Jalapeno Pepper Spread

A new, yummy recipe to share. For those of you that like spicy food (like me!) substitute fresh jalapeno for the canned. I also substituted low- or non-fat cream cheese, and sour cream in place of the mayo. This tastes better after it sits in the fridge overnight and the flavors blend.

Jalapeno Pepper Spread

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies, drained
2 ounces canned diced jalapeno peppers, drained
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Stir together cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in green chiles and jalapeno peppers. Pour mixture into a microwave safe serving dish, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Microwave on High until hot, about 3 minutes. If you would like to brown the cheese, bake at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes.

Olive Ball Appetizers

I feel bad that I haven't posted a new recipe in a while, so here's an old favorite. I think I'll be making this for a New Year's Eve party this week. The dough comes out flaky and warm, and the combination of sharp cheddar and salty olives makes them addictive.

Olive Ball Appetizers
(Man, I wish there was a better name for recipe called "balls," but there isn't.)

Ingredients:
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup margarine (or butter)
¼ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 cup Bisquick
1 jar (5 oz.) jar stuffed green olives

Directions:
Mix together the cheese, margarine, and Worcestershire sauce, then add the Bisquick. With your hands, knead into a dough. Drain and dry the olives on paper towels. Once (mostly) dry, wrap each olive in dough. Place onto a greased baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Limon Latin Grill

1555 Simi Towne Center Way
Simi Valley, CA 93065
Phone: (805) 955-9277
Website: http://www.limongrill.com/

We had a girls' lunch at Limon after a spa day and everyone loved it. I was so impressed that I took my hubby out to dinner about a week later... but really disliked it! It's too bad - even though the food's good, I doubt I'll drive out to Simi for this again.

Limon offers a full bar and tapas in addition to the extensive menu of seafood, meats, and pastas. The food is flavorful and beautifully served with a variety of creative sides such as quinoa or pineapple salsa. Diners fight over the patio seating to listen to thier acoustic guitarists. Fridays and Saturdays the restaurant clears out and becomes a dance club.

On my first experience, I was impressed. The lobster enchilada I ordered was surprisingly large and overstuffed with mounds of delectable fish. Even though it lacked sides, it was perfectly filling and rich. Other fun menu items shared around the table were the mojito chicken, paella, and lots and lots of chimichurri sauce. Dessert was a treat too. Usually, I'm the chocoholic but I let the other girls fight over the lava cake and churros while I dug into the bananas foster made with tart plantains.

At our second attempt, the service and food were both lacking. I asked for the miso halibut that I'd seen my friend order the previous week. (It took a lot of willpower to not take bites when she wasn't looking that day). Sadly, mine didn't look anything like hers. Even though the piece of fish was bigger, it was dry and missing the terriyaki glaze. It was also missing a side of pineapple salsa. I have a sneaking suspicion that the fish wasn't halibut too, but that might have been due to how badly they overcooked it.

Part of the bad experience was my fault and partly bad service. The waiter disappeared, and by the time my husband asked for the manager, he'd finished his meal. They offered to replace the dish with a corrected piece of fish, but by then we were done and I wanted to leave. We paid our $75 bill and left, not exactly feeling worth it.

I may have beat Addy to the punch on this review - feel free to add!

Toast

We went to Toast over the weekend to celebrate Good Eats Here blogger Chris' birthday. Happy Birthday Chris!! We went for the drinks, the company and the atmosphere, and while those were fantastic, I felt that the Toast experience left something to be desired. It was my first time there, and let's just say that Chris and Kit Kat will have a hard time convincing some of us to go again next year.

Details:

Toast

20969 Ventura Blvd

Woodland Hills, CA 91364
tel: 818.992.5500

http://www.toastaurant.com/

Ambiance: They have a comfy, well decorated bar area. It doesn't have too many tables, for the amount of space it takes up, but all for all it's a comfortable space. TVs for the sports inclined, dimmed lights for the romantics. We saw at least one first date, and I wouldn't be surprised if there'd been more.

Food: I was a little torn on the food. Our group ordered a few things - mac & cheese with lobster and truffle, burger and fries, cake.

The mac & cheese was good - split by roomies who were thrown off at the lobster, but they both enjoyed it, and I liked the bite I snagged, even though I only got noodles and cheese. I would definitely recommend it, if you're looking for a quick bite to share.

The burger & fries were also good - bravo on the garlic fries, they were really really good. And it seemed our friend throughly enjoyed his burger.

The cakes? Well, they were good. We ordered two - a lemon layer cake with coconut, and a chocolate mousse cake. The lemon cake came out with little problem, but they got the wrong chocolate cake. They brought us a decadent chocolate cake, which LOOKED amazing. And then they took it away to bring us the other, only to return five minutes later saying the other mousse cake had run out. We decided to just stick to the one piece, and Dani's and my enjoyment of it was only vaguely dimmed by the amount of time it had taken to arrive.

Service: The service in the bar is the main reason I wouldn't choose to return. When we arrived, there were two other parties being served. We sat in our reseved area and got our first round of drinks without issue. By the time the whole party was there (10 - 15 people, with people coming and going), there were 4-5 other parties in the bar area, and the service became sluggish at best.

Example: I ordered a Pepsi because I was driving. I finished my Pepsi. The bartender came by and asked if we needed anything. I told her I'd love a refill. 20 minutes went by without a refill. She came to the table again to take a food order, and left again. Another 10 minutes went by. She came back with someone else's drink. I asked for a refill again. Another 15 minutes when by. I said, screw this, and walked up to her at the bar with my glass, where she looked at me blankly until I asked AGAIN for a refill. She filled my glass with Diet.

I guess this is a pet peeve of mine, but still. If you're bartending at a restaurant on a Saturday night, you should have at least the basic skills to keep the DD's glass full. Also - we had numerous times through the evening when someone would be more than ready for another round and it was left un-noticed.

Also? Our cake took FORTY minutes to arrive at our table. What's that about? How long does it take you to cut a slice of cake?

Another quick thing before I stop whining - when we sat down, the bartender girl asked us how we would do the checks. We said, not sure, we'll figure it out. As more people came around, another woman (a manager?) came by and asked us again - how would we like to do the bill? We said, oh, maybe split it into thirds? And she said, oh, well we'll just give you one big bill and different copies. What? No. If you don't want to split our bill, don't ask how we want to do the check!

Good for:
- Slightly pricey first date

Addy's Rating
4/10 (<-- 4 points for the mac & cheese and the fries)