Staying In

I decided to stay in this weekend. I couldn't decide what I wanted to eat for dinner so my boyfriend suggested we make pizza!

As you can see, we made a "vegetarian" pizza that contains mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, and broccoli. For this post, I will tell you how I made the pizza in the form of a recipe. I did not get this idea from any website, I just made it up because it seemed pretty simple. I shopped for all of my ingredients at Wegmans.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can of the Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough (near the refrigerated yogurt and cookie dough section)
• 1 cup of mozzarella cheese (I chose a Wegmans bag of cheese that was labeled "Pizza Cheese," it is mixed with mozzarella and provolone)
• 1/2 cup of pizza sauce (I used Wegmans Chunky Pizza sauce)
• spinach (I chose to use spinach from the bag because I personally like the taste better than the fresh spinach they put out along the wall)
• sliced portabella mushrooms (you can buy these pre-sliced or not)
• green and red bell peppers
• broccoli

For each topping, I used about 1/2 cup or so, maybe even a little more. I think it really depends on your own preference. Some people like to cook the toppings before they are put on the pizza. It is entirely up to you if you want to sauté or steam your toppings before you put them in the oven. I chose to not cook my ingredients because they will cook a little in the oven.

The one thing you should always do before cooking anything is wash your hands. Washing your hands is the best ways to prevent transferring any illnesses. Next, preheat the oven to 400°F. Take out a dark, non-stick cookie tray. With previous experience, I still choose to spray the cookie sheet with PAM because the dough has stuck onto the tray a few times. After spraying the cookie sheet, pop open the roll of dough and roll it out on the tray. Be patient because the dough is sticky so it takes some time to fully spread out the dough on the cookie sheet.

Once that is done, I like to wash and separate the ingredients if needed. Separating the ingredients in different bowls makes it easier for me when I put the toppings on the dough. When the oven is preheated, put the cookie sheet into the oven for about 5 minutes. Make sure you don't forget to take it out! During these 5 minutes, I like to cut the bell peppers and broccoli. After 5 minutes, take out the cookie tray and set it down, be careful because it is hot!

The dough is not fully cooked within 5 minutes; you have to put the pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings on them for another 10 minutes in the oven. When the dough is taken out after the 5 minutes, use a spoon to spread the pizza sauce. After the sauce is spread, sprinkle the cheese all over the sauce. If you like a lot of cheese on your pizza, I would recommend using more than 1 cup of cheese. It may look like there is a lot on there, but looks can be deceiving! If you don't like a lot of cheese, use 1 cup or less.

Now it's time for the toppings. Place the toppings wherever you want on the pizza. When you're done, place the cookie sheet back into the oven for another 10 or 11 minutes. Be sure to check on the pizza from time to time to make sure the crust isn't too brown. If the crust is golden brown, then you can take it out. If you like a softer crust, take out the pizza a little bit sooner than 10 minutes, maybe around 6 or 7 minutes.

Let the pizza cool down before trying to cut it. Use a pizza cutter and serve it warm. No one wants to eat cold pizza! This usually serves 3-4 people. I like to make my own pizza because I can use all the toppings I want. You can make the pizza in the same amount of time you have to wait for delivered pizza. I know exactly what food is being put into my body and it may be a healthier alternative to the well-known pizza chains. You will be able to make two pizzas for the price of one (compared to Papa John's and Domino's).

If you ever decide to make this, I hope you enjoy it! It's a simple dish and you can make it however you like!

Ristorante Piccolo

The restaurant I decided to go to this time was called Ristorante Piccolo. This Italian restaurant is nestled in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. At first, I was trying to go to different Italian restaurant known for their handmade pasta, but that place did not have any open tables until 9:30pm! I guess this was partly my fault because it was a Sunday evening around 5:00pm. I was walking around Georgetown and decided to go to the next Italian restaurant I walked by.

When I first walked in, the ambiance was incredible. The room was softly lit and the warmth in the air made it even better because I was freezing outside in the windy, 30 degree weather. I was immediately seated by the host and sat at a tiny table for two, perfect for my boyfriend and me. I have never heard of this restaurant and kind of went on a whim, so I was looking through the menu for quite some time. The server came up to our table after about 5-10 minutes or so, but he only introduced himself and told us he would be right back which was fine with me because I was still trying to decide what I wanted to eat. I was kind of shocked with how loud he was talking because the room wasn't loud, but it wasn't quiet either. I watched him walked away and go to another table and say the same thing to them, except I heard him talking just as loud. Why did he talk so loud?! No one will know. He came back after a couple minutes and asked if we wanted bottled water or ice water. We chose ice water and decided to order an appetizer of fried calamari. I wasn't really in the mood for fried calamari since I just had it at the other restaurant, but my boyfriend wanted it so we decided to get it. As it was time to order our main courses, I asked if I could get lasagna, but without ricotta cheese because I am not a fan of it. He responded with, "No, our meals are already pre-made, we don't make meals to the order." This kind of threw me off a bit because it made me wonder if all their food was fresh or not. I ended up going with "Carmelle alla Salvia," which was basically ravioli filled with roast chicken, vegetables, and herbs covered in a butter sage sauce and shredded parmesan cheese. My boyfriend chose the "Ravioli Aragosta," which was ravioli stuffed with lobster meat, served over a lobster bisque. He also asked which wine would go with the lobster ravioli and chose what the server recommended. 

