The Perfect Morning Pick Me Up

Ingredients:

Italian Sausage cut into small pieces 

1/3 cup of Tuscan mix frozen veggies

teaspoon of olive oil

2 eggs

 Preparation:

Drizzle olive oil in small frying pan on medium high heat (depending on how fatty your sausage is you might not need the oil)

Throw in the sausage. While thats starting to brown grab out a small bowl, a plate, a fork and a spatula.

Crack eggs into bowl and using fork give em’ a whip.

Flip the sausage bits around to cook them nice and even (I like mine nice and browned on all sides the high heat will melt a lot of the fat out of them and coat the pan…all the better to keep your eggs from sticking!)

Once the sausage is just about done throw in your frozen veggies no need to thaw. When they loose their “frosty the snowman” edge (this takes one to two min) pour in the whipped eggs turn the heat down and make yourself a cup of joe or in my case black tea, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and some milk. 

When the eggs are just about set fold it over to you know…make it an omelet.

For even faster cooking just make an egg scramble and leave the heat a little higher.

If you have some in-laws to impress (or if you are your own tough customer as in my case) garnish with a dash of chili powder and a slice of avocado or fresh tomato. 

And Bam! Breakfast restaurant style in ten min, at home, for like a buck…its hard to beat.

Commentary: 

Since this recipe does not require your full attention, much preparation, maintenance, or deluxe cooking skills its a great way to eat well fast and cheap.

I usually make tea organize my backpack and do my make up while this is cooking —- there is a mirrored medicine cabinet in my kitchen. Weird? Yes. Handy?…You have no idea.

For me the Italian sausage gives it enough flavor and fat to eliminate my need for cheese.

For an even healthier  option go with a leaner turkey sausage or tofu(depending on how you feel about soy and its effects on estrogen levels) Sweet potato is another great meat free option. Also you could do two egg whites one yolk if that’s the kind of thing your into.

All the necessary nutrients for a well rounded meal…check.

Plenty of protien…Check

Enough fat to make you feel like your getting a treat without ordering a double mc- bacon wrapped bacon with a side of bacon …ya. 

For all of you four hour body folks this is a seriously yummy option that is also really easy. I never feel like I’m on a diet when I have this for breakfast…so try it!

Finally a post on a restaurant…yay!

So a few days ago I went to a Korean restaurant, Choon Joo Young Yang Dol Sot (I know it is one of the longest restaurant names ever). In answer to your first question…no I do not know how to properly pronounce the name…good news is you don’t need to…ever…not even to give directions on how to get there. So stop worrying about it. Anyway, it is located in the shopping center on the corner of Lawrence Expressway and El Camino Real just near the border of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. It is tucked away in a corner next to an Asian market and a furniture store. Moving on…

First walking in to the restaurant you get the feeling that the menus may not be entirely in English (because the place is packed with people all confidently carrying on conversations entirely in Korean), but fear not they are English friendly and have fairly clear descriptions for each item listed. If you have never eaten Korean food you may not get what you are expecting so I would recommend having the really nice waitress there describe any dish you are unsure of (she was nice enough to teach me how to pronounce the things I was ordering at least close to properly).

Lets get to the food… Andrew and I ordered to Bi Bim Bap the menus description was steamed rice with beef, assorted vegetables, and a fried egg…big surprise that’s basically what it was, with the addition of little dried seaweed strips on the top. We chose the dish because it is a fairly common Korean dish and I’d seen pictures of it in menus and restaurant windows before. Before the food arrived the table was pretty darn near filled with Banchan (otherwise known as all those little side dishes that come with Korean food). There were all the usual suspects, nothing outrages, so we were served up the comfort that comes from knowing exactly what your getting. On a side note, if you have never had Korean food I highly recommend that you expand your eating horizons, and please for the love ofPete (who ever that is) try all the little side dishes — your paying for them anyway — and it is such a great taste experience.

