Chinese Take-Out, for a Crowd

My sister was born on the day after Christmas.  She's never been the biggest fan of her birthday, but she has inspired a beloved family tradition:  Each year, we celebrate her big day with a trip to a local Chinese restaurant that we've frequented since we were kids.  King's Island's eclectic menu features delicious version of the usual suspects, plus a full sushi menu, as well as a "American specialties" section (steak, potatoes, and the like) that no one ever orders from. 

Because there are three small grandchildren in the family (and one on the way), this year's birthday feast took place at my parents' house, so we wouldn't have coordinate around different food and sleep schedules.  I was charged with ordering enough take-out for the 15 or so guests--and, with portion sizes that are much larger than New York's, we had enough for dinner and several days' leftovers.

We emptied the containers of egg drop soup into a pot to simmer on the stove.  I'm convinced that soup tastes better when it's eaten out of a favorite mug.

The best part about this meal, food-wise, was that we all had the chance to sample lots of different dishes, without having to say, "Could I try yours?"

various entrees

sushi for the wusses (me) and the experts (my sister)

I highly recommend take-out for a large group if you want to try lots of different things.  As my college friend used to say when we went out to the Chinese buffet, "be sure to wear your stretchy pants!" 

The birthday girl!  7 months pregnant and still always ready for a party.

The final touch:  a Cold Stone ice cream cake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!  Hope we can be together for next year's birthday dinner, too!

Warm Winter Veggies

As the weather's gotten colder, two very exciting things have happened in my eating/cooking life:

1. Three of my favorite colleagues and I started a lunch club.  One night per week, each of us cooks lunch for all four of us.  This means I get delicious lunches each day, and I only have to cook one night each week.  Sweet!

2. My CSA, Project Harmony, started a winter share option.  We members paid $150 for nine weeks of delicious vegetables, which means we can enjoy fresh produce from a nearby farm long after the summer's end.

Now, fall/winter veggies are very different from those we enjoy in the summer.  With all the roots and greens, I've had to get really creative with my cooking.  Kale, beets, and collards are all new to me (from a cooking perspective, at least).  I'm also not the world's biggest potato fan, mostly because I only know a few different ways to cook 'em--I tend to either roast with rosemary and other spices, or bake oven fries.

When my colleague suggested that I try my hand at some mashed potatoes, I was skeptical, both because my mother makes the world's best, and because I assumed they would require lots of butter and milk (the very ingredients that make my mom's so good!).  Since I've been eating mostly dairy-free, I thought I'd see what I could find online . . . and lo and behold, I happened upon a recipe that used only olive oil, vegetable broth, salt, and pepper.  So, to the kitchen I went . . . 

Boil them as usual, then add olive oil.  Mash 'em up a bit with a good masher (I got this one at a yard sale). Start adding a yummy veggie broth, bit by bit, until the moment it just starts to seem like too much (the potatoes will absorb the liquid and it will be the perfect texture).  To make the broth, I use Rapunzel bouillon cubes from a health food shop because they have more natural ingredients.  Salt and pepper to taste.

A warm winter tater topper:  sauteed garlic, onions, collards, and kale

Almost ready!

Ready to eat and warm me up!

My girls enjoyed their lunch, and I discovered a new winter favorite.  I soon found myself craving mashed potatoes, and so I used the fresh ones from this week's pick-up to make another batch.  The nutritionist who is a member of my CSA told me that these red potatoes are "chock full of antioxidants."  That's kind of exciting, since they taste good too.

I'm also looking forward to enjoying this dish for breakfast on the chilly Monday morning, a.k.a. tomorrow. 

Until next time . . . stay warm and well-fed!

Francie :-)

P.S. A huge shout-out to my work sister Hope, whose many great ideas include this very meal.

Weekend in Providence

My love and I headed to Providence for a little weekend getaway.  You probably already knew that Providence is in Rhode Island, but you may not know that it has some pretty fantastic food.

Two technological tools made our eating life in Providence awesome:  Facebook, and Yelp.  We'll start with Facebook.

I posted on my status that we were headed to this city we know nothing about, and could use some ideas about where to eat, drink, and/or hang out.  An old camp friend recommended Al Forno in a way that made it sound like we would be stupid not to go there.  I checked out their website and found that, among other claims to fame, this restaurant was called the "number one casual dining restaurant in the world" by a writer for the International Herald Tribune.

Excuse me?  The WORLD? 

Clearly, we were going.

We arrived to find that there was a two-hour wait (no reservations for parties of under 6) and that the two bars were (barely) standing room only.  So, we waited.  In the meantime, my honey called another restaurant (whose name I will not mention here) and made us a reservation there, in case we (read: HE) couldn't take the wait.  Luckily, we made some friends at the bar, and our wait ended up only being an hour-ish.  And then, a series of really wonderful things started to happen.

1. I got to TALK to the waitress about the food.  She was a Brown student who spent a semester in Florence, so she KNOWS things.  It was, like, heaven. 

2. We shared this delicious appetizer--margherita pizza with pepperoni, sliced lengthwise.  Crushed tomatoes, scallions, and grilling made for some major deliciousness.

