tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19741900150433625172024-03-18T23:00:30.560-05:00A Food Dilettante's MusingsFood Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.comBlogger355125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-38642203544447600542023-02-07T18:09:00.004-06:002023-02-07T18:09:40.279-06:00I'm vlogging in Taiwan this month!<p>Last time I visited Taiwan was in summer 2007. My circumstances were so different then. I helped my parents pick out a condo as it was being built at the time. And now one parent has passed and another is pretty badly beaten up from a vehicular accident. </p><p>So, I'm here to take care of administrative things and am not sure if/when I would be back.</p><p>I'm making sure that I take pleasure in the little mundane things when I can. Like finding a neighborhood fun milk tea joint that serves super interesting bagels while running errands!</p><p>The place is called Don't Yell at Me. 🤣 No idea... I'll ask them next time I'm there!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NS2ZAPpLFdw" width="320" youtube-src-id="NS2ZAPpLFdw"></iframe></div><br /><p>The rose lychee bagel was so good! It's super creative with lovely chopped up pieces of lychee fruit!A dream come true in bagel form!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-86124919533021697142023-01-24T22:17:00.001-06:002023-01-24T22:17:33.195-06:00Happy Year of the Rabbit and Ho Ho Chinese BBQ ReviewI never really practiced any special Lunar New Year customs growing up except eating special treats and having a bountiful Chinese dinner.<div><br /></div><div>This year, my daughter has learned a little bit about the Lunar New Year at school and a little bit about the Chinese horoscope. And she wanted to know if we could eat some new year food and treats. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to <a href="https://marleyspoon.com/" target="_blank">Marley and Spoon</a> providing a few new year dishes for selection this week, I made <a href="https://marleyspoon.com/menu/160187-lunar-new-year-lion-s-head-meatballs-with-bok-choy-jasmine-rice" target="_blank">lion's head meatballs</a> and <a href="https://marleyspoon.com/menu/169786-lunar-new-year-hong-kong-egg-tarts-with-pre-made-pie-crust" target="_blank">Hong Kong egg tarts</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I made modifications to the meatballs by adding minced wood ear mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms. I also halved the amount of cornstarch, which made my meatballs too wet and thus became big hill mounds rather than balls. But these were so delicious; it doesn't matter that they're not balls! My mom learned how to make these from Chinese cooking school in Taiwan and has been known to make awesome lion's head, and she approved of these!</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9HU86sVnlasR2LmCZ4MNRMkXTfAfHbn66Wg8RarfP_EOWroS6vDzb3TxIloR8l7vP1mDVUOM_PMLDyUZRHf53FOhsFmhKWRNUIfrE72PG_JxkdS5jkZy9P8xhBqdhgNgUYaoGbzdAe5-oUvCY2OyO8vZW1SGUwVmjtwb8hG3tUfv4VoJcI8_U5leX" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="1292" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh9HU86sVnlasR2LmCZ4MNRMkXTfAfHbn66Wg8RarfP_EOWroS6vDzb3TxIloR8l7vP1mDVUOM_PMLDyUZRHf53FOhsFmhKWRNUIfrE72PG_JxkdS5jkZy9P8xhBqdhgNgUYaoGbzdAe5-oUvCY2OyO8vZW1SGUwVmjtwb8hG3tUfv4VoJcI8_U5leX" width="400" /></a></div>Lion's Head Meatballs</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I continued my streak of ugly but yummy food with the egg tart recipe. Maybe I can blame Marley and Spoon for forgetting to include the pre-made pie crusts. I went and got some pressed empanada dough instead and churned these puppies out. The ones baked in small muffin tins were forgiving, but not so much the regular-sized ones! The flavor and texture are pretty spot on, but I swear the instructions did not include tips on how to avoid the custard from bubbling in the oven!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsgap9o7QRApW8jNwdf18qbV7jkm6_dCyuJPjZJziofuEWC5cdXJwL1PLl2jpVJpoGJIRKsJ1UWMhrJ3KAPeAiLVwWrgjTteczCaKhKmL5dTJrSmWvNO7o2kxmZFN8G9B7kCiH5UCG1p-WqCvscDQDFgUuC13RPyrjlX6Y389qdMdPYVzbzMTNYGVA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="1292" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsgap9o7QRApW8jNwdf18qbV7jkm6_dCyuJPjZJziofuEWC5cdXJwL1PLl2jpVJpoGJIRKsJ1UWMhrJ3KAPeAiLVwWrgjTteczCaKhKmL5dTJrSmWvNO7o2kxmZFN8G9B7kCiH5UCG1p-WqCvscDQDFgUuC13RPyrjlX6Y389qdMdPYVzbzMTNYGVA" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Mini Egg Tarts</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7yOuJVa3h2bS-9K6ef6OQQz8GD3IIpj39pnP3dDJZF61BddqgUNH8gcKdN-M-rWrKaaYodNaklMFpMmmzlZZt_4gCDLgb5RPL5L-ZLzPOYs1-LMpcOnoVFfeM8lMT_XgCduON07uBNCi0rYhaGbIywCr45XcGOft3LQ_AixpjGOojti3fgHM87Ozn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="727" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7yOuJVa3h2bS-9K6ef6OQQz8GD3IIpj39pnP3dDJZF61BddqgUNH8gcKdN-M-rWrKaaYodNaklMFpMmmzlZZt_4gCDLgb5RPL5L-ZLzPOYs1-LMpcOnoVFfeM8lMT_XgCduON07uBNCi0rYhaGbIywCr45XcGOft3LQ_AixpjGOojti3fgHM87Ozn=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div>Strange-looking Egg Tarts<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For dinner, we ordered from the closest Chinese BBQ restaurant to Round Rock, <a href="https://www.hohochinesebbqaustin.com/" target="_blank">Ho Ho Chinese BBQ</a>. This place is straight up "we make good food and don't care about all the other variables that a customer may care about." It's an old school Cantonese restaurant where the exterior and interior aesthetics is pretty tattered, but it doesn't stop the influx of customers trying to get their fill of savory morsels of meats. My online pick up order was supposed to be ready at 5:18 PM, and they didn't have the food ready until 6 PM. Granted it's Lunar New Year and instead of taking the day off, they were trying to service greater than usual traffic. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRc8tNfFtwDEkJEMHhfFINOUYEgqknHlJc_jvT8b3YFOLZFSCPofv3fagJTuDgLLzwHRulCMf1HSMbG6Ng8Pr-9QdpBSdpF8A5r4IuC-g8_gUb_LZGYbUckPG1ZUNhYELEWGQ16obYK5jZlK5Z9_ygndMjZzqxnoTThUmQX57nvra0gxd60gfxHdTX" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="1292" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjRc8tNfFtwDEkJEMHhfFINOUYEgqknHlJc_jvT8b3YFOLZFSCPofv3fagJTuDgLLzwHRulCMf1HSMbG6Ng8Pr-9QdpBSdpF8A5r4IuC-g8_gUb_LZGYbUckPG1ZUNhYELEWGQ16obYK5jZlK5Z9_ygndMjZzqxnoTThUmQX57nvra0gxd60gfxHdTX=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">With my daughter in tow, I solved our long wait by ordering roast duck and roast pork belly to be chopped up straight from the BBQ line and took it out to my mom and daughter to munch on while I went back to the restaurant to listen for my name. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibnY_2YlV2ASTWVfYMIOxKPqAdMqOiZyrifB6p2VNuKccA2bIXubv4XjoTuAUpgziSsY-fN1JHx2RX5dBhYo2wR27TY2pt4-K5xb5B5mJN1geeiLFj11zq6e_i3oLKhHmTxsyCll2E2-fkU-KUUALNR1XFk5MxxdOHv8CuRPHmr6G1AyLQhqP9ddgJ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="727" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibnY_2YlV2ASTWVfYMIOxKPqAdMqOiZyrifB6p2VNuKccA2bIXubv4XjoTuAUpgziSsY-fN1JHx2RX5dBhYo2wR27TY2pt4-K5xb5B5mJN1geeiLFj11zq6e_i3oLKhHmTxsyCll2E2-fkU-KUUALNR1XFk5MxxdOHv8CuRPHmr6G1AyLQhqP9ddgJ=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I came back to very satisfied passengers</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">None of the dishes are particularly pretty to look at; maybe they're slightly better looking than the building that it came from, but there's definite skill and authenticity behind the taste. Each dish has its distinct flavor profile and none are overly salted. I feel like these have become rare qualities in Chinese restaurants as of late. As chefs who have trained in specific Chinese cuisines retire, new chefs or owners have tried to cater to the types of Chinese cuisines and dishes that have risen in popularity and they lose authenticity. Cantonese food has been pushed to the side to make way for Sichuan food. And restaurants that don't align to Sichuan food try to do a bit of everything to accommodate what's trending and lose their way. I feel like Ho Ho does a great job in staying true to Cantonese flavors, and I hope they can successfully continue that! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_2x0-UhqO2E" width="320" youtube-src-id="_2x0-UhqO2E"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Happy new year to all!</div></div>Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-48575461151164406462023-01-20T14:41:00.002-06:002023-01-22T15:09:15.333-06:00Komé: Sushi Kitchen Review<p>Since we rarely leave the Round Rock area, I make sure to plan out lunch/dinner, coffee, and grocery pick up whenever I need to run to Austin for some kind of errand.</p><p>I had to take my mom to the Airport Blvd area recently, and we lunched at <a href="https://www.kome-austin.com/miso/" target="_blank">Komé: Sushi Kitchen</a>. I'm really excited that that area has been attracting more restaurants and coffeeshops! I would've checked out Jewboy Burgers, but I knew my mom enjoys Japanese food over burgers any day.</p><p>We ordered an una tama-don and a komè bento. They both came with a delicious bowl of miso soup. For the bento, you get a choice of roll. I decided to try something I've never had before - raw squid - the <span style="text-align: center;">ika-umè-shiso roll, which as </span>squid, cucumber, umè, shiso. The flavor wasn't distinct, but it was pleasantly less chewy than I thought it would be and pretty refreshing! I liked the balance of the clean taste of the sashimi and the fried and crunchy chicken karaage.</p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxBoorh-5bXM1mbiZc1MJM56cpRRPUTiNt1Q4-P0BcgaRyy4jq7dlwQL71019JZbQf8OEOgdmp2jlOyuBn169OwkuoMy5UpF98emW_Ls77WNmJWiWimFZ38IX8uVwxwAqsmrCDWuEq6cBMxurRqk_F-tpCI5RmM-ff3VB4CT8CtfnC_xFGVliA47Xk/s4032/PXL_20230109_172610904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxBoorh-5bXM1mbiZc1MJM56cpRRPUTiNt1Q4-P0BcgaRyy4jq7dlwQL71019JZbQf8OEOgdmp2jlOyuBn169OwkuoMy5UpF98emW_Ls77WNmJWiWimFZ38IX8uVwxwAqsmrCDWuEq6cBMxurRqk_F-tpCI5RmM-ff3VB4CT8CtfnC_xFGVliA47Xk/w400-h300/PXL_20230109_172610904.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">komè bento</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">(</span>kara-agè, agè-dashi tofu, side salad, sashimi assortment, and ika-umè-shiso roll</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My mom loved her eel rice bowl. It's simple but comforting for her. Look at that juicy egg! Yum!</div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSC-iG-J6U2SwzUgUn57JkCIH1YxSP972PhcqYrBCs61sgm0cBH69YKayl6gBal-lkcqrqWCx7jpG6Op1QOS7gARaPVswgszu6aWZK-5es4R8AKRhlzgDhHfa5RK_tmHZpl7CnyLs6aINAOK-RgF5GacExY4511D3T6NGqEPyLdD3ofeQmyh6Jp0L/s4032/PXL_20230109_172554197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglSC-iG-J6U2SwzUgUn57JkCIH1YxSP972PhcqYrBCs61sgm0cBH69YKayl6gBal-lkcqrqWCx7jpG6Op1QOS7gARaPVswgszu6aWZK-5es4R8AKRhlzgDhHfa5RK_tmHZpl7CnyLs6aINAOK-RgF5GacExY4511D3T6NGqEPyLdD3ofeQmyh6Jp0L/w400-h300/PXL_20230109_172554197.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;">una tama-don<br />(bbq unagi, onsen egg, negi,
pickled daikon, nori, fried onion)</div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Overall, the food was fresh and delicious, and the service was excellent! I want to come back for dinner so I can try out the grilled items that are only available for dinner. </div><p></p>Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-91190309738171259462023-01-18T21:36:00.004-06:002023-01-18T21:36:36.572-06:00Bamboo House ReviewHere's my first review of an Austin restaurant since my move back! One of my biggest gripes about the Austin food scene in the past and now is the lack of quality authentic Chinese food options.<div><br /></div><div>Living in Round Rock further limits the options, and I lack the motivation to drive to even North Austin to get food from my past picks - <a href="https://www.dinhochinesebbq.com/" target="_blank">Din Ho</a> and <a href="https://myfirstchinesebbq.com/" target="_blank">First Chinese BBQ</a>. However, when I heard about how a relative new comer, <a href="https://bamboohouseaustin.com/" target="_blank">Bamboo House</a>, serves up Peking duck, I made it a mission to go check it out!</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB1Eh-1VTBoX-N9I58OLzxM2LiAUjRKWPCqOTEi2ddMsi-NljJt3LA_sOeicNR6HHFCzYrYuAVJCBjfaL6cVG2A8gSPnA1DzDWMjjnWUw85zpNDcNJdy4fhKwxMDkQwaBYcZqhITf1QucCJmyakXTW26YTeCO5RYN1z6BNXryYkZkwjPZ-JIPNFYZY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="727" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB1Eh-1VTBoX-N9I58OLzxM2LiAUjRKWPCqOTEi2ddMsi-NljJt3LA_sOeicNR6HHFCzYrYuAVJCBjfaL6cVG2A8gSPnA1DzDWMjjnWUw85zpNDcNJdy4fhKwxMDkQwaBYcZqhITf1QucCJmyakXTW26YTeCO5RYN1z6BNXryYkZkwjPZ-JIPNFYZY=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Be prepared for long lines if you don't arrive by 11:45 AM. The good news is that they're able to turnover tables quickly so even though we arrived at 12:45 PM our first time and had to wait, it was only at most 15 minutes before being seated.</div><div><br /></div><div>After ordering at our first visit, we immediately started gawking at the tables around us. The portions are huge and everything looked delicious!</div><div><br /></div><div>My mom ordered the braised wheat gluten appetizer, which usually comes on a small plate for diners to pick at while drinking tea and waiting for the other courses to arrive, but this was a legit entrée size platter!