February 9, 2010

Flavor of India

Posted by Ameena under Food, Restaurants | Tags: , , |
[3] Comments 

Maya has been staying with my in-laws since Sunday and the house has been…quiet.  Honestly, I feel like my left arm is missing.  When she’s around all I want her to do is stop asking me questions.  And then when she’s gone I wonder why nobody is asking me questions?  There were certainly benefits to her sleepover though - I didn’t mind the break from having to provide her with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus snacks every 2 hours.  It was also quite liberating to get through a whole day without having to say, “If you are hungry you can have a fruit or a vegetable.  If you don’t want a fruit or a vegetable than I guess you aren’t hungry enough.”   

Since we rarely have a chance to eat out without Maya, Ali and I decided to hit the town last night.  And on a Monday no less!  I almost can’t get over how daring we are.  After much debate we decided to embrace our new adventurous personalities and we hit up an Indian restaurant we’d never been to - Flavor of India.   

  

Located in West Hollywood, Flavor of India is directly off Santa Monica Blvd. We couldn’t believe how much traffic there was on a Monday night at 7pm…I guess we are the only boring people who consider eating out on a Monday night unusual.  

Despite a nearly empty parking lot there was an attendant ready to collect $5 for valet parking.  Valet parking in Los Angeles is such a scam!  We decided to save ourselves $5 plus the $2 tip by parking on the street and scored a spot less than 1 minute to the front door of the restaurant.   

The restaurant was very dimly lit (in a good way) and was very pretty with lots of little lights. There weren’t too many people when we arrived but by 8pm the place started getting busy. 

  

I was excited to see Idli’s on the menu and we ordered them as an appetizer.  

A steamed cake made with ground rice and lentils, served with sambar (lentil soup) and coconut chutney.

(Sorry for the dark pictures but we’ve already established that I can’t take a picture to save my life.  Enough said.)  

Idli’s are not only gluten-free but delicious too.  They were easily the best thing I ate last night.  

Since we were already $7 ahead we splurged and ordered a second appetizer - The Murgh Ki Chat which I didn’t eat (chicken) and he didn’t comment on.  He didn’t finish it so it is safe to assume he didn’t particularly care for it.  

Tender pieces of boneless chicken tossed with potatoes, three chutneys and chat masala.

We decided to share the Vegetarian Thali:  

Mixed vegetable sabzi and chana masala with dal, rice, raita, kachumber and naan.

The mixed vegetables were good and Ali liked the naan but we really didn’t eat any of the other stuff.  The chana masala was too spicy and the daal was just strange. 

We also ordered the  Tandoori Fish:  

Mildly marinated salmon, served with onion and tomato.

I thought this was pretty good but we didn’t know the fish would be salmon and Ali doesn’t like salmon.  Usually tandoori fish is swordfish or another white fish, so next time we’ll definitely check before ordering this dish.  Ali ate half a piece and went to town on his trusty carbs instead.  

While the service was excellent, overall Flavor of India was disappointing.  Truthfully it is nearly impossible to find a good Indian restaurant in Los Angeles.  We have tried SO many and either they are overpriced or they have average food. Or both.  I’d much rather save my money and hit up my mom’s place for some decent Indian food.  The only problem?  She lives an hour away so I can’t just hop over when an Aloo Gobi craving strikes.  Until she lives closer I remain on the lookout.  Let me know if you live in Los Angeles and have any suggestions.  

Well I’m off to pick up Maya.  In a few hours, when my patience has diminished I will re-read the first paragraph of this post so I can remember how much I missed her.   

On second thought, maybe I should print this post out, photocopy it, and tape it all over the house.  I have a feeling that I will need a few dozen reminders very shortly.  

 

February 8, 2010

A Homecoming

Posted by Ameena under Fashion, Food, Product Reviews, Recipes | Tags: , , , , , , |
[32] Comments 

My mother-in-law came home yesterday after being gone for several months.  Now that Ali and his sister are older she divides her time between Los Angeles, London, and Pakistan.  We definitely missed her a lot.  Especially Maya.  My daughter would happily move in with my in-laws and spend her days in bed watching cartoons and polishing off the numerous boxes of Godiva my father-in-law showers her with, while my mother-in-law spoon-feeds her toast and scrambled eggs.

Enjoy it Maya because when I pick you up tomorrow?  You’ll be lucky if I can muster enough energy to make you toast and scrambled eggs, never mind feed it to you. 

As I’ve mentioned before, Ali’s mom is amazingly generous and sweet.  Naturally, she came bearing gifts for me from her travels:

Shoes:

Clothes:

An Apron:

And a few other things I didn’t photograph. 

I am always trying to think of ways to thank Ali’s mom for everything she gives/does for us.  Honestly, there isn’t too much we can do except make her things we think she’d like.  So yesterday morning Maya and I woke up bright and early to bake up a batch of muffins. 

Since Ali’s mom is a fan of Stevia (and I am doing everything I can to stop her from eating Splenda), Maya and I decided to try using the NuNaturals Baking Blend that NuNaturals, Inc. was so kind to send me.  We’ve literally made Date Muffins 100 times before and have received SO many compliments and requests for the recipe.  So I was very interested to see if our muffin fans would notice a difference in taste with the Stevia substitute.

