This is a tasty Apricot Margarita ($7) made with locally grown apricots from Hollister (very close to San Juan Bautista).  I remember my grandfather drinking apricot juice every morning when I was young, so when I took the first sip of the Margarita I had a flood of memories of my grandparents come back. At the time, I never dreamed of Apricot juice in a Margarita.  I’ve never seen this flavor margarita listed anywhere else, have you?  It is a good local treat on a day trip from San Jose or Santa Cruz out into the country, to take part in the slower life.

On a sunny day, sit back and sip away on the patio at Jardines as you listen to live music and munch on nachos.  If you’re not in the mood for a Margarita, check out Manny’s Mary (Spicy Bloody Mary w/ Tequila) or the Cafe Mexicano (Hot Coffee Combined With Coffee Liqueur, Tequila, and Topped With Whipped Cream).

You can make your trip to drink an Apricot Margarita a day trip to the outlets in Gilroy or to hike at Pinnacles Nat’l Park (see our suggested California Day Trip Itinerary here).

http://www.jardinesrestaurant.com/

115 Third Street

San Juan Bautista, California

11:30 am – 9:00 pm    Sunday – thursday

11:30 am – 10:00 pm Friday & Saturday
Reservations Advised & Appreciated Phone (831) 623- 4466

We are always looking for good breakfast spots.  The Breakfast Place is a typical San Jose area restaurant in that it is located in a strip mall. It completely blends into its surroundings, making it somewhat of a hole in the wall.  The inside looks like it used to be a Taqueria with wooden booths. Oddly, there are mugs, a variety of coffee mugs hanging on the wall.  The menu is reminiscent of its fusion decor (fusion: too fancy of a word to use in the description of the atmosphere but none the less I believe I have properly used the word), a combination of Mexican breakfast dishes including Chilaquiles, Breakfast Burritos, and American classics such Chicken Fried Steak and Biscuits and Gravy (I would stick with the Mexican dishes and/or the french toast though).   The two stars were the Huevos Rancheros and the Peanut Butter French Toast. The Huevos Rancheros was delicious and some of the best I’ve had.  The Peanut Butter French Toast was unique and decadent.  I’m not sure the Chicken Fried Steak lived up to these two dishes, however a friend said he did like the Irish Eggs Benedict.

*Photos taken with Camera + App.

3132 Williams Road  San Jose, CA 95117

Main Street Garden & Cafe in Soquel, sorry Santa Cruz folks I know Soquel is SO far from Santa Cruz that you just can’t call it Santa Cruz, is a hidden spot with very creative Northern Italian, California-influenced cuisine (local, seasonal, organic and much of it from their own garden out back).  The idea that many folks in SC don’t mingle over into different areas than where they live (I picture it to all be Santa Cruz) was something that took me a while to figure out. It was finally explained to me when I had  two brothers move to Santa Cruz who said, you can’t call that Santa Cruz, that’s Aptos, Soquel, Capitola, Live Oak, The Flats, West Side, East Side …

Enough about Santa Cruz, let’s talk about Main Street Garden & Cafe in SOQUEL.  Sometimes my husband’s Aunt and Uncle take us out for good food that they have been wanting to try in the area. We are thankful for that because his Aunt knows and appreciates creative cuisine and that is what caught our eye when we looked up Main Street’s menu online.  For their Starters and Salads menu the dishes featured were Wood-fired cauliflower, curry cream, caramelized onion, chile and Salami, garden kiwi mostarda, flat bread (add copa & loin, add burrata). Doesn’t that sounds good? The dishes that lured us in ended up not being what we ordered because they change their menu frequently with what is fresh in their garden (really awesome) but we did get a fantastic cold salad with shaved Asparagus, Strawberries, Chevre, and a Sherry Vinaigrette. It was excellent and I am actually attempting to make it tonight for an impromptu dinner party at a friend’s house. Then we had the two different wood fired pizzas and two different pastas.  When I go out to a restaurant I like to have things that I can’t make at home or that would take me such a huge amount of time to make them, that I would never attempt it.  Main Street did this with their homemade black squid pasta and their great wood fired pizza crust (we particularly like the potato pizza with pork belly).

