It's 2010 bitches!

I have just come home from partying friends. I did not even go to a bar and yet somehow lost my purse and wallet in the process of getting home. Did I mention that I have flight tomorrow? And did I mention that the car that I left my purse in is my friends, God love her, who is constantly 5 hours late to everything. Not exactly the place you want to leave it when you have a flight to catch. Especially when a Nigerian would-be bomber causes such a ruckus that I need to get to the airport at least 2-3 hours early,

But before my drunken stupidity I was having a great NYE celebration with my friends. New Years Eve is one of those celebrations that is so hit or miss. If you plan too much it is going to blow, but if you plan too little you will end up at home sitting around and watching Lifetime Movie Network. There really is nothing better than just going to a friends house and just hanging out.. Forget the expensive bars and cover charges, just be with your people and call it a freakin day.

That is what I did and i had a great time. Of course any place where food and booze is involved I am a very happy girl. Can you say mini meatballs? Can you say candy sushi and cheese cream cupcakes? Can you also say fattie? I wish I could say I had will power but that would be just kidding ourselves. Do you remember that 50 Cent song where he states "I love you like a fat kid love cake", well I am that fat kid that loves cake. I currently have nothing to exert my love on so I just love cake and matter of fact I love all baked goods, anything involving bacon, if there is hummus involved I'm there, sour gummi worms...done, did you say cheese, well then I can't say no.

Can you sense my New Year's resolution?

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's and here's to an eventful 2010!

My Big Fat Armenian Wedding

Let me state this first, I did not get married! But saying my sister's big fat Armenian wedding just doesn't sound quite right. But let's move away from technicalities and get to the meat of the matter. My sister (beautiful, confident, smart, lovely sister) has married the boy of her dreams last Sunday and I could not be happier. It's just amazing to me that it is over. You plan something for months and months and then BOOM, it is done. And now my sister is a MRS! That has to be the craziest part for me. I can remember us talking about what we dreamed about our wedding being like when we were kids. We were very taken with the idea of having a rainbow wedding where each bridesmaid would where a different colored dress and her partner in the groom's party would have a matching vest. Can you tell that we were children of the 80s? And that we may have been thinking of the ideal wedding for Rainbow Bright?

Needless to say that idea did not come to fruition at her wedding. The bridal party wore deep navy blue cocktail dresses, with pockets, with the boys looking dapper in dark suits. The flowers were shades of dark purple and blue, and the overall theme was "effortlessly elegant".

What had to be the most interesting part of this whole experience was the blending of 2 cultures. You see, my new brother in law is Armenian and is very active in the Armenian community in Glendale. Some people have not even heard of Armenia or know where it is so I will enlighten you. Armenia is a country that has had a pretty war torn and bloody past (and I will not assume to be an authority), but geographically it lies between Turkey and Georgia. It also shares similar food, dance, and culture with Greece. And if you weren't sure if there were is a connection between these two countries you would have realized it after this wedding.

I wish I could convey the tastes, the sounds, and overall joy that was emanating from this event. But as my favorite subject is food I think I am just going to stick with that for the moment. Let's start with cocktail hour. Honestly I did not see much of it as I was in a special room for the bridal party, but I did sneak out for a bit a what I saw was pretty mind-blowing. Trays and tray of appetizers, a dessert table with baklava, home made fig newtons, dried fruits and nuts, bowls of sour gummy worms, and other sweet treats, and a full bar with top shelf liquor to imbibe on. Seriously? This was only the cocktail hour. You are supposed to whet your appetite, not make a meal on dried dates and neon gummi worms. But who were we to deny ourselves?!

In the actual reception each table was stocked with wine and champagne, had platters of hummus, baba ganoush, taziki, and red pepper dip, along with baskets of bread, charcuterie, and cheese. Oh were we in trouble! And the thing is you are starving. You have been waiting for a nibble and now it is like a kid in Christmas Day and you are just too excited to stop yourself. Well then a salad came out and after that we each had a plate of dolmas, kibbeh, and some type of fried cheese stick (but not quite like a mozzarella stick).

And while all this food is being put in front of you and taken away you still have a platter of delicious, creamy hummus in front of you that you cannot stop yourself from dipping into and the champagne is consistently being poured; and that's when you realize that you are stuffed. But then you hear that that plate with kibbeh and dolmas was just another appetizer and dinner is going to be served in just a few minutes. WHAT???!!!! But we had dessert at cocktail hour, enough hummus to fill a bathtub with, and fried kibbehs that just put me over the edge. Yet another plate comes out with salmon, filet mignon, and some kind of starch that I could not even comprehend as I was in such a food daze that nothing was making sense anymore.

What is funny about all this is that amount of food that was being served was very toned down for an Armenian event. Traditional Armenian weddings have food served family style with just platter constantly being brought out. My brother in law told me that after the Armenians suffered genocide and starvation they just want to keep eating when they can and any affair from the Sunday family meal to a wedding is stocked with enough food to keep you fat and content for a good week. Well after all of the food I engorged I could definitely live off the fat of the land for awhile (but you know I wouldn't actually done that!) Heck, I stuffed my face and still put a few bites of wedding cake down my gullet.

My only solace is that we danced. We danced to Black Eyed Peas, and then to traditional Armenian music. We danced with lots of hips and booty shaking and then arms high in the air while you delicately swivel your hands and not much else. It was a literal dance off between our families. Not sure who would be the Sharks or Jets, but everyone was bringing their A-game to the dance floor.

