Some Familiar Places in Charleston

While on vacation, we enjoyed each other’s company, time with my hubby’s family, the beach, the history, and the food.

I love trying new places, especially when it pertains to food, but there were a few places that we can technically get in BG that we had while in South Carolina. For some reason, I didn’t get any pictures at these three places. I guess I figured you wouldn’t want pictures of what you could see here?

Krispy Kreme

The night before we were going to attempt to venture downtown by ourselves, I was playing on my phone, looking for somewhere that we could stop for breakfast on our way there. For some reason, I thought of Krispy Kreme.

It was out of the way, but we decided to go there for breakfast anyways.

I had a chocolate cake donut and a frozen mocha while Kevin had several original glazed donuts and a bottle of orange juice. The donuts were excellent–they were cooked well, exactly what you’d hope for out of a fried sugar bomb of deliciousness.

My coffee was good too. It was strong, but sweet and creamy.

What’s ironic about our visit to this donut place is that we have yet to eat at the one in BG. It’s been open since late last year and we haven’t eaten at it. But we’ll drive a little ways out of the way to eat at one in SC…

We had several plans in mind for our jaunt downtown, but the a sudden rain storm meant that we were only able to get the first, and main, adventure done–The Aquarium.

As you can see on the left, Kevin did not prevent me from getting eaten by a shark…

Panda Express

When we left the fishes, we were torn about where to have lunch. Should we try to find somewhere downtown or wait and see what there was in North Charleston, which is where our hotel was. We decided on the later.

As Kevin was driving in the pouring rain and the two fo us were pointing out different restaurants in the area near our hotel, I suddenly made it very clear that I wanted to eat at Panda Express by freaking out a little about it. Just a little bit.

We both had their famous orange chicken and fried rice. There was enough chicken left on the line that one of us could’ve eaten before the fresh chicken was done, but we both opted to wait for new chicken. And it was well worth the wait.

The chicken is cooked perfectly with a crispy fried breading drenched in a luscious spicy sauce. Yes, friends, I am rather in love with this chicken.

A little irony here: I was the only one who was hungry. Kevin was going to wait until we had dinner to eat, but once we stepped inside Panda Express, he had to get some orange chicken for himself as well!

Sadly, the only one in BG is on Western Kentucky University’s campus.

While I love this place and it would be a joy to see many of the staff in Garrett along with my professors from Cherry Hall, parking is a nightmare. Which leads us into another restaurant on WKU’s campus that we never frequent.

Popeyes

I can’t remember the first time that we experienced Popeyes; maybe in Nashville or Gatlinburg?

Anyways, we both felt that this was a necessary stop during our vacation and made sure to go there one day after having seen a movie.

We both had spicy chicken tenders, cajun fries, and a biscuit. And it was fabulous.

The chicken had a fiery spice to it that built the more you ate it with crunchy breading and the perfect amount of chicken in each bite. I tore of buttery, flaky chunks of biscuit while eating in an attempt to calm down some of that delicious spice. The cajun fries were cooked wonderfully with their own kick to add to the chicken’s game of fire.

Despite very much enjoying this meal, I was quickly reminded of the fact that I can’t handle spice quite the way that I used to. I love it, but my body doesn’t.

Butter Chicken

In my mission to eat healthier, I’m trying to have my husband and I eat more meals at home, which pretty much means that I’ll be cooking. He doesn’t cook. I don’t know about you, but when I get home from work, I don’t feel like making something that will take a ton of effort.

If you share in this thought process, you’ll love Passage Food’s Butter Chicken Simmer Sauce packet because it is super easy.

In 2013, Mom took me to Disney world to celebrate my graduation from college. On this trip, we discovered one of my most favorite Disney restaurants–Sanaa. This restaurant is at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, which means that you get to see some pretty amazing animals outside the windows while eating your meal. The food is a mixture of African and Indian inspired cuisine with everything from Tandoori Lamb to a Grilled New York Stip steak. There’s something for everyone here.

