May's Thai Kitchen

Wednesday, January 14, 2014

Several of us gathered at May's Thai Kitchen in Long Beach tonight for dinner. This is not a wine crowd, most drink beer so I just ordered a glass off the limited menu. Small place, bad parking. Food was OK. My dining companions raved about it. Not too sure if it's that much better than Nayada and Issara.

I ordered a small bowl of Tom Yum soup. To me it was a large serving. It was good but I thought that it did not come up to the Tom Yum soup at Nayada. I also ordered a "sizzling seafood plate". Seafood was very fresh, sauce was OK. Took the majority of my food home. The soup really filled me up.

The company was great, the food OK. I would have to try a few more dishes to see it it is that much better from what I am used to.

First Wino Gathering of 2015

Sunday,  January 11, 2015

Today we headed to Santa Monica for our first gathering of the "winos" for 2015. Theme today was reds from Rioja, Spain and whites from Chile.  Very good selection of reds, a few Gran Riservas and some older wines. A 1996, 1998 and a 2002.  A couple I was impressed with.

Weather was great, no rain here which is good since everything is outdoors. This has been a rainy week so a break was nice.

India Grill

Saturday, January 10, 2015

18 of us for dinner tonight at the India Grille in Cypress.  Seating ended up being  a disaster due to a large birthday party that did not vacate when they were supposed to.  Instead of having a long table in the middle of the restaurant we were sat at 3 tables.  5 people at one with banquette seating and outside chairs. 3 of us at banquette seating with outside chairs and in a corner and 10 people at a longer table in the middle. Wines could not be passed around easily. You had to get up and wander to see what was on the other tables. Conversations were limited. Dishes of food were not evenly shared. Banquette seating is difficult because people on the inside have to have a easy way out so you cannot seat more than 4  people in the back. Not the most ideal situation.

Food was very slow in getting out of the kitchen. They were simply over whelmed. It was just one of those days. Rained all day. Light but rain. Almost everyone brought white wines and most were not good. I only tasted two whites that to me were drinkable. We had to get a glass to use for a dump. The people at the table I was sitting at agreed with me.

We started out with Paneer Pokoras,  cheese that was dipped in batter and fried. Vegetable Pokoras, mix of vegetables, battered and deep fried and Chicken Tikka, fillets of white meat marinated. All were good as always.

Main courses consisted of Lamb Chau Chau, pan fried noodles with pieces of lamb and vegetables.

Nirvana Chicken, Chicken Tikka in a coconut sauce. Very good.

Shrimp Marsala, shrimp simmered in butter, tomates and cream sauce. This must have been popular because I ended up with one shrimp.

Vegetables Korma, one of my favoirite dishes, mixed vegetables in a creamy cashew curry.

Of course we had to have Basmati rice and Garlic Naan

Dessert was a choice of Gulab Jamun, deep fried dumplings in a creamed milk and saffron syrah or Pistachio Ice Cream. I opted for the ice cream and it is not as filling as sweet dumplings.

As always the quality of the food was very good. Once the restaurant got back into a normal rhythm service was much better. It was just way too much for a small restaurant to handle two large parties back to back. There is no easy way to tell the first group that they over extended themselves and to get out. When people are having a good time they want to linger.

Wines were a really mixed bag. A few good but most mediorce. Some I never tasted and did not see on the tables

2009 Drew, Weir Vineyards, Yorkville Highlands, Pinot Noir

NV   Louis Bouillot Champagne

NV   Segura Viudas, Riserva, Cava Brut

2008 Gertarioko Amestoi, Takolina, Cusecha, Spain

2011 Firestone Gewurztraminer

2009 Huber,  Sta Rita Hills, Barrel Select, Pinot Noir

2012 Wiens, Temecula, Rose of Pinot Noir

NV   J Cuvee (sparkling)

2009 Benovia, Savoy Vineyards, Anderson Valley, Pinot Noir

2012 Zocker, Paragon Vineyards, Edna Valley, Gruner Veltliner

2012 Seghesio, Sonoma County, Zinfandel

2012 Oreana, Santa Barbara County Verdelho

2011 Dumol, Clove Vineyard, Carneros, Chgardonnay

2012 Anthill Frams, Tia Marie Vineyards, Russian Piver, Pinot Noir

2009 Tablas Creek, Rousanne

2012 Tablas Creek, Cotes de Tablas Blanc

2012 Tablas Creek, Palilin de Tablas Rose

2013 Dr. Heidemanns Bergweiler, Dry Reisling

2009 Maison Louis Latour, Marsannay, Burgundy, France

2012 Sonora Cutrer, Sonoma Coast, Chardonnay

2011 Sequoia Grove, Cabernet Sauvignon

Recon at Baba Ghanouj

Since the next dinner in February for Margie's Wine Activity will be at Baba Ghanouj we decided to do another recon to check out a few more food dishes before she makes her final decision on the menu. The owner of Baba used to have the Sahara restaurant in Belmont Shore years ago. The great thing about this place along with the food is there is no corkage.

Started out with Cheese Borek. Cheese wrapped in dough and deep fried. I liked this a lot. We also had Feta Mix, which consisted of Feta, onions, tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. Served with pita chips. This had a good fresh , clean taste.

We tried two soups. A Lentil soup and a white bean soup.  The white bean soup had much more flavor than the lentil. It was very good.

Then on to two main dishes. Kibbi be Sineeya, which was ground lamb with cracked wheat and pinenuts, baked and served with Basmati rice, Tabouli and Yogurt. Flavor was good, a little dry but that is what the yogurt is for. I have found most middle eastern meats are on the dry side.