In other words, it was a success. Everyone had fun, thought the bride was beautiful, and did not want the night to end. I can only hope if I ever get hitched that I will have such a great party.

The perks of my job...

One of the perks in my job as a conference coordinator is that our building hosts meeting planner events throughout the year which can be pretty out of this world. And that was the case this past Thursday. The Long Beach CVB & Tampa CVB put together an event at CulinAerie, which is a recreational cooking school in DC, where Carla Hall (season 5 Top Chef Finalist) would be teaching us a cooking class. Hootie hoo...I am in!

Can you say awesome? Fantastic? A wannabe foodies' dream? Carla is everything that she seemed on television. Genuinely happy and down to earth, and extremely dedicated to bringing the "love" into the kitchen. We were able to watch her cook and go through everything that we would be making, where I definitely picked up some tricks, and then she turned us loose to make our dinner happen.

While we cooked she walked around the classroom, gave advice, told us about her Top Chef experience, and let us harass her for pictures (I was one of them!). Where some people who are thrown into the limelight become jaded and almost angry that people want to talk to them, she accepted our attention with grace and class.

What a wonderful night and what delicious food! I came home with a copy of all her recipes (which she did autograph with "Hootie hoo") that we made and I plan on remaking a few things, especially her root vegetable ragout. Her cooking style, at least for the class, was straightforward and relatively simple. Not too many ingredients, no longs hours in the kitchen, and approachable. My kind of cooking.

Gobble Gobble 2009

On this Thanksgiving, 2009,

Down to the Outerbanks where the views are fine.

Food was abundant and the wine was flowing,

I drank so much my cheeks were glowing.

The children were put to work stuffing the bird,

It seemed right to put them in labor while I watched and observed.

I did make one contribution to this fine feast,

a turkey wine bottle which was no mean feat.

In no time at all we sat down to our dinner,

I definitely walked away from the table no thinner.

And to round it all out, I will not tell a lie,

I had at least two pieces of the most divine pecan pie.

Johnny Appleseed has nothing on me!

Saturday was rainy and seriously cold, but plans had been made and there was no way that I or my friends were going to back out of them.  So off into the Virginia countryside we went. By 10:30 am we had found the pick your own apple farm and let me tell you the proprietors were quite surprised to see city girls willing to brave the rain and pick some apples.  Despite the cold it was so much fin.  I have never gone apple picking as it is not a very common thing to do in SoCal, so I was amped up.  Rome, golden delicious, and red delicious were scattered all over the place and their colors were so vivid under the grey sky.  I honestly hadn't really thought about how one apple picked, but I had imagined ladders and reaching up into the branches.  Yesterday I found myself crawling on hand and knee to get under all the branches and checking out what was strewn on the ground.  Although there were some great apples still hanging above, I was not feeling the climbing tree idea as I envisioned my ungraceful self falling down.

I wish it had been less dreary as I would have loved to enjoy all the other produce they had at this little farm.  30 minutes picking enough apples to last 2 weeks was enough and we went on to do some wine tasting.  Yummmm......

And boozing did happen and the rest of my day consisted of cheese and wine and I would not have had it any other way.  But today I woke up determined to put these apples to use.  I mean there is no way I would be apple to eat all these bad boys in a week.  As I do not have pie plates, which is probably a good thing, and I wanted to do more than a few baked apples I decided to try my hand at apple sauce.  The recipe has cranberries, apples, maple syrup, sugar, water, and cinnamon and it tuned out awesome.  So now I am swimming in apple sauce heaven over here and am super excited to have a new snack for my lunch bag.  Yeah, you should be jealous.

Okay I know it doesn't look super appetizing, but you have to trust me.  It tastes awesome and I feel like I am making some headway in this whole "learning how to cook things besides grilled chicken on a George Foreman".  

Hope everyone has a wonderful week and I will try to think of other fun things to talk about.

It smells like chicken in here! And I mean that in the best way possible.

So I have been on a hiatus and for the few people who amuse me and read this I apologize. To put it bluntly the last couple of weeks have not been my best.  I have found myself single again and although my new relationship status is for the best a break up is a break up and it just plains sucks!   For the most part I have been kept busy by my friends and have actually done quite a few things: learning how to make homemade pizza dough, drink champagne, Indian food night, drink wine, sweaty yoga, drink beer, etc.  Ya know, the standard stuff people do to distract themselves.  

During the last two weeks I have been seeking out comfort through food.  No friends, I do not appear to be one of these girls who becomes super model skinny from sadness, which actually is a bit of a bummer.  I instead started putting on my winter hibernation weight with chocolate, pizza, falafel, and enough booze to make me feel like I was back working at Club Med. But now with the sudden turn of weather here in DC all I have been wanting is soup.  This actually works out to be a benefit to me and my waist line.  And I am definitely not the only person that feels that way as many of the other food blogs I read have been focusing on soup, so I have had wonderful inspiration.

Last weekend I attended an awesome knife skills at Hill's Kitchen which is wonderful kitchen supply store here on Capitol Hill.  The class was actually focused on how to butcher a bird.  Let me tell you that is pretty empowering to be able to take a knife and be able to take a part a whole bird.  I am not saying that I would be able to do it perfectly on my own, but the knowledge is there.  The point of this digression is that from this class I came home with a bag of chicken bones and meat that I am determined to use every bit of.  So what with my craving for soup and a bag of bones lurking in my fridge it only seemed best to try my hand at making some chicken stock.  So here is a photo essay of my chicken stock making day!  (and yes it took most of the day!) 