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWEOSehueJOivAJAjYXbEKqMw1hmPPIOtHSJJuA1nV7TkD55aLJ36Ff7REcU5llDyHeC1AESFizxWr1rRFZNx8314biqdinGypvuKYNgunkK_MdzFYe-b63MKfNXh0OzsmCTv1Lh1klIgEIKGgyfZSq66x6MrWTdRQ29qxNxtuqiSS3P5rHAHFqHaQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="1292" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjWEOSehueJOivAJAjYXbEKqMw1hmPPIOtHSJJuA1nV7TkD55aLJ36Ff7REcU5llDyHeC1AESFizxWr1rRFZNx8314biqdinGypvuKYNgunkK_MdzFYe-b63MKfNXh0OzsmCTv1Lh1klIgEIKGgyfZSq66x6MrWTdRQ29qxNxtuqiSS3P5rHAHFqHaQ=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div>The salt and pepper fish fillet was my husband and daughter's favorite dish. Perfectly crispy, buttery, and savory. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivPZSLHutfqJAipWejKTanYL3eAPquYkUxhI491cO_UTmuh24lVyD4aLgUD_hk7L7DExElurz3OSd5B8Oq5lpW6dXAL4OSyDsK5Kx5g-D07DTA-A-6nA_uoukG851Ex7p65fqWJv8PgcuPgCKCXlZdRRYKtTmB-KZDLOwyKZNOhTGrre6tsjm4nd8W" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="1292" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivPZSLHutfqJAipWejKTanYL3eAPquYkUxhI491cO_UTmuh24lVyD4aLgUD_hk7L7DExElurz3OSd5B8Oq5lpW6dXAL4OSyDsK5Kx5g-D07DTA-A-6nA_uoukG851Ex7p65fqWJv8PgcuPgCKCXlZdRRYKtTmB-KZDLOwyKZNOhTGrre6tsjm4nd8W=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div>The surprise hit for my daughter was the duck soup that comes with your order of Peking duck (that's when you know this place is serious). I would have liked more ingredients in the soup. There's a little bit of cabbage and some tofu chunks, but pretty sparse. But the leftover soup and leftover rice make a killer rice porridge the next morning! </div><div><br /></div><div>The Peking duck arrives at the table beautifully assembled with all the accoutrements. It's pretty good! I wish that the duck skin can have less of the duck fat attached underneath it, but the duck meat tastes fresh and tender. It's really reasonably priced for all that you get. </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisLqVDYGDri1Z_Z4_GB5DZaSEDanMTRN_We2y0-e7wa5LxpeOSot3PySuvxKXI0gI1JtqVYVok-TTN5EWUW3jiUBqP53pwNKwVcyYcj6Hch9jG_8vPt9CO4ojLP4Q9MGoUdJVBNBMcTC1H13TPJ5XBfZJM6_GgWtIUDw9Y8HLGNHOxtBPuWvIWQ7bq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="969" data-original-width="1292" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisLqVDYGDri1Z_Z4_GB5DZaSEDanMTRN_We2y0-e7wa5LxpeOSot3PySuvxKXI0gI1JtqVYVok-TTN5EWUW3jiUBqP53pwNKwVcyYcj6Hch9jG_8vPt9CO4ojLP4Q9MGoUdJVBNBMcTC1H13TPJ5XBfZJM6_GgWtIUDw9Y8HLGNHOxtBPuWvIWQ7bq=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>Other Peking duck experiences I've blogged about <a href="http://food-dilettante.blogspot.com/2009/09/da-dong-kao-ya-awesome-peking-duck-in.html" target="_blank">Dadong Kaoya - 1st Visit</a> and <a href="http://food-dilettante.blogspot.com/2009/10/yuan-wei-zhai-beijing-duck-in-shenyang.html" target="_blank">Peking Duck in Shenyang: Yuan Wei Zhai</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our second visit to celebrate Lunar New Year early was just as tasty, but it seemed like the wait for the duck to be ready is longer if you arrive at the restaurant early. The standout dish we ordered the second time is the lobster noodle with cheese. I don't know where the cheese comes in, but I guess the noodles are very creamy. The lobster was deliciously meaty and fresh. It's a lot of messy work though, so we savored the more challenging parts at home.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yYd6pWg2y-o" width="320" youtube-src-id="yYd6pWg2y-o"></iframe></div><div><br /></div>We'll be back! There are more dishes I want to try! <br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com07010 Easy Wind Dr Unit 100, Austin, TX 78752, USA30.3390044 -97.71852552.0287705638211548 -132.8747755 58.649238236178846 -62.5622755tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-84158503489444425452023-01-08T11:59:00.001-06:002023-01-08T11:59:09.091-06:00Rebooting My Dinosaur of a Food Blog Post-Child, Post-Pandemic, and Post-DadAs expected, our lives have changed much since my last post about our trip to Montreal. That was written at a time when we were still a young married couple before a kid, before moving twice (Seattle to Madison and then Madison to Austin), and before the coronavirus outbreak. <div><br /></div><div>I've only played Pandemic, the board game, once at<a href="https://food-dilettante.blogspot.com/2015/12/exploring-ballard.html" target="_blank"> Cafe Mox inside Card Kingdom</a> in Seattle. It was gruesomely fascinating to see it play out in real life while trying to figure out how to keep our daughter safe, healthy, and in good spirits while seeing my dad fade away from us long-distance and my mom's life turn upside down. </div><div><br /></div><div>Cooking and baking at home rather than eating out became a focus for us while we were locked down in 2020, but it fell to the wayside at the close of 2020 and as we moved to Austin after my dad's passing to tend to other family needs. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLYKND8XtBTdwvS2FYyF1dZ5i7ALeAPXieGtDx38kOElAuum-mjCyFqVrZzLTUnpWneWF9oFd_FWDbxUPODSF_Tls6G__w01b8z8b1Z2gHxp8LuDr4DFmQcSSHum1NR_fXKPEK9VbxG-Oy_pYO1zsrPM1kLtVMjgsWN0TNpBbjvsJn2oEZytFIfwrz" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLYKND8XtBTdwvS2FYyF1dZ5i7ALeAPXieGtDx38kOElAuum-mjCyFqVrZzLTUnpWneWF9oFd_FWDbxUPODSF_Tls6G__w01b8z8b1Z2gHxp8LuDr4DFmQcSSHum1NR_fXKPEK9VbxG-Oy_pYO1zsrPM1kLtVMjgsWN0TNpBbjvsJn2oEZytFIfwrz=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div>Farewell to Grandpa, 2020, and our lives in Wisconsin<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZsODKkf1XThZQ_-56U4ZLW-SSJ_2mR6lMItYBJLR2DmwQDCN6ZzsGQz7z9PAcT8610dGD9e2K7FLFKfc50NOCKeHbRnu7spNe6C6iKjgwMiH2oas2n0mze8Y6LdjvTrcU8c4QzjydKtIETiDIzyNWET7Za1HWhXLIn0cCl6x8MTH2i297EuCyPJKg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZsODKkf1XThZQ_-56U4ZLW-SSJ_2mR6lMItYBJLR2DmwQDCN6ZzsGQz7z9PAcT8610dGD9e2K7FLFKfc50NOCKeHbRnu7spNe6C6iKjgwMiH2oas2n0mze8Y6LdjvTrcU8c4QzjydKtIETiDIzyNWET7Za1HWhXLIn0cCl6x8MTH2i297EuCyPJKg=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">We're moving again?!?!</div><br /></div><div>After almost 2 years since our move to Austin (3rd time residency in this city!!!), we're starting to feel some optimism about getting back into the swing of more social engagements and family vacations. I figured that I can start blogging again with more activities beyond the confines of our home, but I realized that my good ol' food blog is a thing of the past. I'm turning 40 this year and my preferred method of sharing experiences and opinions about food is now so retro. How do I use Instragram with the constant barrage of new features? What equipment and apps do I need to do a vlog? </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rMsaAa3i0RddPbWZJF6KIs3HMyO1c5ju4ewnL98xQUaR3xJF5p3gT9GzDVD_zOpefbMO_1Kt3LBFc8tPk5mOgxeo7Hn27aJKnWqvc6PemB3B4s3GqeRYssbfExOo7_OvOvBfuxL2S-lU4QAcE-AGvlhyg93V4NHj5G-Sy7RE9frJZdVJs9Bqgw0-/s4032/PXL_20220109_181212583.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6rMsaAa3i0RddPbWZJF6KIs3HMyO1c5ju4ewnL98xQUaR3xJF5p3gT9GzDVD_zOpefbMO_1Kt3LBFc8tPk5mOgxeo7Hn27aJKnWqvc6PemB3B4s3GqeRYssbfExOo7_OvOvBfuxL2S-lU4QAcE-AGvlhyg93V4NHj5G-Sy7RE9frJZdVJs9Bqgw0-/w400-h300/PXL_20220109_181212583.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Keep Austin Weird Bat Mural at the Triangle</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div><br /></div><div>Haha! I'm not going to worry about readership this time. It was never about that beyond sharing and communicating with a couple of friends and family. </div><div><br /></div><div>Food Dilettante, let's see how long our comeback lasts! Cheers!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxA8dmdKuXdB0lCOjwyWjX7_5-m8KvmSUZTgI6u3owBmo6D3b-3kggAu8oLb9nYhiRzemMUmx7gAOv9pwbF4UbfnKsZABgdz9n7adansNt2w5vBr23sTGZlQ8bd9IYPnLrttCgFv8pkLlk-m07DGFxkjcUxqv6MoQBZmMRNvRJA2ObET8zTaYQ9-tY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxA8dmdKuXdB0lCOjwyWjX7_5-m8KvmSUZTgI6u3owBmo6D3b-3kggAu8oLb9nYhiRzemMUmx7gAOv9pwbF4UbfnKsZABgdz9n7adansNt2w5vBr23sTGZlQ8bd9IYPnLrttCgFv8pkLlk-m07DGFxkjcUxqv6MoQBZmMRNvRJA2ObET8zTaYQ9-tY=w400-h300" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Glorious New Year Sugar Cookies from Our New Neighbors </div></div>Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-25415290694650232962016-07-24T13:25:00.000-05:002016-07-24T13:25:42.995-05:00Montreal in May Day 6On our last full day in Montreal, I took Mike to old Montreal in the morning. <br />
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Notre Dame in Old Montreal</div>
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Notre Dame</div>
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Coffee and Croissant at Maison Christian Faure</div>
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We walked along the waterfront and admired the buildings in the surrounding area.<br />
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Old Montreal</div>
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Old Montreal</div>
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Old Montreal</div>
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After a long walk through old Montreal, we took the metro out to the Olympic stadium and botanical gardens. This was our one regret in Montreal. There wasn't much to see at the Olympic stadium and the a major part of the gardens were under renovation and there were not a lot of flowers to see!<br />
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Olympic Stadium</div>
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Montreal Botanical Gardens</div>
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After a disappointing early afternoon, we headed back to the city center and meandered through the art district, which was a great way to people watch.</div>
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We finished the day with an early dinner at <a href="http://www.notkins.com/" target="_blank">Notkins</a>, a <i>hip</i> seafood restaurant, with an emphasis on "hip." The staff wore slinky black outfits and looked like models. There was a DJ near the the bar, which was lined with fresh oysters waiting to be shucked. We were so out of place with our run-down demeanor from walking all over town since the morning. I admit that I picked this restaurant because I wanted to experience the fake porta-potty restroom!<br />
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Port-a-potty trompe l'oeil restrooms</div>
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Inside the fake porta-potty</div>
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Feeling out of our element aside, the food was exquisite. The calamari was exceptionally meaty. The clam chowder had a smoky twist with a little bit of chorizo (not very New England but delicious!). Our main course was also impeccably cooked. The lobster meat in the burger was tender and sweet. My fish was fresh and had a great crunch on the exterior.<br />
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Calamari with papaya slaw and tarragon aioli</div>
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New England Clam Chowder</div>
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Lobster burger with fries</div>
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Special of the day fish with fiddleheads and mushrooms</div>
<br />Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0Old Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada45.5074534 -73.55441769999998845.5074534 -73.554417699999988 45.5074534 -73.554417699999988tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-77574352510863964462016-07-24T12:26:00.002-05:002016-07-24T12:26:49.750-05:00Montreal in May Day 5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We took advantage of a sunny day to hike up Mont Royal. Of course the whole purpose of a hike for me is a rewarding picnic!</div>
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I chopped up spinach and stuffed it in paper cups and topped it off with baby tomatoes and honey mustard dressing made from packets I took from the hotel breakfast bar!</div>
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Hotel salad prep!</div>
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I packed some hummus and marinated mushroom medley that I bought from Marché Jean Talon.</div>
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Hummus and marinated mushrooms</div>
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In our walk up Mont Royal, we passed by a multi-school event. Parents were cheering on kids running a marathon in the park.</div>
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Beaver Lake</div>
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The lookout at the top of Mont Royal is beautiful and expansive. We arrived at the tail end of tulip season and still got to enjoy the sea of flowers.<br />
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Mont Royal Lookout</div>
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Tulips</div>
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When it got a bit crowded at the lookout, we found a table and unpacked our lovely French/Jewish picnic. We needed to use up the St. Viateur bagel before we leave, so I brought that along rather than buying a baguette. We paired the bagel with salami, a smoked duck sausage, and two cheeses from La Fromagerie Hamel.</div>
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Picnic</div>
