Grand Imperial restaurant

I didn't take pictures at all on Sunday but here's what we did:

Had all you can eat Dim Sum with friends at the Grand Imperial near Victoria station. The restaurant with its pillars and decorative floral pieces was a beautiful sight. Objectively speaking, I could tell that the food was really fresh and delicious, but it just didn't sit well with me in the end. T really enjoyed it though and thought it was the best Dim Sum he's had in London. The service was pretty piss poor but I guess that's just "London service." Why you ask? Our main waiter wasn't friendly AT ALL, in fact, I don't think he even smiled once. He seemed flustered, and didn't know his menu very well when we asked him a question about a certain type of dim sum. I reaaaaaally hate bad service considering the dining experience can be so much more heightened with friendly/helpful service. Just a side note, I think all you can eat applies only on Sunday afternoons. We showed up at 12:30.

After Dim Sum, T and I went home to relax for a few hours, and then we headed off to Bodeans for some Kansas City style BBQ and American FOOTBALL. We watched the Dallas Cowboys kick some Lions ass and then went home early only to find out that the Lions came back to win the game! lol.. W. T. *£&$£$^£&$^£&$^£&???!??!... At least my Bears won!! All and all, it was a great way to spend a Sunday.

Moving on to Monday...

I started the morning with a bowl of Blueberry oats. Most of the morning was spent napping, reading, and doing some Zumba choreography.

For lunch, I cooked a frying steak on the stovetop with some bok choy and kim chee on the side. I prepared the steak quite simply, just rubbing it with coconut oil and sprinkling some Montreal Steak seasoning on both top and bottom. I think I found the technique to cooking my steak juuuuust right. I made sure to heat the pan nice and hot first, and then added my steak (you can tell the pan is hot bc the meat makes that wonderful sizzling noise when it hits it). I cooked one side for 3 minutes, then turned the steak over and placed a lid on top, cooking the other side for an additional 3-4 minutes. The key is not to fuss with the meat and allow it to cook. It turned out pretty tender and delicious dipped in bbq sauce.

My workout for the day was a late afternoon PUNCH class. I've substituted my Wednesday class for Monday since I'll be in class all day!

T made this wonderful dinner last night. Japanese chicken and egg in a delicious, sweet marinade all over rice.

kimchi and kactoogi- Korean side dishes

I made the veggies: sauteed zuchinni with EVOO, siracha, sesame oil, and soy sauce.

asparagus lightly seasoned with butter, salt, and pepper

 

Yum! This is Asian comfort food at its finest.

the broth was definitely slurpable

Breakfast was a bowl of Gluten Free corn and rice krispies with a sliced banana and a squeeze of agave nectar to sweeten up the cereal.

Agenda: Fingers crossed** I make it to the gym, teach Zumba, relax

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

Yesterday was a very chillax anniversary day. We didn't do much during the day, but we did manage to venture outside the house for lunch. I finally got my itch scratched for a perfect bowl of ramen noodles

T had the bbq beef in this amazing marinade. It was about as delicious as it looks. I snuck in a few bites- nom nom nom!!

I ordered the seafood ramen with white rice. If I followed a cheat day, I would definitely be eating this. Give me plain packet ramen noodles any day!

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/restaurants/restaurant-3775.php

I had one of the most fun and delicious dining experiences last night at Joel Robuchon, a two-starred Michelin restaurant. They do a very reasonable pre- theatre menu for £29 and the choice of appetizer, main, and dessert was excellent.

As soon as we walked in to the restaurant, on a bustling Covent Garden street, I felt as if we were transported to another place and time. Sitting in the open kitchen area, we watched the chefs masterfully at work. I told T that I felt sort of like an intruder looking in since they were so professional and rarely acknowledged us, the patrons all lined up in front of them.

We started with this amuse bouche that tasted like a tuna sandwich but in moose form. YUM!

eeewww.. I brought my phone out so I could be subtle about taking pictures but that left for really ugly photos. It was sad really but I would rather have these then no photos at all! They made me a really delicious fruit cocktail. For £6, it had better be delicious! ;-)

T likes to order beers that he's never tried before or that is special to the restaurant, so he was a bit surprised when the waiter brought out this standard London meantime beer.

My appetizer was an egg cocotte in light mushroom cream. This was a light, creamy broth with a generous portion of mushrooms and an unidentifiable green gel like substance that was served with a small toasted crouton. It was really unique and super tasty. I had no idea what egg cocotte was when I first ordered it but I trusted that it was going to be different and delicious. So glad I ordered it!
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/eggs/eggs-en-cocotte.html

T had the chichory tart with an apple and vanilla compote.

I had a small bite with all the components on the plate and it was delicious.

Mmmm.. another picture of silky perfection.

My main was guinea fowl with bacon bits, mushrooms, and butternut squash puree. The meat was PERFECTLY cooked and had a really wonderful flavor to it. It wasn't gamey at all. The butternut squash complemented the meat wonderfully.

T had the spaghetti with roasted tomatoes, and olives. His only complaint was that there wasn't enough food, and I would have to agree.

they served us creamy parsnips as a side. "These are the best parsnips I've ever had!"- T

for dessert, we both ordered the strawberry eclaire with pistachio cream. Pistachio+fresh strawberries+crispy marzipan like topping, and a fluffy pastry= heaven on a plate!!

oh and don't forget the pure vanilla bean ice cream!

