OIKOS ALERT!

http://edibleperspective.com/?p=4348

Check this out.  CHOCOLATE and CARAMEL baby Oikos?!?!?!  When when when will these be on the market?!  I'm kvelling.

Tastes Like Buttah

On Tuesday night my friends and I went to dinner at Butter, a well-known, trendy restaurant.  It is Restaurant Week in NY, which means that participating restaurants offer a prix-fixe 3-course meal for $35.  It's a great deal, and we always try to do at least one outing every time.  I did not take any pictures, but I did spend all of the next morning writing a review of our experience.  Please see below.

An Evening at Butter

Scavenger Hunt

If there is one product that I hear about more than any other on the food blogs it's BARNEY BUTTER: almond butter that is supposedly better than all the others?  Everyone raves about it, but it's nowhere to be found in NYC.  Not even at my go-to stores, Whole Foods and Fairway.  This stuff is officially foreign to NY.  But on one of our many trips to Whole Foods at Franklin and California in SF, Alex and I finally spotted the elusive nut butter!!!

I felt like I had won a scavenger hunt.  So obviously we each bought an $8 container to lug back across the country. I have to say (and I hope the blog gods don't strike me with lightning), I wasn't impressed.  It's certainly good, but let's be real, what almond butter is bad?  None, in my book.  It's the consistency of Skippy, which is maybe what people like about it?  I actually prefer the grainy consistency of natural nut butters.  Especially in oatmeal.  It just holds up better.  This stuff kinda melts.  But I do like it to eat with a banana or apple or anything not hot.  So, a little disappointing, but at least I feel in the loop now :)

I have been cooking up a storm this week!  I get so ambitious when I'm home for the week (2 weeks, actually!), and I went a little nuts with groceries and meal planning.  But I love it.

My first new recipe attempt was an ode to Bitten/The Minimalist/my hero Mark Bittman.  Andddd... veggies!  I'm trying to eat vegetarian as often as possible, just because I want to be more serious about socially-responsible eating.  It's just as easy and satisfying (and cheaper!) to eat vegetarian when I cook for myself.  Every once in a while I buy a responsibly farmed/wild-caught fish or organic chicken.  I have yet to buy beef, but maybe if I find a good recipe.  My formerly vegetarian stomach is still a bit of a snob and refuses to digest an entire meal-size portion of beef.  Believe me, that's all the information you need.

Numero uno: Quick-Cooked Bok Choy (scroll down for this recipe), courtesy of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian:


Ingredients

1 head bok choy, about 1 1/2 pounds

3 tbsp peanut or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn (Canola was lovely)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Cut the leaves from the stems of the bok choy.  Trim the stems as necessary, then cut them into roughly 1-inch pieces; rinse everything well.  Put the oil in a large skillet over medium-high hear.  When hot, add the stems and cook, stirring occasionally, until they just lose their crunch, about 3 minutes.  Add the greens and about 1/2 cup water (or vegetable stock, if you prefer).

2. Cook, stirring occasionally until the liquid evaporates and the stems become very tender, about 10 minutes more; add a little more water if necessary.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

I know bok choy is a random ingredient, but I saw a girl carrying a bundle of it at Fairway, and suddenly I needed bok choy in my life.  This was incredibly easy and satisfying.  Bok choy (mine was baby bok choy, actually) becomes really creamy when it's cooked, so this felt rich and hearty.

I served this with numero dos, another Bittman credit: Grilled Eggplant Salad with Yogurt, or in my case, Broiled Eggplant Salad with Yogurt Sauce.

Ingredients


1 pound eggplants, preferably small light purple ones (a big eggplant is fine but will need to cook almost twice as long)
1 medium onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups plain whole milk yogurt (or fat free Greek yogurt)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Pinch cayenne or Aleppo pepper or other mild ground chili powder
1/4 cup chopped parsley or mint (totally optional in my opinion)

Method


1. Start a charcoal or wood fire or preheat a gas grill or broiler; rack should be no more than 4 inches from heat source.  Cut eggplants in half lengthwise up to stem, but do not cut through.  Spread about 2/3 of the onion and garlic between the eggplant halves and press the two sides back together. (This was the trickiest part.  Once stuffed, my eggplant kept falling over, so I made it a little aluminum foil bed, which helped.)
2. Grill eggplants, turning once or twice, until they are blackened and collapsed, 10 to 15 minutes, 25 or so for a big eggplant.  Do not worry if the skin burns a bit.  Meanwhile, mix remaining garlic and onion with yogurt; season to taste with salt, pepper and a little cayenne.
3. When cooked, let eggplants cool a bit, then peel off skins and let cool further.  Roughly chop eggplants, then mix with yogurt dressing.  Serve at room temperature or chill if you like, in either case, garnish with parsley or mint.

