memoirs of a palate

MOVING

2009-08-19T23:01:00.003-04:00

We had a good run here at palatememoirs.blogspot.com. A great run, even.

But it's time for a new journey. After a little less than three years, we decided it was time to streamline some things. Nothing crazy. We're not quitting or anything. Just moving.

Check out the new Memoirs of a Palate HERE.

Or just head on over to memoirsofapalate.com

see ya' there.

SORRY

2009-08-15T11:33:00.001-04:00

As Timbaland once said:

It's been a long time
We shouldn't have left you
Without a dope beat to step to
Step to, step to, step to
Step to, step to
Freaky-freaky

Sorry about that. I'll have some updates and news and stuff soon.

MOM AND DAD (AND FRIENDS)

2009-08-02T21:38:00.002-04:00

Sorry it's been about three years since the last update. And I'm even more sorry I don't have a ton of really awesome photos from the food consumed over the last couple days. But I can describe it a bit and offer some insights into my mom and dad's third trip to the big city.

Last Tuesday night the folks hit Brooklyn and they were ready for some food after their travels and neighborhood exploration. We figured Bocca Lupo was in order.

Dan and Steve joined the festivities and we had a whole lot of bruschetta, paninis and maybe a bit of wine. Mom and Dad liked the mushroom and truffled cheese the best. I have to agree.

Wednesday night we made sure they hit the neighborhood's finest pizza — Lucali, of course. It's tough to get in but whatever. We knew we had to do it. That photo was from when D and James went with us, but whatever. Similar pizza. I think we had a hot pepper and shallot pie and a mushroom and onion pie. As always, fantastic.

Thursday night mom and dad went to the city and we were on our own. We called in Joya. Sorry, dudes. We were tired. I had some pork salad, Meena had a curry.

Friday night we went big and had all of m&d's friends out to Brooklyn for some drinks, snacks and dinner at Buttermilk Channel. The Guggenheims and Guipes made the trek down deep into Carroll Gardens for Court Street's finest. I had an Esposito's sausage sandwich and Meena had a flap steak with some crispy marrow.

I think the best thing on the menu is still the duck meatloaf. And despite what you may have heard, the fried chicken is pretty dope. And the bacon almonds ... they're still incredible.

Saturday morning I made a little breakfast with some of the previous night's snacks. A little egg with a nice cheddar from Quebec and a bit of proscuitto and toasted bread bits. Salt, pepper, you know the drill. It was excellent.

Saturday night we hit the famed Boathouse in Central Park and I must say, it went way beyond expectations. I couldn't believe how good the food was. I guess I wasn't expecting much, but I was very, very wrong. I thought it would just be a trap for tourists but the Boathouse delivered.

Meena had a roasted chicken with kale and gratin potatoes. I had a snapper with wilted cabbage and it was out of this world. I almost went with the whole branzino, but man ... that snapper was perfect.

And on Sunday, the folks were on their way back to Indy. Sorta. The had awful issues as LGA and they actually ended up in Cincinnatti later that night. Or Kentucky. Or something. But they made it home eventually and I have to say, this may have been their best trip yet. It was so excellent to see them and we had such a good time eating and exploring all over Brooklyn and the Upper West Side.

MEATBALLS

2009-07-28T07:09:00.003-04:00

We had a fairly healthy portion of salmon burger mix left over from the previous evening so we figured salmon meatballs were in order. When life gives you burger mix, make meatballs, right? That's what I'd always heard. Anyway.

I mixed up the little meatballs and threw them in the oven at 500. While they were firming up, I threw some veg in a pan:
- white onion
- spinach
- garlic
- red wine vinegar
- sea salt
- black pepper

I threw the meatballs over that mix and added a bit of marinara to the top. Right before we dined, I added a spot of sriracha and some black pepper. Nice.

It wasn't incredibly filling, but it was pretty delicious. This mix really was better as meatballs. For whatever reason, they were a bit more firm this time? I guess a little time in the fridge helped? Unclear. But they were delicious and the vinegar laced veggies gave the slightly sweet, slightly salmoney meatballs a nice partner in crime. And that sriarcha heat went well with the acidic tomato sauce. Success!

BURGER-LIKE

2009-07-27T06:54:00.002-04:00

Saturday night we made our way into the city for an amazing dinner at Pylos with Madeline and Pedro but I didn't get any photos and how interesting is a post with no photos, right? Not very. But I just wanted to mention it ... fantastic meal. I had some poached salmon, Meena had a mixed seafood orzo spectacular and there was a massive plate of that awesome Greek cheese that is sometimes served on fire.

Fantastic.

So how do you follow that up on a Sunday night at home? Well, you don't because it's impossible, but we tried salmon burgers.

I used one heck of a mix this time around:
- salmon
- honey
- wheat bread soaked in milk
- egg
- spinach
- fish sauce
- sriracha
- chili powder
- garlic

I mixed everything up in the food processor and threw them on a hot skillet. When they were browned and ready to come off the heat, I slapped them between two pieces of wheat toast and added a bit of avocado and field greens. Oh, and some sriracha.

