En Route to Munich (Wednesday, June 2, 2010)

It was a good thing I took the day off today since we spent a good part of this morning moving the rest of our kitchen items into our bedroom in preparation for the demolition.  Our friend’s Nami and Jonathan had their second baby, Yuto, on Tuesday so we finished up as quickly as possible to get a glimpse of this bundle of joy before flying out.  What a gorgeous baby!

We flew on Luftansa and had a pretty easy and unadventurous flight to Munich – that’s always a good sign.  My pasta wasn't so bad for airplane food.  I ate the pasta and Ethan ate the chicken and mashed potatoes.

Applewood (Saturday, May 29, 2010)

We ate out at a restaurant called Applewood in Brooklyn.  Check out my posting on the Out to Eat Blog.

Rice Salad (Wednesday, May 26, 2010)

Great for a very hot and humid day.  Ethan used basmati rice and added feta cheese and capers in case you can't see from the photos.

This was a great wine with a cost of around $13

Shin Ramen and Leftover Spaghetti (Tuesday, May 25, 2010)

I went for a run after work today so I didn't get home until after 8pm and Ethan spent the day at a conference called Games for Change.  Dinner was a bit of an afterthought tonight.

I made shin ramen for dinner and Ethan had leftover spaghetti and meatballs.

Piper's Kilt (Monday, May 24, 2010)

We ate bacon cheeseburger's for dinner tonight.  For dessert we picked up ice cream from the neighborhood bodega.  I picked up my favorite Ben & Jerry's AmeriCone Dream and Ethan tried a new Haagan Daz flavor, Bananas Foster.

Sea Scallop Salad (Saturday, May 22, 2010)

We started off the evening with appetizers of cheese, bread, hummus, tzatziki, cherries, and olives - what a beautiful variety of food.  The bread was from Atwater's in Belvedere Square near Mary Lou's (Ethan's mom and my mother-in-law).

For dinner we had a seared sea scallop salad with bacon, avocado, cherry tomatoes and a mustard vinaigrette.

For dessert we had fresh coconut.  I saw some fresh coconut in the grocery store months ago and we thought it would be fun to drink the juice au naturel.  Little did I know that it's a complete pain to break the coconut apart without making a complete mess.  This time, Ethan bought a green coconut, thinking it would be easier to drink, but it was just as difficult.  The coconut milk was really good and sweet but who actually wants to go through all the trouble for a few sips of juice?  If it takes, a hammer, screw driver, AND a knife to eat dessert, it's just not worth it...for me. 

For more dessert, Mary Lou picked up some mini cupcakes that were so good and pretty too!  The flavors included coconut and lemon. 

Roy Rogers along the New Jersey Turnpike (Friday, May 21, 2010)

Yuck! We were driving down to Baltimore for the weekend and we left NYC after work, around 6pm.  Surprisingly we didn't hit any traffic!

There is nothing along the way between NYC and Baltimore other than the nasty service stations along the NJ Turnpike.  If you know of a good place to stop for food along this route, please let me know!

We ate burgers at Roy Rogers.  When we saw the sign, Ethan thought that they might have good burgers so we pulled in.  As soon as he saw the Roy Rogers counter, he realized he was thinking of Carl's Jr....not Roy Rogers.  Oh well, now we know...

Pork Tenderloin & Banana Pudding (Saturday May 16, 2010)

We had a few friends over for dinner and Janet made a feast!

She made some crab mushroom appetizers. They were good, but not exactly what she had in mind. Janet wanted to recreate a mushroom dish that Maro, our sister-in-law, made--but it turns out we had the wrong recipe.

We have decided to try to buy all our meats from local farmers. This is the first dish we've made using meat from Lewis-Waite Farm (which we get through our Community Supported Agriculture group).

Janet marinated a pork tenderloin using Ina Garten's recipe. It was so good!

I made some mashed potatoes and asparagus (which Janet picked up at our farmers' market) to go along with the pork.

Janet also made the most amazing banana pudding using the recipe from the Magnolia Bakery. She reduced the cream from 3 cups to 2, but I couldn't tell the difference from the original. It is so delicious!

Sloppy Joes (Thursday, April 29, 2010)

Ethan made Sloppy Joes on Martin's potato rolls tonight.

Piper's Kilt (Wednesday, April 28, 2010)

We had dinner at Piper's Kilt tonight.  It's a pub in our neighborhood, and apparently, they have "The Best Burgers in Inwood".  At least, that's what the sign says as you enter the restaurant.  We've only had burgers here, but they do have a variety of other dishes on their menu.  Maybe one day I'll try something else.

Zucchini Rice Gratin (Sunday, April 25, 2010)

I haven't left the house all day - this is very rare for me and I wasn't even that productive at home either.  It's been a very cold and rainy gray day. One thing I did do was make dinner.  I wanted to make Ina Garten's pork loin recipe but strangely, none of the grocery stores within walking distance had it in stock yesterday.

We just watched the documentary, Food Inc, and I'm a little grossed out by meat right now (this won't last, I'm sure), but I will tell you that this is changing the way Ethan and I think about food and what we purchase in the future.  Another food show we've been watching is Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

Anyway, I made Zucchini Rice Gratin and a Shrimp Salad.  They didn't really go so great together, but were pretty good each on their own.

Zucchini Rice Gratin up close

For the Shrimp Salad, I made quite a few modifications.  I added some chili garlic paste as well as Sriracha sauce, I didn't add dill b/c I didn't have any, and I used one scallion instead of the red onion.