Recipe notes: I didn't bother with the herbs.  The eggplant took longer to cook (about 25 mins) because I used a big one, but everything else was great.  If nothing else, I highly recommend this yogurt sauce.  I used fat free Greek yogurt (Oikos, of course!) instead of full fat regular to make it a little healthier, and I used it as a salad dressing the next day.  I know it sounds simple, but the flavor was outrageous.

This was a small dinner because I had eaten lunch at like 4.

The leftovers made an appearance the next day at lunch with a side of my new "wish-I-didn't-know-how-good-these-are-because-I-may-never-stop-eating-them" find.  Food Should Taste Good Buffalo chips.  DROOL.

I adore this brand for their name and their message.  And their chips, of course.  My faves are these and the Multigrain variety.

I also found an adorable new yogurt at Food Emporium.

Baby Oikos!  Awww.  Mama and baby yogurt.  They're 4 ounces each and I got a 4-pack on sale for $4.99.  Score!  I can't believe Stonyfield didn't first run it by me, their most loyal customer on the planet!  That hurts, Gary.

Back to work, and then more recipes to come soon.

Holy Guacamole

My blogging mojo disappeared last week because I hit a mental wall.  I started a new project for work last week, which happens to still be in Dallas and with the same client.  It's a totally different type of assignment, though, and I think more in line with what I actually like about my job!  And mostly working from home!!!  So that's always good.  What's not good was my insanely delayed flight from SF to Dallas last Monday! >:\  That, on top of the jetlag, totally screwed me up for the week.  I was permanently tired.  And then when I finally got home on Friday, I slept in until 10am!  Who am I???  Lucky I have a very flexible work schedule.

Anyway, I'm finally back on track with sleep and exercise (I had to take off almost an entire WEEK because my legs were so sore from running those SF hills!), and I'm ready to blog 'n' roll.  I'm working from home this week and next, so I stocked up on groceries and got back in the kitchen.  I may or may not have neurotically planned out every meal for the next week... I found too many good recipes!  I got excited :)

But first, I shall finish SF...

There's my lovely hostess as we ride the little gondola up to the Sterling winery in NAPA VALLEY!  EEEEK!  It was so beautiful and kind of like a fantasy.  The wines at Sterling were AWESOME.  Really unique flavors and high quality.  I ended up buying a dessert wine -- Port Zinfandel (so weird for me to buy a dessert wine!) and a bottle of Pinot Noir to drink with my mom.  I didn't buy it, but I was SO impressed with their '02 Chardonnay.  It was so buttery and not oaky!

I adore California topography.  Get a load of this background!

Then we moved on to a boutiquey little winery that Sarah belongs to, where we tasted a whole slew of things.  Oddly enough, I liked the whites more than the reds.  Almost never happens with me.

We broke for lunch at the Rutherford Grill, where I had a pretty incredible veggie burger.  I was only able to eat half!  It had all kinds of veggies, including beets, and I had it with a side of spaghetti squash with pesto.  Mmmmm...  We also split the skillet cornbread, which was outrageous.

Lastly, we stopped at Frog's Leap (just in time too... they were about to close), which is a farmy, organic winery.  The grounds were beautiful, and we tasted out on the wraparound porch.  It was so serene.  I probably could have stayed there for the rest of my life.  Wine country in general!  I did not want to leave.  At Frog's Leap I bought the most unusual Cabernet I have ever tasted.  It was a little pricey, but so unique.  I need to find the right occasion to drink it!

That was all Saturday... then on Sunday we went to Supper Club for dinner, which was super funky and playful.  You sit on beds that surround the perimeter of the restaurant, and there are performances in the middle.  Rated PG-13.

The lights kept changing colors...

The lighting was obviously not conducive to food photography, but we had a mozzarella bruschetta and some SUPER tender chicken.  I almost never order chicken in restaurants, but maybe I should start?

