Last day of August, 2010. I have to say SOMETHING!

Yesterday I was boiling water to make pasta and there was a spatula resting nearby pan. The plastic handle was touching the pot I was boiling. I smelled something funny but didn’t realize it until the handle was a melted crook.

It’s the last week before the start of school. Not that I had any 2-month long summer break. Still, it feels like fall is just about here and before we know it another year has rolled by. Gosh what a fast year. So what did I do all summer? Let’s see, in reviewing my past entries: eating. Peach picking. Hanging out with friends. Traveling. Blogging. Reading. Gardening. But guess what one common theme ties them all together? Yup – anything edible. I think every activity I’ve engaged in this summer has revolved around food.

Because it’s Summer, of course! And even if it isn’t, whatever, they’re good. Here’s how I make em.

Pluck mint from garden.
Pluck basil from garden.
Bask in the glory of my green thumb!

Summer rolls are like egg rolls that you don’t need to fry or do any heat cooking whatsoever. I’ve only made vegetarian versions of it because when you take out the meat, cooking and the clean-up which follows, is just so much easier. Once you have it down, you can fill it with anything.

So to make these wraps, I buy rice paper from an Asian grocer. I prefer the larger size without sesame seeds. Just round plain rice paper.
I like a thick peanut sauce too though I’ve tried it with fish sauce as well. For the peanut sauce:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 small garlic clove mashed to a paste
• 1 teaspoon chili-garlic paste
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup water

For variations, I’ve added a dash of fish sauce before, a tablespoonful of vinegar, more hot chili-garlic paste than the recipe calls for, and held the mashed garlic clove, in different combinations.

To make the wraps:

1. Grease a large flat pan where you will lay the finished rolls.  They stick together so you have to have enough room to lay them flat and not touch each other.
2. Lay out your fillings in an assembly-line fashion. Or however you want it. (I’ve used grated carrots, cucumber, jicama, mint, basil, cilantro, purple cabbage)
3. Fill a flat pie dish with water.
4. Dip one sheet of rice paper in the water until it’s wet (5 seconds or so) then lay it atop a cutting board or other non-smooth or greased surface.  This stuff is sticky so you have to work quickly.
5. Put a row of the filling in the bottom center of the rice paper leaving room at the bottom and two sides.  I try to make it about the size of 2 rolls of quarters. By now the paper has softened.
6. Fold the bottom flap up to cover the filling, then the two sides towards the middle, then roll it right up!  You don’t need any binder or glue because the rice paper sticks to itself.  Don’t worry about tears or whatnot.

I started the balcony garden 4 months ago (has it been that long already?!). Since then, I’ve enjoyed fresh basil and mint on a regular basis because it’s so easy to use. The other herbs, I just let it grow and grow into a tangled mess. Then, I trimmed it back a bit. Like the lemongrass, I’ve had to mow that once already and it needs to be mowed again. (Really I just take scissors to the overgrown leaves. It grows like crabgrass and smells so divine!

This weekend, I finally put the herbs to use. Not the lemongrass, but the Greek oregano, sage, and rosemary. I chopped them up with garlic, salt, sugar, and pepper and made a rub. It sat in the fridge for two days and then I roasted it in the oven. Mmm…

And tadaa!

This doohickey that needed to be plugged in to the computer came out so that’s why I was Internet-less for almost 2 weeks. It was okay though, I played a lot of Sims2. I figured it out just now, it dawned on me randomly. So here I am, back to talk about more food.

Weeks ago, I raved about the best grilled cheese I ever had at Northside Social, and a couple of people told me to just go make my own! So I took the advice and got three different kinds of cheeses and slapped it all together. It tasted great but I committed a very common grilled-cheese mistake – burnt bread.

Here’s what I learned from the Internet:

• Butter your bread, not the pan so the butter is evenly distributed on the bread.
• Grate the cheese for optimal melting rate.  The faster the cheese melts, the less your bread burns.
• Flip the sandwich!
• Basil is a nice addition, as well as tomato, sauteed onions, or even a fried egg.  I haven’t tried the onions or egg but it sounds tasty.

Here are the cheeses I used:

The Port Salut is a soft spreading cheese. It goes on like peanut butter. Aside from the burnt bread, it was very delicious and fantastic with tomato soup! I won’t need to go out for this anymore!

Doesn’t it seem like all I talk about these days is food, food, and more food? It’s like all I do is eat. I guess it’s partly true, I do love me some food.

So I diligently packed my trusty point and shoot camera with me today and when I tried to take pictures I realized there was no memory card in there. I had taken it out during the Europe trip and never replaced it. No matter – lately, I’ve been blogging just fine without the pictures, though how can you imagine it without seeing it, right? I mean, a big part of the enjoyment of the food is the looking. That’s why we love buffets. Strolling through the displays and admiring all the wonderful possibilities you can shove into your mouth… ahhh.

