Update: Connie's

Someone bought the entire key lime pie at Connie's last night, before I arrived. Aw!

But I can't be too disappointed for two reasons:
One- my dinner was great, again.
Two- I get to go back for pie.

Someone needs to give me a bottle of their onion ring dipping sauce. I think it's tarter sauce with mustard mixed in, I'm not sure. But it's damn good. I dipped my tater tots, onion rings and hamburger in it. I also dipped and licked my fingers... but shhh.

This morning, the three of us Tacoma gal transplants are hunting for the best eggs Benedict in town. Now I actually don't like eggs Benedict, so I'm just going along for the ride.

Contenders:
The Rose Cafe
Hotel Murrano
Paddy Coyne's
Alfred's


Back Up:
The Harmon Hub - they don't have eggs Benedict but it's our fail-safe backup

I'll let y'all know where we end up and will keep you posted on whether their eggs Benedict passes muster or not.

(I'm not actually going to eat it - I'll get my usual wheat toast with jam and a side of bacon with syrup... I figure if you mess that up, you don't have the right to still be in business.)

Looking forward to good grubbing in Tacoma!

Connie's Brickhouse! Don't walk, run! (But don't eat all my key lime pie!!!)

Earlier this week we were driving around trying to find a place for this Pregnant Lady to eat after 8 pm on a Tuesday.

I turned down the usual restaurant offerings and was feeling stumped until I browsed through the Entertainment Book for inspiration and spotted a coupone for Connie's Brickhouse. I then recalledTacoma Mamma's glowing review.

See Tacoma Mama's link below:
http://www.tacomamama.com/article.php?story=2008081207090595

We made a beeline for Connie's, armed with our coupon in hand.

It was empty when we arrived and we almost did a backwards trot- an empty restaurant is usually an ominous sign even if it is after 8pm on a weeknight. Still, we took a leap of faith and stayed- I'm so glad we did!

I ordered the most tasty bacon cheeseburger (it came with tater tots which rocked my socks off!) and Kevin ordered a generous bowl of chicken and dumplings. We were equally pleased with our meals. I was sad to learn that they didn't have key lime pie, but we were assured that it would be available again on Friday (today!!).

Both of our meals were definitely budget friendly and fits my idea of good grubbing. You'd probably spend more at Dennys but the food at Connie's is vastly better and quite evocative of home style cooking.

Another thing that thrills me about Connie's is that they're open until 10pm. Thank goodness! I never know when I'm going to be in the mood to eat dinner and recently, I've been eating later than usual.

For all the above reasons and more, we'll be frequenting Connies with well, frequency.

You can check out the restaurant yourself at their website (click on the menu tab):
http://www.conniesbrickhouse.com/

Restaurant Info at a Glance:

Connie's Brickhouse
1213 South 56th Street
253-475-2215

Hours: 4pm to 10 pm each and every day of the week
Food type: Homestyle American Food
Affordability: Prices all under 9 dollars according to Tacoma Mamma and verified by this Pregnant Lady

My Kind of Comfort Food

I first had Mizithra Pasta at Pegasus Pizza in West Seattle many eons ago as a child, except then it was known to me as Greek Spaghetti. I could never figure out what the crumbly white cheese was, but I knew parm didn't come close.

Each bite was a little bit of buttery, garlicky, cheesey heaven for my kiddie taste buds, and it's a dish I haven't outgrown, thankfully.

It's shockingly easy to make, not to mention fast, despite the fact it probably rates up there with many of the all-time heart-attack city foods, it's still one of my favorites.

You'll need 2-4 servings of spaghetti pasta.
5-10 peeled cloves of garlic (adjust according to how much you like garlic)
1/3 stick of butter
1 cup of grated Mizithra cheese

Boil a pot of water for your pasta. I don't suggest salting it because the cheese is plenty salty.
Put your pasta in.

Five minutes before your pasta is finished, make the sauce.

In a frying or saute pan, over medium-high heat, add your butter.

As the butter melts, add your garlic cloves.

Swirl pan around occasionally and watch closely for the butter to turn light brown to a deep amber.

When it is a deep amber, pull from the heat.

I remove the garlic cloves from the pan because I don't want it in my pasta. Kevin puts all the garlic on his pasta

Drain your pasta and toss with the brown butter in the frying pan.

Add your cheese and toss again.

Serve pipping hot.

Foodie Club

I've always wanted to belong to a book of the month club, but there's something in me that rebels against mandatory reading- a holdover from my school days I'm sure. I read plenty on my own, without the pressure or prompting a monthly book club warrants.

Yet I love the idea of getting together with friends at some one's home to experience something communal - a sharing of ideas and opinions.

Expanding my culinary horizons, rather than literary horizons, appeals to me on a much more fundamental level.

Some ideas...

A cookbook of the month club. Everyone purchases the same cookbook, makes one recipe and brings it to the gathering to taste-test and review. Who honestly has time to test out every recipe in a cookbook? I think it would be a fantastic way to expand my cookbook collection and add new dishes to my repertoire.

Cheese of the month club. Each member brings a different representative of the same cheese (brie, blue, etc) and taste/review each specimen. There are so many cheeses out there I'm dying to try, but who honestly has the budget to buy 10 different cheeses just to taste-test? It would be much easier and economical if every one brought a wedge to share. 10 different kinds of blue cheese or even 10 different cheeses from the same cheese maker.

