iPhone, recipe withdrawal, restaurants, etc.

I don't know where I got the above image from, but I certainly did not make it. I wanted to take some cake decorating classes this season, but I'm already busy with so many projects. Maybe in the summer. Been so busy that I haven't experimented with new recipes for weeks now! I am craving for some new food. The other day, my family and I went out for lunch at a chain restaurant and I couldn't help but miss my own cooking. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but my cooking has improved so much that my own food tastes so much better than places that I used to enjoy dining at. But then again that was only a 2 or 3 star restaurant. :p

Speaking of the iPhone, I really miss my iPhone. I turned it off because I wanted to save some money each month since not working. I've had the phone since it initially launched in 2007. It became my best friend instantly. I'm usually not the type that buys the latest techno stuff, but since I was searching for a smart phone back then anyway, I tested the iPhone out and nothing else beat it at that time. It was funny how every time I brought it out in public, people around me were like, "Is that the iPhone??" And then I would get all these gawkers surrounding me. lol I guess it was kind of rare back then, but not anymore!

We also went to try out Mirror of Korea in Saint Paul on Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know. Not very romantic, but Valentine's is not just about couples. I have a family now, so we didn't necessarily go there because of V-day. I just felt like eating some bulgogi, so we decided to try them out. We have only tried King's and the one across from Mirror of Korea. Forgot what that one is called, but I don't like going there because it's so dark and gloomy inside. I felt scared to even go down to the basement to use their restrooms. Same case with the restrooms at Village Wok; although, I haven't been there in ages.

Mirror of Korea was fine. I was actually surprised how much cleaner and brighter it looked inside compared to the outside. The outside never wanted to bring me in. The food was good. We ordered the regular bulgogi and bibimbap so we could compare to other Korean restaurants. Actually, that's all we know what to order from Korean restaurants. :p I felt like an American going into a Chinese restaurant and the only thing I know what to order is sweet and sour chicken. I love sweet and sour chicken BTW. I didn't know that the bibimbap was going to come in the hot stone bowl. Otherwise, I would've asked for it not to. We also ordered the seafood omelette-type cake. It was quite appetizing. Overall rating of Mirror of Korea. 3/5 stars. It was clean, bright and food was good.

I promise to make a menu plan tonight and go shopping tomorrow.

My Favorite Papaya Salad

Well, one of them. For now. It's from one of my favorite Asian restaurants in the Twin Cities, Cheng Heng Cambodian Restaurant, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Why is Cheng Heng one of my favorite restaurants? Because they have a good variety of food at affordable prices. Depending on what you order, the food usually tastes consistently good and the owners are very nice. They have never let me down. Actually, I have been going there ever since they opened over 10 years ago. I used to go in there and order the usual papaya salad with chicken wings and rice. I often went there to eat by myself, studying for college at times. When I moved into the suburbs and went back a few years later, the owner still recognized me and mentioned that I don't come there anymore. I was pleasantly surprised that she would remember me. I think she is good at remembering her customers. The owners and their family work so hard there. They practically live there. I feel sorry for the owner sometimes because she always looks so stressed out everytime I see her and I have heard her mentioned it a few times as well. It's because they're always so busy. I told my husband that if I ever won the lottery ;), then they would be one of the families that I would help out. Sure they have a successful restaurant, but I would help them make the restaurant look nicer and perhaps give them options so that they wouldn't have to be there day and night every day.

Anyway, back to papaya salad. Sorry, I like to ramble a lot. That's why I blog. ;) Most people that I've seen go to Cheng Heng for their combination noodle soup, but I go for their papaya salad. Yep, I love the papaya salad from Cheng Heng. 99% of the time, they have always made it consistently. It's hard for me to find consistently-good-tasting papaya salad. It has a different taste from other papaya salads out there too. They top it off with basil and mint and it really brings out a unique flavor to the papaya salad. I have ordered their salad for quite a few potlucks now and the majority of people like it. In fact, I ordered a huge batch of their papaya salad for my son's birthday party, and by the time I had any time to get food for myself, it was all gone. I was disappointed that I didn't get to eat my own food that I catered, but glad the guests liked it. :)

Everyone has their own preferences, but I would have to say this is definitely one of my favorite papaya salads for the moment. Actually, for the past decade since they opened.

