Cool Cafe review

I have a new favorite restaurant in San Antonio! My bff, Lauren, came to San Antonio to visit. Knowing how much she loves crepes (with Nutella and banana, specifically) I did a search for crepes in the city. There weren't many results, but one of the few really got my attention: Cool Cafe, a little local place with a random Greek/Italian/American/Thai menu and...crepes! Savory and sweet, any kind you can imagine. So...we went. And let me tell you, we were NOT disappointed!

I had the "Fisherman" crepe - shrimp, green onions, and a peanut sauce, all wrapped in a thin delicious crepe. Served with a little green salad on the side, it was delicious!



Lauren had the Thai basmati rice, which boasted spinach, bell peppers, black oives, green onions, and a peanut sauce. She loved it - saved the leftovers and ate more later, in fact!


And of course for dessert we had CREPES, but we inhaled them so quickly that we forgot to take photos! So I'm going to convince Nick to take me back, and when he does, I promise to take photos of dessert. To whet your appetite, I'll tell you what we had: Lauren, of course, had a classic crepe with Nutella and banana. It was INCREDIBLE - just like the street vendors sell in France, if you can believe it! I had the "Jamaican" crepe, with bananas and coconut in caramel. It was heavenly. You can believe me, because we inhaled them! And at about $3.50 apiece, these wonderful desserts were well worth the trip.

I'm going back, you can bet on it!

Paloma Blanca review

One of our favorite places in town is Paloma Blanca, a high-end Mexican food restaurant in the ritzy part of the city. It's a 20 minute drive but the patio and interior are so nice that it's worth it to leave the suburbs for a drive into the heart of things. It's their slogan, in fact - "Always Worth the Trip."



Raves:

Their ceviche - which I've now had twice - is wonderful. Fully "cooked" white fish and (I think) some shrimp, along with tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. My only gripe is that they serve the ceviche with packaged saltines, while tortilla chips (which they also serve in unlimited amounts with salsa, as an appetizer) are so much better with the dish. The best thing about the ceviche is that an appetizer portion - which is HUGE, more than enough for one person - is only about $8. This is half the price of their cheapest entrees.

Complaints:

We've been to Paloma Blanca several times - the first visit was for a friend's birthday party, on a busy night, with a reservation for 8 made ahead of time. Nick and I arrived first (on time) and were told we could not be seated until the entire party arrived. With 8 people expected to show up at various times, this was very inconvenient. We waited in their lobby, which thankfully has a bar and very comfortable leather sofas. Unfortunately, the bar waitstaff is painfully slow and the bar is very crowded (probably with people waiting for their parties to be seated!).



Last night, a Tuesday, we called the restaurant on our way to see if they take call-aheads. They said they do not, but that things were "slow" (because it was a Tuesday night) and that a table for 2 on the patio would be easy to get. We arrived 15 minutes later, and were promptly told that there were no tables available and that we should wait at the bar. In truth, the restaurant was packed, and there were many people waiting for tables. ARGH! On top of this, the hostess we spoke with was very short with us, and had no explanation for the fact that 15 minutes earlier we'd been told a table on the patio would be available.

We waited at the bar (most of that time waiting for the bartenders to serve us) and 15-20 minutes later the hostess activated our buzzer. Without a smile, she escorted us onto the patio, where there were at least 6 empty tables available! We were seated in the back of the patio, the least picturesque part - again without a word of apology.

Final complaint: the wine prices. I know as well as the next person that a bottle of Beringer costs about $7 at the grocery store. Beringer was the least expensive wine on their list, and they charged $8 per GLASS. I don't mind paying a little bit more than wine is worth in exchange for the convenience of drinking it at a restaurant with a meal, but $8 a glass for Beringer? It was almost enough to keep me from ordering that first glass, and it was the reason I did not order a second glass. They would be wise to lower the prices so that patrons could "wait at the bar" with something affordable to sip on, and so that their patrons could order more than one glass without breaking the budget.

Roaring Fork - 1604 & Huebner

Roaring Fork is a "new" (to San Antonio, at least) restaurant near where I live, and they have a decent patio with a fireplace and eureka! - it's not facing a highway. I keep going back to Roaring Fork and every time I go, we get the green chile pork stew appetizer.



It's savory and delicious - tender chunks of pork with just-spicy-enough green chilies and a sauce that is gravy-like and hearty. The stew comes in a little kettle, and it's accompanied by 4 warm flour tortillas wrapped in butcher paper. Highly recommended!

