• Two entrees (up to a $32 value each)
• Two desserts (up to a $3 value each)
• Two glasses of house wine, two glasses of beer, a bottle of beer for two, or two soft drinks (up to a $14 value each)

I had never eaten at Mélange prior to this meal, except once during Taste of Ann Arbor, which is a local event featuring samples from area restaurants. I tried a few bites that I can’t exactly remember, but it did leave an impression on me, because I still remember deciding that Mélange had the tastiest food at the event.

Mélange is lower-level restaurant located on Main Street. To access the restaurant, one must take these stairs down from street level. The cuisine is typically considered European-Asian Fusion, and the décor is very trendy and upscale, featuring rich shades of cabernet, orange, and espresso.

Though it was not included in the Groupon, we also tried an appetizer. We are, in fact, nacho aficionados, so it seemed natural to order the Duck Nachos: “Duck confit glazed in hoisin and served on a crispy wonton chip. Topped with manchego cheese, guacamole, fresh tomato and sriracha sour cream.”

These were a great choice! I loved that each crispy wonton chip was neatly layered to form a pretty little nacho. A cute alternative to a plate haphazardly doused in various toppings (though I’m not trying to imply that messy nachos are bad!). The tender duck confit was very rich, flavorful, and tangy, and the spicy yet creamy sriracha sour cream really took these nachos over the top. I must make my own sriracha sour cream!

Our table for two was situated against a floor-to-ceiling glass wall, within which rows of shelves containing wine bottles was located. A few times, we saw a staff member venture inside to retrieve a bottle or two.

With my dinner, I ordered a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon – very oaky, dry, peppery, and spicy.

I love that the Mélange menu presents its offerings in an uncomplicated manner. In one of two categories, “Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans” or “Forest and Farms,” diners have dishes with simplistic names (“Salmon,” “Scallops,” “Duck,” or “Lamb”) from which they may choose.

My dining companion selected the Beef entrée, which was an “8-ounce filet mignon grilled and drizzled in a red wine demi-glaze. Served with a parmesan potato croquette and roasted asparagus.”

Reportedly, the steak was delicious, juicy, and cooked well. The huz didn’t rave about the steak, but he said it was a great filet. The potato croquette was reportedly fine, but not the most flavorful or exciting. Personally, I had a bite of the steak and thought it was amazing!

Mmm, and now I get to tell you about my entrée, the Sea Bass, “Chilean sea bass seasoned in special herbs, pan seared, topped with cherry tomatoes, capers and drizzled in sweet soy vinaigrette. Served over jasmine rice pilaf and julienne vegetables.”

This was utterly incredible. Foodgasmic. I can’t even explain it. The thick piece of sea bass had the most incredibly-seasoned, savory and crisp outer shell that encased the sweetest, most moist and tender bite of fish one could ever wish to eat. I just swooned at every bite. The sweet soy vinaigrette didn’t do much to pretty up the plate, but my goodness did it add an incredible flavor to both the fish and to the veggie and rice accompaniments. I believe the greens on my dish were bok choy, served atop the Jasmine rice and julienned carrots and zucchini squash. This was just amazing, overall.

The huz’s dessert: a trio of cake pops – chocolate, peppermint, and cookies ‘n’ cream.

My dessert: A mini French toast cupcake – moist, with the most amazing maple frosting! I could have easily eaten a half-dozen.

The only negative to the evening was some confusion with regards to the wording of the Groupon which I realized I misunderstood when I purchased it. I didn’t ask the Melange staff, but we figured out ourselves that the Groupon did not in fact include a gratuity, so we were automatically charged a 20% gratuity on our entire non-discounted meal, which increased the price of our meal a lot (so I spent about $25 more than I thought we would). This is probably more so the fault of Groupon’s wording than the restaurant itself.

I left Mélange with a very happy stomach! Dinner was all-around wonderful.

