Happy Holidays!!

My gift to you this year, dear reader, is the twice annual Charlottesville Restaurant Week, taking place from January 23-29, 2012.  (I'm not paying for your dinner if that's what you thought I meant, sorry for the confusion.)

$26 dollars will get you a sumptuous 3-course meal from some of the best restaurants Charlottesville has to offer.  In years past, $1 from each meal was donated to a charity; last summer, the Restaurant Week Charity Partner was the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, but I haven't been able to find out who this January's event will benefit... will update when I figure it out.

Take a gander at the participating restaurants - my favorite is of course Fossett's at Keswick Hall.  So what if I've made 2 reservations for the same week?!

Pad Ka Pow (Spicy Basil Stir Fry)

My big sis challenged me to make this dish, and so here we are!  Pad Ka Pow is not only fun to say, it's also fragrant from a ton of basil but also satisfying from all the other vegetables and meat. 

I apologize in advance....it was late, I was hungry, and I made this but ate all of it before I could take pictures of it.  Eek! I'm sorry, but when I make it again next I'll be sure to add the pictures in!

Tips for stir fry in general:

1) Get your wok or whatever pan you're using SCREAMING hot. 
2) Have your mise en place prepared in advance and close at hand.
3) Cook in small batches (ideally 1 portion at a time)
4) Don't be afraid of using a little oil.

Chicken Pad Ka Pow
(serves 4-6)

:: vegetable oil
:: 4 cloves garlic, minced
:: 2 shallots, minced
:: 1 pound chicken, minced or ground
:: thai chiles, sliced lengthwise (to taste)
:: 1 onion, sliced
:: 1 bell pepper, sliced
:: 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
:: other vegetable ideas - bamboo shoots, baby corn, eggpplant, etc.
:: 1 cup thai basil leaves
:: ka pow sauce (directions below)

You will probably cook this quantity in 2-3 batches.

Over high heat, pour some oil into the wok, about 1 tablespoon.  Add in a portion of the garlic, shallots, and thai chiles (I use 1 chile per 1/3 pound of meat for a bit of a bite) stir fry briefly, about 15-20 seconds or until fragrant.  Add in chicken and stir fry until meat is no longer pink. Push meat to sides of wok.

Add another tablespoon of oil to center of wok if necessary.  Add vegetables except for basil and stir fry for another minute.  Add a big handful of basil and about a tablespoon of sauce.  If it starts to look too dry, you can add in tablespoon or so of water, but too much sauce will make the stir fry too salty.

Serve with rice.
 

Ka Pow Sauce

:: 1 tbsp oyster sauce
:: 2 tbsp fish sauce
:: 1 tsp sugar
:: 1 tbsp (or to taste) sambal chili paste or chili garlic sauce


Stir to combine. 

Crispy Apple Chips

Has it really been almost a month since I last posted?  I guess that's what happens when I eat out every. single. day. and don't actually cook anything.  At least I can be pretty confident that if food supplies suddenly become scarce, that I'll be able to survive solely off of my winter fat stores.

In the spirit of the holiday season, a wonderful fall fruit (apples!!), and a light snack, I gave these apple chips a try.  Apple chips have long been a favorite snack of mine.  Growing up, we never had potato chips or other 'junk foods' in the house, but I was at least able to convince my parents of the apparent health benefits of apple chips to buy them.  If you've never tried them and want to sample it before making your own, I highly recommend these!  

You've probably had dehydrated apples before, but I promise that these are nothing like the chewy-and-tastes-too-healthy-to-hit-the-dessert-spot wholesomeness of dehydrated apples.  These are crispy, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, and when made with an already delicious fresh apple, simply awesome.  T was initially skeptical of my apple experiment, but now he eats them so fast that I don't even get to them sometimes. 

I suppose that's a compliment.

Chicken Chili

I'm not sure if everyone else is having this experience, but it has been very, very cold.  And when I am cold I become very, very hungry.  I've been making an effort to cut down on my red meat intake (besides burgers for dinner last night.  And strip steaks on Friday night.) but chili is such a great way to eat a lot of food, warm up, and not feel bad about it.

