Three Little Forks!

Young foodies... Elise, 12 - Amelia, 10 - Catalina, 8 Three little sisters' experience through the journeys of FOOD. Follow us on Instagram @threelittleforks

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Little Forks, Big Apple: Round 2

   If you are a regular forks fan, you would know that about 6 months ago, we visited New York and his some interesting pit stops. About a month ago, we were back in New York for Round 2. Although it seems that we hit all the best places, we missed some great ones. 

   One quite fascinating now was called Tasty Handmade Noodles. The name is pretty self-explanatory. They make homemade and hand-pulled noodles everyday, fresh! You can order your noodles any way you want, from super thick to ultra-thin. They also have  two option of noodles types: regular and rice. Oh, the amazing things you can do with noodles! You can order stir-fry or soup, or basically anything! And the best part is that you can see the chef make the noodles especially for you! The place is very casual, very small, but they have amazing service. Make sure you stop by on your way through Chinatown! 🍜

   Time to hit the market for lunch! Though, not just any old market: the Chelsea Market! This place has everything from lobster rolls to hamburgers to soups. A variety of options and food blog heaven! From appetizer to dessert, the Chelsea Market has you covered. Not only can you find scrumptious treats and snacks, you can also find knick knacks and trinkets at the small shops throughout the marketplace. It’s a fantastic place to stop by while you’re in the area! 🍔

Nom Nom Nom, 

Ami and Cata

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Love Is Blind, Love Is Tasty!

Hey guys! Sorry we haven’t been on lately but boy, have we got something good for you! Recently, us forks plus our two special guests, my mom and grandpa, went to a wonderful and diverse restaurant in the Village of Merrick Park in Coral Gables, Florida. 

This restaurant does an amazing job of bearing open arms to people with eating preferences (vegans, gluten-free eaters, etc.) or disorders (Celiac’s Disease, gluten intolerance, etc.) while making food that is innovative, mouth-watering, and just plain gratifying! Not to mention, as shown in the first picture, they also provide blankets in case you get cold because it tends to get chilly in there. How cool is that!

Above is a little glimpse of the menu.

Let’s start with the appetizer, probably my favorite dish and definitely my mom’s favorite. Pictured above are homemade tostones, which are so good they don’t even need anything on them! Even so, the strawberry pico de gallo on top with shredded parmesan makes it all the better. I was hesitant to try them because I was not sure I would like the strawberry pico de gallo, but in the end I found it was so good, I could eat it by itself!

Next, we tried the kale salad, which was one of Cata’s favorites. It is another dish that was so colorful and flavorful with unlikely ingredients that combined into one tasty salad. It’s composed of pecans, dried cranberries, kale and carrots, with a side garnish of sliced green apples. Can you say yum?

Another delicious appetizer was the trio of cheese calzone with a side of jam. The three cheeses were: ricotta, goat, and mozzarella cheese. This wasn’t on the lunch menu, but we were still lucky enough to try this amazing dish.

There were two renditions on the organic quinoa vegetable pad-thai. The first one was the gluten-free version of it, which is a little bit different because it doesn’t have the peanut sauce because the peanut sauce not gluten-free. The second one was the regular pad-thai for my grandfather, which included everything listed on the menu above. I had tried a little bit and I was definitely not disappointed.

The dish above was the Angus Churrasco Wedge Salad that Cata ordered, which came with Roquefort bleu cheese and applewood smoked bacon. The meat was cooked so perfectly, it was unrealistic! The wedge salad on the side was also very delicious.

This one was Ami’s order. She ordered the Sea Salt Salmon, which I didn’t get to taste she devoured it so fast! According to her, she’s not a fan of salmon, but it was her favorite dish by far. “The peanut sauce on top was SO good! It was sweet, salty, tangy, and brought the whole dish together!” says Ami. Too bad she ate it all before I could get my hands on it!

For dessert, we got a lot more than we bargained for! The caramel flan absolutely blew me away! And our very special host, Rafael Guzman, showed us an amazing presentation trick, which is to put any utensil on a plate, such a the fork, and dust it in any spice or powder fit for your dish for an easy, beautiful presentation!

Last, but certainly not least, it’s an assemble-it-yourself dessert complete with cinnamon, whipped cream, strawberries, and a warm, gooey, chocolate chip brownie. The best part is that you can make your own dish complete with your own design and plating! Doesn’t that sound delicious?

