Mai Thai Restaurant and the Idaho Foodie Meet-Up

22 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Asian Food, Boise, Boise Adventures, Boise Foodie Meet-Up, Cooking Styles, Dinner With Friends, Ethnic Foods, Local Markets, Mai Thai, Mataki Mushrooms, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Special Events, Sushi, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?, Whats For Lunch?

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asian food, Boise foodie, Mai Thai

On Thursday, November 21, the Idaho Foodie Meet-Up group met at Mai Thai in Boise for a delightful gathering and some scrumptious food! Our very good Waiter Benjamin, suggested that we try their Buffet Lunch, 11am until 2pm daily, because we can try a large variety of menu items for a very reasonable price. We highly recommend the Mai Thai restaurant for their Asian cuisine and their service. Easily a 4-Star, out of 5, rating. We will have to try their buffet. Thanks, Benjamin. Eight of the Meet-Up group were in attendance and here is some of the food we had. But first, the ambiance. Enjoy and Left-Click any of these photos to see them enlarged. Please VOTE above. Cheers!

Some of the glass work and water works in the restaurant. Beautiful!

Neither this lamp, nor the one above, were made by Chihuly, but rather by a local artist. They are simply marvelous.

Each table had one of these candles on it. The Missionary's Downfall goblet (left) Hawaiian Mai Thai goblet were not on each table. Just on ours.

Each table had one of these candles on it. The Missionary’s Downfall goblet (left) Hawaiian Mai Thai goblet (right) were not on each table. Just on ours.

The bar area. As you can see, the lighting in the restaurant was awesome. A fun place with superb food and service.

And at any party, there may be door prizes. Here was one of several. A mouse pad, at that!

And now …. The food!

Chicken Pot Stickers

Braised Oxtail Gyoza

Koi Cucumber Wrap

Seared Salmon

Kakitage – Corn and Red Onion Fritter
with
Spicy Curry Sauce

Maitaki Mushroom Tempura Fritter

Tuna Tartar

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Mai Thai Noodles with Pork

Chocolate Cake

Robin and I had an excellent time. Good group! Good food! Until next time ……………….

Celebration Theme At “The Buzz”

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Appetizers, Apple, Basque Foods, Cabbage, Celebrations, Dinner With Friends, Ethnic Foods, Food Photos, Italian Food, Main Dish, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Salad, Spanish Wines, Special Dinners, Special Events, Things To Do, Vegetables, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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the Buzz

Just in time for the holiday season quickly approaching. Celebrations of the World was the theme of the November Wine Club Dinner at the Buzz. We had dishes with a Spanish, German, Basque, African, Italian and the Netherlands influence. It was an exciting evening, full of information and tradition. Great job, Cristi! My only criticism of the dinner is the Swedish Meatballs could have had a little more of the sauce on it. The meat was a little dry, although the flavor was still there. A little more sauce – An easy fix. Here are some photos from the evening. The wine rating is [20] maximum points. Cheers! and see you at the next event. Thank you Paul Colwell for the wines, Peggy and Austin for being our Servers and Tommy for your support “behind the scenes”. An 800 calorie meal.

Spanish Fritatta

I enjoyed this appetizer. Great flavors.
2010 Faustino Crianza Tempranello
13% alc. a light wine and went well with the appetizer. lowest score of the night. [17] $14

Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

If I don’t like pumpkin and I liked this soup, you will also!! It was good.
2010 Durigutti Malbec Reserva
14% alc. a wonderful wine with this soup. well balanced and fruitty. best score of the night [20] $22

Holiday Salad

2011 Anselmi
12.7% alc. a good white wine that went well with the acidity of the salad. good paring. try the wine before you eat the apple in the salad – things will change. [18] $15

Swedish Meatballs Cabbage Steaks Noodles Just a little dry as I noted above, but the flavors were still there. 2011 Luna Cabernet Sauvignon 14.1% alc. good, full bodied wine that paired well with the entree. [18] $18

Swedish Meatballs
Cabbage Steaks
Green Peas
Noodles

Just a little dry as I noted above, but the flavors were still there.
2011 Luna Cabernet Sauvignon
14.1% alc. good, full bodied wine that paired well with the entree. [18] $18

Gingerbread

A good ending to this meal. It really tasted good.
2010 Renwood Old Vine Zinfandel
14.5% alc. so good with the gingerbread. [19] $22

Cristi always opens the evening with usually two wines that she labels “Cristi’s Choice”. These were two really good wines.
2012 Zolo Torrentes from Mendoza, Argentina. A really nice white wine and well worth the $15 price. [18]
2011 Arenal Vina Paralillo Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. Again, well worth the $14 price. [18]

Concert Jam at “The Buzz”

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Appetizers, Concert Jam, Dinner With Friends, Friends, Main Dish, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Special Events, Special Information, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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concert jam, Jen Drake, the Buzz

It is great to have Jen Drake – viola – bring some of the local philharmonic talent to the Buzz again this year for the 2nd year of Concert Jam! I think this program will be scheduled about every other month. If that is wrong, I will let you know. Such a great event and thanks to Jen Drake for “directing” the music. And the really great thing – If you play an instrument, bring it! Sit down with these folks! Have fun and play your heart out! Ages? If you can read music and you play an instrument, you can join in on the fun. I think the youngest this time was a 14 year old young lady on the violin. Such a great experience for them to play with such great talent. Enjoy these photos from the evening. Hope to see you at the next one! Cheers!

