Seatle Restaurant Week

It's coming up! It's 2 weeks in April (why don't they call it Seattle Restaurant Weeks?" but anyways, I'm super excited to see the list come out soon of what all restaurants are participating! 3 courses for $25 at a lot of the top restaurants in Seattle.

I've already got 1 reservation down for Canlis on April 19th, but will try and snag some more eating times at some Tom Douglas restaurants, and TILTH, which it is my goal/dream to eat at soon! Esp. since I am moving to the area so all the more reason to eat there! Will post more info as I get it :)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/seattlerestaurantweek/

Update

QUICK RANT: I think I realize what keeps me from updating often (if ever). It's the damn process of having to log onto this website and type. I liked the old LiveJournal application where I could just write entries from the comfort of my desktop, and then upload as I pleased. Now it's "please wait" here, and "uploading your picture..." there, blah blah blah, it takes too long! If anyone knows of an app, let me know. OK. /end rant.

Anyways, enough complaining. You should be one complaining that this blog hasn't been updated since October, but it's not like it's a bit hit (YET) anyways. :)

Updates - lots of fun cooking attempts since October, duh. Notable highlights include making Thomas Keller's Fried Chicken, and even documenting the process in pictures for a blog update. I even got to meet the man himself and get an autographed book of The French Laundry and Ad Hoc At Home.



That's where I got this fried chicken recipe. Hopefully I'll get around to posting all those pictures someday. Anyways, here's a picture of the brine for the fried chicken:

honey, garlic, parsley, kosher salt, black peppercorns, sugar, thyme, bay leaves, lemon, lotsa water

Fried chicken end result: forgot to cut the chicken breasts in half when i broke down the chicken, so they got a little too crispy, but the meat was super juicy from the 12 hr brine.


My sister and I also made baklava and spanikopita - a phyllo dough party! :)



We also made red velvet cupcakes, which I am surprised didn't have that much cocoa powder in them. But the creme cheese frosting was the yummiest part.



I also just made some Ad Hoc chocolate chip cookies tonight. YUM. pic later

ALSO, I have gotten into realllllly good restaurants and now have a ever growing bucket list of restaurants I MUST go to before I die. Most crucial is The French Laundry in Napa Valley - but I am planning on checking that one off this summer when I visit my sister. :)

restaurant bucket list:

-the herb farm
-the french laundry + all thomas keller restaurants
-tilth
-spinasse
-anchovies and olives
-cafe flora
-les halles - nyc (where bourdain worked)
-mesa grille
-brassa
-canlis (check!)
-chezpanisse
-bellanico
-serious pie (check! 2/15 for HH)
-dahlia lounge
-dahlia bakery (check! 2/15)
-etta's
-lola (check! 12/8)


all time faves:

-popeye's fried chicken (seriously)
-manpuku
-canlis
-C.I.A. italian restaurant in NY
-lola
-taste of india


Latest good eats dining out were a delish meal at Serious Pie last Monday for happy hour. Tyler Florence from the food network was on "the best thing I ever ate" - pizza version , saying how the yellowfoot mushroom and truffle cheese pizza is the best pizza he's ever eaten. I must say, it was pretty yummy... perhaps not the BEST pizza ever, but it's pretty high up there. Their pizza crust is super good. 3rd and Virginia, FYI. Happy Hour from 3-5, which sucks for peeps like me that get off work at 5. $5 per pizza, individual size as below.


Also, Molly Moon's ice cream in Wallingford/Capitol Hill is GOOD. I had Honey Lavender, which was AMAZING. And their shop smells like waffle cones because their in house made.

And Theo's Chocolate tour - fun and delicious with lots of free samples. I really liked their bread and chocolate bar, which has toasted bread crumbs from The Essential Baking Co (down the street in Fremont) in the bar. $6 tour.


One last thing, I made a twitter account so that I can update nonstop about yum/gross things I eat at. Just cuz that's what I like to talk about. Follow me @belindah0. that's a zero at the end. :)

long enough post for now. happy eating.

yay!
-belinda

Here is another picture that I just had to post.... these are some cute bread I found at a Japanese bakery in Nagoya, Japan this summer. I know that the frog ones are "Melon bread", and the ladybugs ones are with chocolate filling. I would've loved to try them, but they were just cute to eat!

