Hainanese Pork Chop

We bought a huge pack of pork chops the other day and I have been trying out various pork chop recipes from all over. Today, I will attempt to make Hainanese Pork Chops. This is the most popular style of cooking pork chops back in Malaysia. You can pretty much get them at 'Western Food' stalls in hawker centers through out Malaysia. I believe that this recipe was invented by Hainanese chefs back in the day when the British still ruled Malaya. Those chefs did an awesome job in adding in a little bit of Asian influence into a predominantly Western dish. Yes folks, looks like those Hainanese chefs have been dishing out 'fusion food' wayyyy before it became the IN thing :P So, here's my version of the Hainanese Pork Chop.

Before we start on the pork chops, we need to prepare the potatoes that will be served alongside. Peel one extra large potato (you can use two if your potatoes are small) and cut it into wedges. Toss it in oil and sprinkle on some seasoned salt. Then, crack in some black pepper and mix everything together.
Place the wedges on a foil lined baking sheet and pop them into a preheated 375F oven for about 20 mins. Remove the potatoes from the oven and flip them over. Pop them back in for another 20 mins or so and it should be done.
While the potatoes are in the oven, we can start frying up the pork chops. I have pre marinated the pork chops with a mix of Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, a tiny bit of oyster sauce and black pepper for about 24 hours. All you need to do is to fry the pork chops up in a pan until it is cooked through. Then, remove the pork chops from the pan and set them aside.
Now, it's time to work on the sauce. Add in some sliced onions into the pan that we used earlier to fry up the pork chops. Saute them for a little bit.
Then, add in some frozen peas and carrots. Mix them in with the onions.
After about a minute, add in some Worcestershire sauce. Mix it well with the vegetables. The sauce will deglaze the pan and the flavors will be just so delicious.
Then, add is some ketchup. This will further enhance the taste of the sauce.
Mix everything together and allow it to cook. Once it is cooked, add in some corn flour mixed with some chicken stock. This will help thicken up the sauce. Stir it for a bit and once the sauce thickens, it is ready to be serve. Just pour the hot sauce over the pork chops and serve it with the potatoes that we made earlier. You can also serve it up with a side salad. This is really an awesome dish, you should try it!

Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen at Grand Central Terminal

