Category Archives: Uncategorized

I feel lucky that my “fails” are way less frequent than my successes…and even if I wouldn’t consider it a total success, it’s usually edible. Unfortunately this was a total fail that ended up in the compost.

I think the fatal flaw was that I pre-cooked the spaghetti squash to save some time. After
spaghetti-ing (shredding?) it and storing it in the fridge for a couple of days, it got a bit watery. I tried to cook off the excess liquid, but that took too long and resulted in a mushy mess. And even though I always say that cheese makes everything better, cheese (in the form of Pecorino Romano) could not save this recipe. Garlic also makes many things better, but since I didn’t have any on hand, I used some garlic powder. Not the same.

Next time I think I’ll look for an actual spaghetti squash recipe instead of trying to wing it. I only wrote the recipe down so that I will remember what NOT to do next time.

Looks better than it tasted…

Spaghetti squash with greens and cannellini beans
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash, cooked and shredded with fork
1 Tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
6 ounces of your favorite greens (such as spinach, kale, or collards)
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup shredded Pecorino Romano
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a large skillet, heat 1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, red pepper flakes, and greens and cook until wilted or soft (time depends on the greens you choose to use).

2. Stir in the other 1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil, then add spaghetti squash, beans, and tomatoes and cook until heated through.

3. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

I had three beautiful peppers that just screamed “stuffed peppers”. I also started going through old September issues of Everyday Food and came across a recipe for turkey sloppy joes. I decided these two ideas needed to be combined. A quick search online shows a plethora of sloppy joe stuffed pepper recipes, so I certainly cannot take credit for the idea. 

I used the cooking instructions from Host the Toast and adapted the sloppy joe mixture from the Everyday Food recipe. This would probably work well in the slow cooker, but I didn’t want to risk another 10-hour fiasco a la my attempt at kielbasa and cabbage.

Naked pepper halves

Sloppy joe stuffed peppers
Serves: 3
Adapted from Host the Toast and Everyday Food, September 2007

Ingredients
3 bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 large carrot, coarsely grated (2 cups)
2 celery stalks, diced small
1 medium onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 pound lean ground turkey
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes

Getting ready to bake the stuffed peppers

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Shredded cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Cheese makes everything better

2. In a large saucepan on the stove, heat oil over medium; add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 4-5 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add turkey; cook 4-5 minutes until no longer pink, breaking up meat with a spoon. Add crushed tomatoes, brown sugar, cider vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook 12-14 minutes until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

4. While sloppy joe mixture is cooking, place the peppers, cut side up, in a baking pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until slightly softened. Remove from oven.

5. Divide the sloppy joe mixture among the pepper halves and bake for 15 minutes. Top peppers with your favorite shredded cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Enjoy!

Last weekend we had a little girls reunion (not “Girls”) in New York. Our Uber driver guessed high school reunion and we didn’t work too hard to correct him. Most of the girls arrived mid-day Friday, but I wasn’t able to get there until the early evening. I treated myself to the Acela because I decided it was worth it to avoid rush hour Friday afternoon traffic. It was the first time I’d taken the train and it was lovely and way better than the bus, but also way more expensive.

Since we had no specific plan for Friday evening we started to check out what looked good on Thrillist and Eater and came across Wylie Dufresne’s new restaurant Alder and we were able to get a 9:45 reservation through OpenTable. What did we do before smartphones? We Uber’d over to the East Village and popped into a cute wine bar for a spritz (an aperol spritz) and a snack (trio of bruschetta). Btw, Wylie Dufresne won the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef New York City in 2013.

Rabbit sausage

Hanger steak

Alder is adorable (yes, I realized on this trip that I need to work on my adjectives) and the evening was so nice that we sat outside. Everything on the menu is meant to be shared, which was great because it meant we could try more things! Unfortunately they were out of the kale summer roll (bummer), but there were two off-menu specials: an homage to a NYC hot dog made with rabbit sausage and a pu pu platter which was two bites of five things on the menu. We started with the pub cheese, rabbit sausage “hot dog”, shrimp on shrimps, and the shephard’s pie tartare. Raw lamb (part of the tartare) and rabbit sausage were firsts for all of us. The pub cheese was a surprise winner for me, especially once we found out why it was a strangely purple shade (from red wine). 

All the food came out super fast so we took a break to enjoy our wine and assess our hunger. Whether we were hungry or not, we decided that we couldn’t not order more because there were too many other delicious sounding things on the (fairly small) menu. We went with the hanger steak (with moo shu vegetable, shio kombu butter) and the striped bass (with curried lentils, mango, lemon verbena raita). Of the two, I definitely preferred the hanger steak over the bass. The meat was cooked perfectly and the moo shu vegetables were scrumptious. 

