musashi!!!!!!!!

i went to musashi on saturday with angela and will because they'd heard so many great things about this sushi joint and well, if i had to eat one thing for the rest of my life, this would be it! musashi is across the street from tilth (my fav restaurant EVER) on 45th. it is a smaller mom and pops joint so you either need to be prepared to wait half an hour outside or call in an order! it is also cash only so come with your benjamins.

from reading all their yelp reviews, everything was raving about their chirashi bowl (bowl of sushi rice topped with raw fish) since it's such a great deal ($14) but i went for a yellowtail and spicy tuna roll with 4 pieces of salmon nigiri ($13 total for everything!!).



it.was.so.good.

the salmon was so buttery tasting and a pretty good portion. the spicy tuna roll was a perfectly spicy and so flavorful. the yellowtail was a little bland so i don't think i would go for that again. i swear i could've had a meal of just the salmon nigiri. will ordered the bowl and it looked AMAZING. sometimes i'm kind of iffy on ordering these things cause you end up getting fish you don't really want but they let you substitute here so you're guaranteed to get something to your liking! that...or feign allergy to whatever fish you don't like...

you can be i'll be back verrrry soon.

grilled cheese party

i am soooo behind on updating! work has been very busy with me trying to wrap up everything before i go compete on the reality show focus rally america! if this is the first you've heard of it then go to this site (http://www.focusrally.com/team/grey/) join my team and check it out!! sorry, couldn't help the plug for help!

back on track now...i've been so excited to blog about the grilled cheese party so here goes! don't judge me. in fact you'll probably be tempted to throw one of these yourself after you read about it. ;)

stephanie and i ran across some oprah/martha stewart page one time about having one of these so we decided to make it happen! the gathering was at my apt and we had everyone who came over bring a cheese and a topping that could go on grilled cheese--i provided the bread/butter/stove.

everyone came over and and i cut up everything and put it onto plates so everyone could make their own delicious creation easily. we had soooo many options! there was beechers, pepperjack, tillamook extra reserve cheddar (emily texted me while at safeway saying 'i got fancy cheese i think'...haha), gouda from holland (this was my contribution--thank you met market!), and havarti. as for other toppings, we had proscuitto, arugula, basil, avocado, and tomato. oh and don't forget the mustard!

i threw a few pans on the stove and turned them onto medium low and put out butter and some knives next to the stove so everyone could butter their bread!

people got all sorts of crazy (i mean, as crazy as they could) but it was so easy and so tasty! here's my creation! i believe i put in gouda, cheddar and beechers with proscuitto, tomato, avocado and basil. money.

shrimp and grits

my fabulous friend liya invited us over to her house on tuesday for some shrimp and grits action! she found this recipe on the food network's website(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/lemon-garlic-shrimp-and-grits-recipe/index.html) and wanted to try it out since it looks so simple and yummy! i guess if you really think about it, shrimp isn't too complicated to cook, and instant grits are, well, instant!

the dish was DELICIOUS and not to mention fairly healthy! the shrimp was cooked perfectly (props, liya!) and seasoned very well. granted there was a lot of garlic and butter involved, but it was bomb. i think the parsley really added to the shrimp too so i would definitely not skimp on that piece.

the grits were really easy to cook--just added them to boiling water and then added in some pepper, salt, butter and parmesan cheese. the only thing i would caution is keeping the grits on low heat until you're ready to dish up the food because after sitting for a little bit, the grits start to solidify a little. but if you ran a fork through the grits, it did the trick too!

i can't wait to make this myself! thanks for hosting liya :)

toulouse petit happy hour yet again!

as discussed, i made the trek back over to toulouse petit on monday for breakfast happy hour because the frenchies gave us another day off! we went a little later this time (~10am) and there was wait for parties over two. every pair that walked in got sat immediately while we waited a solid 15 minutes to sit. that was depressing.

matt ordered the biscuits and gravy once so this time i made it happen! i had pesos' version a little bit ago and it was SO much food i didn't know what to do with myself. i can't say that the toulouse version is the same, haha.

the dish was great! the biscuits were perfection--hard on the outside and fluffy on the inside. i like the addition of the egg because sometimes just biscuits and gravy aren't enough. the sausage gravy was delicious. the only problem is they didn't give you very much!! why can't they just get it right? they drenched my scramble with tons of bland pepper gravy last time and now that they have flavorful gravy, they just drizzle. come on! it's called biscuits and gravy for a reason!

mexican food the pioneer woman way

i know. more pioneer woman. but why mess with a good thing? since cat and i both had monday off, we decided to cook up some yummy mexican food last night courtesy of the pioneer woman. we made some enchiladas with mexican rice, guacamole and pico de gallo!

