Roasted Red Pepper Soup

The annual American Chemical Society Wine Tasting Event was held at Firestone Vineyard this year. We always top off the wine tasting with warm soup, cheese, crackers, and fruit and I offered to make one of the soups. I decided to try something new and found a recipe from Everyday Italian with Giada de Laurentis for Creamy Red Pepper soup. It was a big hit and all of the women came up to me afterwards and raved about it. I'll definitely make it again, as Steve and I love soup on cold, winter nights. 

A trick for transporting hot soup from one location to another: Put hot towels in the bottom of an ice cooler. Transfer the hot soup pot directly from the stove to the cooler and wrap more warm towels all around it so that it is stable. This keeps the soup hot for a few hours believe it or not! Plus, if there's any spill, it is captured inside the cooler and not all over your car!

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 (12-oz) jars roasted red peppers, drained
• 1 russet potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• baguette slices (I baked my usual biscuits instead)
• mascarpone cheese

Directions:

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, garlic, and thyme and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the broth, bell peppers, potato, wine, and sugar. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low. Partially cover and simmer until the potatoes are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Cool the soup slightly.

Using an immersion hand blender, puree the soup in the pot until it is smooth. Alternately, working in batches, puree the soup in a regular blender, taking care while blending warm liquids. Season the soup, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the bread cubes and saute until they are crisp and golden, about 8 minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Dollop a tablespoon of mascarpone in the center of each bowl and top with croutons. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

NYC Pizza? Umm, YES PLEASE!

This is what I want to do for my 30th birthday. Scott's Pizza Tours Let's start planning!!!!

A Feast for Kings

This was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple so I wanted to go all out and show Steve my domestic skills. It was just him and I for dinner, but I didn't want to skimp. I wanted to make a feast with all of our favorites.

Instead of an entire turkey, I made a turkey breast. I bought one of those freezer-to-oven bagged breasts which turned out delicious, tender, and juicy. The bagged turkeys have NEVER let me down. The turkey came with a gravy packet too which was equally delectable. 

We looove mashed potatoes but I came across a recipe for turnip mashed potatoes. I don't think I've ever eaten a turnip and Steve wasn't too sure he had either. But the description said it tastes like a really mild radish. We love radishes so I decided to make two batches of mash - one regular and one turnip style. The turnip potatoes were AMAZING. The difference between the two were subtle, but the turnip mash had a slight bite to it and if you didn't know there was turnip in there, you'd be licking your lips trying to figure out why your mashed potatoes tasted kind of spicy. 

I made my own stuffing, using a simple recipe that my mom gave me. But, instead of white bread I used whole wheat bread just because it was what I already had on hand. I sauteed a yellow onion and three stalks of celery in a cube of butter and poured it over stale bread cubes. I added 2 tablespoons of poultry seasoning and a can of chicken broth. Since I didn't have a whole turkey to stuff, I baked the stuffing in the oven for about 40 minutes. YUM. Sometimes I add apples to the stuffing but we had some home-made applesauce frozen from a stash Steve's mom gave us earlier this year and I figured that would satisfy our appletite (ha!).

Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving veggie dish like green bean casserole or carrots or broccoli, or cauliflower, or ANY OTHER VEGETABLE, I had to come up with something creative so that Steve would get his vitamins. So, I made a tomato, red bell pepper, and radish salad. I cut the veggies up in big pieces and tossed them in a home-made vinagrette (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, walnuts, thyme, salt, pepper, and a weird herb Steve planted for me outside) and added some crumbled feta cheese on top. This was a hit. Steve couldn't get enough!

I usually make the Pilsbury croissant rolls for Thanksgiving, but this year since I was on a domestic binge, I decided to make some semi-homemade biscuits. I used my go-to Bisquick recipe that I posted about before. 

