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.