Category Archives: Food

Another Anniversary :)

23 Friday May 2014

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A few days ago, my boobear (he hates that pet name) and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. I can’t believe we have been dating that long! Anyways, he came home with these beautiful roses that smelled absolutely divine.

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We both got ready for dinner at Range, which is a Voltaggio restaurant. I heard fantastic things from my girlfriend and the fact that the Kale Ceasar made Washingtonian’s Top 40 dishes made me want to try it. (Definitely working through this list 🙂 )

This is what I wore to dinner and I finally got to break out my cowboy boots! OMG, they are so comfortable! The dress is from For Love and Lemons, my ultimate favorite brand right now. I love everything they make. Too bad I can’t buy them all 😦

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So we get seated and order a bottle of Gewurtztraminer – which the sommelier said was dry but it was so sweet! We ended up ordering a multitude of items that were mostly disappointing. The house cured ham was too salty but the VA ham was awesome. The kale salad was lacked flavor, the bone marrow had a sour tinge to it and the cornbread was dry. The hanging tender was decent but nothing to write home about. The saving grace was the brussels sprouts side dish which the partner didn’t like but I loved. Their earl grey chocolate was great but I feel like you can’t really go wrong with chocolate, can you?

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The restaurant was beautiful and I loved the special touch on the roasted pear almond cake but I wouldn’t come back here again. Family Meal, another part of the Voltaggio empire is really good, so it was disappointing that this “higher-end” restaurant was so lacking. Maybe next year we will try Volt!

Macarons

23 Monday Dec 2013

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So I didn’t mention in my previous post that I grabbed some sweets while in NYC. The ones I will talk about here are the macarons I picked up on St. Marks at Macaron Parlour. We just happened to be walking by and decided to pop in. I got the following flavors: 2 pistachio, tiramisu, party time, Earl Grey and candied bacon with maple cream cheese. Pistachio is my favorite, which is why I got two. Wish I hadn’t though since they were just okay. I don’t think anyone does pistachio as well as Ladurée. The tiramisu was good but not mind blowing and the party time was surprisingly good since I didn’t have high expectations. Party time is described as “salted milk chocolate & dulce de leche.” It was good combination but I wouldn’t say they had the two distinct flavors. My second favorite of the bunch was the bacon one. Come on, it has bacon. What’s not to like? And I’m not a huge fan of maple, so that’s saying something! Finally, my favorite – Earl Grey. It’s a milk chocolate infused with Earl Grey tea. It’s the most beautiful blue color – like robin’s egg blue on the outside and when you bite into it, the soft center is more peacock blue. Not only, was it easy on the eyes but it had a vibrant and outspoken Earl Grey tea flavor. I loved it.

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Although I haven’t had a lot of macarons, my favorites so far include:

Vanilla at Paul (they’re huge!)
Pistachio at Ladurée and everything else there
Earl Grey at Macaron Parlour
Green Tea at Macaron Beer

Hope you enjoyed this post!!!

New York, New York Engagement!

22 Sunday Dec 2013

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So my good friend John proposed to his girlfriend this past Thursday and planned a surprise engagement party with his and her close friends. The BF and I went up Saturday morning and headed to St. Mark’s place to eat some Oh! Taisho. However, they didn’t open until 5 pm. I always try to have a contingency plan so we hopped on over to JapaDog down the street. I had the Terimayo pork dog. It was delicious! The pork sausage had a good smoky flavor and the right snap to it. The teriyaki mayo was paired nicely with the nori or dried seaweed. Sounds weird but it worked. Next we headed to Pomme Frites and got some frites with sundried tomato, garlic and pomegranate sauce. The sundried tomato sauce was my favorite but the other two were also yummy.

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After we were nice and full, we walked over to the David Zwirner gallery to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibit. The line was freaking ridiculous for the Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away. We were told that people started lining up around 4-5 a.m. and the line was closed off an hour prior to the gallery’s opening. Isn’t that nuts? Well, we got there in the early afternoon so regardless to say, we weren’t going to see that exhibit.

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But we were able to see the Love is Calling infinity room and it was definitely worth the 25 minute wait and the 45 second trip into the room. LOL. The structures were so quirky and I loved the changing colors.  See my Instagram Account for the video!  (Look for the widget on the blog – either on the side or at the bottom.)

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After the 45 seconds of fun – we went to look at Yayoi’s paintings. Her paintings are so whimsical and remind me of a lot of Mexican art in the use of color and painting technique. Like these little figurines I bought in Arizona.

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After the gallery, we went to chill at where my friends were staying. After a few hours of catching up, cavorting around and playing drunken charades, we all headed to Joe’s Shanghai for scallion pancakes and soup dumplings. They’re so yummy and  the meal was pretty cheap.  The round vessels of meaty juice were so umami and rich.  I loved drinking the juice and then using a little of the black vinegar to eat the rest of the tasty morsel of goodness.

