Making Your Mark  

On our recent trip to Aruba my son was all excited to see a Wendy’s on our way to our timeshare.  I was more intrigued by a brightly colored restaurant located right next door Sawasdee Thai Restaurant.  When we got to the Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club, I asked about it and was told it was very good.

We decided to give it a try.  Like most Palm Beach Restaurants it was an easy walk from the high rise resorts so we chose to walk.  After that try we went again.  In fact I think we would have gone their every night.  WOW.

There are so many great things about Sawasdee Thai Restaurant that I am unsure how to even start.  You know how you look at a menu and something reads like it should taste good and the picture looks great and then when you get it you wonder if you got what you ordered?  Kind of like the Big Mac on the menu looks nothing like the squashed sideways looking burger with globs of goo?  Well Sawasdee Thai Restaurant is one of those restaurants where I felt the chef took presentation to heart.

I found the service to be refreshingly simple.  Meaning it was a feeling of being a guest versus waited on.  Probably not the most prompt but that added to the charm.  One of our orders was taking a long time so they thoughtfully brought us out an order of spring rolls.

My husband looked at them suspiciously then took a tentative bite.  My acting skill are not up to par because his eyes widened and he grabbed his second one.  They were absolutely delightful.  They were crisply cooked and just the perfect size and when accompanied by their sauce they were heaven.

I ordered the Red Curry Adventure and Steve order the Garlic Chicken while our son ate fried rice.  The Curry was spectacular – I am a huge curry fan and it was spicy and flavorful and the meat tender – it was definitely worth the wait.  Steve’s Garlic Chicken was fantastic as well. well cooked, spicy and great cuts of meat.

We had enough left over for lunch the next morning are our bill was only around $50 with tip.  It was the cheapest sit down meal we had in Aruba and we had leftovers.  I will say that the next day the spices were even better as they had really soaked in.

A few days later we went again because my uncle had joined us and he loves Thai.  He lives in Manhatten and eats at some really great Thai restaurants and wanted to get his take on it.

We had the spring rolls again – and again they were perfect.  My son and husband did not deviate (they are like that!) but I ordered the Thai Pepper Chicken and my uncle ordered Pad Thai with prawns.  All were at two of three stars in the heat department.

I am not a prawns lover so I have to take my uncles word for them but he said they were fabulous.  My chicken was spicy hot but in a good way.  Luckily they kept the water glasses full because it was hot.  If you are not into burning spicy food stick with one star.  I grew up in California on real Mexican food and love spicy so it worked for me.

After our meal I asked my uncle how it stacked up to the New York Thai places and he said it was better.  In fact I think all three of us agreed that if we could find cheap airfaire we would fly to Aruba just to eat at Sawasdee Thai Restaurant.

Hey isn’t Jet Blue having a special?  Hmmmmm The JetBlue Fall Fare Sale – fares for as little as $29 each way! Hurry, sale ends 8/5 11:59pm MT.  Better get clicking!

About The Author:

Jodie is the owner and operator of the Aruba Travel Site which is dedicated to Aruba Travel including Resorts, Hotels, General Information, Restaurants and more as well as Travel Advisor Blog which is a discussion of all things travel.

In the quest to find a new food we finally picked a food. Okay I finally received a complete approval from Abbeylocks and the Three Black (and White) Bears.

I ordered three options for the trial. I was hoping that one would work and was so excited when my package got to the house. The first food we tried was Castor & Pollux Ultramix Indoor Feline Canned and the three boys (Slakk, Spudd and Copy) all liked it but Abbey refused to eat it. I decided to wait a day to try the next food choice.

Copy was still refusing to eat raw so he was VERY hungry for our next option. So we then tried
Newman’s Own Organics Canned Cat Food Chicken & Rice the good news was that all of the cat’s gobbled it up, the bad news was Mommy did not do her homework and the carbohydrate % was over 10% as fed.

With Slakk’s well documented Feline Diabetes I really try to keep him under 8% carbohydrates as fed ad for some reason I chose a can with rice in it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this food choice for a healthy cat or even some diabetic cats, but Slakk’s blood sugar will elevate.