This chili is seriously yummy without the guilt - serve it with some corn bread, or sour cream and cheddar cheese! 

Roasted Garlic

My parents came to visit recently, and whenever they do, they always bring massive quantities of random things, like garlic.  They. Brought. A. Lot. Of. Garlic.  So obviously I have had to eat a lot of the stuff over the last weeks.

It's no secret that I love garlic.  We all know what raw garlic is like - nose-prickling sharp and aromatic.  When you roast garlic though, magic happens and it turns into a sweet, creamy, almost buttery thing.  It breaks down so much during the slow roasting process that you can spread over anything with a butter knife.  This is great for garlic bread, or for adding to any recipe where you would normally add garlic.  I use it in pasta frequently, smeared over good crusty bread, soups, stews, you name it.

BONUS:  Since Halloween is only 3 days away, if you eat this before then, you'll be warding off vampires.  Or will you? 

Actually, the more likely scenario is that you'll be warding off romance with your dragon breath, so maybe save eating this one by itself for a meal with friends and family :)

Carrot and Daikon Pickle (Do chua)

Ever since I worked at Lemongrass in college, I've had a love affair with this stuff.  Zesty, cool, refreshing, sweet and tangy, it goes wonderfully with a lot of things (including vermicelli noodle bowls, salads, banh mi... I'd even eat it on the side with some pho or pad thai).  It doesn't require any cooking and keeps in the fridge for probably even longer than a month, so you might as well make a big ol' batch of it.

Carrot and Daikon Pickle

adapted from Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen

:: 3 small carrots

:: 1 pound daikon radish

:: 1 tsp salt

:: 2 tbsp sugar

brine

:: 1/2 cup sugar

:: 1 1/4 cup white vinegar

:: 1 cup water

Mix the carrots and radish with salt and 2 tbsp sugar.  This will draw some of the water out of the vegetables.  Stir, or get down and dirty using your hands to knead the vegetables!!  In 10-15 minutes, or after the vegetables have lost about 1/4 of their water, rinse in cold water and squeeze excess water off of the vegetables.

Meanwhile, make the brine by mixing the 3 ingredients together and letting the sugar dissolve.

Pour the brine over the carrot and radish.  Let brine for at least 1 hour.  Pickle will be good for up to 4 weeks.

Roasted Asparagus

It's in the name.  Simple, quick, healthy, with an extra bonus for those of us lucky enough to be born with a certain special autosomal recessive gene.

Oven-Roasted Asparagus

(serves 4)

:: 1 bunch asparagus, fibrous ends removed**

:: 2 tbsp olive oil

:: 2 tsp salt

:: pepper to taste

optional ingredients...

:: 2 cloves garlic, minced

:: juice of 1/2 lemon or shredded cheese (I used parmesan)

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place the asparagus down on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Drizzle over with olive oil.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over the asparagus (and garlic, if using), roll asparagus around until coated with a thin layer of oil. 

Bake for 12-18 minutes; 12 minutes will yield a more firm, crunchy texture and 18 minutes will be much softer.

Sprinkle with cheese or lemon (if using) right before serving.

**to remove the tough woody ends of asparagus, bend the cut end of the spear towards the middle.  It will naturally snap at the spot where the spear becomes tender.

On Buttermilk

The first time I tasted buttermilk, I felt cheated.  It tasted neither like milk, nor like butter, and was really just sour and pretty gross.

These days, I like to use it a lot in cooking and baking.  It adds moisture and tanginess to whatever you're making.  I still hate to buy it though, because if I have any leftover from a recipe, chances are that I end up throwing the rest away because I don't use it every day for cooking.

Recently, I was making a recipe that called for buttermilk but had forgotten to buy it at the store.  I was really dreading to have to brave 5pm Charlottesville traffic JUST to buy 6 measly ounces of buttermilk, so I did some research.

I may never buy buttermilk again!  Well, I probably will because this doesn't exactly taste like the real thing...but it's close enough in a pinch.

