Spanish Rice Stew

I've made it a goal of mine in life that if a friend of mine says we should hang out that I immediately make plans to do so. My friend, we'll call her, Lyla said that to me today. Knowing I had nothing to do and the house to myself I invited her over for dinner. This offer is rarely rejected. In anticipation for our girls' night I took some chicken out to thaw.  I came back tothe kitchen a few house later and began pulling ingerdients to make a spanish rice stew. I didn't have the diced tomatoes with chilies that I'd been hoping were still in my cabinat. I was stuck with diced tomatoes that were spaghetti sauce ready; diced with garlic, basil and oregano.
"I'll make it work."

I cup up the chicken, trimmed the fat and threw it in a stock pot with some EVOO. I seasoned with salt, fresh ground pepper, cumin, coriander, a dash of red cayenne pepper and threw on garlic powder at the last minute. When the chicken was no longer visibly pink, I mixed 3 tablespoons of beef boullion in 2 cups of hot tap water and dumped it in the pot. I took  an extra 1/2 cup of water to get out the remaining granules left in the measuring cup and poured that in. After I had stirred this up I put in 1/2 cup of rice and the spaghetti tomatoes. I tasted it. Sweet. Added a can of red kidney beans. Still sweet. Hmm. More black pepper, cumin and coriander.

Aha! Worcestershire! Yeah my dad used the last of it in his chili last week. Racking my brain, going through cabinets I found nothing to unsweeten my spaghetti stew. I kept searching. Marsala wine? Smelled it. Why not? I poured some in. Hmm. What else? Dark chili powder. Bingo. I covered  1/2 the stew in it. Stirred it in. Covered the top again, stirred it in. Sprinkled more cumin, coriander and then onion powder. More Marsala wine ( 1 cup total?). Finally! Kicked the sweet out! It was still subtlety sweet which was fine because I'd achieved a gorgeous savory flavor with he beef bouillon Marsala and spices. Absolutely delicious and divine on a cold rainy January day. If only my friend would arrive with her wine I'd be set.

(Pairs well with a sweeter wine)

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 1/2 cups of warm tap water
3 Tbs beef bouillon
1/2 C rice.
2 cans of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
1 can red kidney beans
1 cup of Marsala cooking wine
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Coriander
Garlic powder
Dark Chili powder
Onion powder

Blue Ginger

I heard about this place from a good friend of mine at work. I decided to give it a try and went there for my birthday. I went back this past weekend with intent and took my dad along for some company.

I started off with their Jasmine Green tea. I simply love the aromatic scent that tickles my nose as it cleanses my palette. Whats even better is that you get a whole pot!

For appetizers we started off with Edamame and the Pan Fried Duck Dumplings.

I will have to say these taste very traditional. I'm not sure any of you picky eaters out there would like it. The sauce on them is very rich and flavorful, this is where most of the traditional taste comes from. My guess is that its a reduction. It's a very strong flavor that compliments the savory duck and shiitake mushroom mixture inside the dumpling quite nicely.

With the sushi combo we ordered came a bowl of soup, I chose the miso soup.

The green stuff seen in the soup is a seaweed product of some sort. It has a smooth texture and is full of iron and B vitamins, very good for you. Another part of the green stuff I believe was cilantro. Quite delicious. I've always been a fan of miso. It's basically the asian version of chicken stock or chicken soup minus the foul. Also included in the soup are strips of tofu which add a little extra protien to the dish. All around a very light and pleasant warming soup.

For sushi we ordered the Columbus Roll, which has avocado, cream cheese, and smoked salmon (my favorite), pictured left. We also ordered the Crunchy Spicy Tuna roll, pictured right.

I thoroughly enjoyed the savory salty flavor of the smoked salmon paired with the milky flavor of the cream cheese and buttery texture of the avocado. The spicy tuna was a bit of a disapointment. It was fairly plain and all the golden bits on top were the crunch, if you can call it crunch.  The tuna was good but in my opinion it didn't really hold up to its name, it wasn't spicy at all.

Overall Blue Ginger is my place to go for sushi. Their menu and quite large with a whole page of appetizers, a few pages of sushi, and main course dishes which I didn't have room enough to try.
Located on Sawmille road in the plaza next to BD Mongolian Grill just past Martin Road, this is one place you definitely want to check out. They aren't very busy at lunch so its an easy in and out during the work week. Check them out!

Whiskey Rosso

After my last final for Fall Quarter I decided that I would stop in Marcella's Ristorante for lunch. I headed into the bar and sat down. The bartender came over and asked me what I'd like to drink. I started with water. After she brought that over I asked her what her favorite drink is.

"The Whiskey Rosso."

I winced. I usually stick to gin or vodka. I might be brave and do something with rum, but not the spiced kind. But whiskey? No we were not friends. She went on, "You can't even really taste the whiskey." She told me that the Jameson usually turns people off to it. Knowing that I usually like it when people take my recommendations I thought I'd go for it and see what it was like.

I was surprised. It had a pleasant fruity taste, but still retained a strong sentiment. Usually cocktails don't go very well with food but this was delicious with their Spaghetti Bolognese.

The next time you happen to stop in, find out what your server's favorite drink is and give it whirl. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Whiskey Rosso

Jameson Whiskey, Passion fruit Puree,

Agave Nectar and Chianti Classico

Dr Pepper is NOT a Pepsi product

I can't tell you how many times when I tell people that we have Pepsi products (at the restaurant where i work) that people ask for Dr Pepper. I've had a few people tell me that it's a Pepsi product. However, it is NOT. They are sometimes available together in certain restaurants. So here are the facts from Dr Pepper's website, PepsiCo.com and a few other resources.

Dr Pepper/ Seven Up, Inc. is a company under the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. Which came into being after Cadbury Schweppes demerged (originally merging in 1969, according to dr pepper snapple group) in 2008 to Cabury and Dr Pepper Snapple Group. It was in 1986 that 7up merged with Dr Pepper.

Now you might say, "but I see the 7up logo on the PepsiCo site." Yes Pepsi has licensing to distribute 7up internationally. On the 7up website it is listed as a product of Dr Pepper/ Seven Up inc. with no mention of pepsico. In fact Funding Universe , which is a site that focuses on company histories, lists the Coca-Cola Company and Pepsico as Principal Competitors with Dr Pepper Seven Up inc.

So the next time you go into a restaurant and they say they have pepsi products, if they have Dr Pepper it is because they were distrubuted together not because Dr Pepper is a Pepsi product.