Here's some stuff Eats along the 33rd parallel has liked. To find more cool stuff, check out Explore »

piggie says...

Full circle of fast food on this camping trip. Hey, I never said it was a healthy trip. ;)

Sonic positions itself as "America's Drive-In" and it's fun to watch the employees skate to your car with your order. It's also one of those places where I often see their mouth watering and weird commercials, but the nearest one is nowhere close. Whenever we go on road trips, we try to stop at Sonic for something different.

This was my second or third time at Sonic and maybe my last. The food is really not all that great, but they have a wide variety of drinks - smoothies, chillers (ice with juice), shakes and even floats.

Their burgers suck so I knew I didn't want a burger. I went a slightly safer route by ordering a long Coney Island chili cheese dog. The hot dog was forgettable, nothing special, just a regular hot dog. Jason and I also shared popcorn chicken (too dry) and tater tots (these I do like).

It was crazy hot so I ordered an Oreo Sonic Blast (Oreo shake). The shake was thick and required a spoon, just the way I like it, but I would have much preferred McDonald's McFlurry (soooo good at such a great price). Jason got a mocha frozen coffee, which was good at first sip but quickly got way too sweet.

After this trip to Sonic, there's really no reason for me to go back. I'd much rather make another stop at In N Out. :)

     
Click here to download:
Sonic_tag_food_dinner_sonic_fa.zip (644 KB)

Filed under: dinner, fast food, food, sonic

sachin says...

Austin is known for its music. I was there a few years back for Austin City Limits and had a blast. We didn't see a ton of live music at SXSW (we were there for the dork interactive portion), but we were lucky to catch Ten Out of Tenn at the Speakeasy. "Ten Out of Tenn" is a compilation of Nashville singer/songwriters. They tour together and share a band, and play backup for each other. Great idea.

Below are Erin McCarley, K.S. Rhoads, and Katie Herzig. These were all shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 70-200 F4 IS. These are all straight from the camera, posted to Vimeo HD, click full screen to view them large.


This is probably the best web video possible today, but wow, it's nowhere near as sharp as the original files or even Apple movie trailers. You can see the pixelation especially in the third video. Flash video sucks.



Filed under: Austin, Canon 5d, SXSW, Ten Out of Tenn, video

piggie says...

Ever since I met Jason, I asked him "gyoza kudasai" which means "can I have some gyoza (potstickers)" in Japanese. He flirted with me and said he'd make me homemade gyoza. Eight, ten? years later, I still have not had homemade gyoza from him. hahaha

Well, my friend, Genki, delivered. Literally.

His mom made a ton of gyoza and when he came over, gave Jason and I two big tray fulls. I gobbled down one tray all by myself. There were definitely no leftovers. The gyoza was filled with meat and vegetables and tasted so good with hot sauce.

Most gyozas at Japanese restaurants fry them in oil (so wrong!), but these were pan-fried for the right crispness.

Thank you Genki and your mom! :D

   
Click here to download:
Gyoza_Kudasai_tag_japanese_foo.zip (508 KB)

Filed under: dinner, food, home, japanese

piggie says...

Lack of car means lack of fresh produce and meat.

I found a frozen chunk of ham that was leftover from Christmas? I can't even remember, but it had to be around that time. I instantly knew I wanted to make soup with it because that's the only reason I've been saving it. Jason kept telling me to throw it away because it was "wasting space" but after eating the soup, I knew he was thankful I didn't. ;)

With the bone in ham, I scoured my entire kitchen to find ingredients I can throw into the soup. I found frozen vegetables, potatoes, canned tomatoes, pasta and herbs.

I'm proud to say the soup came out pretty darn good considering I had no idea what I was doing and experimenting with whatever I had in the kitchen. Ahh, isn't that what's great about cooking?

Filed under: dinner, food, home, italian

garry says...

Hat tip to Tony -- hilarious find.


stephanie says...

This is what Garry and I made for dinner last night.  He was in charge of the cutlet (pounding out the chicken breast, flouring it, egging it, covering it with panko and pan-frying it to perfection).  I was in charge of the curry sauce (started w/ onions and Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots, and then adding the curry goodness), and the veggies (sugar snap-peas stir-fried with garlic).


It was a huge success.  The chicken breast from Nob Hill Foods has proven amazingly tender and juicy; Garry's panko crust was perfectly crispity-crunchety, and the sauce was great.  Only thing that could have made it even better would be an over-easy fried egg on top.

             

Filed under: Cooking & Recipes

piggie says...

My aunt and uncle invited my family and I for dinner on Superbowl Sunday. It wasn't because of Superbowl that she was throwing the party, it just happened to be on Superbowl day. Nevertheless, I don't care much for Superbowl except the commercials, so it didn't matter.


One neat fact about my aunt is that she grows her own vegetables and herbs in her backyard because it's so expensive to buy organic produce at the market. Unfortunately, it's winter and she didn't have any produce to consume or I would have taken a picture of her garden. I've seen it in the summer where it's so full of vegetables and green. It's amazing.

Even though the vegetables were not from her garden, the dinner was still satisfying. It was a bounty of fresh food with light, healthy flavors that didn't leave you stuffed.

Thank you!

               
Click here to download:
Dinner_with_the_Relatives_tags.zip (2199 KB)

Filed under: dinner, food

garry says...

Kuro ramen with extra noodles
I have been looking forward to this all day.

Mountain View, CA
 
---
Sent from my iPhone


piggie says...

Happy (late) Chinese New Year! I'm finally starting to catch up with my posts. Yay!

Last Monday was Chinese New Year, but since my parents had to work, I went to their house on Sunday to celebrate.

My parents cooked a feast (like always) and it was filled with traditional Chinese New Year dishes and other favorites.

My dad made an amazing cold appetizer plate that included braised beef, jellyfish and smoked salmon (not the traditional American version). I love the braised beef. It's a little bit like roast beef and would go greatly in a sandwich. He made salt roasted chicken that was sooooo moist. I took a bite when it came right out of the oven it was so darn good. My dad also made pork chops braised in wine and tomatoes. It was a dish he frequently cooked when he was in the British Navy. It's always great to hear my dad talk about his past cooking experiences. :)

My mom cooked the rest. My favorite, clams in black bean sauce, is as good as I remember it. Shitaki mushrooms with sea cucumber and "fat choy" was the second dish. I'm not a fan of sea cucumber because of its slimy texture, but I'll eat it in small servings. I'm not sure what "fat choy" is called in English, but it's black, thin and hair-like algae. My mom always told me that if I ate a lot, I'd grow very black hair (I guess I never ate enough... :P). It's also suppose to bring prosperity since "fat choy" means that in Cantonese.

She also made Dungeness crab in curry sauce. I know it's delicious and I like crab, but again, I don't like eating off the bone...too messy! :P There was also a mixed vegetable dish that included carrots, mushrooms, pea pods, cabbage, black Asian fungi, bitter melon and vermicelli noodles. Other dishes I didn't take photos of were lotus, beef and mussel soup, boiled large shrimp, steamed egg pudding and fennel salad.

Needless to say, I was full by the end of the meal. I also had a ton of leftovers to take home. It was great to go back home and eat Chinese home cooked meals.

Happy Chinese New Year. I hope you all have a healthy and prosperous year. :)

           
Click here to download:
Chinese_New_Year_tags_chinese_.zip (2113 KB)

Filed under: chinese, dinner, food, home

clementine says...

When you think of shades of Orange
You see a color so bright
A flower, the sun...
You see a beautiful sight

             
Click here to download:
Shades_of_Orange.zip (362 KB)

From Orange

Filed under: colours