Bar Harbor, Maine: Acacia House Inn

The Acacia House Inn is located in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Its location is very close to the Acadia National Park, but also within a short walk from the main shops and restaurants of Bar Harbor.
While this is a Bed and Breakfast, the BREAKFAST is amazing.

The address is:
6 High St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
Phone: (207) 288-8122

The co-owner of the B&B, Anna, used to have her own breakfast shop, the Morning Glory Cafe, that eventually became a bakery.  And we were fortunate to have her make breakfast for us.  Breakfast is served in the dinning area and porch area.

On our first breakfast, the first serving was a fruit cup of Maine wild blueberries, banana slices, and pineapple chunks.  The main breakfast items could be ordered from a menu, or chosen from the special of the day. Today we decided to share the blueberry granola yogurt parfait and the Maine wild blueberry pancakes, both from the menu.  We also had fresh orange juice and cranberry/pomegranate juice.

On the second morning, a cinnamon bun was the morning fresh baked item.  The fruit serving was Maine wild blueberries with custard.  For breakfast we both ordered the delicious Maine wild blueberry pancakes so that we wouldn't have to share, as they were perhaps the best blueberry pancakes we have ever had!

On the third morning, a strawberry scone was the baked item. The fruit cup consisted of strawberries and grape.  For breakfast (because someone back at home said all we eat was blueberries), we got the raspberry french toast and the egg frittata with onion, mushroom, and Maine tomatoes.

On our final morning, chocolate croissants were the baked item.  We were happy to have  once again Maine wild blueberries and raspberry for our fruit cup.  Today on our last day we had to have our all-time favorite Maine wild blueberry pancakes, and the special of the day: grilled polenta topped with 2 eggs, fresh tomato salsa and cilantro sour cream.

In the evening, Anna put out baked goods and lemonade for us. One night it was muffins, another night it was coconut puffs, and one other night it was classic chocolate chip cookies: delicious!

We stayed in Room #1, which was on the main floor of the inn, and had the biggest bathroom with a large newly renovated shower, and a nice jacuzzi tub that we did not use.
The bed linens were really soft, and the bath soap and shampoo were fancy and smelled wonderful.
We truly enjoyed our stay, and would return just for the wonderful breakfast.
We highly recommend that you check this B&B out if you decide to visit Maine.

The Acacia House  Inn is a Bed and Breakfast from May through October.  In the offseason, November through April the House opens for breakfast to the locals on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

There are some recipes from the Acacia House Inn:
http://www.acaciahouseinn.com/recipes.html

Recipe for Sous-Vide Salmon

Sous-vide, which means “under vacuum” in French, refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food in a bag, then cooking it to a very precise temperature in a water bath. This technique produces results that are impossible to achieve through any other cooking method.

When scout first received the Anova sous-vide device from Robo as a gift, she experimented this sous-vide cooking for steak, chicken, pork chop, salmon and egg.

Today scout is showing you the sous-vide salmon, which comes out evenly translucent and just starting to flake.

1. Set the sous-vide device to 115 degrees F
2. Put the salmon in a ziploc bag, with olive oil, sea salt and herbs (such as thyme, dill or parsley)

3. Remove air from the ziploc bag using water displacement method

4. Submerge the salmon in the water bath, clipping the bag to the side of the pot and cook for 45 minutes

5. When done, glaze the salmon with Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce and put under the broiler until the salmon has a slight burnt

6. The result is a nice glazed piece of salmon, cooked to perfection.
7. Serve with side dishes such as fresh corn or a nice salad

Recipe for Dumpling Sauce

scout learned how to make Dumpling sauce from scratch last night, at Ou's house.
Ou is from Beijing, and she invited us over to her house for some homemade dumplings.
scout paid attention when Ou started to mix her dumpling sauce from scratch, as this will come in super-handy during our Thanksgivings and Christmas Dumplings parties!

