Only one restaurant was suggested so Cheng Heng wins!
No poll needed!!
http://twincities.citysearch.com/profile/5520439/st_paul_mn/cheng_heng_restaurant.html
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Suggestions Please!
Okay TBSGers - bring on those suggestions. The poll was a great way to give everyone an opportunity to chose our next adventure, so let's try it again! I'll post the poll the week of 5/24 so get your suggestions in via comment!
Need some inspiration? Check out http://www.citypages.com/bestof/2010/section/food-and-drink-24/
Need some inspiration? Check out http://www.citypages.com/bestof/2010/section/food-and-drink-24/
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Manana
This was our first support group meeting where the restaurant was chosen by a poll on the blog! We were surprised at the number of responses, we hope to do it again for our next TBSG meeting.
Manana's doesn't have a menu online, but there are a few reviews out there , so we knew a little of what we were in for. We knew they were one of the few places in the Twin Cities that specializes in El Salvadorian cuisine, they serve Papusas, and their menu is filled with humorous spelling errors! All of this proved correct. Everyone at the table enjoyed the papusas they ordered, filled with pork, beans, and cheese, and come in any combination of those ingredients. The woman at the grill was making them to order, molding the dough, filling it with the pork, beans and cheese, and grilling it! They were the highlight of our meal. These are served with a pickled cabbage, and tomato hot sauce (but it wasn't spicy), this adds the perfect amount of crunch and saucy goodness, and each one is around $2, hard to go wrong!
Kyle and I were playing with the settings on our new camera, we're dorks!
Manana's doesn't have a menu online, but there are a few reviews out there , so we knew a little of what we were in for. We knew they were one of the few places in the Twin Cities that specializes in El Salvadorian cuisine, they serve Papusas, and their menu is filled with humorous spelling errors! All of this proved correct. Everyone at the table enjoyed the papusas they ordered, filled with pork, beans, and cheese, and come in any combination of those ingredients. The woman at the grill was making them to order, molding the dough, filling it with the pork, beans and cheese, and grilling it! They were the highlight of our meal. These are served with a pickled cabbage, and tomato hot sauce (but it wasn't spicy), this adds the perfect amount of crunch and saucy goodness, and each one is around $2, hard to go wrong!
The rest of the food we tried was average, nothing we would need to go back for. The service was amazing, as were the complimentary chips (hot and made fresh!) and salsa.
An added bonus came at the end of the meal when our server brought out some fried plantains with a sour cream-like dipping sauce, these were not a hit with everyone, but I enjoyed the hot, sweet savory combo!
I also enjoyed the atmosphere at Manana's, we were there on a rainy, cool evening, and it seemed like the perfect little haven for a greasy treat. It is nothing fancy, but just a comfortable place to pop in!
Kyle and I were playing with the settings on our new camera, we're dorks!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Cooking Class
A few weeks back, a few members of the TBSG got together to experiment with food. Here are the photos and story!
My favorite food is probably Pad Thai with mock duck. Ever since my first experience at Kihn Do with mock duck, I've been a sucker for this meat substitute. Although I'm not a vegetarian, I try to limit my meat consumption. Does this make me a flexitarian? I enjoy Tofu, but sometimes you need to change it up. After a conversation with Angela about finding a recipe to make Seitan (aka Mock Duck) at home and wanting to try it and being a little apprehensive to do so, we decided there was strength in numbers and we should give it a shot.
Time to knead the seitan. Note: do not over knead. I think that's why our results were a little more chewy than desired.
After the kneading, we broke it apart to rest. Yes, we did comment on the various undesirable things it looked like at this stage.
Time to simmer it! We used the mixture the recipe recommended of veggie broth, soy sauce, ginger and onions, although you could really add anything you wanted.
Still simmering, starting to expand!
Starting to pull out the seitan! The pieces really expanded during cooking! 
Ange pulling out the last piece!
And the fruits of our labor! Ange made a delicious stir fry and we also made a pad thai. The mock duck/setian was a little chewy but overall had really good flavor. It went really well in the pad thai and the chili peppers from Ange and Kyle's garden gave it the perfect amount of kick!
My favorite food is probably Pad Thai with mock duck. Ever since my first experience at Kihn Do with mock duck, I've been a sucker for this meat substitute. Although I'm not a vegetarian, I try to limit my meat consumption. Does this make me a flexitarian? I enjoy Tofu, but sometimes you need to change it up. After a conversation with Angela about finding a recipe to make Seitan (aka Mock Duck) at home and wanting to try it and being a little apprehensive to do so, we decided there was strength in numbers and we should give it a shot.
Here I am mixing all the ingredients together. So far so good. The dough was like a really thick bread/silly putty/play doh type thing. This was also before I shattered one of Ange and Kyle's wine glasses. (which I still feel bad about!)
Time to knead the seitan. Note: do not over knead. I think that's why our results were a little more chewy than desired.
After the kneading, we broke it apart to rest. Yes, we did comment on the various undesirable things it looked like at this stage.
Time to simmer it! We used the mixture the recipe recommended of veggie broth, soy sauce, ginger and onions, although you could really add anything you wanted.
Still simmering, starting to expand!
Starting to pull out the seitan! The pieces really expanded during cooking! I would estimate each piece tripled in size.
Ange pulling out the last piece!
And the fruits of our labor! Ange made a delicious stir fry and we also made a pad thai. The mock duck/setian was a little chewy but overall had really good flavor. It went really well in the pad thai and the chili peppers from Ange and Kyle's garden gave it the perfect amount of kick!
My lessons learned from our cooking night?
1) Don't over knead your seitan!
2) Pad thai wasn't nearly as scary to make as I first thought (although it was super helpful to have Ange and Kyle helping me out!)
3) Cooking with people who love to cook is really fun and educational!
I can't wait for our next experimental cooking night! Thanks Kyle and Ange for hosting!!
