Well, I’m officially back to reality after almost 2 weeks of gluttonous indulgence. Was too afraid to step on the scale this morning because I know I’m not going to like what I see.
This week’s quote comes from French humorist Erma Bombeck, and highlights some pretty sage advice that I definitely did not follow whilst on my cruise.
“Never order food in excess of your body weight.”
–Erma Bombeck
I should really start putting that advice into practice more often.
I’m cruising somewhere in the caribbean right now, lounging under the sun, stuffing my face with free food. No new review or recipe on Friday, but here’s a quote to tide you over until my return.
“Ever eat so much you feel sick? Isn’t that the best?”
–Jim Gaffigan
This pipe is filled with bacon.
This is a guest recipe from my mom, since I’m going to be out of town for the next two weeks. Enjoy!
So I had a hankering for something Moroccan, because I’m obsessed with Moroccan food and found some ideas online. Violá, Moroccan Chicken Tina’s Way.
Minced ~ Diced ~ Chopped
Slice open the top of the bag of CHICKEN and fill it with cool water. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
These flash frozen CHICKEN pieces do not need to be thawed to cook them but they need to be a little pliable to be able to chunk’em up without slicing off a finger.
After about 10 minutes, maybe 15. Chunk up those TENDERLOINS, and pop’em into a fry pan. Sprinkle on the SAZON GOYA SEASONING ENVELOPES and add enough OIL to sauté them for however long it takes til they’re done. Remove CHICKEN from the pan and set aside for a minute. We’ll get back to them.
To the frying pan add enough OIL to sauté the ONION, CELERY, CARROTS, & GARLIC til the CARROTS are tender ’cause they take the longest. Mix together the GINGER, PAPRIKA, CUMIN, OREGANO, CAYENE PEPPER, & TURMERIC. Sprinkle on these veggies. And sauté a minute longer.
Add the CHICKEN back into the frying pan. Mix everything up in there. Then add the CHICKEN BROTH, the GARBANZO BEANS and the TOMATO SAUCE. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Take a look at the Directions on the side of the box of Near East’s TOMATO-LENTIL COUSCOUS. (If this is more then you want to know then stop right here and make rice instead)
Couscous (Precooked Semolina), Precooked Lentils, Tomatoes (Dried), Salt, Autolyzed Yeast Extract (Dried), Molasses (Dried), Garlic (Dried), Onions(Dried), Paprika Spice Which Imparts Color, Natural Flavors, Honey (Dried), Celery (Dried), Spices, Calcium Chloride (Natural Source).
1. In medium saucepan, combine 1- 1/2 cups water, 2 tsp. olive oil or butter and contents of spice sack.
2. Bring to a boil; stir in couscous.
3 Cover; remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.
4. Fluff couscous lightly with fork before serving.
Makes 3 cups.
1. In round 2 quart microwaveable glass casserole, combine 1 – 1/2 cups water, 2 tsp olive oil or butter and contents of spice sack.
2. Cover; microwave at High 5 to 6 minutes or until boiling.
3. Stir in couscous; cover. Let stand 5 minutes.
4. Fluff couscous lightly with fork before serving.
Follow package direction, except omit olive oil or butter.
Increase water to 1 – 2/3 cup and stand time to 7 minutes.
Hope everyone had a happy Cinco De Mayo! I didn’t do anything special except make way too much mexican food and watch Game of Thrones. This week’s quote comes from the book Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins, and pretty much sums up my feelings on Cinco de Mayo.
“Never underestimate how much assistance, how much satisfaction, how much comfort, how much soul and transcendence there might be in a well-made taco and a cold bottle of beer.”
–Tom Robbins
Get your hands off of my taco, or I’ll punch you with my rings on.
I have a new favorite mexican restaurant in Charleston. Technically, it’s in North Charleston, but it is 1000% worth the drive out to Rivers Avenue. Other than Real Mexico in Columbia, I think this is the freshest, most authentic tasting Mexican restaurant I’ve been to in a really long time… and I eat a lot of Mexican food.
Yeah, that’s pretty accurate.
I’ve been a bunch of times, so I have a lot of pictures to share. When you first get there, they bring you chips, salsa, and a plate with 4 different kinds of sauces. Many of them are spicy, so I’d recommend waiting until you have a drink in front of you before you try any of them. I really like the thicker red one, which has a nice smoky taste to it and the green goopy one because it isn’t spicy at all and is really refreshing and helps to put out the fire that the other start in your mouth.
