eat pray love this sunday with the bliss book club

whether you've read the book or not, please join us for our special book club meeting this sunday, august 15th.

we will meet at the hollywood theater in morgantown to watch the 12:50pm showtime. the movie is just over 2 hours in length.

after the movie i hope that you'll join the group at the kenyan cafe for dinner and/or drinks and a discussion of both the movie and the book. denis the owner is looking forward to us coming.

if you know of anyone that would like to join our book club meeting, whether they have read the book or not, please let them know about the places and times. as always, the more the merrier!

if you have any questions or need directions, please email melita: melitamollohan@gmail.com.

hope to see you there!!

* please note - i don't normally double up on my blog postings but i thought this one was worth it. it's going to be such a great time that i wanted to spread the word as much as possible. :) this plus tons of other fabulous posts can be found on the blissblissbliss blog.

image credit here

kenyan cafe

if you haven't eaten at the kenyan cafe it is high time you do! the food, atmosphere and staff are fantastic. you are warmly greeted by the staff. a lot of the times it will be denis gekara, the owner of the kenyan cafe.
their menu offers lots that appeal to just about everyone. there are plenty of vegetarian options available.

ryan enjoyed the briani beef
while i devoured the mong beans and rice
and of course you know i can't go without desert, ryan and i shared the vanilla plantains
there are lots of drink options as well. organic coffee and homemade teas
as well as organic juices, gatorade, bottled water and sodas
the kenyan cafe was proudly awarded the taste of morgantown 2009 eater's choice award for their chicken and beef stews
there is ample seating complete with a authentic kenyan artwork and a flat screen tv
while you are there you can also learn the swahili word of the week
a shot of denis and myself after my lovely lunch

if the kenyan cafe has been on your list of restaurants to try in morgantown be sure to do so. you won't regret it. it is by far one of my favorite restaurants in morgantown. tell denis i sent you his way. :)

be sure to check out their website and become a fan on their facebook page and most importantly go eat the food!!

provence market cafe

ryan took me to provence market cafe in bridgeport to celebrate finishing my first week of massage therapy schooling. let me just say, it is worth the drive!

the atmosphere was relaxing.. the service was excellent. the food was phenomenal! and it's always nice to see the owner being involved in their restaurants. anne hart is the owner and executive chef of the provence market cafe. it was lovely having ms. hart visiting each table to make sure that the diners were enjoying their experience.

ok, let's talk about the food!

we started off with some wonderful french bread served with butter and an olive tapenade and a side salad with champagne vinaigrette dressing.

ryan ordered coquilles st. jacques a la provencal
i had roasted duckling michel
and the best creme brulee i have ever put in my mouth with two spoons for sharing

everything about provence market cafe was perfect. i highly recommend taking the trip to bridgeport for this lovely restaurant, in fact, it's a must!

richwood grill

ryan took me to the richwood grill for our anniversary dinner. it was quite a treat let me tell you! i didn't get as many pictures as i wanted because we were outside on the deck and it was dark but don't worry, i definitely plan on going back there because their food was fabulous!!

ryan had xingu which is a brazilian beer ($4). i enjoyed a nice glass of hibiscus infused cava (with the hibiscus being edible - which it was sweet and delicious)($9).

we started off with wok seared peppered brie with pickled blackberries and pita chips($7). (this i did not get a pic of because we devoured it - it was that good)!

for entrees, ryan had lemongrass smoked pork ribs with grilled sweet pea cakes and mint mojo ($18). i had the pan-fried eggplant gado-gado with sugar snap peas, baby carrots, heirloom tomatoes and warm peanut sauce ($16). they both were absolutely delicious!


there will definitely be another post about this gem of a restaurant as i hope to eventually work through their menu!

ogawa

ogawa is the best sushi in morgantown period!! the sushi chefs know what they are doing and they do it well. ryan and i decided to meet at ogawa for lunch on monday. monday's lunch special is the sushi bento box. it's fast, it's cheap ($7.95) and it's fantastic.

i will do another post from a dinner aspect of ogawa at a later time. but trust me, if you are in the mood for sushi, go to ogawa. ogawa is located 2920 university ave in the evansdale part of morgantown.

my partially eaten bento box before i realize i forgot to take a pic

the sushi chefs at work

dining area of ogawa

a row of bonsai trees

haught diggity dogz

around morgantown and in the mood for hot dogs? my suggestion would be to visit haught diggity dogz. they have the best hot dogs in the area. the place is small, just like you would expect a hot dog joint to be, the people are friendly and the prices are comparable. all dogs are $1.50 no matter what you put on it. they also have really amazing homemade seasoned french fries.

i like mine with mild chili and slaw (sometimes with onions).

ryan enjoys his dogs with hot chili, slaw and jalapenos.

haught diggity dogz is located on rt. 7 in the rock forge camrock plaza.

after writing this review i got to browsing around on the internet and found that haught diggity dogz received the 2009 weenie award for monongahelia county from the west virginia hot dog blog. if you are not in the morgantown area and have a hankering for a hot dog check out their website west virginia hot dogs to find information on local hot dog eateries and reviews.

