Matchbox - Rockville Edition!!

I am so completely psyched that Matchbox (of Chinatown and Capitol Hill fame) has opened a new location in Rockville. It's right in Congressional Plaza as a stand-alone building which is conveniently located not far from my work or home! Lookie there.

Being Friday, we headed there for a long lunch to check out the new digs. I am so impressed with the looks of it both outside and in. Sure, it matches the rest of the shopping center from the outside, but that particular shopping center is quite nice-looking anyway. When we walked up, the first thing we noticed was a large outdoor area that is currently under construction. Large heat lamps hang above the whole area which includes a large stone firepit encircled by a standing bar ledge, and a separate outdoor bar. Can't wait for that to open!!

The inside has an open floor-plan except for a separate cozy bar area off to the right. When you walk in the first thing you see is the pizza oven. There is seating in front of the oven in case you want to watch the pros in action. There are metal stairs that lead to the second floor, which is a row of booths and tables that overlook the rest of the restaurant. The ceilings are exposed and the front and back walls have old recycled wood slats nailed to them, creating a log cabin-industrial-chic look. Yes, I just made that up, let's go with it. One unfortunate thing we noted on the second floor, where we sat, is the heat. In fact, we overheard a fellow diner say "man, it's a sauna up here!" as he walked past. It's probably a combination of the open floor plan and the midday sun beating in through the windows with inadequate shading. It wasn't the end of the world and probably wouldn't be too hot at night.

Food! I was keeping my expectations low for the food and service departments, since they just opened this week. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the service was fast and friendly, if not friendlier than the Chinatown Matchbox. The food was also just as good as any I'd had in Chinatown. I didn't order the pizzas, but my fellow diners seemed to enjoy every last bite of the ones they ordered (sopressata and wild mushroom, veggie, and Q special). They looked nice and crispy-charred and fresh from the oven. I ordered the Chicken Muffeletta with a side salad instead of chips. The sandwich contained chicken, serrano ham, provolone, spinach, and olive tapenade on focaccia bread. I was nervous that the tapenede would be overpowering to the rest of the components, but it wasn't at all. The whole thing was a bit greasy, but that's my only complaint. The side salad was fresh and delicious. No one left hungry, that's for sure.

I can't wait to go back for happy hour or dinner to see what the nightlife is like there. There were a decent amount of people there for lunch so it looks like their reputation has preceded them. Viva la Matchbox!

Matchbox Rockville
1699 Congressional Pike (@ Congressional Plaza)
Rockville, MD 20852
301.816.0369

Roasted Cauliflower with Dates and Almonds

Here's a simple and delicious side I made the other night to use up some cauliflower. The dates compliment the sweetness of the roasted cauliflower, while the nuts balance the dish out with some salt and crunch.

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Spiced Couscous with Chicken; Harissa

The start of the Coexist sticker??

I found this recipe in my Food Network mag; it's a quick and healthy weeknight dinner. Cinnamon and ginger give this a Middle Eastern flavor, while the almonds add a nice crunch. Homemade harissa gives it a delicious kick, and fat free Greek yogurt adds a nice creaminess. This is the first time I've made harissa (a North African hot chile sauce) and I now plan on having it on hand to add a pepper-flavored spice to anything I make!

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Udon Noodle Soup with Mushrooms and Kale

I created this soup the other night to use up some shiitake mushrooms in the fridge. I happened to have udon noodles and decided to have a go at some Japanese-style soup. It came out SO GOOD. When I first tasted the broth, I was sure I had recreated Ramen, with which I had an unhealthy obsession during my teenage years. I would make Ramen every single day after school. Seriously. After eating more, I decided it didn't taste as much like Ramen as I thought but it was still amazing. And really easy! And fast!

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Flatbread Pizza

Some nights I'm so lazy that I won't even lift a finger to roll out a frozen pizza dough. On those nights, flatbreads or pitas make an excellent crust for a quick and easy dinner made out of whatever you have in the fridge.

This one might sound crazy, but it was quite tasty. I first spread some pesto (frozen from this summer's crop) on the bottom of the flatbread. This was then topped with leftover chopped chicken, pecan pieces, feta cheese, and... roasted brussels sprouts! The sprouts had been roasted the day before in a simple mix of olive oil, chipotle chile powder, salt, and pepper. Roasting the leftovers on the flatbread perked them right back up. The flatbread pizza was topped with some freshly ground black pepper and red pepper flakes, then baked in our toaster oven at 450° for about 10 minutes or until toppings were hot and bread was toasty. After removing from the toaster oven I topped it with some dried cranberries before serving.

Lighter Broccoli Cheese Chowder

As you might be able to tell, I'm a sucker for thick, hearty chowders. Unfortunately, I don't let myself order them very often due to the serious caloric investment. I found a recipe from Eating Well, which is a great website, but be careful because I am pretty doubtful of the healthfulness of some of their recipes.

This recipe for broccoli cheese chowder has NO heavy cream in it and only 1 cup of cheese! The thickness is created instead by potatoes, a bit of flour, and sour cream. The result is a thick, flavorful, veggie-filled, creamy chowder that is not far off from the chowder you get at a restaurant! In fact, I usually let people eat a bit before I tell them that it's healthy and they can't tell (unless they're lying to me)!

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New York Cheesecake with Mixed Berry Topping

My mother-in-law is known for her perfect cheesecake, so when she gave me a springform pan with a little recipe tucked inside, I couldn't wait to try it. Cheesecake isn't something you make every day, so I waited until Don's birthday when my family was visiting to test it out for the first time. The more people the better; nothing good can come of having an entire cheesecake sit in front of just two people.

MIL warned me about the pitfalls of this recipe; namely, if you take the cake out of the oven too fast it will fall and crack in the center. It's a risk I was willing to take to create this light and fluffy dream! The trick for me was to leave it in the oven to cool completely overnight. It only fell slightly in the middle but with no cracks so it still looked gorgeous. I created my own berry topping recipe by combining my favorite parts of a few others. Read on for the cheesecake and topping recipes!

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Cassoulet

I know you've all been on the edge of your desk chairs for the past two weeks awaiting the follow-up to my duck confit and duck quarters posts. Well, here it is folks! I made the cassoulet last Sunday for my family and served it with a simple salad and crusty bread. There are a gazillion variations on cassoulet; this one from Fine Cooking uses white beans and has pork, pork sausage, pancetta, and duck in it. I think that's the most meat I've ever eaten in one dish, and it was very very good. A lot of work, but very good. I found it funny that during the cooking process, I had to defat this broth and dump that fat, but then the next directions said to add more duck fat. I suppose duck fat is the tastiest of all the fats in the dish. Rather than post the entire lengthy recipe here, I'm going to just link to it since I didn't change anything. For a timeline and pics, read more!

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Chile Rellenos with a Healthy Twist

Typical chile rellenos are poblano peppers that have been stuffed with cheese and sometimes meat, then battered and fried. They are delicious but incredibly unhealthy like many of the standard TexMex fare tend to be. This recipe takes the idea of a chile relleno and makes it completely new and healthier by using quinoa, veggies, ground turkey instead of beef, and is drizzled with a light pecan cream sauce instead of cheese. It can easily by made vegetarian by omitting the turkey. It's not fried at all, but that's okay because the unique combination of flavors works on its own! You don't need cheese and butter to make things taste good!

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Smashed Chickpea Salad

fancy office paper plate

I can't believe I haven't shared my favorite sandwich yet! This is a Smitten Kitchen recipe, of course, and it's extremely versatile. I like to make a big tupperware of it over the weekend so I have a week's worth of lunches. It goes great on toasted bread, in a wrap, or just over a bed of lettuce in salad form. On this particular day, I ate it on toasted ciabatta with some turkey, greens, and goddess dressing. It totally doesn't need turkey, I was just in a non-vegetarian mood.

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Pad Thai

I love Pad Thai, but I never order it at restaurants because I feel like it's so... touristy to get when you are at a good Thai place. To remedy my desire for that unique flavor, I found a recipe from the NY Times and went for it at home. All the ingredients should be relatively easy to find at your supermarket except for the tamarind paste, and unfortunately it's a really important ingredient. I ended up going to three different stores, which was annoying but led to me finding two new ethnic markets in our area! I finally found tamarind at an Indian market in Rockville, and have already been back to the Mediterranean market for awesome cheese (no paste, though).

Once you have the ingredients on hand, the Pad Thai is incredibly easy to put together, as stir fries are wont to be. I cooked mine with chicken instead of shrimp.

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Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich

After a late day at work followed by a late evening at the gym*, I had no interest in a long, involved dinner and so I made this healthy chicken salad recipe and made a quick sandwich out of it. I was surprised with just how tasty it was!

*Yes, I started going to a gym! Aren't you proud? And now that I announced it in the blogosphere, I can't possibly ever quit lest I seem like a failure. Oy.

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Duck Confit Recipe

As an afterthought to the other day's post on duck quarters, I realized that perhaps I should provide you with the recipe I used to make Duck Confit (which is what that whole thing was). This is a recipe website, after all. I apologize for being overly mysterious.

