Sur La Table - Healthy Cooking class

Went to another cooking class with Sur La Table, this time is a work event, which is totally fun when you do the class with a bunch of friends.  

The theme is Healthy Cooking with Green Pan.  So, obviously they are obviously going to show you how to cook with this pan in various way.

First we made our Frittata with the pan, the sauce that goes with it gives it an amazing kick.  A lot of these dishes, you can leave it in the pan and put it in the oven.  It slides off nice and clean like the frittata here. 

Chef Ryan basically did all the work.  We were imbibing and listening, but he did most of the work.

There's chicken in the pans, on top of mushroom, wine reduction.  Once the chicken came out of the oven, he added some butter and thicken things up, and it became a delicious sauce for the chicken.

Final product: nice color, with sauce to go with the meat.  

Most importantly, it is moist and not dried. The sauce also goes great with pasta.

For our veggie, we have rutabaga with carrots.  I've never had rutabaga that I know of.  

And before cooked, it has a texture of turnip, but once cooked, the taste is sweet.  Definitely want to add to my veggie rotation.

For dessert, they wanted to showcase that the pans can handle souffle as well. And I was highly skeptical.  How will the pouf not cave in?!

Well, I'll be... he buttered the pans, mixed the egg whites, gave us some tips about that, and we zested a few lemons, and next thing we know, it came out nice and awesome souffles.  Too cool!  And delicious too.

I highly recommend getting a group of friends or go to these cooking class as a team building event.  Not only we get some great cooking tips out of it, someone is cooking our dinner with our 'help'.  They clean up afterwards, and we get to bond and drink.  Oh yeah, for your own private event, you can bring wine.  Of course, check with the store first.  Otherwise, their classes are enjoyable as well.

Sur La Table

2200 Lone Star Drive

Sugar Land, TX 77479

281-242-2238

http://www.surlatable.com/browse/storeCalendar.jsp?storeId=116

Kata Robata

Went back to Kata for a quick lunch.  

I like to sit at the sushi bar and watch the chefs prepare the food.  You always see something interesting.

Got couple of pieces of unagi, just because they're yummy.

But I was really here for the Chirashi.  My neighbor saw the nice presentation was so curious what it was.  To me, it's a nice way of trying all sorts of fish in a good deal without ordering each nigiri one at a time.  For the price, you get all these variety and of course rice, it's really an awesome deal.  This round, amazingly, the tuna was super fresh, and you can really tell.  My trick usually is eat some sashimi and then rice, as I'm getting full, I just go of the sashimi and skip the rice.  I'm sure most people would do the same.  But truly, this is the most bang for your bucks!

Kata Robata

3600 Kirby Ave

Suite H

Houston, TX 77098

713-526-8858

http://www.katarobata.com  

Kuu

Went to Kuu for a low key dinner.

I can never figure out the valet at the back of the breezeway, which is also the closest to the door of the restaurant, so we ended up self parking.  Keep in mind that garage has tight corners, so make sure you check traffic both ways.

Had a Midori Sour, they didn't have enough Sour in it.

Had the Kuu Roll, there's avocado, lobster, maguro on top, then a little bit more lobster on top. The greenish white sauce is edamame puree.  It's actually quite good.

This is the Waygu & Unagi, is to die for.  The soft meat with the soft fish together, is divine.  You don't feel like they put any soy on top of them, just melts in your mouth.  Deeelish!

Piece of Waygu, yum!  Not as yummy as the Waygu & Unagi dish, but good on its own.

Hamachi & Eggplant.  I know it's an odd choice to pick Eggplant, they actually grilled it, and it has this yuzu sauce on top.  So, it's not salty all the way.  Pretty good, I would recommend this.

This is the smoked duck.  It's actually very good.  Texture is moist and soft.  Match with edamame and pureed sauce, we basically picked on it and picked on it for the longest.

Overall, we enjoy the service.  Since one of the diners have special diet, she was kind enough to go back to the kitchen and check for us time and time again.  The bar is the hopping place, dinner crowd don't roll in until much later.  Usually they get there about 7pm, but the dinner crowd didn't get started until 7:30p - 7:45p.  That said, a reservation is always the sure fire way to make sure you get in quickly.

Kuu Restaurant

947 Gessner Rd

Houston, TX 77024

713-461-1688

http://www.kuurestaurant.com

Berryhill

Had a queso craving.