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Très délicieux!</div>
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Once the crowd subsided, we went back to the lookout and tried to spot the sites indicated on the compasses.<br />
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Mont St. Hilaire</div>
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Concise Story of Mont Royal</div>
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Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0Mount Royal, QC, Canada45.5125819 -73.6468307000000145.4680694 -73.727511700000008 45.557094400000004 -73.566149700000011tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-27615392348797343722016-06-03T23:29:00.001-05:002016-07-24T11:44:03.485-05:00Montreal in May Day 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I love staying at hotels with a full kitchen. Whenever I am vacationing in a city for longer than 2 days, I try my best to stay at these hotels. It saves some money and provides more flexibility in buying and cooking tantalizing food from local markets!</div>
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I spent day 4 in Montreal shopping for and cooking local foods.</div>
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For breakfast, we toasted bagels that I bought from the famous St. Viateur Bagels. We took bananas and cream cheese from the hotel's free breakfast buffet and heated up some slices of Chinese BBQ pork that we bought from Chinatown as our bacon substitute.</div>
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St. Viateur Bagels and Chinese BBQ Pork</div>
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After a satisfying breakfast, I went to the largest and one of the oldest public markets in Montreal, Marché Jean Talon.</div>
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Marché Jean Talon</div>
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Having frequented the Madison farmer's market on the Capitol Square, Jean Talon seems pretty small, but there were definitely some standout meats, cheeses, and produce!</div>
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Wonderfully sweet tomatoes!</div>
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Floral and sweet strawberries!</div>
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The cherry on top at the market was the awesome <a href="http://www.fromageriehamel.com/en/" target="_blank">La Fromangerie Hamel</a>. This is the ideal place for buying picnic supplies so I stocked up on cheese, crackers, and salami for a picnic the next day.</div>
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Super stinky cheese!</div>
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After a leisurely morning buying yummy groceries, Mike and I met up for a walk around the McGill University campus and coffee at the hipster <a href="http://www.humblelion.com/" target="_blank">Café Humble Lion</a>. The campus is beautiful and the eclectic Redpath Natural History Museum was quite a fun place to visit!<br />
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McGill University</div>
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Redpath Museum</div>
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Redpath Museum</div>
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Maple latte, scone, and croissant at Café Humble Lion</div>
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Mike showing his love with croissant flakes</div>
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Back at the hotel, I inventoried all the market goodies and started to improvise in the kitchen with restaurant salt and pepper packets and a mini bottle of truffle oil.</div>
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Strawberries, wild mushrooms, tomatoes, rutabaga, spinach, Persian cucumbers, mangoes, marinated mixed mushrooms, cheeses, and artisan sausages</div>
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I boiled the rutabaga with the venison and wild boar sausages before searing the sausages on a pan to give it a crust and flavor the pan before sautéing the spinach and wild mushrooms in the same pan.<br />
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Making it work!</div>
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Rutabaga and sausages</div>
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Wild mushrooms</div>
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A delicious frugal dinner with ingredients from Quebec province!</div>
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<br />Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-35007590345443506572016-05-29T02:08:00.001-05:002016-07-24T11:43:47.879-05:00Montreal in May Day 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
With my tummy fully recovered, I set out day 3 with the goal of walking and eating my way around Montreal. The underground metro was an efficient way of getting across town, but I felt that I was missing out on seeing the city. That's ok, because little did I know just how much walking I was going to do above ground.</div>
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Rue Peel Station</div>
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My first destination was Little Italy northeast of downtown. In my trip research, I came upon chef Chuck Hughes' <a href="http://www.westjetmagazine.com/story/article/chef-chuck-hughes-where-eat-montreal" target="_blank">recommendations</a> on eateries around town. Following his suggestion, I stopped at Caffe San Simeon for a cappuccino. If I was impressed with the city's French and English fluency, I was even more impressed this day as I experienced different neighborhoods besides Chinatown where other native languages are spoken! People in café were throwing around Italian, French, and English like it's easy. Multilingualism is such a beautiful thing!<br />
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Cappucino at Caffe San Simeon</div>
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I can't resist exploring grocery stores in different cities or countries and was happy to find a well-stocked locally made and imported Italian food store.</div>
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Milano Grocery Store</div>
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Freshly made pasta at Milano</div>
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I spotted a juggler performing in the middle of the street as I was leaving Little Italy to find a lunch spot in the Jewish quarter.<br />
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The walk took longer than expected and forced me to go through this sparsely populated underpass area. Luckily a pair of cyclists rode by, and I sped up to get out of the area with them.<br />
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After emerging from that spotty area, I arrived at the Jewish quarter where there are cute shops, residential buildings, and enticing restaurants.</div>
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Flower shop</div>
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Montreal architectural trademark - stairway entrances</div>
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Montreal is all about smoked meats, which wasn't what I expected. I always thought it was a more NYC item, but Montreal takes smoked meat sandwiches very seriously. Apparently, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal-style_smoked_meat" target="_blank">Montreal smoked meat</a> has less sugar and is seasoned with the classic Montreal steak seasonings. <br />
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It seems that locals like it even more than the stereotypical Montreal food symbol, the poutine. There are several <a href="http://www.mtlblog.com/2015/03/best-montreal-smoked-meat/" target="_blank">great spots</a> for smoked meat sandwiches, and I picked the one that is a local favorite that doesn't have a line out the door, Lester's.<br />
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Lester's Deli</div>
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Right off the bat, one reason why Lester's doesn't have a line may be because it's so far from any metro stations! After my long trek on foot from Little Italy, I was really dreading my impending walk to the closest station. I told myself that since there's nothing I can do about it, I might as well enjoy my lunch!<br />
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Root beer and a classic Lester's smoked meat sandwich with pickles and fries hit the spot. The meat was tender yet lean. The bread was like an edible napkin. Who needs bread when you have delicious meat?</div>
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I love the vinegar spray bottle for salt and vinegar fries!</div>
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Before leaving the Jewish quarter, I bought half a dozen bagels from St. Viateur for breakfast for the rest of the week. Why eat hotel breakfast bar bagels when we can eat locally made fresh ones?<br />
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St. Viateur Bagels</div>
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After taking a deep breath of freshly baked bagel aroma, I trekked back towards the underpass, but this time, I took the stairs to get up to the highway and took in the view from above.</div>
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Walking on the highway</div>
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After Mike got out of the conference, I suggested taking his coworkers to experience classic French food at <a href="http://restaurantlexpress.com/" target="_blank">Restaurant l'Express</a> before they return to Seattle the next day. The ambiance was spot on and the food was impeccable. Restaurant l'Express was the highlight of our trip because it introduced Mike to French cuisine and bone marrow, and he thoroughly enjoyed the experience! We also had a great time unwinding with his coworkers!</div>
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Restaurant l'Express</div>
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We all got really excited about the giant jar of house made cornichons that came with bread basket.<br />
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Just weeks ago, we watched an episode of Julia Child cooking fish soup (la soupe de poissions) with Jacques Pepin. I love starting meals with a warm bowl of soup, and chose this comforting dish as my first course.<br />
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La soupe de poisons</div>
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Mike wanted to try something new and bravely ordered the bone marrow (l'os a moelle) with sea salt. He enjoyed spreading the roasted marrow on the croutons and actually liked it more than my soup!<br />
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L'os a moelle</div>
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For our main course, I ordered roasted quail with wild rice (les cailles roties et le riz sauvage) and Mike ordered the beef, chicken, and vegetable stew (pot au feu). The quail was the best dish I tasted on our whole trip. It had a sweet-sour balsamic glaze that awakened my palate and the quail was actually quite meaty for its size. It was exquisite! Mike's pot au feu may look simple and bland, but the meats were tender and flavorful. <br />
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Les cailles roties et le riz sauvage</div>
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Pot au feu</div>
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This day more than made up for my first day of being tied to the hotel and eating bland food!</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-60871321488887355082016-05-23T23:46:00.002-05:002016-05-23T23:46:42.861-05:00Montreal in May Day 2After spending a day recovering, I was ready to treat myself to a leisurely lunch and prep for Mike's birthday. We started off the morning walking to Mike's conference site. He ended up walking through Dorchester Square Park every day for work.<br />
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Birthday Boy at Dorchester Square</div>
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After dropping Mike off at the conference, I walked to the metro, purchased a week-long pass, and got out at the Place d'Armes metro stop to explore Old Montreal and go to a fancy pastry shop. It's interesting exiting out of Place d'Armes because Chinatown was to the left and Old Montreal was to the right, and the architecture provided obvious visual cues. </div>
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Chinese-themed Holiday Inn to the left of Place d'Armes metro stop</div>
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Basilique Notre Dame de Montreal to the right</div>
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I really wanted to check out the interior of Notre Dame, but I figured that Mike would want to explore it together later in the week.<br />
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Basilique Notre Dame de Montreal</div>
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I continued on to the streets behind the cathedral and found a few cute shops at the ground floor of the character-filled 1800s stone buildings, but there were still many touristy souvenir stores that I avoided.</div>