Delicious. The flavor was intense and lovely ... the texture lacked a little. I probably should have used a bit more bread and used the food processor a little less. But it's coo.

We served it up with some more cucumbers and onions that had been bathing in white vinegar, cider vinegar and salt for a minute. I added a bit of the left over avocado as well. Gave it a nice smoothness to balance out the pickley pop.

Not a bad close to the weekend.

ADVANCED MUFFIN TIN

2009-07-26T21:28:00.001-04:00

It's been a minute, but for a very long time, muffin tin madness was a staple on this blog. Egg cups with a crispy bread crust. I think I used wheat bread a lot in the beginning. Then I tried tortillas some. Tried to give it a Mexicali twist. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

This time it worked.

Rather than using a ramekin, I opted for a gratin dish this Saturday morning. I went with the whole-wheat tortilla and after greasing up the dish with some cooking spray, I worked the crust into place.

While the oven was heating up to 400, I threw together the filling:
- jalapeno chicken sausage
- trader joe's fresh salsa
- spinach
- egg
- sea salt
- black pepper
- chili powder

I baked these suckers up and when all was set, I popped them out of their dishes and threw them on a plate. With a little sriracha and a side of cucumbers and onions, we had a breakfast to be reckoned with, friends.

SPICE UP THE WEEKEND

2009-07-25T21:20:00.004-04:00

Friday night rolled around and rather than hitting the town and doing all the wild things the cook kids are up to, we decided it was best to kick it at the house with a little dinner and disc 4 of The Wire's first season. Not the flashy choice, sure, but the best choice, I assure you.

You know my love of the blackening spice and I decided I'd just get a little salmon going with a few dashes of that lovely stuff. Spice on the fish, a run through the pan and a finish in the 450 degree oven. Viola.

I threw these spicy bits of fish over a simple salad:
- greens
- white onion
- cucumber
- white vinegar
- sea salt
- dressing (soy sauce, apple juice, sesame oil, garlic and sugar)

Spicy fish, cool salad. That's about right if you ask me. The salad had a nice little bite courtesy of of some cucumbers and onions I'd marinated in white vinegar and sea salt for about an hour. Reminds me of summer as a kid for some reason. Well, I know the reason. My mom always made that. Anyway, it was awesome.

BUTTERMILK

2009-07-24T07:12:00.003-04:00

Meena and I have done brunch at Buttermilk Channel a few times but because we're taking my parents there next week, we figured it was best to try dinner once before we took the plunge. I'm happy to report we will not be changing our reservations - Buttermilk Channel stands!

We had a nice little dinner. Maybe a little over the top for a Thursday, but hey, today's payday. You gotta indulge once in a while, right?

We started with the little dish I'd hear so much about - the maple bacon almonds. Friends, you should definitely get these if you're ever there. Amazing. Little bits of bacon and incredible sweet and salty coatings encased each little nut. Fantastic.

After the almonds we moved into a little cheese sampling and though I don't have much to report, we were both pleased with the selections and the roasted grapes that were served alongside.

For the main event, Meena went with a duck meatloaf that was served with summer corn pudding and a massive onion ring. Though the presentation was a little mundane, I was incredibly taken by the taste. The flavors all worked so well together and the heartiness of the duck really worked well in a meatloaf format. I was impressed.

I had the bratwurst with sauerkraut and mustard. They served this sucker on a lovely toasted roll and threw on a side of fries. It's nothing revolutionary but I just love these tastes. It's like being a kid again.

So we'll be back for sure. Next week, actually.

THE KITCHEN SINK

2009-07-23T07:01:00.003-04:00

I was at a little after work event last night and while I was away, Meena got going on a whole-wheat pizza spectacular.

She's not often the one handling the dough when we make pizzas so according to her reports, she struggled a bit to get it in the right shape. No biggie in my personal opinion. As long as it cooks, the shape is irrelevant.

When it came time to top this sucker, she threw the kitchen sink at it. We got:
- chicken jalapeno sausage
- shrimp
- smoked mozzarella
- marinara
- yellow bell pepper
- onion
- spinach
- broccoli

It's funny because looking back at this list, it doesn't seem like a ton of ingredients. It's not, really. I guess it was just the quantity of the list. Because this was a STACKED pizza, friends. Eating two slices was like eating half a pizza. And it was awesome.

I threw a bunch of sriracha and sambal oelek on mine as well and the spice really helped tie everything together.

Fantastic pizza from my lovely wife.

BACHELOR NIGHT

2009-07-22T06:58:00.005-04:00

This isn't the first time I've noted this trend, but when Meena is out for dinner and I'm left to eat whatever's in the fridge, my main goals are quick, simple and delicious.

In my experience, quesadillas are almost always able to deliver on those three tenets.

The lowly quesadilla. It's the fodder of movie jokes and the most common appetizer on every tex-mex menu around the globe. But it can be good. It really can. And last night I think I made a pretty delicious one.

