Another post about brunch. It was really good, I swear

The other night, Sarah and I went out to this awesome club and had an amazing time dancing our asses off and fending off creepy advances from guys. I don't know about you people, but to me, the only thing that can top off an amazing night out is a fantastic meal, (preferably brunch) the next day. And that's exactly what we did! After somehow making it home, we set our alarms for 11:30 a.m., and when that lovely hour rolled around, headed down the street towards Thornton's, an awesome breakfast/lunch restaurant across from the Prudential Center.
In case you lovely readers (assuming you actually exist) haven't noticed by now, I have a thing for eggs benedict. To me, it's the perfect choice for brunch-just extravagant enough to make me feel like I'm eating an exotic meal when I'm really not. Maybe it's the hollandaise, I don't know. Anyway, naturally, that's what I ordered.

Doesn't it just look wonderful? I must say, it was pretty good. Not as good as the dish I had at Rickyl's, but for $7.45, who's complaining, right? Totally worth every penny. Anyway, I promise next time I post about brunch I'll order something other than eggs benedict, just to keep things interesting. In fact, to spice things up a little, I'll post a picture of Sarah's "eggs thornton."

Very similar to my own dish, however, this little beast had turkey and sauteed asparagus (great hangover remedy by the way, who knew). She said it was really good, however, I could definitely do without the turkey. I'm not a big turkey fan.
Oh, and I should mention that I had an awesome iced coffee from Thornton's. It was served in a huge glass, so huge that I had to get a to-go cup. No complaints here.

Homemade Asian goodness

Hey guys, sorry I suck and I haven't posted in forrrreverrr, I've been super busy. I wrote this post the other day but it was really late and I didn't think it was a good idea to post it at the time....anyway, here it is now:

Let me start off by saying that my roommate Sarah is a truly fantastic person. She's hilarious, down-to-earth, creative and motivated (I swear I'm not in love with her). Right now, she's drawing a tattoo for me. It's funny because when I asked her if she would, she got all excited and was all, "Oh my god I've been WAITING for you to ask me!" How sweet!

Anyway, to toot Sarah's horn even more, she and her friend made a very spontaneous decision to make sushi today. While I was curled up in bed wasting my life away with mindless Facebook stalking and re-runs of The Office, Sarah was in the kitchen with three of her friends, cooking rice, chopping up veggies and hot dogs, and mixing sauces to make the perfect sushi. Technically, what they made is called "gimbap," which is the Korean form of sushi (because sushi is Japanese, duh). The main difference between gimbap and sushi is gimbap uses canned tuna, minced beef or cooked fish rather than the raw fish associated with eating sushi. Let's just say it was really freaking good.

There are even little hot dogs in there. Sarah told me that when she was little, her mom would make gimbap with hot dogs in it to make it more "americanized," and also because little Sarah really liked hot dogs (haha). As you can see, some of them may look a bit redder than others. That's because the chefs tried the first batch and decided they were too bland, so they made a second batch saturated with sauce. I mean, I thought they all tasted pretty good, but maybe that's because I like to douse everything with a good helping of soy sauce.

One of the girls who helped make the sushi also made bubble tea. I know I haven't posted about this glorious concoction yet, however, let it be known now that I love bubble tea. However, this was the first time I'd ever had hot bubble tea. Usually when I drink it, it's in smoothie form. But this was really good, too.

Not to be cheesy and quote my own blog title, but, yum yum yum nom. Nom.

Max Brenner bummer

Guys, I'm not happy. I just got back from Max Brenner's, which, as all of you faithful readers know, is a restaurant known for its chocolate. The chocolate was fine. It was the dinner that was abysmal.

I ordered the fish tacos, which, I'll admit, is always a risk, especially at a place known for its dessert rather than its regular cuisine. Nevertheless, I felt like ordering the Brenner Burger again would just be redundant, since I'm pretty sure that's what I've ordered as my entree the only other three times I've been to a Max Brenner's. It was definitely time for a change. Anyway, my tacos came, and at first, I was really impressed with the presentation. I'm a little grossed out now but I'll post the picture anyway:

First of all, how on god's green earth is one supposed to successfully eat these tacos without dropping their contents all over one's lap? I mean, really, dressing-coated veggies are spilling out of these things, not to mention the fact that they're served on a slab of wood that leaves absolutely no room for a mess, let alone a fork and a knife.
It would also be nice if these fish tacos contained more than four or five popper-sized pieces of fish each. I literally had to dig through the sea of stringed onions, peppers and chunks of avocado in order to get to the damn fish. It should not be that difficult to find fish in a fish taco. So, that was also frustrating. But I think the most frustrating thing of all was that the tacos literally tasted like they had been taken out of the freezer minutes before, wrapped up in a paper towel and heated up for three and a half to five minutes. Which they probably were. But oh, my, god. The tortillas were so thin they couldn't have supported a damn feather. Like, for $12.95? Not worth it.
At least the dessert was good :)

See that chocolate pizza? That's right, that's a mountain of marshmallows and a sea of peanut butter. Look at it. Smell it. Oh, I'm sorry, you can't? That's because you didn't get to eat it. Wah.

The usual a.m. extravagance

If you ask someone who loves food as much as I do what their favorite meal of the day is, you'll probably get a very jumbled-up answer. How can I talk about a juicy steak smothered in A1 sauce for dinner as if it is even in the same category as a huge stack of fluffy pancakes? That's why I prefer the question of what my favorite weekly meal is. The answer is simple. BRUNCH!

Eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, muffins, french toast and fresh fruit, all combined with the addition of a fruity alcoholic beverage as something deemed socially acceptable at an early hour make for what I think is the perfect way to cap off a stressful week. There are so many good brunch places in Boston, and I really can't wait to try out more of them. The only thing is, eating out in the city can get really expensive, especially for us unemployed student types. That's why I was so excited when my dad told us we were going out to brunch at Rickyl's, a restaurant not too far from my house in Brookfield, Ct, for Mother's Day, right before I had to return to school. Awesome, it's brunch AND it's free!

I figured, since I'm with the fam, I might as well go all out. I started off by ordering my usual morning array of drinks - water, cranberry juice AND coffee (the ladder of which I guzzled through like it was my last cup EVER - had to get about four refills). The waitress brought over our beverages, and I thought it was cute how the waters were served in jug-like glasses. Too cute to not photograph:

I was amused by the variety of colors in front of me for quite a few minutes. I'm often amused by pretty, shiny and colorful things. That's why when my eggs benedict arrived, it took me a couple of minutes to break in just because of their sheer beauty:

If you know me at all (or if you've gotten the feeling by reading my blog so far), you know that in order to please me, food needs to be more than just pretty (but I prefer when it's both pretty and delicious). These lovelies definitely brought their A-game. The hollandaise was very good-as creamy and flavorful as it should be. The potatoes were firm but totally still cooked, and seasoned to perfection. The eggs were good as well, although I wished they were a little less runny. I like my eggs firmer, but that's just me. Overall, quite satisfied. I will definitely have a post on my favorite brunch places sometime in the very near future. 

There is Hope!

I'm sitting at my kitchen table eating Nutella with a spoon. Forget the fact that I have dinner reservations at Max Brenner's in two hours for my roommate's birthday, I need my fix and nothing will stop me from getting it. Nutella has been quite a hot item in my life recently, especially these past few days. Two of my roommates, Sarah (the birthday girl) and Hope, each have their own jar. We demolished Sarah's jar on Sunday night after a delicious (if I do say so myself) dinner of chicken teriyaki stir-fry - we literally just passed it around in a circle and then all dug out gobs of chocolate hazelnut goodness with our respective spoons. Jordan, our other roommate who, ironically enough, is also president of the food club at our school, gave me the idea of mixing it with Greek yogurt. The result was tangy, chocolate-y goodness.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no better comfort snack than Nutella. It's pure, thick, creamy chocolate - honestly, how much better can it get? There's something soothing about its presence. When a group of girls is in possession of a jar of Nutella, it somehow bonds them together. It's similar, in a way, to being on the same cycle. We can all laugh about how fat we're being and the utter ridiculousness and childishness of licking chocolate off of a spoon. We don't care about sharing saliva or germs - we just want the damn chocolate.

