Ranas Revisited

Today I had lunch with one of my very good friends (and former co-worker) at one of her favorite spots, Ranas.Com. I've been here a couple of times before and it's always been quite good. Since it was cold today, we ate inside. Over the summer, we sat out on their new patio. I hadn't been inside in awhile and it looks like they got new decorations (see below), which I think are so cool!
And this one too! Aztec Warrior with Maiden!

I mentioned this in a previous post and I'll say it again. Ranas is not a typical Mexican food place. They have a lot of unusual offerings that you won't find on other menus like a quesadilla with Flor de Calabasas (squash blossoms) and Nopales (cactus)...Below is my Cactus Taco...
The interior colors are bright and cheerful and there's even a tree in the corner! We got there before the lunch rush and we were glad we did because it got very busy very fast!

My friend ordered the Sincronizadas - I forgot if this is a tortilla or some other type of bread (oh my gosh, I'm doing this from memory and I could be wrong!) filled with ham, cheese, guacamole and jalapenos.

I had two bites of this and really liked it...

Here's my Flor de Calabasas Quesadilla - I liked the combination of the squash flowers, cheese and the herbs/spices used in here...Last time I came here, I meant to order this but got excited over the specials on the menu and had that instead. Not this time!

My friend got the Chicken Soup - this had a kick to it! I liked the textures in this soup - there was cool and smooth cucumber, firm cheese, rice, spicy broth, and of course, the boiled chicken.

Lest you think I'm a big pig, I only ate half of my Cactus taco and half of this plate, which was the Machaca Plate. I wanted something kind of breakfast like. The meat was really good here and so were the beans. I normally don't even eat beans but I do like theirs. I saved half so my daughter could try some later on. Plus, I was also full!

A close up of the shredded beef with the cheese, tomatoes and eggs. This entree also came with several tortillas which I rolled up with the machaca filling.

I keep telling my husband that he should go here and try their food. There was some sort of sandwich that some customers at another table ordered. The bread had red sauce on it and it was prepared a certain way, according to the owner. I think Bert might like that. There are so many other items on the menu that I want to try...Until next visit!

Upcoming Posts...

*More new posts below this - Mille Feuille (finally!), Moroccan and Filipino, Holiday Food Assault, Sab e Lee Revisited, Romesco, and More...

Just a preview...Today, Bert and I had lunch here...
Here I am with my fabulous purple rabbit fur puff ball scarf.........oh yeah, and lunch and dessert was just as fabulous!

More details and pix to follow...along with my thoughts on the movie, "Slumdog Millionaire",

which, by the way, is one of the best movies I have EVER seen! I shit you not. Get thee forth to a movie theatre and watch it now!

Update - new post on Mille Feuille below:

PASACAT Christmas Party

Here are the pix from the PASACAT Christmas Party potluck...It's been TC's 4th year as a Junior Dancer and she's gotten better over the years. From an unsure 4 year old kid to a confident 8 year old who can deftly dance atop a bench (Sayaw sa Bangko), deftly hop in and out of clapping bamboo poles (Tinikling), and waltz with grace (Sampaguita, Aray, Obando), and isn't freaked out by holding a boy's hand because of dance. The best part of her being in Pasacat? The potlucks! This year, as with last year, the parents delivered! Here's one of the versions of Arroz Caldo (Rice Porridge) that someone brought in. Unfortunately there wasn't much chicken in there. This person deboned the chicken. I like having the pieces with bones in mine, but this was still quite "masarap" (delicious).
Another parent made Penne Pasta with cream and bacon. Not really a Filipino dish, but yhis was one of the first dishes to be devoured. She is such a damn good cook. She makes her Pinakbet with Lechon Kawali!

The same mom also made Scalloped Potatoes. I haven't had this since the potluck last year. Her husband is one of the chefs at the U.S. Grant and it's their recipe, I believe. There are five kinds of cheese in there. Don't ask me to name them because I don't know. This was also cleaned out within the half hour.

Pancit Bihon...looks kind of lonely and sparse with the lack of meat. And yes...the Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings!