We were super excited when we heard about the Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen event that will be held in Grand Central Station's Vanderbilt Hall. It will be a two day event (Nov 5 & 6, 2010) and it's organized by Malaysia Kitchen for the World. The main purpose of this event is to introduce Malaysia (it's sights, sounds and most importantly, food) to NYC. We missed some of the past events organized by Malaysia Kitchen for the World (Night Market in Chelsea, Night Market under the Manhattan Bridge...etc), but we heard that they were awesome. So, we made sure that we would not miss this event, no matter what.
The event is split into two sessions per day. Lunch starts at 11:30am and it goes on til 2:30pm. The vendors then takes a break and the second session resumes at 4:30pm - 7:00pm for dinner. We arrived at Grand Central Station bright and early on Saturday for lunch. We wanted to get there early to avoid the crowds and stuff. We were glad we did cos by the time we left, the whole hall was just packed to the brim!
This is what part of what the hall looked like. With the bright colored umbrellas and stalls, it somewhat reminded me of the pasar malams (night markets) back home in Malaysia. We were also greeted by lovely smell of freshly cooked Malaysian food...ahhhh pure bliss! :D
As we walked around, we noticed that a lot of the popular Malaysian restaurants in Manhattan as well as Queens and Brooklyn turned up in full force. Among some of the participating restaurants were Bentara, Betel, Cafe Asean, Double Crown, Satay,Taste Good and Spot Dessert Bar. Even the big boys like Nyonya and Laut had stalls set up. This is the best thing ever. We had the chance to actually walk around and compare food from various Malaysian restaurants in the Greater NY area without having to actually travel and visit each one separately.
There are three really popular Malaysian grocery stores in NYC (one in Chinatown and two in Queens). Old Town Asia Market is located in Queens and they too set up stall at the event. They were selling all kinds of Malaysian groceries, from Aik Cheong coffee to various curry mixes. I have extra happy to see my favorite snack on sale....MAMEE!! I am a big fan of MAMEE noodles, I literally grew up eating MAMEE :P It's been a while since I ate a pack of MAMEE, so I just HAD to buy a few packs. I believe they were selling 3 packs for $1. Taking a big bite of MAMEE instantly took me back to my primary school days. I still remember smuggling packets of MAMEE in our uniform pockets and secretly nibbling on it during classes. It was like the coolest thing to do back then.
Apart from stalls selling all kinds of food and groceries, they also had entertainment lined up. There were cooking demonstrations by various chefs and Malaysian personalities. We managed to watch a cooking demonstration by Susheela Rhagavan, the author of the ever popular Flavors of Malaysia cookbook. She also had a book signing session later on that day.
Apart from cooking demonstrations, there were also cultural dance performances by the cultural dance troupe. There were too many people in front of me for me to take any decent pictures of the performance but I managed to slip backstage and took this picture when they were posing for official press photos. I just pretended to be part of the press! :P See, the things I do for this blog.
Alright, now it's time for some food!! We really wanted to sample some of the food from Laut. For those of you who don't know, Laut was recently awarded one Michelin star. It is the first Malaysian restaurant in the whole of US to receive that prestigious award. To receive such a huge culinary honor, they must be really good. So yeah, we were pretty stoked to try their food. They were selling Nasi Lemak that afternoon. We could choose between Chicken Curry ($5), Beef Rendang ($5) or both ($6). We tried both. The Chicken Curry and Beef Rendang came with a serving Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), sambal ikan bilis (anchovies in chili paste) and some cucumber. The Nasi Lemak was rather good but truthfully, it wasn't the best. We tried some of the Nasi Lemak from Nyonya and it was way better than Laut's Nasi Lemak.
We also tried some Mamak Mee ($7) from Satay. The reason why we chose to try the food from Satay was because Satay is located in Flushing, Queens. We wanted to know if the food was good or not. It doesn't make sense for us to go all the way to Flushing to check them out, only to find out that they are not that great. I'm glad that we tried their food. You know why? Well, cos the noodles really wasn't all that great :P LOL! It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best either. The fried noodles came with some vegetable achat and peanuts.
Apart from all the yummy Malaysian food and entertainment, another good thing about such events is that you get to meet a lot of other Malaysians living in NYC. We managed to make quite a lot of new friends that day. It's always good to meet up with fellow Malaysians, especially when you are so far away from home.
Overall, it was an awesome event! Very well planned out and organized. The best thing that we took away from this event was this booklet. A restaurant guide to all the Malaysian restaurants in the NY tri state area! Not only does it list out the restaurants, complete with address and phone numbers but it also comes with reviews of each of those places. Also, they would point out some of the more popular dishes from each restaurant. I did a quick count and there are over 50 restaurants in the tri state area that serves Malaysian and Malaysian inspired food! Looks like we have to work our way down that list and try to visit each and every one :P So yeah, we had a great time at the 2010 Eat | Drink | Explore Malaysia Kitchen and we will definitely look forward to the next event hosted by Malaysia Kitchen!

New Luggage for the Holiday Season

We were just walking around the city last weekend and we noticed that most of the Christmas lights are already up. Man, it's only mid November and it's already beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the city! We are especially looking forward to this holiday season. As many of you know, my family from Malaysia will be visiting us over the Christmas holidays and we will taking them to visit Washington DC, up to the ski slopes in Vermont as well as Boston for the weekend. Also, we will be going back to Pittsburgh this Thanksgiving to visit Kevin's family next week. So, as you can see, we will be doing quite a lot of traveling over the holidays.

I was going through our luggage yesterday and realized that we need some new luggage for all those upcoming trips. Our current luggage are a bit old and worn. Of course we could go out to the mall to look for new ones but it would mean spending almost all day walking around (and not even sure of getting what we really want). So, we did the smarter thing. We went online to look for luggage!

While surfing around for luggage, we found LuggageOnTheWeb.com. It's an amazing online store that carries all types of luggage. They have everything, from carry ons, duffel bags, garment bags to huge trolley bags. I found three pieces of luggage that I have totally fallen in love with. The first is Vera Wang Mobile Traveler from the Hartmann Luggage line. I feel that it looks rather elegant. Another one that I really love is the Tumi Vapor from Tumi Luggage line. Doesn't it look cool? I also think that the Rimowa Salsa Air from the Rimowa Luggage line is really cool too! I only need one but I really can't decide on which. They are all so nice! Choices choices, which one should I get? What do you guys think?

