The Orange Chicken

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 13, 2013
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: The Orange Chicken Episode

After a long night out the night before and having one too many rounds of drinks at a birthday celebration.  I was set on not leaving the house today and so I spent the entire day in. In the afternoon I had my last can of split pea soup and several hash browns for lunch.

While catching up on the news I started thinking maybe I’d make some fish filets for dinner.  I went to the freezer and realizing that I should have thawed the fish long before then I knew I was going to have to order out as I had nothing else to prepare for dinner.  I opted for The Orange Chicken Combination Plate with “Chicken” Fried Rice instead of Pork Fried Rice.   

Look at that they actually put real orange peel and zest in the Orange glaze on the chicken.

The pure goodness of it!

HAWHAAT!!?  Off with it’s head I said!!!

This is what an Egg Roll should look and taste like.  It should be Crispy not greasy and soggy, it should also be deliciously fat, golden, and hot!  Hot as in temperature.

Once again there’s a bit too much flour in the battering of the chicken but the orange glaze sauce is very tasty.  Orange flavor permeates throughout but doesn’t overpower.  It’s truly an awesome combination.  I think of the combination plates I’ve tried (General Tso’s, Sesame Chicken, Orange Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken) Orange Chicken is a new favorite.

The “chicken” in the fried rice was a bit peculiar to me as I didn’t fully trust that it was chicken, so I separated it from the rice and focused on the rice and the rest of the meal.  All in all it was good down to the last bite.  And of course water was required to washhhh… all of that down.  Psyllium Husk capsules were taken in addition as I made sure I got my fiber.

Till next time this has been The Orange Chicken Episode by THEJNSREPORT.

Thoughts And their Prosecution

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 12, 2013
Posted in: Social Commentary. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Thoughts and their Prosecution

I saw on the news today that a Police Officer was convicted in court of plotting to abduct women and eat them.  The summary given was that the internet searches and chats and pretty much all of his business had been surveilled and investigated and studied then presented in court with plan details targeting five women.

It was noted that no one was harmed but the Officer faces a life sentence.  The immediate remarks after the verdict from a family member of the now convicted Officer was that she heard what she heard and saw what she saw and couldn’t believe that he was convicted.

The officer never took the stand in his defense according to the news reports and yet the central issue and precedent that this conviction sets is appalling and disturbing.  Disturbing and appalling in the sense that the thoughts of someone were used to convict him where no crime had even been committed.

How many times do we as people think wicked thoughts during the course of a single day.  We might think it but never act on it.  We may research something, but that doesn’t mean someone else knows the intent or motives of another person and then should judge them according to what they think.

This all goes to privacy,freedom and freedom of expression.  Now we’re not safe in our own heads.  All of this is very Orwellian to me and no coincidence.   It’s actually happening right in front of our faces.  The thought police are out in full force and then the jurors are so blinded by plan details and not the big picture that they convicted someone where “no actual crime had been committed.”  Does anyone remember the movie with Tom Cruise “Minority Report”?  “Pre-Crime Unit.”  What in the world are we doing as human beings?

First disarm the people then lock them up for what’s in their heads not what’s actually real.  Punished even when no crime is committed is INSANE!!!  I hope the judge sets aside that verdict because if it’s not, then everyone in this so called “Free Country” better be prepared to be locked up.

Imagine it.  Scene: Highway day time – a speeding motorist in a silver SUV weaves back and forth through traffic and cuts off someone who then thinks that in that moment if they had a gun they’d chase down the person who cut em off and blow their head off.  All of a sudden squad cars box in the person who was cut off and completely ignore the SUV.

The cut off motorist is stopped and pulled from his vehicle.  Shown a computer touch screen of their thought the moment they thought of killing the driver of the SUV that cut him off and he’s placed under arrest and processed before being convicted of thinking about killing.  This is where we are headed with this nonsense.

I suppose I’d better place an order for “Magneto’s Helmet”.

Friday Meals

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 9, 2013
Posted in: Food & Drinks. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

Welcome THEJNSREPORT’S: Friday Meals

This Friday I awoke feeling lazy and willing to order out for my first meal of the day.  I decided I should first go to the fridge to see if I had anything I could make that was relatively easy and quick.  I looked in the freezer and to my happy surprise I found I had several packages of Spinach stuffed Tortellini.

