow needs to be an early morning; think smart thoughts for me!

What is your favorite type of burgers?  Mine are turkey burgers, followed closely by salmon burgers.