Duck confit is one of the most important ingredients in a traditional cassoulet, from what I read, and should not be omitted. It's easy to make once you are able to actually locate duck fat (Balducci's has it in their freezer section). It does take time for the duck to properly preserve itself in the fat, so be sure to plan ahead. The recipe I used recommends that you make it 2-3 weeks early.

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I've Got Duck Quarters

Duck quarters from Kam Sam, "marinating" in shallots, garlic, and thyme

...in my fridge, right now, preserving themselves in an extremely large vat of duck fat. The same duck fat in which the quarters simmered for 3 hours. This is gonna be healthy.

Simmah Dannah!

My parents are coming to visit and I'm tackling a traditional cassoulet, the ingredients of which need to be prepared starting 3 weeks prior. This is the big time.

Faaaaaat

More to come in the next few weeks!!

Ghoulish Pasta

I'm posting this recipe not because it's anything innovative or out-of-this world, but more because the pasta shape I used is very apropo for the time of year. I didn't realize it when I bought the interesting-looking little guys at Whole Foods, but when we put the dish together, Don noticed that they were quite alien/ghoulish.

Look at 'em!!

Regardless of the funky pasta, the name of which I of course can't remember, this Chicken Florentine Arthicoke bake was easy and tasty. I am a huge fan of casseroles due to their one-pot nature. I especially love them now that I have my 4-qt Staub pot. It's the greatest!! Saute everything in it, assemble in it, bake in it!

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Pasta with Pistachio Cream Sauce

When you are in need of a quick and satisfying dinner, look no further than this pasta with pistachio cream sauce. I found the recipe on one of the blogs I frequent and modified it to make it lighter by replacing some of the heavy cream with milk and starchy water. Sure, it was less decadent, but it still tasted creamy and delicious. We served it will grilled salmon.

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Beer Can Chicken

Ever since we moved into our little townhouse in 2007, we've been complaining about the stained old linoleum floor in the kitchen and entryway. A few weekends ago, we decided it was finally time to tackle the issue headfirst. Well, maybe not headfirst. That would hurt. Anyway, the point is that we tiled our kitchen floor! And by we, I mean Don tiled while I provided moral support and beer. While my kitchen was in oven-less shambles, I decided to make good use of the grill. On the menu was beer can chicken served with a tasty quinoa/avocado/fruit/almond salad. Our grill has a great side burner on which to cook the quinoa, so it worked out perfectly! We first brined the chicken for 5 hours (1 hour per pound) and it came out so ridiculously juicy words don't describe it. I can't say whether the juiciness came more from the brining or the cooking method, but my guess is the brining so while it's not a necessary step in beer can chicken, it's recommended if you have the time.

kitchen with no linoleum, oven, or fridge to speak of

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Ridiculously Easy Chicken Kebabs

This is another recipe Don used to woo me when we first started dating; it's great for a large crowd and easy enough for a kid to make, not to take anything away from the deliciousness of it! Use whatever meats and veggies your heart desires and serve with any bbq-worthy side dish. This time I went with jalepeno-smashed potatoes.

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Mussel Bar

Last night we ventured to the hip new Bethesda joint Mussel Bar to see what all the hype is about. We got there at 7pm on a Thursday and there was an hour wait, which luckily we had expected and planned for, having told our third dining companion to meet us there at 8pm. We put our names in and went next door to the new American Tap Room for a drink. This isn't a review of that place, but I'll just say that while the decor and live piano music are really cool, I'm skeptical of the food. I mean, light-up menus and check holders?? Cheese-tastic. Anywho, after a beverage (one Stella and one house Sauvignon Blanc), we went back to Mussel Bar to check on our reservation. Our table was ready and only 40 minutes of the hour had passed! Woot!

The Mussel Bar owners did a great job of transforming the former Levantes into a dark, woody, Belgian tavern. The only way to recognize that it was once the light and airy Levantes is by the location of the bar and kitchen. Everything else is completely different. We were nestled in a table next to the open-air kitchen and behind a giant refrigerator-wall of beers that separates the main dining area from a separate little enclave of tables. It was very loud due to the bar crowd, but that didn't prevent us from being able to hear each other. In fact, I forgot about the noise as soon as I got my menu.

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Asian-Style Seared Scallops

The more I cook, the more I learn to trust my instincts, and for the most part it works in my favor. There are always some disasters (remind me to tell you about last week's caramel apple cake fail), but I'm glad to report that this one was a success! Usually I'm reluctant to cook without a recipe to at least guide me, but I went out on a limb and threw this together completely sans recipe for dinner the other night. Searing the scallops was a little nerve-wracking since it requires such high heat and for you to leave the scallops alone to sear for a few minutes, which is quite difficult to obey. My instinct tells me to constantly make sure they aren't sticking by moving them around a bit, but this is counter-productive, since letting the scallops sit untouched will create a lovely brown crust that allows them to be scooped off the pan with barely a fight. I am learning! For the incredibly simple recipe, see below.

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Spiced Chickpea Stew with Feta Toasts

I'm never very happy about the end of summer, but the one thing that makes me feel better about chilly weather is the resurgence of soups in my weekly dinner repertoire. I started the fall soup season out with a delicious middle-eastern spiced chickpea stew served alongside decidedly mediterranean feta bruschetta toasts. While both components of the meal go together quite well, I wouldn't hesitate to make either on its own!

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Pork Chops and Fattoush

As discovered on one of the many food blogs I frequent, fattoush = Lebanese salad with pita chips and sumac. I recently learned of the existence of a spice store called Penzey's, and I'm pretty sure life will never be the same. Man, it's hard to not buy everything there! One of the many things I bought during my first trip is a spice mix called za'atar. It is a very popular condiment throughout the middle east, served with almost every meal. The blend is always different depending on where you buy it from or whose grandmother made it, but it usually contains at least sesame seeds, sumac, and salt. za'atar became the secret ingredient in my version of fattoush, which we served with grilled pork chops. The pork chops were rubbed with olive oil and Arizona Dreaming, a southwestern spice blend (salt-free!) purchased at Penzey's. For the salad recipe, see below.

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Tomato and Goat Cheese Tartlets

A couple weekends ago we jet-setted to Amherst, MA for July 4th Part Deux with Don's family, since Part Un was with my fam in the Catskills. We spent all day Saturday on a big river water-skiing, jet-skiing, party barging, and basking in the gorgeous weather. To replenish ourselves from all the playtime, we had plenty of great food cooked by different family members. I love potlucks! I wanted to make something relatively easy that wouldn't steal me away from the merriment for very long, so decided to try out a tart recipe from Ina Garten I bookmarked a while ago that uses the ever-simple frozen puff pastry. Her recipe makes 4 main-course tarts but I thought it would work just as well to cut into appetizer-sized tartlets. To make things easier, I cooked the onions in the morning then assembled everything right when ready to throw in the oven.

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Jam Out With Your Clam Out

A couple weeks ago I had one of Don's brothers and my sister over for dinner. Such an occasion calls for a special meal. I love trying out new recipes when I'm entertaining. I know some people say that you should cook something you know is a hit when cooking for others, but where's the fun in that? Gets boring. With my recent mussel success, I decided to try my hand at clams. This recipe calls for them to be cooked in a similar way to mussels; steamed in the broth in which they will be served. The tomato-based broth swims with chorizo, greens, and the clams. Serve on top of polenta with a side of crusty bread, and you're good to go!

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The Epitome of Deliciousness

Wow, that's a cheesy post title. Whatevs.*

*Update 08/25/10: I had to change the title of the post. It was just too much.

With this recipe, I believe I've reached the zenith of my cooking career thus far. Prior to this, I had never eaten a galette before let alone cooked one, but I had an overflow of squash from my CSA and decided to test it out. I wasn't too concerned because the recipe came from Smitten Kitchen; if you've ever cooked one of her recipes you would understand.

If you cook just one recipe from my blog, I beg it to be this one. There is only one snag, and it's that the crust has an entire stick of butter in it. And if you're like me, you will eat half of this galette in one sitting. You do the math. It ain't pretty.

If you are done with bathing suits for the season and/or are willing to skip the next meal and/or actually have the willpower to only eat one slice, then read ahead!

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Falafel Wraps

After a recent weekend of unhealthy eating, I was hoping to have a healthy vegetarian meal for dinner but also didn't want to go food shopping. Chickpeas are a staple in my pantry; I love them in hummus, salads, and even just roasted, but I've never tried to make falafel. The recipe I was interested in called to bake them, but a certain someone thought they would taste better fried (he was probably right). So, caution was thrown to the wind and the falafel was pan-fried in a teensy bit of oil then served with stir-fried peppers, tomatoes, feta and tzatziki sauce in flour tortillas (since I was out of pitas and not wanting to go to the store). If you aren't familiar with tzatziki sauce, I highly recommend giving it a try. I actually can't believe that I haven't yet blogged about it. It's a delicious cucumber/dill/yogurt sauce typically served on Greek gyros; however I've found that it adds a cool freshness to many dishes, including this one.

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Food Challenge Day 5 - Antipasti Sammiches

We've reached the end! The pinnacle of the Food Challenge! And we made it out unscathed!

This is actually the recipe that wasn't officially part of the "Grocery Bag" feature, but it was another recipe in the issue that I thought looked darn tasty, and boy was I right! It is a perfect make-the-night-before sandwich for a picnic or boatride, since the recipe actually requires you to let the flavors meld for a few hours. I made these on Tuesday night for a Wednesday Levon Helm show at Wolftrap (which was great, btw). I served them with a corn and tomato salad as well as several apps. I'm sure the recipe can be modified per your taste; next time I'd love to try pepperjack cheese instead of parmesan. It's one of the more complicated sandwiches I've made, requiring more than just slapping ingredients from the fridge directly onto toasted bread and inhaling, but it's well worth the effort.

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Food Challenge Day 4 - Tomato Panzanella

This 4th-day recipe was the one about which I was most nervous. I've never made a dish that consisted of just tomatoes and croutons, and I was skeptical. I made it as a side dish for a friend's backyard crab party and it ended up being a perfect light addition to the meal. I will no longer doubt such recipes! The simple ingredients combined perfectly in a manner that allowed the delicate flavors to stand out.

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Food Challenge Day 3 - Veggie Couscous Salad

In the past I have opined on my love for Israeli couscous, so you can imagine my excitement when day three of the Everyday Food challenge brought more of it into my life. Tonight's dinner was quick, healthy, nutty, and overall quite flavorful. While it's very hard to pick favorites, I would highly recommend this recipe over, say, the sesame chicken salad from yesterday. You can always substitute regular couscous or orzo for the Israeli couscous, but I would not appreciate it.

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Food Challenge Day 2 - Sesame Chicken Salad

Day two of the Everyday Food mag challenge brought us a delicious Asian flair with a simple sesame chicken salad. It should be noted that all of these recipes take 30 minutes or less to prepare and cook depending on how fast of a chopper you are, making them great for those weeknights when you don't want to wait for your dinner.

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Quake!!!

Unless you are living in another region or under a rock, you probably know that a 3.6 magnitude earthquake hit our area this morning at 5:04am. Crazy!

WaPo has an article about it and an interesting user-created Google Map where you can add a placemark if you felt the rumble.

This was my first experience with an earthquake and it turns out that I do not handle them very well.

The shudder woke me up out of a dead sleep and I must have been dreaming something scary because when I looked over at the hallway, the reddish glow of the bathroom nightlight made my brain go "FIRE!" I jumped out of bed yelling "Oh my god fire fire fire!" and running over to the stairs to investigate. Don jumped up, freaked out by my freak-out, but almost immediately realized that I had lost it and started trying to calm me down. My brain did click on after about 10 seconds but it took me quite some time to relax.

Amazingly, the cats didn't seem the least bit disturbed by the quake. I think I spooked them more with my yelling! However, they didn't hesitate to jump back into bed with me and cuddle me back to sanity.

Did you feel the quake?

Food Challenge Day 1 - Pasta Salad

Day One of the food challenge called for a summer pasta salad with shrimp. This is where I decided to cheat. Don is allergic to shrimp so I substituted it for prosciutto I had in the fridge and it worked out excellently. I also added artichokes, feta and omitted a some other ingredients. Regardless of variation, this recipe is incredibly fresh and summery; I encourage you to play around with it and add any veggies you want. The day I made it I had just purchased an official Microplane grater so I got to test it out with the lemon zest. That thing is AMAZING. If you don't have one, get one. Now.

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Everyday Food Challenge

I always look forward to my Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine. It's nice and compact and has great recipe ideas, all of which are relatively quick and easy. It's not a recipe book for crazy exotic food, but it has lots of great spins on classics including many healthy ideas. If you don't get this magazine, I definitely recommend it especially since it's only $10 per year!

Each issue has a "Grocery Bag" feature, in which you'll find a convenient rip-out grocery list containing ingredients for 5 quick weeknight meals. I've always wanted to try it but never got around to it until this week.

So! This week I'll be cooking the recipes from the July/August issue, although I must confess that I'm omitting one and I've already modified another so I'm cheating a little bit. I did "replace" the omitted one with another recipe from the same issue; I think it counts.

I plan to post on each of these recipes in the next week. All of the recipes can be found on her website so I don't think I'm breaking the law by posting them.... I hope. Enjoy!

Chowdaaaaa

While chowder isn't necessarily the most summery dish, when you include seasonal crab and corn in the mix it counts as a hot-weather meal. Also, it's delicious.

