Crab invasion

This is a surprise! Never knew they served whole crab parts with shell and all. I always thought it was too much of a hassle for ordinary folks in America. Or maybe it was the Europeans? Their food is always deshelled for convenience, for e.g. fillets & crab cakes. Even my experience eating lobster in Boston is pretty "convenient". The waiter deshelled it for me on the spot! No need to get my hands dirty.

So for dinner, we headed down to Joe's Crab Shack which is another chain store in the USA. Their speciality are crabs and other seafood in general. There are crab cakes, lobster fondue, fish chippies, grilled tilapia, etc. For the crab section, they have 3 types namely King, Dungeness & Snow crabs. I went for the snow crab option which I believe hails from the Bering Sea which is off Alaska. There was a documentary on Discovery about how the fishermen of the Bering Sea has the most dangerous jobs in the world. If they survive the crab season, they can stop working for the year; that is how much they are paid but there are perils every single minute when they are out at sea.

You also had to choose the type of preparation for the crabs, i.e. BBQ, garlic or steamed. The crab comes with jumbo grilled prawns on a kebab, corn & rice. The picture shows the coconut shrimps instead.

You got less than one half of the crab. Taste-wise, the crab legs were okay. The meat was sweet & succulent. However for some reason, it was cold. Maybe it was the air-con or it could be the way it was cooked. The shrimp was only average. I didn't like the corn or the sauces that they provided. I think it was melted butter and a hot sauce of some sort. The crab was nice in itself, it didn't need any sauces on it.

I still prefer the mud crabs we get in Malaysia & Singapore.

Alimento Italiano

Finally! I was getting tired of the typical American food here in Houston. It is an endless stream of BBQ, burgers, ribs, pizzas & chips. I was craving for more wholesome food. My prayer was answered in the form of an Italian restaurant called Olive Garden. There are branches all over USA.

Olive Garden was only a 5 minutes walk from my hotel. Can't believe I did not come here sooner. I have seen this place before but there is always a queue in front so I never bothered. But I'm glad I did persist this time. Twice. In one day!


For lunch, I saddled up to the bar. The service staff was really attentive and nice. Ambience was comfortable. Every order comes with either a soup or salad & baked garlic bread sticks on the side. I really, really love the croutons! They have an infusion of taste from the cheese & herbs. It really reminded me of cheesels! Only more intense. Yummy.


I ordered the "Shrimp & Asparagus Risotto". The description in the menu said "large sauteed shrimp served over creamy parmesan risotto with asparagus". I found it was a bit too cheesy but it was really delicious. The shrimps were huge. It costs around USD13.

For dinner, I had the minestrone soup and "Braised beef & Tortelloni" (tender sliced short ribs and portobello mushrooms tossed with asiago-filled tortelloni in a basil-marsala sauce). Another winner dish! The beef was really soft & tender. So much flavour. The mushroom added to the explosion of taste. The pasta was really filling due to the cheese filling. Asiago is a type of cheese that is produced in the Italian Alps.

To accompany the meal, I had their house red which you can only get from their restaurant. It is specially imported by Olive Garden only. Principato Rosso 2001. It is very smooth and reminds me of the Chianti wines I tasted in Florence.

The bill came to be under USD20 which is really affordable. The tiramisu in the menu looked really tempting but there was no more room in the stomach. Maybe next time I will order a smaller portion for mains & tackle the dessert after. Overall it was a enjoyable dining experience. I'm sure I'll be visiting Olive Garden again very soon.

Going mexicana

Mexican food is really popular in Texas. This is where the Tex-Mex was invented which is essentially Americanized Mexican food. You can read up on that on Wikipedia. While I was in Houston, I had my fair share of Mexican food. I'm learning to tell the difference between a burrito, enchilada and a quesadilla.

Had lunch at a place called Los Cucos which is a nice Mexican cafe by the freeway. I just love the tortilla chips served in the restaurants here. It tastes lighter and fresher. And the salsa sauce is just heavenly.

My main meal was called an "El Suegro" which consisted of sauteed prawns, onion & poblano peppers on rice; one beef fajita taco covered with chile con queso and a tortilla soup. The soup had strips of crispy tortillas & cheese and it had a nice texture to it.

The prawns were nice. It tastes remotely like chinese "kong-pou" sauce. I didn't like the fajita though. The beef was a tad too tough and the tortilla skin was hard. The cheese was also overpowering. But overall, I enjoyed the meal.

Raiding the Texas Ranger

After 3 planes & 20+ hours later, I found myself in Houston, Texas via San Francisco. Houston is actually the 4th biggest city in USA. With this visit, I would have seen 3 of the 4 biggest cities, the other 2 being New York & Los Angeles. What is left is Chicago.

I'm here for 2 weeks on business so I have time during the weekend to explore. The hotel I'm staying at is quite nice. It's called Homewood Suites belonging to the Hilton group. It is not a hotel per se as all the rooms are suites. The bedroom is separated from the living area & kitchen so it is very spacious. There are 2 TV in there just in case you need to really catch up on your television fix. The kitchen has the whole enchilada, e.g. microwave, fridge, dishwasher & coffee maker.



You could really put a whole family in here. The living area has a nice couch to relax on. Some paintings on the wall to complete the experience.



The bedroom is cool too. They had like 6 pillows! And they are all nice & comfy. To wake you up in the morning, they provided a radio alarm clock with preset channels which was pretty nice. The bathroom and wash area is roomy. Lots of space for doing what you need to do.

Breakfast was neat. They have a DIY pancake corner, a decent selection of pastries & muffins, breads and hot selections like omelette, crepes & sausages. OJ, apple juice, coffee & tea is of course served too. In fact, they provide a small dinner which is complimentary. This is to make up for the lack of a restaurant within the hotel grounds. But as I found out, it did not matter. We are next to Willowbrook Mall, Sears, JC Penny and a short drive away from Wal-Mart. There's probably also 10+ restaurants around the area including BJ's, Kirin, Sweet Tomotoes, Chili's, Olive Garden etc. You'll definitely not go hungry here.

Looks like a weight gain is imminent.