Cheer Up With Food

I recently found out that the James Beard Celebrity Chef Dinner will be coming to Las Vegas this November 15th.  Whoever goes to this event will get to eat food cooked by top chefs and get to interact with them!  The proceeds go to benefit the James Beard Foundation — a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating, nurturing, and preserving America's diverse culinary heritage and future.  The event will be held at the Rick Moonen's rm Seafood (which is on my wish list on places to eat at!).

Lately I've been watching TLC's Cake Boss .  I haven't seen much cakes for special occasions until I saw this show, so it amazes when I see Buddy Valastro and his crew make a cake into a masterpiece.  When I saw this cherry blossom fondant cake being made on the first season, I fell in love with it's simplicity: I saw online through Google and YouTube that this cherry blossom fondant cake is commonly made.  Common or rare, I'd like to have this kind of cake for my wedding :-)

My fiance couldn't stop talking about how much he missed yellow curry for days!  So he surprised me in bringing me to the Indian restaurant,  Origin India  across from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.  It is a very simple and modern looking restaurant thats nice to have a quiet or romantic dinner. Masala Chai  - This spiced tea was milky!  I'm glad I chose this than an alcoholic beverage because I'd rather drink milky teas or coffees: Homemade paneer cheese tikka -  stuffed with apricots and raisins, marinated in coriander and basil glazed in Tandoor, and pickled red cabbage.  If you're a cheese lover, try this appetizer!  This fluffy looking paneer will crumble in your mouth: Punjabi Kadhi  - Punjabi gram flour and veggie dumplings in yogurt sauce with coriander seeds, chili, cumin, and asafoetida  (spice).  If you're just thinking that yogurt sauce = Yoplait , you're not close... One way of making yogurt sauce is mix...

I got the chance to eat Amenian food yay!  Thanks to Cece :-)   To the left is the popular Middle Eastern dip,  hummus  made of mashed chickpeas , olive oil, etc.  Now I know the difference between store bought and homemade hummus!  Its very smooth in texture.  To the right is tabouleh , a Middle Eastern salad. From what I tasted, its made mainly of parsley, onion, tomatoes, mint, and extra virgin olive oil (?): This is a customized treat of Cecilia's.  Its like a fritter with Armenian cheese inside!  The cheese was thick and stringy:

I finally went to Cadillac Ranch  for the first time on my friend's birthday.  Before I entered the bar, a guard asked me if I came here because of Spy On Vegas .  I said I wasn't and wondered what kind of event was going on.  We sat at one of the bars and were asked if we wanted beer because it was free!  Spy On Vegas was giving out free Samuel Adams Octoberfest beers in honor of Okotberfest .  I could not refuse a free drink and celebrated in honor of the German celebration.  I also got a free shot of lemon drop  - apparently this is a common shot that I never heard of until that night!  It tasted just like iced tea.  All the bartenders were nice, funny, and made my friend's birthday quite entertaining! This place wasn't on my list of places to hang out at Town Square because I had heard their food was nothing to rave about.  I still tried an appetizer to confirm what I heard was true.  The birthday lady and I shared...

My family and I were 'hunting' for a good Chinese restaurant along Spring Mountain Rd. and came across Anna's Garden.  We decided to give the place a chance.  What makes this place different from other Chinese restaurants is that it specializes in Hong Kong cuisine .  HK cuisine is obviously influenced from China (mainly Cantonese ) and other Asian countries.  This is the second HK style restaurant I've been to and am starting to notice the slight differences between HK and Chinese foods.  I think its the type/amount of spices and salt that are added in their foods?  I should research about it... When we entered the Anna's Garden, there was only Chinese speaking patrons there.  I thought to myself this place has got to be legit then my dad thought the same thing, but said it aloud! The dish I ordered was the Tofu Hot Pot .  It had a creamy texture to it and the chunks of tofu were HUGE: We got Chinese broccoli as our main veggie dish. ...

The  Nove  @ the Palms  was a pleasant surprise to me.  I didn't expect it to be so elegant and modern, and their Italian food was the same too!  Some items I tried was a thin crispy pizza with mozzarella di bufala as the cheese topping and a rigatoni  dish - I enjoyed eating this one because it was rather spicy!  I had never had a Italian dish like that at a restaurant before. I thought they accidentally put too much spices in the sauce, but realized they couldn't have.  The spices added a nice 'kick' to my mouth!  If you're looking to eat somewhere with an awesome view of the Strip, eat at Nove!  Trust me you won't be disappointed :D

There are little variations in making corned beef Filipino style.  One simple way I learned from my parents is cooking Hereford corned beef (our favorite brand) with sautéd onions and garlic, salt, and pepper.  Other ingredients you can also add are diced potatoes, tomatoes, bay leaf, and MSG.   My mom told me when she was growing up in the Philippines, corned beef was  expensive because it was imported from the US.  So this was considered a delicacy to her generation.  This must be the reason why my parents always have a can of corned beef in their pantry!

Pigs in a blanket from IHOP ... Fluffy goodness!

I've been deprived of cheesecake for quite some time!  So I ate at the Cheesecake Factory last week.  I usually order the Low Carb Cheesecake with Strawberries  - comes with whipped cream and is sweetened with Splenda ®. I don't notice a huge difference between the low carb and The Original cheesecake except not feeling heavy after eating a slice of the low carb cheesecake. After eating there, I still longed for more cheesecake!  I later found a scrumptious no bake cheesecake recipe from  http://cottagemagpie.com/recipes/no-bake-cheesecake .  I made it and topped it off with Comstock blueberry pie filling. I let my mom try it, who also gave some to my dog -.- she didn't believe that I made that cheesecake.  She thought I got it from Marie Callender's  - I was flattered!