the NEW Scotia diner

 The Scotia Diner recently sold their original location to a development company who tore down the old diner and are now building 'luxury apartments' on Mohawk Ave. You can read our review of the original place here.

We were sad to see the charm of the old building push away by bulldozers, but we're happy that the owners took the money they received from selling their old location and moved across the street and up half a block to the building where the old KEM Cleaners used to be.

Walking through the doors, it's apparent that the owners are trying to re-capture the vintage charm of the last place. It's fun in a kitschy, less authentic way. And they have much more space in their new location.

 The new coffee cups and plates are reto and cute, and thankfully the coffee is just as good as it was back in the old place.

 We were happy to spot a rarity in our table's jelly caddy: APPLE JELLY!

 With the new location, the food has improved a little bit too. The eggs were cooked perfectly, not slimy as M complained last time. The homefries were bland and unseasoned, but cooked well and were the right texture.

The french toast definitely kicked it up a notch. Despite only offering 'Pancake Syrup' and no real syrup upgrade, the french toast was cooked perfectly and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. We look forward to bringing M's mom back here for many breakfasts to come.

taco night

Wine glass of Pepsi Max...because we're classy like that.

 The spread: taco shells, ground turkey, chopped tomato

 M made a spice ranch sauce by mixing in some sriracha pepper sauce.

mmmmmmmmm.....hard shell

 Miyagi wants in on the action...sorry buddy, all for us!

aaaaaaand the soft shell!

cooking with M

M's signature dish is his authentic Crawfish and Shrimp Gumbo. Unfortunately, I'm sworn to secrecy on this one, so no recipe for this!

cooking with CAPow!

This week I'm going to share a few of our most recent cooking experiences. Today's recipe doesn't really have a name. I kind of created it after reading this post by Kari, and modifying it to my liking. M calls it Spinach Chicken, so I guess we'll go with that!

The only seasoning I use for this recipe is Adobo, you can find it in the Goya / "hispanic foods" section of your grocery store.

Thoroughly cook your chicken in the frying pan with a little olive oil and Adobo, then cut into bite sized pieces.

Dice a Green Bell Pepper!

Grab your frozen spinach and artichoke hearts!

Throw all your veggies in the frying pan, including the still frozen spinach. Sprinkle some more Adobo over the veggies.

Throw your chicken back in the pan with the veggies, and stir all ingredients until they are well mixed.

Cover, and bring to a simmer. I usually let this simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Plate and devour!

SPINACH CHICKEN

2.5 lbs Chicken Breast Strips

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 package Frozen Chopped Spinach

1 can Artichoke Hearts

1 Green Bell Pepper

2 tbsp Adobo Seasoning

Makes 5 Servings

m cooks me dinner

menu:

steak

green beans

kettle one and tonic

candle light

<3

fancy birthday dinner

recently, it was a friend's 30th birthday. a few of us got together to have a fancy dinner at New World Bistro, one of the nicest places in town to do something like that. it was the first time m and i have eaten there, despite the fact that it's been open for about a year. i can't believe we waited so long to try it! the atmosphere was perfect, and the food was incredible. we will be back, for sure!

my drink of choice: kettle one and tonic.

m ordered a non-alcoholic beer by accident because he asked our server if she could tell him about it, and she didn't know anything about it...so instead of finding out for him, she just let him order it. that was really our only major complaint of the evening.

one dinner roll per guest. thank you for helping curb my carb binge by serving them this way!

my entree was delicious! i ordered the arugula pesto stuffed tofu and green tea soba noodles with edamame, basil, dried tomatoes in red miso-seaweed nage. so good.

m had the yellow curry gulf shrimp and big noodles. he loved it. we also had their famous appetizer pan blackened string beans with creole remoulade sauce. those were probably my favorite. perfectly seasoned. remembering them is making my mouth water. and their menu is seasonal, so it changes several times a year. i can't wait to go back and see what they come up with next!