Saturday, March 6, 2010

A Week of Missed Opportunities....Weekend Cooking

As I sit down to write my weekly Weekend Cooking post, I find myself without a subject! No new food related book read this week. No movies watched. A number of excellent food related opportunities missed, any one of which would have made a nice post.

On Friday, my niece and my sister in law and I went to The Melting Pot for dinner, the first time I had been to a fondue restaurant. Perhaps the first time I had fondue, which is hard to believe since I grew up in the midst of the great fondue popularity of the 60's and 70's. It was all great fun and very tasty, first the cheese course, then an array of meats and veggies to be cooked in a tasty broth and then dessert. Oh, the dessert...the Flaming Turtle, Milk chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans, flambéed tableside, with strawberries, pieces of pound cake, marshmallows and such to dip into it's melted, bubbling, chocolate goodness. Perhaps one of the loveliest desserts I ever had. But no picture taken...

Then, the niece and I went to Philadelphia Thursday and Friday for the Flower Show and even though we live only about an hour or so away, we stayed overnight and feasted on Asian cuisine at a couple of restaurants. For lunch, it was dim sum at the unassuming Dim Sum Garden. A variety of dumplings, including something called soup dumplings, steamed buns, a nice cold cucumber salad with cilantro, spring rolls...and the most tasty scallion pancakes. Wonderful with a dash of the vaguely named 'dumpling sauce'. Again, sadly, no pictures taken, so I borrowed these from the net. Then, after a return to the flower show and a stop at the International Wine and Spirit Festival in the adjoining Great Hall, to sample a few too many of the maybe 100 offerings (we are not going to discuss how I forgot my "water only beverage for Lent" pledge when faced with all that free booze. Really, I forgot), we went to dinner at a Malaysian restaurant, The Banana Leaf, where the niece had what she proclaims is the best pad thai in the world.
Again...I took no photographs at either and 'borrowed' one of these tasty, crispy, savory pancakes. Yum.

So, what of the flower show? Was there no food related matter? Well, the convention center is lined with food vendors, selling various food vendor foods. Hardly worthy of a post. But there was one thing, in one of the Major Exhibitor creations, that was food related. It was a display named something like Across America and so, of course, it started in Maine and portrayed one of my favorite foods...

See it there, on the right?



All we need is some nice melted butter... ;-)



This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.


16 comments:

  1. It's been forever since I've been to the Melting Pot here. I need to re-visit! Have a great weekend!

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  2. There is a Melting Pot here in Kansas City. All three of my children have been for various Prom/Homecoming events, but alas, I have never had the opportunity to go. Some year.....

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  3. Ever seen a blue lobster? I have a couple of pics I took at Woods Hole on the cape last year.

    Sounds like you had a good time sampling the asian food and the "water" for Lent. You could always pretend you were at the wedding feast where the water was changed to wine through no fault of yours.

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  4. So many fabulous food experiences you had. I've never been to a fondue restaurant but it sounds fun. I'm learning to love dim sum but haven't tried some of the items you had. Next trip. I envy you for the flower show and all the great food you consumed.

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  5. We love fondue and even took a class in it one time. Come down and visit the next time you want some.

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  6. Ha! We have a couple of Melting Pots in Orlando, but you can never get in, they are so popular. We just went to one here in Maui a couple of days ago for my daughter's birthday. A word to anyone that wants to go to this eating establishment...get about half of what they tell you to order. I left there nearly catatonic from eating too much.

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  7. the name 'the Melting Pot' is a terrific choice. Haven't had fondue in far too long.

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  8. What a wonderful weekend!! Love the pictures from the flower shoe, and I must get to a Melting Pot one of these days, too.

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  9. OK, I love this post for so many reasons ... love The Melting Pot (my husband's best friends are three high school buddies - and we wives are also very close. When they went to their 20th high school reunion, we opted for a girl's night at The Melting Pot and wound up closing the place. Great place, great night.)

    Also - slightly jealous (in a good way) that you got to go to The Flower Show. I'm missing it this year, for various reasons ...

    And the Dim Sum Garden! Several years back, I had lunch at a restaurant in Chinatown and haven't been able to think of the name ... this might have been it.

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  10. I go to the Flower Show almost every year...but I never realized for some reson that it is is the middle of Chinatown and all those fine restaurants.

    I love me the dumpling...I love me the noodle...and as to fondue, I love me the melted cheese.

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  11. Love the lobster-we are going out for noodle soup tonight. something warm and cozy-as it gets so cold in So. Cal.

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  12. I have got to the Melting Pot ... though I'm only in it for the chocolate fondue!

    And we thought about going to the flower show but went to Longwood Gardens instead. It was so lovely seeing all the flowers in the conservatory!

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  13. Oh man I can't believe you just had your first Melting Pot experience! Loved it in high school so much! Those chocolate fondue desserts - yummers!

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  14. The Melting Pot and Dim Sum Garden sound awesome. I'm especially fond of Dim Sum and the last time I've been to one was several years ago in Boston.

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  15. Okay, I'm salivating here!

    Meanwhile, please visit this link to collect an award:

    http://laurel-rain-snow.blogspot.com/2010/03/lovely-blog-award.html

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  16. I haven't been to a melting pot -- but I've certainly have had fondue! Great post. I have friends and relatives who go to the Philly flower show every year. One of these days, I'll go too.

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