I’m baking less these days but was thinking that over the years I baked many delicious breads here. One thing I learned about baking bread is that all recipes for bread are not accurate. I know almost every time I follow a bread recipe I always have to make adjustments. Every brand of flour is ground different and produces different results. Also when you measure some people pack more flour into a cup than other people. There are other factors that also produce different results such as altitude, humidity, different ovens. The good news is that once you make your first really nice bread you almost don’t need a recipe for bread because you will learn quick what the dough should feel like. He are the breads. My apologies in advance if the recipe isn’t 100% accurate because of different brands of flour or other factors.
Up top is a beautiful classic boule bread.
Next one is dukkah feta cheese and barberry bread.
Dukkah Feta and Barberry Bread
Pumpernickel Bread
Pumpernickel Bread
Pizza bundt bread.
Bunt Pizza Bread
Rye Bread
Rye Bread
Twisted Date Bread
Twisted Date Bread
Hatch Chili and Roasted Red Pepper Challah
Hatch Chili and Roasted Red Pepper Challah Bread
Socca Bread
Socca with sautéed red peppers and onions
Butternut Squash Cinnamon Buns
Butternut Squash Cinnamon Bun
Scaccia Bread (also known as lasagna bread)
Scaccia also called Lasagna Bread
These are some of the breads that you can find on The Forking Truth.
Little Saigon is a small but charming Vietnamese Restaurant located in Old Town Glendale Arizona. They offer a large patio out front.
The building is lined with lots of plants and I noticed many pomegranates.
The first thing that you see when you enter is a large but clean fish tank. The last few times that I was here I got seated in the small dining room to the side. Here is another dining room were we picked up our take out.
Our timing was perfect and was ready and placed on a table the moment we walked in the door.
We started out by sharing the Bo Cuon La Nho (beef wrapped in grape leaves with vegetables, fresh herbs and rice paper.
If you never had this before then you can think of it like making a fajita but different. On the right is the rice paper. You have to soak a sheet of rice paper in warm water to make it soft. Then you add a stuffed grape leaf. Top the grape leaf roll with some rice noodles, fried shallots, peanuts, mint, cilantro, radish and roll it up like a burrito.
You’re not done yet. Your mini Vietnamese burrito gets wrapped in lettuce and then you dip it in fish sauce. Enjoy! After we finished these off I went to my main. This time I tried the Ga Xao Xa Ot (Chicken & Vegetables in lemongrass soy fish sauce)
This is not like anything I tasted before…It’s moist dark meat boneless chicken with broccoli and carrots in this sweet and funky sauce that has mild heat to it.
My husband tried the Tom Xao Thap Cam Cay (spicy shrimp stir fry with vegetables).
It looks like a nice assortment of vegetables. It has cabbage, snow peas, tomatoes and carrots. I was told that it was good but was very light with the heat.
The last time that I dined in I had the chicken and cabbage salad. It was refreshing crisp and light. It was just right on a hot Arizona day.
My husband had a pork rice plate with shrimp.
There are many more dishes that I want to try here so more are coming in the future.
That was a Little Taste of Little Saigon Restaurant in Old Town Glendale AZ.
I haven’t found a website for Little Saigon.
They are located at 7016 N 57TH Ave Glendale 85301
Call them for more information 623-939-6136
Everything is subject to change and we hope things do change for the better.
We do take out food during the coronavirus pandemic because experts say that take out is safer than dining in. All restaurants are struggling these days and there is little to do safely so we do take out as much as possible.
One take out we did was from Banh Mi Bistro in North Phoenix. They are a small Vietnamese Eatery that offers most of your Vietnamese favorites except for pho.
Today I got the curry chicken with rice and my husband got the noodle bowl with grilled pork and shrimp. The food is always delicious, prices are very low and portions are very large. Not all but many of the meals can be two meals for some people. The owners are also very nice all the time. This is one of our regular spots. My dogs always love sharing the food from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery.
Next take out was from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. They specialize in serving certified Neapolitan Pizzas. They also offer Roman Style Pizzas, American pizzas, Italian food and MORE!
