Sweet Ginger

Sweet Ginger
http://sweetgingermidvale.com/
220 West 7200 South
Midvale, UT 84047
801-352-0888
If you want authentic Chinese food go to Sweet Ginger. They don't have Sweet and Sour Chicken or Sesame Chicken, those are American Chinese dishes. This Sweet Ginger place does meals like you know they eat in China: Rice, Beans Veggies. They have a lunch menu that starts at $4.99 and goes to $6.99. They also have buy 3 get one free for lunch. It was plenty of food too. I tried the Chicken with Bean Sauce. It didn't sound that good to me but I tried it anyway and it was really good. The sauce is dark and flavorful, not sweet. I also tried the Cashew Chicken. Even though there were not cashews in every bite it had cashew flavor in every bite without being overwhelming. It too had so much flavor.
They have a Night Snack $4.99 menu they do from 9 pm to midnight. That menu is huge too.
They are also opened on Sunday, and it is a hard thing to find here in Utah...a Chinese place opened on Sunday.
I feel like I need to emphasize that if you want Sweet and Sour Chicken or are expecting common Chinese food Do Not Go Here! But if you really want to experience Chinese cuisine then you have to eat at this place.

Nat'l Spaghetti and Meatball Day

NATIONAL SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS DAY

Spaghetti! Who doesn't love it? But where did this delicious concoction come from, and how did it get to our plate?        We've probably all heard that Marco Polo brought spaghetti to Europe from the Far East in the late 13^th century. While it's true that he probably encountered it there -- or at least a type of long noodle made from either rice flour or hard wheat flour -- pasta had existed in Europe for centuries. In fact, a fourth century B.C. Etruscan tomb has a bas-relief carving of a group of natives making what appears to be pasta. Pasta in Italy is a long tradition!
        Pasta certainly existed in places other than Italy, however. The Chinese had been making it since at least 3000 B.C. And Greece claimed its share of the credit -- according to Greek mythology, the Greek God Vulcan invented a device that created long strings of dough.
But what is pasta without tomato sauce? Well, the Europeans certainly had a chance to find out. It wasn't until 1519 that the explorer Cortez brought the first tomatoes back to Europe from the New World. And when tomatoes were first introduced, they were grown exclusively as a decorative plant. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family, and it was assumed that it was poisonous as well. (Actually, the leaves and stems are toxic.) Eventually, it was discovered that tomatoes could be used as a food source, but it wasn't until the 18^th century that it became a popular food item.
        Thomas Jefferson can be credited with bringing pasta to the United States. When he served as Ambassador to France, he got a taste of this tasty dish, and he liked it so much that he ordered a pasta-making machine sent back to the U.S., the first "macaroni maker" in America.
        The first American commercial outfit for the production of pasta was run by Antoine Zerega, who opened his factory in Brooklyn in 1848. He dried his product on his roof in the sunshine, and powered his machinery by one horse, which he kept in the basement.
Ah, meatballs! Meatballs are a fairly new addition to spaghetti. Meat was relatively scarce in the old world and eaten only occasionally, but when immigrants came to America, they found that they could afford to add it to their pasta dishes on a regular basis
        Italian families 3 or 4 generations ago cooked up Spaghetti and Meatballs. It probably had its origins in several baked Neapolitan pasta dishes served at religious festivals. Because at that tumultuous time of Italy’s history (they were fighting over the concept of unifying all the regions of Italy into a republic) meat was costly. So these special occasion dishes used meatballs the size of walnuts as opposed to the egg-sized versions we are used to in America.
        In short, American-style Italian food is often about abundance and devolved the way it did because of Italian immigrants and their reaction to the food and culture of their new country.
In truth, many Italian immigrants of this era came to America on the brink of starvation. The abundance in this country probably shocked the newly arrived, as did the animosity and fear all too familiar to immigrants of any era. So it only makes sense that their food traditions adapted to their new circumstances. Pastas were dressed with sauce and more sauce. These sauces were made with as many tomatoes as could be shoved in the pot. Meat, instead of being served just three times a year, suddenly appeared as many as three times a day. One sausage in the sauce gave way to many sausages– beef, pork and veal.
        As is typical in this country, acceptance into American society and prosperity was often slow in coming for the newly arrived. Still, the men, proud of the comfort they are finally able to provide their family, returned home from the steel mills, stone quarries, and railroads to the family meal that became the center of social life.
        Part of this Italian-American lore revolves around some mythical Nonna. She stands in her tiny kitchen wearing her slightly stained apron– its ties barely reaching around her ample bosom. For many, this is the (stereo) typical picture of the Italian woman and her relationship to food and family.

Not traditional recipes but Healthier ones:

Spaghetti And Meatballs

You'll Need

• 8 ounces button mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, minced
• 1 large sweet potato, cooked (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium tomato sauce, heated
• 2 medium zucchini, cut into long strips with a julienne cutter
• 1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

• Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat so water stays at a fast simmer.
• Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Spray with cooking oil spray and add mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has released and evaporated, about 5 minutes.
• Add green bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until peppers are soft, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
• In a medium bowl, mix together sweet potato, flour, bread crumbs, onion powder, egg, and mushroom mixture.
• With oiled hands, roll sweet potato mixture into 1-inch balls. Place balls in simmering water and let cook for 7 minutes. Remove from hot water with a slotted spoon and place in tomato sauce.
• Meanwhile, return skillet to medium high heat and add zucchini. Cook, stirring frequently, until just tender, about 2 minutes.
• To serve, place meatballs and marinara sauce over zucchini spaghetti. Sprinkle cheese on top

SPAGHETTI SQUASH AND MEATBALLS

Ingredients:
1 Spaghetti Squash
1 teaspoon Olive oil
Tomato Sauce (whatever is your favorite 
or use recipe, below) 
1⁄4 teaspoon salt

Start by heating up your favorite tomato sauce in a large stock pot, over medium heat. (see 
recipe below)
Slice squash in half (lengthwise) and pull out seeds. (Don’t throw them out, you can roast these 
at a later time, just add 1 teaspoon olive oil, salt and roast until golden brown.)
Rub olive oil and salt to taste all over the fesh side of the squash you have cut in half.  Place fat 
side down on a roasting tray and place in a 450° oven for 20 minutes until the fesh of the 
squash is fork tender.  Take out of the oven and allow to cool.