I grabbed the Tortellini and frozen Latkas (Potato Pancakes) and Several Hash Browns.  After bringing a pot of water to boil with some salt and canola oil, I added the stuffed Tortellini’s and heated up a griddle for the Latkas and Hash Browns.  Once the Tortellini’s were done I strained the water from them and got my bowl and plate.

I felt like I should add something to the Tortellini, but seeing as how I didn’t have any Pesto or Cream Sauce available I added a little spaghetti sauce to them .

With the Hash Browns and Latkas done I placed them on paper towel and added a little ketchup as they required.

Once my brunch was gone, I went about the rest of the day relaxing from a taxing week.  When dinner time rolled around I was feeling in no mood to cook and so I made a choice between Pizza and Chinese for dinner and went with the latter.  This is my little take out dinner splurge below.

That right there is Sesame Chicken with Pork Fried Rice, an Egg Roll accompanied by sauteed Broccoli &  small White Rice.

Yes that is a Chicken wing slipped in there.  That’s what the hot sauce was for.  All I see is magnificence below.

Now time for some of that Egg Roll.

Feeling the need to touch my greens I shifted my attention towards the Broccoli bowl.

Now that’s what I call a Sea of Green.  Wanna taste it?  Here put your face up close to the screen and close your eyes…

Here try some rice.

The Sesame Chicken was good.  I’ve really only had better in more recent memory eating the same meal at Alpha Asian Fusion Restaurants.  The difference between this version I had tonight and Alpha’s is the size of the Chicken chunks and the amount of floured batter.

The floured batter is far less prevalent with Alpha’s adding to it’s quality where you can really taste the chicken chunks versus this one which isn’t bad but clearly has a bit more of the floured batter around the Sesame Chicken which is nothing more than General Tso’s Chicken with Sesame seeds sprinkled on them.  Even still I did enjoy bite after bite…

Of course with a meal like this I needed some liquid to wash all this down and so I turned to my Big Cup full of water.

It was a good end to a good meal.  The news and a movie put me to bed shortly after.  Till next time this has been Friday Meals by THEJNSREPORT.

Day 7 Virgil’s Continued…

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 6, 2013
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: DAY 7 Virgil’s Continued

A little while after the biscuits were handled our meals came out.  The only critique of the biscuits we had was that they weren’t hot.  Other than that we loved em! Especially with the maple butter.  After thinking for several minutes I decided to try the Chicken Fried Steak, with Country Gravy, Potato Salad, Cheese Grits, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, a piece of corn bread, and one Rib from my friend’s plate.  Sounds like a lot but portion size wise trust me it wasn’t.

V

The biggest complaint I have with today’s meal was the same for my friend who joined me.  The food simply arrived at our table and was not hot.  It appeared as though it sat for a while before being brought to us and by that time the food had begun to go cold.  It did look good though.  Corn bread had real pieces of corn in it but I’ve tasted better cornbread.

The Mashed Potatoes

That mash sure could use some gravy.  Speaking of which…

The Cheese Grits were OK nothing that knocked my socks off.  I even added a shake of salt n pepper to them after my first tasting of it.

Ah, now for the Potato Salad.  In my opinion this redskin potato mustard potato salad would have been awesome if they used a little less mayonnaise.  Otherwise I really liked it.  It was the only thing outside of the beets and beer that should have been cold.

I sampled a rib and some beets after the first fork fulls of my Chicken Fried Steak.

This was my friend’s plate.  Memphis Style Ribs, Cornbread, Collard Greens w/Bacon, and Beets.  You can clearly see the ribs are done well with a pink smoke ring.  However, they didn’t make it to the table with a temp above  (and I’m being generous here) Luke warm.

Even at the conclusion of the meal when we were given what were supposed to be hot wet hand towels to clean our hands.  The hand towels came bordering on cool.  This prompted my friend to say somebody must have been burned here or something for everything to come out cold.  I thought to myself either that or someone didn’t pay the heating bill.