Just to check I tested him (yes you can home test a diabetic cat just like human diabetics do) and his bloog sugar was in the 80s. His normal rate is in the 50-70 range so yes even one small can of a higher carb food will cause him issues.

In fact it is the reason Sam is not allowed any dry food because if Slakk gets into it his blood sugar skyrockets. After three years in remission and as he ages it is more important than ever to keep him in remission. His immune system is already compromised from the ravages of the disease so I have to be very careful.

So sadly we had to say no to the Newmans. I was down to my third choice, Evanger’s Canned Cat Food – Organic Chicken. I set the food down and SUCCESS!

All of the cat’s scarfed it down and then went and laid down and took a bath. In my cat world that is a great sign. So now everyone but Copy is getting their normal raw plus a tiny bit of Evanger’s and Copy got just the Evanger’s.

Our world is now at peace. Whew

I know you think I am crazy but yes, you can grill fruit like vegetables on the grill.  If you enjoy fresh fruit, you’ll love grilled fruit.  Some fruits like pineapple caramelize wonderfully due to the high concentration of sugars in them.

Most fruits have enough moisture and sugar that they do not need seasoning.  They should be grilled fairly quickly over medium-direct high heat until tender.  You should only need to turn them once or twice. 

Fruit needs to be either halved or sliced, depending on the size and thickness (you will need to hollow out the core if grilling them whole).  You need to watch them carefully as they cook very fast and can go from brown to burnt in a flash.  Make sure to have your grill tools close by, especially the tongs and spatula as you may have to pull them off quickly.

A few need to be grilled on indirect heat and you will end of with fruit similar to their baked counterparts.

Listed below is a great guide to the length of cooking:

How many times have you cooked chicken to perfection then go to cut it and make a mess?  Here are some easy steps for carving a great bird into great pieces.

First you need to have proper grill tools, long-handled spatula, sharp knife and long-handled tongs.

First step is to remove the legs.  You start by pulling the drumstick away from the body, make sure to do this by pulling from the tip of the drumstick.  With your other hand begin cutting through the joint that holds the leg to the hip.  Envision a V, you want to cut straight through the V to separate the drumstick from the hip.

Next, remove the wings.  Like the drumsticks, use your knife to cut at a forty-five degree angle through the area where the wing joins the body.  Try and keep your knife as close to the body as possible.

Last you need to remove the chicken breasts.  Start by making a slit along the top of the breastbone and start on one side.  Use your knife to slowly separate the breast from the body.  Your knife is also great for assisting you in removing the breast from the ribcage.  Once you have completed that side, repeat on the other side.

Depending on the size of the chicken you can cut the breasts into pieces.  Arrange breast slices with the spatula and use the tongs to place the wings and drumsticks.  A gorgeous presentation for a delicious meal!
 

How many times have you cooked chicken to perfection then go to cut it and make a mess?  Here are some easy steps for carving a great bird into great pieces.

First you need to have proper grill tools, long-handled spatula, sharp knife and long-handled tongs.

First step is to remove the legs.  You start by pulling the drumstick away from the body, make sure to do this by pulling from the tip of the drumstick.  With your other hand begin cutting through the joint that holds the leg to the hip.  Envision a V, you want to cut straight through the V to separate the drumstick from the hip.

Next, remove the wings.  Like the drumsticks, use your knife to cut at a forty-five degree angle through the area where the wing joins the body.  Try and keep your knife as close to the body as possible.

Last you need to remove the chicken breasts.  Start by making a slit along the top of the breastbone and start on one side.  Use your knife to slowly separate the breast from the body.  Your knife is also great for assisting you in removing the breast from the ribcage.  Once you have completed that side, repeat on the other side.

Depending on the size of the chicken you can cut the breasts into pieces.  Arrange breast slices with the spatula and use the tongs to place the wings and drumsticks.  A gorgeous presentation for a delicious meal!
 

Sounds simple huh?  The biggest reason for grill failures and repairs are  because their owners do not regularly clean them.  I don’t mean shine them up like they are new but keep them from having encrusted burn remnants from the past two years.

