Indianapolis – Happy Dragon

When I think about comfort food Chinese take-out is on the short list.  Although I consider myself a decent cook this is one cuisine I just can’t seem to do very well.

There are a limited number of options in the immediate area of my office and the other day I suddenly got the craving for Pork Fried Rice.   Having passed the Happy Dragon on E 71st street several times I decided to give it a shot (and write a brief review in the process).

Happy Dragon is located in the standard strip mall setting, has the usual walk up counter, and seating for about 20 people.  Per the norm for any place like this the counter is complete with a 4-inch high stack of 11×17 menus and take-away boxes stapled to the wall indicating the size options.  Nothing unusual here.

Already knowing what I wanted I just glanced at the menu.  Thinking back on it I’m not sure what I was looking for because I think these menus are the same in every Chinese take-out establishment.

I had come in for Pork Fried Rice and that’s what I was going to leave with (I’m stubborn that way).  After placing my order, around $4.75 for a small container, I took a seat.  Like clockwork my order was ready in about 4 minutes with its cardboard cube packed so tightly that it weighed much more than you would expect given it’s size.

I grabbed a few packets of assorted sauces and went on my way.  I forgot how truly awful packaged soy-sauce is.  It has no flavor and if you’re not careful you’ll end up wearing some of it when the stubborn packet decides to pop open in the midst of your 3rd attempt at opening it.  What I failed to do is take advantage of the bottle of Kikkoman soy that was sitting on a side table.  It’s not my favorite soy (that honor goes to San-J) but it’s guaranteed to have some flavor to it.

Back at the office I was ready to dive in after smelling the fried rice in the car for the last 5-minutes.  Per the norm, the box was packed tightly and little pieces of rice fell all over my desk as I carefully opened the top.  I had to dig around a little with a fork to loosen things up.  I was pleased with the amount of pork in the dish as well as the overall preparation, nicely cooked rice and just a bit of that char that’s all but impossible to replicate in the home kitchen.  This dish was exactly what I wanted and had craved just a short time before.

I’m glad I ordered the small size because I almost couldn’t finish the order.  I tried a few packets of soy (yuck) as well as duck sauce and spicy mustard.  All of the other condiments tasted great. Happy Dragon also has hot sauce which was pretty good on the fried rice.

The Pork Fried Rice from Happy Dragon was a solid dish.  Compared to other alternatives in the area it’s inexpensive, filling and quick to obtain.  I’m going to have to add this place to my rotation of lunch spots in the area.  I’m also going to take a closer look at the menu next time to see if there’s anything on there that lures me away from the ever favorite Fried Rice.

Happy Dragon on Urbanspoon

 

 

2011, 2112 and Beyond

Happy New Month everyone!  I know it’s technically a “new year” but 366 days is a lot to comprehend, especially when you think bout how this new year can be broken up into:

  • 12 months
  • 52 weeks
  • 8784 hours
  • 527,040 minutes
  • 31,622,400 seconds

Although 31,622,400 seconds seems like a long time, you’ve probably already used up 10-15 seconds so far reading this blog post.  That’s time you can’t get back (sorry).  You can (hopefully) remember what you did during that time, and possibly regret what you did (I hope not!).  What you can’t do is change it.

I mention this because we all, at one time or another, think about the past and how things would be different if certain times in our life was spent doing “something else”.  It’s the Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Syndrome and there’s nothing particularly wrong with looking back and reflecting on past success or failure.  It’s actually a good way to help you move forward because it’s your “Life Experience” and as humans we learn how to use our past to impact our future.

When I look back at 2011 it’s been both good and bad.  I’ve had my share of successes, personally and professionally.  There has also been time that I wish I had done “something else” with it.

In 2012 I’m going to continue to use my life experiences to prepare for, and make the best use of, the time I spend with friends, family, co-workers, clients, and strangers.  Right now I’m 11-hours into the new year.  It’s time to make the other 8773 hours count.

