Hungry Times Two

It's a solid week for home cooked meals at the Adams family wee apartment: Sunday, I baked this Lemon Loaf Cake , subbing in Greek yogurt for sour cream. I also whipped up some tuna salad in advance for quick lunches this week and made this white bean dip from Giada De Laurentiis (I don't watch her show, but her recipes are featured in the 2007 Food and Wine compilation cookbook I love.) The tip is a nice change from hummus - creamier and not as "earthy" tasting, if that makes sense. For Sunday dinner, I made these Moroccan Meatballs with Eggs , as a good friend recently gifted me with her leftover Rachel Ray magazines. Man, those babies are packed with recipes...it's almost too much for the eyes! The lamb meatballs were fantastically flavorful, but the eggs didn't set for me as they suggested, so I warmed the bowls in the oven to get them to soft-cook. It didn't really work but we ate them anyway, runny yolks and eggs whites and all, and we're b...

In January I proposed a few ambition s I'd like to take on in the culinary wonderland this year. Thus far I have 1) roasted a chicken, 2) eaten less crap, and 3) traveled to Italy. (Still need to blog this...ugh, my bad.) On my to-do list: 1) Buy the skillet (but only after we move...another sore spot) and 2) fry up a chicken, 3) fix a real curry, 4) Get schooled on wine, and 5) entertaining more. A real proper curry may be the next thing I try. I am also adding "pickling vegetables" to the list. Pickled cocktail okra, anyone? I just made myself hungry. Yum...lunchtime.

Our good friend Jim Garcia introduced us to Cubano's last weekend, so this post is dedicated to him and his Cuban heritage! This Cuban restaurant is on a side street in downtown Silver Spring, MD - not too far from the Metro station and Georgia Ave. bus lines, so it gets a bonus for transit-accessibility. Once you're there, make sure to try an appetizer of mariquitas , thin-sliced pieces of plantain, fried and then seasoned with a drizzling of olive oil, garlic, salt, and amazing flavor. Here's our plate of them, along with my knockout mojito. Next, we moved onto entrees. Erin had ropa vieja ("old clothes"), which is pulled beef stewed with tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices. I tried Masitas de Puerco Cuba Libre Crispy fried marinated morsels, properly dressed with gently sauteed onions (laziness = taken straight from menu!). As Jim advised, the pork chunks were fried, but surprisingly light and tasty - not typical fried-fried greasiness. Jim had ...

Blogging sucks. Blogging is the best thing ever. I hate blogging. I live to blog. Welcome to my mind, in which I debate why I haven't posted more often here lately. Blame my ever-increasing disinterest in cooking -- I had the "mehs" this winter, but damn if it isn't sunny outside and spring is almost here and well, I miss writing and having good tasty things to write about. So... I'm presently reeling from a dyno-MITE class with Mrs. Wheelbarrow : Easter Desserts rocked my world, and the worlds of friends A & S, who were so smart to join me today to learn how to rock a coconut cake, tishpishti , and a pavlova.  Let the record show I'm heading out in 20 min. on the greenway to burn off what I'm about to describe:

Earlier this week, Erin made beef curry and it featured spices that we received from my dad and sister last Christmas. They live in Augusta, Georgia, my hometown, which has a surpisingly large South Asian community and subsequent restaruants and even groceries. Dad and Molly, thanks so much for the collection of spices, plus the cookbook 660 Curries ! That's the fun thing about food and cooking gifts, they make you think about the gifter every time you use them. Thanks again Dad and Molly!

Never mind that we're 13 days into this grand new year of 2011 and that I do not really like rabbits at all (so I don't know what's up with my image selection, above) - I'm tossing out my ideas for food-related aspirations in 2011.

Tell me this isn't the best video featuring fake flan-like pudding and silly folks from Japan that you've ever seen. P.S. Shoutout to my friend Beth , who turns 30 today - the Dirty Thirty has arrived!!!!

For three years now we've shared our eats - what we ate, what we hope to eat, and what we dream about eating. What have we liked best about it? S: It's been fun teaching a DC-based British photog how to peel shrimp, all via photos on this blog. E: I received a nice letter and coupon for a free jar (any size!) of Duke's Mayonnaise out of it after I shared my post on the company website. That's pretty damn cool. See, blogging CAN pay off! What's been the greatest challenge? S: Keeping it going. E: I agree. Also, trying to stay away from food writing cliches, though I do apparently like to use the word "goodness" a lot. What's the bad thing about food blogging? E: Besides all the calories? Trying to say something original and interesting about simple things like mayonnaise. Or pork. Or the pizza we ate last Tuesday. S: Uploading the pictures. E: Maybe it's time for a new blog program? S: No, I'm just a Luddite. What are the hopes and dreams of...

