Tino's Italian Bistro Columbia, MD

Shortly after being seated in one of Tino's cozy booths, our attentive waiter was happy to take our drink orders and give us a basket of warm bread (crunchy crust with soft interior) accompanied with Italian herb infused oil.  Everyone in our party LOVED the oil and bread.

Italian bread with herbed oil dipping sauce

We found out that the owner is Italian American, so we were excited that we might experience some good authentic Italian cuisine. My family ordered several dishes.  Here are some of them:

Charles selected Chicken Alfredo
The chicken was well seasoned and the sauce creamy and buttery. 

Tino's sure does make a fine Chicken Parmesan. We tasted it and instantly liked it. The chicken was in long, breaded, tastey strips with just the right amount of tomato sauce. 

The Steak and Cheese Hoagie wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. Although the tomatoes and cheese were  great, the  lettuce choice was too delicate (it was a bit wilted from the heat of the melted cheese) and the steak wasn't as flavorful as I expected. 

We LOVED this chocolate mousse. If you are wondering why it is shaped like a heart it's because we went to Tino's very close to Valentine's Day. Drizzled in chocolate syrup, the mouse had a soft and creamy texture wrapped in chocolatey goodness.  We were  surprised how much chocolate was packed into this dessert.  

Thomas pointing to the entrance sign about specials.....note "Kids Eat Free on Monday nights."

Tino's  offers many other pasta, chicken, veal and seafood dishes.  We didn't try their meatballs - an old family recipe - but we will next time. 

Crazy Lunch Specials

This month we had a few days off of school so we were able to eat lunch out during the week.  We found some great lunch deals.

Since school will be out soon for Spring Break, we thought we'd profile two of our favorite restaurants that have awesome lunch deals.

The Burger Joint in Columbia has a student box special for only $6.99 (grades 1-12) .  It comes with a regular burger, fries and a soda.  It's available ALL DAY EVERY DAY with a student ID.

If you are a college student or adult, try the weekday lunch special - $8.99 for a burger, fries and soda. 

Here's a weekday special - Trattoria Amore Italian restaurant in Dorsey Search Village Center (4725 Dorsey Hall Drive in Ellicott City).  

They are offering "Crazy Lunch Specials" - for $5 you get a side salad, 1 slice of pizza and a small soda.   You choose the slice from whatever pizza they have made that day. We've seen the following pizza varieties ....cheese, sausage, pepperoni, white pizza with chicken and spinach or  mozzarella, tomato and basil (Caprice) and  they are more.

Our 2nd HoCo blogger party!

Held at the Corner Stable in Kings Contrivance Village Center, HoCoBlogs & Columbia2.0  hosted another great blogger party! We gathered in the restaurant's private dinning room where bloggers chatted with one another and enjoyed free appetizers. A number of famous bloggers were there including  HocoBlogs , Hoco Rising, HoCoMoJo and Columbia2.0.  I represented both "Dudes" since Charles had rehearsals for his school's upcoming production of "Suessical The Musical".

Even though there were complimentary appetizers, I decided to have my own order of BBQ wings (plus one to-go order for Charles) and a Shirley temple. The buffalo wings were great - not too spicy and not to saucy.... just right!  The staff was very friendly and VERY attentive.

A cool thing happened at the party.....

Zaching at the Corner Stable - me  with County Councilman Calvin Ball
along with HoCo school board member Ellen Flynn Giles.

A spontaneous "Zaching" occurred in honor of Zachary Lederer who is battling cancer for the second time. Zach was a student at my middle school when he was first diagnoised with brain cancer. Learn more about Zach click here and here 

Thanks HoCoBlogs and Columbia2.0 for holding a fun blogger party.

How to make super healthy waffles and pancakes video

I learned how to make healthy waffles and pancake in my school's Home Economics class.  I have the best Home Economic teacher, Mrs. Strawitch.  The waffles and pancakes were so delicious that I asked Mrs. Strawitch if she would make a video with me to show how easy it is for kids and adults to make healthy foods.

My friend Chris agreed to be the cameraman for this video.  My mom took over the filming when Chris wanted to taste the pancakes and waffles.

Check out our video on Youtube or watch it below.

Thank you Mrs. Strawitch for helping me make this video!

 Here is the Multi grain Pancakes or Waffles recipe:


1/2 cup-all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup quick-cooking-oats

2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal (any color of cornmeal will do)

11/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup 2% milk (can substitute almond, soy, skim or 1% milk or use a combo of any them)

1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt (can use plain or fruit flavored)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (we used canola oil)

1 large egg

Optional:

2 tablespoons Wheat Germ

Combine the first six ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. Combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl; stir well. Add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.

Spoon about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot griddle or nonstick skillet. Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Serve with maple syrup, fruit and low-fat granola, if desired. Make 4 servings at a time. For waffles, put the batter in the waffle iron until it is done.

Rudy's Mediterranean Grill - Columbia, MD

2 Dudes and Rudy, the owner.

There's a new restaurant in our town and it's bringing more culture to Howard County...Turkish culture!

