The best grilled corn ever

OK so this one has been a long time in the making, meaning I have been to Cafe Habana for the first time years ago but never got around to commenting on the grilled corn. I have thought about attempting to make this corn at home but have a feeling that it will not be as good.

This dish is actually not that unhealthy being that it is corn on the cob. There is always a way for me to justify food being somewhat healthy but then again my motto is balance no extremes.

So if you happen to be in NYC and are down in NOLITA (North of Little Italy) on Elizabeth St (corner of Spring), visit Cafe Habana if for no other reason than to have this corn. The restaurant has a quick service/take out side right next to the sit down restaurant. The corn is grilled then rubbed with some kind of butter or mayo (I refuse to believe it is mayo since I hate it and don't taste it) after that they put Cotija cheese on it then dust it with cayenne pepper. My advice is to put lime juice on it right before you bite it.

London Department Store Food Fight

 


















When I was planning my trip to London, I was determined to have high tea since I knew the experience would be transcendent given that high tea is a well know tradition in England. Friends and guide books suggested Fortnum & Mason for high tea. I had no idea that Fortnum & Mason was one of the oldest (established 1707) department stores in London. Given this fact I was delighted at the prospect of having the best high tea experience but more on that later.

The other "can't miss" experience according to everyone was a trip to Harrod's department store. I had heard of it of course but again was not aware of the insane "food hall" that awaited me. Sonya & I set out to go to Harrod's and see the whole store with the agenda of hitting up the food hall first (of course my # 1 priority is always food), but we never got to the rest of the store because we were HYPNOTIZED by the food "rooms". I thought Sonya may get bored with the food hall because food is not her priority but I think that Harrods food hall has something for everyone.















This is the entrance (picture above) which is very modest in just saying food halls, restaurants. The truth is that when you step through the threshold of this main door, you are then in a maze of food halls for all different types of foods. There are 5 different halls besides the main section where the prepared foods are. I tried to take pictures of all of the food hall entrances but I felt bad because I did not bring a camera and had to keep asking Sonya to borrow hers. At one point Sonya said why don't you just hold the camera and take as many pictures as you want which was very generous of her being that I can sometimes be a pain with my wanting to take pictures of all the food I see and eat.



















When I walked into the main area, I thought that was it and I got so excited/caught up in marveling over all of the different kinds of foods that were there. For those of you who do not know me, you have no idea that the decision making process of choosing something to eat in the face of too many choices can be a mind boggling experience. I have trained myself when it comes to a restaurant to take a peek at the menu as a preview (thank you menupages) or to scan quickly (almost like speed reading) and make a decision. Of course all logic or process goes out the window when there are so many choices, let alone rooms, and each choice seems more magnificent than the next. Did you know that there are 26 restaurants in Harrods alone. What is a girl to do???????




I think the healthiest option was sushi but I thought why have sushi when there are so many choices so scan all of the options first then decide. Oh poor Sonya now I feel that I may have tortured her a bit with my need to pick the one best thing.

I thought oh yes I will delight in the beauty of the fresh vegetables but then I realized that there were not too many prepared vegetables to choose from.

The fruit and veg section went by so quickly. I actually bought some flavored sea salts (rose, black olive, mediterranean, curry, plain) which cost 20 pounds but I thought how great salt that I probably              

could not find at home in NYC. HAHAHA, jokes on me since I actually paid around $40.00 with the crap exchange rate. If anyone is into the best things on Oprah's lists in her magazine then they would be impressed with me as the same salts are featured in her January issue of best gifts.

All of the searching/looking around made me ravenous and the funny thing was that at that point my decision making process was skewed and I also ended buying beef wellington potato chips which by the way did not taste bad but also did not taste like beef wellington. The real bummer about Harrods is their look but don't touch attitude. Meaning you

were able to buy anything you wanted but you could not eat any of it while walking in the main spaces. If you wanted to actually eat while in Harrods food halls, you had to be sitting at one of the restaurants. I am sure you could all guess at this point that there were no seats because of this rule. I actually saw a security (the real food police) guard tell a man that he could not drink his bottle of water in the main hall. Sonya and I decided to corral a few things and make a mad dash for the door and eat standing up just right outside of the store. It was a bit ridiculous but I did not care since I was STARVING!!!!!!

