Tag Archives: food

Conveyor Belt Sushi

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It’s the sushi of the future! I know conveyor belt sushi has been around for ages, especially in Japan, obvs, but it finally came to Columbus, and we had to try it. We went a few weeks after they opened for my birthday dinner. We arrived nearly an hour early, we were not the only ones waiting. Most of us stayed in our cars because it was COLD. By the time we decided to get out of the car, there was a line of at least 30 people. And the line just continued to grow behind us. We spoke with a waitress, and she told us that there had been six hour waits at times since they opened. It was SO MUCH FUN. I have to admit I was worried. I had been anti-sushi for nearly a year. I had some gross day-old grocery store sushi that turned me off sushi for ages. But I was finally getting over it and it sounded tentatively good. We sat there and the conveyor belt started, and it just kept going round. I don’t remember what all rolls I had but it was so good. We also ordered some shrimp tempura and dessert.

We were at mom’s during our anniversary weekend. Justin looked up some food ideas and came up with ANOTHER conveyor belt sushi restaurant. It’s dangerously close to my mother’s. Less than 15 minutes away. We ate a little less this time than the last and it wasn’t quite as attraction-like as the restaurant in Columbus but I felt it was as much fun. Both had robots that would bring your drinks to you and smile. The plate contraption was a little easier to use at this place, but I’d say that the quality was pretty equivalent. The fun thing about this restaurant was that special orders were delivered by little “trains.” I still don’t remember the rolls that I had but we ordered dessert. Justin had green tea cheesecake. I had tempura fried Oreos which were pretty amazing. I don’t know that I would only eat conveyor belt sushi, but the next time I want an “experience” for dinner, this will definitely be a destination.

Thanksgiving

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This is a really late post about Thanksgiving. It was a fabulous day. First, I was off work. That was glorious in itself. Then for lunch, we went to Buca di Beppo. At Buca, there is an option for a traditional turkey dinner and Italian dishes. If you don’t know, Buca is a family style restaurant. So, we ordered a massive amount of food. We ordered the traditional dinner which mom and Justin ate, I ate a little of it, but then we also ordered spaghetti for Justin and a cheese manicotti for me. Oh, and Justin ordered an entire bottle of wine. IT WAS SO MUCH FOOD. We had so many leftovers, I think it fed us like four or five more meals!

After lunch, we went back home, and I took a nap because I was in a food coma. I curled up in my chair and fell asleep and ignored the world for a couple of hours.

Then, we went to my friend’s house. They are more like family, so I often call them my cousins when talking with other people. Just makes it easier than explaining that they are cousins to my cousins on the other side of their family. They were so gracious to invite us over. Since it was just the three of us, me, mom, and Justin, it was nice to get to spend the day with our extended family. BUT the absolute best part of the day was that I got to hold a wee infant. She was so sweet. I got to hold her, and she was fussy but would keep falling back asleep as long as I kept patting her bottom while holding her in my arms. My arm was so sore on Friday from constant bottom patting. I’m still smiling from that day and can’t wait till I can hold her again.

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

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I used my new KitchenAid to really bake for the first time. Not some cake mix, but actually baking from scratch. No one shock in gasp. Oh, okay. Go ahead and gasp.

I went a little out of my comfort zone baking something that embodied two of my least favorite baked goods. First, they were cupcakes. Cupcakes are annoying. So messy and hard to eat. We do not get along that well. Secondly, they were lemon blueberry cupcakes. I LOVE lemons. But I’ve always had a sort of mental block when it came to sweet lemon desserts. Lemon cookies, lemon bars, lemon meringue pie we’re never for me. But Husband seems to really like lemon desserts & I know he loves cupcakes so I was willing to try something new.

I used this recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/missys-lemon-and-blueberry-cupcakes-recipe.html

Let me just say right now that I love my KitchenAid mixer. Without it, this fibro girl would not have been able to bake these cupcakes.

I liked that the batter ingredients were split into three bowls and then you mixed those contents together. First your butter & eggs, then milk & sugar and lastly the rest of the dry ingredients. My butter wasn’t entirely room temperature and I had trouble mixing it with the eggs. I think I might have even overbeat the eggs which caused for a stiffer batter.

You will also need to add some lemon zest. I needed 3 tablespoons. I bought two large lemons. I grossly underestimated. I might have had a tablespoon and a half, two tops. I added a dash of lemon juice to make up for the lack of lemon zest.

Before you pour the mixed batter into the cupcake liners, spray the cups with a cooking spray like PAM. OMGosh. This is especially important if you don’t want to spend $5 or more for those really good cupcake liners. I bought mine at Kroger. Cheap as possible. After the cupcakes have baked, the liners peel off without making a crumby mess and the cooking spray will help crisp up the outside of the cupcake and make it golden brown just like the cupcake tops. Absolutely brilliant trick. This might make me and cupcakes get along better.

Before you put the cupcakes in the oven to bake, place some blueberries tossed in flour on top of the batter. In theory, the batter will rise above the blueberries and they will sink throughout the cupcake. This was a FAIL for me. The batter never raised above the blueberries and I had to take a butter knife to sink them lower.

Also, the 18-20 minutes cooking time was a FAIL. Our oven stayed preheated/heated at the right temp through the whole process. My only guess is that the recipe was underestimated or more likely, our oven lies. If you have an external oven thermometer that would be best. If you’re like us and don’t bake often enough to justify another piece of clutter in the house, then you might want to be prepared for some extra baking time.

Once the cupcakes are finally baked, pull them out and let them cool on a rack. Don’t be lazy like I often am and just leave them in the pan to cool.

Next it’s time for the icing. Cream cheese icing is the best. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Seriously, how can anything with two sticks of cream cheese, a stick of butter and 3-4 cups of confectioner sugar be bad? (I know the answer to that but I don’t wanna hear it!

We also needed lemon zest for the icing. I just added a little extra lemon juice.

The KitchenAid made mixing this together so easy. Have I mentioned my love of the KitchenAid?

Finally, icing and decorate your cupcakes.

Despite my earlier caveats, these cupcakes are fanfreakingtastic and I highly recommend this recipe.

If I had been clever there would have been pictures of the process. But I’m not, so here is just the final product. (I do have a picture of Husband decorating with blueberries, but I am fair certain he would kill me if I shared that with you.)

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

Cast Iron Skillet Steaks

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I made my first steaks in the cast iron skillet that Husband bought for me this past Christmas. Cast iron can be a pain to use because it takes more care than a pan you just use and throw into the dishwasher, but the rewards are worth it.

To make my steaks I started by melting two tablespoons of butter on high heat. Once I had a good sizzle going, I plopped in both steaks. You can make as many steaks as your skillet will allow but it’s important to not crowd the meat. Two bone out ribeyes fit perfectly in my skillet. Meanwhile I preheated my oven at 400 degrees.

I seared the first side of each steak for a full minute just to get a lovely carmelization and pretty brown color. Then I cooked the next side for another minute. I placed a tablespoon of butter on each steak, added salt & pepper liberally and then put the whole skillet into the oven. I baked the steaks for ten minutes to get them medium-well.

The steaks were seared to perfection, fork tender and buttery good. I’ll be making many more steaks just like this in the future. (Next time I promise pictures.)