We had lunch at this shop, which is the original Strawn’s and very close to our place in Highland area, after months passing by and my husband told me every time that its is a great place to eat.

I was so tired of eating fry chicken there whenever we are back, so I’ve read lots of restaurant reviews onlin.  This place have very consistent reviews across the sites, I now can understand why.

The shop are spaces and clean but simple at the same time, give you this neighborhood place atmosphere.  The murals are very interesting.  In this original shop, we saw one with full of local history.

The menu is simple (below) but full of good food. I ordered pancakes with strawberry and cream, the pancakes was big, and excellent texture, soft and light.  salad is very basic, in case you order it.  I will go back for their chicken fried steak next week, something I miss out because we arrived late (2:45PM, when the kitchen has been closed for lunch menu) I will update the blog with that information afterward.

We asked for a whole strawberry pie to go, which they did not have any.  In place, they gave us free 4 boxes of all 4 types of pies, some in quarter, some in half, including strawberry, peach, banana and coconut pies.  I have to say that the pies are so good that all our family jump in even those who reluctant with no sweet tooth The crust is not so sweet, cover with fruit and top with sweet creme.  No wonder they got voted for number one pie by Southern Living magazine.

You got to remember this original location is opened until 3PM, with lunch menu only available until 2:30PM.  They have two other locations that opened for dinner also if you are interesting in coming after 3PM.  To me, this is a must stop southern eatery you have to make when you are here-  Don’t forget to have a piece of pie!

Menu *please note prices current as of December 2007 Breakfast and Desserts Buttered Toast………..2.00 Bacon, Sausage, or Ham…2.25 Hot Cakes, Full Stack….4.00 Short Stack….3.50 Hot Cakes and Cream…..6.00 (two cakes with strawberries or bananas with pure whipped cream) *add chocolate chips for 25 cents! All breakfast combinations are served with choice of hash browns or grits and biscuits or toast. One egg with choice of bacon, ham, or sausage 4.50 Two eggs with choice of bacon, ham, or sausage 5.00 One egg and toast 3.75 Two eggs and toast 4.25 Ham Steak (8oz ham), two eggs, potatoes 7.00 “Hungry Man Combo” 2 eggs, choice of bacon, ham or sausage, and two hot cakes  7.00 Omelettes – choice of bacon, ham, sausage, or cheese with choice of three of following: bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, onion 6.50 (two meat 6.75) (three meat 7.00) Lowfat Omelette with egg whites, turkey, jal, bell pepper, onions 7.00 PIES *As Featured in Southern Living Magazine 1994 and 2003! Ice Box Pies, homemade with pure whipped cream. Choice of Strawberry, Peach (in season), Chocolate, and Coconut……..3.25/slice Whole Pies (priced to go only)…13.75 SODA FOUNTAIN…………3.00 Shakes, Malts, Floats, and Sodas, and Sundaes (Vanilla or Chocolate) Sandwich, Potatoes, Salads, and Dinners Grilled Cheese………..2.25 or  Peanut Butter and Jelly….2.25 Grilled Ham and Cheese…3.25 Grilled Bacon and Cheese.3.25 Bacon and Egg on Bun…..3.50 Ham and Egg on Bun…….3.50 Sausage and Egg on Bun…3.50 BLT………………….3.25 Fried Ham…………….3.25 Fried Egg…………….3.25 Turkey……………….3.25 Hamburger…………….3.25 Cheeseburger………….3.50 Double Meat Hamburger….4.00 Double Meat Cheeseburger.4.25 Bacon Hamburger……….4.25 Bacon Cheeseburger…….4.50 Double Bacon Cheeseburger………..5.00 Club Sandwiches with choice of bacon, ham or turkey AND egg or cheese…………….6.25 Two meats or Grilled Chicken Breast with egg or cheese…………6.75 French Fries………….2.25 Hashbrowns……………2.25 Small Side Salad………1.75 Large Lettuce and Tomato Salad……………3.25 Chef Salad……………6.50 Grilled Chicken Salad….6.50 Chicken Strip Salad……6.50 Following sandwiches served with choice of salad or potatoes for $6.50 Grilled Chicken Chicken Fried Steak Chicken Strips Open-Faced Roast Beef Following dinners served with choice of potatoes AND salad for $7.25 Chicken Fried Chicken Hamburger Steak Chicken Fried Steak Ham Steak Grilled Chicken Roast Beef *when available the above dinners can be served with vegetables for an additional 50 cents Lunch Plate…………7.00 Dinner Plate………..7.00

The dish should be serverved hot, immediately off the stove while it is crunchy/.

In our neighborhood, where there are many of us who can take turn to make the crêpe in the
kitchen while others eat, this is great fun.