Yes, I was the crazy psycho taking multiple pictures of her dessert. I didn't even pretend to be texting on my phone!

Even though I was super full, I could have definitely housed another one of these bad boys!

After dinner, we came home to Sonoma snuggles and some Glee. What a day!

Happy Anniversary!

After teaching zumba last night, T and I went out to dinner at Taro in Soho. Our original plan was to go to Wahaca for Mexican but decided to skip it once we found out the wait time was an hour!! It was almost 9 by the time we arrived. There is no way in heck I am going to eat at 10 p.m. Have you seen me when I haven't eaten?! Movin on..

Thankfully, we've been to Taro several times and we've always enjoyed the food there. The food is one story, and the crowded tables put reaalllllllllllllllllllly close together is another. As we were about to leave the restaurant, I noticed the two girls I would have to ask to move so I could leave the table. One girl proceeded to scout in her chair a centimetre as if I was some skinny waft who could fit between the little space she graciously gave me. Another gave me a horrified look as if I could magically lift her seat and throw her out the way!! Grr, respect people.. Seriously?!? Anyways, I digress...I ordered the seaweed salad to start and it did not disappoint; it was really flavorful, fresh, and delicious!

miso soup that came with T's teriyaki chicken bento.

the teriyaki chicken at Taro is their speciality bento box. The chicken skin is lightly fried but SUPER crispy and the meat is super tender and full of teriyaki flavor. Yuum!

I ordered the seafood noodle dish since I had an itch for it, but was pretty disappointed when this came out. The noodles had a weird consistency to it and the soup was ehhh bland.

This morning we celebrated our 1st year wedding anniversary with some exchanging of wedding gifts. I can't believe its been a year already. How time flies... and we they said it wouldn't last ;-)

although I'm not a watch person, I was super excited to get this watch from him. Now's a good time as any to start wearing a watch!!

 

It's slightly big on my tiny wrist so I'll have to go and get it adjusted, but it's a beautiful watch.

I already knew this one was coming- We're going to the Bears v. Buc's game on October 23. Hot diggity dawg!! I'm SOOOOO stoked!!

BEST. PRESENT. EVER.

more workout gear for the pink luva in me!! 

Time for some 2 star Michelin dining!!

Mushroom risotto

Surprise Surprise! I was in a cooking mood last night. I've been feeling bad lately because all I've been doing is laying on the couch and vegging out. I definitely haven't been cooking, and I definitely haven't been cleaning (our cleaning lady came yesterday-she's an angel!). Time to get prepping on the ingredients. On the menu:

• wild sockeye salmon
• red pepper and bok choy medly
• mushroom risotto
• lamb chops from Waitrose (already preseasoned) for T

I wanted to try something different with the salmon so I went with this recipe I found on allrecipes.com
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/grilled-salmon-i/detail.aspx

chopped up some romano red peppers

marinated the salmon for an hour:

• 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon and 2-1/4 teaspoons water
• 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• garlic powder 
• small sprinkle of sea salt
• generous squeeze of siracha

started by making chicken broth (I used the cubes)

After prepping the salmon, I got to work on ELR's mushroom risotto. I've made several things from her website and everything has been fantastic. And of course it would be, she's a LeCordon Bleu grad :-)
I would highly recommend checking out her website and cooking from there, especially if you're not too familiar in the kitchen like me. She has many simple and delicious recipes on there.

per her instructions, I sauteed one minced shallot in EVOO.

sliced up some mushrooms

added 1/4 cup white wine to 1 cup risotto and stirred in the chicken stock, 1/4 cup at a time. Thankfully, the wonderful smells got me through the whole stirring process that took over 30 minutes!

yuuuuumm... seeing this again makes me want to heat some back up right now.. at 9 a.m.!!

near the end, I sprinkled some fresh grated parm cheese. It was REALLY good but sort of on the salty end. I swear I didn't add any additional salt. Next time I'll remember to use low sodium chicken broth.

sauteed bok choy and red peppers

• evoo
• soy sauce
• sesame oil
• siracha

oven roasted lamp chops for the hubby (since I had a feeling the salmon wasn't going to be enough food for him!)

the salmon was a bit overcooked but the marinade was delicious! It was the perfect balance of sweet and salty.

one huge bowl and lots leftover. I have a feeling the leftovers won't be there for long.

mmm.. I was quite proud of myself for putting together this dinner. Especially since it was super easy to make! T even said it was probably the best dinner I've ever cooked him. I bet it was the lamb that won him over! Hmph!! ;-)

Breakfast this morning and then I'm going to try and make it to the gym!

Would I like some eggs with all that ketchup?

Okay, I didn't make it to the gym. It is now 12:24 and I just finished lunch. I guess I was more tired than I thought! Here's the workout I would have done in the gym:

• tricep pulldown
• barbell chest press
• tricep kickback
• pushups
• overhead tricep extension
• chest flye

Here's what I'm going to do now:
http://www.youtube.com/user/blogilates#p/a/u/1/zA5jfTSv9O4