Osaka Sushi, Plano, TX

We went here for lunch and for someone who does not eat sea food, i was scared i would return back hungry. They have other options in addition to sea food - chicken, noodles in various varieties and their dessert and ice cream is amazing. I loved the custard puddings and flan. Even if only for the flan, i would go back there! Since i did not sample the seafood, i cant comment on that!

They are located at:

(972) 931-8898

5012 W Park Blvd
Plano, TX 75093

Gits Products

Since we do not have a grinder and i have already spoiled 2 blenders trying to make the dosa and vada batter, i decided to try out the ready mixes at least until we get a grinder.

We tried out several mixes from the Gits brand and i am quite happy with most of them. The best part about these mixes is that one does not need to soak the lentils overnight and then grind them and leave it out to ferment which means a lot of planning ahead ! The Gits mixes allows one to spontaneously decide on having dosa, idli or vada at the spur of the moment.

1) We tried out the uttappam mix and it came out pretty good. One just needs to add onion, tomatoes, green chillies and coriander leaves. It would be something that i buy again
http://www.gitsfood.com/index.php?action=product&mode=V&type=PDS&id=112

2) We got a small pack of the upma mix free with the rava idli mix and it was quite good. However, since upma is easy to make i do not think that buying the mix makes that much of a difference.
http://www.gitsfood.com/index.php?action=product&mode=V&type=PDS&id=106

3) We also tried the rava idli mix and that is our favorite. It turns out just awesome and we have bought several packs of this so far. I would definitely recommend it.
http://www.gitsfood.com/index.php?action=product&mode=V&type=PDS&id=110

4) Medu Vadai mix - Since my husband loves vadas, we took this mix and i was very happy with the results. Definitely worth buying!
http://www.gitsfood.com/index.php?action=product&mode=V&type=PDS&id=105

5)Idli mix - this is one mix that i am not too happy with the results. They are times when the idli tastes a little lumpy and you really dont get the taste of idli. It is just ok.
http://www.gitsfood.com/index.php?action=product&mode=V&type=PDS&id=102

6) Dahi vada mix - I tried this mix out and loved the results. Another of my husbands favourites!

http://www.gitsfood.com/index.php?action=product&mode=V&type=PDS&id=113

I probably should try out the other mixes that they have but certainly Gits is a very convenient option!

Chiquita's, Mena, AR

We had lunch at Chiquita's and enjoyed it. Its the equivalent of a McDonalds and serves mexican food. The prices are low and the serving sizes are small to match the price. Its definitely worth a visit.

They are located at:

703 Highway 71 N Ste D
Mena, AR 71953

Chings Secret products

Of late i have tried quite a few Chings secret products and have been very happy with the results. For starters, i have always liked their Hakka Egg Noodles and Hakka Veg Noodles. They come out perfect. I tried the Schezwan sauce and have used it for fried rice and noodles and i loved it.

I tried out the schezwan sauce mix (made paneer schezwan) and manchurian sauce mix (made vegetable manchurian) and they both came out amazing - just the kind you get back in India. I am yet to try out the Paneer chilli sauce mix but based on the results that i have seen so far, i am sure it is also pretty good. These mixes contain recipes at the back of them that are easy to follow and easy to make.

Other than that, i also tried out the Hot Garlic instant noodles and it wasnt so good but still eatable. I remember i absolutely hated the Schezwan instant noodles.

I also bought the green chilli and red chilli sauce that i use when i make gobi manchurian and its pretty good although i think any brand would do. Of all the products, i found the sauce mixes awesome especially because it is so hard to replicate the that taste.