This is an assortment of Filipino desserts. The far left is Puto Bumbong (purple rice cakes with coconut), Putong Puti (white rice cake), the orange one is Kutsinta (rice cake), the multi-colored one is Sapin-Sapin (layered rice cake), some sort of Ube rice cake, and another type of rice cake. I forgot the names. Both have toasted grated coconut on top.

Here's purple rice cake with toasted coconut (one of my faves):

Cassava cake. Sorry - don't know the Tagalog name. This shit is so good. There's grated cassava and condensed milk in there, plus macapuno strings. I need to learn how to make this. I ended up snaking one of the corners for myself!

There were more desserts like chocolate chip cookies and my lemon bars but you know what those look like already. Someone also made a flan. Here's a unique "dessert" that was a hit last year and was again, a populalr item with the kids...Jelly Sticks!

I haven't tried mine yet but TC had at least 4 or 5 of these. You cut open the top and the inside is kind of like firm fruity jelly.

It was a pretty fun night - just eating and chatting with the parents and kids. There was a secret Santa gift exchange with the kids (younger ones and the teens separate) along with a White Elephant gift exchange for the adults.

Mille Feuille

[Update - Closed and is now Chocolate Cremerie as of 2011]

The day we chose to go uptown for lunch and a movie was the rainiest day, thus far, in December. Here we are in Hillcrest on the southwest corner of University and Fifth. Our destination?
Mille Feuille...right next to the Hillcrest sign. I believe the site of Mille Feuille used to be the Gap (back in the late 80's).Everything in the shop was clean, bright and fresh looking. Look! Napkin rings! Plus, a cute container for sugar packets. But no, the shop wasn't judged on its decor alone.

Several counters display their desserts, chocolates, macarons, and cookies. There are also more window facing displays that showcase tea.

It was pretty empty when we arrived, which was a little past 11:30. Our server greeted us promptly and since the shop was empty, we were given our pick of tables. We sat here by the sign. I really liked the lighting - it was bright and crisp and most of my photos came out good! Can you see Bert? The menu:

There was a flat screen with a running slideshow of all of their offerings:

Safely ensconced from the rain...

Mmm...Pistachio Raspberry Macarons! ...These are large too, $2.25 a piece. I haven't had a kickass macaron since Bouchon in NYC. Those were $3 apiece and dude, I bought 2 damn dozen! These were a close second in flavor and texture.

More macarons on the top shelves and more desserts on the bottom. The one with the tall squiggly chocolate line is "The Dark Knight", which Bert ordered.
More macarons beckoning to me... A row of Apricot Summer desserts awaits us:
The front counter:
Hazelnut candies:

Chicken Salad Sandwich in the display case...It's has Chicken, curry mayonnaise, diced celery, cranberries, green apple, candied ginger on sesame bread. Looks good. Maybe I'll order it next time...and there WILL BE a next time.

My Apple Pear Green Tea. I liked this - and that's saying a lot since I'm not a "tea" person. Most teas taste like dirt or grass to me. Plus this was iced, which I liked. I don't like hot drinks. Tea flavors have to be light and fruity for me to like it. And super sweet. But this tea didn't need any extra sugar though.

Bert's Iced Coffee before adding the cream:

The Lunch Special is two half sandwiches with either Iced Tea or Iced Coffee for $8.50. I ordered the Roast Beef Sandwich, which also has arugula, horseradish mayonnaise, blue cheese, and caramelized balsamic onions on a country baguette. The sandiwches also come with a side salad. I loved that the dressing came on the side instead of being drowned in a horrid pool or liquid. The salad also had candied pecans and raspberries. The dressing was white truffle vinagrette.

My only gripe is that I asked if the bleu cheese could be omitted but our server said it could not. WTF? Mmm, was the sandwich premade? I just scraped it off and gave it to Bert who ate it with his salad. I could taste each and every ingredient in my sandwich - even the salt and pepper! I really liked the flavors and the bread. I would order this again. Look at those caramelized onions! Ugh for the cheese though.
Bert got the Tuna Sandwich which consisted of White albacore tuna, marinated artichokes, caper berries, black olive tapenade, tarragon, heirloom tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and Boston lettuce on anise-olive oil bread.

