On our second night in Saigon, my parents met up with some of their old local friends for dinner. I went along with them (not that I wanted to roam around by myself or anything!) so they could “show me off” and all that fun Asian business.

Name of the restaurant we went to:

I ordered a guava drink (no ice)… I love the dry tart-y taste of guavas, especially one freshly mixed!

Some pickled vegetables and a carrot heart:

Summer rolls:

Condiments (habanero peppers, fish sauce, soy sauce):

I didn’t take too many photos at this dinner because I was totally jetlagged and was not quite in the mood to snap away.

After walking around Saigon further, we stopped at a fastfood pho restaurant. Pho is basically THE food of Vietnam! I think this pho joint was called “Pho 24″ or something similar. It was just okay — just think of eating a burger at McDonald’s versus grilling your own. We mainly stopped here because they are a relatively clean chain. It was too risky to eat at the more yummier (but likely more germy) food peddlers.

For a drink, I got carrot juice. No ice, because I didn’t want to drink local tap water.

Last year (July 2008), I took a trip to Vietnam for two weeks and never posted any pictures online. Well, from my 800+ photos, there were a ton of food photos too… so I thought it’d be pretty awesome if I shared them here. I’ll spread them in short little posts throughout the next couple of weeks!

Let me start off first by saying that the food in Vietnam was AMAZING. I already love homecooked Vietnamese food *here* in the states, so to eat everything freshly made in my homeland was an amazing experience.

On our first full day in Saigon, my parents, cousin, and I walked through the city and stopped by a side cafe for some drinks and dessert. Here is my young coconut drink:

It was super sweet and the thick succulent flesh inside was just ready to be scooped out for consumption. DIVINE! When I got back to the states, I discovered that a few local stores (Wholefoods, Waldbaums) did sell imported young coconuts. We’ve bought a bunch of them to satisfy my craving… but they were never quite as good as a fresh coconut that had just fallen a day before.

At the same cafe, I had durian flavored ice cream. Hehehe, the most lethal smelling fruit ever… and I gobbled it up like crazy. It is SUPER hard finding durian anything here because of its stench, but in Vietnam.. I was in durian heaven.

The ice cream was so creamy and the flavor was intense! Mmm! Definitely not something you’d ever see at your local ice cream shop in the US!

Part of a Memorial Day mini-cookout that we had… these are ‘Casino Clams’ from Wild By Nature (an organic/health food store similar to WholeFoods).

I heated them up for 20 minutes in the oven and then served with lemon wedges. They were pretty decent for being store-bought. Also, the spices included cayenne pepper which gave a nice little kick!

Dessert last night were strawberries and cool whip! And a glass of Zinfinadel =)

Going home tonight, I had a craving for Ralph’s Italian Ices so here’s a photo of my Toasted Marshmallow icee. I normally choose the pistachio flavored icee but decided to deviate tonight. Unfortunately, it was just a bit too sweet for my liking. It did have yummy bits of toasted marshmallows that tasted good.

To kick off the Memorial Day weekend, we put a couple of New York strips on the grill. I think it’s awesome that for under $20 (total!), we are serving ourselves a great meal that would’ve likely been $100+ at a restaurant.

Up close shot of my plate… so much food! I couldn’t finish the steak at all :) That is a slice of natural aged extra sharp cheddar cheese atop the mashed potatoes.

A view of the medium-rareness — my favorite!

I love to nibble on artichoke leaves…but of course, the best part is the artichoke heart <3

So after a weekend of snacking on not so-healthy foods, I was soooo ready this morning to eat healthy again. Since I’m working overnight Tuesday going into Wednesday, it would be difficult to count points via Weight Watchers…. so I’m doing the Core plan (which is pretty much just healthy clean eating in moderation). Anyway, I wanted to keep a true pictorial track of what I was consuming today. And voila… below is everything that I ate today:

My happy face egg (yes, I love black pepper!) + canadian bacon:

Out of nowhere yesterday, I had a sudden craving for grapefruit so after my gym class this morning, I stopped by Waldbaum’s and picked up a bagful! It’s been years since I last had a grapefruit! Actually, I absolutely hated grapefruits with quite a passion during my childhood because my parents would just serve it like orange wedges. The unsweetened bitter taste put me off for years to come. It was not until post-college that I tried it with sugar and gosh, twas like eating a completely different fruit!

I had breakfast for lunch…mostly because someone (cough*family*cough) ate the sauteed chicken breasts I had put in the fridge. This is just grits w/ ground garlic + parlsey + scallions and an eggwhite omelette. (I am desperately trying to use up my container of eggwhites since it’s past the “Use within 7 days of opening” date… going on day 11 or so now!)

Before I left for shopping, I had a small bowl of bing cherries. They were firm and sweet!

Post shopping trip, I ate a ripe Haas avocado and drank a cup of light soy milk. Took Jackie’s suggestion and sprinkled salt + pepper on my avocado instead of the usual splenda. Wow, never ever thought of that combination before… but it works. Definitely more of a savory taste!

For dinner, I had a bowl of turkey chili. Earlier this afternoon, I decided to just “wing” a recipe together and only go by my own tastings. It turned out pretty decent! It was a mass conglomeration of 93% ground turkey, diced red & yellow onions, green & red bell peppers, celery, garlic, 3 cans of red kidney beans, 2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce, a few slices of canned jalapenos and loads of spices (chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic, salt&pepper).

And to end the night, 94% ff popcorn and raspberries while watching the season finale of Gossip Girl…yay, Chuck Bass!

