Home-made Grilled Hummus Kale Pizza

I made hummus and Dan cooked several kinds of kale.  Combined with pre-made gluten-free pizza dough and we had a delicious, healthy home-made pizza.

Brunch at Talde in Jersey City, NJ

Took the rents to Talde in JC for brunch.  Glad that Open Table finally has brunch reservations.  The menu is limited compared to dinner. I liked it but it wasn't as mindblowing as the dinner we had.

Corn pancakes - la quercia speck, chili powdered sugar, coconut brown butter syrup.  My FAV thing throughout the meal.  It was a great amount of sweet and salty. The syrup was also excellent

Pretzel Pork and Chive Dumplings with spicy mustard.  Had this last time and was just as good.

Breakfast Ramen - buttered toast broth, honey-glazed bacon, six minute egg.  This was a mystery/disappointment.  The broth was sooo buttery.  None of the four of us enjoyed it.

Filipino pork fried rice with sunny side up egg.  It tasted a lot like Chinese fried rice.  Tasty but expensive

Tater Tots with sriracha ketchup.  Nice and crisp

Overview of tots dumplings and rice

Spicy Lemongrass Chicken with romaine and peanuts.  This was my second fav dish.  A little messy but great flavor and spice.  It also reheated well 

Dinner from The Monk Room in Newark, NJ

Found some amazing pizza in Newark right by the Prudential Center.  This place is pretty small and the crowd was mildly off-putting, but the pizza was on point.  Tasted like it had some great fresh ingredients and came out pretty quick.  Not too pricy either.

14 1/2 - san marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, homemade ricotta, hot soppressata, Calabrian chiles, oregano, extra virgin olive oil. Good heat but not too much.

Carbonara - guanciale, parmigiano reggiano, roasted egg, parsley, black pepper, extra virgin olive oi.  This is why we went there.  Worth it.

Lunch at Mama Fina's in Elmwood Park, NJBulalo

Mama Fina's overall is definitely the best Filipino restaurant in NJ.  The sisig is by far, the best I've ever eaten.  Prior to MF's I never truly enjoyed sisig, but it's so perfectly toasted with the right ratio of fat to meat.  The onions are always caramelized so I enjoy eating them.  The rest of the dishes are also really delicious.  Portions are good and while everything is served in a home-y way, it still looks clean and classy.  Love this place.  The only gripe is it can take a long time, but this time we arrived pretty early so the food came out super quickly.  Also the food still tastes good re-heated.

Long beans with pork, and lechon kiwali.  Both were divine

Pork sisig, salmon, and pork humbo

Chicken bbq (wings!) and pork sisig

Bulalo (bone marrow soup); bicol express; and pinakbet.  The bicol express was super spicy and not what we've had before.  Instead of lechon pieces it was mostly tiny bits of pork plus peppers

Chicken adobo

Entire table of food.  SO GOOD

Dinner at The Shannon Rose in Ramsey, NJ

We went to Shannon Rose to see how the place was as a preview for our after-party.  The place itself was very normal, which is all we were looking for.  The front area had a nice stage for live music, and the other side of the bar was spacious with some great 90s style music.  The food was okay.  Nothing to write home about but not offensively bad.

The Murder Burger - served on a brioche roll with American and pepperjack cheese, sauteed onions, jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup and Thousand Island dressing.  Dipped in Harp beer batter and deep fried.  Of course Dan enjoyed this.  The fries were good; perfectly double fried.

The Ploughman's Sampler - beefed up nachos (ehhh), corned beef spring rolls (stuffed with corned beef, cabbage and potatoes) served with spicy mustard dipping sauce, Irish potato skins (with smoked bacon, melted Irish cheddar, and sour cream; this was also mediocre); and Boneless Buffalo Wings.  The best thing was the corned beef spring rolls, which were legit tasty.  The rest was just typical, passable bar food

Lunch at Mighty Quinn's BBQ in Clifton, NJ

Dan and I went to Mighty Quinn's for lunch.  As usual the meat was excellent.  I tried their corn fritters, which was a new side.  It was kind of like a sweet corn beignet.  Good but not something I would probably crave again.

Brisket as always was delicious.  With vinegar slaw and cucumbers.

