740 Eastern Avenue, Newbury Park, Illford, London IG2 7HU
Fantastic!
The food at Mirage was absolutely superb and for a very good price considering the amount! The family run restaurant specializes in Turkish cuisine and steaks. I must say that meat so succulent and tender as in Mirage has a great overtake within most steakhouses, Mirage does indeed stand up to their reputation of a great restaurant. The flavours will properly tickle your senses and they will also make you promise that you will come back for them. I honestly believe that Mirage could be one of the best restaurants in London and trust me I eat out ALOT, so I have experienced plenty of different restaurants.
I can't believe I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks! There were a couple things driving that. First of all, my camera done busted. Actually, Microsoft Vista, in all it's exceedingly user-unfriendly glory, stopped recognizing my camera. Second, life in Toronto is a rollercoaster of events, appointments, things, places, people, etc, and I haven't had much time for cooking. Thirdly, I no longer have O.B. here to consume all of my experiments and so the fridge is slow to deplete. And fourthly, living in the suburbs, I can't walk to the grocery store so my creative recipes (previously envisioned at work, planned on the way home, and prepared with a quick trip to the nearby grocery store) have sort of dried up.
Yet, I do still have SOME creations.. here we go :-)
Minestrone soup from , garnished with pre-slivered carrots.
The first of many salads... I've sort of become a nutter over salads these days. Must be all the fresh produce.
Left, another salad creation using Byward Market vegetables (this was a couple weeks ago when I was in Ottawa) and Soy & Ginger salad dressing. The mixed greens are from a stand that sells bagged mixed salad with sprigs of dill (YUM!!!) for $2.50 a bag. On the right, oh god oh god oh god, I can't even look at this soup without gagging. It's Cream of Leek soup from the Bulk Barn which I bought because there was no cream in the ingredients... which is a little fucked up, don't you think? Anyway it tasted ATROCIOUS, I had to brush my teeth for an hour afterwards. *Gag*
Speaking of the Byward Market, it was so great to see all the stalls open and all the produce out. I can't wait to check out the St Lawrence Mkt in Toronto. Here are some Byward Market pics:
But anyway, back to the food:
I LOVE this green bean recipe. This recipe comes from my mother, who is kind enough to share the recipe:
Oriental Green Beans 1 ½ pounds green beans, trimmed
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oriental sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced (I use 1 teaspoon chopped garlic from jar
In a large pot of boiling water, cook green beans until just tender, 4-5 minutes.
While beans are cooking, in a small bowel combine soy sauce, oil and sugar; stir and set aside.
Drain beans, set aside.
Spray wok or skilled with nonstick cooking spray; place over medium heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until softened, 20-30 seconds. Add green beans; cook, stirring and turning constantly, until well coated, about 2 minutes.
Add soy sauce mixture; continue to stir and turn until most of the liquid is absorbed, 1-2 minutes.
Again, with the salad creations:
I've become totally obsessed with mango/strawberry/dill-containing salads.
I like communal fridges for the variety of random salad ingredients found within. Here again, is another mixed green salad with mango, kiwi, strawberries, dill, sunflower seeds, papaya, and bean sprouts.
Rice paper rolls! AKA "Summer rolls". I loooove these things, esp dipped in plum sauce. Here's what they look like being made:
I ususally throw in avocado, slivered carrots and cucumber, cilantro, green onion, sprouts, pepper, etc.
A big stir-fry for some packed lunches, with my favourite noodle, UDON!! I also added grilled herbed tofu, frozen vegetables, VH Teriyaki sauces, and sweet thai chilli sauce.
Sorry for the blurry pic, but this is a slice of spinach-red pepper pizza from a downtown eatery (wish I could remember the name!)
That's all for now! I'll catch up on all your blogs later today.
-Maureen
New Haven or the ‘All-America City’, as it is fondly called, is one of America’s oldest cities. It offers a fine array of restaurants serving a variety of world cuisines. If you are fond of Italian cuisine then there are several top notch restaurants in New Haven known for the luscious Italian food that they serve.