And who (or what) else is going to be there for you in your last moment of desperation? Picture this: you're in class from 8 a.m. till 1 p.m. You then go to your after school job at a homeless shelter till around 4 p.m. Immediately after, you go to your supplementary job at a local bar from around 5 p.m. till 3 a.m. Sound crazy? This is the almost daily life of my roommate Hope. Girl's crazy, I'm not so sure when she has time to do her homework! Anyway, what's better than coming home at 3 in the morning to a jar of Nutella, a loaf a bread, and a note saying something like "you're crazy, take a break and have some Nutella!"? Probably nothing. So, Sarah, being the kind-hearted individual that she is, did this for Hope, who was more than thrilled to be greeted by this lovely sight after a night of getting hit on and chased down by crazy old men.

When no one else is there for you, Nutella always will be :) I bet if I continue living by that philosophy, I'll be doomed to a very lonely life plagued by obesity and diabetes. See you at the clinic!

This is what happens when you put the Finaldis at a dinner table

I think one of the reasons I love food so much is because when I was growing up, there was always so much of it. The question "will I sit down with my family for dinner tonight?" never crossed my mind as a kid. Every night, my mother would have some kind of huge meal prepared for us. She's a really good cook who made even brussels sprouts appealing at one point in my childhood. She would even cook us breakfast before school and read off the calendar of school cafeteria lunch offerings the night before. She was also really strict and a bit overbearing at times, but that's besides the point here. 

Point is, my family can really appreciate a good meal. That's why my father insisted on taking all of us to Max's Oyster Bar for mother's day dinner. Located in the downtown area of West Hartford, Max's is known for its awesome seafood dishes and raw bar, so, naturally, I ordered the steak (c'mon people, you know how it is...it was calling my name), but not before my dad put in an order for a clam pizza appetizer.

My 14 year old sister, who doesn't like clams, was all about this pizza. It was so delicious. The crust was the perfect consistency-not too fluffy, not too firm. It was topped with delicious cheese, tomatoes, herbs and of course chopped up clams. A classier version of Red Lobster's seafood pizza. 

I also ordered a bowl of lobster bisque (I had the choice of soup or salad with my steak). This bisque was alright. It tasted a little burnt-nothing like the rich, creamy bisque served at the Chatham Squire up on the Cape (I'm sure there will be a post about that to follow), but still pretty good. 

My steak came, and although I was already getting full thanks to all the appetizers, I plowed through it so quickly I didn't even take a picture of it. The presentation wasn't too pretty anyway, but the steak was phenomenal. Whenever we go out to a fancy dinner, I just have this need to order a steak. It's like I become some kind of ravenous velociraptor whose irrational desires can only be fulfilled through a piece of big, juicy steak. The only better steak I've had in my life is the steak at CQ's restaurant (also a seafood place, ironically) in Hilton Head, South Carolina. THAT steak cut like butter and melted in my mouth like an ice cube of deliciousness. The day I find a better steak than that one, I may go to church.

Anyway, more on Max's. No Finaldi holiday dinner would be complete without dessert, so we each ordered our own. My brother, who himself is a huge food snob, usually orders creme brulee, but this time he went for a rich chocolate cake that tasted and looked heavenly:

We did a swap, you see, because usually I'm the one who orders chocolate and he orders something fancy. But I ordered the creme brulee. Creme brulee is both delicious and fun to eat. The layer on top is so fragile and crystal-like-I almost don't want to break it. Plus, it looks like art. And the creme itself is always so buttery and yummy. This particular dish included two pretzels that had just been half-dipped in chocolate.

Isn't it beautiful? I had to savor every single little morsel of that mouth-watering dish. Of course, savoring can't last forever...

......my work here is done.

Might as well go all out

I recently went to visit a friend for her spring weekend at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. Although it's an adorable town, Geneva isn't exactly known for its cuisine. We spent most of the weekend eating bread and cheese from a nearby grocery store called Wegmans, which I've only seen in Geneva and Allentown, Pennsylvania. On our last night there, we made a trip to the nearby Cold Stone, which shared a building with Tim Horton's. Since I was already on bread/cheese/tortilla chips/salsa overload, I figured I'd top off the world's most unhealthy weekend with the biggest, most satisfying treat Cold Stone could muster. You know what they say, the diet always starts tomorrow!

This lovely creation was a limited edition fried dough ice cream concoction that took eight minutes to bake (four to preheat the oven, four to cook...so much for "fried" dough). Although it looks awfully pretty, the strawberries were obviously thawed and still kind of frozen, and the whipped cream was cool whip. However, you can't go wrong with a giant scoop of Cold Stone's French vanilla ice cream on top of a piece of fried dough. It makes sense that my very unhealthy weekend ended with this average dessert. It sure looks pretty though, doesn't it?