INGREDIENTS:

Filling:

• - Jicama (Củ sắn), thinly slice into strips
• - Yellow Onion, sliced into strips
• - Green Onion, cut into 2 inches pieces
• - Slice Pork Shoulder (can be substitute by high quality bacon), cut into 2 inches piece
• - Fresh Shrimp
• - Firm Fried Tofu, sliced
• - Steam yellow bean (peeled green beans)

Crepe:

• Ready mix crepe mixture at the Asian grocery store (Bột bánh xèo)
• a can of coconut milk
• a bottle of beer
• cold water
  
• a bunch of green onion, chopped
  
• Olive oil

Dipping sauce:
-any basic Vietnamese fish sauce recipe

DIRECTIONS:

1. To make the batter:

Mix the batter according to bag direction, with the following twist:

• If the bag direction indicated 3 1/2 cups of water, use 2 cups of iced cold water and
  2 cups of cold beer.
• If the bag direction indicated 750 ml then use 500 ml of iced cold water and
  500 ml of cold beer.

First, mix the 2 types of flour together, shift the coconut milt into the mixed flour to create a thick texture.  Slowly mix in the beer/water mix above.  Stir until dissolved.  Add the green onion. Put this in the fridge until ready to use.

2. Prepare the filling:
- Soak yellow bean in warm water for a few minute.  Put your steam  on, add the bean when the water boiling and steam for a round 10 minutes until the bean is tender. The time is depend on your steamer’s size and how much bean you used. This dish does not required that lots.

- Stir fry pork shoulder briefly with salt & pepper, if using bacon, just fry bacon and pepper. It will be a few minute until the meat is thoroughly cook.

-  If you use large shrimp, then cut the shrimp into half, and fry it until pink.

3.  To make the crepe:

On a medium high heat, use non stick pan, with some olive oil, start a few slices of onion, green onion, tofu and pork.  Fry for 30 seconds, then pour in
a laddle of the batter, enough to cover the bottom of the pan in a thin layer.

Wait for the crepe settle on the pan, about 30 secs, add the slices of jicama,  yellow bean and shrimp. Cover for around 2 mins (depend on your stove).

Fold the crepe into half and serve.

Serve crepe with a variety of herb, folded together inside a large leave of bitter bok choi and dipping sauce.

The challenging of making pasta,  half of the week is figuring out a new taste so everyone will not get bored.  Plus on top of everything, this week we have an vegetarian in the house.

Grill Endive is cooked follow a recipe I found in Mario Batali cook book.  This yummy vegetable is served as a main course for my vegetarian son.

I made pasta with 2 sauce version: vegetarian and full,  serve also with grill sausages for the rest of the family.  The  pasta is a modified version from a Prawn Linguine from Jamie Oliver Issue 3 Magazine.

And it goes ….

Grill Endives:

- 1/4 cup of grapes oil
- Fresh marjoram
- Juice and peels of one lemon

- 5 endives, cut into 1/2 lengthwise

Mix oil/herb and lemon into a bowl,
marinate the endive in the mixture for about 1/2 hour.

Put a frying pan on hight heat, grill the endive face down for about 20 mins
until well fried like grill texture.

Serve the endives with the marinated oil.   I did not actually grill this outside because of the  104 degree F heat

Pasta:

Ingredients:
Cooked pasta of your choice, cook to your liking

- Sauce 1:

• - 1/4 cup of Olive Oil
• - 4-5 gloves of garlic, mashed and minced
• - 1 onion, chopped
• - 1 Tbsp of capers
• - a can of anchovies
• - 1 chipotle in adobe sauce
• - 100ml of white wine

- Sauce 2:

• - Olive oil
• - 4-5 cloves of garlic, mashed and minced
• - Fresh tomatoes of any kind, chopped
• - Flat leave parsley- chopped

Direction:

To make the first sauce, fried Garlic/Anchovies/Onion/capers in Olive Oil until anchovies disolved.
Add chipolte, and mix for 1 minute, add white wine.
Cook intil the white wine drop in half.
Remove from heat, let cool.
Then pour the sauce into a food processor and run several rounds.

In the mean time, fri the galic for the 2nd sauce in a pan until golden brown.
Add the tomatoes, some salt and pepper.  Cook about 5 minutes in medium heat
to get it to a sauce texture.

I mixed a portion of the cooked pasta with the 2nd sauce for our oldest son, who is a vegeterian
and the rest with both sauces for the family.

Note: Our family do not like cheese or sauce that overwheme with tomatoe tatse,
therefore I removed both ingideients out of the original recipes.

I used shoulder lamb chops for this dish, marinated in Greek yogurt/lemon juice/fresh mint  for about 30 minutes then grill.

The Chimichurri sauce is made with instruction from NORECIPE as follow:

http://www.norecipes.com/2008/07/21/steak-with-mint-chimichurri-sauce/

1/2 C packed mint
1 clove garlic pressed or finely minced
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 lime juiced

I put the whole things into a food processor and puree.

The whole dish is then served with pasta and spring vegetable that I got from my garden

After a market research study, I came home late.  This meal was cooked up in a hurry but very tasty.

