this little piggy went to the market

and had a very delicious dinner!

What: Belated birthday dinner for my friend, Shar.
Where: Market by Jean-Georges at the Shangri-La Hotel
When: Dinner
Why: Because I've heard good things about this place and I've been wanting to come for a long time.

Verdict: Damn good vegetables.

 

 My friend had the slowly cooked Arctic Char with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts, drizzled with truffle oil. I had a bite of her dish and it was a very light, delicately seasoned dish. I might have to come back just so I can order this dish!

 

I couldn't resist the urge to order a couple of vegetable side dishes to for my sampling pleasure. The roasted mushroom, jalapenos and garlic was delicious, but I found it a little oily and on the salty side.

The grilled broccoli with rabe Parmesan, lemon and olive oil was perfectly grilled. Not overdone at all and with a nice kick of flavour from the Parmesan.

Truffle mashed potatoes! You can't go wrong with mashed potatoes and this dish was divine!

Sauteed spinach with basil was yummy. I liked the how there was just a hint of basil flavour in the spinach. 

For dessert, my friend ordered the White Chocolate Pavlova with Yuzu sorbet and Thai Basil Syrup as her birthday treat. Happy Birthday Shar!

 

 

 A close-up of the white chocolate Pavlova and the surprisingly sweet Thai basil syrup. I could have done without the sorbet, or maybe if they had used a different flavour sorbet, but overall, it was a lovely light dessert.

this coffee isn't for the weak

 

 My tiramisu coffee caldo. 

See below for description:

What: Afternoon treat and to give our poor feet a break from all the walking we did in Rhodes (8 hours straight!)

Where: At this little coffee shop where they also had a great selection of sandwiches.

When: After we visited the Knights Palace which pretty much takes up half the island... and then some.

Why: To rest our busted feet

Verdict: The Greeks like their coffee strong. Like, bodybuilder strong. I dumped 3 bags of sugar, and stirred in all that whipped cream into the coffee and it was still strong enough to get up and beat the crap out of something.

 Hiding behind my drink is a vanilla and chocolate parfait with one scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream, one scoop of chocolate ice-cream, topped off with dollops of whipped cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce and garnished with a sprinkling of chocolate chips.

A close-up of all that chocolatey ice-creamy goodness.

turkish tea in kusadasi

What: Turkish rug demonstration
Where: Turkish Rug Company
When: Right after we visited the ruins of Eupheus
Why: Complimentary
Verdict: It's just hot apple cider. Nothing special, but it did warm me up and gave me the boost to do some serious shopping and bargaining at the bazaars.

island fare

What: Dinner
Where: Taverna Nikos, Mykonos
When: On our first official day of vacation
Why: Doing a walking tour around the island of Mykonos worked up a good appetite
Verdict: Eating local is damn good fine dining. We started off with Saganaki which is fried salty kefalotyri or kasseri cheese. Really salty cheese. Like, drink a whole pitcher of water, that's how salty the appetizer was. Our next dish was fried zucchini with roasted garlic puree. Very yummy! And, if you cut up the cheese and ate it with the zucchini, it made the cheese more easier to swallow. Finally, the last plate to arrive at our table was yemistes (stuffed tomatoes). By then, we were fairly full, but we still managed to gulp down a few bites of tomatoes. I didn't really like the rice, it tasted a little too much like cardboard. But the tomato was juicy and sweet.

 

 

boston tea party, part 2

What: Tea
Where: On the Louis Hellenic cruise ship, the Aquamarine, our home away from home
When: On our first official day of vacation
Why: Because lunch was a long time ago.
Verdict: It was an unimpressive selection of finger foods: dry sandwiches, pastries, scones, mixed fruit and your choice of tea or coffee. Maybe if the American patriots had a lovely arrangement of pastries and sandwiches to choose from, the tea could have been saved and the Boston Tea Party would have been bypassed entirely. Or at least they would have been distracted long enough for the British East India Company to hide the 300+ chests of tea. I did contemplate taking the food up to the deck and chucking it at seagulls, since they'll eat anything that even resembles food, but I wisely decided against it.

The peanut butter and jam sandwiches were super dry. Like they been left in the oven overnight so all the moisture that was in the bread pretty much evaporated into the air.

 

The muffin... I could have done without. 

 

Grilled eggplant with cream cheese with half a cherry tomato stabbed into its heart.  

 

 You can never go wrong with fruit. It was the safest option on this whole entire trip.

it's not all about the fish and chips

What: Sandwiches from EAT cafe and sandwich bar in Topshop.

Where: London, England

When: The first day of our vacation

Why: We had a 7-hours layover in London, so after storing our luggage away at Heathrow, we hopped onto the tube and did some shopping along Regent Street where all the cool shops are (including Topshop!). After 9 hours of being on the place, we were starving. And the plane food was not good.

Verdict: Last time I was in London (which was about two and a half years ago), I don't remember there being an EAT cafe and sandwich bar on the lower floor (where the shoe boutique is!). My partner in crime had the egg salad sandwich and I had the chicken, basil and avocado sandwich with sea salt potato chips from Salty Dog and a hot cup of mocha. The sandwich needed more seasoning, the chips were great and the mocha was strong.

it's all greek to me

In T-minus 24 hours, I will be on a plane, headphones firmly on my head, jetting off to paradise for a week of sun, shopping and beaches, while keeping myself hydrated with large quantities of ouzo. This blog will be on a short hiatus until I get back. Fear not, I will be bringing my trusty digital camera with me to provide mouth-watering images as I sample the many flavours of the Greek islands. Don't hate me, 'cause I know you love me!

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

i scream for ice-cream

Or in this case, gelato.

What: gelato, sorbet
Where: Mondo Gelato, downtown location
When: last weekend (I am trying to keep this blog updated as much as possible. The key word here is try.)
Why: Because Purdy's ice-cream is too rich for my wallet
Verdict: I got the rosa guava sorbet (bottom) and a scoop of creme brulee gelato to top it off. Good combination, taste-wise and colour-wise. Yeah, that's right. I chose the flavours because I knew it would look good visually when it came time to take a picture of this creamy cool creation (alliteration rocks my world). What can I say, I'm a vain food connosisser.