How I Met Your Mother....Best Burger in New York!?

I usually don't have time to watch TV but Andy got me into “How I Met Your Mother” since last summer. It’s a funny sitcom, each episode starts with the character Ted, telling his two children stories of how he met their mother but they keep you guessing who she is. After 4 seasons, we still don’t know who she is. Last night was the “Best Burger in New York” episode, which revolved around Marshall trying to search for the best burger he had 8 years ago.

It flash backed 8 years ago, when Marshall first moved to New York from a suburban area. He was a worried young man; who holds a baseball bat to guard himself in his own apartment from thieves that might break in. He's afraid to leave his apartment because he’s nervous to go onto the streets of New York. His friend Ted, (who he almost attacked with a baseball bat while going into their apartment because he thought he was a burglar) encouraged him to go explore the new neighborhood. After much push and shove from Ted, Marshall decided to take a walk and venture out onto the streets of New York.

Once he was out there he loved it and thought New York wasn’t so bad after all. He then felt hungry and found a hold in the wall burger joint with a green door and red neon sign that says “BURGER”. There he had his first awesome burger but he could never find this place again. After that Marshall and Lilly tried every burger place in town but they couldn’t find it. It was funny because he made fun of a few New York burger joints such as the Corner Bistro and Paul’s Da Burger Joint that actually exist in New York. This episode also guest staring Regis Philbin who was also obsessed with looking for the same burger joint.

By the end of the episode they got clues from different people and searched around the city for this burger joint. They found the burger joint’s address which was 106^th Street and Manhattan Avenue and went there but it became an ATM machine for a bank that Marshall recently accepted a position there. But they ended up paying a guy $100 from a strip club next store to tell them where they moved to. After Marshall had his first bite he knew he found his dream burger! Everyone including Regiis Philbin was happy!
There were many good and funny parts to the show, you just have to watch it!

Funny quotes from the episode (mostly referring to a burger):
Lilly: “I just had my first burgasm!”

Barney: "I love this burger so much I want to sew my ass shut!"

"I want to get this burger pregnant"

Marshall: "I wanna have dibs on those burger babies!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So where do you get an awesome burger in New York? I like to eat burgers but to me, a burger is a burger! I haven't taste an "awesome" burger before in New York probably because I usually don't order a burger unless I go to a burger joint. I've been to a few burger place, that to me have okay burgers such as New York Burger Company (how original!):


Johnny Rocket:


And a few other places, which was ehh okay. The most memorable burger I EVER had was the one Andy made me! It was THE burger cake! I can't find the pics but it was awesome and amazing! The burger was HUGE!! He used a big sourdough bread as the bun, it was the size of a round cutting board. The meat was as big as the sourdough bread which was nicely marinated, very tasty and juicy! He topped it with lots of onions, mushrooms and cheese! We both only had a slice (less then 1/4) of this burger cake and we were so stuffed! The special part about this burger cake is that he brought it to my work and ate it with me for dinner! I was soo surprise! It was an amazing burger made with love <3!>

Where did you taste your awesome burger?

Eat Like Kings In Queens!

Queens Restaurant Week 2008!

Manhattan has it's restaurant week and so does Queens! The 3rd annual restaurant week in Queens runs from September 22-26th, 2008. The event is sponsored by Discover Queens of the Queens Economic Development Corporation. The participating restaurants will offer a 3 course lunch ($25) and dinner ($35). Selected restaurant will be offering a two for $25 or two for $35 on special menus. Check out more details of the participating restaurants from Discover Queens.

Today we went to Woodhaven House, a participating restaurant for Queens Restaurant week, for brunch. Andy and I went there a few times, the food is pretty good and another reason we decided to go there is because we had a restaurant.com coupon! There was a promotion a while ago which was 80% off so we got a $25 coupon for $2! We brought a few coupons and Woodhaven House was one of them. The brunch menu is from open until 3pm on Sundays. It's a Irish pub/restaurant, it's so lively in there and we always see lots of people drinking at the bar and watching sports in morning!
So we had to order $35 min worth of food in order to use the coupon so this is what we ordered:

We started off with a Mimosa, a cocktail like drink composed of champagne or sparkling wine and Orange juice (comes with any brunch order, other drinks available):

Classic Eggs Benedict Canadian Bacon, English Muffin & Hollandaise ($10)-it was very good, the dish came out nice and hot. The English muffin toasted and crispy. I was glad that the ham wasn't dry and chewy like the first time I had it a another diner. The potato were freshly made and seasoned really well.