Buttermilk

:: 1 cup milk
:: 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice

Mix the two ingredients together and let the milk sit for 5 minutes.  Now it's ready to use.  You can obviously make less or more and just maintain the rough ratio of the two liquids.

To get the right texture, some milk fat is preferred, but I've definitely used skim milk before.  I would really stick to lemon juice or white vinegar for this application - you don't want your pancakes tasting like red wine vinegar, or your buttermilk biscuits to taste like apple cider vinegar, probably!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

It's October!  Which means it's practically fall.  Which means everything I eat must involve apples, pumpkin, or anything else red/orange/brown.  I made these little guys for an annual broccoli pot luck (Broktoberfest!!) and while it doesn't technically involve broccoli, I didn't have the heart to make a broccoli dessert.. because that's gross.

Cream cheese frosting is a no brainer for pumpkin desserts.... So good!  The cake is light and fluffy, with a very delicate crumb.  I love holiday spices, so I go a little heavy when adding them.

I ended up with a little more icing than I anticipated, so I ended up stuffing these cupcakes as well instead of just icing them.**

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
(makes ~24 cupcakes)

Jerk Chicken

I'm so excited to make this recipe!  It's spicy!  And savory!  And involves citrus! 

"Jerk" is a traditional Jamaican blend of spices that is usually used as a dry rub or wet marinade on most commonly pork and chicken, but also other proteins.  It does involve a lot of ingredients, but most of them you probably have in a well-stocked pantry (and are all definitely available at your local grocery).  It's the unusual combination of these relatively plain-jane ingredients that really tingles the tastebuds.  I toned down the habaneros since it was the first time I made this recipe, but feel free to go crazy like these guys if you love spicy food.  As written, it was not nearly as spicy as the marinade originally led me to believe.  I hope you try this and love it as much as I do!

Good things happening in the blender...

Chocolate Pie

The Ronald McDonald House in Charlottesville provides low cost housing (a "home away from home") to families whose children are seeking medical treatment at the UVA Hospital.  I had the opportunity to cook for these families while they try to make it through a very difficult time, and decided to make a dessert.  

Cooking for people you've never met before is kind of difficult, because you never know what they're going to like, or not like.  I settled for chocolate because with the exception of a few really really confused people, most everyone likes it.

You could make this pie with a whipped cream topping, but I thought meringue was a lighter alternative.  It's not the prettiest thing I've ever made, but I needed the foil pie tin for easy transportation :)

Candied Nuts

A while back, my friend Laura asked me if ever roasted almonds or candied them.  As a matter of fact, this is one of my favorite recipes from back in high school.  We never had many sweets around the house, but we always had snacky foods, like almonds and walnuts.  This is potentially one of the easiest recipes ever! 

I add in some cayenne for a little kick without the smoky flavor of chili powder, or other pepper powders.  The spice blend is up to you, but cinnamon and nutmeg is always a goody!  You can also omit salt, but I am of the opinion that sweet always tastes better when it has something salty to pair with it :)

Candied Nuts

:: 1/2 cup nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts), roasted preferably
:: 2 tbsp granulated sugar
:: 1/2 tsp cinnamon
:: 1/2 tsp nutmeg
:: 1/2 tsp salt
:: dash cayenne pepper, to taste
:: 1/2 tsp water
:: 1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small skillet over medium heat, add all ingredients except for vanilla extract.  Add JUST ENOUGH water to moisten all the dry ingredients so that they stick to the almonds.  Keep stirring.  Keep stirring.  You are almost done when the almonds lose their shininess and become dull and dry looking.  When you're almost at that point, throw in the vanilla extract - this will cook off in no time flat.

Remove from heat, let the almonds cool; they will crisp up as they do.

Cold Sesame Noodles

Growing up, one of my favorite summer lunches was cold sesame noodles.  My parents were never big believers of air conditioning (or heat in the wintertime, for that matter...) so a cool noodle dish was always a nice treat to have.  The only cooking involved is for the noodles, the rest is just mixed up in a bowl, ready to eat!