Guess What?.....Chicken Butt!!!

And so it begins...10:30 am

The final product....6:00 pm!

I will not be lacking in chicken stock for awhile, don't you agree?  Honestly it should have been done around 4:30 pm but with my electric stove it is pretty heard for me to maintain anything at a simmer for such a long period.  So I decided to keep it on longer to let it reduce more and I think that was a good decision.  

So what did I make with my fabulous stock now readily on hand?  Absolutely nothing!  The goal was to make stock people, not cook something with it!  Honestly I just did not think that far but there are plans for matzo ball soup, using the stock to make cous cous instead of water, etc.  So stay tuned for my chicken stock extravaganza as well as fabulous recipes with all my other chicken parts that are currently on ice!

Tootaloo chickadees and I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.  I am going apple picking tomorrow and will try to share some pics so that you can be jealous. :)

How quickly I am reduced to eating frozen meals

I went from Sunday eating at feast at Poste and now it is Tuesday and I am eating random things I dig out of the freezer.  

I went from succulent spit roasted goat and cheesy polenta to Amy's frozen Indian Meals and Green Giant steam in the bag corn.

From a crowded table with family and friends to sitting around in my pajamas being a typical couch potato.

And who doesn't love the extravagance found in a gorgeous restaurant with a meal you will talk about for days.  Yet I am completely satisfied in this moment of comfortable laziness.

Thank you Poste for a beautiful and amazing meal.  And thank you Amy's frozen meals for making a delicious Indian meal that made me so happy tonight.

Pictures from last Sunday's Goat Roast!

Once upon a time there was a pumpkin.....

A pumpkin that was small, round, and ready to show off her stuff.  But alas she was always passed over for her other fall friends, butternut and spaghetti squash.  Not only that, she found to her dismay that people only seemed to want to bring home large pumpkins to carve faces in and keep outside their homes.  Didn't they realize that I am edible as well?, she wondered.  Till one day a young beautiful girl* who wanted to bring new adventures to her kitchen decided to give her a chance.

So off they went together.  But what to do?  Pumpkin pie, bread, muffins?  No, said the young beautiful girl, pumpkin doesn't just have to be sweet.  She reminisced of some of her favorite dishes she had in Australia where pumpkin was used in savory chicken curry pies, ravioli, and salads.  It was not something she had seen before as all of her previous experiences had been in pie form (granted it's her favorite pie to have), but she wanted to make something for an entree rather than dessert.  So off came the little pumpkin's top, and her seeds as well, and after a rub down of olive oil and Moroccan spice mix into the toaster oven she went.

20 minutes later she was done and ready to see how the young, beautiful, aspiring cook** would dress her for tonight's event.  With her Moroccan spice mix in mind she added couscous, dried cranberries, and shrimp.  The effect was a gorgeous and tasty*** marriage of sweet and savory.

The little pumpkin was happy to have achieved more than just becoming a Fall decoration piece and the girl thought that Fall is going to be a fun season to experiment.****

(*author may take liberties in describing herself. You don't like that, well too bad!)

(**cook is a definite exaggeration on the author's part, but you should give her an "A" for effort!)

(***author admits that pumpkin needed a bit more salt, but was otherwise perfectly cooked and quite good.)

(****author did not major in creative writing and realizes that her attempt to write in story format is sub par at best.)

Dinner Parties and Brunch

This weekend I showed off my mad hostessing skills.  That's right...I have skills!  Mostly I just wanted to try out some recipes and needed people to be fatties with me.  Selfish, but also delicious.  So I think it is really a win-win situation.  Unfortunately I did not take any pics from Friday's get together which included such fun as carne asade (pre-marinated and packaged from the great Trader Joe's.  Or Trader Jose!)  I then made cilantro lime rice, spiced black beans, and corn pudding.  I know that corn pudding does not exactly go with the theme, but I had a ton of corn left over from last weekend's labor day festivities and wanted a recipe that would be fun and use up all of it.  Oh man people, was that corn pudding delicious.  Sweet and light with a bit of sinful cream to keep you coming back from more.  It will definitely be on the roster for Thanksgiving this year.

I did take pics of my amazing pizza I made on Saturday though!

As it was college football night, Go Trojans!  Fight On!, I wanted to make something fun and easy.  I know that pizza purists will send a hex on me, but I did not make my own dough.  I do not have the cajones yet to take on the task of making my own dough, but who really cares when the end result is the same.  Sausage, peppers, tomatoes, onion, cheese = savory, meaty goodness.  The pizza stone was a good investment and I cannot wait to try out some new crazy toppings.  As Fall is rolling in I feel that some pumpkin may take a run on the pizza with some goat cheese and basil.  I love that pizza has no limits and you can have an array of toppings as long as you have some imagination.  If you have any other crazy pizza ideas, shoot them my way.

Sunday I had a lovely brunch date with two of my girlfriends at Bistro Bis.  The bartender saw three girls who were ready for a Sunday Funday and decided to concoct us all kinds of different bubbly drinks.  And who was I to argue with him.  I just kept gulping them down with a huge buzzed smile on my face.  

The food was delicious as well. The tarte flambe was a bacon and onion tart that was salty and sweet and the duck hash was a rich duck confit with a red wine poached egg on top, which was decadent.   I wish I had better adjectives to use today but as we continued to drink most of the afternoon my vocabulary has been reduced to that of a child.  Actually my whole being is currently reduced to a child as I am currently craving a PB&J, and who am I to argue with that. So for now I will leave you to salivate over my photos and I will now go make a sandwich.  Have a wonderful week! 

