I had fresh basil that I had to use today so I’m thinking either basil oil or pesto…..I didn’t have many pine nuts or walnuts or hazelnuts today so I went with pistachios. I usually do one thing that most people don’t do that really makes a difference. I use a small amount of garlic but usually it’s whipped sweet roasted garlic. It never gets too strong tasting and is sweet and delicious. To make whipped sweet roasted garlic use a lot of garlic cloves. Pour a good amount of extra virgin olive oil on them. Put them in a covered pan at 350 or 375 degrees F for one hour and then blend.
Roasted & Whipped Sweet Garlic
It keeps for a while in the refrigerator but I freeze it since I make it in big batches. Back to the pesto….I didn’t measure exactly but it went something like this.
1 cup fresh basil leaves
4 oz parmesan rough chop
1/2 cup pistachios
1 tablespoon whipped sweet garlic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 dried Calabrian piri piri dried pepper – crushed (you can substitute any pepper to taste)
Blend…This time I left the pesto slightly chunky so you can taste everything in it a little more.
I do note that this stays for a while but is best to use in a few days…..after a week or so the oil gets very thick and the basil has less fragrance. You can brighten it back up with a little more fresh basil and a little more olive oil.
The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen, and dynamite! WOW what a great surprise . You just don’t always know when a FANTABULOUS dish will show up. This salad just blew both of us away. It’s only named Arugula salad. I picked it to share as an appetizer instead of chips because it sounded lighter and healthy. I wasn’t expecting jaw dropping fireworks of flavors……
The Arugula Salad from REVOLU Modern Taqueria & Bar in Peoria AZ
This salad is made of avocado, watermelon, red onion (pickled), pico, toasted pepitas, cotija cheese, and this MAGICAL chili-lime vinaigrette.
I need to mention as astonishingly delicious as this salad is ………I must mention that it is spicy HOT. Borderline too hot for me but it was so DAM delicious I had to keep eating it. You get sweet from the watermelon, creamy from the avocado, hot and delicious from the MAGICAL chili-lime vinaigrette, Umami from the cheese, yummy from the pepitas and the right amount of bitter from the arugula. It’s far more delicious than I can describe. You can also add on protein to this dish if desired.
The Arugula Salad from REVOLU Modern Taqueria & Bar is an official FANTABULOUS DISH and is WORTH A FORK!
REVOLU Modern Taqueria & Bar
15703 N 83rd Ave Peoria AZ (a second location is in Phoenix)
The Reese’s Big Cup with potato chips have been out for a while but today I finally broke down and tried one.
I open it up.
Mine is slightly defective. I don’t want to know what it’s been though.
I cut it in half.
Lets take a closer look.
At first I thought that they left out the chips but I can see some in there……..
I start on the end.
Wow…that is a good amount of Reese’s chocolate….I never had that much before….I kinda like that……..
Now for a bite into the peanut butter. The peanut butter taste good like it normally does….but……
Not what I was expecting…
SUPER CRISP CRUNCHY HARD small pieces of wavy or ridged potato chips that are tasteless but so crunchy that they seem like coated with something like ceramic. I have no idea how they sucked out all the flavor from the chips? I also have no idea how they got them so oddly hard like ceramic. I was almost worried that I could damage my teeth.
I pulled one out of my mouth.
They’re not bad…….I think the best part is the thick chocolate that you wouldn’t normally get with a Reese’s…..For a Big Cup they really aren’t so big and are less than 200 calories (180 to be exact). If you don’t mind super hard crunches in your Reese’s cup they are pretty good…..but the chips are strange and for me too crunchy……..I was afraid I’d damage a filling or chip a tooth. I will go chipless next time.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Reese’s Potato Chips Big Cup. Your FORKING Thoughts on Reese’s Potato Chips Big Cup may indeed differ.
Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi Restaurant is located in the P83 area of North Peoria that is near to the Peoria Sports Complex. This area is also known as the UpperWestSide in Metro Phoenix Arizona. Everything that Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi restaurant serves is never from frozen. They also offer a full bar, thirty two taps and lots of big screen TVS for watching sports. As for food they offer lots of starters, wings, burgers, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, big plates, sushi, sushi rolls and some fun sushi fusion like the FORKING TASTY Sushi Burger. FORKING Tasty just means FORKING Tasty. It’s unusually good tasting. Recently I had a high quality fish sandwich from somewhere and it didn’t taste nearly as tasty as this Sushi Burger from Headquarters.
The FORKING TASTY Sushi Burger
The FORKING Tasty Sushi Burger is made of really (FORKING) tasty fried rice patties, spicy tuna, shredded krab (faux crab…usually does not contain crab and is usually made from lower costing pollock fish), soft greens, cucumber, avocado, eel sauce (sweetened soy based sauce), and spicy mayo. Somehow this combination is unusually FORKING TASTY. A little dab of of that thick neon green wasabi paste and it’s even a little MORE FORKING Tasty.
