Brunch at Milk and Honey Cafe

My friend Kinh and I went out for brunch this morning at Milk and Honey Cafe. She promised me that I'll like the place. We decided we definitely needed some Mimosas to go with our brunch orders. Nothing like champagne and orange juice to start off a Sunday. I ordered the Orange Brioche French Toast with Almonds and Pure Maple Syrup. Very soft and fluffy on the inside. The crunchy almonds gave it a good added texture and flavor. I really didn't taste the orange but Kinh looked at me like I was crazy for not being able to taste it.

Kinh ordered the Huevos Rancheros "Casserole Style" which they only serve on weekends. This was very hearty and tasty. It doesn't look that big but it's very filling. It's a very clever idea to make this classic dish into a casserole.

Kinh was right. I really did like this place. The decor is very charming and cute. I'm definitely going back there to try out the lunch menu. The sandwiches looked so good!

Milk and Honey Cafe
1920 W Division
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 395-9434

After brunch, we did some intense shopping stopping at some shoe stores, Benetton and Ann Taylor. I think I got a little carried away but I'm telling myself that all of my purchases were practical and I'll get good use out of each thing I bought. Only time will tell...

I didn't make anything for dinner but Zack went out and bought French bread and Italian sausage. He made a quick pasta with Barilla tomato sauce and sauted sausage along with some garlic toasted bread. Yummy!

Cornflake-crusted chicken with cornmeal biscuits and green bean salad

Zack and I met up with Will and Fred to visit the Chapel of St. James, Quigley Preparatory Seminary. They have the chapel open to the public for viewing the stained-glass windows. It was a cloudy day so there wasn't much light shining through the windows but they were very beautiful. It's was nice just to sit and look at all the detailed scenes and designs. We went out to lunch at Corner Bakery and started thinking about dinner right after lunch.

While working out this morning, I was watching Paula Deen's show on the Food Network and she was cooking country fried steak with biscuits and gravy. It looked good but it seemed really heavy and fattening. So, here's my alternative: cornflake-crusted baked drumsticks with cornmeal biscuits and green bean salad.

Fred made these yummy cornmeal drop biscuits. I snuck one before dinner while the chicken was cooking. So good.
I think I overcooked the green beans but the garlic-ginger dressing with toasted almonds and cilantro was delicious. Instead of tamari, I used soy sauce. my mom has made variations of this dressing my entire life, so this is a very familiar and satisfying flavor.

The drumsticks were really simple but had to be delayed because the black peppercorns that we just bought was missing and Zack and Will had to go get another one. Crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Just perfect.

For dessert, I made tres leches cake. I actually started the dessert before I started with dinner. Making the sponge cake went smoothly and I had Will and Zack take care of skimming off the skin of the cake and pouring the three milks evenly on to the cake. I didn't have any mint and didn't bother to buy heavy cream for a whipped cream garnish. So, I used lime slices instead.

This dessert was so moist and sweet that I had to go for seconds. I only had it soaking in the fridge for about an hour so I'm sure it'll be even better tomorrow after soaking overnight. I can't wait!

Just look at the spongy cake soaked in tres leches! It doesn't get any better than this.

Chile-rubbed steak with tomatillo-avocado salsa

Oh, it's so sad that I didn't turn on the TV/computer this morning so that Martha's show will record. I have the Windows XP Media Center Edition on my desktop and the computer needs to be on in order to "dvr" TV shows. I had to get up earlier than usual to get to work so I didn't exactly have time to go through my daily routine of getting ready and watching the Today show. Don't ask me why I watch that show but I end up watching it for the weather forecast.

Of course, not having Martha recorded didn't deter me from checking out her website and seeing what she cooked for her "simple supper". It didn't seem that simple to me, especially the tomatillo-avocado salsa that the recipe links to. By the time I got back from the gym, showered and went grocery shopping for the ingredients, it was past 9pm. The rub was easy enough to mix up but you have to wait 30 minutes for it to marinate. It was worth it though.

