Rabbit food

Found this at the grocery store and didn't know what to do with it. I think it's a sprout of some kind. I thought it would be good in a salad so I tasted one sprig of it but no bueno. It tasted too grass-like. Too fiber-ous? 

So then I put a little bit of it in on a frying pan. And then it was GREAT!!!

Crunchy. Fresh. Splendid. 

So then I put it in some lo mein.  

It's nice that it has the same shape as the noodles so with every bite of lo mein, you get a bit of noodle + sprout.

and of course added hot sauce (in this case Sriracha)  

and ate it. 

THE END!

Joys of whole fish

This is my second shoutout to Melissa Clark. She's officially become my new chef/food writer guru. After watcing her vid on whole fish, I gleefully gutted and descaled 3 little fishies my uncle had caught in the Chesapeake. Fish organs are surprisingly recognizable ("oo there's the liver!") and I had a brief moment of delirium as I thought about how I missed being in the operating room. 

Since I have 3 little nemos, I'm going to try 3 different recipes starting with the most superior--Chinese! My plan was to first crisp up the skin on some hot oil and deglaze with soy sauce and water. 

Here are the little fish. I don't know what they are cept that they have these stripes and sharp fins.

The aromatics

Braised (?) in soy sauce

Half eaten

 To be honest, I think my fish was undercooked and slimey. Given my extreme aversion to raw fish, I felt a little sick so didn't eat the rest. 

In the end, the flavors were more or less right but definitely cooking the crap out of my next fish. 

2 pics

Farmer's market loot

Lobster hash (Scion in Dupont Circle)

Shepherd Pie..in a bundt pan

My goal these next few weeks are to make big batches food that will last me for several days, like Rachel Ray's 1 meal 5 days concept. Last week it was lasagna. This week I'm going back to my roots. 
My first memories of Australian (although more accurately British) food was eating shepherd pie in grade school. We could order a little bag of meat pies or shepherd pie for something like $2 and I was particularly fond of the shepherd pie for it's crusted potato topping. Thus, shepherd pie is especially comforting for me (like all foods you remember from childhood) so I love revisiting it as an adult. I added a few twists: parmesan and garlic in the mashed potatoes, a little curry spice in the meat but mostly stuck to the basics. I also highly advise against using ground turkey. It really does not have enough moisture and isn't nearly as flakey as beef. I didn't add any gravy to the meat, it had enough natural juices by itself.
Oh bundt pan is just because I didn't have any other baking equipment that I thought was deep enough. 

Beef and stuff

Topped with mashed potato with fork excoriations (very good for creating little burnt ridges of potato which actually did not work, see next picture)

Finished product!

Top got a little toooooooo crusted under the broiler (got distracted skyping!) but crunchy and good nonetheless...cheeses oozed out

My plate.

Potatoes seep into the meat mixture. 

Shepherd pie=homey goodness

Steamed eggs

Another wonderful, edible egg dish. How versatile the little buggers are!
I'm not exactly sure what the correct translation of this dish is. Literally, it would be "egg pudding". It is also unclear whether it is a family recipe or a Chinese thing but I've yet to hear of anyone other than my mom making this dish.


All you do is scramble three eggs. 

Then add .. I don't know... 1/4 cup of lukewarm water (I got it straight from the kitchen faucet). 
Then stick it in this little steamer and put it in a pot that is bigger than the bowl with about 1 inch of water on the bottom. 

 Boil for about..15-20 minutes. Don't let the water run dry. 

 The end. You need not add anything else, but I dressed it up with a bit of cilantro, a dash of sesame oil and a hefty amount of soy sauce (sodium addict!)

Digging in


I've yet to make it exactly like madre. (But then again, mom's cooking will always taste better!) But I'm suspecting it is that I scrambled too much after adding water which resulted in too many bubbles. Next time, I will slowly drizzle in water and try not to unsettle the scrambled eggs.