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After a beer and good eats, we headed to a bar, Common Ground and played Drunken Jenga. Lol. We all went back to the apartment and chilled some more. Someone went out and bought some pork buns from Baohaus (I have the best friends.) They were tasty but nowhere near the deliciousness of Momofuku’s pork buns. Afterwards, the BF and I took an Uber car to where we were staying.

During all this my feet were killing me. I wore my Frye boots and my foot situation was NOT pretty. I’ll leave it at that and spare you the gory details.

The next morning, we got up and got ready to head back home. Went into Chinatown and got some dim sum at Jing Fong. It was good and this place is pretty consistent. Just hate sitting with strangers but whatever.  I had my favorites shrimp fun (not shown) and this tofu skin wrapped thing with bamboo shoots and pork.  I was a happy girl.

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Then we headed to Halal Guys to get some lamb over rice for the ride home. Omg. I still can’t get over how good it is. The white sauce and red sauce are perfect complements to the juicy lamb, rice and pita bread. I absolutely love it!  Here’s me waiting for the bus home and trying to look happy but actually feeling miserable after waiting forever with my achy feet and cold rain!  But the trip was a short but fun one – I spent it with my awesome friends and couldn’t have asked for more 🙂

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Easy Egg Salad (Lite)

16 Monday Dec 2013

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I love eggs. They’re probably my favorite food. I eat eggs almost everyday but not lately because I’ve been a fatass since my vacation, Thanksgiving etc. Today, I had an intense craving for egg salad but since I’m trying to eat healthy again, I wanted to make a lite version without so much mayo (FAIL btw) and using mostly egg whites.

Here’s the recipe:

2 hard-boiled eggs with yolk
3 hard-boiled egg whites
1 tablespoon of mayo or less
1 teaspoon of garlic infused olive oil (optional – I just wanted some garlic flavor)
1 tablespoon of Maille whole grain Dijon mustard
1 Claussen Hot and Spicy pickle spear, finely chopped (these are the best pickles if you love spicy food like me!)
1/4 of a small red onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of white pepper

Mix all ingredients.

That’s it. Lol. I literally just take a spoon and mash everything together and chop up the eggs at the same time. I also do it in a Tupperware so there’s less dishes to clean and storage is easy. Remember to add mayo gingerly. I love mayo and used a heavy hand instead of adding little by little. So it was not as healthy as I intended but it was delicious.

20131216-123257.jpgI also added a few drops of habanero Tabasco to my open faced sandwich to make it spicier. Enjoy!

Test Recipe: Banana Mango Bread Muffins

01 Sunday Dec 2013

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Since I hosted and prepared Thanksgiving dinner, we have so many leftover dishes. I haven’t been able to touch the case of mangoes and the two over-ripe bananas. Probably should be eating them instead but why not live a little 😉 So I decided to make muffins with the ripe bananas and mangos. Doing a little research online, I came across a recipe that utilized virtually no dishes. Everything was mixed in a gallon-sized ziplock bag. Score!

Recipe below and I made the following changes: I only had two ripe bananas, so I used two mangoes to add to the recipe. I cut the sugar down to 5/6 of a cup. I also baked mine for almost 35 minutes because they were runnier. No glaze. It came out really moist but I think I needed to use a little more flour. May try adding pecans or walnuts next time. And substituting coconut oil for vegetable oil. Maybe even using coconut extract for the glaze to make it truly tropical 🙂

The Best Banana Bread Muffins Ever
Makes about a dozen muffins

3 brown bananas (1 cup mashed)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze (optional):
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk or lemon juice

  • Preheat oven to 375ºF.
  • Get out a 1/2 measuring cup and a 1/4 teaspoon (these will be all you need to measure your ingredients).
  • In a large Ziploc bag, mash the bananas. Add the eggs, seal the bag, and shake and squish until combined.
  • Add the sugar and mix well.
  • Dump in the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Before zipping and mixing them all the way in, mix them together a little with your measuring spoon.
  • Now add the oil and vanilla and shake and squish until well combined.
  • Snip the corner of the bag and squirt the batter into a lined muffin tin (if you don’t want to clean the pan, line it with tin liners so the grease doesn’t come through). Don’t make the hole very big at all because the batter is very runny. Pinch the corner between each muffin.
  • Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • To make the glaze, just mix together the powdered sugar and milk or lemon juice and spread over cooled muffins.

Recipe courtesy of: Yammie’s Noshery

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Post Thanksgiving Sandwich

29 Friday Nov 2013

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I’ve been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for over 10 years. Of course there are leftovers so we always make a Thanksgiving sandwich the next day with almost everything. This year’s sandwich has smoked turkey, ham, green bean casserole, mac n cheese, collard greens, carrot soufflé, mashed potatoes and cornbread stuffing. Best lunch ever!