Last, but certainly not least. The pumpkin pie. I really wanted to try out a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Tirimisu. Steve wasn't really into the idea, and requested pumpkin pie instead. So, I attempted my very first pumpkin pie of all time and found a Paula Dean recipe for pumpkin pie using cream cheese. It came out so good that pretty much all I could think about all day today was getting my paws on another piece of that pie!!!

Now, we have so many leftovers we'll have lunch and dinner for the rest of the weekend and I am planning on making a turkey and mushroom soup next week. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and gorged yourselves like we did. Cheers to good food, family, and friends!

Mini Deep-Dish Pizzas

Recipe from my new favorite cookbook magazine, Everyday Food, a Martha Stewart magazine. This recipe is perfect for appetizers at a party or a fun night with kids. You can add different toppings to each "muffin" for a variety of pizzas! Here's how it works:

Ingredients:

• Olive oil for muffin pan
• all-purpose flour, for rolling
• 1/2 pound homemade or store-bought pizza dough in 12 pieces (I made my own dough with my breadmaker!! and it worked!!)
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• pizza sauce (I made my own)
• desired toppings (I used pineapple, artichoke hearts, red bell pepper, tomatoes, and mushrooms)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly brush muffin pan with oil. On a lightly floured workspace, roll out dough pieces to rounds that fit the muffin cups. Fill each cup with 1 round, gently pressing dough into bottom and sides of cup. Season with salt and pepper.

Add about a tablespoon of sauce to bottom of each dough cup. Add cheese, and then toppings. Bake until dough is golden brown and crisp, 12 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes before removing from cups. Serve and enjoy!

Nut Tree Pumpkin Muffins

Thanks to my dear friend Marissa for giving me this recipe. I tried it out last week and these muffins were incredible! Super moist and yummy. 

Recipe Source: Nut Tree Remembered: The Cookbook Vacaville Museum and Nut Tree, Vacaville, California

Makes 12 muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (I used 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin spice instead)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup water
12 California walnut halves (I used chopped pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Mix in oil, eggs and pumpkin. On low speed, gradually mix in water until well blended. Pour batter into greased muffin pans. If desired, top each muffin with a walnut half. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Homemade Pizza

Not surprisingly, pizza is one of our favorite foods. We order out from a local pizza parlor, Paisanos regularly, and Dominos is our staple pizza place for a quick and inexpensive dinner. But every now and then I make pizza at home!

Dough: I use either Pilsbury pizza crust or Trader Joe's pizza crust. And for my next pizza, I am going to try making pizza dough from scratch with my bread maker.

Sauce: I make my own sauce using a small can of tomato paste, canned tomato sauce (with no seasoning) and petite diced tomatoes (either fresh or canned, whatever you have on hand). I mix the sauces together in a small bowl, and add oregano, ground pepper, garlic salt, basil, and some crushed red pepper.

Cheese: I use shredded mozzarella either from an already shredded bag or fresh mozzarella that I shred myself. I also sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Toppings: My favorite toppings are artichoke heart, mushrooms, and pineapple chunks. But you can add whatever you want. Pepperoni, bell pepper, tomatoes, already cooked chicken, sausage, whatever you can imagine! 

I prepare the dough on a non-stick baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal so that the pizza doesn't stick to it. I also sprinkle the cornmeal on top of the dough to give it a little crunch! Meanwhile, I prepare my pizza stone in the oven at 450 for about 15 minutes. I add the sauce, cheese, and toppings to the dough and then transfer the pizza to the pizza stone from the baking sheet. This can be tricky but if you used enough corn meal on the baking sheet, it should slide off pretty easy. 

Cook the pizza for about 15 minutes or whatever the dough instructions say.

Slice and enjoy!!

Pork Tenderloin

One of my favorite dinners is Pork Tenderloin. My mom used to make this meal all the time and I would call it "round meats" and I would always request this for my birthday or any other special occasion. It's probably my favorite cut of pork and it is really easy to cook.

