Quinoa Salad

If you are not familiar with quinoa, read up a little on the internet about it. It’s a very healthy protein-rich grain that is consumed in developing countries but is making quite a name for itself in the Western world. This is a wonderful alternative to meat too but sometimes I serve it as a salad alongside steak or something similar.

Ingredients

1 cup of chicken stock

1 garlic clove, smashed

½ cup of quinoa

1 cup of cherry tomatoes

¼ of a purple onion

Half of a small cucumber

2-3 mint leaves

¼ cup of parsley

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1-2 splashes of vinegar

Directions

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly before cooking. Place in a pot with the chicken stock and garlic and bring to a boil. Once the stock comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa looks translucent. Meanwhile chop the cucumber and tomatoes into small pieces and finely dice the onion. Chop the parsley and mint and all with the vegetables into a bowl. Add the salt, vinegar and oil and stir to combine. Once the quinoa is cooked, set aside to cool. Combine the cooled quinoa with the vegetable mixture and place in the fridge for half an hour for the flavors to meld. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Easter Meal

Happy Easter everyone. Here's my recipe for Easter lunch or dinner, which we just had now.

Ingredients

1 pound of lamb, cubed

2 carrots, diced

1 small onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 cup of white wine

4 cups of chicken stock

2 tablespoons of ketchup

2 teaspoons of salt

1 cup of flour

½ teaspoon of paprika

½ teaspoon of cumin

½ teaspoon of ground coriander

½ teaspoon of garlic powder

3 dried bay leaves

2 teaspoons of olive oil

Heat half the oil in a pot and sauté the vegetables until tender. Remove the vegetables and heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Combine the flour, paprika, cumin, coriander and garlic powder in a shallow dish. Dredge the lamb cubes in the flour mixture. Add the lamb to the pot and brown in the oil on all sides for a couple of minutes. You might have to do this in two batches to ensure the meat browns and doesn’t steam. Add the wine to the meat and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. These will give the stew good flavor. Add the vegetables back to the pot along with the chicken stock, ketchup, bay leaves and salt. Bring the stew to a boil, then lower the heat, cover with a lid and simmer slowly for roughly two hours. Taste the stew and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

I served it with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots.

Soft Drinks

I’m not much into drinking anything else other than water. I think that’s because growing up, we didn’t have anything else in the house so that’s just what I got used to. I don’t drink sodas, juices or coffee unless absolutely necessary, meaning water is not available and I need some liquid. I do remember friends always having one or the other available at their houses when I’d go over for play dates but even then, I wasn’t too impressed. There are only a couple of items that stand out in my mind that I’ve thought were pretty tasty drinks or just interesting, not necessarily good. Here they are:

Soda my husband had in Japan - yes, it's called Pocari Sweat

This was pretty much the only real soda I thought tasted good when I was a kid

Elderflower juice is very popular in Europe and the syrup is even used in cocktails - it's yummy

Thought this sounded healthy and tried the lavender flavor - it's disgusting, like drinking soap

An Austrian soda-like herbal drink, not really known outside that country

Presentation

Presenting food in a pleasurable way is very important to me as already mentioned a few blogs ago with the store displays. As much as I like to have a store or market display their produce in an inviting way, just as much do I like my meal to look inviting. I am not a professionally trained chef, thus my meals are not always camera-ready. Nevertheless, if I have a bit of extra time, I try to put a bit more effort into my presentation than just plopping a scoop of mashed potatoes onto the plate. I watch a lot of cooking shows and try to remember how they present their food but by the time I get ready to put dinner on the table, I’ve forgotten the fancy tricks I see on TV. I just try to remember some simple factors. If the table looks nice, it automatically elevates the food to another level. My plate won’t look nearly as nice if it’s placed next to a stack of mail or text books. If however I have a tablecloth spread out, silverware placed, glasses for drinks and who knows, maybe even a flower or candle in the middle of the table, well then I feel much better already.