While the steak was marinating, I made the salsa. I grilled the tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapeno pepper directly on my electric range. I threw those in the handy dandy food processor with lime, cilantro and salt. A quick pulse, pulse, pulse. I tossed it with some diced avocados to complete the salsa. Simple enough.

As for the taste, pretty darn spicy!! I was sweating profusely to say the least. It was very, very good. The steak was perfectly cooked and was full of chile and cumin flavors. Zack literally swallowed three tacos in two minutes!

Rum-Orange Broiled Shrimp with Asparagus Couscous

I'm proud of myself for actually planning out a dinner the day before. Martha Stewart has been doing these "Simple Supper" segments on her morning talk show that are really easy to make. She made tequila-orange grilled shrimp yesterday and I wanted to try it out. Plus, I have more frozen shrimp than I know what to do with left over from the time I made parsley pesto linguini. So, I jotted down my grocery list last night and forced Zack make a copy for himself so that who ever got home first can go out and buy the groceries. I got home later than Zack so it was nice to have all of the ingredients waiting for me when I got home.

I kept almost everything the same except for substituting the lime with lemon, the tequila with rum, and part of the orange juice with freshly squeezed tangelo (see description in my previous post for orzo pasta salad). This recipe was truly simple. I don't have a grill or grill pan so I threw my shrimp under the broiler. The tangy orange sauce was what brought the whole dish together.

I also made some asparagus couscous featured on Martha's "simple supper" segment the day before yesterday. This was incredibly easy to make and was heavenly. The couscous was so fluffy and the light asparagus and lemon flavors goes so well together. I can't believe something this simple can be so comforting and delicious. Just look at the fluffy goodness!!

Rolled steak with roasted potatoes

Zack had actually made dinner last night. He pretty much sticks to the same dishes, one of which is beef or chicken stir-fry with rice. He usually uses green or red peppers, mushrooms and onions for the vegetables. So, we had some mushrooms and beef left over from last night. I didn't feel like going out because of the unusually(?) chilly weather today. I decided I can make rolled steak with those left over ingredients.

I based my steak creation on this Everyday Food recipe. I substituted the roasted peppers with mushrooms, the scallions with shallot, the balsamic vinegar with red wine vinegar and the mozzarella cheese with Muenster cheese. Yeah, I pretty much changed every ingredient because I happened to have those ingredients and not the ones in the recipe. According to the Food Network encyclopedia, the kind of Muenster cheese I used is the bland American version. I'm not the biggest fan, but somehow it found its way in my fridge. As for the vinegar, I actually have some balsamic vinegar in the pantry but there was a strange waxy layer that had formed right above the liquid in the bottle. After I jabbed it with the end of my cooking chopsticks, it fell into the vinegar. I thought it tasted a little funny so I was afraid to use it in the dish. Does anyone have a clue what this is?

I also cooked some roasted potatoes with olive oil, fresh thyme and a couple of whole, unpeeled garlic cloves. I got this easy recipe from Mario Batali's latest cookbook Molto Italiano but have seen variations elsewhere. I normally use the dried rosemary called for in the recipe but I used thyme instead since I have it around. I actually liked this better than the rosemary version.

I love how the potatoes are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. It's so absolutely delicious that I have to keep going back for more.

As you can see, the steak is well done after I cooked it for about 25 minutes. I probably could have stopped cooking it at 15 or 20 minutes to retain a little bit of the pinkness in the meat. In the oven, the cheese was oozing out from inside the rolled steak and giving off a lot of smoke as it melted and burned on to the baking sheet. Don't worry! The steak turned out great!

I was pretty satisfied with how this steak turned out and even more ecstatic when Zack was commenting on how good it was. He said he could eat eight pounds of it and looked like he was about to cry when I told him there isn't anymore left for him to get seconds.

Renkon!!

