General Tso's Pork?

While out shopping for groceries and other assorted goods

before our latest snowstorm hit the other day,

I stopped in at my favorite Chinese restaurant,

Sunny Palace.

I know from experience that the $7.50* or so that I spend

here be will vastly outweighed on what I will save at the grocery store.

*They got a larger tip this time because they deserved it!

Here is a real money saving tip for you:

Never go to the grocery store hungry.

You will easily spend $20 to $40 or more on food

than you need or want.

And that's a fact.

Now on this fine day I finally got up the nerve to ask

a special request.

One of my all time favorite American-Chinese dishes

is General Tso's Chicken.

However, you will remember that I am allergic to chicken.

Dilemma.

Bummer.

I asked if there was any way that they could prepare

this fine dish with pork instead of chicken.

The kind gentleman replied that he would have to ask,

but he thought that they might be able to use

the pork from the sweet and sour pork and combine it

with the sauce for the General Tso's Chicken for me.

After consulting with the kitchen,

he informed me that it was indeed possible.

I thanked him and looked forward to this dish.

I ordered my usual won ton soup with pork-filled won tons.

Delicious as always.

Much needed on a cold, damp, dreary day like this.

Finally, the hybrid General Tso's/pork dish arrived with

fried rice.



It was good.



It was nice.



It also reminded me just why I so loved

General Tso's Chicken

- for the chicken.



Sigh.



Still, I very much appreciate the effort

and thoughtfulness that the staff of

Sunny Palace went through for me.



And that is just part of why this is my

favorite Chinese restaurant in B-town.


Remember - when you find a favorite

restaurant; frequent it, promote it, help it

- especially in this economy.

The Culinary World Tour is Still in China

I really do have plans to move on in

my World Culinary Tour

(all while remaining in Bloomington, IN),

but it has been temporarily derailed.

You see,

the problem is this:

I have a friend who works full time

and it is rather difficult to schedule time for lunch with her.

And since we want to visit a local Afghan restaurant,

I want to wait until I can go with her.

Another consideration is that my friend is a vegetarian,

so any restaurant we choose must have vegetarian options.

Therefore,

I either have to wait until she is able to go with me

or I have to pick another port of cuisine.

In the meantime,

I have really been Jonesing for some

General Tso's Chicken.

However,

there's just one little problem with that dish.

That's right,

the chicken.

What to do?

Well, I suppose I could order the

General Tso's Shrimp instead.

And what do you know?

I even managed to go to

the Sunny Palace Restaurant

without ordering the Boneless Spare Ribs.

Unfortunately,

this dish is only available on the dinner menu,

meaning I had to pay more for this dish.



The breading was just right:

not too skimpy and not too much.

The sauce was nicely seasoned,

though a bit tame.



However,

the shrimp were just slightly overcooked.

And by slightly,

I mean by 30 seconds or so.

It really doesn't take much to take shrimp from great to eh.



The bottom line?

This was a nice departure from my usual,

but I think I will be sticking to my regular dish from now on.

Off to Asia for Lunch

My daughter and I had to go to town today for school supplies for her and food for all of us. We decided that we would also take this opportunity to go out to lunch together.

Did I mention school supplies? Might I also mention that many of the students for Indiana University have arrived back in town? Describing the stores as impassable just might give you a hint as to the chaos that we had to endure while we shopped. Well, while the townies might not appreciate the annual invasion of college students, I am sure that the retailers are ecstatic.

We survived the mass pile-ups in the aisles, the lines, the parking lots as well as the traffic, and headed out to a nice little restaurant near by. I have gone to the Sunny Palace restaurant once or twice before and have even blogged about it, but for some odd reason, I tend to forget that it is there. Odd that, given that I have always enjoyed the food there and have found the staff to be very helpful, even with their limited knowledge of the English language.

I woke up this morning with a sudden hankering for Korean Barbecue Pork. Now, I found this craving to be rather strange, given that I have never had that particular dish before. Oh well, who am I to argue?

Once we were seated I decided to order the Boneless Pork Ribs with the Pork Fried Rice. I had the choice of three soups: Wonton, Sweet and Sour, or Egg Drop. I decided to go with something different this time and ordered the Wonton Soup after I verified that chicken stock was not used in it.

My daughter misses having chicken at home, so she ordered the General Tso's Chicken with Pork Fried Rice and Wonton Soup.

