Sorellina, restaurant week

(All the pix that are more blurry were taken by my cousin haha. Just thought I should note that.)


1st course: calamari with red pepper coulis, israeli couscous, and wilted frisee. This was delicious. Perfect temp, nicely spiced, ridiculously tender. Not to mention how much I love israeli couscous. I also thought the portion size was very generous..more than I expected. Loved it.


Side dish: the obligatory, famous truffled fries with shaved parm. Hot, crunchy, cheesy, and redolent with fragrant truffle oil. Always a hit. In retrospect, we could have done without the fries. I think it pushed us over the edge a bit.


Regular menu mid-course: "Little pillows" (can't remember the legit italian name for it) filled with lobter and marscapone. utterly delicious. The lobster filling was so sweet and tender. We mopped the plate clean with bread afterwards to finish up the delectable sauce.


My entree: Roasted duck ragu fettucine w. shaved goat cheese (divine!) This just smelled amazing when it was set before me. The gamy fragrance of the roasted duck and the slight funk of melting goat cheese. Powerfully flavored. I love digging into a bowl of noodles. The quantity looked a little small to me, but I coudn't even finish it bc I was getting super full. Great little bite of breakfast the next day though : )


Jess's entree: braised veal risotto. Very nice, full flavored tender fall-off-the-bone meat. Creamy risotto. I only tasted a small amount of this, so can't really analyze.


My dessert: summer berries, prosecco zabaglione. I know this is simple, with hardly any cooking involved, but I knew I'd be super full from the rich courses preceding this and that this would be the perfect way for me to end my meal. The blackberries were huge, squishy, ripe, and sweet. This completely refreshed me after the very rich duck ragu pasta.


Jess's dessert: chocolate panna cotta with almond toffee brittle. We had a lot of fun (too much) jiggling this around on the plate to demonstrate how it "quivered like the inner thigh of a courtesan" quoth Nigella Lawson. My assessment: this was tasty but a bit too sweet for Jess and not chocolatey enough for me (it was good..reminded me a bit of eating milk chocolate pudding, flavor wise, but would have preferred it to be a bit darker with more chocolate intensity). The almond toffee brittle provided a nice caramel crunch, but I feel like the dessert was one dimensional. Lacked an acid/fruit/or herbal component that could have made the flavors dance more. Sprig of mint as garnish not great..no one's going to chew on a big mint leaf. Maybe a mint syrup or some kind of fruit coulis would have made this a bit more special.

Hits the spot.

L to R: Fresh corn kernels, purple heirlooms, habanero pepper, lime, garlic, butter.



Green goodness: cilantro and mint.






Sadly, I had to cook this to well done--the steak has been hanging around my fridge since last Friday and it wasn't at its freshest. Still tasty though. Seasoned generously with salt, fresh pepper, and smoked paprika. Panfried in olive oil and butter.


Yes, I am Asian--I eat pasta with chopsticks. Glass of Crescent Ridge milk from Whole Foods. Comes in a fabulous gallon glass bottle. I couldn't resist. Reduced fat but totally tastes like whole...which may gross some people out, but I adore the fresh, sweet flavor of whole milk.

I had good intentions...but sleep and breakfast and lunch it is.

The past 2 days I've been meaning to run or yoga and I've accomplished neither. I'm not going to feel bad about it. I've been exhausted all week and I think that I'd rather catch up on sleep and/or make myself a nice breakfast in the morning and lunch before I go to work bc sometimes those are the only meals I can manage in an entire day.

Still working my way through all the food I cooked on Sunday. Almost done with it. Here's what I've been having for a typical breakfast lately:


Egg omelet with cilantro, mint, and ricotta whipped into it, alongside roasted ratatouille veg, roasted potatoes, and roasted beets. In an effort to use up the quart container of ricotta I bought, I've been whipping ricotta with my eggs to fluff them up a bit when I'm making omelets or scrambled eggs. I really like how they've been coming out. I got the idea from my cousin's wife, Heather, who made our family delicious scrambled eggs with cream cheese and scallions whipped into them for our Christmas breakfast a couple of years ago...they tasted delicious. It's a good way to bump up the amt of egg if you're short on eggs. I only had 1 left when I made this.