On the actual plate, I not only pay attention to décor but to portion control and nutritional balance. I won’t take up the whole plate with a gigantic steak served alongside two small potatoes and three lettuce leaves. That would not be a very nutritious dinner on a regular basis. Occasionally however that just hits the spot. So in general, the meat is limited to the size of my hand (excluding fingers) followed by a whole bunch of veggies or a huge serving of salad. If I’m serving salad for lunch, I mound the whole thing on top of a large plate and cut some chicken into strips to place on top of salad. That usually makes for a simple yet pretty presentation. I know restaurants go the same route.

For soups, I try to place a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream on top and garnish with chives or other greenery.

Contrasting colors are also nice. Serve stewed fruit or a berry salad with whip cream and who can resist that?

Anyways, I’m not an expert when it comes to making something look pretty. My family knows that all too well. Here are some examples however of desserts I’ve enjoyed that looked pretty enough to eat.

Strudel served at a cafe in Vienna

Sweet dumplings served at Romanian restaurant 

Ice cream, whip cream, mandarin oranges and chocolate waffles served by my aunt 



Kinder Surprise Eggs

I know this is my second entry today but just read an article on Yahoo on the ban of the Kinder Surprise Eggs. I had mentioned them before I think when I talked about German chocolate. Anyways, they are chocolate eggs filled with a surprise, a toy that usually has to be assembled. America believes that its children will choke when eating the chocolate and playing with the toys, even though Europe has not had a problem with this for plenty of generations and decades. I won't do any more bashing but check out the article and readers' comments below it. The URL I tried to paste didn't work but if you go to the Yahoo homepage, you'll see the headline as one of today's news - "Contraband candy spurs NYC egg hunt".

Prep Before You Cook

One of my favorite cooking websites is www.ichkoche.at which is an Austrian site featuring articles and recipes in German, so not very helpful to most of you but I’d like to share some prepping tips with you from their site. Looking at them now, maybe not all are before-cooking prep tips….

Also, I think I might have shared similar tips before but these thought even further ahead before the cooking starts so I thought it important to share.

1.    If you are a beginner or not very experienced in the kitchen, take your time. Don’t rush through your first cooking experiences as you will not be familiar with your surroundings and don’t want to invite accidents (fires, cuts, spills and very hot liquids).

2.    Think about what you want to cook and make sure you have all the ingredients at home. You don’t want to be halfway through a recipe only to have to run to the store for the remaining ingredients.

3.    Make sure you are dressed appropriately and your hair is where it should be. Yes, you read right. Are you cooking in your bikini, leaving plenty of skin available for oil splatters when you are frying chicken or is your hair hanging over your soup? Look in the mirror before you cook.

4.    Make room in the kitchen and wherever you will eat. You want to have plenty of room to cut meat or veggies in the kitchen and serve your meal when it’s hot and ready. You don’t want to have to clean the mail off the dining table as you are carrying the roast to it.

5.    Chop and prepare all your ingredients before you cook them. If you set them all aside in bowls or on plates and line them up, cooking them will be a cinch.

6.    Make sure you know where your bandaids are in case you do get a cut. Don’t panic. Turn off the stove, set down anything if necessary and sit down. Breathe, nurse your cut and get back to work.

7.    Presentation is always nice so deck the table in advance. You eat with your eyes first so a pretty table cloth (if you have one) along with the plates and utensils will look good.

8.    Think in advance what you want to drink. Orange juice with clam chowder? Do you have anything else other than orange juice in the fridge? No? Maybe you should have thought of that before starting dinner.

9.    As you are cooking, clean your work area. If you cut the ends off the veggies, throw them in the garbage right away. Don’t pile up trash and pots/pans because you’ll be overloaded after you eat.

10.  Ensure that all fires are put out – turn off the stove/oven when done cooking!

Review – Dim Sum

I know, I know, another freaking dim sum mention. Yes, it’s that good. Depending on where you go of course.

So we have a regular spot now for our dim sum fix, you guessed it, in Chinatown. The place is packed with Chinese and the lines are usually pretty long. We totally snaked a table last time right after walking in. It’s alright, the Asians do it too.

When getting dim sum, you should have a strategy. Don’t do what I always end up doing. Going there super hungry and attacking the first cart that comes your way. You gotta pace yourself and wait patiently for the other carts to offer their goods, otherwise you fill up on your first round. Dim sum is meant to be shared and savored over time, that’s why you don’t get all your food at once. You pick one small order of dumplings now, another one five minutes later, another one ten minutes later, etc.. Remember, every cart offers different dishes, so one might have various noodle dishes, another might have a bunch of steamed buns and yet a third one might only offer desserts.