Check out some of the top-quality .
serves some of the best Italian food in quality as well as in taste. Almost all dishes served here are freshly prepared using the finest ingredients. Their tried and tested recipes are popular among the locals. They serve large portions at very reasonable prices.
has a warm and elegant atmosphere and the service is friendly and quick. Their bar area is also equally beautiful. The menu includes innovative Italian food and they serve the best grilled Portobello mushrooms in the whole of United States. They have an extensive wine list.
has been around for more than 60 years and serves authentic Italian food both contemporary as well as traditional. It’s the right place for romantic dinners as it has got a stylish and intimate atmosphere. They have an excellent menu for the people on the go.
serves the best brunch in and around New Haven. The atmosphere is great and the staff is friendly and prompt. It is a great place to dine with your family. It offers live music on Fridays and Saturdays.
offers live music on Sundays by the great guitarist Tony Lombardozzi. It’s got an extensive wine list and serves some of the best Northern Italian cuisine. It has a wonderful atmosphere and is known for its wonderful garden dining.
doles out delicious Italian food along with other Middle Eastern dishes. It offers live dancing on Saturdays. The menu includes pizzas, calzones, sandwiches, wraps and so on.
Try any of these restaurants and enjoy a nice Italian meal.
Tonight my husband decided to get in touch with his more primitive inner man by grilling enormous pieces of meat over open fire. As someone who rarely cooks things like steak or other large chunks of animal product, I was amazed at the prices of beef.
$5.99 discounted for a pound of rib eye? Apparently $11.99 normally?? I'll take pasta and vegetables for a fraction of the price over that any day. Nevertheless I indulged my husband and purchased two slabs of meat that would've made Fred Flintstone proud. And they were good! (And admittedly, I did just eat a $7 heirloom tomato from the local farmer's market, so I guess a $9 steak for my husband is entirely fair)
The prices of meat in the supermarket bring me back to a question that has been floating around in my head for several months, ever since I first ate at Bates' Steakhouse. Is it reasonable for a place like Bates Steakhouse in Eugene to charge $30 for this same pound of rib eye (taking into consideration that they also get wholesale discounts)? Going by retail prices, I would say $10-20 for 6-8 ounces of Filet Mignon with a side is quite reasonable. But $30 for some not particularly great meat? Even more surprising are their prices for some plain old Fettucine Alfredo (A sauce that in my many years of regular Italy trips I have never encountered in that country). $18?? Cost of ingredients: Probably $2. And how about $3 for blue cheese crumbles? And $5 for a bread basket that I would expect to be complimentary? Even in Italy the infamous 'pane e coperto' is usually only E. 1.50 or so.
God knows what they spend the rest of the money on, because it isn't the decor of the restaurant. The atmosphere is less than inviting; resembling someone's old Eugene house, only without that charming homey feeling, and with the cold sneer of a pretentiously priced cowboy-theme menu. Friends seem to share my amazement at their prices.
And here's what really breaks my wooden shoe, as we say in Dutch: I just received a very amateurish newsletter that looked like your latest community letter (only crappier), advertising Bates' great new steak deals. And what do I find on the inside of the newsletter? A list of their customers who are celebrating their birthdays or anniversaries. Saps like me, who filled out the comment card and now get their information sent out around the city. Is it just me, or is this a grossly inappropriate invasion of privacy? Publishing my name and birthday/anniversary without my permission, for advertising purposes ("Look at all these people who are loving customers") ???
As my accountant once told me: "New restaurants are the worst business to get into. They are opened a dime a dozen, but 95% of these clients comes back to close down their business within 3 years." So it will probably be with Bates. But perhaps I just don't appreciated grilled meat enough.
Hydrogenated vegetable oil has been banned in two European countries but not ours.
The Independent, Tuesday, 10 June 2008
They are the cosy, friendly foods that present us with a rosy image of our childhoods: Quality Street chocolates and Angel Delight dessert; Horlicks instant night-time drink and Knorr stock cubes.
As brands, they endure. Not quite as cutting edge as their more sophisticated and modern supermarket-shelf counterparts, perhaps. And certainly not as healthy. Because the truth is that some of the leading comfort foods we remember from our youth are doing their very best to kill us.
The culprit is one item, usually tucked away in tiny lettering on the ingredients label. It's called hydrogenated vegetable oil. It sounds harmless enough, but it is one of the most dangerous products ever to be mashed into the food we eat.
Food scares are, of course, nothing new, but hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) elevates health risk to a whole new level. Recent scientific research suggests that it may be responsible for an unknown, but certainly very large, number of heart attacks.
Clinical researchers have discovered that ingesting just two grams a day of HVO – the amount contained in just one doughnut fried in this type of fat – increases an individual's risk of heart disease by 23 per cent. This makes HVO much more dangerous to health than the saturated fats such as butter it often replaces. It distorts cholesterol levels, encourages obesity, causes inflammatory conditions, and can even be a cause of infertility.
