These aren’t necessarily my best recipes but they all are very good to excellent. Up above is a picture of the Cook’s Country Potato Cheddar Pierogi I made. I can’t even tell you how often this recipe is pinned. At Holiday times and when this is featured on TV up to 350 people a day look up this recipe on my site.
So far 139 people Yum’d Forking Easy Classic Boule Bread.
Portuguese Inspired Roasted Chicken got 56 Yum’d so far.
Korean Inspired Leek Salad got Yum’d 128 times so far!
So far 93 Yum’d Duchess Style Parsnips.
Healthy Creamy Low Fat Roasted Cauliflower got at least 71 times Yum’d.
Cauliflower Crust Pizza got Yum’d at least 240 times and 5 stars.
Pumpernickel Bread got Yum’d 43 times so far.
Spicy Thai Basil Salad got an official 4 stars. (might have made 5 stars if they didn’t switch up ingredients. The person rating this recipe didn’t add the oil, basil, Chile or soy sauce and used sambal instead.)
Spicy Mexican Style Cole Slaw is officially 5 Stars.
Socca Bread is officially 5 stars.
Eye Roast is officially 5 stars.
Indian Inspired Green Beans with Chia Peas is officially 5 stars.
One of The Forking Truth’s Recipes made it to our local newspaper.
Since I published this I just got a new official 5 star rated recipes.
I paid $3.00 each for these pastries from Cafe Chenar are BOTH Yummilious……I thought they’d be small since they were only three dollars each but they weren’t so small. One was filled with ground beef and the other was filled with seasoned potato….Both were scrumptious! I note on my last visit to Cafe Chenar I noticed some prices did go up a dollar or two…..maybe these pastries went up?….Well they should have because I thought most of the food was priced too low.
The Crispy Fish Wrap from Wraps ‘N’ Curry in Glendale is Fresh made naan bread brushed with mint mayonnaise, lettuce, onion, tomato, cilantro and hand battered fish. I think it’s tasty and quite a value for only $8.95.
Salad and go is a Drive Threw gourmet Salad to go restaurant. They offer about a DOZEN different salads and also seasonal varieties. You have different protein options but chicken and tofu options only cost $5.74. Other options that only cost slightly more are shrimp and beef. Salad and go is a local group of restaurants that operate in Metro Phoenix.
Notable Mac ‘N’ Cheese Balls were served to me from The Social on 83rd. They had creamy cheesy interiors and a crisp thin, seemed like oil free exterior and mighty tasty. They were served over a lemon herb aioli. ($7.50) (Price increase possible)
Usually Happy Hour Food is breaded, fried, maybe wings or something heavy. But these $8.00 Happy Hour Vegetables are delicious and seem healthy….You actually have room to order dinner if you want to after enjoying them! This $8.00 Happy Hour Vegetable Plate is an unexpected Healthy, nutritious and the just right appetizer to share from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale.
Chino Bandido in Phoenix offers Chinese and Mex style foods in about 90,000 different combinations. You either get one entree with white rice for $7.35 or pick the combo with two entrees and rice and beans for $8.90. Upgrades to burrito-ize or quesadilla-ize an entree cost 85 cents, upgrade the white rice to jerk fried or one of the other fried rice also will cost 85 cents more. Complimentary snickerdoodle cookies are served with meals.
Well between me and my husband we tried most of the food that Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery Offers and everything we tried is delicious and EVERY FORKING THING THERE is under $10.00. The one plate that stands out to me today is the Rice Plate. It’s a double portion of protein, salad garnish, rice and a pork egg roll. They offer the rice plate with Pork Chop, Grilled Pork, Shrimp, Grilled Chicken, Shaken Beef and Tofu Vegetable options. I can vouch that the Grilled Chicken, Shaken Beef and Grilled Pork are Great Choices….They all taste different but all are a Great Value and are delicious…This is the best $9.00 complete plate that I know of in North Phoenix.
They are small street sized tacos but these vegan tacos from Casa Terra in Glendale are to die for……..and we’re only priced at $9.00. They are made with house made tortillas, pibil mushrooms and escabeche…OH SO FORKING GOOD!