The “goopy one” is the one at the very top, by the way.
When I went there last week with my dad, he wanted to try the shrimp cocktail, which came out more like a shrimp soup. It was served cold in a tomato sauce with pico de gallo, which kind of threw me off at first. I couldn’t really get over the cold tomato soup part, but the shrimp were cooked to perfection and tasted yummy. My dad said it was “very refreshing,” and ate the entire thing.
If the words “Cold Shrimp Soup” throw you off, you might not enjoy this.
We also tried the guacamole which came with 3 chicken taquitos, which was kind of cool. I liked the taquitos and ate pretty much all of them immediately. The guacamole was good, but not the best guacamole I’ve ever had. Definitely better than most mexican restaurants, though. You could tell it was pretty fresh.
Sorry for the poor quality. I was in a hurry to get to eatin’
We also tried some of the tacos, which ranged from your normal chicken, ground beef, and pork, to more unusual options, such as beef tongue (lengua), beef cheek (cabeza), and beef intestines (tripa). We ordered three- al pastor, cabeza, and lengua. I loved the al pastor, which ended up being my dad’s least favorite. We both really liked the beef tongue (lengua) tacos, which had the taste and consistency of pulled pork. My least favorite was the beef cheek, as it was just a little too dry for me.
I have to say, eating tongue was not as gross as I expected.
The first time we went, my mom ordered the barbacoa platter (marinated, shredded beef served with Mexican rice, refried beans, and a small salad), which I really liked, and I don’t usually like beef.
Also, they have amazing refried beans
Ben always gets the enchiladas verdes with chicken because those are his favorite, and I love to steal bites from his plate because they’re so yummy. They’re listed on the menu as “your choice of four enchiladas topped with green sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and queso fresco. Served with choice of salad on top or Mexican rice.” I don’t know what the green sauce is, but it’s delicious. Ben always gets the rice, which is really yummy. Lots of times Mexican rice can be really dry, but the rice at La Norteña is never dry and always very flavorful.
I promise there are enchiladas under all that sauce.
When Ben was visiting with his friends from Auburn, we took them to La Norteña and they each got burritos. The burritos there are huge and they have seemingly endless options on what to put in them. Everything from cheesesteak, to fajita meat, veggies, beans… you can even get a seafood one stuffed with octopus, shrimp, and scallops. They opted for the basic Burrito La Norteña (Made with refried beans, Mexican rice, lettuce, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, and choice of meat filling) and raved about how delicious it was. Forgot to take a picture, so enjoy just screenshot from their menu.
Pixellated burrito!
I usually get the order al pastor (marinated, sliced pork and steak layered and slow-cooked on a rotisserie served with charro beans, sweet onions, cilantro, and soft tortillas). It’s my favorite thing and unlike anything I’ve eaten at other mexican restaurants. The charro beans (Delicious combination of bacon, chipotle sauce, beef franks, Mexican sausage, and onions) are like a Mexican version of beanie weenies, and are surprisingly good.
On my most recent visit, I decided to be more adventurous and get something other than al pastor, so I decided to try enchiladas poblanas (four enchiladas with choice of grilled chicken or steak, topped with poblano sauce and cheese. Served with choice of salad on top or Mexican rice), with chicken. The poblano sauce turned out to be a mole-like sauce (savory chocolate sauce) which was pretty good. My only issue with molé sauce is that I really want to like it, but in reality I usually don’t. This one was good, but I don’t think I’d ever order it again. If you like mole sauce, then I definitely recommend you order this.
I love chocolate, so I don’t understand why I don’t love mole sauce.
We also tried the Sopes once (specially made thick tortillas with your choice of meat with refried beans, tomato, lettuce, sour cream, and fresco cheese) with chicken, and it was good, but kind of strange. It was almost like eating a savory funnel cake.
Obviously I didn’t take this picture.
They also make pretty delicious margaritas. I tried a “Texana margarita” which is made with tequila and grand marnier, so it’s sweeter than your typical margarita. It was really good and they definitely give you your money’s worth of liquor.
It’ll get you drunk!
Basically La Norteña is fast becoming one of my favorite restaurants in Charleston. Even if I do have to drive all the way out to North Charleston to get there. Plus they have really awesome live music on Friday nights, and they have a special loyalty card where you buy 6 meals and your 7th one is free. How can you beat that?
Thank you Google Maps for being so creepy.