Hello~! I just wanted to post this delicious strawberry shortcake (I made one for Belinda for her birthday too ^o^) I love taking pictures of food - just like Belinda! - so I will be posting more in the future. Thanks Belinda for letting me post on her blog!

More bread! - an experiment!

I just mixed up a batch of No Knead Bread, but am experimenting with adding BACON. I remember buying a loaf of bread in Germany that had "speck" in it, which is bacon. The bacon was dispersed throughout the loaf, and added a nice salty taste, too. I lightly browned diced bacon and rendered the fat off, and let it cool before adding it to the dry ingredients. I also added in rosemary, so hopefully that combination will be delectable together. I'm baking it off tomorrow night (possibly adding cheese to the second loaf) so I'll let you know how it turns out :)

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UPDATE: 10/1/09 , 9:33PM

Turns out I was so excited to make the bacon and rosemary bread that I forgot to add in YEAST!! So I got home from work today expecting the dough to have tripled in size - my heart broke seeing all that wasted king arthur flour and bacon. The dough was same size as yesterday, and I didn't think it'd taste good all dense and some junk.

But no worries, I started up a new batch again so hopefully there will be some good results tomorrow! yum yum : )

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UPDATE: 10/3/09, 11:45PM

Here is the update of my bacon bread, with pictures! I ended up waking up at 4am Friday to shape and proof the bread, and baked it off at 6am, so it was ready to eat at 7 before work!! I felt like such the baker (candlestickmaker) :)

Anyways, the bread turned out pretty good! The bacon made it a little greasy, but it was still very fluffy and light. The bacon wasn't super salty, so it was more of a bite of bacon along with the bread, and I kept worrying a piece of bacon would fall out when I was toasting a slice of bread at work - I'm sure my co-workers would think I'm crazy to make bacon bread, esp. if a piece of bacon was stuck at the bottom of our toaster and created some sort of fire or whatnot. Anyways, tasty bread but I don't think I'd do it again with this bacon. I think I'd try with pancetta since it's saltier, and I would cut it into smaller pieces - the bacon I had were like 1/4" pieces.

Overall, I was pleased with the experiment and am thinking of a new concoction for the next loaf of bread. Ideas are welcome! :)

Long Over Due

Sorry for the month long hiatus for updating - I've got some goodies to post about though.

First - I'd like to voice my love for roasted corn on the cob. Perhaps it is one of summer's greatest treats, but there is really not much that is tastier or simpler than throwing a cob on the "barbie" and slathering it with lime butter once it's golden brown and munching on those sweet roasted kernels. LOVE IT.

Second - Love indian food, especially from Taste of India on Roosevelt and 55th. We went there a few weeks ago, and as usual, I got free desert :) It's been a long running thing, perhaps the past 10 times at least, I've gotten free desert from them! And their food is pretty darn tasty, too. We shared garlic naan, tikka masala, tandoori, the spinach curry, almond chicken curry, and butter curry. MMM. LOVE IT!

Third - Been baking lots of bread. I just made one tonight - rosemary No Knead Bread. I chopped up about 3 sprigs of rosemary and added it into the dry ingredients yesterday. I also added 3 T of sugar and extra yeast, which I think helped yield the lovely rise on the bread. :) It went beautifully with my soup - store bough "Pacific" brand of Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Tomato soup. MM MM MM! I'm planning on having more soup and bread for lunchies this week.

Fourth - For my birthday 2 weeks ago, we went to Quinn's pub on Capitol Hill. It was delicious. For appetizers, we shared spicy peanuts, a tomato salad, baguette & butter, and frites, fontina fonduta, demi-glace - which is fries with gravy and cheese.

Mouthwatering good. For the main course, we shared slow roasted ribs, fish and chips, and half a roasted chicken with chickpea puree. The chicken was my favorite - so tender and the puree was heavenly. The ribs were OK but not amazing. And I didn't try the fish but the chips were OK. I think next time I'll be more daring and try more risky things, like bone marrow... Really enjoyable dinner, though.

