Travel = Great Food!

Posted on October 23, 2013 by melsmosaic

When I was in Oregon it meant I had to eat out. Darn! My friends and I explored several places, I only remembered to get pictures at a few.

Day 1: Dinner at McMenamins – Zeus Cafe. Quite the variety. One person has chickpea fries, one went with mussels for appetizers. For dinner, I had a great thin crust pizza with grilled chicken, arugula, tomatoes and something else…I can’t remember what because it was so good!

Day 2: Lunch at Yara Lebanese Cuisine. Any place that makes Baba Ghanouj without dairy to put a ‘lactard’ on cloud nine is unreal (at least in my book). So, we had a mixed plate/yara platter appetizer then I had a house salad, and friends had kababs.

Dinner at Pok Pok. Yes, I had to use the bathroom and what did I find when I was in there? Oh, that they were elected for The James Beard Foundation Awards. This has happened for many, many years.

Anyway, other cool stuff on this place. You go put you name in line/on the list. They give you your buzzer and mention there is a bar across the street where you can wait. They are connected to these guys so you can tell the other bar what your buzzer number is and they’ll take care of it. They let you know when your table is ready. Nicely connected!

When we got our table, jumping ahead a bit, great food! I tried the Yam Tuna — thai style tuna salad with ginger, garlic, thai chilies, green onions, lemongrass, tomatoes and Oregon (oh, yes, local!) Albacore in spicy lime and fish sauce dressing. Some of it had some kick! I can see why this place is well known and recognized.

Day 3: Lunch in wine country!!!!!!!!!! Received several recommendations to try Red Hills Market. People told me it was sort of like a Dean & Deluca on a nice local level. You walk up to the counter, order and then they bring it to your table. I enjoyed a nice salami and arugula sandwich and a delicious bean soup. It was a sort of cloudy day so fit the weather perfectly.

Dinner was based on a recommendation from one of the wineries. You can never go wrong with Mexican! So, my friend and I checked out Verde Cocina. Fresh, delicious, perfect!

For me, the three staples at a mexican restaurant are a margarita, salsa and guacamole. Check!

Here, they serve you nice warm corn tortillas instead of chips with your goods. Deadly…

For dinner, they had ceviche…SOLD! I love the stuff.

Day 4: Dinner at Petisco. Little, local restaurant in the neighborhood where I was staying. I was so thrilled because I was able to have French Onion soup for the first time in ages because they use olive oil (vs butter) in the base and the cheese on top…manchego. What more could one ask? Great way to end my trip in Oregon!

Eggplant & Porcini ‘Meatballs’

Posted on September 30, 2013 by melsmosaic

I love trying new recipes and not long ago I made one that made me remember that I:

-do love cooking

-appreciate that I love cooking

-understand why some people detest cooking

-need to remember to always read the entire recipe before making it for the first time

-will always always always love the kitchen

The recipe was for Eggplant and Porcini ‘meatballs’. Took awhile to track down dried porcini from stores having them out of stock, to others not carrying them to being in sticker shock.

I started making this at 9am and finally finished around 4pm (no, it was not continuous, and I did make a double batch). I was lucky to be using and AMAZING kitchen while doing this.

Some of the basic overviews:

-Roasting the eggplant for about an hour — end result below

-Dried Porcini

-Soak ’em for half an hour.

-You eventually get to chop them, and some onions.

-You sautee those onions with some garlic…ahh, the kitchen smells so good.

-Throw some canned tomatoes in the blender to make them nice and smooth.

-Add those tomatoes to the onions and garlic.

-Throw in some parsley.

-This simmers for awhile. While this is happening you can go back to the eggplant which has had a lot happen to it.

-Shape into ‘meatballs’.

-Whip out the pan to cook them.

-And in the end, you add them to the tomato sauce for a final product…

These were good. I think I’m not saying amazing because they took more effort than I was expecting but everybody whowas had them loved them so that’s all I needed to hear.

I do believe in spooks

Posted on September 22, 2013 by melsmosaic

This is the first thing that came to mind when I was walking through Target the other day and I was surrounded, and that is a light word, by Halloween candy and food. I can’t say all, but many manufacturers put that little twist on what they make/package to draw the attention of consumers for that extra sale. Not quite point-of-purchase (POP) but definitely strategic marketing. It tastes the same but lures that eye. This is the point at which I’m really glad I’m lactose intolerant and can’t eat/consume/splurge/inhale/spend way too much money on most of this stuff.

This is a snapshot of what I say in the Halloween section:

Curiosity…

Posted on September 9, 2013 by melsmosaic

…might kill the cat, but it only creates a (better) cook.