Nonetheless, this is what I call comfort food. It is the perfect dish in all of the following situations
1) there is nothing in your fridge except a carton of eggs
2) you had your wisdom teeth removed
3) you have TMJ (my current self-diagnosed ailment)
4) you are cold
5) it is raining
6) your stomach feels weird


and so on.

Essie

New and (unfortunately expensive) habit of collecting Essie nail polish. 

Spring-->Summer-->Fall colors

Have yet to collect my blacks/dark purples for the winter so that I can wear all-black all the time. 

Fiji (finally an opaque pink!), Cute as a Button, Peach Daquiri, Mint Candy Apple (my fave! see below), Glamour Purse, Mochachino

Dream "work bag"

Things I like to carry to and fro work every day

umbrella

cardigan (for my poor thermoregulation)

iPad

lunch bag

coffee thermos

Moleskine

sunglasses + enormous case

pencil case (yes I still have a pencil case)

random scattering of papers/bobby pins/coins

pager that never needs to be paged

phone/iPod

large continental wallet

Occasionally

makeup bag

random books

pair of flip flops/flats

gym bag

Problem: high maintenance.

Solution: high maintenance "it" bag

the Celine Luggage Bag tote

(From Bagsnob.com)

Tofu noodles

This probably barely qualifies as a cooking post. 
But I thought I'd introduce an excellent spaghetti alternative. Tofu noodles. High in protein, low in carb, (also gluten free!) but still long and stringy. 
TADA!
These are five-spice tofu noodles. They also have non-flavored ones. They are made from soy and they're from H-mart (king of Asian grocery stores). Here's what they look like right out of the bag. They're already cooked, I often munch on them while putzing around in the kitchen.

These are all the ingredients I had on hand that particular day.

As you can see all the prep I did was slice up the bell pepper

A hefty dosing of soy sauce later..and voila

These are indeed more or less the same ingredients I used for my peanut noodles post. But as you can see, tis quite interchangeable with spag. 

New foods

I'm all about trying new or newish things and this weekend was particularly productive for that. Unfortunately, except for the clams, the pictures are only representative ones I found on the internets.

New things that I LOVED

Razor clams with oregano, lemon juice + EVOO

(Purple Pig)

Balsamic braised pig tails (Purple Pig)

Fried pig ear, fried egg, banana peppers (Purple Pig)

( dish I hope to recreate as soon as I get my hands on dem ears..!)



New foods that I hated

RAW FISH!

I only had a spicy tuna roll and dry heaved while chewing it.

My general philosophy that people should try new things, however, after this weekend, I'm very content to NOT eat raw fish. Despite enjoying weird animal parts (see above), I just think certain things should be cooked certain ways. To me, eating a rubbery, fleshy piece of fish is like drinking curdled milk. Alas, I will not be a sophisticated sashimi eater.

Weekend Food Diary

Friday night:
Tapas at Jaleo..Ole! Highlights were breaded and fried bacon wrapped dates and potatos bravas. Low-lights was a strange paella with sausage and strange bits of vermicelli (no rice/no seafood paella?) and dried out artichoke hearts.
We had both white and red sangria. I almost always prefer white wine. This one was infused with strawberries that I fished out and ate :)

Saturday:
AM-Lazy Saturday brunch. Fried some uncured bacon end bits from Trader Joe's, scrambled eggs and french toast. Keurig coffee, I had a Gloria Jean's cappucinno flavored K-cup. Also had a bit of horrible OJ from concentrate.
It was hurricane mania out there. We couldn't find a flashlight to buy anywhere. Ended up with 3 scented candles and a new board game.

PM-great afternoon nap instead of gymming. Woke up and realized there was only moderate rain and that we may be able to make our dinner reservation. Ordered our dinner in the car in case the kitchen closed early for the hurricane. We shared a mushroom risotto with pearl pasta. Mind-blowing. Best risotto I've ever had. Very garlicky and salty. For dinner we had oil poached halibut and short ribs with pappardelle. Not as good as the appetizer. Ended our fancy dinner with an elaborate banana split.