What is renkon, you ask? Well, it's typically called lotus root in English. It's the root of a water lily and is brown-skinned with a hollow, chambered inside (see a picture from the Asia Food Glossary; see description from Wikipedia.com). It's used in Japanese cooking frequently and I've grown up eating it a lot of it.

My mom would usually stir-fry it with sugar, soy sauce and mirin combination. I wanted to try something different, so I googled some recipes in English and Japanese. Of course, I didn't come across many in English. I had a few Japanese recipes lined up before this recipe from eGullet.org caught my eye.

This recipe wasn't clear and didn't specify some things. First of all, I didn't know how long to boil the renkon. I just boiled the renkon for about 6 or 7 minutes. Also, I wasn't sure I did the batter exactly right since there was no exact amount specified for water. I think I made the batter too thinned out with water.

Nonetheless, I have to say that this dish turned out pretty well. The renkon was crunchy and and the meat filling was juicy. I didn't bother to make a sauce and just served with lemon wedges.

I also made some spinach salad with crispy bacon pieces and chickpeas. For the dressing, I made the honey mustard recipe from Joy of Cooking. I love the combination of spinach, crunchy bacon and honey-mustard dressing. The chickpeas also add another layer of texture and flavor.

I also took some thin pieces of renkon and fried them to make renkon chips. They're delicious with a sprinkle of salt. I thought it would be a nice garnish to my salad. I love the interesting pattern of the cross-section of a renkon. It tastes and looks great. Tonight's dinner was crunchy and delicious!

4 Taste Off Rush

I invited Zack's sister Kari to have brunch with Zack and I downtown. My friend recommended that I try 4 Taste (which only serves dinner and late-night snacks) but I've never been much of an after-hours kinda girl. I much preferred trying out the breakfast menu at this 4 Taste spin-off (see Metromix description).

The club-ish decor and music didn't match my idea of an ideal brunch spot, but I decided to look past that. There were a lot of interesting things on the breakfast menu such as "Ostrich Benedict" (Zack's choice). I always choose sweet over savory for breakfast foods so I picked the "Chai Latte French Toast" which was a chai latte-flavored french toast stuffed with mascarpone cheese. Kari ended up with the "Yukon Omlette". Most of the breakfast items are affordable at $ 10.95 with some a la carte and half-order breakfast items for $4-$5.

I really liked the french toast because of the sweet chai flavors and the lightly sweetened mascarpone cheese. They topped it off with a fried quail egg. The french toast went well with their salty house potatoes too. As for Zack's dish, the ostrich filets sandwiched between the poached egg and the English muffin tasted salty and game-y to me. I didn't expect ostrich to taste more like beef than some other type of meat. It was interesting but definitely not something that I'd eat for breakfast. The omlette with Yukon fries wasn't all that spectacular but was a very tasty and satisfying breakfast. I'm not rushing to go back or anything, but it's worth checking out.

4 Taste Off Rush
100 E Walton St
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 280-2400

Chicken wings with orzo pasta salad

I created this blog so that I'd be a little bit more adventurous with my cooking. However, I do like to revert back and cook what I know and love. Pasta salad and broiled chicken! I got the recipe for saffron chicken wings from marthastewart.com. It's so delicious that I cook it every time I don't have anything planned but still want a great dinner (especially on a Friday night).

Today, I decided to try out a gym near my apartment because a friend from work recommended it. I did check it out when I first moved back to Chicago, but I didn't want to dish out the big bucks for all of the extra amenities that I would probably never end up using. It's really a nice gym so I'm debating whether I should go for it or not. I have a week try it out, so we'll see.

The point is, I left the gym at around 9pm and met Zack at the local Jewel to pick up a few things. Obviously, we had nothing planned before going to the grocery store, so I decided to make chicken wings with salad. I got some chicken wings plus a granny smith apple, avocado and minneola tangelos (which, come to find out, is a cross between a "Bowen" grapefruit and a "Dancy" tangerine) for my pasta salad.