I had this huge bunch of basil left from a recipe I made yesterday and was trying to figure out what I could/should do with it. Didn’t want tomato-basil salad, pesto wasn’t striking my fancy so decided to walk into my kitchen and see what I could do. I opened the freezer and scanned what was in there that I could be creative with and also looked around the counter. And the wheels starting spinning…

I was going to make a unique (?) dressing with fresh basil, fresh lime juice, shallot, pepper, black sea salt (decided that after the first blend) and a bit of olive oil. Wanted to play with appliances so threw it all in the mini-prep. That’s all it took. WOW!

Then, the ingredients I found — simple, basic, easy and healthy — what other words do I need? Like I said, I found them ‘sitting’ around — some were in the freezer and some were fresh. Sort of mentioned this in another post — use what you have! Corn, tomatoes, edamame, mango, olives.

Put them in a bowl (some of each — no specific quantities or ratios), toss with the dressing. Can we say colorful?

Then I served the salad with some pan seared scallops. Great balance of flavors all around. And, a pretty healthy Sunday night meal. Also, with the rest of my tons of basil, I did make pesto — basil, walnuts, olive oil, S&P — that’s it. Forgot garlic…

Genes & Food

Posted on August 28, 2013 by melsmosaic

You learn something new everyday is all too true. I was reading this short, interesting article earlier today in National Geographic about how (some of) what we eat is somehow tied to us, DNA-wise. As the articles states, ‘…at first glance, look like cousins.’ Glad they said that because for a second I had to think…does this truly mean we are what we eat?

Ok, back on true topic. From that flank steak & burger to a great chicken breast; then further down the line, think of that rice some stir-fried chicken might go on top of. Baker’s yeast — bring on the bread — was on there! And, wine grapes, not just ‘grape’ grapes made the list.

The article mentions how while all species are unique, from inanimate to breathing objects, we have many genes in common at the base. Check out the article. I just though it was great to learn about. The kitchen and food can be much more/provide much more information than we think. Talk about food for thought.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/125-explore/shared-genes

Peach Picking

Posted on August 25, 2013 by melsmosaic

It’s an absolutely beautiful day at the end of August (high 70s, low humidity?!?!?) so my friend and I decided to go peach picking at a local farm. This place is amazing. You can head out there almost year round to pick seasonal fruit at your leisure. It is dangerous in the sense that you pick and pick, maybe take sample to refuel, then pick and pick. When you eventually get to the register you realize you have pounds and pounds of amazing fruit. When you go to the grocery store you’re aware of what you get. But, oh well. This is FUN! This place is called Homestead Farm and is located in Poolesville, MD, about 30-45 minutes outside of DC.

You start by picking your box to collect your goods. Why not go with the big one today?

You can get a ride to the peach trees or you can walk. It’s such an amazing day, we had to walk. Once there, we saw there were about 5 rows of peach trees. We had to go fairly deep in the rows to find trees that still had the goods. Then, let the picking begin.

As mentioned, you just go and go. I worked to get some not-so-ripe ones so they’d last longer. I was also thinking I can chop some and put them in the freezer. My friend and I did sample a couple to keep us going. We eventually decided to call it quits.

We headed back to the main entrance to check out. They also have a ton of other veggies. I picked up some cherry tomatoes. (Oh, the peaches were $1.79/lb).

Per the Farm, apples are available for picking next week. That will be some Labor Day weekend fun. Bring on the fruit.

Easy Wrap-Up Dinner

Posted on August 20, 2013 by melsmosaic

So I’m a bit late writing about a quick, easy wrap-up dinner I made for Sunday night. It only took a few minutes but gave so many flavors that it was just perfect, and it was lactose free! Served some wine with it and it made going back to work on Monday even worse. Always think…make things easy…use this during the week if you want to.

I had a yellow squash that had been around for a few days that I needed to use before it went bad. So I just sliced that and put it in a pan for a bit until it was cooked to the level I wanted. A few minutes before it was done, I threw some grape tomatoes in the pan just to have them ‘pop.’ I’d been craving shrimp, so I pulled some of the frozen one out of the freezer earlier in the day. I just pan seared those about half way through the cooking of the yellow squash. Oh, for spices on these, I just picked one of my Penzey’s blends.

I looked in my fridge for what else to serve. Had some grapefruit that I always love and they are highly recommended to eat before a meal (if you’re able to) — just having it on the plate was good enough for me. Served a couple pieces of that. And I can never turn olives down. Threw some of the greek ones from Trader Joe’s on there. Had also grabbed some bread earlier in the day and just did some olive oil, S&P for dipping.

