A First Class Experience...

Flying First Class on American Airlines

I was extremely blessed to accompany my girlfriend and her family on a trip to Asia last November. We started our trip on a 13-hour plane ride to Beijing from Chicago, and that flight was long! I was so excited to go on this trip that I was like a kid in a candy shop the entire flight. I will summarize the eating experiences I had in each country in the next few entries, but I did not want to review 50 different meals that I had there because it would get boring for you all out there. So I will do my best to keep it concise and enticing and I hope you all enjoy, but before I get started I just wanted to write a quick bit about the food on the flight.

 

I had never flown first class in my life before, and after flying that way this time, I know that there is no other way to fly. My girlfriend's dad bought our tickets with frequent flyer miles. That is the only way I could have afforded the ticket, and probably the last time I will ever fly first class. Haha. But from the moment that I set foot in the first class cabin, I felt like a king. Humongous seating areas, with seats that fold down into many different positions with footrests, pajamas, slippers, noise cancelling headphones, and so much food!

Champagne, all the alcohol you can drink, two five-course meals, with a two snacks in between… it seriously was ridiculous. And this wasn’t just airplane food. This was food that you can get in a sit-down restaurant.  Sam Choy, Maneet Chauhan, Cindy Hutson, Richard Sandoval, and Marcus Samuelsson all are on the list of culinary experts that design the food dishes being served on the plane. It was insane to say the least. Everyone should fly this way once in their lifetimes, but make sure its on a long flight, because it makes it that much more worth it. You don’t fly like that in first class on a domestic flight, but overseas is a whole other ball game. I can’t even imagine what it is like flying on a 5 star airline this way because American is only a 3 star airline and I felt like royalty! Save up and splurge and I promise you wont regret it! Cheers!

A Little Too Loosey Goosey...

Sorry for the recent hiatus in posting. I know it has been a while and spotty at best, but I was traveling for a while, and I've been getting settled into my new place so I have been really busy. Rule #76 no excuses play like a champion. I know. I will be better I promise. Without further ado...

Goose Island Brewery

Chicago O'Hare

One of the favorite breweries that I have come to enjoy beers from in the past few years is a brewery called Goose Island. Last year I took a trip to Asia with my girlfriend and her parents, and we had to fly to Chicago to catch our connecting flight to Beijing. I didn’t know where the Goose Island Brewery was located prior to going to Chicago, but now I know that it is Chicago based. They had an outpost in the O'Hare airport, so my girlfriend and I went there while we were on our layover.

I was really excited both because I was about to fly to Asia for two and a half weeks, and also because Goose Island beers are fantastic. We were seated rather quickly, and introduced to our extremely rough and rude waitress. She was really tough to deal with because she was so rude and didn’t pay us any attention, but we ordered a round of beers and some chicken tenders and French fries. I was shocked to hear that my girlfriend was in the mood for chicken. She really doesn’t like it most of the time, so I took advantage of a rare occasion and we ordered some to split. 

The longer we sat there the more disenchanted with the place I became. They were out of like five or six of the eight beers that they had. I don’t understand how a place that is known for its beer and has brewery in its name can be out of more than half of the beers that they list on the menu. I was really disappointed by this.

When the food came out I was a little bit happier. They were pretty run of the mill chicken tenders, but had good seasoning, even though they were pretty tiny. The fries were really the star of the show here. They were really nice and crunchy on the outside, but still moist and fluffy on the inside. The meal probably would have been a total loss if it wasn’t for the fries.

Half a pint for the Chicago O'Hare outpost of the Goose Island Brewpub. Whenever I go to Chicago for a trip and actually leave the airport, I look forward to trying the Goose Island Brewpubs outside of the airport to see if they are any better. I was really disappointed by the lack of beers they had, the service was terrible, and the food was pretty mediocre. Stay away from the O'Hare location as there are tons of great options from celebrity chefs like Rick Bayless and Wolfgang Puck in the airport that you can grub out on. Cheers!

Birthday Cookin'...

Cooking Tequila Shrimp Pasta and Banana Nutella Cupcakes

I told my girlfriend that I would make her dinner at my house on the day of her birthday. My aunt usually cooks for my family on Sundays, so I gave her the Sunday off and cooked for everyone instead. My girlfriend told me she wanted this tequila shrimp pasta that I had made before and a dessert with Nutella in it. Easy enough, I found a recipe for banana cupcakes with Nutella cream cheese frosting, and yes it was as good as it sounds. I bought some handmade pasta from a store near me that specializes in Italian products called Severino Pasta Company. If you are ever in the area, the store is worth checking out. It's kind of like Disney World to me. I could walk around for hours, and it's not a very big place. I bought some ricotta cavatelli because it is one of my favorite types of pasta.

I cooked the shrimp quickly, just long enough to build a crust on each side, and then I removed them from the pan and began making the sauce. Tequila, lime juice, fresh chopped veggies, and some cooking cream from Philadelphia Cream Cheese finished off the sauce, which I added the shrimp back to and let the flavors meld a little more. The pasta cooked up quickly, a mere six or eight minutes, and I mixed it all together in a bowl and served it up for everyone to enjoy.

