Making gnocchi
January 3, 2009 § Leave a comment
At school, one of my favorite things to eat is potato gnocchi from Dean and Deluca. I always thought that making pasta is a complicated process, but after watching a random youtube video, I decided to try it when my sisters were at home and helping.
An irrational but spending-savvy lunch
November 12, 2008 § 1 Comment
It’s currently 45 degrees outside in DC, and what did Erin and I decide to eat today for lunch? SweetGreen. Every Wednesday now, they’re handing out free small sweetflows with a salad, and since I only had three meals left at the dining hall this week, I thought it’d be wise to take advantage of the situation, even if it did result in a frozen tongue and numb fingers.
I went with the usual trio of toppings – strawberries, blueberries, and mangos – though I was seriously leaning towards the candied walnuts. Ah…decisions, decisions. Even though it was cold outside, I realized that I missed the tartiness of SweetGreen’s frozen yogurt as opposed to the fake Country Vanilla variety that’s served in our dining hall. A sweet treat that still made me feel healthy.
It was my first time trying a SweetGreen salad, and I inevitably opted for the Guacamole greens, mainly because it has a huge helping of avocado and I’m an avocado fiend.
Verdict: too much mesclun and not enough grilled chicken (I like my meat!), but the cilantro-lime-jalapeno vinaigrette was nice and tangy without being too overwhelming. I could have done without the tortilla chips though; they got really mushy and soggy after sitting with the avocado and vinaigrette as I made my to the bottom of the bowl. Have to say that SweetGreen trumps Chop’t, the Rosslyn version, in the salad-on-the-spot department though. Mainly because the server at Chop’t takes your chicken or choice of meat and minces it along with everything else using a mezzaluna, leaving you with…chicken string. Bleck
Some cooking and Leopold’s with next year’s roomies!
November 9, 2008 § Leave a comment
I did eventually get to using up the squash, mushrooms, and shallots by melting a little butter, throwing all of them into a saute pan, and adding salt and pepper. Quick, easy, comforting, and healthy (kinda? yes?) I would write out a recipe but it was incredibly simple and I don’t recall the measurements now. Just use however much looks good to you. Also cooked the potato gnocchi and ricotta tortellini that I had on hand from Dean and Deluca and doused it with some house vodka sauce. Erin, Lee, and I just grabbed a bunch of forks and ate off this one communal plate. No time for cute dinnerware when our stomachs were grumbling.
In other news, housing selection is complete and I’m living in a rooftop apartment next year with three other great girls! Rooftops at Georgetown are third or fourth level apartments that have a huge balcony that overlooks the Potomac River. And because it’s through the university, we don’t have to worry about utilities, long commutes, etc. Pretty sweet.
When we were deciding on the kind of housing we wanted to choose, we headed to Leopold’s. This time, I got the grilled chicken salad with field greens. It was a pretty standard dish and the chicken was a bit overcooked in my opinion, but everyone else seemed to enjoy their dishes. Jia got the roast chicken I had last time, Melissa had the mussels and frites, and Jenny got a salmon dish that looked huge and amazing. The fennel and basil oil combination got rave reviews.
We were all most looking forward to dessert though. Leopold’s has a huge pastry case filled with delectable treats – savory and sweet – and we spent about 15 minutes just ooing and aahing at all the choices. There were fruit tarts, giant brownies, MACARONS! [which I will try the next time I go] and breakfast items like croissants, danishes, etc. I purposely ordered the tea and cookies because I wanted something light, and even though I don’t know what they were – butter shortbreads, brittles, and some other things – each one was delicious and special, especially since I got to wash it down with some Citron tea. My friends were too busy sighing and eating to really say anything so…I’m going to assume their desserts tasted as good as they looked.
Mission for next time: macaron taste tasting. I only saw five flavors – raspberry, pistachio, chocolate, coffee, and either a lemon or coconut, but if they’re up to expectations, it doesn’t matter in the end. I just need to find somewhere that can give me that wonderful meringue-filling satisfaction.
Parent’s Weekend, Baked and Wired, Leopold’s Kafe
October 19, 2008 § Leave a comment
I was so happy when my dad and sister Laura came down for Parents’ Weekend yesterday. After experiencing midterm-hell for the past week, I needed to see them…and the goodies that they would inevitably bring with them. Mooncake, red bean paste, dried nori, etcetcetc. I will be satisfied in the Asian snack department for quite some time.
They were only here for the day so we had to sort our time wisely and efficiently. So we walked down to Rosslyn metro (the weather was absolutely beautiful outside, if a tiny bit chilly) and took the train to the Smithsonian where we got in touch with our inner child and oohed and aahed at the mammal dummies and Hope Diamond. We also got to see the new Ocean Hall that opened up.
Afterwards, my dad decided to take a catnap at the Shops at Georgetown Park, a wise choice since Laura and I used that time to stop by the lovely Baked and Wired (which is officially better than Georgetown Cupcake to me now that I’ve gone there twice) to get a Obama-yo-mama brownie (espresso and chocolate in the fudgiest fudgy texture) and Carrot cupcake with a heavenly creamcheese frosting. Speaking of creamcheese, I found the nicest vintage black tuxedo jacket with satin piping at Annie Creamcheese which I fell in love with. That and there was another spoon ring but I didn’t get it this time.
For dinner, the three of us walked down Cady’s Alley to Leopold’s, which I have been meaning to try for a while. It’s a very European-chic Austrian cafe that sells wonderfully hearty entrees, like the bratwurst with kraut that Laura got, delicately delicious pastries (there’s a giant case of them near the bar), or strong coffee for those visiting early in the morning.
My dad has a weakness for mussels so he got them in garlic and white wine broth paired with these extremely crispy frites and I got the roast chicken with chard, fingerling potatoes, and mustard sauce. To be honest, we weren’t really paying attention to the food, we were too busy talking. But that’s a good thing! I did manage to snap a couple appetizing-looking pictures so enjoy!
Second global dinner – Mexican
September 18, 2008 § 4 Comments
The day after our Italian-themed night, I decided to cook some Mexican food. My roommate Jia isn’t exactly the most adventurous of eaters, so I thought I’d start in her closer to her comfort zone and slowly work our way into the more exotic cuisines. 🙂
Midway through broiling the shrimp, I had to deal with some ignorant buttwipe who walked into our common room citing snottily that it smelled like fish i.e. s***. Let’s just say I have profound pity for the person who’s never sat down to good seafood in his entire, obviously miserable little life and that he won’t be getting any floor-wide baked goods from me anytime soon. Ass.
Anyway, on the menu:
Sopa de Tortilla
Broiled Shrimp
Churroooooos
Sopa de Tortilla (modified from The Best Recipes in the World)
1/2 cup corn or neutral oil
6 corn tortillas cut into 1/4 inch strips
3 garlic cloves
1 large onion, diced
2 dried chiles, preferably pasilla
3 fresh tomatoes, blanched and peeled, then diced
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup shredded cooked chicken (or I used spicy Italian sausage leftover from the previous day)
1 cup Monterey Jack, grated
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, sliced
1. Oil in saucepan over medium high heat. When oil is hot, fry the tortilla strips in batches until golden brown and crisp, turning after a minute or two, for about two to four minutes. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
2. Discard all but 2 tbspns of oil. Turn heat to medium, add garlic and onion, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add chiles, tomatoes, and half the tortilla strips, and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour in chicken stock and bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add chicken and heat through. Season with lime juice, salt, pepper. Garnish with the cilantro, cheese, avocado, and remaining tortilla strips and serve.
Bittman recommends that you use an immersion blender and puree everything before you add the chicken, but I personally like my soups chunky and full of that veggie goodness.
Broiled Shrimp with Chili Paste (modified from Joy of Cooking)
Paste
Take:
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
Mix together in a large shallow bowl.