Next main dish was Chicken Shawarma. Marinated, grilled, very thin chicken strips with tomato and parsley. Had very good flavor. This meat mixture would be great in a pita sandwich.

Of course we had rice, yogurt, hummus, tabouli and tahini along with grilled peppers and tomatoes. Did not seem to be heavy on vegetables aside from those added as garnishes. 

Since there was only 3 of us we did not need a huge selection of wine. Margie and Paul brought a 2012 Lloyd (Napa), Sta Rita Hills, Pinot Noir. I had never heard of this label and was interested to know what vineyards in the Sta Rita Hills they sourced from. Contacted Wes Hagen from Clos Pepe and he had never heard of Lloyd. So I will have to do a bit more research.

I brought a NV Robert Moncuit Grand Cru Champagne. This has become my favorite champagne for the price. At $45 its a real winner.

First Dim Sum of 2015

Friday. January 2, 2015

Seven of us today to welcome in the new year with Dim Sum. I thought the Seafood Palace would be really busy like last week but they only had one side of the dining area open. Henry said that Saturday it would be packed.

We started out with the minced shrimp and roe wrapped in seaweed and deep fried. Again like last week the rolls were smaller than before. Maybe its a food cost thing.


Next came a tin of steamed pork ribs in black bean sauce and a tin of beef tripe. Tripe has no flavor so for most people who avoid it , it becomes a textural thing. I can take it or leave it.

Baked BBQ pork buns appeared along with the Lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice with Chinese sausage. I really like the sticky rice. Its sweet along with having the spicy sausage and makes a good combination.

A big plate of Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce appeared. The sauce is not made with oysters but has a flavor similar. I find it quite pleasing. After the last few dishes it was nice to have some vegetables.

Shrimp with bok choy and thin egg noodles along with Salt & Pepper Calamari were served. Really like both of these dishes. The thin egg noddles were a change from my favorite noodles, the fat ones.

A spicy hot sour soup was served. It hit the spot because the restaurant was a tad cold. They did turn the heat on about this time so it helped.

Last dish was stir fry beef with fat noodles.

We had egg tarts and fortune cookies for dessert. There was no fortune in CJ's cookie so we decided he wasn't going to have much of a year.

We were going to do lobster today but it was not fresh. They did not have a delivery for several days because of the holiday and the bad weather.So maybe in a couple of weeks when we go back we can hit the seafood heavy. Lobster, calamari, scallops, whole deep fried white fish, oysters in black bean sauce. That is what we are looking at for next time.

Wines were an interesting mix. All good, some just a bit better that the others. My favorite was the Ken Brown. Marc opted for the Tontodi 

NV   Segura Viudas, Brut Cava
2006 Tontodi, Chianti Classico
2009 Sea Smoke Botella, Pinot Noir
2007 Sea Smoke Southing, Pinot Noir
2011 Sanford, La Rinconada, Chardonnay
2008 Ken Brown, Cargascchi, Pinot Noir ( excellent wine)
2008 McKeon Philips BPR, Cabernet Sauvignon
2012 Dumol, Russian River, Pinot Noir

Thoughts for 2015

I decided to cut back my buying of wine and how many dinners, etc I attend in the year 2015. Some months in 2014 I ran myself ragged. As I am "past prime" it's time to cut back. I have enough wine to last whatever time I have left. According to my cardiologist, I will be dead next week, that is why he has me coming back in six months - go figure.

So as of January 1, 2015, I only have 2 brunches, 3 dinners and 2 wine events scheduled so far. LOL. Maybe I will have to go into cutting back slowly like my retirement from work.  Having 4 days off two weeks in a row really gets boring.

Holiday Brunch

Sunday, December 28, 2014

I did hold my holiday brunch this year. Last year was too much the the kitchen remodel. Kept the invite list to 25 maximum. Lost 5 people the day before to illness. Which made for a nice size group of people . Have decided that I am cutting down on the size of invites for anything this year.

My new criteria will be to include those whom I socialize with on a regular basis. Those that I only see a few times a year and especially those that never issue an invitation to me for anything will be excluded. It seems that there is a group of people that show up for everything that they are invited to but never reciprocate. Some of it it is the fact that I am single and not attached. Couples seem to only invite other couples, They have a problem not me. As my friend CJ stated maybe its time for us singles to only include other singles in our invites. I have known some of these people for over 12 years and have never seen the inside of their houses and have never been invited to anything by them. So a new philosophy for me this year.

I was not happy with two of the egg casseroles I made. Did not turn out well and too bready. One turned out great. But we had lots of ham for my Jewish friends and lots of chicken sausages for the Gentiles. There is always lots of food brought so no one went hungry. Did miss Margie's Biscuits and Gravy.

I always put out some cheap bubbly, after all you don't get Dom Perignon when you go to brunch. A few other bubblies showed up along with an assortment of wine.

NV   Tattinger Brut
NV   Schramsberg, Blanc de Noirs
NV   De Margene, A. Bouzy, Grand Cru Brut
NV   Sorelle Bronca, Proseco
1997 Justin, Isosceles
2005 Sequel, Columbia Valley, Shiraz
2007  "Private Label" Shiraz
2009 Bogle Phantom
2010 La Fenetre, A'Cote, Pinot Noir
2010 Thomas George, Russian River Valley, Pinot Noir
2010 O.D. Vajra, Langhe, Nebbiolo
2011 Otto, Barbera D'Asti
2012 Anthill Farms, Sonoma Coast, Pinot Noir
2012 Casal Moro, Rosso, del Veneto
2014 Starborough., Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc