i still love brunch...

steak vs mushrooms. 

my best and i went for brunch this morning. she said that little dom's had this crazy french toast souffle that i had to check out... and that she was craving. so we went. and i must say i was happy. she also said we HAD to have the rice balls... they had cheese in them.. i was sold when she said cheese and fried. so the low down. the place kinda reminds me of new york city, total hipster place but with good food. service was a bit slow today but it happens, i over heard they were short staffed. 

we have the rice balls... sooo good.. they were rice balls with mozzarella cheese with some Parmesan on the outside batter. very good. its a must try for everyone. perfectly seasoned which is wonderful. 

she gets the french toast souffle and o.m.g. sooo good. i love souffles especially when they are sweet kinds... but of course savory ones are great as well. it wasnt as souffley as i hoped but it was delicious none the less so if you like french toast give this a go! I had a hard time deciding what to have, the hollandaise was the key to my selection. i wanted to check the poached egg selection so it was steak and eggs vs. mushroom and eggs. and i went with steak. 7 oz of steak with two soft poached eggs over grilled bread and topped with hollandaise that had fennel in it. AMAZING. very good and i was happy i made that selection.. also the cappuccino was very good. sadly my friend's mimosa didn't come fast enough we had to ax the order... but overall I'll be coming back.. they have Italian wedding soup on the lunch menu and i have a sick feeling that its going to be good..

enjoying brunch with my best friend is a nice way to really feel at home in california. 

hunting down some books..

i decided that once i am on the westcoast and settled in. i shall begin my search of the five major classical reads that all of the great chefs currently in america regard as the reasons why they cook. i'm hoping to buy one each month and read it before the fall. and hopefully i'll be very well read in my history of food prior to the planning of the french laundry trip. 

Stick to what you know..

okay today's blog is dedicated to FAST FOOD. 

**photo by grubgrade

lately in anticipation of my graduation I've been severely stressed out and filled with anxiety, during which I've consumed more fast food in one week than i would in a normal year. and that means more than 2 times in a week! eek! but here's the problem with fast food joints, you get there and you decide you cannot decide what you want, at least that's my personal problem and then to solve it i end up consuming about $10 worth of food, and for fast food you know that's A LOT of food. and just for the record, i have a tendency to go online and find out the caloric count as well as sodium amount in everything in hopes that i will have more of a resistance in ordering 1000+ calories in food. . . but usually i fail. sad i know, but during times of anxiety/stress anything goes as therapy even if it's slowly killing me. Ill swim it off once i move towards warmer weather. 

**photo by yummyinthetummyblog

so today i went to both McDonald's and Wendy's. i decided i would try these crispy chicken sandwiches that have been advised. I'm not going to go into detail exactly what else was consumed with this but it was not a good thing in terms of calories/fat/sodium. *i did eat broccoli for dinner.  but back to the subject at hand, value menu chicken sandwiches.. well both were of good size, i mean for $1 its not a bad sandwich. if you ordered your meal from the value menu you would get an actual normal caloric meal for under 4 dollars. but most people opt for the bigger 900 calorie lunch instead. but anyhow.. the mc chicken wasn't as good as their other stuff. it was a bit on the 'getting soggy any minute' texture group. and the Wendy's crispy chicken sandwich held up to the name very well, the protein was still crispy and the flavor in

the breading was actually pretty good. i was happy with that much more than of the McChicken. so overall, if you want a nice dollar menu chicken sandwich, go with Wendy's. 

**photo by Eating in Translation

and to another fast food joint we go.. well theoretically, as i will not be consuming PR chicken. KFC launched its Grilled Chicken recently. this would NEVER happen if Sanders was still alive, why? because he spent his LIFE perfecting the million secret spice combination recipe for his FRIED Chicken. I'm serious. it bothers me that they decided to branch out to get more sales, and go against the company name.. FRIED. I guess there is a side of me that believes that if you're good at something stick to it. Historically, the development of restaurants were actual stands in the market place where one person would make a mean dish, so good that it was all they made and people would buy it until they were gone. the name escapes me right now, but in ancient Chinese history, one emperor heard of a lady's soup that he summoned her to cook for him and all she sold was one thing, every day for 365 days a year. and it made her famous, its when you get greedy about the money you make other things that start to take your standards and passions down. but then it could be just the marketing issues i have with these fast food joints. here are two examples of fast food using a good strategy to introduce more stuff to make you buy... 

Taco Bell: Fresco, yes Taco bell has a healthy fresh menu. a way to introduce the same things but slightly healthier and less calories to get some people in. packaged in a green and clean manner, it makes you think you're eating great at a fast food place. not bad, almost made me want taco bell. 

McDonald's: McCafe, to compete with Starbucks, they added Iced Coffee with syrup options. and from what my sister says, it was crappy. i bought it for her and she told me to never do it again. so i guess the coffee done cold isn't as good as Starbucks blended concoctions. but the marketing decided to make it a whole theme of a new element of the McDonald's world, making people think they should get coffee here too, instead of a place that only sells coffee drinks.. 

so with that i hope I've given some insight into the world of fast food through my perspective. enjoy it in moderation, fast food that is. 

eat extraordinary everyday. 

** the images were taken from Flickr, these photos were credited as they are not mine. If you find them interesting please search the photostreams listed under the photos.