Oh, how I lurve you, mint. You lend your refreshing, tingly herbal notes to many a fine thing: tea and tabbouleh, to name a few, and even the nostalgia of childhood, those Star Brights Mints my Grandmother Coxey used to keep in her candy dish. (I'd unwrap them and gobble them in secret, stuffing the plastic wrappers between the couch cushions. But nevermind that.) Our mint plant is doing remarkably well, so I plan on using it as much as I can while it's alive and kickin .' A great way to do so: a Rice Noodle salad with a Vietnamese lean. Yes, another Cooking Light recipe. I swear that cookbook is the best two dollars I ever spent! I made this salad last night, using baked salmon in place of the tofu. It was fresh and light and a great departure from the usual Jasmine rice and veggie stir fry we usually eat. Scott's contribution was trekking out to gather some herbs from our mint plant, currently "squatting" with our neighbors' garden goodness (inclu...

I don't remember the first time I tasted hummus, but I do know that I enjoyed it, wanted more, and haven't looked back since. For those of you familiar with my food "deals," or "issues" as some might call them (hey, I'm not that picky), I refused to eat beans of any kind other than green beans for a good long while. As in most of my life. It was a texture thing - mushy. On a similar note, I don't eat green peas. I hate it when places throw in peas to dishes just because they can - salads, soups, and the usual culprit - rice. Don't you mess with my rice, mmmkay ? So back to beans. Somehow I integrated chickpeas in to my diet via the hummus and eventually became okay with refried beans, which gave way to black beans about two years ago and even the occasional white bean and kidney type. I can now eat chili, which is major, and black bean salsas, salads, on the side, with rice...yeah. I'm converted. I made hummus last night with one can of chi...

Apparently, there comes a time in every Caucasian's food experience when they're gonna get denied. I'm talking about the ethnic food line in which us white peeps do not dare to cross. Our delicate vanilla taste buds just will not be able to handle it, according to the culinary gatekeepers to the ethnic realm. Such was the case this weekend with a friend and myself, both of us of the Caucasian persuasion who consider ourselves fairly adventurous. We attended the most awesome Passport to DC Embassy Row tour , taking in the music, food, dancing and cultural offerings of the embassies of Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Brazil and Cape Verde. Thailand had it going on, food-wise. While my friend and I watched a Thai cook prepare our papaya salad as she crushed all the makings in a huge mortar/pestle situation, we noticed a crock of black something or another on the food table. "What's that?," my friend asked. "Fermented crab. Not for you," was the reply. ...

I've made the hell out of some couscous lately! On Friday I made this recipe of beef patties with couscous and a Greek-style salad. I improvised and made a little sauce to go on top of the beef patties (more like meatballs, but whatevs) that had a little sour cream, tiny bit of milk, one clove of crushed garlic, some lemon zest and some dill. It was a big hit with my mom - she even asked me for the "recipe" for the sauce. Last night I threw together a meal of potatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, garlic, eggplant and onion roasted with olive oil, rosemary and some Greek seasoning, some leftover leg of lamb that was INCREDIBLE (I know, I'm boasting but I'd never made lamb before, and wow. This recipe is kinda "killer," as one of Scott's uncles would say), sauteed spinach with pine nuts, nutmeg and lemon juice, and some couscous mixed with chopped mint and dried apricots (which I plumped up in warm water first before adding). I like couscous because...

This past Sunday, Erin and I visited the Maine Avenue Fish Market today, D.C.'s old-school seafood market. It was 50 degrees and drizzly, but man, the fresh-steamed blue crabs with Old Bay smelled heavenly in that weather! We picked up one pound of wild sea scallops (Bay, farmed is supposed to be a more sustainable choice according to the guide I had with me http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_SoutheastGuide.pdf , so we chose "Good Alternative"), one pound of medium wild-caught Gulf shrimp and one pound of medium wild-caught Carolina brown shrimp. Monterey Bay Aquarium even has guides for the Central U.S., etc. Check the out - the oceans and your future dinner plans will thank you. http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx We made this trip after Erin brought home "fresh" farm-raised shrimp from Ecuador from our local Giant (the big supermarket chain here). She knew better, but wanted sh...

