Eduardo de San Angel

Restaurant.com sometimes has some ridiculously good deals on their coupons. Yesterday, $25 certificates were only $4, and I picked up a few. The minimum purchase to use the coupon at Eduardo de San Angel is $38, but at that place, there's no problem hitting that number all by myself.

Officially, Eduardo de San Angel is a Mexican Restaurant. But that's like saying that Frank Sinatra could sing a little.

I started with the daily soup special: Cilantro Soup. This was a zucchini-based soup, heavily flavored with cilantro and garlic, two of my favorites. It was good, but not off-the-wall great.

You know I love soup.

What was crazy wonderful, however, was my appetizer. It was a Roasted Poblano Pepper, filled with Florida Bluecrab and served over stewed sweet onions. It was big, and every bite was delicious. And it was baked in parchment paper to boot -- so I got to watch the glory of having my dish cut open in front of me.

This does not look one-tenth as wonderful as it tasted.

For my main course, I kept it simple and ordered the Snapper filet. It was peppercorn dusted, and served with a side of rice and refried beans. The fish was cooked perfectly and it was delicious.

The only thing wrong with the snapper was that it wasn't a second stuffed Poblano pepper.

I could have lived without dropping $15 on the soup, even though it was pretty good, and I love soup. But I had the coupon, so I lived it up a little. The Stuffed Pepper and Snapper were more than enough for dinner.

I forgot to post this earlier, but I had some frozen grapes at around 4:00 pm.

Boston Market - Soup Time!

Two hard-boiled eggs this morning. Then, Fiorella at work made some Kale Chips. I had two.

For lunch, Larry and I went to Boston Market to take advantage of their Free Refill special on Chicken Noodle Soup. It's delicious, and at $4 for three bowls, a real bargain!

Larry only had the one bowl. But he liked it!

Tatu - Hard Rock

We had tickets for the John Legend concert at the Hard Rock tonight, so we decided to eat there before the show.

Shauna picked Tatu based on two criteria: First, she liked Asian-type food and second, it was close to the theater and she had very high heels.

We split two appetizers: Spring Rolls, and the Crispy Calamari Salad. The Spring Rolls were kind of average, but the Calamari Salad was delicious. Whatever dressing they used on the greens was just wonderful.

For our main courses, Shauna ordered the Hong Kong Noodles, stir fried with chicken, shrimp and vegetables. It smelled great, tasted great (she said), and was enough for three people. She took most of it home.

I ordered the Sea Bass with bok choy and mushrooms in black bean sauce. They gave you a niv=ce portion of fish, and it was well-prepared. The vegetables were good, and the black bean sauce had a sweet kick to it. That was a little different.

We passed on dessert, but they brought a pile of cotton candy with the check. Speaking of the check, the four dishes and a blue drink for Shauna came to $99... a little pricey, especially when you factor in the abominable service we suffered.

This is the second time I've been to Tatu. I'm not sure I'm going back. I would see John Legend again; he was pretty great.

Also, I had some watermelon when I got home.

So far Wednesday...

Banana. Banana. Watermelon. Banana. Banana. More Watermelon.

EDIT -- 4:00 PM: Grapes

Will Call - Before Heat Game

Lonnise and I got to the game way early (thank you, traffic Gods. Thank you, express lane), so we went to Will Call (across the street from the arena) to eat before the game.

I had an order of chicken wings. They had a sweet glaze on them. Next time, I will get them without the glaze. They were enough to keep me happy the rest of the night.

Just because it **comes with** blue cheese doesn't mean you have to eat it.

Lonnise ordered the sliders -- three mini cheeseburgers.

Then we went to the game and beat up on Milwaukee. I got to hang out with LeBron... he really is huge!

When I got home: Watermelon.

Causa!

Danielle in my office has some Peruvian connections. She has Peruvian friends, she dated a Peruvian guy... she's just with the program.

Anyway, she whipped up a Causa and brought some in to work. Causas are a potato-based food delivery vehicle that's very popular in Peruvian cuisine. Danielle's causa was stuffed with what we would call tuna salad.

It was delicious. The only problem is that it made me want to go to a Peruvian restaurant tonight. Well, I leave for my next trip in a month, so maybe I can hold out. But probably not.

Las Colinas

First, let me get the morning out of the way: Bananna, Watermelon, frozen Grapes.

Johanna and I took out from Las Colinas on Andrews Avenue for lunch today. We split a Chicken Noodle Soup and a Half-Chicken meal with Rice and beans. So I had a quarter chicken and some rice and beans. And soup.