We each traded a few bites of our sandwiches...his was not bad. A fancy tuna salad sandwich, eh.

My dessert choice was the Apricot Summer ($5.50). This was Coconut-pineapple and carrot sponge cake layered with orange-apricot cream cheese filling topped with a marbled glaze.

There was a trio of blueberries flecked with silver leaf (it's on the other side) and a tiny edible flower. Cute!

This cake was very moist - loved the pairing of apricot with carrot cake and coconut. Very summery.

The Dark Knight ($5.25): This was Chocolate sponge cake, mousse, spray and glaze (these descriptions are straight from their menu BTW).

Bert thought the chocolate would be hardened, but it wasn't. The sponge cake was so fluffy and the chocolate glaze was delicious!

Cross section of The Dark Knight:

We enjoyed our little "date" at Mille Feuille. It was relaxing sitting in this cafe, out of the rain, while watching people go by. By the way, their bathroom code is 543, in case you need to use their facilities! We were there for a tiny bit more than an hour before we headed back to the car to repark. Next stop...the Landmark Theatres for our movie, "Slumdog Millionaire". But before we left...

I ordered a Lemon Tart ($4.50) to go for our daughter. This dessert is comprised of a citrus tart shell filled with lemon Sabayon topped with sliced candied lemon and fresh thyme. The photo taken below was taken at home. We all sampled this later that night...it was pretty good, but not mind blowing.

The first trio of Macarons I bought: Chestnut (this was an unusual flavor), Sangria (I wasn't keen on the flavor, but I had to try it), plus Pistachio-Raspberry. That was an unusual pairing, but I thought it worked. The fillings for the macarons were a bit much.

Here's the next trio of flavors: Vanilla Bean/Orange Blossom (yumm!), Cherry Strawberry (I would have preferred just the Strawberry - Cherry is a bit medicinal to me), and Tiramisu. Another gripe - no Chocolate or Chocolate paired flavors!

I ate a few of these for breakfast the next day. Because you can't have enough sugar.

Movies

I don't know about you but I totally want to see this movie...
Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in) is a Swedish film which depicts the relationship of a lonely twelve year old boy, Oskar, who befriends a strange girl named Eli who also happens to be a vampire. And hilarity ensues. Just kidding. It's not a comedy. It's a drama I believe, but dammit, the limited run is over so I'm going to have to wait for the DVD release. I'm all about creepy and atmospheric films.

Here's the trailer


On Wednesday, Bert and I plan to see Slumdog Millionaire at Hillcrest's Landmark Theatres after having lunch and dessert at the fairly new Mille Feuille. We haven't seen a flick at the Landmark in awhile and I miss going to Hillcrest... Upcoming post on the film and the restaurant...

Check out the trailer:


"Slumdog Millionaire" received rave reviews and the trailer looks amazing. I didn't realize that the co-director is Danny Boyle ("28 Days Later", "Trainspotting", and "Shallow Grave"---damn, that last movie was fkn twisted). Now I'm really curious to see it since his work is so good. Besides "Little Ashes", there aren't a lot of movies I'm looking forward to in 2009. Oh wait, Harry Potter nerd that I am, "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince"!!!

For the Twilight freaks out there, Chris Weitz has signed on to be the director for "New Moon", the sequel to "Twilight". People, this was the director of "American Pie" for fuck's sake. However, I did like, "About a Boy" (side tangent- Marcus, the little kid in there is Nicholas Hoult - who plays really twisted character Tony Stonem in the hot BBC series, "Skins", my latest obsession -like a British "Gossip Girl" but waaaaay less shallow and materialistic. More drugs and sex!). There's rumours that Weitz may replace babyfaced Taylor Lautner's Jacob with another actor. I saw on a few fansites that this actor named Michael Copon will play the older Jacob.

Oh Hell to the No! He's not even Native American! That guy is Filipino. I'm Filipina American and as much as I'm all for my ethnicity representing out there, I seriously don't want that dude playing Jacob. He can't act worth shit! Ex-Power Ranger? A Cheerleader in an inferior "Bring It On" sequel? (shakes head and sighs)...I really hope the movies aren't fkd up by the new director and actors...