After our server took our order, a man with a basket of bread came over to our table and placed one slice of bread on each of our plates along with a small plate of olive oil. I thought we would get more bread, but I guess not! The server also brought out a glass of white wine for my boyfriend, but I can't remember what it was called. As we were waiting for our food, we kept hearing the server talk to each table. This kind of annoyed me because I did not feel like listening to his overpowering voice and not be able to listen to my boyfriend that was sitting a foot away from me. Our appetizer arrived about five minutes later and it was really good! The lemon that we squeezed over it brought out the freshness of the calamari. The food came out about ten minutes later, the ravioli aragosta pictured at the top and the carmelle alla salvia pictured at the bottom. I thought we would get more food for the price; five pieces of ravioli for $20? I'll pass next time. We both cut up the ravioli into bite-sized pieces and started to dig in. My ravioli only tasted like chicken and nothing else. I could not taste the herbs or the vegetables! The lobster ravioli was pretty good, although it was not as hot as I expected it to be. We didn't want to say anything to the waiter because I get scared that they will take the food back and spit in it and return it to our table. My chicken ravioli was pretty hot, but the lobster ravioli was only hot on one side of the plate. My boyfriend also said the wine did not go well with the lobster. The server never came back to our table until we were done. The manager was the only one that had asked us how everything was doing.After we finished eating, I decided to make a trip to the bathroom. Boy, that thing was tiny! You walk into the bathroom, make a sharp left or right into the two stalls they have, and you can pretty much fall into the toilet once you get in there.

Overall, my experience was less than decent. The fried calamari was the only thing I really liked. The server was too loud, the price was a little too much for the quality of the food, and the bathrooms were basically nonexistent. The ambiance tricked me into thinking the restaurant was going to be superb. I would only recommend coming here if you are cold, starving, and have extra money to spare.

Lucky Corner

 

For my first post, I decided to go to a local favorite of mine, Lucky Corner. Lucky Corner is an authentic Vietnamese restaurant located in the northern section of Downtown in Frederick.

I decided to make a lunch trip to Lucky Corner today, Sunday, February 10, 2013. When you first pull into the parking lot, you will notice how small it is; same thing goes for the restaurant itself! If there are no parking spots then the restaurant is packed. I was lucky enough to get the last open spot along with the last available table. I got there around 1:30pm and was seated right after they cleaned up the table. I only had to wait for about two minutes. The ambiance is okay, it was warm because it was so crowded in such a tiny room. I feel like they could fix up the place a little like change the tiles and repaint the walls, but they do have a flat-screen TV placed above a fireplace. I opened up the menu and my stomach began to grumble even more. The menu contained over thirty or forty different options! Sometimes this can be a good or bad thing because customers might take a while to read over it, but you have a lot of choices to pick from. After about five minutes or so, the server took the orders for drinks and disappeared. I flipped through the menu multiple times because I could not decide what I wanted. I was not sure if I was in the mood for noodles or rice!

The server came back about ten minutes later which felt pretty long to me. I understand that it was busy, but I was hungry! As a regular, I know that the service at Lucky Corner is pretty slow. I think the food is definitely worth the wait, though. I ordered the "Crispy Calamari," as an appetizer and a regular sized bowl of "Pho Bo Vien," as my main course. Pho Bo Vien is a classic in my book; it's rice noodles in a beef broth with beef meat balls.

The appetizer came out first about fifteen minutes later (pictured on the top left). Honestly, I have had better fried calamari because it seemed a bit more creamy than other places that I have had it at. I think the calamari could have tasted more fresh as opposed to pulling the squid out of the freezer and cooking it. The bowl of pho came out about five minutes later, I was still eating my appetizer when it came out so the table got a little crowded. The picture on the bottom left shows how the pho looks like when it is first served. The two pictures on the right show how it looks after I put Sriracha (spicy) sauce and Hoisin (sweet) sauce. The beef broth is very bold and flavorful especially with the two sauces. Eating pho without the sauces is too plain for me! The noodles were a little too soft for me because they fell apart so quickly. Like the noodles, the meat balls were soft too. It usually takes about five or six bites for me to chew the meat balls, but it took only two or three and they were ready to get into my stomach!

I sat at Lucky Corner for about an hour and a half. Overall, my experience was okay. As I stated before, this restaurant is a local favorite, but this time it was not as good as it usually is. The broth was great, but I could not get over how soft the noodles were! The service was slow, but that was expected. My total including tip was $18; the bowl of pho was $7.25 and the calamari was around $7. I probably won't be here for a while unless I want to try something other than pho and if I have time to sit around and wait.

Introduction

Hey everyone!

My name is Akina. My blog is mainly going to talk about different restaurants that I am going to visit throughout the semester. The restaurants will not only be around the Frederick area, but also the Rockville and Washington, D.C. area. I think expanding my horizons beyond Frederick will give different alternatives for my readers in case they want to try something new if they are in any of the areas listed above.

I like any type of food whether it be Italian, Thai, or just a burger! I am going to try and spread out my options with the different types of restaurants as well as different entrees. I will not write about the same thing twice so each post will be unique. I love meat, but I am willing to try any vegetarian or vegan restaurants. Actually, I am just about willing to try anything! I will give a review of my experience at the restaurant such as the food I ordered and the service. Photos will also be posted so you can see what the food looks like.

I find it nice to go out to eat once in a while, but in this case it might be once a week! I know that in this economy, the best bet is to buy groceries and cook your own meals at home. I will try my best to find restaurants with decent prices, but I cannot promise that. Meals tend to add up especially if you order an appetizer and/or a dessert along with the entree! Again, I will try to pick restaurants that won't burn an empty hole in your wallet. If my readers have any recommendations, please send them my way!

- Akina