I'm not sure when this recipe was scribble down on a random piece of paper (I'll write out recipes on whatever can be written upon, blank spots of used envelopes, scraps of paper, etc.), but it looks good enough to repeat.
Marinade
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp dry yellow mustard
1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 lb large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
Marinade shrimp for a few hours. Remove from marinade and lay out shrimp in a single layer on a baking dish or tray.
Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until shrimp begins to curl and its flesh is no longer translucent. Remove from heat and serve.
Review: Serious Pie (Seattle, WA)
Serious Pie is exactly what its name suggests. For a corner pizza place in downtown Seattle, this restaurant isn't ordinary and their ingredients are far from the usually expected. I ate here on Sunday with my sibling and his wife. We ordered two really tasty pizzas (roasted yellowfoot mushrooms, truffle cheese and the penn cove clams, house pancetta, lemon thyme) and promptly devoured both. The mushroom pizza was a little saltier than I like; but the clam pizza more than made up for it.
The shop doesn't have much footprint inside, so it's best to come here at a off-eating hour. And, they don't take reservations. I'm told that during the summer, the line to get into the restaurant goes out the door, down the block, and around the building. It's that popular.
The only downside is the limited food menu. There are only six starters, seven pizzas, and three desserts. The rest of the menu are beverages.
It is one of many eateries that was created and managed by Tom Douglas, a Seattle chef, who also owns Lola, Palace Kitchen, Dahlia Lounge, Dahlia Bakery, and Etta's.
Price: $$ to $$$
Serious Pie location: 316 Virginia & 3rd Street, Seattle, WA
Menu
Website
The shop doesn't have much footprint inside, so it's best to come here at a off-eating hour. And, they don't take reservations. I'm told that during the summer, the line to get into the restaurant goes out the door, down the block, and around the building. It's that popular.
The only downside is the limited food menu. There are only six starters, seven pizzas, and three desserts. The rest of the menu are beverages.
It is one of many eateries that was created and managed by Tom Douglas, a Seattle chef, who also owns Lola, Palace Kitchen, Dahlia Lounge, Dahlia Bakery, and Etta's.
Price: $$ to $$$
Serious Pie location: 316 Virginia & 3rd Street, Seattle, WA
Menu
Website
Review - Rose's Restaurant & Bakery at Fisher's Landing
Was here on a Friday for lunch. For a deli cafe, it's pretty easy to not eat healthy or eat of healthy portions here.
There were to very eye-opening items on their menu. From my table, I had a view of the food prep counter and saw the final dish prep for their matzo ball soup. It was a brisk, windy day too. Matzo ball soup would have been perfect if I was in the mood to eat a 4" diameter matzo ball served up in a cup with some broth. It's no different if you order a bowl of matzo ball soup... two enormous 4" diameter matzo balls are in the bowl. Big does not mean that it would be better. And eating it would not have been a simple matter. It would have been the talk of those at my table. Anyhow. I was in the mood for something simple and not terribly complex. I had the Rose's Deli Cobb Salad since there aren't many ways one can go wrong with a traditional salad. Ok, well, maybe I should have requested the dressing on the side because my salad was drowning in the bleu cheese vinaaigrette. It made the chopped egg taste like I was eating an egg salad salad. I'm just a picky eater, I suppose. There were only praises for the sandwiches and entrees that other people had ordered.
The other eye-opening menu item were the pastrami fries. Imagine if you would a pound of thick-cut French fries topped with melted Swiss cheese, shredded pastrami, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island dressing. Sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen. It was very tasty. And, for a shared appetizer, this one had no leftovers.
Next time, I think I'll try their specialty desserts.. either the Texas donut or the giant cinnamon roll. Those things looked impressive in the bakery case.
Price: $$
Location: 3205 SE 192nd Ave, Vancouver, WA 98683
There were to very eye-opening items on their menu. From my table, I had a view of the food prep counter and saw the final dish prep for their matzo ball soup. It was a brisk, windy day too. Matzo ball soup would have been perfect if I was in the mood to eat a 4" diameter matzo ball served up in a cup with some broth. It's no different if you order a bowl of matzo ball soup... two enormous 4" diameter matzo balls are in the bowl. Big does not mean that it would be better. And eating it would not have been a simple matter. It would have been the talk of those at my table. Anyhow. I was in the mood for something simple and not terribly complex. I had the Rose's Deli Cobb Salad since there aren't many ways one can go wrong with a traditional salad. Ok, well, maybe I should have requested the dressing on the side because my salad was drowning in the bleu cheese vinaaigrette. It made the chopped egg taste like I was eating an egg salad salad. I'm just a picky eater, I suppose. There were only praises for the sandwiches and entrees that other people had ordered.