Here is another venue for the philharmonic group. This month the music will be Brahms. The program varies each month. Well worth the $10 donation. Robin and I will be there.

Great dinner tonight!

Pork Chops
with
Raspberry Sauce
Zucchini Cake
Steamed Asparagus

Chelli, new Assistant Director at the Boise Philamonic and Jen on the Viola.

Chia-Li Ho, new Assistant Director at the Boise Philamonic and Jen on the Viola.

Some of the jammers! All ages are encouraged to join in.

Jammers.

At the end of the evening ….. Dessert!

Pear Cobbler
Ice Cream
Whipped Cream

Cristi did a great job with this dessert. Hope to see YOU at the next event at The Buzz! Cheers!

“The Buzz” Monthly Wine Dinner – Small Wine Regions

09 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Appetizers, Beef, Cooking Styles, Dessert, Dinner With Friends, Ethnic Foods, Finger Foods, Photos By: Bob Young, Salad, Soup, Things To Do, Vegetables, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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the Buzz, wine dinner

A very interesting selection of wines and food tonight. And as Erica Larsen said, “Great food and wine for $15. Bottles were $11 each! Delicious! Another dinner tomorrow if you are interested.” Wine selections from New Zealand, Germany, Hungary, South Africa and Portugal. And Cristi kept it interesting with the food parings. If you missed this dinner, there is another with the same fare and wines tonight, October 9. You just can not beat the price – $15.00 per person – and the food selections. Cheers and hope to see you at one of these dinners. Personally, I think this was one of the better Wine Dinners. Great job, Cristi!! Enjoy these photos. Left-Click to see them enlarged.

Silverware, A Menu and A Glass of Wine

Pastry Twist
Mint and Pea Pesto
Cheese Dates
2013 Walnut Block Sauvignon Blanc (NZ)
13% alc . one of the better wines of the night. great finish and appeal. superb paring with the appetizer [18] $16

Pumpkin Tortilla Soup 2012 St Urbans Reisling Germany)

Pumpkin Tortilla Soup
2012 St Urbans Riesling (Germany)
9.5% alc. not my favorite wine for the night. The soup was spicy and I enjoyed it, but this wine just did not match with that flavor level. The wine was good by itself as was the soup. [16] $18

Hungarian Potato Salad 2001 Bull's Blood 12.5% alc. This was a very light version of this wine. We have had it before and it was full bodied.

Hungarian Potato Salad
2001 Bull’s Blood (Hungary)
12.5% alc. This was a very light version of this wine. We have had it before and it was full bodied. It was light enough to go with this delicious version of potato salad. I liked the salad. Different. [17] $11

Pumpkin Beef and Mushroom “Salad”
Pasta and Chimichurri Sauce
2009 Sebeka Cabernet Pinotage (S Africa)
13.5% alc. good clarity and color. full bodied and good balance [18] $11
I really enjoyed this entree. Good flavors and a good paring with the wine. Spaghetti squash on the bottom with caramelized onion made a perfect match.

Double Chocolate Bundt Cake
Noval Tawny Port (Portugal)
19.5% alc. I don’t particularly like port, but this was WOW! great balance and body. [19] $20
This was a superb paring between the chocolate cake and the port. Well done!!!

French Wines At The Buzz

11 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Boise Adventures, Classics, Croissant, Dinner With Friends, French Foods, French Wines, Friends, Healthy Eating, Locavore, Party Time, Pasta, Photos By: Bob Young, Quiche Lorraine, Salads, Special Events, Traditional Food, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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food, quiche lorraine, salad nicoise

Another in a series of good wine dinners at the Buzz last night. Some very interesting wines, presented blind, and good food. Our friend Maggie, pictured here, came along with us and it was great to see that she was feeling chipper enough to join us. We always like to have her join us in these adventures. I
This was a good meal. Not particularly the best I have had at the Buzz, but very good. I am very salt conscious, and there were two dishes that could have had a little more salt and/or pepper. I will list those dishes below. All in all ….. a fun night with good friends and good food. Glad to hear and see that Bailey is doing OK after her bike fall. Enjoy these photos of the dinner and the commentary. Cheers! Left-Click any of these photos to see them larger.