The ribs were tender but as I said Luke warm which drops the score on a scale of 1 to 10 to a 6.  The same for my Chicken Fried Steak which probably would have gotten an 8 from me if it had come hot.  While the combo crusting of the steak consisted of potato chips and cornmeal the chips added a bit too much salt to the crust for me.  The steak was tender and melted easily when I chewed it though.

For me, the biscuits and the Potato Salad along with the Mashed Potatoes and Gravy saved my meal from being a total disappointment all the way round.  As I said temperature played the biggest role in the lower scores.  The experience this time around suffered and underwhelmed us.  We didn’t want to even bother our sever to ask if they could heat our plates up we just ate and noted our opinions for later.

Our server was nice but appeared a bit over being there by the time we had been served our food.  Understandable if it was the end of the shift but still not what I would think the owner would like his customers to notice from the staff regardless of the time of the day.

When I take into account that the bill for the 2 of us came to $11 more than what it cost to feed 6 of my family members (myself included) at Freda’s, Virgil’s gets an overall review score of a 6.5 out of 10.

My friend’s take on Virgil’s: Normally, Virgil’s is pretty good.  Today for some reason the food just wasn’t hot.  The Collard Greens were good with the Bacon in it.  The Beets and the Ribs were OK.  I give Virgil’s a 6 I think that’s fair.

So there you have it.   My review score a 6.5 and my friend’s a 6.  So Virgil gets an average score of a 6.25 out of 10.  I’m not saying I won’t be back because I’m sure I will it at some point.  It just won’t be any time soon.

If you’ve ever been to or eaten at Virgil’s we’d like to hear your comments on the service and food experienced.

Till next Food Adventure this has been Virgil’s Food Review 2013 by THEJNSREPORT.

Day 7 Detox Nutrition Plan

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 6, 2013
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Day 7 Detox Nutrition Plan

Well as it turns out today was the last day of my trial week run of eating healthier than I had in the past year.  I started my day as usual with two Psyllium Husk capsules and water and then fresh juiced carrot and apple juice.

When this had finished being juiced it was so viscous with the fiber of the carrot I could barely drink down the first swallow.  I immediately added a little more apple juice to it and that did the trick it became diluted enough to suspend the carrot pulp sufficiently and allow me to tolerate drinking it down.

 Day 7 marks officially a week of Detoxifying and Nutrition for me.  So in celebration of this mini milestone I decided to go out to eat at Virgil’s BBQ in Times Square with a friend of mine who is a fellow BBQ enthusiast.  Just prior to meeting up at Virgil’s I decided to take some great new photos of Times Square as Virgil’s is located right there on 43rd and Broadway.

We're you listening to me Neo, or were you staring at the Beast in Red?

We’re you listening to me Neo, or were you staring at the Beast in Red?

Let me say right off that that blue bastard in the crowd there was overly aggressive for a Sesame Street character.  I mean I know this is NYC and you gotta get yo hustle on, but damn!!  Literally as I walking down the side walk this monster bumps me from behind and then when I turn and look to see who bumped me, I’m startled it’s this idiot in a costume who obviously wants his picture taken.  I turn away and start to walk and he literally trips my foot from behind as he then crosses diagonally behind me.  If I wasn’t a Christian things could have gotten ugly quick fast and in a hurry.  Cooler thinking prevailed.  So moving on…

From here we headed to Virgil’s as I snapped a few more pics along the way.

Something told me the Force was strong in Times Square, suddenly I knew why.

Greatest City in the World.  Ladies and Gents, welcome to the Empire State and it’s capital city The Empire City.

I came across this just before encountering Virgil’s as it’s force pulled me more than Darth and Co.  I read the rules and felt a sudden calm of serenity wash over me.  Hope was not lost when I saw this list and that it was actually in Times Square for all who passed by to see. ;).  At last some “Common Sense” LOL.

With hunger in over drive my friend and I made our way to Virgil’s.

This guy got in the way of my shot but no big deal we go with the flow.

We started off our meal with two pints of Magic Hat No.9 while deciding what to order from Virgil’s Menu.  Last time I was here I remember they had a hot sauce called the Scorned Woman which was being replaced.  I saw no trace of it other than mild, hot and jalapeno hot sauce in a sauce carousel in the center of our table.   

