Category Archives: Food

Temporary picky eater

Posted by Leaf on December 14, 2011 3 comments

Every time I return from vacationing in places that have a lot of really good food, I lose my appetite when I get home. Plus I get so used to eating out all the time it also takes me a while before I get back my cooking groove. This time, I think it’s also partly due to jetlag. We’re so discombobulated and sleepy at all the wrong times, I’ve slept through dinner and woken up hungry at 2 or 3 AM. I didn’t used to struggle like this with jetlag. This must be part of getting old!

Here’s one cure for loss of appetite.
Bacon cheeseburger
Good ol’ BGR still keeps us coming back. This time we got a bacon cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. Mmm… yummy.

Eat your heart out Bourdain

Posted by Leaf on December 13, 2011 1 comments
Isn’t food generally the theme to most travels?  Especially when you go to to Asia.  I mean, in Asia, it’s all food all the time.
Even their 7-11′s had a nice selection of good food.

Tea eggs 7-11Tea eggs for instance.

I have a litany of favorites, starting from our hotel breakfast buffets, to the myriad of street foods and small shops.
And the tropical fruits - Passion fruit, custard apples, guava, wax apples, and papaya.  Even the fruits we can get here like oranges seemed sweeter in Taiwan.

Wax and custard apples

One of our most favorite foods there were the dong shan duck heads.  Marinated then cooked then fried.  They were so flavorful.  And if you can chew the beak you can eat it. 
Dong shan duck head
Even when we were too full to eat, we still ate a little bit more.

Got Sick, Got Well, then ATE!

Posted by Leaf on November 18, 2011 1 comments

We came down with a bout of a stomach bug earlier this week, Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon for each of us. It came and went lickity split. Without going into the details, let’s just say I lost some weight in a bad way. At first, I thought I made us sick with bad food served Monday evening. Now we learned it may have been from hanging out with nieces during our Non-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner because other family members there also got the same symptoms. By yesterday though, we were well and I was so hungry last night we went out for some Korean at Honey Pig.
Grilled pork belly and octopus with cabbage and spicy sauce

It was pretty tasty and less expensive than your typical Korean restaurant. The hot soondubu hit the spot on a cold evening and it had been a while since we’ve gone out for a dinner date on a weeknight so I especially relished it. I noticed that the restaurant filled up more as the evening wore on. When we arrived at 7ish there were empty tables. By the time we left at 8:30 there were people waiting by the door. Don’t they have work tomorrow!? The ambience has sort of an Asian street food feel to it. Service was pretty decent. They cook the grill for you. I’d recommend ordering some kind of soup to tide you over while you wait for the food to cook. The only one minor gripe is I wish they would’ve filled our water more seeing as how the food can be pretty spicy and salty. I’d go back though and I’d take friends there.

Non-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner!

Posted by Leaf on November 14, 2011 None comments

We celebrated this Thanksgiving a week early at a cousin’s house this past Sunday. There was turkey, smoked and roasted, vegetables, dressing, trifle. Food galore! I went in like I usually do, in my battle gear, stretchy jeans. If I was really serious though, I would’ve worn sweatpants. I wanted to reserve a little dignity though. Or try.

I loved meeting cousin’s 2 English bulldogs and cat. All three such sweet furballs of softness. The dogs were so loveable with their ugly smooshed noses, tongue too big for the mouth so it rested between its underbite jaw, right between the 2 canines, and funny butt wiggling gait. I need one!! NEEED!!
Mr. T
After dinner we watched some football and then were sent home with leftovers. I had it all over again for lunch today. Delish! Smoked turkey is awesome. Anyway, I think I like this method of celebrating Thanksgiving, doing it on another weekend. There was no traffic whatsoever, and I bet the grocery stores weren’t as crazy.

Did I mention the flappy jowls!?!

11-11-11

Posted by Leaf on November 11, 2011 None comments

Happy Friday! I’ve been learning so much from these fashion blogs and online videos since yesterday. Like today, I measured myself and learned that my skirts ought to sit about 1″ above my knees. And I’ve even purchased more stuff. Like a Goody’s Spin Pin and Japanese Bumpit from eBay.

We had dinner with our lovely neighbors, parents of Puppy and Kitty. I love babysitting for them.

