The Pennsylvania Dutch

are fantastic people. They feed me deliciously here in Philly.

The nearby farmers' markets are always packed in with their produce and foodstuffs--its local, almost always organic, and so so tasty. There's just something about food from local farmers that can't compare with the stuff you buy in a typical grocery store. And you can absolutely tell the care that they put into the food they grow, and make---their baked goods are amazing.

Take this for example. It's a hot apple dumpling that I practically inhaled it was so good:

Flakey, and warm, slightly sweet and better than any apple pie.

and this, hands down was the BEST meal I've ever hand in Philadelphia:

Both courtesy of the Dutch Eating Place located in the Reading Terminal Market.

A simple Ruben sandwich with mashed potatoes, seems rather ordinary, but lemme tell you about the goodness that happens when simple food is done really really well. The bread was toasted and buttery, the corned beef as top notch, the sauerkraut and dressing were delish. I had an iced tea that was omg soo sweet, but fit in with the theme of the establishment.

At the Dutch Eating Place, they serve good comfort food. Real butter, grits, scrapple (which I wanted to try except Pork, so no go), hot sandwiches, eggs, pancakes, shepherds pie, the works. You sit dinner style on these stools and countertops & the people who work there are so incredibly nice.

If you're ever in Philadelphia its definitely worth the visit, and Reading Terminal Market is a treat as well.

Dutch Eating Place
at the Reading Terminal Market
1200 Arch
Philadelphia, PA 19102

Cooking in Philly

I don't have to say how different it is living on your own v. living at home.

At home, your laundry magically gets done & you can come home to neatly pressed & ironed shirts and dresses.

At home, there's always food. And you don't even have to make it yourself!

While I'm such a food lover, and I try to experiment with different things to eat and cook at home, I have to say I'm not much of a natural cook.

I need recipes. Written out, looked at, right next to me as I cook.

I'm not at all someone who "eyeballs" ingredients. For the longest time, I didn't know what a "pinch" of salt meant. Literally a pinch? fyi, apparently it's about 1/8 a tsp.

In any case, if I am at all a successful cook, it's largely because I can follow the directions from a recipe. Even the things I make all the time, I still look at recipes.

I didn't commit recipes to memory because, well, I didn't have to.

I guess Plato was onto something when he said that writing:

will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using their memory because they will put their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the inside, completely on their own. You have not discovered a potion for remembering, but for reminding. (Phaedrus 27a)

But when I first came here to Philly, I didn't have any recipes with me. Not a single cookbook. Yeah, sure I could look online at epicurious, foodnetwork, recipe bazaar, goop, etc., but for a while there, I didn't even have internet.

And I certainly wasn't going to eat out if I could help it.

So then, I had to gather my wits about me to figure out what I would eat everyday. My cooking became a tribute to my youth. Before I got my first cookbook, before I could log onto the internet to find recipes, I had what I learned how to make when I was younger through observation and assistance to the adults in my household, and the things I learned how my make myself through hard earned trial and error.

Chicken and rice dishes, roasted vegetables, omelettes, sauteed spinach, palmiers, baked fish, oven-baked granola, grilled (chicken) sausage...

and then, there was pasta.

Steamed clams with white wine, parsley, lemon with angelhair. Spaghetti and chicken sausage with marinara. And my favorite, portobello mushroom ravioli with brown-butter-balsalmic sauce with fresh parmesan.

In short, it was pure gluttony.

And it was lovely and beautiful. Sure, I could make way more complicated stuff--I have since received my recipe collection--but I love this idea of everything coming to me as I walk the aisles of the fresh produce section, as I approach the deli counter, or the seafood station. I love seeing what's fresh and what's good, what's in season and discovering what I can do with it as I taste seasoning and adjust as needed.

Without my recipes.

finally

I can't believe it's taken me until APRIL 2010 to finally, finally, cook a real meal. Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy cooking, no matter what the end result. I like to try to make new recipes and experiment making interesting and delicious things. It felt really good to be over a hot stove, to bang around pots and pans, to season and taste. I can't believe I've let myself go this long without cooking anything. I've been too busy and stressed to make anything but really quick snacks/lunches. I kept it simple tonight with a really simple spring pasta which celebrated the flavors of the season, and I also made delicious hibiscus tea to go along with it. so so good.

Hello old friend. Let's not part again.

In the Kitchen...

I love that summer affords many an opportunity for cook-outs, outdoor get-togethers, BBQs, picnics, bonfires, wine-and-cheese nights, and of course, friendly dinners. It's always a time for friends and food, and also gives me an opportunity to get in the kitchen and make something. A lot of the time the things I want to make don't do well for travel, so my family/people at my house get to suffer through my cooking. Maybe I should host more dinner parties at home to overcome this issue--but then, my family is pretty crazy and I wouldn't want to willingly bring them upon anyone.

Anway, this is just a post featuring stuff I've made over this past week, and not much else.


proscuitto wrapped melon. I don't eat any pork save proscuitto.

Honey and soy glazed salmon.

Rice krispie treats!! [attempt #2 = success =) ]
tonights dinner: boiled sprimp& roasted asparagus.

lemon garnish #2--hey I'm not that creative.

not pictured: baked granola <3

Finger Lickin' Goooooooood

Yesterday I finally got to go to the Del Mar Fair (yeah yeah yeah I know it's now "san diego county fair" or whatever) and get my eating on! I had been waiting for this day for weeks now, and had fully prepared my stomach for all the delicious, the decadent, the fatty, the fried, the greasy, and the scrumptious food to be had.

chocolate funnel cake. a MUST.
(L) fried smores, (R) fried twinkie---smores was much much better :)

Needless to say that even I, who had scoured the booths for delectables,  drafted an eating plan of attack, and even spaced out most of my eating, was feeling the stomach pangs of remorse. One thing on my list that I didn't get to eat were those deep friend frog legs--although the mac and cheese on a stick would have been nice too I think lol. 