I started by cooking down a few ingredients:
- cabbage
- onion
- spinach
- garlic
- chicken jalapeno sausage
- rice vinegar
- sea salt

Once I had all of that cooked I threw it in a whole wheat tortilla and added a couple slivers of that smoked mozzarella. I cooked off both sides and then topped it off with a bit of sour cream, salsa and sambal oelek.

This one worked out according to plan. I liked having all the veg and minimal cheese. I think so often these things are drowning in cheese and that's all you really taste. I used a couple slivers for the sake of tradition and kept my focus on the veg.

The veg really sung with that vinegar pop and gave the cheese a run for its money as the mayor of flavor town. The whole thing came together with the addition of the smooth sour cream spicy salsa.

Not bad for a bachelor night.

SUPER SALAD

2009-07-21T07:11:00.004-04:00

Folks, we just ate the best salad we've ever created in this kitchen. I know it's become a bit of a trend in this house to make these overstuffed dinner salads, but this one was just the best. I promise.

We started with a bit of the beef tenderloin we'd had in the freezer. We thawed a steak and coated both sides with blackening spice. We gave both sides a hit on the skillet before finishing in the oven while we prepared everything else.

In a bowl we threw together:
- mixed greens
- tomato
- bleu cheese
- white onion
- avocado
- dressing (canola oil, garlic, rice vinegar, sea salt, black pepper)
- toasted whole-wheat tortilla
- prosciutto

SUCCESS! That spicy, tender steak, while minimal in size, was just exploding with flavor. It was spicy and just perfectly bitter. What you'd expect from blackened tenderloin, I'd say.

And all the other ingredients really reacted well to Meena's dressing. They were all enhanced and showed the best side of themselves when mixed through our salad bowls.

Fantastic - we'll definitely follow this recipe again - I have a feeling I'm going to crave it.

THE DARK SIDE

2009-07-20T07:23:00.004-04:00

You know what's awesome? Blackening spice is awesome.

I'd had this recipe for blackening spice for a couple years and back when we lived in the East Village, I remember making it a few times. Well, jump cut to now and here we are thinking about that lovely mixture of sugar, salt, cayenne, paprika, black pepper, chili powder, oregano and basil again.

See, we had this salmon fillet in the fridge and we didn't know what to do with it. We obviously cook salmon a lot and we have a variety of ways we can prepare it in our repertoire. But blackening hadn't come up in a minute and the second it was mentioned, we knew - that was it.

So I whipped up the mix I described above and gave that salmon a tour of the skillet followed by a blast of the oven to finish it off.

Then those lovely, spicy fishes went down on the following sandwich fixings:
- red onion
- tomato
- greens
- sesame mayo
- radish kimchee
- pumpernickel baguette

Well, we've done a very nice job here. The spicy fish ... the kimchee kick and the smooth sesame mayo. The resistance of the pumpernickel and the sweet summer tomato.

Perfect.

On the side of this successful sandwich Meena threw in another one of her awesome salads. Mixed greens, tomato, onion and that awesome dressing. Lovely way to close out a nice, long weekend.

SCRAMBLE

2009-07-18T07:23:00.001-04:00

Saturday morning I figured the best start to our day was going to be a nice little scramble using up a bit of the taco night filling we had left from the previous night. Just a quick little brekkie with stuff we had on hand.

Here's how I broke it down:
- taco filling (see previous post)
- campari tomato
- chicken apple sausage
- milk
- eggs
- spinach
- sea salt
- black pepper
- smoked mozzarella

And that was that. With a bit of sriracha (we really do put it on EVERYTHING, friends) it was heaven on a Saturday morning plate. Er ... bowl.

TACO NIGHT!

2009-07-18T07:09:00.002-04:00

Asian taco night, that is! I know we've been doing this a ton lately, but man, it's just so good and just so delicious.

I had to work a little later on Friday and Meena was off early, so she was kind enough to get it started and take care of most of the annoying prep for this one.

On my way home, I dropped by Korea Town and picked up a couple little treats that I knew would just go perfectly with this sucker - spicy daikon and radish kimchee. It smelled to high hell but it was otherworldly delicious.

When I got to the crib, I threw together some veg in a pan:
- spinach
- broccoli
- white onion
- red onion
- shrimp
- mushrooms

I threw just a bit of some Annie's stir fry sauce on the top as I finished them up to give the whole mix a nice sesame flavor.

With a couple whole wheat tortillas warmed through in the oven and a dose of sriracha ... these suckers were out of sight. Just brilliant. After a long week, it was the perfect way to usher in the weekend.

NIGHT 2

2009-07-17T07:05:00.001-04:00

Night two of the meeting took us on a tour of the High Line and down to Los Dados for some margs, chips, salsa, guac and assorted other Mexican goodness.

The food quality took a massive turn for the better on Thursday. We had this lovely shrimp salad you're seeing up there. We followed it with little chicken tacos, delicious tamarind skirt steak and an assortment of desserts that featured mountains of churros.