Cold Sesame Noodles
(serves 6-8)

:: 1 box long pasta (soba, spaghetti, egg noodles...NOT chinese wheat noodles; these will fall apart)
:: 1 cucumber, julienned (cut into long thin strips)
:: 2 scallions, thinly sliced (I wish I had these on hand, but didn't!)
:: handful chopped cilantro (optional)
:: 2 tsp white sesame seeds (optional)

Ceviche

I chalk up my ceviche craving to too much Food Network viewing this month.  (Chopped?  The Great Food Truck Race?  The Next Food Network Star?  That could be ME!  Not.)

I'll be completely honest - I've never ordered ceviche before.  When I was younger, it used to scare me, and I guess it just hasn't come up on many menus recently.

Ceviche is a South/Central American raw fish preparation that is "cooked", or more accurately, denatured in acid such as lime or lemon juice.  It's great in the summertime because it's cold, light, and refreshing.  There are concerns about the safety of eating raw fish, but given the amount of sushi and sashimi I eat regularly anyway, I figured it wasn't too big of a deal.  Diphyllobothrium, please don't eat me!

I asked the fishmonger at the grocery store for his recommendations on which types of fish were the most appropriate for this style of cooking.  Online I had read that halibut, sea bass, red snapper, or other ocean fish were my best bet - but they were also the most expensive.  He told me that he couldn't recommend that I eat ANYTHING raw, but after I assured him that I was going to do it anyway, he suggested that I stick with frozen fish, which are presumably parasite-free from the freezing process.  I would have loved to get my hands on some halibut, but it was $15 a pound.  I went for a cheaper alternative, cod.

I trust Rick Bayless implicitly for all recipes Mexican, South and Central American.  Not only does he seem like a really cool dude, he's also a smart guy and spent a lot of his formative years studying anthropology and cooking in Mexico. 

If the idea of raw fish, or just fish in general grosses you out, this actually made a delicious salad.  Just cut the lime juice down to 1 lime and prepare everything the same but omit the fish.

Ceviche

adapted from Rick Bayliss

(serves 6-8 as an appetizer)

Downtown Thai Spiciness Challenge

Lee has been living in a covetous state for the last week since his roommate Swapneil completed Downtown Thai's eating-of-really-really-spicy-food challenge.

Downtown Thai's spiciness scale usually ranges from 1-5, but in order to get your picture on the WALL OF FLAME (doesn't that sound awesome?!), you have to eat a dish of your choosing with a spiciness level of 15. 

The P90x version of the challenge is to order a dish at a level of 50.  Not only do you get a picture on the wall, but you also get to take home a sweet orange polo that has your bragging rights embroidered on the back.  Despite the strongest efforts of the waitresses to dissuade him from doing the level 50 challenge, Lee's resolve to punish his tastebuds stayed strong.  Ed took the 15 challenge; meanwhile, I enjoyed a delicious (and pretty darn spicy!) pad thai with a spiciness level of a mere 2.

Here is Lee armed with many beverages (L->R, whole milk, beer, water) to attack his chili peppers with masaman curry.  And Ed gives it a shot with a spicy green curry!

At the halfway point, he had to pause for a 5 minute break.  Note tearing of eyes and slight sweating.  Milk supplies are critically low. 

Will he be able to do it?!

Chick-Fil-A

I'm a little ashamed to not have heard about this until the 2nd day of the promotion, but if you are free any morning from September 6-10, you better get your booty on down to your local Chick-Fil-A for free nomz!  Just click the link and make your reservation...but choose carefully!  You can't change it once you've picked it. 

Thanks to Sam and indirectly, Sam's friend for spreading the fried chicken-y love.

p.s. if the website is down, probably they're temporarily experiencing super heavy traffic from me making reservations for my extended family, so just give it a few minutes and try again. 

Caprese Salad

This is a lazy caprese salad.  I had some tomatoes from Mom & Dad's garden, some fresh mozzarella, and pesto.  Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella.....drizzle pesto...Voila!

