This weekend we were supposed to be heading to London for a picnic – however, bacon seemed to have picked up a horrendous cold from Malaysia…and as he was just recovering, picked up another cold here! So he’s been progressively sick for the past few weeks, and compounded with his busy travelling schedule this week, we had unfortunately had to cancel . Oh well….I had to find some other way to entertain myself this weekend, so baking it was!

I’ve always wanted to make biscuits – American-style, not jammie dodgers English-styled. American biscuits are more like scones, eaten with a main meal instead of dinner rolls. As per my previous post, I’m totally in love with the butter-drenched naughty Cheddar Bay biscuits from Red Lobster. So copy-cat baking it is then!

I googled like crazy for a good copycat recipe – to my dismay most of the recipes require the use of Bisquick, which is also not sold here in the UK. AAARGH. I eventually found one that seemed passable, and decided to use that recipe. I should have really used my brains instead of just following the recipe blindly – the biscuits, although delicious, are EXTREMELY salty. This is probably due to the 1tbs salt that the recipe called for, plus salted butter & cheese. However, the texture seemed to be very close to Red Lobsters’, so I’m going to share the recipe anyway – omitting the salt and replacing the butter for unsalted butter. You could also add some parsley flakes into the dough, and temper the garlic powder according to how garlicky you’d like it to be.

Copycat cheddar biscuits

2 cups/250g all-purpose flour (unbleached or regular)
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
75g unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
150g grated cheddar cheese
120-160ml milk

For brushing on top:

3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and garlic powder.

Add the cubed butter to the dry mixture; I used my fingers and rubbed the butter into the flour

Add oil and grated cheddar cheese.

Slowly add milk, little by little until the whole mixture holds together. Add milk until the dough is moistened and you can no longer see any raw flour.

Drop approximately 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto an un-greased cookie sheet or a Silpat using an ice cream scoop or large spoon.

Bake for 15-17 minutes in a preheated oven at 400F/200C

While biscuits are baking, melt 3 tablespoons butter is a small bowl with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and the parsley.

Brush the garlic-parsley-butter combination on top of the biscuits immediately after they are done – the more you add, the more utterly butterly it is! Yums…. Best served warm

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I love it because it’s buttery, cheesy and light – if it wasn’t so darned salty due to the crazy 1 tbs salt the recipe called for, it would’ve been perfect!

EDIT: This was part of my Awesome America blog posts – however, I’ve just noticed that I’ve left this in the draft!! So here it is – my love for chain-restaurants revealed!

I’m not entirely sure that a trip to Red Lobster deserves an entire blog post by itself. Heh. Well, I’m going to anyway, as I never did document my visits to Red Lobsters years ago. Red Lobster is a nationwide seafood chain, serving up lobsters (doh), crabs, shrimps and more. However, my favourite memory of Red Lobster is most definately their deliciously naughty Cheddar Bay scones. Served warm, buttery, soft and herby, I had dreamt about them for many years since I left CA.

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As usual, when we went in for an early lunch, I was not hungry at all, having just had breakfast. Seeing that the Red Lobster by Times Sq was the only one that we’d seen in New York, we thought we would pop in for a quick lunch anyway and share a platter.

The yummy Cheddar Bay biscuits. The best part is they are FREE – comes complimentary with every main course ordered. OMG. When I was a penniless student, I used to go into Red Lobster, order the cheapest entree, and get two lots of the biscuits. And then doggy bag all of it when I’ve finished with a basket of biscuit. Yeah, I have no shame . The biscuits are really beautiful. So buttery it should be made illegal, as soft as a marshmallow, it literally melts in your mouth. I have to admit though, I don’t really like the main courses as much as I love the free starter.

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We ordered a Seafood Platter, which came with a starter of Caesar Salad. Crisp and tasty, like a caesar salad should be – just nice.

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And here it was – the shrimp and lobster platter. A pot of buttered shrimp, a shrimp skewer, a lobster tail, wild rice, fries, ketchup and melted butter, this was seafood dipped in butter. It tastes better than it looks, and suprisingly not as greasy as all the butter would lead you to believe. The seafood was suprisingly fresh, and the butter counteracts beautifully with the well seasoned seafood. Bacon even went as far to declare that this was the best meal he had in the States – and with the places that I bring him, this is no easy feat!

I miss Red Lobster already.. It was lovely when I was a student and it is still unpretentiously lovely now. Highly recommended as a family restaurant as they cater for kids, but it serves up good value tasty seafood for adults as well. I wished they would seriously consider opening a branch up in the UK, although it would probably triple the prices!

I live bligging from airports. When I first saw pc kiosks in KLIA that many years ago, it amused me to no end. Now that there’s free wi-fi (whoa) I am perpetually tapping away at my iPod.

