What I've been eating recently
So, at long last, I am finally updating again. I've been a bit too busy to post any pictures, so here's food pictures from a bunch of weekends.
Barb and Ted took us out to the Melting Pot for belated Valentine's Day. It was quite delicious.
We started off with a yummy Swiss Cheese fondue, which I didn't photograph because the lighting was bad (it was romantic lighting). It would have just looked like a white blob with the flash, so... Anyways, that came with three types of bread cubes, some vegetables, and Granny Smith apples for dipping.
Teddy and I got "The Vegetarian". It had three kinds of fresh ravioli, portabello mushroom slices, marinated tofu, artichoke hearts, potatoes (not pictured), button mushrooms (not pictured), and edamame (not pictured). We got Coq au Vin broth for cooking. They recommended a sucker's way of cooking - that is, one piece at a time on your fondue fork. I basically decided that was dumb and I just plopped a bunch in at a time, timed it, and then rescue spooned it out. Much more efficient that way.
For dessert, we got the Yin and Yang chocolate, which is chocolate in a yin yang shape. It was super cute and delicious:
These were the dippers. I liked the fruits the best:
So, naturally, I needed a fondue pot after this experience. I found all of the Melting Pot's recipes online through various sources, as they have featured their recipes in various newspapers and magazines over the years in various cities.
Here is our at-home fondue experience:
I chose to make Cheddar Cheese fondue. First, I poured in some beer:
Next up was the cheese:
I seasoned with mustard powder, freshly ground pepper, and vegetarian Worcestershire sauce:
I had veggies, bread, and Granny Smith apples for dipping:
For our main course, we had pasta with spicy sauce. Then, for dessert, we had raspberry chocolate fondue.
Here I am melting together dark chocolate and heavy cream:
Adding the Chambord for flavor:
I had strawberries, bananas, vanilla biscotti, and leftover apples for dipping:
It was a lot of fun, but the fondue pot's settings aren't very great. It's the Oster fondue pot from Target. Warm doesn't actually keep it warm, so every once in a while, you have to turn the heat up to the lowest temperature setting and stir vigorously to keep the ingredients from separating.
Next up is Bangkok Balcony in Squirrel Hill.
This place was super good, but it was kind of expensive. We got an appetizer, a meal salad, and an entree. We also got (non-alcoholic) drinks. It was about $40 after tipping.
We got vegetable springs rolls with a yummy dipping sauce:
We also got a Tofu salad:
Finally, I always have to try Thai place's pad thai if they can make it vegetarian, so we got that, too:
My biggest complaint is that it really didn't have any veggies, so if I got it again, I'd order vegetables AND tofu (I kind of thought that vegetables meant there was just no protein source, but I was wrong). However, everything was delicious and nicely presented.
Another week, we went to Quiet Storm. We tried their new flavor of tofu tenders - Buffalo-style. They were super spicy - they were almost too spicy, even for me, which is amazing:
I got a pierogidilla, which was amazing:
Teddy got some kind of sweet fake chicken wrap. It was kind of odd:
We also go to Hoi Polloi on the Northside a lot, so here are some pictures from there:
Teddy got this last week, I think. Or maybe the week before. It's some kind of barbecue tempeh sandwich, I think:
This week, we both tried their orange tomato soup, which was good and spicy:
I got the ginger pineapple tofu. It was okay, but it wasn't as good as some of their other stuff. I would have loved it if the tofu had been crispier, but it wasn't very crisp:
Teddy got a flatbread with fake sausage, greens, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and sun dried tomatoes. I tried a bit without the sausage (I don't like most fake meats). It was pretty good!
That's pretty much it on the food front. The next post will be pictures from the party we went to with Takami's family last night.
Barb and Ted took us out to the Melting Pot for belated Valentine's Day. It was quite delicious.
We started off with a yummy Swiss Cheese fondue, which I didn't photograph because the lighting was bad (it was romantic lighting). It would have just looked like a white blob with the flash, so... Anyways, that came with three types of bread cubes, some vegetables, and Granny Smith apples for dipping.
Teddy and I got "The Vegetarian". It had three kinds of fresh ravioli, portabello mushroom slices, marinated tofu, artichoke hearts, potatoes (not pictured), button mushrooms (not pictured), and edamame (not pictured). We got Coq au Vin broth for cooking. They recommended a sucker's way of cooking - that is, one piece at a time on your fondue fork. I basically decided that was dumb and I just plopped a bunch in at a time, timed it, and then rescue spooned it out. Much more efficient that way.
For dessert, we got the Yin and Yang chocolate, which is chocolate in a yin yang shape. It was super cute and delicious:
These were the dippers. I liked the fruits the best:
So, naturally, I needed a fondue pot after this experience. I found all of the Melting Pot's recipes online through various sources, as they have featured their recipes in various newspapers and magazines over the years in various cities.
Here is our at-home fondue experience:
I chose to make Cheddar Cheese fondue. First, I poured in some beer:
Next up was the cheese:
I seasoned with mustard powder, freshly ground pepper, and vegetarian Worcestershire sauce:
I had veggies, bread, and Granny Smith apples for dipping:
For our main course, we had pasta with spicy sauce. Then, for dessert, we had raspberry chocolate fondue.
Here I am melting together dark chocolate and heavy cream:
Adding the Chambord for flavor:
I had strawberries, bananas, vanilla biscotti, and leftover apples for dipping:
It was a lot of fun, but the fondue pot's settings aren't very great. It's the Oster fondue pot from Target. Warm doesn't actually keep it warm, so every once in a while, you have to turn the heat up to the lowest temperature setting and stir vigorously to keep the ingredients from separating.
Next up is Bangkok Balcony in Squirrel Hill.
This place was super good, but it was kind of expensive. We got an appetizer, a meal salad, and an entree. We also got (non-alcoholic) drinks. It was about $40 after tipping.
We got vegetable springs rolls with a yummy dipping sauce:
We also got a Tofu salad:
Finally, I always have to try Thai place's pad thai if they can make it vegetarian, so we got that, too:
My biggest complaint is that it really didn't have any veggies, so if I got it again, I'd order vegetables AND tofu (I kind of thought that vegetables meant there was just no protein source, but I was wrong). However, everything was delicious and nicely presented.
Another week, we went to Quiet Storm. We tried their new flavor of tofu tenders - Buffalo-style. They were super spicy - they were almost too spicy, even for me, which is amazing:
I got a pierogidilla, which was amazing:
Teddy got some kind of sweet fake chicken wrap. It was kind of odd:
We also go to Hoi Polloi on the Northside a lot, so here are some pictures from there:
Teddy got this last week, I think. Or maybe the week before. It's some kind of barbecue tempeh sandwich, I think:
This week, we both tried their orange tomato soup, which was good and spicy:
I got the ginger pineapple tofu. It was okay, but it wasn't as good as some of their other stuff. I would have loved it if the tofu had been crispier, but it wasn't very crisp:
Teddy got a flatbread with fake sausage, greens, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and sun dried tomatoes. I tried a bit without the sausage (I don't like most fake meats). It was pretty good!
That's pretty much it on the food front. The next post will be pictures from the party we went to with Takami's family last night.