I would have really liked to add some balsamic vinegar to the dish, but much to my confusion, couldn't find any in the pantry.  Must remember to pick some up ASAP.... A true caprese salad consists of only tomato, mozzarella, basil, topped with salt and olive oil.  The balsamic is a 'non-classical' addition to the dish.
Caprese Salad

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

As some of you may know, I'm unfortunately and annoyingly allergic to a variety of delicious fruits (apples, peaches, pears... :[).  T's mom and dad came to visit on Saturday, and brought a whole boatload of juicy, perfectly ripe peaches, and so I panicked that we would never be able to eat all of them before they went became overripe.

Naturally, my first defensive response was to bake an enormous cobbler.  I had some frozen blueberries in the freezer, so I threw those in as well.  The beauty of a cobbler is that it basically asks you to mix up all the fruit, pour it into a baking dish, and then make some sort of bready topping to, well, top it with.  No muss, no fuss with a pie crust or anything like that.

 

The biscuit topping is light and airy - it is NOT very crunchy, so if that's what you're looking for, then maybe stick with a peach crumble or crisp.  (OR, try streusel topping!) 

 

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

Adapted from an adaptation of the Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern

Crack Part II

Sometimes I can see how people find my blog (where they were referred from, what search terms they used, etc.)

Most recently, someone found me by googling "big piece of crack crack cocaine".

I don't know whether or not to feel flattered, confused, or illegal?

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

It's Kate's birthday!  She unfortunately is stuck in the ICU working all day and night, so I thought it would be nice to bring her a treat.  For the record, I do too know how to spell "happy", but an extra "P" cupcake was way too cumbersome to lug to the hospital.

I made this frosting to pair with a german mocha cupcake.  It's light, creamy, and doesn't require too many ingredients - I had pretty much everything at home already.  I had come across a lot of chocolate frostings that involved melting chocolate over double boilers and everything, but this seemed a lot more simple. 

These amounts ought to be enough to frost one batch, or 24 cupcakes, or a regular 9 x 13 sheet cake with room to spare.  I understand that some of us are, er, more frosting enthusiastic than others, but for most purposes, you should be good.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

:: 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened (not melted!!)

:: 3 cups confectioner's sugar

:: 1/2 cup cocoa powder

:: 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

:: 1/3 cup milk or cream

Cream butter with a mixer until smooth and creamy.  Add in all the other ingredients (careful, the cocoa and sugar WILL fly everywhere, using a spatula to roughly fold in the dry ingredients is probably a pretty good idea).

Wait until your cake/cupcake/whatever is completely cool before frosting!  I used a rose pipette tip for fun.

Meatballs

............so probably, you being a normal person and all, you would eat these with "spaghetti" and "sauce", but I figure it's a little more approachable to do part of a recipe at a time than a whole meal.  Feel free to use your own sauce, sauce out of a jar, whatever you want!  It's all good.

I realize that this is one of the uglier photos I've taken, but come on, it's meatballs. 

The best thing about these meatballs is that they still have pork sausage, which makes it spicy, salty, and have that fatty mouth feel, but that the OTHER half is very very lean turkey.  Effectively, you have the best of both worlds, and can pretend in your head that it's diet food.  

In the sad and ignorant past, T and I used to pan fry the meatballs before adding to sauce for better looks and taste (throwing them directly into sauce ends up in them breaking all over the place and as well as a boiled, colorless exterior), but we eventually settled on broiling them for a few minutes instead.  This gives them a beautiful golden brown color, as well as the structural integrity to be finished off in the sauce!

Blueberry Corn Muffins with Streusel Topping

The summer is fading fast, and with it disappear the carefree days of not applying for residency and not writing personal statements.  In celebration of my stress and procrastination tactics, I made muffins!  Blueberry muffins are my favorite, and this combines a little bit of the texture of a corn muffin too.  The lemon zest adds just a touch of lemon flavor, enough to brighten the batter, but not enough to be overtly lemon-y.  Frozen blueberries also work just fine, so this is a good year-round recipe.

I am a firm believer in streusel's ability to make anything taste better.  Could you do without the flourbuttersugarstreusel?  Technically, yes, but you would regret it.

Disaster

My car got crushed in the North Grounds parking lot today.  No one was hurt, and hopefully she will be good as new after repairs.  Not that she really needed a new bumper or anything, because the same damn thing happened last summer....but in a different parking lot on the opposite side. 