I hit the jackpot at FiGaMi Asian Fresh in Phoenix. They have a whole menu of $3.50 appetizers I didn’t try them all yet but the three I tried were all very good. (Chicken Meat Puff, Chicken Dumplings and Burmese Style Fermented Tea Salad)
My favorite Appetizer was the Burmese Fermented Tea Salad. It was earthy, tangy, crunchy and refreshing. It was unlike any salad I ever tried before. It was made with vegetables, peanuts, fried beans and tomato. (ONLY $3.50)
For my dinner I enjoyed the Burmese Style Fish Noodle Soup ($6.50)
It was crazy Forking Good. It was a thickened fish soup with rice noodles, crispy noodles, an Asian marinated jammy egg and fresh cilantro. This dish happens to be the national dish of Burma……Dang it was great!
I’m certain that there are a bunch more out there but this is what I tried this past year
Everything is subject to change and price increases are to be expected.
I tasted and drank the MOST FORKING AMAZING things in Napa California. I’ve been to Napa many times over the years and have been to many of the restaurants and many of the wineries. But Napa doesn’t stay the same. Wineries and some restaurants come and go. Many smaller wineries are getting sold to large wineries. I also noticed that there is a new more hip Napa now. Tasting have gone up dramatically in prices in Napa. Not all but many tasting rooms now are lounges with servers instead of bars you taste at.
This isn’t your grandpa’s Napa Tasting Room (The Prisoner). They seat you here and serve you some dip with crackers. (tasting was around $45.00)
Even old school wineries like Trefethen have converted to the new hip modern way.
(Clos du val)
Some tasting rooms are also show rooms for goods. We did a tasting at a Ralph Lauren Showroom. I did my tasting sitting on a $7,605.00 leather chair. (Trident Wines)
But not every tasting room is multi million dollar building.
The finest wine I tasted came from this bare bones shack and it was called Pina. Not only was the wine the finest the tasting fee was also the cheapest ($20.00 a tasting)
The Food
Protea a casual Caribbean-Latin-Global order at the counter restaurant with a daily changing menu.
Torc – a new American restaurant. Highly recommended by the locals but what drew me in was that truffles were on the menu.
The Silverado Trail is without restaurants so if one is doing those wineries chances are that you will do a stop at the Oakville Grocery.
Bistro Jeanty serves classic French Foods.
The Acacia House by Top Chef Master Chris Cosentino is in a renovated victorian mansion. They serve Californian Cuisine that’s bold yet refined.
La Calenda is a casual Oaxaco Mexican Restaurant that is part of the Thomas Keller Group.
Gott’s Roadside is a casual American Eatery with several locations.
Bottega is an Italian Restaurant by celebrity chef Micheal Chiarello.
Addendum is only open Thursday – Saturday for lunch (11:00-2:00) and is by Chef Thomas Keller. They only serve three different boxed lunches with changing sides. It has been said by many publications that the fried chicken is the best in the country.
That was just a taste….here are some pictures to savor.
This was just a little taste of where the FORK I’ve been……..Napa California.
There’s a NEW permanent flavor of M&M’s out there and it’s Hazelnut Spread. The M&M’s colors are the traditional ones of yellow, orange, green, blue, red and brown with the usual smooth shiny finish.
The bag is a little weird looking if you’re not paying attention.
Honest to GOD I thought the Blue M was holding a Poop emoji……but maybe I need bifocals now so maybe it’s just me?????
I start by opening the bag and take in a big sniff.
It smells like chocolate.
Pour some out and take a bite to see the center.
They do look a little different with a lighter center.
I eat a couple……..
The texture is different and these M&M’s have a soft center…..at first they don’t taste so different from regular M&M’s. They seem like regular M&M’s but that are oddly soft…….and a faint hazelnut aftertaste.
Then I let one dissolve in my mouth…..At first not any different with the same hard sweet shell. Then I taste the familiar chocolate……Oddly it isn’t till I’m almost done I get the hazelnut….followed by a little salt.
These Hazelnut Spread M&M’s are better to savor than to eat…..
