Hungry Times Two

I'm renewing our segment "We've Got It Made," in which we highlight our joint ventures in the kitchen. HTT is in the house, baby. After sitting on the recipes from the awesome Mrs. Wheelbarrow class on Easter Desserts for nearly a month, I up and went to the grocery store this a.m. to ensure I had all the ingredients to make a pretty pretty pavlova . Since I won't be here for Easter, I thought it would be nice to make it anyway.

Setting the scene: Friday night, low on groceries, and even lower on energy to cook.   The cast of characters: Erin and Scott, HTT bloggers with a desire for something different. The mission: A new place to eat, without the pain-in-the-ass travel time to Hell On Earth, I mean, Northern Virginia or DC. Final destination : Tiffin the Indian Kitchen, Langley Park, Md. Background info: Scott and I have visited Woodlands  (vegetarian Indian) in Langley Park and wanted to see if Tiffin might be as good. Langley Park is a swath of commercial real estate  between Takoma Park and Silver Spring, Md., dotted with tons of tiendas, liquor stores, and apartment buildings primarily housing a huge immigrant community here. It ain't exactly the flashy area we'd bring out of town guests or anything, but if you're looking for ethnic food, you can't go wrong.

Lunch can be a total crapfest sometimes in my workplace location - Chinatown and Mount Vernon aren't exactly culinary wonderlands. In fact, I was supremely disappointed when I discovered how sad most Asian restaurants are here in D.C. However, lunch (and dinner) is redeemed: Introducing the Korean delight Mandu . Credit: clix/SXC Lightening-fast review of Mandu's new location on K Street, near Busboys and Poets and Taylors:

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:

Somehow I went to NYC and came back ONLY .5 pounds heavier. This, my dear friends, is a sheer miracle, considering all the deliciousness we consumed in four days' time. This was a trip of many food "firsts" for me, including: - A steak and eggs brunch at Steak Frites in Union Square - Matzo Ball Soup at Katz's Deli , where Sally enjoyed that orgasmic sandwich with Harry - Primativo wine and Panna cotta at Il Passatore , Brooklyn - Roasted grapes and truffled pate, Oak Wine Bar , Brooklyn - Spaghetti and clams, Mario's , The Bronx - Asian-style smoked brisket, yellow curry custard, curried black eyed peas, and whole mackerel at Fatty 'Cue in Brooklyn The Williamsburg eats in Brooklyn completely blew me away -- there is nothing like enjoying some drinks at this uber-precious Brooklyn bar , and then a few more at this low-key, quiet establishment , and then tipsily staggering your way to some lamb ragu, butternut squash pasta and Brussels sprouts...

Good grief, our mini-vacation can't come soon enough. Next week, we head out for NYC. Thus far, we have: - Cheap Bolt Bus tix secured. Pray for us that we don't wind up sitting next to the toilets, thanks. - " European style" Cheap hotel on the Lower East Side booked. Speaking of toilets, the setup is a shared bathroom. Hello, glorified hostel, here we come. Brush aside the bedbugs, pretty please. - A list of go-to places. We'll keep you waiting with bated breath, so don't hold it in folks. Exhale. One plan of ours is, for Valentine's Day gifts, to each come up with an afternoon itinerary that would please the other. We will divulge them on V-Day. I can't give my plans for a Scott-irific afternoon away, but I can tell you hunting down the Prada store or gawking at Times Square will not be on the list. (We may have to hit up Dean & DeLuca, though. For real.) In my use of the Google Machine, I discovered a pleasant treat - it will still...

TGIF, my friends, TGIF. What a long-ass week this feels like. Anyone else agree with me? I didn't accomplish very much in the culinary arena this week, as you may have determined from my earlier post on the evils of bad food. We were busy, we were tired, and I am more than just a little bit lazy due to the winter blues, so I need to work on my motivation. However, I did achieve one of my goals for 2011 , which was not super lofty, nor sexy, but it is what it is: roasting a chicken. (Crappy photos to come!)

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.