Next, the vino! At the liquor store outside of Annapolis this time, Edgewater Liquors, the recommendation was La Mondianese Grignolino. Was about $16… Very light, refreshing…will have to get more.

Also had a little bit of Cline’s Cool Climate Pinot Noir. This is one of my favorites. Since it’s grown where the temps don’t rise a ton (I learned the specs once and don’t remember all the details), it has a different taste than the other Pinot. It’s usually about $18-$20.

Love finishing the week with a nice dinner before starting a new one.

New All Around

Posted on August 6, 2013 by melsmosaic

Had some friends over for dinner the other night and there were new tastes all around the table, from cheese to salad to wine.

For pre-dinner, my friend was kind enough to bring non-cow milk cheese to make the lactose intolerant person happy. One of them was a Honey Goat Gouda from Trader Joe’s. I normally can’t stand goat cheese but love gouda. This was totally on the good side. I highly recommend it! The other was a manchego from TJ’s that I’ve had before that is equally as delicious! Great way to kick off the night.

We had three wines throughout the evening, kicking off with a Virginia white. The first was Rappahannock Cellar’s Viognier. It was a nice local grape, pairing nicely with the appetizers.

For dinner I made a recipe I had been wanting to try for awhile — Citrus-Avocado Salad. It was AMAZING! For the tamari almonds it calls for, a friend gave me the great idea of making them vs. buying them to save money. All you need to do is toss the almonds in some soy sauce, a couple dashes of Worcestershire Sauce and a pinch of sugar. You bake them at 250 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Done! For the blood oranges, sometimes they are tough to find. I came across red oranges at one grocery store. Otherwise I was going to use grapefruit or just regular oranges.

With this salad I served some pan seared (vs grilled because I live in an apartment and can’t have a BBQ) chicken breasts and quinoa.

The wines we enjoyed with this included two reds. One from Virgina — First Colony Cab from a winery in Monticello — very nice. Again, I’m finding Cabs I like — something is happening to me. The second red is one I discovered/was introduced to a few years back — Eleven. It’s from Washington and the specific varietal was the 2008 La Ronde.

Recap: Great dinner. Rave reviews around the table. Now I just keep thinking about what the next meal will bring. Cheers.

Zuch-anoush and More Mediterranean Flair

Posted on August 1, 2013 by melsmosaic

More playing in the kitchen! I had this enormous zucchini that my friend gave me from her garden that led me make a twist to one of my favorite dips. When I can find Baba Ganoush without dairy (yogurt) because of my lactose intolerance I love it, but it can be hard. So, I tend to make it at home. But, it’s fun to make small changes to the recipe. Therefore, I have made it with zucchini vs. eggplant a few times. The hardest part of all this is thinking ahead and roasting the zucchini a for a good 45 or so minutes. You just cut the zucchini into big chunks, throw it on a cookie sheet and put it in oven at about 425 to roast it.

When it’s done, you want to be sure to squeeze it to get rid of extra water. After that, throw it in the food processor and add tahini, lemon juice, garlic, S&P…and any other spices you might like. This batch seemed to be missing something but it was still good! I dipped carrots and crackers into it.

I was in a Mediterranean mood that day and continued in the kitchen and made a Village salad. I’d grabbed a great yellow (vs traditional red) tomato at the farmer’s market and added a cucumber that I had from my friend’s garden and some greek olives. I had a red onion in my fridge but totally forget to put that in there. I threw some other ingredients in the mix to both clear out my fridge and add some fun — celery and walnuts. Sprinkled with a Penzey’s spice mix and olive oil. Great, healthy, hearty meal!

Veggies, grains, fish and nuts

Posted on July 23, 2013 by melsmosaic

I continue to enjoy little-to-no-cook meals, and my next great chance came when my friend gave me some cucumbers from her garden the other day. Can’t let those go to waste. So I debated what to do with them. Normally I like to cover them in hummus but decided I could expand my horizons. I decided to go for a simple quinoa and veggie salad.

Quinoa is just a powerhouse for us, if you hadn’t heard. Need a quick cheat sheet? Check it out here. It’s also great for those who are gluten intolerant. My favorite one is the Tri-Color Quinoa from Trader Joe’s. I cooked that first (the nice 15 minutes, including boiling time). While that was underway, I cut my cucumbers into big chunks and found the other ingredients I wanted to throw into the salad. I opted for grape tomatoes, canned tuna, some walnuts and just a simple oil & vinegar dressing, oh, and S&P.

This was perfect! So refreshing, healthy and very filling. There are so many variations you can make to it, too. Any veggie, any meat, any nut. So, what are you making for dinner tonight?