Coconut Shrimp

New Year's Eve Baked Coconut Shrimp with Spicy Pineapple Dipping Sauce

Recipe found here.

Food Porn Staring Madeline's

Last night J and I had a fancy shmancy dinner at Madeline's in the Ithaca Commons and it was delish!

Le menu

Le Bar

 First Course

Rosemary & Sea Salt Foccia Bread dipped in Olive Oil

Second Course

Sesame Encrusted Tuna Carpaccio with Wakame and a Caramel Soy Reduction

 Third Course

I had the Chili-Coconut Shrimp with Yogurt Raita, Green Papaya Salad, Mango Chutney, Soybeans, and Pandan rice. I'm actually really not a huge fan of mango, but this chutney was super spicy and it was honestly my favorite part of the entree. J had the16 oz Black Angus New York Strip with a Chianti reduction, seasonal vegetables, balsamic tomatoes, and kale mashed potatoes (pictured in the background). 

 Dessert!

I had the Molten Chocolate Cake and J had the Chocolate Burbon Pecan Cake.

Oh nom nom nom. I need to go work out now....

Hello dear readers,
If you are not currently aware, I am in grad school and have class this quarter on Tuesday and Wednesday nights from 6 to 9:20 or 9:50 PM (bleh). Obviously tonight's class is super engaging because I'm typing this as my professor drones lectures away. My university has a quarter system (think trimesters), so we have 10 weeks of class and then a finals week. Everyone else I know taking some sort of higher education class has just finished or is finishing up this semester's classes as I type this, whereas I am actually in the third week of new classes.

Anyway, my wacky class schedule is not the topic at hand, what I nom nom nom on school nights is. I typically leave work at 4, drive home to pick up my lap top and books, and then have to forage for food.  Needless to say I've gotten really good at eating in my car, but it's not something I like to do, so I try to get something and bring it to class. I've tried all sorts of different things.... sushi, soup, take-out pad thai, but my favorite (and less stinky, no one wants to sit next to sushi-breath-girl) has to be Panera. But Panera can be kind of tricky, you have to really pay attention to the ingredients to make sure you're not piling on the calories and sodium.

Tonight's selection is: The You-Pick-Two half Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich and half portion Classic Salad.

 

Seriously yummy and pretty nutritionally balanced but a little high in sodium. I had water as my drink because I'm trying to be more conscious of eating my calories and not drinking them. 

After that little side adventure, we went to Ithaca for some Taste of Thai and came across some sweet ice sculptures in the Commons. My go-to dish at Taste of Thai is hands down the Pad Thai. I've had Pad Thai many other places, but whatever it is they do to it at Taste of Thai makes it (in my opinion obvi) the absolute best. J likes to refer to it as "hamster bedding" whatever, I don't care if they put crack in it, I keep coming back for more. But I ventured out of my little Pad Thai routine and had the Thai Spicy Noodles with chicken (Level 3 spiciness, just in case you were wondering).

 

I also had a Thai Ice Tea (the orange drink in the right corner). I ate every single bite of that dish. Not the best move because afterwards I was stuffed. So yeah need to work on eating until satisfied, not stuffed, but I refuse to feel guilty about it right now. Today is a new day right? One filled with salad.

J had the Taste of Thai Chicken, a thai curry sort of dish with chicken, cashews, veggies, and a side of rice and noodles. Again, delish, but a little rich for my own palate. 

After all of that nom nom noming we decided to check out the ice sculptures in the Commons, and happened to catch the end of the big contest. Here are some of my favorites:

So apparently they make the sculptures super shiny by torching them, cool no?