Review – Our Groceries App

I’m a list maker.  I find lists are the best way for me to get things out of my head and free that thinking energy up for more important things.  To keep all of our family lists in sync we uses the Our Groceries application.

Our Groceries is a free “cloud” based tool that’s accessible via the web, and applications designed for Blackberry, iPhone and Android.  It’s a simple list maker that keeps everyone updated in near real-time.  The free version is ad-supported and has small ads at the top of the screen.  You can purchase an ad free version for Android and Apple.

My family uses Our Groceries for our master grocery list as well as errands, gift ideas, and even dinner ideas. It’s also a great way to make a packing list for vacation.  Creating a list is a one step process and once it’s created you can start populating it right away.  One of the cool features is that Our Groceries remembers your list items even after you check them off.  Enter an item once and it’s always available for quick entry in the future.  This is great for grocery lists where you’re adding the same things every week.

The magic of Our Groceries is in the synchronization.  Once all the users in your family are connected (a very simple process that’s done via email) every time you add an item it’s automatically synchronized to the other users lists.  Cross something off and it crosses that item off on their list.  This all occurs within about 10 seconds.

When our daughter says she needs something from the store, we tell her “add it to the list”.  There have been times where I’ll be at the grocery store and my wife will remember that we need something.  Se adds it to Our Groceries on her phone and it magically shows up on my phone just a few seconds later.  I really can’t stress enough how cool this application is.

Other features of Our Groceries allow you to input your favorite recipes and with one click all the ingredients get added to the shopping list..  Using the web you can drag and drop items so they are in the proper order when you walk through the store.  I always put all of the produce at the top and frozen items at the bottom.  The next time that produce item is added it will automatically end up at the top of the list.  If you want to get really fancy you can assign categories to items so they’re grouped together.

The uses for Our Groceries are nearly endless.  You don’t have to synchronize with other people, you can use the application by itself as well.  Check it out and let us know what you think!

 

Happy Festivus!

If you’re tired of the over-commercialization of the Christmas holiday maybe its time you celebrate Festivus!

Although popularized in 1997 by the Seinfeld show it originated in 1966 and was dreamed up by Dan O’Keefe.  Traditional Festivus activities include  “Airing of Grievances” and “Feats of Strength”.  The traditional “Tree” has been replaced by a non-decorated aluminum pole.

Just another way to have fun during the holidays.  Oh yeah, by the way…  Christmas is 2 days away, have you finished your shopping, wrapping, decorating yet?

 

Herb Crusted Standing Rib Roast (Prime Rib)

IndyScan.com always get lots of hits from people looking for holiday food ideas.  I first posted this back in 2008 and every December it gets several hundred views.  I thought I’d re-post this to make it easier to find for those of you looking for it.

The Red Wine Sauce takes time and effort but it’s totally worth it.  Don’t forget the Horseradish Cream Sauce too!

From 2008:

The holidays are the time to break out the big guns and impress your friends and family.  We cooked our first standing rib roast a few years ago rib-roast-rawand it’s the go to dish for at least one family gathering each year.  A standing rib roast is NOT a cheap cut of meat but you’ll be surprised how many people you can feed with one of these, so when you break it down per person it’s not as bad as you think.

You order your standing rib roast by the bone.  Plan on feeding 2 people  per bone and don’t go less than 3-4 bones or you might as well cook streaks.  A quality instant read thermometer is key to cooking the perfect roast.  You can ball park the doneness with a timer but only a thermometer will tell you how far the inside has cooked.  Do yourself a favor & don’t ruin an expensive piece of meat by winging it.

I keep it simple when cooking my roast:

Olive oil
Herbs de Provence
Salt
Pepper

That’s it!  Make sure you bring your roast to room temperature (30-45 min) before cooking or you can guarantee it will be raw when the outside rib-roast-cookedis done.

Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

Put beef, fat side up, in a small roasting pan and brush on a light coating of olive oil.  Sprinkle all over with salt,  pepper and herbs.