Monday was, sadly, my day of departure (or should I say evening?  AARRGGHHHH RAIN DELAY!), so we went for the one thing I still hadn't gotten my fill of: Whole Foods.  JK, I totally had my fill of Whole Foods.  I think I went to Whole Foods 4 times in 5 days.  What I actually wanted was Mexican!  We went for a driving tour of the city, and then for burritos in the Mission!

The burrito stands alone.  Literally.  It was so big it could sit on its end.

SO GOOD.  I can't believe I ate almost the whole thing.  But I had been for a run earlier and was famished.  I got a veggie burrito (grilled carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms) with black beans, rice, salsa, cheese, and guac in a WW tortilla.  Holy guacamole, was this incredible.  I think it would have been overboard with meat, so I'm glad I didn't go there.  I'm also trying to be socially responsible about the way I eat meat, and something told me this place wasn't serving organic, grass-fed beef.  Just a guess.

I LOVED SF so much.  Not that I'm going anywhere anytime soon, but I could see myself living there for sure.  It's so pretty and laid back and close to wineries... wink wink.

Will be back later with my many recipes for this week!  Get hungry.

Tourist Time!

Friday morning Alex and I went for a much shorter run, about 2.5 miles, just to get ourselves up and moving.  Instead of going back to the Marina, we just ran through Pacific Heights and looked at the beautiful architecture. And actively avoided steep hills.  We did pretty well!

We got ready for the day, ate our Whole Foods-bought oatmeal (budget conscious AND healthy vacationing!), then headed out to Pier 33 to go to Alcatraz.  I took some pics of houses and buildings on our 2 mile walk over there.

Looking out toward the bay.

Palm trees!

The view from the ferry.

It was such a cool tour!  I often can't pay attention to audio guides (or any tour guide), but this was so well done.  It held my interest the whole time.  I liked how demanding it was!  It told you exactly which way to walk and when and where... haha.

Cells at Alcatraz!  Eeek!

It was such a foggy day.

Look what's on the menu at Alcatraz!

We decided to go slightly more gourmet and stopped in at a sandwich/salad place for a light lunch.  I was starting to turn into hungry grumpy Freya so it was a good thing we ate.  I didn't take a pic, but I had a cup of veggie soup and half of a turkey and provolone foccacia sandwich.

Then we began our hike up to Telegraph Hill!  It was such an exhausting climb, and I only got a little bit nervous about being so high up.  It was really just a path of stairs that ran through this funky little neighborhood all up on a huge hill.  I couldn't figure out how people accessed their homes!  There was definitely no street access, so I guess they do a lot of stairs?  Wild!

Almost there...

We made it to the top!!!  And saw a pretty, foggy view of the city and the Bay Bridge.

Then it was time for a caffeine break.  This was a seriously active day, and jet lag was creeping up on me.  We climbed more hills (were there any left to climb?) and eventually found ourselves on Polk St. near Sarah's apt and found a great coffee shop with big cozy chairs and a skim mocha.  Aaaahhh :)

For dinner, Sarah and I went to Catch, and I can't believe I didn't take a picture.  IT WAS SO GOOD.  We thought it was going to be a restaurant week special, but it wasn't, which was fine because ordered really well.  I had a Manhattan to start (special weekends calls for special cocktails!), and then we split a HUGE tuna tartare appetizer with lots of warm bread/toast.  I ordered sea bass with asparagus, shaved brussels sprouts, and a cherry olive salsa.  I wish I had a picture.  Or the ability to link to a taste.  So unusual, and SO YUMMY.  I ate every last bite!  I was so full that I couldn't even READ the dessert menu.  It was a great meal, followed by a couple of Anchor Steam beers at a bar in Pac Heights.

So much SF love!  Next up is my day in Napa... so excited to blog it :)

The Other City

One of the first things Sarah said to me when she met me at the airport in San Francisco was that in the Bay area, SF is "the city."  I think she knows me and my NYC-centric nature a little too well!  I got over being a New Yorker and actually did manage to refer to SF as "the city" once or twice.  (Don't worry, New York, you're still THE city in my eyes! <3)

But I had the most wonderful time in SF this weekend and absolutely cannot wait to come back.  Sarah was trying oh-so-hard to recruit me to move there, and I can't say that I'm not thinking about it.  I LOVED SF and think it's actually a great match for me.  We'll see... ;)

I know I'm skipping over a bunch of things I said I'd write about... like the cruise and a fabulous dinner party, but I'm still excited about San Francisco, so I want to get to it!

