Thai food

Since moving to California, I've really enjoyed the huge variety of food that's available within driving distance.  One cuisine that I've come to like is Thai cuisine.  I love how all their sauces are light (i.e. not greasy) and so flavorful.  One place I go to a lot is Sala Thai - I've tried several of their dishes and enjoyed them all.  Here are some pics from my last visit:

Pra Ram - steamed spinach, broccoli, and string bean topped w/sauteed meat & peanut sauce

PAD SEE EIW - stir-fried flat noodle w/egg, broccoli, and chicken:

I always get a green curry as well and the green curry at Sala Thai is some of the best I've had (sorry, no picture).

I decided on this trip to end my meal with one of their desserts - Sweet sticky rice with mango.  Here's a photo (which doesn't do it justice - it's amazingly good):

Taco Truck

I'm from the midwest and so the idea of buying food from a truck that drives around (or sometimes just stays in one place) seemed a little weird.  When I moved to California though, lots of people touted the virtues of buying food from a truck and so I decided that it was finally time to see what all the fuss was about.  I took a friend who is well-versed in taco tuck food/etiquette and we tried the El Grullense taco truck in the east bay.  Here's a picture of the truck:

I knew we'd chosen wisely when I saw that they sold tongue, tripe and brain so I knew it was authentic even down to the Mexican soda. 

I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to try the tongue (some day) so I went for a carne asade taco and a carnitas (pork) taco, all for $3.50.  The food was made fresh while we waited and smelled amazing.  Here's a picture of my order:

The carne asada had a lot of fat/grizzle but my pork was perfectly tender and seasoned.  When I go back, I'll get the pork and maybe try the tongue.  Needless to say, I'm no longer afraid of taco trucks!

ESIN restaurant

I'm always on the lookout for new places to eat and so when a friend recommended that we try ESIN in Danville, I was up for the trip.  The menu is standard american food but with a twist.  I ordered the Angus Hangar steak with seasoned french fries, blue cheese butter and arugula salad with vinagrette.  Here's a photo:

The meal was very good and my steak was cooked perfectly to a medium rare.  My friend also happens to know one of the pastry chefs at the restaurant so we all tried a little dessert.  I got blueberry bread pudding with caramel and vanilla sauce to go.  Although the bread pudding probably would have been better fresh out of the oven, it was still pretty good.  I'd recommend checking out this restaurant if you're in the Danville area.

Summer Corn Salad

One of the things I love about summer is all the BBQ's I get invited to.  I usually offer to bring a dish and my mother's summer corn salad is always a big hit.  The best part, aside from the taste, is that it's so easy to make.  Here's a picture from the last time I made this salad:

Here's the recipe:

Thea's Summer Corn Salad
1 can black beans, drained
1 can white corn, drained (don't use yellow corn, it's not as sweet as white corn)
1 avocado, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 small red onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Marinade:
3 to 4 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

I usually rinse the beans and corn before I add them to the bowl but it's not required.  I also tend to add more avocado's and less red onion and cilantro since I don't love those flavors.  I'd also recommend making the salad a few hours before serving so that the marinade can really get into the ingredients before you serve it.  I serve mine with a bag of tortilla chips for dipping but the salad is good on its own as a side dish and as a topping for hamburgers.  Enjoy!

Fair Food

I recently had the chance to go to the local county fair and try some fair food, which is really the only reason I can think of to go to a fair.  I started off my eating journey by stopping at Big Bubba's Bad BBQ.  Here's a picture of the BBQ stand:

I had a coupon (who knew there were coupons for a county fair) for a free drink with purchase of a dinner so I split the tri-tip dinner with a friend.  The tri-tip had the telltale smoke ring on the meat so I was expecting great things but I found the meat to be mostly dry and flavorless.

Next I tried deep-fried ravioli.  I've had deep-fried ravioli before but it was breaded and then deep-fried.  This time, the ravioli was not breaded and instead was deep-fried as is, then covered in sauce.  I would have preferred to have had some breading on it but the plain ravioli's weren't so bad.  Here's a picture:

You can barely see the round ravioli under all that sauce and cheese.

Then I moved on to bacon dipped in chocolate.  I'm a fan of the Vosges "Mo's Bacon bar" because the saltiness of the bacon works really well with the sweetness of the chocolate.  So I had high hopes of the bacon dipped in chocolate being a crispy piece of bacon dipped in chocolate, much like the Vosges bar.  Instead, it was cold, tough piece of bacon that was coated with sub-par chocolate.  Needless to say, I took one bite and was done.

After my disappointing interaction with the bacon dipped in chocolate, I shared a funnel cake with a friend, which, as always, was pure sugary goodness.  I was pacing myself though, waiting for the piece de resistance - the reason why I agreed to go to the fair in the first place...

Back in 2001, I had the opportunity to go to the Minnesota state fair, which is the biggest fair I've ever been to in my life.  I tried a lot of fun and interesting things when I was there but the one thing that has always stuck with me was when I tried a deep-fried Snickers for the first time.  It starts off with a frozen snickers bar that is then dipped in sweet batter (sort of like funnel cake batter).  The batter puffs up in the deep fryer and the Snickers bar inside melts into a gooey mess of pure decadence.  Here's a picture before I bit into it:

If you're ever in a place that has deep-fried Snickers, I'd recommend trying it.  The stand I went to also had deep-fried oreos (a friend tried those and gave them a thumbs up), as well as deep-fried peanut butter cups.  I'll be trying the peanut butter cups next time.

Gelato

Next year I will finally fulfill my lifelong dream of going to Italy.  In the meantime, I satisfy my cravings for decent italian food by eating a lot of gelato.  One of my favorite places is Sweet Orchid.  The place is owned by a nice woman named Leslie, who also happens to be the gelato maker.  Every time I go in and she's there, we talk about the newest flavors she's thinking up or has already successfully made and she never disappoints.  My favorite flavor to-date has been her cookies 'n cream flavor but I have to say I now have two new ones.  I went there this past weekend and got creme brulee and red velvet cake flavored gelato.  Here's a picture:

The picture does not do it justice, the flavors were amazingly rich and the gelato was perfectly creamy.  I've never had any ice cream that comes as close to the actual flavor as does Leslie's gelato.  Needless to say, even when I move to the peninsula, I still plan to make regular trips to see Leslie and try her creations.

A little light humor...

A friend of mine sent me this picture and I thought it was funny enough to share on my food blog.

Guess I need to quit my day job and stop studying for the bar exam... :)