Labor Day Weekend was a clusterf*** of activities!

Hello to my few, but devoted readers! I hope that everyone had a wonderful extended weekend and that the burden of returning to the weekly grind has not launched you into thoughts of throwing yourself off the nearest high rise. In DC this is actually more difficult to achieve as our buildings cannot block monuments and important buildings, but I'm sure the more creative people could figure something out.

Anyhoo, my weekend was fabulous and thank you for asking. I actually achieved a few things which is always exciting and makes me feel like maybe I contribute more to the human race besides carbon emissions. Here is a synopsis of my absolutuely fabulous life that you should be super jealous of! j/k

Saturday: Labor Day BBQ

Let me begin by saying that I did not sleep in on this past grogeous Saturday. As fall has already begun to encroach on us the last thing I wanted to do was stay in bed. I must be up and about so I can take advantage of every last minute of sunlight and warmth. Plus I had plans. Big plans. So I was up at 7 am and off to the supermarket to buy my weekly groceries and the ingredients for the best baked beans ever. Ummm...okay that is a bit if a lie. My dad makes some of the best baked beans you will ever taste. They are too die for and my mouth waters thinking about them. Still this recipe that I used from The Pioneer Woman c/o Pamanderson are a close second. Here is the first reason you know it will be good: Bacon. Sorry to offend all the vegetarians out there but bacon makes everything better. Sometimes I cannot believe that I did not eat bacon, red meat, or any type of pork products for 12 years. It was not for political reasons, but rather health reasons that I began my meaty hiatus. And once I cut out the meat it was just as easy to keep going with it. 12 years later I decided that the bacon smelled to good to be passed up and with that I was back in love with meat of all kinds. As simple as that. No epiphany of any kind just a craving that could no longer be ignored and with these beans you will not be able to ignore it either.

The second reason that this recipe is awesome is that it is super easy to make. There is no bean soaking (3 can of pork and beans), no complicated sauce (BBQ sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and dijon that's it!), and you just simmer and bake and than you will have achieved........

My god that is beautiful! And it was an absolute hit at the BBQ, as you can tell, and tasted even better the next day after the beans had a chance to marinate in their love sauce over night. Here is a link to the recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/08/the-best-baked-beans-ever/

Sunday: A bike ride sounds like a good idea!

Another beautiful day and what did I decide to do with it? Well I threw on some of those padded bike shorts and rode my bike from Captiol Hill to Dupont to Georgetown to the Mall and back to Capitol Hill. Why did I decide to put myself threw a grueling bike ride of hills, honking cabs, and tourists you may ask. Simply said: Jetties. And yes it is safe for you to assume that Jetties is a food spot that I had to check out after hearing about it from a friend. Don't judge me!

After making it up a long and steep hill on Reservoir Road in Georgetown (and this is after riding for a good hour non-stop) I turned to my left and saw it. Jetties was like my desert mirage as I stood there sweating through my diaper bike shorts, except this was not some sick mind game; it was real and so needed after the work out I had given myself. Jetties is a simple, no fuss place with picnic tables in the grass and sandwiches and salads that are simple yet quirky. And these are solid sandwiches with everything made onsite. You eat one and you are set. Unless you are me and have a bottomless pit for a stomach. But man oh man was that sandwich divine.

What you see above is the Sconset which is hummus, muenster cheese, sprouts, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and avocado spread on multi-grain bread. Can you say delicious? I am so going back to try out something else, but will probably not involve the bike next time. :)

Monday: Damn you rain!

I guess Mother Nature decided that the last weekend of summer was too good to be true, and decided to throw a stick in the spokes. Rain and clouds shrouded DC in a bit of gloom which kept most Washingtonians at home for the better part of the day. I include myself in this group. My day was spent doing laundry, cleaning my kitchen, and reading My Life in France by Julia Child (awesome, by the way). My one accomplishment of the day was roasting my first butternut squash.

Hooray! Olive oil, salt and pepper was all that I added to this squshy beauty before throwing it in the oven for 40 min. I then used part of it in a salad of spinach, cranberries, goat cheese, and a red wine vinaigrette. I know....I'm good! Today I included some squash in my cous cous salad, and tomorrow I will finish the last of it though I'm not sure what I will do with it. I could always just keep it simple and not do anything to it, but will see. All I know is I see a lot of adventures with squash and pumpkin as Fall approaches. Good thing I like them so much!

This Friday I am hopefully having people over for dinner so I will be sure to give you the low down on the corn pudding I plan to try to make with my gargantuan bag of left over corn from our Labor Day BBQ. Until then, have a wonderful week.

It's Restaurant Week: Round 2

Technically restaurant week is over, except for those few places that extend their menus until Mid-September, but I did not feel like writing last night on my return from my latest reservation. First a bit of back story. This past Saturday I attended my first Pampered Chef party and had an awesome time hanging out with my friends, purchasing new fangled cooking tools (Can you say pizza stone?), and eating...eating a bit too much. As I have mentioned before I do Weight Watchers to stay on top of my weight and to continue to work on my healthy eating habits. For all those people who do not have the slightest idea of what WW is all about you are basically given a certain amount of food points per day based on your weight, age, and gender. My good intentions to stick to my points on Saturday were blown. What can I say...I over ate and messed up and gained the weight I had worked all week to lose. Now I know that this was my own fault but I was pretty bummed and was not the poster child for happiness on Sunday. So here I was with a reservation to Art & Soul and I just wanted to drop it. I mean it is a southern style restaurant which brings to mind fried chicken, fried okra, fried hushpuppies, etc. Boo hoo me!