When I got home, I turned on the broiler and put the chicken wings on a wire rack over a baking sheet. The only additional ingredients are: 1) salt, 2) black pepper and 3) a little bit of saffron that I scored in Bali last year. I can't vouch for the quality due to lack of experience with saffron, but I do know that it was very, very cheap and creates very, very excellent food. As Martha Stewart would say, "utterly delicious!!"

While the chicken was broiling away, I created a simple vinaigrette using the juice of one tangelo, half a lemon (that I had left over in the fridge), dijon mustard, olive oil and salt/pepper. Then, I tossed some diced apple and avocado, sliced scallions (also left over) and cooked orzo pasta with the vinaigrette.

While I love the flavor combination of this salad, I also really love how this dish is so aesthetically pleasing with the monochromatic light green tones from the green apple, avocado and scallions. It's also a nice complement to the crispy chicken wings.

For dessert (let's not forget dessert), I made a strawberry-banana smoothie. :)

What to do with shiitake mushrooms...

I didn't work out the past two days so it was imperative that I get a little bit of exercise. By the time I worked out and took a shower, it was around 9pm. I was feeling lazy and uninspired. I did make daikon radish and carrot salad soaked overnight in amazu or sweetened rice vinegar on Tuesday. This is one of my favorite dishes that my grandma made for me. She would sprinkle crushed sesame seeds over the top. It's so crunchy that I can't stop eating it.

Here's the simple recipe for amazu found on e-recipe (in Japanese).

(makes about 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 cup rice vinegar
8 tbs sugar
2 tbs salt

Add all ingredients into a pan and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, turn off the heat and let it rest until it comes back to room temperature. Transfer to a container and refrigerate.

I was trying to find recipes online that used shiitake mushrooms. It had to be fast and easy. I came across this recipe for spicy shiitake mushrooms on the Food Network website. This caught my eye because it called for some Japanese ingredients like soy sauce, sesame seed oil and scallions. I also loved the fact that this recipe provided an alternative method of cooking where you throw everything into a bowl and broil the mushrooms caps for 3 minutes. The only thing I did differently was that I didn't use jalapeno peppers.

This was really tasty and Zack seemed to really like it too. I also ended up making a quick and easy miso soup with daikon slices and tofu. This is my idea of comfort food. My mom made miso soup almost every night when I was little.

For dessert, I had one of my all-time favorite childhood treats that my dad would bring home from Japan. It's shaped like a little chick and the inside is filled with bean paste. It's a famous treat from Tokyo and can be found almost everywhere in Tokyo. Here's the company website (in Japanese).

Wrapped and...

... unwrapped. So good. I had a pretty comforting and nostalgic meal. It's just what I needed.

Scallops with lemon and thyme in parchment paper / Eringi mushroom risotto

I have to admit that I "dvr" Martha Stewart's daytime TV talk/cooking show. Zack thinks that ALL daytime television is 100 percent bonafide crap, but I really like watching her show for the cooking segments. She has been having cooking lessons for about the last month on everything from how to make a paillard to how to cook en papillote, or in parchment paper (see Martha's website). So, I've been wanting to make something in parchment paper since March 24.

I stopped by Treasure Island after work to check out the seafood selection. I originally wanted to cook fish but nothing looked enticing. The scallops looked gorgeous, however, so I decided to get those for cooking in parchment paper. I also wanted to use the eringi mushrooms that I bought at Mitsuwa the other day, so I picked up some Arborio rice and chicken broth to make mushroom risotto.

I started making the mushroom risotto using the recipe from the America's Test Kitchen website.　As usual, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. For instance, I didn't have any white wine so I substituted with water (yes, I know... blasphemy!!). I also added a touch of mirin, which seemed a bit strange to me but then again, this recipe calls for soy sauce. Mirin and soy sauce are like peas and carrots. They just go together. I also didn't tie the herb sprigs with kitchen twine, but the broth was strained anyways so what's the point? Well, there was one little problem. I asked Zack to strain the broth mixture and he started pouring it through the strainer and down the drain! He blanked out and got confused that you're not actually getting rid of the liquid (like he's used to doing for pasta). Well, we lost half of our broth but I made it work.