The Sushi Burger from Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi Restaurant in Peoria AZ is FORKING Tasty!
WOW some prices at the supermarkets are out of sight. Today I saw salmon that was double the price of what I was expecting. I also saw beef ribs that looked like a small amount of beef for $45. Even the cheapest chicken breasts at Walmart gone up from $2 a pound to $3. a pound that is 33% more expensive…….I did notice that beef shanks (smaller sized ones) seemed still very reasonably priced compared to everything else so I picked one pack up. It’s fun to make them osso buco style. I’m not big on beef dishes but this is one of my favorite beefs.
First you brown them up on both sides preferably in beef fat.
Then you get soup type vegetables sort of soft with the dripping from your fry pan. You add white wine and reduce. Add stock and or tomato juice, the vegetables, and the beef shanks to a pan. Cover well and roast at 375 F till falling apart tender. (If you have nice bigger beef shanks you might prefer to tie them up so they stay together.) Depending on the size of the beef shanks this will take at least 3-6 hours (If you have giant ones then maybe more time). But you do need to add water to the pan after a few hours.
The beef shanks came out good. I removed the bay leaves and blended up the liquid and vegetables and used it like a gravy for the beef shank and polenta. I also made a basic gemolata of parsley, celery leaves, and lemon zest.
beef osso buco
The one beef shank was big enough for two dinners.
Got a second meal for two out of the second beef shank. Made Italian flavored tacos. (don’t mean to brag but this came out so good I could get rich selling them)
Used that Italian chili crisp I made recently that adds all kinds of flavors, textures, and heat.
Italian Chili Crisp
Mixed the pulled beef shank meat and mixed it with some Italian chili crisp and the leftover gremolata…….Put them on radish (Korean Radish) slices, topped with some pickled baby bell peppers..
They were really delicious.
Someone was very interested in them.
Earlier in the week recently I made braised and crispy leeks with this tarator sauce ( long story……I made toum sauce (garlic sauce that comes with shawarma…kept adding nuts and other things and turned it into tarator sauce…but it did come out amazing). This dish also came with date brown butter.
Braised and Crispy Leeks with Tarator Sauce & Date Brown Butter
Leftover tarator and datę brown butter also went well with Japanese sweet potatoes with a very thin olive oil crisp.
My husband came across these Crunchy Cookie M&M’s and knew that I would want to try them…and he sure was right I do want to try them.
I wasn’t expecting much because in the corner it reads artificially flavored….BAH!
Well I try them anyway….
They are a weird size for M&M’s.
They are extra tiny.
I eat a few……They don’t taste like cookies….but they seem light and crunchy. They are feel like malt balls in the mouth…but they don’t taste like malt balls……
Not a lot of chocolate here…….They have less chocolate than malt balls.
They’re not bad……..and are easy to eat….They have nice textures to them……a pleasant nice light crunch. They are too light textured to be a cookie inside…….Maybe they are closer to a breakfast cereal type of crunch? They don’t taste bad. Just not a cookie taste.
Not bad.
Not as good as the original or my favorite the almond M&M’s.
That was my FORKING Thoughts on Crunchy Cookie M&M’s.
Your FORKING thoughts on Crunchy M&Ms may indeed differ.
This is how it goes when you go out to eat SOMETIMES. Today I went to restaurant that I have been to before that was good last time. I went back and things were different. This time I ordered the ensalada fresca salad. It sounded so good. The menu reads watermelon, cucumber, red onion, jicama, aji lemon vinaigrette, panela cheese, pepitas, fresno, tajin, salsa macha, cilantro. This sounds incredible doesn’t it? The salmon was also really great last time so I added salmon to this salad.
Here is what I got.
Lets take a closer look.
At the time I didn’t remember everything I read about the salad and didn’t know at the time that it was missing things.
I soon try the salmon.
It is not fresh tasting. I can’t eat it. I give a small piece to my husband to try. He said that it was very fishy tasting. He said, “get something else.”
I removed the salmon from the salad and put it on a side plate away from me. Soon someone that seems like a manager comes over and asks about the salmon. I told him that the salmon taste spoiled.
The manager said that his salmon is thrown out after four days. He also said that he will taste it. He also asked me if he could make a new one or give me chicken. I went for chicken but I did tell him that I have had salmon here before that was fresh and delicious.
He comes back and says that the salmon isn’t spoiled. He said that it just tastes off from the grill marks………..(whatever the FORK that means?).
Anyways-
Here comes the chicken.
I do have to say that the chicken really is very good and also is an extra generous portion. It’s tender, moist , full of flavors and is delicious.
BUT back to the salad.
Remember that I didn’t know that I was missing a few things.
But at the time I also was a bit bummed because the watermelon, cucumbers, and jicama also didn’t seem so fresh. Here is a closer look. They seem a few days old (look at the melon).
I think that I am missing cilantro, pepitas, aji lemon vinaigrette, tajin, and salsa macha.