Roast beef 20 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and roast until thermometer inserted into center of meat registers 115°F, about 1 1/4 hours more.

Transfer beef to a cutting board and let stand, uncovered, 25-30 minutes.

Meat will eventually reach 125°F (medium-rare).

Adjust the cooking time accordingly to reach the desired doneness.  End pieces will be more done than the center pieces so you should be able to make everyone happy.

Be sure to accompany this roast with a delicious Red Wine Sauce.  Enjoy & happy holidays!

Horseradish Cream Sauce

This sauce is great on a lot of dishes, especially the Herb Crusted Standing Rib Roast.  It’s easy to make and keeps very well.  Adjust the amount of horseradish to suit your taste and, by all means, use the prepared stuff if you can’t find (or don’t want to deal with) the fresh stuff.

Ingredients
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated fresh horseradish
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Place all of the ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.  Sauce can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 2 to 3 weeks (if it even lasts that long)

Indianapolis – Scotty’s Brewhouse

Photo by SpecialKRB

When I was told the oil change on the Honda was going to take upwards of 2 hours I decided it was time to go find a place to sit down, eat some lunch, and get some work done.  Luckily the dealership is right across the street from Scotty’s Brewhouse on 96th St. in Indianapolis.

I’ve been to Scotty’s several times and have always had a good experience.  The food is consistent and the service is always very attentive.  I especially like the terry cloth “napkins” which you need for a lot of the dishes they server here.

On this visit I went with “The Shewman” a $10.50 burger with a side (I chose Mac-n-Cheese).  according to the menu The Shewman was once voted by Indianapolis Monthly as one of Indy’s top 25 burgers.

To make this award-winning burger you need these ingredients:

  • Peanut Butter (smooth)
  • Jalapenos (pickled)
  • Cheddar Cheese
  • Bacon
  • 1/2 lb beef patty
  • Toasted bun
  • Lettuce, red onion, tomato, pickles

To the unadventurous this might sound like a big mess on a bun and it is, in a good way.  I was warned by my server that the Shewman is spicy.  I like spicy so I was expecting a little more heat than I got from the pickled jalapenos.  If the peppers would have been freshly sliced the heat could have been awesome.

I ordered mine med-well (unless I’ve ground the beef myself this is my preferred doneness).  I’ll go more pink if I know all precautions have been taken to make it safe.

Believe it or not the peanut butter is not that prominent on this burger.  It’s there in the background and it adds an interesting texture to the sandwich.  The burger was grilled to the proper temperature and all of the other ingredients were fresh and plentiful.  It was juicy enough with all of the toppings to require judicial use of the towel/napkin.

The Mac-n-Cheese was good but nothing spectacular.  The addition of some Cajun seasoning to the top did help a little.  FYI, the BEST Mac-n-Cheese I’ve had in a LONG time is at Famous Dave’s BBQ (it has corn and jalapeno bits in it).

All in all the Shewman is a solid burger and not as weird as you would think.  It’s going to be hard not to order it again when I return in 4-5,000 miles.

Scotty's Brewhouse on Urbanspoon

Ghetto Turtles

While visiting family over the holidays my sister introduced us to what I’m calling Ghetto Turtles (everyone else calls then Pretzel Turtles).

They are VERY good, easy to make (the kids can do these with some supervision) and, considering the quantity you can make for the price of the ingredients, quite a bargain!

The amounts below will yield 90-100 candies and cost about $12  Try getting that kind of a deal from Fanny Mae…

Ingredients

  • 1 Bag small mini pretzels (the square waffle shapes work very well)
  • 2 Bags Rolo candies (chocolate covered caramel)
  • 1 Lbs pecan halves

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
  2. Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on a foil/parchment lined cookie sheet.
  3. Place one chocolate covered caramel candy on each pretzel.
  4. Bake for 2-3 minutes.
  5. While the candy is warm, press a pecan half onto each candy covered pretzel.
  6. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.