Only bad part of the dinner was that someone stole my umbrella from the communal umbrella bin. And during a hurricane! Decided not to pass on the favor by stealing someone else's umbrella. Ended the night with a few different beers. All beers taste so similar to me I could not tell you which was which.

Sunday:
AM-scrambled eggs, hash brown and Italian sausage. More Keurig coffee.
PM- post workout Bellini/watermelon martini in Georgetown. Shared a chicken pesto white pizza with sundried tomato..it was okayy..wish we had a salad instead.

Another afternoon nap later, I attempted to make my own paella for dinner for 7. In a nutshell: brown rice, white wine, saffron, chicken thighs, tiger shrimp, mini squid (cuttlefish?), red bell peppers, shittake 'shrooms, garlic, mussels. Mussels dried out, but the rest turned out well. Considering investing in a paella pan...paella is a great summer company dish. It'd be good for other stove top to oven dishes too. Side salad of sliced Persian cucumber & radish. Easiest salad ever..just toss with rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. Finished with Korean honey dew flavored ice-cream bars.


So that was my weekend! I type this while munching on grape tomatoes at my desk.

Food Diary

Read the most amazing article about a woman who's my new food eater/writer/cooker IDOL.

Highlights from the article:

"I had the fried chicken — it's famous for coming with the chicken foot still attached. Daniel had the chicken, and I had the foot. I really love chicken feet, and I'm really good at eating them. You can chew on the bones and very, very delicately kind of spit them out. It's a dainty maneuver"


"Monday night is Daniel's night to cook, and he makes a better roast chicken than I do. It's the best roast chicken in the world. That night he did it with fingerling potatoes and carrots. Everything was still crunchy and so delicious. We were just so happy about it that we broke out a bottle of nice wine. Is there a better reason to open a nice bottle than making the perfect roast chicken? I don't think so. "

I've decided therefore, to make my own food diary for the upcoming weekend. I have a special guest visiting and there is an upcoming hurricane. This shall make for some potentially creative eating.

Neutral toned shoes

Vicky B has been my fashion idol since the height of Spice Girls glory and I was wee little back then. In her fashion guide, "That extra half inch", Ms. B talks about the awesomeness of nude heels for elongating the leg. I read that several years ago, and here is what I noticed in my wardrobe today. 

Now I just need to work on my Hermes collection....

Clam linguine

Shellfish is the funnest!!!


Only my second time with clams and last time I made this dish, it turned out quite sandy. This time I scrubbed + rinsed + rinsed + rinsed. Success, no more sandy pasta!

So here's what I did..

1. Threw a decent amount of finely chopped shallots + at least 3 cloves of chopped garlic into a decent amount of EVOO. Clearly I did not measure anything. 

2. Threw in a few tablespoons of diced canned tomato. I like the Italian flavored canned dice tomatoes. 

3. Poured in a decent amount of Riesling. The only white I had on hand. 

4. Threw in a few sprigs of saffron. This is bolded as this was my first cooking with saffron experience!! 

5. Threw in the carefully washed clams. All of those pictured in the orange container. 

6. On the side, I boiled some of my fave pasta..whole wheat spaghetti. (I guess this is clam spaghetti rather than clam linguine.)

Once the clams are done popping, combine with the pasta. That's it! 

Because I eyeballed everything, I was surprised that there was a fair amount of fluid that came from the clams. Nonetheless, that broth was amazing. I didn't have to add any salt. I LOVE SEAFOOD and all it's salty glory.

Windowsill Basil

Just bought my third (fourth?) basil plant. Why are they so difficult to keep alive? I always feel like they're a good investment since a packet of store bought basil is not only as expensive as the entire plant but lasts a few seconds in the fridge. So this year, I've decided to finally learn how to make my basil plant grow on the windowsill. Let's be real, I'm not expecting some flourishing basil growing bizniz, just a little chiffon to throw on some of my food experiments every now and then. Some tips I found online that don't seem horribly inconvenient:
1) Keep plant in direct sunlight, at least 6 hours a day.
2) Keep the soil moist but well drained
3) Cut the leaves off the top of the basil stalk for cooking. Also encourages branching
4) Pinch off the little white flowers that grow


I'm rather ambivalent about buying fertilizer, a new pot and soil and all that. I'd rather just keep buying new basil plants. 
Wish me luck.