Boston Market - North Arlington, NJ

It was one of those nights where we felt like eating a nice home cooked meal but didn't really feel like cooking. Sure, there are many nice restaurants out there that serves really good home style cooking but we wanted something quick and affordable :P So, it was off to Boston Market we go.
We have always love the food from Boston Market. We can choose whatever main we want and pick our favorite sides. It feels like Thanksgiving (minus all the hours in the kitchen) everyday! :D When we arrived, we saw a huge poster on the window advertising their 25th Anniversary Specials. Prices start at only $4.99! For $4.99, you get a 1/4 dark meat rotisserie chicken, cornbread and your choice of two sides. I remember them offering three pieces of dark meat chicken for $4.99 earlier this year but 1/4 a chicken is fine too, I guess.
We both decided to go for that special. Kevin ordered the 1/4 dark meat rotisserie chicken with stuffing and mashed potatoes ($4.99). As usual, the mashed potatoes, stuffing and chicken tasted great! However, we were quite surprised at the size of the 1/4 chicken. Look at it..it's tiny!!! Let me note that the plate is just a regular size plate (not some over sized platter), so yeah, the chicken was really really tiny.
I also had the $4.99 special. For my sides, I chose the Creamed Spinach and Mediterranean Green Beans. I found the spinach to be a tad bit too salty but totally loved the green beans. Yummy green beans tossed in garlic butter with roasted red peppers, dill and crunchy almonds. Mmmm mmmm mmmm really yummy. The cornbread was also very very good. Again, the downside was the size of the chicken. I still cannot get over the size of the chicken. Sooo tiny. I guess we would need to order the 3 pieces dark meat chicken the next time around.
We added on two Iced Tea ($1.89 each) to go along with our meal. Overall, it was a good meal. However, the size of the chicken made it little disappointing. Also, I wonder why they changed the promotion from getting 3 pieces of dark meat chicken to only a 1/4 chicken for $4.99. That kinda suxs :( Oh well, with that said, we still love Boston Market. Where else can you get home style cooking (with so many different side choices) for such an affordable price? :D

Boston Market - North Arlington, NJ
491 Ridge Road
North Arlington, NJ 07031
Tel: (201)997 1006
Web: http://www.bostonmarket.com

Earn Your MAT@USC Degree ONLINE Today!!!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of 2tor. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was chatting with some of my ex college friends online a couple of weeks back and we started talking about the good old days. A lot of them were education majors back in college. Upon graduation, they were all so excited to go out there and be educators. Sure, it was fun initially but after doing this for years, things start to get frustrating. They want to move up in their career but it feels as though they have hit a ceiling. Many have thought about going back to school but they just do not have the time to stop working just for that. Also, finances (or the lack of it) is another big issue.

I recently found out about a program that is a perfect solution for current educators and aspiring teachers who want to earn their Masters of Art in Teaching degree but do not have the time to do so. The USC Rossier School of Education is the answer. They offer education from an elite research university with the convenience and flexibility of studying online! With a 100-year history of educating teachers to be agents of change, they have been ranked #22 in the United States, and #9 among all private universities by US News and World Report! The program promotes highly interactive online learning combined with field-based experiences in your local area. That's right, in fact, Rossier and the MAT@USC were awarded by AACTE for their innovative use of technology in education. Also, you will get the opportunity to learn from distinguished USC faculty recognized for their contributions to modern education. The best thing about this is, you can do all that online, from the comforts of your own home! There is also an accelerated program that you can complete in as little as 12 months. That's right...12 months! You can actually earn your degree in a year!

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Oven Roasted Split Chicken with Vegetables

All kinds of chicken cuts were on sale at our local grocery store last week. I managed to pick up 6 pieces of split chicken (3 whole chicken in total) for less than $5!!! Mind you, they were not tiny. Those are regular sized (I would even dare say that they rather large) chickens. I wanted to make something simple and quick for dinner, so I just roasted one chicken (2 pieces of split) with some vegetables. It turned out to be really good. Here's the recipe.

