Ristorante

Ristorante, by artist Annie Greene.


Believe it or not, this "painting" is made entirely of yarn that has been glued to the surface. A friend and I noticed another work by this artist while on a trip to an Atlanta area art museum today.

Gai Lan

I purchased gai lan at the farmers market in Atlanta, as part of my goal to try new and exotic greens. Of course, once I tasted it, I realized that I probably have had it before in Thai restaurants.

Gai lan, also called Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale, is much more bitter than broccoli although, like like lots of other types of produce, selecting the perfect bunch of Gai Lan, is apparently an art form (that I have not yet mastered).

I sauteed my gai lan with ground pork and served over rice noodles, and seasoned with mushroom soy sauce. This has a different flavor than regular soy sauce although I don't know if I would describe it as mushroomy. I do like it though and have been putting it on everything lately. I added a few hot peppers for color. And because I bought way to many to eat in one lifetime, so am trying to find ways to use them up.

Milas Taqueria Mexico

The second and final stop on the Great Houston Taco Experiment 2009 was Milas Taqueria Mexico. The tacos al pastor are excellent here and I would say they rival actual Mexico City tacos. We would have liked to have tried more Houston taco locations but with so much great Asian cusine in Houston, we thought it wise to sample more of the healthier Vietnamese, Chinese, and Middle Eastern restaurants, than lard cooked (but delicious!) tacos.