We decided on some cheese bread and scones which were amazing but not sure if it was because we had gotten all worked up or if was that the cheese bread was hot and melty. After scarfing along with the rest of the patrons outside the food hall on the street, we went back in for round 2.



Now is when we chose to spend some serious time and money in the chocolate room. Chocolate is not my first choice but there were so many other sweets and confections in that room that I had to try or at least drool over everything. I did buy a few choice pieces of chocolate that had some weird things added like jalepeno or roses.

















Of course Sonya wanted to try the cupcakes since she has a better palette than I do when it comes to picking the best ones. The funniest thing was that after carefully picking out a few mini cupcakes to eat later, was that they were all the wrong flavors than the ones we picked. At the end of the day, it did not matter because we ate them alongside of the cupcakes from Hummingbird which in my opinion blew the rest of the competition out of the water.


















These are mini petite fours which looked like tiny wedding cakes but they had a huge price tag. I guess you do what you pay for sometimes.










We did not get to try these but I was thinking how great would it be to have bread and butter pudding. I want to thank the person who invented bread and butter pudding.











The entrance to the baked goods room. I guess they think it is a novelty to have Krispy creme doughnuts. Don't get me wrong, I eat them from time to time but it is not something I would have expected to see in Harrods.








This is the assortment of scones and breads, YUMMY YUMMY.

After perusing the whole food section of Harrods I bought a turkey sandwich and then Sonya and I went in search of a place outside to sit and eat. Public squatting is very rare in London. In NYC people sit on stoops or lean everywhere. I was very tempted but waited till we got to a main intersection that had benches.


Later that night when Sonya and I settled in for the evening, it was back to the search for the perfect high tea which led me to look at Fortnum and Masons menu. We were both disappointed because the tea sandwiches had lot's of mayo which both of hate as well as cucumbers which surprisingly I do not like. YES YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT, I HATE MAYO, always have and always will, don't know why it just skeeves me. So now the secret is out, I do not love all things food.


As the week progressed, it seemed like the formal high tea thing was not going to happen so I let it go. Sonya and I were at The National Gallery and then we decided to do our own thing, she went on a walking tour and I decided to go to Fortnum and Mason since it was so close. After going to Harrods, I assumed that Fortnum and Mason would be just as fabulous but it was not quite the same. F & M was much much smaller and only had one small food area which was fine by me since I was already saturated with Harrods.



I settled on the parlour at F & M where I had a pot of smoky tea and 2 mini scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. Then I decided to be very bad and not have anything of substance but since I was still hungry I ordered some strudel which was good but not as good as I had anticipated. I will say that the interior of Fortnum & Mason was beautiful and quite charming. The day concluded with Sonya and I eating dinner at S & M which stands for sausage and mash, I will write all about that in a different posting. So long to department store dining.

Sweet London

When planning my trip to London, I did not plan on eating so many sweets or pastries.

Who knew that PAUL Patisserie was going to be lurking around every corner!

Sonya and I arrive in London and got to the flat

we were staying at in the morning. We had an overnight flight so sleep took precedence over food. Once we

napped and were heading out for

the day we were on a quest to eat lunch at a proper fish & chips shop. Our hostess

Nancy suggested we try a place that sounded like it was right around the corner. I was

really eager to try the authentic food so we walked a bit further out of the way than was necessary. The one good thing was that Sonya's bank was on the block that were on searching for the fish & chip place. At this point I was STARVING & about to have a low blood sugar meltdown so I told Sonya that I would be right back & I ran across the street to PAUL & got a mini chocolate croissant & a vanilla macaroon. My first bite of London food was of the vanilla macaroon & that was the moment that my love affair (sometimes hate) with PAUL was started up again.

I had forgotten about PAUL (Ft. Lauderdale FL location) for 2 reasons, one being I thought it was just some cute French patisserie that was only in the Sawgrass mills outlet mall & I did not try the famous macaroon when I was there (I know crazy).
The other reason (this makes 3) which was subliminal that I wanted to forget about PAUL is because that is the name of my ex boyfriend who I was trying to put out of my mind.

