Dining, Reviews

Lunch at Ali Baba

Ali Baba

2103 N Central Expressway
Richardson, TX 75080
Phone: 972-437-1222

I’ve been wanting to try this place ever since my coworkers raved about their buffet. Finally, I was able to persuade another coworker to go check it out last month. The Mediterranean buffet offerings were almost overwhelming, and unfortunately, not very newbie friendly. The lack of labels meant I ended up collecting only the most recognizable kebabs, rice, falafels and hummus offerings. Luckily, everything I sampled was was good, and I kept coming back to the rice and lamb kebabs. A super-crunchy falafel did have some heat, but it was rather bland in the flavor department. I wished the grilled chicken had more flavor, and I did hope the hummus had more of a garlicky punch to them, but I was satisfied regardless. Worth going back to, when the place is less busy during the hustle/bustle of lunchtime.

My rating: 3.0 stars
***

Bites and Finds, Dining

Name that dim sum!

Every time I find myself in an Asian market/strip mall, I look for a bakery serving authentic sweets. In particular, I look for that delightful confection/dessert that seems to have various different names depending on the ethnic background of the bakery. Once upon a time, I thought these light, sugary-peanutty-filled deserts were known as mochi. But my Hawaii trip in 2006 and some treats brought home by a traveling Taiwanese friend educated me that the name commonly referred to the Japanese preparation of this dessert, sans coconut powder dusting. While I found the chewier Japanese-style mochi delicious in their own right, they could not compare to my all-time favorite Chinese sticky rice balls. So I turned to Google to discover the correct name, pronunciation, and label of this fabulous dessert. “Glutinous rice balls” and “sticky rice balls” directed me to the Wiki page on the subject. Why, those sweet filled dumplings must be called tangyuan (or tungyuen), right? Not so, for the name denoted a syrupy or soupy preparation for the sticky rice ball. And I don’t remember dipping my spoon into a bowl for these particular sticky rice balls. Zongzi? Not the same either, as it recalled the Filipino snack known as suman, a sticky rice dessert cake steamed in banana leaves and topped sugar and/or coconut. (Omg, I LOVE suman!)

I scoured the Chowhound forums looking for some clue, but these hounds’ ethnic food experiences were clearly lacking. Back to Google again, as we tried searching for “dim sum glutinous rice balls peanuts” which led us to discover this illustrated page on all good things dim sum. There it was, pictured near the bottom of the page, snuggled next to ma-lei-chann and ma-dau-go…Nor-maai-chi. Google made sure to supply an alternate spelling, nor mai chi. Also known as: coconut snowballs, a Cantonese dessert.

Another pleasant discovery while browsing that illustrated dim sum page: I finally found out the name of that deep fried sticky rice dumpling that we all loved and knew as “the football” due to its obvious shape. We used to order it all the time at the now-defunct Lucky House and at other dim sum spots in Richardson (aka Maxim’s, Hong-Kong-Royale-turned-Kirin-Court) and referred to it most commonly as “deep fried shrimp pie”. Turns out it’s also known as: ham sui gok, a combination pork dumpling.

Dining, Recipes

Cheesy garlicky mashed potatoes

I neglected to post my turkey roasting experience this year, but needless to say, this year the turkey went without much drama. I did add a new ingredient to unify the Thanksgiving meal, and it made a much bigger impact on my gravy and mashed potatoes than the turkey itself. The star ingredient: Swanson’s Chicken Broth with Roasted Garlic.

I attempted to use 5 cans Chicken Broth to brine the turkey, but the flavor got too diluted when I added about 6 quarts of water during the brining process. Therefore the 1.5 cups of garlic salt and 1 cup of brown sugar I added was unable to fully flavor the turkey during the nearly 24 hours that it sat in the fridge.

However, the Roasted Garlic broth added an entirely new dimension to mashed potatoes. I emptied 4 cans into a pot, brought it to a boil, and added slices of red, skin-on potatoes. After they softened, I drained and reserved the broth. I then placed the potatoes in a metal mixing bowl and proceeded to mash them over a low heat. I added butter, chopped rosemary, and shredded cheddar, making sure the cheddar melted into the mash. The result: a fantastic cheesy garlicky mashed potatoes dish.

The reserved broth went promptly into the gravy. Granted, I had to supplement the gravy with more regular chicken broth. I made this year’s gravy with a flour base (unlike previous years in which I used cornstarch as a thickener). My whisk saw plenty of kitchen action this year as I made a roux-based gravy that thickened nicely over low-medium heat. I threw in some mushrooms, eggs, and turkey giblets that resulted in the thickest gravy I’ve ever made. Now if I could only learn the secret to cooking up a translucent gravy…

Bites and Finds

Diet Coke with Lime

So I’ve been imbibing Diet Coke with Lime for about two years now. The cafeteria at work dispenses my health-conscious drink of choice on a daily basis…$1.19 total. I have a bottle cap collection to measure how much of the liquid I consume, stuffed in a plastic bag and stowed away in a drawer in my cubicle. On those days when the supply of Diet Coke w/ Lime is threatened to be yanked by changes in distributors, I simply fall back to regular Coke or just plain water. The cafeteria manager tells me it’s a popular drink and the regulars let them know immediately when stock is gone. But that doesn’t stop me from missing it when I fail to have my daily fix. And most fast food chains don’t list Diet Coke w/ Lime on their menus, so I usually have to order the rather-flat tasting Diet Coke that comes with those combo/value meals.

So anyway, I’ve been off the soda drinks for about two weeks when I decide it’s back to the limey flavor of DCwL. I saunter over to the refrigerated section of the cafeteria and beheld TWO different-labeled DCwLs. First one I spotted was the classic green-ribboned metallic labeling of the 20oz bottled Diet Coke with Lime that I consumed for my daily libations. The one right next to it featured a cleaner, brighter, decidedly lime-greener label. I figure, what the hey, and grabbed the new label and checked out at the register.

The moment I popped off the cap, an intense lime flavor hit my tongue and I began to wonder…did Coca Cola reinvent the recipe of this newly-dressed Diet Coke with Lime? Or had I been away too long from the DCwL that my tastebuds merely forgot the flavor? But no, I had a 2-Liter of Diet Coke (old label) sitting in my icebox at home that I had sampled earlier this week. This new label DCwL had a much stronger lime flavor that hit front and center, not like the subtle back-of-the-throat approach of the old label DCwL. Quickly I scoured the net for any tidbits of information that might suggest a profile change of the drink…but so far, nothing.

I’ll be rushing home tonight to try out the old label drink and see if I’m just imagining all this. But just in case, the new-label bottle I had was stamped: FEB0408 BSC05262.