I found this recipe for Crabby Corn Chowder from a blog called sticky gooey creamy chewy; I haven't tried any other recipes on the site but the name alone makes me think they'd all be great.

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Roasted Red Pepper Mussels with Linguine

Now that I'm back from an amazingly relaxing July 4th in the Catskills, I'll try to get up to speed with this whole blog thing.

Last week was attempt #2 with mussels. Attempt #1 was a complete failure after I was sold bad mussels at a local grocery store which will remain unnamed. They were all already opened and smelled like the Long Island Sound during those hot summer low tides. Not good.

This time, I didn't take any chances and stopped at Cameron's seafood on Rockville Pike near my office. I bought a pound of mussels for $4.99, not too shabby! Mussels should either be closed or if slightly opened, when tapped against something, they should close back up. In other words, they should still be alive when you buy them. They should smell like the ocean but in a good way, not in a dead-fish kind of way. I debearded them and soaked them in cold water while I prepared the rest of the meal. Mussels may have a hairy clump (beard) sticking out the side; all you do is grab hold of it and tear but be careful not to rip out the whole animal. It should come off relatively easily. They are very easy too cook: just throw in your broth of choice (so many recipes out there!) and steam until they open. Mussels that do not open should be tossed.

For this meal, I cooked them in a roasted red pepper tomato sauce and served with linguine.

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Summery Sangria

What better way to cool off in this ridiculous Maryland heat than with a summer-fruit-loaded white wine sangria?

I guess I didn't quite get my sangria fill in Barcelona, because I made this drink three days after my return for a Friday grill-night. This recipe uses a magnum of wine and makes 6-8 glasses of sangria but you could easily halve it. I used strawberries and peaches from my CSA but any variety of seasonal fruits would work.

Summer Peach Sangria

1 1.5 liter bottle Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio

1/2 cup Cointreau

1 quart strawberries, washed, stemmed, and sliced thin

4 peaches, pitted and sliced thin

2 oranges, wedged (one of the recipes I found says to slice into thin rounds which I'm sure looks nicer, but is much more difficult to eat)

Ice and club soda, for serving

Combine all ingredients but the ice and club soda into a big pitcher; refrigerate overnight.

To serve, place some ice cubes and a bunch of fruit from the pitcher into a glass. Fill about halfway or more with sangria, depending on your taste, then top off with cold club soda. Make sure you give your guests a spoon or fork for the fruit -- or don't and laugh at their attempts to reach the fruit with their tongues/fingers.

For a sweeter twist, use champagne in place of the club soda. For an even awesomer twist, eliminate the club soda and instead add about 2 cups of St. Germain elderflower liquor into the mix before refrigerating. I definitely would have done this if the liquor store on Connecticut had any clue what St. Germain was. Alas, they looked at me like I had two heads and I walked out empty-handed (if you consider 5 bottles of wine "empty-handed").

In case you were curious, we grilled fresh Kielbasa from a market in Jefferson, MD then made sandwiches with peppers and onions.

Eating Our Way Across Barcelona

I spent 4 days in Barcelona earlier this month in a quick jaunt to paradise. Of course Don and I spent most of our time eating and drinking our way across the city, stopping at all the sights on the way. Barcelona is known for several things: Gaudi's amazing architecture, its nightlife that doesn't even start til after midnight, and it's delicious food and drink. Pretty much every meal we ate consisted of pig in some form or another, not something I'd ever complain about but I never thought I'd be missing a turkey sandwich so much! Before I get back to posting recipes, I thought I'd share a few of the food-related pictures with ya'll.

Bunnies at the Mercat de La Boqueria

These goats are judging you

Breakfast fit for kings: ham croquetas, truita (potato/egg frittata), and sunny-side up eggs on the front plate, a veggie omelette on the back left plate, and fresh bread rubbed with a tomato/olive oil spread. YUM!

Clams, calamari, and sangria by the sea!

Chicken Cutlet Sandwich

Breaded chicken cutlet, roasted red pepper, baby arugula, and hummus on a toasted sesame bagel

No Such Thing As Too Much Chocolate

Last year I wanted to make a chocolate cake that was going to be melt-in-your-mouth moist and over-the-top chocolatey. Enter "Too Much Chocolate" Cake from allrecipes.com. A simple search allowed me to discover its beauty. So easy! SO good! I am now required to make it for my sister's fiancé every year for his birthday. No skin off my back, that means I have an excuse to eat it every year! While it's certainly not healthy, I try to use the less-fat version of each ingredient where possible and no one can taste the difference, it's so rich.

Usually I make it as a rectangle pan cake (because I don't have a bundt pan which is suggested for it), but with the success of my first layer cake I decided to step it up a bit this time.