Thanks to Rudy's Mediterranean Grill,  we now have more Turkish delicacies to eat in our town. We visited Istanbul, Turkey last year, so we know what good Turkish food tastes like.

As we walked in, we saw the owner Rudy talking to his customers. It's always good to see an owner being friendly. The waiter seated us at a booth and gave us menus. The menu offered a combination of American and Turkish cuisine.

Humus

We couldn't believe how many great Turkish choices there were to choose from! Plus, Rudy and the waiter gave us some pointers on the best dishes! Rudy also informed us that there is one cook solely dedicated to making just the Turkish items- now that's authentic.




We ordered two Turkish appetizers: humus, a  blend of chick peas, herbs, oil and tahini, and patlican salad. My mother makes a similar version of humus, but this one was just a little more on the spicy side. Each humus we try is a little different. The patlican salad consists of smoked eggplant, grilled peppers and tomatoes, lemon and oil. We didn't try it but our parents did. They concluded that it was "good".

Patlican salad 

While the rest of my family ordered Turkish food, I (Thomas) had my own agenda. I was in the mood for a classic American Turkey BLT. It came with home fries. What are home fries? Home fries are kind of like a french fry, but they are smaller and hand-cut into a square shape. The BLT included tomato, lettuce, bacon, mayo, white bread, and a boatload of turkey. It was delicious.

American Turkey BLT

Izgara Kofte- Minced lamb with onion, parsley and Mediterranean spices, cooked over charcoal

Here are the two Turkish dishes we ordered below.

Famous Iskender Kebab- Thinly sliced döner (gyro) over homemade pita bread, dressed with tomato sauce and homemade garlic yogurt sauce.

The meats were tender, seasoned pieces of juicy delicacies. Amazing! The homemade garlic yogurt sauce, salad and rice were great accompaniments to the meats. Really made us feel like we were back in Istanbul.

For dessert, we ordered some Turkish Coffee. It's similar to Italy's espresso but stronger. In fact, it is VERY, VERY STRONG.  

 My family also ordered some homemade Turkish rice pudding.  It had a hard sugary crust then creamy soft rice inside.  It wasn't as thick as its American version but we liked it just the same

 We could definitely tell that everything we ate was made with fresh ingredients. Rudy's is great because with a combination of Turkish and American foods it gives everyone in our family a chance to order something different.  Plus, the owner has a fun personality and was helpful ordering.

Celebrating the Year of the Dragon - Chinese New Year 2012

Happy Chinese New Year

Today, I celebrated Chinese New Year with one of my friends Nick Zou  -whose family comes from China. Nick and his mother Mrs. Zou gave me details about how they celebrate the New Year.  Each Chinese New Year is given an animal symbol.  This year, 2012 is the year of the dragon - which means that this year will be "energetic".  Nick said it is traditional to celebrate with dumplings, Chinese candy, and fireworks.

Here are some of the Chinese candies that the Zou family shared with me. The candy with only Chinese writing was purchased when Nick's family went to China this summer.  The candy that has Chinese and English writing on the wrappers  were purchased from Chinese food stores in Maryland.

Here are Nick and my two favorite Chinese candies. The yellow one tastes like shrimp, and the red one is crispy and tastes like peanut butter. 

  My friend Nick and I holding candy

Learn more about Chinese New Year 

Toyko Seafood Buffet - Hibachi Grill & Sushi Windsor Mill, Maryland

Toyoko Seafood Buffet 

Located in a building attached to Security Mall, Tokyo Seafood Buffet was recommended to our family by a friend in our neighborhood. It is unreal how much food they offer: over 250 items served in  multiple hot and cold buffets, salad bar, plus sushi, hibachi (make-your own) and dessert stations. We call it "Buffet Heaven"...and get this...... it's all-you-can eat for $8.99 during lunch.

True to its name, they offer LOTS of seafood - cooked or raw served a ton of different ways like crayfish (left) and ...












......crabs, shrimp, scallops, fish, calms and even whole lobsters (but the lobsters are extra).

We saw many people eating crabs.  Here's Thomas eating one.

Chinese items included traditional foods such as 4 varities of steamed dumplings (above), fried 

rice, lo mein, sweet & sour pork, spicy shrimp, teriyaki chicken, spring rolls, sauteed greeen beans, BBQ pork ribs and General Tso's chicken.  And not so traditional chinese items like frog legs below.  For the record, we didn't try the frog legs...and not so sure we will on a return visit. 

The buffet had an assortment of American food - fried chicken, mac & cheese, corn bread, spare ribs, french fries, wings, mashed potatoes, crab imperial,  and a variety of soups.

There was also Korean foods like BBQ pork,  Japanese sushi and Italian pastas.







For dessert, there were many choices - cut fruit, cakes, pies, puddings and cookies.

Our favorite dessert was the chocolate fountain where we dipped all kinds of fruit.  

Even after eating all the food and all the dessert we learned they offered  ice creams cups. So we ate that too!

