Main Course - 

The large bowl arrived, looking to my American eyes a little empty…I was wrong, but more on that later. The dish consisted of: a little beef, covered by an egg, surrounded by carrots, bean sprouts, shredded zucchini, steamed greens, seaweed strips, all lovingly encased in a shiny white bowl. It was good. Why? You might ask. because everything in the bowl was flavored delicately enough to act as a vehicle for the more rambunctiously spiced banchan. In effect we could spice each bite to our specifications, making the meal infinitely adjustable. 

Somewhere in the middle of the meal we decided, because it just “didn’t look like it was going to be enough food” (our tunnel vision was looking only at the Bi Bim Bapand was completely blind to the quite populous banchan village on the rest of the table) that we should order the Kalbi short ribs just to “make sure we had enough food. Long story short…the ribs were by far my favorite part of the meal, but by the time they arrived I was stuffed.

Back to the ribs! They were great. Maybe it was just because they were ribs and I am a sucker for that wonderful section of meat found in every cow. Or maybe it was because they were just what I expected — tender ribs spiced with garlic onion and sesame. Either way they were pure comfort food nestled in a nice sized helping of rice.

To wrap it up. The side dishes paired with the Bi Bim Bap were a smorgasbord  of Asian flavors and great new textures. The ribs were good ol’ meat and carbs (just what every stereotypical American is said to love). And lastly we went home with two, completely stuffed, to-go boxes, that had all the makings of tomorrows lunch all for around $25. The End.

P.S. I’ll be posting the menu soon so you can check out prices and dishes before you get there.

Final Rating:

Price: 4 meals(lunch for 2 for 2 days) for $25 = $6.25 per meal

Vibe: Casual. Great trip away from the all American. Nothing fancy.

Food:  :) :) :) : three and a half smiley faces out of five.

Service:*\o/* *\o/* *\o/* *\o    three and a half cheerleaders out of five.Finally a post on a restaurant…yay!

Well, getting video up and running has taken far longer than anticipated (background noise and I have been engaging in an epic struggle over the validity of dialogue…I will prevail…I will).

Anyway, in the mean time, I will continue eating my way across the Bay as usual. And I just can’t let all of these fabulous restaurants go to waste! So, starting tomorrow, I will be posting about restaurants in the Santa Clara area with pictures in lieu of video.

Prepare your mouths for watering (and perhaps your cars for an unexpected meal adventure), these wallet friendly taste bud teasers will be worth the reading. By the way, I will be honest about the food in my posts, so they won’t all be great in my opinion, but it just so happens that the ones I have lined up so far are just really that good.

If you have a lesser known restaurant that you just can’t stay away from. Please send me a message, I’d love to track it down and add it to the blog!

Um so far as I know I have always been human (despite what my brothers may have said about me elementary school ;P)…so…unfortunately, stepping in a yellow jacket hive as a toddler, followed closely by eating  a chocolate cream filled cupcake. num num!

Hello all…my name is Mary

I’m a college student, with a tight budget, whole loves good food.

This is my first post so I’ll use it to familiarize you with what its all about! This blog (which will generally always be in video format) is dedicated to reviewing restaurants, eateries and roadside food stands (including you lemonade sale moguls) everywhere, while also allowing you to travel (vicariously) to some great (and at times off the beaten path) locations. 

For now school is in session restricting (if you can even use that word for the reference I”m making) me and my travels to the Bay Area (California [for all of you not familiar]). So please join me while I hit up some of the best eateries in the bay!

Joining me on all my journeys is my partner in “crime“mild gluttony —and fellow food worshiper— Andrew. You can expect him (and his humor) to be a common occurrence on my video posts (that way you’ll get two opinions on each meal, because apparently my opinion isn’t the only valid one…who knew? :).

Coming up in the future is a trip to Asia. Places included on the TravelHungry menu include: Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, and plenty of places in-between. Andrew and I will be hitting up locals (that will hopefully join us for a meal and a chat about local food and culture) throughout our travels to find the places dishing out food too good for the tourists. We will also be letting you in on all of the not so touristy things we find worthy of Internet indelibility (not a word…yet).

Join us while we search for places to lay down our spoon and fork in eating bliss.