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Sleepy in Seattle

You didn't really think I'd go through my trip to Seattle without a restaurant review, did you?? Of course not.

I apologize it's not more entertaining, but I am still on east coast time and am quite tired. Rather than go to the famous sushi joint recommended by a coworker, I hopped across the street from my hotel to Bahn Thai, a restaurant recommended by the front desk lady. It did have decent yelp reviews, though.

I ordered Vegetarian Spring Rolls to start which, incidentally, contain prawns. I get the sense that prawns are pretty big at this restaurant considering everything on the menu can be made with them. The spring rolls were made with lettuce, bean sprouts, some other good crunchy stuff, and (minimal) prawns in a rice wrapper, served with a spicy peanut sauce. Down the hatch!

For my meal I ordered the Tom Kah Pug, which is a spicy coconut soup with mixed veggies and tofu. I ordered it with 3 stars of spice (the scale went from 1 to 5 so I decided to play it safe in the middle). It had the perfect level of heat: just enough to made your nose run but not so much that you are interrupting other diners with your sniffles (ahem, dude at the table next to me). Is it gross that I measure spiciness by how much I need a tissue? Anyway... the soup also had a great flavor beyond the spice but the tanginess got to be a bit much for me; I didn't finish all the broth but I did fish all the veggies out. Somewhere between bites 10 and 15 I karate chopped my water directly onto my phone. So far, it still works! Score.

Overall Bahn Thai was enjoyable but not as good as the Thai I've had in Wheaton. If you're in Seattle near the Space Needle and have a hankerin' for some curry, check it out. Sorry about the lack of pictures but it was a dark and intimate space with several cute couples enjoying a quiet meal. I didn't want to be that girl.

Bahn Thai

409 Roy Street

Seattle, WA 98109

Spatchcock (I Swear It's Clean)

Spatchcock (noun): describes a chicken (or other game bird) that has been prepared for roasting/grilling by the removal of its backbone. Can also be a verb (e.g., "I spatchcocked the crap out of that chicken last night"). Which is exactly what I did a few weeks ago to celebrate the arrival of our friend Clyde, who is spending the summer with us in Wheaton.

The issue with roasting a chicken is that the thigh meat is perfectly cooked at 170°, while the breast meat is perfectly cooked at 150° (any higher will dry it out and no one likes dry breast meat). Conundrum. The idea of spatchcocking is so that the chicken lays flat against the roasting pan, pushing the breasts together to make them thicker. This will keep the breasts from cooking too quickly. Now, spatchcocking a chicken isn't for the faint-hearted of cooks. If you're not used to mangling a chicken carcass, you may want to ease into it. I didn't bother "easing;" instead, I grabbed a pair of kitchen shears and tore through the chicken's ribs, thus removing its entire backbone. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Once spatchcocked, I roasted to make Chipotle Chicken Tacos and served with red rice. For the zesty recipes, read on!

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Egg In A Bell Pepper Hole

One of the first breakfasts Don ever cooked for me was his childhood favorite: egg-in-a-hole. I had never heard of it, but once I tried it I was certainly won over. Didn't hurt Don's cause either. Recently I got the idea to get creative with this classic breakfast by cooking the egg in sliced red bell peppers instead of bread. What a great and tasty twist (thanks, Food Mag)!

There is no real recipe, so take a look at the pics below for a visual how-to:

Artistic "before" shot - isn't it glam?

Eggs cookin' in the skillet: note sunny-side egg at the top; that's Don's. I like my yolk broken and cooked.

Finished product! The eggs were served over sliced, toasted bagels (straight from Brooklyn, thanks to our summer squatter, Clydesdale!)

Turkey Sangy!

Turkey, goat cheese, chipotle hummus, and arugula on homemade focaccia bread

Kansas City BBQ

BBQ sauce in the top left, Boulevard Wheat beer, ketchup that remained untouched, Pulled Pork and Ham Sandwich, Fries

I'm not usually a huge barbecue* person, but from what I hear, Kansas City-style is something to try. According to Wiki, "Kansas City barbecue is characterized by its use of different types of meat... along with its sweet and tangy sauces which are generally intended for liberal use." Sounds good to me!

*For the record, I just learned that barbecue is correctly spelled with a "c" and not a "q." I assumed BBQ --> barbeque. Not so.

I asked the concierge to recommend an authentic BBQ joint relatively close to the hotel and without a pause he said "Jack Stack." He said that not only is it the best (in his humble opinion) but it happens to be less than a mile from the hotel I'm at. After some brief research from my hotel room, I decided that I'd trust his opinion and check it out.

