Calgary Eating: Tilted Grill

Last night the boy took me out on a hot date to the Tilted Grill, on 4thSW. He owed me since I managed to pick 1 winner out of 4 UFC matches a couple weeks ago (trailer park guy FTW!). And it was a hot date despite April showers continuing into May now.

But anyways, what did I think of Tilted Grill?

1. I had a peach bellini, very tasty.

2. We got the Gogi Sliders for the appetizer...sooo good, would even consider getting these as a meal in of itself. The meat was just perfect and the sauce on it (while borderline spicy for me...I toughed it out) was delicious.... if the Gogi Burrito tastes anything like these, than it would probably be a great entree choice.

3. For my entree I got the Carne Asada Tacos, with the loaded baked potato on the side.... as far as the tacos, I wasn't crazy about them... they were too full of meat to eat manageably... and could have used some sauce...I would recommend whatever was on the Sliders. I inhaled the potato tho...very lady like of me!

4.The boy go the 12ounce  New York, the seasonal veggies (which I shamelessly stole from his plate) we super tasty (thank god for butter!) and he enjoyed the steak...with a side of sweat potato fries that were what you would expect from sweat potato fries.

5.The atmosphere was pretty cool, fusion-y like the menu, they boy happily remarked twice "and they're playing the hockey game at the bar" and they have a huge patio outside that would likely be a lot of fun in the summer.

Overall, would we go back, yes, we have to....we were both too full for desert (I spent all day drooling about the Glazed Donut Satay after reading this blog post) so we made a promise we'd come back one night this summer just for drinks and the donuts!

If you're interested in checking out the Tilted Grill.... Living Social has $60 for 2 appetizers, 2 steak entrees, 2 desserts and 2 glasses of wine....which is an awesome deal if you can eat that much!

Next time I promise to do better to try and take some pictures!

Movie: The Iron Lady

1. Maryl Streep....need I say more.

2. Not at all what I expected, to see Lady Thatcher in contrast between her strength as prime minister and frailty later in life.

3. Inspiring lady.

Some memorable quotes from the movie (ones that might strike home for any young women looking to rise in a make dominated field....academia for instance)

"I will never be one of those women, who stay silent and pretty on the arm of her husband. Or remote and alone in the kitchen doing the washing up for that matter. One’s life must matter, Denis, beyond all the cooking and the cleaning and the children. One’s life must mean more than that. I cannot die washing up a teacup."

"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t."

"With all due respect, sir, I have done battle every single day of my life and many men have underestimated me before. This lot seem bound to do the same, but they will rue the day."

And finally this last one, which maybe everyone should hold closely.

"Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become...habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny! What we think we become."

Just like Nana does it: Cullurielli Attempt 1

Alright, so Cullurielli are a traditional Calabrian potato doughnut, and one of my absolute favourite things in the world to eat. In our family, however, for some reason we call the gulluti's (no idea how to spell it, since my mom's not even convinced it's a real word...but sounds like a combination of the word cullurielli and gluttony so works for me).

Living so far away from Nana, I've been craving these bad boys and ventured to make them myself, with only the knowledge that they're bassically just mashed potatoes, flour and yeast.

Ingredients I used:

3 medium russet potatoes
     -peel, boil in salted water, mashed with 1tbsp butter and 1/3cup milk cause they seemed dry to me
2 cups all purpose flour
1 egg (just felt like adding it)
2tsp dry activated yeast
pinch salt

I used my bread machine on the dough cycle to do the kneading and the first rise. During the kneading the dough was waaayyyyy tooo sticky, and so I probably added another 3/4 cup flour. Next time I'm going to skip on the milk going into the potatoes, and trust that they will be moist enough on their own.

Once the dough rose, I knocked it down and shaped it into ~20  loop shapes.

And let them rise again under a tea towel for as long as it took me to wash my dishes.

Turns out I should have just cooked right away... I ended up re-shaping all of them before they went into the pan.

Alright, tips for frying things (Italian style)

1. If you haven't used about half a jug of oil, you're not doing it right.
2. Deep fryers are for mungiacakes, be fearless and do this stove top in a frying pan.
3. The oil needs to be hot...but not too hot...I like 7 on my stove... but I also think my stove runs to hot. these guys should cook in like a min per side...maybe even less
4. To avoid oil splashes on your hands... I like to use two wooden spoons to manipulate things in the oil.
5. Everything that comes out of the oil goes right onto paper towel... do not skip this step.