Carrot cake gelato

Since there is always room for dessert, we tried two: carrot cake gelato and the macerated strawberries with corn bread and fancy whipped cream (fancy is my description because I can’t remember exactly what it was). You could definitely get a glimpse into Wylie’s world of molecular gastronomy with the carrot cake gelato. There was a party in my mouth. Speaking of Wylie, we chatted with our server about him and she us that he’s very nice, but “he’s a chef…of course he gets cranky.” Apparently they are closing WD50 to make way for some fancy new condos. 

Saturday morning we got up and walked the High Line from 23rd Street to Gansevoort and then hopped on the L train to Brooklyn to check out Smorgasburg, which also happened to be Kendrin’s first time in Brooklyn! Smorgasburg is a Brooklyn Flea Food Market that occurs every weekend. On Saturdays it’s in Williamsburg at East River State Park. We got there around 11:30 and decided to scope out the prospects. There were so many options (100 vendors every weekend per their web site) that we wanted to

Chicken satay

be selective about our choices. Unfortunately, there is only so much stomach space. 

The beef brisket and ice cream sandwiches were recommended to us, and we were also very intrigued by the ramen burger though the line was a bit intimidating. Divide and conquer…we split up and got in the beef brisket and the ramen burger lines, and also decided to get some snacks while we waited (chicken satay with sticky rice from Bamboo Bites and dumplings from the Brooklyn Wok Shop). Here’s where I’d like to give a shout out to my hand model for the photo of the chicken satay – amazing job! The wait was long and hot, but we perservered and I’m so happy that we did. Both the beef brisket and the ramen burger were amaze-balls. The

Beef brisket

ramen burger was served with shoyu sauce, arugula, and cheese (an opt-in), and of course the famous ramen noodle “buns”. It was a little messy to eat, perhaps as an umami explosion should be. Our last bite was dessert, a “goodwich” from The Good Batch…which involved an oat chocolate chunk cookie, sea salt, drizzled fudge, and vanilla ice cream. Delish and big enough to split four ways. Fully satisfied, we stopped in the Brooklyn Flea on our way back to the subway. 

Grilling ramen “buns”

We arrived at the TKTS booth in Times Square just in time and were able to get tickets to see Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill with Audra McDonald. Another mission accomplished and we wandered back toward our hotel, stopping for a drink and some Brazil-Netherlands World Cup action at Southwest Porch at Bryant Park and oyster/prosecco happy hour at the John Dory Oyster bar. Thanks again to Thrillist for giving me the idea for late night ramen after the show. We found our way to Tsukushi (look for the big black door) and had some delicious ramen and onigiri (rice balls). We also got samples of shōchū, a distilled Japanese liquor, one rice and three potato. 

Ramen burger goodness

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to get some chicken and waffles. If you ask me, chicken and waffles and an egg and cheese biscuit sandwich are a really excellent way to start a Sunday. We could see the biscuits being made (by a guy who doesn’t actually like biscuits, btw). Our last stop before heading to the bus and the airport was Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company to pick up snacks for the trip and for home. This places makes frequent appearances on various “top 10” and “best bagel” lists (and they don’t even have a location in Brooklyn), and they were pretty damn good. 

All in all, it was a fun and tasty weekend. I think the only bad bite that crossed my mouth was a nectarine I bought at Whole Foods. I think I fall in love with New York a little more every time I go.

Late night ramen

The rundown
Bar Veloce
175 Second Avenue (between 11th and 12 Street), and other locations
@BarVeloce

Alder
157 Second Avenue
@aldernyc

Smorgasburg
Saturdays: East River State Park (Kent Ave and N. 7th Street)
Sundays: Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5
@smorgasburg

The John Dory Oyster Bar
1196 Broadway (at 29th Street)

Chicken and waffles

@TheJohnDory

Tsukushi
300 East 41st Street (at 2nd Ave)

Hill Country Chicken
1123 Broadway (at 25th Street)
@HCChicken

Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company
286 8th Avenue (and other locations)
@bkbagel

High-speed train

After Hong Kong and Beijing, the next stop on my Asia adventure was Shanghai…via bullet train, which traveled at oh about 300 km/hour (~186 miles/hour). It was a smooth, but long ride as it still took about five hours. 

