Chicken & Sausage with Lemon 10/28/07

I was invited to dinner again; this table at my host family is now so familiar and yet looks different with a little change of napkins or stuff in the middle. Lizz and I were so hungry that the wonderful smell of chicken upon opening the door almost bewildered us.


Salad with Rick's dressing! So Lizz likes salad nearly soaked in dressing while Linnea likes is super light. Rick and I are somewhat in the middle, I should say. I liked the dressing but Lizz thought the dressing was perhaps a little lost because of the amount of cheese sprinkled on top.

Chicken, Italian Sausage, red skin potatoes, onions, lemon and sage!

I kept taking pictures because the dish looked simply gorgeous.

I love how the sausage, stronger in its taste, goes well with the potatoes while the more natural tasting chicken. The sauce is light and lemony but has the saucy texture that adds to the roasted chicken. As I don't enjoy simple roasted chicken as much as many others do, this kind of addition was great. I loved this dish.


Linnea made a turnover pear tart. I was never a big fan of pear for some reason, so I prefered the apple tarte tatin. However the nuts in the tart was good and Rick and I wondered how the apple tart may taste with nuts.

Miyako @ Great Lakes Crossing 10/28/07

Lizz, Linna and I went to Miyako in Great Lakes Crossing around section 7 or so. It has both sushi and japanese style steak. I have been to this place several times and was pretty satisfied.


One of the reasons I like this place is because they have a salad dressing I really like. Almost every Japanese restaurant serves this kind of simple lettuce salad, but this one has a slightly different dressing. They also don't overdress it and make it salty. I sometimes-and this time-ask for another bowl of salad.


Linna ordered Akedashi Tofu appetizer that was served with light dipping sauce and a shrimp tempura. I thought the tofu lacked the special texture of the fried coating that it should have, but the tofu itself was soft and nice.


Linna, who does not eat raw fish, simply ordered an avocado roll. Lizz ordered Spider Roll and california roll, and I ordered French Roll and two pieces of amaebi(sweet shrimp) nigiri.


Though I am not a big fan of sushi, there are three types of nigiri I love to order. One is tamago, the soft egg custard with slightly sweet taste, Unagi(fresh water eel cooked with sauce), and amaebi.


This is my French Roll, though I don't know where the name came from. Its main ingredient is shrimp tempura, coming with crab and cucumber. This was good and so was Lizz's spider roll with soft shell crabs. Well, but I personally think sushi "rolls" that taste bad are such a shame; it is hard to make it taste bad unless you use bad ingredients or smother it with too much rice. Nigiri is different, but rolls, as good and overpriced as it is, are pretty easy to make.



Lizz ordered a cheesecake for dessert. I thought it was interesting how it has those little umbrella-like pick presentation. The cheesecake was soso but pretty rich.


Linna got a redbean mochi icecream. Though I do not like redbeans, this one did not have too strong of a taste and therefore good for both Linna and me.


They always give these cute orange cuts for dessert. This place is mainly a Japanese "Steakhouse" but the sushi is pretty good too, compared to a lot of poor places.

Mountain King: Birmingham, MI 10/26/07

Lizz and I went to Mountain King, a little off from the center of downtown Birmingham, for dinner. I remember myself ordering Kung Pao Chicken the first time I came here and not liking it very much- but there are some I enjoyed later on. Most of the "brown sauce" dish involving starch are good.

Crackers with sauce (sweet and slightly sour)

Won Ton Soup
The broth was good but not very fond of won ton.
I like their egg drop soup better.

Moo Shoo Chicken

Chicken with eggs and lots of veggie, to go with wrappers called "chinese pancakes" and sauce. The pancakes did not have a good texture, rather a little hard, but the dish itself was good. Howe can it go bad when you stir-fry?

Happy Family

Shrimp, Scallops, Beef, Chicken and veggies in brown sauce. This was pretty good. Maybe next time I will try something spicy.

Lily's Seafood: Royal Oak, MI 10/22/07

So four people-Laura, Cassandra, Linna, and myself-went to Lily's Seafood in Royal Oak. The place had cool mobil with fish made of recycled, let's say, metal. The lighting's weren't dim but a little low for a lunch setting perhaps. Because it was a rather late lunch, 2PM, it wasn't very busy.