Taste of Thailand

The above pic is the curry chicken I attempted to make from Taste of Thailand. I took all the pics with my camera phone, but as you can see, it looks a lot better than the one I made at home. lol I think mine was sort of close. I think. :P

We went to Taste of Thailand a few weeks ago and every time we go there, the food is always great! I think this is my favorite Thai restaurant in the cities. We usually go to the one in St. Paul on Selby and Snelling. We ordered the usual: curry with spinach and chicken and their spring rolls. We decided to order their pad thai this time and tried their beef salad as well since I've recently grown fond of the Thai beef salad. I'm going to try to make it one of these days. The only complaint I had was that there wasn't enough of it! I wished they would've added more lettuce and less onions. It was very good though. It tasted similar to the one I had at Amazing Thailand, but the portion at Amazing was much bigger. I used to think ToT's spring rolls were the best even though they make them really plain. I think it is the sauce that makes it so good. I prefer the sweet/peanut sauce over the hoisin sauce at Vietnamese restaurants. I have ordered pad thai from ToT before, and don't remember it to be all that great, but for some reason this time was really good!

I haven't done my usual blogging-cooking for a while now. I've been mostly just making meals that I know by heart and haven't tried experimenting anything new recently. I've been so busy with everything: being a mom, wife, work, school, and trying to find ways to make additional income. I actually have a few other blogs out there, but they're more personal blogs. Anyway, maybe when the winter comes, I will cook more since there's less to do outdoors.

Pad thai:


Beef salad:

1st Restaurant Review: Amazing Thailand, Minneapolis

I think I mentioned this before, and in case you haven't noticed, my favorite foods are Thai, Vietnamese and Italian. My coworker who likes similar food as I do recommended this Thai restaurant in uptown Minneapolis called Amazing Thailand. He's been there a couple of times already, so I wanted to try it out for myself. The only other Thai restaurants I've tried are Taste of Thailand in St. Paul and Sawatdee in uptown a long time ago.

Just about everything we ordered was good. I was truly impressed. We ordered the Thai beef salad, red curry, Pad See Iew noodles, and papaya salad. My coworker told me their papapya salad was really good. Unfortunately, I didn't think it was that great. I was hoping it would taste more like the papaya salad I had at The Thai House in Fresno, CA. Somehow they made it simple, but so good. It's still one of my favorite restaurants because I grew up eating there.

Anyway, when you drive by Amazing Thailand, it's easy to miss because of all the shops around uptown, but you'll be surprised inside. It's actually a nicer Asian restaurant than most you see in the Twin Cities area. It is professionally and tastefully decorated with a Thai/Asian theme throughout. The interior was dark due to minimal lighting. They do have some seating outdoors in a small alley and out the front of the restaurant. I actually liked the small alley because it had some unique furniture and it just felt unique being out there, but my husband didn't like it at all. He said it was in an alley, but I thought it felt really exotic being outside. I'm not that big of a fan of dark-interior restaurants, but oh well...at least the food won me over. The service was good too. If I had to compare this to the two Thai restaurants in the Cities, I would rate this one above the other two because food was great, service was good, and the interior was nice. I do like the curry dish at Taste of Thailand more though, but T-of-T service is really slow. Every time we go there, there's like an hour wait to get our food and just when we think they forgot about us, we finally get our food and forgive them after we eat their curry dish. I won't even compare those two restaurants with Sawatdee. I only been there once and it was never that impressive. I'll have to try other Thai restaurants in the future.

So if you like Thai food, I would highly recommend Amazing Thailand. I meant to order a different noodle dish than the one I ordered, but I ordered the wrong one. Either way, it was still good. Yum. I was hoping that my family from WI would come up here and I have another reason to go out to eat, but maybe next time!

Rating: Highly recommended. 4/5 stars for a restaurant in its class. Why only 4? I wish their papaya salad was good as well. I'm probably being too picky, but a 4 in my book is a 5. haha

(Sorry I took the above pic with my cell phone. I didn't know I was going to do a review). :P