Today we got the Tavola Mista (meats and cheeses, vegetables and more plate) an Italian Stallion Pizza (house made mozzarella, San Marzano Tomatoes, sausage, pepperoni, prosciutto di parma sopressata) and a Bianco pizza (house made mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, fresh basil, Sicilian oregano and extra virgin olive oil) with added Calabrian peppers. Everything was delicious and we shared some with the dogs.
I haven’t been to Little Saigon in Old Town Glendale in a long time. It’s a charming little Vietnamese restaurant that offers a long menu of many different Vietnamese foods. Decided to do take out there. The owners are family with the Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in Phoenix.
We tried some things that we haven’t tried here before. We started with the beef wrapped in grape leaves. It’s something like Vietnamese fajitas. You take a grape leaf that is stuffed with beef. You add a variety of vegetables, fresh herbs shallots, peanuts and rice noodles. You stuff them in a rice paper and wrap with lettuce and dip it in fish sauce.
They are very tasty……lots of good flavors here! It’s a treat!
For my main I had the Ga Xao Xa Ot (spicy chicken onions vegetables in lemon grass soy fish sauce. The dark meat boneless chicken was tender and tasty. The sauce was funky and kind of sweet. It was different but good to me. I never had anything that tasted like this before. But it wasn’t too spicy…just mild with slight heat. My husband enjoyed the tom xao thap cam cay (spicy shrimp stir fry with vegetables). It was good but also mild heat. My dogs enjoyed the food from Little Saigon too!
It’s restaurant week so we thought we’d try Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale because they were offering fresh truffles.
A few things were forgotten (including the truffles) but the mains were very good. I had an excellent Faroe Island Salmon. It was cooked to perfection. It came with carrots, roasted celery root, a salad of purslane and crispy sun chokes with truffle vinaigrette and this amazing barigoule (artichoke) sauce. My husband enjoyed the Prime Flat Iron Steak. It had this special black pepper crust, It was delicious and came with lots of seasoned fries and a complex sauce. My dogs sure enjoyed some meat scraps from Zinc Bistro.
P.S. my husband called to let them know they forgot the truffles so they would remove the truffles from our bill. They were extra generous and removed my whole meal from the check.
We decided that we could squeeze one more restaurant in. Our last take out of the week was from Squid Ink Sushi in Peoria/#UpperWestSide.
I haven’t tried their sushi yet but I did notice that they offer many dishes besides sushi that sound interesting. I wanted to try their Scottish Salmon because Scottish Salmon isn’t found anywhere in the Upper West Side. The salmon was prepared reasonably well and came with a variety of vegetables, LOTS of sliced avocado and tasty sushi rice. I think it’s a great find to find Scottish Salmon like this for only around $15.00. My husband tried the Beef Yakisobsa. It was also reasonably well prepared. It was made with very tender filet mignon and also came with a nice assortment of vegetables and Asian flavored soba noodles. As per usual my dogs couldn’t wait to try some.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”
That was week 27 of take out during the coronavirus pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ.
The restaurants we did take out from this week –
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Bistro – North Phoenix
La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale
Little Saigon – Old Town Glendale
Zinc Bistro – Scottsdale
Squid Ink Sushi – Peoria/#UpperWestSide
Every THING is subject to change and we HOPE it DOES CHANGE for the better.
Here are the most delicious $5. or less foods from restaurants around north Phoenix that I have tasted in no particular order.
Pictured above is the $3.00 delicious Beetroot Salad from a little casual restaurant called Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide . Next is their fresh herby delicious $3.00 tabouli.
My next favorite is the $3.00 Eggplant salad pictured below on the right. But everything is tasty. They also offer hummus and eggplant dip at similar prices.
All these reasonably priced goodies come from the small casual Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead/#upperWestSide.
Also in Glendale is Taco Fusion. They offer very good tacos on hand made tortillas. The tacos are smaller sized but are bigger than street tacos and are stuffed generously. They make a variety of house made sauces. If you can do spicy ask for the interesting flavorful but very (FORKING) hot black salsa. Get the regular salsa, the pico and the pineapple salsa if they have them. Our favorite tacos here are the mild chicken habanero (with pineapple salsa), carne asada, jaas, Lorenzo, fish (ask for corn tortilla here) and my husband likes the shrimp and barbacoa. We also like both beans they offer. Depending on what tacos you pick you might be able to get two tacos for around $5.00.
Below are 7 mostly different tacos and a container of black beans.