The scallops were a hundred times easier because I lined some sliced lemon and thyme sprigs on top of parchment paper and then placed the scallops right on top. I sprinkled them with salt and pepper and folded the edges to make a tight seal. I put them on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 13 minutes. Piece of cake!

There you have it. Coquilles Saint Jacques en Papillote (scallops in parchment paper) and Risotto con Funghi (mushroom risotto). A little bit of French and a little bit of Italian. Enjoy!

Sweet treats from Japan

After lunch, we stopped by Mitsuwa to pick up some Japanese ingredients. Mitsuwa is a Japanese superstore where you can pick up almost any kind of Japanese ingredient or food. It also has a liquor store, bakery, bookstore, video rental store and foodcourt. I picked up some eringi and shiitake mushrooms, daikon and renkon roots, mirin, rice vinegar, nori, tofu, etc. Ok, I'm throwing a bunch of strange names out at you, but these are just some of the typical foodstuffs used in Japanese cooking. Hopefully, I'll be using some of these things in the next days to come.

After we dropped my dad off at the airport, my sister and mom dropped us off at home. My dad frequently takes business trips to Japan and, like always, picked up a few of our favorite treats from Japan. Here's one such Japanese treat.

The package says "uguisu mochi" and this is a typical Japanese sweet. While uguisu means Japanese bush warbler (see Wikipedia.com entry), this sweet treat, of course, doesn't actually have uguisu in it. However, I don't know enough about the history of this treat to know why it's called uguisu mochi. If anyone has any insight, please feel free to post a comment.
What I do know is that this treat is red bean paste (anko) enclosed in a rice cake (mochi) layer with sweetened soybean flour or kinako (see epicurious.com description) sprinkled on top. When I got home, I wanted a comforting and simple afternoon snack to forget about the stormy weather. I made myself some green tea and enjoyed two of these delicious snacks. Mmm... it wasn't so bad that it was raining and thundering...

Jockey Wok n' Rolls

My dad was in town from San Diego and my sister was home from college, so Zack and I went out to the suburbs to go out for a Sunday lunch with my family. Originally, we were going to have a brunch downtown but restaurants were either closed or fully booked. My family doesn't celebrate Easter, so I completely forgot about the fact that it was Easter Sunday today.

For Chinese dim sum, we always go out to Jockey when we don't want to take the trip down to Chinatown (see the CitySearch review). I think it's one of the best places to get dim sum out in the suburbs. As expected, there was a crowd of people waiting when we got there but we only waited for about half an hour. I love the whole experience of dim sum because it's so exciting to see people going back and forth with carts full of freshly made food and to choose from among a wide variety of dishes. We always get the standard fare such as pork dumplings, pot stickers, egg rolls, fried sticky rice balls with either red bean or sesame paste, etc. Plus, you don't have the waiters yelling at you in Cantonese like they do at the restaurants in Chinatown.

Jockey Wok n' Rolls
1017 N Roselle Rd
Hoffman Estates, IL 60194
(847) 885-0888

Pizza D.O.C.

Zack and I went to Pizza D.O.C. tonight because Zack had read an article in the NYT about the authentic pizzas baked in wood burning ovens at D.O.C. Now I like Chicago-style pizza as much as the next person, but sometimes you want to satisfy thin-crust Italian pizza cravings and it's not too easy to do in Chicago.

We started off with the fried calamari. It was hot and crispy with a very light batter and it was so good that I ate half of them without the marinara sauce. Of course, the sauce was delicious as well. THen we ordered the olive, artichoke, proschuitto and mushroom pizza and the sausage and mushroom pizza (shown below). I loved the tomato sauce and the thin crust full of flavor form the oven. I would have liked to try everything on the dessert menu but I picked the panna cotta. It had loads of vanilla beans and had a very creamy texture and rich flavor. I couldn't get enough of it! I highly recommend this place. (Also, see the restaurant review on Too Many Chefs).