Here are some tips on keeping your grill healthy.

After Every Use

If at all possible you should clean your grill before you put food on as well.  Again it is easier to clean it when it is hot so turn it on, wait a few minutes and then give it a quick scrub.  If you do this before and after, your grill will be in great shape.

At minimum clean your grill after use.  It is easy to get it clean when it is hot so this is the best time to do so.  If you have a stainless steel grill be sure to only use a brass bristled brush as the others may scratch the surface.  If your grill grates are iron than you can use any brush.

Optional but Highly Suggested

• Check the grease/ash catcher and empty it when needed.
• Clean off the side tables so stains do not set in and bugs are not attracted.
• After you grill is dry, cover it.  This will keep it from rusting.  We sell some great grill covers so no excuses.

The Once a Year Thorough Cleaning

1. Give the grill a thorough cleaning, check the heat diffuser for buildup of food debris.  Clean the lid and firebox, if you have a large amount of buildup you can use a heavy-duty cleaner.  If you see what looks like paint peeling that is just baked on grease, simply remove it with a damp paper towel.
2. Check for corrosion and scrub away any white spots.
3. If the outside is looking dingy you can repaint it with a heat resistant grill paint (exterior only!)
4. If Grilling season is over, store your grill in a dry spot.

If you have a gas grill:

1. Check the burner tubes.  If your flame is more yellow than blue you may have cracks
2. Check the controls and lubricate any sticky controls
3. Check the igniter and if it is not working then you may need to clean the tip of the electrode.

If you do these steps your grill will stay in better shape and you will get more years out of them.  Make sure to check your manufacturer’s directions as well.

For me my favorite meal is breakfast.  I love eggs Benedict the most and like the judge from Top Chef I can almost cry when I get served a bad egg.

One day I was looking for a restaurant for breakfast and went on the Internet to see if I could find anything that was not a chain.  Nothing against chain restaurants but they really tend to lack charm and well anything special in the way they do things.  So I found this place called Toast Café.

Now there are actually two, they opened a new restaurant in Davidson, North Carolina, but one we go to the original which is in Huntersville. Our Toast Café is a small house that was converted into a restaurant.  At one time it was probably an 800 square foot two bedroom and now it has about 14 tables, an eat-on bar and a ton of outdoor seating when there is good weather.

It definitely has charm.  Did I mention the original hardwood floors?

Huntersville is a great place to live, we are not Charlotte home of the banks and the largest city in North Carolina, we are not Cornelius or Mooresville the lakefront areas where the NASCAR elite and the uber rich live in their 10,000 square foot mansions.  Then there is Davidson, with its picturesque downtown and artsy charm and home to one of the best college basketball teams around, with a pricetag to match.  So sandwiched in between all of these is Huntersville, a town of about 10,000 where people are not too rich or too poor and have the best breakfast place around.

So back to Toast Café.  Everything is fresh and made for you.  I get eggs Benedict with scrambled eggs (I hate poached) and it always comes out perfect.  My biggest gripe is flat barely scrambled eggs.  You can tell the cook does not care just slaps the egg on and cooks it and folds it and throws it on a plate.  Not at toast.

They have a wonderful selection of flap jacks (pancakes) including a peanut butter and banana and a raspberry walnut – if I did not love my eggs Benedict I would be having one of those.  Instead of hash brown you get red skinned potatoes that are very well seasoned and so yummy you forget that potatoes are only supposed to be in moderation.  And yes they even serve great toast!

Prices are very reasonable too, comparable to chains but without the chain taste.  They serve breakfast until 3 p.m. so you never have to worry about being to late.  On weekends get there early or late because the crowds of locals are huge.

The best part is you get old-fashioned service, the kind that makes you want to come back.  And you will.  Again and again.

Toast Cafe, 100 Huntersville-Concord Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078  T:(704) 875-7840

My one-eyed feral brat aka Copy Cat has decided to go on strike against his regular food. Now if I was a one-eyed feral who won’t let anyone touch him despite being a house cat for THREE YEARS I would be happy just to be fed. But he lives in our house so he goes on strike and sits 10 feet away from me and looks pathetic.

