Bachi Grill

Haven't posted in a while because I was in Connecticut for an ice hockey tournament, but here is a meal I ate while I was gone at Bachi Grill in Cromwell, Connecticut.

Started off the meal with bread, and olive oil with spices and a garlic clove. It was really good, the bread had like some cheese baked into it. Super tasty. 

Then I had some caesar salad, which was good, it had a different dressing, but it was still really good. 

I got broccoli rabe and chicken sausage with tomatoes and penne pasta. It was alright. It looked fresh, but the problem with it was that it lacked any real seasoning. It didn't even have enough salt or pepper. 

Someone I was dining with had the puttanesca, and it was a lot better than mine. It actually had flavor, and good flavor at that.

This place was alright, but certainly not one of my favorites. When the highlight of the meal is the bread, and the salad instead of the entree, you know something isn't right. 

Two - two and a half stars.

Holiday Dinner

Home made

I decided that I would like to try and make a somewhat traditional holiday meal, similar to what we usually eat at Thanksgiving and Christmas. For my holiday menu, I decided on: Roasted Herb Butter Turkey, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Caramelized Onion Cornbread Dressing, Green Beans with Red Onion and Lemon, and for dessert sugar cookies, and my friend made individual Strawberry Shortcakes.

Here is the table we ate, decorated for Christmas.

The turkey in the beginning, just covered in herb butter. Instead of putting stuffing inside the turkey, I stuffed it with herbs, onions, and lemon. It is in a roasting pan on top of celery, carrots, and onions which helped make some nice drippings for a good gravy.

Here's the turkey after it came out of the oven. To the left are some sugar cookies courtesy of Meaghan Schaible.

Here is what a full plate looked like:

Some turkey, green beans, crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

Some sugar cookies I made. They weren't expertly decorated, but they were still pretty good. 

Strawberry Shortcake

Overall, I thought it was a success. I'm not usually a big fan of turkey, but the recipe I used helped make a juicy turkey, which was nice, as opposed to the usual dry almost cat food like taste. The herb butter also helped make the skin super crispy. The mashed potatoes were good too, although I don't think I would add as much butter or cream as it seemed a bit too rich for me. However, someone else said they would have liked more butter, so it could have gone either way. I am used to a more traditional bread stuffing, so to try cornbread stuffing was a different experience, but I ended up liking it. The caramelized onions made it even better. The green beans were good. The red onions with them were not as good as I would have liked. I cut them the day before to prep, but I think in doing so, they let out a lot of moisture, so they just didn't get as crisp as I would have liked. The strawberry shortcake was also good, but by then I was just too full to eat anymore. The sugar cookies, especially the ones made by Meaghan were great. 

Four stars

If you would like any of the recipes I used for this meal, feel free to leave a comment, or send me an email at kayla@kaylademint.com

Mexican Food

Ranchito Tacos Al Carbon at the Lincoln Plaza in Riverside, California.

Mexican food is definitely my favorite food of all time. Sometimes, I just need some good tacos. Ranchitos Tacos Al Corbon is perfect. It's in the Lincoln Plaza near my house, tucked away in the side of the center. It's also next to the Drive In/Swap Meet. It is delicious! This place is a real hidden gem. 

(Pictured Above) Three Carne Asada tacos on Corn tortillas, with mild salsa. Plus black beans, and rice. Simple, but so good. This place just hits the spot.

Four stars, easy.

Young Pigeon?

Eaten at Victoria Country Club in Riverside, California.

Yet another meal at the Country Club. The Chef usually has specials for dinner, and I usually end up picking one of them (odd as they may sound). This was no different. 

I had never heard the term "squab before" and I'm almost glad, as it turns out it means a young pigeon. You know those things in the park that poop on the benches everywhere, yep, that's them.