The other eye-opening menu item were the pastrami fries. Imagine if you would a pound of thick-cut French fries topped with melted Swiss cheese, shredded pastrami, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island dressing. Sounds like a heart attack waiting to happen. It was very tasty. And, for a shared appetizer, this one had no leftovers.
Next time, I think I'll try their specialty desserts.. either the Texas donut or the giant cinnamon roll. Those things looked impressive in the bakery case.
Price: $$
Location: 3205 SE 192nd Ave, Vancouver, WA 98683
Review: Voodoo Donuts (Portland, OR)
Voodoo draws in crowds for its wacky topping combinations, but lacks substance when measured against a grocery-store's generic donut. I love donuts and eat them on occassion. My all-time favorites are the vanilla cream-filled chocolate glazed donut and apple fritters.
Buying donuts goes beyond the fact that they're sweet and remind us of our younger years when we could eat anything and not gain weight. I rank donuts by a few factors: aesthetics, taste, availability, variety, and price. Note that price really isn't that much of a factor if the donut has been made really well. Donuts are priced about the same wherever you go, slightly on the cheaper side if you buy a pre-packaged mass produced box, and slightly more expensive if you get them from a bakery or really good quality donut shop. The first two factors pretty much make or break the case for good donuts. The best donuts are eaten the same day they're made. And, having grown up with Winchell's donuts, I have a slight bias towards donuts made the Winchell's way. Unfortunately, the closest Winchell's locations are in Seattle, WA (150 miles away) or Salinas, CA (600 miles away). Sadly, no Winchell's for me.
The Voodoo donuts that showed up at my workplace were of an interesting variety and pretty much represented most of their menu: bacon-topped maple donuts, mini M&M sprinkled donuts, mini marshmallow-topped donuts, a pink-glazed donut with a wrapped bubblegum piece on top, chocolate glazed donuts - round and rectangular, a chocolate donut that didn't seem to have much chocolate flavor, apple fritters, etc.
Buying donuts goes beyond the fact that they're sweet and remind us of our younger years when we could eat anything and not gain weight. I rank donuts by a few factors: aesthetics, taste, availability, variety, and price. Note that price really isn't that much of a factor if the donut has been made really well. Donuts are priced about the same wherever you go, slightly on the cheaper side if you buy a pre-packaged mass produced box, and slightly more expensive if you get them from a bakery or really good quality donut shop. The first two factors pretty much make or break the case for good donuts. The best donuts are eaten the same day they're made. And, having grown up with Winchell's donuts, I have a slight bias towards donuts made the Winchell's way. Unfortunately, the closest Winchell's locations are in Seattle, WA (150 miles away) or Salinas, CA (600 miles away). Sadly, no Winchell's for me.
The Voodoo donuts that showed up at my workplace were of an interesting variety and pretty much represented most of their menu: bacon-topped maple donuts, mini M&M sprinkled donuts, mini marshmallow-topped donuts, a pink-glazed donut with a wrapped bubblegum piece on top, chocolate glazed donuts - round and rectangular, a chocolate donut that didn't seem to have much chocolate flavor, apple fritters, etc.
Here's what I think about how Voodoo stacks up against like competitors:
- Specialty Bakery/Deli, like Winchell's
- Bakery counter at local grocery store
- Dunkin' Donuts / Krispy Kreme / your average local donut shop or donut franchise shop
- Donuts you can find at a gas station's minimart (minimarts get their supply from any of the above places)
- Donuts you make yourself on the first try
- Pre-packaged donuts of any mass manufactured brand
- Voodoo
If you are looking for a real donut taste, you might want to get yourself a real donut somewhere else.
Price: $$
Website: http://www.voodoodoughnut.com/
Location: 22 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97204
Diced pear with brocolli, fried
There's a reason why you don't find certain dishes at restaurants, like this one. It didn't come out tasting too bad. I mean, it's edible.