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Shaved Parmesan & Herb Croutons ($12)-the chicken was kind of dry but the salad was good. The portion was huge, I was so full from eating 1/2 of it!

Belgium Waffles du Jour Fresh Cream ($9)-the syrup was warm, the fruits were sweet, the waffles was warm and crispy. It was good but it wasn't like the real Belgium-melt in the mouth waffles... yes I know, I was spoiled after eating real Belgium waffles!

We were so full but we still had to order more food because it wasn't enough to use our coupon so we order a chocolate cake with white chocolate moose ($6) to go and ate it after dinner for desert! It was so creamy and delicious! Sorry couldn't get a whole picture of it because we couldn't help ourselves from taking a bite of it!

The whole bill was around $38 and with our $25 coupon we only had to pay $13.01 + $2 coupon we brought + tip! The food portion was big, the food was good, and the discount made everything taste even better! I love paying less for great food! Happy eating....

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Woodhaven House

63-98 Woodhaven Blvd.

Rego Park, NY

718.894.5400

Big Filipino Breakfast:

We couldn’t get enough of Filipino food so we decided to go try out some Filipino breakfast at Ihawan. This is my favorite Filipino restaurant at the 69th street area. The place is really ghetto; the first floor is a small take-out counter and the narrow stairs lead up to the 2nd floor of the dining hall which is right next to a hair salon. You can smell the chemicals when you walk up the stairs but when you sit down to eat, you won’t smell anything because the eating area is far from the salon. What’s so special about this place? I think it’s very cozy, it’s a family run place so everyone is so friendly, the food is awesome especially their bbq on the stick. We usually order alot of food, sometimes even if we know that we won't be able finish everything we'll order it anyway so we can take home!

We never tried their breakfast menu because we never got there early enough to order it. The breakfast menu is served on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from open to 11am. We rushed there (getting there is another story!) and got there at 11:15ish. We asked them if they still serve the menu and they were nice enough to give it to us! They gave us two menus, one with the today’s specials and their breakfast menu:

I didn’t know some of the items on the menu but they were so nice they explained it to us:
Longanisa = Philippine Sausage
Tocino = cured meat product native to the Philipines. It is often in strips, reddish in color and has a sweetish taste.
Daing na Bangus = Milkfish Marinated in Vinegar and Garlic
Tinapa = fish cooked/preserved through the process of smoking

So what did we order? For starters we order my favorite lumpang shanghai and avocado heilo:

It was a little too early for such oily, fried and fatten food but we couldn't help ourselves! It was so good!

I order the # 5 (I change the fish to Tinapa)
1 pork BBQ, 1 piece of Tinapa, 2 eggs and fried rice:

The garlic fried rice was really good, very flavorful with a lot of garlic taste. I broke my poached egg and ate it with the rice, great combination! The bbq pork tasted good but it was a little chewy this time. The Tinapa was awesome! It had a smoky grilled taste, the skin slightly crisp, and the fish meat was kind of creamy.

Andy ordered #1:
1 piece of Daing na Bangus, 1 tocino, 2 eggs and fried rice:

The tocino was sweet and tasted some what like their pork bbq on a stick. The Daing na Bangus was a little too crispy and dry.

This was such a huge breakfast for me sinceI usually eat little or nothing in the morning. I was so full and couldn’t move but it’s all worth it! I can’t wait to go back again to try something else!
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Ihawan
40-06 70th St.
Woodside, NY 11377 nr. Roosevelt Ave.
MTA: 7 Train to 69th Street

Part II: Birthday Surprise!

