Mom's Steak Salad

You won't usually hear me say things like, "Oh my mom makes the best..." or when I'm at a restaurant you won't hear me say "Oh my mom's version is better."  My mom isn't that kind of mom.  The type of mom who loves to be in the kitchen, perfecting recipes that have been handed down generation after generation.  That's not to say I didn't eat home cooked meals every night and liked it.  Every night my mom cooked, and I usually enjoyed the things she made.  But now that we're all grown up, it turns out my mom cooked purely out of necessity and not out of passion.  She's actually pretty lazy when it comes to cooking.  Still though, there are a handful things my mom made that have just stuck with me all these years as things that I just love to eat.  Her steak salad is one of those things.

It's totally simple, but to me it's delicious.  She would take leftover rib-eye steak, cut it up, stir fry it with some oyster sauce and throw it on top of a salad with a really simple vinaigrette.  Eaten with a side of rice, makes for a complete meal.  I think I just love the idea of meaty flavorful slices of beef mixed into a refreshing salad.  I love the Thai beef salad, yam neua.

Here I just take a cut of flank steak, sliced up into strips, marinate it in some oyster sauce and garlic.


Then, I stir fry it on very high heat with some onions and extra oyster sauce.  It's important to get some good color on the meat without overcooking it.

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Lemonade

I'm a Yelp snob. I am hesistant to try a new restaurant unless it has great reviews/ratings on Yelp. There are always exceptions of course. Anyways, I had heard about Lemonade some time ago through Blackboard Eats (a great foodie 411 for those who want to be in-the-know). I had no intention of trying the place until months had passed and Lemonade accrued quit a fan base on Yelp.

The place is a great for lunch, especially in the warm sunny months because it has a great deck with outdoor dining. They serve several varieties of salads, sandwiches, and stews. The place is reminiscent of Clementines, but with a brighter feel and a larger selection of salads. They don't have as many sandwich choices, but the stews really make up for it. Dumpling Man looooooooooooovvvvees stews almost as much as he loves dumplings. The other great thing about this place is that you can sample anything you want. From a chunk of beef from the stew or a bit of the salads.

But first off, the lemonades! I think they're all a tad bit too sweet and tart and for that reason taste like they were made from a mix, just not as fresh as I would imagine. I really enjoy the concept though, with all the many interesting flavors.

Cucumber Mint Lemonade. Probably my favorite one. You can't go wrong with a bit of mint essence in your lemony sweet drink. It's like a mojito without the alcohol. The cucumber flavor also adds another dimension of freshness.




Peach Ginger Lemonade. I love ginger being incorporated into sweets. This had just a subtle ginger hint and the peach? I wouldn't have known it were there except for the color. My second favorite.



Blueberry Mint. The mint taste was not as prominent because it was not as well complimented with the blueberry as with the cucumber. This drink was especially tarty, which was too much sweetness for me.

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