Never a Bad Fish

The next restaurant I am going to write about is Mama's Fish House in Maui, Hawaii. It's located on the North Shore and if you are ever in Maui you need to pay Mama's Fish House a visit! This restaurant has the best fish I have ever tasted in my life, most likely because all the fish is caught that morning. I have been craving it ever since I  left Hawaii.

The venue is very open with a great view of the ocean along with a cool sea breeze. Mama's is very authentic and relaxing and even through it's medium sized  it's very quite so you can really have a good conversation with your party. Even though the menu is mostly fish everybody will find something magnificent.

 The Decor is very tropical and it displays the true beauties of the Island.

The food is beyond amazing! Each bite of everything we ordered was just bursting with flavor. You'll want to have a bite of everyone's meal. I wanted to lean over to the table next to me and tell

them to order what I got because it was mind blowing. 

We started out with some bread and a tomato bisque compliments of the chef. It was in a small cup and you sipped it directly from the cup. It was a bright reddish orange color and as soon as it touched my lips the creamy richness hugged my tongue. It was very delicate and as soon as I tasted that, I knew I was in for a good meal. I only wish the bowl was bigger

The appetizer I ordered was the Maui Onion Soup. This soup literally melted in my mouth with all the rich but light cheese and onions. Some of the other appetizers we got were an onion and tomato salad which was super fresh and crisp. We also got some sashimi that really brought out all the delicate flavor in the fish. 

The fish I ordered was the Onaga which is Red Hawaiian Snapper. It is the lightest fish and it was prepared the lightest. It was so fresh and it fell apart in my mouth that after my first bite I wanted to order another one to take home for later. It was savory and packed with flavor but wasn't fishy at all. It was the best fish I have had ever hands down!

The whole meal was amazing and the dessert only added to the grandeur. It's called  the Polynesian Black Pearl. When they brought it out it was so stunning I didn't want to eat it. After the first bite I couldn't stop. It was rich but not heavy and very creamy and smooth. It was one of those desserts that you would want to lick the plate if you weren't in public. 

This is a must visit restaurant and I can't wait to go back. Everyone needs to experience this food once in their lifetime. 

2nd Recipe: Vapiano's Inspired

When I was home for Christmas Break my mom made this amazing panini and I just had to share it with you!

It doesn't really have a name so I named it the Pear and Turkey Panini. It's so easy to make and perfect for lunch or dinner along side some warm, rich soup. It takes 10 minutes or less to make and you can make as many as you want.

For this recipe you will need:

- Fresh Bread (I used French)
- Turkey
- Swiss Cheese
- Bartlett Pears
- Fresh Spinach
- Stone Ground Mustard and Sweet and Hot Mustard


First you want to slice your bread if it's not already sliced. Once you do that butter each side of the bread for your sandwiches.

After that you want to put the stone ground mustard on one slice of bread and the sweet and hot mustard on the other slice of bread.

Place the cheese on top of the mustard so it melts better when you grill the sandwiches.

Add everything else to the sandwich. You want to wait until the pears are a little soft but if you don't have time to wait they will taste just fine. Cut the pears super thin and you can put as much as you want of the cheese, turkey and spinach.

Put the sandwiches together and then grill then on a skillet, Forman Grill or anything you have that will get the grilling done!

Finished Product! It is so delicious and super easy to make. The sandwich has just the right amount of sweetness and a spicy kick from the mustard that creates a party in your mouth! It's perfect for dinner parties or just a night with the girls (or your husband).

" The Belly Rules The Mind"

So much has gone on these past few weeks!!

I went home to McLean, Virginia over the Christmas break and did a lot of eating! We also spent some time in Maui, Hawaii so I will be writing about some of those restaurants as well.

The first restaurant I want to share with you is called Vapiano's in Arlington Virginia. This restaurant has a fun, interactive environment. How it works is when you enter the host gives you a card that looks like a credit card. You walk up to one of three stations the station where you can pick from pizza, pasta. salad and panini or all three! After you order the chef that takes your order cooks your meal right in front of you allowing you to see how they make all their food. They scan your card with your order and you hold on to your card until the end of your meal. At the end you take your card up to the host and they scan it, see how much is on your card and that is what you pay.

The restaurant is very clean and open with an eclectic and modern feel. It has very neat lines which draw your eye to all the decorations. They have long wooden tables to sit at either with your family or others intended for a very social meal.

