Year: 2013

Mary, Recipes

peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread

Sometimes you get lonely, over ripened, sad bananas. But they’re not sad! They’re happy! Because they can be transformed from their sad, mushy state into something wonderful, like banana bread. Even people who don’t like bananas (*ahem*, me) like banana bread so you can’t go wrong here.

very-ripe-bananas

Sometimes you’ll start thinking about things you never think about, like Elvis (because someone in your house was recently watching an Elvis movie marathon) and then you’ll make the magical connection of peanut butter and bananas and wonder if it would taste good as a bread.

And then you’ll do it.

And then you’ll discover that maybe Elvis was onto something here.

But you still won’t eat a peanut butter banana sandwich since you still don’t like bananas.

And then you’ll write a blog post about it.

And then you’ll think, “Maybe I should just get on with it then.”

And you will.

Also – pardon the iPhone photos. I was too lazy to go upstairs to get my real camera. *sigh*

peanut-butter-chocolate-banana-bread

This bread has chocolate chips in it. And peanut butter chips! And a good hefty amount of peanut butters. And of course, those mashed bananas.

slice-closeup

When warm, the chips are kinda melty… and the peanut butter chips give that extra “oomph” of peanut butter goodness. Most of the sweetness here comes from the natural sugars in the bananas, too, so you don’t have to add a ton of sugar to this recipe. Continue reading “peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread”

San Diego County, Mary, College, La Mesa

dining at terra american bistro for san diego restaurant week

San Diego Restaurant Week is upon us yet again! This biannual event is a county wide event, spreading into just about every neighborhood in San Diego county and bringing with it the joy of a three course meal (for dinner – or two courses for lunch). SDRW is a great way to explore new restaurants and try out menus for a set price. There are $20, $30 or $40 menus for dinner as well as $10, $15 or $20 menus for lunch.

I was again invited to come out and dine at one of our local restaurants and I choose to visit Terra American Bistro in the outer edge of La Mesa. There was a … slight snafu… involved with my visit, in that there was a miscommunication and the hostess and manager did not know about my visit. Happily, the manager did everything she could to figure out what was going on and Stacey and I were able to enjoy a dinner here. Since it was all kind of arranged “on the fly”, they picked out everything for us, giving us plates and samples from items that will be featured on the SDRW menu this week (all of these are available on the menu – minus a few of the desserts).

fresh-bread-with-chickpea-sauce

[complimentary bread with chickpea spread]

We were offered complimentary bread by our waiter. I was hungry and immediately said yes. I am never one to turn down bread, in any case. Bread, I love you and all of your glutens!

The bread came with “chickpea spread”. Stacey and I quirked an eyebrow at each other and said, “Isn’t that just hummus?”

It wasn’t really seasoned in the same way that hummus is and it was a much simpler spread, so I could see why they called it “chickpea spread” instead. Not knocking it or anything – it was simple and good – but I wouldn’t have complained if it had had a little extra seasoning. Good bread, as well. Tasted freshly made.

the-remedy-drink

[“the remedy” – house infused sage bourbon, ginger lemongrass lemonade, bitters, lime, splash of soda]

Stacey opted to get an alcoholic beverage, while I abstained and just got the ginger lemongrass lemonade, as mentioned above in the description. I had a little sip of this – and it was dangerously delicious.

Dangerous in that it just tasted like sweet deliciousness with barely a hint of alcohol. Maybe just a *tad* too sweet.

spicy-peppery-calamari

[salty peppery calamari – fried garlic, green onion and chile flakes]

I know I said something about always ordering calamari – very recently! – but I didn’t order this! They brought it to our table, put it in front of me in the prettiest presentation I’ve ever seen for calamari and I had to eat it. Had to!

All of the plates were split for us – so we each got our own little plate. This dish was served on a very cool stone/granite plate – more like just a flat piece of rock, really – with the calamari in an edible “shell”.

Stacey affectionately called it a “squid-ucopia”! And she even ate a tiny piece! She didn’t really enjoy it, of course, but at least she was a trooper enough to try. She also “sneaked” all of her calamari into my squiducopia so it looked like I didn’t like it… but I did!

