Kitchen Confusion

 I think there is a lot of kitchen confusion in our local restaurants lately.  In the past 2 months I have had to send food back about 80% of the time.  The confusion seems to be what exactly is milk and what products contain milk.  So I thought I might try to clarify this for restaurants.  

Milk is Obviously milk, cheese, butter, cream, sour cream, yogurt and anything that contain those ingredients.   Your kitchen needs to know what contains milk.  Item that can contain milk are breads, coated French fries, almost all desserts.  Here is my plug to put fresh fruit on the menu for dessert. 

Milk is not mayonnaise, yes it is white but mayonnaise it is an emulsion of eggs and oil. 

For those of us allergic to milk we get tired of sending our food back.  Various reasons that I have sent food back.  My meal was coated with cheese, this is very common. Sour cream was covering my meal.  Butter was liberally applied to a milk free bun, not my meal.  My dry potato with chives on the side was covered with cheese and sour cream. My salad was covered with cheese and or sour cream.  

Now I always say I have a milk allergy and request that milk items be left off. I even go so far as to call them out.  I have done my part. Now it is time you do yours.   I even go to restaurant websites to see what is allergy friendly.  So I know what to order.  

By making my order right the first time saves you money.  It leaves me less frustrated.  You can also turn your table faster.  This all adds to your bottom line in a very tight economy.  

A First

 This is my first full bobbin for my Hansen mini E-spinner Pro.  It is a combination of Dorset Horn and Charollaise wool.  I started with the 4 ounces of the  Charollaise Wool and had enough room to add 4 ounces of the Dorset Horn Wool. Since this is going to be art yarn, I saw no problem with using 2 different breeds of sheep on the same bobbin. If you are a breed specific yarn spinner this is the point that you slowly walk away and do your own thing.  I am just tasting new to me fibers on my e-spinner. 

Tomorrow I will ply it with nylon novelty yarn.  Finish processing the wool.  Then weave it into scarfs.  They should make lovely holiday gifts.  

We tried a restaurant that we had not gone to in 6 years.  First off they did not have half of what I ordered.  Second, they asked John what I was going to have instead of what I had ordered, because of course they were out of it too. Really asking a man what his wife wants to eat. This is so 1950’s.  So my dinner consisted of 2 dinner salads, charred chicken and vegetables.  I really want to know how in world do you char carrots and leave a badly chard carrot to serve. If this is a new style of cuisine, I strongly object.  What did that carrot ever do to anyone. They also skipped the edamame that I ordered too.  I nibbled on some of John’s extra veggies too. Did I mention that the air conditioner was limping along too.  It went well with the food.  I think I will give it another 6 years before we go back. I will skip the name of the restaurant to protect the hard working wait staff.  

Out of Balance

 My spoons were out of balance this weekend. I spent too many spoons on Saturday with a day full of activities. I do have to say in my own defense , that I had a great day. I also was keenly aware when my spoons ran out on Saturday. I violated my one activity per day rule.  So today I paid for it.  My plan was to have a quiet cup of tea and then knit afterwards.  Instead I had my cup of tea and took a 3 hour nap.  There is a cost to everything in life. 

We did manage to go out to lunch and thank goodness I took my knitting with me.  We ordered as soon as the waitress came to offer us water and then waited an hour for lunch to arrive.  This is not unusual for this restaurant chain, it has been going on for years.  

It was then off to a local art collectives show.  It is being to seem redundant with the same people and identical work shown 3 times a year. Don’t get me wrong, there was some really nice art work there. However they seem to lack the ability to attract new members and expand the breath of their shows.  With a town like Tucson that takes real work to do. We seem to get a fresh crop of retirees each and every year. There must be an artist or 2 in each crop.  

We even managed to get to dinner early enough to miss the yearly crowd from the gem and mineral show in town for the next 3 weeks. We planned our dinner to start before the shows ended for the day.  

All in all we had a great weekend.  

*Spoons are units of energy. I have only so many spoons a day to use. If I use less that ok. If I use more it can wreck havoc with me for the next day or 2.  

El Cisne in Tucson Arizonia

John and I have found a lovely new locally owned Mexican restaurant here in Tucson.  It is called El Cisne. El Cisne is located at 4717 E Sunrise Drive on the North East corner of Sunrise and Swan in the Bel Air Plaza. Telephone number (520) 638-6160. We have eaten there several times.  I have tried something new almost every time we have gone. The prices are mid range. They are open for lunch and dinner. I have not tried their catering yet. This is an upscale casual restaurant with a very pleasant decor.

