Fancy Schmancy Sandwiches

Ok, it's not really a sandwich I guess, but I wanted Eggs Benedict, and am trying to save $.  We can call it open faced.  The internet has many hollandaise sauce recipes but I chose Alton Brown's less complicated one.  Considering I'm not one for high maintenance recipes, I'd say it wasn't so bad.

 

 The thing is, it's not re-heatable in the microwave. Might I recommend re-heating the same way you cook it.  Otherwise everything separates!!!!

In my desperate scramble to save the sauce I thought.... well it's just butter and yolk, butter will solidify again in the fridge.  No. The answer is no it will not come out the same. Even if you whisk it.

Lesson learned, but I still think my cooking mojo is jinxed.

Meanwhile, in Vegas we visited the Earl of Sandwich at the strong urging of Mar. One of those toast through a grill places.  

I know it just looks like a sandwich (The Full Montagu... get it??) But the bread is so soft and buttery.  I would say it's firm like french bread, but the crust is like italian.

Yummy eating!

Reasons to Cook At Home, or Not.

Reasons to Cook At Home:

McDonald's is going down hill. This is a hot fudge sundae, 5 min after driving away from the window:

Yes, it was bubbling.

I know people with a soft serve machine. I have a double broiler. Why pay money for drippy bubbles?

Cousin has been experimenting. Braised beef may be too much work for me, but she seems to like it just fine. Who needs Mike's Noodle House?

Still do, but you know. Now there's options.

Add veggies of your own liking, and you don't even have to buy broth! Braised beef comes in its own!

She also provided noodles.

You don't have to put on pants for breakfast if you cook at home. What could be more relaxing?

Starbuck's instant coffee, whole grain toast with butter, turkey bacon, grits/collards/cheese, and a poached egg.

You also get to manage the healthiness. That meal was provided oil and grease free courtesy of my new Orgreenics pan (aka cancer pan). *Look up the infommercial.*

I mean, c'mon. How can it slide off that easily and not be carcinogenic?

You can try new foods. My friends decided I needed to try Sukiyaki before I visited Japan. It's kind of like hot pot/stew. There's many different styles, but my friends had a way they like it so we cooked at home.

You take veggies, broth, sugar, sake, tofu, and noodles and cook it all together.

Separately, you take beef and you grill it up.

Put it all in a bowl with some rice and you get deliciousness.

Reasons Not to Just Cook At Home:

Cake Pops. Specifically, tiramisu cake pops. I rarely make cakes (no patience to wait to ice it), and I never make pops (don't eat candy). The likelihood of me making cake pops is pretty nonexistent. I also, don't make pretty food. See how pretty?

Doesn't mean that I can't enjoy them.

I haven't had any other cake pops, but I think the tiramisu one was nice and moist. Not too sugary either. (Some of the icing fell off while eating. It knew its place in the world was to be decorative and not actually be consumed for the perfect icing/cake ratio).

Chicken pot pie at the Sexton. You should try it. *Warning: creamy* That is all.

Grocery Outlet Dos and Don'ts:

Do buy these-

Who needs gummi bears when you can have dried mango? We pretend it's healthier. Fiber, right?

Filipino mangoes are the best thing in the world. They are tender, and the perfect mix of sweet/sour without feeling like your teeth are going to fall off. For some reason you can also get them at Grocery Outlet.

Don't- get wine. Any wine. Ever. Even if you look it up online and it's a $20 bottle with great ratings on sale for $8. Just don't. They are all sweet. All of them. No matter what kind. It's disgusting, and not even good as dessert wine.

Something old, Something New, Some Failures, Some To-Do

Old: I've been doing the single girl's hot pot (read: boil broth at your stove and cook/eat hot pot items there). Gave me some left over seafood (squid, clams, and fish balls), and I had made congee for a coworker who had dental surgery. So I made myself a little seafood congee and ate the last of my 2010 batch of turnip cakes.