Queen's Restaurant - Queen Wilhelmina Lodge State Park, Arkansas

We went to Queen Wilhelmina State Park over the thankgiving weekend and ended up having a few meals from the restaurant in the lodge. The nice part is that they have buffets for all three meals as well as the option of ordering a-la carte. The breakfast buffet spread is pretty standard with offerings of fruit, cereal, milk, coffee, orange and apple juice, yogurt, bread, butter, jam, hash browns, sausage, bacon and eggs. My husband tried out the omelets and he liked it. We had dinner there and the buffet had options of lots of desserts, salads and some kind of beef and pork. Not so much for someone not too fond of American food. The salads and dessert was very good!

All in all, i found it better than Petit Jean but it probably is because i am more used to American food now than i was then.

They are located at:

3877 Highway 88 West
Mena, AR 71953
www.queenwilhelmina.com/lodge

Poor Richard's cafe, Plano, TX

We went out for a team lunch to this place and i absolutely loved it. The food was good and the owner was quite friendly. When he realized that some of us had our birthdays coming up he gave us a coupon for a free entree. They have quite a variety of food and i tried out the chicken and i loved it!

They are located at:

2442 K Avenue
Plano, TX 75074
(972) 423-1524

Addis Ababa Ethiopian Restaurant, Richardson, TX

We went here recently and i had the Doro tibs which is basically small chunks of chicken sautéed with onions and bell peppers served with salad and ethiopian bread called injera that reminds me of dosa only that injera is much more sour. The food is pretty ok. The service was a little slow.

My husband had the Gored gored which is lean beef cooked in a spicy sauce and it was really spicy. Not something to be had by people who cant handle spice. Overall, its worth trying it for a different experience.

Their contact details are:

(972) 480-0100

Richardson
100 S Central Expy
Richardson, TX 75080
www.addisababarestauranttx.com

Rajma Masala

I decided to try out making rajma masala from scratch instead of using the MTR Rajma Masala. I tried out the following recipe and it came out so good that i have decided that its the way i will make rajma masala from now on!

http://www.syvum.com/cgi/online/serve.cgi/recipes/srcpv19.tdf?0

UTD Dining Hall

The other day, our team decided to go to the UTD dining hall to celebrate the birthday of one of our team members. It was my first time there and it was quite an interesting experience.

The buffet costs $8.12 and certainly has a large variety of salads, deserts, soft drinks, juices, ice creams and fruits. On that day there was option of mexican food - tortillas, chicken, beef, beans, rice - i didnt enjoy the food too much and the lady who served the food was way too rude.

There were different varieties of pizza and pasta available and there was a section where there was steak, burgers, chicken nuggets, fries available.

I suppose for the price it is good. The mexican food is something i would avoid in future.

Humperdinks, Adisson

We stopped here for dinner once and the food was horrible. We have tried out food at two Humperdinks locations and both have disappointed. The service was also extremely slow apart from the fact that this is an expensive restaurant. I am definitely going back again

They are located at

Humperdinks. 3820 Belt Line Rd ADDISON, TX 75001

Jasmine , Addison, TX

We stopped at this chinese restaurant on the way back home from a friends place and were pleasantly surprised. The decor was good, the service excellent and the food worth it. It is definitely the best chinese food i have had. I tried out chicken schezuan and noodles and it was awesome. Nishanth loved his food too.

They are located at:

Jasmine
4002 Belt Line Road
Addison, TX 75244

Genghis Grill, Adisson, TX

We went to this location and what i liked about this place was it is not too crowded. The fare was good and the service good too.

They are located at:

4201 Beltline Road, Addison, TX 75001

Great Wraps, Grapevine Mills Mall, Grapevine, TX

I had a chipotle sandwich here and it tasted just great. My husband especially loves the seasoning that they give for the fries. Definitely worth a try!

Paneer Kakori

I tried out the Paneer Kakori recipe from the Best of Chicken and Paneer by Nita Mehta. It was certainly quite tasty although i suspect that when she meant two potatoes she meant the smaller potatoes and i used 2 quite large potatoes. I also realised that one has to crumble the paneer roughly otherwise you cant make out the taste of paneer.

I grilled these over our indoor grill. I feel baking them in the oven would have been better. For those of you who have access to her book, its definitely worth a try!