The area of Kansas City I'm in is really great. I'm right near the Power and Light District, which is an area filled with bars, restaurants, and music venues. There's the huge Sprint Center (where Daughtry is playing tonight, puke), then an outdoor stage called KC Live! that seems pretty cool. To get to Jack Stack, I walked through what appeared to be a sort of artsy district down to the Freight House, which has a bunch of hip restaurants including said barbecue joint.



I sat outside despite the ominous clouds and stormy breeze and enjoyed a local Boulevard Wheat beer while reading a magazine and awaiting my meal. With advice from the waiter, I ordered The Hatfield sandwich, which is your choice of two barbecue meats served on a french roll with a side of fries. Choices of meats for the sandwich included beef brisket, pulled pork, smoked turkey, and smoked ham; I chose the pulled pork and ham and asked for the spicy barbecue sauce. The food came out unfortunately fast but I was hungry so it was okay. Had I been dining with friends we probably would have been annoyed.

The meat had a delicious smoky flavor and the roll was a great combo of crunchy-soft. The barbecue sauce was uhhhhhhmazing. It definitely had a ketchup base but had a great tangy flavor, a hint of sweetness, and a good kick to boot. I drenched my sandwich in the sauce -- heck, the Wikipedia article told me to do it and I can't say no to them -- and ended up dipping all my fries in it as well. I took half the sandwich home, along with a requested to-go cup of spicy sauce. I plan to eat this before the evening is out.

A closer look at the yummy meat

I wish I had something to which I could compare this barbecue, but I haven't tried any other famous barbecue restaurants in the south/midwest, let alone in Kansas City. Barbecue roadtrip, anyone??

Regardless, I highly recommend a stop at one of the Jack Stack locations if you ever get to Kansas City! Oh, and definitely check out the KCP&L district (as they seem to call it here).

Home tomorrow night!!!

Hot and Humid in Houston

I haven't posted in a while and am away for work until the wee hours of Thursday morning without access to any of my food pictures, but that won't stop me from writing something about food.

Until this evening, my food on this trip has consisted of Chipotle (chicken fajita salad) and a $5 footlong from Subway (turkey and ham). Booooooring. I got the scoop from a Houston inhabitant who told me that I had to check out Hungry's in Rice Village, which appears to be the little restaurant/shopping district near the Rice University campus. I have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with the area, but Hungry's was definitely a gem. I also don't have much to go on besides the three streets I drove down so perhaps I drove down the wrong ones. No offense, Rice U fans. In your defense, Hungry's was delicious!

They have another location in Houston but I can't say anything about that because my experience with this city is limited to the past 27 hours. The one I went to is a cute art deco-ish style building with a nice looking patio, on which I totally would have eaten if it weren't 90 degrees and humid. They serve typical American cafe fare with a Mediterranean flair. Burgers, sandwiches and salads seem to be the big hits, with each section containing several Greek-style menu options (hummus, lamb, and feta cheese are major players here).

I ordered the jalepeno hummus appetizer and the Mediterranean wrap, then took them back to my hotel room to enjoy in my pj's. The hummus was creamy and flavorful but not as jalepeno-ey as I had hoped. The only hint of spice was tasted when I ate the two jalepeno slices that garnished the dish. No harm though, I heart hummus. It was served with warm pita and crunchy cucumbers. The wrap consisted of lamb and beef gyro meat with tomatoes, onions, lettuce and "Grecian sauce" served on a whole wheat pita. Quite delicious, and I'm hoping that because it was a wrap, it was healthy. At least that's what I'm telling myself. It was served with an iceberg wedge salad in Greek feta dressing, which I didn't try because iceberg wedges do not appeal to me in the slightest. Also, I was full from housing a bowl of hummus and a gyro wrap.

I know this review is probably meaningless to most of my readers who live in the DC area, but just bear with me. I'm bored here in Houston. And hey, if you happen to be in the Medical District of Houston anytime soon, now you have a place to eat that isn't fast food!

Off to Kansas City, MO tomorrow... Perhaps I'll try out some of this famous BBQ they have and blog about it. I know you're on the edge of your seats!

Rampin' It Up

Thanks to Eileen, I had some glorious spring ramps to use up a couple weeks ago. I had never tasted these green creatures but after reading all the hype in the blogosphere I was very intrigued!

I tossed the tasty ramps in with a simple springy recipe for tortellini, thus amplifying the "spring" factor by at least tenfold.

Served with homemade ciabatta (I promise I'll post that recipe one day...), this easy weeknight pasta dish was perfecto.

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