Good eats

I just got back from volleyball tonight and I'm exhausted, but I thought I should write since I haven't in a few days.  The weekend was busy and fun as usual.  Played vball Friday night and went to Shoeless Joe's after with the gang.  Sat I did a bit of shopping and cleaning around the house and went out to dinner with some friends to Harlem Underground at Queen St. W and bathurst.  None of us had been there but we gave it a try on a friends recommendation. It was a nice quiet place, but maybe that was because we were kinda early.  We called and made a reservation but they said we had to finished by 8pm as they had other reservations then, so we went there for 6pm.  There was one other pair in the dining room and apparently they had a heated patio in the back but we never made it that far.  What was kinda weird was that they had a table for 24 people reserved for at 730pm so anyone that came in without reservations was turned away, but they were probably thinking "this place is empty and they still won't seat us".  Anyways, on to the food.  The restaurant is a New Orleans type place, southern type food.  We decided we were going to share everything (like typical Asians!).  We started off with a pound of crawfish and some buffalo chicken bites.  The crawfish came in the bowl with this kinda salty broth and collard greens.  Surrounding the bowl were pieces of bread, a baguette maybe.  The crawfish were like mini lobsters and shined a bright deep red.  I can't say I was fan of them, but that's just me, everyone else seemed to really enjoy them.  The buffalo chicken bites were nothing special.  Seemed to lack some zip, or spice.  I figured southern cooking would be more Cajun or spicy.  Then again, maybe my taste buds are toast from all the hot sauce I've been using lately.  Once the appetizers were done we had our entrees and sides.  We ordered 5 dishes, Guinness Stewed Chicken Thighs Slow simmered with broad beans and perched on sautéed greens, 2 orders of Harlem Jambalaya - Shrimp, chicken, smoked sausage, catfish and crab meat all playing in a mound of seasoned rice, Southern fried chicken, and finally Braised Short Ribs which were seared and slow simmered in a rich thyme-molasses-scotch bonnet pepper and vegetable stew.  We also ordered some deep fried okra and sweet potato fries to accompany our feast.  My favourite dish was the Jambalaya.  Full of flavour and it was like a surprise with each bite.  Sometimes you got a piece of chicken, another time some crab.  The stewed chicken thighs were pretty good too but again, could have used some spice to turn it up a notch.  The fried chicken wasn't bad.  Nice light crispy batter and the pieces were a good portion.  If you ever order the fried chicken it doesn't come with anything so you'll have to order a side with it.  The short ribs were okay.  I found the meat to be a little chewy.  Maybe it was the piece I happened to get but I don't know if I'd order that again.  To say were stuffed would have been an understatement.  I was full but somehow we got talked into dessert.  I'm not sure if it was the server and the fact she mentioned that the pies were homemade by a lady named Liz I think, or the fact that the ladies we were with always save room for dessert.  I believe our options were red velvet cake, mango cheesecake, and I think Banana cream pie or something like that.  We decided on the red velvet cake and mango cheesecake.  If you know me I don't really have a sweet tooth, but when I tried these two cakes they were fantastic.  The mango cheese cake was really tasty and wasn't too dense.  The red velvet cake was soft and flaky and had a very nice layer of icing on it.  Overall a really nice night out at a pretty good restaurant.

Sunday was another day full of food.  It was my little buddy's first birthday and we were celebrating it with my volleyball team and the parents family.  There was so much food.  Roasted Pig, sweet and sour pork, spicy green beans, noodles, beef stir fry, sushi, and much much more.  I ended up eating lunch and dinner there.  I think the little guy had fun.  I always have fun playing with him.  He loves to smash down anything I build.  Maybe it's his way to say this is his house.  I can't wait till he starts talking.  We're going to have so much fun together.

I'll hopefully have some photos up soon form Harlem Underground and of my little buddy Adam.  I'm just too tired right now to do it.  At least I have Thursday off for remembrance day.  Well kind of.  I'm on call Thursday but don't have to actually go in to work, but I do have to work this weekend too which kinda blows.  I then get Mon and Tues off the next week after working 7 days straight.  I might even take Wed-Friday off next week to take the whole week off.