• The portions were not huge, nor overly filling, but they were an adequate size and I felt full but not stuffed after dinner.
• The service we received was both adequately attentive and nice. I had heard (from others and also from some restaurant review websites) that sometimes the service can be slow, but I didn’t feel that way. In fact, I felt that our pace from course to course was almost perfect. There were brief gaps of time between each course, rather than being bombarded back to back with plates, which made me appreciate each course and enjoy the atmosphere and company, without ever feeling neglected. Our three course meal, plus drinks, probably last about 90 minutes, which made for a nice dinner.
• It’s difficult to think of meals I’ve eaten in Ann Arbor that compare to this one – the food was just so good! (Though I might feel a little ripped off if I had to pay full price – but definitely a great special-occasion option.)

Have you been to Mélange? What did you order?

As part of our entry fee, we (Five Cent Femme and I) had a reserved table, access to an appetizer buffet, and one drink ticket. Aubree’s pizza is excellent! I wish I had loaded up my plate more – good stuff! With Papa Romano’s now closed in Ann Arbor, I just might have to supplement my lack of pizza with some Aubree’s in the future. I also enjoyed a giant scoop of really tasty hummus with pita and veggies.

To drink, I decided to be super girly for Ladies’ Night and order my secret-guilty-pleasure drink – a Strawberry Daiquiri. Sure was a good one too – it was big, and actually had an appropriate amount of alcohol – not too strong, and not too weak either. Normally whipped cream is not my thing, but Five Cent Femme and I both agreed that it was a superb addition to the drink.

Close-up of that awesome pizza. #Swoon

After loading up on apps, we listened to a presentation from a representative of an alcohol distributing company. She shared some tips on adequately stocking a home bar, and also demonstrated how to mix several different cocktails – and we got to try them all! Some of our samples included a Cosmopolitan, Metropolitan, Gold Margarita, and a real-deal Mojito.

Amy (the presenter) did a nice job, and instructed everyone that we should never, under any circumstances, drink the vileness that is Grey Goose (according to her). Ketel One is the way to go, apparently. Even 5 O’Clock is better than the Goose, she claimed.

My only complaint were some of the DUH comments and questions from audience members, but the presenter handled them well, and the booze loosened me up enough to appreciate the hilarity and amusement of it. Poor Amy must have said at least six times that the Tequila to Triple Sec ratio in a Margarita is 2:1, but the lady at the table next to just could NOT grasp that concept for the life of her! Had to try soooo hard not to laugh out loud (and probably failed).

Not bad for a Wednesday night, eh? Sadly we didn’t win any of the drawing prizes, though.

I want more Aubree’s pizza.

That is all.

Currently listening to: Looks Like Sex – Mike Posner.

The huz and I went to Saline on a Saturday evening, and Brecon Grille was lively but we were seated at a high-top table right away. The lighting was dim and warm, and the atmosphere was, again, lively, and comfortable.

We each chose a beer to drink, and I was happy to see Bell’s Porter on tap, which I happily ordered and enjoyed. Love this beer!

After debating between boneless wings, calamari, and quesadillas, we decided to go with the not-commonly-seen BBQ Pulled Pork Quesadillas, with Colby Jack cheese, onions, mushrooms, served with sides of sour cream, salsa, and pico de gallo. I was pleased to see that these quesadillas were stuffed quite full of pulled pork, along with tasty melted cheese, and the unique and interesting addition of onions and mushrooms, which I loved (especially the mushrooms!).

The huz and I were both debating between the same two sandwiches so those were the two that we ordered, and split. Both sandwiches included fries, which were really good – but I wanted more of them!

First: Slim Jim Sandwich. This was on the daily special menu, and consisted of layers of ham, pepperoni, and salami, if my memory serves me correctly, along with veggies and cheese on a crusty white bread. It was a very good sandwich with a bold flavor from the spicy meats.

Second: The Brecon Prime-Rib French- Dip, to which we added grilled onions for an extra charge. The menu stated that this sandwich was served on “ciabatta,” but really it was more of a warm, soft, thick pita, which I actually preferred. The warm pita soaked up the au jus very well, and made for a luscious, savory sandwich. Mmm! This one was the favorite of us both.

We were both in a dessert mood, so we agreed upon the Peanut Butter Pie, though I was eyeballing the more unique Lemon-Blueberry Cake. A thick chocolate-y crumb crust was filled with a rich, dense layer of peanut butter filling studded with chocolate chunks, drizzled with even more chocolate topping, with a squirt of whipped cream. So delicious, but oh my word, for the price I wanted MORE. The pie WAS very dense and rich, so maybe I am just greedy!