Besides starting out with the Indian-Style Bread Service–which is phenomenal, by the way–we both picked the Slow-Cooked in Gravy, Simple and Well-seasoned-Dinner. You get to pick from two different rices and a variety of meats. We both had the basmati rice, butter chicken, and something else. I can’t remember what the other meat was, but I’m pretty sure Mom got the beef short ribs and I got some sort of fish. But when Kevin and I went on our honeymoon last year, we both picked double doses of butter chicken. Mom and I had raved about it so much that he had decided to get whatever I was having.

The butter chicken at Sanaa is made of tender cooked chicken in a pool melt in your mouth delicious sauce. I have cravings for this stuff! In the picture below, from the left, is butter chicken, basmati rice, and some sort of shrimp. (If you follow the link attached to the picture, you can learn about dining with an animal specialist.

So, when I saw Passage Food’s packet of butter chicken wonderfulness at Meijers, I had to try it. As you can probably tell, I have some high standards for butter chicken. And this packet did not disappoint.

While it isn’t exactly the same thing that you can find at Sanaa, I didn’t expect it to. I don’t have fairy dust in my kitchen. Or it could be that I don’t add the optional cream…either way, it’s delicious!

All you do is chop up about a pound of chicken and then sear it in a pan with some olive oil before pouring the beautiful sauce all over it and stirring it to make sure the chicken is all coated. Then, cover the pan and let the chicken cook all the way.

We enjoy our chicken with jasmine rice brought to you by Success Boil-in-Bag. It’s super easy because you cook it in the microwave and it’s a great way to absorb all that wonderful sauce.

This is also something that my husband enjoys. We’ve actually had it two weeks in a row now and he asked me to get lots of chicken and butter sauce packets when I asked him what kind of groceries he wanted this week. Remember how I said you use a pound of chicken? Well, I also make two bags of jasmine rice (there’s probably two-three servings in each bag). When dinner is ready, I get some rice and then put some chicken and an ample portion of sauce on top of it. Then, Kevin puts the rest of the rice in a bigger bowl before dumping what’s left of the chicken and sauce on top of that.

We don’t usually have leftovers in our home. But we certainly have full bellies!

If you’re looking for a quick, delicious meal, I highly suggest that you add this to your to-make list.

Manpuku

2323 Nashville Rd Bowling Green, KY 42101

(270) 904-4663                                     Menu

When Mom and I went out for our weekly dinner last night, we originally went with her choice—Lost River Pizza Company. This place has awesome pizza and we were looking forward to trying their sandwiches, but the parking lot was absolutely packed.

So, I just started driving, neither of us having any other idea of where to go because we’re decisive people after having worked a full day behind a computer screen.

Then I thought of Manpuku Japense Steakhouse & Sushi Bar. It’s a Japanese restaurant that Mom had never been to and one that I hadn’t been to in a year or more. The later hadn’t occurred because I had a bad experience at the restaurant, it was simply out of the way and one that I typically didn’t think of.

Atmostphere

This is a very quite and peaceful restaurant. This is probably due in part to the fact that there were very few people in there, but I think it would still be peaceful otherwise.

As soon as you walk in, you find a small shrine that I think was set up for Buddha with a small sign asking patrons to please not touch.

When you walk through the second set of doors, you’re greeted by a small, welcoming room with walls painted an actually successful shade of green full of tables and booths. When asked, we chose to sit at a booth.

Service

We were greeted by our server as soon as we walked through the doors. Besides asking if we wanted a booth or a table, she also asked if we wanted sushi. I said, “maybe,” and she told me to just let her know. She said something about not wanting to have to take up all the table with the menus (there were apparently three) if I didn’t want any.

She brought our drinks right away and was attentive throughout the meal.

The food also came out at a fairly good pace.

She was also kind to me when I tried to pronounce the appetizer that we’d picked. When I couldn’t say it right, she pronounced it correctly and then told me not to worry about it because she had had to practice saying it correctly when she first started working there.

Food

Said appetizer was fried gyoza. This is something that you may have heard referred to as a “pot sticker” before. I really enjoy them, they’re one of my favorites in fact, but I couldn’t remember having had them fried before and Mom didn’t think she’d ever had them.