The dishes come either in small bamboo baskets or are served on small plates. Prices depend on the size of the dish, so a small order (three dumplings) would be $2, a medium would be $3 and a large would be $4 or $5, depending on what it is. We ate with a friend once and the bill only came out to $25 for all of us.

If you do go, make sure you go either in the morning or at lunch time because dim sum is not offered in the evenings.

Shrimp dumplings

Lotus fish cakes 

 Pork shumai

Pork with rolled up noodles 

Black sesame seed dumpling 

Store-bought vs. Home-made

Read an article on Yahoo yesterday that listed 8 products you should buy in the store as opposed to making them yourself at home. I won’t list the specific brands but they were:

1.    Marinara tomato sauce

2.    Puff pastry

3.    Whip cream

4.    Chocolate chip cookies

5.    Chicken wing marinade

6.    Lemonade

7.    Chicken pot pie

8.    Pizza dough

Although I am all about trying things at home and learning how to create your own masterpieces, sometimes you need the help of a jar. With some of the suggested items above I agree with, with some I don’t.

Tomato sauce, come on now. That’s a simple one anyone can make at home. It’s not rocket science although it does take a bit of time. Just saying, if you’ve got the time, you can do it.

Puff pastry, forget about it. Unless you are a professional baker, or really old (meaning you’ve had the practice), you won’t master puff pastry at home. Well, you might master it after many tries, but how many times do you really wanna try?

Whip cream is something you can do yourself in about 30 seconds. Buy organic whipping/heavy cream (yes organic since the damn non-organic cow was pumped full of god knows how many antibiotics and growth hormones), pour it in a bowl, add a touch of sugar if preferred and whip by hand with a whisk or turn on the mixer. Seriously, that’s it. Most of the store brands have a list of ingredients you can’t pronounce.

Chocolate chip cookies, hm. If you are a baker, you go right ahead and do them yourself. If you burn down the kitchen, buy them from the store. Or buy the dough premade and simply bake.

The marinade is something I would concoct myself. The one advertised by Yahoo was supposed to have the right amount of sweetness, spiciness and tanginess. Again, that amounts to how many ingredients not spelled out in English?

Lemonade is up to you. If you don’t have many gadgets, you’ll be squeezing lemons until your arms fall off. If you’ve got gadgets, you’ll still have to buy a bag of lemons to use. On the other hand, Yahoo featured the only brand they could find that didn’t have a plastic bottle taste mixed in with the refreshing lemony flavor. Good luck with that.

Chicken pot pie, that’s kind of up to you too. I have actually made my own before and it was mackin. It was a bit time consuming though so not sure how many people would have the time. If you plan on making it for Sunday dinner or anytime you have time, then go ahead, otherwise maybe just pick it up from the restaurant if possible. The store kinds tend to have preservatives and even the Yahoo review said the different ones they tested didn’t taste good or the pastry didn’t puff up, etc..

Exotic Fruits

In my last Chinatown mention, I posted a picture of mangoes and dragon fruit a street vendor was selling. I forgot to include a description so that’s what spurred this entry. I love me some fruit, but your average apple can get old after a while. Think out of the box and grab a fruit you haven’t seen or heard of next time you are at the market or store. Before you actually eat it (or cook it), I suggest you google it to figure out the best way to prepare it.

I’ve done exactly that quite a few times and have had some pleasant and some not-so-pleasant surprises. I think my favorite experimental buy has been the cherimoya so far. It’s creamy and perfumy and silky (and it’s pictured below). If I wouldn’t have googled it before eating it, I wouldn’t have known that the seeds can be toxic (details, details).

