Sunday, January 8, 2012

My Birthday Food Fun, 2012

Yesterday was my birthday, so in keeping with posting on places to eat, I'm including the restaurants that we went to to celebrate.  To be even more helpful, I'm including the actual addresses of the restaurants, just in case you make the drive.  :-)  My daughters also made my cake, and my mom made a pudding pie, mmm-mm.

 The first restaurant is Andy Nguyens (2077 Broadway, Sacramento) that is a Buddhism-influenced vegetarian restaurant.  My mom took me there on Friday for lunch to start the eatin' early.


We started with a simple soup that the waitress described as "broth with vegetables."  She really sold it with her vibrant description, don't you think?  My mom held the spoon up for your viewing pleasure.  There was some basic soft seitan in there as well.


Next came the Treasure Rolls, which we thought looked beautiful.  To make it vegan, they subbed out the veggie ham for veggie shrimp.  It had a nice peanut sauce to go with it.


This is my mom's dish, Supreme Wisdom, which is so apropos.  It was was seitan and veggies in a coconut milk broth.  The jasmine rice was on the side.  When I asked about the side salad that was mentioned on the menu, we were told that the pot stickers were the salad.  So now you know: pot stickers are salad.  Inside it appeared there was mashed tofu with some indefinable veggie.


My dish was the Limitless Compassion, which is true if you have a good story.  I didn't bother showing you the "salad" again.  My dish was mock beef and veggies in a spicy sauce.  I have no idea how the peppery substance got on the plate.

All in all we liked the food.  The restaurant has changed since the last time I was there about five years ago, but it's still similar to what it was.  I was not overly impressed to the point that I wouldn't investigate our other vegan Asian treasures around town.  But, it was satisfying.

For dinner on Saturday night, my parents took us to Thai Takieng (4400 San Juan Blvd., Fair Oaks), the same place we went for G's birthday last year.  I like this restaurant, and every time I go, I like to try something new off the menu.


I started with a bowl of Tom Kha: Artichoke Soup.  And artichoke soup it was!  Can you see them floating there?  Besides artichokes, there were button and straw mushrooms in a coconut milk broth,  And that was about it.  It was very simple, but for a girl who loves artichokes, mushrooms and coconut milk, it was great.


My main dish was Pad Kra-Prao:  Chili and Thai Basil Stir-fry.  I had my choice of tofu or mock meats, and I chose mock chicken.  I wish now I had just stuck with tofu to soak up the flavors more.  Without sounding boastful, I like my own seitan: I can flavor it just right, and most restaurant versions are kind of bland.  The sauce and veggies here were great, and it was just spicy enough.  G and I shared brown rice to go with it.


Here is my birthday cake.  SR made the batter for the cake, and GR made the frosting.  It was delicious!


Here is the chocolate peanut butter pudding pie that my mom made.


Er, my dessert plate shows my fondness for pudding pies.  Ahem.  I loved my cake, though, too!

Hope you enjoyed the food tour of my day.  G's turn comes up in two weeks.  And, as usual, for two weeks he says I'm too old for him.

17 comments:

  1. I was already drooling, then you had to go and show your pudding pie. More importantly, happy birthday!

    Lunch was really lovely, visually, and I imagine it was just as lovely to eat! At dinner, I bet I would have loved the artichoke soup, as well. And I won't speak of the pie again, just that I am seriously jealous. :)

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  2. Ingrid, you should definitely be jealous of the pie. It was so good. :-)

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  3. Muy delicioso...I love this delicious food. HAPPY BIRTHDAY my friend. Are you an Aquarian, I am...my birthday is on January 20.

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  4. Happy Birthday! It sounds like a much better time than last year (was it?) when you got served meat on more than one occasion. The restaurants sound great!

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  5. Hey Happy Birthday!!! All the food looks so tasty, even the broth with veggies, as plain as it sounds, looks like a perfect way to get the taste buds going at the start of a meal. And it's good to know that potstickers are salad...I always wondered about that.

    I agree that homemade seitan is generally tastier than storebought or restaurant stuff.

    And your cake and pie look simply scrumptious!

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  6. happy birthday! that pie! my goodness. i would have a hard time sharing that :)

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  7. Happy Birthday! In my humble opinion, your celebratory food looks fabulous. I want to come celebrate with you next year! Now I must run to the kitchen and get something to eat 'cause your post has made me very hungry.

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  8. Funny FF mentioned last years bday. I still think of that post from time to time. Your girls huddling in fear...

    I've been planning to make a Chocolate PB Pudding Pie too (well bought the crust anyway). Great minds think alike.

    Happy Birthday!

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  9. Millie, thanks. No, I'm a Capricorn, but I don't really believe in astrology.

    FF, Good memory! Yes, besides having pot stickers as salad, this was much better than being served meat twice. Yikes.

    Rose, thank you! Yes, the brothy soup was a good start to the meal. Now, we can have a pot sticker bar and call it a salad bar!

    Sara, GR, my younger daughter, did not appreciate how I was hoarding the pie and told me so.

    Andrea, thanks and you're more than welcome to come down next year. :-)

    S.V., ha ha! Yes, that was a great picture of them. I can hardly wait to drool over your pie. Pudding is my favorite dessert.

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  10. Happy Birthday Michelle, looks like you had a very full day!

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  11. What a lovely birthday! LOL- dumplings are salad. That place always has the slowest service, which is why we avoid going there, but I'll have to try Thai Smile! Happy Belated!

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  12. VS, the service was unusually slow. I love Ding How in Davis though, and hopefully will put up a review of that soon.

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  13. Happy Birthday!!!
    The cake looks great. And love the pumpkin bread/cake. Love carrot/pumpkin/sweet potato, anything orange and sweet apparently.

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  14. Love the cake! You’re amazing. This ingredients is fantastic, It sure will help everyone who’s looking for a perfect cake like this. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I can share this to catering in manila for the information.

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