Wraps ‘N’ Curry is located in North Phoenix. They offer a $2.99 Naan Menu.
I’ve had their naan on a wrap sandwich but more recently I did try the stuffed chicken naan ($2.99 on the appetizer part of the menu). It was stuffed with boneless chicken breast, cilantro and Indian spices. It was different and also very tasty.
On my last visit we tried the Onion Kulcha $2.99.
This was very tasty!
I’ll try another one next time.
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix really kills it with the $5.00 or less food and offers 9 tasty options. My favorite $5 meal is the chicken and cabbage salad.
It’s a good size for me and has a good amount of deliciously seasoned chicken in it. I also like the tasty $4 chicken potstickers.
Here is a better picture of the potstickers.
My other favorite salad is the $5. lotus root salad. (lower right)
I love the refreshing flavors in it. It comes with shrimp but I gave up shrimp a long time back and I don’t eat shrimp. I already gave the shrimp to either my husband or dogs. Their papaya salad is also good. I added that picture because I didn’t remove the shrimp yet.
This is a collection of the most delicious $5. or less food that I have tasted in North Phoenix AZ.
Experts say that take out is a safer health option during the pandemic than dining in so we do take out. This week we did take out from Tarbell’s The Tavern in Phoenix. This restaurant is by chef Mark Tarbell. He is a highly decorated multi award winning chef and wine expert. The tavern offers elevated bar foods in a rock n roll man cave atmosphere. They offer the safest option curbside pick up. We took out the seared salmon, Scotch beef, a salad and coconut cream pie.
WOW! This salmon is really great! It’s so silky. Very few restaurants prepare salmon this well. This one is very different with sides of tomato broth and AZ honey mustard. It’s delicious! The curry potato cake is a really nice treat. It taste like it came from an Indian restaurant. I did taste the Scotch beef. WOW great flavors there and it was made with good wine too! The coconut cream pie was also very good. I think they accidentally gave me extra. It’s a large portion and we are getting 4 servings out of it but it very rich and delicious with this chocolate surprise coated crust. Treated the dogs so some salmon from Tarbell’s.
We also did take out from CHZBURGR in Glendale. They also are still offering the safest option that is curbside pick up. They serve the greatest cheeseburgers and fried chicken sandwiches in town. We ordered the crispy chicken thigh sandwich with pickled jalapeños. We also ordered a triple cheeseburger with tater tots.
I thought my sandwich was a little different today but everything still was delicious. My dogs were happy to help me with the chicken sandwich.
We love Taco Fusion in Glendale. They serve the best tacos closest to me. They serve Sonoran Mesquite Style Tacos that are slightly bigger than street size tacos on hand made tortillas that really taste good.
My favorite taco is the chicken mild habanero taco. I think I like it best on a flour tortilla with pineapple salsa (if they have it). I also like the fish taco and the carne asada. (I don’t like carne asada at most places but it’s always tender and flavorful here) My husband likes all the beef tacos and especially likes the shrimp taco here. They opened just before the pandemic and used to offer a salsa bar packed with many delicious salsas…Now they cut it down to a few salsas a day and you have to ask for them. My dogs are always excited to try some.
Last take out of the week was from Fabio On Fire in Peoria/#UpperWestSide. This is a place for Italian Food, Neapolitan Pizzas, fresh baked goods and the best gelato maybe on earth. They offer curbside pick up here.
We got the ravioli ai funghi porcini, strawberry gorgonzola salad, and gnocchi sorrentina. Everything was delicious. Have different dog friendly leftovers for my dogs.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food!”
Week 26 restaurants we did take out from –
Tarbell’s The Tavern – Phoenix
CHZBURGR – Glendale
Taco Fusion – Glendale
Fabio On Fire – Peoria/#UpperWestSide
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
It’s kind of fun to try different flavors of potato chips. A few are really great. Some are beyond terrible and most fall in-between. I really enjoyed the regular Lay’s Seaweed Chips from Taiwan so I thought the Spicy Roasted Seaweed Chips could be another winner.
The bag is small and only weighs around one and a half ounces.
Here’s the back of the bag.
Here are the ingredients.
There are many ingredients and these chips also are made with milk and fish.
I open the bag and take a whiff.