They were okay. I prefer the steamed ones I’ve had at other restaurants and even the frozen, store bought sort my husband and I eat all the time.

We ordered the same entree—hibachi style chicken. These came with the chicken, fried rice, sweet carrots, potatoes, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms. The meat and vegetables were grilled with soy and teriyaki sauces. It also game with the while sauce that I know and love from Japanese restaurants and the clear soup that I’ve learned to accept.

Our entrees were quite good, but I’m pretty sure that both the carrots and potatoes were frozen. Both were crinkle cut and the potatoes looked like straight up french fries.

And, after I picked off the zucchini to give to Mom as I usually do, it seemed like I didn’t have much food left on my plate. That tells me that there wasn’t a very balanced ratio of food.

Return Trip

I’m honestly not so sure about this one. The food wasn’t bad and the service was good, but there are other Japanese restaurants close by that I think have better food.

Qdoba

1971 Cave Mill Rd, Bowling Green, KY 42104

(270) 782-2020                                     Menu

Qdoba Mexican Grill opened up semi-recently (meaning a month or two ago, give or take). Mom and I had been wanting to try it for a while, but we kept getting mixed reviews our friends.

Some of them loved it, didn’t like it, thought it was ok, compared it to Moe’s (which is a great restaurant in itself) by saying it the original was better and cheaper, etc.

But we finally decided that we wanted to go and make our own decisions about it.

Atmosphere

When you walk into Qdoba, it feels like a fast food restaurant, which it is, so no problem there. It’s also bright, clean, and open—something you don’t always find in fast food.

The very first thing you see is a pathway leading to the long counter where you pick, order, and pay for your food. After we finished contemplating the small menu that’s found directly after you walk through the doors, we headed for said counter.

Service

The girls behind the counter who took our orders, made our food, and then ultimately took our money were kind and professional. They were also very knowledgeable in helping us make our decisions when we had questions.

Mom wanted to know how spicy the tortilla soup was and I was curious about their pulled pork, which was a meat that I hadn’t been expecting to find there.

The woman at the register made sure to tell us about and offer each of us their free points card. And, of course, we accepted these.

Food

We both got sodas with our meals and when we left the register with our cups to go the fountain machine, we found one of those new, fancy machines that offers people a myriad of flavors. I picked peach sprite (I got strawberry sprite on our second trip) and mom picked a flavor of coke that I don’t remember (she got cherry vanilla coke on the second trip). And, naturally, we had to sample each others and agreed that they were both interesting and tasty.

Mom ordered their pick two option, which allows you to try two of their famous dishes in smaller portions. She picked tacos and tortilla soup. She said that both dishes were wonderful, especially their fresh guacamole.

The soup was a little spicy for her, especially when she got to the bottom and ran out of the cheese, sour cream, and tortillas she’d had put on top. Besides toppings for the soup, she got to pick which of their meats she wanted in it. She went with chicken and thought it had a great taste. Both of us thought it was neat that choice for the soup did exist.

I decided on nachos, which is what I typically get at Moe’s. This was partly because I wanted to compare and partly because I simply enjoy nachos. I had them top my basket of tortilla chips (which are wonderful, by the way) with pulled pork, queso, brown rice, black beans, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, and sour cream.

The pulled pork was phenomenal! It was juicy, tender, flavorful, and a surprisingly perfect addition to my nachos.

On our second trip, Mom picked the same thing, except she got pulled pork on one of her tacos instead of having them both be chicken.

I decided to try their quesadilla and got it with cheese and pulled pork, opting to not have pico de gallo on it. I had them put some sour cream and guacamole on the side for me. It was wonderful—perfectly cooked and packed with ingredients. The guacamole and sour cream went great with it with the former being surprising for me because I haven’t tried guac for many years because I didn’t like it the first time I had it. Next time I get this, I’m going to take half of it home because it was a ton of tasty food!

Return Trip

There will for sure be many return trips to this restaurant. I’d love to try what else this restaurant has to offer—maybe the tacos and soup Mom keeps getting.

