Jersey got hit with a snowstorm the past two days and it's been nice. There was snow everywhere, by far the most snow I've seen here in Jersey during my time here. My husband got two snowdays, but three days off including his day off. Businesses were closing everywehre and kids were out of school! No one ever turns down a snow day! :)
Below is Kee's car after park't for 2 days:
Before the big snowstorm hit, my husband and I were out painting the town and we ended up at the Bergen Community Mall. That place is getting big with Century 21, Nike Outet, Saks Off Fifth and a lot of other little stores. We went there for the Nike outlet and it was just around dinner time so we stopped By Bobby's Burger Place which is owned by the great Throwdown Chef, Bobby Flay! The interior was simple with irregular shaped tables, lime green chairs and a citrus colored wave for a light. We walked in, ordered off a simple but complete menu and sat ourselves.
When our order was done, out came a burger that was about 6 inches tall held together by a skewer! We both got the Blue burger which was a burger topped with lettuce, tomato and blue cheese. On top of that, we got our burgers "CRUNCHIFIED", which means the burger was added with potato chips. That gave it a good 2 inches on the top. On the side, we ordered some sweet potato fries that came out with a side of horseradish honey mustard sauce. Look at that!
The burgers were huge, but once we pressed it down and crushed the chips a little, it was a good size to eat. Verdict? OH SO GOOD!
The crunchy texture from being "CRUNCHIFIED" was a nice touch, the meat was tender and succulent, but the best of all was the creamy blue cheese. It was a burst of flavor. Mm Mm! The sweet potato fries were off the charts too! Sliced with the fresh and light crisp, a dip into the horseradish honey mustard made it just short of heaven.
We found more sauces at the table. A green jalepeno sauce and a red chipotle ketchup which we tried on our burgers and dipped our fries. The jalepeno sauce was the best thing ever for the first half of our meal, until we saw another sauce being served. We hailed a waiter, pointed a quiet finger and inquired. "What is that and can we get some?!" As suspected the sauce was excellent and turned out being a homefry BBQ sauce. It had pureed roasted garlic, BBQ sauce and some other kickin' spices. It was spicy and so good that we thought we died and went to heaven... Bobby Flay, we love you, but too bad you are taken. Did you know Bobby's wife is a Texan? :).
So after dinner, off to he Lindt chocolate store I had been eyeing since we got to the mall. It was containers and containers of those signature shaped chocolates. A circle with two triangle shapes on the side.
We were greeted by a salesperson at the door. "Hi sales person. I'm already sold over to the deliciousness of your chocolates, but thank you for the free sample!" Yes, he gave us a whole one for free! So we went through and picked a few. There were American and European Lindt chocolates. The European had a lot of hazlenut selections which was good, since hubby and I like that. Hazelnut cream, a real hazelnut inside hazelnut cream coated with chocolate, a hazelnut surrounded by 1/2 hazelnut cream and 1/2 green pistacio cream, hazel nut with rice... Our bag consisted of about 10 chocolates, half american and half european. 70% hazelnut. :)
Then came the snow. On snow day #1, we had a warm and hearty lasagna made by Tammy. The lasagna had grown while baking so our eyes grew big when this entered the room and at the sound of cheese sizzling, we began our Pavlov reaction. Tammy and I had two servings, Kee and Sung had three. What a perfect and hearty meal while the weather was so brutal outside! Of course, we played settlers while enjoying this goodness. Good food. Good fun. Nice people. So happy.
And yesterday, snow day #2, we were home again and we have all our utilities included in our rent, so it was another dish for all day fire. FIRE IT UP! This time it was GGori Gom Tang, Ox tail soup. We cooked this from 9am - 8:30 pm until our dinner guests came over. I used ox tail and some beef shanks , but I learned that beef shanks should only be used to add flavoring to the broth, not serve. The ox tail on the other hand was extremely tender and stirring had to be taken with care to avoid taking the meat off the bones .
And for dessert? A second shot at the Tiramisu! Kee and I made it together this time for RUM control, and our guests were able to eat it this time. SUCCESS!! It was good, but as always there's still room for improvement. As my husband does when he has good food, we shed a tear. It's not a tiRUMisu like last time, but a tear-amisu. So beautiful.
Stay tuned for our Valentine's Day treats!
Bon Appetite!
FY