The Wonton Soup arrives.

Each bowl had three pork-stuffed wontons, some strips of pork and diced scallions.

We both loved this soup and not a drop of soup was left in the bowls.

My daughter's General Tso's Chicken with the Pork Fried Rice. You really must thank her for allowing me to photograph it before she set into the dish.

And now may I introduce my Boneless Pork Ribs and Pork Fried Rice? This was just what I had in mind.

I will definitely have to remember that this place is here. Although, I couldn't help but notice that besides a couple of people who left soon after we arrived, we had the restaurant to ourselves. I do hope that this was just a slow time for them and not a normal occurrence.

Off to Thailand

The next stop on my world culinary tour takes me to Thailand. I met with a friend for lunch today at the Sunny Palace restaurant. You may remember that I was earlier able to sample a traditional Vietnamese dish at this same restaurant.

Of course, I had to go with a traditional Thai dish as well, so I chose the Pork Pad Thai Noodle entre along with my requisite iced tea with lemon. Bean sprouts, cabbage, egg, lime juice, ground peanuts and peanut sauce were included with the pork and noodles. What can I say? It was delicious and I will be having Pad Thai again. In fact, I can’t wait to try other Thai dishes. But those will have to wait for other trips to other Thai restaurants in town.

Pork Pad Thai Noodles

Along with the meal, I enjoyed the company of my friend. She is also a Master Gardener, and was president of our county’s organization before me. Oh, did I mention that she is the one who keeps talking me into being president of Master Gardeners each year? Well, I will admit that she has been a huge help and support for me and has even agreed to be an ‘unofficial’ ex-officio officer. Thanks for ‘traveling’ to Asia with me, Mary Jane!

My next stop? We’ll just have to wait and see!

A Culinary Tour of the World: Part II





From China we now go to Vietnam. After much searching on the internet and in the phone book, I finally found a restaurant that serves some Vietnamese dishes. The Sunny Palace serves Asian cuisine. Having never eaten any foods from this culture, I asked the hostess/waitress what she would recommend I try for my first foray into Vietnamese food. She suggested I start with the Bahn Hoi, so I ordered it with pork and waited for my meal to arrive. The restaurant’s menu describes Bahn Hoi as a “Special Vietnamese Dish Served w. Fresh Lettuce wrap, Onion, Bean Sprouts, Mint, Cucumber, Soft Rice Noodle & Peanut Sauce”.





The food arrived and I asked for chopsticks. Did I mention that I believe you absolutely must eat Asian food with chopsticks? For me it is all part of the experience. If you have never eaten with chopsticks, either pick up a pair the next time you are at an Asian restaurant and take them home with you, or buy an inexpensive package at the grocery store. Then practice in the privacy of your home. You will find that some foods are actually easier to eat with chopsticks than with a fork. Once you feel comfortable with them and confident that you can eat with them, try to eat with chopsticks the next time you are at an Asian restaurant. Be aware that there are some general rules of etiquette that must be followed when using chopsticks.

The waitress placed a large platter in front of me and then added a second smaller, empty plate. She brought the peanut sauce and left me to my meal. It looked wonderful and smelled delicious. Several leaves of lettuce adorned the platter, with bean sprouts and julienned strips of cucumber next to that. A pile of sautéed onion and pork strips sat nestled next to a bed of cellophane noodles. My problem now was how to eat this. The description had said that the lettuce was a wrap, so I began by placing a bit of each ingredient in the center of the leaf and attempted to roll it into a nice wrap. The lettuce was crisp, so wrapping it crosswise caused the rib to crack. Wrapping it the leaf lengthwise resulted in a messier package. Now that I had assembled my meal, how would I eat it? Do I use my beloved chopsticks? Do I pick it up with my hands and eat it that way? Too embarrassed to ask the waitress, I compromised by doing a bit of both. Perhaps not correct, but effective. I will say that I greatly enjoyed my meal and would definitely have it again. As the waitress had promised, it was a very healthful meal and I could feel good about eating it.

I have to say that the funniest part of my adventure to Vietnam was after I left the restaurant and was in the grocery store. While I was choosing some produce, a lady came up to me and asked if I had just been at the Asian restaurant. It was enough to make me feel like a celebrity. Either that or she had been secretly laughing at my attempts to eat an unfamiliar dish.