General rule: frozen turnip cakes should probably eaten within a year of making them.

Went back to Bizzaro for my friend's birthday and got the butternut squash soup (not pictured), and the parsnip ravioli. I need to start writing down menu items. I keep forgetting them.

Name that meat! I have no idea, and not because the meat was weird/bad. My memory is just horrible.

Brought back out the cheese rolls recipe for a salmon night. It's like a savory cinnamon roll. Replace cinnamon and sugar with garlic bread butter:

Reasons why marble counter tops are wonderful, and an affirmation that dough and I do not get along.

Close up!

That's right, I butter that sucker right to the edge.

And cheese:

Rolly rolly rolly. Cut and plop in a muffin pan:

They puff up pretty well, so I'm still trying to figure out how to make them cheesier.

Also included in salmon night was my friend's corn salad recipe (bottom). Dill, carrots, white corn, and secret sauce!

New: With the corn salad was my friend's arugula, mushroom, and cheese curd salad. There was an herb-y flavor to it that I liked. And who doesn't like cheese curds??

It went well with the soy salmon and home made corn bread:

I like this new group of people I've been eating with. I went in expecting American style salmon (steamed with lemons and butter), made my side dishes to go with that, and boom! Fusion meal.

Shame on me I guess for making assumptions like that, but there's always interesting flavors going on.

Zoom out!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

Birthday present last year included flavored salts and sugars. They're interesting mixes so I'm still cautiously trying them out.

Smoked salt on your marga-tequila rim? It... is ok. If you like savory/sweet combos.

Wildberry pancakes made with wildberry sugar? Delicioso. Pancake recipe used only has 1 tablespoon of sugar so this gave it a nice subtle flavor.

There's also espresso sugar. My friend said it'd only be good in a chocolate pancake. Seems right. Not sure where clove sugar would come in handy. I'm thinking cookie/cupcake form.

The only thing I can come up with for the lime sugar is some sort of alcoholic beverage - which is a turn off because I am not a fan of sugary drinks. Lemonade? Orange scones? None of it seems like a good fit. Mull a purpose over for a while, guys. I'm interested to see what you churn out.

(No picture) My friend's sister made Betty Crocker tuna noodle casserole. Another friend brought over queso dip and chips. Yes, yes I did. It was good but not "WOW this is a mandatory ingredient from now on!" If you did not follow my train of thought, I took queso dip and microwaved it into the tuna noodle casserole and mixed. You also need to eat with me more.

If you do, you get to try out new restaurants like Uneeda Burger and watch me eat their Crimini mushrooms burger with porcini & black truffle salt, shallots & Gruyere cheese. (No Picture). I almost got upset, because there was a white sauce on my burger that I mistook for mayonnaise.

I don't understand the mayo in burger craze, but I hate it. The heat from the burger makes it slimy and just extra greasy to the point that you can't enjoy it. Or I can't enjoy it. I'll try to hold in my disgusted face if you eat one in front of me.

Luckily, the gruyere cheese and truffle salt made the mystery sauce in my burger wonderful. I still refuse to call it mayonnaise if that's what it actually was.

This is where the food takes a turn from delicious (familiar and new) to okay.

Tried out Grace's Kitchen in the U-district, because they had Linguini Carbonara. Trendy looking little place. Going for the modern/homey feel. Everything about their dishes was something interesting with a spin that I would personally have done differently.

Example: their poutine is done with a white sausage gravy...

Beef stew had a spice that was a little overpowering.

Linguini carbonara with prosciutto and spinach? Way too much bacon for my tastes.

In my opinion it tasted way too meaty and fatty like bacon to be prosciutto.

All still tasty, but had that slight flavor in the background that kind of just brought the experience down a notch.

Back at home I tried to make Ethiopian food since getting a crew together to go to a restaurant seems to become a logistical nightmare for me everytime. (No clue why). I googled my little heart out and settled on this recipe for Doro wot (stewed chicken). Yes, it has fake ingredients, but I just didn't feel like going to World Spice this time.

