We went on Saturday for brunch. They have a new menu but my brunch favorite is still there :) Woohoo! I had the Beef Tip Skillet (a usual for me). It's delicious. It started out as an occasional special at Oliver's but I would often request it even if it wasn't listed that day and they were always able to accommodate. Now it's on the menu! It's tender beef, peppers, onions, and potatoes; all in a rich beef (and red wine, I think) gravy, and topped with an egg. So yummy! I get it without the cheese now and still just as good :) Hubby ordered one of the new additions. He had the Fish Tacos with a side salad. He ordered the fish pan-fried instead of deep-fried, and all dressings on the side, and they had no trouble accommodating. He loved his meal and said they were among the best fish tacos he has had in the city!
Oliver's Restaurant has been a favorite of ours since we meet :) So, we have been going there for about 17 years and are always happy with the experience. Excellent food and excellent service! We went on Saturday for brunch. They have a new menu but my brunch favorite is still there :) Woohoo! I had the Beef Tip Skillet (a usual for me). It's delicious. It started out as an occasional special at Oliver's but I would often request it even if it wasn't listed that day and they were always able to accommodate. Now it's on the menu! It's tender beef, peppers, onions, and potatoes; all in a rich beef (and red wine, I think) gravy, and topped with an egg. So yummy! I get it without the cheese now and still just as good :) Hubby ordered one of the new additions. He had the Fish Tacos with a side salad. He ordered the fish pan-fried instead of deep-fried, and all dressings on the side, and they had no trouble accommodating. He loved his meal and said they were among the best fish tacos he has had in the city! Service was excellent as always. We go often enough now that many of the servers recognize us :) lol.
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We have eaten at The Peaceful Loft many times over the last few months and it has always been great! It is a vegan Chinese restaurant, but don't let the word vegan scare you away; the food is delicious. Even Hubby enjoys it and he is still a meat eater. I haven't posted our past meals as we usually stop in unplanned and I don't have my camera on hand for pics. I made a point to take it this weekend :) Pic 1: You get green tea and soup of the day when you sit down. Before you even order :)
Pic 2: You get sauces before ordering as well. The 2 back ones are a soy sauce and a spicy sauce. The 2 bottom ones (chunkier ones) are gluten-free sauces; one is spicy and the other is a mushroom ginger one I believe. All very tasty. Pic 3: A stir-fried noodle and veggie dish with tofu. This dish usually comes with several "meats" but I order gluten-free therefore don't get the meat substitutes. This is the first time I actually got the tofu so perhaps it's a new gluten-free brand. Pic 4: The Peaceful Roll (the gluten-free option as they have regular as well) and a stir-fried rice with veggies and tofu. Again, like the noodles, I get the gluten-free rice dish so it would usually come with other "meats". The Peaceful Roll is fantastic. I would suggest getting that to start ever time :) Great restaurant! It's run by a husband and wife team, very sweet, and they are usually the only employees working. He serves and she cooks. If they are busy it will take longer for food. Food comes out when it is ready so you may not get all dishes at once. Sometimes they close unexpectedly or change the hours, be aware, they may not be open when you decide to go. If they are, you won't regret it :) Ate at EVOO tonight! So glad I did as the food was excellent. I even had a pot of slow-cooked chili made for supper but Hubby suggested eating out after a long work day. The vegan specials for tonight sounded good and Chili will be fine for tomorrow ;) Can't pass on an evening out, lol. My app was a vegan beet salad and Hubby had Bruschetta without the cheese. Both were good. I really enjoy a simple beet salad and the vegan cheese was a nice touch. Mains were a vegan Portobello Mushroom Burger with Twice Baked Potato for me (vegan special for tonight) and the Mediterranean Vegetable Penne for Hubby (a regular). I questioned getting the burger as I have never had a mushroom burger before and wondered how good it would actually be. Funny, it was the twice baked potato that really got me to the order that meal, as I love a good twice baked potato. The potato was really good but the burger was excellent. It was simple but so tasty and it all worked so well together. I would definitely order one again. Dessert again was a great vegan option. It was apple flavored with coconut cream and candied nuts. Sorry, can never remember the name of this custard-like dessert but they are always good. Another great evening out with great food, vegan options, and fabulous service. Thanks Ryan!
If you haven't been to EVOO yet, you need to go. What are you waiting for? If you are looking for great vegan options, you need to go. If you want to try somewhere new, you need to go. If you want a night out that won't break the bank, you need to go :) Tried a great new recipe for supper tonight: Brussels Sprout Fried Rice with Spicy Baked Tofu. This was surprisingly really good; a definite keeper. I picked up fresh sprouts from a local farm and a block of tofu (only needed half) from the grocery store; already had everything else on hand. Had a delicious breakfast this morning as well: Whole-Wheat Banana Pancakes. We have made these several times before but today I used unsweetened cashew milk in place of the dairy milk. They were still great although still not 100% vegan, but I am okay with that. Tried another new recipe: Fall Harvest Pasta, earlier in the week, but it was a total flop. Not good at all, won't be making it again. I noticed when making it that the picture didn't really match the recipe so I added more veggies in hopes of saving it. It didn't work, it was still really bland and simply not nice. The squash pasta sauce was not nice either, which I think would have made the recipe if it was good. It was such a small amount of sauce to make that it wasn't enough to actually blend in my blender. Everything just gathered at the bottom below the blades so there were still cashew chunks and nothing really mixing well.. Finally there were a couple of vegan pizzas this past week :) I bought a frozen, gluten-free vegan pizza from the grocery store for a lunch meal. It was my first time having it and it was good. Not great but better than I had expected. I would probably try it again. We also had a thin-crust vegan pizza from Pronto on Friday. Pizza and beer, is there anything better on a Friday?