Since I stumbled upon PAUL the first day we were in town, I assumed we would have to make special trips back to PAUL to get a bite of heaven before the trip was over. Boy was I wrong, everywhere Sonya & I went we saw PAUL. Apparently, there are many PAUL'S all over the city of London. I think that the only way to describe how many PAUL'S there are in London is to say that it is like trying to find a Starbucks in NYC meaning they are literally everywhere & you do not have to look it up in the directory. Well when we finally got to the Marleybone tube station which was right next to our flat, we found PAUL (my London boyfriend) yet again. I am not sure if I am exaggerating or not but I think I may have eaten at PAUL on a daily basis while I was in London or perhaps PAUL was just occupying too much space in my head. I was sad when the trip was over because I really enjoyed London but I was happy to know that when I got home I could break up with PAUL for good. One of the other things that I was pondering standing in Marleybone station is why are the people here not grossly obese like in the states if they have tons of food around. Right in the center of the station, there is a huge candy boat. There is also a grocery store right next to PAUL, a pasty (like an empanada) shop, a bagel shop, a Burger King, & a sports bar.

I think the reason (explained by my friend Christian who is a dietitian raised in London) that Londoners are not as fat as Americans is because they have smaller portions of food & they walk a lot. Perhaps they are laughing at all the tourists who get trapped buying candy at the tube station.

The next must try stop on the sweet train was Patisserie Valerie. I had a cream filled doughnut which was great but that was the first day I was in town before I got swept away by my very DIRTY boyfriend PAUL. Valerie & I never had a chance to really get to know each other.

When I was looking through the Time Out London guide I came across a bakery called Hummingbird which was described as an American style bakery, so naturally I had to put it on the to do list more for Sonya really since she is a cup cake officionado. I tell myself this as a way of rationalizing eating cup cakes in London. We had tried a very bad cup cake earlier in the week which was just pretty so my hopes were not very high for London's finest cup cakes. Although I am no expert when it comes to cup cakes, I must say that the cup cakes at Hummingbird were hands down the best cup cakes I have ever had anywhere period.

Red velvet on the left & Vanilla Vanilla on the

right.

Very pretty but bad malt ball cup cake below

So it is a good thing that London is an easy walking city because I did do a fair amount of walking but then again, I did a very fair amount of eating. Sonya had the camera so on the day that she went on a walking tour without me, she took this great picture of caffe Nero which sums up the trip in a sweet little package. Shouldn't it always be cake time?

When eating amazing CAKE gets ugly

Ohhhhh why are you pointing the camera at me, can't a dietitian eat cake in peace??????


When it comes to cake from Amy's Bread, I have no shame and say "BRING IT" and make sure you save me a piece. When I was at the Foundling, I would tell anyone who would listen that when it came to ordering cake to forget about the cupcake cafe and only order from Amy's Bread because their cake is the moistest and the freshest.

It's a good thing that my friend Sonya agrees with me on the cake because she was in charge of ordering for the celebration and I did not have to mention the cake because she too is a fan. We even got the CEO of the Foundling on board for ordering a great cake for his wifes birthday.


If you notice, I am wearing an apron at the celebration which means I (the food lady) was helping to serve the food. I got a bit worried because there were many people there this year and I had to give out the cake so of course being a piggy, I had the thought what if the cake runs out before I get a chance to have a bite.



I am sssooooooo Busted!! but again it is lemon cake from Amy's Bread so the guilt quickly dissipates. I am going to try to eat this cake as "sneaky" as possible but I also want to enjoy it and appear somewhat normal.

Normal is not what I am about to do. I have no idea why I thought coming at the cake from a different angle would draw less attention or make me look normal. What is NORMAL????



OK this approach is not getting the cake in my face fast enough, let's think how can I attack the cake and look as if I am enjoying myself? I know just dive in and get agressive. Here it goes!!!!!!


Keep looking out for the pesky camera person.

Keep scrolling down to see my effective approach.






Ahh the sweet taste of success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Italian Brunch

When I hear the phrase Italian Brunch, I do not automatically think of pancakes and eggs or the quintessential NYC brunch. Yesterday I ate an Italian Brunch at Dell'anima in the West Village (8th Ave, between Jane & 12th St). Brunch the Italian way was by far one of the best I have had in NYC. Perhaps it was the company (my friend Dina) or it was the 2 bloody Mary's, but I really think it was the quality food overall. Being a foodie & a dietitian is tough in NYC because when I choose to indulge I am very discerning and want to spend my calories wisely.

Let's start with the menu which was short and sweet. Most people who have eaten with me know that when there are too many choices on the menu it can make my decision making process difficult so of course I was pleased that there was only 1 entree option for sweet which was the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. They do have a few sides of muffins and cake but those are only to pick on or for dessert.