After Wednesday, I must admit, the high-end Mexican of Los Dados was a very welcome addition to the meeting agenda.

UM

2009-07-16T06:57:00.002-04:00

Oh boy. We had the start to our annual meeting at City Winery on Wednesday and it was a questionable experience at nearly every turn.

The idea was good. You know when you see people eating in a barn on a winery and it looks all rustic and romantic? Well, they employed this concept in the middle of Manhattan and it came out looking a lot more like a NYC cab garage than a beautiful Napa Valley barn.

The wine was just OK and the food wasn't great. We had some hummus on a toasted slice of bread, a salad with some goat cheese, a crazy sausage and some sliced steak.

Not an awesome way to kick it off, but it was good to see some of the folks I hadn't seen since last year.

BETTER FOR US?

2009-07-15T07:03:00.003-04:00

It's not that I stacked the deck against this new Trader Joe's whole wheat crust, it's just that its deep brown hue gave me the feeling that we were about to eat some delicious toppings on a slice of cardboard.

It wasn't quite that bad, but I'm not sure we'll be selecting this variety any longer. It was crisp through the center and the edges gave that nice bounce you'd expect from a slice handle, but the taste was just a little off. I guess the problem was that it was TOO powerful. You want a crust to be subtle, I think. You want to taste it, but you don't want it to be the ONLY thing you taste.

Anyway, that was the crust.

After one blast in the 500 degree oven, I coated the dough in the following:
- marinara
- crimini mushrooms
- spinach
- red onion
- applewood smoked mozzarella
- apple and chardonnay chicken sausage
- sea salt
- black pepper

So that was that. The ingredients definitely saved what could have been a slide into pizza disaster. That's a strong word. I didn't mean that. It wouldn't have been a disaster. But that crust. Just not great. We'll go back to the other variety next time. FOR SURE.

AWESOME MEAL IN MINUTES

2009-07-14T07:20:00.003-04:00

Awesome. Just awesome. We got home and had this one on the table in under 20 minutes. So fast, so, so, so delicious.

Meena picked up a bit of turkey kielbasa at Trader Joe's the other day and was kind enough to chop a few bell peppers and white onions last night. When we got home, I threw all three on the grill pan and got lovely grill marks on everything.

Meena threw two ears of corn in some boiling, salted water. And she chopped some tomato and carrots for a quick salad that was topped with her classic dressing (canola oil, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, rice vinegar).

Just before serving, I reduced some balsamic vinegar to drizzle over the plated kielbasa and pepper/onion medley. That thick, syrupy sauce gave each bite a ... bite. A sweet, sour vinegar punch that went tremendously with that smoky sausage and charred veg.

This one was a clear winner. Score one for the good guys.

NEVER AGAIN

2009-07-13T07:14:00.002-04:00

I spent the weekend in Milford, PA doing a bit of camping with the broze. I was hoping to have a few images but I don't really. Rest assured, I ate a lot of hot dogs, hamburgers, pickles and chips. My sodium levels are through the roof. And my back hurts. But I had a blast and can now say I've rafted the Delaware River. Cool, right?

When I got back, Meena had some gear ready to grill up a bit of salmon. The only problem? The Trader Joe's frozen salmon was total crap.

We tried to get it right on the grill pan and serve it up with a bit of TJ's fresh salsa, but it still just wasn't right. The side of corn and Meena's delicious garden salad were enough to save things, but suffice it to say, no more frozen salmon from TJ's.

ANOTHER SUCCESS STORY

2009-07-10T07:18:00.002-04:00

That's right. Another win with Trader Joe's pizza crust. I don't know why I didn't trust it, but for some reason, when you roll this stuff out, it just doesn't look right. But it is. So, so right.

This time around, we threw on:
- red bell pepper
- marinara
- chicken sausage
- le fournols
- spinach
- marinara
- shiitake mushrooms

And Meena whipped up a salad of mixed greens and avocado and finished it off with her dressing (canola oil, sea salt, black pepper, garlic and rice vinegar).

Another great one.

DINNER IN THE SKY

2009-07-09T07:11:00.001-04:00

This one won't be all that informative. Because I can't remember the name of the caterer who brought in the food. Sorry. But the deal was that we had this Digital Sales Meeting Dinner on the top of the Thompson LES and they brought in some nice Asian fusion stuff for eats.

We had bok choy with garlic. Skirt steak with some kind of chimicurri or salsa or something. There was a "jerk" chicken that was a lot like orange chicken from a Chinese restaurant. Fried rice tied the whole thing together.

I should have snapped a shot of the view. Beatutiful views uptown and downtown. Perfect weather. Good food. Not a bad way to cap off a meeting.

DELIVERING HEALTH

2009-07-08T07:11:00.003-04:00

I didn't get home LATE last night ... but late enough that our plans for making a pizza died on the vine. Bummer. I wanted pizza. But I had some things I had to do, so the next best option was healthy Chinese delivery.

Same order as the last time we tried this trick - steamed shrimp and chicken with veggies and brown rice.

