Food, Here and There + Flora and Fauna

…taking a short break from Laurie and my short exploration of the Asheville North Carolina area with Laurie’s sister Bonnie and Bonnie’s husband Bill.

So…on to some dining at home, some dining out, 4-legged visitors and a giant plant.

We don’t like cooking all the time so we are always looking for packaged entrees and sides that are easy to serve with minimal clean up.  Recently we purchased Sukhi’s Chicken Tikka Masala...2 pouches of chicken breast meat in a tomato curry sauce per package.  

Sukhi’s brand also offers Lemon Rice, Chicken Coconut Curry with Mango, Chicken Vindalo, Roasted Tomato Curry, Chicken Biryani, Cauliflower and Kale Curry and Paneer Biryam.  We bought our Chicken Tikka Masala at Costco on a recent shopping trip… 

We served our Sukhi’s Chicken Tikka Masala over Manhatma Cilantro Limon Jasmine Rice.  The Manhatma brand offers 24 different brands of rice…and the Cilantro Limon Jasmine variety worked well with the chicken and tomato curry sauce.  As you can see, we sided our entrée with some bite-size pineapple pieces.

We enjoyed our meals and for those that fear spicy/heat in Indian cuisine, fear not.  This is a mild tomato curry and shouldn’t be a problem for any palette no sensitive it might be.  FYI, the Sukhi’s website provides definitions for the words used in Indian cuisine.  We will be buying more of these products…

To learn more about Sukhi’s different Indian cuisine offerings as well as where you can buy them, go to https://store.sukhis.com/collections/shop-all.  For information about Mahatma’s offerings, just go to https://mahatmarice.com/products/.

Time for some breakfast… True to my reputation in our family, leftovers rarely go to waste at our house.  In this case, we had some leftover pasta carbonara that I reheated in butter and then topped with a couple of easy over eggs.  I did use a fair amount of pepper on my eggs…plus of course, I added Tabasco after I took the photo.

There are so many homes under construction in our neighborhood that sometimes it’s challenging just driving down the local streets.  There are at least 10 homes under construction within a quarter mile/1,300 feet of our home.  Consequently, we haven’t seen any turkey around our home for at least 3 months…but occasionally a few deer do wander through grazing on plants and grass.  We do miss the critters but they’re being squeezed out…

It’s been quite a while, actually over 3 years, since I’ve commented on or about one of our favorite local restaurants, Thai Bistro.  The cooks are Thai and the food is genuine.  While I didn’t do much different for dinner on this occasion, Laurie has found a new favorite entrée.  Note: I borrowed the photos shown above from one of my earlier posts… As per the first photo, our trees are not leafing out yet despite temperatures in the mid-70s F or higher this week. 

Some things never do change… Laurie loves Thai Bistro’s Crab Rangoon, ($7.00), so it’s a must have for her every time we dine here.  I went for the Spring Rolls this time, ($7.00), although sometimes I do get a bit more adventurous and order either the Fresh Rolls ($6.00) or Fried Thai Dumplings. ($10.00)

The last time we ate at Thai Bistro I had one of their Chinese offerings, General Tso’s Chicken. ($15.00) This time I reverted to my all-time favorite, the Pad Thai. ($15.00) Rice noodles are stir fried with egg, beansprouts, scallions and peanuts, then served with a slice of lime.  Diners have a choice of chicken, pork, beef or tofu for their protein.  Vegetarian is yet another option.  I chose the chicken. 

The spice ‘scale’ goes from 1 to 5, the highest being “Thai Hot”.  I’ve had the ‘5’ but for overall enjoyment and plenty of heat for me, I decided to hold it down a bit…to a ‘4’.  It makes my head sweat a bit…yummy!

Laurie discovered her new favorite during our last visit to Thai Bistro.  She followed through this time with the same order…the Lo mein, a Chinese entrée on the menu. ($13.00) It had been a special the last time but it was so popular that it is now on the regular menu.  Basically it consists of egg noodles stirred in with a choice of protein and vegetables.  Laurie chose the chicken both times and for a bit of heat, she went for a ‘3’.

As usual we were very satisfied and happy diners at Thai Bistro!  This restaurant is located at 222 Lakeside Plaza in Loudon Tennessee.  They do a lot of take-out business in addition to their in-house service.  Phone: 865-657-6440.  Website: https://www.thaibistrotellico.net/.

This is not a chicken!  We were wandering through a Food City grocery store when I spotted a large display of Cornish Hens.  Memories for sure.  Laurie and I used to roast Cornish hens fairly regularly when we lived in the Chicago suburbs, serving them with wild rice.  So on this occasion on impulse we picked up 2 of these plump little birds and roasted them for dinner.  We had most of one left over which we used to enhance a noodle dish a couple of days later.

Dining out again… This time we were in Knoxville for one of my all too frequent medical tests or appointments and it was almost 11 AM.  Where could we have breakfast at this late hour other than a Waffle House or Cracker Barrel?  It had been quite a while since we’d dined at Don Delphi’s but I remembered that they served breakfast and brunch only…closing before dinner.  The real clue for diners is the full name of this restaurant… Don Delphi’s Pancake House and Restaurant.

Laurie decided to have the Eggs Benedict with hash brown potatoes. ($10.25) As you can see in the photo, the hash browns served by Don Delphi’s are really American fries…but we do like them done that way.  Laurie told me that the ham with her eggs was a good quality and the eggs were done right.  However, she didn’t care for their version of Hollandaise sauce and we couldn’t identify the fruit on her plate even though we both tried it.

With my lack of imagination, I just ordered my usual breakfast when eating out.  This was the standard 2 eggs over medium with hash brown potatoes, rye toast and sausage patties. ($10.95) The eggs were cooked correctly, the sausage patties were large and you could taste the pork…a good thing as far as I’m concerned. 

The menu at Don Delphi’s Pancake House and Restaurant is expansive, especially as regards the breakfast options.  There are omelets, pancakes, waffles, crepes, French toast, steaks and chops, 3 – 4 Mexican style offerings as well as a variety of skillets… The latter consists of a pile of cubed and fried potatoes covered with 3 eggs and your choice of meats, cheese, etc.  This is all sided with either toast or pancakes.

Don Delphi’s Pancake House and Restaurant is located at 120 West End Avenue in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-288-3696.  You can view this restaurant’s menu at https://restaurantguru.com/Don-Delfis-Pancake-House-Knoxville/menu.

So I’ll end with a little ‘flora’.  Last year this giant philodendron, which Laurie had named “Phil”, lived outdoors in our screened in porch.  When cold weather came, we moved it into the whirlpool tub that we never use.  It really liked this environment and grew even larger.  It began to remind me of “Audrey II” from the cult classic movie, “Little Shop of Horrors”.  Was she watching us, waiting for her opportunity to grab us?!

In any case, Laurie realized that the plant, “Phil”, aka Audrey II, was far too large to put back in the screened porch without eliminating a place for someone to sit.  It was not an easy decision, as her plant had been with her since before we met and she/it is about 45 years old!  It had moved with us 6 times over the last 44 years…

Laurie posted “Phil” (Audrey II in my mind) on the local “Nextdoor” network for free for anyone who wanted it.  The great news is that a couple from southern California quickly claimed her/him!  They had given up their plants when they moved to their new home in East Tennessee.  So Laurie’s plant has a new home in a spacious room with lots of natural light…and "Phil/Audrey II" lives on…watching for her chance to ‘grow’.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave