Margaritas with the Moms

So my friend Emmaleigh and I and our Moms went to this Mexican restaurant in Harrisburg called El Sol. Its really delish and it was my second time there. Whenever my mom gets the chance to go there she does (my Dad has a citrus allergy and mexicans love their citrus). We started the meal off right with frozen margaritas, mmm delicious. We started off with a salsa sampler (guacamole, refried beans and pico de gallo). I had chile relleno which is basically a cheese stuffed chile pepper. Emmaleigh had chile con carne which was pretty good but the meat was a little dry. My mom and hers both had chicken fajitas. They are simple but yummy. NO room for dessert but everything was yummy and I know I'll be back.

Atlantic Jazz Yard

For our anniversary we ate at a place called Atlantic Jazz Yard. We got a table on the outside of the open area. There were tables and a bar surrounding an open area where there was live jazz music. The hostess, who was Russian, was super nice, friendly, and accommodating. I was waiting for our table to be cleared while David filled the meter. The guy who was to be our server was giving'the schpeel' to his large table. We sat down and he just came over and asked us if we were ready to order . He didn't give us the specials, favorites, tell us about the restaurant. So when he came back the second time we ordered brie grilled cheese as our appetizer. It came quickly, cut into triangles on whole wheat bread with bacon and raspberry jam. It was to die for (we recreated it the next day). We then ordered our drinks which are all from the prohibition era with hand chipped glass and all made from scratch. I had a Wilmington Street Shuffle which was strong and tangy from the orange zest. David had The Last Word which had gin in it and I thought the taste would be drowned out by everything else in the drink, I was wrong. About the 4th time he came back (after asking him what the specials were and what he recommended). I had soft shell crab with a carrot ginger sauce and tapioca balls. All had very little flavor which was disappointing, I would have preferred a tastier dipping sauce. David had prawns in a spicy coconut sauce over penne. Prawns gross me out because i hate the feelers and eyes and claws so after he disassembled I tried it. The sauce was only picking up the spice from the chorizo and I thought it would have been better if it was a bit thicker of a sauce. For dessert we had the PB&J which was a puff pastry with a creamy, sweet, thick filling over a blueberry puree. We also had a cherry mint hommade ice cream with a cookie similar to biscotti. Both were delicious, PB&J being my favorite (I'm a sucker for PB). All in all good for the apps and desserts, not the entrees or drinks.

Amada

David and I have wanted to go to Amada for about 7 months now but we weren’t able to go before I left for Japan. Amada is a Spanish tapas restaurant with a new Iron Chef as head chef and owner. The weekend I came back to Philadelphia we went. It was a bit of a disaster getting there, we completely missed our reservation, but they were accommodating and we only had to wait 10ish minutes. We did have to sit at the bar though and it would have been nicer to sit at a table. Our server /bartender was unenthusiastic, but the food came quickly. This is one of those poorly lit restaurants for ambiance effect which was nice but not so much for my pictures. Over by the main bar there is a wall covered in a shelf housing many wine bottles, bar seating in front of the kitchen, bar seating at the main and back bar, and then seating in a main room and back room. First we were offered baked pita chips with tuna something, it was ok but I’ve had better tuna. We ordered the Aragones which was cheese with sliced apples, sliced baguette, and raisins soaked in sangria and then put in honey. It was pretty delicious especially all piled up on the bread and dipped into honey. The hint of sangria was a great flavor and something I’m definitely going to try to recreate. The next item of food that came out was Amada's Empanada which was spinach and manchego and artichoke. Then we had rabbit ravioli, it was amazing, tender and flavorful, and the cherries were such a complimentary taste, I just wish there had been more. Then we had a flatbread topped with short ribs, parmesan, horseradish, and bacon. It was very salty, but the meat was tender and the flatbread wasn't too hard. Finally we had ham croquettes. They basically tasted like ham put in a blender with some sort of classy spicy ketchup concoction, that may not have been the best description but trust me they were good. All in all the food was delicious, but a bit pricey for the portions which were small, even for tapas. We finished off with dessert from Franklin Fountain, a "lightening rod" which was topped with espresso, chocolate covered espresso beans, and chocolate. yum !

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!