Dan's hot wangs

Sweet corn fritters

Rodizio dinner at Mr. Adams Steakhouse in Newark, NJ

Tracy, Nicole, Dan and I went to Mr. Adams Steakhouse along Route 21.  None of us intended to do rodizio aka all you can eat meat, but apparently they did not have the meat combos so the rodizio was the best deal.  OMG so much meat.  My fav by far was the beef rib.  It was so tender and the right amount of meaty and fatty.  Perfect amount of salt.  That by itself made the meal worth it.  The salad bar was acceptable.  A good variety but not as good as that place in Hackensack.  Also a good value money-wise.  There was a wedding going on behind us, which was a little weird because of all the little kids running around huge knives ha.  But I'm so glad we went and would definitely go back.

Salad bar fixins

Lots of meat

Cutting up my amazing beef rib

Flan 

Serradura - custard mixed with tea biscuits topped with chocolate crumbles

Coconut sorbet

Semi-home made pizza from Trader Joe's

My parents gave me Arugula Pizza from TJ's, which had cherry tomatoes, arugula, mozzarella, grana padano, manchego, provolone and pecorino.  We also added some prosciutto because I love meat, but the pizza was so good we definitely didn't need it.  This was probably the best frozen pizza I've ever had.  Great job Trader Giottos haha

Dinner at Sushi House in Edison, NJ

Nicole, Dan and I went to Sushi Palace for all you can eat sushi.  Honestly, I think everytime I go for AYCE,  I feel sick.  Even if I'm only eating.  Sushi Palace is BYOB, so we brought a six-pack assortment.  However, I barely got through one, so it couldn't have been that.  Definitely a good value and not too bar.  Just need to prepare my stomach better beforehand I think.

Gyoza (on top), crispy calamari, and bbq squid.  All were ok.  The bbq squid had sharp tentacles

(Clockwise from Top) Softshell Crab Roll (with cucumber and avocado); Yellowtail hand roll; Crunchy Eel Roll (tempura flakes, avocado, crabmeat, topped with whole roasted eel); and Edison Roll (inside shrimp tempura, spicy tuna and spicy crab outside)

A bunch of sashimi, another Edison Roll , Tri Color roll top left (crunch spicy tuna with slices of tuna, salmon and avocado on top) and Kamizake Roll (shrimp tempura with tuna and eel outside)

Seaweed salad

Vegetable tempura

"Lumpia".  Not at all like Filipino lumpia.

Lunch from the Green Chicpea in Newark, NJ

Right on Halsey Street is this great Mediterranean joint called the Green Chicpea.  One of the workers gave me a free falafel to taste, and it was so good that I got a combo bowl instead of just straight meat.  I ordered a schwafel bowl and it was HUGE.  Literally took an hour for me to great through it but I felt full but in a non-gross way.  Excited to be able to eat there again in the future.

Bowl with chicken schwarma, falafel, tomato and cucumber salad, beet salad and tahini sauce

Dinner from Taqueria Los Gueros in East Rutherford, NJ

Dan and I got dinner to go from Taqueria Los Gueros.  I tried something new and got a burrito with el pastor meat, and Dan got Tacos Mexicanos.  Delish as per usual.

Dan's tacos with chorizo and el pastor meat

My burrito with rice, beans, and el pastor meat.  This pic doesn't truly show how large this was

Lunch from Wendys in Harrison, NJ

I normally would not post about fast food, but I was so pleasantly surprised by this burger I got at Wendy's.  They had a new blue cheese bacon burger and it not only looked amazing, but it tasted as good as it looked.  I bet if you just saw this picture you would not think it was from a fast food joint.  Well done.  I hope they keep this on the menu.

Bacon and blue cheese burger . On brioche.  Thick cut applewood bacon.  Both blue cheese crumbles and a spreadable blue cheese sauce.  

Dinner at David Burke Kitchen in NYC

Dan and I went to David Burke Kitchen for Restaurant Week.  It was a great value and we were so full and even took food home.  The meal was delicious and very home-y.  I would go back again for a non-RW meal.

Bread I picked from the bread basket

Grilled chicken and tallegio cheese grilled cheese.  Definitely not your traditional grilled cheese. The wrapper was more like a lumpia wrapper.  Tasty but non-traditional

 Grilled cheese after I took a bite :-X

Lobster Dumpling Soup with roasted celery root, melted celery, carrots, and leeks.  The waiter poured the soup hot over the fresh dumplings.  Delicious

Pork Chop with home-made tater tots.  AMAZING

Green Circle Chicken Pot Pie - this was what I ordered and was so delicious.  So rich and hearty.  Also like half a chicken in here.  Took this home and it re-heated great

Dan cutting up the pork chop

Giant carving knife

Dan's mango sorbet

Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch Bar - raspberry ganache and vanilla bean ice cream.  Great dessert.  I loved the crunchiness.  Sweet but not too sweet