Ingredients:

• 1 pork tenderloin 
• 1/2 yellow onion sliced
• sliced brown mushrooms
• sliced bell pepper of your choice
• baby carrots
• shallots
• garlic
• white wine
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Heat oven to 325. In a 9 x 11 glass baking dish, drizzle olive oil into the bottom of the dish. Add some white wine, balsamic vinegar, and a little bit of water to bottom of pan. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Add to the pan. Slice veggies and arrange around the pork in the pan. Bake for 30 minutes covered with foil. Bake 10 more minutes uncovered until pork is only slightly pink in the middle. (Or use a thermometer to test internal temperature) Let rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve with veggies. I usually make mashed potatoes or rice with this dish.

Steve thinks this recipe is "heaven, basically"

Mango-Avocado Salad, Dwight Style

I finally got around to making the recipe from the last posting from Fresh365Online. If you know me, or have read this blog, you probably realize by now that I NEVER follow recipes exactly and this was no exception. So, let's call this new recipe, Mango-Spinach Salad. I also added chicken, and white rice, and I didn't have any cilantro (although, I almost went to the store JUST for that but I am glad I didn't because it was fine without it!) and I used some other substitutions. See below!

Ingredients:

A handfull of spinach, chopped

1 mango, sliced into small cubes

1 avocado sliced into small cubes

1 can of black beans drained and washed

1 baked chicken breast (seasoned with salt and pepper) and cut up into bitesize pieces

I used a pepper from our garden rather than a jalapeno pepper. I'm not sure what type it was, but it was a sweet pepper, similiar to a banana pepper. Anyway, I used one of these, remove the seeds and dice.

1 T Lemon juice from a lemon

1 t sugar

2 T olive oil

black pepper to taste

salt to taste

cooked white rice

In a bowl, combine spinach, mango, pepper, black pepper, a dash of salt, half of the lemon juice. Mix together. Gently add avocado.

In another bowl, mix up the sugar, rest of the lemon juice, a little bit of black pepper, and olive oil. Add the beans to this mixture and coat well.

To serve, put white rice in the bottom of dish, add black bean mix on top, add chicken pieces, add spinach-mango mixture on top and garnish with fresh black pepper.

Steve calls this meal a hit!

Mango-Avocado Salad

My friend Heather, posted this recipe on her blog today and it made my mouth water! I am going to try it this week! YUM! See original post from Fresh365 Online.

Mango-Avocado Salad with Black Beans and Lime Vinaigrette

adapted from Whole Foods . serves 4
2 ripe avocados, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
3 T lime juice
1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
1 t grated lime zest
1/2 t salt
1/4 t sugar (or agave nectar)
2 T chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
4 T olive oil
1 15.5-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
black pepper, to taste

In a medium bowl, toss mango and jalapeño with 1 T lime juice and salt. Add avocado and gently toss to combine. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining lime juice, zest, sugar, cilantro and oil. Toss the black beans with the vinaigrette. To assemble, spoon the black beans with vinaigrette into the center of a serving platter. Top with the mango-avocado mixture. Garnish with chopped cilantro and black pepper.

Anniversary Celebration

Earlier this summer, we celebrated our 2 month anniversary with Jillian and Chris, which just so happened to be their 4 year anniversary! ;) We were visiting them for a night in Vacaville and celebrated by going to a really hip tapas restaurant in Winters. We tried so many different dishes - steak skewers, tacos, bread and cheese, sliders, chicken, stuffed bell pepper, and on and on..top that with a huge glass of sangria to help us cool off in the 100+ degree summer evening. It was the perfect dinner with amazing company. 

After dinner, we stopped off at the Nugget Market to pick up some desserts to go with a special anniversary champagne toast!! Guess who's dessert is whos and I will give you twenty bucks.