This week I attended a surprise birthday dinner for a very special friend, Nadia. Cecille told Nadia she wanted to take her out for her birthday but she didn't know Cecille invited all of us. Nadia tried to email us to see if we could all go. Cecille told us ahead of time to tell her that we were unable to attend so I told Nadia I had to work. I kept telling her I was sorry and that I would make it up to her. I also tried to make other plans with her so she wouldn't get suspicious.

We plan to meet at Engeline's, a Filipino restaurant, by 7:45pm. And Cecille was suppose to bring Nadia there by 8:00pm. Some of us were running late so we were all texting each other, telling Cecille to stall her from going to the restaurant. Cecille and Jeri did a great job! When all of us arrived, we sat down at a big table and waited for them with the huge menu covering our heads. I bet the waiters and waitress were looking at us strangely. Then we heard them came in asking for a table. We sat there quietly, trying not to laugh and suddenly we heard Nadia said omg and came over to hug us. I guess when Cecille told her to sit at a table next to a bunch of people covering themselves with menus, that gave it away....Nadia's face = priceless!

After all the hugging and surprise we were all hungrily looking at the menu trying to decide what to order. I love Filipino food, I usually go to the Filipino restaurants near 69 Streets! I've never been to this restaurant before but I wanted to try everything! I order a few of my favorites, starting with my favorite Filipino desert (yes, I drink/eat it before my meal):

Avocado Con Hielo (avocado with milk and crushed ice) When I first had this drink, a few years ago, I was like gross avocado as a drink, wtf? But it turns out to be so delicious! The drink is so creamy but not very thick and the milk makes the avocado taste so sweet. The milk really brings out the avocado taste! This has become one of my favorite deserts:

Appetizers:

1) Lumpiang Shanghai: ground pork, shrimp, and vegetables wrapped in egg roll, deep fried, served with sweet and sour sauce. When you bite into these babies, the outside crust is crispy and hot and the inside is creamy! This is another one of my favorite and must have at any Filipino restaurant! We ordered 3 orders and finished it in no time!

2) Fried Calamari, the squid was dipped in batter, deep-fried and served with sweet and sour sauce. It was crispy and the sweet and sour sauce was a little spicy.

Entrees:
I ordered the Kare-Kare, a oxtail stew and tripe in peanut butter sauce with mixed tropical vegetables. I love this dish, thanks to my sister who introduced me to it! You probably thinking peanut butter in a stew? wtf? But the very nutty peanut taste and the stew being very creamy makes it awesome. The oxtail meat was very soft and tender, the meat slides off the bone. The portion from this place is huge! In the past, ordering from other Filipino restaurant, they usually give a smaller portion. I was happy because I ate alot and had some left to go!

Other people ordered the:

• Pork Barbecue (2 sticks): marinated pork slices in bamboo skewers
  
• Kalderetang Baka: stewed beef in tomato sauce with pepper and spices
• Nilagang baka: beef short rib with tamarind and vegetables in broth
• Beef Steak (Filipino Style) marinated beed with onion and vegetables

All of these were okay, the bbq on a stick wasn't as good as Ihawan (another Filipino restaurant I often go to) and it was more expensive. The meat in the kalderetang baka was very chewy but the sauce was very flavorful. The soup was kind of salty, very different from the Chinese soups which we put very little salt to preserve the natural taste of all the ingredients. The beef steak was pretty good, I think it was my 2nd best out of the entrees (my kare-kare was my #1).

After our meal, we sat around chatting and giggling. Me and Cecille was trying figure out how to surprise Nadia with her birthday cupcakes that we brought from Sugar Sweet Sunshine. We realized that we had a few problems:

• We didn't have a lighter to light the candle...
• How are we going to actually get the box of cupcakes from under the table and stick a candle on a cupcake without her knowing?