Mini Chocolate Eclairs

Another kitchen experiment...and it turned out WONDERFULLY! I love chocolate eclairs, and I needed a snack to take to Bible Study (great excuse to bake, huh?) so I decided it would be fun to make tiny chocolate eclairs! But how? Hmmm....


Filling:
8 cups of pre-made sugar free vanilla pudding


Eclair pastry:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

Frosting:

1 container pre-made dark chocolate cake frosting

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
In a heavy saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter, water and salt over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.





Pour in flour all at once and stir vigorously until fully incorporated and mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat, let rest 5 minutes. Mmm, it's resting... what a perfect opportunity to drink a glass of wine.






Then beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. The dough will be very wet - that's good, we want that. And be sure to explain the process to Tinkerbell and Buttercup as you go... because they love cooking too! That's why they watch. To them, you are Emeril. Nevermind the fact that Buttercup seems to be falling asleep...





Drop dough into twelve equal mounds on baking sheets. Spread each mound into a 4x1/2 inch rectangle.


Bake in preheated oven 35 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and make a one-inch slit in the side of each eclair. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Return eclairs to oven for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.








To assemble: Slice each eclair in half lengthwise. Spoon vanilla pudding into a plastic bag and cut off the corner to make a piping bag. Isn't pudding cute?



Pipe about 1 tablespoon vanilla pudding into the middle of each eclair. This can get messy, so be sure to lick your fingers a lot.

Replace tops and frost with chocolate icing, warmed up in the microwave for easy spreading. This is also messy, so get your man to help you ice the little guys. He doesn't have to ice them perfectly - chocolate is chocolate, no matter what it looks like! :)

Lick fingers again. Then.......chill until serving.

Crustless Quiche - Simple but oh, so deliciosa...

I have to say, the best thing I've made in a while just sort of happened by accident the other day when I was hungry but I didn't have much in the fridge. I have GOT to share it, because I've been eating it for every meal 3 days in a row and that, my friends, is unique.

It's healthyish, high in protein, low in carbs, and SO, so satisfying. And I don't even care that it's uncomplicated and not even CLOSE to homemade.

Crustless Breakfast Quiche

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

You need:

- 1 pie dish

- 4 big eggs

- 1/2 cup queso dip

- 1/3 bag of Jimmy Dean Skillets frozen breakfast starter - it comes in sausage, bacon, or ham but SAUSAGE is by far our favorite kind...

This stuff is great - it has potatoes, green and red bell peppers, onions, and yummy sausage in it... lots of meat, and not too many potatoes! I hate it when they load these things with cheapy potatoes and give you, like, 2 pieces of meat. And Jimmy Dean doesn't do this, and that's why I love the Jimmy Dean Skillets. I don't need to saute my own sausage to feel like a real woman.

Now do it:

You don't need to grease the pie plate unless you are just DYING to spray Pam on something. The fat in the queso will be enough to keep things from sticking.

Spread the frozen Jimmy Dean Skillets mix all over the bottom of the pie plate - as much or as little as you like (I like to just evenly coat the bottom with one layer of the stuff). In a separate bowl, whisk 4 large eggs and 1/2 cup of queso together till it's all one cheesy, eggy mess. Mmmm... But don't eat it yet - it's RAW!

Pour the queso/egg mixture on top of the Skillets stuff and pop that pie plate in the oven for 30-40 minutes. You can tell it's ready to come out when the sides are firm and the center is just a little undercooked. It's going to feel like it's too early, but for Pete's sake TAKE IT OUT because the center keeps cooking after you remove the plate!

Give it some time to cool off... THEN, cut it like a pie and serve yourself a piece. If you're a flavor-addict like we are, smother that piece of egg-pie with SALSA and then take a big ol' bite.

Are you in breakfasty heaven? Yes you are!

Now, here are some added bonuses to this recipe:

- the crustless quiche will keep in your fridge for several days, just cover it with foil; it reheats beautifully

- you can take individual pieces to work in plastic bags, heat them for 30 seconds in the microwave, and voila - instant hot breakfast

- you can FREEZE the entire quiche or individual pieces for weeks, maybe even months, and just reheat as needed

Welcome to La Vida Deliciosa!

Hi & welcome to La Vida Deliciosa. We're just two ordinary people who happen to love food (cooking it...eating it...forming strong opinions on how it should be served). We live in San Antonio and we're constantly on the hunt for noteworthy restaurants and recipes. If we like 'em, we rave about them to our friends, and we turn into repeat customers. But if we DON'T like 'em, well...

Either way, rest assured that I'll blog about the good, the bad, and the ugly. Photos will be taken whenever possible. Opinions will be shared with anyone who cares to read.

Join us as we experience...La Vida Deliciosa!