A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Fire & Ice: One of my FAVORITE Springfield restaurants

 

Just so we're all clear :-) These photos are NOT mine; I took them off the Fire & Ice website www.springfieldoasis.com The first photo is of Executive Chef Wing Yee Leong, son of David Leong, the creator of Springfield-style cashew chicken.  The second photo is a nice publicity shot of the curved ice bar in the restaurant, the only one in town as far as I know and full of yummy cocktails staying nice and cold as we left the restaurant tonight with out good friends, Corbin and Jenn.

I ate too much! But it was soo good.

It was Wednesday night, when Chef Leong runs an all day special of cashew or sweet/sour chicken which is very much appreciated in this town.  Even though there are tons of "cashew chicken joints" in this town, none are like this.  The chicken is plump and juicy, the sauces nicely balanced, and the fried rice full of flavor. Click here for my version to make at home:  http://afridgefulloffood.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/03/springfieldstyl.html

But I also have to say that I don't go there just or even usually for the cashew chicken. The menu is a one of my favorites in town, not overwhelming, but nicely covering a variety of dishes from Asian noodles to tender and juicy steaks to well created chicken and seafood dishes.  There always seems to be something on the menu that fits my whim in the moment.

I confess I was a bad blogger and forgot my camera, but Jenn was nice enough to whip out her camera phone a snap a couple shots of our desserts:  creme brulee and chocolate lava cake.  I have to give her a hard time and remind her that taking the photos took a few seconds but not knowing immediately how to send said pics to my email queue cost her several bites of her share of dessert. We wait for no woman even if she is doing me a favor!

Chef Leong was kind enough to stop by our table and play my game of  "Will you give up the recipe to me tonight?" "Nope."  It's not like I really expected him too, but hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right?  He did mention that his father turned 88 this month. I asked Chef to pass on to his dad how many former Springfield folks, and you know who you are, have written to me asking if I have an inside scoop to get the recipes and to please give him our collective best wishes.

Although I didn't expect Chef Leong to remember me, he has chatted with us before when we've dined and he's always been a gracious and friendly host. 

One of the special promotions we'll be going back for is a Chef's Saturday night special of $29.00/couple three course meal. I looked at the menu and it's a very good deal. There are a choice of three appetizers, four entrees: an Asian entree, a pasta, a salmon, and medallions of Angus beef, and then choice of dessert including both of the two above. 

We'll be going back soon, right Jenn and Corbin?

For the uninitiated, Fire & Ice is located on North Glenstone inside the Oasis Hotel. 

Let's Hear it For Summer: Squash Casserole

Squash, glorious squash--love anything from the garden and we've been eating a ton of this from Dad's garden!  The first is a squash casserole given to me at the exact appropriate morning before a family dinner party when I was wondering how to prepare squash that evening, by my friend Sally of the Aunt Sally blog.  This is a really wonderful casserole, a great different way to prepare the vegetable but still nice and simple, allowing the garden sunshine flavor to come right through. I also loved that I could prepare it in the morning, stick it in the fridge, and not have to worry about it until I pulled it out to bake it off 45 minutes before my guests arrived. Thanks Sally!

The second is my own simple preparation of squash sauteed in butter with a generous sprinkling of Cavender's Seasoning, producing locally just a  bit south of here in Harrison Arkansas.  Yummy stuff and so easy to perk up any dish!

Tastes Like Home Blogging Event

Megan from Megan's Cookin has a blogging event called "Tastes Like Home" where she matched up bloggers from across the country to send gift boxes to each other of locally produced food treats.  My partner is Sara from Cupcake Muffin in Berkely, California and my food box is AWESOME!  Look at all these wonderful treats: Uncle Chen's Vietnamese hot sauce, Just Mango dried mango bits, Scharffen Berger Cacao Nibs, cmb Sweets apricot jam, Frog Hollow Farms apricot and plum conserve, California almonds, and Frog Hollow Farms cherry chocolate chip cookies (all of which are gone now thanks to Gene :-) )

Thanks, Sara! I intend to have a lot of fun with these!

  From my state, Missouri, I sent Sara MO black walnuts from Hammons (Stockton), Cavender's Seasoning (Harrison,AR), Silver Dollar City (Branson) BBQ sauce made by Ott's (Carthage), and Hallam's sorghum (Ozark).

Gifts from Dad's Garden--Yes!

My dad retired this past year so he's been able to garden and go to farmer's markets (he intends to sell next year) to his heart's content and my brother, Kenneth, has been sweet enough to leave care packages on my front porch when we're not home.  Look at all this wonderful produce (yummy yellow squash!) we've been eating up. 

Thanks Dad and Kenneth!

Doctors' Kitchen Monday: "Weight Loss with a Low Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low Fat Diet" Study

       

By now, I'm sure most everyone has heard or read the news that a new study has come out in The New England Journal of Medicine (July 17, 2008, volume 359) saying that low carb diets are more effective for weight loss than low fat diets.  That's  what all the headlines are saying.  BUT, that's not exactly what the study concluded.  What the study actually concluded was:

"Conclusions Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets may be effective alternatives to low-fat diets. The more favorable effects on lipids (with the low-carbohydrate diet) and on glycemic control (with the Mediterranean diet) suggest that personal preferences and metabolic considerations might inform individualized tailoring of dietary interventions. "

To me, that's saying something slightly different than what the headlines read. It's saying that low carb diets may be more effective as an alternative to low fat, that low carb did have show a better lipid profile, specifically Mediterranean diet showed a better glycemic profile, and that (to me this is the important part ) is that your diet should reflect your health needs and goals.

The reason why I make such a distinction is because I feel very strongly that although a lot of diet basics are the same: Eat less, exercise more, eat fresh wholesome foods, I get the willies when any headline comes out saying "This is the one and only way you can lose weight" or "This diet is the one and only one that works" which is the impression I got from most of the articles I read ABOUT the study before reading the study itself, which to me, confirmed common sense: we eat to live and that means we have to make our diet line up with our particular health needs.

For the complete text of the study, click here:  Weight Loss Study.

I found the study's definition of the three diets extremely interesting especially since the way the study defined them differed from how I automatically defined them from my own experience and knowledge.