So, this was a good week for cooking in our house. Point blank - I rocked it out. No pasta. No stir fry. No grilled cheese and soup or the "breakfast for dinner" trick. I actually sat down on Sunday morning and hashed out a week's meal plan based on a cookbook I found several years ago at my favorite cheap-ass store, I mean, my discount retailer of choice, T.J. Maxx - this Best of the Best cookbook from Food & Wine . I can't take the credit for the food - these recipes are soooooooo tasty. I just followed the directions. Sunday night - Shrimp in Garlic-Sage Butter Saute 1 lb. shrimp in: ½ cup butter 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage (I used about a teaspoon of dried sage) 2 large minced garlic cloves ¼ teaspoon salt Wednesday Night - Turkey Burgers with Avocado Mayo A Bobby Flay recipe, this one is a keeper just on the creamy Avocado Mayo alone. I didn't make the Poblano Pickle relish - couldn't find a poblano or anything comparable at Giant (no, they don...

I agree with this guy . Lentils ARE pure f**king evil. So much for my unfortunate lentil and winter squash tagine , taken from The Produce Bible . Thursday night's dinner became more like Thursday night's disaster. Well, maybe not a total fiasco, but it's rare that I walk away from a plate of food. Me and the Clean Plate Club go waaaaay the hell back, so if I don't finish, you know something is amiss. I like spices like turmeric, cumin and cinnamon. I like butternut squash. But lentils? I don't think they and I are meant to co-mingle. I think it's a texture thing. Lentils, I'm sorry, it's not going to work. We're just not compatible.

This blog post title is my favorite German idiom - Literally, "That's sausage to me," but it means "It doesn't matter." Why not use food products to say what you really feel? I stole these below from The Splendid Table's site. They're fun. Food Idioms from around the world I'm not hanging noodles on your ears! I'm not pulling your leg — Russian To give it to someone with cheese, to pull your leg — Spanish To give papaya, to pull someone's leg — Spanish Colombia I'll boil tea with my navel - that's laughable, you're kidding — Japanese To live like a maggot in bacon, live in luxury, live the life of Riley — German To fry a bologna sausage, to give special treatment — German To have three foot long spittle, to yearn for something — Chinese Brew the dirt from someone's fingernails and drink it - learn a bitter lesson — Japanese To drown the mouse: hair of the dog. stave off a hangover — Spanish The one of shame, the last pie...

To the point: if you haven't tried Sriracha hot sauce, go forth and getchu some! Check out this article in the NYT by one of my fave writers John T. Edge on the amazing devotion surrounding this sauce. My favorite quote in the story: "It burns your body, not your tongue ." I first discovered it at Doc Chey's in Asheville , NC, and have smeared it on spring rolls, burritos, sushi, hot dogs, and anything else that needs a fiery punch now and then. I most recently had it on some sushi from Taki out in Hermitage and also on glazed tilapia from the Mustard Seed in Mount Pleasant, SC. If you like a little - scratch that - LOT of heat, I highly suggest this sizzling sauce.

I have a bit of a headache from exercise-related dehydration, hormones, and oh, the four bevvies I had last eve, so though my interest in blogging today is strong, my skillz are a bit lacking. Just a few foodie things: - Cilantro is amazing. Most likely my favorite herb ever. Yesterday the cashier at Publix had to sanitize her hands after scanning the cilantro because she says she's allergic (I don't use plastic produce bags when I shop - too much waste) and we got into a conversation about how her doctor encouraged her to eat it to build up resistance. I listed all the ways I use cilantro - stir fry, Mexican, salads, garnishing soups, et al. We shared a moment, that clerk and I. She told me I was welcome to not plastic-bag my produce anytime. - Mung bean sprouts are also incredible. Scott reminded me of my little obsession with them when we dined at Pho Yen Hoa one evening this week. The sprouts were in everything we ordered, from the summer rolls - those little parcels of go...

Made a Moroccan Post Roast for "Dinner and a Movie" last night, and it was successful! A tasty meal followed by "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Good times, indeed. Here is the recipe, culled from "Cottage Living." The chuck roast was waaaaay too fatty. Next time I would pick a lean cut of roast. This being the first roast I have ever made, I didn't know any better. If you know of a beef roast cut to suggest, send it to me! I served the roast with couscous and a green salad with a tahini dressing I whipped up (tahini, lemon juice, water, a little honey, salt and pep, red wine vinegar and a little olive oil). Wine from Frugal McDougal's: BOXED wine of La Petite Frog and Pino Evil. LPF was suggested by Jenne; Pino Evil, I just liked the box, which features the three "See No Evil" monkeys. First time buying wine in a box since college. Surprise: it's hella good, easy to pour and store, and each box has 3 liters. Nevermind that I'...