My cannoli complex

Cannolis are probably my favorite pastry in the entire world. My grandfather would make a special trip to a bakery in downtown Waterbury just to pick them up for me pretty much every time we got together (which was a lot). Living in Boston has really opened my eyes to the different kinds of cannolis the world has to offer. Mike's Pastry on Hanover Street has everything from yellow cream to the standard ricotta to chocolate dipped shells, and yes I have tried them all. Mike's is probably the most famous pastry shop in the North End - there's always a huge line outside - but it's not my favorite. I'm actually a big fan of Cafe Vittoria, a little hole in the wall cafe that's right next to Mike's. The cannoli filling is much thicker, and their coffee is much better. Plus, you can usually get a table, something the huge crowd at Mike's usually doesn't allow for.

These little beauties weren't whipped up in any famous pastry shop, but that doesn't make them any less wonderful. I love all of my cannolis just the same. Well, that's a lie, but if it's in front of me, I'm certainly not going to say no. These were made in the bakery of Stew Leonards, a grocery store five minutes down the road from my parent's house in Connecticut. However, I've found that grocery store cannolis can actually be very satisfying. My ex-girlfriend was an exceptionally picky eater who would go through phases with food (wonder why that didn't last). She was hooked on cannolis for a whole two weeks, so we used to go to the grocery store that she worked at and pick up a couple at a time. Then she stopped liking them, so we didn't go anymore. (lawl) Those cannolis were really good. The cream was much thicker than the cream in Mike's cannolis, and the ricotta taste was more prominent. Still, I'd prefer a fresh-made pastry over one that's been sitting in a cooler for hours.

Fiesta in my mouth

What is there not to like about Mexican food? As far as I'm concerned, the combination of cheese, avocado, salsa, sour cream, beans or rice sounds like something I would like to be waiting for me as  I pass through the gates of heaven (ha). Top all that deliciousness off with a margarita and I am more than good to go. Awful for the waistline, good for the soul.

I was so excited when my roommate/best friend told me about the Border Cafe, a Tex Mex restaurant in Harvard Square. Maybe I haven't looked hard enough, but I feel like when it comes to Mexican food in Boston, pickings are slim. You can get a good burger or bowl of clam chowder pretty much anywhere, but let's face it, New England isn't exactly known for it's south of the border cuisine. The Border Cafe, however, was fantastic. I have pretty high standards for my food, especially Mexican food, which can be pretty hit or miss. I ordered the cheese enchiladas, which were too pretty to not take a picture of:

My enchiladas appear to be drowning in cheese, and I have no plans to rescue them. 

Also, there's nothing I love more than a good scoop of fresh guacamole. You can tell when something has been sitting in a refrigerator for days versus when it has just been made, and there was no question in my mind that this was legit. Absolutely delicious. And the best part was, it was my birthday, so my meal was free! (They don't give out free meals when it's your birthday...I just have really awesome friends). 

S'mores salvation!

I don't know why, but pretty food has quite an impact on me. Actually, it probably goes back to the fact that I'm really amused by pretty, shiny things. This dessert was no exception. It's called the "s'mores concoction" and I got it at Max Brenner's restaurant in Boston. I was there with my friend Craig, who has a tendency to order extravagant things like white chocolate waffles as his entree at lunchtime. However, this time, Craig's dessert wasn't as pretty as mine. Ha ha. 

The glass in the middle is a layer of chocolate mousse sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs and topped off with a whisk of whipped cream. Combine that with a tiny little berry bowl (because we have to keep it healthy, come on people), a graham cracker topped with chocolate and marshmallows and a shot of warm chocolate sauce and I was good for the next two days or so. Seriously, I was still full the next day. 

I enjoyed going to Max Brenner's, but I'm not sure if it's the kind of place I'll be going a lot. For one thing, there was an awful lot of hype surrounding the restaurant's opening, and when I went inside I was a bit disappointed. Maybe it's because I've been to the one in Union Square near NYU, which looks like something straight out of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The Boston location wasn't really anything special in terms of design. Also, the food was way overpriced - Craig and I ended up paying something like $40 each. Insane! But I had a good experience. I'm sure I'll go back at some point, but until then, I'm going to keep looking around the city for cheaper options.