We're not dead yet, to borrow from mighty Monty Python. Just kind of sick, tired, and overwhelmed to get back into the swing of things post-holidays. Anyone else feel like a total slug getting back to work after ringing in the New Year? So. damn. painful. Well, I'll stop my griping and promise you this: we turned it OUT this holiday season, taking lots of photos and making and eating our share of tasty holiday yum- yums . And by that I mean we stuffed our face with: - Shrimp & Grits (made by Sir Scott, coming soon to a blog near you!) - Potato Gratin with Rosemary Crust (made by yours truly madly deeply...I rocked it - post coming soon.) - Southern goodies like pimento cheese (pronounced " puh - menna " if you can get your Southern drawl going) and boiled peanuts - A new thing I credit my mother dear for showing me: Pickled Okra! Holy cow, they are good with cocktails. Or just eating them straight out of the jar at 2am , barefoot, as you try your hardest not to ...

Guess what, folks? We've discovered the ONE redeeming thing about going to a mall during the holidays. This weekend, Scott and I joined our friend Jim, his mother visiting from Florida, and two friends of his for a dim sum extravaganza at Hollywood East Cafe in Wheaton , Md. As Scott and I had errands to run afterwards, we followed Jim in our car, and were quite perplexed when we pulled up to the Westfield Mall in Wheaton . "A mall?" I asked aloud. How could good food come from the same place that has FYE , Macy's and JC Penneys? Scott reminded me we had a pretty amazing Vietnamese experience at a strip mall in Honolulu during our honeymoon in April 2007, so I shut my trap and hoped for good things to come. I'm happy to report that Hollywood East Cafe should get a Golden Globe, nay, an OSCAR -- at least a supporting one, for its Dim sum. Now, I must admit my dim sum experience is sparse -- other than a couple lunches at Ping Pong in D.C., I got nothin .' S...

Sometimes you don't need ambiance. Sometimes you don't need a six page wine list. Sometimes you don't need small plates drizzled with some kind of prettified infused reduction sauce. Sometimes you just want a beer. Or four. Plus food. Like a burger, maybe? And accompanied by something nice and fried - tater tots, perhaps? Well friends, thanks to pal I.J., I found just what's described above - something that can only be called "A Dive Bar." Silver Spring's Quarry House - Monday Nights. A bevy of normal folks pack the place to enjoy half-priced burgers, dollars off all beers during Happy Hour. Happy indeed! You know you're headed somewhere special when you take to the grungy stairs heading down to a 70-year old basement space under an Indian restaurant on Georgia Ave. Johnny Cash is on the jukebox and strings of colored lights and dimly lit sconces provide just enough light to make out the menu. The beer list is impressive - they even offer Orkney Skull ...

Or is it just my warm Rosemary Walnut Loaves? Yep, I've tried my hand at baking bread, and it looks like I successfully completed my mission! Exhibit A: Before the oven Exhibit B: After the oven A recipe from Cooking Light , it's something one really should take the time to read the entire way through before one proceeds. I scanned the ingredients list and began at 2pm today, while had I read the recipe, I would have known I'd stand in my kitchen four hours later , slicing the bread. A couple of things: Bread takes time, effort, and patience. I know this now. The latter is always my downfall, so this was practice for me. BIG practice. There's the rising of the yeast. Then adding the flour and the rest of the ingredients and letting it rise more. Then kneading - despite the stickiness of the dough, you have to knead it for 10 minutes - that's forever in Erin Time, but just right in Bread Time. I punched it, I poked it, I wrangled with it, and scattered the stubborn ...

Just the title of this alone has me humming some Destiny's Child (and how in the hell did I miss that Stevie Nicks totally cameo-ed the video ? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.) I have an exciting project for fall - Apple Chips ! I think I may tackle this tonight. I've never dried fruit in an over before, but I overcooked some meat one time that could have been mistaken for jerky. "Meat Chips" just don't have a swell ring to them, do they? I know, I've been all about the apples, but can you blame me - the apple is a wonderful fruit of this season we call fall. I also have several small cooking pumpkins I need to do something with - any suggestions? Happy Hump Day, y'all. Make it bootylicous. Or not. Totally your call.