Add and toss to coat well
1 1/2 to 2 pounds of shrimps (peeled and deveined) or scallops
Broil, turning the shrimp after the first side becomes pink, 2 minutes or so. Broil until second side is pink/opaque, test one of the shrimp by cutting into it to make sure it is cooked through. Garnish with lemon wedges and minced cilantro.
*Not all broilers are created equal! It actually took me a bit longer to cook the shrimp, so just make sure to keep a watchful eye. You don’t want your seafood to become rubbery – that’s a crime.
Churros (from Bittman’s The Best Recipes in the World)
Corn oil for frying
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons of butter)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1. Put at least two inches of oil into a large saucepan or deep skillet and heat to about 350 F. [To make sure the oil is hot enough, you can always use the Giada trick – drop a little bit of the batter in and if it starts to bubble and float up to the surface, you know it’s ready] In the meantime, while it’s warming up, mix the cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar together on a large plate.
2. Combine remaining sugar, butter, salt, and 1 cup water in saucepan over high heat and bring to boil. Turn the heat to low and add flour all at once. Stir constantly until mixture forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and beat in the eggs one at a time, stirring until smooth after each addition. [DO NOT SCRAMBLE YOUR EGGS]
3. Spoon the dough into a pastry bag with a large star tip [Or you can drop spoonfuls, or, if you want to be like me, go halfway. I just took filled one of those large Glad bags with the batter and cut a large hole in the one of the corners] Press strips of dough about 4 inches long into the hot oil. Cook as many as will fit and turn as they brown, for a total of 5 to 10 minutes each.
4. Remove churros from oil and drain on paper towels then immediately roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve hot.
Union Square Cafe with Lorenzo
August 8, 2008 § Leave a comment
Nora, my supervisor (Best boss ever! Wait ’til you hear what she gave me as a goodbye gift), and I originally planned to go toUnion Square Cafe during Restaurant Week, but plans fell through last minute and we never went through with our reservation. It was still the one place I wanted to eat at before the summer was over and I had to go back to Georgetown, so when an old high school friend, Lorenzo, offered to treat me to anywhere I wanted Tuesday…the choice was pretty damn easy.
Let me just say one thing about my friend before I move onto the food. I bumped into Lorenzo again in mid July, when I got onto a PATH train and he shoved his hand in my face as a way of saying hi. Turned out that our internships were located only a couple blocks apart. And even though he makes fun of me all the time and constantly causes my face to look like this -__- , he’s a good person, but that should already be obvious since he paid for lunch.
Anyway, we got to USC at 12 when it was still relatively quiet and were led up these narrow stairs to a small balcony, second floor area where there were only a couple tables. Our waiter was particularly friendly and leapt into service by raving about the day’s specials, but for appetizers, we stuck with the popular and safe fried calamari and spicy anchovy mayonnaise. I think it’s a problem I have, the tendency for me to order whatever deep fried foods there are on an appetizer menu.
First, ambience. Lorenzo had an issue with the nudes on the wall opposite us (What is it with men and bare breasts!? It’s just art!) but when the bread and butter came out, our attention fell on the food. All I can say is USC passed my simple test when the butter was smooth and creamy enough to smear all over that carb-y deliciousness.
The calamari was so LIGHT considering it’s deep fried in batter and then dipped in mayonnaise. It was one of the top, if not the best fried dishes I’ve had. I didn’t really care much for the mayo, it was too thick and didn’t stick well enough to the squid for my taste, but the fritters were seasoned well enough that the lack of sauce didn’t matter.
Our entrees were a refined tuna salad sandwich with garlic potato chips and housemade pappardelle with braised rabbit ragu. I loved my pasta dish. It may not sound like anything particularly spectacular (except maybe the rabbit part), but the simplicity of this dish caused all the elements to stand out. The pasta had a wonderful smooth texture with a slight bite that I loved and the sauce of braised rabbit featured beautifully tender meat and tanginess from the tomato that just made my stomach sigh. =)
I didn’t try the sandwich, but honestly, all I could focus on was the huge mound of garlic potato chips. I snagged a bite and CRRUUUUNCH. More fried, salted goodness. Plus garlic! Ah…all was right with the world.