Dumpling Sauce recipe:
sugar (maybe about 2 tablespoons?)
Chinese vinegar (maybe about 1/8 cup?)
soy sauce (maybe about 1/8 cup?)
sesame oil (a little bit)
Sriracha spicy sauce (a little bit)
Adjust amount to taste, mix well, serve

(Okay, when I actually try this, I will fix the amount in the recipe as a starting point.)

Recipe for Sarku Teriyaki Chicken

Sarku Teriyaki Chicken at the mall's food court is simple, yet delicious.
The last time that we went to Montgomery Mall and ordered some Teriyaki chicken, scout noticed that they also sell their special teriyaki sauce in a bottle!

If you find a good bottle of Teriyaki sauce, it is very easy to duplicate the Teriyaki chicken from the mall.

First you buy de-boned and de-skinned chicken thighs, and cut them up in little chunks.
Sprinkle some flour, salt and pepper to the cut chicken.
Add oil in a pan and over high heat, stir fry the chicken until brown.

Then add a good amount of the Teriyaki sauce into the cooked chicken and cook in medium heat until the sauce caramelizes and the chicken turns to a nice brown.

Serve over white rice and some vegetables.
Here I stir fried some broccoli as a side to my chicken teriyaki.

If you want to make your own Teriyaki sauce from scratch, there are several recipes you can find online to try.
But if you are lazy like me, buy a good bottle of Teriyaki sauce (it doesn't have to be the Sarku brand) and you are good to go!

Recipe for Peach Jam

Ingredients: Any kind of fruit or fruits you want (yellow peaches and white peaches were used here), sugar, citrus rind, grapefruit juice

The great thing about jams is that you can uses as much as you want of each ingredient. The steps are all more or less the same.

Starting off, take all the fruit you are using and chop them into small pieces. Remember, the larger the pieces, the chunkier the jam. You can skin the fruit if you want, but you don't have to. In the jam pictured above, I kept the skin.

Also take the citrus rind and scrape off pieces of the white pith . I used a grapefruit for this, but any citrus is fine. You can also use the colored peel if you don't mind adding some of the citrus taste to the jam. Keep going until you have a small pile. The purpose of the rind is to add pectin to the mix. Pectin is a polysaccharide that acts as a thickening or gelling agent in an acidic environment (usually with a pH value of 2.8 to 3.6, hence the grapefruit juice). Sugar will also increase its gelling ability and will thus affect the consistency of the jam. Depending on what kind of fruits you are using, you may not have to use as much rind. Apples, blackberries, and grapes are high in pectin content so they typically only need some sugar to gel, whereas blueberries, strawberries, and our peaches are low in pectin so they need some more help. Store bought pectin can also be used (fun fact, that pectin is typically made with apples) but if you use citruses, be sure to use the rind. Citrus rinds are high in pectin but the rest of the fruit is not.

Place all of the fruit and rind in a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat. Throw in a heavy splash of grapefruit juice. Lemon or lime juice will do just as well, just remember that since they are more acidic (pH of ~2 to grapefruit juice's ~3) you can add a little bit less. I just happened to have grapefruit juice on hand (can you tell I like grapefruits?) so that ended up being what I used.

Once the fruit has reached a boil, bring the heat down to medium. You can now add the sugar. I personally don't like adding a lot of sugar, so I had m only throw in half a small handful of sugar. This will let the natural taste of the peaches shine a bit more while still having enough to help with the gelling process. I recommend taking some time here to taste the mixture as you add the sugar since this will vary by the sourness of the fruits you choose and the amount of fruit used. Add to taste!

Now, just stir occasionally and wait until your jam reaches the desired consistency. I tend to be impatient and will try to crush the fruit to speed it up as I stir, but that's just me. This step can take anywhere from 15 to 45 mins, depending on the ripeness of the fruit and the fruit itself. For example, the yellow peach jam (the more orangey one in the bottom of the jar) will take less time since it's already quite soft, but the crunchy white peach jam will take longer since it's harder. However, once you like the consistency of the fruit and the jam has thickened, you are ready to jar it and leave it to set overnight.