Pretty Lady

While visiting my friend Joanna in Santa Monica last weekend, we went to a rooftop bar called Shangri-La. As we were at the bar perusing the drink menu, this rather drunk girl couldn't stop cheering about a drink that the bartender made her that was "the best drink ever!" (and she is hard to please!) So, we asked the bartender what drink it was and he said it's called, "Pretty Lady" with champagne, vodka, fresh basil leaves, strawberries, and "love". So, we tried it, and although it may not have been the best drink we ever had, it was pink and made with LOVE. Heaven!

Shane got a rather spicy drink that burned his lips (YUCK), and Jo is drinking the Pretty Lady.

Quick Biscuits

One of my favorite little additions to a meal is (semi)homemade biscuits. I use a recipe out of my Bisquick Cookbook that Steve's mom got me for my birthday last year. It is a great cookbook to go along with a Costco size box of Bisquick.

Tonight I made the bisquick biscuits to go along with a salad for dinner. They take about 5 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to bake, so they are the perfect quick addition to any meal to give it that special cozy touch!

2 cups Original Bisquick mix
1/2 cup shredded Italian five-cheese blend (I use whatever cheese I have on hand)
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed (I used fresh rosemary from our garden and chopped up the leaves)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Heat oven to 450F. In a medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, cheese, milk, and 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary until soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by the spoonfull.
2. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. In a small bowl, mix butter, garlic powder, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon rosemary. Brush over warm biscuits. (I left out this last step and the biscuits still tasted quite good!)

Birthday Cake

Drumroll please.....

I present to you my very first cake from scratch for my hubby's 37th birthday! Yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting recipe from Martha Stewart. Baking a cake was serious work. It took me about an hour to prep the kitchen, then another hour to mix, and another hour to bake, cool, and frost. Don't even get me started on the cleanup. Chocolate EVERYWHERE. But, would I do it again? In a heart beat! I think this was the first time in my life that I actually enjoyed baking. It was sort of magical watching it all come together. And of course the end result was pretty and absolutely delicious!

 

Roasted Quail

So I finally built up enough courage to try to prepare some quail that we had frozen in the freezer. Steve  previously skinned and cleaned the birds immediately after shooting, and I placed them in the freezer. Easy as that!

To cook the quail, I sauteed onions in butter on the stove, then browned the quail slightly on all sides. I transferred the quail and onion to a baking dish with white wine. I added orange bell pepper and large pieces of tomato. I baked the dish for about 35 minutes at 300 degrees. It actually turned out really good!! It tasted just like chicken. It was a little tough and slightly dry but that's probably because I overcooked it just a little. Next time I will try wrapping in bacon - I think that will help keep the birds a little more tender! Overall, it was a fun new dish and I would definitely do it again! We're becoming quite sustainable around here :)

10 Foodie Things to Do Before Summer Ends

1. Eat hot, buttered corn on the cob.
2. Make a root beer float.
3. Watch the sunset with a glass of champagne or white wine in hand. 4 Champagne Cocktails
4. Add an umbrella to your drink of choice and enjoy it poolside or at the beach. Pina Colada Recipe
5. Eat a hot dog at a baseball game. Go to a Minor League game. They're lots of fun and you won't pay Major League prices. Hot Dog Recipes
6. Grill something, anything!
7. Go out for ice cream. Haagen Dazs pints have nothing on ambling with a dripping ice cream cone. Better yet, catch the ice cream man. (You're never too old to chase Mister Softee.)
8. Kick back with an icy cold summer ale of choice. Summer Seasonals, 13 different types of beer
9. Enjoy some funnel cake, a corn dog or some other purely summer food found only at a fair.
10. One word: S'mores.

From Shine on Yahoo.com

Japanese Style

One of my favorite things about eating in Japan was all the little sides in individual dishes. So last week, instead of making a traditional meal with an entree with sides all on one plate, I put together a Japanese style dinner with a small salad, bread, baked beans, and mango for dessert, all in separate dishes. The only thing missing was the Asahi beer! It was a nice change from a big, heavy meal and it took us back to our sweet honeymoon!