Our perky waiter saved dessert from becoming a disappointment. Originally, I was leaning towards the Venetian fritelle, but he said, “Um…the customers who order it usually are let down.” But when I asked about the flourless chocolate cake, he unrestrainedly said, “OHMYGOSH MILLION TIMES BETTER!” So what could I do? Plus…chocolate was involved. Oh, and Lorenzo ordered a banana tart with ice cream and brittle.
The chocolate cake was the moistest, richest concoction ever. I was gushing about it the entire time; the coffee zabaglione served next to it helped to cut a bit of the richness. I don’t know how, but it did for me. Bitter vs. sweet, light and airy vs. rich and creamy. GAH. Lorenzo’s tart was a bit too caramelly and sweet for me, but the honey-vanilla ice cream was wonderful. I have a thing for honey ice cream lately. Whenever I go to Haagen Dazs now I order the Honey Vanilla. Long live the Honey Bees!
It was a wonderful way for the beginning of the end. After twelve weeks, my internship in New York was ending (well, it ended yesterday) and I was getting ready to go back to school. Time for goodbyes and email exchanges.
Union Square Cafe
21 East 16th St.
212.243.4020
RW – Lure Fishbar
July 30, 2008 § 2 Comments
Lure was the second experience of Restaurant Week 2008 and a true treat. I went with my old tennis teammate Joming and her friend Scott Yang Monday night for dinner to this subterranean seafood restaurant in Soho near Dean and Deluca. Let me first say that the decor inside is amazing – it looks like the inside of a yacht which makes sense. Clean lines, wood panels, leather booths, lots of blue.
For appetizers, Joming ordered the raw bar, I had the shrimp tempura, and Scott got the salmon tartare – a good spread. We were also surprised with two amuse-bouches, crab cakes on a stick and eggs on eggs (caviar topped deviled eggs) and an introduction to the executive chef himself, Josh Capon. A really nice touch if you ask me.
First: my tempura was AMAZING. I’ve never had shrimp that succulent and the outside crust wasn’t soggy at all, which is usually one of my biggest fears. The spicy mayo sauce had quite a lot of zing and reminded me of the sauce that comes with volcano rolls at Fujiyama Mama (a favorite local sushi place in Westfield). My mouth was so darned happy. And the portion wasn’t teeny tiny either which just meant more shrimp for me!
I didn’t get to try the tartare or the rawtasting, but therewas sound approval from both Joming and Scott, so I’m going to go with their statements and say they were both delicious as well.
Main courses: Joming and Scott had the nori crusted tuna and I went with a perfectly cooked and delicate (rare in my books) grilled salmon. My favorite part of this dish though was the lemon gnocchi underneath, which had the perfect smooth texture and a unique twist in taste from the citrus. This is something I want to try making the next time I get in the kitchen. It just added a whole another aspect to your regular gnocchi pasta. Yum.
Dessert started with another treat from the chef – strawberry creampuffs with a sour-cream poppyseed gelato. Joming couldn’t get her spoon away from the gelato, she just kept spooning away little by little (she though she was being subtle) until there was none left. I loved the creampuffs! They weren’t heavy at all and wonderfully buttery/flaky, but the strawberries cut the richness of the pastry.
There was also a lemon meringue bar, which would’ve been too sweet if there weren’t also the tart blueberries on the side. The sake mojito sorbet was…different. It took a bit to get used to the intriguing taste, but I came to like it by the last couple of bites. Very refreshing. Joming had decided to get the chocolate panna cotta, which I liked. Creamy, silky, smooth…a little bit of bitterness that mellowed out. I wanted more though. The cookie and banana in caramel sauce I didn’t care much for.
All in all, a wonderful meal, no doubt enhanced by the additional bites. I’d love to try Lure’s sushi next time and the raw bar since that’s mainly what the restaurant is known for. Given that it’s passed my initial tasting with flying colors, I’m now definitely more willing to shell out (haha! or not) money for a couple of special rolls and oysters. And now, I’m hungry again! Coming up…BARBECUE!
