Pineapple Grove Art District in Delray Beach, FL - The Grove

A few days ago, my family and I went to this new restaurant called The Grove. It has been open for less than a year but my parents had been there before with friends and wanted to take my brother and me there.  Wow am I happy they did. This was one of the best meals I have ever eaten! When we arrived at The Grove, we were seated down at a table along the wall. The Grove is pretty small, with 8 tables on the inside and a few on the outside, but that combined with the warm decorations and an overall homey feel to the place, I think it suits The Grove well. Their menu changes frequently, so you

The Kitchen!

may not be able to get the same thing every time, but it's a great place to try new things at, because everything is just so delicious! One of the cool things about The Grove is that you can see the kitchen through a large glass wall that is full of wine bottles, allowing you too see the kitchen through the spaces between the huge wall-shelves. Once you sit down, you are brought a platter with some home-made warm brioche on it, and that in itself was mind-blowing!

My amazing portobello soup!

I love mushrooms so once we received our menus, I was in a debate about whether I should get the chantrerelle agnolotti or the portobello soup for my appetizer.  Thankfully my family was going to order appetizers and share them all, so it helped make my decision easier.  My mom and dad each ordered a grilled octopus and my brother wanted the chanterelle agnolotti, so I ordered the portobello soup. Seriously, I could eat that
soup every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. It was like heaven in the form of soup! We were supposed to be sharing our appetizers, but I was very protective of my soup and let everyone have only one or two spoonfuls of it! I couldn't wait to try the grilled octopus, and was amazed to find out that it tasted like bacon! Who knew? My brother's agnolotti was like a light ravioli and was just awesome! The home-made pasta with the chanterelle mushrooms.....so good!!

Mmmmmmm...... Chicken!

When we had finished our appetizers, we ordered our dinner. My dad wanted the brioche-crusted chicken, and my brother and I decided to split one as well.  My mom ordered a local wahoo. As soon as we got our dinner, we were amazed! The plates looked so pretty to the point that I didn't want to eat mine because it was so beautiful! Now, after my big bowl of portobello soup, I didn't feel hungry at all, but after one bite, I couldn't stop eating the chicken! It was crispy on the outside, but really super-tender on the inside. The brioche gave it a great flavor and it came with some corn and goat cheese on top as
well as a little pesto and some gnocchi - YUM!  My mom's fish was really tasty also and filled with flavor!

After our entrees, everyone was stuffed, but because my parents had been raving about the cheese plate, and I love cheese, we decided to all split one. The cheese plate came with toasted bread and three different kinds of cheeses: a Saint Agur bleu cheese, a Brillat-Savarin creamy french cheese, and a Piedmont mixed cheese. The french cheese was really creamy, smooth, and melted on your tongue. The bleu cheese was very good, and the Piedmont mixed cheese was awesome!  My favorite cheese was the Piedmont.

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter Scale of Cookieness, with one being burnt, stale oatmeal cookie nastiness, and ten being perfect chocolate chip (my favorite) goodness. My Cookie Counter ratings for The Grove are:

Food: 10 cookies
Atmosphere: 10 cookies
Service: 10 cookies

I rated The Grove this high because it is just that good. Like seriously, you should stop whatever you are doing, get in your car, and go to The Grove!! Until next time, keep cooking!

The Grove's Website: http://thegrovedelray.com/home/

Boca Raton Florida- Rocco's Tacos

There are a lot of great mexican cuisine restaurants out there, but in my personal experience, this is one of the best. Not only is their entire menu great, but there is one thing in particular that I would go back every day for. Can you guess what it is? It's their guacamole! I will admit, their salsa is pretty good too, but this guacamole just blows anyone's idea of good guacamole right out of the deep blue sea! Anyone who says that a different guacamole is better has obviously never been to the right place. It's that simple! I had a day off from school recently, so my family and I decided that since we hadn't been to Rocco's Tacos in a while, we should go!

One of the great things about Rocco's is that there is an inside seating area as well as an outside one, which is really convenient depending on the weather!  We sit outside most of the time and did so this trip.  As soon as you sit down to your table, a waiter comes up to your table, introduces themselves, then asks you what you would like to drink. Once you receive your drinks, your waiter asks you if you
would like chips and salsa or guacamole or both. My family always gets both because we love the guacamole so much, but it tastes even better if you mix it with a little salsa! One of my favorite things at Rocco's is when they make their guacamole. After you order your bowl of heavenly guacamole, a server rolls up to your table with the guacamole cart, and begins to make the delightful guacamole fresh, on the spot. I know that the guacamole has avocado, cilantro, lime, onions, and tomatoes in it. I also know that they mix in their secret Rocco's Tacos spice that they also put on their chips. I think that the secret spice is made up of salt, chili powder, and a little bit of paprika, but if you have any ideas, tell me in the comments below!