New recipe of the month club. Similar to the above, but instead of being restrained to one cookbook, you can pick a course: appetizers, amuse bouche, ice cream, second course, cookie, cake or secret ingredient (Iron Chef style): basil, vanilla, garlic, squash, or even a theme: French-Polynesian, thanksgiving and so on.

Last Supper Club. This is a fantasy of mine to have a new host each month provide their version of what they would like their last meal to be. It would be a wonderful way to learn about each other and examine food at the spiritual/emotional level.

It's hard to pick just one, isn't it?

Seattle Days, Kent Nights

This week we've moved in with the 'rents while our house is being taken over by floor refinishing crews.

Since we both work in Seattle during the daytime and we'll be heading to Kent each evening... we have a plethora of restaurants to choose from. The money we'll save in gas is going straight to our eating out fund.

On my list:
Lucky Star Chinese for my crab won-ton guilty pleasure. Their plum dipping sauce is out of this world. Lucky Star easily has the best crab ragoons/wontons in the NW and believe me I've sampled more than my share at multiple restaurants up and down I-5.

Godfather's Pizza for the cinnamon dessert pizza. Because I'm pregnant and that's what I want gosh darn it. And Tacoma doesn't have a Godfather's to speak of, woe is me.

Ristorante Isabella's for an encore of their house salad and bread.

Kent Station for the multitude of restaurant offerings. (I'll be sampling Panera Bakery chocolate chip bagels for my lunches this week- thank you very much. )

Kent, you've come a long way baby.

When I get back to my beloved Tacoma-land, I'll start posting some of my favorite Tacoma dinning spots.

Misty Sandwich

Misty had some of us girls over for a slumber party several months ago and she made two of my all-time favorite meals:

1. Chicken-Potato Bake Casserole (elevated by the addition of a Misty-trademark ingredient)
2. Misty Breakfast Sandwich

I've attempted to re-create both but my imitations can't touch the originals made by Misty.

Kevin requests The Misty Sandwich by it's rightful name "Can we have a Misty sandwich for breakfast/dinner?" and I've shared it with a few friends who can also attest to what a stupendous hit this sandwich is.

The Misty Sandwich is really an open-faced bagel sandwich whose ultimate success depends on the careful step-by-step following of instructions. The real trick is to make sure you broil each layer in the oven to ensure every ingredient is thoroughly cooked, melted and piping hot, and the flavors are melded together. Misty insists on this point and frankly after my own test-runs with this recipe, I have to agree.

Ingredients:
1 Asiago Bagel
1/2 avocado
2 large tomato slices
4 strips of bacon
cream cheese
veganaise
cotswold cheese
salt and pepper to taste


Instructions:
Slice your asiago bagel in half
Spread veganaise on each side
Place both halves under the broiler until the veganaise begins to disappear/melt into the bagel
Remove from oven and add cream cheese and repeat the broiler process
Remove from the oven and add tomato slices, avocado - sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then add bacon and cotswold cheese slices.
Place both halves under the broiler until the cheese melts.
Remove from oven and place each bagel half on two plates and serve hot with a knife and fork.

Servings:
2 people

Substitutions and Additions:
You can add a cooked egg if you like, but it doesn't need it
You can substitute ham for bacon
You can substitute cheddar cheese for the cotswold

Thank you Misty!!! Now I need to write out the chicken-potato bake casserole that Misty makes!

Spankin' Blue Cheese Chicken

Another Crystal Creation... Spankin' Good Blue Cheese Chicken.

I'm not actually eating a lot of meat these days, much less chicken. But right now I could really go for some chicken- Deep friend, oven baked, pan fried... it don't matter.

Apparently I CAN eat blue cheese as long as it's pasteurized, but I'm paranoid and have been following the "foods to avoid list" quite seriously. As long as soft cheeses such as blue cheese is on it, I ain't touching it til this baby pops out.

Doesn't mean I can't think about eating it though! Blue cheese + chicken... a very happy marriage.

Spankin' Good Blue Cheese Chicken (created by Crystal) is definitely a good company dinner when you need to impress but don’t have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. It’s also very forgiving if you don’t use exact measurements. It gets raves each time.

● 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
● 1/2 cup of flour
● 2 cups of buttermilk
● 3 Tbs. of butter
● 1/2 Tbs of garlic infused olive oil
● 5 cloves of peeled garlic
● 1 cup of white wine
● 1/2 cup of blue cheese (preferably Gorgonzola)
● Parsley for garnish

Wash and pat dry 4 chicken breasts. Pound flat. Place chicken in bowl with buttermilk and let it marinate for an hour, covered, in the fridge.

In another bowl mix 1/2 cup of flour with seasonings of your preference (paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder). Dredge each chicken through flour mixture. Set aside.

In a frying pan, over medium heat, melt 3 Tbs. of butter and 1 tsp of garlic olive oil. The addition of oil prevents the butter from burning too quickly. When butter and oil begins to sizzle, add chicken breasts quickly. Cook until done, flipping once. Remove chicken from pan and allow to rest.

Immediately de-glaze pan with white wine, scrapping up browned bits. Add five cloves of garlic. Cook garlic just until it softens but doesn't burn and until the alcohol from the wine has cooked off and reduced. Turn down heat and add blue cheese, stirring until sauce is smooth. You may add a splash of buttermilk for added creaminess/richness, but remove the pan from the heat while you do this so the buttermilk doesn't curdle. Plate chicken, cover with sauce and garnish with parsley.