What I needed to do was give myself a swift kick in the ass for being such a miserable mop and move on. I wish I could say I did that, but to tell the truth I was pretty down on myself all day. I didn't cancel my reservation to Art & Soul though. What I did decide was to not do the restaurant week prix fixe. The last thing I needed was 3 courses which would only add to the problem. Nope, I decided I would maybe spend a little extra money but have the freedom to choose an appetizer and entree that fit into my parameters of having good food while being conscious of the ingredients that were involved. And though I spent a bit more money, I was ultimately happier with this decision and did not add any more weight from my meal, which is a small success.

So let's get down to original business. Art & Soul is located in the Liaison Hotel near Union Station with Chef/Owner Art Smith at the helm. I honestly do not think he is in the kitchen that often but after seeing him on Top Chef Masters I really wanted to go to his restaurant. I began my meal with a grilled shrimp and succotash appetizer. 3 grilled shrimp came out on a skewer with a bed of peas, corn, and chili limon sauce. The shrimp were cooked well, but were difficult to remove from the skewer which was square in shape and very soft. It was quite an effort to slide a shrimp off with both utensil and fingers. The succotash with the chili limon sauce was just too sweet. Peas and corn are already sweet vegetables and really do not need much to bring out their beauty. I felt that the sauce was more for show, with it's vibrant green color and frothy consistency, than to to complement the succotash. Overall it was a decent appetizer but was nothing to write home about.

For my entree I had the grilled lamb loin with artichoke hearts, white bean puree, and romesco sauce. The lamb was cooked perfectly and just melted in my mouth, and the romesco sauce only added to the depth of flavors. Yet I did not feel like it was a Southern style dish, instead it reminded me of something I would order at a Mediterranean restaurant. It was delicious, do not get me wrong, it just did not seem to fit in with the other dishes as I compared it to the BF's Fred Flintstone size pork chop with stone fruit and onion broth.

I would definitely love to come back here and have the true Southern dishes that Art Smith is known for: fried chicken and waffles, hoe cakes, and crab and grits. Hook still wins as being my favorite restaurant week dining experience ever, but I would recommend that you go check out Art & Soul if you have a hankering for all things cooked in oil and butter.

It's Restaurant Week: Round 1

I would not be a good foodie if I did not participate in restaurant week.  I mean how else can I afford to go to some of these high class restaurants without a little help from restaurant week?  But first I have rules for this sacred holiday: 1) You pick restaurants that are in the $25 and above range.  What's the point if you can afford it on a regular basis. 2) Check out the menu early and compare it to the regular menu.  You want to order things that are on the more expensive side so you actually get your $35.09 worth.

With that said my first reservation for the week was Friday night at Hook, a Georgetown seafood establishment which believes in only serving seasonal and sustainable seafood.  That is something that I can support. I have wanted to go to this restaurant since it opened and out of the 2 reservations I made for restaurant week, this was the one I was most excited about.  Did it live up to all of my high expectations?  Did it provide a delicious meal and good service?  Yes & yes!  I would definitely return to Hook again and would say that of all the restaurants I have gone to for different restaurant weeks this was by far the best meal I have ever had.     

The first thing that I liked about Hook upon perusing the menu is that most of the regular items were put onto this prix fixe menu as well.  You will see so many restaurants take away their best items, dumb an entree down, or put it on there with an $5 charge to try it.  What is the fun in that?  And I think that this completely defies the purpose of restaurant week.  To Hook I say thank you for allowing the masses to try some of your best dishes without extra fees.  

I began my meal with the grilled calamari with a fennel/spring mix salad.  The portion was amazing.  4 (head an legs!) gorgeous squid was set before me with alight salad on the side.  I was actually amazed to see that the head of the squid still had their little rutters attached, as I had never seen one this way before.  The calamari were smoky and still had a satisfying chew to them that set my palette off into a happy dance.  I literally closed my eyes and may have even let out a little moan of satisfaction.  It was so simple and clean, and yet it set off a complex set of emotions of satisfaction, desire, and need.  To put it bluntly, this dish will turn you on! 

For my entree I had the bluefish with polenta, carrots, green beans, and pesto.  Bluefish is an oily, flaky white fish which played well against the simple unfussed sides.  No heavy sauces., which would have drowned out the richness of the fish, just a perfectly crispy salted skin with  the flesh of the fish giving away easily to my fork.  I have never thought of seafood as decadent, but this entree changed my mind on that. There were definitely contented sighs and affirmations of "I must come here again", because it was that good.

 Dessert was a rich chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream and chocolate hazelnut biscotti on the side.  I wanted to make my bed in that bowl!  Curl up next to one of those little chocolate balls inside and never let go!  It was a rich, but manageable portion size and man was it good.  The perfect ending to this meal that blew me out of the water.  Get it? Water? Seafood?  HAHAHA.....okay it may have been funnier in my head than it is written down.   

