Chicken Stir Fry

A couple weeks ago I made Beef Stir-Fry.  Tonight I made Chicken Stir-Fry.  Didn't use as many veggies as last time.  Didn't feel like running to the store and spending money, so I used what veg we had on hand; white and purple cabbage, celery, carrot, onion, and garlic.

Chopped that all up and sliced four chicken breasts.  Didn't use all the purple cabbage though.  That would have been a lot of cabbage.

My mise en place.

First I heated the wok, put a but of oil in it and cooked the chicken with a bit of salt and pepper.

After the chicken was cooked I took it out of the wok and drained the liquid, to be used later.  Then I got the veg working.  First the onion and garlic.

Then added the carrots.

Let that saute a bit then added soy sauce, put a lid on it and let it steam until the carrots were crisp-tender.  Then added the celery,

and lastly the cabbage.

I mixed cornstarch in with the reserved juice from cooking the chicken and added it to the wok.  I kinda added too much cornstarch and it was way too thick.  I had used the last of the soy sauce sauce so I poured in some Worcestershire.  Added the cooked chicken and it was done.

Served it atop freshly made rice.

Nom nom nom.  I love stir-fry.  So quick to make and so yummy.

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Untouchable
by Before Their Eyes

Restaurant Review: Monza - Manassas, VA

My sister Janina and I have been wanting to go to Monza for a while.  We wanted to go when her fiancee Jon was around.  It never seemed to work.  Yesterday was my birthday.  Jon is here.  So us three and Austin went to Monza for my birthday lunch.

Now a lot of people might not know anything about Monza, but they should.  It is a fairly new restaurant.  People will probably know where Carmello's and Little Portugal was located in Old Town Manassas.  After they had a fire in the restaurant they closed for a while and did remodeling.  They reopened March of this year I believe as Carmello's and sister restaurant Monza.  Carmello's is still the fine dining Italian and Portuguese restaurant that everybody has come to know and love.  Monza is located in the back of Carmello's on Battle Street.  It is their casual bar, less expensive, Italian place.  It is a pretty small place but has a huge 15 person bar.  We sat at one of the tables beside the bar.  Ordered some apps; deviled eggs and the special app of the day, wings.  The deviled eggs were quite good.  Topped with looked like a bit of Italian ham and a caper.  Yum.  The wings were okay.  Nothing fabulous, but not at all bad.  Janina ordered Rigatoni Italiano, rigatoni with Italian sausage, onions, and peppers in a garlic olive oil.  Jon ordered the Meatball Marinara sandwich.  Austin ordered Jack's Special, an Old Town legend’s recipe. Cappelini pasta in a white wine lemon butter sauce with shrimp,crab and scallops.  I ordered the Monza Pizza, brick oven wood fired pizza with Italian sausage, chicken, marinara, and cheese.  It was my first time ever having a wood fired pizza, and it did not disappoint.  Very good. Very good.  It was a big massive pizza too, and except for a few bites that I gave to the others to try, I ate it all.  So good.  Everybody else loved their food.  Austin was in love with his Jack's Special.  I tasted a bit if Janina's pasta and it was yum.  Jon's meatball sandwich was humongous and served with curly fries.  It could almost serve to small people, and for $7 I would say it's a good deal.  Compared to the prices of Carmello's, all the prices are Monza are very reasonable.  We had a bit of a wait on our food, but I wasn't complaining because it looked like they had a party going on at Carmello's and another party of about 7 people were in front of us at Monza.  I'm a chef so I give extra leeway to the wait on food because I know how it goes.  I was thinking about getting some Mascarpone mousse to see how it compares to the mousse that I makes at work, but I was so full from that delicious pizza that I couldn't eat any more.  The only issue I would have with Monza is their music selection.  They were playing Top 40 songs.  Now I'm a sticker for this.  I would much rather have the music go along with the cuisine.  Italian cuisine so Italian music.  Then again, I guess the Top 40 music does go with what they are doing at Monza.  It seems to me like they want to be a late night, casual bar, and the music does fit that.  All in all though, great place.  I want to go back and try their other pizzas now.

www.eatmonza.com

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by Cool Hand Luke