In conclusion I think Brecon Grille had very good food that was maybe a little bit overpriced for the portion sizes. The sandwiches were big, but I think more fries would have been welcome, and a bigger dessert would have also seemed reasonable for the six-dollar price tag. Our service was friendly, prompt for the most part, and accurate. The atmosphere was pleasant and it was nice to be seated right away on a Saturday night (but I did miss my downtown Ann Arbor). With that said, if I find myself in need of a meal in Saline again, I could see myself dining at Brecon Grille again, however, I probably wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to go back. Definitely worth checking out though!

Currently listening to: Lights (Bassnectar Remix) – Ellie Goulding.

That sh*t cray. Ain’t it jay?

And yeah, more meatballs tonight too. January is officially MEATBALL MONTH here at MegGoesNomNom. Other meatballs this month:

• Sweet ‘n’ Sour Meatballs
• Tortilla Meatball Soup
• Honey-Chipotle Turkey Meatballs

And tonight:

Pasta Meatball Soup

Recipe from Taste of Home/Quick Cooking.

For this soup, I used store-bought pre-cooked frozen Italian Style turkey meatballs.

This soup was wayyyy easy. The only real prep work I had to do was chop up two carrots. The recipe actually calls for frozen pre-sliced carrots, so if you use those, the soup will be even easier. Since I used raw carrots, I did need to add a few minutes of simmer time to allow the carrots to cook.

Basically this soup is one of those dishes where you literally drop everything in a pot and go wild.

Easiest ingredients ever:

• Canned mushrooms
• Canned diced tomatoes
• Jarred spaghetti sauce
• Chicken broth
• Frozen peas
• Carrots
• Canned kidney beans
• Meatballs

Yeah, so throw all that into a pot and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cook some pasta – shells or rotini are suggested – then combine the cooked pasta with the soup just prior to serving.

Wow. That was easy!

This soup was great but just a leeeeettle. too salty for me. I did use a mixture of half sodium-free and half regular bouillon plus water in place of broth, but maybe I overdosed on the bouillon. However, all the jarred and canned ingredients are quite salty on their own (diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, canned beans), so that likely contributed. If you make this soup, I suggest using reduced-sodium or no salt-added canned ingredients wherever possible, and then seasoning to taste before serving.

With that said, this made for a hearty one-dish meal full of lean meat, veggies, and pasta.

I liked the pre-cooked frozen turkey meatballs. They were giant, flavorful, and stayed together well. However, my homemade meatballs tasted better and were less expensive to make. But, the store-bought meatballs were a huge timesaver! I would use these again on a night when I want a meal on the table quickly, but probably would prefer to make my own meatballs, when time allows.

Pasta Meatball Soup

• Recipe from Taste of Home
• My rating: 7.4/10
• Calories: 273 per 1-1/4 cup serving

Currently listening to: Satellite – Rise Against.

Fast forward several years, and I’ve somehow acquired a taste for these suckers. Capers are often used in Mediterranean cuisine, and add a sharp salty, briny flavor to dishes. Actually, tonight after Googling capers yet again, I learned that most chefs actually recommend rinsing capers before cooking with them, due to their saltiness. (Whoops!)

So yes, apparently I am a Caper Convert.

These capers were used in the remoulade, or dipping sauce, that I made for tonight’s dinner. Not just humble salmon cakes, but salmon CROQUETTES! #MegGetsFancy.

Using this recipe from Cooking Light, I combined a number of ingredients together and then formed the resulting ‘dough’ into patties, before placing them in an oiled skillet over medium heat.

The Salmon Croquettes consisted of:

• Mayo, Lemon Juice, Dijon Mustard
• Chopped Scallions <- I substituted Minced Red Onion
• Red Bell Pepper
• Garlic Powder, Salt, Cayenne Pepper
• Egg
• Panko Breadcrumbs
• Boneless, Skinless Pink Salmon (I used three drained 6 oz cans)

These held together fairly well while cooking. Just a few little crumbles. The croquettes browned up nicely, and acquired a lovely golden color.

