Dining Out - My last week before the BIG Delivery

To take advantage of my "mobility" before the big day arrives, I decided to go sample different restaurants this week. Here are the ones on my list:

1) Nando's - Portuguese Chicken (Downtown DC)
2) A&J - Northern Chinese (Rockville, MD)
3) Ye Chong - Korean (Annandale, VA)
4) Nizam - Turkish (Vienna, VA)
5) Texas de Brazil - Churrascaria (Fairfax, VA)
6) Mark's Duck House - Southern Chinese - Dim Sum (Falls Church, VA) (for the best Peking Duck, try Peking Gourmet Inn at Bailey's Crossroads)
7) Leopold's Kafe - Austrian (Georgetown, DC)
8) Lafayette - Hay-Adam's Hotel - Afternoon Tea (Downtown DC)
9) Vapiano - Italian (Ballston, VA) (note: my favorite is still Pasta Mia -- which we went two weeks ago...neighborhood place in Adam's Morgan)
10) Tsunami - Japanese (Fairfax, VA) (note: my favorite for sashimi is still Tachibana -- but since I can't eat raw fish until after the baby is delivered...)

Unfortunately, due to limited time, I won't be able to get to more places...the ones notably missing that I love include:
- Art and Soul (best fried chicken and waffles)
- Charlie Palmer (best steak)
- Le Pain de Quotidien (belgium - very yummy tartines and bread)
- Cafe Renaissance (french)
- Cafe La Ruche (great onion soup and dessert)
- Cafe Bonaparte (best crepes)
- Georgetown Cupcake (need I say more??)


I will post the reviews and adventures after!!

Until then...happy eating!

:)

Simple and delicious chicken recipe

Yum!!! Last night, I made a very simply but very delicious chicken recipe for dinner: Lemon Oregano Chicken
I followed the advice of many of the reviewers and marinated the chicken in the garlic, lemon juice and oil mixture for a hour before cooking. I used skinless, boneless thighs and breasts instead of the bone-in thighs. I also skipped the butter used for the sauté in the beginning but, did add a bit to the sauce. I usually find chicken a bit bland but, this was very tasty. We had it with roasted potatoes (might as well use the oven while it’s on) and sauté d zucchini I served a nice citrusy sauvignon blanc....simple and yummy!

Chestnuts Roasting in a Copper Kettle Part 1

Thanks to Sylvia and PolarSnuggleBear for inviting me to write about one of my favorite subjects… BEER! I’m Gravy-Boy Johnson, an office stiff and an amateur beer enthusiast who occasionally works at Shenandoah Brewing Company, a craft brewery and Brew On Premises (meaning that customers can come in and brew their own beer) located in Alexandria, VA. SBC’s scrumptious Chocolate Donut Stout was recently featured on the Food Network show Unwrapped. You can watch it here.

A few weeks ago my wife (Mrs. Johnson) and I brewed an Imperial Chestnut Stout for the holidays. Neither of us (or anyone else we spoke to) had ever had a chestnut beer, so we figured we'd give it a try. We chose Imperial Stout as the style because it's hearty enough for the winter, and high enough in alcohol to guarantee that those who enjoy it will be very merry.

After considering several options on how to flavor the beer, we found a chestnut puree at a local gourmet store. SBC's brewmaster, Anning Smith, formulated the rest of the recipe for us based on the flavor profile we were looking to achieve, namely a bit of extra bitterness and roastiness to complement the sweetness of the puree. We also wanted a velvety sheen, not unlike that of Weyerbacher's Raspberry Imperial Stout (which I highly recommend). Here's what Anning came up with:

The ingredients

From Simply Foodies

Grains Smoked Malt Black Malt Black Barley Roasted Barley Special Roast Extra Special Malt From Simply Foodies Hops Bittering- Centennial and Warrior Finishing- Chinook From Simply Foodies Sugars & Yeast Pilsner Extract Corn Syrup Brewers Yeast From Simply Foodies Flavoring Adro Chestnut Puree (from Hungary, my great grandmother would have been so proud!) From Simply Foodies The Stats Starting Gravity Reading: 1094 Starting Volume: 15 Gallons Projected Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 9%-ish We will be bottling our stout up in a few weeks. I'll write another post to let you know how it comes out. Cheers!

Menu ideas for the week

Well it's been a while since I last updated.  I haven't been cooking or eating much because Jim's been out of town but this week I've got some yummy stuff on the menu.  Here're the next five meals:
Beef and Snow Peas
Lebanese lamb chops
Pasta with Asparagus, Shiitakes, and Lemon
Tomato and Garlic stuffed chicken cutlets.  For this recipe, I replace the parlsey with basil...yum!
Grilled Clams with lemon-ginger butter

Later this month, we'll have a write up from our beer guy (aka Gravyboy Johnson) who is out in the field making a chestnut stout for the holidays.  Here's  a quick pic to get you in the mood.

Dining Out - Monterey Bay Fish Grotto

Celebrated our third year anniversary at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto on Monday. As usual, we were greeted by friendly and attentive staff and we got seated at the "blue section" of the restaurant that extends out above Tysons Blvd. We ordered calamari for appetizer; the breading was perfect, just the right amount. For dinner, I had the lemon sole with lemon herb butter and my husband had the seared ahi tuna. The fish was fresh and cooked just right (though I would probably prefer the tuna if I were not pregnant). For dessert, we had Crème Brûlée (silky smooth and light) and cheesecake. Better yet, the dessert was on the house. :)

We have always enjoyed our visits to Monterey Bay Fish Grotto, with its nice ambiance, outstanding service, and excellent food. The bill might be a little bit on the pricey side (you can also tell by the groups of business people dressed in nice suits on expense accounts), but it is well worth it, and without the snootiness in some of the upscale restaurants.