Pizza D.O.C.
2251 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 784-8777

Better banana bread

I came across this recipe for moist banana bread last week on The Fresh Loaf. Usually, I make banana bread when I have a couple over-ripen bananas but I actually bought bananas specifically to try out this recipe. I was intrigued by the addition of vanilla yogurt.

It was strange because the loaf rose a little bit but then shrank back down almost immediately while cooling. I really like the flavor and the moistness, but it seemed a little too moist. It's also really dense. I followed the recipe except that I replaced the whole wheat flour with more all-purpose flour. Maybe I should have used more flour to absorb the yogurt.

Cafe Bolero

My friend Kinh and I made plans to go out to dinner tonight. I suggested Cafe Bolero, a Cuban restaurant on Western near Fullerton (here's the CitySearch description and reviews). Zack's sister Kari and her roommate had suggested this place for some good eats.

I highly enjoyed my dining experience there. It was really nice outside, so we ate outside. We started out with some sangrias/cocktails and the Puerto Rican Pasteles. Then, we ordered two more tapas (the Croquetas and the Ceviche) and the Ropa Vieja dinner entree to share between the two of us. It was a good amount and mix of food for a very reasonable price. I'm a sucker for the sides like black beans and plantains. Try it!

After dinner, we picked up Zack at the apartment to go see "Thank You for Smoking." The only problem I had with the movie was the fact that Katie Holmes can't act. Other than that, I thought it was pretty entertaining.

Cafe Bolero
2252 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 227-9000

Frontera Grill

I was so excited to go for a lunch meeting with my manager today because I finally had the chance to go to Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill!! For an appetizer, we ordered the guacamole with chips. One of the best guacamole I've ever had. Simple but very fresh and tasty. I chose the Mantarraya al Cilantro or the grilled skatewing with a cilantro sauce (see the detailed description from the lunch menu under "Especialidades"). The fish was so soft and tender that it melted in my mouth. The sauce was delicious and the mashed potatoes were out of this world. For dessert, I actually picked something off of the Topolobampo menu... the Mango Empanadas. It came with a fresh mango "salsa" and a citrus sorbet. Very refreshing! Highly recommended.

Frontera Grill / Topolobampo
445 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 661-1434

Potato salad with peas and black olives

I got home from work and worked out while watching Dirty Dancing. It's a classic movie. When I got back to my apartment, I ended up wasting my time watching Waiting to Exhale. Now, this is a crappy movie but I somehow got sucked in by Angela Bassett's psychotic performance of a just-divorced wife/mother going through a nervous breakdown.

So, by the time I get around to thinking about what to eat, it's pretty late. Zack came home later than usual too. I was too lazy to go out to the grocery store, so I decided to make something quick with what I have in my pantry and fridge. Here's what I made: potato salad with sweet peas and black olives. I had some ready-to-bake croissant so I topped the dough with shredded cheddar cheese, rolled them up and baked them. Nice and easy. I love just-made potato salad because the potatoes are still warm.

Patiently pulsing parsley pesto with processor

I ordered the Cuisinart Pro Classic food processor on Sunday from Amazon.com and my shipment arrived this morning! I just used the free "super saver" shipping which they claim takes five to nine business days and it arrived in TWO business days. Amazon.com is amazing!

I decided to break in my new food processor by making pesto. Zack requested a dish with shrimp so we looked through my favorite all-purpose cookbook The Joy of Cooking. We came across a recipe with both shrimp and pesto. To be precise, it was recipe for parsley pesto. We just happened to have plenty of that handy because we made meatballs the other day.

The only ingredient missing was shrimp. Before going to the grocery store, Zack and I decided to take a walk along the lakeshore because we were having another gorgeous day. By the time we got to the grocery store, the fresh meat/seafood counter was closed. I was forced to buy a bag full of frozen shrimp... buy one, get one free at least.