After you order, they bring you warm rustic Italian bread that has been grilled and a small dish of ricotta cheese that has honey drizzled on top and then pine nuts on top of the honey. After 1 bite of this I knew that the rest of the meal would be phenomenal.

Dina ordered the frittata with broccoli rabe, potato and pecarino cheese. I ordered the lemon ricotta pancakes and a side of scrambled eggs (because I always have to have that sweet/savory balance). The pancakes far exceeded my expectations because they were super light and dusted with just the right amount of powdered sugar and a spoon of berry jam. Of course when the pancakes came to the table I was thinking that they looked small and that there were only 2 because I am used to giant pancakes and usually not being able to finish. Dell'anima has made the perfect summer pancake that managed to keep me full for the rest of the day. The scrambled eggs were just the right texture (not too soft & not too hard) and were infused with Parmesan cheese (AHHHHH CHEESE).

I had to have a bite of the frittata but of course it was just OK in comparison to the pancakes. The bloody Mary's were good but I would not say it was the best I have had in NYC, that award would go to The Farm On Adderley which is in Brooklyn.

The brunch was topped off with a stroll to the Chelsea Market and then more strolling on the Highline. I highly recommend Dell'anima for brunch and perhaps any other meal.

Van Leewen Ice Cream Truck

I scream you scream, we all scream for ice-cream but I have not been interested in going back for seconds on this one. Not to sound like a hater of this ice-cream but my taste buds were not wowed. I love the concept and the natural local sourced ingredients, and the eco friendly cups/spoons. The ice-creams have a very clean, fresh taste but the mouthfeel is off meaning perhps there is not enough fat and not enough sugar. The taste just left my mouth too quickly for it to be memorable. This is saying a lot for me because I never forget what I have eaten and the experience it gave me.

To date the best ice-cream I have tried is from Emack & Bolios. When it comes gelato well that is a different story. By the way gelato has less fat than ice-cream so of course my love goes out to the Italians for that one.

Butter Lane Cupcakes

SO MANY CHOICES?????

Key Lime, The Elvis, Vanilla Vanilla


SUPER DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!


Let's start with the name of this cupcake place BUTTER LANE! There is the word butter in the title but funny enough it was named after a real street not because some really sharp marketing person came up with a perfect name. I heard about this new spot in the East Village (7th st. between 1st ave. & avenue A) from my friend Lisa's fiance Eric who was doing a radio piece on the new venture. Originally, I thought it was all custom like Cookies & Milk but then realized it is more like one of those paint your own pottery places with the set pieces that you can add color & life to.

Butter Lane is this cute country type place with 3 different flavor cakes to choose from (vanilla, chocolate, banana) and roughly 12 different frostings to choose from. The best and perhaps most dangerous part of the whole thing is that you are allowed to try every single flavor of frosting before choosing. People who know me well know that the more choices I have the more complicated choosing becomes for me because ultimately, I am always searching for the perfect tasting bite. Intellectually I know that the bite won't be my first or last chance to taste something but just as the saying goes, "you only have 1 chance to make a first impression" which is what my taste buds think. That first bite has a big impact on my sense memory and is perhaps "too" important to me but foodies will understand.

Besides the custom choices, there seems to be a daily special. I chose "The Elvis" which was very moist banana cake with peanut butter icing and a mini marshmallow on top. Of course Sonya and I went together and we wanted to try more than 1 for comparison sake (HA HA HA) so the other choices were key lime and vanilla vanilla (Sonya's litmus test for cupcakes). The results were overall great but my favorite was the Elvis since the cake ws the moistest and the combo of banana with peanut butter is such a classic. The first bite was so great, it caused me to make the funniest face which when replicated for the photo looked like I was drunk so we just deleted the picture.

Of course our visit was made all the more special by the entertaining staff. I have been back and the cake was not as fresh (dry) as the first time but it was the end of the night. I will of course have many more opportunities to eat the BUTTER LANE cupcakes, the one I am looking forward to the most will be as the wedding cakes for my friends Lisa & Eric.