I’m Elise Frias, signing off!

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Baking Adventures

For my birthday the one thing I really wanted and kept asking my mom for was to learn how to use fondant.  Mom and my bonus dad then surprised me by signing me up for a three day tween baking camp at Sweet Life Cake and Candy Supply.  To begin with the place is a baker’s heaven.  They had every tool and supply to make any sweet concoction.  It was even decorated cute!  I learned to make the most amazing desserts and was even taught by the famous cake decorator herself Sweetie!  Check out how it went below....

Day 1:  I made cake pops.The cake pops where made with fondant, chocolate  and no frosting.The batter is a special batter that uses we used clear vanilla extract so the color is not weird when it comes out of the oven.The teachers were Ms.Cristina and Ms. Diandra. The cake pops I made are an owl, a ladybug on grass, a flower and the last one is a mix of them all.The owl was my personal favorite.  My older sister loved the mix one.My middle sister liked the ladybug. No one really liked my flower cake pop :(.  But they all tasted delicious. 

Day 2:  I made an emoji/watermelon cake all by myself. It was made of white buttercream and vanilla cake. The process was long and difficult but very rewarding. I changed the face of my emoji to the silly face so mine would stand out. We also rolled out our own fondant, created the design, and enjoyed every minute of it.  The best part is that I wanted an emoji cake for my birthday which was a couple of days later so I got to make my own birthday cake!!!!

Day 3: Today I got to make a cookie pizza with a special guest Sandy Beltran professional cookie artist.  She tours the country teaching people how to decorate cookies and she taught me!  She goes by the name Sweetie and she taught us some pretty sweet decorating tips.  Sweetie taught us to make a olives, peppers and pepperoni for our cookie pizza.  We made the toppings out of fondant and Royal Frosting.  It looked like a real pizza except it was sweet.  My family was fighting over slices of this pizza pie!

This was the best camp I have ever been too and that is a big statement because I have been to MANY camps.  I want to go again!!!

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Three Little Forks Take a Bite Out of the BIG APPLE (and a few other things)

Hey guys! Today we want to talk about some of the great things we tried in New York.

Elise’s Take On NYC Food:

One fantastic place we ate at was Grimaldi’s Pizzeria. They are sure not to disappoint! Their Pizza Margherita was absolutely mouth-watering. It was basil and fresh mozzarella, which tasted better than it sounds to some of you. Not to mention wonderfully accompanied by a refreshing and crisp Stewarts’s Cream Soda.

 This is definitely a place worth visiting...twice!

Ami finds NYC SOUPer:

Hey! Now that you’ve heard boring ol’ Elise talk about pizza, I’m gonna tell you about the best place we went to in New York. It’s called... Mei Jin Ramen! I know, I know. You already know it’s great. It has “ramen” in the name, and everyone knows ramen is great. Below is the picture of ramen that we ate (that was super awesome)!

Now we have to get serious. We need to talk about all the OTHER awesome foods we ate. Like the tuna rice with avocados and onions. That was probably the best thing that we tasted! The rice was a weird purple, but it was also because it was flavored and tasted delicious. At first, I thought the tuna was tomatoes, but then I realized it was actually tuna, and, boy, was it good! And, of course, the Shishito peppers. I was scared to try it at first because I feared it would burn my tongue to ashes, but it actually was not that spicy and they were very delicious. Then, the yummy ice cream balls! There was matcha green tea flavor and mango flavor. There was a jelly-like outside and the ice cream was inside. SOOOOO YUMMY!!!! I recommend this to anyone in New York. Try the ramen!

Below are the ice cream balls.

Cata Easts Through the NYC Streets:

Let’s talk about something New York is famous for: STREET FOOD!

We walked through NYC and devoured the street food. Elise was having a lamb gyro with tzatziki sauce. She let me try it and it was mouth watering. I sure knew what was going it to my mouth next time I had street food. A LAMB GYRO! The lamb gyro was warm. It also did not take long to make. It came with a fork, but my brain was telling my to just throw it away and take a colossal bite so I obeyed happily! When I took that bite, I felt as if I were in heaven! It felt awesome eating something New York is famous for, street food. Everyone had felt so bad for me because I have never had street food, but now I can tell them I have! Smelling the food, I had already known it was going to be good!