Have fun!
-M

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie

Today I held my first section meeting, and in keeping the tradition of the previous section supervisor, I brought baked goods to my section to buy their love.
Truth be told, I wanted everyone in my section to bake for me, but not wanting to act like the badass that I am, I told everyone we would take turn baking for my section meetings, and that I would take the first turn.

I was pretty tired from our trip to Florida, so I defaulted to the tried and true chocolate chip cookies that mvpcoachphil has always loved.

This recipe is based on the Nestle Toll House recipe on the back of their bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, with a slight variation.
The resulting cookie is soft and chewy, and really really yummy especially when it comes right out of the oven.

In order to enjoy hot baked cookies every time, after I mix the dough, I shape it into little balls of dough and freeze.
I then use the toaster oven to bake a few cookies at a time, to be eaten as soon as it cools.

Nothing beats a warm freshly baked chocolate chip cookie, and now you can have that warm fresh baked cookie day after day!

Recipe:
2 1/4 cup of self-rising flour
2 sticks butter softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 bag of Toll House Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat butter, both sugar, vanilla extract using a mixer until creamy
Add one egg at a time and beat well
Gradually add the self rising flour
Stir in the chocolate chip

Bake in a preheat oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes
Cool for 2 minutes before removing cookies from baking sheet

Rockville MD: The Big Greek Cafe

The Big Greek Cafe is not too far off the Georgia Ave ramp from the ICC.
It is one of the best Greek restaurant in the area.

The Big Greek Cafe
4007 Norbeck Rd, Rockville MD 20853

We particularly love their gyro meat, whether it be in a pita or on a greek salad.
Both choices are great, depending on whether you are in the mood for a salad or not.
But if you go on a Wednesday, you should definitely get the gyro sandwich, as it is the special of the day at half price.

Today we showed up at Cat's high school volleyball match with a half eaten gyro salad and fresh pita bread with yogurt sauce, to Sam and her mom's delight.
They finished our food, and agreed with our high review of the gyro salad.

Reviewed by scout and mvpcoachphil, with Sam and Joy's help, for food on 7 Sept 2017

Los Angeles CA: Osteria Mozza

We’re not used to taking pictures when eating out, and would only remember half way through the meal.  We made sure to remember when we went to Osteria Mozza to celebrate a friend’s birthday.  We knew about this restaurant for a while, but only decided to go after watching Chef’s Table episode featuring chef Nancy Silverton on Netflix.

Osteria Mozza is famous for their mozzarella bar, and when our server told us that they had a special burrata from Puglia, Italy (only a few left), we had to quickly place our order (we joked that the server probably said that to all the tables), along with some grilled octopus.

The restaurant is also famous for its pasta, and we tried three dishes from their primi menu: tagliatelle with oxtail ragu, orecchiette with sausage and Swiss chard, and sweet corn cappellacci with mushrooms.  For the main courses, we got the pork shank and orata (fish), with a side of Jimmy Nardello peppers.

Our friend is not a fan of desserts, but since our server told us the pastry chef won the James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef last year, we had no choice but to order three desserts (plus a complimentary birthday ice cream):  rosemary olive oil cakes with olive oil gelato, melon sorbet with mixed berries, and watermelon lime sorbet.  We forgot to take a picture of the desserts when they first came out, so everything looked half eaten in the picture below (expect more of these kinds of picture in the future).  Everything was really good.

Osteria Mozza
6602 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA

Fort Lauderdale FL: Kelly's Landing (a Seafood Restaurant)

Kelly's Landing was recommended to us by volleyball friends who ate there the day before.
It was walking distance from the Broward Convention Center, so it was very convenient for us to try.

Kelly's Landing New England Seafood
1305 SE 17th St, Ft. Lauderdale FL 33316

The special of the day was twin lobsters (Florida lobsters) broiled.
We shared the New England Steamers (tasty Ipswich clams served with clam broth and drawn butter), and the special-of-the-day twin lobsters, with a bowl of clam chowder.

