M invited me over for dinner the other night, and how could I refuse. She always makes the bestest and fanciest meals! I wanted to bring her something, so I brought her some chestnuts. M had never made chestnuts before, so she quickly looked up some info online, and ended up roasting them in the oven. After scoring them, she drizzled some oil over them and then let them bake. To make sure they would get cooked all the way through, while they were cooking, we added some water to help them steam. They ended up great! While some of them were a pain in the butt to peel, they tasted delicious.

We started off with a citrus and beet salad. She also made the dressing. Who makes dressing?  Delicious, as usual.

For the main entree, we had seared scallops with a buerre blanc. The buerre blanc included shallots and fennel and white wine vinegar, so it was extremely tangy. The scallops were cooked really well, still somewhat rare on the inside, and the buerre blanc was perfect with them. We also had a side of parmesan polenta and wilted spinach. I have a weird attitude towards spinach. I love raw spinach in salads, but I’ve always disliked cooked spinach. That’s why I was so surprised to enjoy this wilted spinach. I wouldn’t necessarily want to eat this all the time, but it was good! See that, I’m still growing.

For dessert, F brought a beautiful little square layered cake. I don’t know what all the layers were, but the cake was incredibly rich and delicious. It was another great dinner with great friends. Thanks M!

Before heading home, in order to avoid the traffic on 95, I grabbed a quick bite right near the customer. There’s a big fancy strip-mall with all kinds of stuff, so I randomly selected Jesse Wong’s. It was either this or california pizza kitchen, quizno’s, or panera. I always pick the non-chains as much as I possibly can. snowboarding, the hunger set in and I had to eat. This place is large and kind of fancy. It’s definitely not your typical chinese joint. It’s definitely trying to be upscale. There’s a large sushi bar in the middle. It’s an open kitchen so you can see all the hubbub. This place is trying so hard to be fancy, there’s even a dude playing the piano! It’s a little crazy.

I could hardly make a decision. I wasn’t sure whether to go for chinese or to go for sushi. I kept going back and forth. Then when the waitress showed up, I just decided on chinese. So I ordered some hot & sour soup. This was an extremely large portion of soup. For $3, you get so much soup! I liked this a lot. It was extremely flavorful. I’m a big fan of hot & sour soup, and it’s definitely a soup that you either like or dislike. This one I liked, despite it being the darkest and most opaque hot & sour soup I’ve ever had.

For my entree, I got the chilean sea bass in a spicy black bean sauce. This was so good! It was a nice sized hunk of fresh chilean sea bass (you could definitely taste the freshness) in an extremely savory sauce. The fish was lovely and flaky and the sauce was perfect for it. It was a bit on the salty side, but not in a bad way. The fish came on top of three pieces of broccolini. It was the perfect accompaniment. Service was ok. Prices were a bit on the high side for chinese food, but not overpriced. There were plenty of items on the menu that were very affordable, so there’s something for everyone. All in all, a nice surprise.

Jesse Wong’s Kitchen
118 Shawan Rd
Cockeysville, MD 21030
(410) 329-1088

After work, the customer took me out to eat at a local seafood spot – Michael’s Cafe. This place is quite spacious! The bar is big, and the dining room area in the back is also big. There’s clearly a lot of seafood eatin’ going on! There’s an outdoor patio bar as well and you can even get their crabcakes online.

There is a large menu and plenty of options for seafood lovers. They have a few selections that do not involve things from the sea, but this place is definitely for those into seafood. I was quite indecisive (which is normal for me) so I ultimately didn’t make a decision by getting the seafood platter. This can come broiled or fried and I requested broiled. You get a piece of orange roughy, a bunch of scallops, some more shrimp, a crab cake, and two veggies. I selected rice pilaf and broccoli.

So listen up. This is a lot of food. Too much really. The scallops were pretty good, and so were the shrimp. The orange roughy didn’t have too much flavor, but that’s not Michael’s fault, that’s just orange roughy for ya. The best thing of the platter was definitely the crab cake. It was a pretty big crab cake, not too mayonnaisey at all, with plenty of flavor. It had big hunks of tasty crab and I was definitely a fan of this. I can see why people would want these sent to them by mail! Because this was so much food, it wasn’t cheap. Similar to other opinions I’ve given, I certainly wouldn’t have minded if there was less food and it cost a bit less. Portion sizes are definitely something that tends to be out of control in american restaurants. The portions at Michael’s are ridiculous! Service was ok. Overall, this place was ok. If you’re really into crab cakes, then you should definitely check it out!