Yet, despite the dangers, many major UK food producers continue to use it in everyday products. Brands that include it in their manufacture include Cadbury Heroes, some Nestlé and Mars confectionery, Batchelors Cup a Soups and even Haliborange Omega-3 Fish Oil capsules for children.
Nor is its use confined to retail food goods. Hydrogenated vegetable oil, or trans-fat, as it is sometimes called, is also widely used in bakery products, and by restaurants and takeaways, where it usually does not have to be labelled and declared as being present.
Given the risks, why do some of the country's leading food companies continue to lace their brands with this deadly ingredient? The answer is predictably simple: cost and convenience. Trans-fats were discovered back in 1903, when oil was boiled to more than 260C in the presence of a metal catalyst such as nickel. The result was that its molecular structure mutated, turning the oil into a hard, greasy, grey lard-like substance looking, as one observer described it, like "the skin of a corpse". The original purpose in making it was to create a cheap form of candle wax as an alternative to the more expensive tallow. That this wax could also be used in mass food production was a commercially sensational secondary discovery.
"Hydrogenated vegetable oil may look and sound disgusting, but in many ways, it's a food scientist's holy grail," explains the health writer and author Maggie Stanfield, whose recently published book, Trans-Fat: The Time Bomb in Your Food tells the full story of its acceptance by the food industry.
"It can be used as an alternative to butter – it's a lot cheaper, is taste-free, gives what the industry calls 'good consumer mouth feel', and lasts a long time. A very long time. An American TV programme recently featured a fairy cake made more than 25 years ago. It still looks perfect."
These days, far less harmful substitutes are readily available, and some UK food producers now take advantage of them. Others, though, persist in their use. And why shouldn't they? Trans-fats keep production costs down, and most consumers remain unaware of their dangers, believing, wrongly, that the real peril to their health lies in saturated fats such as palm oil and butter, which are actually far less harmful.
Given the weight of scientific evidence that has now built up against trans-fats, there is an overwhelming case for the Government to ban their use. This has already happened in Denmark, where legislation removing HVO from the food chain was introduced five years ago. Since then, the rate of heart disease among Danes has dropped by a staggering 40 per cent. The only European country to follow suit since then is Switzerland, which introduced a ban this April. Britain has no plans to take action, instead being content to leave the industry to get its own house in order.
Will it do so? There is little evidence of any enthusiasm for change. Legally in the UK, HVOs must be identified on ingredients labels, but to most shoppers it is just another meaningless name. There is nothing to indicate that it is hazardous to health. A voluntary deal was forged last year by major food retailers, but it only commits them to removing HVOs from own-label products. There is evidence that the deal is already being broken.
Professor Steen Stender, the Danish cardiologist who led the drive to ban trans-fats, says that voluntary codes never work. "Why should people need to know terms such as 'hydrogenated vegetable oil'? The EU must ban their use."
Having researched the topic thoroughly, Maggie Stanfield is convinced that the only safe amount of HVO we should be eating is no HVO at all. "When we eat trans-fats, our cells get confused. They identify the fat as unsaturated – it comes from vegetable oil, after all – but because of the industrial process involved, they can't handle the fat as they would a truly unsaturated one.
"Instead, HVO actually changes the cell structure, making the wall soft, and acts like a pincer, raising bad cholesterol on the one hand, lowering good on the other. So the gap is widened, making us more vulnerable to heart disease."
Stanfield believes that it suits the food industry to keep trans-fats a trade secret, doing little or nothing to flag them up. "They're hugely useful to the industry as they have a shelf-life of years, don't add unwanted flavour, don't need to be chilled, and are very cheap, unlike the natural alternative. A chip shop can deep fry in HVO for a month, for example, where vegetable oil must be changed every few days."
Given that there is conclusive evidence of the damage HVO does, Stanfield adds, an EU-wide ban is imperative. "What are we waiting for? Denmark has led the way, and the rest of Europe needs to get rid of these killer fats now."
Via Del Burgo has finally re-opened in a different locality!
This time it is conveniently situated along Tokiwa Park away from the bustle of Shizuoka City central area.
Although the food will be of the same quality concocted by Mr. Takahiko Kato, the concept is vastly different.
First of all, the place is vastly larger and can sit a total of over 40 with a cafe seating along the bay window, a large dining room with a cozy fire-place and two private party rooms. One of them can be reserved for its large cable T.V. to watch sports in a private party around a good bottle!