Robin is studying the wines and the dinner menu.

Quiche Lorraine
2009 Baron de Hoer Alsase Riesling
12.5% alc. went well with this appetizer, but light. [15] $14.00

Salad Nicoise
(Could have used a little cracked pepper and olives. But still good.)
2012 Sable d’Azure
12.5% alc blend of grenache, mouvedre and petite syrah. this went well with the salad [17] $13.00

Vegetable Trimbale
(Needs a very light sprinkle of Sea Salt)
2011 Chat du Pape Cote de Rhone
14.5% alc. big wine but went well with the trimbale. [15] $13.00

Beef Bourgogne
(This was the best part of the dinner. Full of flavor and seasoned perfectly!)
2010 Gigondas
14.5% alc. a big red that went very well with the beef and onions. [17] $22.00

Cream Puff and Apple Crepe
(Good job on the cream puffs, Cristi!)
Veuve du Vernay Sparkling Chardonnay
11.0% alc. a great choice to pair with this dessert. [18] $12.00

This review may sound harsh to some. It is not. Cristi and I talked about some of these comments and I think she accepted them as positive. Like I stated at the start, I really try to watch our salt intake, even if the food seems to need additional salt. And I know Cristi tries very hard to limit the amount of salt in her dishes. This was just one of those times when a little more would have enhanced the dishes. It was still a good dinner. Hope to see you at the next one. Cheers!!!

Stuffed Peppers for Maggie, Stuffed Squash and Stuffed Tomatoes for Robin

08 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Acme Bakery, Alley Gardens, Bread, Captain's Shack, Comfort Food, Dinner With Friends, Grilling, Heirloom Squash, Heirloom Tomatoes, Local Harvests, Local Markets, Main Dish, Photos By: Bob Young, Sourdough Bread, Vegetables, What's For Dinner?, Zebra Tomatoes

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food, garden tomatoes, stuffed heirloom squash, stuffed tomatoes, vegetarian

Mac and Marnie gave us two huge heirloom squash. I picked some tomatoes from out alley garden and sweet peppers are always great with a good stuffing. What a great couple of days working in the kitchen and coming up with a different stuffing blend and a heirloom Green Zebra Tomato Verde for the stuffing. The photo here is the squash getting ready to be put into the oven. I used an instant read thermometer to check the cooking process and took it out at 175 degrees F. This was very good, even if I do say so myself. The stuffed peppers were for Maggie and Trish whereas the stuffed tomatoes were for Robin. Here are some more photos. Left-Click to see the photos enlarged and don’t forget to Vote above. Enjoy!

Stuffed Heirloom Squash Cheese Bites Green Salad with Pomegranate Juice Dressing Acme Bake Shop Sourdough bread and Zucchini Rounds

Stuffed Heirloom Squash
Cheese Bites
Green Salad and Fresh Garden Tomatoes with Pomegranate Juice Dressing
Acme Bake Shop Sourdough Bread
Zucchini Rounds

Stuffed Fresh Alley Garden Tomato
Grilled Herbal Heirloom Squash

Robin can not handle green peppers or almost any peppers so I made her a stuffed tomato.

Stuffed Yellow and Orange Sweet Peppers
Grilled Heirloom Squash

This I made for Maggie and Trish tonight. I hope they enjoy it.

July Wine Club Dinner at the Buzz

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Appetizers, Bistro, Dinner With Friends, Local Harvests, Locavore, Main Dish, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Salads, Special Dinners, Special Events, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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Asparagus Soup, flatbread pizza, food

Another great wine club dinner at the Buzz last night. A blind tasting this time. Interesting and fun! I know. In Boise during the summer months, folks have many adventures to follow and attendance at these events are low. Even when Robin and I were dancing, the summer dance events had extremely low attendance. But, everyone must still eat and have liquid refreshment. Why not at the Buzz for one of these events? $15.00 per person that includes 6 or so wines and a full, five course dinner, is a great price. And just think of all the new information you will gain and the new friends you will meet. Here is what we had and what you missed. Enjoy …. We did! Sorry for some of the photo quality, but I forgot my camera. Had to use my phone.
We started off with Cristi’s Choice, a 2007 Lan Rioja Crianza that was good, but not as good as the 2009 Alsace Classic Pinot Gris that she offered. You can find my review of these two wines on my Vivino page. Download it – it is free – to either your IPhone or Android and then follow me. It’s a great and fun little program that allows you to keep a record of the wines you try. I even use it to keep track of some of the beers I try, although the program is not setup to track beer. Vivino App for either IPhone or Android.
As a sample of a blind taste, Cristi had us work with this wine. 2010 Tin Roof Merlot 13.5% alc. not bad, as all the wines tonight were scored on the high side. This went well with the pizza – I saved a little. [18]

