Ropa Vieja

The Original Cabana, 107-10 70th Road, Forest Hills 11375 [site]

It was a foodie meetup at my library and the choice of food was at the Forest Hills’ Cabana for lunch. After careful consideration of the lunch specials, I’ve decided to get the Ropa Vieja: shredded skirt steak, onions, bell peppers and plum tomatoes with rice and beans.  Supposedly “the dish” of Cuban cuisine, I decided to see what the buzz is all about.

Not to disappoint, ropa vieja is juicy, fragrant and hearty. I finished the entire dish. I would definitely recommend this dish to anyone, but the only downside to this dish is… the calorie content. Ropa Vieja was meant to be the biggest meal of the day and should have enough calories for you to work in the fields, if anyone of you still do that. Don’t be expected to eat anything else for the day if your planning to have this for lunch, unless of course, you’re used to eating a lot.

Broiled Short Ribs with 烤肉醬

So this is my second time used the broiler (The first time I didn’t take a picture of which was short ribs and Char Siu Sauce), and I decided to experiment on sauces. I was looking for Kalbi sauce actually, but the closest I found was 烤肉醬 in my fridge, so I guess that will have to do. The jar said “BAR-B-Q SAUCE”, but the Chinese said 烤肉醬, and it’s made in Taiwan, so 烤肉醬 is probably a better description, considering what Westerners believed BBQ sauce to be.

Making it was pretty simple. Marinate for an hour, then broil (4 minutes on each side). And voila! It’s done. The tast was pretty good, though I would have preferred a different type of sauce. Next time, I guess. I need to create… the ultimate broiling sauce!