Pumpkin Muffin Bliss

Until my recent baking revelation, I hadn't had too much success with the desserts (see: iPile); especially delicate baked goods like muffins. Back in the November Gourmet, I was captivated by a pumpkin muffin recipe in You Asked For It. It seemed foolproof (and I won't lie, that's what I look for in baked goods).

The recipe had a short ingredient list (flour, canned pumpkin, eggs, flour, spice, and a few others) and I had an extra can of pumpkin from my unposted (?!) pumpkin pie episode so I figured I had nothing to lose. I didn't know the half of it.

These muffins came out in the top five best muffins I've ever had in my life. Perfectly moist, not greasy, not achingly sweet, just a pumpkin pie distilled in bread form. The texture was a bit denser and moister than typical banana bread. For some reason, I didn't have 'pumpkin pie spice' so I mixed my own of cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves, and nutmeg (leaning heavily on the ginger and cloves).

Next time, and oh there will be a next time, I was thinking about adding a bit more ginger (maybe even crystallized ginger) and some shredded coconut. I don't want to ruin a good thing, though. We'll see.

And I was inspired thusly to photograph the muffins. Check out the whole thing on flickr.



Technorati Tags: Food, baking, Pumpkin Muffin, Cooking

The Shins will not change your life

(Or so Bob Boilen says)

Farrah Olivia, however, will.

We managed to sneak an 8:15 Restaurant Week dinner reservation at this brand new Alexandria restaurant. Farrah is a tiny place with simple decor - one wall is eggplant-colored with sage green trees painted on it, the other two walls are full-length windows which you can gaze at the loveliness of the fast food joint across the street.

I'll start off with my few complaints- the dining tables were very small and close together. The menu for restaurant week was confusing, as a few of the items said "additional $8", as opposed to a normal RW menu that clearly list the choices for the three courses. There was no dessert course listed on the main menu, but there was a cheese course. We had a moment of worry that cheese would be replacing dessert for RW, but thankfully dessert was included, they just brought out the menu later. Phew.

Our first surprise was the bread - one slice of raisin walnut and of sourdough for each of us. None of this "and one extra for the table" crap that you so often get, and then it comes to fisticuffs over that last piece of bread. With said bread came a palette of spread choices: pumpkin butter, refried tomato spread, black pepper honey butter, and bok choy spread. The pumpkin was like pumpkin pie filling, only fresher and not as sickeningly sweet, the refried tomato was delicious, but nothing different than a sun-dried tomato spread would be. The bok choy spread was a little chalky, but not too bad. My favorite was the honey butter though - in tasting it, you first tasted the rich creamy butter with a hint of sweetness, and then the KICK of pepper and honey hit you at the end.

The second surprise was an amuse bouche! We each got a smidgen of angel hair pasta with lobster, white truffle oil and a perfect schmear of beet juice. The truffle oil gave it that amazing umami thing that truffles do, and it was the perfect appetite-whetter for what was to come.

My starter was described as a Parmesan cream with cinnamon scent. Usually, cheese soup grosses me out a bit, but I was too intrigued to pass it up. It was absolutely life-changing. First - it was served in an elegant bowl shaped like the hurricane symbol (I do love me some swanky presentation). The soup was rich and flavorful, yet light, almost as if egg whites had been folded into it, and the cinnamon swirl did a perfect job of cutting the richness of the cheese.

For my entree, I had anise-rubbed salmon served with yucca "couscous." As much as licorice isn't my favorite flavor, the amount of anise on the salmon was perfect - just enough spice to liven things up, but not sickening. The fish itself was tender, not overdone, and CREAMY. According to Washingtonian, this creaminess is courtesy of the salmon being cooked in caul fat, a technique renowned for increasing the juiciness of meat. And the faux couscous was an excellent complement to the luscious salmon - crunchy because of the yucca and nicely paired with some minced tomatoes.

For dessert, I opted for the "Spice": a wild fig & cassis cake with maple caviar. It looked a lot like tiramisu in presentation, which only increased my love for the dish. The cake was very thin, covered with at least an inch of mascarpone, and served with a teeny dish of mustard ice cream on the side. All of the flavors complemented each other wonderfully - even the mustard, which I normally dislike!

To be fair, I really love the North African/Mediterranean cooking style that Chef Morou Outtara favors. But this meal was....absolutely incredible. F'amazing, even. Sadly, Farrah Olivia is classified as a FIVE dollar sign restaurant...so I may not be back for awhile. But if any of you find a bajillion dollar bill on the street, you should go there IMMEDIATELY. If it doesn't change your life, I'll make you cupcakes.

Technorati Tags: Restaurant Week, Life-Changing Meals

Convey to me the sushi please!

In light of my recent conversation with skip, I will attempt to be prodigious rather than overly verbose with my postings. As a quick reference point, I am the aforementioned Russian co-worker of skip's. As I was recently browsing tasting menu I noticed a page discussing the philosophy of the site's adventurous eater, and an interesting claim was made. The author claimed that main courses are pure evil because no matter how astoundingly good a dish may be, that thrill deteriorates and is subject to the law of diminishing returns with every bite. I quickly realized just how appealing this makes a cuisine which is already one of my very favorites, sushi. I warn, east restaurant, is not for the sushi snob because it is not an ultra serious place for sushi, yet it provides a fun atmosphere and eating experience and the sushi is a great buy if you consider bang for the buck. This place is extra special because the downstairs has a sushi conveyor belt, as opposed to the upstairs which includes traditional Japanese seating as well as Karaoke. The sushi chef's are stationed in the middle of the restaurant, and the sushi, upon completion is put on a small plate and sent out on the conveyor belt which winds it's way around to all the tables. The plates on the conveyor belt are of varying colors and patterns, each being a different price, indicated on the price guide posted at every table. At the end of your meal, the plates are collected and your bill is tallied! There are a few good things to know about this place, you can ask for a menu which contains a greater selection than on the conveyor belt which is than brought to your table on the same colorful plates, this is a GREAT date place ( read..low lights, music, great conversation starter), the drink deals are great ( try the sake lime/apple, or the huge mug-o-beer), my favorites are the pepper shrimp roll, mackerel ( saba), and asari jiru ( clam soup)



