Ghee Rice

One fine day my husband asks me to make him some nice food and i decided to make ghee rice. Whenever i think of ghee rice, i think of Moghul Durbar in Bangalore and the bygone days more than a decade back where as a teenager i hung out with my friends and ghee rice was definitely one of the favourites on the moghul thali.

I tried this recipe out

http://www.syvum.com/cgi/online/serve.cgi/recipes/srcpr11.tdf?0

It came out good although not the Moghul Durbar style.. Definitely easy to make and worth trying

Egg Pulao

I was tired of the same old food i make and since its the end of the week, i happened to be low on groceries too. I was surfing the net for something new to try out that did not me to make a visit to the grocery store and came upon this recipe for egg pulao that turned out really well.

http://www.food.com/recipe/egg-pulao-69892

There were a few changes that i made though :

Reading the comments from the users i decided to add 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 cup of tinned coconut milk instead of the 2 1/2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of coconut powder as given in the recipe and found that i had to add at least 1/2 a cup more in the last process to get the rice to cook totally. I suppose there are various factors that contribute to the rice cooking well and the heat may have played a role in evaporating the water faster. The brand of rice also makes a big difference.

I also observed that some of the comments mentioned that they found the pulao a little bland so i added a little more garam masala powder (1/2 tsp) and it turned out quite good. I had to do without the coriander leaves unfortunately.

It is definitely a recipe worth trying out!

Manchu Wok, Stonebriar mall, Frisco, TX

I made the mistake of ordering from Manchu Wok. I ordered chicken egg rolls, kung pao chicken, fried rice and jalapeno chicken. The egg roll was raw and the chicken pieces were too big. I wasnt happy with the food and had to buy an ice cream to wash the taste away. Comparatively, Panda Express has never disappointed.

IHop, Plainview, TX

We had breakfast here and the food was good. The service was fast too. I tried out the blueberry pancakes and it was an interesting experience. Came to know they serve half a serving too of pancakes !

They are located at:

701 N Interstate 27
Plainview, TX 79072-5815
(806) 288-9945

Chilli's grill and bar, Pueblo, CO

We stopped here on the way to Texas. The food was good although the service was very slow. I liked the Santa Fe wrap there.

They are located at:
Frontage Rd & Wills Blvd
Pueblo, Colorado 81008

(719) 542-3945

La Fiesta Grande, Amarillo, TX

This place has absolutely wonderful mexican food. Our Amarillo dining experience has been really good first with Country Barn Steak House and then La Fiesta Grande. Both the chicken and steak dishes were good as were the tortilla chips and salsa.

Definitely worth visiting!

They are located at:
7415 Southwest 45th Avenue, Amarillo, TX‎ - (806) 352-1330

I-Hop, Fort Collins

We had breakfast here and the food and service was good. Definitely worth a visit.

They are located at:
1502 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO‎ - (970) 226-3154‎

Subway, Estes Park, CO

We had breakfast here and subway out here has a breakfast menu that Nishanth tried. It opens up early.

They are located at:

521 Big Thompson Road, Estes Park, CO‎ - (970) 577-7744

KFC/ Taco Bell, Estes Park, CO

We had lunch here once and the service is pathetic. The girl at the counter was downright rude. Definitely a no-no especially when theres a Dairy Queen, Mc Donalds and Subway nearby.

They are located at:

537 Big Thompson Road, Estes Park, CO‎ - (970) 586-0408‎

Mc Donalds, Estes Park

We had lunch here and it was pretty ok - just like the other Mc Donalds.

Located at:
501 Big Thompson Road
Estes Park, CO 80517


(970) 586-3434

Casa Grande Mexican Restaurant, Estes Park, CO

We had dinner here once and the servings are huge and the food is quite decent. Definitely one of the better places to eat at in Estes Park.