Me, Andy and Cecille slowly work our way to get all of these problem solved, team work baby! First, we try to signal Jen to ask the waiter for a lighter but she didn't get the cue. Cecille pretend to go ask the waiter for something and they gave her a big ass lighter used to light stoves but she hide it well behide her so Nadia (I hope) didn't notice it. Then I instructed Andy to slowly open the huge box of cupcakes from under the table. Apparently the boxed had alot of tape and was hard to open but he slowly teared it off! I slowly try to open the box of candles from under the table. I stick one candle on a cupcake that was the nearest and reachable which was one of the side cupcakes. Cecille saw it and start laughing, she whispered in my ear and told me I should've put the candle on the middle cupcake. We both started to laugh, at this point I wasn't sure if Nadia notice anything because she was siting right across from us and I thought we were being very obvious. Andy still holding the box of cupcake from under the table, I quickly removed the candle and put it in the middle cupcake and hoped that it was the middle one. After hassling with the candle, there was another problem. How the hell were we suppose to light the candle from under the table? We tried but we didn't want to burn the table so we just ended up whipping the box of cupcake out and start singing Happy Birthday to her!

We brought a variety of cupcake flavors: Sexy Red Velvet, Pistachio, Ooey Gooey Chocolate and Sunshine (yellow cake with vanilla buttercream). The cupcakes were so moist and yummi! I could eat a few at a sitting!

Good food, great friends, awesome night..... Happy Birthday Nadia!

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Engeline's, Restaurant & Bakeshop (Philippine Cuisine)
58-28 Roosevelt Ave.
Woodside, NY 11377
718:898-7878
MTA: 7 Train to 61 Street Woodside

Sugar Sweet Sunshine:
126 Rivington Street
(between Essex and Norfolk Street)
212-995-1960
MTA: J, M, F to Essex Street

Busy Week: Sky Diving and Birthday Surprise....

What does the two events have in common? Both ended with a celebratory dinner with awesome food.

Part I: Sky diving tag along fun......

Last weekend, my crazy boyfriend and family members (sister and cousin) decided to go sky diving. It's the second time for my boyfriend and first for my sister and cousin. As you can tell from the 2nd picture, I'm not in it...that's because I didn't take part in the sky diving! I was primarily there for moral support and to be the photographer of the day. The reason I didn't do it was because I DIDN'T WANT TO!

We drove all the way to Long Island and got lost along the way. We drove around a little town trying to find this elusive sky diving place. When we got there, they went straight to business, signing tons of paper, getting trained by the instructor, got on a little plane, jumped out of the plane, and they all had an awesome experience. Now they can cross sky diving off their bucket list and go for something more exciting...base jumping? yea right!

After sky diving we were all hungry! Andy decided to take us to J&R Steak House. We use to go there a lot when we were in Stony. The food taste great, the portion is huge and the price is right. I didn't have to even look at the menu, I already know what I was going to get!

When we sat down, they started us with a cold pasta and pickle starter. First appetizers we ordered was the lobster bisque ($3.99) and coconut shrimp with orange marmalade ($6.99). The coconut shrimp was crispy and overall okay. I love the lobster bisque! It's so creamy, and had chunks of lobster! I told everyone I was getting the huge bowl instead of the cup and I wasn't going to share! Everyone ended up getting a bowl of their own! This time it was a bit salty but I still love it! I had to stop myself from licking the bowl....



The entrees: everyone was happy with their dish. All the meat was cooked right, if you asked for medium, you got it red in the middle and nicely browned on the outside. The steak was all tender and delicious! The sides especially the garlic mash was sooo good but it was a little bit too buttery. I loved my sandwich! I love all the mushrooms and mozzarella cheese melted together with the steak tidbits, it's amazing!

Viv had the prime rib, medium cooked with mushrooms on top. The sides were garlic mash and mix veggies medley ($13.99)

Ang had the 14 oz. J&R marinated steak w/ bake potato and mix veggies ($13.99)

Andy had the 24 oz. J&R marinated steak ($16.59)

I had the steak tidbits deluxe sandwich: on garlic bread with mushrooms, onions, melted mozzarella cheese! ($8.99)

All of us (expect for Andy) couldn't finish our dish so we took it to go. We were so full but we had to get icy from Ralph's Famous Italian Ice! Ralph's was just around the corner and on a nice summer night like this one, there were lines. What's so special about this place, it has so many different flavors! Andy and I got the large cup with 5 flavors: pistachio, cookie dough, macadamia nut, cantaloupe, chocolate cookie and cream. This was the best way to end the night....