The atmosphere was quiet on the Wednesday evening we dined but call for a reservation just in case, it is that kind of place.  They did seem to be having a couple of dinner parties or corporate dinners in the back if you are interested in that.  It is a bit more expensive. We haven’t tried the Saturday or Sunday outdoor lunch in the garden but that is what we intend try next.

If you aren’t sure what to do for Mother’s Day, when I just looked at their website they listed a Mother’s Day special dinner that looks really good.  Some of these menu items really caught my eye:

• Heirloom lettuces, pistachio, chevre, strawberry-prosecco vinaigrette
• Salami, apricot mostarda, pickled radicchio, flat bread
• Garden borage pappardelle, pork ragu, tomato sauce, garden chard, grana
• Buttermilk waffle, poached garden egg, roasted asparagus, fennel cream, pecorino

Check out their menu, if you can use some of their starters for inspiration and design some good recipes, let me know!

3101 N. Main St. in downtown Soquel

http://mainstreetgardencafe.com/

Dinner:  Wednesday – Sunday starts at 5:00 pm

Lunch:  Saturday & Sunday starts at 12 noon

Reservations (831) 477-9265

Tony Di Maggios Pizza is hard to find and in the middle of ‘no where’ San Jose/Campbell (this location: San Tomas) but it’s so worth finding! The Stromboli is delicious and has a unique ingredient that makes your mouth happy. You take a bite of the piping hot gooey, melted cheese and pizza dough, which could pretty much be as plain as kid’s mac n’ cheese, but wait, it has a kick, it’s … mustard (and probably some flavor from the butter drizzled on top too)!  If you are in need of some tasty comfort food, this is one you want to save your calories up for.  It’s not vegetarian, healthy, or gluten free.  It is a sinful treat!

Stromboli: Ham, Italian Sausage, Salami, Mustard, American and Mozzarella Cheeses wrapped in Pizza Dough and topped with Butter, Oregano, Black Pepper and our home made Tomato Sauce

Tony  Di Maggios Pizza

3852 Monterey Rd
San Jose, CA 95111
(408) 629-7775

&

915 S. San Tomas Aquino Rd
Campbell, CA 95008
(408) 374-1800

*Photos taken with Camera + App.

*Photos taken with Camera + App (99 cents).  If you don’t have it, it’s great because you can focus on one thing and get the exposure (lightness/darkness) from another spot. Then you can add a filter effect, borders, and text.

515 Kitchen & Cocktails offers a great happy hour 4pm until 7 PM – everyday.

I get the le pamplemousse cocktail for $5 (finlandia grapefruit vodka, aperol liqueur, lemon juice, orange juice, and grapefruit juice, pictured above). The hubs gets a beer on special.  I will try to post more of their happy hour menu soon. Then we eat Truffle Fries (with minced rosemary, parmesan cheese and truffle oil)!  If you get there when they aren’t too busy, it’s great.  But depending on your scene it can get very busy in the later evenings.

Our favorite non-happy hour items are the 515 cocktail ($7.75 it’s a pomegranate margarita style drink cazadores tequila, la pinta tequila, lime, pama liqueur, patron citronge liqueur, sugar rim) and the burger ($11 bleu cheese, shallot confit, sauteed radicchio, and pomme frites).

Downtown Santa Cruz:

515 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060.

Our favorite of all of these deviled egg recipes was the Greek deviled egg and the runner up was the Chipotle deviled egg.

To be honest the traditional recipe for deviled eggs is also great.  My Gram always added sweet pickle relish and some of its juice, and a pinch of sugar to her deviled eggs (and egg salad).

Make sure you check out how to boil and peel the eggs for the best results here.

Happy Easter … as we head off to a Passover Party tonight!

