Eating Dallas: PepperSmash- A Cocktail Kitchen Review and GIVEAWAY

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Triple M Explosion @ PepperSmash Cocktail Kitchen

With V busy during the week, weekends are when both of us get to enjoy all that the Dallas-Fort Worth Area has to offer together, with Sundays reserved for trying out new places to brunch. Last Sunday we got the opportunity to try PepperSmash – a cocktail Kitchen at the Shops at Legacy, Plano. I had heard good things about the place, especially their drinks menu and was excited to try the place out.

PepperSmash boasts of making some innovative and out of the box drinks, and while I would recommend this place more for dinner, only because getting drunk during the day might not always be the way of doing things, they do have a pretty interesting brunch menu and specials. Mimosas are $3 and their bloody Mary’s (made from roasted tomatoes and a must try) are just $5.

PepperSmash- A Cocktail Kitchen

Maria, the bartender concocting our cocktails

PepperSmash- A Cocktail Kitchen

Colin, our server, with the cotton candy martini and the Triple M explosion

PepperSmash- A Cocktail Kitchen

Chef Zach

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Drunken Chicken Banhi Mi & Review of The Banh mi handbook

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Drunken Chicken Banh Mi | The Novice Housewife

I recently got the Banh Mi Handbook by Andrea Nguyen and I love it.

The first time I had the popular Vietnamese sandwich was in Toronto when I was staying there for my cake decorating course.

Most of my stay was with my uncle and his family (and my nani),  but I did spend a few days with my college friend who lived close to downtown Toronto. While staying with her, my friend took me to Banh Mi Boys, a top rated place on yelp and that is when my life was introduced these crazy delicious vietnamese sandwiches.

I had never tried making these sandwiches at home though. Until now.

Homemade banh mi rolls | The Novice Housewife

Andrea Nguyen runs a blog by the name of Viet World Kitchen and has authored a couple of cookbooks on asian cuisine including The Banh Mi Handbook . The cookbook starts with a brief look into Andrea’s long association with the sandwich and then talks about the basic pantry essentials to make your own banh mi. Andrea also includes recipes for homemade sauces and pickled vegetables that make the banh mi so special. And for people who would like to make their own banh mi buns instead of using store bought, Andrea has a very good recipe along with step-by-step pictorial instructions.

There are around 50 recipes in the book. What I love about the cookbook is that it gives a lot of options to customize the banh mi sandwiches to your liking. My husband does not eat any other kind of meat besides chicken (and on certain rare occasions lamb), and is vegetarian on two days of the week, which makes this cookbook a good addition to my collection because of the various chicken and vegetarian filling recipes it has.

Drunken Chicken Banh Mi | The Novice Housewife

Drunken Chicken Banh Mi | The Novice Housewife

Drunken Chicken Banh Mi | The Novice Housewife

Almost all the ingredients in the book are easily available and if not, Andrea offers substitutions. Andrea also offers little notes with each recipe with tips and variations to customize the recipe and create a banh mi that you will love.

While there are many recipes that I would like to try I started with making homemade banh mi rolls. And made the book’s drunken chicken banh mi.

Both V and I loved the drunk chicken banh mi and I am sharing the recipe today. The drunken chicken filling is absolutely delicious. I will be trying the Hanoi grilled chicken banh mi or maybe the coconut curry tofu next.

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Review: Bistro Flamme Bois, Chandigarh

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blog-landing

Rocky and Mayur have ventured out to explore food from all parts of India and curate videos on Askme.com.  I’m contributing my part by relishing my favorite dishes at Bistro Flamme Bois and sharing my views with you all!

You can also upload your video review on AskMe and stand a chance to meet Rocky and Mayur.”
Bistro- Flamme Bois, Chandigarh | The Novice Housewife

One of my friends and I recently went and ate at Bistro- Flamme Bois in Sector 7, Chandigarh. It was actually by chance that we went there because the original plan was to go somewhere else, but a wrong turn by me led us to this place. I had heard some good things about Flamme Bois and thought might as well give it a try. It was a wise decision.

Even had the food been bad (which it absolutely wasn’t) I would have still gone back because that’s how nice I felt seeing the care the hosts were giving to each diner guest. The manager (who also seemed like one of the owners) was helpful with his suggestions and made sure we enjoyed each one of the things that we ordered. For the humility and customer service, I would definitely recommend this place.

The ambience is decent. I would have preferred more natural light, but maybe that preference could be something related to me looking for nicely lit food shots. They do have a shaded outside seating, but being a really hot day we decided to sit inside.

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