Lunch: We ate at Annie's Cafe & Bar (319 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 472-1884‎). We ordered their Antipasti Salad which was passable.

The Chili Prawns in Peppery Butter Sauce were decent. The heads had more of an iodine/bromine taste (which we don't like) but the ends of the tails didn't have the off putting taste. The sauce was slightly spicy and very flavorful.

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What I Ate: February 20, 2010 (Annie's Cafe & Bar, CK Thai Cuisine)

Lunch: Tina made me a roast beef, turkey, and ham sandwich.

Dinner: I grilled a New York Strip steak from U.S. Wellness Meats (an online vendor of grassfed beef) with red potatoes, and red and green bell peppers while Tina steamed the remaining two clusters of snow crabs.

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What I Ate: February 19, 2010 (U.S. Wellness Meats New York Strip Steak)

Lunch: We made sandwiches for lunch. I made a roast beef on pumpernickel/rye bread with swiss cheese, red onions, and lettuce.

Dinner: We went over to a have hot pot with our friends Jennie and John in belated celebration of Chinese New Years (our third and last Chinese New Year dinner this year). There were three electric hot pots going (ours kept tripping the circuit breaker in the power strip) feeding about 15 people. It was a lot of fun.

After running Cooking For Engineers for almost six years, we've had the opportunity to test a variety of kitchen products, both good and bad. In our daily lives, we approach the stuff we use in a similar manner - trying out several different products, brands, or methods until we find what works best for us.

We thought we should put some of this information to good use and share it with our readership. Recommendations we make are not necessarily the best of what's out there, but is the best of what we've used or what works best for our preferences or lifestyle. We'll try to explain why we like each item and hopefully that will help our readers determine if it's something they'll like as well.

Dinner: I steamed a couple pounds of snow crab clusters and roasted diced potatoes while Tina cooked some spinach.

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What I Ate: February 17, 2010 (McDonald's)

Lunch: Tina tried making ramen again using a rich pork stock, Nong Shim Instant Ramyun Noodles, nori, bamboo shoots, pork, and a hard boiled egg. The pork soup was great by itself, but didn't work well with the noodles (tasted a little bland). We'll have to keep working at it.

Dinner: Tina and I split some leftovers (pork ribs, ribeye steak, creamed spinach, and sweet potato).

Lunch: The last of the BJ's Favorite Pizza - one more slice of the BJ's Southwestern Pizza left.

Dinner: We tried Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse (5510 S I H 35 # C, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 442-6448) on Stassney after picking up some more supplies at Lowe's. The meal was surprisingly good.

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What I Ate: February 15, 2010 (Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse)

Dinner: Tina and I went to meet Kent and Larisa (and others) at Pao's Mandarin House (2300 Lohmans Spur, Lakeway, TX‎ - (512) 263-8869‎) for Chinese New Year Dinner. Unfortunately, I got the dates wrong (it was supposed to be dinner on Saturday and not Sunday), so we waited for thirty minutes before deciding that they weren't going to show up. (Later in the evening when I reread the email thread, I realized we were the ones that never showed up to dinner - the previous night - how embarrassing!) We started with a few appetizers:

Braised Pig Elbows, $6.25. We expected a slightly different dish, but it was pretty good.

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What I Ate: February 14, 2010 (Chinese New Year Dinner at Pao's Mandarin House, Which Wich)

Dinner: We drove down to San Antonio for Chinese New Year's Dinner at Braden and Kelly's house. For dinner, they cooked several Chinese dishes and provided a few restaurant prepared dishes. It was a great dinner with old friends and a couple of new friends. Here are some of the dishes:

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What I Ate: February 13, 2010 (Chinese New Year's Dinner)

Dinner: For a pre-Valentine's Day dinner, I made a reservation for dinner at Zoot (11715 Bee Caves Road, Bee Cave, TX‎ - (512) 477-6535‎). The last time we were at Zoot, we had an excellent dinner, but that was back in April 2009 (about a month after they opened in their new location in Bee Cave).

We arrived a tad early and waited at the bar for our table. While at the bar, we ordered the Sweet potato / parsnip soup with apple, golden raisins and tarragon. Although it wasn't much to look at (most soups aren't), it was delicious. The soup was slightly sweet and slightly savory at the same time and was very well-balanced (a phrase that pretty much describes most of the food we had tonight). It was a great way to start our evening at Zoot and a quick reminder of how flavorful our first meal was.

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What I Ate: February 12, 2010 (Zoot)