Now if you let them dissolve real SUPER SLOW…….Shell melts….next goes the soft chocolate….next you are left with all hazelnut center that oddly seems slightly harder than really soft chocolate……You definitely get the hazelnut best when you eat them this way….
If you are just eating the M&M’s like a normal person……. The hazelnut flavor is a very good and natural flavor but I wish the hazelnut flavor wasn’t so late to the party. Can’t taste it till the M&M is almost gone and then the hazelnut hit comes followed by a light touch of salt.
************Unless you let these M&M’s dissolve slow as can be you won’t get all the hazelnut flavor.********** (well at least from the bag I tried)
Those were my Forking Thoughts on the Hazelnut Spread M&M’s…..Your opinion and thoughts may indeed differ.
Here’s Small Batch Private Selection General Tso’s Chicken Ripple-Cut Kettle Chips that I purchased from Fry’s Grocery Store. This flavor sounded very unusual to me so I thought I’d give it a try.
I open the bag and take a whiff.
I smell mostly soy sauce, something sweet and a fried essence.
I take some chips out to try.
They are very hard and study but also have a powdery exterior.
I try one slowly my placing it in my mouth and letting it dissolve.
It’ s unusually salty but also very sweet…..It’s coated with lots of salt and lots of sugar.
The PREDOMINANT FLAVOR is soy sauce….followed by something that reminds of me of ginger slightly…..the finish taste like greasy fries. I don’t taste any chicken here.
Then I eat a few normal……
The chips are hard to eat….way too much salt and too sweet.
I force myself to eat another one.
It has a great crunch but it taste like I’m swigging down a bottle of soy sauce
Wow they are bad……maybe this bag is defective?
WAY too much salt, sugar and soy sauce.
These are going in the Forking Trash.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Private Selection General Tso’s Chicken Ripple-Cut Potato Chips.
The Butterfinger Candy Bar was created in 1923 by Otto Schnering of the Curtiss Candy Company of Illinois. Between 1964 and 1981 The Curtiss Candy Company changed hands and also merged into other companies that include Nabisco and R.J. Reynolds. In 1990 Nestle bought Butterfinger (and Baby Ruth) from Nabisco. Then in March 2018 Nestle sold Butterfinger to Ferrero. (picture above is from www.BussinessWire.com)
February 2019 fun sized Butterfinger Candy Bars began to display “Improved Recipe” on the packaging. (red on right side – right upper corner in photo below)
Bite sized Butterfingers (that are expired from my local grocery store) are made by Nestle.
Fresh new Butterfinger Candy Bars are now made by Ferrara Candy Company.
When you compare the ingredients you might read that molasses is no longer an ingredient in the Butterfinger Candy bar…..and the sodium has increased by 20%.
The Butterfinger now lacks that caramelized molasses flavor and is now more salty.
Other changes are that the Butterfinger now uses a larger sized peanut in its core and more cocoa and milk in it’s chocolate coating.
The Ferrero Company also dropped the hydrogenated oils and uses a double layer wrapper instead.
The Nestle Bite Size Butterfinger (on the left) has a more textured peanut butter type of candy threw it with a more caramelized nutty kind of taste.
The Ferrero has a noticeably better chocolate coating and more deep peanut flavor but it is salty…..seems less sweet…..It’s almost sandy…….It doesn’t have that flaky texture that the Nestle Butterfinger had. The Molasses taste is missing.
Both are good just different now.
Your opinion and experience may differ.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on WTFork happened to the Butterfinger Candy Bar.
These are the best of what I tasted in Metro Phoenix this year so far. The dishes aren’t really in any particular order. These are dishes that are not just very good……These dishes are The FORKING BEST! I mean like from another planet delicious….Out of this world!
Pictured above is a Tuna Aguachile from Barrio Gran Reserva in Phoenix. It was light, refreshing and spicy. It’s filled with special ingredients and also some unexpected surprises. The flavors just POP and it’s amazing. Actually I could list just about all the plates I tried at Barrio Gran Reserva but will list just one more special one.
