KT, round 2

My sister ended up having her baby on Thursday. So we were up Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to help out around the house and to ooh and ahh over their new little addition. On Saturday, the hubster turns to me and says, "I want to go to KT Cafe again - I love that place!"

So as he pondered over the Thai Beef Noodle Soup or the meat platter, I went up and down the menu for a vegetarian dish. Then i spotted the Peanut Butter French Toast (4.99)... I am, naturally, intrigued. So I order it.


As it turns out, it was a peanut butter sandwich that got dipped in the French toast batter and fried up, sprinkled with some powdered sugar and served with butter and syrup. It was quite to my liking!

But the hubster had said that the French toast wouldn't be enough for me for lunch, so I also ordered the Baked Vegetables in Cream Sauce. I should have been alarmed, but figured I'll give it a try.



The dish sat in a glass pie pan with a layer of white rice on the bottom. On top was the veggie cream sauce mixture. The cream sauce was fine, and the veggies were fine. But together... I don't know. It was a little odd to me. The veggies included green beans, Chinese broccoli, white mushrooms and straw mushrooms, carrots... and I can't remember what else, but there was more. Then all of that topped off with a layer of chedder cheese and baked. Maybe it wouldn't have been so weird to me if there weren't any mushrooms. I'm not a fan, and there was an abundance of them in there.

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Some meat for the road

My sister had her cesarean scheduled for Friday morning. On Wednesday afternoon, my mom called me and asked me to drive her up to see my sister that night. So I called my sister and told her we were coming up that evening, and she immediately said, "I want steak!".

???

"I don't know when I will be able to eat it again, so I want steak!"

Okay. Don't mess with a pregnant woman. I guess it wouldn't have been so hard if I too could eat steak.

(side note: I realize I've been talking about not eating meat so much lately and I apologize. I don't even remember how long I've been doing this - giving up meat for the entirety of Lent, at least 5 years I know - but it seems as if the desire for meat this year has increased from the years past. So, note to self - this might be the last year...)

So we arrive to my sister's house and she is hungry and ready to go to dinner. Her husband suggests KT Cafe as it is one of his regular spots. When I say regular, I mean every Thursday night after he and his buddies play basketball for who knows how many years.

KT Cafe is technically a Chinese restaurant, I would say, but not the traditional kind. Located in Monterey Park on Garvey Ave (between Garfield and Atlantic), KT Cafe is the super late night (I.e. Closes at 4am) Chinese restaurant cafe that serves a hodgepodge of foods that have all sorts of different origins.

So back to my brother-in-law. He and his buddies are such regulars, that when he told the waitress, "We had this one soup the other night," she immediately responds with, "Do you want to order that tonight?" and he says yes. No where in the conversation did the actual soup name or description come up, but it did come out. And to be honest, I don't know what it was, just that it has fish in it. At least I think it did.



My sister, instead of a full steak, decided on the Bo Luc Lac - cubes "shaking" beef that has been pan-fried quickly (and in this case, with onions and bell peppers) and served with a bed or red rice (steamed riced fried up with tomato paste). I wish I could have had a try.



I browsed the non-meat menu and decided to go with the Indo Chow Fun (I think that's what they called it) but without meat. It was good. Thick fresh rice noodles pan-fried with been sprouts, green onion and other little veggies and chili (think pad see ew from a Thai place)... And what got me was the sunnyside-up egg topping the plate of noodles.


It was quite tasty and satisfied me. But it still wasn't a steak.

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Grilled cheese at last

After my disappointment with Carl's "grilled cheese sandwich", I really wanted one done the way I pictured in my head. Toasty, tasty, melty goodness...

I went out to lunch at Boudin today, ready to order a tomato mozzarella basil pesto panini type thing... Something I've been craving the past couple of days, but when I walked in, the first thing I saw was Grilled Cheese Melt. Okay! I decided to couple it with a spring salad rather than a bag of chips (5.99) and had possibly the best grilled cheese sandwich I've ever tasted...


Two slices of, my guess is sourdough bread stuffed with various cheeses in between, sprinkled with (fresh) Parmesan on top and toasted till the cheese was golden and toasty, the crust was crispy and a hint if salty (and other herby seasonings) and the cheese a good thick oozy consistency... with the spring salad mix and light balsamic dressing, it was a super simple but super yum lunch indeed!

