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 :)