This is Pan Seared Corvina. It’s with a Salsa d Xoconostle…..The fish is perfect and this salsa is the best salsa I’ve ever tasted….It’s made with a special pepper that fire roasted with an extra delicious taste….Unusual delicious ingredients are on the plate like red pine nuts and rose mole. Every bite taste different but it’s all insanely delicious together.
www.BarrioGranReserva.com
Confluence serves food that is astoundingly amazing….Every Forking plate is a masterpiece. It’s really great food times TEN. The plate above is a Sweet Potato Ravioli….its as great as it can be and then you taste a leek….and it taste better than a leek….It taste Forking BETTER than a leek…The chef did something to the leek to make a Forking leek amazing. Then I get to a leaf of radicchio……and it taste better than radicchio……..The waitress tells me that the Chef cooked the radicchio leaf in red wine and brown sugar. A really special plate I can add over TWENTY plates from here but I will just pick one more plate.
The Red Sea Bream is prepared and seasoned to perfection. Here’s that magic thing again….The little green things on the plate are green beans…..But they are OMG Amazing! They are sweet, tender, slightly pickled…..they taste better than I can describe….They sort of burst and pop in your mouth. Every other vegetable just adds another delicious layer of flavor…Also there are some really melt in your mouth gnocchi on the plate….This plate was just magical.
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
Chef Christopher Collins has a few restaurants in Metro Phoenix but it was at The Collins Small Batch Kitchen I tried The Twisted Noodle Salad. One would never guess that a salad could have so much going on…..This salad has everything and is bright, sour, sweet, spicy, flavorful, crunchy and chewy. It’s made with soba noodles, kale, avocado, pickled cucumbers, arugula, scallions, herbs, toasted coconut, peanuts, carrots and is dressed with chili-lime vinaigrette. I am certain that their are a few more secret ingredients that make this salad unbelievably scrumptious with a KICK that doesn’t hurt.
www.TheCollinsAZ.com
The Cabbage Rolls from Cafe Chenar in Phoenix were the BEST Cabbage Rolls I’ve ever tried. Did you ever taste a cabbage roll that melted in your mouth just like cotton candy? I never had a cabbage roll like this before. The cabbage was so tender it just dissolves in the mouth. The filling was so light, tender and really perfectly seasoned. The filling was a mix of this amazing tender beef, rice and some potato. I never had beef of this light texture before. It was tender like it was cooked in a sous vide water oven. These cabbage roll were really extra special!
I haven’t found a website for Cafe Chenar but you can find them on Facebook.
This next one was an unexpected one…….and doesn’t look special.
Both of us were blown away with all the incredible flavors packed into this Quinoa Meat-less-ball from the newly opened Meat The Ball Restaurant in Phoenix. It has a crisp thin breaded exterior and an amazingly delicious stracchino cheese core. This meatball was also SPICY HOT and full of awesome flavors……..I hope they don’t change a thing with this recipe because it was perfection. I should note that the rigatoni pasta and secret tomato sauce I had that same night was also perfection. It was shocking to get pasta that was so spectacular like from the finest restaurant but was from this little casual place.
www.MeatTheBall.com
I was recently at the newly opened fine dining vegan restaurant in old town Glendale called Casa Terra.
All the food I tried at Casa Terra was flavored very well but the street sized Tapas Tacos had all kinds on flavors and textures going on with them. They were so delicious that once the word gets out about these incredible tacos everyone will have to try them…..I wish this restaurant was open for lunch so I could enjoy these tacos for lunch………..with a soup or salad………or more food..
www.CasaTerra.com
Singh Meadows is in Tempe and is a produce market and cafe. The cafe serves stunning dishes that are mostly vegetarian featuring magnificent fresh vegetables. I recently tried three plates from Singh Meadows and all three are worthy of being here but there’s something about the beet plate….It’s not a boring beet plate like you get from most restaurants…..It’s more like a plate that could win at a Chopped Championship. Assorted fresh beets are prepared four different ways. Almond, avocado, cream cheese, fancy greens, super sweet green beans, high quality country bread and what I think was urfa pepper just go amazingly well together.
www.SinghMeadowsTempe.com
Those were some of the BEST PLATES I tried in Metro Phoenix in 2019 so far. I can’t wait to taste the rest of the yearn Metro Phoenix!
Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
If you regularly read my blog you know that I’m not a fan of Oreo Cookies. Even as a child I couldn’t eat Oreo Cookies. I recently received a gift box in the mail from my sister in New Jersey. In the box were peanut butter Kandy Kakes and a lemon pie by Tastykake…..and this package of Carrot Cake Oreos….I was very puzzled by the package of carrot cake Oreo Cookies. .I thanked my sister for the package and asked her why she sent me Carrot Cake Oreo Cookies. She said that she remembered that I used to like lemon pies and peanut butter Tandy Kakes. She also said that she remembered that I use to eat a lot of carrots so she thought I’d like Carrot Cake Oreo Cookies…….Well that was very nice of my sister to remember all that and to think of me by sending me this package……….well……..I have to give these carrot cake Oreos a try.
These cookies are marked artificially flavored in the right hand corner. Towards the left bottom this package reads carrot cake flavored cookie with cream cheese frosting flavor artificially flavored.
I notice that the cookies don’t contain any carrots or cream cheese. 🙁
I open the package and take a good sniff.
It’s an odd odor. it’s a little sour, a tiny bit like graham, I’m getting more sour again,. I take a small bite…….WOW that’s weird. Yuk…before I can figure out what I’m tasting my mouth is a slimy. The cream is awful. The cream actually has a slight coconut taste. The cookie is a little bit like a graham cracker but not exactly. The cookie has chucks of salt in it. When I take another bite I can taste something citrusy…..The worst part of these cookies is the paste like cream that builds a turtle wax finish in the mouth………. They are just very unpleasant. ICK they made me burp and I had to re-live the experience.
I didn’t like them but my dogs are very intrigued by them……..?
Those were my Forking Thoughts on the carrot cake Oreo Cookies.
I was inspired to create this dish after I watched on AZCENTRAL.COM the “Killer Dish” not sure but I think it was by Food Critic Dominic Armato all photos were by Michael Chow. The above photo is my inspiration by me. In the video I watched a chef from our local Cambodian Restaurant Reathrey Sekong made a Cha Kreung paste. The flavoring paste was made by pounding in a mortar with a pestle a combination of turmeric, lime leaves, lemon grass, galangal, shallots and garlic. They added peppers, asparagus, oil, chicken to a very hot pan and then added flavoring paste (the Kreung) vegetables, sugar, fish sauce and red onions. The mixture got finished with sliced lime leaves. I didn’t finish my mixture with lime leaves because my lime leaves were very tough even when I removed the vain in the leaf I thought that they were too tough to eat completely raw.
I made a good size batch of the paste…..not sure on how far it will go..but I like the taste of it with vegetables. Latter I will do this with chicken.
Here are the vegetables with that taste and I thought the combination of tapioca, Israeli couscous and peas would be perfect………I think they are……..These of course are NOT TRADITIONAL to this flavor but I think they work.
I think this paste might work as a marinade for chicken so I’m giving that a try with the addition of maybe some lime juice, a little salt and sugar.
I pretty much winged this recipe so I don’t know if I did what exactly the Cambodian Chef did…
I think I did around……
1 teaspoon turmeric
30 lime leaves with veins removed
7 – 3 in bottoms of lemongrass with hard outers removed – sliced extra thin on mandolin
galangal – 1.5 oz sliced paper thin on mandolin – mine was very woody and strong tasting..was going to use more but didn’t…..
garlic confit that I do for sous-vide cooking and keep frozen…. and I used 3 ounces
Maybe a lb of broccoli I used the florets and trimmed the stem and sliced stem into strips.
Used maybe 9 mini bell peppers and cut them in strips
Used 1/2 a large sweet onion – cut in strips
I sautéed the broccoli and added the paste and a little oil while I broiled the onions and peppers tlll they charred. Added a splash of sugar and red boat fish sauce to the vegetables and then added the prepared tapioca, couscous and peas. I think this taste very good and most people will also think the same.
This is very aromatic and delicious. A day latter I marinated three very large chicken quarters with the paste for about 24 hours, rinsed off chicken and blotted dry. Roasted them off with more aromatics and the chicken was developed and super moist with delicious flavors and was served with more of these vegetables.