These chips smell strange. Kind of like something fried like pastry and tea…..
Now I am afraid to taste them……
I go and do the duty not expecting much.
PHEW!
They don’t taste as bad as they smell.
I eat a chip the way I’d normally eat a chip.
They are small chips with a powdery surface. They have a pleasant crunch to them. A slight sweetness, but more salty than sweet and more than anything they have a medium heat to them that builds a little. You do taste seaweed but it isn’t the dominate flavors.
I try to eat a chip very slow to taste it differently.
YUK…..can taste the fish this way and something that taste like burnt tea….
WOW they aren’t horrible if you just eat them but they aren’t great either.
They aren’t even as close to as good as the regular Lay’s Seaweed flavor is.
Not the best….but not the worst either
Don’t eat slow. You need to munch them down to skip over some of the flavors.
This is a collection of most of the sweet memories (desserts) I took out from Metro Phoenix Restaurants during the pandemic. The desserts are not in any particular order. Some were better than others but all of them were yummy!
Above is the macerated strawberries from Confluence Carefree. it was so light and not too sweet. it even had these macadamia nuts that taste so good. When I buy macadamia nuts from the store they don’t taste as good..
A chocolate brownie with fresh raspberries and fruit sauce also from Confluence in Carefree.
Next is the complimentary snickerdoodle cookie from –
Chino Bandido in North Phoenix. What’s not to like?
Beignets with delicious sauces from Twist Bistro and Galley in North Scottsdale.
Also from Twist Bistro and Gallery was this amazing Mascarpone Cheese Cake with Pistachio Praline, Salted caramel whipped cream and strawberries.
This was really great. It’s like when you go to a fancy resort restaurant and they have a pastry chef that makes the desserts. This one was just as great. (better than some from resorts)
Next one is….
Chocolate Mousse Tort from Aliello’s East Coast Italian in Phoenix. Also from another visit to Aliello’s East Coast Italian was the Cannoli. Both very good.
From La Piazza Al Forno is the cheesecake.
Ii’m very picky about cheese cake and most I don’t like because they are very rich and too sour for me. This one is lighter with the right amount oof sweetness.
From Vincent Market Bistro in Phoenix was the Lemon Pomelo Tart. To the left was complimentary sponge cake they generously gave us. VMB always makes great desserts. They are among the best.
The next one I took out but can’t find the photo so I added my photo from previously dining in.
Here’s the Mascarpone Chocolate Cake from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate cake but this really is very good.
From Twist Bistro & Gallery in North Scottsdale is a strawberry rhubarb cobbler.
Next-
Strawberry cobbler from Confluence in Carefree.
Great pies are served at all the Collins Restaurants.
From Wally’s American Gastropub in Scottsdale-
The coconut custard pie. My husband hates coconut and even he said it was a delicious pie.
From The Collins in Phoenix –
This Chocolate Mousse Tort
From The Collins –
The Key Lime Pie made with 40 hand squeezed key limes in every pie. It’s an amazing key lime pie. It might be the best key lime pie in metro Phoenix.
From Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale –
Came this amazing rich Triple Chocolate Cake….yes it’s worth the calories. It really was REALLY GREAT!
I couldn’t find the picture of the strawberry tub of Gelato I took out from Fabio On Fire in Peoria/#UpperWestSide. I did find my photo of the tub of peach Gelato I took out but that picture didn’t come out so good so I’m showing a picture of some of his FABULOUS Gelato from visiting his restaurant.
This gelato is to die for. I haven’t tried all the flavors yet but everything I tried so far was FORKING AMAZING! Fabio should sell his gelato across the country. His gelato really is FABULOUS!
From Alzohour Market in Glendale we got this AMAZING Kunafa noodle pastry stuffed with cheese and topped with sweet syrup and pistachios.
OMG! This was prepared fresh for us and came out piping hot. This was so freaking epic!
Here is another astonishing dessert from Confluence in Carefree.
it was Sake Poached Pears with Angel Cake, Candied Almonds and Yuzu Curd.
This was 19 delicious desserts we took out from restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
According to the experts take out is a less risky option than dining in and we aren’t risk takers so we do take out during the pandemic. Our first take out of the week was from a little casual place in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide called Skewers Mediterranean Grill.
