more home-cooked meals

Still playing catch up, here is a round-up of some home-prepared meals from the last month or so.

This was an instant meal, courtesy of a good friend who brings us goodies every time she goes back to Japan. As you can see, it's from a 7-Eleven, but it tasted much better than anything you could get from an American 7-Eleven. It was a wet-pack of mushrooms and various root vegetables in a bit of gravy that I simply poured in with my uncooked rice. Turn on the rice cooker and voilà, a meal!

This is a picture of a lovely romanesco that I roasted one night. I forgot what I put on it, but I remember liking it a lot. We love our cruciferious vegetables. (see cauliflower below)

This is just some scrambled eggs with ketchup and hot sauce on an English muffin, made on a telework day. One of my favorite things about working from home is I get to prepare my meals fresh (or not, depending on how I feel) and enjoy them without anyone asking me "What are you eating?" or saying "I smell..."

This was a more recent meal (prepared last night) of roasted cauliflower with capers, pork chops (shown with a stray caper on it), and red chard. We were proud of this no-carb creation.

An old favorite I used to make in my Brooklyn efficiency, now made in a bigger, better-equipped kitchen. It's a Turkish-style lamb pasta dish: ground lamb, bow-tie pasta, zucchini (original recipe calls for eggplant), yogurt and mint. It's smelly (garlic and lamb) but so frickin good.

homemade

Often the object of my dreams... only this version is better because I made it. Homemade wontons! (not shown with chili sauce - a must-have condiment)

catching up

I usually make resolutions by birthday, not calendar year, but on this first day of 2013, I am making an effort to come back to the blog more. As you may have noticed, after life-changing events last May-June, my posts were sporadic at best, while my psychological need for engaging in things I enjoy was ever-present and unfulfilled. It is my resolution to get back to doing more of what I enjoy. So, please allow me to play catch-up a bit to get back into things. I hope I can keep this resolution, and hope there are a few of you still there to read (thanks, by the way).

Below are some random shots taken of some tasty treats I've consumed over the last few months. Hopefully it won't take me so long to post more of what I've acquired in my phone photo gallery. Enjoy and happy new year!

kouign amman from Dominique Ansel Bakery

super tasty sriracha flavored chips made from extruded peas!

from Thanksgiving: brussel sprouts with smoked turkey neck meat  (in place of bacon)

poutine with smoked meat from Mile End

also from Thanksgiving 2012: cheese plate with fixins

mantu or aushak from Afghan Restaurant

formerly recent eats

I've had these pictures in a draft post for a long time, but am only now posting them. I'll try my best to recap:

Here we have a home test that I imagine is almost as exciting as a pregnancy test: a beer taste test! From left to right Coors Light, Yuengling Light and Rolling Rock. Coors Light won. 

This is the most refreshing dessert G and I had in a while. It's coconut jelly in a coconut, with a generous amount of coconut flesh still present. When chilled, it's especially outstanding.

This was a spread of coconut porter and kolsh, with two styles of wings from Hmart. The wings weren't bad, but as a stand-in for BonChon, they don't compare.

This is one of our home-cooked weekday meals: Shanghai bok choi tips chowed with scallions and red catfish curry (and some limes). Thanks - we think we eat like kings too.

...another home-cooked meal: jalapeno pesto with fresh basil and parmesan on linguini fini. It's a new fave; you can make a whole container of the pesto, pour a layer of olive oil on the top and it'll be good in the fridge for weeks. Instant meal!

I enjoyed this cheese a lot. I generally like Swiss cheeses, but this was very different. It reminded me of Dubliner cheese; it had a slight yellowy color and it's texture was not as smooth as regular traditional swiss cheese.

trying out my new phone

Publishing from my phone! (That's a root beer float.)

tacos and izakaya fare

Note: This is a super old post that has been long in the making. All this happened about two weeks ago. Enjoy.

An empty fridge and a long week were hints for us to have an easy night out on a steamy Thursday. We started at the brand new brick-n-mortar location of our favorite taco truck, Tacos El Chilango!

(photo cred: Eater, who got it from Yelp)

The place looks great and while I was waiting for G and after ordering a cup of horchata to start, Juan, the co-owner (who ran the truck and opened the eatery with his brother Jesus) gave me a complimentary al pastor taco. It was delicious - good amount of meat, cilantro, and onion, which I topped with a little of both of their homemade sauces (verde and spicier red salsa), but there wasn't enough room on the taco for the pickled veggie mix that was also offered on the condiments table. When G arrived, we ordered: two chorizo tacos, one carne asada taco, one mixto taco (pork mixed with sausage), and one more al pastor taco. All excellent and adequately filled with fillins'.