Veal Scallopini

On a trip to the grocery store to pick up some tri-tip for this weekend's BBQ, Steve found some Veal Scallopini on "Manager's Special". I looked at him like he was insane. First of all, I've never had veal and I wasn't really interested in trying it now. Secondly, "manager's special" gives me the heeby jeebies when it comes to meat. The sticker should say "this meat will be dog food soon".

Anyway we argued over the veal for a few minutes. He said I never try anything new. I told him it was no different than him not eating corn on the cob or green beans. He argued that it was completely different because he was forced to eat corn on the cob and green beans as a child and never liked them, and he continues not to like them. I on the other hand, have never even tried veal, yet have this instinctual aversion to it. Baby cow? NT, Steve! "But look how tender it looks", he says. That's my point. EW.

Well, Steve won the battle and we took that baby cow home. I googled veal scallopini and came across a recipe that didn't look too bad. Breaded veal, browned on the stove in hot oil and garlic, then simmered with green bell peppers and mushrooms. How bad can it be?!

The verdict? STRANGE! Not necessarily BAD, but weird. And honestly, I couldn't tell if it was the meat that tasted weird, or the sauce or the mushrooms. I just started eating mushrooms recently and usually only eat baby bellas. Trader Joe's only had "white mushrooms" whatever that means, so I used those. The sauce was made from sauted minced garlic in olive oil and white wine. Steve thinks the "weird" taste came from burnt garlic. Could be.

Anyway, would I try it again? Yes...without the garlic and with baby bellas, and without the Manager's Special sticker!!!

Tri-Tip Marinade

1 cup lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 tbls garlic salt
1 tbls black pepper

Marinade a minimum of 6 hours in refrigerator (the longer the better)
Makes enough marinade for two 4-pound tri-tip roasts

Jaime's Taco Seasoning

Forget to pick up a packet of Lawry's taco seasoning for tonight's meal? Don't fear, just combine these simple ingredients and you will have taco seasoning that's even better than Lawry's.

1 tbls chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

Combine in a bowl and add desired amount to your chicken or beef!

Tip: Make extra and save for next time!

Susanne's Aioli

1. In the bottom of a beaker, crack a large egg and let it come to room temperature while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
2. Prepare:
• Mix together 2/3 cup canola oil and 1/3 cup olive oil
• juice one lemon
• 2/3 cup fresh italian parsley
• 4 cloves of garlic (or to taste)
• sea salt and white pepper to taste
3. Put 2 tablespoons of oil in with the egg. Start blending with a Cuisinart hand blender. Slowly add some more oil, allowing it to emulsify before adding more. Keep drizzling in the oil.
4. As the aioli thickens, add the oil more quickly. Stop halfway through and add the parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and salt and pepper.
5. Continue blending until all the oil is incorporated and the aioli is thick. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
6. Spoon into a pretty serving bowl, cover and chill for at least a half hour before serving so the flavors can marry.

Serves 6
Recipe compliments of Susanne Woolley

Peach Toffee Crisp

5 medium peaches peeled and sliced or 5 cups frozen (thawed) sliced peaches
2/3 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup original bisquick
1/4 cup english toffee bits
1/4 cup firm margarine or butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 375. Spread peaches in ungreased square pan 8 x 8 x 2 inches.
Mix remaining ingredients until crumbly, sprinkle over peaches.
Bake 35-40 minutes or until peaches are tender and topping is golden brown. Serve warm.

Sugary Sweetness

plump, purple, plums a plenty!

Comida

Speaking of language, while in Japan my mouth kept spitting out spanish words and phrases. Como esta? Me llamo es Jaime. Toca la guitarra! Wrong country lady!

So back to the point of this post: the BEST part about Japan was the FOOD. We ate and ate and ate and ate and ate some more. But, guess what? We never ate sushi! Apparently Japan has a lot more food than just sushi :) But before I get started on all our amazing meals, let me tell you a little bit about our in-flight service on Korean Airlines.