dragonfly

i've heard mixed reviews about dragonfly and with my love of sushi, i decided to try it for myself. when ryan & i got to the hostesses (yes there were two and i have no idea why) they told us that it would be a 30 minute wait (and there were plenty of tables open as far as we could see). we preferred to sit at the sushi bar anyways and there was no wait to do that.
after being seated at the sushi bar our waiter promptly came, introduced himself and took our drink order. it was a pretty hot day yesterday so we both wanted water, but as hot as it was, i still can't pass up hot green tea when i'm having sushi. when our waiter returned we got one glass of water and a beautiful pot of tea. we had to ask again for the second glass of water.
for starters i ordered a tomato & avocado salad: sliced tomatoes topped with avocado, hearts of palm, and sesame-crusted goat cheese, with a sherry vinaigrette. the tomato & avocado salad required more than just chopsticks (and trust me, i can eat just about anything with chopsticks however, even i can't cut up a huge chunk of tomato with them) so i had to ask for a fork. i love goat cheese but even this portion was a bit too much for moi. the sherry vinaigrette dressing was good but there was just too much of it.
ryan opted for pork & edamame pot stickers: handmade dumplings with pork and soybeans served with a citrus ponzu dipping sauce. ryan is a big fan of gyoza and he liked the addition of edamame but when he bit into his last one, he found that the pork was a tad too pink.

while we were waiting for our sushi to arrive (which we waited for a while), i snapped pictures of the inside of the dragonfly. ryan described the atmosphere to be sushio 54. the crowd was definitely younger. it seemed like the place to go if you wanted to be seen. the restaurant's music was very loud which in turn made everyone talk even louder. i don't particularly enjoy this aspect.
you can kind of tell that the columns are covered with iridescence to mimic an actual dragonfly. i thought that was a very nice added touch.
for our entree ryan ordered the high rise: spicy hamachi, green onion, and cucumber inside with spicy tuna and tempura flakes on outside topped with eel sauce & the waka: snapper, cucumber, and avocado inside topped with salmon, ponzu and green onions. i ordered the tsunami: crab, salmon, and asparagus inside with snapper and tobiko on top & the pink lady: mango, cucumber, and shisho leaf topped with tuna and green onion. (details of all dishes provided by dragonfly's menu)

left to right: tsunami, high rise, the waka, and pink lady

i enjoyed the tsunami very much. the pink lady was decent but i didn't enjoy biting into the stem of the shisho. ryan preferred the high rise to the waka.

in both of our opinions, the best part of the meal was the lemongrass cheesecake: not listed on the menu but according to our waiter is homemade & hand whipped in the back. it came with strawberry glaze on top. it was very creamy and delicious.

if it's sushi you want, i say go to ogawa. but i would definitely return for a slice of the lemongrass cheesecake.

yama

the fact that i love japanese food isn't a secret. one of my favorite places to eat in downtown morgantown is yama. yama is so tiny that it has a hole in the wall feel but has the most delicious food.

tonight i ordered a seaweed salad:










ryan ordered gyoza:











and for our main course we both ordered miso-ramen (mine vegetarian and his not):












i just love their decoration as well. (the last one is my favorite).
photos by moi

tea garden

i spent my morning and early afternoon at zen clay's cafe or the tea garden. it is a wonderful place to meet up with friends to share a pot of tea (or two or three in my case), sit and read, grab a bite to eat, or study (as was in my case today). anyway you look at it, the tea garden is one of the best cafe's in town. (and for all of you in the dc area, this is as close to teasim as morgantown has.)

when i first got there i ordered myself a pot of pu-erh tea with rose hips. i set down inside the cafe and laid out my things to begin to study. but i decided to pack everything back up and move onto their deck. there was no one on the deck and the sun was beaming in brightly. how could i resist?! so, outside i went. i set everything back up and got my study on!!


after an hour and 15 mins into studying, i needed a little lunch break (and another pot of tea). i ordered their "peanut sauce wrap." this wrap had mixed salad greens, tofu, green peppers, carrots, red onion, roma tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and peanuts in a ever so slightly spicy and delicious peanut sauce. it was even better than i described. with my wrap i enjoyed a pot of gunpowder green tea with hibiscus.


one of the best parts about the tea garden (besides all of the delicious things i have already listed) is that their staff is extremely friendly. this is something that is really important to me.

after lunch break, i went into another little round of studying before i headed off to unwind with a great yoga class at bliss bliss bliss.

photos by moi

mediterranean deli & tutto gelato

for lunch ryan and i decided to head downtown and eat at the mediterranean deli. we really enjoy eating outside when the weather permits. the mediterranean deli has the best gyros in town. we each had one, split a side of greek pasta salad and washed it all down with a san pellegrino aranciata.





and now for some lame pics of me and ryan while enjoying our food on the sidewalk at the mediterranean deli:

me looking like a dork

the action shot as ryan calls it...

ryan and his aviators

after lunch we followed it up by going to tutto gelato. i had a bambino of blood orange and mango. it was delish!!

photos mostly by moi (except ones of moi by ryan)