I made a baked buttercup squash. Just cut them up and sprinkle cinnamon and Trader Joe’s pumpkin pie spice on them with a little drizzle of maple syrup.

And I also made pecan crusted tilapia. It’s so easy and delicious.

First make the crust. In a food processor, crumble a hard cheese. Parmesan or asiago will do. Add garlic powder, herbs de Provence or some other herb mix, and pecans. Blend it until it becomes a coarse mixture.
crusting.

Coat the tilapia with mustard. I have 2 mustards mixed together here. Be generous. It will taste wonderful.
tilapia and mustard

Dredge the mustard-coated tilapia filets on the pecan crust.
pecan crusted tilapia Sprinkle any remaining crust over the fish.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Eggplant Lasagna

Posted by Leaf on November 8, 2011 None comments

I think I make a lasagna once every other year. It’s just so involved, with so many ingredients, and multiple steps, but I like the convenience of being able to freeze it for a future night when I don’t feel like cooking.

This time, I wanted to try making it without any pasta. I walked around the produce section trying to think of an alternative and ended up grabbing 2 eggplants.

  • Eggplants – sliced
  • Ground beef – browned and drained
  • Ricotta mixed with 1 egg and some herbs (oregano and basil)
  • Parsley
  • Tomatoes
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Frozen spinach
  • Shredded cheese – mozzarella & fresh asiago
  • Salt/Pepper/Cinnamon/Cumin/Red chili flakes/chili powder/Oregano/Basil
  • Tomato Paste

Pan fry eggplant
Slice the eggplant and pan fry it in some oil. About 2 minutes on each side. It’s just to give it some flavor. Set it aside once done.

Browned beef
Separately brown and drain about 2 lbs of ground beef. I bought 4 lbs of it not realizing how much it would be. I have no clue about portions. This is why I ended up with 3 lasagnas this time.

Tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs
Saute the tomatoes, grated garlic, and onions in a large pot. Don’t do what I did and think I can fit all this into a medium pot. Use the biggest one you have. This dish seemed to grow as I cooked it and I ended up having to transfer this into a larger pot. Again with the no clue about portion judgement.

parsley
Add the parsley.

frozen spinach and tomato paste
Add the herbs, flavorings, spices, salt, and the frozen spinach and tomato paste.

Add the beef
Add the beef.

Ricotta with egg
While all of that is cooking down, stir in 1 egg with the ricotta and add some herbs like oregano and basil for flavor. Set this aside.

Bottom layer
I only managed to make one layer of each ingredient. The beef and vegetable mixture was too hearty and chunky, the eggplant was sliced too thick, basically one layer was all I could manage. It made the assembly quick though.

Middle layer - Eggplant and ricotta
Here’s layer 2. Eggplant slices and ricotta.

Topped with shredded mozarella & asiago
And the yummiest part, the shredded cheese.

Quasi pastaless eggplant lasagna
Bake it at 350 F for about 25 to 30 minutes for until it smells delicious and looks golden.

Freeze it or eat it. Or if you’re like me and wind up with a half a dozen lasagnas, do both.

The epitome of fine dining

Posted by Leaf on November 5, 2011 None comments

Pizza and burgers are conceptually such simple foods, and yet so hard to do well at home. At least for me.

For over 2 long weeks, I have been hankering for a pizza loaded with anchovies. One whole pizza all for myself, with super salty little fish. Pupatella’s is probably the best Neapolitan-style pizza I’ve had locally. Which okay, I’ve only had it from maybe 3 or 4 other places but it is good and we’ve gone back many times.

For dinner, we went to BGR. Our new favorite burger joint. I mean, for the most part, the local restaurants all make decent burgers but BGR just makes it a little better. A bit bigger, a bit juicier, lots of flavor, and so decadent.

My purpose in life is to enjoy delicious foods and this is one of them.