MEATBALLS

You'll Need

1.5 lbs lean ground turkey (you can use, 
beef, pork or veal...whatever you have, 
it’s the same recipe)
1 egg beaten
¾ cup of Italian favored bread crumbs
¼ cup of minced fresh parsley
approx 1⁄4 cup of grated parmesan 
cheese 
salt to taste (approx ¼ teaspoon)

Instructions

Use a bowl big enough to hold and mix all ingredients.
Add ground turkey to the bowl frst, followed by the egg, and then the rest of the ingredients. 
Use your hands to mix everything together really well.
Grab a dollop of the meat mixture (approximately 1.5 oz or 3 tbsp.) and roll between your 
palms until a uniformly round meatball is created.  Repeat this until all the meat is made into 
meatballs.  Place all the meatballs one by one into the tomato sauce you have cooking on the 
stove.  Give a gentle stir occasionally so the meatballs don’t stick to the bottom of the stock 
pot.  In 20 minutes, your meatballs will be cooked through.
Take your cooked spaghetti squash and scrape out the fesh with a fork, you will see that the 
spaghetti squash is stringy, forming ”spaghetti noodles” as you scrape.  Discard the hard outer 
shell.
In a bowl serve,1 heaping serving of spaghetti squash followed by a dollop of tomato sauce 
and 2 meatballs.  Add parmesan cheese to taste.  Enjoy folks, this is a new twist on a family 
favorite!  This is one everyone’s going to LOVE!

Doughnut

I am a doughnut.
I'm fat
I'm round
I'm bad for you
and my insides are full of sugar (diabetes)
I'm funny.

Brandon's laundromat art.

Brandon's my little Laundromat buddy. I never go without him.

Blue Plate Diner

We decided to try a new place to eat so we looked up places that were tried on Diners Drive Ins and Dives.
There was a hole in the wall place called

Blue Plate Diner

2041 S 2100 E
Salt Lake City,UT

The front kind of looked like a second hand store, its a beat up building with old bicycles out front. The porch out front with tables. The furniture inside is random pieces from Utah restaurants past. They support local artists by hanging the art on the wall and you can purchase the art if you want to. They also have a jukebox. It feels like American home town to me.

They have a bunch of things to chose from, from meat eaters vegetarians and vegans.

Ken got a Chicken Verde Burrito. $9.99. The waiter said it had a little bite. WRONG! It was a screaming inferno in my mouth. I am a big baby when it comes to spicy things though. The flavor was good. If it hadn't been so spicy I would have loved it. It was HUGE! There was enough leftover for another meal.

I got the Roast Turkey Dinner With Cranberry Sauce. $12.99. I am really picky about this dish. All American. I expect a lot when I order this at a restaurant. Especially when it costs 13 dollars. I liked that the potatoes were homemade and so was the gravy. The cranberry sauce was from a can and that was a little sad. My dish was pretty good. Nothing to write home about. It could have been better. I wont get that dish again. The serving was really big. Enough for another meal.

What I ate next made it all worth it. Waffle, two scoops of ice cream and caramel drizzled on the top. Delicious! 

Not the best, not the worst. I would like to go there again and try something else.

MacCools

In honor of St Patrick's Day I went to MacCools today. It's an Irish American pub and grill. It"s my second time, but this time I was brave and got something I've never had before.

I ordered the very traditional dish called Corned Beef and Cabbage. It's boiled corned beef, a half a head of boiled cabbage and boiled small red potatoes. It came in a big bowl (that I loved) with broth. I was surprised to see my bowl. The three items were separated. I loved that, and it was so simple but very good. The cabbage had flavor, the beef was so tender and the potatoes were perfect, cut in half and soaking in the broth. I wrapped a piece of beef and potatoes in a cabbage leaf. Yum! I also didn't feel the need to season it, and that is amazing because I always need to at least salt cabbage. I was so full and didn't even eat half. I am eating the leftovers right now and they are delicious.

Ken had the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich. It's slow roasted Kurobuta pork in a signature bbq sauce with coleslaw on a potato bun. Alright, I hate coleslaw and barbecue sauce isn't my favorite so when Ken ordered this I was a little disgusted. Just the combination of everything didnt sound appeling. I tried a bite. Trying new things is awesome. It was delicious. The pork was tender and the sauce had this fantastic bite to it at the end. And lets just talk about the coleslaw, it added a great flavor and texture to the sandwich. The bun was soft and made it complete. I didn't feel like one bite was enough.
It came with Masher & Gravy. I love mash potatoes and gravy and MacCools are just plain good. Once again I didn't need to salt them and the gravy was perfect. And again I say that one bite wasn't enough.
The service was great. I never had to wait for my drinks and that's a huge thing with me. I was quit comfortable at the table and I enjoyed all the antique Irish decorations.
The only thing I wasn't thrilled with were the prices because I'm cheap. However with this place you get what you pay for.
I am looking forward to going back soon to try something else.
I totally recommend this place. Again it's:

MacCools Public House
1400 South Foothill Drive #166
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
801-582-3111
www.maccoolsrestaurant.com

POOP