Cinco de Mayo Part 2

Yes, I went back to Cinco de Mayo. About a million times. But this was my last visit. And I am sad. But I'm going back to Texas, so I can have Mexican food every day, not just once a week. I'll still miss my little Mexican place though.

A Guatemalan Lunch

Today I went with a friend to a Guatemalan restaurant in Union City, NJ. I don't remember the name, but it was a small storefront, with a bakery rack near the door, and some seating on the side. It was pretty chilly inside, but the food was fabulous.

First I had a mango shake, which is mango and milk frothed together in a blender. Like a milkshake, but no ice cream. For an appetizer we had some masa rounds with tomato, ground beef, and white cheese on top. For lunch I tried two different kinds of tamal, one with pork inside, the other just masa with some green herb. I also ordered a guacamole tostada because I'm a glutton. YUM!

Cinco de Mayo

Yes, I know it's not really Cinco de Mayo, the fifth of May, but I found a fabulous Mexican restaurant with that name. Okay, so maybe my coworker Betty found it and told me about it. But still, I just experienced it!

This place is a tiny little restaurant, longer than it is wide, and mostly bar seating. The kitchen is just on the other side of your eating bar, so you get to watch the owner cook up all of your goodies, fresh and fast. And boy are they delicious. Above are my taquitos. And yes, I am addicted. Mexican food is like crack.

Paella at Iberia

Last night I went with a friend to a Spanish restaurant called Iberia Tavern & Restaurant in Newark, NJ. It was a wood-beamed restaurant with Spanish flags and heavy wooden tables with low lighting. Cozy and inviting.

For an appetizer we got shrimp in garlic sauce and some Portuguese broiled sausage. Sangria to drink. I could have just eaten that for dinner. For my main dish, I ordered paella. Little did I know that I had ordered enough paella for four people. It came in a cast iron pot, with clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, and a whole lobster. It was delicious, but I had to take most of it home. The picture is from tonight, when I had it for dinner again.

Daring Cooks: Chinese Dumplings

This month's Daring Cooks challenge was chosen by Jen from use real butter, and she chose to have us make Chinese dumplings from scratch, including the wrappers. Originally I wanted to do a clear dumpling, like har gow or chive dumplings, but for some reason, every time I tried to make the dough, it turned into sludge. I followed the same recipe I have used successfully in the past, but when I added the water, it didn't make a dough, but a watery mess. I still have no idea what went wrong, but after three tries, I decided to make something else.

For the challenge I ended up making a traditional flour wrapper. Unfortunately, I had a filling for a clear wrapper, so the dumplings tasted a little odd, but they still turned out. I have to say, after all of the work, I think the frozen wrappers at the Chinese grocery are worth the money. My wrappers seemed thick (even though you could almost see through them) and tough. I'm not a fan, but it was definitely an interesting experience.

Pie for Research (But Mostly Dessert)

How spoiled am I? My friend just got back from a hiking trip in Maine, and she brought back a beautiful blueberry pie from Bartley's Dockside in Kennebunkport. They have the best blueberry pies ever. I wanted a slice for research purposes since I'm planning my own wild blueberry pie using frozen wild Maine blueberries, but of course I just spent the whole time moaning in ecstasy. It was perfect hot with a scoop of Haagen Dazs Five Vanilla Bean ice cream.

Fruits of the Season

As part of my new effort to not eat preservatives, strange chemicals, and things I can't spell or pronounce, I have started canning my own food. Since apricots and California cherries were on sale this week, they were the first things to make it into a jar. I pulled my recipes from an amazingly simple cookbook called the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. The two recipes I made were the Sweet Cherry Jam (with all suggested additions, including amaretto liquor) and the Brandied Apricot Preserves. And yes, I love liquor in my food. I've got to admit, from what I tasted while filling my little jars, these recipes turn out some pretty fabulous jams and jellies. Next up is Carrot Cake Jam and possibly some Blueberry Butter? And no, that's not butter as in cow's milk, but butter as in a smooth fruit spread. Yummy!