Hook:

3241 M St., NW

Washington DC, 20007 

202.625.4488 

Sidebar: Whenever I read about Hook I think of the movie with Robin Williams and start chanting "Where's the hook?!" and "Rufio!".  Although hook is in reference, in this case, to what is put on the end of a fishing pole. :)

Joe's Noodle House & a poached egg

This past Saturday I was in Frederick, MD for a meeting that the BF had to attend. Okay, so I will just say now that I am scared of the burbs'. Track housing, strip malls with nothing but TGIFriday's and McDonald's, kids running around willy nilly....these things bring chills down my spine. What can I say? I love the city environment, it's more my style. But since I was heading out to the MD burbs I decided we should make the most of it. So the plan was to see Frederick (check!), head to the Sugar Loaf Winery for a lil wine tasting (fail! winery lost power in a storm and could not do the tastings.), and then head to Rockville to return to a Chinese restaurant that changed all my assumptions of Chinese food (delicious, salivating, wish I could have more CHECK!).

This moment of self-discovery in what Chinese food can be happened last year at Joe's Noodle House. A friend took me there and I fell completely in love. I have never gone back because I lack a car and Joe's is not very metro accessible, so when I realized we would go through Rockville to return home I demanded a stop for some delicious Chinese food. And let me tell you, it only got better.

This is a place where 75% of the clientele is speaking some form of Chinese and are eating things that most Americans have never seen before, always a good sign. In this nondescript restaurant, where the sign only says noodle house below Chinese characters outside, you will find real Schezuan cooking where the number of chilies outnumber the protein content, savory pork dumplings, salty crispy shrimp that you eat with their shell and head still on , chicken gizzards, and oh the list goes on! This time around we had lamb Tibetan style with cumin, rice noodles Singapore style in Curry, pork dumplings, and a scallion pancake. To all that is holy.....Thank You! Spicy, savory, tongue tingling, want to keep eating when you know you should stop DELICIOUS. If you are ready to go beyond sweet and sour pork and orange chicken then you should take the time to come here. Not only is it great food, the prices are reasonable as well. All that food I just mentioned...under $30. Yes, we could have ordered less as it was two if us, but what is the fun in that. And there was plenty of leftovers that were just finished the other day which makes everyone happy.

Joe's Noodle House: 1488-C Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852-1414

Now I am going to take a moment to just toot my own little horn. I poached an egg! Woo-hoo! I know there are people out there who just don't see the big deal, that can poach blindfolded and with 7 eggs in the pot, and to you I say congrats; but for me, lowly beginner cook, this was a momentous feat. So maybe the first egg didn't work out, but the second one I slid into that pot turned into a floating white little orb that topped my dinner salad and brought me back to France. Okay, it was not quite as good as that salad in Lyon, but it brought those memories back to the surface and made me so very content and happy.

Peanut Butter Cereal Chicken: Round 2

Okay...this time I did a baked version using the same concept that I tried last night.  Flour, egg wash, and breading made from peanut butter cereal, cilantro, chile powder, and red pepper flakes.

Right now I am just at odds with myself.  Although this was a more successful effort in that I did not pull my hair out and had perfectly cooked chicken, I missed the crunch factor that the frying provides.  Yet with frying I was not able to cook a consistently good product.  I think that when I try frying again I need to further research what can be used for breading. The cereal that I used just may not have enough fat in it to withstand the oil, as it would just char within a minute.

It was still a delicious dinner, but I see future frying endeavors in my future.

Peanut Butter Cereal Fried Chicken: A lesson in humilty

Last night I decided to try my hand at what I thought would be a simple fried chicken recipe that I had conjured up. I had read in one my many food blogs I follow a version that used honey bunches of oat and I was immediately intrigued. My mind immediately thought of the peanut butter cereal that sat on my counter and wondered if I could somehow make my own version using it. I envisioned a thai style chicken where it is not unsual to use peanut sauces. Onward I went and bought some chicken breasts and cilantro that I would add to my cereal mixture. (I also added chili powder, red pepper flakes, and salt to give it some heat and depth)

On my counter I mounted a Ford-style assembly line with flour, eggs, and the crushed cereal mixture and proceeded to heat some vegetable oil to do a lil' frying. This is where things started going down hill. You see I've never fried anything in my life. I actually tend to avoid fried food and massive amounts of oil as I am a proud WW member and these are things that just start dwindling my points allowance at a rapid pace. But hell! It was Sunday and I was going to try my hand at it.

I dunked my chicken in some flour, removed excess, then dunked it in the egg, removed excess, and then into the cereal mixture it went. Oh my gosh, I thought, this is not too bad! HAHAHA, the little devil on my shoulder was thinking, as he waited in anticipation to see my downfall. Into the oil we go. I flipped and what I saw was a blackened mess. Yikes! Crap! What?! Awww...sh**! I let it cook on the other side and took it out. What I stared at was a blackened, crispy something that even myself who is a carbon fan would not enjoy. And to make matters worse it was completely raw inside.

The tears began. (I am brought easily to tears when trying to cook.) And the frustration and anger began to mount to "get out of the way she is about to blow" on the temper meter. The BF said I should cut the pieces thinner since it may just be too thick. This in fact was a correct assumption, but at that moment his advice was just adding some kindling to the flame. Mr. Hyde may have made an appearance, but I'm not really sure as I completely blacked out and came to a few minutes later. After my griping of not knowing how to properly cut said chicken I proceeded to do a paltry, though effective job of it. I was thinking I should just bake this chicken so that it would cook through and not burn to an utter crisp, but the BF wanted me to try again. Him being the absolute darling that he is cleaned my dishes and cleaned the pan of the dirty vegetable oil so we could start again.

I wish I could say it got better from there. But by this point I was a complete maniac and was just making things more dramatic then they needed to be. We fried up half of the chicken, smoked up my lil studio, still had some pieces burnt beyond recognition, and I was left feeling emmasculated and wondering why I was so inept.