3. My partner in crime and eating got their steak special.  Since steak is his favorite food, I always ask him to rank steaks on a scale of 1-10.  This was an 8.5, just half a point shy of Peter Luger's rating.  Pretty high praise.

4. After a lengthy Q&A with our waitress, I went with the rigatoni bolognese.  I have eaten this in Bologna, and in many great Italian restaurants in the US, and this was right-on.

5.  Dessert came.  An exceptional bread pudding with some kind of chocolate melted into its layers, and a sweet cream on the side.  WOW.  I went to get my new friend (the one we met at the bar) and had her come try it.  We bonded over this marvelous dish, and decided then and there to head out for drinks to celebrate her birthday.

The short story on Al Forno?  Go.  It's worth the price and the wait.  And if you thought you had no reason to visit Providence . . . well, now you do.

And to Katie, the Facebook friend who said we must go: thanks again.

Eat up, and love it, my friends.

Francie

Going Down to Chinatown

It's been a little while, but I'm back and ready to fulfill a promise:  writing about a restaurant.


Chinatown in NYC is a great place to score dim sum, dumpling, sweet bean or fruit buns, and various Chinese delicacies.  But, as my dear half-Vietnamese friend says, it's also the best place in the city for Vietnamese food.

Summer rolls!  Need to learn to make these some day.

Which brings me to Nha Trang One, on Baxter between Walker and White.  There's another location on Centre, but this one is rated 4 of 5 stars on Yelp after 172 reviews!  I think that means it MUST be the better one.


I love this place for several reasons:
1. the food is good,
2. the staff are efficient and (in one case), pretty funny, and
3. it's very REAL--authentic, but also kind of grassroots--but more about that later.


Oh, and did I mention the prices are very reasonable?  

Bun with sauteed mixed vegetables.
Can't seem to get it to upload correctly, so turn your head to the right and you'll see it as it looked on the table.  :-)

I tried a few of my usuals--bun with mixed vegetables, summer rolls, and spring rolls--and got slightly adventurous with my drink, a salted plum soda.  This last one consisted of sliced plum, sugar, salt, and a can of club soda.  It was interesting, and I'm glad I tried it--but I would have to try it again to determine how much I liked it.

Salted plum soda (which had much more sugar than salt)

My companions tried the beef ball soup, the steak and rice, and the shrimp curry, in addition to a Vietnamese beer called 33 (which led to my boyfriend saying, "Can I try 32 next time?  or maybe 31?").  With the exception of the shrimp curry being way too spicy (and in need of rice it didn't come with), everyone enjoyed their meals.

Our waiter kept saying, "Yum yum!" when we asked about every dish, or when he explained the sauce options for the spring and summer rolls.  We were amused.


I love how grassroots this place is, with utensils, napkins, and chopsticks all set up in a station on each table.  At many Asian restaurants, you have to ask for chopsticks, so I think it's great to be able to set yourself up. If you drop your fork, no big!  There's a canister with more just waiting for you.

The sauce-and-utensil station, which may be my favorite feature of this place

Overall, Nha Trang is a low-key, inexpensive place to eat a solid lunch or dinner.  As the waiter would say, "Yum yum!"

Adventures in Polenta

It's hard to believe that I've gone three posts and never mentioned a restaurant, because I eat in restaurants all the time.  But one of the best ways to keep things cheap, is to eat at home.

. . . which is why I want to share my first experience cooking polenta.

Now, this was prepackaged polenta bought at a health food store near my apartment.  I pan-fried it with some olive oil (Whole Foods' 360 brand, which was rated highly by Real Simple not too long ago).  For the sauce, I used my favorite pasta cookbook, Mr. Food Cooks Pasta, p. 127.

My mother swears by it, and my adopted Italian mother completely approves of it, so you know it's good.  Whenever she finds a copy at a used bookstore, my mom picks it up so we'll have it ready to pass one to someone who doesn't have it.  (Does anyone else remember seeing Mr. Food on their local news? I totally do.)

Short story:  simple marinara + pan-fried polenta = major deliciousness.  Polenta tastes, for lack of any other better terms, like butter. And for someone who's currently experimenting with not eating dairy, anything that tastes like butter is heaven.

Try this recipe.  You'll be glad you did.

You'll need:
olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
one (28 oz.) can diced or crushed tomatoes
water (only if you used crushed tomatoes--you decide the amount)
salt, pepper
other seasonings (the recipe calls for fresh parsley + oregano + garlic powder, but I used Italian seasoning and garlic salt, because this is what I had on hand)

Heat the olive oil; add the chopped garlic and saute until golden.
Add tomatoes.
Add water, if needed.
Let boil.
Add seasonings and stir.
Reduce heat and simmer for 10+ minutes at low.  Stir as needed.
* Add crushed red pepper to turn this into a fra diavolo, which is perfect for seafood.

You will be surprised at how delicious this marinara is, especially if you've chopped the garlic pretty coarsely--being able to really bite into it creates a truly delicious experience.  And, like gingerbread, it tastes exponentially better the next day, after the tastes have melded together even more.