Very simple, and very flavorful. It's not going to satisfy your Ethiopian food craving, but it'll hit the spot for poultry with a kick!

What about that magical sourdough pancake - injera? I tried to cheat and follow an "injera - quick" recipe. I should have known better.

Failed:

All the interweb warned of making your starter dough for injera 5 days in advance. I kept getting distracted and looked for a quick fix. Do you know what it got me? Water + yeast + Teff flour = your dough looks the same before and after the 1 day rise.

Which looks like this:

With a pool of bubbly water on top. How does it look in the pan? Like the above picture but bubbling in your pan and not sticking at all!

Perhaps the grocery store lied to me, and they did not have teff flour, but just teff grain. After all, the bag looked like this:

Another craving took me down the wrong path for Hawaiian food - not at Kona Kitchen.

Went back to Kauai Family Restaurant - good food, but terrible service. Also, not vegetarian friendly. Considering the distance and the wait, I don't think it's worth the variety in their menu. I'm sorry, Hawaiians. I know I disappoint you.

To Do!:

My friend was disappointed in the cheapy injera experience. Next time, I need to just plan ahead and try the recipe I was planning to use.

Everybody's trying to eat healthier lately. Which is remarkable since it's well past the usual New Year's resolution diet plan life span. To you dieters out there, the Washington Post had an article for 25 recipes under 500 calories.

Disclaimer: this is a "picture article" that requires you to watch a video commercial prior to viewing. Whatever happened to just plain old articles??

Really, it was the picture of Roasted Squash, Ricotta and Fusilli that drew me in. The rest of the recipes just look meh.

Foodie Time with SoCal Visitors

2 sets of SoCal cousins migrated up here for visits. For the first timers we took them to Ivar's on the pier, because they wanted the standard for chowder and seafood out there. Of course, I encouraged them to visit World Spice Market on their way from the pier to Pike's.

The second set were seasoned visitors, so I brought them some pastries from my favorite bakery, Nielsen's in lower Queen Anne. They were brunching at Salty's at the time, so I got myself an espresso and a snitter. Look at the menu.

Espresso here is ALWAYS better than Starbuck's. They use Olympia Roasting Company's beans.

Pit stop for happy hour at Elliott's Oyster House on Pier 56. Fresh baked sourdough bread, and a huge selection of oysters. Their sauces include horseradish, cocktail sauce, lemon, and I think there was a vinegar. I like the sauce selection at Walrus and the Carpenter better.

The waitress new we liked creamier oysters, so when these huge creamy oysters came out after we had paid she made us try them for free! Just so we could appreciate the goodness.

You can't beat the freshness of these bad boys.

Next up - the standard visit to Le Pichet. We were all pretty stuffed from our earlier meals so we tried the Lyon-style French Onion Soup. It comes in a shallow bowl and a giant piece of crouton in the middle so every bite has some bread, soup, and gruyere in it.

Some one ordered a side of fries since they are simple and delicious there. This is what I did with it:

Look at how nicely browned that is!

Cousin got the hangar steak, and I told her to dip it in my soup:

I bet you never had aus jus as savory.

For dessert we ordered pratically all of them. Drinking chocolate with creme fraiche.

Chocolate mousse with I think a lemon creme?

And beignets with a berry sauce

Next up, and evening out in Ballard ending at The Sexton. The guests were actually out on capital hill I believe. Or at Lola. Cousin and I were out with our book club for some post book discussion roaming. Both sauces to our dishes had an extra kick to them, but I can't remember what it was that was in them.

Yam fries - there was something savory - maybe bell pepper or citrus? I can't remember. There was something distinct. It worked though.

More importantly, look at how big they are!

Our friend had never had hush puppies before (deep fried seasoned corn bread). This sauce definitely had something spicy added to it. I think spicy and garlicy. They over fried them though so it was overly crisp and just burnt tasting on the outside. I would try them again. It could have been a late night fluke.

