Tag: Eddie (Page 2 of 2)

Christmas Eve menu

In Argentina, like in many Latin American countries, the big Christmas celebration happens on Christmas Eve. While I’ve lived in the US well over 20 years now, for me Christmas Eve will always be the time to be with friends and family and celebrate the wonder of life.


This year we were happy to have, in addition to our best friends Lola and Iggy – with whom we always spend Christmas eve – our friends Eddie and Arthur. They’ve become some of our best friends in San Leandro, and who knows, spending Christmas Eve with us may just become a tradition (if they don’t move back to Texas first).


My menu was very similar to the one I served on Christmas 2004, the last Xmas we spent in the US. Last year we were traveling in Argentina and ate at hotel in the tiny town of Cachi. But the 2004 menu had been so good, that I didn’t really want to change it. So I served:


A sliced baguette with olive oil, European butter, smoked salmon, hummus and roasted pepper sauce.
As you can expect, the smoked salmon quickly disappeared – but so did the bread. Camila couldn’t get enough of spreading the butter on the bread. She ate the center of the bread, but left the crust behind. Mika loves dipping bread in olive oil, and was quite excited to be able to do it again. Unfortunately (for her), the olive oil was the generic kind, and not the orange olive oil we tasted while shopping a couple of weeks back.


Mixed Greens Salad with Gorgonzola Vinaigrette
This is a favorite of Mikes, and it’s so good that I usually serve it when I need to make a salad. Even Lola who dislikes blue cheese – and Kathy who dislikes cheese in general – like it here. This time I used red currants instead of cranberries (I had them at hand) and Lola thought they were an improvement.


Les Halles Mushroom Soup
Once again this was a winner. Iggy, specially, raved about it. This time I added extra morels and some porcini so everyone could get their fill. I imagine I’ll make this again next year.


Leek and Camembert Tart
Another winner from epicurious. This was everybody’s favorite of the evening. I plan to make it again, but next time I won’t try to make it into a circle, I don’t think there is much to be gained by that. A recipe was enough for 8 people but I’m sure everyone would have liked seconds.


Prime Rib with Cabernet Jus
This time I used Costco Prime Rib, prime ($11 lb), and while it was good it wasn’t nearly as good as the one I made last time ($16 lb) with meat from Galvan’s Market. Live and learn. I think next year I’ll make lamb or something different.
The cab jus was good but unnecessary.


Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Always a winner, and they reheat so easily. I did make too much, though (3 times the recipe). Next time I’ll just double it 🙂


Green beans almondine
Also a popular choice. This recipe is very simple and produces quite a good result – and shocking the green beans gives them a beautiful bright green color.


Dessert was a chocolate cake that Eddie brought (very, very yummy) and Costco pumpkin pie, which was also quite good.


We had several bottles of wine, all very good, but the clear winner of the evening was the Bonny Doon Muscat, Vin de Glaciere. It was impossibly delicious, and I don’t even like Muscat. If it wasn’t Christmas day, I’d send Mike in search of another bottle.


In all, we had a great Christmas Eve dinner. The kids played wonderfully in the other room, and then even ate some meat (as they knew dessert was coming). The babies were calm and friendly, and the company could not have been better.

Leonidas

The other night we went to dinner at Grasshopper, and decided to skip dessert there and head to Leonidas instead. Leonidas is a Belgium chocolatier that produces and sells specialty chocolates. There are Leonidas shops all over Belgium, and apparently the rest of the world as well. My friend Adriana who lives in Belgium loves them, and I brought a couple of pounds with me after my last trip there (they are significantly cheaper in Belgium than in the States), but I’m less excited about them. Call me a plebe, but I prefer Sees Candies all the way.


While my friends were getting candy – and Eddie was nice enough to buy a piece for each one of our husbands -, I got some dulce de leche gelato ($3 for a small cup) and I was hooked. The gelato was almost as good as the one back home. It had a light, cool consistency, and yet was creamy and very flavorful. If you’re in Rockridge make sure you get some.


Leonidas
6311 College Avenue
Oakland

Zachary’s and Daiquiris

Yesterday, for once in a blew moon, our Sunday was not booked (saved for an early morning meeting at Zocalo, where I enjoyed a chocolate croissant if you want to know), so I suggested to Mike that we have friends over for some Zachary’s. We hadn’t had some in a while, and, you have to admit it, their pizza is phenomenal. Instantly we thought of Eddie and Arthur, given that they’re out “last minute dinner friends;” this is not to say that we don’t have dinner with them on other occasions, but they’re often game for a last minute meal.


Alas, we didn’t have a good connection when we were talking on the phone – and I think my accent is getting thicker, people keep asking me to repeat myself – so Eddie understood “daiquiris” instead of “Zachary’s;” by the time we clarified the confusion Eddie had a craving for daiquiris and Mike for Zachary’s – so we ended up getting both.


Zachary’s – one chorizo, one extra cheese – was as good as usual, and surprisingly warm by the time Mike got it home. It helped that we were all ready to eat by then. The daiquiris were also very good, even though they came from a frozen mix – much better than the second batch Arthur made, this time using frozen strawberries.


So we had Zachary’s and daiquiris, and a great evening seeing friends.


The meal was specially good as our food prospects for the week sound dire. We have meetings tonight, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I’m thinking of having a date on Friday – it’s been a while. So tonight we’ll probably have some frozen ravioli and no ideas what I’ll have the other nights. Something VERY quick – as I’ve discovered that I just cannot have Camila in the kitchen while I cook. Yesterday she burned herself with the George Foreman. 🙁


anyway, happy cooking or eating out 🙂

Banyan Garden Revisited

Our friends Eddie and Arthur suggested we get together for dinner at the Texas Roadhouse for dinner last night – but when we got there around 8 PM, the place was a madhouse. They told me there was a 4 hour wait, and while that seemed unlikely, it clearly did not make sense for us to stay there for dinner. So we suggested we go to Banyan Garden, we had liked it last time and we didn’t think the place would be so full.

Being mother’s day and all, we still had to wait, though only for fifteen minutes or so. We were then given a large table for 8 at the back of the restaurant. We ordered quite a lot of food and it was all good.
The Roti Canai ($2.50) was a very light, thin, flaky and somewhat chewy flat bread (thinner and lighter than a crepe). We all liked it, and I once again was won over by the spicy curry dipping sauce. The chicken satay ($5.50) was also a winner, with nicely marinated chicken chunks and a spicy, chunky peanut sauce. I’d definitely order both again.

We liked the mango chicken ($8). It was served on two hollowed mango shelfs and consisted of chicken pieces and slices of mango and red and green bell peppers in a sweet and sour tomato sauce. The sauce tasted fruity rather than tomatoish and was nicely spiced and quite good. The mango slices were too crunchy for my taste, however, they didn’t seem ripe enough. The sizzling beef ($12) was sizzling and spicy and quite good with their black pepper sauce. The thin slices were tender though in that pounded sort of way. The padang lamb ($10) tasted just the same as last time and the Malaysian short ribs ($9) also had that pounded consistency but were enjoyable. I didn’t get to taste the pineapple rice ($7) but others liked it, and the one noodle dish I did have (can’t recall what it was) was fine but not remarkable.
In all we had an enjoyable dinner and I’ll certainly go again.

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