Not bad. They have a little sauce on the side that gives everything a touch of flavor. And we always throw some sriracha on there to spice things up considerably.

I think this is it, friends. This is the go to order for us these days. Weird? Maybe. But a lot better for us than some of the other stuff we've brought in over the years.

DEL MAR

2009-07-07T07:14:00.002-04:00

These salads are becoming a staple for us, right? I know it's weird and they don't always look so incredible in photos, but I promise, these dinner salads we've been whipping up have been excellent. With little exception, really. Lots of great ingredients usually spell dining success.

This effort featured the following mix:
- red bell pepper
- white onion
- avocado
- seafood mix (squid, scallops and shrimp)
- dressing (fish sauce, garlic, brown sugar, canola oil, sriracha and lime)
- leaf lettuce

You know, I was skeptical of the Trader Joe's seafood mix. It looked puny when we threw it in the pan. I figured it would be rubbery and tough, but I'm happy to report I was 100% wrong. The diminutive size was just right for the salad and every bite was pretty spot on. The squid was almost perfect. And that never happens.

Solid effort. It doesn't look all that special in the photo above, but again, trust me - this one was rich (avocado) and full of sweet and salty flavor (dressing) while somehow managing to feel a bit light (seafood?) at the same time. We'll make it again.

URBAN GRILLING

2009-07-06T07:06:00.000-04:00

Despite its weight, Meena and I managed to get the lovely grill pan we received for our wedding in our suitcase on Sunday afternoon. After months of salivating over this awesome piece of iron, we finally have it in Brooklyn ... and we couldn't wait to break it out.

We decided to fire this sucker up (after we cleaned it) and throw a bunch of veg and shrimp on for some more of those awesome Asian tacos. These featured:
- red bell pepper
- white onion
- spinach
- shiitake mushrooms
- shrimp
- sea salt
- black pepper

We served these lovely, charred ingredients with some lettuce wraps and our last two Trader Joe's whole-wheat tortillas. I also whipped up a sauce that featured:
- ginger
- garlic
- honey
- soy sauce
- sriracha
- sesame oil

Pretty fantastic, folks. The grilled veg had all those lovely grill marks and wonderful charred flavors. The sauce was a little spicy, a little salty and just a touch sweet. Everything we love in this house.

We're glad to be back (though we miss home a lot) and even happier to have our grill pan. Expect to see more grilled goodness throughout the summer!

STAYIN' CHEESY IN THE WEEZY

2009-07-05T22:02:00.003-04:00

When I wished James a happy America Day he told me to "stay cheesy in the weezy" and I thought that was kinda funny. You know, because Meena and I were in Milwaukee. And Wisconsin is famous for their cheese and all.

Anyway, I'll be brief about our journey through all things awesome in Brookfield and Milwaukee and Elm Grove for a wonderful 4th of July weekend.

We started off our eating adventures on Thursday night at Mitchell's for a bit of seafood. Meena and I split some lovely east coast oysters and a big ol' lettuce wedge with some thousand island. Decadent. And awesome.

Meena moved into a Shang Hai sampler - salmon, scallops and shrimp with some sticky rice and spinach. Not bad. I had some blackened whitefish. The cajun spice and the flakey whitefish went together wonderfully.

Friday afternoon we got down with a delicious picnic in the park. Mrs. Roell manned three baby grills that produced a metric ton of hamburgers and hot dogs. We threw on some potato chips, potato salad and a bunch of bananas to make it one spectacular Friday afternoon.

Friday night we went down to Milwaukee for one heck of a spread at the waterfront hotspot, Coast. The place was peppered with gourmet stations featuring roast chicken, gyros, brats, ribs, sliders and corn. I sampled ... a few of those. Though due to over-indulgence, I'm not at liberty to divulge the exact combination of eats.

Saturday night we finished off a lovely weekend with some more fireworks in Elm Grove. Nothing too fancy on the food front - just a Miller High Life and a burger from the Rotary Club stand. But what it lacked in fancy, it more than made up for in the taste department. Those dudes made a nice burger.

Another incredible weekend in Milwaukee. Not that it's ever a surprise. It's a great city and our family is the best. We're probably going to make another trip back this summer if all goes well - and we can't wait!

NEW AVENUE

2009-07-02T07:09:00.005-04:00

We ran out of our pizza dough from Fresh Direct and we recently opted to test out Trader Joe's offering. Much larger in its standard size, I was a little worried we wouldn't end up with the crispy crust and texture we'd been perfecting in recent weeks.

Turns out my worries were unfounded. This stuff is A+.

After working out the dough and giving it one round on the pizza stone, I pulled out the half-baked crust and topped it with:
- marinara
- chicken jalapeño sausage
- onion
- red bell pepper
- shiitake mushrooms
- sea salt
- black pepper
- chives
- le fournols cheese

Ding, Ding. We have another winner, dudes. The crust, after maxin' and relaxin' in the 500 degree oven for around 15 minutes came out golden and crisp. Each slice came apart solid and firm, but when you took a bite, the interiors were soft, bouncy and full of those good pizza crust bubbles.