Oh, and I MUST gush about the homemade remoulade (the herby white sauce below). It was OFF THE CHAIN, YO. I wasn’t even sure if I would like the dipping sauce, but once I tried a bite with the croquette, it was heaven! It tasted like a mind-blowing tartar sauce. Only better. This is where the capers are! Minced capers, mayo, fresh lemon juice, parsley, garlic powder, and salt = AWESOME SAUCE. Literally. Here’s the recipe. Do it.

Salmon Croquettes with homemade remoulade; steamed and buttered green beans; and roasted sweet potatoes drizzled with EVOO, ginger, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Awesome dinner combination here.

These Salmon Croquettes were wonderful, and came together quite quickly, using many pantry ingredients, like canned salmon. Make sure you get the boneless, skinless salmon though!

Salmon Croquettes

-Recipe from Cooking Light

-Calories: 305 for two patties and 1 T sauce

-My Rating: 9.3/10

Little mini slow churn for dessert. This was one of bitty single-serving size containers.

By the way, have you read The Hunger Games yet? This book is huge right now. I finally bought into the hype and am SO glad I did!! I can’t get over how much I enjoyed this book. I read it quite quickly (including the day I finished it recently, during which I spent about four hours of the day reading this book!). I’m about 150 pages into the second book in the trilogy, and while I do like it, it is, so far, not quite as captivating as the first book.

I watched the trailer for the movie tonight, and… womp… I didn’t like the trailer. The actors are just too… pretty? They don’t look like regular people, from District 12. I don’t know. I don’t want to watch the trailer again, or see any more pictures from the film until I have finished the trilogy of books, because I don’t want those images and actors’ faces to mess with my imagination and vision of the book.

[ source ]

We were very fortunate to have the beautiful Hill Auditorium as our venue.

See me!?

We played a selection of seven dance-themed pieces, and the concert was a celebration of the recent opening of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital.

My favorite piece to play was the final movement of Michael Daugherty’s Red Cape Tango (holla U-M faculty!). There are so many neat sound effects in this song – so much fun to play! The only negative was, about halfway through the song I realized I was getting a pounding headache, likely from the cymbals crashing behind me.

It was worth it though. I’m standing next to the dude in orange in the below picture, for the record.

Pictures courtesy of the huz! We also saw my great-aunt and uncle at the concert! Here I am with my parents.

After the concert we had dinner at Sava’s. This is the second time I’ve ordered Sava’s fish tacos – they are really good!

After dinner, a little treatsie for me, per the huz’s suggestion: Iorio’s Gelato! Fella knows the way to my heart. All hail the return of maple bacon gelato.

A very lovely evening indeed!

After reading that our local Papa Romano’s was closing, we had one last hurrah this week.

Antipasto Salad.

Bambino Bread!

Triple Topper square pizza – a GIANT XL 16-slicer!:

• His half: Bacon, Sausage, Green Pepper
• Her half: Bacon, Pineapple, Mushrooms (they ran out of banana peppers!)

We’ll miss you Papa Romano’s.

There are several stores still open across Michigan, so if you live near one of them send delivery ASAP try ‘em out!

One aspect of this recipe that is a bonus, is that it is freezable. Below I’ll explain how you can make it ahead of time, freeze, thaw, and the back the day you would like to enjoy the dish. Here you go!

–

Stuffed Shells

Recipe from Kraft.

Like I said: minimal, easy-to-obtain ingredients.

While I cooked the shells in boiling water, I mixed together the filling, which consists of fat-free cottage cheese, thawed frozen spinach, Italian dressing mix, chopped red bell pepper, and mozzarella. After the shells cooled, I stuffed them with the filling, and then placed them in a baking dish with a layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom, and then topped the shells with the rest of the sauce.

At this point the shells may either go into the oven to be baked, or else into the freezer for future use. I placed my freezer-safe baking dish (Pyrex!) full of stuffed shells into my freezer for the week. The day before I wanted to bake these, I placed the dish into the refrigerator so they could start thawing.

The day I wanted the shells for dinner, I let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes before baking, and then baked per the recipe instructions, and dinner was ready to go! This method worked wonderfully.

Also, about 10 minutes before the shells were finished baking, I sprinkled the rest of the shredded mozzarella on top. Here they are! I was quite hungry the night I served these for dinner so sorry the plate isn’t very pretty!