Overall, New York, the Three Little Forks would like to say:

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Learning to make gnocchi at Spasso in Coconut Grove

Spasso chef Gaetano Ascione invited my sisters and me to learn two simple dishes that my dad, Carlos Frias, is going to write about in the Miami Herald for Mother’s Day. It will be in the newspaper on May 4.

The dish we made are different kinds of gnocchi form scratch, and a dessert called affogato, which is ice cream with a espresso coffee poured over the top.

Setting Up

What you see us doing here is getting ready to cook a two-course meal.You can not just start cooking. You need on put on your apron and wash your hands.

What you see use doing in this photograph is starting by making the dough for the gnocchi. Put flour, eggs, salt, Parmesan cheese, and ricotta to make the dough for the gnocchi.

Here you see we have finished the gnocchi and are ready to chomp down. Today we have made you a truffle gnocchi, a tomato sauce gnocchi, and the most simple one, the one with butter and sage.

It is time to eat the gnocchi. My favorite is the truffle. Elise’s favorite is the truffle too. Amelia’s favorite was the simple one with butter and sage. Chef’s favorite is the one with the tomato sauce. Well, that is it folks, for the blog today. See you next time. Bye now.

Written by: Cata la Rata

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Ms. Cheezious

   Imagine a crispy, gooey, messy grilled cheese with a sidekick of thick, flavorful tomato soup. Now, stop imagining. Ms. Cheezious is the best grilled cheese place around. Me and my sisters have recently gone to the grand opening of Ms. Cheezious in Coral Gables to review them. Ms. Cheeszious was a food truck before it was a restaurant, and this is the third resaraunt they have opened. We were not the only bloggers there, though! Other bloggers that attended this event were @theforkmiami, @thenaughtyfork, @mdouhw_eats, @thelatinafoodchronichles, @yelpmiami, and @themiamiherald, just to name a few.  We tried every sample that came out, and we even had seconds! The staff were welcoming and the service was great. They always came around to see if we’d like another sample, and we often said yes! Some of our personal favorites were the grilled Bleu N Bacon, the Pesto grilled cheese, and the Frito Papa grilled cheese. Not only was the service great, but while we waited for seconds to come around, we could play the board game classics, like battleships, chess, checkers, and waaaaaay more! My favorite sandwich was the bleu cheese/cream cheese mix with bacon. I thought the strong, salty flavor of bleu cheese was balanced with the cream cheese. The bacon added a nice crispness to the grilled cheese to top it all off. I strongly suggest that you go to this cheesy, crispy, yummy heaven when in a time of uncertainty of where you should go for lunch!

Above is a sample of the Pesto grilled cheese.

Nom Nom Nom, 

        Amelia Frias

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BOBA WORLD!!!

Slurp! Pop! Pop! Recently, we went to a delicious place called Boba World, where they make boba smoothies, boba tea (hot or cold), boba smooth creams, ice creams, and power smoothies. You may wonder, “What is boba, anyways?” Well, there are two types of boba. Jelly boba and pop boba. Jelly boba comes in flavors like mango stars, strawberry, pineapple, lychee, coffee, grass, and rainbow. They’re chewy and are almost like gummies. Pop boba flavors are yogurt, lychee, strawberry, passionfruit, and mango. Pop boba erupt in your mouth with flavors galore when you bite them. 

Here are some Pop Boba suggestions:

Coconut + Mango Pop Boba 

Nutella + Yogurt Pop Boba

Green milk tea + Passionfruit Pop Boba

Green Apple ( Syrup) + Strawberry Pop Boba

Nutella Milk Tea + Yogurt Pop Boba

Here are some Jelly Boba suggestions:

Banana + Mango Stars Jelly Boba

Blueberry + Strawberry Jelly Boba

Peach + Mango Stars Jelly Boba

Mango + Strawberry Jelly Boba

Kiwi + Strawberry Jelly Boba 

Above is Cata’s favorite Boba Smoothie, Coconut (Powder) + Strawberry Pop Boba. 

Nom Nom Nom, 

Amelia Frias 

Your Fiesty Foody,

Cata la Rata

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THE CATA BREAKFAST

After my sister Amelia made a delicious breakfast, that you can find right here on this blog, I was inspired me to make breakfast as well. So today I made scrambled eggs with carrots, onions, cayenne pepper, mushrooms, salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic. It was garnished with celery leaves and served with a side of grapes and cheese toast sprinkled with smoked paprika.

