Schweinshaxe – Home
When I think of German food, the first thing that comes to mind is the Schweinshaxe. The delicious pork shank roast that has juicy tender meat and a crispy crunchy skin. While I did not use a traditional German recipe, I made my first attempt at the Schweinshaxe using seasonings of my own choice and the cooking methods presented to me. The result was absolutely delicious. The meat was moist and tender, and the skin was super crunchy… just the way I like it. Two cooking methods were used, boiling and baking. I tried to take some pictures along the way to help illustrate. The pork shank was marinated for about 2 days before cooking, I think I would marinate it just a little bit longer or season it a little more heavily.
I was extremely happy with the result. Will try again with some minor seasoning tweaks again soon.
Cardinal Coffee Shop Lounge – San Jose, CA
I created a new category “In-Betweens” because of the Cardinal and my experience there on 2/26/2010. This was my second visit, and I wasn’t as impressed as I was before.
The reason for suggesting the visit to the Cardinal was so that I could get my hands on a Monte Cristo. I rounded up a couple of friends and dragged them to the extremely tacky coffee shop for some late night noms. The Cardinal features a lounge, but this lounge is definitely NOT the place to be if you are part of the younger generation. I would say that the people who visit this particular lounge are easily 40+…. Since it was late when we went in for food, there were some ‘tipsy’ older people… doing incredibly stupid things that not only embarrassed themselves but also everyone who was unfortunate enough to be present.
So anyway, on to the actual dining experience. Our server that night was terrible. He reminded me of a greasy salesman. First it took him forever to come over to take our order, then he didn’t bring our drinks until the food arrived (he had to be reminded), he tried to not give me preserves with my sandwich, and was just generally unpleasant. Maybe he was just having a bad night, or maybe he was just a terrible server. I don’t think I’ll ever find out.
I ordered the Monte Cristo, which is like a ham cheese and turkey sandwich dipped in egg and deep fried. It wasn’t as good as it could have been, I suspect that the oil used at the restaurant could do with changing. But it was alright. The melted cheese helps the meat and bread stick together. French fries could have been more crispy… I really hate soggy soft french fries. One of my friends ordered Cinnamon French Toast, and was severely disappointed not only with the taste, but also with the portion size, and miniscule amount of maple syrup that was served with her food. Literally, she got maybe a tablespoon or two of syrup. Another friend ordered Chicken a la Leonardo, which he was satisfied with. The chicken was tender, the melted cheese was very good, but the dish could have used more mushrooms and garlic.
Alright, onto more information about the Cardinal. The bathroom. While, I personally did not visit the bathroom, my friend did and was not only disgusted by the conditions but was severely traumatized by her experience. The floor was soaked in urine. No doubt left behind by the drunken cougars that frequent the Cardinal’s lounge.
All in all, I’m categorizing the Cardinal under the new category “in-between” because the food wasn’t “nasty”, but the experience on the other hand was. Maybe someday I’ll find it in my heart to give the cardinal another try… You never know when I’ll get a craving for mediocre food and tacky red vinyl seats.
China Rose – Milpitas, CA
This is a place that I am very familiar with, and its one of the few places that offers fried Eggplant the same way that my mom makes them. Since we hadn’t been here for awhile (2/24/2010), we ordered a lot of items that we missed… Although in the future I don’t believe we’ll have this many ‘fried’ dishes all at once.
The Eggplant and Fried Fish Fillet both have this wonderful crunchy minced garlic that is extremely flavorful, it goes extremely well over rice. I did find that the eggplant was a little more greasy than usual, but then again, eggplant does tend to soak up oil. The noodle soup was a little bit spicy, but the noodles were yummy.
Lion Heads (meatballs) are awesome. They are very tender, quite different than the meatballs that you would get with spaghetti. If you’ve never had a Lion Head, I suggest that you give it a try the next time you’re at a good chinese restaurant.