Flatbread Pizza and California Roll
2008 Renwood Barbera
14.5% alc. Barbera is not one of my favorite wines. But went well with the pizza and California Roll. [18]

Chilled Asparagus Soup
(Awesome)
2011 Toad Hollow Chardonnay
13.5% alc. One of the better wines and matches for tonight. This wine went extremely well with this delicious soup. [19]

Citrus Salad
(This was a great salad. Cristi said she will post the recipe for the dressing. Loved it!)
2011 Wentz Sauvignon Blanc
13.0% alc. Good Sauvignon Blanc with this salad. The citrus and the wine were perfect. [19]

Fish Tacos
with
Hominy and Bean Salad
2011 Garnet Pinot Noir
13.0% alc. Not the best match with the tacos. [17]

California Walnut Pie
and
Grilled Peaches
NV JJJ US Sparkling
Great match with the dessert. Full of almond and delightful. [19]

Australian Wines At “The Buzz”

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Acme Bakery, Captain's Shack, Dinner With Friends, Morels, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Special Dinners, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinners

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cucumber soup, layer cake shiraz, morel mushrooms, pillar box, vanilla slice

Another great wine dinner at the Buzz in Boise on June 11. Cristi and Paul do such a great job in paring the wines and the food. And Cristi tries really hard to prepare appropriate foods for the dinner theme. Great job!! This month the wines were from Australia and there were some really good ones and food of a different nature. Cristi will probably post some of the recipes on the Buzz blog. Please write down and reserve Saturday, June 15, 6:00pm – 8:00pm for the Buzz. It’s their Concert Jam Night which is awesome. If you play an instrument, bring it and join in with these super artists! They just love it when you join in. Enjoy these photos of the night. Cheers!

Morel Mushrooms in Dry Sherry and Leek Fondue
with
Acme Bakery Ciabatta

Robin and I always enjoy making these. This was a surprise appetizer that we took to the dinner. (Morel Recipe Here).

Quiche with Marmite Dgwood Dogs Zuchinni Bites 2008 Box Head White 12.5% alc. not a bad wine and went fairly well with this appetizer. A little light. [17] $15.00

Quiche with Marmite
Dogwood Dogs
Zuchinni Bites
2008 Box Head White
12.5% alc. not a bad wine and went fairly well with this appetizer. A little light. [17] $15.00

Chilled Cucumber Soup 2011 Morse Code Chardonnay 12.0% alc. really a super wine with this soup. great body, taste and finish. [19] $13.00

Chilled Cucumber Soup
(I liked this soup!)
2011 Morse Code Chardonnay
12.0% alc. really a super wine with this soup. great body, taste and finish. [19] $13.00

Roasted Beet and Mango Salad
2010 Pillar Box Red
14.5% alc. great taste and finish. a little light on the nose. [18] $15.00

Meat Pies with Ginger Beans
2011 Mollydooker Cabernet Sauvignon
15.0% alc. a super good wine. great body, taste and finish. light on the aroma. [19] $27.00

Pavlola and Vanilla Slice 2011 Layer Cake Shiraz 14.5% alc. a little heavy for this dessert, but a very good wine, nonetheless. [18] $18.00

Pavlova and Vanilla Slice
2011 Layer Cake Shiraz
14.5% alc. a little heavy for this dessert, but a very good wine, nonetheless. [18] $18.00

And it really was a good dinner. If you missed it, maybe we will see you next month or at the Concert Jam on June 15 or the Buzz Quarterly Dinner on Sunday June 23 (Reservations required for this dinner. See the sidebar.) Cheers!!!

Breakfast at the “Triangle Inn” in Sweet, Idaho

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Basque Food, Breakfast, Dinner With Friends, Friends, Idaho, Main Dish, Mexican Food, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Restaurants, Special Events, Sweet Idaho, the Triangle, Things To Do, What's For Dinner?

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breakfast, coconut and banana, rambling roses, restaurants, sky clouds

78 degrees! Light, puffy, Big Sky clouds. Light winds. Great company! We met Barb and Terry Knivila at the Triangle Inn in Sweet, Idaho. (Just go there and smell the sweetness of the wild Rambling Roses.) A fun place to visit and to have a meal. We had a great breakfast as pictured below. Friendly people; all had smiles! And they came to our table and talked to us. A good experience. And the food was good, too. From Boise, take Hiway 55 to Horseshow Bend and the Hiway 52 to Emnmett. The Triangle Inn is at the Sweet/Ola intersection. Just look at what we had and please VOTE above. Left-Click any of these photos to see enlarged. Thanks and Cheers!

Breakfast Burrito

Basque Omelet

And they make an awesome Pineapple, Coconut and Banana Jelly along with a super good Buttermilk Syrup that goes well with pancakes and on the Homefries!