Soup for the summer?

Normally, you may think that on a hot summer day, in over 100 degree weather, that the last thing you may want is hot soup. However, I’m a believer and I’m sure there’s something somewhere to support this belief, that drinking and eating warm food when it’s already hot out, actually cools you down. The logic behind this is simply that your body is warming up from the inside and starts to make itself cool off. Well, here is one simple recipe I’m trying to accomplish this: split pea soup.
For this recipe, we used ingredients that we essentially already had. Organic carrots and onions from the market, dried split peas in a bag, garlic, and bay leaves.
1 C split peas
4 C water
1 tsp salt
1 onion, chopped
1-2 carrots, grated
2 bay leaves
1-2 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbs olive oil (optional)
Cook split peas in salted water until soft – about 1/2 hour. Add onion, carrots, etc. and continue cooking until they are tender. Thin with water if the soup gets too thick. And I always forgot this when using bay leaves, but remove them before serving.
We made a double batch thinking we’d freeze some, but as most delicious meals go, it all went pretty fast.
For more recipes like the one I used, check out Vegetarian Cooking and enjoy!

Remember the kids

My recent trip to a local Boise spot, The Drink, was suppose to be a relaxing, fun, and new experience for myself and friends I went with.  We decided on this location because of a $50 Groupon my friend had purchased.  (And as usual, if you’re not the type, the coupon was about to expire so we had better use it up.)  We thought it would be a fun outing to take the 3 yr old and the 1 yr old out.  They’re good kids who aren’t strangers to dining out and especially the 3 yr old has been good on most occasions.  What was to transpire, is not the relaxing dinner we had planned.

It started out well enough, it’s a hot day in town, and sitting out on the dock with the misters sounded like a good plan.  The restaurant wasn’t busy and the deck wasn’t full, so perfect place to have the kids.  I’m no fan of going to any restaurant and having screaming kids sitting next to me, that’s the quickest way to ruin any dining experience.  However, that’s not to say that my own little brothers or these kids who I know well I wouldn’t take out.  It’s just a matter of recognizing when it’s time to leave.  In this case, I also became cranky, but I’ll get to that.

As we’re seated by our friendly and polite waitress, it soon became apparent, sitting in the sun with the wind blowing the misters in the wrong direction, that maybe sitting inside with the cool air conditioning may have been the better choice, but I rolled with it anyways.  Once we had a chance to look over the menu and place our drink order (non-alcoholic for us) and had the kids occupied with coloring, it almost was as relaxing as we had hoped.

However, sitting there in the hot sun, waiting patiently for the kids order and our appetizer, we waited, waited, and waited.  As my ice tea dwindled to melted ice, our server returns to inform us that the original appetizer we ordered, was not available.  Now, I’m not the type of person to throw any type of fit, as least not verbally, but I was a server at one point in life, so I’m just a little bit more critical of service sometimes.  In this case, I would have appreciated a heads up sooner.  We ordered something else as it was.

Not too long after that, our entrees arrived.  Now once again, I’m just a little bit more critical about service, because I thought I was a pretty good server and there are do’s and don’ts.  Our food arrived, but the kids meals didn’t.  Maybe a slight oversight?  Not really, we were informed a bit afterwards that the kids food was burnt and they were having another go at it.

Now at this point, to put it more into context.  The 1 yr old was hungry and all we had to give her were some crackers.  The 3 yr old had become antsy and is now getting up and running over to the ducks and throwing crackers at them.  As our meal arrived, before the kids, I’m now holding the 1 yr old trying to eat my dry Caribbean Jerk Chicken so my friend can attempt to eat her sandwich and give the 3 yr old some cucumbers and carrots from her salad, that was still missing the dressing.  At this point, our relaxing dinner has now made the turn for the worse has we have hungry kids, we’re all hot, drinks need to be refilled and we’re all pretty much ready to go.

As soon as the kids meal arrives, we ask for the check and a box.  After all that, the mac n’ cheese ordered was bland and the 3 yr old refused to eat it.  As it was, when we got the check, our $50 coupon covered the whole meal, except the two kids meals.  I would have expected at this point, if it wasn’t obvious that no one was having a good time, that maybe the least the waitress could have done is comp the kids food.  At this point, we’re already packed up and headed out the door, so we don’t even care.

You know, overall the restaurant has a cool factor to it and I could see myself coming by for a happy hour drink.  Yet, I would not recommend bringing kids.  Now I may normally give that out as general advice to anyone dining out, some places are better equipped for families and children.  What really ruined it for me, and for everyone, was just remember the kids.  Remember that if the kids aren’t happy, then no one is happy.  So maybe my advice would better be given to the server: remember the kids.

The Drink. Bar and Waterfront Grill

The Drink. Bar and Waterfront Grill

Date/Time: June 9^th, 2013 6pm

Basic Information: Use to be the Montego Bay and since then has been rebranded as The Drink.  What makes The Drink unique is the three different and distinct parts of the restaurant; Whammy’s Sports bar, Blarney Stone, and an outside Tiki Bar.  Whammy’s is what you’d expect from a sport bar feeling complete with televisions and a pool table.  Blarney Stone has a more upscale feeling for dining, but then turns into a dance floor at night.  Finally, the Tiki Bar is exactly what it sounds like with floating docks housing the outside bar and additional seating.

Rating Key 1=Strongly Disagree 2=Somewhat Disagree 3=Neither Agree nor Disagree 4=Somewhat Agree 5= Completely Agree

                Price Range for Entree:  $5-$10 / $10-$15 / $15-$20 / over $20

                Beer / Wine / Full Bar – Full selection

                The noise level was comfortable.  1 2 3 4 5

                The restaurant was well lit.  1 2 3 4 5

                It was kid friendly.   1 2 3 4 5

                Kid Menu:  Yes

Allergen Guide

Is there an allergen guide available on line?   No   

Is there an allergen guide at the restaurant?   No

Was the server knowledgeable about specific ingredients?  No, but the kitchen was.

Could menu items be made to order without specific ingredients? Yes, but no guarantee of cross-contamination.

Overall Service

                Wait time to be seated: 5 minutes

                Wait time for menu: 5 minutes

                Wait time for food: 20 minutes

                Wait time for check: 10 minutes

                The wait staff was friendly.   1 2 3 4 5

                The restaurant was clean.  1 2 3 4 5

                The staff was patient, concerned, and respectful concerning food restrictions.  1 2 3 4 5

                The food was delicious. 1 2 3 4 5

Final Summary: Although they had the atmosphere and the server was friendly, we had major issues with the fact that we had small children.  Our first appetizer was not available and wasn’t conveyed to us until much later after we had placed our order.  The mac n’ cheese ordered for the children was burnt and was not served until we were almost done with our own entrees.  Although the food wasn’t bad, the service in itself is a reason I wouldn’t return, at least with children in tow.