Tonight we hosted a wedding rehearsal dinner. Big events like these are always fun, and it's touching to think that maybe we'll be part of the memory of someone's wedding week. It definitely makes me try even harder to make their dining experience the best it could possibly be.

I just have to comment on the sheer nerve of this lady at the restaurant tonight.

She came in with her granddaughter, and I gave them perfect service (as I always do). I gave her the bill and went in the back to get other stuff for another table. She walks up to the host desk and waits, for hm, probably a good 4 minutes for my mom to cash her out while my mom was chatting with another customer. Her bill was $20.93, and she gave my mom $21. Then walked out the restaurant with her 7 cents, leaving no tip at all on the table for me.

And it wasn't like she forgot. My mom says that the last time she has come in, she was with a bigger party and their bill was $82...to which she left the waitress a meager $2 tip. WTF!?!?! Seriously.

I really just couldn't believe that she WAITED there for 5 minutes to get her 7 fucking cents before leaving.

These kind of people drive me crazy.

Especially since I do not work for an hourly wage. I work at my parent's restaurant because I like doing so, and because I am obliged to do so. I don't get paid. I work ONLY for tips.

Grrrrrrrrrr.

When I came home from San Francisco for summer, I opened the fridge and found it to be an abandoned fixture with a gallon of milk, butter, and little more. However in the two weeks since, I'm happy to note that our fridge is brimming with fresh ingredients and lots of leftovers!

So I opened the fridge tonight to make dinner for my parents before they came home, and found the following ingredients for my use:

Sun-dried tomatoes
Half an onion
Leftover barbequed chicken breast
Heavy whipping cream
Blueberries
Pillsbury "Grands" biscuit ready-to-bakes

And so I decided to make spaghetti with a tomato chicken sauce, and a blueberry shortcake for dessert.

For the pasta, I boiled half a bag of spaghetti with a hefty pinch of salt until (unfortunately) over cooked just because my poor jaw is still not ready for heavy duty chewing due to my wisdom teeth extraction.

For the sauce, I softened some sliced onions over medium heat in olive oil, adding in my sun dried tomatoes and chopped leftover chicken, along with salt, pepper, and a pasta seasoning blend from Trader Joes. In my food processor, I blended a can of roma tomatoes until smooth and added about a 1/2 cup to my sauce, along with another 1/2 cup of olive oil. Then let this sit and worked on my dessert!

Stuck the biscuits in the oven as per package directions, but sprinkled Splenda (my parents are watching their sugar) on top of half of them for my dessert shortcakes.

For my blueberry topping, I heated about 2 cups of fresh blueberries with 3 tablespoons of Splenda with 1/2 cup of water until bubbling. Then, I added my secret ingredient, a couple tablespoons of quality balsamic vinegar, along with a little cornstarch mixed with water to thicken the sauce. I find that balsamic vinegar paired with berries is just heavenly, and so I added it to my shortcake topping.

Whipped up my heavy whipping cream with some more tablespoons of Splenda and a teaspoon of vanilla for my whipped topping, yum.

Assembled my spaghetti with sauce and a little cheese I found on top, and added in a biscuit (non-sugared!) for the main course. Then cut my biscuits in half, scooped some blueberry sauce inside, layered it with some whipped cream and the other biscuit half, and then topped it off with more whipped cream, blueberry sauce, and a few fresh blueberries for the perfect summer dessert.

Last, that wine-looking drink there by the pasta actually isn't wine, but rather is a Cabernet grape juice by a company called First Blush. Really interesting stuff, you should definitely try it!

So all in all, a really simple and delicious summer meal that I made in less than an hour.

Cheers.

It's a Sunday night and my parents decided to pick me up from home from the couch on which I had been laying for the past 14 hours with ice on my face to take me out to dinner. We find our way to the Everett Marina where we pick an old favorite Italian place, Lombardi's, to eat our dinner. It was about 8:30pm when we got there and apparently the place closed at 9:00pm.

From the moment we got there, we weren't wanted. The waitstaff was all too aware that closing time was nigh. From not being given their signature roasted garlic with bread until asked (at the time our dinners arrived) to having my dad's wine not delivered, to not having proper table settings, to not checking back with us, to taking forever to get our check, to the overall rude vibes from our waitress...the service was a nightmare. The waitress wanted us out from the beginning, and apparently was hoping that bad service would make us leave sooner.

I was very disappointed, mostly because as a waitress in my parent's restaurant, I know that with bad times, it becomes even more essential to have excellent service: people simply aren't going to be willing to pay a lot of money for food in an economic recession if they feel like their patronage is not appreciated. And by that, the service should always be excellent. Especially when with times as bad as they are for restaurants, any business you can manage to get, you should hold onto (even if we did come in a half hour before closing time, our $70 + return business is still very valuable).

As for the food, it was satisfactory, but combined with the fact that they were nearly running us out the door, the whole dining experience just became ruined. I won't be returning, which is a shame because I have had quite a few good experiences at Lombardi's. But hey, if I'm not going to be appreciated, why should I return?

I thought I should start off my brand new food blog by explaining that for the past three days, I have had nothing to eat but applesauce, chocolate pudding, jello, roasted pepper soup, and a mango smoothie. Of course I don't aim to make my wisdom teeth (4 of them!) extraction the main purpose of this blog, but I thought it almost appropriate that only AFTER the suffering through so many meals of texture-less (and for the most part, bland) foods, I should want to start a food blog, rather than anytime before this week, seeing as I have been interested in food nearly all of my 19 years.

You see, since as far back as I can remember (which brings me to about my 5th birthday) my family has been involved in the restaurant industry. My parents have owned two restaurants in my lifetime, with my dad involved with many others before my birth. That being said, my interest in food has never wavered but rather seems to be elevating ever since I moved away from home and away from the industry lifestyle that I have so gotten used to.

And so I cut the ribbon and present to you, my audience, this blog entitled "Sahar Eats" with the intention of bringing to you a hopefully unique food inspired story from a San Francisco college girl who loves to cook, critique, but most of all, eat.

Cheers.