The internet (or your local library if you still visit) will provide you with a plethora of useful information regarding these fruits but here are some tidbits I've banked away. Most exotic fruits are exotic, duh, so this means they come from exotic locations - think Asia, South America, even Australia. A lot of them tend to have harder shells or better protective skins than fruits grown in non-exotic climates (apples, berries, pears, grapes). I'm not sure why that is and I don't even know if that's a fact. Consider this my personal observation. Along with that, some of these exotic fruits also stink but taste delicious. Then again, some smell good but well, you get the point. Also, I bought jack fruit one time and since those suckers are huge, didn't finish the whole thing in one sitting, so I saved half for later. Man, that thing develops odors and keep that in mind if you throw the shell in the garbage. Better take out the garbage that day.

Anywho, here are some exotics to inspire your next trip to the market.

Dragon fruit

Passion fruit

Star fruit

Jack fruit

Cherimoya

Guava

Lychee



Food Safety

I know, this is not one of those very exciting topics but it is very important nonetheless. Today seemed an appropriate time to write this since I got food poisoning yesterday. Thing is, I have no idea what it was that I ate that caused it because my husband and I ate the same things and he didn’t get sick. Figures. Anyways, I don’t wish this sickness unto anyone, it is bad, bad.

So in order to prevent possible poisonings, here are some tips to keep in mind:

-       Always buy fresh ingredients, especially any kind of animal products (meat, milk, eggs).

-       Make sure you wash your produce before you eat/cook it, even if the store has done it for you.

-       Refrigerate your groceries as soon as you get home from the store (assuming they need to be refrigerated). Don’t leave them in the trunk of your car for a while and especially not while your car is parked in the sun.

-       Cooked food starts creating bacteria after 2 hours of sitting out at room temperature. As soon as you finish eating, pack the leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate them.

-       If possible, use a different cutting board for meat and fruits/veggies. You can’t cut raw chicken and then slice apples on the same board. This is a huge health hazard.

-       If in doubt, cook your meat to well done. Raw or undercooked meat may cause illnesses.

-       Raw or undercooked eggs may cause salmonella.

-       Store nuts in the fridge or freezer. They produce oils that will turn rancid after a short while.

-       I also store my oils (olive, vegetable, etc.) in the fridge for longer shelf life.

-       If you can’t remember how long an item has been in your fridge, throw it out.

-       Always check the expiration dates on packages before you buy them.

-       Smell any meat before you cook it. If it’s got a funky odor, do not cook and eat it.

-       Sometimes dried herbs in your pantry might attract little bugs. Always sprinkle dried herbs in your hand first to check before you add them to your meal.

These are all the ones I could think of now but a really good resource is the http://www.foodsafety.gov/ website. Check it out and be a wiser consumer/cook.

Chinatown

Ok so I’m on a Chinese food roll lately, so here’s another Chinatown mention….

I like the Chinatown in NY better than the one in San Francisco. I know the one in Frisco is supposed to be bigger and better but I beg to differ.

I have checked out markets, vendors, eaten Dim Sum and gotten massages (torturous ones - to be expected) numerous times here and love the area. It is unbelievable what you can find. Everything from fresh produce, dried herbs and vegetables, fresh fish (and frogs and turtles), lots of bakeries and shops where you can buy Asian imports and all sorts of cookery gadgets.

We also discovered lots of bakeries in the area who sell a mix of both Asian and Western desserts. Totally random. Those sweet, chewy steamed dessert buns are so freaking good, they’ve become staples.

The grocery stores in this area are also generally cheaper than anywhere else in town. Shoot, you can buy fruits and veggies right on the street, since there are plenty of street vendors selling from their little tables or carts. Many exotic things that you would buy at a specialty or gourmet store for an arm and a leg can be picked up in Chinatown for half the price, sometimes even better. Take for example a whole pineapple. In Chinatown I saw some for $3 total, at the regular store, it’s at least twice that. Chinatown’s got the little box of tangerines or clementines for $2.99 and Trader Joe’s has them for $6.99. Obviously I want to buy everything at a bargain but being the health nut that I am, I also insist on buying organic. That’s one thing Chinatown does not do. So I have to pick and choose what I can buy non-organic and won’t lose sleep over, such as bananas and tangerines. Even if they are sprayed with pesticides, at least their thick skin protects the actual fruit and you discard it. So that’s what I’ll start buying there. In addition, I’ll probably start picking up pineapples, papayas, mangoes, fish and other seafood such as shrimp and mussels. All are great bargains and relatively safe to buy there, at least that’s my thinking.