La Norteña
6275 Rivers Ave
North Charleston, SC 29406
(843) 225-7055
Kind of busy this week, so let’s just get right to it. This week’s quote comes from cartoonist Walt Kelly.
“Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing.”
–Walt Kelly
This is how I’m feeling today, too.
When visiting Washington DC from Charleston, SC, the first thing any true Southerner starts to miss is sweet tea. Even southern transplants like Lauren find themselves craving that sweet nectar that, for some reason, is only found in the south. Asking for sweet tea and receiving a glass of unsweetened tea and a packet of Sweet’n Low, just isn’t the same. Not by a long shot. Which is why Lauren decided to we needed to eat brunch at Eatonville, because they have “homemade sweet tea” on the menu.
We love sweet tea so much we infuse it in our liquor. That’s dedication.
I was worried that they were going to try to cater their sweet tea to more northern palates, but they surprised me by actually having legitimate southern-style sweet tea. It was delicious. Plus it came in mason jars with plenty of ice, which for a moment made me forget I was in DC. Our waiter had personality oozing out of the ears and was hilarious, attentive, and generally just a very fun dude. I wish more waiters were like him. The restaurant itself was also very cool. The whole restaurant is themed around Zora Neale Hurston and is in fact named after her Florida hometown. They have lots of cool murals on the walls, which I quite enjoyed looking at while eating my brunch.
Sorry for the unflattering picture, Sara, but that artwork is just so cool!
We were joined by Lauren’s roommate Ashley and friend Sara (who’s a vegetarian. But a real one, not like Naomi). Sara got the arugula-spinach frittata (sautéed shiitake mushrooms, grape tomatoes, avocado, crumbled feta cheese, basil pesto with a buttermilk biscuit). It actually looked delicious, and I’m assuming it tasted good, too, as Sara definitely did some damage. They do a really good job of identifying vegetarian- and vegan-friendly items on the menu, so this is a good place for herbivores and carnivores alike. Sara also got a mimosa, which she said was especially yummy because they used fresh squeezed orange juice instead of that slop from a carton. The rest of us skipped out on alcohol with brunch because we were recovering from the night before.
This has Christine’s name written all over it.
Lauren stuck with your basic breakfast fare of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a biscuit. She also ordered a side of fried okra, which came unlike I’ve ever seen fried okra before. They cut the okra into strips before breading them and frying them, almost like okra fries. I actually liked them a lot, despite how different they were. Lauren loved them and ate all of it, which is surprising because she doesn’t actually eat real food.
But you can cut basically anything up into strips and fry it and I’d think it was delicious.
Ashley opted for scrambled eggs with cheese (which looked delicious), macaroni and cheese, a bowl of fresh fruit, and a biscuit, which she seemed to enjoy.
Mmm…. Cheeeeesy
I was the only one who didn’t get eggs. I decided to get “The Callahan,” a fried chicken breast on a buttermilk biscuit, covered in jalapeno-sausage gravy, served with a side of mac and cheese. I thought the the mac and cheese was delicious (hooray cavatappi!) and I applaud any restaurant who decides to serve macaroni as a bunch side dish. My only complaint is that I would’ve liked a more detailed description of what cheeses it was made with on the menu. I thought the fried chicken biscuit was delicious; the biscuit was perfectly buttery and flaky and the chicken had just the perfect amount of breading. The jalapeno-sausage gravy was good, although I was a bit thrown off by the fact that it was brown (it’s camouflaged in that picture, blending in with the chicken), but it was still tasty. I do wish they would’ve put more on than the tablespoon I received. I like lots of gravy with my biscuit. I also thought the collard green garnish was a nice touch.
Man, that macaroni looks delicious. I have a problem.
I couldn’t resist the temptation to try their jalapeno-gruyere grits because I’d never had grits with jalapeno before. I think part of me wanted the grits to be bad so I could hold onto some shred of superiority, but I was sorely disappointed, when they turned out to be de-freaking-licious. They came out after we’d all pretty much finished eating, and although Lauren had been complaining of being “stuffed” only moments before, she miraculously regained some of her appetite after one spoonful of grits. They were that good.
Gosh, I love grits.
I didn’t expect to get good southern food at a restaurant in DC, but Eatonville pleasantly surprised me. Whether you’re a seasoned Southern cuisine connoisseur or have no idea what “grits” are, I’m confident you’ll have a positive and memorable experience.
I love that font / logo. #Nerd
Eatonville
2121 14th St NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 332-9672
