Restaurant Review: Thai Moon

The first time I ever tried any Thai food was in college. My friends and I used to go to a small restaurant called Rod Dee in Brookline. I have to admit though, I totally stuck to spring rolls and dumplings, in an effort to make my food as Chinese as possible. I tried Thai again later at Mango II in Tewksbury, and got a little more serious about my Thai food, but I still have been meaning to try it again for awhile.

This past Sunday I got coffee with my friend Timna so I could hear about her honeymoon in Thailand. Her description of delicious food secured my decision to try out Thai Moon in Arlington on Sunday night. Since it was early on a Sunday night, the restaurant was pretty dead. This ended up being great for us because we got a nice window table, perfect for people-watching.

Eric and I do not always order appetizers, but at Asian restaurants, we always want to. Eric ordered "Thai Pancakes"...
I ordered Steamed Shumai (yup, I admit I love Japanese Shumai).
Both appetizers came with a delicious (though a bit spicy) ginger sauce. Eric and I both enjoyed our appetizers, but agreed we probably would've been satisfied with just our main courses next time. Eric is also a big soup fan, so he tried the Tom Yum Chicken Soup.
For our main courses, Eric ordered Beef Curry...
...and I ordered Chicken Pad Thai (believe it or not, this major peanut butter fan has never tried Pad Thai). I am in love, it was so amazingly delicious that I continued to use it in small portions for the next two dinners I ate.
Eric was equally pleased with his curry and was excited to enjoy some leftovers the next day as well. When Eric has leftovers, you know that the portions are good. The service at Thai Moon was very attentive (though, there were only about 3 other people in the restaurant). Also, even with all the food we got, the bill only came to $40. I'm pretty sure we will be returning to this restaurant at some point in the near future.

Do you like Thai food? What's your favorite Thai dish?

Newport RI, Part 1

Hi everyone. I'm glad everyone enjoyed Caroline's debut post. I think we are all in agreement that she should obviously start a blog haha.

I am *hopefully* back now although next week is going to be a bit crazy also, but I will try my best to post. I really enjoy blogging so much I hate when I don't have time to do it. Right now I am down in Newport RI for Tiff's bachelorette party. I haven't been to Newport since I was about 10 years old so there is not a lot I remember from that time. We arrived last night and so far I think Newport is a town I really like, at least in the off season (I could see it being too insane for me in the summer). We didn't get here til about 8 last night, so we headed to dinner at the nearby Red Parrot. I really liked the atmosphere, it was definitely bar/restaurant-ish and there were a good amount of people there. The menu was legit- a binder, middle school style.

Needless to say there was no shortage of choices. Since it was already at least 10pm, I decided to just get a sandwich (clearly I had already dipped into a LOT of snacks by this point). The sandwich was good, especially the bread- not your average hamburger roll. Yum.

After that, we headed over to One Phelam East, a bar I had heard a lot of good things about. It was not at all what I expected, as I had heard it was the place to go in Newport. It was definitely a fun place, there was a band and the people we met inside were nice. However, we couldn't even consider dancing as there was literally NO room on the dance floor and I was bumped more often than usual. I am thinking there may have been another floor we did not see. Might have to check that out tonight.

We got home fairly early but I have the hardest time sleeping when I have just been out, so it took me forever to fall asleep. I am definitely one of those people who falls into the trap of stressing about how I'm not sleeping and need to be and then just make the whole thing much worse. I was on the "Kelly you need to sleep! You are still here another night! After that you have conferences and a busy week! You can't have no sleep!" Stupid, I know. Needless to say I am pretty tired now and the real "bachelorette night" is tonight so don't be surprised if tomorrow's post makes no sense at all! Catch up with you guys in the AM. Hope everyone is having a great weekend :) Oh...and go BC!

Restaurant Review: East Coast Grill

Eric and I have been powering out the new restaurants so I have yet another restaurant review. Sadly this might be our last for a little bit since delicious restaurants worth writing about always seem to cost a bit more than our usual Bertucci's trips.

Last night we went to a restaurant my parents introduced us to, but we've only been once before. I was in love with it last time but I love it even more the second time: East Coast Grill. It is located in Inman Square in Cambridge. The atmosphere is a bit crazy. It is one of those "open kitchen" places and it is LOUD with a capital L. Even on a Monday night it was loud and on Saturdays it is even crazier. Here are some atmosphere pictures:

I personally like the atmosphere but I wouldn't go here looking for it to be quiet that's all I'm saying.

They have a pretty crazy and fun drink menu but I didn't try any of them because it was Monday night and I know coming back from a long weekend is hard enough. I did start with the BEST possible appetizer: CORNBREAD.

This is by far the best cornbread I've ever had hands down. Also I don't think it's too terrible for you because it doesn't hurt my stomach at all and normally butter really bothers me. Either that or my stomach just loves it too much to get mad. Anyway, Eric got a beef chili appetizer as well that he said was one of the most spicy things he has ever eaten. He enjoyed it though.