As far as the toppings were concerned, the cheese really stood out. Why? It was really stinky. This one was a super stinky, dirty socks kind of cheese. But ... in a good way. If that's possible.

But yeah, I think we're cool with the Trader Joe's crust and we'll be rockin' it from here on out.

Meena also threw together a simple salad. It featured some spinach and campari tomatoes with her classic dressing (canola oil, garlic, sea salt, rice vinegar and black pepper). Tasty as always.

We're off to MKE for the weekend - hope to get you some updates but I make no promises. But definitely expect some burgers and dogs when we get back!

STEAMY

2009-07-01T07:08:00.003-04:00

We both got home late last night and we had some problems with the kitchen sink (leaky pipe) so we decided to ditch the existing dinner plans and just pull in some delivery from the dudes at Szechuan Garden.

Nothing standard for us last night. Nope. We tried to order the healthiest stuff we could find on the menu so we just opted for the steamed prawns with vegetables and the steamed chicken with vegetables.

Simple. We clearly (clearly!) added a bunch of sriracha to the mix, but other than that, just a little brown rice and we were set. And you know what? Not bad. I think we may have a new favorite order.

CHINESE TACOS?

2009-06-30T07:18:00.003-04:00

I guess that's the best description for these lovely little packages of flavor Meena envisioned yesterday. She said it was mu shu shrimp, and I suppose that's correct. We didn't have a couple of the ingredients that would have been required to officially call it mu shu, but whatever. This was our version.

We didn't have hoisin, so I made a little sauce:
- brown sugar
- honey
- soy sauce
- sriracha
- garlic
- rice vinegar

Then Meena started some veg on the pan. Those included:
- broccoli slaw
- white onion
- shiitake mushroom
- spinach
- yellow bell pepper

At the last second we mixed through a bit of shrimp and served the whole shebang up with whole wheat tortillas and lots of sriracha.

And ... I guess you have Chinese tacos, right? Maybe? I don't know. That's what we're going with.

Not bad, though. The spice went really well with the sweet, garlic-tinged veggies. And the whole wheat tortillas were really outstanding. I don't know what Trader Joe's is up to ... but they've done something special with whole wheat here.

These will return. Mark my words.

SALAD ROUND TWO

2009-06-29T07:28:00.005-04:00

We got lucky at Fairway. Really lucky. As we were wandering through the aisles and dodging the droves of people doing the same, we happened upon something pretty awesome ... beef tenderloin for $4.99 a pound.

We picked up a few pounds and hightailed it back to Carroll Gardens. We'd had plans to make a pizza or something but when this new detail came to light, we had to regroup, you know?

Salad. Yep. We decided to bring back the super dinner salad we'd rocked last week and boy, oh, boy did it benefit from those lovely bits of steak!

When we got home, I marinated the steak in soy, garlic, ketchup, sesame oil, fish sauce and water.

A few hours later, we started grilling veggies in a mix of cumin, chili powder, sea salt and olive oil. Those veg included:
- red pepper
- red onion

Then we grilled up some shrimps in a similar spice mix and threw that tenderloin on the side.

While all that was heating up I got rolling on an avocado and Meena threw together her dressing (canola oil, garlic, rice vinegar, sea salt and black pepper).

Mix all of that through with some field greens and what do you have? Something pretty decadent. And one heck of a way to close out the weekend.

QUICK SUNDAY BITES

2009-06-29T07:26:00.003-04:00

You knew they had to make a comeback, right? This is the world's greatest breakfast and it had been away for too long. So ... I brought it back.

So simple. I used:
- caputo's mini ciabatta
- low-fat cream cheese
- smoked salmon
- chives
- sea salt
- black pepper

Perfection, friends. Simply. Perfect.

A VARIATION

2009-06-28T07:20:00.002-04:00

I decided to make a healthy variation on eggs benedict for Meena on Saturday morning. Why? Cause eggs benedict is bad for you right? I felt it was my civic duty to increase the health quotient on one of Meena's brunch-time favorites. I don't really think I made anything terribly delicious, but I do think I did right by my goal. It was a healthier version than the original.

I started by grilling up some pita triangles to replace the english muffin.

Then I whipped up a bit of sauce to replace that lovely hollandaise. I used:
- balsamic vinegar
- sriracha
- low fat sour cream
- garlic

Then I just threw some smoked salmon and a poached egg (with a little salt and pepper) over the whole affair.

We mixed up some greens with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic for a bit of veg support on the side.

You know what? Not bad. I don't think it was great, but my poaching skills were a little better than I expected and the sauce + salmon all merged well together. Was it great? No. But it wasn't bad. It definitely wansn't bad.

FREE AT LAST

2009-06-27T07:09:00.001-04:00

Freedom from the office felt pretty amazing on Friday night and because it was threatening rain off and on, we decided to forgo heading out into the hood looking for foods and instead decided to just call in Zaytoons. You know. It was one of those kick your feet up, relax and veg nights. Nobody does veg out meals like Zaytoons.