However, just to make myself feel better about not going to the fair simply to stuff my face, I also include a trip on the Ferris Wheel whenever I go---actually, I really do enjoy the ferris wheel so it takes no effort on my part to shell out the big bucks for tickets to ride on the big wheel, there's something about it thats is special to me. 

views from the top. One the right, the fair....

and on the left, beautiful coastline of Del Mar. It was a lovely day.

Georges

for val.en.times. day oj & I are going to Georges at the Cove (now, Georges California Modern) & I'm super excited for the menu! 4 courses for 65/person and you get to pick between a couple of options per course= good deal! (not like old venice [still love it there though] which was 85 for 5 courses but you only get to pick your entree= boo).

georges valentines menu: my picks

+ cold course: seared beef carpaccio OR dungeness crab OR date salad

+ hot course: butternut squash ravioli I'm so looking forward to this!

+ entree: braised colorado lamb shank

+ dessert: what else? warm chocolate tart

yum yum yum! I can't wait!

Healthy Fixing.

Since the new year, I've tried to be on a health fix and to get some use out of this gym membership that I pay for every month. the holidays are never, ever, kind to me, and to be honest, I feel sorta gross at the moment. I'm not trying to be super skinny or anything, and I'm definitely not following any fad diets, but I want to get back to where I was maybe a year ago. Apart from exercising, I'm trying out new and health conscious food and drink recipes. As part of this new health awareness, I'm posting some healthy recipes here to try out and will rotate them out every week. Check them out on the sidebar.

Look what came in the mail today:

It is a pizzelle maker, a belated Christmas present from my sister, that just arrived today since it was backordered for weeks. It basically makes little, round, thin, italian cookies, that look like flat waffles. they are great how they are, but I'm excited to make them into little cannoli desserts (soo not healthy!)
pizzelle

pizzelle cannoli

San Diego Restaurant Week: January 11-16

I love Restaurant Week...its a great chance to get some great food (3 courses!) at restaurants that I've been wanting to go to, for only half the price. And I love that it happens twice a year. First up: January 11-16, then again in June. There are menus for $20, $30 and $40 bucks/person, excluding tax, tip and drinks.

Find participating Restaurants here

And some places are even featuring Girl Scout Cookies as part of the menu.

Some of my pics so far are: 94th Aero Squardron, the Prado (they are doing a 3 course meal Jan. 22-28 for only $20.09 to celebrate their anniversary, more info here) Tom Ham's Lighthouse, Coronado Boathouse to name a few. Hopefully I can recover quick from holidays to be able to eat out!!

The one where I'm productive (sorta).

Last night I wasn't feeling well after trying to play scrabble on an iphone in the car. I passed out at 7pm and didn't wake up until 7am today. It was my own fault too. I knew I was going to get sick but who am I to let a little illness hold me back from a game of scrabble? After deciding to skip out of our cycling class, the juice and I went to hillcrest for breakfast at hash house. 3 times is the charm because we tried to go twice before (on the weekend) and the line/wait was much too long for our empty stomachs. But today being a indiscript tuesday, the wait time was exactly zero seconds long. I got the smoked house scramble with sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese and spinach with griddled mashed potatoes, yellow watermelon and a big buttery biscuit & the juice got the fried chicken sage eggs benedict--it was GINORMOUS!! the plate was seriously 10 lbs. I like going to HH because its good food thats worth every penny you pay for it. Big portions & always take home boxes. You eat for the whole day=)

after another nap (food coma!), I got home to take care of some business. party planning, job searching, fafsa filling, email sending, gre studying. I feel half accomplished today. the thing that would make it better is if I hit the gym. the juice's basketball game was cancelled today so there's absolutely no reason for me not to go. no reason. no reason. no reason. man I hate the gym. 

on another note, I was emailing the volunteer coordinator today about my schedule this month & she let me know that they will hiring for a new position and that it should be up in a few days. I'm excited and yet not because me being a volunteer doesnt necessarily mean I'll be hired. After being disappointed at all the other museum/arts jobs I've applied to, it doesnt look promising. I have no real idea what the position will be, but I'm hoping. 

oh, and its my dad's birthday. feliz cumpleanos pinche=)

today...

I didn't do much. I watched a lot to TV on the only 4 channels I know since we moved from time warner cable to cox. food network. bravo. e! and mtv. boy meets grill. e news weekend. forbes top 20 royals. iron chef. top chef. americas best dance crew auditions... that, and a few rounds of text twist. my head started to hurt after awhile. and I wonder at how I'm going blind.

BUT I did make biscotti today! the first batch turned out a little on the crispy side since I was watching ABDC but the second batch was perfect. honey and almond. honey and walnut. the reciepe was originally honey and almond, but it asked for slivered almonds, and I only had whole shelled almonds. after 20 minutes of nut-cracking and attempting to make slivers, I gave up and toasted walnuts haha. they are tasty but not break-your-teeth kind of hard, so I'm pretty darn proud of myself =D

so yesterday I got my hair cut. finally. at least 5 inches cut off. feels lighter and healthier but I feel like I have NO HAIR haha. who know how people talk about phantom pain? well I have phantom hair hahaha. the only thing, is that I should have stopped the layers earlier because...well because, in a certain light, it could look like I have a mullet. lol. I didnt make an appointment and so the girl who usually does my hair was booked, so I had a new girl. she was fun, we had an interesting conversation about movies and boys. it was the best salon talk I've had. lol.