Anyway, pictured above is boar with ju, and a squab lasagna with a dehydrated tomato on top. The boar was excellent, moist, juicy, and cooked perfectly. However, the lasagna was nasty. The squab basically tasted like ... blah ... that's the only word that really describes it. It doesn't have a very overwhelming flavor, it's just kind of there. Mostly it taste like really gross chicken, only plainer. It is a very hard thing to describe.

Certainly not my favorite meal. Hated the squab, liked the boar. Three stars, only because the boar was so good.

Breakfast

Home made.

Haven't had a really good breakfast in a while so thought I would change that today. Basically, simple eggs and bacon. I made a red potato and egg scramble, put it between two pieces of the rosemary olive oil bread (also used in steak sandwiches), then topped it with a fried egg, some crumbled bacon, and a little parsley.

And, yes I eat on paper plates (easy to clean).

It was nice to finally have breakfast again .... Three stars.

Steak Sandwiches

Home made meal.

Had some sirloin the other day, so with the left overs we decided to make steak sandwiches. 

Basically, just grilled up the steak again in some olive oil, added a little more seasoning, and made sandwiches. The bread was a rosemary olive oil loaf that we grilled. We also added caramelized red onions and a sauce I made that was horseradish, fat free mayo, a little fresh and easy ranch, dijon mustard, and a little garlic salt and cracked black pepper. 

Sides were thinly sliced potatoes cooked in olive oil with spices, and topped with some parmesan cheese, and some antipasto salad. 

Overall, it was pretty good, though I wasn't too big of a fan of the meat either night we had it.  

One and a half to two stars, though the other people that ate it liked it much more than I did.

Orzo Scallops

Meal eaten at Yardhouse in Riverside, California.

Seared sea scallops over orzo pasta with sun-dried tomato pesto, shiitake, oyster and crimini mushrooms with white truffle sauce.

This was delicious. It was the perfect balance. The scallops were well cooked, and the orzo pasta was great. It had tons of flavor, and I loved the different mushrooms.

Five stars.

Skirt Steak and Potatoes

Meal eaten at Pasta Pomodoro in Corona, California

This meal started off with bread, and basil mixed olive oil. It was almost a pesto, but I don't think they put any garlic in it, or mixed it. Still, it was tasty.

My main dish was Skirt Steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce. It came with a side of roasted rosemary and garlic potatoes with basil in them. It was absolutely delicious. The skirt steak was tender, and well seasoned, and the potatoes had tons of flavor.

(The reason the plate looks kind of empty and the presentation looks a little lack luster is because I forgot to take a picture and ate a little first!) 

This was a great meal, and for a great price! I really recommend the restaurant.

Four and a half stars

Swordfish Confit

Swordfish Confit eaten at Victoria Club in Riverside, California

This meal started off with a not so familiar shrimp cocktail (seen above). Unlike the usual glass with the cocktail sauce inside, and the shrimp hanging around the edge, this came in a round tube, with three different items. 

On the left, is a shrimp ceviche, which I personally found very delicious. It was slightly spicy, but altogether, very nice. In the middle is an avocado salad, that has some watermelon in it, and which I thoroughly disliked. It tasted ... weird. On the right is the more similar, huge piece of shrimp with cocktail sauce.

After the appetizer, I had a green salad with ranch dressing on the side, with rolls. 

After that was the main event, the star of the show:

Swordfish Confit, served over spaghetti squash in a vinaigrette, topped with watercress, and served with three types of potatoes.

Overall, pretty decent. Not my favorite piece of fish, but the potatoes were absolutely delicious. I did not care much for the spaghetti squash either. 

Three Stars.

Surf, Turf, and Air

"Surf, Turf, and Air." Eaten at Victoria Club in Riverside, California.

Started off with an appetizer (unfortunately I did not take a picture), followed by Caesar Salad, rolls, and then the main event:

On the left is lobster sausages over capers in sauce, in the middle is a filet of beef over "green" mashed potatoes (pretty sure they were mixed with a pesto), and topped with crusty bread and sauce, and on the right is fried quail.

Five stars. This was one of my favorite meals I've ever eaten.