These were super tasty – better than expected!! – and also made great leftovers. The best part? These only have 340 calories per ever 4 shells (source: Kraft). That is not bad at all!

My Rating: 7.9/10

Currently listening to: Somebody That I Used To Know – Gotye.

This song rocks big time.

The first step was to toast panko bread crumbs in a hot, dry skillet, until golden.

I can’t tell you how much I love these wooden spatulas I got for Christmas. Like most of my cooking utensils, they are my favorite Calphalon brand, and I’ve been using these for everything! I initially wanted them for scraping and deglazing pans, but have found these to be so useful, and safe to use on my nonstick cookware.

The toasted breadcrumbs were added to grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely chopped walnuts, rosemary and salt and pepper. The recipe calls for fresh rosemary, but I didn’t feel like buying rosemary (even though I do love it), so I used dried instead.

After dipping boneless skinless chicken breast tenders in a Dijon-buttermilk mixture, I coated them with the crumb mixture, and then baked them in a hot 425 F oven for just about 15 minutes. Easy sides were steamed broccoli and microwaved sweet potato.

These chicken breasts were great dipped in honey mustard! I would recommend roasting the chicken atop a rack in the baking dish, allowing the dry heat to surround and crisp up the top and bottom of the chicken coating.

Walnut and Rosemary Oven-Fried Chicken:

• Recipe from Cooking Light
• My rating: 7.4/10

But in the last week and a half, I’ve made meatballs three times.

Last week:

• Tortilla Meatball Soup

• Honey-Chipotle Turkey Meatballs…. which… what the… apparently I didn’t blog about these!?!?! I am searching for a link to the post now, and can’t find it. I didn’t blog it? I could have sworn. Is the post here; am I losing my mind? Oopsy…

Uh…. That’s awkward. Well, while we’re here, let’s just do an impromptu mini-post, mid-post. Are you okay with that? Let’s do it.

Okay, so last week I made Honey-Chipotle Turkey Meatballs using a recipe from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine (I have a free subscription that I earned through points in a recycling program in Ann Arbor, called Recyclebank.)

So far, in life, the recipes I have tried from this magazine have been amazing life-changing. The other two recipes I have tried from this magazine probably rank in my top five favorite recipes from last year, and the are Roasted Veggie Tacos and Corn, Black Bean, & Avocado Salad.

But okay, okay. Back to the (sub-)topic at hand.

This is what the Honey-Chipotle Meatballs looked like.

First, I seared the meatballs, and then finished baking them in the oven, after pouring a mixture of honey, minced chipotle in adobo, and cider vinegar atop the ‘balls.

These Honey-Chipotle Turkey Meatballs were actually pretty great! Of the three meatballs recipes I have made, in life, so far, these were my favorite! You can find Martha’s recipe HERE. I have no idea why the picture featured with the recipe at that link is a Black and Tan. Maybe it’s because the internet is just on the fritz today with SOPA and PIPA, …or whatnot.

I served these Honey-Chipotle Turkey Meatballs with my favorite salad of all-time, with romaine, pears, avocado, and gorgonzola, with a homemade dressing. Love these meatballs. My rating: 8.6/10.

Okay. Back to the topic-at-hand. What I came to blog about tonight. My third meatball recipe.

–

Sweet and Sour Meatballs!

Recipe from Taste of Home.

These meatballs consist of ground sirloin, seasoned bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and ground ginger. After searing, the sweet and sour sauce mixture was added, as seen below.

Next comes the veggie and fruit goodness: carrots, green bell pepper, and pineapple.

After the veggies simmer and tenderize a bit, stir in a cornstarch slurry, and let that delicious sweet and sour sauce thicken. Oh baby!

Comes together quite quickly, and is best served over rice.

Mmm mmm! Loved this tasty dish. The sauce was wonderful.

Sweet ‘n’ Sour Meatballs recipe is from Taste of Home and I would rate this dish an 8.2/10. This meal made me discover two things:

• Re-confirmed that I’m not a big fan of Whole Foods’ brand seasoned bread crumbs.
• Turkey meatballs > Beef meatballs!

Currently listening to: Time – Pink Floyd.