New go-to spaghetti dish

Ever since tomato sauce started giving me GERD (reflux), I have been experimenting with non-tomato accompaniments to pasta. I realized spaghetti tastes great with olive oil, slightly browned garlic, lots of S&P, maybe some chili flakes or basil. Since I pretty much always have these ingredients in the pantry, this became my go-to spaghetti dish. Over time, however, I felt like there wasn't quite enough flavor (which I at times tried to resolve with dunking in some soy sauce..), and it was all carbs! The most recent Minimalist video, however, showed me how I could add both flavor, and some green without adding complexity. 


Key changes
1) Anchovies! 
2) Sliver (instead of crushing) the garlic and don't burn the garlic!
3) Don't boil the pasta all the way til al dente, it will keep cooking when tossing with garlic + anchovies
4) Toss with arugula on the counter, it will wilt with the heat of the pasta alone and still retain a little crunch and flavor. 

Key ingredients

Finished product

(cannot see the anchovies or garlic, but they are there I promise, the anchovies break up in the olive oil)

Winner!! Anchovies add a subtle but salty after taste and arugula adds crunch, color and green veggie goodness. And it was still easy, fast and cheap!

Random things I made

Per Jeanie's P's advice, I am uploading more posts despite the fact that her blog is way more professional!!
Here are random things I made that I suppose I did not think were worthy of their own post.

Asparagi in egg..effectively asparagus frittata..

Sweet potato, onions, cilatro salad with balsamic vinaigrette 

"Messy lasagna"

Left over lasagna noodles, asparagus and romano

Peanut noodles (pasta)

There was this little cafe next to our 1st/2nd yr lecture hall that sold overpriced sandwiches. They had this one little boxed lunch with noodles + peanut sauce that I became addicted to. This dish is my attempt to recreate that. 
There's not too much to it. It's whole wheat pasta, strips of zucchini and red bell peppers, 'shrooms + kale. Really whatever vegetable you want. The sauce is a mixture of peanut butter dissolved in soy sauce and Sriracha. I sort of mix + taste until I like it (not too spicy, not too salty, not too clumpy). Thin it out with water if necessary such that it becomes a consistency that can coat the pasta. It's a heavy but deliciously hearty dish.

Savory Scones

Old post (only because I am DONE with my surgery rotation - yay)
Was inspired by the scones on one of my fave blogs cupcakesandcashmere.com Mainly, I really wanted to play with some dough and to eat something that was not a granola bar (hello surgery rotation). However, I am generally not a dessert person but on foodgawker.com, I discovered how freakin versatile scones are. Indeed, I managed to forage around my kitchen for enough ingredients to make zucchini + Asiago scones. Now it's like legitimate food and not just a sugary snack!

Lime Cilantro Dressing

Few things better this summer than Lime Cilantro dressing. The two foods are besties. I can think of a myriad of things you can throw this healthy, fresh, light dressing on. Lettuce, cucumber, potato, chicken, white fish, asparagus, hard boiled eggs....so on.


I like it simple. Just lime, cilantro (the whole cilantro + stalk gives it a nice grainy texture I think!), a little honey and EVOO into the blender. Maybe throw in one garlic clove. Amazing. Simple. Toss it on everything.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT-Ej50BUMhyYRVkJERcy12Mvuqv6ROje_m76MsGh4y3bg0y20lhquakagd5Xgli_LQv6y_3OrlY9QpyuWpESo9tu0mmFDKOHOcdwRAhARpRYxSQrQet7QXrZMEKDzw0nx5peI/s1600-h/Chef+Mayra+cilantro+lime+pitcher.jpg)