Link to restaurant: Monterey Bay Fish Grotto - Tysons Corner

Baked Scallops - Linguini Alfredo

Made baked scallops tonight, paired with linguini alfredo. Recipe for the baked scallops can be found here:

Since I couldn't find bay scallops, I bought one lb of fresh sea scallops instead. And I sautéed the garlic in butter and mixed it with the scallops first before rolling in the mixture of bread crumbs, paprika, garlic powder, and parsley.

Dinner turned out to be wonderful. Nice alternative to poached scallops that I normally make.

Dinner ideas

Dinner ideas for the next 5 days.
This is a short planning week since I am trying to keep my credit card bill within budget (and the statement cuts off on Tuesday!)
Here’s what’s on the docket:
Mexican Shrimp soup: Epicurious calls this Shrimp and Scallop Possole. I leave the scallops out and add the juice of half a lime.
Sun-dried Tomato Risotto. For this recipe I adjust the Epi version by using oil packed tomatoes, skip the simmer in the water part, replace the cup of water with ½ cup of wine and ½ cup of broth and steep some saffron in the broth. I add the half cup of wine first and then continue on with the broth.
Turkey meatloaf with mushrooms and herbs: This is a new one for me, I found it on Epi “Buzz box”
Theo’s spinach mushroom quiche from the post below this one
Brined roast chicken...I’ve included my recipe for this after the jump.

The Palmburo Adventure

I was craving butter fish the other day...so off I went to Super H Mart (a local Korean supermarket in NoVA) and got myself two palmburo. Problem is, I was so excited that I didn't even realize the fish wasn't "cleaned" (i.e. guts, bones, fins still intact). Luckily, with my friend's help, I was able to get the guts out and I will spare you the glory details. After rubbing some sea salt inside the belly and on the outer skin, I pan fried the fish with some olive oil...and voila, a delicious meal was served (yes, with the head - Hong Kong style).

For future reference, here are some "easy" instructions - although I would recommend asking the store to clean them for you:
http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/clnfish.htm

Back in the kitchen!

So finally I got the ok from my doctor to move around a bit in the house...and guess where I end up? In the kitchen of course! Don't get me wrong, the meals that my husband and our friends have been cooking have been delightful. But cooking to me is simply, relaxing. :)

As my first comeback, I made my favorite spinach and bella mushroom quiche (simple, easy, doesn't require much standing time). I did cheat and got a pie crust from the store.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 pack fresh spinach, washed and chopped
6 bella mushrooms, washed and sliced
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
6 oz shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
salt/pepper to taste
1 deep dish pie crust

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Sautee onion and garlic with butter until slightly brown. Add spinach and bella mushroom. Season with salt and pepper and turn off heat. Drain water from pot and stir in 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and milk. Blend in with mozzarella cheese.
4. Spoon half of the spinach and mushroom mixture onto pie crust. Pour in egg mixture, then add remaining spinach and mushroom.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 15 mins. Sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese on top (at this time, the quiche should be setting). Base for additional 30 mins.

Food musings

Well, haven't been eating much lately. I know! this is a shock to me as well! Today though, I noticed there are some very interesting recipes in the Washington Post Food section. They published several quick, easy, and healthy chicken recipes that, apparently, you can freeze and cook later...kind of like that "let's dish" idea. The Rosemary and Lime chicken is definitely on my list to try and the Californian chicken looks good too. As a bonus, they published the pear salad recipe from 1789 restaurant. Pear salad is one of my favorite salads! I'll be working on the grocery list today and will post my next week's food ideas by tomorrow. In the meantime, happy eating!

May 2009 Paella experiment

Back in May, Clay and I decided we finally needed to break in the paella pan that Jim had given me several years. We invited a few taste testers and started the planning. Every recipe we looked at was either very complicated or too simple. Plus not all of our guests ate pork but, for us, we felt paella should have sausage (most of you know I have a love of andouille). In the end we cobbled something together from multiple recipes. It may not be authentic but, we think it came out well and you can tell by the picture Kathy took that at least it looked good. I’ve made this one other time since and I didn’t make any changes to it. I might consider a brief olive oil and garlic marinade for the shrimp.
I posted the recipe after the “jump”

Dinner ideas

This is what I'm thinking of for dinner the next few days:
Lemon and thyme roasted chicken with lemon and chili roasted potatoes.
Pasta with Spicy shrimp and Sundried tomatoes
Spicy turkey burgers
one change to this one, I use a tsp of chopped chipotles in adobo instead of Chipotle hot sauce
Sicilian Tuna
Spaghetti with asparagus, shitake mushrooms and lemon
Scallops corn and basil grill packs (you'll have to email me for this one since it is in my private recipe box)

9/29 First post

Welcome to our blog. Since Theo and I are always playing with or food and sharing cooking stories, we thought it would be fun to start a blog. The plan is to share our food adventures and ideas with a few restaurant, beer, and wine commentary from guest writers (that would be you!)

Also, since I usually make a weekly menu plan before I go grocery shopping, I'll post that too in case anyone needs ideas for dinner. I know I am always looking for ideas.