The Holiday Season

Last year was my first year celebrating the holidays while living with my boyfriend, but our second year celebrating holidays together.  This year is the first year he has stated that he is looking forward to the season, which is so exciting for me!  Last year, I was the one that wanted to cut down a tree and decorate it, and I did most of the decorating myself.  Last year we didn't have much money to spend on gifts and the holidays were stressful.  Also, we always have to run around visiting everyone and never get a chance to relax so it's tough.  But this year we plan to map out when we will do what and try to reduce some stress on ourselves, perhaps even having a holiday party and thusly eliminating the need to go see everyone on the actual holiday date.

I have officially started Christmas shopping.  I don't know what I am getting most people, and some people will be getting just home baked cookies.  But I do know what my boyfriend is getting, what my dad is getting, and that's about it.  Can't tell ya just yet...sometimes they read my blog.  But I will tell you when the holiday is over!

Of course, the holiday season actually begins with my anniversary with my boyfriend, then Thanksgiving, then my birthday, then Christmas, then New Years all within two months!  The end of the year is always pretty crazy...but fun and exciting too! :)  Can't wait!

Restaurant Review of Tequila Grill in Naugatuck

Tequila Grill has recently opened in Naugatuck.  I went with 4 other people.  There were only two tables of people eating when we got there at 6 pm.  Our waitress was friendly enough.  We needed extra time with the menu because the font used is a little difficult to read, especially when all of the meal names are in Spanish and then the descriptions underneath are in English.  If one does not know pollo means chicken, camarones means shrimp, and so one, one would need to ask the wait staff a lot of questions about the menu.

The waitress came over and we were all ready to order except one person, who stated "You can start with them and I will know by the time they are done ordering" and the waitress smiled and said ok and walked away to go to another table.  ????

To start the meal off we were given one small bowl of chips and salsa.  The salsa was extremely watery and strangely sweet, although the flavor was good.  We were never given a refill on this, which I thought was strange. 

When she finally returned, we ordered our food and then the waitress disappeared into the kitchen.   We did not see her much for the entire meal.  The food was ok.  For Mexican, I expected a little bit better quality.  I ordered chipotle chicken and expected to see a chicken breast topped with chipotle salsa as the menu suggested.  What I got was a very thin slice of chicken breast that was cut into squares and has been tossed in chipotle sauce.  The flavor was good.  However, it came with a side of refried beans topped with cheese.  The cheese was not melted because the beans were not hot.  Also on the side came a pile of lettuce, two slices of cucumber, two slices of red onion, and a tomato slice.  A salad as garnish?  There was also a side of rice which was ok; it was dry and relatively tasteless. 

One person at the table ordered chicken enchiladas in green sauce, which looked decent if small.  One other person ordered steak chimichanga which actually looked very good.  Another person ordered beef burrito which also looked decent.  I did not taste any of the other meals. 

After our meals came, a fourth friend came to meet up with us.  The waitress looked at me and said "is she eating?" then looked at her and said "are you eating?"  Nice right?  My friend said "I would like a water with lemon, that's it".   Not for nothing, we all ordered waters with lemon and we got limes.  I didn't mind, I like limes, but I would have liked to have been told that was all they had.  I wish I had taken pictures for this blog now that I think about it!

What NOT To Do In The Kitchen.

When you are cooking, especially when you are following an unfamiliar recipe because you are making something for the first time, it's important to still use your own brain power and think about possibilities instead of simply following directions verbatim. Had I followed my own advice, I would not have been cleaning up an entire roaster plan in the form of glass shards from my kitchen counters and floors.

Today I decided to make a whole oven roaster chicken for the first time ever. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to lift the skin up and place herbed butter under the skin so that while it cooks it gets crispy but the chicken stays moist and delicious. The recipe called for heating up the pan in the oven while you prepare the chicken, then placing the chicken in the pan. I recommend not using a glass pan for this process. Cold chicken, when placed in a hot glass pan, creates shattered glass. DUH. Had I been thinking instead of following a recipe I would have realized this. Instead, as I stated before, I ended up with my kitchen full of glass shards, had to throw away the entire chicken plus my rosemary seasoning and a tub of butter, and I had to clean up for about an hour and a half. Not the way I wanted to spend my Friday night. Don't make the same mistake as me.

 

What a damn shame :(

Thanks to my wonderful boyfriend who picked up two mini-chickens on his way home from work, we are still able to have dinner tonight.

Restaurant Review of Legal Seafoods of Boston (in Arlington VA)

Recently on a school trip to Arlington VA my boyfriend and I decided to try Legal Seafoods of Boston for dinner. Expecting a lot from such a busy place where we had to wait with a buzzer for a table at 9:30 pm, we found ourselves to be quite disappointed. We were not buzzed for a table although there were two available and clean on the patio where we wanted to sit. We had to physically go inside and ask to be seated even though there was no one ahead of us!

Once we got a table, our waiter came over quickly and took our drinks. When he brought them, we had to stop him from walking away and tell him that we wanted to order appetizers. I ordered a cup of NE clam chowder which of course one would expect to be delicious from a seafood place. My bf ordered raw oysters.

We had finished our beers and still not gotten these items about 25 minutes later. Finally our waiter stopped by and told us sorry for the delay, he had to open three bottles of wine. We ordered a second round of drinks. Finally our food arrived: the soup was lukewarm, at best. And not that good. NE clam is supposed to be thick and creamy, but this was thin. And that’s what my bf had ordered for his meal.

My meal was shrimp wontons with seaweed salad. There was a tiny bit of salad and the wontons tasted like soap! I would not recommend this restaurant, I have no idea how they managed to be so busy when we were there waiting for a table. Mind you, we only sampled a small portion of the fare on the menu, but were pretty disappointed overall. Poor service, cold soup, and a long wait for the food after having waited 20 minutes for a table at 9:30 at night.

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