It's a two-peat

So I don't have anything new to report at the moment, but will be checking out a Korean, Vietnamese, or Moroccan restaurant either this weekend or the next, due to the wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and BLACK FRIDAY! Finally upgrading to a new juicer and buying a rice cooker for some good ol' sushi. I will be trying the random fruit/vegetable concoctions in my new juicer cookbooks and post the recipes I recommend. Also--what we have all been waiting for--the dinner I had promised to Nicole when we were in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after we had tested out the Middle Eastern cuisine in Argentina. I'm making four different dishes for Nicole--Appetizer, Salad, Dinner, and Dessert! Pictures and recipes will be posted when this happens. Such a wonderful friend I am. :o)

I did however, go back to Tandoori Grill last weekend with my traveling friend Nicole because we were craving Indian again. The experience was the same as the last time we had gone. Friendly and reasonable prices.

We had started off with Masala Chai-Indian style.



Wonderful, comforting, and loved the warm feeling of the spices in the tea. How I love cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon.

Of course we had the Papadum with the accompaniments and ordered the Garlic Naan again. The garlic was more of a hint this time around, but still loved it.



I really was just craving the Lamb Tikka Masala again, so I ordered it. Just as amazing as it was the first time I got it. Warm, comforting, and wonderful.



Nicole changed it up and ordered the Vegetable Jalfrazi.



Vegetables with garlic, ginger, onions, tomatoes, lemon, and wonderful Indian spices. She loved it but realized she was craving a dish similar to the one she had last time. Me, I tried it and loved it. The vegetables were so crisp, the flavor--sensational, and overall loved it better than the Yellow Dal Tarka that she had the last time. I'd definitely order it if I was in a vegetable-only mood.


Have a wonderful holiday week and Happy Thanksgiving! Take time to show how thankful you are to your family and friends! I'm thankful for everyone in my life.♥ See you all at 4:00am on Friday when I buy my new kitchen appliances!

Mom Can Cook

Yes she can! And our waiter too, for that matter, since he also makes masterpieces in the kitchen! So I checked out another Thai place that was recommended to me by a friend yesterday. Yes, it is called "Mom Can Cook". I think that was one of the main reasons why I wanted to check this place out.



Located behind all the action of the quiet area of Canyon Country. I just fell in love with this cute, little restaurant. Being inside the restaurant felt like we were in a restaurant in Thailand (I'm just assuming!). Just by everything they had in there, decor-wise, throughout the restaurant. Like I had mentioned, the restaurant is very small and was full so we grabbed the last available table outside.

I loved the menu. Didn't see anything too generic. And unlike Thai Pepper, the menu appealed to me more by showcasing more Thai dishes that I was unfamiliar with.



So this is how the night went....

First wanted to make clear that most of the opinions given about the dishes we consumed are by my friend, Paola, because I've been sick for almost a week now and have lost my sense of smell at the moment! Sad times for me, but it didn't completely ruin my night. I even had a friend who I work with make a joke about it before I had gone to dinner (She is sick as well; not a good week for both of us!).

"Are you really going to spend money on food when you can't even taste it?"

"Um....yeah!"

Ok, so looking at the menu, I first wanted to choose a soup or salad. I was eyeing the Papaya Salad but what had stopped me from ordering it was the honey chili lime dressing. Not a fan of honey. And it isn't me to order a side and ask them to remove something, especially when it would have put the whole thing together.

So I saw that they had Tom Kha and Paola was okay with trying something new, so we had ordered it. We chose the tofu option.




Tofu in coconut soup with galanga, lemongrass, cilantro, and lime juice.

(Galanga=Resembles ginger, but not in flavor. A citrus, earthy aroma)

Unfortunately, I couldn't smell or taste the lemongrass. Paola said and I agreed, from what I could get from it, was that the lime and maybe even the galanga was really overpowering the lemongrass. The soup was still warm and comforting, despite the citrus standing out in the dish. She also didn't like how the tofu didn't take on any flavors from the soup. I noticed that as well, but it didn't really bother me because I like tofu and I don't mind it on its own. I asked her if she would order this again and she said she would, but she would get the chicken option instead. I'm proud I got her to try something new!

So next up we split our rice and entree courses. She ordered the Siamese Fried Rice with Shrimp and Scallops, which she really recommended, and I just ordered a side of Egg Fried Rice.

The Egg Fried Rice that I never even tried! That was because we had filled up on the other dishes before I tried this one and ended up taking it to-go, in which one of the waitresses bagged our food and switched our orders so Paola took my food home! So anyway, this is what it looked like, untouched.



The Siamese Fried Rice, on the other hand, I cannot say enough great things about this dish! Really, it was like my sense of smell came back the second I had my first bite of this greatness. Too many words I could use to describe this just satisfying dish!