So I am on the hunt for food. This happens about once every six months where one of my cats decides it is time for a change. So I pullout my favorite bookmark, Janet and Binky’s Cat Food List. This is a great resource for calories as well as carbohydrates “as fed.” We try to feed food under 8 carbs as fed for Slakk’s blood sugar to stay in the zone.

From Slakk’s Diabetes I learned that the labels on the cans are about worthless so I rely on this list for my information. The rule of thumb for the amount of calories a cat should intake everyday goes something like this:

(13.7 x Optimum weight) +70 = daily calories

My cats are ummm good converters, so they actually stay at around 170 calories per day, sometimes up to 200 but a normal weight 12 pound cat should figure eating around 230 calories per day.

So for some reason I went on a website for commercial cat food – VERY well known brand (no I am not going to name them because they do not deserve the publicity) and they recommend 1 can of their over-processed, slaughter house reject, pesticide filled cans of death, oops I mean cat food per every 2.5 pounds. Doing the math that is 4.8 cans per day…FOR ONE CAT.

After I got up from the floor I looked at the calories – about 435 total, assuming any cat could shove all of that in their mouth in a day (Slakk has offered to try), that is 200 calories OVER the optimal calories – and these are the people telling YOU they understand nutrition and you should trust them?

And then lets do the math, each can of death is $.079 times 5 (because you know you will feed 5 cans not 4.8) equals $3.95 PER DAY. That means in 30 days you would spend $118.68 not including tax, but hey you could forget your gym membership BECAUSE YOUR CAT WOULD BE SO FAT PICKING THEM UP WOULD BE A WORKOUT. If you have four cats like me then you would spend more on cat’s food then groceries

So then I look at a better alternative Evanger’s Canned Cat Food – Organic Chicken 5.5 oz. Can at $1.49 for a 5.5 ounce can. That is approximately the same calorie count as one day’s allotted calories. I feed this sometimes and honestly my big pig cats only get about ¾ of a can because quality calories mean less calories, but to be fair I will use the proper amount. So that equals $44.70 a month a whopping $74 dollar difference IN FAVOR OF A QUALITY PRODUCT.

Amazing huh?

If you really want to see your head explode look at the as fed calories for dry food, one cup equals 350-650 calories – ONE CUP. I will not even discuss the carbs…you know that is bad.

Raise your hand if your idea of feeding your cat is to take a bag of kitty crack and dump it in a self feeder…Don’t worry that was me before Slakk went diabetic. I ask you this – Do you think your cat is only eating what they need or are they gorging on the calorie heavy, carbohydrate-ridden pesticide filled bags of death (yes, related to the over-processed, slaughter house reject, pesticide filled cans of death).

So back to the web, I went to one of the lower calorie, yet highly-publicized dry cat food bags and read that my darlings should eat one cup or 362 calories – yes 150% of the recommended calories for a healthy 12 pound cat. Assuming my cats would self regulate at one cup (yeah sure) the kitty crack would cost a smidge over $1.20 per day.

Well until Slakk’s diabetes went out of remission and I was spending $100 dollars on his insulin alone. But again the cancellation of the gym membership would help out. Until one of the others went on the juice too…

But if you are feeding your cat on the calorie heavy, carbohydrate ridden pesticide filled bag of death or over-processed, slaughter-house reject, pesticide filled cans of death know this. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. We have been told that these companies know best and love our pets – well they are loving our pets to DEATH. My husband has banned me from the pet food aisle because I become an evangelist for proper feeding.

Kudos to companies like PETCO.com who have seriously started not only offering, but showcasing healthy alternatives to the cans/bags of death. Baby steps folks, babysteps.

I was in your shoes at one time and it took almost losing my sweet baby Slakk to learn his food was killing him. But now I know better and know feeding healthy is CHEAPER and your cat feels better and your vet bills go down and their coat shine goes UP. And maybe just maybe they will shed some weight.