After trying to figure out what to order for a long time I finally decided on the Carbonara pasta and Dane ordered the Carpacciso pizza. When you order pasta not only do you pick what kind of pasta you actually want but you also pick what kind of noodle you would like your pasta to be made with. The food is amazing! They make all the food in front of you and they grow their own herbs right there in the restaurant so you know it's fresh. It's delectable and mouth watering. The portions are a good sharing size and trust me you will want to share.

My pasta was fresh and very light even though the sauce was super creamy and delicious. Each bite was packed with flavor and the flavors blended very well. The pizza was bright and each bite brought all the crispness of the toppings on the pizza. I would definitely order this again but I hope to order many more items off the menu to get a real taste of the restaurant.

This is definitely a place I will return to and bring my friends so they can enjoy this wonderful creation. Like this fish pizza!

1st Recipe: Malawi Inspired

I choose to do pasta this week because of the pasta dish I ordered at Malawi's. Their pasta was simple but elegant and that is what I wanted to try to create this week.

This week the recipe we decided to try was called Pasta with Zucchini, Bacon and Parmesan. I found it on the Food Network website which is where I usually get all my new food recipes from.

It is a very simple recipe but it is packed with flavor and will make you go back for seconds and thirds. As you will see in the pictures I also made a soup. This soup is called Roasted Pear- Butternut Soup with Crumbled Stilton and you can find it on the Food Network website.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/eating-well/roasted-pear-butternut-soup-with-crumbled-stilton-recipe/index.html

This pasta recipe takes 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook. It will serve 6 people.

For this recipe you will need:

-1 pound penne rigate pasta
-4 ounces bacon, sliced into 1/2 pieces
-2 large zucchini, diced
-1 cup reserved pasta water
-3/4 cup very loosely packed, finely grated Parmesan cheese
-salt and pepper

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water to al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot and set aside.

In a large saute pan, add the bacon and cook until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy. Add the zucchini and cook until it starts to soften. 

Place the cooked pasta over low heat. Add the reserved pasta water, cooked bacon, zucchini and the grated cheese. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve immediately.

This is a very simple recipe and it only takes 30 minutes and pasta is great for next day leftovers.

These next couple pictures are of the soup I made and the finished product.

Something I did to make the presentation a little more exciting is put my soup in dessert shooters. This makes the soup a fun appetizer but you still save room for the main course. 

This recipe is fantastic and would recommend it to anyone who was looking for a good pasta dish! When my husband and I make this again I think I we'll try adding garlic or onions to it to really play with the flavor.  It's already delicious but I really want to add my own spin.  I can't wait to continue trying new recipes with my husband.

Malawi's Pizza!

Our first restaurant!

I have driven by this restaurant many times and I am always drawn in by the logo so finally today my husband and I decided to give it a try.

Malawi's Pizza is located in the Riverwoods shopping center behind the Macaroni Grill. The first thing that caught my attention when we walked in was the atmosphere. There is a African Safari theme and the decorations are really amazing. There is a big tree near the front that really ties the restaurant together as well as African masks and animals carved out of wood. I would say this restaurant is very exotic and perfect for a big gathering with family and friends.

We walk up to the register and start scanning the menu. There is a menu for pizzas, a menu for pastas, and a menu for salads as well as a create your own pizza or pasta. Everything is reasonably priced so my husband and I decided to share a pasta and pizza. A waiter came up to the register a little after we got there and we told him it was our first time so he was very nice and helped us out. He told us about the menu and his favorites. We decided on the garlic shrimp pasta and a pizza that I can not remember the name of but it had red and yellow tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and a balsamic reduction on it.

We sat down at a booth waiting for the food to be brought to our table and just took in everything around us. When our food came it looked absolutely AMAZING and one bite of each confirmed this. The food was fresh and well crafted. They both had excellent flavor and a effortless presentation. This was food that you wanted to stop eating so you could save some for tomorrow. I am already craving more of the delectable food.

We really enjoyed this restaurant and would recommend it to anyone! If you are ever craving pasta, pizza or a salad I would go to Malawi's Pizza.

The best part of this restaurant is that when you purchase a meal, a meal is given to children in Malawi Africa!

Decorations in the restaurant 

Our food! Sorry we just had to dive in it looked so good!