Cupcakes the original "DIRTY" food from Sweet Revenge

SWEET REVENGE

I have to start this post with a little bit of background on how I started calling myself "THE DIRTY DIETITIAN." One day my friend Amie (also a dietitian) and I went to a bakery on the lower east side called Sugar Sweet Sunshine. http://www.sugarsweetsunshine.com/ Amie had met one of the owners previously and asked her if she remembered her. When the owner replied that yes she did remember her, Amie introduced me and said Heidi is also a dietitian but we are "dirty dietitians" because we like to eat cupcakes. Those of you out there who are not dietitians may not fully understand what the general public expects of dietitians. For the most part people assume that dietitians are perfect people when it comes to the foods we eat. The truth is that yes we are quite knowledgeable about the science behind healthy eating but we are also human and have a craving for something "bad" every now and again. My personal philosophy is that there are no bad foods in general, it really boils down to how often you eat the "bad" food and how the food was manufactured (what are the core ingredients) and by whom.

This post is about my great experience eating cupcakes at Sweet Revenge but I have to give a shout out to Sugar Sweet Sunshine (SSS) for also making great classic cupcakes that are still only sold for $1.50 each. I guess that SSS really deserves it own post but I am feeling a bit lazy at the moment so they will just have to wait.

Sweet Revenge, is pretty new to the cupcake scene which explains why my friend Sonya had not heard of it. I consider Sonya to be a cupcake expert and she is also my friend who likes to go on cupcake adventures with me. Sonya is not a dietitian which helps me see the adventure from a more fun, pure place of just straight up enjoyment. I came across the LIST of the top 100 must eat foods in NYC which was published in Time Out New York. Of course I printed a copy of the list for me and one for Sonya which was proudly displayed on my bulletin board at work becuase that is where I spend most of my time (sadly).

Upon entering Sweet Revenge on a Friday night, I felt like I was at a cafe in Europe (I have never been to Europe) because there was a bar and tables. The menu was impressive offering multiple flavors of cupcakes with both wine and beer pairings. They also have a few savory offerings that also looked great but we went straight for the sweet. The "list" suggested the Crimson and Creme cupcake made of red velvet cake with raspberries baked inside and cream cheese frosting.

Crimson and Creme Cupcake

Sonya and I were both super excited at how yummy the cupcakes looked and sounded from their descriptions. We knew there would be other opportunities to eat them again so we decided on 3 flavors to split since we had just gone to the gym (chuckle chuckle). The price was a bit more than the average price ($3.25-$3.50) however the size was also a lot bigger. It was a given that our #1 choice was the Crimson and Creme cupcake. Sonya's gold standard when it comes to sampling cupcakes from different places is to try the vanilla cake with the vanilla frosting which was our #2 choice. Sweet Revenge calls their vanilla/vanilla the Pure cupcake which is a mix of Mexican vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream. Our #3 choice was the Sweet Revenge cupcake which was peanut butter cake with a drop of chocolate ganache in the center topped with peanut butter buttercream.

Sweet Revenge Cupcake The taste test results were not the same as the number order that we decided to try them. My favorite was the Crimson and Creme cupcake. It did not taste as light as a traditional red velvet cupcake (the cake part was a bit more dense or "cakey" if that is a word) but the addition of raspberry and the amazing cream cheese frosting brought the overall taste to new heights.

My second favorite was surprisingly the Sweet Revenge cupcake. I usually prefer vanilla or lighter tastes when it comes to my dessert choices. Although the description sounded great the taste was a bit flat or generic vanilla. I think Sonya agreed with me that the Pure cupcake was not up to snuff. The peanut butter flavor came through strong but at the same time subtle as the frosting was a whipped sweet peanut butter flavor. The cake was nice in it's texture but don't expect a large amount of chocolate ganache.

I wouldn't get a repeat of the Pure cupcake as it was too plain for me. I like more complex, layered flavors. Living in NYC there is so much DIRTY WORK to be done. My next adventure is going to be Butter Lane.

Pure Cupcake

A flavor explosion thanks to BRUSSEL SPROUTS from Alta

So I was walking home from work recently on 10th st. heading East from 6th Ave. (one of my favorite blocks because of the Brownstones) and I poked my nose in to a what looked like a tiny restaurant Alta which simply had a tapas menu with mostly Mediterranean looking dishes and a nice looking wine list. As I continued my walk I thought that this would be a perfect place for my friend Debbie and I to grab a drink and maybe a snack after work.

