Pasta night

I haven't made pasta in such a long time even though it is one of my favorite foods. I guess I have been eating lesser and lesser carbs. However, I do use whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta, so there's more fibre and thus healthier.

Anyway, pasta is one of the ways I can "hide" vegetables cos Bob will NOT eat any cooked green at all.

Look at this pic. It looks like I'm getting ready to feed a rabbit or some pet. But I actually have to cut up the vegetables (in this case, spinach and broccoli) into tiny little pieces so that they are undetectable when cooked and won't get picked out by Bob.

Mix in the veggies with ground beef, italian sausage, onions, and mushroom. Then add pasta sauce. I also add tomato paste and diced tomato cos that gives the sauce more body.

Mix with pasta (penne and rotini) and topped with jalepeno cheddar, pop into the oven and broil for 2 mins to melt the cheese and for a bit of burnt crust.

The finish product.

Cheesecake factory San Francisco

Rachel and I went up to SF and since we were at Union Square, we decided to go to the Cheesecake factory for lunch. The food is pretty good, and lunch portions and specials available.

I love the bread that came before the meal. It's super yummy. I try not to fill up on too much bread before my food comes but it's so hard!

I got the bistro shrimp pasta - lunch portion. (Still can't finish it) Here's the description on the menu: BISTRO SHRIMP PASTA Crispy Battered Shrimp, Fresh Mushrooms, Fresh Tomato and Arugula Tossed with Spaghettini and a Delicious Basil-Garlic-Lemon Cream Sauce.

Rachel got the omelette. ASPARAGUS, PORTABELLA AND ARTICHOKE OMELETTE Filled with Fontina Cheese and Topped with Asparagus,Portabella Mushroom, Artichoke and Tomato.

We really enjoyed our lunch... looking forward to another visit to the cheesecake factory. Luckily there's one in San Jose!

Udon

I cook udon and ramen for breakfast or lunch very often. Eating out costs more than cooking! :) Usually I add whatever's leftover from dinner the previous night... The above is regular udon but I added salmon, asparugus, some Dodo brand fishcakes and fishballs.

Yummy burgers at St. John's Bar & Grill

This is one of our favorite places to go for burgers. They have different specials everyday, but Wednesdays and Saturdays are our fave because all burgers are half price. I got mushroom swiss burger and Bob got a double cheeseburger with bacon. Add a basket of fresh cut fries, a draft of Budweiser and a soda, and our total came up to $18. Great deal! Bob's burger is so big that it'd make Billy Bombers in Singapore blush. We still have so much leftover we can munch on it while we watch the NBA playoffs later.

Half of my mushroom swiss burger (burp!)

Basket of fries

31 cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins!

It's 31 cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins tonight! Guess who's going?

The email:

You are invited to 31 Cent* Scoop Night in honor of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. A donation of $100,000 will be made by Baskin-Robbins (R) to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. At select local stores throughout the country, you may also have a chance to donate to your local fire station.

Wednesday, May 2nd 5PM to 10PM

Learn More: http://links.baskinrobbins.com/rts/go.aspx?t=2796&cr=128&mg=284725

Current fave snack

Been really busy the past week... packing and moving into my new apartment. A lot of stuff is still in boxes, but one of the first things I unpacked were boxes labeled "kitchen". heh. Busy as I am, I need snacks which will take care of hunger as well as provide good nutrition. The Quaker's instant oatmeal in the "fruit and ceam" variety pack is my current favorite. There are 4 flavors: Strawberries 'n Cream, Blueberries 'n Cream, Peaches 'n Cream, and Bananas 'n Cream.

Dinner tonight... Salmon and risotto

Got some wild salmon at Whole Foods Market today... Didn't know what to do with it except that I wanted tons of garlic and onions. So that's what I did: chopped up a whole onion and 5 or 6 cloves of garlic, put the lot into the food processor, add soy sauce, honey, salt, pepper, and olive oil and then blend. Covered the skinless part of the salmon with the mixture and baked at 375 degs F for 30 mins, then turn on the broiler to brown the outside for another 3 mins or so.

As for the risotto, I had some beer bratwurst leftover from BBQ last night and didn't feel like eating that today. So I chopped up some asparagus and garlic, sauteed the bratwurst, asparagus and garlic with butter before adding some basmati rice and chicken stock. It's my first attempt at making risotto so I'd added too much stock/water and the dish is a little too wet. But I'll remember not to add so much moisture the next time I attempt this dish. :)