They are located at:

220 E Elkhorn Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517(970) 577-0799‎

Pasta Rasta, Fort Collins

We had dinner at Pasta Rasta, Fort Collins after a wonderful afternoon of White Water Rafting! The pasta was good and spicy! Definitely worth a visit

They are located at:
200 Walnut Street, Fort Collins, CO‎ - (970) 407-7999‎

Wendy's, Colorado Springs

We had dinner at Wendy's while we were in Colorado Springs and its a pretty decent place. I loved their smoothies and their popcorn chicken was also good.

They are located at:
3036 West Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO‎ - (719) 473-7704‎

Country Barn Steakhouse, Amarillo, TX

We took a break at Amarillo on the way to Colorado Springs and had dinner at Country Barn Steakhouse. Nishanth loves steak and i thought it would be a shame to not try one of the steakhouses here. He had a Santa Fe steak and i had a Santa Fe Chicken and it was just out of this world. I loved everything the chicken with sauted onions, mushrooms and jalapenos. I had a side of rice pilaf and mashed potatoes and it was just too good. The salad had finely sliced nuts, raisins, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, onions and lettuce and the combination was just heavenly.

Nishanth also loved his steak!

They are located at:
8200 I-40 West, Amarillo,TX 752194.
Their website is at:
http://www.countrybarnsteakhouse.com/

Panda Express, Plano, TX

This is slowly becoming one of my favourite Chinese places. They have the option of building a meal and one gets to choose from several chicken and other meat dishes. Theres the option of fried rice or noodles. I absolutely love their spring rolls and the chicken dishes. I dont find their food too oily unlike other chinese restaurants i have been to.

We have been to this restaurant twice and both times the food has been good. They are located at:
5901 Coit Road
Plano, TX 75093
Phone: (972) 596-0107
Fax: (972) 596-0267
http://www.pandaexpress.com

I have also tried out the Panda Express counter at the Valley View mall and Stonebriar mall and the food was good there.

Genghis Grill, Galleria Mall

We happened to be driving by and had dinner at Genghis Grill in the Galleria Mall. It was pretty good standard food as it normally is at all the Genghis Grill restaurants.

You have the choice of selecting your meats and vegetables and starch and combine them anyway you want to with the spices and sauces of your choice. They grill the meat and vegetables for you and serve it with rice, noodles (whatever is your choice). To help the novices they have a few recipe cards that suggest what vegetables and meats to choose. The best part was it just cost us 8$ for 2 people.

FoodRuckers, Frisco, TX

This was a new place we tried out on Mothers day this year. It is located near AMC, StoneBriar Mall, Frisco. Since it was Mothers day it was very crowded.

They offer exotic meats too and Nishanth tried out Wild Boar if i am not wrong. He loved the food there. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and it was quite good. It was after quite some time that we went to a Foodruckers and i found the one in Frisco pretty good. Definitely worth a try.


They are located at:
2947 Preston Rd., Frisco, TX 75034
Phone: (214) 705-6434
http://www.fuddruckers.com/

Texas de Brazil, Addison, TX

My husband took me here for my graduation and he absolutely loved it. This is an all you can eat meat place and since he eats almost anything and loves beef, he certainly had a lot of options.

There are many options for salad and makes for a pretty decent vegeterian meal too. I just had two options for chicken but the chicken was made well. They serve mashed potatoes and fried bananas. Having a piece of the fried banana is supposed to clear the palate between meals.

The ambience is good and the price matches up also. I think it costs around 45$ per person. All in all an interesting experience although if you were a vegetarian you may not want to spend as much to just have salads and beans and rice.

Their website is:
http://www.texasdebrazil.com/

They are located at:

15101 Addison Road,
Addison, TX 75001

Phone No: 972-385-0000

Central market, Plano, TX

The other day we went here to grab a quick bite before catching up on a movie. Its a pretty decent place and one can choose what one wants to eat from a variety of food and pay for it and heat it up in the microwave. The price is pretty expensive. A friend said that was the best meatballs they had ever tasted.

