Home-made Hawaiian pancakes and sausage

Finally made the package of chocolate macademia pancakes from Hawaii.  Tasty but not as good as the pancakes we actually had in Honolulu. 

Home-made 4th of July dinner

Happy 4th of July!  One month later

Quintessential 4th food - hot dogs and mini cheeseburgers

Salad to pretend to be healthy

Home-made goulash of sorts - rice, jalapenos, tomato, beans and chicken

Or maybe better classified as a burrito bowl type a la Chipotle since we ate it with rice chips

Home-made watermelon vodka drink + oven-roasted corn with garlic butter.  DELISH

Home-made Roasted Chicken Take Two

Dan's second attempt was even better.  The skin was much crisper and darker this time.  The veggies weren't quite as drenched in the juices but still better than just sauteeing or some other style of cooking.

Check out that color

Home-made Roasted Chicken, root vegetables and haricot-verts

Inspired by Thomas Keller and Anthony Bourdain, Dan decided to make roasted chicken along with root veggies and garlic green beans.  The chicken was nice and juicy but the veggies were the best part.  Cooked in all the yummy chicken juices. 

Everything set up before going in the oven.  Notice how nicely the chicken has been tied up haha

After cooking!

French garlic green beans

Beautiful plate

Soooo gooood

Dinner at MAE in Jersey City, NJ

There's a new bistro called Modern American Eatery in JC that has really excellent and inexpensive food.  The place is in a shady part of JC on Communipaw Ave, which likely accounts for the low costs.  The menu is really eclectic and has some delicious though super unhealthy items.  Definitely want to head back for brunch one weekend.

House-made Pork Rinds - crazyyyyy good.  P.S. Have you ever seen home-made pork rinds on a menu?  I didn't think so

Jimmy Changas - basically mini chimichangas with flat iron steak, ny cheddar and tomato-avocado sauce

Charlie's Fried Chicken - open faced on home-made biscuit, coleslaw and fries

Baja Fish Tacos - salsa de tigre, guacamole, and cabbage.  This was my least favorite dish.  Not a fan of all the sauciness

Salt & Pepper BBQ Lamb Ribs - so delicious but much fattier than normal beef or pork ribs

Breakfast at Max's of Manila in Jersey City, NJ

It's tough to find authentic Filipino breakfast food anywhere.  I figured Max's might be decent even though it's a chain.  I think it was better than Mahlarika in the city but still not as good as hole-in-the wall places in the Philippines, or my dad's cooking.  Pretty inexpensive though so that was nice.  Also only available Sat and Sunday from 9-11am.  Likely won't get there again anytime soon haha.

Garlic fried rice, beef tapa, fried eggs, and atchara

Garlic fried rice, pork tocino, fried eggs, and atchara

Dinner at Mompou in Newark, NJ

HP is back after a two-month hiatus.  Thanks Bar Review!

Special dish with chorizo, potatoes and steak

Calamari A La Pomodoro

Patatas Bravas

Albondigas de Pollo - chicken meatballs

Anyway, months ago we went to Mompou for Tim's birthday.  The food took a really long time to come out (probably cause there were over a dozen of us) but generally was good.