This new restaurant - opened only a few months ago - is on our "MUST GO" list.  This would be great for a family meal because it has soooo many choices to pick from.  We really liked the opportunity to get our own food from the buffets....and go as many times as we liked. It gave us a chance to try new a couple of dishes that we wouldn't have ordered off a menu.

Follow us on Facebook

Guess what?  We now have a Facebook page.  Isn't that great!  If you are on Facebook join us!

Check back soon....more posts coming. One restaurant is new!!!

Columbiapatch.com wrote about us

Hey, guess what?

Just before the holiday we got a call from the Columbia.patch.com.  It's an online newspaper dedicated to  local issues.  There are patch.com's for many cities around the country including  Ellicottcity.patch.com in our area as well as Albany.patch.com in New York and Santamonica.patch.com in California.

So, this woman named Marge from Columbia.patch.com learned about our cookies for the homeless project and video and interviewed us for the patch.com.  It was blast to be interviewed but more importantly we were glad that columbia.patch.com could spread the word to other kids and adults to help the homeless.

Here's the link to our Columbia.patch.com article "Young Howard County Foodies Combine Baking, Caring." 

Thanks again Marge and the Columbia.patch.com!

Cookies for the Homeless - Grassroots Crisis Intervention

We were saddened to learn that there are many kids who are homeless in Howard County.  According to an Ellicott City Patch.com article the number of homeless people are growing -
in 2009 there were 174 people homeless....in 2010 there were 221 people homeless.  





Recently, we learned that our grandmother's friend was organizing people to bake holiday cookies for those homeless in our county. (That's us with our grandmother )







                                                                                               



The cookies would be delivered to the Day Resource Center in Jessup where families in need go for help.  Since homeless families don't have a home much less a kitchen to cook in, having something homebaked for the holidays would be special for them.

So, we decided to participate in this effort.  We made a video to show how easy (and fun) it is make a batch of cookies to donate.

Please consider donating something to those in need during the holiday.  If you do, let us know what you did so we can share ideas. And tell us if you have some ideas we could do to help homeless families not just at the holiday time but anytime of the year.

Here's our video -




We used our grandmother's receipe  -

Cream Cheese Cookies

1 pkg (3 oz) soft cream cheese
1 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 sifted all-purpose flour
Sprinkles (optional)

1. Refrigerate ungreased cooke sheets until ready to use.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In large bowl, with wooden spoon, or portable electric mixer at medium speed, beat cheese, butter, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
3. Stir in flour to make a soft dough.
4. Fill cookie press. Force dough through ribbon disk of cookie press in 2-inch strips onto cookie sheets, 1 1/2 inches apart. Optional: top with sprinkles
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden around edges.  Remove to wire rack; cool.

For more information about the Day Resource Center, visit their website below.

Day Resource Center ( a Grassroots program)

8826 Washington Blvd.

Jessup, MD 20794

301-776-9900

web site: http://rt1daycenter.wikispaces.com

e-mail: daycenter@verizon.net

* Accepts donations of men's and women's jeans (need lots of men's), t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, sweaters, therma; underwear, heavy shoes, hats, gloves, tennis shoes, socks, underwear.   Open 3 days a week.

Rt. 1 Day Resource Center ==
Directions | **Google Map**
8826 Washington Blvd., 1st Floor
Jessup, MD 20794
301.776.9900 (phone) 

Hours of Operation
Mondays, 2 to 6 p.m.
Wednesdays, 3 to 7 p.m.
Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m

Crepe Cafe - Bryant Park in New York City

My family and I went to  New York City for the weekend.   We ate dinner at Angus McIndoe one of our favorite restaurants in the theater district.  (will post a review).

A highlight of our trip was a stop at The Holiday Shops at Bryant Park.  It has the Citi Pond ice skating rink - which is free to the public. The ice rink is surrounded by small shops and grab-n-go eateries that are all dressed up in their holiday cheer. 

Although there were many places to grab a bite to eat, we decided to try Crepe Cafe. They offered a wicked variety of flavored hot chocolates such as brown sugar, pineapple, almond, acai berry, peach, cinnamon, coconut, banana.  Also on the menu was a variety of teas and of course crepes.

We placed our order at the window. Charles ordered a strawberry hot chocolate and banana crepe. Thomas decided on a Hershey's Hot Chocolate and a strawberry crepe.  Then waited at the pick-up window for our order. 

 The crepe came with whipped cream which melted pretty fast in the cold night air.  The crepe was super thin and a bit chewy.  It wasn't the best one we've ever had but it was tasty. The plastic fork and knife they supplied made it really hard to cut and pick up the crepe.

The hot chocolates were the bomb - it was the best we've ever had. With only one sip, our mouths exploded with a sensation of smooth, velvety chocolate sweetness.  Although we weren't sure if the non-traditional strawberry flavored hot chocolate would be good - it was well worth the try. 

Luckily, we found an empty table and chairs to eat on with a view of the skate rink.  It was a crowded weekend night so it wasn't easy to find.

If you are going to the Big Apple, we'd definitely recommend a trip to Bryant Park with a stop at Crepe Cafe.  We can't wait to go back and try other hot chocolate flavors.