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In the process of working this weekend, I discovered that my beloved Wild Fig is currently closed! I was completely in shock when I approached the restaurant on my way into Sears and noticed the gates down and a sign in the window. I nearly had a heart attack from disappointment, until I saw that they are just relocating elsewhere in the mall. I have no idea where they could possibly be relocating to, but at least they aren’t gone forever. That would certainly be a sign of the apocalypse.

For those of you unfortunate enough to have never had a Wild Fig experience, this is one restaurant I happily and highly recommend to anyone in the area, especially people who work at the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove (like I do) because they deliver there and offer a mall employee discount. That came in handy for me while I was working at Lindt as a shift supervisor, when I was alone in the store for basically my entire shift and thus couldn’t take a break to go get food.

Their authentic Mediterranean-style food appeals to a health-conscious person like me. They have lots of veggie dishes, and their salads are absolutely TO-DIE-FOR. Seriously. I’ve never had a tastier Greek salad in my entire life. Their house dressing is so flavorful that asking for it on the side and only using a little doesn’t feel like dressing-deprivation at all.

I’ve also had their chicken kebabs, which are equally enthusiasm-inducing. They grill the meat perfectly–it’s cooked thoroughly but not the least bit dry–and the veggies are sweet and caramelized but not grilled to mushiness. YUM! :yum:

It says a lot about bread for me to enjoy it since I’m not the biggest plain-bread person in the world, and I enjoy their pitas. They’re fresh-baked, tender-but-crispy-crusted, and have a pleasant, light flavor. They go very well with their yogurt sauce, which is another thing I am thoroughly enamored of–it’s not to dilly, and being very sensitive to dill, I love when yogurt sauce is only delicately seasoned with it instead of RIFE with it.

On my list of things to taste from them is their lentil soup, since a former co-worker highly recommended it, chicken gyro, imam biyaldi, and any of the baklava. Mmm…layers of flaky pastry, honey, and other fillings…

2 Comments Categories: Food Musings · Photos · Restaurant Ramblings

Oh, and in site-related news, I spent a good chunk of time tweaking little things last night in order to spiff it up a bit. I’d been feeling like there were some minor aesthetic changes I could make to the way my posts were output in order to make the site look cleaner and be more to my satisfaction design-wise, and I think the few changes I made are a big improvement. Rather than doing complete design overhauls like I did every time I was displeased with how the site looked in the past, I think I’m going to do things like that from now on. It’s so much less time-consuming and the end result is the same–I’m happier with how my site looks. :)

I’d also like to quickly plug the mailing list for the site. I haven’t used it in ages, but I’d like to make more regular use of it now that I’m updating much more frequently than I had been. So mosey on over to the contact page and fill out the form near the bottom if you’d like to join the list. There are a few people still on it from before, so it’ll let you know if you’re already subscribed.

0 Comments Categories: No Photos · Site-Related

I have had the strangest craving for cupcakes recently, and I do believe the result will be some experimentation in decorating. :yum:

Throughout my life, I can say I’ve never been the biggest fan of cupcakes. However, after reading through some of Robyn’s fooding adventures involving cupcakes, I’ve developed a desire to have cupcakes, and I’m going to attribute it to the fact that I have clearly been on lifelong deprivation of really good cupcakes. I can honestly say I’ve never had a cupcake that wasn’t made from supermarket cake mix and meagerly frosted with supermarket canned frosting.

Clearly, I am in dire need of enlightenment.

So I think that as soon as I can find the time (i.e. after the Ballroom Dance Team’s Masquerade Ball and competition at UConn, and after my art history midterms and papers are due XP), I am going to have to make some cupcakes and frost and decorate them myself. I might even turn it into a serious practice session for cake-decorating and attempt to create bejeweled cakelets in honor of my new job with Whitehall Jewellers. :) Lord knows that judging from the results of my birthday cake-creation, I can definitely use some practice in the creating-art-with-icing department. :P

On that note, I’d love for suggestions from any readers on what sort of cupcakes to bake and how to make my first from-scratch cupcake experience Teh Best Evar, OMG! :D

4 Comments Categories: Food Musings · No Photos

For a program I’m participating in, I created a recipe for tea-infused crème brûlée. My favorite site for buying tea, Adagio, runs another site, TeaChef, and through it I have the challenge of inventing a recipe using a different tea each month. This month, it was a jasmine oolong tea, and the dessert I put together with the tea is absolutely sinful! Even my sister, who was adamantly opposed to it since she doesn’t like jasmine teas, found it to be fabulous.

And considering the TeaChef program is a contest, I would muchly appreciate it if you voted for my recipe at the site! The voting starts on the 25th of the month, and there will be a link from the main page of the site to where you can vote.

(A photo of the prep and a recipe can be found on the second page.)

2 Comments Categories: Desserts · French · Photos · TeaChef