I am not a big spicy person, but Eric loves it so I consider him a good judge. For my entree I got "Seared Extra Large Shrimp and New Bedford Scallops." They were served over these delicious garlic noodles.

I am in love with this meal. I almost never eat leftovers but I had the leftovers of this tonight with some rice and more veggies that I cooked to go with it. It was amazing all over again. Eric got "Texas Style Sliced Beef Brisket Platter."

It was not his favorite thing ever, but he has never tried Brisket before, so I don't think this necessarily reflects on the restaurant (but I'm bias, I love this place!). Just in case you plan to go there, it is a little on the expensive side. It is between $15-30 for most entrees. However, I totally recommend this place! So delicious.

Time to go get productive. This short week is good but I have so much to get done!

Restaurant Review: Tango

Eric and I went back and forth about where we wanted to go to dinner last night. I had my heart set on trying something totally different: Ethopian food at Addis Red Sea in the South End. Upon further study of the reviews I realized that they weren't very good and one of them said the service is really slow and that a meal takes 3-4 hours. I am not one to sit forever and wait for a meal so we decided to look elsewhere. If anyone has ever been to Addis Red Sea and has an opinion, let me know because I wouldn't be against trying it another time.

We decided to go for some good suburban food in Arlington at a place called Tango. It serves Argentinian food, which I can't say I've ever had before so it still fit the quota for the night. They take reservations but we didn't have one and we had no problem getting a table at 6. It did get busier by the time we left. The decor of the restaurant was nice. I have no idea what things look like in Argentina though so I can't tell you how authentic it is...

Within a few minutes we had bread on our table and more than enough chimichurri sauce for dipping:

Personally I love a good Bertucci's olive oil but it was good to have something different. Eric ordered some Sangria and I said I would try his, but I think the waitress thought I said I wanted one for myself so we both ended up with Sangria. It was not my favorite Sangria ever but they definitely did not skimp on the alcohol in it.

Eric ordered the Empanada de Carne which included ground beef, onion, eggs, raisins and spices. He said he could've eaten 10 of them, so I guess they were good.

For our main meals, I got Pechuga Pollo al Limon which means, grilled chicken with lemon sauce. For my sides I got rice and a sweet potato squash puree.

The sauce was not at all what I expected, but it wasn't bad. It had really good flavor, I just am not much of a sauce person so I scraped a lot of it off. The chicken and the rice were both really good but the sweet potato squash puree was my favorite. I'm sure it was loaded with butter but it was so delicious.

Eric ordered steak, which is the speciality of the restaurant. You can tell this because it makes up a lot of the menu and they basically tell you when you sit down that they specialize in the steak. Eric was going to order the Milanesa de Bife which was a breaded and lightly fried piece of steak. However, the waitress convinced him to order Entrada which was grilled skirt steak with the chimichurri sauce. I am not sure why she wanted him to switch his order, but I found that a little annoying. I don't think Eric cared much but unless there is a seriously good reason and/or someone asks your opinion, I think the waitress should stay out of it.

Despite the change of order, Eric said his was really good too. We did not get dessert. All together our meal came to about $70 including tip. This is pretty expensive for us, but we did both get drinks and meat. A lot of times when we eat out I don't necessarily order a meal with meat or a drink so it usually comes to less. If I ever came back I would skip the drinks (which I tried to do, but anyways...) and eat for less.

Overall:

The PROS- convenient, easy to park, delicious food, unique menu

The CONS- a little expensive (for me), waitress should not change someone's order in my opinion :)

I'm off to watch some of the Sox game, and buy some pumpkins with Eric. Later today I'll be seeing my favorite siblings who are both home from college for the weekend. It's weird to be the only old person in family...haha

Restaurant Review: Picco

My weekend has been seriously uneventful due to the fact that I have been fighting one of the 1 million colds the kiddos bring in my classroom, and Eric has been (of course) at football :) I have worked out but I haven't done much else so I thought I'd do a restaurant review I forgot to do last week.

I love to go into Boston for dinner so I was excited to try out Picco in the South End of Boston. It seemed like a reasonably priced restaurant, which can be difficult to find in the South End. We took Eric's mom and headed into Boston. There was a parking garage behind the restaurant that cost about $12 (something to take into consideration when planning to dine downtown).

First, the atmosphere: Picco has the feel of an upscale pizza place with a lot of brick, and open kitchen and a pretty large bar area (considering it's a small restaurant). They also have a beautiful outdoor patio, but it was too cold for us to sit out there. They do take reservations and I would consider making them because we ended up with one of the last tables available even though we were fairly early in the night. It definitely seemed like a kid-friendly place and there were many children around when we arrived. At the same time, it also had the downtown, hip feel.

Eric ordered the pumpkin curried soup for an appetizer. I am not a fan of curry, so I did not particularly enjoy it, but Eric thought it was delicious and was already pleased with the restaurant before he had received his meal.