As I started to write this post I realized we do eat out a lot. I love going to restaurants for a great meal, as does Hubby. Great food, a night out, and no dishes! Love it :) Decided to go to EVOO tonight as Wed is their Vegan night. They have a small vegan menu all week long but on Wednesdays they have additional vegan options. Woohoo! Tonight they had a vegan pretzel with a chipotle maple mustard. We shared this app and I must say the pretzels were excellent. Very tasty and soft, so good. The mustard dip was a little too strong for my tastes, so I dipped very lightly, but the pretzels could stand on their own; they were that good. For mains; I had the Portobello Parmesan (a breaded & fried mushroom cap with tomato sauce and cashew cheese on spaghetti) and Hubby had the Spaghetti & Meatballs (not vegan). The Portobello Parm was excellent. I think this should be on the regular menu it's that good (hint hint), and maybe an eggplant parmesan dish can be added, vegan of course :) Dessert was fabulous as well, and still vegan :) I had the apple flip dessert with coconut whipped cream. I have yet to be disappointed with vegan desserts at EVOO. The dessert options are usually limited with only 1 or 2 vegan choices but what I have ordered has always been great! I should also mention that the service was fantastic tonight as well :)
Another great new vegan recipe tonight: Vegan Jambalaya! We both really like jambalaya but I usually make it with a mix of shrimp, chicken, and sausage. None of that tonight and it was still tasty and enjoyed. This is a good recipe but seems a little off with the cook time and/or temp for the rice. I suggest keeping the temp up for cooking the rice, if you leave it at a low simmer there is still a lot of liquid left after 40 minutes. I cooked for an additional 20 min, covered, and turned up to a med heat to cook off all the liquid.
Other changes I made based on personal preference and what I had on hand: - Used 2 peppers instead of 1 - Used chopped fresh tomatoes in place of canned/crushed - Used less cayenne as I don't like too spicy - Omit bay leaves & tabasco - Used tamari sauce in place of soy sauce - Used 1 can chickpeas and 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed. Also boiled them before adding them at the end - Omit fresh parsley - Definitely need salt at the end, brings out the flavors Just made a huge pot of vegetable soup. I added loads of veggies I had on hand (carrot, celery, onion, potato, tomato, bok choy), vegetable broth, wild rice and quinoa mix, garlic olive oil for frying some veggies at beginning, and salt & pepper. Great, healthy meal; but why does veggie soup taste like diet food to me? Anyone else?
Tried a new recipe: Vegetable Paella. It was really good but I will strongly stress that this item needs the salt. Salt and pepper are listed in the ingredient list but not mentioned in the directions. I made it first without using any salt or pepper and found the dish very bland. Unbelievably bland actually. I added a sprinkle of salt and pepper to mine and it changed the meal completely. I always say that a little salt helps bring out the flavors and this recipe only reinforced it. Changes I made to the recipe, because recipes are simply guidelines:
- I used arborio rice - I split the paprika, using 1 tsp regular and 1 tsp smoked - Used fresh tomatoes instead of tinned - Used a full (398 ml) tin of chickpeas - Used frozen mixed beans & carrots in place of runner beans - Didn't use the lemon at all - Used just a good pinch of dried red pepper in place of 1 tsp chili flakes - Added salt & pepper (this is needed even though not mentioned in directions) Hubby decided he wanted to eat at India Gate for his birthday dinner. Now I;m not a huge lover of Indian food (unlike Hubby) but I have been having a little more of it lately and enjoying it. I was willing to go and try it. I did have a little concern over if they could make items vegan. They do have a vegetarian menu but I'm sure the dairy would simply do me in at this point after staying away from it for a few months now. There was no need for concern. They were very accommodating regarding dishes made vegan for me :) We ordered steamed rice, Baigan Masala (eggplant dish, made vegan for me), and Chana Masala (chickpea dish already vegan). These 3 dishes were for me and Hubby to share. He also ordered a Maharani Chicken (one of his favorite dishes there) and Naan bread (not vegan) for himself.
The food was great! Serving sizes are bigger than they look. We both ate lots and still took home leftovers. I asked for the vegan items to be made mild but I still found them spicy, especially the chickpeas. Next time I will stress extra mild. |
AuthorMy name is Michelle and I am tired of struggling with my weight. I am stopping the struggle. Archives
September 2020
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