Everything's delicious at Zabb Elee Laotion & Thai Cuisine

Zabb Elee Lowell

It's a lazy Sunday type of day and I don't feel like doing anything. I still have a slight hangover from last night. It's a little shy of noon and the Mo asks, "What are we eating and when are we eating?" Typically, he'd already have a full course brunch by now but I'm a little under the weather.  My response, "You can pick."

Shake Shack and Showcase SuperLux in Chestnut Hill

The Mo and I had some shopping to do in Chestnut Hill yesterday.  No, we are not rich nor are we pretentious.  We had gift cards from our wedding/bridal shower to Crate and Barrel and Bloomingdale's  that we figured we put to use and the closest Bloomingdale's was located in the affluent area.

Group Dining at China Star in Lowell

Every time the Mo and I go out to eat a "Chinatown" style Chinese restaurant, we always want to order everything.  Then, we start to miss our friends.  How convenient? When it's only the Mo and I, we usually stick with 2-3 dishes and still make out with leftovers.  When there's a large party, we all select a couple of dishes and and enjoy heavenly bites of each entree ...family-style.  That's my favorite style of eating.

Banh Mi Sandwiches and more at Hong Cuc in Lowell

Many would agree that Hong Cuc makes the best Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches in Lowell.  My family has been going to the family own and operated shop for many years.  Despite my family moving out of state, they still like to stock up on these sandwiches every chance they can get.  When they visit Lowell, they place sandwich orders by the dozen for these delicious meat sandwiches topped with cucumber, red onion, cilantro,  carrots and daikon.  The secret "mayo-like" sauce is what makes the sandwich and I truly believe is the best part of the sandwich.

Kansas City Ribs at Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbeque

I was traveling through Kansas City, Missouri on a business trip from Carthage, Missouri and our gracious host (HE Williams) had set up a barbecue dinner at the famed Jack Stack Barbecue Freight House location.

We started the day with a tour of their impressive manufacturing facility, enlightened with all their new products and lines (especially the LED), won some prizes and got on the beer bus at 3 for dinner.  Oh, and in the meantime, we ate lots of food for breakfast, lunch and in between.  Hey-if you're looking for a career change, lighting may be the answer.  Being the "Foodie" that I am, I looked up the restaurant before my trip and learned that it's the number one barbecue house in the country based on Zagat and was also featured on the Food Network for its delicious barbecue.

Pho Da Lat on Middlesex Street

I wouldn't say we are regulars here but last night the Mo and I made our way to Pho Da La on Middlesex Street in Lowell.  We skipped dinner and arrived at the restaurant at 10:00 PM after catching up with some friends in DTL over whiskey and wine.

The restaurant has a small bar area where we coincidentally bumped into some of our friends that were going to meet us later than evening via another friend.

Pho Da Lat Middlesex St Bar Area
 (image via their website)

Shrimp and Chicken Asian lettuce cups

It's day two of our low carb challenge.  Yesterday, we had chicken and beef lettuce wrap and today I made these shrimp and chicken lettuce cups.  The flavors of the ground chicken and shrimp is reminiscent of a Thai chicken basil dish called "Gai pad gapow."

Recipe: Oven Roasted Vegetables

Every weekend I go food shopping at Market Basket and head towards the clearance section in the produce department.  It's a rolling cart with shelves with market down produce that is about to go bad.  I get really excited when I see that it's fully stocked.  This weekend, I got a bag of red and orange bell peppers for $ 2.00, packages of zucchini and summer squash for less than $1.00 each and sliced mushrooms for $1.00.

Recipe: Spicy Sausage Stuffed Portabella

I had some Portabella mushrooms caps in my fridge that were about to go bad so I needed to think of something quick.  Usually, I like to do the seafood Ritz cracker and butter stuffing but I needed to figure a low carb alternate.  I looked in my freezer and found some Market Basket Hot Italian sausage.  I gathered fresh baby spinach and goat cheese from the fridge and started to assemble the dish.

Ingredients:

Recipe: Easy Low-Carb Chicken and beef lettuce wrap

During Lent, most people pick something they love and give it up for 40 days.  The Mo and I are doing a modified version and giving up on processed food, bread, rice, pasta and the likes for next 3 weeks,  just in time for our trip to Dubai and Thailand!

On weekends, we typically go to the gym in the morning and grab a huge brunch afterwards.  What's the point right? I actually enjoy working out and like going to the gym.  It's the EATING!! I cannot control myself and have no self discipline.  Like the Mo says, "You're like a crack addict that knows how to make crack."

Instead of our typical Indian, Japanese, or Cambodian heavy brunch, (already did that yesterday at Heng Lay)  today we enjoyed low carb lettuce wraps in lieu of our regular order of Cambodian spring rolls loaded with rice vermicelli noodles and wrapped in rice paper. (See below)

Pizza Hazel on Gorham Street in Lowell

We don't order "American" fast food much but when we are sick of Asian food, I love to get me some crispy hot wings and fried seafood.  Sure, Jimmy's is right down the street and Wings over Lowell has many flavors, but my favorite go to for "American" wings is Pizza Hazel.

They have about 13 wing flavors with my favorite being Spicy Thai Peanut and Oriental Honey Ginger. (OK, I guess they are almost like Asian wings)

8 Pcs Wings $ 7.95

Bombay Club in Burlington

The Indian restaurant tucked away in a plaza on Cambridge street that formerly known as The Mughals is now operating under new ownership and reopened as Bombay Club.  The Mo and I decided to scope out the new establishment for their lunch buffet today.

Samba Steak and Sushi House in Framingham

We met up with some old friends last night and had plans to go out to dinner in Worcester for restaurant week. The game plan was to meet at their house and head to Worcester together.  When we arrived, the Mo's friend Bai rolled out the red carpets for us and bought a 12 year scotch for the Mo and a few other things to make mixed drinks for the rest of us.

 After catching up over a  couple of drinks, we made our way too Worcester.

Teppanyaki Express Lunch at Takumi in Nashua

Takumi Japanese Sushi and Hibachi in Nashua has been open for many years now.  Although the Mo and I aren't regulars, we try to get there at least once or twice a year.  I'm not sure why we don't go more often because the food is great.  We had to run errands in Nashua today so we made our way to Takumi after our morning sweat session at the gym.  Talk about caloric cancellation.

Dinner and Drinks at newly renovated 110 Grill in Chelmsford

The Mo and I wanted to try a new place for drinks and dinner Friday night  We didn't feel like venturing out into Boston and wanted to stay somewhere local. We did a Google Seach and found that 110 Grill in Chelmsford was newly renovated in December and has reopened for business.  We glanced at their online menu and it featured a great American menu featuring bar food including nachos and chicken fingers. some sandwich and pasta choices as well as some steak and seafood selections.  The restaurant was also offering a $5.00 printable coupon that expires in April (which we forgot to print).