320 Coit Road
Plano, TX 75075-5712

Studio Movie Grill, Plano, TX

This was a first experience at having food while watching a movie. Studio movie grill allows one for ordering food and watch a movie at the same time. The price is quite expensive though! It cost 35 dollars just for a burger and a chicken quesadilla and 2 drinks.


Worth trying it for the experience though:
They are located at:
4721 W. Park Blvd #100 Plano, TX 75093

Humperdinks, Richardson, TX

Went recently to Humperdinks and it was pretty ok. I wasnt too hungry and a friend had a coupon that went buy one entree get one entree free and one had to buy drinks. I had a vegetarian pizza but it wasnt up to the mark according to me. I found the prices a little expensive but their menu is pretty impressive.

They are located at:
1601 N Central Expy
Richardson, TX
75080

Phone: (972) 690-4867

Hours: Hours: 11am-2am

Dimassi's Mediterranean Buffet, Richardson, TX

This is a new restaurant that opened up and we have been there twice. Well, for starters theres loads of food to choose from both in the veggies and meat. There are quite some good sweet dishes too. On the downside, the food quality isnt good. I had fried chicken and the chicken was not totally cooked. The pita bread was pretty decent and so is the hummus and baba ghanoush. I like the salads too over there. I liked the cauliflower too. I didnt like the beef kafta but perhaps thats because i like my meat very well done whereas this was medium well and beef isnt my favourite either. The potatoes were half raw the second time we went so i guess the food quality just depends on the day.
On the other hand, i have never been disappointed by the food in Afrah. Its always been awesome through the 2 years we have been there and overall even though you may just buy a single dish, you go home feeling much more satisfied.

Dimmasi's are located at:
180 W Campbell Rd
Richardson, TX 75080

Kalan

This is a kerala recipe that my mother in law sent me. I tried it out the other day and it came out pretty ok.

Ingredients:

1. 1 large raw banana or 2 small raw bananas
2. 1/2 shredded coconut ( can get the frozen shredded coconut which would be around 1 cup coconut)
3. Yam or cucumber (optional) apparently kalan can be made only with raw banana or cucumber or yam or a mixture of these 3
4. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
5. Salt to taste
6. 1/2 tsp chilli powder
7. 2 green chillies
8. 1/4 tsp jeera
9. 2 cups sour curd.
10. 1 tsp oil
11. 4 curry leaves
12. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Method:

1. Cut the banana, yam and cucumber into small 1 inch square pieces. Boil these in 1 cup water along with the salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder until soft. In the pressure cooker it requires 1 to 2 whistles.
2. Grind the coconut along with 2 green chillies and jeera
3. Make a puree of the curd
4. Add the curd to the boiled vegetables and boil until the mixture thickens (reduces to at least 3/4 the earlier level)
5. Add the ground coconut mixture and heat for 2 minutes.
6. Heat oil, add mustard seeds and curry leaves and let the mustard seeds splutter. Add this to the vegetable mixture.

Serve hot with rice

Coconut Chutney

This is a recipe my mother in law sent me recently.

Ingredients

1/2 coconut shredded
1/2 cup curd (not sour else use a few spoons of curd and add water)
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
salt to taste
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
1 tsp oil

Method:

1. Grind the coconut along with curd, red chilli powder and salt
2. Heat oil up and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Let the mustard seeds splutter.
3. Add this to the ground coconut mixture. Mix and serve.

Seviyan

I decided to make seviyan for Nishanth's birthday and heres how i made it.