As usual, my two weeks away had flown by. This trip was filled with family duties…visited the grandma and other assorted families. But of course, the main reason for the trip was to attend dreymer’s wedding. That deserves a full blog post, so I shall leave it for now .

We also had a grand ole family vacation in Krabi, Thailand, where it proceeded to piss it down all 4 days we were there. I got conned by the ‘rents to stupidly hike up a mountain but got massages all 4 days we were there. Meh. Did’nt do much shopping this time around as the exchange rate was outrageous, which is always annoying. But personal highlights for this trip were my endless trips to 100-yen shops and wolfing down durians endlessly. Nom nom nom…but bacon was most definately not impressed!!

I have so much more to say, but there is only so much I can do with my super mini keyboard here. Will hopefully be back and fully functioning later im the week, so I’ll be back to bore you more with my mindless chatter!?

I woke up this morning on a beach resort, and started my day with a lovely thai massage. I flew back to the home I grew up in, and saw friends that I love – and time, just for a moment, seemed to have stood still.

Today I turn a decade older. Hmm. Not really a good thing. Or is it?

It just feels that I turned a decade older but age is really just a number. I am very suprisingly am still pretty much wrinkle-free. I don’t feel any different, and I even still wear my favourite army jacket that I bought 10 years ago in the states. So in many ways, nothing much had changed in life. I’m now sat on the bed I had since I was 14, staring at the apple-green walls of my room, decorated by posters that still scream ‘teenager’.

Oh, except I seemed to have acquired a husband along the way, lived in 3 different countries, partied like its 1999 ,collected many friends along the way and can now afford many things I could only dream of when I was a struggling student in 2000. I’ve lived well, made mistakes along the way, but I never ceased learning. I learnt to let go of the things I cannot change, learnt to love myself, learnt to never let go of dreams.

I look back to my 20′s, and in the words of Edif Piaf, je ne regrette rien. Its been a fabulous ride, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I would have been a pleasant suprise to my 20 year old self, no I’m not old and dowdy at 30, and I can now afford many nice things, including the travelling I’ve always dreamt of. And fabulous friends and a husband that loves me (most of the time ). And shockingly, a mortgage well within my means.

So yes, you did ok kid,you did ok. Have a happy birthday, with many more to come.

Before we accidentally bumped into Eileen’s Special Cheesecake, we were actually on the lookout for La Esquina Taqueria & Cafe, Mexican cuisine exordinaire. Another non-tourist haunt, this was recommended to me by a blog friend as serving one of the better mexican food in the NY area. Seeing that it is literally diagonal from Eileen’s, I still have no clue how we missed it.

Serving up mexican food street-food style, it is tacos galore, and even proper sandwiches in baguettes. There is a sit-down cafe next to it, but we decided to go it takeaway-style from the taqueria, where food is freshly cooked and the service is speedy.

Lining up. Looks like the streetfood kiosks that pepper California.

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Bacon ordered the pepito, the grilled steak sandwich in a crusty baguette with chimmichurri sauce. You could taste the freshness of the ingreddients, and that was nice.

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I had the fish taco, pescado a las brasas. Grilled skewer of fresh fish with red slaw and salsa verde, this was freshness to the max – obviously I didn’t realise that one portion meant one taco – could’ve done with a few monre. Fortunately I didn’t order more, otherwise I wouldn’t had been able to finish my ‘side dish’.

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Taco soup. Hardly a side dish, this was a hearty meal by itself. Chockful of tangy tomatoes, creamy avocado, chicken and crunchy black corn tortillas, this was heavenly. It was the first time I had taco soup – and ever since returning to the UK, I had had this three more times, once in a mexican restaurant and I made it myself twice. I fell in love with this dish, and I think the magic is due to the amazing creamy avocadoes and swirl of sour cream – somehow mine just never taste 100% the same, but 97% is close enough for me! Yummys.

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La Esquina was refreshing, a definate well-loved trendy neighbourhood haunt. It has a slightly speakeasy-like aura surrounding it. Minimalist food with extremely fresh ingredients, this really impressed me. Flavours are not masked with lashings of tinned salsa or cheese/sour cream combo that is so prevalent in Mexican restaurants in the UK. Everyone seem to know exactly what they wanted except for me and bacon, the token tourists. I am ever so pleased that we stumbled upon (well, more recommended to, thanks Megan!) this little slice of real New York, and the flavours of Mexican food delighted my tastebuds to no end. Ahh….I remember now why I used to love Mexican food. Thank you La Esquina for bringing me back.

Resource
La Esquina
106 Kenmare St
New York, 10012, United States
(646) 613-1333
Underground: Spring St Station