To Market: A Visit to Lotte Plaza (Asian Grocery)

so fresh. wasabi + soy sauce, please.

On Sunday we went to Lotte Plaza, which is a pan Asian* grocery shop in Maryland. We make it a point to stop in international grocery stores when we travel (we procured Croatian bacon chips on our honeymoon!). And locally, we try to find as many international grocery stores as possible. So far, this has been the best one. (In case you didn't know, DC's Chinatown is absurd. It boasts a Hooters & Fudruckers. So it's nice to know there's some good quality Asian imports that are driveable. Though, we did take a trip to Queens last year explicitly to get good quality Asian food.)

To Tell Stories: The Vomiting Meatball Guy

Once upon a time, I was in high school. And when I was in high school, I put together an anthology of short stories about the silly situations I got myself into with the boys I was chasing or who were chasing me. I will share one of them, for three reasons:

1. It's about food! So, it's on topic.
2. It's utterly ridiculous.
3. My friend (who also makes an appearance in the book as "unequivocally the worst thing to ever happen to me") recently reminded me of it.    

This excerpt from "Boys: It's a Four Letter Word, Too // An Anthology of Mishaps" has been edited for clarity. Though, generally, it's me as an 18 year old making observations about love in this world. 

To Drink: $5 Wine, Vol. 2, Villa Cerrina, Italian Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

Let me be Francis (like being frank, but fancy) with you, for a moment. I know not of Italian wines. I see them on menus, and think, "STAY AWAY" for I can't even begin to guess what any of the words mean. THAT STOPS NOW.

the 2013 Montepulciano d'Abruzo from Villa Cerrina.

So, I guess one thing I do know, loosely speaking, is that Montepulciano (or as I wrongly said last night, "Montepuchi") is, like, a well known grape. Or is it a region? Or is it both? So, actually I know nothing.

To Review: Lessons & Menu as of 24 January

Lessons Learned & Arbitrary Points:

• Ricotta should only be drained 20 minutes for my idea of perfect ricotta +10
• Spaetzel recipe can be halved for dinner for 2 +0 (cause whatever)
• Michael does NOT like too much lemon in his salad dressing -8
• Eat lasagna BEFORE going to meet friends & drink the beers (what am I? an amateur?) -4
• Trader Joe's Orange Chicken is so delightful & even better cold the morning after +7

Drumrolllllllll...................... 5 points! That seems a lot worse than last week's 54. I learned fewer important things, I guess.

Another lesson: clementines in bright bowls make winter better.

Sunday: Beef Stew in a Bread Bowl (Courtesy M.)
Monday: Pesto Ricotta Spaetzel over Lemony Greens
Tuesday: Lasagna with artichoke hearts salad (Lasagna by M; Salad by me.)
Wednesday: Lasagna with artichoke hearts salad
Thursday: Lasagna out of the pan at 10pm after 2 beers
Friday: Frozen Trader Joe's Chinese Food
Saturday: Pork Tacos (Courtesy of M.)

Eating the same thing several nights in a row is a-okay by me. Plus, it's an attempt to save some ca$h since we're traveling to New Orleans next week for my 30th (!!) birthday. Also, I still don't cook that often.

To Eat Dinner @ Home: Ricotta in Stuff Edition

Do you ever make your own ricotta? I have done it several times, and it's much easier than you might think. There are only FOUR ingredients and it takes under an hour. I use Ina Garten's recipe. Per true Ina fashion she's like, use "GOOD white wine vinegar." She always points out to use good ingredients. Thanks, Ina! But also, you can use less good ingredients with magnificent outcomes. For example, I used CHEAP white (NOT wine) vinegar. And, it produced a delightful outcome. Fluffy, perfect ricotta.

To Make a Condiment: Pesto

Pesto is so easy to make! And, there are so many variations. Plus, it's super hard to screw up and you can just basically throw stuff (herb + nut + parmesan cheese [other hard cheese??] + olive oil) in the food processor and it'll be good. I made it Friday and now it's gone since I used it on two different dinners.