Review – Fay Da Bakery

This is such an awesome little bakery in Chinatown, we always stop by after our massage appointments. It’s weird but the Asian bakeries in the area have both Asian and Western pastries. We haven’t tried any of their Western stuff since we usually can’t resist the gooey dumplings.

The good thing is that everything is really cheap so you won’t spend more than a buck fifty on a pastry, which means we make this our lunch after the massages. Can’t be going to fancy ass places all the time.

Last time I got a dried pork roll which was basically a sheet of bread dough, rolled up with lettuce, corn, mayo that was sweet (I’m not sure what the actual sauce was) and dried pork. The meat looked a bit drier than I would have liked but it actually tasted great. Also got a bbq pork fried bun, our favorite steamed gooey and chewy flat dumplings filled with sweet bean paste, a show pow (not sure if it’s spelled this way) which is a dumpling filled with pork, and a chicken steamed bun. I know, they all sound the same and kinda look the same too but once you taste them, you’ll taste the difference. Drool, drool…

Review – Landmarc

Touristy place or better yet, located in a touristy area but with surprisingly good food. We were invited to this place by a co-worker who had some connects, which means we ate way more food than should be legal and some was graciously on the house. Those nice people….

So where to begin. Had the flat bread with roasted tomatoes, cheese and arugula and burger, which was cooked just right but lacked salt and maybe some cheese. These we shared as appetizers. This was preceded by a basket of bread. Darn, by the time the entrees came out, we were already full.

My hubby got the skirt steak medium-rare which was perfect. I don’t say that too often about any food but this one was. My colleague and I decided to share the short rib spaghetti (spicy which I was not warned about) and the pork chop with apples and spinach (flavorful but a bit dry due to its ginormous size). Holy guacamole, it was wayyy too much food. Nevertheless, I’m sure I made a spectacle of myself as I put a pretty decent dent in it.

We decided that there was absolutely no more room for a morsel when the house comped us dessert. And I’m not talking about one dessert to share amongst the three of us, I’m talking about the whole damn tray of dessert. We got to sample chocolate mousse, tiramisu, lemon tart, crème brulee, chocolate profiterole and finally the piece de resistance, grape-flavored cotton candy. I should have worn sweat pants.

By the way, sorry about the pictures of the massacred meat, didn't remember to take pics until most was gone.



Food Product Displays

There is much to be said for the way food is displayed, not only on your plate but even in the store. Some of you might have heard of marketing techniques stores use such as placing their most popular products at eye-level on the shelf. I don’t know more about advertising than that but I am always keeping an eye out when I go to the store. What are they pushing now, what’s hot and what’s on sale? Most of the time, the stuff that’s on sale is about to expire. Watch out for that.

What really excites me though is to see products displayed in such a way that I can’t resist and buy something totally unnecessary. You know that we eat with our eyes first. If stores don’t take advantage of that, they’ll never succeed. There are plenty of ways to display food but here’s what really makes me giddy. Watch and learn.

Yes

Yes 

No (although there is some pretty darn good German chocolate pictured here) 

Yes 

Hell yes 

Another hell yes - these are gorgeous tomatoes by the way

Review – Momofuku Milk Bar

Yes, this name sounds funny but it’s a really popular spot and rightly so. There are various Momofukus in Manhattan and the Milk Bar is their dessert spot. Guess they serve regular food there too (maybe I’m just remembering wrong) but we went there for dessert. Went once again with friends which is always better because you get to sample whatever they buy too. So between the four of us, we had the following:

Compost cookie (a mix of random things including pretzels, potato chips, coffee, oats, butterscotch and chocolate chips)

Peanut Butter cookie

Coconut Tangerine Cake Truffles

Birthday Cake Truffles

Crack Pie (oat crust and butter filling)

White Russian Milkshakes

It was all unusual and good. My favorite were the coconut cake truffles, which I ordered. Not sure how to describe them, they weren’t truffles like the regular chocolate truffles most are familiar with. They were like small balls of cake made to look like a truffle. And the cake dough was chewy like it hadn’t been baked fully, so maybe a mix between a cake and cookie dough. Hm, it’s a mystery, you’ll have to experience it for yourself.

