Michael's Cafe

Linner with the Walters

So David (the boyfriend), his twin, and his parents came to our house for Linner (lunch/dinner) and this is what we ate. Matt (the twin) made a strawberry cheesecake, apparently it was supposed to have a swirl design (which it didn't) but it still tasted delicious. I made a quiche and companion baby quiche because I had a lot of leftover dough. It was a ham and cheese quiche because we were trying to use up the last of the Christmas ham. The crust needs some work, different recipe next time, it just didn't have that sturdy crunch that I wanted, but the egg part was goooood. We made a HUGE pot of sausage risotto which turned out pretty good but not as good as last time, probably because it was a mass creation. The last picture is the layout of all the food, there was also asparagus (steamed/grilled and sprinkled with cheese), stuffed mushrooms, and a tossed salad. YUM! oh and the parental meeting was a success, everybody liked everybody, in case you were worried about the outcome =)

Effie's

So we were supposed to go to Amada for New Years but the menu was especially expensive so David picked this places. Effies is a Greek food restaurant and I really like Greek food so I was all for it. Its this really tiny place in center city and there were about 5 small tables downstairs and one big round one upstairs. For an appetizer we had spanikopita (Kaseri cheese) which actually wasn't as good as the kind I've had before. It wasn't as potent of a flavor, not as sharp, it was just sort of mild and alright, I wouldn't get it again. For dinner David had Mousaka and I had Makaronia. The Mousaka was amazing, it had cinnamon flavored beef, eggplant, tomatoes, and bechamel (a white sauce made of milk, flour and butter). The cinnamon was a great flavor, just a little sweet, but the perfect combination to compliment the eggplant and tomatoes. I had Makaronia which was penne with bacon, spinach, mushrooms, and greek cheese. The cheese was really stringy in a good way, it was very buttery, it was delicious. I actually think I liked it better heated up the day after for some reason. We were way too full for dessert so we will have to go back another time for that! The food was really good but the service was weird, the waitress seemed like she might be the owner's wife or daughter or something. She didn't introduce herself or carry conversation well but our food came quickly and tasted great.

Lewistown

First is what happened when David (my boyfriend who lives in Lewistown) ate his ginormous pancakes or sort of ate them. Then him with the pancake just to show how big it really is. Then the beautiful pancake by itself. Red's Diner is one of David's favorite places in Lewistown and they make amazing pancakes and have waterlike syrup which is surprisingly good. The day we went the waitress was making the pancakes and she was doling them out in huge portions, it worked out for us! Next is the brunch we had at.... It was pretty good, I had a reuben, it would have been better on pumpernickel but it was filling. David, his mom, and his dad had ...basically omelets but I think it was called an egg scramble. I'm not really a fan of eggs so I can't say but they enjoyed them. Last was the first place I ever ate in Lewistown (although this was the second time) called Downtown OIP. David and I were both sick so we each had a seafood chowder with pizza. Delicious!

Sabrina's the other one

So my sister came to visit from New York and I thought it would be nice to go out to brunch with our boyfriends, so I thought Sabrina's Cafe. I already had it in my head that we were going so when it decided to snow we had to still schlep there all wet and cold. I've been to the Sabrina's on Catherine but we were trying to minimize our outside time and try something slightly new so we went to the one on Callowhill. It was about 3:30pm when we left Temple and Sabrina's only serves brunch until 4pm so we tried to get them to let us order on the phone, but they wouldn't let us =/ It all turned out alright, I had a cup of tea and stuffed challah french toast. It was topped with bananas and syrup and the filling was absolutely delicious. David had a mel's chicken cutlet cornmeal encrusted sandwich with sweet potato fries on the side. He mainly got a sandwich so that he could get sweet potato fries *his favorite* The sandwich was alright, I thought the chicken was a little dry, nothing special really, but the fries were awesome!! My sister had a cali turkey sandwich with sweet potato fries. It was ok, I think if it had been on a heartier bread and made panini style it could have been better, but then again I love paninis. Her boyfriend had banana pancakes (yes like Jack Johnson), he said they were good. All in all I think it was worth the all the cold snow walking.

David and Victoria's creations

First is the cake we made for my boyfriend's (David) father. Happy Birthday John!! We were going to make an M&M cake but then his mom got the idea to make a jayhawk (Kansas University's mascot) cake and we thought we'd still add M&Ms. We used a recipe we found online to make a yellow cake, it didn't rise though so we had to make another one so the cake was tall enough. We iced with a buttercream icing and dyed a few bags to make the jayhawk. I made the outline, David colored it in and then he did the M&Ms, his dad loved it! The second set of pictures are from the pumpkin crab risotto we made. It doesn't look great but trust me, IT WAS DELICIOUS. I was a bit unsure about the combination of flavors but nothing was too overpowering, it was delicious, creamy very satisfying.

Alice's Tea Cup

Alice's Tea Cup (chapter II) is my sister's favorite place to take people in NYC for brunch. Its adorable but the food is not as good as the place is cute. I'll let her go she's only been in New York for a few months, I'm sure she'll find better places ;) So she and I ordered a Mad Hatter which was a choice of 3 scones, 2 sandwiches, an assortment of desserts and two pots of tea. Our scone choice consisted of a ham and cheese, lemon raspberry, and a pumpkin scone. I picked Alice's BLT and my sister had the curried chicken salad sandwich. The desert was a chocolate mousse with assorted cookies. Our choice of teas were an indian chai and a ginger peach. The indian chai was watery and our second pot was better but still not great, the ginger peach was delicious. The lemon raspberry scone was the best one, next came the pumpkin one, and my least favorite was the ham and cheese(I was mostly curious when choosing this option). The BLT was OK but I didn't realize it had blue cheese on it which I am not a fan of, it also had lettuce that should have been used in a salad (my favorite for a BLT is boston lettuce but romaine would have been fine), and there was too much bacon for my taste. The curried chicken salad was delicious with a hint of sweet from the raisins and apples. The mousse was nothing special but there was a surprise of white chocolate mousse layering underneath the chocolate. The cookies were just butter cookies and I could have done without considering i wasn't hungry. We only ate about half of each scone, the sandwiches, and the mousse, everything else went into a doggie bag. The rating for this one is ok but I wouldn't eat there again.