So we did the usual:
- zaytoons mix
- chicken shawarma sandwich
- shish kebab sandwich

That's it. Just plain old Zaytoons perfection.

AN INCREDIBLE SALAD

2009-06-26T07:02:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure how we managed to do this, but somehow we really worked out an incredible salad last night. I'm not a big fan of the dinner salad. Honestly. It just never feels like enough. It might taste good, but so often, you wind up digging through the pantry an hour later.

Well, this one was equal parts satisfying and filling. Meena and I teamed up on a good one here, dudes. A good one that'll probably make a comeback or two.

We started with a bunch of veg on a hot, hot pan:
- red onion
- yellow bell pepper

I mixed those lovely bits with a bunch of chili powder, basil, cumin, sea salt and a bit of olive oil. The went on the pan and sizzled and stewed for a bit.

Then I mixed through some halved shrimp with the same seasoning mix and a bit of sriracha and added them to the same pan and killed the heat.

While the shrimp warmed through, I sliced up some avocado and Meena toasted up some whole wheat pita and made a bit of a dressing:
- canola oil
- garlic
- cumin
- rice wine vinegar
- sea salt
- black pepper

And at the end, we threw it all together over a romaine mix and plated it up.

Whew. What a salad. Creamy avocado, spicy peppers, onions and shrimp. And that nice and crispy/chewy pita. Fantastic.

ANOTHER GREAT MEENA MEAL

2009-06-24T07:11:00.003-04:00

My wife is the best. I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it. In fact, I'll yell it when she whips up delicious stuff like this incredible shrimp curry.

She's tried this one before and I'm happy to see it make a comeback in a slightly different execution.

This time around she threw in:
- shrimp
- broccoli and carrot slaw
- light coconut milk
- onion
- brown rice
- soy sauce
- rice wine vinegar
- sodium-free chicken broth
- corn starch
- garlic
- spinach
- sambal oelek

Whew! I spiced mine up a touch with some sriracha and boy, oh boy. This one had that rare combination of making me feel exceedingly full while remaining completely satisfying.

Oh so awesome. Meen, I'm going to request this one again, too. Beware!

MEENA'S WORLD FAMOUS MEATLOAF

2009-06-23T07:15:00.003-04:00

I was treated to something special last night, friends. I was served what I will now refer to as Meena's World Famous Meatloaf from now until the end of time.

Because in my mind, it is just that. It's delicious, friends, this much I promise you.

She started with a bit of veg:
- broccoli slaw
- spinach
- shiitake mushrooms
- soy sauce
- chicken broth
- sea salt
- black pepper
- sriracha

All those lovely, crunch greens got the sautee treatment before being paired with the main event ... the turkey meatloaf. Here's what went in:
- ground turkey
- oatmeal
- worcestershire sauce
- garlic
- sea salt
- black pepper
- fat-free yogurt
- egg
- ketchup
- onion
- sriracha

All that went in the oven for around 50 minutes at about 400 degrees. Wow.

The thing was moist, perfectly bound, full of flavor and from what I hear, not that bad for me either. Who knew?

Thanks, wife. Just beware, I'm going to request this one again soon.

FAT FISH

2009-06-22T06:58:00.003-04:00

And so the end of the weekend finally rolled around. You never like to see the clock strike 7:00 or so on a Sunday night because it means all your lovely lounging around time is quickly coming to a close. But for me anyway, the only thing that makes it a little better is whipping up something in the kitchen. This Sunday night we went with the fattest salmon fillet I've seen in months.

I started with a little base for the salmon to preside over - a bit of broccoli slaw we picked up at Trader Joe's. Just julienned broccoli and carrot. I added:
- fat free sour cream
- cayenne pepper
- lemon juice
- sea salt
- black pepper
- red onion

And then I tried replicating the glaze I'd used on the perch a few night earlier:
- jalapeno jelly
- soy sauce
- garlic
- sriracha
- whole grain mustard

I seared these fat boys up on the stove then finished them in the oven with the glaze. The results were pretty darn good.

The slaw was creamy but laced with this subtle heat that added a touch of complexity. I love this slaw - the crunch of the carrot and broccoli. I'll be buying this stuff again.

The fish was, despite it's unusual thickness, cooked perfectly. I let it languish in the oven a little longer than normal and I guess I pulled it out right at the perfect moment because both fillets were cooked just right.

A strong effort to close the weekend if I do say so myself. Now back to the work week. With any luck we'll have a few fun things to share in the coming days. I definitely have a mind to cook with some regularity this week.

HIGH ON THE HIPSTER HOG

2009-06-21T22:39:00.003-04:00

Meena had to drop off some stuff for a shoot in Williamsburg and because it was a giant garment bag full of who knows what, she enlisted the help of Dan and myself to see that it made it over there in one piece. Not a problem, because I knew that once in the heart of the hipster, I was going to check out something I've ignored for too long - hipster bbq.