To Recipes: ->

Greek Deviled Eggs

• 6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled
  1/4 cup mayonnaise
  1 to 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
  1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
  2 tablespoons feta cheese
  1 tablespoon finely chopped pitted kalamata olives
  2 teaspoons fresh minced oregano
  salt & pepper – to taste
  Paprika

Directions:

Slice the eggs in half lengthwise and carefully remove the yolks. Press the yolks in a mixing bowl. Add the mayo, mustard, feta, olives, oregeno, salt and pepper.  Stir to blend well. Spoon (or pipe with a pastry bag) the mixture into the egg whites. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. Sprinkle with the paprika just before serving. (If the paprika is added too early it will stain the eggs.)

——-

Chipotle-Deviled Eggs

Ingredients

• 6 hard-boiled large eggs, peeled
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons finely minced pickled jalapenos, drained
• 2 tablespoons canned chipotle in adobo sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Southwest Style Seasoning, recipe follows (chili powder, cumin, paprika, coriander, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, orgeno, salt & pepper)
• Pinch salt
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked hot paprika, for garnish

Directions:

Slice the eggs in half lengthwise and carefully remove the yolks. Press the yolks in a mixing bowl. Add the mayonnaise, jalapenos, chipotle in adobo, spices, and salt to taste. Stir to blend well. Spoon (or pipe with a pastry bag) the mixture into the egg whites. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour. Sprinkle with the paprika just before serving. (If the paprika is added too early it will stain the eggs.)

*Photos from my iphone with my olioclip fisheye lens.

This dinner party theme may sound a bit, well, kinky I guess.  I mean, there were homemade jello shots and adult snow cones  being consumed by adults in pajamas. This couple goes all out when they host. You can be assured every detail will reek with the theme of the dinner. I’ve told Sarah many times that she could have been (still can) one of those bloggers with all of the dinner party ideas and custom kid’s birthday party winners, that you pay for because they are so brilliant.

Do you know the blog hostesses out there, the ones that tell you that you don’t have to worry so much about the house being clean for a party and it really doesn’t have to take you that much time to get ready for the guests.  Yea right!  If I started a list of the details (I don’t want to give away all of her secrets) and number of dishes and perfect touches attended to by Sarah, the hostess, you would immediately know it will take you hours and hours to prepare for a party like this, even when your guests are chipping in by bringing some of the food. However, each one of their dinners are so awesome, fresh, and exciting that I feel inspired to step up and strive for the same, even if it takes me many, many hours!  See, creativity is an important skill and we creative folk get extreme enjoyment out of life when we get to express it.

If you aren’t creative in coming up with themed dinner party ideas:

1. First define an overall idea (Rustic Italian, Fall Harvest, Family Favorites, Chinese New Year etc..)
2. Then ask an artist friend for tips to tie all of the details together!

The Details:

• Guests wear pajamas! (or sweats, which is the best part)
• Homemade Flavored Popcorn
• A Bed Sheet as the Tablecloth
• Snow Cone Machine
• Homemade Corn Dogs
• Muffin Tin Pizzas (thought these were fabulous for a luncheon, served with a salad)
• Homemade Fruit Juice Jello Shots
• Cheese Fondue + Bacon (brought my family recipe, see below)
• Sausage Cheddar Balls
• S’mores Pie

Bacon+Cheese Fondue Dip Recipe

You can serve this in a bread bowl or a Fondue pot.  It is easy to make, fast and you can do it in the microwave.

• 4 Slices of Bacon, cut into 2″ pieces
• 2 T flour
• 1 C milk
• 1 garlic clove, halved
• 8 oz. Monetery Jack Cheese, shredded (2 C)
• 4 oz. Cheddar Cheese, shredded (1 C)
• 1 t. dry or prepared mustard
• 1/2 t. Worcestershire Sauce
• dash hot-pepper sauce

1. Cook the bacon. Crumble and set aside.
2. Put bacon drippings in a glass, microwavable bowl. Stir in the flour, add milk and garlic, stir until smooth. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes until thickened, stirring once. Discard garlic.
3. Stir cheeses into milk mixture. Cook on medium (50% power) 4-6minutes until smooth, stirring once. Stir in mustard, Worcestershire, pepper sauce, and reserved bacon. Mixture will thicken as it stands.  Makes 2 Cups.