Part II: stay tuned for Filipino food, surprise party for a very special friend and birthday cupcakes.
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J&R Steak House:
1320 Stony Brook Rd.
Coventry Commons
Stony Brook, NY 11790
631-689-5920

Ralph's Famous Italian Ice
1320-24 Stony Brook Rd.
Stony Brook, NY
631-941-4750

The Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival

Check this out! One of the largest cultural events of the year, The Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine magazine, will be in New York from October 9-12th, 2008. It will take place in selected area such as the Meatpacking district and DUMBO area of Brooklyn. This festival will bring together many legendary culinary icons from all over the world and featuring many celebrity chefs including Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, Rachael Ray, Gordon Ramsey, Giada De Laurentiis, and many more.

There will be many types of events from wine seminars, demonstration from celebrity chefs, kids event, food and cultural tours, and even parties. The events can range from $10-$300 but some are free so hurry sign up fast! I'm disappointed because the events I wanted to go to is already sold out sigh* And the best thing about this festival is that 100 percent of the proceeds raised will go directly to hunger relief programs such as the Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength.

This festival also features the Meatpacking Eats, it's like restaurant week but will offer the "Meatpacking Eats Menu":

Time:	Throughout the Weekend (October 9-12th, 2008)
Price:	Menu prices are determined by each restaurant
Location:	Participating Restaurant You must RSVP from restaurant directly Company Name Phone Address Website 5 Ninth 212.929.9460 5 Ninth Avenue http://www.5ninth.com/ Buddakan 212.989.6699 75 Ninth Avenue http://www.buddakannyc.com/ El Faro 212.929.8210 823 Greenwich Street http://www.elfaronyc.com/ Fatty Crab 212.352.3590 643 Hudson Street http://www.fattycrab.com/ Fig & Olive 212.924.1200 420 West 13th Street http://www.figandolive.com/ Frederick's Downtown 212.488.4200 637 Hudson Street http://www.fredericksnyc.com/ Gaslight 212.807.8444 400 West 14th Street #1 http://www.gaslightnyc.com/ Jarnac 212.924.3413 328 West 12th Street http://www.jarnacny.com/ Los Dados 646.810.7288 73 Gansevoort Street http://www.losdadosnyc.com/ Macelleria 212.741.2555 48 Gansevoort Street http://www.macelleriarestaurant.com/ Merkato 55 212.255.8555 55 Gansevoort Street http://www.merkato55.com/ Morimoto 212.989.8883 88 Tenth Avenue http://www.morimotorestaurant.com/ Nero 212.675.5224 46 Gansevoort Street http://www.neronyc.com/ Old Homestead Steakhouse 212.242.9040 56 Ninth Avenue http://www.theoldhomesteadsteakhouse.com/ One 212.255.9717 1 Little West 12th Street http://www.onemanhattan.com/ ONO at Hotel Gansevoort 212.660.6766 18 9th Avenue www.chinagrillmgt.com/ono Paradou 212.463.8345 8 Little West 12th Street http://www.paradounyc.com/ Pasita 212.255.3900 47 8th Avenue http://www.pasitanyc.com/ Pop Burger 212.414.8686 58-60 Ninth Avenue http://www.popburger.com/ Scarpetta 212.691.0555 355 West 14th Street http://www.scarpettanyc.com/ Son Cubano 212.366.1640 405 West 14th Street http://www.soncubanonyc.com/ Spice Market 212.675.2322 403 West 13th Street http://www.jean-georges.com/ STK 646.624.2444 26 Little West 12th Street http://www.stkhouse.com/ The Green Table 212.741.6623 428 West 16th Street http://www.cleaverco.com/ Valbella 212.645.7777 421 West 13th Street http://www.valbellany.com/ Vento 212.699.2400 675 Hudson Street http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/ Zampa 212.206.0601 306 West 13th Street http://www.zampanyc.com/

The Omnivore's Hundred...