I ran across the original recipe from a FoodandWine newsletter, which proved to me it is never bad

to receive food emails from different sources.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/mussel-and-squid-pilaf-with-sweet-spices-and-dill

I modified the above version by:
- Substitute Mussel by clam (we have no mussel available at home at that time)

Ingredients

- Cook Rice
- 1 can of clam with juice, strain, reserve the juice
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-  6 garlic cloves, halved
- 1 medium onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
-  Large pinch of saffron threads
- 1 tablespoon dried currants
- One 1 1/2-inch cinnamon stick
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (I freshly ground this spice)

- 3/4 pound cleaned squid, bodies sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch rings
- 4 scallions, white and green parts, finely chopped

Directions

Pre-cook the rice in the rice cooker (my kids did this while I was at a Focus group)
In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the diced onion and garlic, cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 minutes.
Crumble in the saffron threads and stir in the dried currants, cinnamon stick and allspice. Add the clam and cook until all mix (about 1-2 minutes)
Add the squid and cook, stirring, until it begins to curl, about 1 minute.
Add the rice,and the clam juice,  mix and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until the rice starts to stick together, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the chopped scallions.

This was serve with Grill Flank Steak (Because one of my twin sons loves steak, the other loves seafood.
It however worked out great.

Mùa hè, nhiều rau quả, làm mình nghỉ đến món gì nhè nhẹ/.  Trên đường về đọc báo Food Net Work thấy có công thức làm couscous và cà tím,

hai thứ mà ông xã và tụi nhóc thích nhất nên đem ra thử/.

Couscous rất ngon nhưng cà thì báo quá, biết vậy chẳng để ya-out vào/.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<Google Translator- with some twists>

In summer, many vegetables, do you think of what dishes gently /. Read  Food Net Work magazine on the way home, shows recipes aof couscous and eggplant,

which my husband and the kiddo’s  favorite,   should take the test /.

Couscous is delicious but the eggplant  is  too rich, so not to know ya-out on /.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/vegetable-couscous-with-moroccan-pesto-recipe/index.html

I edit this recipe to what I made (which depends on what is in the fridge

Ingredients

1. Store bought pesto

2. For the Couscous:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Kosher salt
• 1 onion, cut into 8 wedges
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 fresh tomatoes – chopped (from a friend’s garden :=)  )
• 1 yellow pepper, cut into chunks
• a bunch of Brussels sprout , chopped
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat couscous

Directions

Prepare the vegetables for the couscous:

Heat a wide heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon salt; cook until the butter begins to brown.

Add the onion. Tie the reserved parsley stems and cinnamon stick together with twine; add to the pot.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, 1 cup water,and the rest of the vegetable. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are crisp-tender, about 15 minutes.

Remove the parsley and cinnamon.

Meanwhile, cook the couscous as the label directs. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, season with salt and pepper and fluff with a fork.

Top the couscous with the vegetables and pesto.

Serve with jalapeno & cheese sausage from CZECH STOP  in West, Texas:

(hint: Their kolache is really good)

http://www.czechstop.net/home.php

~~~~~~~~~~

I do not recommnded the egg plant so if you like you can check out the recipe here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/eggplant-with-yogurt-and-dill-recipe/index.html

Tối qua thèm burger, tháng này báo toàn là burger, đem ra thử.

Ngon quá ngon-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cooking burger last night using a June Rachel Ray recipe with a special twist.

The burger tasted very delicious with the mixture of crunchiness from the chips,

and the spiciness of chipotle and Jalapeno.

We ate so fast, did not have time for any pic, so here they are, from Rachel Ray website.

A note that I made a mayonnaise sauce to go with the original recipe.

This sauce was an alter version from the June Food & Wine burger recipe, which used

Worcestershire sauce instead of soy sauce, which I did not have any available.

The burger was served with the  sauce and spicy horseradish mustard.

Enjoy-

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-index/lunch-recipes/Kickin–Beef-Burger

Here is my twisted version:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-cups store-bought coleslaw
• 3 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeno chiles
• 1/2 cup jarred sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 3 tablespoon sauce
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
• a bunch of parsley
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 4 burger parties (I used BUBBA)
• Salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 4 kaiser rolls, split
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 20  kettle-style potato chips
• Horseradish Mustard

Direction:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the coleslaw and jalapeños. <This is a dry salad texture that will go on top of your burger, the Russian sauce I made, bring this up quite  a bit>.  In a small bowl, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, chipotle chile and adobo sauce.<You can make more of this, I double the original recipes>
2. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, parsley, red wine vinegar and soy sauce.
3. Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium-high.Grill the patties to your liking.  Grill the onion if you like (we did)
4. Meanwhile, spread the butter on the rolls and grill until toasted. Adding the chips to the bottom,  spread the tomato-chipotle mixture on top. Adding the onion.n  Top each roll bottom with a patty, some coleslaw and sauces, then a roll top.