It was a satisfying meal.
We would recommend this restaurant due to its convenient location to the Convention Center.

Reviewed by scout and mvpcoachphil. We walked to this restaurant on 4 Sept 2017.

Fort Lauderdale FL: Padrino's Cuban Cuisine

If you are looking for a great sit-down Cuban restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale, search no more.
Padrino's has nice decors, and serves excellent Cuban food.

Padrino's Cuban Cuisine
1135 N. Federal Hwy. Ft. Lauderdale FL 33304

As appetizer, the plantain chips with garlic sauce are great starters.

The limeade is delicious.

For our main entrees, we ordered the classic Bistec Palomilla (left), which is a traditional Cuban marinaded minute steak topped with sauteed onions.
Our second choice was the Churrasco (right), a skirt steak char-grilled with homemade chimichurri sauce.
Both entrees came with white rice, black beans, and sweet plantains.

The food was fabulous, and we would definitely come back again to sample more on their menu.

The restaurant's website is www.padrinos.com

Reviewed by scout and mvpcoachphil for a meal on 3 Sept 2017

Fort Lauderdale FL: Laspada's Original Hoagies

We had the best Italian subs ever when we lived in Ft Lauderdale many years ago.
The restaurant is called Laspada's, and we were pleased to find out it still exists, and was within walking distance of our hotel during our stay.

Laspada's Original Hoagies
1495-d S.E. 17th St. Ft Lauderdale FL 33316

Our favorite subs are the Italian (top) and the Monster (bottom) subs.

What is special about these subs is that the meat is sliced to order, and they put the meat in the bottom, and on top, so that the meat wraps around the veggies.

The closest thing we have in Maryland is Jersey Mike's, but both mvpcoachphil and scout agree that Laspada's subs still taste better than Jersey Mike's.

We plan to grab a sub on our way to the airport when we leave Florida, that is how good they are.

If you have a chance to be near one of these Laspada's location, be sure to stop and order yourself a sub!

The restaurant's website is www.laspadashoagies.com 

Reviewed by scout with the help of mvpcoachphil for a sub consumption on 3 Sept 2017.

Rockville MD: East Pearl

East Pearl Hong Kong Cuisine 

838 Rockville Pike B

Rockville, MD 20852

East Pearl is our favorite place for Chinese food.  We have been eating here since scout and mvpcoachphil introduced us, and have been getting the same dishes as well.

 Our favorites include the house special fish filet (bottom left), crispy beef (top left), snowpea leaves (middle right)

and the salt and spicy seafood (top left).  A meal here never disappoints!

visit their website: www.eastpearlrestaurant.com/

Fort Lauderdale FL: Sweet Tomatoes

Went to an ALL YOU CAN EAT - Salad Bar today.

This buffet is at:
2906 Oakwood Blvd, Hollywood, FL 33020
(Hollywood, Florida is a suburb of Fort Lauderdale).

Sweet Tomatoes is a chain restaurant.
So there are many locations.
There was a franchise very close to work when we lived in Fort Lauderdale.
(As you can guess - we went there a few times).

There's a big salad bar.
You can make your own salad or choose from a pre-made salad.
Today's pre-made salads were:
Caesar Asagio, Orange Salad (with little oranges), and Wonton Salad (with fried wonton noodles)
(that's the order I would rate them)





















Here's everything you can get:
Salad
Soups (they had at least 6 different ones today - the clam chowder and mushroom were the best today, there was also minestrone, tomato cream, chicken noodle, and black bean chili)
Bread (3 different Cheese breads)
Pasta  (3 different ones today - mac and cheese, marinara, and  oriental noodle)



And of course, DESSERT.














this one is a brownie and vanilla ice cream, with cookie crumbs.
(ok - maybe this part was the unhealthy part...)

While maybe a little disappointing for animal lovers, Sweet Tomatoes is still a great deal.
$10 per person at lunch for all you can eat salad buffet.

this post was written by mvpcoachphil (who is trying to eat better and still enter new posts)