See, anyone can learn to cook if you try.  I am so excited about trying to cook different things and give it the Cata Touch!

Signing Out!

Cata la Rata

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Saturday Gourmet

Crispy bacon, entrancing spicy paprika eggs, freshly cut avocados, heavenly chorizo, and crisp tomatoes. A side of berry and grape raspberry jam honey fruit salad and whipped cream to finish it off. What to call this delish dish... other than Saturday gourmet. A special little foodie made this dish all by herself.  Can you guess? I’ll give you a hint: its not Elise or Catalina. I, Amelia Frias, made an entire meal by my myself. I chopped, cooked, seasoned, and made a fantastic meal serving four people. 

A pic of this outstanding meal:

 sandwich recipe:

-1 half tomato (sliced vertically)

-4 strips of bacon

-1 avocado (sliced vertically)

-4 eggs 

-4 rolls of bread (cuban bread is suggested)

-cheese

-vinegar

-olive oil

-chorizo (optional)

-paprika (optional)

Crack your eggs into a bowl. Add your spices and beat your eggs. Turn your stove onto low heat. Scramble your eggs and add cheese. Set aside. Slice your bread vertically. Cook or microwave your bacon. Place your eggs in the sliced bread. Add the bacon on top of the eggs. Put the chorizo on top of the bacon. Add the sliced tomatoes and avocados on top of the chorizo. Drizzle vinegar and olive oil on the bread.

fruit salad recipe:

-blueberries

-grapes

-raspberry jam

-honey

-whipped cream (optional)

Wash about 15 blueberries and about 10 grapes. Put them in a bowl. Plop about a spoonful of raspberry jam on top along with some honey. Mix them all together and serve onto plate with sandwich. Add the whipped cream on top and a drizzle of honey.

Nom Nom Nom,                                               

                   Amelia Frias

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Thanksgiving Traditions

Sorry for the late post! Anyways, this simple recipe is perfect if you’re just a beginner at cooking. For example, in my family we have a tradition that, whenever we meet up for Thanksgiving, one of the adults contributes something to our meal. We make special turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, pumpkin dump-cake, and more. Each parent or aunt or uncle is assigned to make the dish they make best. I decided that as my coming-of-age dish I would make Deviled Eggs, one of the more simple and delicious dishes to make.

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1/4 cup mayonnaise

Baking Soda

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1/8 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Smoked Spanish paprika, for garnish

Cayenne Pepper, for kick

First, you boil some eggs with just enough water that the eggs are covered in the pot. To make this easier, I suggest you put the eggs in the water while it’s cold and then boil it together. Also add baking soda to the water so that when you peel the shells they come off easier. Heat on high until water begins to boil, then cover, turn the heat to low, and cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and leave covered for about 14 minutes. When the eggs are done and ready to be peeled, I usually take the pot to the sink and let some cold water into it to cool the water down. Then I peel the eggs with ease (thanks to the baking soda).

At this point, I slice the eggs in half (vertically) and remove the yolks, putting them into a large measuring cup. In the cup I also add salt, pepper, mayo, mustard paprika and a little cayenne for some kick. (Remember, you are free to go outside of the box with the spices and toppings, this is just how I made mine.) Then, I pour it into the corner of a gallon-sized plastic bag making sure to scrape every last bit out of the cup and into the bag. Finally, pipe the mix back into the egg whites and garnish it how you feel fit, whether it be with bacon, spices, or chives.

Again, sorry for the late post! But remember, you don’t need an event to make the simple and scrumptious snacks. You can make them just for the heck of it and experiment with different flavors and toppings.

I’m Elise Frias, signing out!

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Fragrant Flowers & Foreign Foods

“Light of the moon

Moves west, flowers' shadows

Creep eastward”.

--Basho Matsuo, 15th Century Poet

This description perfectly fits the scenic gardens of serenity known as the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Boca Raton. So I ask you: What better place to hold a Japanese Lantern Festival? Flowers and food alike, that was something I’m sorry if you missed.