After happily shoving tacos into our mouths, we went next door to Izakaya Seki, a, well, izakaya that just opened a couple weeks ago right above U St.

(photo cred: by Molly W, posted on Yelp)

We ordered the following:

ankimo (monkfish liver) with yuzo miso vinaigrette 

the Kyona salad with arugula, bonito shavings, mizuna and "onsen" egg

Tarako (salted cod roe) rice ball

What you hear is true - it is pricey for what you get. However, everything was tasty and it was a pleasant dining experience (aside from the very few cheap napkins and over-dressing of the ankimo). Oh - I forgot to mention the 2 complimentary soy and sesame chicken wings they give you as an appetizer; tasty, but the skin was still chewy. All in all, a nice addition to the dining scene and a great place to meet a friend for some heavy gabbing (both first and second floors are nice spaces, but I'd recommend the first floor).

happy snacks

Here are some new finds from our latest Wegman's haul:

• Holy seltzer! We bought 7 bottles, but it would have been more if G didn't stop me. I usually get about 4 bottles of their usual lineup of flavors, primarily pomegranate, cranberry lime and grapefruit. This visit, however, presented us with a surprise of Polar's 'Destination Flavors.' I've tried their ginger lemonade flavor from this line, but the ones you see above are new and exciting: Orange Mango, Pineapple Passion Fruit and Pina Colada (which is really good). G finds it amazing that the seltzer tastes and smells like its indicated flavor, yet has no calories nor is it sticky when spilled! Just fantastic. Seltzer water weened me from soda years ago, and I'm glad to see new flavors of it. HuffPost ran a sensory test of the new summer flavors; go here to read it.

• There on the bottom is what is left of my wedge of Fol Epi cheese. It's tasty and creamy, and has holes of a Swiss cheese, but is a bit sweeter; a really nice, mild snacking cheese. I first tried it at Trader Joe's when it was the featured cheese for the month of June, and was elated to find it in the never-fail cheese section at Weggy's. It's my new fav, after snacking on Le Jeune Autise for a couple months.

• The last item up above is our new fav chip: Crisproot Cassava Root Thai Ginger chips. They are super crispy, not oily, extremely flavorful, and are ridged. If cassava root were to chips as potatoes are, I'd be one happy snacker. It makes a significantly crunchier chip.

current state

MY GOD, THE HEAT!
Today's heat index has reached 107 degrees. I have no intention on going outside for the rest of the day, which is good because I've now got time to do some online modules for work and spend some time on this here blog. Despite being indoors though, I still feel listless. (My sympathies to those who still don't have power after last week's storm. Shit was cray-cray.)

Since I haven't done a list in forever, here's one on the current state of things around these parts:

:: THE CURRENT STATE OF THINGS ::

• Worst weather ever: Right now, in those pink and red zones. I never understand people who claim "I'd rather have it really hot than really cold." Excuse them, for they know not what they say. 

• Top recipe to try from my list of recipes to try: Mario Batali's Linguine with Jalapeno Pesto. Never mind that it made an appearance on the Rachael Ray show. It looks and sounds delicious and is from the brain of Mario Batali (not a fan of the man, but he knows his food).

• Best new addition to our household: The Zojirushi NS-ZCC18 10-cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker. Not only does it have a name that's half supercharged and half cute, but with its programmable settings for different types of rice, it makes brown rice fluffy. Thanks to everyone who gave us money for our wedding; we put it to good use.

• Best thing to watch on t.v. tomorrow (Sunday, 8 July): Roger vs. Andy. Hands down! What a match-up! Of course, I'm elated that Roger made it to the finals. I will not listen to those who say "it may be his last one!" I'm sorry to have seen Rafa eliminated so early, as the two of them make up my favorite sports rivalry of all time. And Andy! That poor chap! He finally made it to a Wimbledon final match, but alas, I will have to root for this continued streak of not winning a single slam. Every summer, I think of how lucky we are to not only be living, but living in the era of Roger and Rafa, and yeah, maybe even Djokovich.

• Best beverage I've had in recent days: Red Onion's Chocolate Malt. Sorry no picture, just know that it was delicious. Not so malty, but tasty nonetheless.

(photo creds: 1, 2, 3, 4 was a screenshot of this)

beginner korean

Here are some Korean dishes I cooked for the first time, in the last month and a half:

Up on top you have some pajeon (파전). I forgot to add kimchee into the batter at first, so only some are reddish. The pajeon came out a little gummier than I wanted, so I'll have to work on the mix : water ratio. I had some metric unit conversion problems.