It wasn't one of the smoothest nights of cooking I've had. It was my first time assembling and using a food processor plus I've never made pesto before. Zack actually put the machine together and got it working. While he was messing around with that, I was taking the shells off of the shrimp and deveining them. To be honest, it looked like it was already deveined on the backside of the shrimp but I "deveined" the underside of the shrimp (where the legs are). There seemed to be a vein there, bu I have no idea whether I should be getting rid of this or I'm just wasting my time. Can anyone tell me if I'm supposed to be doing this?

At the same time, I was toasting the pine nuts for the pesto. I completely forgot about them and burned most of them save a few. After throwing the parsley, garlic and the few pine nuts that I salvaged from the wreckage into the food processor, I was ready to roll. If only I can figure out how to lock the lid into place so that the darn thing will actually turn on...

I eventually got it to work. I tossed the pesto and some cooked linguini together and added the cooked shrimp. The dish turned out well, but I think that I'm so conditioned to eating the basil pesto that I half expected it to taste similar even though I know that basil and parsley are completely different. It's just a matter of overcoming my misconception that pesto = basil pesto.

Polpette alla Napoletana

The weather today was sooo nice that I had to go outside for a jog along the lakeshore. Not surprisingly, it seemed like every other person in the city had the same idea. It was crowded on the pathway but manageable. When I got home, Zack was listening to some loud music and washing dishes. He already had an idea for dinner... spaghetti and meatballs. He even looked up the recipe for meatballs or "Polpette alla Napoletana" from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home.

I took a quick shower and we headed out the door to Treasure Island. We bought some ingredients for the meatballs and the tomato sauce, but we forgot to get spaghetti! No big deal... we just used rigatoni instead. It turns out from reading Wikipedia (entry for spaghetti under preparation) that spaghetti with meatballs isn't a common dish in Italy. While Zack made the tomato sauce, I made the meatballs. I just threw some ground beef, eggs, day-old bread soaked in water and then drained of excess water, chopped parsley, grated pecorino romano, garlic, toasted pine nuts, salt and pepper in a giant bowl and mixed it well. After forming them into balls, I threw them into very hot oil and pan-ried them.

Alright. So, it wasn't as simple as that. First of all, I toasted the pine nuts too long in the oven so they were a few stages past lightly toasted. I also made the meatballs too big so that I wasn't able to cook the first batch all the way through without first burning the outside. I remedied this by flattening the meatballs a little for the next batches. The meatballs were surprisingly soft and I kept damaging them with my tongs. Of course, I was too stubborn to use a more appropriate tool after having used the tongs already.

Here it is... Rigatoni alla Pomodoro con Polpette alla Napoletana. The meatballs were simply divine. I loved the added texture and flavor of the pine nuts (despite the minor toasting problem). The meatballs were light and soft yet very filling. This is a hearty meal for sure.

Gratin de Pommes de Terre aux Anchois

Our order from Amazon.com arrived yesterday. Zack got his LSAT prep book and I got my cookbook. I only recently discovered the blog The Julie/Julia Project because my friend Will strongly recommended that I read "Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen" by Julie Powell. I've been really entertained by Julie's attempts at following Julia Child's French recipes that I had to get Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Volume 1). Of course, I'm planning on getting volume 2 later on, but for now I'm content with working my way through volume 1.

Well, I still had some half-and-half left over, so I decided to use that to make Gratin de Pommes de Terres aux Anchois (Gratin of Potatoes, Onions, and Anchovies). I'm a big seafood lover but I've never been excited about canned fish like sardines and anchovies. I've only had it a couple times in salads. I definitely know that Zack has never tried anchovies before, so I was reluctant to go through with it.

First of all, the dish turned out great. It was really well-seasoned because of the anchovies and the heavily-salted water used to boil the potatoes. I really love the small portions. I've noticed that some American cookbooks call for absurd amounts of cheese, oil, etc. This recipe has few ingredients and the flavors of potato, onions and anchovies complement each other well. I was surprised by how good this tasted. Here's to success at my first attempt at authentic (?) French cooking.

