Hmm, it looks all very brown but it tastes delicious, trust me.
Apple slices sauteed in butter, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, a drop of vanilla extract, and a healthy splash of jim beam...a great way to sex up your oatmeal.
9.24.2010
I love making breakfast for my friends
Hmm, it looks all very brown but it tastes delicious, trust me.
Apple slices sauteed in butter, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, a drop of vanilla extract, and a healthy splash of jim beam...a great way to sex up your oatmeal.
9.21.2010
9.18.2010
One Stack Farm and a little side trip to Shelburne Farm
It wasn't very helpful to have rows with multiple apple varieties and no labels on any of the trees.
One Stack Farm is a really good place to go if you want a quieter, more streamlined apple picking experience. We were the only ppl there and it didn't take very long to fill our buckets, which was actually kind of nice for a change. But if you want to take your kids to have a more classic apple picking experience with more hoopla (pumpkin patch, straw maze, farm animals, cider donuts, farmstand icecream, a general store), go to Shelburne Farms which is just down the street. Jackie and I had to stop here for some of their famous cider donuts. This is where we went apple picking last year.
Really delicious and huge (that's a size small!) pumpkin ice cream. It had a clean pumpkin flavor with a subtle hint of pumpkin pie spice. Not overwhelmingly sweet or rich or pie-tasting which I found extremely refreshing.
Pumpkin spice coffee with cinnamon sugar cider donuts (unfortunately not fresh from the fryer, but still soft and delicious)
masterful alignment skills. original. haha. cops. eat your heart out.
Dainty bite of icecream and donut. What a lady.
Most likely I'll be making a lot of apple crisps..aka the lazy man's apple pie.
One Stack Farm is a really good place to go if you want a quieter, more streamlined apple picking experience. We were the only ppl there and it didn't take very long to fill our buckets, which was actually kind of nice for a change. But if you want to take your kids to have a more classic apple picking experience with more hoopla (pumpkin patch, straw maze, farm animals, cider donuts, farmstand icecream, a general store), go to Shelburne Farms which is just down the street. Jackie and I had to stop here for some of their famous cider donuts. This is where we went apple picking last year.
Really delicious and huge (that's a size small!) pumpkin ice cream. It had a clean pumpkin flavor with a subtle hint of pumpkin pie spice. Not overwhelmingly sweet or rich or pie-tasting which I found extremely refreshing.
Pumpkin spice coffee with cinnamon sugar cider donuts (unfortunately not fresh from the fryer, but still soft and delicious)
masterful alignment skills. original. haha. cops. eat your heart out.
Dainty bite of icecream and donut. What a lady.
Most likely I'll be making a lot of apple crisps..aka the lazy man's apple pie.
9.17.2010
a day off with Nancy
I had a nice day hanging out with my Mom. After our 60 min massage at Balance Health, a spa in Downtown Crossing area, we went to Cambridge and walked around and shopped and I got to take her to a few of my favorite spots. Nothing earth shattering, just at latte (unfortunately rather luke warm) at Crema Cafe with a little canneles (the only cafe I've ever seen them at..I've only read about these little pastries via food blogs). It's caramelized on the outside and custardy and pudding-ish on the inside with a yummy lemon basil syrup glaze. As you can see, we're both obsessed with reading about the '96 Everest disaster and are both reading diff copies of the same book (one is the one we own, the other is a library copy haha).
a closer look:
After walking around for a while, I took her to Burdick's for its famous hot chocolate. I always order 1 or 2 macarons when I come here. Pictured below is a minty green pistachio and pale buff colored ginger mac. The pistachio one had really good flavor and a nice chew in the middle.
Ta da!
Then we came home and ate chicken noodle soup with pork, black woodear mushrooms, bok choy, and my mom's homemade whole wheat noodles while watching Life is Beautiful. Then we had lotus seed with egg yolk and black bean mooncake with jasmine green tea.
Tomorrow, apple picking!
a closer look:
After walking around for a while, I took her to Burdick's for its famous hot chocolate. I always order 1 or 2 macarons when I come here. Pictured below is a minty green pistachio and pale buff colored ginger mac. The pistachio one had really good flavor and a nice chew in the middle.
Ta da!
Then we came home and ate chicken noodle soup with pork, black woodear mushrooms, bok choy, and my mom's homemade whole wheat noodles while watching Life is Beautiful. Then we had lotus seed with egg yolk and black bean mooncake with jasmine green tea.
Tomorrow, apple picking!
8.20.2010
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.
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.
8.11.2010
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.
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.
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