The milkshake was something my husband and a friend ordered. Boy, that sucker is strooong. And of course very filling. They regretted their decision afterwards since we’d had a heavy dinner, all those darn truffles and cookies and then the shakes. Gotta try their food food next time.

Review – Shake Shack

This is another one of those institutions praised by all and featured on TV. As the TV hinted, the lines are ridiculous. There are a few locations in NYC, but we decided to try the Times Square location. In hindsight, maybe picking the most crowded tourist location in the city wasn’t a smart choice, but oh well, we survived.

This joint is known for its burgers and shakes. We were absolutely famished so we definitely decided on their burgers and skipped the shakes, mostly because of cost but also because I make milkshakes at home frequently.

I ordered the Shackburger (490 calories which I just looked up) which is a cheeseburger topped with lettuce, onions, tomatoes and pickles. It actually just comes with two of those toppings so you have to ask for the other extras. My hubby ordered the same thing as a double-decker (two patties & cheese). We both ordered fries (same calorie count as my burger) and he got an Arnold Palmer as well. I stuck with my usual water. Doesn’t seem like a lot of food but the bill still came out to $20 something bucks.

The line to order was long, waiting for a table and/or seat to become available was longer and then waiting for our food took the longest. As soon as our beeper indicated our order was ready, my husband dashed for the pickup while I secured our seats.

The burgers were a good size and looked delicious. Turned out they were pretty good too. The meat was juicy and tender, cooked medium which was just right. The toppings were the usual suspects and then the whole thing had a dollop of special sauce thrown on it (most likely mayo and ketchup). At that moment, everything hit the spot. I think, a cardboard cutout of a burger would have hit the spot. Overall though, the burger lacked seasoning. It wasn’t salty enough which was too bad because the meat was cooked perfectly. The fries were big, salty and filling since my burger did not curb my hunger.

My husband agreed that the burger was good but also said the bit of extra salt would have made a difference. We are also biased in our burger judging since we compared it to the In-N-Out burger from California. So far, haven’t found one that beat that but the Shake Shack burger was pretty close. I’d definitely recommend it, however make sure you don’t go there when you are starving. The line will drive you nuts.

Review – Mono+Mono

This place was literally one block away from our one-month sublet we stayed in when we first got here but we just made it there now that we are in Brooklyn. A friend recommended it so we tagged along late one evening.

The restaurant is super cool with an entire huge wall lined with records and even has a revolving record conveyer belt. Not sure how else to describe that. Low lighting with somewhat jazzy music make a very comfy hang-out for friends.

We sat down and ordered family style, meaning we shared everything but I guess that’s not a must. We ordered their famously twice fried chicken smothered in various sauces, a side order of fried rice, their fois gras meatball appetizer and fries. The fries were served first with an accompaniment of three dipping sauces. I thought it was weird that they brought out the fries by themselves instead of waiting for the chicken but I was starving so I dove in along with my friends. The meatballs came second and were tiny. There was one per person so that was a waste of money. 30-40 minutes later (I’m not kidding), the chicken was brought out. All of us were famished. We attacked the chicken and cleaned the plate within 5 minutes. We realized that the rice hadn’t been brought out so we alerted our waitress. And then we ordered another damn chicken plate. The rice came out halfway through the chicken waiting time. We divided the cup of rice between the four of us. Another rip-off. The second chicken batch came and we once again massacred it. At that point, I could have maybe eaten one or two more drumsticks but was content as is. The others seemed to fare the same way.

During the course of the evening, I noticed that one leg of my chair was broken. I started exchanging it with another chair and the waitress came to inquire about it. I told her the chair should be removed since it was hazardous to customers but instead of taking it off the floor, she just moved it to a corner of another table. Possible future lawsuit?...

The overall experience was ok at this joint. The chicken was really superb. It wasn’t coated in batter or anything else and the skin was absolutely perfectly crisp. The seasoning was also delicious and made for some of the best chicken to date. The sides were good but very small and too pricey. The atmosphere is nice but the wait time is ridiculous. Not sure I’d go back. Maybe, if I’m feeling particularly patient that day.