recap

The last two months have been pretty hectic. I did take a few food pictures here and there, and I'll post a few of the more memorable experiments. I've been doing a bit more traveling, and since I often plan trips around eating and drinking, it just makes sense for me to include snippets of those excursions here.

I visited my family down in the Washington, DC area in April. I had my first Five Guys burger when we saw the LA Dodgers play the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. I'm not convinced that they are better than In N Out, but I look forward to having a side-by-side comparison. Note: I had the single patty at Five Guys and I only eat the single patty at In N Out, so yes, I am trying to minimize the variables in this experiment.

While I was in DC I also had sushi at one of my family's favorite restaurants, beer at Dogfish Alehouse (no, it's not the brewery, but the beer is less than two hours away from the beach), a cocktail tasting/pairing at the Columbia Room, and yet more sushi.

Finally, the fish tacos at Gordon Biersch are surprisingly good. Obviously not the same as a taco truck taco, and not a Baja Fresh fish taco, and an entirely different creature from a La Verdad fish taco, but a good chain restaurant choice (and of course there's the good chain brewpub beer). And Gordon Biersch is everywhere... except in New England, of course.

fresh chickpeas

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Originally uploaded by stephykay

I love chickpeas, so when I saw them at the store I had to give them a try. I steamed them and ate them as I would edamame.

open faced egg, ricotta, and arugula sandwich

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Originally uploaded by stephykay

The recipe was in the May 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine. I always love a good egg sandwich and this was a nice variation of my usual egg, gruyere, and baby spinach. I used fresh ricotta from Formaggio Kitchen, which has become a staple in my home... it's much creamier than any of the other fresh ricottas I have found, and it's very versatile.

upside down pear cake

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Originally uploaded by stephykay

An old favorite. Click on through to flickr for the recipe and NYTimes story.

dinner

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Originally uploaded by stephykay

This was a few days ago... chili chicken and basil from Women's Health Magazine, stir-fried sesame asparagus, and quinoa. I would definitely make this again, and it was fast!

chocolate stout cupcakes

I gave the chocolate stout cake recipe from Bon Appetit another go. I made cupcakes instead of a layer cake, and instead of chocolate ganache frosting I made a cream cheese and kahlua frosting.

Taiwan - Din Tai Fung

While we were in Taiwan, my family went to Din Tai Fung for xiao long bao (steam dumplings).

This friendly little dumpling head guy welcomes you to the restaurant.


You can see the dumplings being made at the front of the restaurant. It's a seamless, high-throughput operation. Henry Ford would be proud.


Alongside the tray of soy sauce and vinegar are instructions on how to consume your dumplings (after preparing your dipping sauce in the correct ratio). Nice that they provide soup spoons at the table.


Spicy pickled cucumbers, artfully arranged.


Finally, the main event: xiao long bao. We ordered both the traditional pork dumplings as well as the pork and crabmeat dumplings. I like how they used a cloth to line the steamer basket, instead of cabbage leaves. Since the dumplings didn't stick to the cloth they made it into our soup spoons intact, for maximum soupy goodness. YUM.