But I’m vairly certain that anything I try will have to include that fabulous pulled pork. 

Thai Thai

712 Chestnut St, Bowling Green, KY 42101

(270) 782-7899                                  Menu

Since this is the first restaurant review I’m doing, I want to preface it by saying that I’m very much a homebody. This means that the majority of restaurants I talk about will be in Bowling Green, KY.

Never fear, though because 1) BG has a gazillion (more like hundreds of) restaurants, 2) many of BG’s eateries are chain restaurants that might be by you as well, and 3) you might one day pass through BG while traveling or intentionally come here for the Corvette Museum or Lost River Cave.

Now, on to Thai Thai.

Location

It’s a pretty little restaurant in an old red house with a green roof that seems to always have its icicle lights going. It’s located on Chestnut Street, which to me is the beginning of downtown BG. (How does one know when town becomes downtown anyways?)

Parking

Like most places in this part of the city, parking isn’t exactly plentiful. In order to access Thai Thai’s dozen or so parking places, you have to go to the back of the building by taking Fairview Avenue (specifically, the branch of it coming off of Chestnut Street).

The first time that I went to Thai Thai, I went with one of my friends who lives near by it, so the two of us walked to the restaurant from her place. The second time, my mom went with me and I drove us into a parking nightmare.

I’m not sure which was worse—the awful process of trying to get out of the parking lot without hitting other cars, or the fact that I’d had no choice but to park by the dumpster and used oil bin.

Atmosphere

But, across the old wooden porch to the back door, whose bells announced our arrival, the ambiance of the restaurant hit us and started to make up for its lame parking. Inside, soft music wraps you in and becomes a part of the decorations. Said decorations are simple and beautiful, making you feel like you might have stepped into a different world.

The tables are simple four tops with chairs, no booths that I’ve seen. From what I can tell, there are two dining areas in different rooms of what was once a house. When my friend and I went, we were seated in the room to the right and it was very quite and peaceful as the restaurant didn’t have many people. When Mom and I went however, it seemed like everyone at the restaurant, including us, had been put in the room to the left. It was noisy and hard to hear the music.

Service

During my first visit to this restaurant, we had very good service. Our server was sweet and made sure to warn us that Americans might not be able to handle certain levels of spice in the entrees that their restaurant offered.

During my trip last week, however, it seemed like there were only two women working there besides the cook(s). And they were not pleased to be there.

The one who sat us was also our server and, while she was nice, she was also rushed and rather distracted. Thankfully, our food was delivered promptly by the second woman that we encountered.

But it seemed to take ages to get our check and that only happened because we got the attention of the second woman when she walked by and requested the check be brought to our table.

Food

As I’m sure you might have assumed, Thai Thai serves Thai food. And not the Americanized sort, but the real stuff.

As a surprise, Mom ordered spring rolls for us off the appetizer menu. Our sever informed us that they weren’t fried and we simply shrugged and said that was ok. When she asked if we wanted chicken or shrimp, we picked both.

When they arrived at our table, we both stared at our spring rolls in confusion for a minute. These weren’t what we were used to eating, which isn’t a bad thing—it’s always fun to try new things. The picture below isn’t from the restaurant (I need to start taking pics while eating), but I thought it’d give you an idea, in case you hadn’t experienced them for yourself.

There was half a chicken roll and half a shrimp roll for each of us. They were wrapped in what I’m assuming was rice paper and the filling was a mix of veggies and herbs/spices with a piece of chicken in one and two shrimp in the other. Both of us preferred the chicken one and we both enjoyed the (peanut?) dipping sauce that came with them. These weren’t the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but they weren’t bad either and I’m glad we tried them. I wasn’t able to finish mine; the texture of the wrapping kept getting to me.

We both ordered the pad Thai noodle, which is what I’d had the first time I went. On the menu, it’s described as “the typical Thai fried noodles with chicken and shrimp, egg, bean sprout, green onion, and chopped peanut.” I keep wanting to try their fried rice, but the first time I went, our server flat out told us that their rice wasn’t very good.

