Lime and Garlic Chicken Breast

Hey guys! Happy Saturday to everybody! I seriously can't believe Labor Day is a little over a week away! Crazy! Well, I'm coming to you with a new cooking post! My new apartment is equipped with a top-of-the-line gas grill and oven, so I figured I'd take full advantage of them. Today, I decided to make "Lime and Garlic" Chicken Breasts!

I've never made this type of dish before, but I figured I would combine my love of garlic with an ingredient I've never used before. Why limes? Well, why not? It's the cousin of the lemon, which I love to use to flavor up any dish, so I figured incorporating some nice citrus would elevate this dish.

Ingredients: 

 Left to right: Olive oil, soy sauce, garlic bulbs, lime, and chicken breast

*Make sure you have a measuring cup similar to the one in the photo

1) Pour 1/4 cup of soy sauce into the measuring cup.  Add 1/4 cup of sesame oil. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil. Simple enough. And if it's too difficult, I've attached a picture below to help ya'll out.

2) Squeeze the juice of one lime...or in other words, juice out one lime! I've found that instead of just cutting a lime into halves, cut the lime into smaller pieces. That way, it makes it easier to squeeze out all the juice contained in these limes!

 * I have good technique when it comes to squeezing bulbous objects ;)

3) My favorite part: dice the garlic. I went a little overboard and cut 5 cloves of garlic. Oops. I couldn't help it hehehe.

4) Now, add the minced garlic to the marinade in the measuring cup. Again, not too complex.
If you haven't caught on by now, this isn't a very difficult dish to make. As long as you can read, chop, and follow basic instructions, YOU WILL NOT MESS UP THIS DISH.

5) Now, place the chicken breasts in a gallon sized ziplock bag. Pour the marinade into the bag and let the chicken sit in the fridge for an hour. Because I'm smart, I flipped them over after 30 minutes had elapsed. So I'm telling ya'll to follow my lead.

6) Remember this guy? It's been a while since I've last brought him out. It's my George Foreman Grill. Yes, we're grilling these chicken breasts. Unfortunately, I don't have a grill at my current apartment, so this'll hafta surprise. The mark of a genius chef is improvisation. If you can't improvise, you will just peak as a chef....there's no room for you to grow and improve.

7) Grill the chicken on each side for about 5 minutes. You're looking for some nice grill marks and a golden brown outside. The breasts in the picture were just placed on the grill, so that's why they still look super raw. Don't worry, I made sure they were thoroughly cooked!

8) Dinner is served!

* Spinach, brown rice, 2 chicken breasts!

Overall, this was a nice dish. The lime threw me off a bit, but it didn't overpower the chicken. Personally, I'm more of a fan of lemon, so I'll be using lemon in this dish going forward. That's not an endorsement from me to use lemon, it's just personal preference. I still advice that ya'll should cook with the lime at least once, so ya'll can make the choice for yourself. I'm soo full now, so I'm gonna go into a food coma now. Au revoir!

Birthday Dinner!!!

Hey guys! So it's been a hectic past few months for me. After two and a half years living on the Upper West Side, I've finally moved out on my own to the Financial District. It's been very chaotic...from trying to coordinate times with building management and the furniture delivery company to figuring out when to take days off work, I 'm just glad that it's all finally over. I've accumulated a bunch of pictures from over this summer that I've been dying to show ya'll, so my next few posts will be based on my eatings and happenings that have occurred over the past few months.

Up to the plate today is my birthday dinner! My girlfriend, Angela, surprised me with a birthday dinner at a very nice Italian Restaurant, Ai Fiori! Oh my god, it just vaulted to the top of my favorite restaurants here in NYC. It was confusing to find because it's located on the 2nd floor of a hotel, and there are multiple avenues to arriving at the 2nd floor, so Angela and I missed our meeting point. But fear not, we found each other!

* That's my girlfriend! She cut it short since the last time you've seen her. She actually cut her hair even shorter than in this pic, so she looks a lot like Audrey Hepburn! Like an Asian version of Audrey Hepburn

 * We ordered a side dish of potato wedges. These were super delicious. Why? Well if you've followed me, you know that it only takes a few simple ingredients to win over my heart. Garlic, olive oil, and fresh herbs. And yes, these potatoes contained the holy trifecta! Plus, the main food was potato. Who doesn't like a "fried" potato anyways?

 * my main course: halibut! It was probably one of the best halibut dishes I've ever had. There was a nice basil sauce on the bottom of the fish. The fish was light and filling at the same time, as weird and contradictory as that sounds.

 * Angela got the sea bass. Excellent choice on her part as well. I only tried one bite, but it was a delicious bite nonetheless.

 *Angela got: Budino di Cioccolato, which is basically milk chocolate, hazelnut, amaro, and biscottino gelato. The great thing about this dessert is the fact that they were not super rich! So Angela just devoured her dessert like a T-Rex feasting on a baby dinosaur.

 * This was amazing. Angela never told the restaurant it was my birthday, but our sneaky waiter, Luis, overheard her saying happy birthday to me, so they surprised me with a personalized "happy birthday!" I ordered the Tartaletta, which is  Loma Sotavento 72% ganache, chocolate chiboust, tiramisu gelato! Sooo good, sooo delicious, made even better by the personalized message!

* Our cute amuse bouche! I have no idea what it is, but it consisted of four different "candy" bites. All delicious.

All in all, one of the better meals I've had in NYC. Would I eat here again? For sure. Would I take my parents here for diner? .....um, of course! So yeah, this is the place to take a loved one, or to even celebrate a special occasion!