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Louis Cake

Tuesday, February 16th was one of two things: it was Mardi Gras this year, and it was Rosa's birthday. It was a day of celebration!

Seeming as how the economy has not been too kind, we decided to do a little potluck for Rosa. For lunch, we brought in meats and tortillas for tacos, along with plenty of chips and salsa... And for dessert... excuse me as I collect myself for a moment...

Karina brought in some really yum moist red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with red velvet cupcake crumbs. Heavenly. And Alicia brought in... well what can I call them but, decadence. They were these small pieces of cake wrapped in a shell of chocolate with designs imprinted onto them, from Wholesome Choice market in Irvine.


The flavors ranged in cappuccino, strawberry, mango, passionfruit...


Look at the one in the middle. Is it trying to be a Louis Vuitton?


I chose the passionfruit one to pair with my red velvet cupcake. Oh how quickly they disappeared :(


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Kids menu, please

It was Friday, February 12th. The last Friday before Lent. The last Friday I would be eating meat for awhile. We had plans.

At noon, I grabbed my coupon for "make it a meal" and met Anna at the Carl's Jr. that sits at the intersection between our two offices. Having been bombarded with all of the commercials, we just needed to know more about this "adult" Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

I went ahead and ordered the Six Dollar Burger (as shown in the ads) version of the sandwich. Anna ordered the single. The third option was a double. My sandwich came out first in the big Six Dollar Burger box, and an hour later (it wasn't really an hour, but for some reason it took awhile) Anna's burger came out wrapped in paper... And the two looked exactly the same. So I can't tell you what the difference between the Six Dollar Burger version and the single version is... but I do know that... afterwards I wanted a real (basic) grilled cheese sandwich.


The bread tasted dry (yet left your fingers completely greasy) and the meat was rather dry as well. And don't get me started on the fries... why all these places choose to go with the "natural cut fries", I don't know. Is it healthier? I am going to venture out and say, Heck no. Is it tastier? Heck no. I like McDonald's fries, Claim Jumper fries, Ruby's fries, and Red Robin fries. All you other fries... you know where to go.

Anyhow. The end of meal was a highlight not only because I had satisfied (unsatisfactorily) my curiousity of this grilled cheese burger, but I had dessert! Earlier that morning, I arrived to a pleasant little surprise at my desk. Candice had thoughtfully handmade everyone cute little Valentine's Day cards accompanied with a package of Valentine's Day ding-dongs... So sweet! I had to resist temptation all morning to not scarf the little cupcakes down in one breath.


Happy Valentine's Day!


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Widowmaker for the hubster

The hubsters's birthday fell on a Thursday this year, and we were planning a party for him for Saturday... so we decided to go out and have a nice but normal dinner. I let him choose, expecting him to say, "Lets have pho!", but instead, we ended up at Claim Jumper at South Coast Plaza. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised, but I love Claim Jumper so did not voice any objections.

I quickly flipped through the menu, already partly knowing that I was going with the Country Fried Steak with side of mashed potatoes and gravy and biscuit with honey butter... and naturally it did not diasappoint (I went with the 1/2 order which I believe is $12.99?). The steak seemed a little thinner than usual to me, but I was fine with it, I actually prefer it not too thick.



The hubster decided on a burger. But not just any burger, the Widomaker! (9.99?) ...I hope he wasn't trying to tell me something...? It was filled with everything. Meat (medium), cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado... what else??? I should have put a ruler next to the burger, it must've been at least 6" tall. But believe it or not, that wasn't the biggest burger. The Motherload would be the position holder there... Filled with not just beef, but pork AND chicken (I think)!



I could use one of these right about now. Perhaps my days of going vegetarian have outnumbered themselves...

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Something something sausage

A lot of things had happened and it had been awhile... But things were happening again and I guess it was a way to wrap things up, I guess. Plus i think it was a belated birthday lunch for Karina. Our boss took us out to lunch to Macaroni Grill (where we spent the next two hours but it was okay, we were with our boss and she was in a good mood!). There was a lot of talk about work, about the changes going on, and just chatter in general. It was one week left until Lent so when the waiter came around and asked for my order, I repeated the item on the menu that first caught my attention... Something something sausage.

They were little shell-like pasta (but not shells) with a light cream sauce with italian sausages, grape tomatoes and garnished with parsley.



It was yum. Next time you're at Macaroni Grill, give the something something sausage a try!


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