In any event after settling in on what we wanted to eat, biscuits and honey maple butter were chosen as our starter.  Just look at that golden deliciousness below!! The honey maple butter is incredible and rich and perfect on those biscuits.

The Biscuits!!!! N Maple Butter!!!

The only problem is these biscuits came to our table and were not hot at all.  In my estimation they were barely “Luke warm”.

Undaunted I prepared for battle and got my tool to open this biscuit up in preparation for honey maple butterings.

To be continued…

Day 6 of Detox Nutrition Plan

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 5, 2013
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Day 6 of Detox Nutrition Plan

Of course what would any start of the day be without two of capsules of Psyllium Husk?

I decided to skip breakfast and got caught up doing various things before I realized that  it was late afternoon and I hadn’t eaten anything.  Remembering my sandwich purchase from the days prior I turned to Chicken Salad on Hero Bread.

Some Chicken Salads are done OK, but this here Chicken Salad was done right!!!!  Big chunks of Chicken breast will my sandwich bread.  I only added black pepper to it as I wanted to taste only the bread and the Chicken Salad together.  In order to have some textural contrast I broke out a bowl of Corn Tortilla chips.

I didn’t feel up to snacking on any cashews or peanuts today so I pretty much was held over with the above until the evening when I realized I had absolutely nothing prepared for dinner.    I thought for a moment and almost gave into weakness thinking I’d order Pizza or perhaps Chinese even.  I sat thinking as time continued to tick away.

I decided to head to the kitchen.   I went to the fridge and saw that I had the ingredients to make my own Pizza versus ordering out for it.  I proceeded to gather the ingredients I wanted to incorporate into my homemade version of Pizza.  The following is what took place.

First I grabbed a loaf of Ciabatta bread, Pepperoni, Crumbled Blue Cheese, New York Extra Sharp Cheddar (What else?!), a Green Pepper, Honey Turkey, and Cayenne Pepper.  I preheated the oven to 350 degrees before turning my attention to the two halves of Ciabatta.  I got paper towel and parchment paper.  I sliced the Ciabatta in half and placed it on paper towel before  I spread spaghetti sauce that was all veggies with chunks of tomato in it over the two pieces of Ciabatta.  Next I sprinkled several good shakes of Cayenne pepper on top of the sauce.

I next took a grater and grated the extra sharp cheddar on top before grabbing some sliced Honey Turkey and tearing pieces of it and spreading it on top of the cheese.

I next went for the Pepperoni and spread them evenly on both Ciabattas before I realized an error in application.

I grabbed a tool and went to work cutting a couple chunks out of the Green Pepper before cutting the chunks into smaller pieces, then removing the Pepperoni and topping the Honey Turkey with Green Peppers and Blue Cheese.

More cheese had to be added to make for a cohesive layer beneath the top of this here work of art.

With the final layer of cheese atop the green peppers, blue cheese and honey turkey pieces, the pepperoni hood was next.

From the paper towel to the parchment paper was the next order of business before these bad boys were gonna be given their sentence.  I sprinkled a little cayenne pepper on the pepperoni’s earlier and lightly again before they went into the oven for their sentence to be carried out.

In the oven they went and these last images are of them going through the process.

26 minutes later…

I talked to the two of them when they came out of the oven.  I told them “Ya know sometimes you gotta go through the fire, through the heat if you will,  in order to come out right.!!!”  I went on to say to em “I think you two done come out mighty fine, mighty fine.  No doubt about it…Mmmm mmmm son!!!!”

I decided still one final touch was needed to complete my masterpiece.  And that final touch was some oregano.  I grabbed a bottle and sprinkled some on the remaining pizza and voila!

I realized after understanding the glory of the meal I’d just made and tasting it, two things would be done the next time I made this.  The first thing would be to exclude the blue cheese as it was too sharp a taste conflicting with the extra sharp cheddar.  The second was that I would add mushrooms, olives, and of course more pepperoni. 😛

I took two more Psyllium Husk capsules after the last bites of this pizza had long been in my belly.  In the background I could hear from the audience of food items throughout the kitchen that witnessed the entire scene chanting “Fiber, Fiber, Fiber, Fiber, Fiber!! LMAO!!

