Archive for August, 2011

Sully’s Side Bar Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

 

I’m going to make this one short and sweet.

 

gauc

 

THIS is what I want to go back to Sully’s Side Bar for: SMOKEY GUACAMOLE with sweet potato chips (annnnd maybe some tequila too- hehe). They’re salsa was fresh and flavorful as well. Most of the appetizers are vegetarian friendly and can be seen here- Sully’s Side Bar Menu
I love me some Texas beers and Sully’s slings some of my favorites with 512 and LiveOak on tap. Gauc, sweet potato chips, tequila and beer; sounds like the beginning of a great happy hour to me! I await their announcement of their happy hour with baited tequila-longing breath :)

 

Teddy

 

Thrillist Review here
See what the Statesmen has to say here

5 Minute Asian Cucumber Salad Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011

 

cucumber salad

 

I’ve had quite a few pickling cucumbers in my produce boxes from my Sunday farmers market and while I LOVE dipping them in hummus, I will NEVER turn down a good cucumber salad. This cucumber salad does not use any vinegar. I know that’s probably odd for most people but I like to use salt and muddle my cucumbers instead of dousing them in vinegar. One other note, if you haven’t toasted your own sesame seeds, PLEASE DO. There is such a tremendous different in flavor plus you do toast them in batches so you’re set for a couple of weeks (depending on how much you use). I wish I could do a side by side tasting via this website right now to prove my point. Try it once, you won’t by pretoasted ones ever again. *end rant*

 

The single serving recipe for this cucumber salad is as follows

 

2 small pickling cucumbers (you can use larger ones and increase all the ingredients if you’d like)
4-6 cherry tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon of salt (aka a pinch)
2 inches of daikon radish (can sub. w red radish)
1 teaspoon home toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2-3 Lime leaves (can sub. lime juice about a teaspoon)
Cilantro

 

Grill the tomatoes whole. I grilled them for 3 minutes in a George Foreman grill. You do NOT want them to burst; they should just soften up. This can be done in a frying pan or skillet as well. When they are just about to burst, let them cool a minute and cut them in half. Thinly slice the cucumbers, sprinkle them with salt and muddle them lightly in a mixing bowl. Add in thinly sliced daikon, julienne lime leaves and cilantro, halved cooked tomatoes and the sesame oil. Sprinkle the top with toasted sesame seeds and it’s done.
As with all cucumber salads, the longer it sits the more the flavors marry but I didn’t intend to let this sit at all and that is why I muddled he cucumbers and grilled the tomatoes (so they’d still release their juices). Hence the “5 minute cucumber salad”.

 

Feel free to modify this recipe as you’d please but please, do enjoy!

 

Teddy :)

Thai Flavored Hummus Monday, August 22nd, 2011

thai hummus

 

Thought I’d post a new recipe I made tonight just because I liked it SO much. I recently went to our local Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai market and picked up some Kaffir lime leaves. They are slightly different than regular lime leaves; they’re more potent and I LOVE them. This dish was my take on a Thai version of hummus. Now, I HIGHLY doubt this would ever exist in Thailand BUT it utilizes some signature Thai flavors/ingredients that most people adore.

 

Thai Flavored Hummus

 

1 1/2- 2 cups of garbanzo/chickpeas
1 Heaping Tablespoon all natural peanut butter (literally nothing but peanuts ground up; no salt, nothing)
1 Hot hatch chili (you can use any chili you’re comfortable with for spice. Hatch are abundant here now)
3-5 Lime leaves (if you’re using Kaffir only 2 are needed)
water (about 1/4 cup)

 

Add all ingredients except water into a food processor and blend adding water until you get to a thick hummus consistency. Done. Easy, peasy lemon squeezey.

 

I know it sounds odd but trust me, it’s worth a shot.

 

Teddy B

What I ate 8/8-8/14/2011 Sunday, August 14th, 2011

This week every day started with either an orange/ginger/almond milk/banana shake OR a breakfast taco from taco shack.

 

photo (1)

 

Shake in my beloved (512) TWO glass from their 2nd anniversary.

 

photo (2)

 

Taco Shack- Potato Egg Cheese taco with both their red and green salsas

 

Monday Lunch
No photo but I had fried tofu with a orange ginger soy sauce, brown rice and sauteed kale

 

Tuesday Lunch

 

photo (3)

 

Pumpkin Sage Macaroni

 

Wednesday/Thursday Lunch

 

photo (7)

 

A Chipotle Pinto lasagna (use corn tortillas instead of pasta)

 

Friday Lunch

 

photo (5)

 

I like to go out on fridays (or at least once a week) to get out of the office for a bit. This week I went to Lucky’s Puccias. They have amazing sandwiches on homemade bread using olive oil from the owners olive trees in Italy (forgetaboutit bc it’s SO good)

 

Friday night means Happy hour for me and I like to try new spots as often as possible. This week was HUGO’s. While the tequila selection was massive and the food looked good, it all seemed a bit pricier than I was used it for happy hour. They didn’t have an actual happy hour menu so you had to ask what was on special. I’m not even sure if there were any specials on food. The margarita I ordered was good and not too sweet (tho it was a different price than the website says). I’m glad I got to try some great tequila but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back for happy hour. There was nothing BAD at all. In fact, it was all pretty tasty. I just think that since there are places like la condessa in town, this place doesn’t compare. I suppose go here if you’re interested in trying tequilas (they have flights starting at 10 bucks) or if you want to try somewhere that is downtown but has it’s own parking lot.

 

photo (6)

 

Bar action!

 

I’ve not gotten used to taking dinner photos. We’ll how that works next time :)

 

I know no recipes have been included but for now I’m just happy to post again. If you want recipes feel free to let me know, I’ll probably start posting them again soon.

 

Teddy