Low key atmosphere, interesting drinks (and strong!). I would recommend a return visit to the Sexton to anyone. It should be interesting to see what their dinner menu tastes like.

Piccolo

Smash introduced me to a restaurant in our neighborhood that makes their pasta from scratch (except for the spaghetti - ironically). Very simple decor. Very good food. They also offer gluten free pasta options!

$8 for a glass of house wine, or $22 for half a carafe. I suggest going with somebody so you can share the food and the wine. Better deal all around. They have their standard menu, and specials.

That night we were celebrating Smash's birthday and she was thanking me for kitty-sitting. (For those of you who are interested, kitty sitting involves sitting on the couch until they decide they'll let you pet them. I only got attacked once and she didn't use her teeth and didn't bare her claws!)

Special: Sole with truffle risotto. The fish was tender and everything was just melt in your mouth-y.

Go ahead and meditate on this picture.

From their standard menu I got the braised lamb and gnocchi (hand made, remember?) I'm not much for tomato-based sauces with meat, but I had to try lamb and gnocchi. The gnocchi was huge the flavors complex, but the lamb was simple. Which I appreciate because then you can enjoy the full flavor and texture of the meat without it being obscured by fancy crap.

So puffy.

I love truffles, so let's look at that dish again:

I also took bread and soaked up the sauce from that one. After I made sure Smash was done with her meal.

They also have ALL GLUTEN FREE desserts. In true Seattle neighborhood restaurant tradition - Smash's panna cotta was on the house.

The candle messed with my phone-camera's focus. Or the phone was drooling over the food. You decide the cause.

Restaurant Twists on the Familiar

Girl time has created many adventures followed by food... with a Seattle twist.

Night out clubbing? Wake yourself up the next day with a hearty meal from Tom Douglas's Dahlia Lounge. I believe this is the Scramble: hedgehog mushrooms, caramelized onions, gruyere, thyme with a smoked pork chop. Read again: Smoked Pork Chop.

There was something about the ketchup I can't remember. I thought the biscuit would be exciting since the restaurant's affiliate is the Dahlia baker. There was no honey, so you know how I feel about that. (Not impressed). I did love the mix of flavors of the egg and pork chop.

Afternoon of Wine Tasting? Flow into your evening with kushiyaki at Kushi Bar. Since my friends have been introducing me to the diversity of okonomiyaki, the fried rice omelette topped with okonomiyaki seasonings was the chosen adventure of the evening.

Oh bonito flakes, how you flutter in the wind so yummily.

Sunday afternoon study session? Give your brain a break with Cloud City Coffee pulled pork sandwhiches. They rotate between beef brisket and pork. There's an option for spicy or non spicy. They make it there as well as the buns.

And look! It comes with veggies!! Well rounded meal for well rounded minds.

Who doesn't love Seattle?

Korean BBQ

On actual New Year's Eve Cousin and I met up with some friends and had Korean BBQ at Kaya.

We called family, said "Happy New Year," and tried the best we could to explain why we were NOT eating Chinese food on New Year's, and that we just had some Chinese friends that wanted to eat Korean.

Kind of pricey, but so tasty. The usual suspects were:

Kalbi ribs

Beef bulgolgi

Hot tofu soup with seafood:

Don't worry. Even though you don't see it, we ate it with rice. Soup without rice is just silly.

Side dishes and the glorious grill!

That ball of meat in the upper right hand corner was something new. It's mixed together and eaten raw like this:

I think those were radish or turnip. I'm not sure. But there was raw egg and some sort of sweet sauce. Like rice wine.

There was also steamed egg. Kind of savory. There's a version of this dish in every culture. My Grandma used to make a sweet version, and I think the Japanese version has caramelized onions at the bottom.

This is some other soup. I think it was bean based. I forget. Also good. Not soy-beany or anything.