French toast, anyone?

Here's the thing: they don't sell half-and-half in sizes less than a pint and I had plenty left over from the other day when I made the quiche. So, I decided to make french toast. I got the recipe from Simply Recipes, but I halved the recipe since I only need two servings and I don't want to end up with anymore leftovers (yes, I still have some spinach lasagna and quiche leftover.)

Ok. I didn't have Triple Sec, an orange or fresh berries, but I did have half a grapefruit. And of course, I replaced the milk with half-and-half. First of all, I didn't nearly put as much as one grapefruit's worth of zest in the batter, so I didn't taste it at all. I also used day-old French bread as well as 12 grain bread which I don't think is typically used for French toast. It didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I'll have to get my hands on some Triple Sec for next time.

Crazy for oatmeal craisin cookies

Oatmeal raisin would have to be one of my all-time favorite cookies. Who can resist the chewy raisins combined with the wholesome flavor of oatmeal. I like my cookies crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. When I came across the recipe for oatmeal raisin from Simply Recipes, I knew I had to try it out. They turned out fabulously! Instead of using light brown sugar, I used dark brown sugar. I also replaced the raisins with dried cranberries. I think the tartness of the dried cranberries really complement the sweet oatmeal flavor. Delicious!

Crustless broccoli and cheddar cheese quiche

I end up buying a carton of dozen eggs, using two or three the day I buy them and then forgetting about them for the next month or two. By that time, I end up tossing them because I fear that the eggs have been fermenting in the back of my fridge turning green and blue. Of course, I know that eggs keep for a long time in the fridge but I can't get over my fear. Well, I didn't want my cage-less eggs to go to waste, so I didn't hesitate in using them for Crustless Broccoli-Cheddar Quiches last night. I got the recipe from Everyday Food online. Good thing this recipe calls for a total of 6 eggs.

This was so simple to make and it was delicious. I have to say that my mind was resisting the fact that this quiche had no crust. I think a quiche isn't a quiche without a crust. So, I felt like I ate a baked omlette that left me feeling like I had breakfast for dinner. Plus, my bf Zack still hasn't gotten past the fact that a full meal doesn't have to include meat, but I do admit that I didn't serve anything else such as bread or salad as suggested by the Everyday Food crew. We ended up snacking before dinner because we had a late dinner.

Too much spinach lasagna

This is my first attempt at making lasagna and I think it went pretty well. I used the vegetable lasagna recipe from the website of the PBS show Everyday Food. I really love that show because the recipes are simple and the chefs really think about practicality of cooking everyday for your family. That presents a slight problem since I'm not cooking for a family or large group of people but for two. It's a little bit sad because we'll be eating lasagna for tomorrow's lunch, tomorrow's dinner and the day after tomorrow's lunch. Let's not have any go to waste.

Instead of fontina cheese, I used a little bit of pecorino romano cheese and a whole lot of mozzarella cheese. In fact, I might have used entire way too much cheese because Zack's response was "It's cheesy." Well, it was cheesy and delicious. I also spent the extra cash to buy "cage-free" eggs that use no drugs, antibiotics or animal by-products. I have to admit that I bought the eggs because they were on sale and they were only 30 cents more expensive than the "caged" eggs produced from chickens injected full of drugs and antibiotics. I'm no environmentalist or vegetarian but it feels good and tastes good.

I also made the tomato sauce from scratch while I had a call with a client in Japan at the same time. I made one that's similar to the sauce I made for my ambitious pizza night but used dried thyme instead of fresh. I've seen variations of tomato sauce with parsley, rosemary, oregano and/or basil but I like the simple thyme-flavored tomato sauce the best. I thought this dish was delicious, but I'm partial to having some kind of meat like sausage or meatballs in my lasagna.