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After a lot of walking, I finally reached <a href="http://maisonchristianfaure.ca/en/" target="_blank">Maison Christian Faure</a>, a highly regarded patisserie and pastry school. I previously read about how they make some of the best croissants in Montreal and saw photos of their beautiful desserts, and I knew that I had to get Mike's birthday cake(s) here.<br />
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Macarons and cakes at Maison Christian Faure</div>
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But first, I needed to catch up on good food and taste test the goods before buying the birthday treats!</div>
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Je fais du snacking toute seule</div>
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I started off my lunch with a deliciously velvety carrot bisque followed by a lobster and crab pâte à choux. Rather than a roll or a bun, the pastry shell made the "sandwich" light, airy, and crunchy. </div>
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<span class="st"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">Velouté</span><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"> de </span><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">carottes</span></span></div>
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Pâte à choux de homard et crabe royal</div>
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In keeping with the pâte à choux theme, I selected a yuzu cream-filled é<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"></span>clair for dessert. Yup, the desserts here should be good enough for Mike!<br />
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Yuzu cream Ă©<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"></span>clair</div>
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After lunch, I decided that I needed to burn off the calories and keep the birthday treats cold so I walked all the way back to the hotel. It was tiring, but I got to enjoy a few cool sightings, a couple of which brought back memories of my art history education.</div>
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Professional dog walker</div>
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Parisian Art Nouveau metro entrance</div>
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Ju Ming's tai chi-inspired sculpture</div>
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Once Mike got off of work, we headed to Chinatown for one of his favorite Chinese dishes, dumplings! I know. Why the heck did I pick Chinese food when I could've picked French food? Well, I figured we had the whole week to try French food and that we should probably stick to what he enjoys on his birthday! Plus, Chinatown is familiar yet slightly different around the world! It's fun to do a comparison of how Chinese food and culture have adapted to different countries.<br />
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Mai Xiang Dumplings</div>
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In Montreal, the Chinese menus are in Chinese, French, and English. The only other time I experienced a French-Chinese menu was in Paris, but those menus were missing English.<br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Pork, shrimp, and mushroom dumplings, lamb and chives dumplings, </div>
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and curry beef pan fried dumplings</div>
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After dinner we walked around Chinatown and found some interesting juxtaposition of old Breton-style buildings and Franco-Chinese signs.</div>
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We ended the day by trying two of the four desserts that I brought back from Masion Christian Faure. Mike enjoyed the lime mousse tart filled with raspberry but was very suspicious about the pink rose-flavored tart. Yes, I got that for myself, and I'm not ashamed of it! We saved the chocolate pecan mini-cake and mango passion fruit tart for a later day and savored every morsel of the well-crafted treats!</div>
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Joyeux anniversaire, Mike!</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0Montreal, QC, Canada45.5016889 -73.56725599999998645.1459249 -74.212702999999991 45.8574529 -72.921808999999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-85887626879489709512016-05-22T22:00:00.000-05:002016-05-22T22:02:11.907-05:00Montreal in May Day 1We recently went to Montreal for Mike's work conference, and I tagged along to make it more of a birthday trip for Mike. The best thing to come out of this trip was my relative ease in speaking French compared to my struggles while living in Paris back in 2006 - 2007. It's not like I've advanced my grasp of the language since living in Paris. If anything, my vocabulary and grammar have become quite rusty. However, the locals in Montreal made me feel at ease communicating with them in what likely sounded like broken French. When they felt compelled to make it easy for me and switch to English, I told them to please let me practice speaking in French and they obliged. While in France, I was afraid to speak because I felt that every time I said anything, I was being judged. I spent much of the time composing grammatically correct sentences in my head rather than just going for it. This time, I just blurted things out and occasionally fixed my sentences out loud. I had no shame and had a blast!<br />
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A warm welcome! Thanks, Marriott!</div>
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The trip started off fairly rough because I caught a stomach bug at the very last minute in Seattle. I took it easy on my first day in Montreal and kept close to the hotel. I didn't have much of a plan except that I needed to have easy access to a restroom. I heard about the underground city but didn't realize that it was integrated so thoroughly throughout the city that the entire downtown area seemed like a giant mall above and below ground! All I had to do to enter the r<span style="color: #6a6a6a;">Ă©</span>seau sous terrain (RESO) was to go to the bank next door to the hotel and follow my way to the endless string of shops. At one of the malls there was a free <a href="http://expobarbie.ca/en/" target="_blank">Barbie exhibit</a> with donations going to Make a Wish Foundation.<br />
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The collection was impressive! My favorites were the old Hollywood Barbies.<br />
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Barbie Exhibit</div>
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"I Love Lucy" dolls</div>
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"Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "My Fair Lady"</div>
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My two favorite outfits from "Gone with the Wind"</div>
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Later in the week, I made Mike come with me so he can take the following silly photo.</div>
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Broken French Speaking Barbie!</div>
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Afterwards, I had a bland sandwich on purpose and headed back to the hotel to work remotely and rest.</div>
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A dull lunch at Au Pain Dor<span style="color: #6a6a6a; font-family: inherit;">Ă©</span></div>
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I was disappointed that my first dinner in Montreal was a $2.59 can of chicken noodle soup from a beer shop, but I was able to recover quickly to enjoy the rest of our trip!</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0Montreal, QC, Canada45.5016889 -73.56725599999998645.1459249 -74.212702999999991 45.8574529 -72.921808999999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-25305312740666404872016-05-22T19:30:00.002-05:002016-05-22T19:39:02.470-05:00Restaurants by Lake Washington ShowdownThere are so many options to dine by the water in Seattle. The question is which waterfront do you want to check out? There are several bodies of water around here, and we have mainly explored Lake Washington thus far.<br />
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Seattle had its restaurant week in late April, and we picked a restaurant based on the midway point between our work and our friends in Redmond.<br />
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I remembered Kirkland as a well-to-do neighborhood. It's still highbrow but, I didn't expect the area around <a href="http://www.thewoodmark.com/bin-on-the-lake/" target="_blank">Bin on the Lake</a> to be pretty and relaxing too! <br />
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We strolled around the park by the restaurant before dinner and poked fun at the parade of fancy people arriving by boat to eat at the various restaurants near the dock.<br />
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View of Lake Washington from the park at Carillon Point</div>
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A good way to avoid traffic if you can afford it!</div>
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View from Bin on the Lake</div>
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The restaurant week menus were a bit disappointing at all of the participating restaurants because they were very similar by cuisine and you can tell that they were heavy on the filler or common ingredients - tons of pasta, chicken, flat iron steaks, and salmon. Bin on the Lake was one of the few that stood out to me because it was seafood-centric and the desserts weren't just "choose a sorbet flavor."</div>
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I'm not an oyster fanatic, but apparently our friend recognized the kind of oysters that we got as the appetizer just by looking at them. I was very impressed, Bing!<br />
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Mignonettes with red wine vinegar</div>
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Mike definitely isn't an oyster person, so he opted for a very warming carrot bisque. </div>
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Charred baby carrot bisque with preserved lemon crema, carrot greens, and crispy prosciutto</div>
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The main course dishes were very well done but on the small side. However, after finishing all three courses, we felt sufficiently full. The restaurant week portions are definitely the "shared" appetizer portions on their regular menu, so the $30 meal per person is almost the same as ordering 3 "shared" dishes on a regular day. But regardless of how much of a deal restaurant week actually is, we enjoyed celebrating friendship and breaking up the work week with delicious food!</div>
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Wagyu flat iron steak with miso glazed potatoes, braising greens, and black garlic demi</div>
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Pan seared scallops with braised oxtail, brown butter parsnips, </div>
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chanterelle mushrooms, and arugula</div>
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A tip for future Bin on the Lake customers, get the doughnuts and skip the skimpy cheese plate! </div>
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Cheese plate</div>
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Ricotta doughnut holes with lavender sugar and caramel</div>
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We had another great dinner by Lake Washington after work recently because Mike had an off-site meeting in the Leschi neighborhood. We have never been in the area and were surprised at how pretty it was as well! Bin on the Lake is on the east side of the lake and looks towards University of Washington with the Olympic mountain range in the distance while <a href="http://www.bluwaterbistro.com/locations/leschi/" target="_blank">Bluwater Bistro</a> is on the west side of the lake and looks towards Bellevue and Mercer Island. It also has an awesome view of Mount Rainier!</div>
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View of Mount Rainier from Bluwater's parking lot!</div>
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View of downtown Bellevue</div>
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Happy hour appetizers here are pretty awesome! I never liked American-Chinese crab rangoon but Bluwater's are so delicious! <br />
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Dungeness crab and cream cheese wontons</div>
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with mango coulis and Thai sweet chili sauce</div>
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The clams are simple and fresh. <br />
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Steamed local manila clams</div>
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The main course dishes are also very well done. I love it when the sides are not just an afterthought. </div>
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Fish and chips</div>
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Parmesan crusted rockfish with herb roasted red potatoes and sautéed green beans</div>
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Overall, I think Bluwater wins in terms of food, portions, price, service, and view, but Bin on the Lake focuses on more elevated dishes and it's still a great option!</div>