Date Muffins

1 3/4 cups of flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat and 3/4 cup white)
2 tablespoons of NuNaturals Baking Blend or sugar
2.5 teaspoons of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of salt
2/3 cup of dates, chopped
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk (I used Almond Milk)
1/3 cup of canola oil

1. In a big bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together and add the dates. Stir, making sure the dates don’t stick together.
2. In a separate bowl combine the egg, milk, and oil. Add to the dry mixture.
3. Stir until just mixed (the more you stir, the less fluffy the muffins become).
4. Grease a muffin tin and divide the mixture among 9 muffin cups (or more if you want smaller muffins. My family likes BIG muffins!)
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

While we waited for Ali’s mom’s flight to arrive, we shopped my muffins around my parent’s house to see what my family thought about them:

  1. My brother is a picky eater. About as picky as me. He chowed down 2 muffins with no problems and no comments about them tasting different.
  2. My mom has been making these muffins for as long as I can remember.  She doesn’t approve of my using whole wheat flour to health-ify her recipe but she didn’t notice I used Stevia in lieu of sugar. You win some, you lose some.
  3. Maya and Ali shared a muffin…they both said they it was good. Maya said it would have been better with chocolate chips instead of dates.  I ignored her.
  4. My mother-in-law had half of one as I begged her to toss all her Splenda away and to use the Stevia I put in her kitchen instead.  I think she was exhausted after her flight and probably didn’t want to listen to a lecture from her ungrateful daughter-in-law so she said she would.  I really hope she does.
  5. My dad is on his second week of The Fat Flush Plan (yay for him!) so he couldn’t eat these, but as a diabetic he uses Stevia and Agave and is pleased with both sugar substitutes.  I promised to make him these when he can eat wheat again.

I obviously couldn’t try the muffins but I did put Stevia on my oatmeal and it tasted pretty good.  Ali and I agreed that it had a bit of an aftertaste though, and unfortunately I got a slight stomach ache the three times I tried Stevia.  Since nobody else complained about this I will just chalk it up to my numerous stomach issues and learn to live without sugar or sugar substitutes.  That aside, I think Stevia is a fabulous sugar substitute when baking, especially for diabetics and those watching their sugar intake, and I will be using it again in the future. 

What are your opinions on sugar substitutes?  Have you had any adverse reactions to them?

 

February 7, 2010

A Night on the Town

Posted by Ameena under Food, Restaurants | Tags: , , , |
[37] Comments 

Ali finally made his way back home yesterday after being on a business trip all week and I was absolutely ready to hand Maya over for a few hours of quality father-daughter time.  Unfortunately, Ali had other plans.

He’s going to flip out when he sees this picture on the internet but after the week I had?  I am not particularly sympathetic.  I’ll spare you the details but let’s just say that Maya and I had numerous disagreements and it is only thanks to Dora the Explorer that we are both alive today.

I really, really needed a break.  So when my brother called me up yesterday and said that he and my dad were headed to BLT Steakhouse and would I like to join them, I nearly jumped for joy.  I think my brother was shocked because he tries to get me to go out with him on a weekly basis and I almost always decline his invitations.  I’m not sure exactly why, but getting dressed up and heading out to a trendy place just seems so overwhelming to me.  Slapping a hat on and wearing sweats to California Pizza Kitchen is usually more my speed.  But yesterday I was all for actually putting on some proper clothes and my contact lenses for a change.

My brother considered our 6:45 reservation time a senior citizens dinner hour.  I considered it nearly bedtime but that is what a 6 year age difference will to do to you.

BLT is located where the famed Le Dome restaurant used to be.  Sorry for the blurry picture…I must have taken this photo 5 times as I stood on Sunset Blvd. looking like a total loser but I just couldn’t get a good shot:

I had better luck with the inside of the restaurant:

The interior was absolutely stunning.  The decor was Asian inspired but the restaurant is a French steakhouse…confusing?  Yes.  But it was lovely anyway. 

The clientele was even more beautiful.  The restaurant was filled with Lauren Conrad/Doug Reinhardt clones with many Chanel clad, gorgeous Asian girls thrown in for good measure.  (I am obsessed with Asian hair by the way.)  We also saw Donald Faison from Scrubs and Clueless.

As we perused our menus the servers brought over chicken pâté and sourdough bread:

And then the biggest, most amazing smelling popovers I’d ever seen:

Of course I couldn’t partake in either of these.  I nearly crumbled, especially when my super supportive brother made several annoying comments about how he can’t wait to get old so he too can’t eat anything.

I forgave him because he was paying for my outrageously expensive dinner.  I promised him I wouldn’t say anything in my post about the fact he is single and 27.  So I won’t.

I ordered the Acacia Honey Marinated Black Cod with a Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette. 

I love cod because of its great texture but it is often overcooked.  Not last night!  This one was absolutely amazing and melted in my mouth. 

My dad and I also shared grilled asparagus and roasted tomatoes:

I tried to ignore the two giant cows sitting on the table, one belonging to my dad and one to my brother:

Looking at the steak bone nearly pushed me over the edge but luckily it was  on the other side of the table so after a while I forgot it was there. 

After dinner the restaurant sent over complimentary chocolate cookies with chocolate lava centers:

You have no idea how hard it was to resist these.  A guaranteed stomach ache and a cup of decaf were the only things that held me back. 

After dinner we went to my brother’s place to chat for a bit and I headed home at 9pm feeling quite refreshed and in a better mood.  I think this is the first time in probably 6 months that I actually enjoyed a dinner on the town without having to deal with Maya’s potty breaks or Ali’s lengthy ordering process.

As an aside, I told Ali that he is free to do a guest post on some of my irritating habits since I publish his for all the world to see.  His comeback?

It will need to be a series of posts.

Could my sarcasm finally be rubbing off on him after nearly 10 years of marriage?

 

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