Down on the bottom you have some excellent naengmyeon (냉면),topped with sliced cucumber and kimchee. This was a winner and forehead-slapper; how could I not have had this in my warm weather rotation already?

missed you

Aside from taking pictures of my late-night curry, I've still been missing. What gives, you ask? Well in the last month, I've gotten married, I've started a new job (to put it in a nutshell) which has thrown my life as I knew it into a khaki-clad whirlwind. Also in the last month, I left home (and my new husband) for 2 weeks, I saw DMB in concert,

gained some weight, saw and heard in person the Secretaries of Defense, Health & Human Services and the VA, saw the Surgeon General (twice), and as of last night, am a new fan of Shaolin Jazz Project after seeing DJ 2-Tone and Sound of the City live at Blues Alley (Shanice will be there on 20 July!).

I've managed to squeeze in a few blog-worthy meals on the weekends, but have failed to document them because I just wanted to enjoy and devour (sorry). Eating, going to cultural events and now blogging, are helping me slowly get back to my norm that I loved, and miss, so much. I haven't been so good keeping up with style and fashion; I've been reading a week's worth of fashion blogs on the weekends. I have, however, recently purchased a vintage Coach City Bag in fantastic condition off of ebay (luckily, it's one of the few designer bags approved for work),

as well as a Longchamp Planete Large Tote (also for work). Add to that list of work-related purchases a pair of Naturalizer Deino pumps.

And I haven't even gotten my first paycheck yet.

Thanks for still stopping by and for your requests for posts, and for being patient with me. While I can't promise being on time with my regular features just yet (Because It's Monday, Toothsome Tuesday, List Wednesday, and Fashion on Fridays), I hope to be posting more often.

(photo creds: 1, 2, 3, 4)

late night curry

My version of roti canai. Chicken curry with a scallion pancake. At midnight. Yippee!

friday lunch log

Kimchee dog!! (note how perfectly the bun fits the dog)

dinners past

Some dinners from the last couple of weeks...

Kimchee (김치) rice with a fried egg and bulgogi (불고기)

 

Salmon with roasted potatoes and sauteed kale

night essentials

Here's a list of items we picked up from the grocery store at 10pm, right after 1.25 hours at the gym:

• 1 pack of Oscar Mayer® Angus hot dogs 
• 1 pack of Schmidt's® potato hot dog buns 
• 1 slice of Harris Teeter® Grande Finale Chocolate Cake
• 1 bag of Doritos® JACKED Enchilada Supreme chips

 ...each item as crucial as the next...








 (photo creds: 1, 2, 3, 4)

skid row?

...no. Badder. Shad roe.

Last week, we added a new dish to our repetoire: shad roe.

That's a good picture of shad roe before it's cooked. Here's our picture of our raw roe marinating in soy sauce and ground black pepper:

We were going to do a coated, pan-fried recipe with capers (apparently this is a pretty popular way to cook it), but decided against it after my mom suggested a simpler Chinese way with which I am quite familiar (same way she prepares pan-fried fish!) and required less oil.  Per the suggestion of mah mama, you marinate the roe, pan fry it, then set it aside. Here's what the roe looked like when in the hot pan:

The roe shrank considerably pretty immediately. A note about our choice of pan: our flat pan has lost all its nonstick capabilities so we had to cook the roe in our nonstick wok-like pan instead. The roe shrank quickly and considerably once it hit the hot oiled pan and it loudly and scarily started popping while it was cooking (I imagined the individual eggs contained within the sac to be like corn kernels popping). I soon learned that separating the two lobes of roe made flipping it a lot easier. Was my pan too hot?

Here's a picture of the roe just about done:

After cooking the roe, set it aside. Then saute the green onion and ginger and splash in some light soy sauce and sweeten with a bit of sugar. Then combine all of this with the roe.

We had the roe with a side dish of kale, 5-spice tofu, mushrooms, leeks and shallots - a loaded version of a dish that we eat at least three times a week, of varying ingredients, and for this special occasion, we splurged on white rice!

The roe turned out delicious. I enjoyed the livery taste and the mix of textures on our plates made for a wonderfully interesting bite. I doubted there would be enough roe for the both of us after it shrank but one lobe each was perfect. This meal reminded me of how getting the eggs out of a whole fish was like a prize growing up...lucky me, I just ate only the eggs!

You can read more about shad roe here and here and here.

Our roe was cheaper at $9.99/lb from Wegmans.

(photo creds: first, last)