Technorati Tags: Food, sushi, japanese, New York Restaurant

Cheap/Tasty - Butternut Squash Chili

In winter's depths last week, I thought it high time to try out some chili. I went to the usual suspects, epicurious, Southern Living, Cook's, etc., and found only two recipes that looked promising: a beef-and-butternut squash chili from Southern Living and a traditional chili con carne from Gourmet. Feeling adventurous, I went with the former.

Honestly I don't think I've ever prepared a recipe that called for so many canned goods, and considering I made a double batch, my poor decrepit can opener had to grind through (yes, grind) seven cans of tomatoes, 'chili with vegetarian,' and broth. The thought of the creamy, dreamy butternut squash got me through the miserable sound of my dying can opener.

The recipe was incredibly straightforward to prepare, but I ran into problems in the supermarket finding the ingredients. After going through three or four markets looking for canned 'chili beans,' I eventually settled on Hormel chili with vegetarian beans. Afterward, my roommate put forth the suggestion of canned kidney beans, but by then I had decided to go with my gut.

And I was rewarded. Except for an unfortunate blandness, which was remedied by last minute adjustments, the chili rocked. The sweetness of the squash played beautifully with the spices and the texture proved a compliment to the mix.

It was versatile, too. I served it alone, topped with cheese and sour cream. My favorite, though, was mixing it up with rice. Hearty and filling. And, according to Southern Living, the chili is full of vitamins B, C, as well as zinc and beta-carotene. (!)



Technorati Tags: Food, Chili, Butternut Squash, Cooking
Special thanks to me for the photo. It isn't pretty, but it's good stuff.

No, it was more like a beefy Loufah

At about 1 a.m. a month ago, Greg my Russian co-worker declared that we were going out to dinner. Since I'd brought my lunch, as per usual, I was not immediately excited. We talked about it and eventually decided that the best thing to do with our mandatory 60-minute 3 a.m. "lunch" break was to go down to K-Town (Korea Town). I was skeptical. When I think Korean, I think raw meat bucket a la Lost In Translation. Greg and Eric assured me it wasn't like that at all and followed that up by asking me if I liked spicy things. Another negative mark. I explained that I liked spicy things fine enough, but not spicy for the sake of spicy. Kimchi (a spicy Asian cabbage), as I knew it, wasn't just a little spicy. It was melt-your-face spicy, and that wasn't what I wanted at 3 a.m.

They convinced me I wouldn't be sorry, and we ran to Greg's car. Gahm Mi Oak was moderately populated, medium-lighted and full of tasteful Asian decor. Everybody but us was Asian (that's usually a good sign). I had planned on deferring to the other two, since they know Korean, but I ended up choosing a pork pancake. Greg ordered us a meat platter with scallions and a communal-type rice bowl called bibimbap, as well as a bottle of soju (basically Korean vodka, though not as strong - 20% alcohol by volume).

Shortly thereafter, we got a round of complimentary side dishes, including a surprisingly fresh and mild kimchi, long green peppers with mung bean paste, and a watery, gross, cloudy beef broth. Eric raved about the kimchi, and I agreed. The crunch is similar to a watery celery and the spice level between mild and moderate Indian food, with a heavy taste of ginger, garlic and chili. All the same, though, I wouldn't have wanted to eat a whole bowl of it. The green pepper, which I was trying to avoid, was also much milder than I'd expected, but I only ate the bottom part (before the seed area). The mung bean paste was salty and ... munghy.

Oh the meat platter. It landed on the table and I was shocked by the pile of of greyish-white tripe (it has something to do with bovine stomach lining), and Greg joyfully pointed out cow tongue. What is the rest? I asked. He was confused. I clarified, wanting to know what else beside tripe and tongue was on the plate. Just regular beef. That was a relief. I've been enamored with the idea of tripe since I first started getting excited about food. An editor at one of the placed I've worked whose opinion I hold in high regard likened tripe (which he said with a disgusted look) to tasting like wet dog with a cottony mouthfeel. You could just keep chewing forever. Not appealing, but still. I tried the tripe, which was described by Eric as middling, and it was incredibly chewy (more like a loufah than cotton) but the taste was essentially more bovine than canine. I chewed on it for a while and then gagged it down. I only had one piece of it. It tasted like essence of beef. The texture was pretty rough, though.

The tongue wasn't memorable. Tough, I think. Beefy. And the 'regular' beef was forgettable.

The pork pancake was positively delightful; quite similar to a potato pancake with pork and all sorts of vegetables. It was further improved with the addition of kimchi.

And the bibimbap was also great; all of these things were perfect for a first time Korean eater. I'd get the same things if I went back (when I go back).

Finally, the soju. We started off with a shot. Ours was distilled from sweet potatoes, barley, wheat, tapioca, and some other stuff. It tasted slightly sweet with a light vodka mouthfeel. They drank most of the rest. Since it was the middle of the night and we still had 4 hours left, I didn't care to drink any more than that.

And we made it back in one hour and five minutes. Not bad for a meal of that size and scope.


Technorati Tags: Food, Asian, New York City, Tripe
Special thanks to Chewy Chua, Lynn in Tokyo, and Quasimondo, respectively, for the pictures.