Start off by cleaning the chicken under cool water and pat it dry with a some kitchen towels. Then, spray on some cooking oil onto the chicken and rub on your favorite chicken marinade. No prize for guessing what I used. Yes, of course I used Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Poultry Marinade :P Once you have seasoned the chicken on both sides, place it onto a deep baking dish. You can see from the picture that I placed the chicken on a rack that I set up inside the baking dish. This is to allow all the fat to drain to the bottom of the pan, so that the chicken doesn't sit in fat, while cooking. If you do not have a rack, you can just place it inside a deep baking dish. It might be a little bit more greasy but it still works.
Set the chicken aside. Now it's time to work on the vegetables. Peel and cut up one large sweet potato into small chunks. Depending on the size of your sweet potato, you might need two.
Then, place it into a big bowl together with some red potatoes (also cut into small chunks) and some fresh mushrooms (half them if they are too big). You can also add in some carrot if you like.
Next, pour in some balsamic vinaigrette followed by some lemon juice. Mix it all in with all the vegetables. You do not need a lot, just enough to coat the vegetables.
Once you have mixed the dressing with the vegetables, sprinkle in some dried thyme and rosemary followed by some freshly cracked black pepper. Give the vegetables another good stir and it's done.
Arrange the vegetables around the sides of the chicken. Then pop it into a preheated 400F oven for about 40 minutes.
After about 40 minutes, take out the chicken from the oven. Baste it with some melted butter. This will help to brown the chicken nicely as well as help make the skin crispy. Return the chicken into the oven for another 20 minutes or so and it should be done! Allow the chicken to rest for about 5-10 minutes before serving. I just love this recipe. It's so easy to make! Just prepare everything in one dish and pop it all into the oven. You should try it out, it's yummy!

The Perfect Luxury Apartment in Long Beach,CA

I'm sure by now, many of you know that Kevin works a Marine Superintendent for a rather large Singaporean owned shipping company. Their New York office is located in one of the terminals out in Staten Island. We totally love living here in NYC but we were just discussing the other day about where else we would like to move to, if there is an opportunity for Kevin to advance in his career. It's like, where else do you go from here? Of course, ultimately we would like to be transferred back to Asia (Singapore maybe?) but before we can do that, we will most likely have to move out west a couple of years. The company's HQ is in Arizona but Kevin says that they own a terminal out in California, so that will probably be the best place to be (if we ever choose to leave NYC).

Of course we won't be living in San Pedro, so I googled to see what's the nicest city nearest to San Pedro. Looks like Long Beach, CA is the best choice! So, just for information, I started looking around online for long beach apts, just to see how much they cost and things like that. Boy, there are so many apts in long beach to chose from! Out of all the apts that I checked out, there is one that really stood out. It's called gallery421. Located in the heart of everything, not only is it convenient but it's smack right in the middle of all the action! Just minutes from the beach, the harbor, art galleries and museums, it's just awesome. It's contemporary living room and bedroom designs as well as gourmet kitchens with granite countertops are just what we are looking for. Hmmm, I think I can get used to this Southern CA lifestyle. So, if we ever decide to move to out California, at least we now know which is the perfect apartment in long beach for us!

