Flavorful Blue Cheese and Steak Salad on Flatbread at Ellis Diner in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Flavorful Blue Cheese and Steak Salad on Flatbread at Ellis Diner in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I tried a new salad at Ellis Diner that is a protein and calcium powerhouse with added vitamins from its salad ingredients. 

The Blue Cheese and Steak Salad on Flatbread hides a lot of protein, calcium, and iron that you need for thick hair, strong bones, and rosy cheeks. The online description of the steak says it is a short steak. But, the shape, flavor, and texture of the steak make me think it is a thin-cut New York Strip Steak. 

The blue cheese as a dairy product has both calcium and calcium. The steak has protein and iron. The bacon in the salad used as a flavoring also has protein. 

The hidden protein in the salad that makes it a protein and calcium powerhouse comes from the golden flatbread that everything sits on. This bread seems to be a calcium- and protein-rich yogurt flatbread. The interior of the bread is creamy white and tastes especially good with the sautéed onions, bacon, and creamy blue cheese in the salad. 

The salad itself is a mixture of blue cheese crumbles, chopped iceberg lettuce, diced bacon, chopped spinach, sweet grilled onions, cherry tomatoes, and pungent onion-flavored chives. 

The dressing comes from the blue cheese mixed with grilled onions. This makes the cheese warm and melting. 

The blue cheese and onions are then mixed with the other salad ingredients to coat them as a dressing. 

This highly seasoned salad with steak and blue cheese appears to be a modern Greek or Armenian diner dish (looks Middle Eastern, but breaks several religious dietary laws of Judaism and Islam).

I enjoyed the flavorful blue cheese and steak salad on flatbread at Ellis Diner in Salinas, California and think diners interested in maintaining or building muscle like athletes would enjoy this dish. 

Blue Cheese and Steak Salad on Flatbread
at Ellis Diner in Salinas, California
Photo by Ruth Paget

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Setting Thermostat at 68 Saves 3% Per Degree Lowered Re: Dept of Energy posted by Ruth Paget

Setting Winter Thermostat at 68 Saves 3% Per Degree Lowered of Your Energy Bill according to Department of Energy posted by Ruth Paget

I looked up energy and money saving tips for winter from the Department of Energy on their website.  Other readers might find useful information too:

https://doee.dc.gov/service/energy-tips-institutional-and-government-buildings

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Recipe reposted by Ruth Paget

I was reading Google News this morning and found a really good recipe for stuffed cabbage rolls that you bake.  

Detroit has a large Polish-American population that makes galupki - stuffed cabbage rolls (halupki in this recipe). 

Galupki are delicious and highly antioxidant.  I ate these once a month I think to keep my frozen limbs working in Detroit’s arctic winters.  (I loved ice skating at Hartt Plaza downtown and did freeze my limbs about 3 days a week.)

I like this chatty recipe for galupki that follows:

https://www.eatingwell.com/halupki-stuffed-cabbage-rolls-11864264

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Information on El Sistema Youth Music Program in USA reposted by Ruth Paget

I read about the Venezuelan Symphony this morning that employs many graduates of its grass roots musical program called el sisters, which works through groups of nucleos throughout the country.  

Note: After playing, the nucleos go to neighborhood restaurants to eat.

This program exists in the US as well in 40 states.  I have reposted information about how this program works in the US below:

https://elsistemausa.org/

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Top 10 Bioenergy Companies reposted by Ruth Paget

Can landfill materials be used for biofuel? Posted by Ruth Paget

Can landfill materials be used as biofuel?

If so, how do you extract material from the landfills and put it to use?

What is the going price to sell landfill materisls?

I am not sure how to do this, but the 10 bioenergy companies listed below might have answers to these questions;

https://energydigital.com/top10/top-10-bioenergy-companies

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Succulent Shrimp Vegetable Stir-fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Succulent Shrimp with Vegetables at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I like the Chinese philosophy that food is medicine, which prompts me to look for Chinese restaurants when I look for places to live. 

Salinas, California where I live now has several Chinese restaurants with Golden Star being closest to my home. They have delicious, reasonably priced food and friendly workers.

On my most recent foray to Golden Star, I tried their stir-fried shrimp with vegetables dish with steamed rice. I loved this dish, because Golden Star used Chinese 5-spice powder as part of the aromatic seasoning mix. 

5-spice powder is made of a powdery crush of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel seeds. 5-spice powder is flavorful and a potent antioxidant at the same time. 

Chinese cooks place 5-spice powder in hot peanut oil in a wok at the beginning of a stir-fry. Cooks then add green onions, garlic, and peeled and minced fresh garlic to the hot oil as a flavoring base in almost all stir-fried dishes. 

When the scent of the garlic rises, cooks add in fresh vegetables to sear in flavor and color. Searing gives the vegetables a tender outside and sturdy interior. Vegetables prepared this way are visually appealing. Cooking the vegetables this way takes about 8 minutes and makes them blazing hot. 

The vegetables that Golden Star uses in its shrimp vegetable dish showcase the organic produce that Monterey County grows: broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, and cabbage (Napa cabbage) are among this Monterey mix. 

When the vegetables are steaming hot, cooks add in gray fresh shrimp, which curls into a circle and turns orange in the heat. About 4 minutes will cook the shrimp this way. To finish the shrimp vegetable dish, 

Golden Star uses a classic Chinese sauce made with soy sauce, chicken broth, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and mirin (a sweet Chinese cooking wine). I like the flavor of 5-spice powder in this dish and think the finishing sauce enhances that flavor with salt and some sugar. 

I drank a Peroni Nastro Azzuro beer with the shrimp vegetable stir-fry, because it reminded me of China’s Tsing Tao. A slightly sweet white wine would pair well with this dish as well due to the mirin wine in the sauce, which is slightly sweet. 

Shrimp lovers looking for new flavors would probably enjoy the shrimp vegetable stir-fry with steam rice at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California. 

Shrimp Vegetable Stir-Fry with Rice
at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant
in Salinas, California

Photo and Text by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Power Outage Food: Cereal and UHT Milk and Salad from Costco posted by Ruth Paget

 California is not in the path of the Polar Vortex Storm but we may have power outages if the weather is cold.  Emergency food:

Cereal

UHT Milk - can be stored at room temperature till opening

Caesar Salad

Salad dressing

Fruit Pouches

Cheese goldfish crackers

Water

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France