Once I got home, I had to do my research and see if this place was considered any good by my trusty Zagat (thanks Paul). According to Zagat it was a mix of Meditarranean influences with a great wine selection. The review said if you go there that one must try the "Crispy Brussel Sprouts." Now the way I feel about food and restaurant reviews no matter where they come from is similar to how I feel about movie reviews which is to say that even if the review is not so stellar and I am slightly interested, then I am going no matter what. So it was to be that Debbie and I were meeting at Alta for post work happiness.

Debbie snagged us 2 seats at the bar which was perfect because this is where all of the good people watching is but on the other hand we had some interesting commentary from our neighbor, more on that later. The first order of business for me was to order the crispy brussel sprouts which according to the menu came with fuji apples, crème fraiche and pistachio nuts. Being the dietitian I still had to think of calories (I know they are crispy) so I asked the bar tender to nix the crème fraiche which is equivalent to sour cream. We also ordered a plate of bacon wrapped dates.

The brussel sprouts arrived and I was very happy because for a small plate, the portion was a very generous bowl. I did not ask how they were prepared but my sense is that they roasted the brussel sprouts until the edges were slightly black and crispy enough to make some of the leaves come off which added to the depth of the texture. The fuji apples are sliced thin and in a slight cinammon sauce which is then incorporated with the brussel sprouts. The dish is topped with a bit of crushed pistachios that tasted great but from a color perspective boring to have green on green. The overall taste was amazing (a true flavor explosion) and just the right amount of bitter/savory/salty and slight sweetness which happens to be one of my favorite flavor combos think salted caramels. The bacon wrapped olives were ok (hello bacon is goood) but they paled in comparison to the brussel sprouts.

At this point, I was feeling good after having 1 glass of white wine and half a bowl of yummy brussel sprouts along with 3 bites of bacon wrapped stuff. Debbie and I had not planned on eating a full meal but we both agreed that we could go for another nibble of something. Debbie said that she would gladly have more brussel sprouts but that she would leave the choice up to me (I never did ask her if it is because food means so much to me that I have a hard time deciding which I know to some of my friends it can be seen as a problem). Naturally, I tortured the bartender to get his opinion on what we should order next. His suggestion was the pulled pork empanadas which sounded good but I asked him if it was a "FLAVOR EXPLOSION" like the brussel sprouts which he replied no it is not but they are good. The bartender naturally suggested we get both so we said ok but then as he started to walk away we yelled after him to just put the order in for the empanadas and forget about the 2nd order of brussel sprouts which he nodded ok.

Fast forward to a bit later when the bartender came over and dropped the empanadas and another bowl of brussel sprouts in front of us. We were surprised and said didn't you hear us we only wanted the empanadas? The bartender was so sweet and said "don't worry I will take it off the check for you guys, once we drop a plate down it is down and we can't take it back to the kitchen so enjoy it." Enjoy it we did and felt nice and satisfied. At this point I was thinking that the taste of the brussel sprouts was still good the second time around until a little while later the bartender just dropped off ANOTHER (#3) bowl of BRUSSEL SPROUTS and these fried goat cheese balls that were sitting in some lavender infused honey. Debbie laughed and said this is an embaresment of riches, where did these come from but the bartender only shrugged his shoulders and topped of our wine glasses also without asking.



We were not going to ask too many questions so we decided to eat the food and give the bartender a large tip, perhaps that was his strategy. I did not really enjoy the 3rd bowl of brussel sprouts the same way I enjoyed the first but I am sure most people would not even eat a 2nd bowl. The goat cheese balls were good but how can you really mess up fried cheese.

Now I promised to add the interesting commentary from our neighbor who was sitting to Debbie's right which was one seat closer to the door. When people came in or out, the door opened and gave us a cold blast so this guy thinking he was funny or witty or something said to Debbie "the downside of working out and having no body fat is that I get cold easily" to which I said to myself that perhaps he should eat more often. What a ridiculous comment.

The end of the evening approached so I went to use the ladies room before my journey home and discovered that the restaurant was much bigger than I originally thought. It is very big and nice to sit if you have a group. I am sure most people are in shock at the fact that I ate 1 1/2 bowls of brussel sprouts but on the up side I managed to get all of my vegeatble serving in one sitting. As the American Dietetic Association catch phrase goes for fruits & vegetables "MORE Matters"

The brussel sprouts are highly recommended by me but just keep in mind that sometimes more is not always better especially when you are dealing with roughage.

I walked home full, happy, and pretty darn fast.