Dinner For Two~

Eating out is a great way to expand your taste palette in terms of getting to know the delicious textures of Spanish cuisines or the exotic flavors of Asia. But nowadays it seems like people are such a hurry to get to places that they don't spend enough time in the kitchen to really experience the joy of cooking for yourself or for you and your family. The past few months, being the college kid that I am (and my ever so short budget) I've found a joy in making food at home when expenses are low. It's especially fun when you have someone to cook with. I spend most of my time switching off kitchens with my significant other when we do cook at home. He's quite crafty with the knife and the seasoning, somehow, someway, he always end up making dinner for two. ;)

Sometimes when we're feeling something easy, we always go to our childhood favorite: HK styled teatime spam and egg sandwich paired with french fries on the side with corn. Basic white bread with a fried egg, two slices of tomatoes, a few pieces of romaine lettuce, and spam. The fries can be bought from any of the supermarket for about $3.00 a pack, bake it rather than fry it, it's healthier. :)

When I don't feel up for heavy food, the boyfriend would always just throw some of that romaine lettuce with a few slices of honey chicken and strawberries for a light dinner.

We also get those times when we feel like we should indulge, because... C'mon. One needs to spoil themselves once in a while. ;) We throw together a steak dinner lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, garlic mashed potatoes, homemade bruschetta, and a plum ginger sesame salad.

Take some time out of your busy life and try making dinner at home, I'll guarantee you you'll have loads of fun. Until next time!

Ciao~!

Kitty

The Greatness of Paninis...

I had my fair share of paninis from Panera Bread, Corner Bakery, Urth Caffe, to Slymar's Fix. I gotta say that my favorite one by far is are the ones stuffed to the brim with delicious goodness. The ones that use sourdough bread I find the most delicious. Panera Bread had always been my favorite place to grab a good panini, but over the recent years I have found that they were starting to put less in them than they usually did and that they've stopped using sourdough bread. :( They now use plain white toast. On the other downside, if you get the sandwich alone, it's still $7.85+. It's worth more if you get the half sandwich with the salad, soup, or bread with fruits or chips for $6.99 (As they call it their U-Pick 2!)

Chicken Chipotle with Strawberry Poppyseed Salad and a side of chips. ($7.99 Premium U-Pick 2)

Corner Bakery does almost the same thing as Panera, but their paninis differentiate themselves with the different use of cheese and they add arugula into their chicken pomodoro panini. It's $7.95 for their combo that comes with a pick of soup and chips with a slice of pickle.

Chicken Pomodoro Panini with Mother's Chicken Noodle Soup and Chips

Urth Caffe's Roasted Turkey Panini had thicker biscuit like bread, the meat was a little too dry and it resulted in it being too hard to bite. It was served with baby spring mix with a really good tangy vinaigrette-like sauce. Being Urth and its organic ingredients it is a little more costly to eat here. The panini here was $12.95 although not a bad place to check out for coffee! 

Urth's Roasted Turkey Panini

Lastly, a friend introduced me to new hole-in-the-wall joint near Arleta of the greater Los Angeles called Sylmar's Fix. Raving reviews online (http://www.yelp.com/biz/sylmars-fix-sylmar#query:panini%20sandwiches) and the portions of VERY generous. By far my favorite place to get a panini fix. They were large and delicious, they stuffed it with juicy mushrooms and large slices of chicken. Totally worth the $6.95! It's located behind a shopping center on Foothill Blvd in the city of Sylmar. Pure deliciousness!

Chicken Mushroom Panini

Well, I'm still on my journey to find other great paninis out there and these are the few places that has been on my list that I want to share! Until next time!

Ciao!
Kitty~