The fried garlic and chile flakes were all kind of at the bottom of the shell thing, but I got a few peppery bites here and there. It was also served with a kinda spicy sauce that I couldn’t get enough of. It had a good kick of flavor and tasted wonderful paired with the calamari. I ate almost every bit of this.

beet-goat-cheese-salad

[roasted beet and goat cheese salad – honey-miso vinaigrette, baby greens, toasted hazelnuts]

Our next course was a roasted beet and goat cheese salad. Stacey, who is allergic to milk, was very happy to see goat cheese since it’s something she can actually eat. We were both not thrilled with the prospect of beets though, and our plates kind of looked like this:

beet-henge

[“beet henge”]

Well, mine looked like this. Stacey pushed all of her beets together on her plate and then said my plate looked like “Beet-Henge”.

I love Stacey.

And the goat cheese was really delicious. And creamy. And kind of dreamy.

pot-roast-mashed-potatoes-local-greens

[pot roast – mashed Yukon potatoes, local vegetables, truffle oil]

The first entree we got was this deliciously tender pot roast. The outer part of the pot roast had a bit of a crust and the inside was flavorful and tender. I especially like eating bites of the pot roast with the very creamy mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were perfectly smooth and well seasoned – very flavorful. The local veggies were all bright and crisp and there was such a nice variety on the plate – not to mention colorful! Continue reading “dining at terra american bistro for san diego restaurant week”

jones brothers mississippi bbq / san diego, ca
San Diego County, Mary, Lincoln Park

jones brothers mississippi bbq / san diego, ca

Jones Brothers Mississippi BBQ is a little joint off Euclid Ave. near Lincoln Park. Jake suggested we try this place out last month after he spent some time talking to one of the owners. We’ve passed by this little nondescript BBQ spot a few times when we were on our way to Chula Vista and avoiding the traffic-clogged 805 freeway during rush hour. The smells of BBQ wafting in the air always made our mouths water and we finally had the chance to stop in to check out their BBQ.

bbq-overview

[bbq overview – 3 meat combination with 3 sides – $22.99]

View their menu!

The ladies at the counter were really helpful and friendly – greeting us warmly as we came inside and grabbed a menu to try and figure out what we wanted. They even suggested that we get the 3 meat combination – that way we’d get to try a bunch of stuff for one price. That’s what we ended up doing and it was more than enough food for Jake, T and I to share for lunch with plenty of leftovers for later.

They also let us sample the BBQ sauce. They have a regular mild BBQ sauce, a spicy BBQ and what they call “Twist BBQ” sauce – a combination of the mild and spicy. I got a little taste of the twist and enjoyed it enough to agree that we have all of our meats smothered in the “twist” sauce. It had a delightfully sweet taste and just a enough of an extra spice to give it a tiny kick – which is about as much spice as I could take or want. I am, after all, still a wimp when it comes to spicy stuff.

pulled-pork-in-bbq-sauce

[pulled pork]

The pulled pork ended up being my favorite meat of the three that we tried.

The pork was very tender and juicy. It melted away in my mouth from how tender it was and the sweetish sauce was a great accompaniment to the pork. I like pulled pork with sauce on it, so this was perfectly fine to me. I’m not sure what makes this stuff “Mississippi” style BBQ, but whatever it is, I like it. There’s no tangy flavor (rejoice!) just a nice, sweet and clean flavor from the sauce and the juicy meat.

beef-brisket

[beef brisket]

I’m really not a brisket person – I don’t know what it is that turns me off from it – but this beef brisket wasn’t too bad, especially with that tasty BBQ sauce. Jake and T seemed to enjoy it but there was one item they enjoyed just a bit more…

hot-links-in-bbq-sauce

[hot links]

… which was the hot links! There is a damn good amount of hot links here, also covered and tossed in their “twist” BBQ sauce. I am normally a great big fan of hot links and these hot links were also very good – juicy with a nice crisp “snap” to the links – but good god, they were really spicy! The “hot” part of the name was not lost on these links and they were much spicier than what little old me is used to and I sadly couldn’t eat too many of them. Jake and T were pretty bonkers for them though, and considering they like spicy stuff, this one was the winner for them that day.

Damn me and my low tolerance for spicy. Continue reading “jones brothers mississippi bbq / san diego, ca”