Sushi on a Conveyor Belt

Ever had sushi off of a conveyor belt? It's called kaiten sushi, and for my birthday my friend took me to a place called East. The restaurant is owned by Japanese, and the sushi goes around a central sushi bar on a conveyor belt. You have to pay attention to what's going by and be quick enough to grab anything that looks good. Everything is priced by the plate, and each plate is color coded for the price.

Tonight the conveyor belt was packed with dishes, and everything seemed pretty standard. I had some eel and salmon nigiri sushi, a Philadelphia roll, spicy scallops, and spicy crawfish. Only one thing I picked up surprised me: it was a spicy roll of some sort, and the chili oil burned its way down my throat. Water did nothing to stop the pain, and it took two more plates of sushi before I was able to taste again. I'm not sure what I ate, but I hope I never pick it again! The dangers of the conveyor belt system...

Daring Cooks: Ricotta Gnocchi

So when I saw the first challenge for the new Daring Cooks group, I couldn't help but groan. What is it with people and Italian food? Can we please cook something else? I hate Italian food. But like a good little daring foodie, I marched right out to the grocery store to round up some ricotta cheese. Unfortunately a trip to the farmer's market was not in my immediate future, so I had to make do with some Sargento ricotta. But I splurged and got full fat! That helps make up for the fact it was sitting on the shelf for at least a week before I bought it, right?

Well, the first step in the instructions says to drain the ricotta. In a big strainer. Or cheesecloth. Neither of which my kitchen has. So off I went to the overpriced but very lovely cook's emporium store to round up some cheesecloth. Luckily they carried it, and I was able to set up a draining contraption in my refrigerator. Just to be good and safe, I left that cheese to drain for almost a full 24 hours.

Tonight I pulled everything out and whipped up the dough. I put in fresh sage leaves from my little Aerogarden, ground nutmeg, and fresh grated lemon rind. It actually looked and smelled pretty good. Then I slowly made all the little gnocchi, laying each delicately on a piece of waxed paper. I tossed one volunteer into the simmer water to test out. It held together and floated (as I prayed), and when I pulled it out, it seemed okay. But as I reached for a spoon to taste it, it slowly started to disintegrate on the plate.

Glaring at the hateful gnocchi, I re-read the directions, which stated that if your gnocchi refused to stay in one piece, you could either 1) add 1 tsp of egg white (which personally seemed like a waste of an overpriced free range happy chicken egg), or 2) stick them in the refrigerator for an hour. At this point it was already 7:30 and past my dinnertime, but I stuck them in the fridge and waited. As soon as the hour was up, I whipped them back out and stuck them in the boiling water.

I had a frying pan full of tender turkey Italian sausage and sauteed shitake mushrooms in browned butter waiting for the gnocchi when they made it out of the pot. I slapped them into the frying pan before they could disintegrate on me, only to find that despite a heavy hand with the butter, they insisted on sticking to the bottom of the frying pan. Boy, was I irked. I managed to scrape some off the pan and into a bowl for a nice beauty shot before trying some of my creation.

These things stopped me cold. What was in my mouth was very unpleasant. They were light and fluffy, but also slimy and strange. And immediately the perfect description came to me. It was like eating boogers. Nasty. Never again. My ricotta is staying in lasagna where it belongs.

Let a Little Spring In

On a recent trip to the New York Union Square Greenmarket I acquired a couple of bunches of ramps, a type of wild leek that you only really see for sale in the Spring. I had never had the opportunity to taste one or cook it, so I jumped at the chance. The only problem was finding something that sounded yummy.

Finally I settled on some good old pasta. I got the idea from A Good Appetite blog, but I changed it up a little. I used Buitoni fresh whole wheat linguini as the pasta, and then I got some turkey Italian sausages to use instead of pork sausages. I also chopped up some Shitake mushrooms and added them in. I also used Romano instead of Parmesan. And despite the fact that I really dislike pasta dishes, this was pretty amazing. The ramps added just the right amount of bite and aroma, and I'm hoping they're still available so I can make some more. Super fast and easy, too.