Three square meals eaten out

I try not to eat out too often so it is a little odd that yesterday I ended up eating out for two meals - and having a little mini takeout in between. A while ago I had e-mailed a friend and said that we should try to get together May 8 or 15, after all my maid of honor duties had calmed down. And in the meantime, I was trying to arrange a time to go to breakfast with another friend. Somehow this week, they both got back to me that Saturday would work great. With breakfast plans at 10 a.m, I figured I could manage dinner at 6 p.m.

The first meal was breakfast at OD's Kitchen, which is always great. Since it is a little hole in the wall place in Gilroy, I always like introducing out-of-towners to it. So I went there with a friend who is from the East Coast. I'm not really a breakfast person and he admitted while we were at breakfast that he's not much of a breakfast person either. But he seemed to really enjoy the eggs benedict and I love the home fries. I've tried to recreate the home fries at home, but I've never quite been able to do it. So I guess OD's will always get a visit from me every once in a while.

Since I knew I had plans to eat dinner out later in the day, I ate half of my breakfast and took the rest of it home, thinking I could always warm it up today.

I didn't think I'd eat much more before dinner. But a couple hours later my parents showed up at home with a plate of samples from the "No Bull BBQ" cook-off in Morgan Hill. I couldn't resist trying the brisket, tri-tip and a piece of garlic bread. Luckily the samples were quite small so I didn't really eat that much of it.

For dinner, I met up with some friends in Campbell and the meal helped me along with Resolution No. 2 (eat at five new restaurants.) My friends have a place across the street from the Pruneyard, and within walking distance of downtown Campbell. I left the place we'd eat out up to them and they chose a Aqui, which is a Mexican restaurant with a southwest flare. The menu included burritos, tacos and other typical fare, but with a little twist. For instance, my chicken burrito had slaw and barbecue sauce in it. My friends knew pretty much everything on the menu, and said they eat there at least once a week. The burrito was good, as was the roasted tomato salsa I had with some tortilla chips. The salsa was perfectly mild for me, but quite tasty.

Once again, I ate only half of my meal - this time to save room for a dessert at a little place around the corner called Satura Cakes. The place had cookies, donuts, truffles and a bunch of fancy little desserts. I got a New York NY cheesecake souffle. It was light and fluffy, and delicious. And since we had to walk a few blocks to and from my friends' apartments to get downtown, I didn't feel so bad about all the eating out.

My friends have already listed a whole bunch of other places in Campbell they want to take me to eat, so I am sure I will have Resolution No. 2 done well before the end of the year. And hopefully, I will get to introduce my other friend to a couple other good local eats, even if it doesn't move me closer to completing a resolution.

Of course, this morning before I could warm up my leftover breakfast my dad got to it and ate it all. I went back to my normal eating routine by having a piece of toast.



Photo by Melissa Flores

The New York NY Cheesecake souffle from Satura Cakes in downtown Campbell.

Barbecue brisket takes patience

I cooked a brisket last Sunday. I've never cooked one before so it was quite an experiment for me. I don't usually cook read meat, and I don't smoke things. When it comes to steaks and brisket, I'd rather leave it up to a good restaurant. But I came across the brisket on a trip to Nob Hill (recipes available on the Nob Hill Web site.) It came complete with a recipe for homemade barbecue sauce and for smoking the meat so I bought it on a whim.

The only thing I've ever smoked before was a 10-lb. turkey for Thanksgiving one year. It was smoked with rosemary, not wood chips, and a coworker cooked one at work for an article in the paper so I watched first hand. The recipe was well detailed.

I had no plans on Sunday so it seemed a perfect time to soak some wood chips and cook a piece of meat on the grill for two-to-four hours. And there's the rub. The recipe came with instructions to smoke the meat over indirect heat for one to two hours - with no instructions on temperature. I settled on smoking the meat for one and a half hours, turning the meat twice and adding extra hickory wood chips every half hour.

Then the instructions called for moving the meat to a metal roasting pan, with a cup of beer, covered tightly in foil and then cooked for another one to two hours. With the inexact instructions, I wasn't sure how long to cook the meat. We put it on the grill around 1:30 p.m. and pulled it off about 5 p.m. The meat rested for a while and when I cut into it, it had a perfect pink smoke line but was a little overcooked. The meat still tasted delicious with a homemade barbecue sauce and a simple rub of pepper, paprika, salt and sugar.