Lure Fishbar
142 Mercer St.
near Prince St.
212.431.7676
RW – Fleur de Sel
July 25, 2008 § 5 Comments
Restaurant Week kicked off Monday, and yesterday, Cathy, Tonia, and I met for lunch at Fleur de Sel in the Flatiron District near Union Square. The restaurant is rather small with amber lighting and what took up most of our attention while we waiting for our food was a weird sculptural bottle holder with a tree growing out of it. When I got back to a computer, I tried researching the significance of the gnarled plant, but no leaves.
Outside
For Restaurant Week, there were two choices for each of the three courses. For the first, all three of us ordered the chicken liver pate with salad, brioche toasts, and a balsamic reduction. As usual with French cuisine, the portions were small and such a tease. But it was the BEST pate I’ve had. It was so smooth, so creamy, so well-seasoned that I wished they gave us more brioche – light and crisp with a buttery sweetness – because the two paired beautifully. In the end we ended up smearing the extra on slices of the regular country bread they doled out for us throughout the course of the meal.
For the main course, there was pan seared cod with lobster emulsion and lamb shank crepe with baby carrots and turnips served au jus (what I had). The crepe was extremely thin and delicate and there was no skimping on the lamb which was extremely tender. I kept clanging my fork and knife against the plate because I was so eager to eat it all. I tried a bit of Cathy’s cod and it was so light that it broke apart almost immediately after you even slightly prodded it.
Dessert was the perfect end to an excellent meal. There was an assortment of sorbets with a sugary meringue at the bottom and a blueberry crumbcake with sorbet that was surprisingly light. The flavors of each of the sorbets were incredibly distinct – I hate when all you taste is sugar and nothing else when it comes to ice cream/frozen yogurt/etc. The only thing I regretted overall that the three courses were over so quickly.
The prix fixe for lunch is only 5 dollars more than the Restaurant Week price at 29 dollars. Considering the quality and presentation of the food that Cyril Renaud is creating from the kitchen, that’s still a heck of a deal. Plus, the menus change in tandem with the season and availability of ingredients so you’re not always going to see the same choices. Highly recommend it – if you can, try the pate! It was my favorite part of the meal.
Fleur de Sel
5 E. 20th St nr. 5th Avenue
212.460.9100
Warning! Long post: Dylan’s, Papillon, La Maison du Chocolat, and Bo Ky
July 15, 2008 § 20 Comments
Saturday, July 12th, was my second youngest sister’s birthday. Laura turned 15, and two days before, my youngest sister, Jackie, turned 10. What way to celebrate other than a whole day out in New York City? And I mean a whole day.
We first visited the Brooklyn Museum to see the Murakami exhibit for ourselves – Murakami is probably best known for his
art on Kanye West‘s last album and the cherry-covered Louis Vuitton bags. The exhibition as a whole was pretty eye-popping and funky and a bit freaky, something I’m glad we’d seen before it’s closing the next day.
Here’s an example of Murakami’s SUPERFLAT art. See the flowers below the actual canvas? Well, entire walls were covered in those psychedelic happy flowers. Let’s just say I was a bit dizzy by the end.
SUPERFLAT
From Brooklyn, we took the 4 all the way up to 59 and Lex where Laura and Jackie went gaga over the treats at Dylan’s Candy Bar. They’ve just finished renovations, and now the lower level is exclusively for candy while the upper level is a full-out ice cream, frothy drink cafe.
Afterwards, we walked down to 5th where Laura wanted to see the cubed Apple store (there were droves of people waiting in line for the new iphone so we didn’t actually go inside) and amused ourselves in the Ugly Doll section of FAO Schwarz. Other stops included the Disney store (Jackie went beserk when she saw the Jonas Brothers window display), Henri Bendel, and Takashimaya, until we finally decided at 2:00 PM that it was time to eat and randomly chose Papillon.