Here's Johanna getting ready to eat her lunch. You guys are lucky that I eat with people, otherwise you'd have to look at pictures of me with my food. Johanna is much prettier. 

Lonnise and I are going to the Heat game tonight... if we get there earlier enough, we'll eat outside the arena. That would probably be better (and cheaper!).

Outback Steakhouse

I stayed home all day today -- I have this cold/whatever that's going around.

Finally left the house for weigh-in tonight (lost 0.4 pounds this week!). Lonnise found a gift card for Outback in her purse, so off we went. I had a banana in the car on the way to the restaurant.

I passed on an appetizer and salad, and went straight for the 16 oz. prime rib, rare and then thrown on the grill. It came with two sides... in my case, broccoli and asparagus.

Aside from the big hunk of fat at the bottom, it was delicious. No dessert; no coffee.

Friedman Family Crest

Lonnise had a salad and the steak and shrimp combo. She eats her meat well-done, so I wasn't very interested.

After, I had some watermelon and some grapes while watching the basketball game. Here's a picture of the bananas -- there were 14 of them all attached. I have never seen that many before.

I was going to get a vegetable omelet after dropping Caleb and Lonnise off, but instead I stopped at Abertsons and bought lots of watermelon. I'm eating it now. That should do me for the rest of the night.

Hockey Food

We went to the Panthers hockey game tonight.

After the first period, Lonnise and I split a chicken wrap. I added mustard; Lonnise didn't. I ate the grapes and strawberry, too.

Caleb had a pizza. I didn't.

The Panthers won 2-1.

Turkey Roll-Ups

First off, I had some grapes at 1 in the morning.

I was at Walmart with Loretta, and picked up some sliced turkey breast for breakfast/lunch. Just add mustard and voila... Roll-Ups!!

Papa John's

Even Ray Charles could have seen this coming.

I ordered a pizza from Papa John's to keep me company during the Heat game. To minimize the damage, I ordered thin crust, light cheese, chicken and vegetables. But still. It's a pizza. It kept me company for part of the first quarter; the empty box kept me company for the rest of the game.

The day after a Heat victory, all Papa John's orders are 50% off... this pizza cost only $5.83. The code is "HEATWIN". They probably lost money on the promotion this year.

Tilapia

I added three small Tilapia filets to what is left of the vegetables.

I ate it; it was good.

But it's not going to be enough; there's a pizza with my name on it out there.

Saturday

It's Saturday.

I'm fighting a cold, so I don't want to really go anywhere. I also don't want to tell everyone that I ordered and ate a whole pizza, so I am throwing together everything that's in my refrigerator to see if that works. I have: vegetables.

Here's the gang!

We're looking at Bok Choy, Broccoli, one Onion, a package of Baby Bela Mushrooms, some Shen Li Ho (an Oriental vegetable that I picked up last week at Food Town), garlic paste, capers, peperoncini slices, diced jalapenos, some garlic chili sauce and (not pictured) a can of diced tomatoes.

It's cooking now... maybe this will help.

I also took out a package of tilapia filets to defrost. Maybe I will have them later. Or I might still order a pizza.

PDQ

I went with Lonnise, Ed, and a few more people to PDQ on Federal Highway tonight.

It was my first time there. They specialize in Chicken items, and everything is supposed to be fresh and tasty and high-quality. And, it was created by the guy who invented the Bloomin Onion, so it has to be good.

I had a grilled chicken breast sandwich on a whole wheat bun. It came with lettuce, tomato and pickles. I told them to keep their honey mustard and just added regular mustard to the sandwich. It was tasty; I could have eaten three more, but didn't. I will certainly go there again.

It looked much better in person.

Lonnise had a salad, and Ed had chicken fingers/tenders/whatever. Here they are... get used to looking at Ed because he's going with me to Peru next month.

Lonnise

Ed

After Work Snack

I got home from work and was kind of hungry, but I knew that I was probably going out with friends later.

I cut up two onions and cleaned a box of mushrooms that were in the refrigerator, put them in a bowl, added a little water, some garlic pepper seasoning, and a little hot sauce. I nuked the whole thing for seven minutes, and voila... a tasty, all-vegetable snack.

Pre-nuking, seasoning, and hot sauce

Moe's

I had some watermelon in the morning, and more later.

Some of the people in the office were going to Moe's for lunch, so I tagged along.