Shrimp wonton soup, Din Tai Fung

I know you’ll probably be shocked to hear that my first meal in Shanghai was not Chinese food! It was fairly late by the time we arrived in Shanghai and checked in to our hotel, so we ended up at M on the Bund, which is “modern European”. It is commonly written up in travel guide books. We sat outside and had a great view of the Shanghai skyline. It was also nice to drink some decent wine…I’m no wine snob but the Chinese are not known for their wine. We really confused the server with our order as I ordered three small plates (for sharing) instead of an entree. 

The next day, after a very interesting visit to EMC^2, we went to Din Tai Fung for lunch. I was excited to go back and eat more delicious soup dumplings. Our table did a very good job with the dumplings. My favorite was the pork, the fish came in second, and surprisingly, the vegetable was my least favorite. I also really enjoyed the shrimp wonton soup. In addition to all that, we started the meal with cucumbers, a noodle-thing with tofu (I’m pretty sure that’s not what it’s called on the menu), cabbage with bacon, pea greens (or maybe spinach), and shrimp fried rice. Full belly!

Soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung

That evening we went to dinner at Lost Heaven, which specializes in Yunnan food. The restaurant was dark, and the food was spicy. We had a vegetable cake with tomatoes, noodles with cilantro (we were calling it cilantro spaghetti), kung pao chicken, beef, cauliflower, vegetable fried rice, and shrimp with a spicy tomato sauce. I think the most amusing part of this meal was the chili pepper eating contest that happened, which was subsequently followed by a lot of sweating, drinking, and cursing. Also, peanuts are difficult to eat with chopsticks…you heard it here first. After dinner we had drinks on the roofdeck of Mr. and Mrs. Bund (another fantastic view of the skyline).

Kung pao chicken, Lost Heaven

Saturday afternoon was the start of our “DIY”, choose your own adventure time. Apparently for me, DIY = street food! Lucky for me I was with someone who knew where to go, otherwise I probably would have avoided the street food. We ate at a place that actually had some seating inside, but the dumplings were made outside. Shrimp and pork soup dumplings, and again, the pork were my favorite. Apparently it is acceptable to slurp the soup when you eat street soup dumplings. I was glad that I got to walk around some of the very local neighborhoods, which are slowly disappearing and being replaced by high-rises. After walking and shopping, we stopped for an afternoon spritz (aperol > campari) and snack at Uva Cafe. 

Shrimp with tomato sauce, Lost Heaven

Shanghai skyline, Mr. and Mrs. Bund

For dinner that evening we found ourselves at Sichuan Citizen, and ordered wayyy too much food. We had pea greens, cold noodles, spicy tofu, eggs and tomato, DIY pork dumplings, and a whole fried fish with pine nuts. Most of it ended up packed up in takeaway containers, though we did do a good job with the fish which was delicious. I also really loved the spicy tofu, the eggs and tomato, and…well who am I kidding, I liked it all! Toward the end of the meal I just happened to notice that pretty much everyone in the restaurant was drinking green drinks in martini glasses. And somehow I remembered that “basil drop drinks” was on a list of places to go that I had saved on my phone (someone I met randomly had given me some recommendations before I left). Turns out, this was the place with the basil drop drinks, and I’m so glad that we decided to try them. We even went back the next night to have them again.

Local neighborhood

My last meal in Shanghai was at Xibo, which is Xinjiang food. Apparently a lot of Muslims eat this type of food, and this restaurant was also on the list of places on my phone. We ordered a bottle of wine and watched the serve struggle to open it…she had no clue how to use the wine opener. It was amusing and terrible at the same time. We did a better job with ordering this time, as in we didn’t overorder. We had homemade bread, spicy meatball soup, shrimp with tomato and basil, and lamb shank. The lamb shank was not as tender and fall-off-the-bone as we wanted it to be, but the shrimp was delish.

Street soup dumplings

The service in Shanghai is definitely not what I am used to in this country. Getting someone’s attention to place an order or request the bill takes a lot of eye contact, hand waving, and gesturing. And most of the time this happened when there was plenty of staff and the restaurant wasn’t busy.

While I didn’t do a very good job of taking photos during my DIY time, I was very glad that I got to try some different regional cuisines while in Shanghai. I was also lucky to have my very own personal tour guide. And this is where I said au revoir to China…next stop Korea!

The rundown
M on the Bund
Bund 5, 7/F (corner of Guangdong Lu)

Din Tai Fung
Several locations

China Art Museum

Lost Heaven
Several locations

Mr. and Mrs. Bund
Bund 18, 6/F, 18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu, near Nanjing Dong Lu

Uva Cafe
1187 Beijing Xi Lu, near Shanghai Bei Lu

Sichuan Citizen
30(D) Donghu Lu, near Huaihai Lu

Xibo
83 Changshu Lu, 3/F

Peking ducks!