Shrimp Salad

Ethan made a delicious strawberry rhubarb cobbler for dessert - my favorite.  The strawberries were so good and fresh on their own.  I love that strawberries are in season right now. The rhurbarb came from our farmers' market.

Skate & Wheatberries (Saturday April 24, 2010)

This morning we picked up (among other things) some skate, ramps, and asparagus at the nearby farmers' market.

I fried the skate wings and made up a Provençal-style sauce out of the ramps (wild leeks), tomatoes, parsley, and capers. To go along with the fish, Janet made a wheatberry & sour cherry salad and I simmered some asparagus.

Quinoa with Spring Vegetables and Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler (Sunday April 18 2010)

I modified the Spring Vegetable and Quinoa Pilaf recipe I found on epicurious.com.  I used red beets instead of the golden beets - you can tell right away by the photo.  I also threw in some shrimp to the dish as well.

I wanted to cook quinoa since we bought a gigantic bag of it at Costco the last time we were there, so you'll be seeing many more recipes using this seed (I guess it's technically a seed, not a grain).

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

Macaroni and Cheese (Friday, April 9, 2010)

I was craving mac & cheese....Cecilia's (Ethan's sister) mac & cheese she made once while I was visiting Baltimore.  She used Ina Garten's recipe found on foodnetwork.com.  The interesting part of the recipe is that it calls for fresh tomato slices on top - make you feel like it's extra healthy ; )

I work near Grand Central, so on my way home, I thought I could just stop in the Grand Central Market and pick up the cheese but when I got there I realized they only had Murray's Cheese shop and the 12 ounces of Gruyere cheese the recipe called for would've cost over $30.  I already picked up 4 tomatoes at the market for $9, and thought that this was going to be a very expensive mac & cheese.  So instead, I picked up some cheese at our local market and we used cheddar & swiss.  It was still pretty good, but I still dream of the one Cecilia made.

Jamie Oliver's Smashed Chicken recipe (Thursday, April 8, 2010)

This recipe has become a staple go-to recipe for us and as simple as it is (ingredient-wise), it's so tasty and wonderful!

Roasted Artichoke with Thyme

Trader Joe's Apple Tart Tatin (I wouldn't buy this again. It wasn't bad, but after having Ethan's homemade Apple Tart Tatin, I'd rather have his again. Maybe he'll make this again soon - yay!)

Lentil Soup (Monday, April 5, 2010)

Ethan's been feeling a bit under the weather so he made lentil soup.  He used the leftover bulgogi we had from making kimbap and he used sundried tomatoes instead of a canned tomatoes.  It was really good and perfectly comforting.

For dessert, my mom gave us some sweet sticky rice with pine nuts and dates.  I'm not sure exactly what it's called - but I know I like it ; )

Roasted Chicken (Sunday, March 21, 2010)

Roast Chicken is something I've been trying to "master" for several attempts now and I have to say that tonight was my favorite so far.  I finally got crispy skin and a golden color.  On all of my previous attempts, I've used fresh herbs inside and out and used olive oil.  I never quite got much flavor from the fresh herbs, but this time I used Montreal Steak Seasoning and melted butter.  I separated the skin from the meat like I read in other recipes, and rubbed the butter on top of the skin and underneath.   Since I used up the last of the butter (I think it was only a couple tablespoons), I rubbed a little bit of olive oil on the chicken as well.

This was a bigger chicken than my previous ones so I wasn't entirely sure about the timing.  I think it roasted for about 2 hours, maybe less.

Yay, montreal steak seasoning.  This was a spice my friend Sarah suggested we use on roasted potatoes - it's so good!

Kale with garlic

We also had wild rice, but I forgot to add that to my plate for this photo

It's Easter time and the season for chocolate eggs.  We bought a bag of Cadbury chocolate mini eggs last weekend and went through them in abou a day.  When we went to Target this morning we didn't see the Cadbury eggs so we bought Hersey's milk chocolate eggs instead.  Knowing that the chocolate eggs only come out once a year, we thought we'd stock up...

Chicken and Potatoes (Thursday, March 18, 2010)

We had our friend Nami and her 2 year old daughter Mio over for dinner.  I forgot to take photos of the finished dish, but here are some as Ethan was preparing the meal.  He modified Jamie Oliver's Crispy and Sticky Chicken Thighs with Squashed New Potatoes and Tomatoes.  This is a great dish!

Along with the chicken we had skillet asparagus from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone.

We started off with some fresh mozzarella and tomatoes:

Preparing the chicken:

More Magnolia's cupcakes

Steak (Wednesday, March 17, 2010)

For dinner, Ethan picked up some food at Stew Leonards.  An interesting grocery store, that's not your typical market.  It takes you on one path that winds through the entire store.  You basically follow this path from beginning to end.  The produce here always looks so amazingly vibrant in color, it just makes you want to buy everything!  It was a treat to eat strawberries that not only smelled as strawberries should, but the flavor was heaven!  I'm definitely looking forward to the summer full of fresh fruit!

Very yummy grapes and strawberries...the strawberries were amazing!

Salad with grapefruit

Tomatoes and fresh mozzarella

Ciabatta Bread

Dry-Aged T-Bone Steak

For dessert, I picked up Magnolia's cupcakes at Grand Central...yes, they just opened up there and how convenient.  We can now have magnolia's cupcakes every night for dessert ; ) I bought  chocolate with chocolate frosting and red velvet. 

Deliciousness

Shake Shack, Upper West Side (March 11, 2010)

We ate at the Shake Shack tonight for dinner.  You can find our posting on my other blog Out To Eat.

Shake Shack (map)

366 Columbus Avenue (at 77th Street)

646-747-8770