Sushi Samba Park

Oops! Once again, the camera was forgotten, as the company and the food took precedence.

To celebrate my daughter's Sweet 16 belatedly, we headed into New York for a relaxing weekend of fun and food. A trip to Randall's Island to see Cirque du Soleil's Kooza was followed by a visit to one of her favorite restaurants in the city: Sushi Samba.

Sushi Samba has a number of locations, two of them located in New York. We chose Sushi Samba Park, as it is more relaxed than Sushi Samba 7. The fact that it was closer to where we had been was a plus, also.

We are a bit predictable by now, starting off with edamame and the yellowtail sashimi tiradito, as always. However, there were mildly spicy peppers and green bean tempura added this time. Roo did manage to share some of the yellowtail. The combination of lemongrass and jalapeno that flavors the raw fish is a winner and a flavor she craves far too often for my wallet!

Entrees chosen by our party ranged from sushi to the day's special pork dish and a serving of kobe beef tartare. Everything was enjoyed heartily, as were the mango mojitos and mango sambatinis.

Dessert arrived, with warm Valhrona chocolate in which to dip handmade marshmallows, soft cookies and other assorted fruits and goodies.

Service was friendly and prompt, which we have come to expect from Sushi Samba Park. The server was fantastic, even when a late arrival joined us, complete with all of her bags from a full day of running around the city.

Highly recommended for the atmosphere and for the food, Sushi Samba Park remains a favorite with our family.

Changes

Sorry I have been so quiet. JT and I divorced in October 2008. A friend moved in shortly thereafter while she looked for an apartment in the area. My daughter's friend moved in in March 2009. Meals right now are for 4 women and a dog. It's been a little crazy!

I'll be posting more, though, as things settle down. I need to get used to carrying my camera around more often. Right now, there are plans for a trip for Roo's 16th birthday and, of course, there must be food photos!

Lunch time!

Okay, so it's been a while since I've worried about lunch at work! I don't know where any restaurants are in the area of my new job, and even so, I want to be good financially. So, tomorrow's lunch:

shrimp fritters from one of my favorite bento sites: Fritter Recipe at Just Bento

I used nori fumi furikake - sesame seeds and nori in the fritters, and since I didn't have hot paprika, I used smoked. Nice flavor, if no heat to it.

I took a little more of the furikake and mixed it into some rice. I packed the rice in tight and added the shrimp fritters to the top tier of my bento.

The bottom tier holds these protein bars (minus the soy protein powder that I forgot to pick up) that the girls made: Alton Brown's Recipe, along with grape tomatoes and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese to eat with the tomatoes.

Now to stick in some water and I'm set.

It's going to be challenging to come up with interesting lunches.


If I was mildly creative, I'd get out my nori punches and make some faces or shapes or something to add some color to the rice, but... nahhh... Tomorrow!

Eating at home and in school

I'm back! Today's post is dinner from Monday night and lunch for Roo for school on Tuesday (her last bento of the school year).

Monday night's dinner was shrimp with green peppers and pineapple, with leftover Tuscan bean salad. Then I prepared Roo's bento for tomorrow. It's a little boring, but it works. And these onigiri seem to do very well refrigerated overnight rather than me making them in the morning. I mix the furikake in with the rice rather than sprinkling it over. Seems to work just fine for us! Ignore the broken strip of nori, pretty please!

Ready to be broiled (worked better there than on the grill):



Done and plated rather messily:



Bento:



Bottom tier: 3 onigiri with mushrooms and furikake, little bottle of soy sauce
Second to bottom tier: Salad with carrots and cucumbers. Little bottles of salad dressing, each holding about a tablespoon. I think she'll only use one, but better safe than sorry.
Next tier: Italian dry salami and extra sharp cheddar cheese for some protein
Dessert on the top tier: cherries

Belated Cake Photo

My parents' 40th Anniversary cake - because they love air hockey. Yes, this was back in oh, December. I am nothing if not consistent in how late I am in posting pictures! What made me think of it is that today is our 17th anniversary - and we'll be heading to the Catacombs for dinner. I will have to remember my camera. And I'll have to remember to USE it to take pictures. Oh, and post them. Right.

What you can't see in this photo (it was late and lighting in my kitchen is horrible at night) is that there were thousands of tiny pin holes for the 'air holes' in a regular air hockey table. It was set on 4" tall wooden dowels and bolted to the wooden board underneath (which is nicely wrapped, of course *G*)



It smelled so sweet! Once again, Charm City Cakes comes through!

Apple things

JT is waxing poetic over what he is calling "the best apple thingies ever."

Roo: "The apples! They speak to me!"

The picture, however, does little justice to it:


I'm guessing this is a hit in this house. And it's a simple simple recipe. Yay for that!

3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced and quartered (Yay for Pampered Chef Apple Peeler Corer Slicer)
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Sprinkle lemon juice over apple. Mix together sugars, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour over apples and mix to coat (I do this in a covered bowl and shake it until it's evenly distributed). Pour melted butter over all. Cover and bake at 350* for 45 minutes.

Serve as is with fresh whipped cream or cool slightly and place in the middle of puff pastry squares (ended up with that instead of phyllo - JT got the wrong thing, but that's okay, it worked). Pull corners in to cover. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 400* for 15 minutes.

Serve hot with yet more whipped cream.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

After watching the Good Eats episode, House of the Rising Bun, I was hit with a craving for really good cinnamon rolls. So off I went to the website, grabbed the recipe and here are the results (these are from last week):

The night before, prepared to go rest in the refrigerator overnight:




The next morning, right from the oven:




Dressed for table:



They were amazingly good!

Silly chocolate and pretzel things

Not much of a post, but I liked the way this photo came out ;) I baked. A lot. But the one thing that people here have enjoyed most involved 5 minutes of oven time and not a lot more work than unwrapping kisses!

They are fun, though ;)