Ingredients
--------------
7 tbsp sugar
1/2 gallon milk
3 handfuls of vermicelli
2 tbsp ghee
2 tsp chopped cashews
raisins

1/4 tsp cardamom powder or 2 green cardamoms crushed
Method:
1. Heat ghee up and fry the vermicelli to golden brown
2. Add cashews up and fry them
3. Add milk and boil until the mixture thickens up
4. Add sugar (add more if required according to taste)
5. Let the milk thicken to desired consistency.
6. Sprinkle cardamom powder and add raisins
7. Can be served hot or cold as desired

Pakistani style vegetable biryani

I tried this out for Nishanth's birthday and it came out good.

http://www.angelfire.com/country/fauziaspakistan/vegetablebiryani.html

There were some things that i didnt follow such as not remove the pressure cooker after 2 whistles and the rice turned a little soft and make sure you remove the pressure cooker after 2 whistles! Also, if using cauliflower use big florets otherwise they will disappear in the biryani! It tastes good though!

Tangierine Cafe, Epcot, Orlando, FL

We had lunch at this place. I ordered a chicken shawarma plate - the quantities were small (although more than sufficient) and the shawarma was not cooked well. I ordered a pina coloda (the non alcoholic version) for the frozen fruit drink and it was pretty good.

Not a place i would go to again

The Lunching Pad, Magic Kingdom, Orlando

We stopped here for snack/burgers on new years eve and it was pretty ok. I had chicken nuggets and nishanth had a burger. Not too good but going by the rest of the food we had in disney world parks, much better

Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station , Magic Kingdom, Orlando

We had food at this place when we were in Magic Kingdom and it was horrible. I had the noodles and what i got was noodles floating in water. I didnt like the food at all. Nishanth said his burger was so-so. There wasnt a lot of options either.

Chili's, Orlando, FL

We decided to have brunch over here before heading over to Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. The food was good pretty much like all the other chili's that i had been too. However, they didn't have the meals under 5$ as they do in Dallas so i ended up wasting half my food.

The service was quite slow but the hostess was good.

They are located at:
7021 International Drive, Orlando, FL
(407) 352-7618‎

Taj Indian Restaurant, Orlando, FL

We happened to have dinner at this place and it was horrible. We ordered for biryani. The food was attrocious for the price we paid. Its definitely a place to avoid! They hardly had any customers and probably tourists like us who come in unaware.

Taj Indian Restaurant
6524 Carrier Drive, Orlando, FL

Richter at Universal Studio, Orlando

We had lunch here and it was horrible. The burger was not cooked well and neither was the chicken sandwich done well. I would say, avoid this place if possible. There seem to be much nicer places to eat at Universal Islands of Adventure.

Their website:
http://allears.net/uni/menu/men_rb.htm

Parippu Vada

This takes me back to Christ College days when my classmates used to get parippu vada and i just loved it. After all these years, i tried to make it at home.

Initially, i tried out the recipe at this website:
http://kailaskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/08/uppittuparuppu-vadai-godhambu-pradhaman.html and found it too dull for my taste

I looked up further recipes and the recipe at this website is pretty good.
http://simplyspicy.blogspot.com/2006/12/parippu-vada-channa-dal-vada.html

The difference was the addition of the ginger and the onions. I also had Nishanth sample the two different versions and he agreed the second one was better.

Vegetable Kurma

This is a real easy recipe i got from my friend Sunitha as part of my quest of getting non-dal based recipes:

Ingredients
2 1 cm long cinnamon sticks
4 cloves
2 tsp oil
2 cups vegetables (cauliflowers cut into small florets, potatoes, french beans into small pieces and peas)
1/2 can tinned coconut milk (can substitute for fresh coconut milk)
1 onion chopped fine
2 tomatoes chopped fine
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1-2 green chillies slit

Method

1. Heat the oil , add cloves and cinnamon stick and fry
2. Add the onions and fry until golden brown
3. Add the ginger garlic paste and green chillies and fry for a minute
4. Add tomatoes and fry until it becomes a paste
5. Add turmeric poweder and green chilli powder and fry for 30 seconds
6. Add the vegetables and stir. Add water (around 3 glasses) and cook until the vegetables are done
7. Add the coconut milk and let it boil for a couple of minutes. Garnish with corriander leaves