Posting on behalf of my male HTT counterpart: My dad and sister drove up from Georgia this past long weekend and we explored Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Molly (my sister) had never been to Baltimore nor Philadelphia, Erin was new to Philly and I’d only been to Philly for about six hours in a snowstorm (stopped there midway from Asheville , NC to Montreal, left in a hurry trying to avoid getting stuck in a blizzard). My dad, laid-back as always, was open to visiting all three places, so we started with Baltimore on a Friday. Baltimore I drove them into town, with quick trek through downtown and then onto Chaps Pit Beef , a place on the far eastern edge of Baltimore City serving pit beef, Baltimore’s local take on barbecue. I’d seen Anthony Bourdain ’s visit , so I made sure to try the tiger sauce. That, plus heaping spoons of horseradish, had me in “food sweat,” which isn ’t a bad thing as long as tasty, spicy food is involved. Molly and dad got straight-...

Lately my breakfast of raw oats, sliced banana, Craisins , crushed walnuts or almonds, and other whole- foody types of things in a bowl, swimming in milk, hasn't really done it for me. It's healthy. Hearty. But kinda...uninspired. I told Scott this while we were shopping on Tuesday evening and he instantly and enthusiastically replied with " Weetabix !" Now I consider myself fairly cultured, so I'm relatively familiar with Weetabix - that funny little brick-shaped cereal. Every food culture has a funny little packaged food item. Much like the Aussies' Vegemite, the American Spam, and the Italian's Nutella , Weetabix is specialness, commerically contained. Or so I thought. We bought a box, I opened it on Wednesday morning, removed a couple "biscuits" from one of the plastic sleeves, and put them in a bowl with my usual banana and nuts. I sloshed some milk in there and made myself a cup of coffee. In the time that I poured the coffee and added m...

Check this out! Our friends Eleni (a-lane-ee) and Joelle own Savor the Flavor catering and have started offering cooking classes . If their Facebook link shows up correctly, you get to see people cooking things from sushi to Italian to Greek (Eleni's family is Greek, so she's got special insight into ingredients and cooking methods for Greek cuisine). Way to go Eleni and Joelle - you're making better cooks of all of us!

I'm a little obsessed with a fruit I have never eaten. Well, unless you count Fig Newtons, and what the hell is in those things, anyway? Yeah, I want a fig. A couple, actually. I hear they're amazing poached, broiled, sauteed, etc. -- a lovely fruit. I hear they pair well with goat cheese, mascarpone , and other dairy delights. Besides their natural beauty, I think it's the allure of the forbidden fruit, their limited access - - they're uncommon, rarely seen in a grocery store except in the dried form and Newton- ized . They seem like one of those simple yet decadent foods - like honey and pomegranates and wine and fresh-baked, warm bread. I think this sounds like heaven. How do I track down some figs?

It's nearly the weekend, and I for one am just elated about that! Something about the past couple work weeks has me jonesing for some down time, with no computer screens to stare at or emails to answer. So, weekends are made for fun, and pie . Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from my old college roomie and friend Victoria. She's from Richmond, she's a Historic Preservation planner so she can do planner-speak with Scott all the time and she loves her historic stuff so she's fun to travel with and tour museums and noteworthy places, and she's a non-seafood eating vegetarian . With three more food lovin' folks along - Jim, Gideon and Gideon's friend Jason, We visited Federal Hill, Baltimore's Cross Street Market for Nick's Seafood, so Victoria found a Mexican joint in the market, Pop's Tacos, run by Asians (just saying...it was unusual.) Photo...

Our love for seafood has no bounds. It is, to use metaphors tragically, wider than any river, deeper than any ocean. It is for reel. ( Ok , terrible pun. I will stop now.) I knew Scott was the man for me when he ordered shrimp and grits on our first date at Asheville's Early Girl Eatery. Scott grew up on Low country seafood and my mom's side hails from the Wilmington, NC area, so our palates are well adjusted to all sorts of fruits of the sea. Appropriately enough, we served shrimp and grit cakes smothered in country ham tasso gravy and had boiled shrimp accompanied by a huge-ass shrimp trawler ice sculpture at our wedding in coastal South Carolina. (And yes, I must also mention yet again the awesome and legendary cheese castle that I didn't even ask my caterer for yet it totally rocked our friends and relatives' salivating faces off.) Behold - the kick-ass Cheese Castle (thanks to L. Adams for the pic) So we like it all - crabs, oysters, ...

Just found a new food project: Verrines . What could be wrong with lots of pretty layers of good food in attractive glassware? Especially a Greek Caprese Verrine. YUM.