Among apples and squash, it is also pear season out here in the Pacific Northwest. You name it, bosc, red anjou, green anjou, etc. The fruit is plentiful and inexpensive to procure a few pounds of each. The pear, while delicate in flavor, tastes fairly strong when not fully ripened. The flesh is firm and it stands up to harsher cooking methods like frying versus poaching.
I have really only seen sweet preparations of pears: pear tartlets, pear and almond tarts, pear jam, preserved pears, pear bread, poached pears with honey and rosewater, pear paired with much stronger flavored cheeses like bleu and Gorgonzola, pear salad. It is the sweetness that the pear brings that allows some dishes to flourish across continents and cuisines.
I tried a dish on a whim tonight using an almost though not quite ripe bosc pear. It has an interesting taste that might just stay as bachelorette cooking and not something to be served up to guests. Broccoli isn't my favorite vegetable, but it is readily available during winter and aside from frying, blanching, steaming, baking, roasting, or boiling it into a soup, it's a pretty boring vegetable to eat. Nonetheless, it's what was starting to wilt in my fridge.
I wanted to do something different. Be experimental. I made this one up as I was cooking it:
1 small broccoli head with stem
1 bosc pear, cored and diced
2 tbsp EVOO (for frying)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
dash of salt
Heat the oil until hot but not smoking. Add the pear and broccoli stem slices and sauté.
Add the broccoli florets, vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir fry until the florets turn a dark green color.
Remove from heat and serve.
The flavor combinations of this ratio is a bit "off" and lacks the basics of cooking fundamentals, but who the hell cares? I was cooking for one and not for guests. I enjoy every ingredient by itself on this ingredient list and I know what pairs really well with pears.
In retrospect, any type of fruity vinegar--balsamic, apple cider, or rice wine vinegar--is likely too sweet for this dish. It really brought out the sugary taste of the bosc. That was unexpected. Just so you know. I don't have any leftover broccoli. What is leftover in the dish is the diced pear.
And about the broccoli stem. That hard and thick, almost waxy skin that wraps around the broccoli stem that most Americans and restaurants throw away? It can be peeled and the inner stem is quite tender.
Among apples and squash, it is also pear season out here in the Pacific Northwest. You name it, bosc, red anjou, green anjou, etc. The fruit is plentiful and inexpensive to procure a few pounds of each. The pear, while delicate in flavor, tastes fairly strong when not fully ripened. The flesh is firm and it stands up to harsher cooking methods like frying versus poaching.
I have really only seen sweet preparations of pears: pear tartlets, pear and almond tarts, pear jam, preserved pears, pear bread, poached pears with honey and rosewater, pear paired with much stronger flavored cheeses like bleu and Gorgonzola, pear salad. It is the sweetness that the pear brings that allows some dishes to flourish across continents and cuisines.
I tried a dish on a whim tonight using an almost though not quite ripe bosc pear. It has an interesting taste that might just stay as bachelorette cooking and not something to be served up to guests. Broccoli isn't my favorite vegetable, but it is readily available during winter and aside from frying, blanching, steaming, baking, roasting, or boiling it into a soup, it's a pretty boring vegetable to eat. Nonetheless, it's what was starting to wilt in my fridge.
I wanted to do something different. Be experimental. I made this one up as I was cooking it:
1 small broccoli head with stem
1 bosc pear, cored and diced
2 tbsp EVOO (for frying)
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
dash of salt
Heat the oil until hot but not smoking. Add the pear and broccoli stem slices and sauté.
Add the broccoli florets, vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir fry until the florets turn a dark green color.
Remove from heat and serve.
The flavor combinations of this ratio is a bit "off" and lacks the basics of cooking fundamentals, but who the hell cares? I was cooking for one and not for guests. I enjoy every ingredient by itself on this ingredient list and I know what pairs really well with pears.
In retrospect, any type of fruity vinegar--balsamic, apple cider, or rice wine vinegar--is likely too sweet for this dish. It really brought out the sugary taste of the bosc. That was unexpected. Just so you know. I don't have any leftover broccoli. What is leftover in the dish is the diced pear.
And about the broccoli stem. That hard and thick, almost waxy skin that wraps around the broccoli stem that most Americans and restaurants throw away? It can be peeled and the inner stem is quite tender.
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