FULL GAMUT

Long weekend ... LOTS of food. Not insane amounts. Not overeating. But ... LOTS of food. But we had an extra day ... so a little more than usual!

Actually, before I forget ... I threw Thursday night's celebration up there as well. We had a little Abe Lincoln celebration that included some Cube 63 delivery. Weird, I know. But whatever. Don't ask. It's just how we do. Awesome as always, Cube.

We started the weekend off right with a lovely Valentine's Day celebration. Meena and I don't typically go with the whole 14th dinner and drinks thing ... we like the night before much better. You don't get crappy prix fixe menus and heart shaped beef wellington. Dinner out on the day of romance can often be the absolute worst. So we avoid it. So we ended up at a lovely little spot in the East Village called Persimmon. Neo-Korean is what they call it. And I'm happy to report, Neo-Korean is VERY good.

We did a nice tasting menu that featured seven little bites before two wonderful main courses and a couple desserts. The tasting bites ranged from awesome deep-fried fish cake with nori wrappers to pork belly with radish kimchee and yellowtail with these crazy little blocks of red, salty jello. Awesome.

Next we moved into a never ending set of sides. Endless kimchee, dried sardines, pickled garlic, kelp and radishes. I could have eaten my weight in the kimchee and sardines. The garlic was amazing, too.

Main courses were a short rib stew for me and a kimchee stew for Meena. I think hers was better than mine but they were both strong.

Desserts weren't that hot. A sweet potato thing and a black bean and rice cake thing. But then, we're not typically fans of Asian dessert. No big surprises there.

Anyway, if you're thinking about hitting Persimmon, I'd recommend it with every bone in my body. Awesome people, super cheap and for the moment, BYOB!

Both Saturday and Sunday we had egg, Canadian bacon and swiss cheese sandwiches for breakfast. I feel like I'm getting much better at making eggs and these were both the benefactors of my improvement. I think they were two of the better sandwiches I've made in a minute. Oh, I almost forgot ... both had American Spoon Foods red pepper jelly and a bit of siracha. SOOO good.

Saturday night we had a bit at James and D's house for Valentine's Day. D just destroyed it. So much good food.

We had a roasted pepper spread to start - peppers roasted by D. No canned BS. Next we moved into a potato pancake with homemade apple sauce. AWESOME. I can't even describe how much I love a good potato pancake. Mostly because I can't make them to save my life.

We also had some lovely little candied bacon bites and pesto pillows that just melted in my mouth. So good.

We also had a delicious cheese pizza that had all the key elements (crisp crust, airy dough and savory toppings).

AND THEN WE HAD THE BEST THING EVER. We had a pulled pork short rib sandwich with coleslaw. I mean, HELLO! I can't even think of something better. This is like heaven on a bun. I love it. So much.

We finished off the dinner with a bit of banana and nutella sandwiched in some pizza dough. WHEW. Awesome and ... the best way to finish the best ensemble dinner a friend has ever made me. So good. So so so good.

Sunday night I hung with Matty C in Vinegar Hill and had a bit of a really awesome pizza he made. He shaved Himalayan salt on it, dudes. He works at Saveur. So you know ... it was gourmet as hell. Meena had some Joya. I had a bit of pork salad when I got home. Nothing too special on that front.

And that brings us to tonight ... the final evening in a long weekend full of food, fun, unnecessary trips to the office and filing (we got a new file cabinet ... it was fun, not boring ... weird, I'll admit it).

We bought this thing at the cooking store and I'm pretty sure it's going to change our lives. It's called a dumping maker and it's exactly what it sounds like. It folds dumping skins in half so you don't have to crimp them with your fingers like a dummy. Dudes, it's so simple, but SOOO rad. You throw a little pork in the middle of a wonton skin, wet the edge and fold. BOOM. You have a Chinese style dumping, ready to rock and roll.

We're going to probably turn into dumplings. Maybe I'm letting the initial excitement get the best of me. Totally possible. But it's just so cool. It makes such perfect dumplings. And they're SOOO good!

Meena did all the heavy lifting on tonight's inaugural dumpling feast. She threw together the following:
- ground pork
- garlic
- cabbage
- sea salt
- green onion
- rice wine vinegar
- soy sauce
- oyster sauce

So you just toss a little bit of that in a skin and you're on the way to Chinese dumpling bliss.

Great weekend (I wasn't lying about all that food, was I?). Tons of fun and so much good stuff. I can't wait to share all the other fun stuff we've been prepping later this week. Suffice it to say, we have a few nice things up our sleeves ...