Huntsman Burger $8.95

Laura ordered a half pound burger with red pepper aoli. It was supposed to served with huntsman cheese, a mix of cheddar and blue, but Laura got it just with cheddar.

Prince Edward Island Steamed Mussels $8.95

Linna and Cassandra both ordered mussels from the starter section, cooked in broth of garlic, shallot, Chardonnay, butter and huntsman cheese. The mussels tasted good and both of them were quite happy with it. They later additionally ordered another from the starter section to fill them up.

Calypso Crab Cakes $9.95

Signing up for the Lily Pad, I received a coupon for a free order of this starter. Crabmeat, minced onion, pablano and red bell peppers and such. It was crispy out soft in, overall good. However I'm not sure if I fully enjoyed honey mustard with it. I personally think crab cakes go better with creamy dressings such as aoili or remoulade. Maybe it could be a creamy type honey mustard.

Daily Special: Gulf Shrimp Linguini $9.99

This was one of today's lunch specials. The spicy tomato basil sauce with chopped andouille sausage, mushrooms and peppers were good, except that it was different from the discription: spicy tomato basil "cream" sauce. I was thinking something similar to "tomato cream." Still the sauce was good and there were enough shrimp to be called "shrimp linguini." My only disappointment is that the linguini was overdone.

Southwest Shrimp in Three Pepper Cream $8.95

So Linna and Cassandra were, of course, not filled up with the mussel starter. So they each ordered one more, and this was Cassandra's choice. The cream sauce with julienne pablano, serrano and jalapeno peppers and marsala wine, was not spicy as it sounded but just had "a spice" to it, which was good. This was probably the best choice of the day.

Pork & Scallop Satays $8.95

Linna's second dish was Satays marinated in giner, garlic, lime, soy, and rosemary. The sweet and spicy peanut sauce went pretty well with it. Both the pork and scallop were cooked nicely, though maybe the scallops were just a little bit fishy.

Originally aiming for a quiet lunch for two, with two unexpected guests the lunch got a lot more colorful than expected. We had a good time, and my only regret would be about the overdone linguini and the misleading discription of the sauce. Perhaps I would have liked flash fried king clips with remoulades better, but I liked the spicy sauce and enjoyed it anyway.

Panera Bread 10/21/07

Again at Panera, where I go pretty often on Sundays. I usually pick up stuff from Target or Krogers in Midtown Square and then sit down to have a late lunch, also taking advantage of Free wireless Internet. I got a Upick2 again, with a side of chips I took back for my roommate.

Turkey Artichoke Panini

I love the spinach artichoke spread.

Asian Sesame Chicken Salad
I like the almond slices and wonton pieces.
The sweet sesame vinaigrette dressing's good too.


* * *

Some of the old pictures I found:

Classic Cafe Salad & Chicken Bacon Dijon Panini

Chicken Noodle Soup & Turkey Artichoke Panini

French Onion Soup & Turkey Caprese Sandwich

Previous Panera:
09/2007

Roast Chicken and "Bayless" Rice 10/21/07

Rick working, or struggling with the chicken

Two small chickens from the local farm! Now that looks more famliar to me. When I first came to United States, I almost thought that American chickens were half-turkey, amazed by the size. Gosh, those tighs! Anyway, I was at my host family's again to have a nice dinner.

Rick Bayless Recipe

This was a rice dish wish peppers such as poblano and cheese. This was very good! As Linnea said, "Rick Bayless never disappoints us." Of course the cheese was good, and I loved the peppers. Just the right spiciness too.

Today's vegetable = Cauliflowers

Roasted Chicken = Simple but always good

The chicken's always good, the cauliflowers were surprisingly good even though I normally don't like them that much, and the rice was a surprise. The cheese was good and I love those peppers with a spicy taste to it!

Linnea's Tarte Tatin = Simply Amazing

This tarte tatin was just amazing. I especially liked the edges of the apples where it turns sticky and extra sugary because of its texture. This is very close to becoming my favorite dessert, while I do not know what is in that place right now.