The China and Korea portion of my trip were part of a Field Seminar through school. It was 13 strangers (aka students), one professor, and one school representative…kind of sounds like a commercial for a season of the Real World! Hmmm, is that show still on or am I totally aging myself here?

Street meat

In China, the food is categorized by region, unlike the generic catch-all of “Chinese food” that we use in the U.S. It makes sense, China is a BIG country! The other thing that took a little getting used to is the shared food culture – the dishes are served family-style and everyone just dives in with their chopsticks. It is definitely not a place for germophobes!

Plate spinning acrobatics

One of the highlights of Beijing eating was the Peking duck, at the original Peking duck restaurant. I ate a lot of duck that night….I think they ordered five ducks for the group. And that was in addition to several other cold and hot dishes and a birthday cake for Sneha. I am glad that I stuffed myself with duck, because after that meal we walked through an outdoor food market where people were selling scorpion, goat balls, pigeon, and all sorts of creatures on sticks. I did not try anything, but I do think I would have been tempted if I was the least bit hungry. I managed to control myself around street food until later in the trip.

One evening we went to the Laoshe Teahouse for a performance of Peking opera, which included performances of comedy, oral mimicry, pot juggling, spinning plates, and Sichuan opera. We had a Bento box dinner and delicious tea.

Lenovo lunchbox

I also really enjoyed dining in the cafeterias of the companies we were visiting. I always like to see how the locals eat, so it was nice to experience that as well. My favorite “company lunch” was actually at a Korean restaurant, Bibigo, which is owned by the CJ Group. We had bulgogi (Korean barbecue beef). This made us all very excited about the food we would get to eat in Korea.

Dumplings!

The day we were in Tianjin we had the opportunity to go to lunch with Mr. Park of LG, to Gou Bu Li, one of the best restaurants in Tianjin. This was another multi-course meal with several cold and hot dishes and pork dumplings that were prepared tableside (I think that was more for show, but I dug it). I really liked the chicken with walnuts, the pork with egg and mushroom, and the whole fish. We were told that it is a tradition to end a meal with fish. We were also told that it’s bad luck to turn the fish over yourself, but then the server said it was ok. I’m pretty sure we dared someone at my table to eat the eyeball. We also had some yummy watermelon juice (and beer, of course).

A lot of our meals started with these strange and colorful gelatin cubes. I tried a few of them and just couldn’t get past the texture. Not my favorite.

I am told that Beijing food tends to be heavier and spicier than other regions…and I would agree, I felt a little heavier and spicier after spending a few days there.

Beef brisket with flat noodles

I think I am mostly recovered from my jet lag (Hong Kong and China are 12 hours ahead, Korea is 13), though it would be really really nice to sleep past 4 AM! My first stop in Asia was Hong Kong, and I really had no idea what to expect. If I’m being honest, I hadn’t done much research before I left…other than to download a DK Eyewitness “Top 10 Hong Kong” book to my iPad, which I skimmed through on the plane. It came in handy when I was looking for a lunch spot, though it did make me wish I had ordered the old-fashioned paper version…it was raining that day and I had to keep pulling out my iPad to make sure I was heading in the right direction. 

Since I was already in Central, I decided to try to find a little place called Kau Kee. My guidebook had this to say:

Humble Kau Kee was once offered millions for its beef brisket noodle recipe. Taste and see why. This is a place of pilgrimage.

Dumplings!

I arrived around 11:30 and there was already a line forming…outside, in the rain. For a multi-million dollar recipe, I joined the line and waited until they opened at noon. I managed to order the beef brisket with flat noodles (they gave me a menu in English when they realized I didn’t speak the language). It was a great first meal in HK. 

Pork buns

That night we met up with my friend Daniel and his friend Ray and went to Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese restaurant famous for their xiao long bao (soup dumplings). There are several locations, and I was fortunate to be able to go again in Shanghai. Yum. It was great because Daniel and Ray took care of ordering, and did a great job…I loved everything, but most especially the soup dumplings. They even give you instructions on how to eat them properly, so as not to burn yourself or spray soup on your tablemates. In addition to the soup dumplings we had tofu skins, pea greens, pork buns, spicy noodles, and beef with rice. 

In general, I heard mixed reviews about Cantonese food…well, actually…mostly people told me it was terrible. I didn’t feel strongly about trying it, though we did decide to check out Maxim’s Palace in City Hall for dim sum as it had been recommended by a couple of people. I’m glad we tried it, but it was not my favorite. Actually it was my least favorite meal in Hong Kong, which could also be related to not knowing what’s best to order. We tried the barbecue pork buns, beef ribs with glass noodles, and several types of steamed dumplings (vegetable, shrimp, and pork with crab roe).