Fried rice with shrimp, scallops, tomatoes, eggs, green onions, peas, carrots, cilantro, lemongrass, and the one thing that I just fell in love with---FRIED GARLIC! Oh my GOODNESS, wow, definitely brought this dish to a higher intensity! The flavors were just simply outstanding! Paired extremely well together. How lucky was I to take home Paola's meal instead! (They stapled our to-go bags shut so that is why I didn't catch this until I got home.) Must be precautious from now on when going out to eat! Yeah, I really recommend you try this one out!

And lastly, I had to make a decision between the Brown Curry or Pad Woon Sen. After a couple minutes, I decided to go with the Pad Woon Sen.




Beef stir fried with glass noodles, fish sauce (nam pla), tomatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, bean sprouts, green onions, cilantro, egg, and fried garlic.

I loved it. The flavors tied together. The nam pla was the main reason, to me, that tied everything together. The whole dish was so delectable, warming, and inviting. Paola enjoyed it as well. Sad she took it home with her! I will, however, say there was only one thing that disappointed me, and that was the beef. It was dry and hard to eat. Overcooked. Nothing I experienced at Thai Pepper. But I will say the flavors stood out to me in this dish so much that it alone made me forget about the overcooked beef. Definitely didn't ruin my opinion.

The only thing I do regret about this night was not having dessert or even just looking at the dessert menu! Not that I really order or eat dessert, but I always like looking at what each restaurant offers, especially in these type of family-run restaurants. I hear they offer a good variety of desserts that resemble ones you would find in Thailand.

Phenomenal authentic food. Matt, the owner and who was also our waiter, was just hilarious! Very kind, friendly, open, and humble. Cozy atmosphere and wonderful decor. Very reasonable prices. 5 hearts ♥♥♥♥♥. I would go back.

Thai Pepper

Located in the middle of nowhere, known as Newhall, is a hole in a wall Thai place that I had been dying to try out---Thai Pepper. I had only heard good things about this family-run restaurant and wanted to see what they were all about.

The one thing I was looking for was the menu and their selection. I wanted to get that feel like I was out of the country, meaning that I wanted to see dishes on the menu that weren't generic. Everyone knows about Pad Thai. I wanted something deeper than that. And their menu did not disappoint.

So this is how the meal went..

Nicole really recommended that we get the Tom Kha.



We had the choice of chicken, beef, or tofu. We went with tofu since she is a Vegetarian (Don't worry--I'm trying to switch her back to meat!!!) I am not complaining though because I do like tofu as well. The soup was made up of tofu, mushrooms, herbs, baby corn, cabbage, lemon, and coconut milk in a spicy and sour soup.
The soup was quite savory, slightly tangy, and just wonderful. The flavors were doing the rhumba in my mouth. Enjoyed the flavor of the lemon in the soup. Everything paired extremely well.

There were only two things I must say about the Tom Kha---one, it was not spicy at all and my tongue could not grasp what they put in it to make it spicy. And two, which had Nicole slightly fired up over, was the fact that there was no lemongrass in the soup. She was wondering how the one time she finally showed me Thai Pepper, the owner did not put lemongrass into our Tom Kha.



Yes, we looked and smelled carefully. Just in case we could have missed it, but we both knew there wasn't any lemongrass. I would definitely be able to tell if it had been in our soup because I will NEVER forget the scent of lemongrass when we smelled it in a cabaclo village off the Río Negro, in the Amazon----JUST SO ENTICING!

Lemongrass in the Amazon:

Brings back memories! So much better to smell it out in the open than at any market or restaurant!

Nevertheless, Tom Kha without the lemongrass was still satisfying and I was not disappointed.

Next up was our meals. Nicole settled with the Red Curry.



The Red Curry was made up of tofu (again!), bamboo shoot, basil, and bell pepper in red curry, with coconut milk. Steamed rice served along side her dish, as well as mine. The bamboo shoot was crunchy. Nothing soggy about that dish. I tried it and enjoyed it, though found it to be quite spicy, of course! She enjoyed it and said she felt at peace, healthy, and the whole meal was just refreshing.

There were a couple dishes I wanted to try out but I settled with the Panang Curry. I chose to try it out with the beef. Same flavors as the Red Curry but had more of a sweet, yet just slightly spicy taste to it. Seriously, I fell in love with this and my mouth is watering just thinking about it!



I thoroughly enjoyed this dish. Was quite spicy at times but it wasn't overbearing. I dealt with it! The beef literally melted in my mouth. Perfect, savory, and delectable. One thing that also really made my heart happy was---there was LEMONGRASS in it! The second I smelled it, I knew it was in there! This definitely brought this dish to higher intensities. Overall, I was completely satisfied.



I took my meal to-go, in which I just ate the rest of it 2 hours later!



In the end, we felt at home there, food was definitely satisfying, and prices were very reasonable. Not expensive at all. I give it 5 hearts ♥♥♥♥♥. Like I said before with India, if you cannot make a trip out to Thailand, this will do for now!