Earlier in the day I had made the cupcakes and I was even more excited to try them than I was to try the pasta. I had pureed some bananas, and added them to the cupcake batter. They cooked up way quicker than they recipe said, so I’m glad I was paying attention. I’m not sure if that’s something that happened because I over whipped the batter or what, but that is also something I get concerned about when baking. I think I over whip my batters a lot and it usually has a detrimental effect on the baked goods. That being said, these cupcakes turned out perfect! They were cooked just the right amount and they remained moist all the way through. The Nutella frosting was absolutely to die for. It was creamy and sweet, but it still had that hazelnut flavor to it. It didn’t need nearly the amount of sugar the recipe called for because it was sweet enough as it was, so I reduced the amount by quite a bit. Both of these recipes are definitely worth a try, so I have posted them below. If you give them a try let me know what you think! Cheers! 

Banana Cupcake Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large very ripe bananas, pureed

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners.

-Sift the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

-Cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

-Add the vanilla and the eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition.

-Add the flour mixture and blend ingredients together until only just combined.

-Stir in the banana. Blend mixture until ingredients are fully incorporated.

-Portion batter into muffin cups.  This recipe will make about 16 cupcakes.

-Bake in preheated oven until cakes are light golden brown and tester comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

-After removing cupcakes from the oven, cool completely on a wire rack.

-Once completely cool, top with Nutella frosting (recipe follows) and a sprinkle of chopped, toasted hazelnuts.

Nutella Frosting Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup Nutella

8 ounces powdered sugar, by weight

Nutella Frosting Directions:

-Cream together the cream cheese and Nutella until blended.

-Add the powdered sugar gradually until ingredients are combined.

-Mix on a high speed until frosting is smooth and creamy.

-Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe frosting over the top of each cupcake.

Pasta Ingredients

2 lb extra large gulf shrimp
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 shallot, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
2/3 cup tequila
juice of 2 limes
2 chipotles in adobo, minced
2 cup Mexican crema
2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (sub 1 teaspoon dried)
(1/2 cup grated cotija cheese) add to calculation separately
6 oz (uncooked) cooked pasta

Directions

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or skillet over medium high heat and add the shallots and garlic. Cook just until fragrant about 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully (don’t set your house on fire) add the tequila, then the lime juice, chipotles, cumin, oregano and salt and pepper. Let this mixture cook for about 5 minutes to help meld the flavors. Now add the shrimp and cook until just opaque, stirring frequently. Finally whisk in the crema a little bit at a time until the sauce in the pan reaches the desired thickness. Serve over fresh cooked pasta and top with an equal portion of the cotija cheese.

A Smokin' Good Meal...

Smokin' Betty's

116 South 11th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

www.smokinbettys.com/‎ 

My girlfriend and I went on a two and half week vacation to Asia in November, and before we went, we decided to do a little shopping for some things that we needed. On our way back to her apartment, we stopped at Smokin' Betty's to grab some lunch. It had ranked pretty high on my list for quite some time, and I was super excited to try it.

I had heard really good things about the BBQ at Smokin' Betty's and with a name like that I would hope that is what they do best. We ordered a couple of beers when we sat down and looked over the menu. The brunch menu was small and concise, which I enjoyed because it made my decision a lot easier. I wound up choosing the BBQ sliders, one of pulled chicken, one of pulled pork, and one of pulled brisket, and my girlfriend ordered the Betty Burger, a half pound burger topped with confit pork belly, avocado, cheddar, tomato, lettuce, a sunny side up egg, and garlic aioli  served with some hand cut fries.

As I have said before I love that my girlfriend isn’t afraid to eat in front of me. It makes going out to eat much more fun and enjoyable because then I get to try the delicious things that she orders too! Haha we sipped our beers and took in the atmosphere. Our super hipster waiter kept trying to make jokes, but he was painfully unfunny. He brought us out our food, and I was suddenly enveloped in the smell surrounding us.

The mixture of the barbeque smell emanating from my plate and the delicious aroma of the burger wafting off of her plate were enough to make your mouth water. I dug into the first slider on my plate, a pulled Caribbean chicken sandwich with a tangy and sweet barbeque sauce. The next one I ate was the hickory smoked brisket slider with a sharp, molasses flavored barbeque sauce. The smokiness that I could taste from the brisket was to die for. Finally I ended with the succulent and tender pulled pork slider with Carolina barbeque sauce. It was everything I had come to expect from Carolina barbeque and more. The pork melted in my mouth, it was smoky, moist and incredibly delicious. 

The two bites that I had of my girlfriend’s burger were absolutely blissful. It forced its way into my top three burgers in the city, and I've got to say I am now dying to go back and eat it all on my own. Perfectly charred with a juicy center, the flavor of this burger was huge. It was rich, but not too rich, salty, but not over salted, creamy and absolutely delicious.

Three and a half pints for Smokin' Betty's. Our meal was a complete success. While our server was a little bit weird, the overall experience was great and the food was fantastic. I cannot wait to make a return trip whenever I am in the mood for some delicious barbeque or a really tasty burger. You should definitely check it out if you get the chance! Cheers!