This entire experience takes under 20 minutes, and is a great weekday meal.

(And if you've made your own polenta from scratch, I'd love to hear from you.)

Next time, I promise to write about a restaurant.

Until then,
Francie
P.S. This Labor Day weekend, eat well, and enjoy it!

Keeping it Real

When it comes to choosing foods, I try to keep it real.


Yes, I try to eat real, whole, mostly natural foods. But I also like to be real with myself about what I want to eat. If I crave something, I will usually eat it.  I figure that my body knows what it needs, and that it finds ways to tell me.

YUM . . .
(Sorry, vegetarians--it's just how I feel.)

Every Friday after work, I, along with some of my nearest and dearest colleagues, head out for happy hour at a nearby bar.  Almost every Friday, I eat some buffalo wings.  And here's how I feel about buffalo wings:


I love 'em.


Now, these words come from a girl who was a vegetarian for most of high school and college, who obsessed over fat grams as a teenager, and who has eliminated fried foods from her diet on more than one occasion.  My first taste of wings came at age 22.


But the thing about buffalo wings is . . . they're really good.  And so, I eat them.  


This is what I mean by keeping it real--eating what you want or need, at the time you want or need it.   


I didn't feel like cooking last night, so I made myself a hodge podge of yummy things from my fridge, and I loved every bite.  It happened to be no-cook and easy to put together, but mostly, it was exactly what I needed last night's dinner to be.

The Perfect Dinner (for Monday, August 30, 2010, at least)
carrot and celery sticks, Whole Foods lemon hummus, La Quercia prosciutto*,
tomato and crunchy sprout salad, and a few leftover olives and Tuscan beans

Keep it real,
Francie


P.S. Next up:  Adventures in polenta!


*P.P.S. La Quercia prosciutto is crafted with love in Iowa (yes, Iowa).  You can read about this very cool company here.  

Real Eats

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and many other treatises on food, wrote:

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

I'm a big fan of this simple statement, which brings me to tonight's topic: Real Eats.

This might mean:

1.  Foods that are prepared in a form that is close to their natural state, or

2.  You are being real with yourself when you choose what to eat.

Real Eats
(also known as whole foods, high-quality foods, and <fill in your own phrase here>)

This summer, I joined a CSA.  For those of you who don't know, being part of a CSA (community supported agriculture) means that you buy a share in a farm, and you then get a share of the farm's crops.  So every Thursday, I head to a darling little garden in Harlem, say hi to my CSA friends, and load up my reusable bags with the bounty of the week.  I love this because I eat more veggies now, and because it encourages me to experiment with produce that I don't know much about.

Case in point:  okra.

Fresh okra from my CSA, Project Harmony

Like any southerner, I love my okra--and I'm not afraid to say that I like it fried.  But, fried or not, I've never made it myself.  In the interest of expanding my kitchen repertoire, I set out to try something new. After getting many ideas from friends, and remembering a recent article I read on the growing popularity of pickling, I resolved to make my first pickles--okra pickles, to be exact.  I won't know how they turned out for another two weeks, but I do know that I appreciated the simple list of ingredients (water, vinegar, pickling salt (also new to me), a bit of dill, garlic, and serrano peppers).  Below are some pictures from the pickling experience . . . 

Getting the jars ready.  I reused some jars I already had, which a real pickler might not do.  
We'll see how well that works.
After the garlic and serrano peppers, I sprinkled in some dill.

Packing the Pickles

Pouring the boiled vinegar, water, and pickling salt over the okra.
This was right before I poured boiling water on my hand--you saw that coming, didn't you?

This picture was taken right before I discovered that I could put the jar in the sink instead of holding it in my hand.  You learn something new every day.

Bye little okra pickles!  Taste you in two weeks!

It's so easy to buy pickles in a jar--and as every Webb knows, I do love pickles in a jar--but it's also easy to pickle your own real, whole foods, right in your own home.

There is much more to be said about real food, but I'm calling it a night.  Next up: keeping it real with food, and how I feel about buffalo wings.

I'd love to hear what "real food" means to you, so don't be afraid to respond, in all your spare time.

And speaking of spare time . . . 

Check out this article from the New York Times, a great read about the changing priorities of American eaters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.htm

Love from NYC,

Francie

P.S.  I'm going to get better at blogging, and at taking food pictures.  I swear.  I'll stick with it if you'll stick with me.

P.S. Did you know that Michael Pollan's sister is Tracy Pollan, wife of Michael J. Fox?  It's true.  Wikipedia says so. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Pollan

It's time.

A beautiful sunset with friends at Kimo's in Lahaina, Maui

I have a mission.

I'd like to eat the most delicious food I possibly can, while keeping it:

1. Real
2. Cheap, and
3. Healthy.

I'm in the middle of a food revolution--and with all the literature and conversation about food out there, maybe all of us are.

I thought I'd share it with you, whoever you may be, in hopes that we can learn even more, and grow as food lovers, together.

Buen provecho!

Francie