Scrambled eggs

Posted by Leaf on October 28, 2011 None comments

Ok.  Western-style scrambled eggs.  Easy peasy right?  Right.  Yet I’ve never done it before until today.   Here are some tips I read about, which helped:

  1. Use a cast iron skillet.  That’s my preference anyway.  I think its non-stick properties and even heat distribution help.
  2. Use at least 6 eggs.  Unless you have a tiny pan, any fewer eggs and it gets hard to scramble around the pan.  And believe me, you can eat them.  I think I ate 4 eggs worth in one sitting.
  3. Add some flavoring.  Salt, cayenne, paprika, pepper, what-have-you.
  4. Don’t add milk, cream, or any of that.  It’ll just separate from the eggs and get all weird.
  5. Use a whisk to beat some bubbles into the eggs to make them fluffy.  Whisk right before adding to the pan so the bubbles don’t get a chance to flatten out.
  6. Use medium/low heat.  Take the pan off or move it around as necessary.
  7. Stir and keep stirring as you cook with chopsticks.  A wooden spatula or spoon would work too but apparently chopsticks supposedly make the perfect-sized curdles.  I have to admit, when I tried it, it was pretty dang easy.
  8. Take it off the heat before the doneness you desire.  The eggs keep cooking afterwards.  I like my scrambled eggs well done.

Bayou DC

Posted by Leaf on October 17, 2011 None comments

In my delirious hunger right before dinner, I scarfed a third of a chicken and a pot of lentils so by the time we got to Bayou, I could barely breathe let alone eat anymore food. So I’ll just have to share the verdict: Thumbs up!

The ambiance is a lot like a sports bar. A lot of TVs all around the room. It’s pretty casual.

The food, like the name of the place, is creole.
Crawfish and andouille sausage cheesecake
Crawfish & Andouille Sausage Cheesecake (appetizer)

The biscuits are a lot like Popeye’s biscuits (that’s a compliment). And it came with sweetened butter.

Crawfish carbonara
And they kindly split our shared entree of Crawfish carbonara. Which came in handy because we ended up boxing up the other half.

The theme for our selections was crawfish if you couldn’t tell.

The WashPost Fall Dining Guide

Posted by Leaf on October 13, 2011 4 comments

I always look forward to the biannual release of Seitsema’s dining guide.  It’s not that I always agree with his assessments, but the guy has good insights and I am always curious about what he has to say about the dining scene in this area.

I’m sure it’s hard to put together a dining guide that’s comprehensive and for the most part, I think he steers people in the right direction.  But being the opinionated person that I am (particularly when it comes to food) here’s what I think:
Though they are on the list, these are not on my places to go to:
  • La Canela - Go to La Limena instead, which is nearby.  La Canela food was too salty and it didn’t make me want to go back.  La Limena, on the other hand, was delicious.  I’ve been back numerous times.  The only difference is La Canela is fancy sit-down while Limena is almost cafeteria-like.  But, for me, you can dress up a room any old way.  If the food doesn’t shine, nothing else matters.
  • Han Sung Oak – There are a ton of good Korean places.  If you ask even one Korean, you’ll get a bunch of different recommendations.  Personally, I like Arirang in Germantown.  In Annandale, there are so many I haven’t tried, it’s hard to say, but Yechon has been great the 2 or 3 times I’ve been there.  I guess it’s like pho… just wherever is convenient and suits personal tastes.  I wouldn’t go out of my way to patron this one in particular.
  • Pete’s Apizza – While this DC one may be different from the one I went to in Arlington, it’s pizza.  Convenience plays a big part in this.  As pizzas go though, we both came out of the Arlington Pete’s saying, it was good but we probably won’t go back, it just wasn’t that good.
  • Burma Road – It’s alright, as in edible, but I wouldn’t choose to go back nor recommend it to anyone.
On my list of places to go after reading this guide:
  • Ripple – Well it was on my list already, but this makes me want to try it all the more.
  • Fast Gourmet – It’s a gas station cafe.  I’m curious.  Sometimes the best finds are these tucked away (though now, not so tucked away) gems.
Granted, these are the places I’ve never been on the list that I want to try.  I would love to go back to Rasika any old day.
Meh, maybe
  • Ren’s Ramen – This place really isn’t a huge go-out-of-my-way to try place, but if I were in the area and wasn’t sure where to go, I might go here.  Though I’d prolly head to Max’s nearby first to get that shwarma and falafel.  Now THAT’s on my list.  Max’s.
  • Nostos – This is from the same owner as Mykonos Grill off the Pike.  I might try it if I happened to be driving around Tyson’s which is rare.  Mykonos is great though and the 3 or so times I’ve been to Mykonos, I’ve enjoyed it and have shared it with others.  It’s quite special.  So it’s not on my gotta try list, I’d just as well go to Mykonos.  But I wouldn’t be against trying it either.