Pineapple Fried Rice

Obviously graduate school has taken priority over keeping up with this blog, especially on top of having to teach an undergraduate chemistry lab. I'm finally back though! Plus, I'm still cooking and baking when I have the chance, and taking pictures of everything...I just haven't had the motivation to write about it all. I recently started organizing all of the photos I have on my camera and transferring them onto my computer, and boy, hopefully I'll eventually catch up because I have too many food pictures.

Anyways, on to the food!

I usually have leftover plain white rice. I have a handy rice cooker and make about twice as much as I will be eating the day I'm cooking it so I have leftovers the next day to make fried rice. This is pretty much another variation of my previous fried rice post, link here!...which gives you helpful tips on how to make fried rice and prevent it from getting soggy.

There's marinated pieces of chicken, zucchini, pineapple, and egg in this fried rice. I suggest making sure the chicken is well done before incorporating it into the rice. If you refer to my other fried rice recipe, it teaches you how to incorporate each ingredient (typically the order is eggs, meat, seasoning such as soy sauce, veggies/fruit).

Leftover white rice doesn't have to be boring!

He Wants Janie, or was it Jenn?

This is Janie...the Janie Roll. This roll consists of unagi (grilled eel), shrimp tempura, and cucumber rolled uramaki style; topped with avocado, masago caviar, and sesame seeds. This roll was probably the highlight of our meal because it was unique, and had a mix of interesting textures and flavors, especially between the unagi and masago.

Janie Roll

This was the first time I've ever been to Sushi Zushi in the Domain, and I was very impressed with the quality of the food, service, atmosphere (though it was a bit dark), and the portion sizes of their happy hour rolls. They have Happy Hour from 3-7pm, so we took advantage of some of the cheaper rolls listed on it. We also ordered a couple of rolls from the main menu, and goodness, their menu is very intimidating because of its huge size. The waitress was very patient with us though, which was really appreciated.

I really liked all the rolls we ordered, but was not very impressed by the cheese appetizer. I do not remember the specific name of it, but it tasted just like fried mozzarella cheese sticks but without the flavor of the Italian spices, and it had this interesting sweet sauce. Thankfully we didn't spend too much on it since it was on their Happy Hour menu, I can't even find this appetizer on their main menu.

Fried cheese?

The three rolls we ordered off the Happy Hour menu were the Key West Roll, Spicy Salmon Roll, and Philadelphia Roll. I was expecting fairly small rolls since most places that have a Happy Hour menu reduce the sizes of their rolls during this time, but I think each roll was "normal" size. 

Key West Roll and Spider Roll

Since I was expecting smaller rolls, I was expecting to have to order more food halfway through. I ended up not having to do this, and both of us were really full and satisfied at the end. The Key West Roll consisted of shrimp tempura, avocado, and cucumber topped with eel sauce. The other rolls had the same ingredients similar to other sushi places.

Spicy Salmon Roll and Philadelphia Roll

The location of this particular Sushi Zushi is great since you can go walk around and shop in the Domain afterward. I love shopping, especially on a happy stomach!

Caliente!

Hmmm...this post has nothing to do with Mexican food, BUT it does deal with spicy food!

Cajun food is something I don't get to enjoy that often since I currently do not live in a city that offers fresh seafood. We're in a desert I tell ya! I don't always trust the quality of some of the seafood that's shipped in. Thankfully, Austin offers some great seafood options, and one of those is French Quarter Grille.

Blackened catfish topped with crawfish etouffee

The restaurant has such a cute interior that's cozy and comfortable. It's not too expensive considering how much seafood you're getting in your entree. Though I went during lunch, so I'm not sure if there's a difference in prices between the lunch menu that I saw, and the dinner menu. I was worried that they would skimp on the seafood portion, but they definitely did not.

Blackened catfish topped with crawfish and shrimp gumbo

I was so full afterward that I didn't order dessert, but I really wanted to. They had a few different kinds of Creme Brulee (regular, chocolate, raspberry) and cheesecake. Other items I want to try off their menu in the future are their Fried Green Tomatoes and their Cajun Crawfish Cheesecake (I believe that's what it's called). It apparently is a special appetizer that is not listed on their menu, but has a lot of hype behind it. I overheard one of the waiters describing it to a nearby table when they were ordering. 

Don't be nervous that the words crawfish and cheesecake are together! Would you be brave and try it?

It's Sushi Time!

Anytime I'm around the UT campus, I'm nostalgic. 

I have to go to Sushi Niichi whenever I'm around campus. It has always been one of my favorites because of their great lunch specials and happy hour. Of course they're not the best if you compare them with places like Uchi, Mushashino, etc. but for the price, they're fantastic. At least for me.

My favorite roll is the Blue Moonlight, which has spicy tuna and tempura shrimp inside, and salmon, tempura flake, and spicy Japanese mayo on the outside.

Blue Moonlight

We were too hungry and I forgot to take a picture BEFORE we started eating. We got the Blue Moonlight and Dragon (crab stick, avocado, cucumber on the inside, and grilled eel and avocado with teriyaki sauce on the outside) rolls; and a few nigiri pieces (Unagi - grilled eel, Binnaga - white tuna, and Masago - fish roe).

Do you like sushi?

Can I have a bowl of rice with that?

Rice Bowl Cafe opened after I moved from Austin, but I heard many great things about this place from friends that I knew I had to try it when I was in town. The noodles for their noodle soups are made fresh, so they have a distinct chewy texture that's delicious and filling.

Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup

The portions are also very large. I can usually get two meals out of an entree. I ordered the Pork on Rice which has this really flavorful sauce that's perfect with the crispy pork, and comes with one of my favorite Asian veggies, bok choy. And yes, it came with two huge pork fillets!

Pork Chop on Rice

My friend ordered a tofu dish. I believe it was the Bean Curd Homestyle, but I'm not positive. Tofu can be really good if you know how to make it correctly, and Rice Bowl knows exactly how. This dish has a good balance of flavor and spiciness, but it's also light because of the great mix of vegetables. I had to help myself to some of my friend's food. That's what friends are for, right?

Bean Curd Homestyle

There are so many other dishes I want to try in the future. Hopefully I'll have a chance to go back soon.

Leftover white rice?

I tend to always make extra steamed white rice just to have leftover white rice the next day to make fried rice. Fried rice is one of the easiest and quickest things to make. You are not limited to what you want to put in the fried rice. In this case, I chose to include eggs, Chinese sausage, zucchini, and baby bella mushrooms.

One of the most important tips in making fried rice is that you want to have "old" cold white rice for it. Using freshly steamed rice will cause the dish to be soggy because of the extra moisture in the warm rice. It must be cold to prevent extra stickiness and sogginess. Also, most people think the reason why fried rice is brown is because it's "fried." Well it's technically stir-fried and not fried in the same terms like fried chicken or french fries, and the nice brown color in fried rice is from adding soy sauce as your cooking it.

In this dish, first I scrambled some eggs using butter (I know butter is unhealthy, but I like how it makes the eggs fluffy) and salt to taste, cooking until it's a bit underdone since it'll be added back into the rice. I remove the eggs and then saute the zucchini and mushrooms with some salt and pepper until they're tender. Next I crisp up the Chinese sausage a bit so I can use some of the grease that melts off to stir-fry the rice. I remove the sausage and add the rice. Add a couple of teaspoons of soy sauce at a time until you reach the flavor you want. Sometimes I add a bit of pepper and salt if I don't want too much of a soy sauce flavor. This step really depends on what you prefer. After the rice is stir-fried, add everything back in and combine. That's it! Quick and easy...and you don't have to spend money on take-out anymore!