Food Truck Craze

Nick and I have been obsessed with all shows about food trucks. It's a dream come true that you can get so many different varieties of great food from a truck. I mean come on - it'll come to YOU... if you're in the right location. Birmingham doesn't have many food trucks. There's one downtown called Spoonfed but I haven't tried it yet. I don't get downtown very often.

Then there are the taco trucks. There's one close to my work off of Valley Avenue. It sits in a gas station parking lot. When I first saw it, I was too intimidated to go order anything from them. The parking lot was always full and it seemed that they were all hispanic (which means the food there is amazing.) Anytime you go eat food from another culture and you find the customers are from that area, it always means there's some good food there. Well, that's what I've experienced. Nick was the first to try it with the guys. Then he had to meet me there. After that, I pulled my big girl pants up and went on to order my own food to go. I love that truck. Love it. Wonder if they would follow me home so I won't have to cook dinner....

The tacos here are chicken, al pastor, and barbacoa. No organ meat for me thank you! Maybe I'll be adventurous enough to try it one day. Watching Anthony Bourdain has been visual courage for me... every episode is more encouragement to branch out and try something new.

The perfect roasted chicken

A recipe for the perfect roasted chicken can be found here. It is a recipe of Ina Garten. I have made this chicken numerous times and it has come out perfectly every time. No joke - that's EVERY TIME! I am totally amazed that I can roast a chicken that perfectly. And it is so scrumptious. It'll make you want all the skin too. I know that's terrible but you have to admit that the chicken skin is so delicious - it's crispy, salty, and full of the scent of thyme and lemon. My favorite part of this dish are the vegetables that are nested at the bottom of the chicken. The fennel flavors the carrot and makes it taste amazing. I can't stop eating the carrots and I don't like carrots that much. Try this recipe. You will not be disappointed. It would make an excellent protein for dinner guests and it's beautiful on a plate.

Dreamcakes

If you find that you cannot make it over to Gigi's in Hoover and you are somewhere near the Homewood area, go visit dreamcakes! They were in town before Gigi's came in. Their cupcakes are incredibly delicious as well. My girlfriends at work had a routine - go get Chicken Salad and fruit from O'Carrs then stop by dreamcakes for a 3:00 treat. It made the day go by much quicker when you looked forward to some sweetness.

The only complaint I've heard about the cupcakes from either place is that the icing is too much. I noticed recently that dreamcakes has tapered down on the mountain of icing that used to be on the cupcake. I know there are some people who would scrape the icing off and eat it first but most of the people I heard from say that it's such an improvement. I'll have to go and see I guess :) No need to just blindly believe what people say when it comes to cupcakes!

Vietnamese Food

Not sure if I ever posted our many trips to eat Vietnamese. I'm not even going to pretend I know what these are all called because I can never remember. I just try something different every time Nick and I meet for Vietnamese. We've tried two different restaurants and like different things about both places. The restaurant that we usually meet at is on Greensprings Highway and is called Pho Que Huong. I've never had anything there that I haven't loved. We've tried soup noodle bowls, noodle plates, vermicelli noodle bowls, summer rolls and the banh mi (sandwich). Yum! The other restaurant we tried was Saigon Noodle House off of 280. They are very good as well! Their banh mi had lots of meat in it but I didn't taste the pickled veggies - on second thought, I didn't taste it at the other restaurant either. I love pickled veggies so I would love to eat one with some pickled veggies with some bite!

The photos below were taken at both restaurants. I could eat all of this good stuff every single day. I even follow the Nom Nom truck because they sell banh mi's from a food truck in California. I know there is no way they would come down here but I love hearing about what they sell and love to see the response from their customers. Weird.... I know!

Don't be afraid to try Vietnamese food. Just ask for their advice and go for it! Try something new.

Pork banh mi. It has pork, bell pepper, pickled diakon and carrots, cilantro and jalapenos.

The toppings for your soup noodle bowl. Basil, bean sprouts, lime and jalapenos...
Another banh mi (from Saigon Noodle House).
Shrimp noodle dish from Saigon Noodle House.
Mmmm... now this was delicious. I wish I could tell you what it is called on the menu.
Can't wait to go back!