To Begin Anew: Duck Confit with Harissa Carrot Salad

We started a new thing this year. And I liked it, a lot. We made a fancy New Year's Day dinner that incorporated all new things: new meat to cook, new recipe to try, and new technique. Duck, carrot harissa salad, and confit-ing, respectively. It was all so new you guys!

by the way: this is not one serving. we are pigs, but within reason. #weddingplatter

This year, the idea to make duck confit came quite easily. We've never done any sort of confit-ing nor have we made duck.

The duck (which has a HIGHLARIOUS typo result; look to the right of the "d" key) came out perfectly tender. It was a little salty, but that's probably because the salt was too fine. The basic technique of confit-ing is probably a good one to know. PLUS, when you do it the half-assed way that we did, you end up with a bunch of left over duck infused oil. YUM.

More or less: dry brine the duck in salt & herbs over night. Then, cook it for over an hour in a LOT of oil. Then, roast it. I'm no expert on confit-ing. So, I'll just leave that to you. You can ask Mark Bittman. He helped us a great deal. (Actually, just go ahead and buy that book. You won't regret it.)

For a side, I knew we needed to have something with acid, definitely a vegetable, and maybe some greens. I picture restaurants serving duck confit over a pureed potato, or something, but doesn't that just make you think of warm brown on top of warm white and then gag a little? Too much warm neutral colored food. (Though, on second thought, I've had this dish and loved it. Confounding.)

BACK TO VEGETABLES, on Christmas I awoke to Yotam Ottolenghi's  Jerusalem. (!!) I first got to know of him when Lynne Rosetto Kasper (host of The Splendid Table podcast and most rotund, glorious, jovial of all the podcast voices) interviewed him. He focuses a lot on vegetables, and when I (and many) think of him it's like an explosion of flavors. So, there's two ways to look at his recipes:

1. Shit. I can't make this, there are too many spices I don't have/have never heard of!
2. OMG. Now, I can make a list of a million spices to buy and make my pantry a bazillion times better.

I feel the #1 way if I think about making his recipes on a random Tuesday. I feel #2 when I have the foresight to plan. And we had time to plan. So I chose to make his carrot salad. And it was so flavorful: acidic, warm, bitter, sweet. I don't think I've ever had harissa before, either. I bought it this time, but sometime this year I'll make it too. I may have cooked the carrots a little too much because GET THIS. When you use fewer ingredients than the recipe calls for, you might need to adjust the cooking time! I forget that an embarrassing amount of the time. Writing will help me remember.

It was a sumptuous feast and it's a really great tradition for us, I think. Next year may be a bit more challenging to invent all new things because Mauerbaker is convinced he'll cook something new every week. But, we'll cross that bridge on December 31st.

To Review: Lessons & Menu as of January 17th

Lessons learned & assigned arbitrary points:

• Buttermilk isn't scary! +6
• My intuition is all wrong in biscuit making.(Except for one thing)
• I was all like: use your hands! -13
• I re-used the excess dough -14
• I dumped milk in one spot, creating milk blobs. -11
• I did freeze the butter! +8
• I invented delicious garlic butter. +11
• I refused to remember to pay attention to warnings. 0 
• Neutral score because the outcome was still delightful.
• I learned about how Malbec is supposed to be velvety, black fruity & leathery +3
• I lasted one week writing a blog. +64
  

And since we've none basis for comparison yet, we'll call this a decent score. Until next time.

Overview of this week's menu:

• Sunday: Leftover ribs & mashed potatoes, courtesy M.
• Monday: I went out & had ceviche in a strip mall. #burbs
• Tuesday: Mac & Cheese, courtesy of a friend + Caesar salad with homemade dressing by M.
• Wednesday: Freeeeeeeeeeeeee-tata, biscuits, & salad (I made it!)
• Thursday: Brick chicken & creamed kale, courtesy M.
• Friday: Homemade pizza (the dough was homemade weeks ago & frozen) + salad + $5 Malbec
• The pizza had pesto on it. I made that. I will tell you about it soon.

Main takeaway: M should be making this blog, because I cook... never.

To Drink: $5 Wine Vol. 1, La Finca, Argentinian Malbec Edition

E'erbody be like: "oh, you can get really good, cheap wine for like $10."

But, then, I'll be at Trader Joe's and they're selling wine for $4.95, and I'm like, "that's my kinda price!" And I end up feeling like that $11.99 bottle is really pushing it, with its pretentiousness and overall grandiosity.