So how does this look?

 Oh I know.... I reaaalllyyyy need to clean my stove top.

Anyways, drop them in to oil, flip when you can start to see the sides getting golden, cook the other side, then right back out of the oil.

When you're done it'll look a little like this

Now I like to eat these guys hot, with small pieces of cheese, but some people think they're a desert item and will sprinkly cinamon and powdered sugar on them. To each his own.

You can keep them in the fridge (wrapped in paper towel and bagged) or freeze em.

If you freeze them, pop them in the oven real quick to get them all toasty before you eat them.

Did they taste just like my nana's?

• the have the right look and feel
• they were a little bland.... I think I should have used brewer's yeast instead of bakers... it's supposed to give a unique taste
• Also I think I should have used a heck of alot more salt...must consult Nana

Enjoy! Ciao

oh if you want to see how it should be really done, check out this video!

Mingle Monday -01

Today I'm linking in at Mingle Monday with Meg.



Sooo you should click on over and see some of the other loverly ladies who are also linking up there.

We're supposed to answer today's question:

 What are you looking forward to this summer?


Well first of all (if you saw the weather we've been having lately) I'm looking forward to just plain summer.

Recently on my way home from work (along Memorial) I saw a banner for Calgary's Beer Fest coming up in May.

 

And I guess I could say I'm looking forward to that (went a couple years ago, and it was good times), so I'll have to remind the boy about it, see if he wants to go (likely).

But really I'm looking forward to doing some serious traveling this summer, specifically:

Amantea, Italy... which is were my family hails from, and where I'll be visiting early in June.

Snowmass, Colorado...where I will be attending a Smooth Muscle Research Confrence late in June.

Honolulu and Hawaii.... where I will be headed early in July with my friend Sarah, to really enjoy some sun.

New York, New York... where I will be headed back to early in August for my cousin's bachelorette party weekend.

What are you looking forward to this summer?

Weekend Wishbook: Free People

It's still not summer here, in fact, it's winter again.

Gross isn't it, I mean we're half way through April....a week ago I was thinking about taking my winter tires off my car, glad I didn't.

But in dreaming that summer might come soon, here's two things I found on the Free People site, and want.

Tape Yarn Vest, 77.99, I've been looking everywhere on the interweb for a patter to crochet something like this myself.

This one appears to be Macrame'd and potentially a do-able pattern... I might give it a try. I'll let you kow how it goes, just need an appropriate yarn...maybe black cotton?

While I was browsing, I noticed these cute little footies...that would be awesome for the beaches in hawaii.

 Crochet Sun Foot Tie, 57.99
Fun eh? Once again, I'm pretty sure I could pull this off myself. I mean it's basically just a doily.

I may give it a try tonight!

Hope your weekend was as good as mine (despite the weather).

Cheers!

Weekend Wishbook: Nasty Gal

Crossed Skater Dress - $48

Laced Chiffon Tank-Black - $38

Free Ride Tank - White - $48

Twiggy Flare Jeans - $160

Anyways, it's been a good weekend, happy april 1st, spring's happening any time now in Calgary, I can feel it. As such, I probably need some pretty new things to wear. All images above from the Nasty Gal site.

Last Week in Photos

Started the week off with a cute date outfit... and went on a date with a very nice boy (although this wasn't the outfit for that date :P) dress from H&M, tights Forever21, boots Minnetonka, necklace Spring. Crappy cell phone mirror pic I know... but at least it's an outfit!

Took Thursday off work to go skiing for 2dollars at Mt. Norquay. First time skiing on a real mountain! and I didn't even fall once. Poor Sarah had her eyes closed in all the pics tho. (Furry hat H&M, brand new jacket DC)

And since the weather has been soooo nice, yesterday we took a walk along to Bow River, and enjoyed what is probably fake spring.

All you needed outside was a cozy sweater and you were good to go, which is amazing for Calgary in early march. (Sweater Forever21, boots Minnetonka... skinny jeans from somewhere?)

I especially love the way the ice looks when it's starting to break up. Hopefully this chinook weather will last all of the way to actual spring.

Anyways, I've got to go into the lab today, and then Yoga, then a soccer game... then hopefully try and spot the tail end of the solar storm powered northern lights I keep hearing about. Hope you remembered to set your clocks ahead, and lost out on the extra hour of sleep.