It will serve not only lunch and dinner, but will serve also as a caffetaria in the afternoon.
As for lunch, guests will be able to choose among three set menus (1,300~2,800 yen).
Dinner courses (3,800~7,000) have to be reserved but one can order from the carte (alla carta) without any restrictions: 10 antipasti, 6 primo Piatti, 5 secondo piatti and 3 desserts.
Now the big news is that they have vastly improved their cellar presently including 60 to 80 vintages. As they are not all featured on the menu, do not hesitate to ask about them, or even better check them yourself!
Of course wine can be ordered by the bottle, half bottle or glass. Beer and soft drinks are also available as usual.
Well, this posting being only an announcement, wait until the report on the food which should come very soon!
VIA DEL BORGO
420-0034, Shizuoka City, Aoi Ku, Tokiwa-cho, 3-2-7
Tel/fax: 054-221-7666
Business hours: Lunch (11:30~14:30), Cafe (15:00~), Dinner (18:00~22::00)
Closed on Tuesdays
Credit cards OK
(Japanese)
I stopped at the Quizzno's restaurant off Lockwood Blvd and Route 224 for dinner tonight. I saw all the commercials from Subway and from Quizzno's. Both joints are touting $5 dollar foot long sandwiches. Well, feast your eyes upon Quizzno's version of the $5 dollar sub. (Click the photo for a much larger version)
To begin with, the sub above was not a foot long. More like 9 inches.
Next, this giant sub had three slices of turkey. Yes kids, that's right, three thin slices of turkey. Not anything remotely similar to what the commercials on TV depict. This is blatant false advertising at it's finest.
Moving on, the sandwich had two pieces of cheese. Yup, just two pieces of cheese. Cut in half and spread on the bun.
To top it off, the bacon was pieces, but just by eye balling the sandwich, it was not more than two standard slices of bacon.
The cost was $5.00 for this sandwich. Let's take a minute and analyze the ingredients of this sandwich. three slices of turkey. I can buy a pound of turkey at the local Giant Eagle grocery store for $4.99 which consists of approximately 25 slices, or about 20 cents a slice.
The bacon is $1.99 a box, which is 15 slices, or 13 cents a slice.
The cheese is $4.99 per pound which is 20 slices or 25 cents a slice.
The bun is $1.99 for an eight pack of sub buns, which is 25 cents a bun.
Let's add it all together. 60 cents turkey, 26 cents bacon, 50 cents for cheese, and 25 cents for the bun. Grand total $1.61 for the sandwich. Keep in mind that Quizzno's has to have better costs than my retail prices.
The Grassy Knoll Institute is highly disappointed in Quizzno's awarding only 1 shot out of five and does not recommend them for lunch, dinner, or any event of any kind.
Raise your hand I've you've ever waited tables. I personally worked the dinner shift in countless restaurants from the age of sixteen until I was gainfully employed. Let's face it people, it's not brain surgery. And although waiting tables can sometimes be compared to prostitution and or really having a bad day, I think that it's also not the worst way to make money. You take an order. You bring the food. You don't spill anything on the customer. You clear the plates. You get a tip. And you're vaguely pleasant while you do all of that. And generally, the more pleasant you are, the greater the tip. Which is why I expect a minute level of friendliness when I'm being served. It doesn't always happen, does it? Let's take today for example. Our first outing to Crepes & Crepes in Cherry Creek on 3rd Avenue. Granted it was a very rushed breakfast, just as they opened. But we've been wanting to try them out for a while, especially now since they're providing the hot lunches at Mia's school. Weird, I know. And no, the kids don't eat crepes every day. I digress...the crepes were pretty good, but we were too rushed to be fair. But the waitress. Ice cold! Did not manage to crack a smile, or even really look us in the eye from the minute we sat down. I'm sorry that it's 9am and you don't want to be here. But we did. And we would have liked to be treated that way. Besides the fact that she didn't bring the teabags with my tea. And ignored us twice when we asked if the music could be turned down a smidgen (we were outside and under a speaker). It's a service industry and part of your job is to be nice, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not talking group hugs here, but at least a small semblance of friendliness. Can't you fake it?
So my question would be - do you leave unsatisfied, if even slightly uncomfortable with the service? Do you say something. What do you say? Do you bother? Do you never go back? Do you just suck it up, because after all you're just the customer? Hmmm. I guess you just moan on your blog!
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The first of many salads... I've sort of become a nutter over salads these days. Must be all the fresh produce.
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I love California Maki more than anything else.