Starting with... Brenda's Soul Food!  It was recommended by two separate people, so I figured it had to be tried.  Alex and I braved the notoriously sketchy Tenderloin district for our first SF meal.  (Fine, our 2nd SF meal... we went to Whole Foods for dinner and snacks when we arrived on Thursday night, of course!)  It.was.AMAZING.  Everything was like buttah!  Would totally make Paula Deen proud.

Alex and I had gone for a nice hilly run in the morning (complete with a double Ghirardelli tasting), so I had worked up a pretty serious appetite.  It felt so good to run!  The weather was mild, and the marina was so pretty.  We did about 4 miles plus some hill-walking, and no knee aches!  Some shin splints from the hills, but nothing too bad.  Yay!

I ordered the goat cheese and shrimp omelet with grits and a biscuit.

And then I spent the rest of the day weekend talking about it.  The omelettey outside is hiding the good stuff, but there were shrimp, caramelized onions, and a ton of goat cheese inside, and it was covered with this bacon tomato relish amazingness.  The grits were SO creamy and rich, and the biscuit was, according to Alex, a southern girl at heart, the best biscuit she'd ever had.  The way it flaked!  Oh, SF was off to a good foodie start.

At every table there was a different type of homemade jam.  Ours was apricot or peach.  Not sure.  But it was incredible.  Juicy and fresh and chunks of real fruit.

I was told I had to get the chocolate beignets, but there was no way I could eat another bite.  So I got them to go!  I nuked one later that night for dessert.  Chocolate heaven.  Didn't get a pic because they were not as attractive a few hours later, but still so so tasty.  This place is a must-go.

After our amazing brunch/lunch, we headed over to the National rental car station and picked up a car for our adventure up to Sonoma County to meet the one and only Jenna!  The smell of beignets filled the car, which was both amazing and such a tease, but we made it up to Healdsburg with the help of Ursula, our bossy little GPS.  We met Jenna for some awesome fro yo in the adorable little town of Healdsburg.  I was taken back to my dreams of being a Murphy Goode employee... sigh.

Anyway, we had so much fun chatting with Jenna about boys, food, blogs, and life in Cali.  Thanks so much for meeting us, Jenna!

I thought I could use a little caffeine for the drive back, so we stopped in at the Flying Goat afterward for a lowfat latte.  SO strong, and SO good!  And so much prettier before I delved in.

It had been like a little fern or something.  Did the trick and kept me awake for the drive!  Phew.

After returning Ursula and the car, we headed over to another Jenna-rec: La Mediterranee.

Alex and I were so ready for some veggies.  We split a salmon kebab with amazing rice and a truly unique chicken lemon soup, and the Salad Mediterranee, which I am modeling for you.

Does it look like a giant mess of veggie salads and legumes?  Good, because it was.  And it was awesome.  We passed on dessert and then went home (Sarah's apt) for some tea and microwaved beignets.  Mmmmm...

In the interest of not having killer long posts, I'm going to split up the weekend into a few posts.  Check in soon!

Loving San Fran!

Alex and I are having so much fun in San Francisco and pretending we live at my friend Sarah's apartment!  We may or may not be eating our way through the city, but, hey, what else do you expect from me?  I won't be able to get pics up until later this weekend, but I did want to share our bit of fame care of Jenna...  It's only a matter of time before people start recognizing us on the streets, right?  I'm headed to Napa tomorrow with Sarah and her friends, so I'm looking forward to some beautiful scenery and awesome wine.  Can't wait!  Have a great weekend!

Ketchup Parte Tres

Every once in a while I get a hankering for Spanish food.  I'm a teensy bit obsessed with Spain and Spanish culture after having studied abroad there in the spring of my junior year, and there are times when I just wish I could be back in my host mom Mayte's kitchen. I was actually sort of appalled with Spanish food when I first got there, and it took me a while to get into it.  There's a ton of oil, enough bread to knock out an army of Atkins dieters, and NO BIG SALADS!  I got past this pretty quickly because, well, it's all incredibly delicious, and guess what?  I didn't gain a pound while I was there.  So, viva la comida espanola!


Here is Mayte, her husband Fernando, my roommate Kate, and me, before we left.

We bought them chef hats :)

Anyway, one of my favorites was tortilla sandwich, also known as carbfest.  Tortilla espanola is basically a potato omelet, and usually they leave the eggs a little runny inside.  Obviously it's totally unnecessary to put something like potato and egg on bread, but it's kind of like heaven, and it was my favorite bagged lunch.