I got a few snarly looks when I told people we were taking Korean air. I have no idea why because it was THE BEST plane ride I've ever been on. I thought it would be an icky combination of miserable and scary. It was the opposite. I was in high heaven. Literally. We were served two meals: the first was a traditional Korean meal called "Bi Bim Bop" which included white rice, beef, mushrooms, green onions, noodles, kimchi, and soup. It sounds normal, but it was one of the yummiest dishes ever. The second meal was chicken, broccoli, carrots, a dinner roll, and strawberry cheesecake. Steve had shrimp pasta. YUM! In between these two meals we were served juice and a banana or a hot roll with beef in the middle (sounds gross, but it was my most favorite snack of all time!) Before the service, they passed around hot towels, and after the service they came by with coffee, tea. AND all of this was FREE. AND we got free beer and wine the entire time. AND Steve knows how to speak a little Korean, so we made friends with the flight attendants. Two more things: when we got on the plane, we each had a blanket, pillow, headset, slippers, toothbrush, toothpaste, and bottle of water waiting at our seat :) And lastly, free movies!!!!!!!! In between sleeping and reading, I watched Whip It, Dear John, Valentines Day, and Its Complicated. Whoo!Okay, so that was my little experience with Korean food.

Onto Japan!

Our first meal in Japan consisted of candy and weird snacks. We adventured down to the nearest convenience store and stocked up on chocolate, dried fish, mixed nuts, and other sweet treats. All of which had funny packaging or just sounded really strange. Crunky was my absolute favorite. Mostly because it said "Good me!" on the package and its called Crunky. Steve's favorite was probably the teeny tiny Apple Pie squares. It's a piece of candy about 1 inch square, that tastes exactly like a morsel of Apple Pie.

Our hotel served breakfast every morning. I was thinking it would be fruit and bagels, but it was an entire MEAL! Rice, mini hot dogs, salad, two types of soup, boiled eggs (or raw if you prefer), cereal, yogurt, donuts, bread, bagels, these weird bean things, coffee, tea, and orange juice.

For our first authentic Japanese dinner, a colleague from our Tokyo branch took us out for tempura (my favorite!). We even got to sit in a special dining area where we take off our shoes and sit on a pillow. The chef dipped various things into batter and fried it right in front of us. Along with tempura we tried some sashimi (scallops and bream), but I didn't much care for those. My favorites were the shrimp, asparagus, and eggplant tempura. We must have been eating for like two hours straight. We had countless pieces of tempura, a salad, soup, and all of that was followed by a bowl of rice with MORE tempura on top of it. I was having a hard time using the chopsticks so our colleague asked the waitress to bring out special sticks that were rubber-banded together :) How embarrassing! For dessert we all had fresh fruit. I had a mango and Steve had half a watermelon - the best watermelon I've ever tasted! :)

Speaking of fresh fruit, fruit in Japan is very very expensive!!! We saw a cantaloupe for $50.00!! Here are some cherries for 8000 yen, which is about $80.00!!! No wonder they never served fruit at our hotel breakfast. We definitely take fresh fruit and vegetables for granted here on the Central Coast. We can go to farmers market and get a basket of cherries for $3.00!

Another interesting thing about food in Japan is the plastic food models! In addition to flyers and posters and menus outside restaurants, they have plastic models of their dishes outside on display. Some restaurants didn't have English menus so this made it easy to decide what to eat. The models look SO real. Some dishes looked freakish and weird dishes, and others looked soo yummy.

On our first outing through Roppongi, we saw a food model with a whole crab on top of noodles. Steve knew right then that he HAD to have it. So that night, we found the place again and tried this delicious pasta! I had the eggplant, tomato pasta. It was similar to our spaghetti, but with an asian flare!