cat handled the mexican rice while i did the enchiladas. the mexican rice was made by cooking up onions and garlic on a skillet then adding rice to brown for a bit, and then adding in a can of tomatoes and rotel. after a bit, you mix in some chicken broth, spices (cumin, cayenne, salt) and then let it sit on the stove for about 10-15 minutes.

for the enchiladas, i made a little roux out of flour and olive oil before stirring in the red enchilada sauce on the stove. after that i added in a little chicken broth, some salt, pepper and cilantro before letting it simmer on low until the sauce is ready to use. then i browned some onions and ground turkey on the stove before adding in some chopped mushrooms, zucchini and corn (i had extras i had to use up!). finally i was ready to assemble the goodies! pioneer woman has you fry up the tortillas first but i was lazy so i heated them in the microwave for about 15ish seconds so they wouldn't tear so easy. then it got messy. i dippped the tortillas in the sauce and then added in the meat mixture then topped it with cilantro, green onion and cheese before laying them seam down on the baking dish. once they were all done we baked them for 20 minutes at 350.

you can't have mexican food without guac so obviously we had to make some of our own! we used the same guacamole/pico de gallo recipe that jason and i had used for mexican layered dip. we chopped up tomatoes, onions and a jalepeno then adding in salt and lime juice. to make the guac, we mashed up some avocadoes before adding in a little of the pico mixture.



the food turned out so well! the enchiladas were a little tough to dig up so it's not the most picturesque thing but they were delicious. the rice was also surprisingly similar tasting to mexican rice (not that i doubted the pioneer woman ever) so that was a pleasant surprise. i think next time i'll add a little more cumin to give it that smoky flavor. paired with our pico and guac, it was a perfect way to end or sunday!

five guys

after new years eve, i was absolutely worthless on saturday which means a fun time was had the night before ;)

cat and i had lounged around most of the day watching the bowl games but managed to sneak in a walk at discovery park to wake ourselves up a little. to cap off our very stressful day, we decided to head to northgate for five guys and then black swan afterwards.

five guys is an awesome fast food-ish burger joint that makes custom order burgers. you start with your burger base (one patties, two patties, cheese, no cheese--but why would you ever NOT get cheese?) and then they have a huge list of toppings that you can add to the burger for no extra charge! these toppings include: mayo, relish, onions, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, jalepenos, green peppers, A1, bbq sauce and hot sauce.

i decided to get a cheeseburger with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, jalepenos, bbq sauce and hot sauce. i think they left off the jalepenos but whatever--it was amazing and hit the spot. it's not fancy, and i wouldn't compare to in'n'out, but it's not bad for a quick bite. for fries, cat and i split the small cajun seasoned ones. they were amazing--harder on the outside, and then starchy on the inside!! at first we were gonna split a large until the lady warned us it's meant for 4 people so we went with the small and we ended up not even being able to finish those!

five guys is conveniently located next to the thornton cinemas by northgate so we hopped over and watched black swan afterwards. holy hell that movie is frightening yet a thinker--i enjoyed it even though i spent a few solid scenes hiding behind my hands...don't judge!

caprese skewers and proscuitto crack

we had a few more going away parties for troy last week (how many going away parties does one need, geez) and i was in an appetizer mood so i decided to share with you some easy items that you can amke that are delicious.

the first are the caprese skewers. i hit up trader joes for all my ingredients. got some marintated mozerella balls which i cut in half, then some little tomatoes and basil that i stuck on a toothpick. since the mozerella was already marinated, there was no need for too much olive oil to be drizzled on top but i did have some balsalmic on hand so i drizzled some of that to add a little more flavor. yummy and healthy! they are all jumbled looking because i had to throw them in a tupperware container.



the second is proscuitto crack. yes, you read that correctly. i may have made that name up. i stole this from my cousin isabella who made this one time at her place but i made an adjustment of my own. 'proscuitto crack' is made up of proscuitto wrapped with arugula, apricot jam and goat cheese. isabella used brie but i thought goat cheese would complement it better. anywho, it takes a little more time to assemble, but it is so worth it and people are usually pretty impressed with it. a few tips though--keep the proscuitto on the divider sheet to make your own life a little easier because you'll need to roll it all up. i also cut the proscuitto slice in half to make it go further, but then you can't stuff as much of the goodness into it so it's up to you. however, i would at some point cut the roll you end up with in half to make it bite sized cause it is very awkward watching people try to take a bite of proscuitto neatly. :)