Awesome dish at Lotus Leaf in Cary

We'd not been to Lotus leaf in over 2 yrs as it's in Cary and we'd heard tthat after a management change the new menu was pricy with miniscule quantities...  Being stuck in Cary one night and not being familiar with any good restaurants we decided to go to something known and try Lotus Leaf again.   Did we ever get lucky - I believe I've found one of my most favourite asian dishes NR61 in the Menu also called 'Khao Soi' - it was a ridiculously yummy noodles in a curry topped with crunchy noodles! 

Lotus Leaf Cafe

Steak at Mike & Sharon's

Visited Mike & Sharon in early October - had a great time hanging out in their yard and outdoor kitchen.  Cooked some steak - I usually marinate the steak in soy, onion, ginger... an asian marinade.  This time I decided to be adventerous and try Ann Buerelle's steak recipe from Food Network.  The recipe called for a mix of brown sugar, paprika, salt and garlic.  I believe I got the proportions wrong as the steak came out wayyy too pungent... next time I am deciding to make some food for friends I'll decide to hold off on the experiments and go with the tried and true.

Biriyani for Work

Decided to treat my team at work by making Biriyani - initially I was hoping to lookup a good recipe but didn't find anything that blew me away so ended up getting the Shan Masala prepackaged masala packet and followed it's recipe (on back of the package).  One addition to it was adding some roasted potatoes. 

A quandry I had was do I add lots of the chicken curry/masala to the rice and make a nice moist biriyani? this is not how I've seen it in restaurants it's usually nice dry separate grains with a layer of masala underneath.
I decided to stick to this notion and unfortunately it turned into a dry biriyani....  lesson learned fo next time.

Bombay Biriyani Masala

Nana's of Durham

Nana's is an excellent restaurant in Durham.  It's not considered to be upto a Magnolia Grill - my opinion differs; I thought it was just as good.  And the  price for a price fixe menu is much more reasonable - $50 for a 5 course meal and $25 for wine pairings that are exqusite!

One very memorable wine that was paired with the Kobe Beef Flank steak was the '2005 Free Mark Abby, Cabernet Sauvignon - Napa Valley'

Pictures (top me eating, next Fois Gras Terraine, next left: Avani's Halibut, next right: poached egg with wild mushrooms and veal bacon, next the kobe beef flank steak, and finally the Vanilla souffle with maple walnut butter)

fall off the wagon

Been a long time since I posted anything - after the wife's exam was over I was told to stay out of the kitchen.  This doesn't mean we've not had food adventures... I'll post some pics and catchup the blog on the past month.