Till next time this has been Day 6 of  my Detox Nutrition Plan.

Freda’s Restaurant Food Review

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on March 4, 2013
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Freda’s Caribbean Soul Cuisine Food Review 2013

Concluding the meal my family and I had at Freda’s as I said in the previous post, left us telling the Owner we’d be back!  Here are the reviews from each of my family members present at Freda’s in no particular order.

Dad’s Review: The food was very good.  I like the spiciness of the food and the portion size.  The goat was cooked like home cooked goat and very tasty.  On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 8!

Dad's Plate

Younger Sister’s Review: “It was OK.   I didn’t like the Curry Chicken.” When I asked her why she didn’t like it, she stated flatly that the rice and peas had curry chicken gravy on it which she didn’t like.  She also went on to say that the Curry Chicken was bland and the Plantain was dry and not sweet.  She did like the Cabbage though.    I asked her on a scale from 1 to 10 her rating.  She said 7.

Mom’s Review:  The shrimp was excellent and I really liked the candied Yams.   The Mac N Cheese was very good too.  I enjoyed the cozy feel of the place on a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 9 out of 10.

Mom's Plate

Brother’s Review:  Everything was well cooked.  The Jerk Chicken was flavorful and the Sweet Plantain was not overly greasy which I really liked.  Overall I give it an 8 1/2.

Brother's Plate

Older Sister’s Review:  Everything was very tasty.  My favorites were the Candied Yams and the Cabbage.  I was pleased with my meal but there was no way I could eat all that food in one sitting.  I’d definitely come back to eat here though.

Sister's Plate

My Review:  My first impression of Freda’s was wow this place is small.  From the outside when I first entered the entrance way in and saw how full it was I wasn’t sure we’d be able to eat there and it took I realized later, a few minutes for me to be noticed and acknowledged because they only had one server plus the kitchen staff.  Once my family and I were seated though and our orders taken and the Owner the lovely Ms. Eleanor told us the story of Freda’s I had a completely new appreciation for Freda’s and what it offers the patrons that go there.

What Freda’s offers is personal home cooked Caribbean Soul Cuisine as it’s name states but more than that because of the engaging personality of its Host/Owner it brings things down to a eating at home away from home feel to you.  It’s perfect for an intimate date or a small group of family and/or friends.  What Freda’s isn’t good for is large numbers of people because they simply don’t have the manpower or size and space to handle large crowds of people.

In addition with a larger establishment you tend to lose that personal connection with the customer when you have too many people to take care of at once.  I completely understood why they operate the way they do and am grateful that I can say I’ve had the privilege of eating excellent cuisine there with my family.

Now to my plate review.

With all the falafel cooking I’ve done in the past week, you’d think I’d be tired of chick peas by now, but nope I had to have them curried with potatoes.  This sat on my rice and peas and gave the perfect compliment to the sweetness of the Brown Stew Chicken.  I may have added a touch of salt to the rice and peas or even the curry chick peas and potatoes but either way I found it good as it was prepared as well.

My Brown Stew Chicken was perfectly cooked, tender, and slightly sweeter than I’d encountered in other Brown Stew Chickens I’ve had before.  Mac N Cheese was very good but a little oily for my tastes.  My meal was simply a joy to eat.  Scotch Bonnet Pepper definitely added another dimension of heat and flavor to the plate and Lambrusco cleaned everything up nicely.  My meal I give an 8 1/2.

While my younger sister was the only one who didn’t really care for Freda’s I have to put her in the “finicky eater” category because my brother sampled her chicken and said it was good as well as her rice and peas.  No one else had a negative view of the food.  As for the overall experience of dining at Freda’s on a scale of 1 to 10 i give it a 9.  Some glassware would have been nice but it’s understandable for what Freda’s is at it’s core.

It is worth more than the price of admission in value.  I’ll definitely be back there to eat again and try some more dishes on their menu.  I reiterate, for a little over $80 my family and I ate very well.  Check out Freda’s you won’t regret it.

Till next time this has been Freda’s Caribbean Soul Cuisine Food Review by THEJNSREPORT & Family.  Stay tuned for more Food Travel Log Experiences to come.