Yet, in that mess there were some specimens that came off browned and juicy, with a great crust that was peanut buttery delicious. It took me some time to recognize a small success in that fact but all I could do was dissect what went wrong and what I could do to fix it. There was no satisfaction because of my less than stellar behavior and I completely own up to that.

I realize I am still learning and have a long way to go. That to learn we must make mistakes and be willing to make an utter catastrophe so we can figure out how to make something delicious. And that when you are cooking with fire the fiery temper needs to be left outside. BLAH BLAH BLAH... I know! Trust me, I am working on it and recognize that I have one of the most patient men in my life to put up with my ridiculousness and come out of it unphased.

So in an effort to learn from my mistakes I am trying to do this recipe again tonight. There will indeed be baking instead of frying, which I think will benefit the flavors and texture that I am trying to achieve; but I am going to make this idea of mine work. I will put up some pics of the final product and will update everyone on how it turned out. Until then, happy eating friends.

Random Thoughts on a Monday

I am 28 and have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. Is it bad that I do not consider myself a grown up? Does anyone ever truly figure it out?

I love food, talk about food, and think about food more than is probably healthy.

Anthony Bourdain = HOTTIE!

Me and my BFF from college used to obsessively watch Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen movies. We would call each if they were on, dissect plots, rank our favs (Paris for sure!) and wish for more. God, I wish I could watch one right now.

This time last year I was in Morocco. Hopefully this time next year I will be somewhere equally exciting.

It is starting to get darker earlier, which means summer is almost done. What even happened to summer? It just flew by and I feel like I did not accomplish much.

I live on Capitol Hill in DC, but have yet to actually go and tour the Capitol. This makes me feel bad and unpatriotic.

Iphones scare me. I don't like the idea of being "connected" everywhere I go. It is fun to get lost and be able to get yourself around without being dependent on technology.

I have a book club meeting in September on "The Poisonwood Bible" and just can't get into it. I start to read and just fall asleep. This also makes me feel bad and unpatriotic.

I am joining the Julia Child craze. I figure there are worse people to buy into and any woman who can reinvent herself at 37 is worth reading up on.

One of my favorite words is discombobulated. Perhaps it is because that is how I feel most of the time.

Recipe vs. Reality

I love when my Bon Appetit shows up in the mail. I become giddy and so excited to check out the amazing recipes with vivid pictures that accompany them; it's what we foodies call food porn. And boy oh boy do I love some good food porn. :) Most of the time I look at my magazine, ear mark some recipes, but never actually cook anything. I mean it is intimidating, but this time I decided it was my moment to make a recipe into reality.

In the September issue of Bon Appetit there is an article that is called "Top 10 Chicken Recipes" and on the cover is a gorgeous picture of a roasted chicken. My mouth was watering and I decided to check it out. This particular recipe is from Sfoglia restaurant in NYC, and it was not a complicated 20 ingredient, chiffonade this, mince that kind of recipe. Ingredients were fresh, easy to find at the grocery store, and was just a good approachable recipe for a beginner cook like myself.

A brick or heavy cast iron skillet is required to weigh down the bird while in the oven, and this was the most complicated thing for me in preparing for this culinary adventure. I headed to the local hardware store and was able to get a heavy brick for 70 cents. Not a bad investment for future poultry adventures. The chicken also needs to be butterflied, and as I am not very confident in my knife skills (and did not want to kill the chicken even more than it already was) I went to the butcher and asked them to do their magic. For my sanity it was well worth seeking out the butcher.



I was amazed at the ease of putting this meal together. I have always just bought the roasted chicken at the deli in my market, but no more I say...NO MORE! I was able to cook a bird twice the size of the market chicken for just $2 more. It was able to provide dinner tonight, and plenty of left overs for the week. (You will see me eating some of my left overs at Screen on the Green tomorrow night!)

So let's compare and contrast:

I think I did a damn good job. The pic in the magazine has more burnt skin on the thighs of their bird, but they also have this fun thing called food stylists! When your sole job is to make people drool over a scantily clad chick you better bet they have some trick up their sleeves. Here is a close up of my lil diva who caused a stir in my apartment tonight:

Delicious. A poultry adventure of savory goodness! I think next time I will add some more garlic and not be scared to put some more salt before I begin cooking. It is still a learning curve right now, but it was still succulent and melted in your mouth, which is always the desired end result for your protein of choice. This episode of "Recipe vs. Reality" was a complete success and now I will be confident that I can take on more recipes in my lovely Bon Appetit magazine.

Bon Appetit: Chicken al Mattone

1 4-pound whole chicken, backbone cut away and discarded, rinsed and patted dry

4 tbsp. fresh lemon jucie

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

2 garlic cloves, pressed

Coarse kosher salt

1/4 tsp. dried crush red pepper

Chopped fresh Italian parsley

You will need a foil wrapped brick or heavy cast iron skillet

Day before you plan to cook:

1. open chicken flat like book and place, skin side down, on a rimmed baking sheet

2. mix 2 tbsp. lemon juice, 2 tbsp. oil, 1 tbsp chopped rosemary and garlic in small bowl (I blended everything in my food processor)

3. Rub mixture all over both sides of chicken (I whispered some sweet nothings to my lil chick while I did this. Figured I would give her a last hurrah before throwing her in the oven.)

4. Cover and chill over night

Day you plan to cook:

1. preheat oven 400 F

2. sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper

3. heat remaining 1 tbsp. oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat

4. add chicken, skin side down, to skillet and cook until golden brown, about 7 minutes. Do not turn over.