Ok, I’m going off on a tangent. FOCUS! Lost Dog Cafe. Pizza. Mmmm…. We shared a large Rin Tin Tin (mushrooms, tomato, basil, cheese, and other herbs and greens on a whole wheat crust). The crust is crispy and thin and we both agreed it was tastier than John’s Pizzeria. Sorry NYC, apparently, burb yups can eat as well as the rest of you. The toppings were generous, cheesy, and we loved the uncooked basil leaves sprinkled all over the pizza. The two of us almost managed to finish a whole pie. Had I not had the gimongo lunch at Amina Thai today, I would’ve been able to have more. I noticed the other peoples’ dishes and sandwiches all looked equally delicious. I think this is definitely worth going to and it’s my new favorite pizza place.

This past Sunday, I joined a friend for lunch in Alexandria. Bombay Curry Company. Their buffet was small with very little selection, but what they had was fantastic. I ate EVERYTHING! Three times! I should’ve stopped at plate two though. A. I felt stuffed. B. They stopped taking my plate away after plate two. C. They stopped refilling our water glasses. Yeah if that wasn’t a subtle hint to stop eating, bringing us the check before we even hit dessert made it crystal clear. No matter, it’s a buffet. I wasn’t expecting top notch service. The food alone left me very satisfied. Usually I prefer the rice but their naan here was so good I couldn’t stop myself. I would come back – though I’m not sure they’d want me back since I eat like Sonia Thomas. After lunch we went shopping at all the little boutiques along the road. It was over 100 degrees and we walked about, ducking from one air conditioned shop to another. I don’t know how these businesses stay afloat selling some of the old-lady clothes and tchotchkys and trinkets. I guess folks are still unaware of the magic of Etsy. Still, we both enjoyed window shopping, appreciating the fun of just browsing random shops one after another. I did buy one useful thing – a lightbulb. Finally when we could take the heat no longer, we headed over to the Dairy Godmother. I got their lime mint sorbet. So refreshing! I like this little town, Alexandria.

Saturday night, we had a surprise birthday dinner for a friend in a downtown restaurant called Eatonville. It’s named after Eatonville, FL and the food is southern comfort. Hushpuppies, pork chops, fried green tomatoes, shrimp creole.

The evening was HOT! I mean we walked from 16th Street, through Meridian Hill Park, to 14th Street – a short 15 minute walk left me hot and sweaty. I was hoping for a gush of cold air walking into the restaurant but it was hot inside too. I grabbed a menu and started fanning myself as we worked our way to the table. I thought, yuck, I can’t eat anything, it’s too hot.
Shrimp Creole

I guess southern food was made for hot weather. It’s so good, it brings your appetite back. The hushpuppy appetizer is one giant round of fried corn bread, served with a very delicious shrimp and tomato sauce, and the fried green tomatoes were amazing! And I’m so glad we decided to share an entree because their portions would make the Cheesecake Factory blush.

Giganto Pork Chop
One person joked after he ate all he could of his pork chop that it was now a normal sized chop. Our shrimp creole came in a bowl as large as a large pho. It was filled with rice, a tomatoey sauce, and a generous amount of shrimp and crawdads – I think those are crayfish. It was delicious and we were both stuffed to the gills.

In short, I would go back and I would recommend others to try it.

And I wonder why my pants are all too tight.

Last week, at Northside Social, I had the tastiest grilled cheese sandwich ever! It had 4 different kinds of cheeses and some tomato spread. The creamy tomato soup went perfectly well with it. I’m still smacking my lips. Next Friday I will have it again!!

Yesterday, because I had such a mind-blowing grilled cheese experience last week, I decided to order the same thing again at Luna Grill in Shirlington. It would have been an otherwise perfectly fine lunch except it was ordinary. They made it with one cheese – American. Northside Social has ruined me to the ordinary grilled cheese sandwich.

Work today was as crappy as ever any Monday could be. I wound up staying a bit longer which sucked as usual. But! BUT!! We had plans to go listen to a guitarist who was playing at a restaurant tonight so I had something to look forward to. La Porta in Alexandria. An Italian place – semi fancy but not to the point of schmancy. What I mean is, $30 entrees, but no tablecloths. Without a reservation, we were promptly seated. It’s Monday! The guitarist was wonderful. We enjoyed him immensely and so did a certain little 4 or 5 year old boy who came up more than once to drop money into the tip jar and even requested Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. If you’re ever free on a Monday or Tuesday night, they have $30 specials which includes 2 dinners and a bottle of wine. Can’t beat that! And if you can make it on a Monday night, live music. The music alone would make this place a worthwhile visit but even the food is better than say, The Wharf’s. We had a fish of the day and ravioli. Both dishes were simple, yet delicious. What a way to make an otherwise dreary day, better. I’ve had a headache all day today and still it was a wonderful, fun evening.