Have you tried..??
I thought this was fun and interesting. Below is a list of 100 things/foods from http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ that a "good omnivore" should try at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and some pretty bad food. This is how it works:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results or you can post your result on my comments!

My Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (i drank crocodile meat soup when I was little because it was suppose to be good for asthma and it's pretty good!)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (who lives in NY haven't tried hotdog from a cart?!)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle <---wanna try
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (Bermuda cruise '08)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche (I love any dulce de leche deserts!)
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi (I'm not sure if I had the salted Lassi but I had the sweet one)
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (oh the fun times!)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects <---wanna try
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu <---wanna try
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads (I love Argentinean grill but not the sweetbreads =X)
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian (I <3> durian!)
66. Frogs’ legs (my grandma tricked me and said it was chicken leg and I believed her!
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (I <3> Coney Island!)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant <---must try!
85. Kobe beef (Vday dinner at Morimoto)
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (Spam with ramen noodle, yum!)
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor<---wanna try
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee (Jamaica trip '06)
100. Snake

Not bad....I got 43/100!! I'm not a picky eater and I'll probably try ALMOST anything but if it smells bad or not visually appealing then forget about it. So what food have you tried?

Labor Day and BBQ cookout!

This Labor Day weekend was just too short! I had a lot of fun but I didn’t have time to relax at all. I helped my sister do some moving, visited a relative with a parrot, went to a block party and ate alot of bbq food. On Sunday we hanged out with good friends in Long Island at a block party. It was suppose to be one of the biggest block party in LI. There were cookouts and outdoor entertainment the whole day with DJ, music, dancing, texas holdem tournaments and black jack tournament’s, volley ball, and crocket. I ate lots of home made food, bbq stuff and sweets! Someone made a homemade ice cream chocolate cake which was very good! It had 2 layers of fudge cake with chocolate and vanilla ice cream and cool whip cream on top. The night ended with beautiful fireworks and then police came to shut it down.

My boyfriend and I also went gas grill shopping this weekend. He’s been using a charcoal grill for a long time and decided it’s time to get something better and bigger (size does matter!). He wanted a gas grill because it's clean and quick, no need to hassle with the starter fluid and waiting for the coal to glow. He ended up getting a 2 gas burning for $127 which is a decent price. It took him around 2 hours to put it all together and after that we went off to the supermarket and got some meat and veggies to grill.

Things we made (we were hungry and lazy so we just kept it simple):

Green and yellow squash:
I brushed both side with olive oil and sprinkle some salt, pepper and garlic powder over the squash. We left it on the grill for around 5 mins each side or until it's soften with the outside lightly char. The squash was really sweet and lightly seasoned, it was awesome!



Rib-eye steak and pork chops (oops, forgot to take pic)!
For the steak, I marinated it with garlic pepper and some salt. The pork chop I used a season salt with everything in it and some more garlic power because I love the garlic taste. Andy grilled the steak for around 5 mins on each side. I like my steak bloody so I told him not to cook it for too long but it didn't turn out bloody at all. He grilled the pork for a long time because we didn't want to get salmonella and we didn't....

Grill master chef Andy and Sous-chef Mel's creation!

I made a garden salad to go with our delicious grilled meat. The rib-eye steak was very tender, medium cooked and was not too salty. I usually don't like my meat too salty and rather not put much stuff when marinating it. If the meat turns out tasting bland then I would usually eat it with a steak sauce or add salt/pepper but this time I didn't need to add anything on it, it was perfect! On the other hand, the pork chop was very hard and chewy but very tasty. I think I almost broke the plate trying to cut it! Andy totally over cooked it! So after that I went online to check out what's the proper way to grill pork chop and other meat:

Pork chop

Marinating time: 2 hours to overnight

Grilling time: 3-4 mins/side at 145F

Pork tenderloin
Marinating time: 2 hours to overnight
Grilling time: 14-16 mins; occasional turning at 145F

oh well, we'll do better next time around and will try out other stuff to grill! Yay! Happy grilling...

Tip of the day: Use insect repellent when you know you're going to be outside for a long time. For example, like having a bbq! I got so many mosquito bites! I hate them! grrr...