5. Place foil wrapped brick (or cast iron skillet) crosswise atop chicken; roast in oven 30 minutes

6. Remove brick and turn chicken over; return brick to chicken and continue to roast until juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced, about 15 minutes longer (I had to get some assistance to flip over the chicken, and just remember that there is hot oil and juices so turn carefully)

7. Transfer chicken to platter and drizzle with remaining lemon juice and sprinkle with red pepper and parsley

This was supposed to be about Les Halles but my plans were changed a bit.

So I have been in Jersey City for a conference and the plan has been that on our free night a co-worker and I would head over to Les Halles so that I could prove to Tony that I truly do care. I am not just any stalker who is all talk, I am action my friends and will complete the circle that is my Anthony Bourdain obsession.

Anyhoo, we had a reception in Midtown and definitely enjoyed some wine and cheese, which in hindsight was just a silly thing to do as we were just too full for dinner. Boo to me! A pow wow was had and it was decided that Les Halles would have to be another time. Going to Les Halles is my pilgrimage and I want it to be a fun and joyful event.

As much as my heart was set on it, things actually worked out really well. It was a gorgeous day in NYC and we walked from 33rd and Park down to ground zero. That is a little over 3 miles, but I needed that after engorging myself on cookies, cheese, crackers, and all the usual conference fare that I make very bad decisions with.

For all my times of going to NYC I had never been to ground zero. It is not something I had really wanted to go to. For me it is a little hard to grasp as I never saw the Twin Towers when they stood there. Back on that fateful day I was in Cali, sleeping in (since my class was not until noon), and woke up to the sounds of screams and crying. I know that when those towers fell it was our, as a nation, collective tragedy. Yet I feel so far removed in my understanding of it all.

Looking at it now, at least what little you can see beyond the gates and cloth that enclose where the towers were, it is a huge crater. One that would be made by a special effects team for a sci-fi flick. It is one of the few places in the city where air and light permeate. It is shocking to see all that light coming in when you have been walking in the shadows of the "cement jungle" that makes up what we all think of as New York.

Seeing ground zero just put me in awe and made me wonder at the strength of this city. I love New York, I would like to live here some day, and I hope that if that happens I could show the same grit and determination.

After this impromptu journey we headed back up a couple blocks and found a great indian restaurant. I think we were on the border of Tribeca and the Financial District but I am not really sure. It was delicious, thats what I do know, and though it was not what I thought I wanted to do it ended up being a good end to a long day.

Vegetarians, Vegans, PETA people, and general lovers of Charlotte's Web will want to turn away now! It's time to talk pig!

I receive a ton of emails on a daily basis letting me know what is going on in DC: boutique sales, gallery openings, new restaurants and bars, etc.  It was one of these emails that I found out about Poste Roast. (Check out Daily Candy or Thrillist if you would also like to hear about up and coming events going on in your town!)

Poste is a restaurant located in Penn Quarter in the Hotel Monaco; and though I had never been there to eat I was absolutely intrigued by this event. To participate you have to have a group of 6-12 people and make a reservation at least a week in advance.  Then you choose a protein that will be spit roasted and served family style to the group, along with various sides that are picked by the chef to compliment your pick. There are some intriguing options: salmon, squab, goat, lamb, brisket, pig, and more.  Our group decided, though, that it was go big or go home, so we chose something that you can't easily cook in our own kitchens.  Pig. I mean why not? There is something sexy and provocative about a pig roasting over the fire, being turned slowly, skin crisping, fats and juices rendering.  Oooohhhh boy!  I do have swine on the mind...still! 

We were supposed to sit in the Chef's Garden, but unfortunately it was raining and as their is no cover outside we were sat at the Chef's private dining table.  The bar was crowded for happy hour, which on another note has some really great deals, and we were causing a bit of a stir with the revelers as they tried to figure out what was going on in our room and why there were so many waiters coming in and out. 

Did you meet Wilbur?  Yes, we as a group have a sick sense of humor and named our soon to be feast after a beloved children's book character.  But you know what, I don't feel bad about it because we were having a good time and we worshipped, loved, and devoured that pig and respected the life that it gave to us.  When our waiter brought him in all the happy hour patrons parted like the red sea, some ran away (they were probably vegetarians), as they tried to make sense of what was happening.  Wilbur was brought to the table as you see above, and then was taken to be broken down into glorious porky portions that would be a little more manageable. As we awaited his encore appearance sides were brought out: macaroni and cheese made with 4 different types of cheese, saurkraut, roasted plums and peaches that were sprinkled with rosemary, rolls of bread with salty crispy tops.  Okay...my mouth is watering and I am not even doing it justice.  Just check out some of the pics.

In the picture above you see the main body of the pig, skin and all, broken down.  And to the right is the head that has been split so that you can try some cerebellum on brioche.  Oh hell!  It was brain and it was delicious!  I am shouting it from the rooftops:  I ate brain and loved it! And if you are grossed out...well you are just a pussy and need to give your taste buds a culinary adventure.  They are begging for it and you are just being cruel denying them.  The brain is creamy, rich, with a very subtle pork taste to it and if you like Pâté or liverwurst then you would enjoy this delicacy as well.  We also dove into the cheek and tongue, and if there had been an eyeball we would have given it a go. I think the following pic speaks volumes of our experience.

That's right, we devoured it.  We were in sweat from the effort, and it was worth it.  Delicious, gorgeous, a party in my mouth. I cannot think of the right adjective to do it justice.  So I'll just let this last picture be my conclusion.