I had the Chicken Bowl: Rice, black beans, chopped up chicken breast, lettuce, grilled onion, grilled mushrooms, jalapenos, salsa, cilantro, and maybe some other vegetable item. No cheese or corn.

 

It was pretty good, and I avoided the tortilla from the burrito, and I passed on the free chips.

And now... some more watermelon.

Council Oak Steakhouse

I knew that I was going out tonight, so I limited my day eating to watermelon and grapes.

Lea and her husband, John were down on vacation from Massachusetts. They were going to the Chicago concert, so I made us reservations at the Council Oak for dinner.

To start: Two bread sticks, lots of Sun-Dried Tomato spread and a half-piece of foccacia bread.

I had the crab cake appetizer.

Mmmm... Crab Cakes

Lea and John had the Escargot. For their main dish, they both did the Filet Mignon Trio Sampler. I went overboard and ordered the 20 oz. NY Strip. We shared Creamed Spinach, Broccoli, and Mushrooms as our side dishes. Here's my plate:

I later augmented that plate with some more spinach and more mushrooms.

No dessert or coffee for any of us... we were too full. Here's John and Lea with their dishes. Lea's looked huge because she had them butterfly the steaks. Or maybe because they were huge.

The food was delicious, as always. We had a great time. And to top it off, when I left them at the concert hall, I got a hug!

Watermelon and frozen grapes this morning and afternoon. Going out for dinner tonight.

I finally got hungry and had some grapes before bed.

Versailles Restaurant - Cuban Food

OK, I blame Ed for everything. He absolutely forced me to go here and overeat. All his fault.

Anyway, Versailles has been a staple of Cuban food down in South Miami since the '70s. We had a meeting that way, so he handcuffed me to his car, sat me down at gunpoint, and made me order and eat too much food.

 

So, while we were looking at the menu, we had an order of mariquitas. These are plantains, sliced the long way (thinly), and fried. They're served with a side of garlic juice. Since I was being held at gunpoint, I had a little more than half of them.

We then ordered. Ed told me that -- as a kid -- he would visit relatives in Miami and they would take him here for the stuffed green pepper. I didn't want to see his gun again, so I ordered that, along with Arroz Imperial. This is chicken and rice, but the chicken is shredded and mixed in with the rice.

I would drive to Miami just to have the rice dish again.
I would drive to Miami just to have the stuffed pepper again.

I have a car.

Awesome doesn't start to describe the food. I was expecting a little ground beef mixed with rice inside the pepper, but no. Here's what was inside:

That's right... green pepper stuffed with Cuban Meatloaf.

The chicken dish? Equally fabulous.

Ed had the palomilla steak. He ate that while keeping an eagle eye on me, to make sure that there wasn't a scrap left on my plate.What could I do?

BONUS NOTE TO THIS POST: There were two pieces of bread involved, too.

Tuesday Dinner

Lonnise came over for dinner tonight. I bought some catfish, broccoli and asparagus at Albertson's yesterday in preparation.

I broke open a can of diced tomatoes, added some garlic paste, capers and peperoncini slices and brought it to a simmer. Meanwhile, I nuked the broccoli and asparagus for just a couple of minutes, to cook them halfway.

I seasoned and placed the catfish filets on top of the simmering vegetables. I then added the broccoli and asparagus, to get them just a little softer, and covered the whole thing to steam.

 Here's Lonnise enjoying hers. She took some home for lunch tomorrow.

I also had some watermelon before bed.

Lunch Tuesday

Lunch today was Michelina's Sesame Chicken.

Once again, not nearly as pretty as the box top. Not very tasty, either. The good part was that there wasn't very much of it.

I'm going to top it off with some watermelon. The good news is that I'm making catfish for dinner.

Last night, after shutting down the computer, I had some grapes.

This morning, on the way to the office... more grapes.

Breakfast: Watermelon.

Currently: More grapes.

Dinner

I stopped at Albertsons on the way home, and got a mess of Smoked Turkey Necks for dinner.

They're smoked, they're chewy, they're salty. They're all gone. I won't have to do this again for a while.

I bought real food for dinner tomorrow. Lonnise is coming over, and I'm doing the cooking.

Two hard-boiled eggs and a banana. Now, I am off to forage for dinner.

Monday Lunch

Today's lunch: Healthy Choice Beef Teriyaki.

Of course, in Real Life, it is not nearly as glamorous as on the box.

For a $2 TV Dinner, it's not bad. And I'm no longer starved.