<br />Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0Lake Washington, Washington, USA47.6215474 -122.2557560000000247.279112399999995 -122.90120300000002 47.9639824 -121.61030900000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-43220962918732143662016-04-24T18:33:00.000-05:002016-04-24T18:33:09.272-05:00Groupon-ing Our Way around DowntownApparently I purchased some Groupons around the same time and they were all expiring in the same month. As we both recovered from a nasty cold, we rushed out and celebrated our crawl back to good health!<br />
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I heard that the<a href="http://www.skyviewobservatory.com/" target="_blank"> Sky View Observatory</a> has a better view than the Space Needle and is less crowded. It did not disappoint! <br />
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Columbia Center</div>
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View of downtown from the 73rd floor</div>
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SoDo</div>
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Area where Mike works - posh</div>
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Area where I work - grimy</div>
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After taking in Seattle from high above, we headed over to Gameworks to indulge in an afternoon of video games ($15 Groupon for an all day game pass with some points for ticket-dispensing games). I remembered when Gameworks was opening for the first time in downtown Seattle in the late 1990s, my brother and I were super excited to test out the latest arcade games there. The arcade area hasn't changed much since then, but they've added a computer gaming area on the second floor. I think I'm getting too old for the loud environment, but I did enjoy spending our ticket game points at the photo booth! <br />
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Say "Cheese" - y</div>
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On another weekend, we got to know the seedier history of Seattle by taking a "Beneath the Streets" walking tour. The tour took us around Pioneer Square and shed light on what life in Seattle was like at sea level (now underground) in the downtown area from the 1800s through prohibition. </div>
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Shady Entrance to the "Beneath the Streets" Tour and </div>
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Pioneer Square with Chief Seattle's Bronze Bust</div>
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Entering a speakeasy from an alley</div>
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The coolest tidbit we learned was that all the glass squares on the sidewalks were actually the skylights built for the underground (or sea-level) passages for shady businesses after the city raised the ground to prevent flooding. The remnants of these skylights are everywhere around Pioneer Square!</div>
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Skylight glass from the surface and</div>
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Skylight from an underground comedy club</div>
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I'm glad that we can still do fun things around downtown and not just associate it with work!</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-4897270483569180212016-04-17T20:05:00.001-05:002016-04-17T20:07:25.467-05:00Seattle, "der Lenz ist da!"Ever since we moved to Seattle, everyone we met has been telling us how everyone here lives for the Spring and Summer. It's supposed to be exceptionally beautiful.<br />
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Well, Spring has finally arrived, and it's glorious! I can't help skip a bit every time we step outside when the sun is beaming, and the cheer in this 1930's German song really reflects how awesome this time of year is (yes, I'm aware of the sexual innuendo in the song but it doesn't negate the joy of the season)!<br />
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"Veronika, der Lenz ist da" by the Comedian Harmonists</div>
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The moment it got warm enough to think about heading to higher ground, we headed out to <a href="http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/twin-falls-state-park" target="_blank">Twin Falls</a> in North Bend just beyond Snoqualmie east of Seattle. We are a bit out of shape so the trail was just challenging enough to make it seem like we're getting a workout without completely discouraging us. I want to work towards doing longer and more challenging trails at Mount Rainier by the end of the summer.</div>
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Really cool plant along the trail</div>
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Twin Falls</div>
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On the way back towards Seattle, we stopped by <a href="http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/snoqualmie-falls" target="_blank">Snoqualmie Falls</a>, which has become a major tourist attraction, but it's well worth battling the crowds when the falls are at its fullest.</div>
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Snoqualmie Falls</div>
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Getting photobombed by our friend</div>
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We took advantage of another beautiful weekend to check out the Washington State Fair in Puyallup southeast of Seattle. State fairs are kind of the same from state to state with the requisite fried foods, rickety rides that you pray won't break while you're on it, and farm animals. But it was still worth soaking up some vitamin D while hanging out with friends!</div>
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Favorite food from the fair - warm scone with raspberry jam</div>
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The thing that did us in at the fair and had us calling it a day was me accidentally winning the ring toss. Poor Mike had to endure the humiliation of carrying the monstrous stuffed animal to the car...my hero!</div>
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Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0Snoqualmie, WA, USA47.5287132 -121.8253905999999947.4429377 -121.98675209999999 47.614488699999995 -121.6640291tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-74763810065161258142016-03-20T17:39:00.002-05:002016-03-20T17:39:48.589-05:00Nothing Like Mom's Soup!I've been feeling under the weather lately and wanted something warm and comforting. As I was browsing through all the wonderful things I wanted to buy at <a href="http://www.uwajimaya.com/" target="_blank">Uwajimaya</a>, the oxtails jumped out at me. I can make my mom's awesome luo song tang!<br />
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Luo song tang tastes a lot like borscht but without beets. The sweetness of the beets is replaced by the sweetness of the carrots, and in my mom's version, daikon radish. It looks like you can find different variations of this Chinese recipe. Many incorporate potatoes and more tomatoes than my version of ma's recipe.<br />
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My mom never wrote down her recipes for me. Everything I learned about Chinese cooking was by watching my mom cook from when I was a toddler through college. She never measured her ingredients, and I never stopped and asked her how much she's putting in. Instead, we chatted about other things going on in life while I served my time as her sous chef. Chinese cooking became second nature to me. By the time I had to cook my own meals, I didn't have to ask her for a collection of her recipes. I bought the ingredients for luo song tang based on my memories of the look, smell, and taste of the soup.<br />
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<b>Luo Song Tang with Oxtail Bones</b></div>
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<u>Ingredients</u></div>
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1 small cabbage, chopped into 1 inch cubes</div>
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1 medium daikon radish, chopped into semi-circles</div>
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3 carrots, chopped</div>
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1 large white onion</div>
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3 roma tomatoes, chopped</div>
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4-5 slices of ginger</div>
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2 bay leaves</div>
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salt to taste</div>
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I remembered that we preferred the lighter and sweeter taste of boiled daikon over potatoes, and I remembered that you need to have good chunks of beef bones to give the broth depth. Whenever my mom was going to braise meat or boil them in a soup, she always par-cooked the meat in water to get rid of the blood and fat. In Western cuisine, you would usually brown the meat in a pan on all sides to seal in the juices. That's really tasty, but I boiled the oxtail chunks this time because I didn't want a rich broth. I wanted a clear and soothing broth.<br />
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I chopped all the veggies while the oxtail bones where boiling and dumped them all into a slow-cooker along with the bay leaves and ginger. I added water to the slow cooker about a third of the way up the pile of vegetables. The vegetables release a lot of water, so don't pour too much water!<br />
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After the oxtail bones cooked for about 10 minutes, I pulled them out and placed them on top of the veggies in the slow cooker, sprinkled some salt, and I let it cook on high for 8 hours.<br />
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Oxtail chunks</div>
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Halfway through, I nestled the oxtail bones underneath the veggies. Once the soup is done (trust me, you'll know when it's done by the aroma that fills the kitchen), pull out the ginger slices and bay leaves, and skim out the beef oil.<br />
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You can serve the soup with or without the meat from the oxtail. My mom used to reserve the bone meat for the two of us to share after a hard day in the kitchen, and we would dip the meat in Chinese black vinegar. It was a simple but delicious treat!<br />
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Thanks for making me feel better, mom, even though you're not here in person!<br />
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Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-81202691979114505422016-03-19T16:36:00.000-05:002016-03-19T16:36:49.999-05:00Ballard Farmer's Market and Lunch at Macleod's<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A few weeks ago, we checked out the farmer's market in Ballard for the first time. I was a little bit disappointed by the size and lack of variety, but, hey, I'm thankful that we can even go to a farmer's market in winter! Despite the rain and limited market offerings, Ballard is as charming as ever.<br />
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Fairly small market</div>
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Awesome floral flavored sodas!</div>
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Gorgeous Piopinni mushrooms</div>
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Purple broccolini</div>
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There were a lot of delicious but pricey eateries around the market. Macleod's was in our price range, and the Scottish seaside ambiance really caught our attention. </div>
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Macleod's</div>
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Cute interior</div>
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The fish and chips were spot on and the fish tacos were light and citrusy. We liked that the scotch egg came with tasty accoutrements, but I happen to know that eggs past their prime tend to have a flat bottom like this one. I'll let that pass this time. ;-)</div>
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Scotch egg with pickled vegetables and cheese</div>
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Proper fish and chips</div>
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Fish tacos</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com05200 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107, USA47.66593 -122.3823710000000347.665596 -122.38300150000003 47.666264000000005 -122.38174050000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-50140073031002855102016-03-19T15:56:00.003-05:002016-03-19T15:56:57.559-05:00Scenes from a Typical Work Day in Seattle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As bad as the traffic is, we feel very lucky to spend some extra time together chatting in the car, listening to music or NPR, and taking in the scenery.<br />
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On a clear day, we can see Mount Rainier looming in the distance.<br />
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View of Mount Rainier as we drive towards downtown</div>
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As we approach the exit to Mike's office, we are reminded by the Space Needle that we really do work in Seattle now.</div>