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Weekend Recap: Empanadas and Bestie’s Housewarming

17 Sunday Nov 2013

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This weekend has been pretty hectic with errands and work. Saturday, after an appointment, I grabbed empanadas for lunch. El Patio in Rockville, MD are known for their Argentinian style empanadas. The different flavors include beef, chicken, ham and cheese, spinach and corn. I also grabbed a saltena and a pastry made with guava and cheese. The empanadas were decent and the pastry was so so – nothing like European pastries. While I’m no expert on either empanadas and saltenas, I think I definitely like saltenas better. They’re bigger, juicier and tastier to me. I used to go to a Bolivian place called My Bakery on Falls Church but they are unfortunately closed. This place had an awesome drink called mocochinchi – a cinnamon peach drink that is delicious! I have yet to find a place that’s as good as My Bakery. Here is a picture of the empanadas I ate:

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While on the Latin cuisine topic, I am also on the hunt for yummy tamales. They’re apparently hard to find in the DC area. Checked Yelp and the places that come up are mostly known for pupusas. Hopefully I will find a place soon because I may have to resort to making my own. But like making egg rolls, spring rolls or dumplings – it’s very labor intensive. Not sure if I want to invest time to make 300 tamales for a craving. Lol.

I digress. Back to Saturday. Later that night, I headed over to my bestie’s place for her housewarming and her man’s birthday party. Since it was very casual, I decided to don my bandana print leggings, my Frye boots and a sweatshirt blazer thing from Forever 21 bought on my trip to King of Prussia mall. It was an outfit varying in shades of black, white and grey, so I threw in a splash of color with my Pendleton purse. The tank is actually from Target and one of my favorites. Who knew?

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Hope you all had a good weekend. I’m hoping I can post once more before I go MIA for the week.

Personal Kimchi Chigae

15 Friday Nov 2013

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Tonight’s quick dinner. I finally used my Korean earthenware pot with the lid. It’s the perfect size for a personal meal. I also cooked a huge pot for the BF. His is made with pork and mine with a can of tuna. After using this, I feel like I leveled up as a Korean cook. Haha. Have a good weekend lovelies!

Clean Out Your Fridge Fried Rice

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

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I don’t know about you, but I hate wasting food and inadvertently, I do it all the time. When I cook, I cook for like 20 people and have so much leftover. And don’t get me started on grocery shopping. Yowza! I have gotten a lot better though 🙂

When foodstuff are getting to the end of life, I make an everything but the kitchen sink fried rice. For example, I had 2 day old Chinese takeout rice (perfect for fried rice) and a bag of baby spinach that I needed to use. I almost always have Chinese sausage from Costco in my pantry and had these little Korean sausages in the freezer. Throw everything in a pan and give a whirl. Recipe is below but be creative with it. Throw in leftover chicken or steak. I’ve used baby bok choy and peas. Use brown rice and firm tofu. The possibilities are endless. I usually don’t use measuring tools so the amounts below are estimates. Throw in a little at a time until you get the desired taste. Also, I tend to make my fried rice Thai-style with fish sauce, so if you don’t like that then omit it. Lastly, I try to avoid adding salt to my dishes but you will get sodium from the soy sauce and/or fish sauce.

1 carton of Chinese takeout rice or about 1.5 – 2 cups of cooked rice
A bag of baby spinach
1 small onion diced
2-3 eggs
2-3 garlic cloves minced
Canola spray
1-5 Thai bird chilies minced (depending on your spice tolerance, I like mine extra spicy!)
2 links of Chinese sausage, cut into bite sized pieces
~ 1-2 tablespoon(s) (to taste) of soy sauce
~ 1-2 teaspoon(s) of fish sauce
~ 1 teaspoon of white pepper
~ 1 teaspoon of Thai crushed dry chili pepper (optional)

Make sure you have all the ingredients prepped. It will cook fast.

1. Spray the wok or large pan with canola oil and turn the burner on to medium-high heat.
2. Add the Chinese sausage when the pan is hot. The sausages will start to release some oil.
3. Throw in the onions and garlic.
4. Cook for a minute and then throw in the eggs. I just break them into the pan but you can scramble them beforehand. Cook the eggs like you’re cooking scrambled eggs.
5. Throw in the rice and spinach. Break the rice up and start mixing everything together.
6. Add the soy sauce and fish sauce. All the while still stirring.
7. Add the chilies, crushed dry chilies and white pepper.
8. Make sure you’ve cooked everything through and it’s pretty evenly distributed. Then serve.

Spinach cooks really quickly so if you’re using a more substantial vegetable then you want to either throw it in with the onions or right after. For example, it’s if celery, carrots or Chinese broccoli, I would throw it in with the onions. If it’s bok choy then I would throw in before the egg and cook for a minute. This is a really good recipe to experiment with, so give it a go!

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