Papillon was a mediocre “bistro” with the usual French dishes such as French Onion Soup, foie gras pate with greens, etc. Since it was brunch time, we also got brioche French toast (my favorite of the dishes), and a disappointing burger that lacked tenderness, salinityand flavor. I could’ve been eating a chew toy. Well, I guess you win some, you lose some.
Dishes at Papillon
Walked around a bit more until we got to Rockefeller Plaza, where I dragged the two kiddies to La Maison du Chocolat to FINALLY try one (well, three) of their famous macarons.
Is there anything more delicious? These really are the best macarons I’ve had in NYC – the almond meringues on each had the desired crispiness at the initial bite, yet the insides were soft and slightly chewy and went well with the healthy dose of the filling (Financier macarons don’t have enough and that bothers me a bit). My personal favorite was the chocolate and tea. There was a hint of raspberry that lightened the richness of the chocolate, perfect complements to one another. The coffee was delicious, and the caramel a bit too rich and sweet for me, but it was just plain wonderful to finally eat even a single one.
Macarons!
We ended our day out by shopping in Soho. I stopped at Vosges Haut Chocolat to pick up a couple chocolate bars and we looked around the MoMA store to see if there were any interesting gadgets on sale (usually it’s way too pricey for us). But most importantly, we had to eat noodles for dinner. It’s a Chinese tradition to eat noodles on your birthday because the food symbolizes long life, and we went to our family favorite – Bo Ky.
Just simple, duck and mushroom noodle soup at an unbelievably low price. Flavorful broth with condiments on the side that you can add to your heart’s delight, tender duck, and a helping of Chinese broccoli and mushrooms. Comfort food at its finest and a wonderful meal at the end of a very long and jam-packed day. We went home quite happy.
Soy sauce chicken noodle soup
So there you have it, another long day in the best city in the world. I’m biased it’s true, but after this post, how can you not think it so?
Stand at Union Square
June 23, 2008 § 2 Comments
Last Friday I was in the mood for a relatively cheap burger at a restaurant that wasn’t too far from the office. A search narrowed my choice down to Stand near Union Square, which is only two stops away on the 4 train from Fulton Street.
NY Magazine recently mentioned that the restaurant recently changed its burger buns from a doughy, chewy bun to a brioche-like, fluffy bread, and though I hadn’t tried the original, I thought I’d see if the burger was up to the hype.
First though, was my honey lavendar milkshake. Stand uses gelato from the famed Il Laboratorio del Gelato in New York’s Lower East Side to make their gelato and it shows. It wasn’t extremely dense and surprisingly light given that honey and lavendar aren’t as heavy as chocolate or peanut butter to begin with. I loved the herbal undertones and the naturally sweet taste – there’s nothing artificial about this baby. Considering it’s a combination I never would have considered for a milkshake, I was impressed.
Honey lavendar milkshake
I didn’t order fries, no onion rings. I just wanted a big, fat, juicy burger plopped down in front of me that I could bite into. The classic burger I ordered landed with some homemade ketchup (tangy and a bit sweet, but I couldn’t really care less) and looked quite amazing. The bun certainly looked light and soft, and the patty, huge. Oh but what I loved most of all were the glorious juices that spewed out the moment I sunk my teeth into the beauty, probably due to the 70-30 lean-to-fat ratio that Pat La Frieda uses. Oh yeah, the bun was excellent. It held up to the burger and still managed to be all fluffy in my mouth. To be honest though, I had forgotten all about the bun controversy while wiping my hands from all the burger juice.
The Classic
However, despite the abundance of burger juice, the flavor was lacking. Maybe they hadn’t seasoned the meat as much as they should have, but there was definitely something missing that the Shake Shack always delivers, and I’m not talking about the Shack sauce. My taste buds just didn’t have that happy-dance reaction they usually have when I bite into a Double Shack Burger. It was still good though, considering I didn’t have to wait an hour for it, but S.S. still comes out on top in the burger division.
Notes on Food 