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Space Needle and South Lake Union</div>
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I work in the area of Seattle that doesn't get any love on postcards, but the business and industrial activities here defined the city long before Amazon and Google came into town.</div>
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Plane parts being transported by rail in the Industrial District</div>
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The train tracks run between my office and the Starbucks HQ.<br />
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Coffee break at the Starbucks HQ</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0Seattle, WA, USA47.6062095 -122.332070847.2636815 -122.9775178 47.9487375 -121.68662379999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-65161335225760217772016-03-13T15:48:00.000-05:002016-03-13T15:48:35.131-05:00Exploring BothellSeveral weeks ago, we continued our exploration of potential neighborhoods to settle down in. As I started working, we've realized that we need to live closer to the city to alleviate our arduous commute. Several co-workers live in the Bothell area and really enjoy it. It's still north of Seattle but not as far north as we are and a bit to the east.<br />
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What's surprising about Bothell was the emphasis on the city's history. It may have been a coincidence that we happened to pick out places that were a blast from the past.<br />
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We set out for lunch on <a href="http://www.ci.bothell.wa.us/?p=1464" target="_blank">Main Street</a> and found it cute and not crowded. It looks like the city will be doing a two-phase revitalization project on Main Street to make it more bustling. That would be fantastic as we're always looking for a parking- and pedestrian-friendly area to walk around on the weekend.<br />
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Cute mural advertising Woodland Park Zoo (not in Bothell but in north Seattle)</div>
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There were a couple restaurants to choose from, but since we haven't had Thai food since moving here, we settled on <a href="http://www.penthai.com/" target="_blank">Pen Thai</a>. The food was pretty decent but not a restaurant I would go out of my way for.<br />
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Pad See Ew with Beef</div>
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Sweet and Sour Chicken</div>
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Before leaving Main Street, we walked down to the bakery to pick up some sweets for an afternoon treat at home.</div>
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Hillcrest Bakery on Main Street </div>
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Since it was a rare non-rainy day, we headed to the <a href="http://parkstrails.myparksandrecreation.com/details.aspx?pid=308" target="_blank">Park at Bothell Landing</a>. This park is really cool as there's a trail that runs along the Sammamish River, and it has a few historic buildings that you can tour, including the first schoolhouse in Bothell built in 1885!<br />
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Trail along the Sammamish River</div>
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Sleeping ducks</div>
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Bridge over Sammamish River</div>
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1893 William Hannan House and 1895 School House</div>
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After a nice walk in the park, we checked out antiques at the <a href="http://www.countryvillagebothell.com/" target="_blank">Country Village</a>. It's a themed outdoor shopping center filled with antique shops, boutiques, and chickens running amok!<br />
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We bought a couple packets of loose leaf tea from a boutique and had our own afternoon tea back at home to finish up our day!</div>
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Treats from Hillcrest Bakery</div>
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We enjoyed Bothell and think that the neighborhood is really livable! It's definitely on our list of options!</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0Bothell, WA, USA47.7623204 -122.2054034999999947.6769484 -122.36676499999999 47.8476924 -122.04404199999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-10122619104373010142016-02-19T15:16:00.001-06:002016-02-19T15:32:57.143-06:00Constantly in Starbucks's ShadowLove it or hate it, Starbucks has become an international force dominating the coffee and now tea scene. Mike and I aim to try out different cafes here as Seattle is known for great coffee that isn't tied to Starbucks, but we'll make an exception when Starbucks-addicted friends and family visit. Our first visitor was my sister-in-law who happens to be the biggest Starbucks fan I know. The first thing we did when she landed was head to the <a href="http://roastery.starbucks.com/" target="_blank">Starbucks Reserve Roastery</a> for lunch. This isn't the original Starbucks, which is located at 1912 Pike St, but it is where they roast rare beans in small batches, test out new beverages that have not yet been rolled out to regular Starbucks stores, and chat with customers about the different ways to brew coffee and the different flavor notes of each Starbucks Reserve bean.<br />
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This place is beautiful.<br />
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The grand entrance</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgEmBTIIcnt_lYzfUsHzC_ARAka_vTblwxUjz74uGDTvSUJ5piM5DIk8u2xJM5mYqd86EPPNpsDU13VLydvfPj7p3RzcIg5amfSkxLuAkQRT0dllN6RfW38_TSMBIKttD-wniycs0NEI/s1600/IMG_2409.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgEmBTIIcnt_lYzfUsHzC_ARAka_vTblwxUjz74uGDTvSUJ5piM5DIk8u2xJM5mYqd86EPPNpsDU13VLydvfPj7p3RzcIg5amfSkxLuAkQRT0dllN6RfW38_TSMBIKttD-wniycs0NEI/s400/IMG_2409.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Serious Pie inside of the Starbucks Reserve</div>
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Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Pear, Hazelnuts, and Black Trumpet Aioli</div>
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Soft Eggs, Prosciutto, and Arugula Pizza</div>
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Starbucks Reserve Beans </div>
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Siphon flight in progress ($22 for 2)</div>
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Beans that get refilled through the pipes</div>
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The downstairs tasting room</div>
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Bags that don't meet the weight standards are pushed into the barrel</div>
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After a delicious lunch at Serious Pie, we walked around, took in the rich smell around us, and tucked into our comfy chairs with our <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/espresso/smoked-butterscotch-latte" target="_blank">smoked butterscotch latte</a> with milk produced by Serious Pie. Yes, it's over-the-top. I felt so special drinking this test-run latte, but it debuted this week at all locations! However, I doubt that your latte contains milk that is specially made by Serious Pie, ha! It's actually the least sweet latte I've had at Starbucks. The smokiness is very pronounced. </div>
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Smoked Butterscotch Lattes</div>
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Being a wide-eye tourist, I talked myself into buying some of these much hyped about "rare" beans. We got into a detailed conversation with a barista about the beans that have the least acidity and still taste awesome. The Guatemala from Monte David is the least acidic of the reserve roasts that will be rolled out en masse soon, but the Tanzania Mt. Meru has some acidity and is the most exclusive roast that will never be mass produced. I had to take home a small bag of each, and they're indeed delicious and true to the flavors described by the barista.</div>
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Low acidity roasts</div>
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As unique as this particular Starbucks is, Seattleites can't feel special for long. Apparently, they plan to open more Reserve locations throughout the U.S. soon - Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. :-/</div>
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Weeks after our first visit to the Reserve, I got a job in the SoDo area (south of downtown), and my office just happens to be right behind the Starbucks corporate headquarters. </div>
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View of Starbucks Corporate HQ from my office</div>
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What to do but to celebrate at the Reserve again with a mole mocha!</div>
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Mole Mocha - espresso with milk, smoked chocolate sauce, sesame, and chiles</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com01124 Pike St, Seattle, WA 98101, USA47.6140297 -122.3283488000000147.6133607 -122.32960930000002 47.614698700000005 -122.32708830000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-91499386618434575932016-02-13T19:44:00.004-06:002016-02-13T19:45:16.040-06:00Crispy Skin Salmon and Experimenting with BeetsContinuing on with the whole salmon I purchased from the <a href="http://food-dilettante.blogspot.com/2016/02/what-to-do-with-salmon-bones.html" target="_blank">previous post</a>, I wanted to use one of the fillets to try to achieve a true crispy skinned salmon. All my past oven-roasting attempts failed to crisp the skin. This time I cooked the salmon in a pan skin-side down for 80% of the cooking time, and achieved the perfect crunch!<br />
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For the side, I forced myself to experiment with the golden beets (roots, stems, and leaves) I got at the market. Beets have always been intimidating to me because of the color and the raw earthy taste. I couldn't resist buying the golden beets because they were so pretty and the leaves looked really fresh. I chopped the beets into half moon pieces and roasted them in the oven with sliced onions. I chopped the beet stems and leaves into quarter inch pieces and sauteed them with sliced garlic, cooking the stems first then the leaves. The beet stems and leaves are surprisingly tender! I actually prefer it over spinach because it doesn't leave an irony after taste.<br />
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To bring the dish together, I made a blackberry reduction with fresh blackberries, white wine, blackberry jam, salt, and pepper.<br />
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Crispy Skin Salmon with Blackberry Reduction, Oven-Roasted Beets, and Sauteed Beet Greens</div>
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Dinner was sublime! I was able to use the leftover salmon and sauce for a salad the next day. The blackberry reduction served as a delicious dressing!<br />
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<b>Crispy Skin Salmon with Blackberry Reduction</b></div>
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<u>Ingredients</u></div>
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Salmon fillets (4 oz pieces)</div>
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1/2 cup fresh blackberries</div>
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1/2 cup white wine</div>
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1 Tbs blackberry jam</div>
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Blackberry Reduction</div>
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Put the blackberries, white wine, and jam in a small sauce pan on low heat. Let the sauce cook uncovered while you cook the fish. Season the sauce with salt and pepper once it has reduced.</div>
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Crispy Skin Salmon</div>
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Sprinkle salt on the skin side of the salmon and let the fish sit for 5 minutes. The salt will draw out moisture. Pat the skin dry with a paper towel. Heat up 1 Tbs of vegetable oil in a medium sized pan. Cook the fish one or two at a time so you don't crowd the pan, which will steam the skin rather than fry it. When the oil is shimmering, place a piece of salmon in the pan, skin side down. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the flesh side of the fish in the pan. When the fish starts to looked cook halfway up, flip the fish over flesh side down. It should only take a minute or two at this point. </div>
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<b>Oven-roasted Golden Beets and Sauteed Beet Greens</b></div>
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<u>Ingredients</u></div>
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Beet stems and leaves, cut into 1/4 inch</div>
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3 cloves of garlic, sliced</div>
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Golden beets, cut into half moon 1/4 inch thick pieces</div>
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1/4 onion, sliced</div>
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Beets all prepped!</div>