Tropicana Diner - Elizabeth, NJ

I've been meaning to blog about this place for quite some time but I never got around to it. Kevin and I were in Jersey Garden Mall (yes, AGAIN!) last month and as usual, we were shopping until dinnertime. We didn't want to eat in the mall so we decided to drive around Elizabeth to see what there is to eat. Kevin remembered going to this diner with his colleagues for lunch once and it pretty good. So, he suggested that we go have dinner there.
When we walked in, Kevin said it looked somewhat different. I later found out that it was recently renovated and under a new management. The decor was pretty errrmmm different, compared to all the other diners that we have been to. There we fake palm trees and tropical themed murals throughout the whole restaurant. I guess that's why it's called Tropicana? :P
After sitting us down and taking our orders, our server brought out two tiny slices of cheese pizza. Instead of serving us rolls, I guess they want to be different? I don't know. I find it a tad bit weird. The pizza was rather greasy and not really that great tasting. Maybe they made too many cheese pizzas during lunch and they were trying to get rid of it? Who knowsss...
Our meals came with a choice of either salad or soup. We both went with the Cream of Turkey soup. It was pretty good actually. Really creamy and good. There were also big chunks of turkey in it. I enjoyed it and I think Kevin did too.
For Kevin's main, he ordered the Virginia Ham Steak ($12.95). He chosen mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli as his side. The ham steak was really huge and it also came with three slices of grilled pineapple. Kevin said that it tasted alright, not too bad at all.
I got the Chopped Sirloin Steak ($11.95) with grilled sweet potato and steamed broccoli. When my meal arrived, it didn't have any sort of gravy on it. I remembered that it's supposed to come with mushroom sauce. Nevertheless, I took a small bite of the chopped steak and it tasted horrible! The meat was totally tasteless! I have never tasted anything so bland before. So, asked the server for some sauce (which should have been served in the first place). Instead of bringing me the mushroom sauce, he just brought me a bottle of A1 steak sauce!! For real??? I couldn't eat another bite, cos it was just too horrible. So, I just packed it up and planned to make my own gravy when I got home.
Since my main totally sucked, we decided to share a slice of cake for dessert. They have quite a large selection of desserts and we went with the Carrot Cake ($4.65). Now, this is really good. A slice of really moist carrot cake, with some caramel drizzled over it. Very very good.
The owner/manager was at the register when we were paying our bill. I mentioned to him that there wasn't any sauce with my chopped steak when it was served. He looked at me like he didn't know what I was talking about. I had to actually open up my take away box to SHOW him. He then went on to say, oh we don't usually put sauce on our chopped steak. By then, I was already a little bit upset with him. I said if you don't usually put sauce on it, why mention it in the menu? It clearly states that the chopped steak is served with mushroom sauce. Instead of admitting that they made a mistake, he went on to say "oh you will be surprised how many people don't like that with their chopped steak". It seems they only put it on if you ask them to. I said well, I did ask the server for some sauce but all I got was A1 steak sauce! He then just shaked his head and said no no, we don't usually serve sauce with chopped steak unless you ask. Man, are you dumb? I just said that I asked for sauce but wasn't given any. He then proceed to 'explain' to me that many people don't even know what chopped steak is and blablabla. I told him I know what chopped steak is and I know that it's supposed to come with sauce. I then mumbled under my breathe to Kevin that I will definitely blog about this on my blog and guess what? Mr No-We-Don't-Serve-That suddenly became Mr Nice Guy. He suddenly smiled, apologized and even offered to get me some mushroom sauce, so that I can take it home to eat with my chopped steak. I guess he only cares when the reputation of his diner is at stake. Too bad, damage has been done. There are many other good diners out here in Jersey, so I don't think we will return to Tropicana anytime soon (not even for their carrot cake, which by the way was very very good!).

Tropicana Diner - Elizabeth,NJ
537-545 Morris Ave,
Elizabeth, NJ 07208
Tel: (908)351 7775
Web: www.tropicanadiner.com

Dollar General supports and thanks the US Military!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Dollar General. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm not sure about you, but I don't really think much when it comes to my daily routine. If we ever get hungry in the middle of the night, all we need to do is drive out to buy some food. We do not even have to think twice about it. If we are not happy with something, we speak up. We have the freedom to give our opinions and our thoughts. You know, this is not the case in many countries around the world. They are not allowed to move about freely. Some places have curfews. Many are not even allowed to voice their thoughts and speak up in public. In short, they have no freedom.

We are so blessed that we live in a country that is safe and free. However, in our busyness in life, we tend to take this freedom for granted. We forget that this freedom doesn't actually come for free. There are millions of brave men and women out there, fighting for that freedom, just for you and me. Yes, I am talking about all those people who are (or have been) in the Military. There are many other careers that they could have chosen, but they choose to serve their country. It is because of the sacrifices made by these brave people that you and I can go about our daily lives, knowing that our country is in good hands. So, on this Veteran's Day, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the Military for all that they have done for us.

We are not the only people that would like to thank all of you. Dollar General would also like to say that they too are a proud supporter of the US Military and that they, just like all of you in the armed forces, demonstrates integrity, accountability and discipline on a daily basis. If you are an active duty member, veteran, member of the National Guard and Reserve as well as family members, you will find that Dollar General is a company that shares the same values and commitment in serving others. Therefore, in honor of your military service, Dollar General will offer all of you a 10% off discount at all locations this Veteran's Day ( Thursday, November 11^th, 2010). All you need to do is identify yourself at the register to receive the discount. Remember, this is a one day event only, so take full advantage of it! Also, some restrictions apply to the discount. It does not cover Cell Phone Minutes, Rug Doctor Items, Lottery Tickets, Propane, Wine & Beer and all prepaid items (such as Gift Cards, Cell Phone Minutes, Prepaid Credit Cards...etc).