We were very excited to try the new Meat The Balls Restaurant in the Biltmore area of Phoenix Arizona. I don’t know what went wrong. Our newspaper listed the grand opening as the 21st of March. (photo is by www.vancitybuzz.com)
It is possible that sort of problem happened that couldn’t be avoided so they weren’t able to open today. I was told by people working there that they expect to open Tuesday at 4:30. Earlier today before I left the house I checked their website, Facebook page and even called Pomo (the owners other restaurant) for information but didn’t get anything not even a phone number for Meat The Ball. The woman that answered the phone didn’t have any information about Meat The Balls for me. I had a bad feeling that something might go wrong and did have a back up choice ready.
Well it’s not the end of the world! This gives me the opportunity to return to Muse and Market. I’ve been wanting to go back for a long time. I know Chef Dino the master chef winner is long gone with most of his vegan creative dishes and from what I read the restaurant swings to a more meaty menu now.
We pull up and four two top tables arrive just before us…..The restaurant is empty but we were told that they were just slammed and need a few minutes to get it together. OK no big deal…..We wait and eventually are seated. A waiter offers us beverages and we look at the menu. A waitress soon approaches the our table and also offers us beverages…I say the waiter just offered us beverages. She almost looks like she is going to cry and says.
www.thinkstockphotos.com
“If you want him to wait on you that’s ok.”
I say, ” I just didn’t want two people to bring us double beverages.”
Odd…It’s a possibility that maybe they were working as a team but I’m not a mind reader so I can’t say…..Or maybe the waiter was stealing all the tables?????
Anywho…..
We wait a long time for the waiter to return……Maybe he is the one waiting on all the tables?
I don’t know what happened but three of the four tables are leaving and then the waiter comes back to take our order. I ask for the hot chicken sandwich.
He says, “I don’t know if we have that.” Then he leaves and comes back and says, “We are almost out of food.” “We can only make breakfast.” He offers me a free pastry that I decline because I want to order lunch. The free pastry was nice to offer but that isn’t what I came for. We leave because I don’t enjoy breakfast food…..
So we have to pick a plan three. I noticed That Jewel Bakery and Cafe is nearby. I’m not familiar with the restaurant but yesterday I ate the most amazing smoked salmon, smoked poblano pepper on a bagel chip with quail egg at the “Smoked” Event at Ocotillo just yesterday from Jewel’s Bakery and Cafe so I thought this just had to be good stop.
Well I notice on the door that this is an all day breakfast place….(my heart does sink a little)…It’s kind of late now and we are tired and hungry and I just say I will order something.
I was going to order the chicken salad but the only dressing is ranch and I hate ranch dressing so I order the Hot Chicken and Waffles after all I like hot chicken.
The place is packed with people.
We wait….wait and wait.
After 45 minutes of waiting my husband ask the waiter how much longer because he isn’t sure if we should stay. It seems like a crazy wait.
The waiter says it was like this all day and said it should only be around 10 more minutes and offers us a free pastry. That was nice of them to offer us a free pastry but we declined because neither of us want a free pastry. Have you ever had two different restaurants in one day offer you a free pastry?
A few minutes later my plate of food finally arrives.
The chicken looks a little dark but is moist inside…..Oddly this isn’t spicy at all….The waffles are very good and fluffy for waffles. The syrup is sweet…After I eat one piece of my Hot Chicken that isn’t hot as in spicy. They have a few different chicken and waffles on the menu and it’s possible they gave me the wrong one.
Someone does ask how it is. I say that it’s good but isn’t hot. This person offers to bring me some spice dust…..instead of spice dust someone runs me a different syrup…It taste like bacon-ee, SWEET with an after burn………This might be great to most people but it’s not what I had in mind.
Disappointed after a disappointing long day already.
A few minutes latter someone is is running around the restaurant with a plate of Hot Chicken and Waffles not knowing where it goes….?????????? Ummmmmmmm?
It should be mentioned that for the long wait they kindly took 25% off our bill.
Did you ever get offered free pastry twice in one day?
Your Forking experience may or may not differ and EVERY FORKING THING is subject to change.