They make really great $7.50 salads. I got the one with pickled turnips and chicken kabob. My husband got the chicken shawarma with chickpeas and pickles. I just love the fresh herby tabouli it’s only $3. so why not? My dogs enjoyed some of the tasty chicken kabob.
Next take out was from Twist Bistro & Galley in North Scottsdale. They are a small modern restaurant that swings towards Mediterranean.
We started out by sharing the falafels. They were crisp and herby inside. They came with tahini aioli and garlic yogurt sauce. For my main I had the Mediterranean Salad. WOW! it was packed with all kinds of goodies. The salad came with marinated olives, almond golden raisin couscous, crispy chickpeas, minted cucumbers, good ripe tomatoes, really good creamy feta, hummus and really delicious sauces..and I added the salmon as my protein (the salmon here is very good). WOW! It’s like a special occasion Birthday salad. My husband got the steak sandwich pallard. It’s a really good beef (tenderloin) on a really great baguette (garlic toasted Noble Bread) with mozzarella cheese, horseradish and demi sauces. The cheesecake here is very good so we shared that too. It’s not heavy and sour like most cheesecakes I’ve tasted. It’s light creamy and delicious and detailed with pistachio praline, salted caramel, strawberries, whipped cream and a tasty crumb crust. Dogs helped with the generous portion of salmon.
Our last take out of the week was from a brand new restaurant that just opened this week called Gabriella’s Contemporary American Cuisine in Scottsdale. They were just on TV and the food looked so good from TV we wanted to try some.
On the left is the short rib grilled cheese and on the right is the fish and chips. I live 35 minutes away so the food didn’t travel as well as from some of the closer places that I go to but all was tasty. As per usual I always share some with my dogs.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all that delicious food”
That was week 25 oof take out during the coronavirus pandemic. The restaurants that we did take out from –
I recently purchased The Phoenix Cooks Cook Book by Cristina Barrueta. It is a cook book that features recipes from many of of the best chefs from Phoenix. The first recipe I tried was the Chiles Rellenos with Duxelles, Goat Cheese Cream, and Chimayo Salsa. This recipe is by chef Rene Andrade and chef Roberto Centeno from Ghost Ranch Modern Southwest Cuisine in Tempe Arizona. The recipe is very unusual for a home cook. This recipe calls for 2 cups of garlic plus TEN cloves. I also thought three cups of heavy cream is a lot of heavy cream for 7 peppers….. Even though I changed up the recipe a bit I do not have permission to publish it. I will just mention my experience with the recipe. For some people this recipe might make way more filling and sauce than you might need for 7 peppers but it is delicious.
Roasted Anaheim peppers
Chimayo salsa..This came out very thick for me. I added some water like they suggest to if the sauce is too thick. I also added 1/2 a cup of apple cider vinegar. I thought it brightens it up some. This makes way more than needed. It also gets thicker and needs to be thinned down more.
Goat Cheese Cream – three cups of heavy cream plus the goat cheese is too much for me so I only used one cup of cream that I didn’t reduce. I added a secret small dab of French Dijon mustard for a little depth. Still had plenty of goat cheese cream.
Duxelles….I made the duxelles but maybe my garlic was too strong and not as fresh as what a chef gets. The 2 cups of garlic was too much garlic for my mushrooms….to remedy this I added 3 Tablespoons of Mushroom Powder and one cup of huitiloche (Mexican Truffle also called corn smut) salt and pepper. (P.S. the mushroom powder is very good to add to things and is locally made by a woman known as the mushroom lady.
She supplies very fine mushrooms to the finest restaurants around Phoenix. My peppers for stuffing were far smaller than what the chefs have used because I had enough leftover to fill around a dozen roasted yellow Mexican chili peppers. The leftovers were also really great in omelettes too. (down below are the Mexican Yellow Peppers filled with the leftovers after filling 7 Anaheim peppers)
Garnish with chives….I fried leeks instead.
It came out Delicious and AMAZING…My changes I feel were only minor……. I never would have made this delicious dish without the Phoenix Cooks Cookbook.
Chiles Rellenos with Duxelles, Huitilloche, Goat Cheese Cream. and Chimayo Salsa
A Special THANKS! To chef Rene Andrade, chef Roberto Canteno and Christina Barrueta for this amazing recipe.