My husband wasn’t thrilled with his meal but thought it was ok.
Decided to try dessert to make myself feel better.
I go for this one because our server said it was new and the best dessert.
It reads flambe table side.
Someone drops this off with no flambe.
We look around to find someone.
We find our server and she says that she has to find the manager.
She comes back and says the manager will serve us the dessert.
We wait and wait. (my husband starts to boil while we are waiting and wants to pay and leave)
The manager does come back, uses a portable lighter and we get this.
It wasn’t flaming but it really was a delicious dessert. It was the best thing I ate there today. They didn’t have to but after everything didn’t charge us for the dessert.
This is how it goes when you go out to eat SOMETIMES.
I came across these NEW Russell Stover sugar free peanut butter chocolate bars at my local Safeway grocery store. I didn’t even read the package but I thought the chocolate bar looked very appetizing in the picture. LOOK at all that peanut butter in the picture below. It looks so scrumptious!
I normally would never buy this brand of chocolate because I used to not like it but I thought this must be a new recipe because it looks so delicious on the package. Then when I got it home we cracked it open and ate two of the sections of the chocolate bar.
It really isn’t bad for sugar free chocolate. It melts in the mouth and can pass as sweetened with sugar…..but……….
…..Where The FORK is the Peanut Butter?
Joy Bites?
More like remove the “J” and you get OY bites. In addition to NO SUGAR added there is NO PEANUT BUTTER ADDED.
I contacted Russell Stover on Facebook and Instagram on this matter and got nothing from them…..Just like the same amount of no peanut butter that I didn’t get from them.
Where the FORK is the peanut butter in Joy Bites?
Remove the “J” from Joy Bites and you are left with oy bites.
Bourbon Pub is a global American Pub located in the San Francisco Californian Airport between gates B8-B9 in terminal one by chef Micheal Mina.
I ordered the Korean Barbecue Salmon Sandwich with salad (the other choice was fries).
Korean Barbecue Salmon Sandwich from Bourbon Pub SFO
Gosh it’s a big delicious sloppy sandwich……It’s topped with a very good deli tasting pickle. It made of cut in-house salmon (medium) that is smothered in a gochujang based sauce, and packed with kimchi and topped with mild jalapeños and ginger aioli. All that is on a nicely grilled eggy tasting fresh bun. It’s big and very sloppy. I’m a mess eating it but it is very delicious and the fish is prepared well, seems fresh and melts in my mouth. Half I ate as a sandwich and the other half I ate with a knife and fork and avoided the bun so I didn’t get overly stuffed. The salad contents….some lettuce, sweet tomatoes and onions were lightly tossed with mild vinaigrette.
My husband went for the torta camarones (minus the sour cream) with salad instead of fries.
This sandwich was made of wild gulf shrimp, guacamole, (sour cream left off at my husband’s request), pickled jalapeños, tomato, red onion, gem lettuce, and salsa verde and a long roll. He had his doubts…but in the end he said that it was a delicious sandwich that was very good. Latter he said it was the best thing he ate that day.
My husband was so thrilled with the food coming home he took out a buffalo chicken sandwich to eat for lunch on the plane ride home.
I tasted the sauce and it was delicious. My husband that this sandwich was really good.
I did ok…….I knew I couldn’t eat a big sloppy sandwich on the plane….A salad would ne better so I took out a 5-spice chicken salad from Bun Mee in terminal one that was good. It tasted like a chicken banh mi sandwich……..it was better than the mass produced take out salads that they have all over the airport….BUT I WOULD HAVE WAITED till I got to Bourbon Pub if I knew that they were offering a whole list of specials besides the menu…..Didn’t notice specials on our first visit coming in.
Bourbon Pub SFO in San Francisco Airport is – Fantabulous Airport Food
Worth a Fork!
Worth Fork!
Bourbon Pub SFO
780 S Airport BLVD San Francisco CA Terminal 1 Between Gates B8-B9
I am kinda obsessed with better quality ice creams. I live in Phoenix were it is ice cream weather most of the time and by bad luck don’t have quality ice cream parlors nearby. I have to travel a crazy forty minutes for a decent ice cream shop. Most of the ice cream sold at local supermarket isn’t so great. It’s just a part of life gong out for ice cream in warm or hot weather once in a while….ANYWAYS….I came across this Leeuwen Sicilian Pistachio French Ice Cream at my local Sprouts Grocery. This flavor of Leeuwen is a small batch flavor and is only made up from six ingredients.
I open it up.
It’s green from all the special Etna Mountain Sicilian Pistachios and it’s thick and rich from cream and egg yolks. It taste just like pistachios……We stopped at about one third down but it would be easy to keep eating more.
Leeuwen Sicilian Pistachio French Ice Cream is FORKING GOOD…and is worth eating.
Anyone that likes pistachios and doesn’t mind a completely smooth ice cream should be pleased with the flavor.