My Enchiladas! 

After you have received your chips and guacamole, you can have a little bit of time to look over the menu or order right away if you were already looking at it. Rocco's regular menu has a lot of great items on it, but the kid's menu does not. There are only four choices on the kid's menu, and only one item is mexican related; the cheese quesadillas. Although the kid's menu is limited, the adult menu is quite extensive. As I was looking over the menu (the adult menu, after I gave back the kid's one) the enchiladas stood out to me. I decided on a pulled chicken enchilada with melted cheese and a green tomato sauce. The enchiladas also came with a side of refried beans and a side of rice. My brother ordered the exact same thing but with a red tomato sauce, and my parents ordered California fish tacos. The California fish tacos were different from regular fish tacos

The California Fish Tacos

because they contained not only the fish but also cabbage, golden raisins, thinly sliced jalapeño, and fresh pineapple. Everything looked amazing! My enchiladas were exquisite, and the chicken was perfectly seasoned. My only complaint is that the rice was pretty spicy. The fish tacos were a cross between sweet and spicy, but were excellent, and that explains the reason we order them every time we go! This is a good place to go if you are looking for some great mexican food and a good atmosphere. There aren't a lot of decorations, but there are bikes hanging from the ceiling, which I thought was pretty cool!

As always, I will be rating the places I go on my Cookie Counter scale of Cookieness, with 10 cookies being perfect chocolate chip(my favorite) goodness, and 1 cookie being a burnt, old, stale oatmeal raisin nastiness. My Cookie Counter ratings for Rocco's Tacos are:

Food: 9 Cookies

Atmosphere: 7 Cookies

Service: 8 Cookies

Rocco's Tacos Website: http://www.roccostacos.com/

Cookie's Culinary Adventures-Baking for Days!

Over the long Labor Day weekend, my mom and I realized that we were running low on home-made cookies, and in our family, this is a DISASTER! My entire family loves home-made cookies and treats!!  Since it was a long weekend, we decided it was the perfect time to bake and restock with some  yummy and delicious treats.

Because my mom and I were the only ones baking, we got to choose what we wanted to make. I wanted to make church windows, which are mini colored marshmallows covered in chocolate and walnuts. What I love about these treats is that when you cut into them, you see all the different colors of the marshmallows, and it resembles a "church window"! If you like coconut, you can be sprinkle some on the top of them before you put them in the refrigerator. These are one of my favorite cookies that my mom and I make!
We also wanted to make my mom's famous brownies(Recipe Below), and those things, I swear make magic happen! The brownies are so rich, and so chocolatey, I can't even bear to sit hear and think about them without having to go get one. When we were making them, I had forgotten to turn off the mixer and accidentally took it out of the bowl without noticing that I hadn't turned it off. All of the sudden, there was brownie batter EVERYWHERE! My mom and I were lucky enough to be able to dodge the brownie batter, but sadly, our cabinets couldn't move out of the way! We spent quite a bit of time cleaning the cabinets and the countertop.
After the church windows had cooled in the fridge and the brownies were out of the oven, I decided I  wanted to keep baking and making new sweets for my family.  I pulled out a few cookbooks and got to work. I found two recipes that I wanted to create. One was a recipe for the treats called "cherry bombs".  These are pretty easy to make and taste amazing. All you have to do is mix up 1 1/2 cups of dried cherries and 1 1/2 cups of chopped walnuts, then melt some dark chocolate, mix it all together, spread on a baking sheet, and pop them in the fridge! Since those were super easy to make, and not very time-consuming, we decided to make those first! As soon as we were done, I told my mom that I wanted to make a cake. At first she said no. Then I told her I would do it in small cake pans,  so we'd have several small individual cakes
 instead of one big cake, and she agreed. So we set out to work on what would soon become a masterpiece, and I was sure we could do it! I was as right as my right hand! WE DID IT! I decided that I wanted to use my piping bag and tips to decorate the mini cakes I made.  I knew that I wanted to use chocolate frosting, so I opted for a vanilla cake so that you could see the frosting. After a while, we had finished the cake, and I began to decorate! I had ten mini-cakes, and I took my time icing each and every one. Once I was finished, I was really satisfied with what I did!

The Best Brownies in THE WORLD!