Sigh. 

::UPDATE 8/3::

The estimate on the damage is $8700.  Lulz!!!  Tomorrow, we find out if the Ac is truly totaled or not.  Yay.

::UPDATE 8/4::

Totaled. 

Crack

This recipe is for a salty, sweet, crunchy snack made with chocolate, caramel, and saltine crackers.  Sorry to disappoint if this isn't the type of crack you were looking for (although instructions for making crack cocaine are also scary easy to find online, thank you google.)

The first time I had this, my big sister's friend had brought it to a dinner party.  As I've said before, I'm not big on sweets, but I was starting to get hangry and so began to snack on everything in sight.  I started with a small piece of crack.  Then I had another piece.  And then I started double fisting giant chunks of the stuff.  And now I guess I'm addicted to crack.  It's also made from crack(ers) and is also "cracked" into pieces at the end, so there's your triple entendre.

Just give in to the addiction.

Fossett's at Keswick Hall

If I could do restaurant week over again (and you better believe I'm going to in about 6 months...), I would have skipped over C&O altogether and eaten at Fossett's 7 nights in a row.  What can I say? I never knew that food could taste like this.  Creamy, rich, deeply satisfying.....yummmmm.  

Keswick Hall is a beautiful hotel, spa, and golf course a few minutes outside of Charlottesville.  Fossett's is one of its restaurants, and offers a gorgeous view of the golf courses and mountains.  The last time T and I came was in January, and by the time our dinner reservation rolled around, it was unfortunately already too dark to really see well outside.  Luckily we got a great view of the sunset during our dinner.  This is the front courtyard...

And here is our view of the grounds from our dinner table - sorry for the funny glass reflection.  Most of what you see here is the golf course. Aren't these little chairs cute?

Check out Sam's Blue Light Grill Restaurant Week experience here!

Keep reading about Fossett's!

C&O

For restaurant week this time around, we decided on going to C&O and Fossett's at Keswick Hall.  Keswick is still to come (tomorrow, yay!) but we started at C&O.  I've been to this restaurant only once in the past, also for restaurant week, but the menu was pretty different from the last time. 

By the way, I apologize in advance for the image quality of the coming photos - I forgot my camera at home and so had to make do with my cell phone.

Open for business since 1976, C&O boasts a really beautiful interior and ambience - portions of the restaurant are constructed from wood from an old Albemarle barn that was torn down in the '70s.  The lighting is low and romantic, but not so dark that you can't see your food.  There are 6 separate areas for dining:  the Mezzanine is what lies in front of you when you first walk in, the covered Patio is just past that, the Bistro is downstairs by the bar, the Upstairs which is more formal and geared towards events, the Terrace, and the Gallery which is usually used for private events.  Unfortunately, there was a private party out on the covered patio, so we ended up sitting in the mezzanine, which was still private and comfortable.  The staff was attentive, pleasant, and well-informed.

The bread basket that we started with was nothing special. I usually eat the bread because I'm so hungry during the wait, but I didn't finish mine.  They were just soft and texture-less, with no flavor.

I started with PEI mussels with roasted garlic, leeks steamed in pilsner-preserved lemon broth.  It came with two small crispy crostinis that were rubbed with oil and some herbs.  This appetizer was great, they gave me a spoon, so of course I drank all the broth.  Mm!!

T had the gazpacho with basil granita and cucumber.  It was definitely smoother in texture than what I typically think of gazpacho as being but in a good way, with just a few chunks of cucumber.  Light, refreshing, summery.  Also good!

Keep reading for the rest of the nomz!

A Bad Egg

I wanted eggs for dinner.  So I went to the fridge, pulled out the carton, and found more than enough eggs for a nice meal. 

But, egads!  I had no idea how old they were.  You see, sometimes to save space I'll consolidate old eggs and new eggs into the same carton.  I always forget which ones are which.  Should I risk it?  Dare I play the salmonella game?

I knew there must be an easier way than gastroenteritis to find out if the eggs were still good.