Serve in round bread or Fondue pot. Remove top of bread and hollow out leaving a 1/2″ shell.  Serve with bread cubes, vegetables or chips.

It is a pretty good sign when you arrive on a Friday night at a restaurant and there is a bit of a wait.  We waited for maybe twenty minutes as lots of other folks piled in to try and get their name on the list for a table and it just kept getting more and more crowded.

Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant is on Saratoga Avenue, the street with many great diverse restaurants in the San Jose area (along with of course our favorite, Halu Ramen).  There are still so many others for us to try from Persian to Japanese and African.

On the Friday night we dined, we sat on stools with a big round bowl table in front of us as we listened to a live musician play the keyboard as some little kids bounced around to the music.

The bill was very inexpensive for the four of us with plenty of food and wine (I think it was $35 each couple).

For a table of 4, Order (non-vegetarian):

• Bottle of TEJ Organic Ethiopian Honey Wine
• Tell the waitress to pick for you with a combination of veggie and meat dishes, you won’t be sorry- we liked the lamb and chicken dishes as well as all of the veggie dishes too

All Entrees are served with Injera, the unleavened bread prepared today as it was a thousand years ago and Zeni’s house salad (Injera also eaten in Somalia and Yemen). Injera is like a giant savory, spongy pancake that is laid out in front in a huge dish for communal eating. The salad is placed in the middle with all of your meat and veggie dishes along the sides also on top of the Injeri (see photos above).  Then you get an additional stack of Injera to use to scoop up the dishes and eat them with your hands.

Go with close friends or your honey, as this may be a bit of an awkward business lunch or dinner with people who don’t understand what double dipping is (just take one portion of Injera, enough for one scoop of food and eat that – can tear the Injera to get just the right size)!  That is of course coming from my own cultural context and I actually don’t know the custom for this in Ethiopia. I will have to find that one out!

Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant

1320 Saratoga Ave
San Jose, CA 95129

(408) 615-8282

As weird as it sounds (further from the ocean than Santa Cruz), good sushi in Santa Cruz can be found at Rumble Fish in Scotts Valley.  Just when we think we’ve tried it all, we have found some new spots to share with you over the next month!

People ask us a lot about where to get good sushi.  We don’t eat tons of sushi as John just can’t get full enough (it’s a hard life, I know).  We do like sushi and Japanese food and we found a really great place for you to check out.

For a birthday celebration we landed at Rumble Fish and as soon as we sat down, we spotted an old friend up at the bar.  This friend used to live near downtown Santa Cruz and frequented Shogun Sushi weekly.  Just seeing him in Rumble Fish gave the restaurant an immediate boost in our book.  He told us, “Order the Monkey’s Brain, it’s great!”   The Monkey’s Brain (something like Avocado filled with Tuna or other Sashimi and lightly deep-fried)?  Fried Green Tea Ice Cream is a good choice for the birthday boys and girls!

• Nice portions (I order the pick two dinner and it was a huge amount of food)
• Good variety, something for everyone, even non-sushi lovers
• Sushi on the house when you sit down (tasty touch! we were treated to this at dinner, don’t know if it is all the time)
• Creative food (Monkey Brain, TNT roll, Lion King roll, Rocky roll …)
• Warm welcome, family friendly

(831) 440-9240

If you are or your valentine is a chocolate lover, these Stout Brownies will knock your socks off (and your valentine’s)!

Who knew the secret to brilliant dark chocolate fudgey sauce was chocolate and butter?

John has made this recipe the last two weekends and both times people kept coming up to me at parties asking if I was the baker. Sadly, no I didn’t make them, John did.  Needless to say, these brownies will now permanently go into the, impress your friends recipe box.

If you get Bon Appetit, well, the recipe is in this months mag that has the fried chicken drum stick on the cover. This recipe does take a bit of time to make and you should definitely use the foil.

Chocolate-Stout Brownie Recipe

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/02/chocolate-stout-brownies#ixzz1mEEBMrWe