So my sisters and I love all the BuzzFeed videos where people try and react to strange foods and snacks from different countries.  We watch them endlessly and one of our favorites Americans Taste Japanese Snacks Part I & 2.   You can only imagine our excitement to find some of the foods featured in the videos available at this festival!  First of all, we tried four different Japanese snacks/food. In the picture above, we tried Ramune in 3 different flavors and we tried Matcha Green Tea Kit-Kats. The Ramune is almost like a Sprite. Although there were multiple flavors, we tried grape, strawberry, melon, orange, and original. All in all, Ami liked the melon one, while Cata and I preferred the strawberry. They also have a little marble you pop inside, so fun and delicious! Now, the Starbucks Matcha Green Tea Latte Kit-Kats I also very strongly recommend. They are perfect and crispy like every Kit-Kat should be, and they taste exactly like Matcha Green Tea, maybe a little sweeter, but somehow (because they couldn't just put the powder on) they incorporate the slightest hint of chocolate, just enough. I highly recommend both of these things.

Two other things we had at the festival that, sadly, we forgot to take a picture of are an amazing chicken terriyaki bowl and mochi ice cream. The chicken terriyaki there was absolutely mouth-watering! Probably the best I’ve had, considering I haven’t actually been to Japan. Also, the mochi ice cream was out of this world! It has a chewy, almost gummy, outside which makes it great before you even get to the ice cream! The actual ice cream is creamy and smooth. We tried these in 3 different flavors: Matcha (my personal favorite), Cherry, and Red Bean. If you like the Matcha Kit-Kats, you will like the Matcha mocha and vice versa.

Again, between the scenery, the fun activities, and the food, I’m sorry if you either couldn’t make it, didn’t  know, or just didn’t want to go. If I were you, I’d go next year. Who knows? Maybe you might even see me?

I’m Elise Frias, Signing Out

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Mellow Mushroom! Check out our video discussion!

Here are some pics:

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Mellow Mushroom!

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No Name Pub (Good... if you can find it!)

                              *Notice our three little forks dollar! ;)

Recently, I was down in Key West to celebrate my birthday. Eventually came the drive back home. While you are driving by, you might notice some great dining choices. One such place is the No Name Pub. When passing by Big Pine Key on your drive home, keep your eyes peeled for this place. A place you don’t want to miss. No Name Pub is an eccentric little hidden pizzeria. “Why so eccentric?” you ask. Well you’ll notice that as soon as you walk in the place is decorated. With MONEY!! Anyways, there are so many things on the menu to try, and all so delicious!!!

To begin, my mom has recently been diagnosed with a something called Celiac Disease, a disease where you can’t have any gluten, therefore making it harder for her to find something to order when we go out. Even worse, because some people go on gluten-free diets, no one takes you seriously! But at this restaurant they have specifically started making a gluten-free pizza that’s even available with most of the regular yet unique toppings. The pizza shown above is topped with pink shrimp and green chives! Actually quite scrumptious on a pizza! So if you have the same problem as her you can have if gluten-free, or you can order it on a regular pizza. I have come to believe that a restaurant’s ability to be open to so many different dietary needs is already impressive enough because you have to juggle it all. On top of that, No Name Pub’s food is still satisfyingly delicious!

This next one was my order because it has always been one of my favorite foods: Fish and chips!! Firstly, no the chips are not actual chips, but french fries. This is because this is a British delicacy and in the United Kingdom (aka Great Britain), french fries are known as chips (Fact of the Day!). Anyways, this dish is a lot of food but is soo delicious! The breaded white fish was perfectly golden and barely greasy. If you really want to go traditional, try it with some malt vinegar (it’s really good that way). Considering that I am not a big fan of seafood in general, you can take it from me that this is something you should order if you happen to cross paths with No Name Pub.

As you can see, No Name Pub is somewhere you really should go if you ever pass by it. You’ll know your still in the Keys and that you can go see it if you ever happen to see one of these adorable yet endangered creatures named the Key Deer (as shown below).

Well, that’s it for today. Remember the name No Name Pub. Or I guess you can’t because there’s no name? Anyways:

This is Elise Frias, signing out!

*Remember to go to www.threelittleforks.com for more reports. About food of course!

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Cooking with Grace

Hey guys! Meet our little friend Grace! She is 6 years old. Guess what! She likes cooking too! She started her own little cooking show. She makes a bunch of things in the kitchen with a little doll she named Grace Jr. Keep it here for more pictures of her product!

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More Pics (Grace's Philly Cheesesteaks)

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Cooking with Grace (Episode 5)