Lamb shank

That night we met up with Thad’s friend Ben (a college friend and a completely random encounter the first night we were there) and he took us to a Sichuan restaurant in SoHo, Shui Hu Ju. I really loved the duck cucumber salad and the lamb shank. We were told that the chicken with chiles was their “signature dish”, so we gave it a shot. It looked a little intimidating, the chicken was black and covered by an entire layer of whole red chiles. I like medium spicy so this was a little too spicy for me. We also ordered dumplings with peanut sauce, dam dam noodles, and jade vegetable (which tasted kind of like a warm, crunchier cucumber).

Jade vegetable

I wanted to try pigeon…it was a late night decision, fueled by a little liquid courage. We got sidetracked by another bar (HK loves Jaeger bombs!) and it didn’t happen…still not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Overall, Hong Kong made me and my stomach very happy!


The rundown
Kau Kee
21 Gough Street, Central
中環歌賦街21號地下

Din Tai Fung
68 Yee Woo Street, Causweway Bay
銅鑼灣怡和街68號地下

City Hall Maxim’s Palace
5 Edinburgh Place, Central

Shui Hu Ju
68 Peel Street, Soho, Central
中環蘇豪卑利街68號

Beet skin!

This is the other recipe I had planned to make to celebrate the Olympics. I like the low number of ingredients (five in the original recipe), but I was also skeptical about how good it would actually taste. I would have added some sauteed onion and garlic, but I didn’t have any on hand. So I threw in some onion and garlic powder. I typically use the “Better than Bouillon” brand of base to make broth. I did use beef broth, but this could easily be made vegetarian using a vegetable stock instead.

Borscht

The verdict? I give it a B. The flavor was surprisingly decent, but the potatoes got mushy. I tried it with both plain Greek yogurt and light sour cream and I think the sour cream slightly edged out the yogurt. The major downside was that I will be eating this for days and it is difficult to transport for lunches because I’m afraid of it spilling and getting beet broth everywhere. Plus eating a magenta-colored soup just feels a little unnatural. I don’t think I’d make this again, unless I need a Russian-themed recipe for a potluck or large dinner party.

Winter borscht
Serves: 6-8
Source: Claire Robsinson via the Food Network

Ingredients
8 cups beef broth
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
4 large beets, peeled and chopped
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream

Directions
1. Put the broth, garlic powder, onion powder, beets, and
potatoes in a large heavy-bottomed pot and bring it to a boil. 
Cover and reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the 
vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Uncover and stir in the cabbage and red wine vinegar. 
Season, to taste, with pepper. Simmer uncovered for 
another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

3. Ladle the soup in servings bowls and top with a dollop
of Greek yogurt or sour cream. Enjoy!

November 2013 issue

Hello November! I haven’t had much time to cook lately (thank goodness for a subsidized café at work and a Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods within a few blocks of home). So let’s chat about one of my other favorite hobbies, eating out. I was excited to see the new “list” when the November issue of Boston magazine arrived in my mailbox. This year it’s called: Where to Eat. Right Now.


Last year, my number started at 26 and ended at 32. I had some very delicious meals at Bistro du Midi, Bondir, Erbaluce, The Gallows, Menton, and Via Matta. Even though 22 restaurants fell off the list this year, my new number is still 32. What’s yours?

It was interesting to see both a food truck (Mei Mei Street Kitchen) and a pop-up (Whisk) this year. Clio and Uni were combined into a single entry and Ming Tsai’s Blue Ginger did not make the cut (neither did Blue Dragon). Ceia in Newburyport fell off, but Brine (which is across the street) is representing Newburyport this year.

The 32 restaurants I’ve been to on the 2013 list are (the asterisk denotes an RC pick!):

• Area Four
• Bergamot*
• Bistro du Midi
• Bondir
• The Butcher Shop
• Central Kitchen
• Craigie on Main
• East by Northeast*
• Erbaluce
• The Gallows*
• Highland Kitchen*
• Hungry Mother
• Island Creek Oyster Bar*
• jm Curley*
• Journeyman
• The Kirkland Tap & Trotter*
• Menton
• Oleana*
• Puritan & Company*
• Rendezvous
• Ribelle
• Scampo
• Shojo*
• Sportello*
• Strip-T’s*
• Sweet Cheeks
• Tavern Road*
• Ten Tables J.P.*
• Toro
• Trade
• Tres Gatos
• West Bridge