For the next few weeks, I'll be exploring Trader Joe's $5 wines. It's not just about finding a decent cheap wine. It's WAY more than that, you guys. It's an exploration into the world of grapes. It's about broadening my knowledge of what it means to be a malbec, pinot noir, or some Italian grape I've never heard of. It's about trying Merlot even though I get embarrassed about it (for no reason).

It'll be a grand sensory experiment: sniffing wine aromas, observing wine hues, tasting underlying flavors. I won't touch the wine probably, since it's like, liquid; all the wines are liquid.

For this week's wine review, read more.

To Eat Dinner @ Home: Caramelized Onion & Feta Frittata, Herb Biscuits, and a Salad

Weeknight meal: frittata, salad & biscuits. Also, lunch for the next day.

I love frittata! Because it's eggs, obviously. But also because it's so easy. Most importantly (?), it's an amazing word to pronounce. I do it like this in my head: "frrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeee- TA TA!" For most accurate depiction, please roll the R, hold the E's and make the T's really tingly, like your tongue is tap dancing. ANYWAY. Normally, I would be content eating the frittata (tonight's version was caramelized onion & feta) with a simple side salad. But since I've promised myself to stop fearing flour, I attempted herb yogurt biscuits. (Recipes below.)

One of the ideas behind the blog is to remember MEALS. Like, the whole thing. Not dishes. But the main, the side, the wine (if I'm drinking it that night). Because lots of blogs have components of meals but then you've got to figure out what goes with it. So here's all of it! One dinner when you've got an hour to spare.

Here's how it went.

To Bring Sunshine: Baked Double Chocolate Cake Doughnuts

Joy the Baker's Double Chocolate Doughnuts (link in post)

These baked double chocolate cake doughnuts were made with the intention of bringing some cheer, in the form of rainbow polka-dot sprinkled beautiful chocolatey goodness, to a friend. Anytime a friend of mine experiences something wonderful or less than wonderful, I think: "I'll make them food!" It's my way of saying: "yay!" or "I'm thinking of you."

Click through for recipe and to learn which baking fear I overcame today.

To Love Salads: Citrus Spice Edition

spinach & arugula mix; pecans; clementines; spicy broccoli; paprika roasted peppers; parmesan cheese; dried cranberries; citrus vinaigrette.

On many of my working days, lunchtime is my favorite part of the day. (Aside from my current obsession breakfast oatmeal and the witching hour when it's time to go home.) ANYWAY. Last year, I killed it with salads and wraps. But, as I've mentioned, I can't remember what I put in them.

I have my own set of general tenets to follow when coming to a final decision on what to put in my salad. Often, I'll also consult a few blogs for some extra seasonal inspiration.

To find out key salad components, read more!

To Perfectly Poach an Egg

A long time ago, I would say things like "I don't even want to learn to poach eggs! I love that they are a special treat when I go to brunch." That was me lying to cover up my fear of poaching eggs.

Since then, I've grown to love poaching eggs. And now feel like a damn expert in the field of egg poaching.

I've taken tips from all over, but I sort of feel like my technique is a pared down, easy version that is hard to screw up. It may not always make artful eggs but it also doesn't require a strainer (i.e. another thing to clean). It certainly doesn't involve vinegar (everyone says it doesn't change the taste--I strongly disagree). And it doesn't even involve swirling of water; that never changed the outcome for me too much and the whole coaxing of the egg white toward the yolk just caused me anxiety. So, here's what it does include.

To Remember Eating

I like to cook.  I plan excitedly for weeks in preparation of visiting a new city; I try to find restaurants and any unique foods that city has to offer. I love planning menus for my friends and family to enjoy, whether at my house or as a guest somewhere else. Mostly, I love to eat and think about eating and remembering what I ate (this last part though, I'm pretty lousy at).

about to eat have barbecue sauce all over my face. ribs, detroit.

But which recipe did I use? I know I added something, but what was it again? Which restaurant in Istanbul had the amazing fried eggs and bread with a million jams? I know I made meatballs for the Chinese New Years party, but what else?

So, this blog is to help me remember, to help me learn. And, to share with you as I go. It's like a food journal, just not private and not to track what I eat so I can eat less.