Pho Ga (Chicken Pho, or Vietnamese noodle soup)

I will never forgive myself for waiting this long to make pho.  For TOO LONG I've been too intimidated to make it, because of how complicated the process is, and how long it takes.  While that may be true for beef pho (which is truly a very involved process involving many hours and different cuts of bones and meat in order to make a rich stock), chicken pho can be prepared in about 3 hours.  And yes, that is a relatively "short" process.  The good news is that most of the time is spent passively waiting in agonizing suspense while yummy smells fill your house with the promise of hot soupy saltiness.  Or, you could alternatively spend 3 hours hovering over a simmering stockpot.  Not that that's what I do or anything...

Pho ga with lime wedge, thai basil, jalapeno, cilantro, sliced onions, and scallions

Key things to this recipe

-you need a ginormous stockpot.  The one we used was about 3 gallons. 

-you need a free range chicken.  Allegedly.  I've only made this recipe once so I can't truly say I've done taste comparisons, but every recipe and native Vietnamese cook swears by this step.  Unfortunately, a free range bird will be about 2-3 times more expensive, but since this pot will make at LEAST 10 bowls of pho, it breaks down to less than $1 per bowl

-you need spices that you might not already have in your pantry (clockwise from top left, coriander & fennel, cinnamon stick, cardamom pod (?), star anise, cloves)

-you need garnishes.  Maybe not all of them, but at the bare minimum, you'll need sliced onions, lime, cilantro, +/- thai basil and scallions.  If you like it spicy, sriracha or sliced jalapenos is indispensable, and if you like some sweetness, you should have some hoison on hand, also :)

-like pad thai, you need to soak the noodles for at least 30 minutes or so in cold water before serving.  Otherwise you will be hungry and have no one to blame but yourself for not following directions.

Recipe (and pics to drool over!) after the jump.

Zynodoa

As part of my birthday celebration (from March) and to commemorate T's transformation from a lowly intern to a wise-and-experienced PGY-2, we made a special trip down to Staunton, VA to have dinner at a little place called Zynodoa.  I still have no idea how he found this place to begin with, but it has been receiving some ridiculously rave reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon, etc.  It describes itself as contemporary Southern cuisine with an emphasis on local and seasonally fresh items. 

Good thing I called ahead, because they literally ran out of reservations by the time I arrived.  On a Sunday night!  Apparently their last seating is at 8 pm, which is pretty early, but maybe just because it was Sunday.

I couldn't bring myself to take pictures of the outside of the restaurant (can't stand looking THAT touristy....) but it only occupied a tiny space in the middle of "downtown" Staunton - I probably would have walked right by it if I weren't looking for it.  The decor inside was interesting and eye-catching.  A big bright yellow wall behind the bar, wooden overhangs and modern lighting fixtures.  The bathroom (which was the only part I didn't like) was weirdly dark red with black toilets and a faucet shaped like a half cut open bamboo. 

I started off with the "115 East" cocktail, which was a blend of Virginia vodka, cointreau, cava, and cranberry juice with a lemon twist.  It was pretty as a picture, but also reminded me why I never order cocktails.  Probably someone else would have considered it delicious, but I personally just have a hard time drinking vodka disguised as fruit juice.  Should have just stuck with the beer.

Keep reading to join us as we stuff our faces!

Mint Oreo Ice Cream

Ice cream ranks at the top of the list of my favorite foods along with spaghetti and meatballs, cheetos, white nectarines, and Filet-O-Fish.  A Cuisinart ice cream maker has sat humbly in our family pantry for ages now, collecting only dust and the errant moth.  Inspired by a Ben & Jerry's "missionary" at my office who gives out free ice cream making books to anyone expressing interest, I chose to revive the little gadget.

More after the jump...

"Everything Tastes Bitter!"

Something terrible has happened.  Over the last 2 days, everything salty that I eat tastes weird.  It's bitter and soapy, and for a second I thought I had developed the horrible aversion to cilantro that a few of my friends complain about. My coffee tasted terrible.  I even threw away a half eaten cracker with cheese because it just tasted wrong.  

Something was clearly amiss.