I was actually looking up soup recipes on Smitten Kitchen when I stumbled upon Deb's Spanish food section.  And immediately soup was out of the picture.  I was reading through her recipe for tortilla, when I realized that it was from a cookbook that I own!  And, as a matter of fact, WORKED ON!  I had a publishing internship one summer, and this was a book that I read and copy-edited a little.  It is the one and only, the beautiful and stunning... The New Spanish Table, by Anya von Bremzen.  I worked on the book while applying to my study abroad program, and I was totally jazzed about the whole thing.  And then kind of forgot about it?!  But it's great, and now that I'm a little chef, I will be pulling it off the shelf more often.

My tortilla skills are still a work in progress, but overall it went well.


Potatoes and onions and just a touch (HA!) of olive oil.  More like 1/4 of a cup.

Adding the eggs...

MIRACULOUSLY post-flip...

And plated!

Does that look like a little potato heart in the middle to anyone else?  It was a little overcooked, and I think my pan was too big because it didn't come out as thick as it should be, but this was a very successful first attempt.  It will be done again and mastered!  Maybe a little less photography and a little more focus on cooking would help...

Deb's recipe is here (and I wish I had read her comments before trying it on my own), and she did a good job typing it up, so why re-invent the wheel?  I made half of the recipe (so 3 eggs and most of a potato), and I ate it as 2 meals with veggie sides.  If you actually want to make a tortilla, I will gladly offer assistance.  And a hungry tummy.

Next up: CRUISING!


OH!  And Allison's cake recipe.

Ketchup 2

Central Park snow day... sigh.  The park was beautiful the day after Latke Party.  Isn't it funny how everything is so different in the light?  Getting home the night before had been difficult, and cold, and frustrating.  Kind of fun and funny, too, but mostly frustrating.  But the next morning, the sun was out, and the park was bustling with people!  And runners!  Crazy people.  I was too afraid I'd fall.  Side note: I haven't mentioned running in a while, because I've been on a little hiatus.  After messing up my knee in the half marathon last May, it hasn't been the same since, and I've been taking a break from running regularly.  I am going to focus on strength training to reduce risk of injury, and subsequently start training (SLOWLY) for another half marathon in the spring.  If it keeps bugging me, I may have to go to a sports doctor or something. :(

Anyway, winter wonderland.  Joanna and I decided to go for a snow walk and visit the market at Columbus Circle.  We ran into Katie and had a mini snowball fight!

Joanna bought a hat at the market, and I got 2 new rings to replace the one I lost on my way to the airport one week.  Sad.  I still miss it.  We shopped, walked, stopped at Aroma cafe on the Upper West Side for some soup, and then made our way to Brooklyn for the... COOKIE TAKEDOWN!  We met up with Joanna's friend Rachelle for a light sushi dinner in Park Slope in preparation for our cookie feast.  Look at how pretty it is!  Tuna avocado roll with brown rice.

We then headed to the cookie takedown (a baking competition), where Rachelle's roommate was competing with her Aunt Helen's Ginger Snaps!

I ended up taking about 6 of these puppies home because there was so much leftover.

So, what does one do at a cookie takedown?  One tastes 23 different cookies, of course!  It was a little daunting, but most people were wise enough to only give out a bite-size sample.  I mostly just took a nibble unless I loved it.

Round 1:

My favorite from Round 1 was the one in the muffin wrapper.  It was a cakey chocolate cookie with a cream cheese filling, and it was out of this world.  It ended up winning first place in my book and also first place with the judges!  I was impressed with my obviously discerning palate.  Oh, and there was free spiked egg nog!

Round 2:

Round 2 had some more creative concepts (bacon chocolate chip, "nacho"cookies with orange creme filling, and marshmallow/pretzel/peanut nonsense), but they were (for the most part) decidedly less tasty than Round   1.

I asked Joanna to represent our general sentiment by the end of the night, which was "Oopsy, I ate too many cookies."

:)  It was actually a tolerable amount of food after eating lightly all day in preparation, and being diligent about only eating the cookies that I felt were worth the calories.  And we walked a whole lot that day!  I'm convinced walking is a secret weapon.

The cookie takedown was part of a larger takedown series, so I'm hoping we can make it to another one!  Maybe I would even... participate???  Perhaps...