Sushi Steal

I’m pretty sure that anyone who has e-mail these days is aware of the terms “Groupon”, “LivingSocial”, “BuyWithMe” and so on. If you don’t, well get on it. I get a handful of deal offers from other similar sites too and a few weeks ago I scored a few saves to Beni Café in Quincy via Eversave. The deal was $7 for $15 worth of food and non-alcoholic drinks. But to make the deal even sweeter, Eversave gave a promo code for $5 off any save (due to the Bruins nabbing the Stanley Cup). In the end, $15 of sushi for $2?! Yes, please.

Beni Café is a pretty small restaurant. The décor is quite modern and really reminds me of a smoothie bar which works because they do in fact sell smoothies. I ordered my food for takeout and couldn’t resist adding a Thai Iced Tea to my meal. “With boba?” the man asked, “okay” I replied not really knowing what “boba” was or why I didn’t decline it. Oh well. But the tea was SO.GOOD. If you’ve never had a Thai Iced Tea I totally recommend trying one. It’s essentially tea with coconut milk and in my case, gelatinous floaties. To clarify, I didn’t not like the boba… I just thought they were weird. Anyone a fan of boba?

For food I ordered a sampler which had 2 pieces each of tuna, shrimp and salmon sashimi and a spicy tuna roll ($11.25). I also ordered a seaweed salad ($4). What you see here is about 1/3 of the seaweed salad and 1/2 of the sashimi. All for $2 (with the save)!!!

The sushi quality was quite good, the spicy tuna rolls weren’t the best I’d ever had but they were still pretty tasty. I loved the seaweed salad, I went back and finished the entire portion. With that said, if you are in the Quincy area and are looking for a place for get sushi takeout, I’d recommend checking it out!

Homemade Pad Thai – Oh My!

Last night I made one of my top five favorite dishes for dinner. No, I don’t mean it is one of my top five favorite things to make. It’s one of my favorites to eat. This was the first time I have ever attempted making it and I have to say, I did a pretty good job. And one of my favorite things about this version of Pad Thai? It’s made with whole wheat organic linguine as opposed to rice noodles which means increased nutritional value AND it filled me up faster. Win-win.

As I was having company for dinner, I whipped up some of my scallion pancakes as a starter. They were a hit. I am becoming more and more fond of my spicy sesame oil. I don’t think I could use one that doesn’t have that kick now… it really makes the scallion pancakes stand out.

I didn’t take any pictures of the prep of the dish. Mostly because I was running around like a mad woman trying to man all the pans on the stove AND because I kept misplacing my camera. But this is it, ready to be served. The picture is a bit foggy because there was still steam billowing from it.

So here it is:

Pad Thai adapted from Healthy Cooking (Serves 6)

• 1 package (12 ounces) whole wheat fettuccine
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 5 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar  
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• Dash hot sauce
• 1 package (12 ounces) extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 teaspoons canola oil, divided
• Bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables containing snow peas, carrots, etc.
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped

Directions

• Cook fettuccine according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and hot sauce until smooth; set aside.
• In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry tofu in 2 teaspoons oil until golden brown. Remove and keep warm. Stir-fry mostly thawed frozen vegetables in remaining oil for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic, cook 1 minute longer or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Add egg substitute; cook and stir until set.
• Drain pasta; add to vegetable mixture. Stir vinegar mixture and add to the skillet. Bring to a boil. Add tofu and onions; heat through. Sprinkle with peanuts. 

Note: I used frozen vegetables because that’s what I had on hand, obviously if you prefer fresh… go right ahead! This dish can also be prepared with chicken, shrimp, etc. I used tofu because I really like it in this dish.

The flavors in this dish were GREAT. I think when I make it next time I might cook the tofu in a bit of the spicy sesame oil to give them a bit more kick. But it was fantastic and believe me, I am a HUGE fan of takeout Pad Thai. I think that I’ve even made the bold claim that I could eat it every day. Yup, I think it’s that great. Now I’m starting to regret sending home the leftovers with my dinner guest…