Ocean 211

I am going to Florida for 5 days and before I left, I decided I couldn't leave without writing about the restaurant we were in this weekend. As usual we couldn't decide on where to go. But reading this review helped me make the decision. We had once gone to Ocean 211 before, but we had to wait 30min to be seated as we did not make any reservations and as were too hungry to wait we went to another nearby place.
But this time we did the right thing, we made reservations. We were promptly seated..We chose to sit downstairs as there was music playing. The way they serve wine is in decanters, which adds interest to the whole set up. We had raw oysters, 2 from East Coast and 2 from west. I couldn't tell the difference in the two owing to my lack of experience with oysters. For appetizer, we had the most delicious crab cake I had ever eaten. Then for the entrees I had Dover Sole which was classically prepared, filleted tableside, finished with a fresh lemon caper butter, served with asparagus. Satish had a fish that I had not heard of which was excellent too..What I liked best about this restaurant was that the dishes are not huge, they are all small portions. Sometimes seeing big portions of food makes me not hungry anymore. For dessert we had espresso as we had to go to the movies afterwards. I was so impressed that I had already placed this restaurant way up in my favorite list. The prices are expensive but totally worth it!

Great pancakes!

I am a person who usually works three days a week and I am home for the rest four days. Typically, I am very busy at work and am lucky if I can manage some time for cereal. So, the days I am off I try to have something nice and hearty for breakfast.For some reason last night I felt like having some pancakes for dinner and I found a lemon ricotta pancake recipe from Amy. This has almost become a trusted spot for me to look for recipes. But the plan to have breakfast menu for dinner did not materialise as I fell prey to laziness after a walk near the beach. We ended up having some leftover rice and fish for dinner.

This morning, I woke up all eager to try out the new recipe. One another reason I was attracted to the recipe was that I had all the ingredients in my pantry. So, I made the pancakes and although it said that it was enough for 2, I ended up eating all the pancakes alone.I had also made sausage but was too full to have it. I loved the pancakes so much that I am thinking of making some for Satish when he gets back from work. And I can see myself making this pancake when I have friends over for breakfast.

Here is the recipe

1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg; separated
2 T low-fat milk
3 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 t grated lemon rind {I used some lemon juice}

Blend egg yolk and ricotta cheese then add milk, flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon rind and salt mixing until completely blended. Beat egg white in another mixing bowl until just stiff but still moist. Fold gently into batter. Heat large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat and coat with cooking spray.( I used butter, but I will use cooking spray when cooking for S). Drop batter by heaping tablespoonful onto skillet, and cook until golden brown on the bottom then gently flip and cook on other side. Serve immediately.

I got 6 pancakes although the recipe said 8,maybe because my pancake batter was a little thick. The pancakes are not too sweet and the beaten egg whites make it really soft. And they hardly take any time to make.

Dim Sum! My beloved!

This article on msnbc 'lovers of dim sum beware' caught my eye this morning when I was scouring through the news. I love dim sum. We are extremely lucky to have a friend who knows all the tricks of the trade when it comes to chinese food. I have gobbled dim sum that I dont think I would have even attempted wihtout his encouragement like beef intestine, snails etc.


Dim sum is also very inexpensive, which adds to its appeal. I just love the way you can smell and look at the food before you eat it. The great array of wonderful foods on carts that are being pushed around the room can be very satisying for a food lover. Anyway, I hope the article does not scare dim sum lovers totally away, but help us make a sensible choice at the dim sum joint. Here is to dim sum!

Dinner at Spazzio

Today was not a good day at work, and I believe that is reason enough to eat out. So we did.Another reason I like to eat out is that I always manage to bring home leftovers which I transform to lunch after a long day spend sleeping on my day off....So this evening, we went to Spazzio...the neighbourhood restaurant that never got my attention, but S had always wanted to go there. Though not often, today I decided to go with what he suggested and we entered the Spazzio.

For some unknown reason, I was prejudiced against the Spazzio. First of all, it is located next to a boat supplies shop which is not very inviting, atleast for me.We had once, long time ago ordered some clam pizza...That is when I learnt seafood is best left off the pizza field, better save it for pasta. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by the ambiance of the restaurant.It was very well lit, maybe even a little too bright that some spots on the dinnerware showed. Aside from that, the tile floors and wall paintings captured the essence of Italy as best as it could. It was an effort worth appreciating.

The appetizer was a small platter of antipasto. The 'small' was actually a misnomer, because it was really good for atleast 3. Anyway, it was delicious.
I don't even the name of the dish I had, it was what the waitress suggested, chicken cutlets with hot cherry peppers and I thought it almost tasted Indian. Anyway S had the trout which he cleared completely off the plate.

The desserts were a total rip off, though. We ordered cheesecake and we were brought the tiniest piece of cheesecake ever cut , on an enormously large plate with tons of zigzags of chocolate syrup. Honstly, I would have appreciated a slightly larger piece
on a slightly smaller plate.

But overall, it was very relaxing and just what I needed after an especially bad day at work. So, I learnt a lesson never to judge a restaurant just by its outer looks.