Inventory of my fridge:

I've been working my way through all my fruit and dairy aka making milkshakes every morning. Now I still need to figure out what to do with a huge bag of black cherries I forgot I had, a flat of sour cherries I intended to bake with, and 4 fuzzy soft-as-a-baby's-butt apricots I bought on a whim last week at Russo's. Running low on milk and out of lowfat plain yogurt. Been using full fat maple flavored yogurt as a substitute. Out of eggs.

For lunch today I'm going to have seared sirloin steak with my sauteed corn and tomato salsa. I've been eating pretty vegetarian for the past 6 months, and really crave some good old fashioned protein in the form of beef.

I still have another round of ratatouille veg, beets, and potatoes left for me to roast. For leafy green veg and herbs, I have: baby bok choy, kong-xing tsai, mint, cilantro.

Should I be ambitious and try to make a sour cherry pie or tart on my day off? I've read so much about sour cherries but have yet to bake with them yet. When I saw them at Russo's last week, I couldn't resist. Stay tuned.

My haul from Russo's. I love summer.

It does not get better than this. Well, maybe with the addition of perfectly seared midrare steak.


Whole wheat pasta topped with fresh sauce of corn, red onion, local tomatoes, orange sweets, lime, cilantro, mint, and butter.


Fresh cucumber and fennel pickles (marinade: white vinegar, brown sugar, salt, minced garlic, some fennel tops)


Roasted ratatouille vegetables: graffiti eggplant, zucchini, purple heirlooms and orange sweets



Still making: mayonnaise from scratch to dress my perfectly roasted yukon gold, red bliss, and purple potatoes.

At least I'll always know my mom loves me

Nancy: mei, I adored your baby picture. so cute
me: hahah my baby picture?
are u looking at the albums?
Nancy: no, it is the one you posted on g-chat

me: HAHA mom u're ridiculous
i'm not a baby in that pic
i'm like
9 yrs old
and i don't look cute
i look really ugly!!

you and dad always just think i'm cute hahah
Nancy: okay, so dorky
me: rigiht
hahah
i guess tha'ts hwat parents are for
to love you even tho you look dorky
Nancy: to love you even thou you have bad temper, hahah

(yes, my temper is indeed quite foul)

below is the picture my mom is referring to (I'm the one on the left -.- to the right is a picture of a (male) college classmate whom I bore a striking resemblance to as a child...thanks to loren for pointing it out..."same skin tone, same face shape...same glasses" haha but different hair!)

Fast Food

Local tomatoes and avocados sprinkled with salt and balsamic vinegar,, organic egg over-easy, wheat tortillas. Glass of soy milk.



Off to work I go.

Milkshake Genius (or, "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...")

I have to give my boyfriend credit for this, because he is the mastermind behind this milkshake. He "invented" it, so he says. And I do have to admit that it is the best milkshake I've ever had in my life, and he makes it perfectly (except when he's teaching me how to make it--sabotage!) and the perfect amount every time. Now that he's gone I have to make them myself, and I think I've finally got it!



You can use any fruit or combination of fruit you have lying around.

Roughly, the proportions are thus:

for 1 serving...

1 cup milk
2 large heaping spoonfuls plain reduced fat yogurt
4 strawberries
1/2 banana
handful of blueberries (my friend picked them over the weekend! yum. super sweet)
2 spoons of brown sugar
1/2-1 tsp of ground cardamom
walnuts
pistachios

If necessary, add milk or yogurt to adjust consistency and blend again. Since I am not a milkshake genius, I often have to do this. And thus, I do not often make the perfect amount, so be forewarned, the above recipe will likely yield a little more than 1 serving.

The yogurt gives a wonderful tanginess and creaminess to this milkshake. The nuts also add protein and give the milkshake an amazing flavor and texture..as you will see from the green speckly goodness of the pistachios blended throughout. The cardamom is what really makes this drink a knockout. It's aroma and flavor transform this ordinary milkshake into something a bit more exotic and beautiful...like a non-Indian girl putting on a sari for the first time. Unexpectedly gorgeous. HAHA.

Anyway, this is a great way, if not the best way, to start my day...whether it's because I'm starving because I haven't had anything for lunch and dinner the day before after working the line all night. Or if I need a little boost but don't feel like eating anything before a heated yoga class...which, let's be honest, I haven't been to in over a month. : )



Enjoy!