I think my favorite meal we had was our first lunch outing in Harajuku. Steve got beef over rice with soup and salad. I got egg and veggies over rice. It was simple, but SO yummy. One of the quaintest thing about eating out at a restaurant in Japan is all the cute little dishes they use. Everything comes on its own dish on a tray. The tiny bowls and chopstick holders are so cute. I told Steve we could have a Japanese themed dinner and have lots of little side dishes and use our new Japanese china!

Speaking of pretty dishes, during our time in Shinjuku, we tried grilled eel. The eel came in a lovely little box. They had all sizes - small through extra large. This is the regular size box and the eel was grilled to perfected and oh so tasty. It tasted like a very mild white fish. It was served on rice with a side of salad and soup as usual. Tea is served at every meal. I ordered a Japanese omelet which is grilled eel inside an egg. I ordered a "Kora" with my meal - which is cola. I think they labeled it as "kora" because that's how they pronounce it!

Japan is full of awesome beverages. They had vending machines on every corner filled with japanese tea, iced coffee drinks, sodas, different juices and flavored water. The only western thing we really saw was coke zero and I saw Dr. Pepper once. We tried so many different vending drinks - I think my favorite were the iced coffees, "for relaxing time". Most of the bevs and interesting and humorous sayings written on them which made them even more enticing. Steve fell in love with Japanese beer and drank Asahi and Sopporo daily. We even had an alcohol vending machine in our hotel. They had everything like beer, whiskey and water, and lots of fruity alcoholic drinks like my personal favorite, peach flavored Slat. Great name, huh? On our last night out in Roppongi, we ran around the town with "Cola Shock" in hand. Vodka and coke in a can. One of the BEST mixed drinks ever.

One of the last treats we had we got from one of the subway stations. The Japanese stations are sooo nice. They all have little malls in them with lots of good stores, restaurants and treat shops. We picked up some donuts for the ride home. Steve got a green tea donut which looked like guacamole!

Some of you may be wondering if there were lots of McDonalds around and the answer is YES. There was a McDonalds on every corner. Our work friend told us that they pronounce McDonalds like "MacDonaldo" :) How cute is that. Makes it sound super fancy. All of the McDonalds were huge and had several floors for seating. The seats were plush, modern, and they were always packed with men in business suits on their laptops. We tried a burger and fries one night when I wasn't feeling too well, and it tasted EXACTLY the same. I assumed it might be a little different, but nope! Some other popular western places were Starbucks (we saw them on EVERY block), Subway, and Wolfgang Puck. I also saw one Outback Steakhouse, Lawrys, and Ruth Chis Steakhouse. Japanese people LOVE steak because I think it is hard to get good steak there.

Our colleague took us out a second time for Shabu Shabu. This was a real treat!! Shabu Shabu is thinly sliced Kobe beef, served raw on a plate. A bubbling pot sits in the middle of the table, and you take a slice of beef with your chopsticks, and swish it around in the boiling water for about ten seconds. Then Wa la! The beef is cooked and you dip it in a little dish with yummy sauce. It was soo delicious. We also dipped fresh veggies and raman noodles into the water and had a huge feast. It was probably one of the coolest meals I've ever had. Afterwards we tried EVERY dessert on the menu! There were these weird strips of transparent jelly that you dip in this molasses sauce. YUCK. Another one was this bean dessert, which was like soft pinto beans with sugar on top. YUCK AGAIN! Then finally we tried a yummy dessert that was a sweet jelly with a plum in the middle. My favorite was the green tea ice cream. I've never seen such bright green ice cream before. This meal must have cost a ton because I read somewhere the Kobe beef is very expensive and combined with this fancy restaurant and all the food we ordered, the bill must have been a few hundred bucks! Yikes! It was so cool that we were treated like royalty at these lovely dinners with our new Japanese friend and his beautiful wife!

I can't say enough how much we enjoyed the food in Japan. We were living in Cloud 9 with full bellies every day. We needed another week just to be able to try more food!! I hope this gives you all a glimpse of our satiable experience there.