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When you prep the beets, make sure to separate the stems from the leaves because you'll want to cook the stems first before the leaves to soften it enough without making the leaves mushy.</div>
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Beets ready for the oven</div>
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Place the half moon beet pieces in a rimmed baking sheet with sliced onions and toss with olive oil and salt. Make sure all the pieces are arranged in a single layer and bake at 375 F. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.</div>
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Sauteed Beet Greens</div>
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Heat a pan with 1/2 Tbs of olive oil. Saute the garlic until fragrant then add the stems. Cook the stems until the stems are shiny then add the leaves. Season with salt and pepper.</div>
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When you plate the dish, make sure to put the reduction at the bottom of the plate to keep the salmon skin crispy!</div>
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One of my favorite meals!</div>
Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-22882413440669032352016-02-06T19:27:00.000-06:002016-02-06T19:50:09.520-06:00What To Do with Salmon BonesI'm really enjoying cooking lavish meals on a reasonable budget recently. First off, it helps that we live close to several great grocery stores with deals on organic meats and produce and wild caught seafood. Thanks, Trader Joe's, Fred Meyer, and Central Market (not the same Central Market chain as the one in Texas)!<br />
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Fred Meyer had another sale on wild caught whole sockeye salmon at $3.99/lb. I purchased a $15 salmon and they filleted, scaled, and saved the bones in a bag for me! The service was fantastic! I didn't even have to ask them to save the bones for me! <a href="http://food-dilettante.blogspot.com/2015/12/what-to-do-with-whole-salmon-for-two.html" target="_blank">Last time</a> I bought a whole salmon, I opted not to have the fish monger fillet the fish for me because I wanted to try cooking it whole. The problem was that Mike struggled with the bones, and it took me a long time to take out the bones on the remainder of the cooked fish for the fish cakes. Unless my mom, the fish queen, visits, I'm going to stick to filleted salmon.<br />
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<b>Salmon Broth</b></div>
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<u>Ingredients</u></div>
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Salmon bones</div>
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4-5 Slices of ginger</div>
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1 Cup of white wine</div>
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A handful of dried seaweed</div>
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A medium pot of water</div>
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The first thing I did with the fish when I got home was freeze one of the fillets and boil the fish bones with a couple slices of ginger in a pot of water with about a cup of white wine to make fish stock. Once the stock started to boil, I remembered the bag of purple seaweed (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmaria_palmata" target="_blank">dulse</a>) that my mom gave me from her trip to Nova Scotia. I added a chunk of the dried seaweed to the stock to bring in the natural saltiness of the sea. I lowered the heat and allowed the broth to simmer for 30 more minutes and strained the broth. After the bones cooled, I carefully separated the salmon scraps from the bones so I can add the meat to a breakfast omelette or mix it into cream cheese for a bagel spread later.<br />
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Salmon Broth</div>
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I love making broths because they make a delicious base for so many dishes! After the salmon broth cooled, I used 2 ladles of it for a bowl of chawanmushi and froze the remainder. Chawanmushi is a super simple savory Japanese egg custard dish that's usually filled with some seafood ingredients and a ginkgo seed. We recently had it at Miyabi 45th, and I was eager to see if the homemade salmon broth makes my version even better.<br />
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<b>Chawanmushi with Salmon Broth</b></div>
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<u>Ingredients</u></div>
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2 ladles of homemade salmon broth (or 1 cup of chicken broth)</div>
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3 eggs, beaten</div>
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Any bite-size ingredients you want to put in the custard cooked or raw</div>
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A pinch of salt</div>
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I put several pieces of frozen shrimp, rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, and broccoli stems in a large bowl inside the rice cooker. Then I whisked the eggs with the salmon broth and strained the mixture into the bowl of ingredients. I should have steamed the custard for 10 minutes, but I overcooked the custard because I had to run an errand in the middle of steaming. You can tell it's overcooked because of the craters on the surface of the custard. Regardless, it's deliciously sweet because of the salmon broth and shrimp! This pairs really well with steamed rice.</div>
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Shrimp, broccoli stems, and shiitake</div>
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Straining the egg and broth mixture into the bowl</div>
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Finished Chawanmushi</div>
<br />Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-29415881396346775762016-01-31T11:35:00.000-06:002016-01-31T11:36:02.503-06:00Miyabi 45th: Our First and Sadly Last Time Tasting Chef Mutsuko Soma's SobaWe had a fantastic date night trying out <a href="http://miyabi45th.com/" target="_blank">Miyabi 45th</a> for the first time thanks to the great omakase dinner for two deal on Groupon (normally $60 Groupon but I purchased it for $46)! I had read about chef <a href="http://miyabi45th.com/about/#.Vq49vfkrLWI" target="_blank">Mutsuko Soma</a>'s handmade soba since before arriving in Seattle through a plethora of articles on her journey learning the craft and on the sheer deliciousness of her food at Miyabi 45th (<a href="http://www.foodandwine.com/slideshows/top-10-noodle-dishes-to-eat-before-you-die/9" target="_blank">Food & Wine</a>; <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/miyabi-45th-soba-sides-yoursquoll-slurp-up/" target="_blank">Seattle Times</a>; <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/03/how-to-make-fresh-soba-miyabi-45th-seattle.html" target="_blank">Serious Eats</a>). Seeing how we're trying to explore Seattle frugally, it would've been difficult trying out an omakase meal here without the help of Groupon, so a big thank you to Miyabi 45th and Groupon for making this deal available for folks like us!<br />
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Right before writing this post, I spotted the happy and sad news (<a href="http://seattle.eater.com/2016/1/29/10871298/next-month-may-mark-the-end-of-soba-at-miyabi-45th" target="_blank">Seattle Eater</a>) that chef Mutsuko Soma will be taking maternity leave starting February 13th and changes will be in place after the restaurant reopens under the helm of their current sushi chef Masa Ishikura. Handmade soba will likely not be on the menu after the transition. It's such a tease that we got to taste these delicious artisan noodles for the first time only to have it be our last time. But of course, all the best to chef Soma with the beautiful news of a baby girl, and best of luck to chef Ishikura!<br />
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Chef Mutsuko Soma</div>
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Now on to the recap of the 5 course omakase experience!<br />
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Amuse Bouche + Five Course Omakase</div>
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It was really thoughtful that the restaurant provided a matrix of want/don't want dinner items for you to check or cross off to customize your 5 course meal. Everything else is left up to the chef's discretion. I would normally welcome raw dishes at a Japanese restaurant but it was an especially chilly evening so we opted to check off on "adventurous" but crossed off "raw".<br />
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Omakase Customization</div>
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The meal started off with shots of puréed butternut squash in a dashi broth. This amuse bouche was warm and creamy - a cozy welcome on a cold day!<br />
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Amuse Bouche - Butternut Squash Soup</div>
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Next came the foie gras "tofu" with red grapes and an adorable pyramid of wasabi in a dashi broth. The foie gras was blended and formed to take on the appearance and texture of silken tofu. It was absolutely luscious, but Mike noted that this would go nicely with some crackers, rice, or crusty bread to cut the richness. I was very impressed by my non-foodie husband's astute observation! He may have to take over some posts on my blog!<br />
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Foie Gras "Tofu"</div>
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The next dish was grilled salmon kama (collar) with a refreshing salad. I was hoping that we would have some kind of kama dish because it has always been a favorite hot dish of mine at Japanese restaurants. The kama was smokey and buttery, which paired nicely with the crunchy chilled salad.<br />
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Salmon Kama</div>
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That was followed by chawanmushi (savory egg custard) with snow crab, fish cake, ginko seed, and matsutake mushrooms. This is another classic hot Japanese dish that I adored as a kid before I developed a palate for raw fish. It's really fun to eat because it's like digging for treasures. The matsutake was very juicy and was the best surprise in the pool of silky egg.<br />
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Chawanmushi</div>
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The most impressive dish was new to me - braised pork belly and toasted daikon (Asian radish) mochi. I've had many amazing Chinese braised pork dishes before, but I've never had one that's paired with daikon mochi! I've never even heard of daikon mochi before! The mochi texture mimicked the chewy gelatinous texture of the pork belly fat so when you eat it with a bite of just the pork belly meat, it's as if you're eating a healthier version of the whole pork belly! Some people like eating the fat and the meat, but that's too rich for me, so substituting the fat with the mochi was genius! I wish I had more mochi to sop up the addictive sauce!<br />
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Braised Pork Belly with Toasted Daikon Mochi</div>
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The final dish was the obligatory handmade soba. It's what made this restaurant famous and successful within just three years. The bowl of hot soba had the strong fragrance of buckwheat and the texture of the noodles withstood the heat of the broth. Dried manufactured soba noodles tend to loose its buckwheat aroma and go limp under sustained heat. As we enjoyed our bowls of chef Soma's hard work, we both realized how much we love our new city. A city that gives us the opportunity to enjoy the diverse talents and innovation of others.<br />
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Ebi Ten Soba</div>
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As irreplaceable as the handmade soba noodles are, all of the dishes leading up to this final one is a testament to how talented the entire culinary team at Miyabi 45th is. Something tells me that the restaurant can still be successful even with the possible absence of soba in the future.Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com02208 N 45th St, Seattle, WA 98103, USA47.6615779 -122.3320724999999822.139543399999997 -163.64066649999998 73.1836124 -81.023478499999982tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-50208722869374390832016-01-27T16:47:00.003-06:002016-01-27T16:59:04.864-06:00Philly Cheesesteak Two WaysIn an attempt to save money without compromising on eating well, I've been cooking a lot in my new tiny galley kitchen. I miss our custom kitchen in Madison for its size and the many beautiful memories we made in our first home. But it's somewhat amusing/frustrating figuring out how to make the most of my now limited work space. At least it's bigger than my Paris kitchenette!<br />
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Galley Kitchen in Seattle</div>
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Our Kitchen in Madison, WI</div>
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My Paris Kitchenette</div>