Cousins Pizzeria - Bloomfield, NJ

Our fridge was totally empty last Thursday and we were too lazy to go out grocery shopping. By dinnertime, our tummies were rumbling but again, we were just too lazy to go out for dinner. You know, it's just one of those days when you don't feel like doing anything but sit in front of the TV and stare at it :P We agreed that we should just order some food in but the question was...WHAT? Should we get Chinese? BBQ? Pizza? Japanese? Wings? Sooooo many choices!
I remembered picking up a menu for Cousins Pizzeria from the lobby of our apartment complex a while ago. So, we decided to give this place a try. According to the menu, we could order our food from it's website online. However, when we tried to do so, that particular page wouldn't load. So, we ended up calling and placed our order thru the phone.
Usually, whenever we order food in, it would take only between 20mins to 4omins (and that's really rare) to get here. We had to wait for almost 1 and a half for Cousins Pizzeria to get our food to us!! ONE AND A HALF HOURS! That's crazy. If it was a weekend, I would understand. Maybe they are really busy. However, it was a Thursday night. Why would they need one and a half hours just to bring us our food? To make matters worse, the delivery guy forgot our soda. Lucky thing Kevin noticed and asked him where the soda was. He then said it must be in the car. Geeezz, is it really that difficult to bring us our food within an acceptable time frame and also to get the order right?
We ordered 10 pieces of mild buffalo wings ($6.95) to share. It comes with blue cheese and celery. As expected, the wings were already cold when it got here. In all fairness, the wings were rather huge though. So, that's a good thing. However, the sauce was just alright. Nothing to really shout about. It might have been better if it arrived hot. Oh well...
Kevin tried the Large Meatball Sub ($7.75). The only good thing about that sub was that it was huge! It was almost the size of one whole french loaf. Apart from that, everything else wasn't all that good. The meatballs were not even full meatballs. They were cut into half. Kevin said that they tasted pretty bad, just like those cheap instant frozen meatball that you could pick in your grocery store's frozen food section. I don't think he will ever order that again.
I ordered the Sausage Calzone ($6). It was really nothing to shout about (apart from the fact that it was pretty huge!). The pizza dough was alright, but I wouldn't say that it is as good as some of the pizzerias in this area. What about the stuffing? Well, there were lots of ricotta and mozzarella cheese but the sausage was horrible. Totally tasteless. Also, by the time the calzone got to us, it was already really cold and soggy. The marinara sauce? Hah! Don't get me started on that. It was just some watery red colored sauce. I didn't even bother to try it. Horrible.
When we looked at the bill, we noticed that they slapped on a $2.85 delivery charge. No where on the menu does it say that there is a delivery charge. It only says that they will charge us an extra of $2 if we used a credit card to pay. The only thing we saw regarding delivery was a $10 minimum. Most of the places in our area do not charge for delivery, let alone $2.85! If they want to be competitive, they better think twice about this stupid fee that they have added on. Really slow service, mediocre food (well, it was actually worse than mediocre) and to top it all off, a delivery fee...hmmm, I think this is the last time we will be ordering from Cousins. There are just too many delivery places near us that serves awesome food, with no delivery charges and would only take about 20 mins from the time we order to the food arriving piping hot at our door.

Cousins Pizzeria - Bloomfield, NJ
543 Bloomfield Avenue,
Bloomfield, NJ 070003
Tel: (973) 680 8200
Fax: (973) 680 9292
Web: www.cousinzpizza.com

Go Green & Save Water (as well as MONEY!) Today!

I'm sure many of you are aware that our environment is not like what it used to be. Over the years, humankind has been slowly polluting our earth and these days, it's sad to say that it's in a very sorry state. We see reports about global warming and a host of other things everyday. In newspapers, on documentaries and news reports on TV, posted on billboards and posters. Everybody knows that we have to do something to save our environment but knowing and actually doing something is two different things.

In the recent years, Kevin and I have been quite concern over the rapid decline of our environment. We decided to make small changes in our lifestyle by going greener. After all, I feel that it's a social obligation that everybody does their part (no matter how small) in trying to save out earth. We started off by recycling more, using more reusable containers instead of disposable ones and bringing our own shopping bags when we go grocery shopping. Small steps.