Tonight we both had the Enchiladas. John had the chicken and I had the beef. The beef enchilada had a nice smoky barbecue flavor, with very tender beef. It was served with rice and beans cooked to perfection along with some very fresh salad. The flavors worked very well together and I thought that I had hit the dinning jackpot of the evening until I tried John's chicken enchilada. Our original plan was to each order a different dish and share. Once I tasted the chicken enchilada, I knew John would not be sharing his. The chicken was tender with the seasoning just perfect. It seemed to melt in my mouth. I have not had an enchilada this good in over 20 years. Don't get me wrong the beef enchilada was fantastic, its just that the Chef managed to make the chicken enchilada even better.

We have also tried the Carne Con Chili/Beef Burrito both Red and Green with and with out beans. All versions were wonderful. The Topopo Salad which is a meal in itself.  In my experience you either get a great Topopo Salad or never order it again. El Cisne makes a wonderful Topopo Salad. The Carne Con Chili De Vaquero Sonora is a go to dish for John. The only desert that we have tried were the Sopaillas which were just perfect. They never seem to have a problem leaving the cheese off a dish or telling us that a dish can not be made dairy free.

Disclaimer: Since John and I don't eat dairy and I don't eat shellfish or pork you will not find those menu items covered here. That does not mean that I don't like them, I just don't eat them and can't review them. Also all the opinions here are my own. I was not asked to write this. We paid for all of our own meals, nothing was comped.

Recouping

I am still exhausted from the trip to Los Angeles last week.  I went in for my mothers birthday. We had the party at a place called Dukes in Malibu. The view was spectacular so I guess it was wrong of me to expect great service too. They could not grasp the concept of sauce on the side or can we get a basket of bread. So I got my lunch as everyone else was finishing up with nothing to nibble on in the mean time. It is one place that I don't mind being so far away from.  If you like your sauces on the side I would recommend dinning in Tucson. Even the mom and pop places can get that one right.

I also saw a fantastic play at the Mark Tapper Forum. It was called the Tallest Tree in the Forest. There was quite a bit of history in it. I had never thought of the world from a black point of view before. It is very similar to the Jewish experience at the time with the exception that we were mostly white and could blend in better in some areas. Skin color was and still is a very decisive issue for many people. The issue of name calling is still here today. I guess we have not evolved as far as we like to think we have as a country. So anyway if you are in Los Angeles during its run please do try to see it. It would be well worth your time.

I have almost gotten caught up on laundry, paperwork and getting Teri's room ready for her visit. I de-fibered her room and put things away. John dusted and vacuumed twice. I washed all the linens and will make the bed tomorrow.

I think it will take a few more days to get my body back in sync. Big cities are nice for some things, but I love the pace of life in Tucson much better. Tucson does not tie my tummy up in knots. Although with my tummy tied in knots it was very hard to come close to over eating or for that matter eating at all.  So I came home a little lighter. We are not all packed in like sardines. Even out winter traffic is better.

Another Wonderful Day

This is the second day we have had Teri home for a very short visit before she starts her second year of law school. This was also day 2 of shop until you drop. Today we went to the Tucson Mall and did some very heavy duty shopping. A new phone, a suit and a few other goodies for Teri. New pants for John. I reserved the biggest purchase of the day for me, some hand sanitizer for my purse. John and Teri have dropped and I hate to wake them up for dinner when we finished lunch so late.

We are busy getting all the Tucson highlights in like favorite restaurants in to. Just a few of our stops so far Mayco's for taco's, Frost for sorbet, Micah's for corecodo a wonderful beefy vegetable soup served with flour tortillas Maynard's for lunch. Mr.An's for teppan. We do love to eat out. I think I need to find a Wii fit game with my name on it.

We have also made a stop at Bookman's another local favorite. If you are ever in Arizona: Bookman's has locations in most major cities in the state. There is nothing else like it.

Eric has finished camp for the summer and starts school again next week. He won the award for the best smile in camp this year. He is very happy to have Teri home and out of the computer. He has yet to figure out how Skype works and why Teri spends so much time living in the computer. I wonder what sibling things they are going to do this weekend?

Through it all I am busy knitting. I have finished 2 scarfs since Teri has been home and started another hat yesterday. I am trying to play catchup with my charity knitting. I don't think the economy has picked up enough for my studio to do much business yet.

Well it should be time to rouse the troops and decide on dinner or not. Me I could just go for a tray of appetizers and forget the main course.  Or even better just go straight to dessert. So have a great evening and enjoy your families

Please note that no one has asked for or paid for an endorsement in this blog. John and I covered all the cost associated with the restaurant and Bookman's visits. No discounts were given.