When I got my quest, I was reminded that not all queso are created equal.  The ones at Berryhill's has a kick to them.  You just grab as much chips as you want from the side.

Here comes my entree, 2 enchiladas and the sauce on there is delicious too.  That's where the rice comes in to soak up the sauce.  It was yummy.  Sometimes, a quick Tex-Mex is all you need.  I will say though, the meal deal is worth the price even though there are stuff on there that you don't want.  I got a la carte and doesn't really pay to do them separately.  So, do them by the deal.

Berryhill Baja Grill

5110 Buffalo Speedway

Suite C

Houston, TX 77005

713-667-8226

http://berryhillbajagrill.com/location/west-university/

Auntie Chang's

Whenever we want some good Chinese inside the loop, we always ended up at Auntie Chang's.

Mostly because the location is convenient, and we know Chinese owner, chef, server and crew.

We got the fried dumplings to start.  Except, it was the last dish that came because they steam cooked it first then pan fried.  I forgot that the skin they use for dumpling are really thick, so that adds to the cooking time.

This is Broccoli and Water Chestnut with Garlic sauce.  The sauce tastes good, but they put a tad too much starch on the sauce, it thickens up quickly and congealed.  Towards the end, I didn't want to touch it.

Finally to my favorite, Singapore Street Noodles.  I just love the curry paste they use in the dish.  Not spicy but flavorful.  There's pork and normally shrimp, but I didn't have any this round.

Every guest that walks thru the door, they are super polite and want to accommodate, that's a nice feeling to see.  In case you don't want to drive there, they also accept online order and they deliver within 5 miles.

Auntie Chang's

2621 Shepherd Dr

Suite 290

Houston, TX 77019

713-524-8410

http://auntiechangs.com

Fat Bao

Haven't been to Fat Bao forever.  Lunch crowd is super busy, luckily, diners order, sit down eat, and leave.  So you don't have to wait long for a seat.

Got some fries to start.   I love how it's not greasy at all, some were crispy too.

Alright, the reason for being here.  I got the Duck (left) and the Pork Belly (right).  Everytime I get the duck, I'm always impressed that the meat is juicy and not dried up.  The only thing I would add is more Hoison sauce, the sweetness balance the meat.  Love!  The pork belly was nice and tender, and just love everything about it.  Nice and soft and not chewy at all, though I forgot about the pickle part, nothing against it, just not a fan growing up.  Know better next time.

Fat Bao

3419 Kirby Dr

Houston, TX 77098

713-677-0341

http://www.fatbaohouston.com/

Cooking Girl

Been meaning to try Cooking Girl, so excited to finally get here.

Luckily, my friend has the wisdom to come early, because without reservation, you probably be waiting for a while.

We got a pot of Honey Lemon tea, it was very nice and smooth and sweet.  Really reminds me of childhood, when we were little we get drinks like that to keep warm and sweet.  For your reference, they do free refill on the pot.  Instead, we go another pot, that's Dr. Lee's Hawthorne tea.  Neither of us have had it before, but I know that hawthorn helps lower blood pressure.  That was also nice, good tea for sure.

We got the twice cooked pork.  That's a childhood favorite, something about the sauce and the veggie mixed with rice just give me a warm feeling.  According to the owner, they cooked the pork for 40 hours, which you can tell because once you stick the fork in, all the meat came apart.   

For our "veggie", we got Ma Po Tofu, this version does not have any meat in it.  What surprised me was the they use spiced black beans in the dish, the taste does stand out, not bad, just a surprised.  Good thing is that it's not super spicy.  Nice thing was that the sauce was nice to mix with rice.  YUM!

Last but not least, Volcano Cod with rice noodles.  The noodle was nice with the sauce and the red pepper past, but was surprised the fish was not as flavorful as the noodles.  I was underwhelmed by this dish.

Another thing is that they do not serve alcohol, but you can bring your own, and they charge a small fee for corking.  Lots of people brought their own, and it was a popular thing for diners here.  

The whole set up is very nice, the place is small but you get the feeling that you're eating at someone's home.  The whole family works here, one sister in the front of the house, one at the back, their mom, one of the sister's husband, and cousin works here to make it all work.  Don't forget to either come early or call for a reservation!

Cooking Girls

315 Fairview St

Houston, TX 77006

832-649-7175

http://www.thecookinggirls.com