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Some of the challenges I face in the kitchen now are the inability to spread out ingredients as I prep, the lack of dish drying space (and it takes a long time for dishes to air dry because of the humidity), and the inevitable exiling of Mike from the kitchen when he offers to help because he ends up being a literal road block (love you, honey!). I've learned to extend my kitchen space by using our dinner table as an additional counter space. Another cool trick in a small kitchen is to cook dishes that have only a few ingredients, and the leftovers can be converted into another dish with just a few more additional ingredients!<br />
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I recently purchased a stack of old Cook's Illustrated magazines from Half Price Books and found a simple Philly Cheese Steak recipe that I knew we would appreciate. <a href="http://www.cooksillustrated.com/" target="_blank">Cook's Illustrated</a> and <a href="http://www.americastestkitchen.com/?extcode=MCHBDA1L0" target="_blank">America's Test Kitchen</a> tend to offer extremely efficient recipes with a limited list of ingredients that taste like the best version of whatever you're making. That's perfect for us! <br />
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The recipe is so simple that you can easily give it your own spin without compromising the integrity of the dish. Instead of the traditional sub roll, I used a brioche bun and Swiss cheese instead of white American cheese. I made one more addition to the recipe by sautéing some sliced onions and half a bag of Trader Joe's frozen green chiles in a separate pan.<br />
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<b>Green Chile Philly Cheesesteak</b></div>
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(adapted from <a href="http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/6910-philly-cheesesteaks?ref=new_search_experience_1&incode=MCSCD00L0" target="_blank">Cook's Illustrated</a>)</div>
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Philly Cheesesteak on a Toasted Brioche Bun with Green Chiles and Swiss Cheese</div>
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<u>Ingredients (Serves 4)</u></div>
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2 pounds skirt or flank steak, trimmed and sliced with grain into 3-inch wide strips</div>
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4 Buns, sliced</div>
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2 Tbsp vegetable oil</div>
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1/2 tsp salt</div>
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1/8 tsp pepper</div>
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1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese</div>
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4 slices Swiss cheese</div>
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1/2 bag of Trader Joe's green chiles, defrosted</div>
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1/2 white onion, sliced</div>
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Place steak pieces on a large plate lined with saran wrap and freeze until firm. Carefully shave the steak pieces against the grain with a sharp knife.</div>
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Sauté onions in a lightly greased pan. Once the onions are translucent, add the green chiles and season salt and pepper. Set aside.</div>
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Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a separate skillet and cook the meat in separate portions to avoid overcrowding the pan. Transfer cooked meat to a colander set in a bowl to remove juices. Repeat until all meat is cooked, then return all the meat into the pan and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and add the grated Parmesan cheese.</div>
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Toast buns in the oven. For dinner, I put a slice of Swiss cheese on each pair of buns before putting them in the oven so that the cheese would be crusty rather than melty, but for lunch the next day, I added it when assembling the hot sandwich so it would be melty. Either way is delicious!</div>
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Seeing how I cooked twice as much flank steak as specified in the recipe, I saved the remainder of the cooked beef strips and sautéed onions and green chiles for our Sunday brunch omelet! Voila! Philly Cheesesteaks two ways with only half the effort!</div>
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Philly Cheese Steak Open-faced Omelet</div>
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<br />Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-15564599461727463662016-01-20T09:44:00.000-06:002016-01-27T17:00:13.974-06:00Fun in Redmond: Delicious Food, Great Friends, and Microsoft at NightThe Greater Seattle area is kind of daunting to explore because things can be far depending on your starting point and the near-constant traffic. We have friends who live in the far east side, and it takes us around 45 minutes to meet them at their home. It's hard to meet in downtown Seattle because we would have to figure out parking, and our friends would still have a long trek back to their home. We found out this weekend that Redmond might be a good mid-way meetup place for us!<br />
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We met up for a casual dinner at <a href="http://www.duparandcompany.com/pomegranate-bistro/" target="_blank">Pomegranate Bistro</a> and tried to think of fun late night things to do in Redmond since our respective homes were too far. Since none of us were into the bar or club scenes, and coffee shops were closed, we finally decided on touring our friends' office at the Microsoft headquarters. I think after the word got out about the cool office features at the Google offices, tech company office tours are now a valid "fun" activity! Having worked at <a href="http://food-dilettante.blogspot.com/2014/01/work-food-and-life-at-epic-systems-in.html" target="_blank">Epic</a>, I was curious how Microsoft would compare.<br />
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Pomegranate Bistro - Crispy Calamari and Artichokes with Citrus Aioli and </div>
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Northwest Cheese Platter</div>
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Pomegranate Bistro - Spinach Salad with Grapefruit, Pomegranate, and Hazelnuts</div>
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Pomegranate Bistro - Flank Steak Firebread with Horseradish Cream</div>
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First off, the campus is more like a town. Sure, it's not whimsical like Epic, but it's functional. There are temporary housing options on campus, campus shuttles that you can schedule for pick-up at the entrances of buildings, on campus clinic and vision care, and a plethora of restaurants (including 2 stories of food vendors in the cafeteria and a buffet restaurant). Our favorite "decorative" piece were the hydroponic garden pods throughout the buildings, which was apparently a side project started in the office "Garage" by an employee that was then implemented throughout HQ. The Garage is basically lab spaces throughout the campus where employees can pursue their own projects using awesome tools like 3D printers and laser cutters. That's really the coolest part of the campus!<br />
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Microsoft HQ at Night</div>
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Hydroponics Pod</div>
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Microstang Featured on Discovery’s Velocity Network during the <a href="http://www.velocity.com/tv-shows/inside-west-coast-customs/videos/inside-west-coast-customs-micro-stang-reveal/" target="_blank">Inside West Coast Customs show</a></div>
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Microstang</div>
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Mike also got really excited about taking pictures with the Halo characters in the Xbox One building. <br />
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Halo</div>
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We found other employees hanging out in conference rooms playing computer games, chatting with friends, and reading in the library so we figure that this would be a great spot to meet up and play board games next time we want to catch up!<br />
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Thanks, M, B, and Y for a fantastic evening!Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1974190015043362517.post-11265198498735261842016-01-15T12:23:00.001-06:002016-01-27T16:59:49.842-06:00The Best Going Away Present: Amazing Friendships and Delicious Kapoon Noodles Recipe and Kit!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I cherish the friendship and love our friends in Madison have shown us as we enjoyed our last meals before our move. You know who you are, and please know that we can't wait for our next reunion in Seattle or Madison!</div>
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One of our last memories of Madison is when Pakou and Shri came over to give us a much needed boost during our last few hours before the <a href="http://food-dilettante.blogspot.com/2015/12/seattle-wa-for-long-hauli-hope.html" target="_blank">long haul</a>. Not only did they make a huge difference in helping us pack and clean without us asking, but Pakou also gifted us a basket of ingredients for the Kapoon Noodles that we never got to make together. We had grand plans of cooking together ever since we became neighbors, but we simply ran out of time. This was an incredibly thoughtful gift. I hope I did justice to this dish!</div>
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I gave the dish a Pacific Northwest twist by using cod instead of catfish and adding some king crab meat that happened to be on sale. Even with the seemingly elevated seafood ingredients, I still preferred the traditional bone-in catfish version that Pakou shared with us back in Madison, though Mike struggled with the bones. The bones from the catfish created a slightly more gelatinous consistency in the broth that made the flavors adhere to the noodles better. </div>
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<b>Pacific Northwest Kapoon Noodles adapted from Pakou</b></div>
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<u>Ingredients:</u></div>
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4 cod fillets, cut into 2 inch pieces</div>
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King crab meat, shell removed and reserved</div>
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1/2 can red curry paste</div>
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1/2 can - 1 can coconut milk</div>
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Bamboo shoots, sliced into 3 inch strands</div>
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Kaffir lime leaves/Galangal (optional)</div>
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Fish sauce, to taste</div>
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Sugar, to taste</div>
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Rice vermicelli noodles, cooked and drained</div>
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<u>Garnishes</u></div>
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Green onions</div>
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Cilantro</div>
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Cabbage, shredded</div>
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First removed the king crab meat from the shell and boiled the shells in 4 cups of water. Chill the crab meat in the fridge until ready to use for garnish. Remove the shells after 20 minutes and boiled the cod pieces in the broth for 15 minutes. Take out the fish and reserve it in a bowl.</div>
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King Crab Meat</div>
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Broth made from crab shells and then fish</div>
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Cook half a can of red curry in 2 Tbs of oil in a wok until fragrant. If using kaffir leaves or galangal, you can cook them in the curry at this point. Add half a can of coconut milk and stir the mixture thoroughly. Once the mixture is heated through, add the fish to the curry. Add a couple ladles of fish broth into the curry until you've reached the desired amount of soup for the noodles. Add more coconut milk if you would like a thicker consistency. Once the curry soup comes to a simmer, add the bamboo and season with fish sauce and a little pinch of sugar.<br />
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Cooking the curry and stirring in coconut milk</div>
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Fish, broth, and bamboo added</div>
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Portion out rice noodles in what I like to call "pho bowls," and ladle the soup and seafood into each. <br />
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Top off each bowl with the shredded cabbage, cilantro, crab meat, and green onions.</div>
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Pakou, thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us. This dish brought us a lot of comfort this winter! I can't wait to share some Seattle culinary adventures with you when you visit us!Food Dilettantehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18072938394160280732noreply@blogger.com0