After some time, we looked further to see what else we can do in efforts to do more for the environment. Did you know that 1% of our income is spent just on water? That's rather a lot, just for water. Also, when we think of droughts and water crisis, we only think of it happening in other countries. Surely we do not have that here in the U.S. Wrong! Did you know that there are droughts so severe in certain parts of the country that people have to go on water rations? With the high price of water and also the lack of it in certain parts of the country, everybody should pitch in and do their part in trying to conserve as much water as possible. The question is...how?

I came upon the concept of dual flush toilets a while back. Not only will you be saving water, you will save a lot of money in the process! Hmmm, that would mean changing our whole toilet, right? That would definitely cost a lot of money. Well, wrong! Unlike other systems, you do not need to completely remove and change your current toilets. All you need is a Dual Flush Conversion kit. SelectAFlush is a dual flush adapter and water conservation device that works with your current toilet. You can retrofit your toilet into an efficient dual flush water conserving machine without sacrificing performance when you need it. How cool is that? For just $29.95, a family of seven can save total of 18,000 gallons of water and $193 off your water bill each year! That means, it practically pays for itself with all the savings you will be getting. Everybody should look into this. It just makes sense. So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself a dual flush conversion kit and start saving water (not to mention loads of money) today!

The Shannon Rose - Clifton, NJ

We spend a lot of time in Clifton, NJ (even though we live in Newark). Actually, 'a lot of time' would be an understatement. Most of our weekends are spent in Clifton (if we are not in the city). We do our grocery shopping there, our favorite departmental store is there, our favorite bookstore is there and quite a few of our favorite restaurants are also located in Clifton (there is this kickass Chinese Buffet place in Clifton that I am so in love with!). So yeah, Clifton rocks! :P
Like I said earlier, there are quite a number of restaurants in Clifton. You can find small hole in the wall mom and pop places to huge chains like TGIF, Applebees, Chevys and so on. There is this Irish pub/restaurant that we have been meaning to check out since forever. Groupon had an awesome deal for Shannon Rose a while back. So, we took advantage of that and finally headed out to have dinner there a few weeks ago.
When we first walked in, we realized that it was huge! You really couldn't tell from the exterior but yeah, it's huge. There is also an outdoor seating area for the warmer months. The decor is pretty much your typical pub/restaurant, with lots of wood everywhere. Check out their beer list. They have all kinds of local and imported draft as well as bottled beer. The beer flights (4 different types of beer) as well as the Guinness Mixes looked good too. Oh, and before I forget, there is live music playing almost every day of the week. Cool eh?
To start off, we both shared The Ploughman's Sampler (12.99). All of the appetizers looked so good, we couldn't decide on one. So, we went with the sampler. This way, we get to try some of their more popular appetizers. The sampler consist of Beefed UP Nachos, Corned Beef Spring Rolls, Irish Potato Skins and Shannon Rose Wings. I must say that all four of the appetizers were really yummy but my favorite is the Corned Beef Spring Roll. Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and some spices wrapped up in a wonton skin. It's really really good. Kevin loved the Irish Potato Skins too. Definitely a good choice if you want to sample a selection of appetizers.
For Kevin's main, he tried the Homemade Shepard's Pie ($11.99). Fresh ground beef mixed with vegetables, topped with mashed potato and then baked to perfection. It comes with a side serving of soda bread. Now, I must first say that Shepard's Pie is ranked among the top 5 of Kevin's favorite food. His dad used to make the most awesome Shepard's Pie ever! So, it takes a lot for him to say that a particular Shepard's Pie is good. Guess what? He said that Shannon Rose's Shepard's Pie is really good. Wow! It must be really good then :P Also, it was huge. Kevin only managed to eat half of the portion and he took home the other half for lunch the next day.
I ordered the Guinness Beef Stew ($12.99). Tender huge chunks of prime beef, potatoes and vegetables slow braised in a Guinness broth. Mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm. It also came with a side serving of soda bread. It was a tad bit oily but it was so so so good! The beef was really tender and the stew was so flavorful. The portion was also very hearty and huge. I too has to pack half of the stew home for my lunch the next day. Overall, we would give Shannon Rose two big thumbs up. Wide drinks selection, good live music, really yummy food and rather affordable prices. What else could a person ask for? We will most definitely be back!

The Shannon Rose - Clifton, NJ
Clifton Commons
98 Kingsland Road
Clifton, NJ
Tel: (973)284 0200
Web: http://www.theshannonrose.com/shannon-rose-clifton/