For meals, Eric and his mom went with pizza and I went for the homemade pasta with tomato sauce. They had some more creative options, but we are pretty simple eaters. I think it says a lot about a restaurant when they can do simple things well, as well as the signature meals. Eric ordered the Alsatian pizza with garlic, shallots, cheese, onions and bacon.

They cook the pizza "well done" so Eric asked for his lightly toasted. Eric's mom ordered the Margherita pizza.

The reports on the pizza were good and I have to say my pasta was soooo good. It was definitely North End style (Italian section of Boston) and it tasted very authentic Italy. There is something special about homemade pasta that just cannot be replicated with the store bought brands.

But...it does not end here. I have to admit that the real reason I got Eric to come all the way into Boston with me even after football practice was with the Adult Ice Cream Soda. There was no question we were going to order dessert with this on the menu. It was made with Belgium Lambic (a raspberry flavored beer) and vanilla ice cream.

That is Eric's look of "do I really have to wait for you to take a picture to dive into this amazing treat?" Obviously, I tried it too so I can vouch for how amazing it was. Plus, it's fun to have a beer float!

I also ordered my own dessert- Toasted Gingerbread with Vanilla Ice Cream. Delish.

Overall I think everyone who lives in, or is visiting Boston should visit this place for the Adult Ice Cream Soda alone. However, you might as well eat your meal there because the food was delicious and very reasonable. It came to about $60 for the 3 of us, and we all ordered a meal and dessert, plus Eric's soup. Not too bad for the South End neighborhood.

Delicious Restaurants and Exercise Controversy

Hi everyone, I'm still down at the Cape for a little bit. We have been checking out restaurants for our rehearsal dinner, and just enjoying Cape food so I thought I'd post some pictures.

Last night we went to Cape Cod Sea Grille in Harwich. We are considering it as a Rehearsal dinner spot and my parents had tried it out and recommended it. It's pretty close to the water, but I wouldn't say it has a "water view". It does have a great inside, fun decor and really nice waitresses. I got the Oven Roasted Cod. Look how delicious...

It was served with basal rice and a pineapple salsa. And here is Eric's filet mignon...

And his side of peach risotto. I am really hoping he attempts to recreate this at home.

I am totally sold on this place for a rehearsal dinner spot, but they only fit 35 people...and we can only do that if we have less readers then I wanted to, and do some other rearranging. So, I'll check out some other places before I have to take any drastic measures :)

Tonight Eric and I were aiming for Japanese food but the place was closed so we decided to hit downtown Hyannis again. We ended up at a place called Asa Grille. We have been there before only for drinks (which were delicious) so we thought we'd give it another shot for food. I got Cod again (I know it's amazing how adventurous I am) but it was so different and ALSO delicious.

This time my Cod was served on whipped potatoes and green beans. Mashed potatoes was probably my favorite food when I was younger, but now that I can't have butter it's not as exciting. This was probably filled with both garlic and butter, but I ate it anyway. I don't feel amazing tonight, but it's also about 100 degrees and humid so it's hard to tell if I can really blame it on the mashed potatoes. If you ever find yourself at the Cape, I'm highly recommending both the Cape Cod Sea Grille (Harwich) and Asa Grille (Hyannis).

In other news, have you guys read this new Time article? Way to stir up problems! Basically this article argues that exercising does not help you lose weight, for several different reasons including the ever popular, "I went to the gym today, so I can eat this cupcake." They don't say exercise is not healthy (although they do suggest that perhaps we just need to be moving throughout the day without actually spending an hour on the elliptical machine), but just that it is not helping us lose weight. Of course there has been a lot of rebellion against this, including this article by Runner's World.

Now, we all know I am a huge fan of exercise. I come from a very active family and my fiance's job is to teach kids to be active. However, I PERSONALLY have never found it to be a good tool for weight loss. When I was studying abroad in Australia, I went to the gym 6 days a week (far more than I ever made it to the gym when I was at BC), but I also gained nearly 10 pounds because I was eating like absolute crap. For me, losing weight has always been about changing my eating habits. But, I think things might be different for someone who eats unhealthy and does not exercise at all, and then begins doing both. Or things might be different for people who are just not me.

On the other hand, I clearly do not think exercise is useless. For most people, the point of weight loss is to be healthier and to look better. Exercise will do both of those. It will add to our cardiovascular health, and help us build toning and muscles which will make us look leaner. So while you may not see a number on the scale, you will most likely see a difference in your body if you take up exercise. I think Jillian Michael's Shred is a great example of this. Most people I know who have done the Shred have not lost the many pounds promised on the front of the DVD, but everyone has seen a change in their body, often proven by a change in their measurements in the waist, chest and hips area. Plus exercise keeps me sane and makes my stomach function a lot better. So I won't be giving up my treadmill or my gym membership just yet. What do you think?