I am a HUGE fan of Pioneer Woman’s cooking blog. Her food pictures coupled with mouth watering commentary always leaves me drooling. But seldom (if ever) had I tried one of her recipes because it was just too high in fat/carbs and tempting-to-over-eat for me.

But last night, I figured I’d give her spicy mac & cheese recipe a go. We were getting hungry after our 22 mile bike ride and had no other ideas for dinner.

I followed the recipe almost perfectly, except I did add a bit more macaroni noodles (approx 1-2c more ….thought we might have additional guests). The overall result: tad disappointing. It was good and definitely had a little spice factor to it. But the taste didn’t quite come up to par with what we were expecting it to be. The first taste test was almost a bit bland. I had to toss in quite a bit more salt & pepper.

Also, the printable recipe version didn’t include the jalapenos in the ingredient list! So we did not buy those at the grocery store when food shopping for the recipe. It’s still partially my fault though because had I not just skimmed the entry prior to leaving, I would have noticed that Ree had included pictures of her de-seeding fresh jalapenos. And the later instructions in the printable version did mention jalapenos… but …it wasn’t in the ingredient list! =P

We served the mac & cheese with pounded thin chicken breasts that had been simply sauteed with EVOO in a pan.

Maybe the leftovers will have more of a taste!

By the way, this does not turn me off to Ree nor her recipes at all. I’m sure it was a fluke on my cooking side. The missing jalapeno? The addition of extra pasta?

Dinner last night was petite sirlion steaks and sweet corn cooked on the grill. We rubbed the steaks with EVOO and McCormick’s Montreal Steak seasoning.

Steaks, pre-grill:

Sweet corn in the husk:

On the grill:

Right off the grill:

My plate (with all of the juices after cutting through it to test level of doneness):

Turtle’s plate:

Mine came out perfectly medium, which was awesome since last week’s steak grill didn’t work out so well in my favor! My favorite part of the meal was the sweet corn though. It was sweet, juicy, and crunchy from the grill!

My only complaint was that the dinner was just too filling. The cuts of steaks were too big!

Sauteeing thinly sliced chicken breasts + peal onions in the pan:

It’s a basic rub of sea salt + pepper. I cooked the breasts with some EVOO and a squeeze of lemon juice. Very simple and delicious!

After a famishing 16 mile bike ride last Sunday, we went to Albert’s in Ronkonkoma for a few slices of pizza. Albert’s is best known for their upside down pizza, which is basically is a square slice with cheese on the bottom, and sauce on the top!

But first up, their regular slice:

They definitely did not skimp on the cheese topping, which was quite nice. Who doesn’t love extra cheese?? The crust was also slightly thicker than all the other pizzerias we’ve tried recently. It’s a bit more Greek-style, which I do enjoy. I’ve come to realize that I prefer a slightly thick crust in NY style pizzas.

Next up…..The Sciclian slice was pretty standard. Thick, cheesy, and yum:

Nothing bad, but nothing beyond extraordinary about it either. It was simply good.

Now featuring Albert’s upside down pizza:

It was not as thick as a Sciclian, which was good because I find it difficult to eat such a big slice sometimes. The crust was slightly crunchier than the other two slices, which gave a good bite. The sauce topping was superb, not too sweet and just with the right amount of herbs. Overall, very tasty and I can see why they are known for it.

Apparently there are other Albert’s locations on Long Island… must check them out in the future!

And don’t worry, I didn’t eat all 3 slices. It was shared =)

Albert’s
601 Portion Rd Ste 9
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779

Breakfast this morning….

Eggwhite omelette w/ canadian bacon (not visible) and blueberries on the side.

Anddddd…. a small serving of grits! I cooked them with a bit of ground garlic + parsley + salt…yummy! It doesn’t seem like many people (at least in this area) like grits that much, but I sure do!

Tonight’s dinner was Cod. I dipped the filets in eggwhites, lightly covered them with a mixture of breadcrumbs + cayenne pepper + red pepper flakes + salt&pepper, then pan fried with EVOO + lemon juice. Simple but yummy.

Served with a side of steamed veggies, twas a pretty healthy dinner. The cod was flaky and had a nice buttery taste to it. Yummy!

After a week of eating chicken for most lunches & dinners, I was craving some beef. We decided to spoil ourselves with some pricier cuts of steak from the grocery store and got thick T-bone cuts. For sides, I decided to try grilling asparagus.

Never having grilled asparagus before, I googled around for tips and found that most websites suggested using skewers to make it easier for flipping.

Pre-grilling:

We sprinkled EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) + salt + pepper for seasoning.

Post-grilling:

The skewers were definitely a big help! It was so easy flipping them over on the grill. We cooked each side for approx 4 minutes before turning them over. And they were super yummy! The asparagus had a slight sweet taste which I thought was fantastic.

Now featuring the stars of the meal… the steaks! We did another simple rub of EVOO + salt + pepper before putting them on the grill.

My plate:

Turtle’s plate:

Yes, he likes his extra charred! Mine came out well done too, though I usually prefer medium-rare. It was still pretty delicious though because of the good cut of meat.

Accompanying the meal, a glass of Chateau Diana’s Zinfandel:

It is a relatively inexpensive brand… and can be found in most local grocery stores (Waldbaum’s, Stop & Shop and even 7-11). I like them a lot because their wines are more of a sweet fruity taste.

And to round off the meal, some yummy firm + sweet strawberries for dessert.

This was such an awesome dinner! I enjoyed it a lot because it was home-cooked but still had all the great flavors of going to a steakhouse. Except I got to sit around in my pajama pants while eating :P