Fifth: For my bday, I decided to invite some friends over and cook for them. It was tough trying to plan the menu but I used my new gift of Giada de Laurentis' Everyday Italian as inspiration to create a mainly Italian focused menu:

Caprese Salad w/ toasted baguette slices (v)
White Bean Dip with toasted pita chips (v)
Chicken Satay skewers with peanut sauce

Greek Salad
Zucchini Al Forno (zucchini gratin) (v)
Homemade No-Knead Bread (v)
-Mashed potatoes, care of Alan/ Stacey/Jaden (v)

Pasta with three sauces:
Lemon Alfredo (v)
Spicy Tomato Sauce (all'arribbaita - the angry style)

Bolagnese
Tuna and Tomato

Dessert:
Brownies (of course :)) (v)

(v) = vegetarian friendly!

I started Friday night, purchasing all the groceries from Trader Joes and Freddies, and then starting on the Bolagnese sauce, and bread.

Then I started cooking up again Saturday at 2pm until 7, but had great help from some friends and my cousin Anna. Everything worked out great in the end and I ended up feeding 20 people for only about $5 per person, it was great w/ the pasta as the main course because everyone could choose what sauces they liked.

The zucchini gratin was my favorite - super easy to make! You just layer zucchini slices with cream, cheese - fontina, parm, mozzarella, and peccorino romano, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Bake until browned and bubbly and enjoy!

I think everyone's favorite was the Lemon Alfredo, which was a recipe I got from my coworker Amber - you just slowly boil lemon juice, cream, and muscat wine.

Lastly - been making some mac and cheese. So good, and so easy. Not too easy on the waistline, but I love baking pasta w/ bread crumbs on top - that crust is always the best part.

That is it for now!! I'll try to post more regularly!! Enjoy the pix and let me know if you want any certain recipes!

-Belinda

Thai Green Curry = Success!

My mom and I made a delicious pot of green curry last night. All from scratch. I was quite proud, as well as in shock, when I tasted it for the time - it was gooooood! I'd definitely recommend this recipe, which I got from one of my cooking classes at Culinary Communion (RIP!). The recipe for the green curry paste makes 4 batches, and each batch produces enough to feed probably 4 people. We edited the protein to make Green Curry Chicken with Eggplant instead of duck. And we also made a side dish of Green Papaya Salad with Prawns. Yummo.

This is "howie do it"....

Green Curry Paste (Makes 2 1/2 Cups)

5-10 green thai chilies
1/2 C cilantro, minced
1/4 C lemongrass, minced
5 thin slices galangal, or ginger root
1 tsp shrimp paste (I omitted this since I didn't have any)
10 green jalapenos
8 cloves of garlic
1/4 C shallots, minced
1 tsp cumin

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth, adding a little bit of water if the blender needs help. You can disperse into 1/2 C servings and freeze until you need them.


Green Curry -----Protien---- with Eggplant

1 lb duck breast, skin on - or 1 lb chicken - or 1 lb tofu, or whatevers
1/2 C green curry paste (made from above :))
2 C Thai eggplant, or regular kind, cut into large chunks or dice
1/2 C coconut cream (I omitted this too, to be more "healthy")
1/4 C Thai basil, chiffonade (cut into thin ribbons)
2 C coconut milk
1/4 C + 3 T fish sauce (we like the brand with three crabs on it)
3 T palm sugar (you can use brown sugar if you don't have this, but it's sweet.. haha)
4 kaffir lime leaves (or more, because they are sooo fragrant)
red jalapenos for garnish (or just use some cilantro or basil)

Prepare the protein: Rub the meat with the 3 T of fish sauce. Score the skin in several places, but not down to the meat. Place the protein skin side down, into very hot saute pan, or dutch oven with oil. Turn heat down to medium. Leave undisturbed for 10-15 minutes, or until deeply browned and most of the fat rendered away. Flip. Cook two more minutes and remove from pan. Thinly slice the duck on an angle. Reserve.

- What I did was brown 7 chicken drumsticks in the pan. When they were nice and crispy outside (with probably 4-5 minutes fro being cooked all the way through, I removed them. Then added the green curry paste to the dutch oven w/ the left over oil inside, so the paste could cook for a little bit. Then I added the coconut milk (2 cans), and heated until it boiled.

Once it boiled, I added the sugar and fish sauce, and then added the eggplant and meat back into the pot. Mixed it all up and let it simmer for 7-10 minutes so the eggplants would soften and soak up the curry sauce, and the chicken would finish cooking. When everything looked almost done, I added the lime leaves and basil. Serve it with brown rice. Pine nuts go well with the rice - helps add texture.

Delicious! I'd add pictures right now but blogspot is being funky. Until next time! :)