Anyways, the pad Thai noodle is delicious. We both enjoyed the “typical Thai fried noodles.” The peanuts and bean sprouts gave it a nice texture by adding that crunch and the chicken and shrimp were cooked well. I was left wanting more shrimp considering that you only get two of them with the dish.

I mentioned the warning we received on that first trip about the spice levels and I had already given to Mom, who can’t handle spice much at all. I, on the other hand, love spicy food. This means that, when our server told us that 3 was a medium on the spicy level that first time, I ordered a 3. My friend ordered a 1. After that experience of feeling like my noodles were trying to kill me, I chose to get a one on the second trip and made sure that Mom got a level 0 of spiciness. And, once again, I felt like my noodles were trying to kill me.

Return Trip?

I do plan on making a return trip. Although the parking will more than likely always be horrible and the service this last trip was lacking, the food is wonderful and worth making a return trip.

But, I plan on trying the crab fried rice. And I’ll be getting level 0 spicy.

Cheesy Chicken and Pasta Casserole

This was also super delicious! But my boyfriend said it had too much cheese, while I secretly thought that it could always use more cheese…

Ingredients

8oz medium pasta shells, uncooked

no-stick cooking spray

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper = 1 medium bell pepper (I didn’t include this)

1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (I didn’t use this)

1 15oz can tomato sauce (since I didn’t use the above, I put extra sauce on the top of the casserole to make sure it wasn’t dry)

1 1/2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese, divided (I think it would be nice to use just a bag of mozzerela)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt.

Meanwhile, spray 8×8” baking disk with cooking spray.

Spray large skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sprinkle with garlic powder. Cook 2-3 minutes and then add bell pepper. Cook until pepper is tender and chicken is no longer pink in centers.

Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, 3/4 cup cheese, and cooked pasta.

Transfer mixture to prepared dish and sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese.

Bake 15 minutes or until cheese melts and mixture is bubbly.

Source: Walmart Meal Solutions magazine in the paper.

Loaded Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Dinner last night was wonderful! I’ve found that I like cooking and feeding people. I’ve also discovered that I have a secret longing to spell “potato” with an “e” at the end.

The first time I had this dish was when a friend of mine made it for the two of us to eat while she was introducing me to Dr. Who, which is amazing, by the way!

Alrighty, the recipe is as follows…

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoons freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons garlic powder

6 tablespoons hot sauce (since only two out of five of the people eating this enjoy hot sauce [my boyfriend and I], I didn’t include the hot sauce in the sauce; I had it on the table in case anyone wanted it)

double the above ingredients to have two sauces; see directions below

10 whole medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (the recipe suggests you leave the skins on, so I did, and it was tasty)

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (this was my first experience cutting raw chicken; Grandma helped me, actually she took pity on me and did much of the chicken cutting)

2 cups fiesta blend cheese or a mix of cheddar and Monterey jack (2 cups of shredded cheese = one standard sized bag; depending on how much of a cheese person you are, I’d suggest that you put two bags on there)

1 cup diced green onion (I don’t like onions, so I didn’t include this)

1 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (I adore bacon, but didn’t include it; I think it was primarily out of laziness)

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. (Yes, you really do have to turn the oven on that high.)

Coat an 9×13 inch baking dish with non-stick baking spray and set it aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and hot sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat. (I mixed this by hand because it was easier to manage than with a spoon.)

Carefully scoop the potatoes into the prepared baking dish, leaving behind as much of the sauce as possible.

Bake the potatoes for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes until cooked through and crispy and browned on the outside.

While the potatoes are cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the leftover sauce to coat. Put it in the refrigerator to marinate until the potatoes are ready. (Realistically, there won’t be any sauce left after you’ve coated the potatoes, so make a second, separate sauce for the chicken.)

When the potatoes are fully cooked, remove them from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Top the cooked potatoes with the raw marinated chicken.

In a bowl, mix together the cheese, bacon, and green onion and top the raw chicken with the cheese mix.

Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly.

Serve with extra hot sauce, ranch dressing, or sour cream