Fette Sau is this bbq joint in that neck of the woods that we've always meant to try. I guess I always sort of dismissed it as yet another NYC attempt at replicating authentic customs from the rest of the country in hopes of appealing to this town's neverending love affair with all things ironic. But we read about the Sau in some magazine touting its grub as solid cooking, so we figured it was time to see what it was all about.

We started with a big old growler of some wheat beer.

So far, so AWESOME.

Then we got our tray of meats and sides. The damage went like this:
- 1 lb. beef brisket
- 1/2 lb. pork shoulder
- 2 x spicy pork sausage
- small baked beans
- small potato salad
- rolls

I have to say, I was pretty disappointed in everything but the brisket. The pork was dry. Dry, dry, dry. As a bone. The vinegar and bbq helped, but it was obvious it wasn't a home run. The brisket, on the other hand, was awesome. Moist and full of flavor. Just delicious. I could have eaten two pounds.

The beans were burnt. And not in a good charred flavor way. Just straight burnt. The potato salad was meh. The sausage was just sausage. Nothing to write home about.

In the end, it wasn't awful. Not at all. I mean, bbq is always good. Even if it's just OK bbq. But I was still a little disappointed. I wanted it to be better. But whatever. I mean, I'll go back again. Maybe one more time just to see if last night was an off night. But after one experience, I have to report, just so, so, Fette Sau.

A GIANT EGG SANDWICH

2009-06-21T22:32:00.003-04:00

I was supposed to be camping this weekend but due to the rain, we called the trip off and postponed until July. We should probably have some better luck with the weather then. Let's hope.

Anyway, because I was chillin in Brooklyn instead of dodging rain in a tent somewhere in Pennsylvania, I decided to make Meena a bit of breakfast.

I figured, why not just try a GIGANTIC EGG SANDWICH? Because, honestly, who doesn't love a gigantic egg sandwich for breakfast?

If I recall, the list went a little something like this:
- egg
- yellow bell pepper
- red onion
- marinara
- sriracha
- fish sauce
- jalapeno jelly
- mixed greens
- olive oil
- sea salt
- black pepper
- parmesan
- whole wheat bread
- chicken sausage

So I grilled the peppers and onions and mixed them through with the marinara, fish sauce, jelly and sriracha. It gave them a hearty little kick. Some tomato goodness and a hint of spice.

The greens got tossed with the parm, sea salt, pepper and oil. Like a mini salad serving as the sandwich's ground floor. I like.

Then I just grilled off some bits of chicken sausage and a couple eggs and there you have it. A gigantic egg sandwich that was really, really good. One hell of a way to get the weekend going in the right direction.

FISH CAMP!

2009-06-20T19:50:00.000-04:00

I'm very happy to report that the longest week in recent memory came to a delightful close, my friends. That's right, we were treated to one of the best meals I've had in a minute at the always awesome Brooklyn Fish Camp by none other than the lovely and amazing duo of Dan and Steve.

Dan had a gift card that he was itching to use and we were happy to help.

Aren't we lucky?

Anyway, earlier in the day, Meena had told me how much she wanted a lobster roll. I told her fat chance, pay day was a week away! But Dan and Steve came to the rescue and my wife received her craving on a perfectly grilled, buttered bun.

The dinner was spectacular. We started it off with a half dozen oysters on the half shell. They were nice and plump. Not sure what the variety was, but I'm reasonably sure they were east coast. Briney and juicy. Just perfectly decadent.

For the main course, I've already mentioned Meena's selection. Plump lobster salad thrown down the center of that golden hot dog bun and served with a heap of fries. Dan and Steve went the same way - I can't blame them. Mary's does one of the best we've ever had. And believe me, it's easy to mess one of these up despite its seemingly simplistic recipe.

I was the only one who strayed from the lobster. I gave it some thought and nearly went with it, but the spicy sardine sandwich caught my eye. Pickled veggies? Check. Fried, spicy sardines? Check. Grilled bread and a salty salad of greens and onions on the side? Check.

Sounds like my perfect meal.

And oh was it ever. I think I may have dreams about this one. It's easily one of my new favorite things. And at 14 bucks, I think I can probably swing it from time to time. Exciting times, friends. Exciting times indeed. When you have a new favorite sandwich, life is just glorious.

So that was that. Thanks again to D&S - incredible meal, friends. Thanks so much for including us!

SLIPPIN'

2009-06-19T19:40:00.001-04:00

Well, I don't really know why we did this. Well, I take that back. I do. If you've been around the NYC area the past few weeks, you know it's been raining cats and dogs like every single day. I think that because the week had been so long and we were so tired and wet and ... SO close to Friday, we figured, whatever. Let's just order in some Cube 63.

A little different for us this time around. Meena had:
- shrimp shumai
- spicy tuna roll
- seaweed salad

Alec had:
- miso soup
- avocado salad
- salmon roll

I tried to keep it light and I think I got it just right this time around. The avocado salad was surprisingly good for being so simple. Just a regular old green salad with avocado and that Japanese dressing. But I think I might have it again.

PERCH

2009-06-18T19:16:00.004-04:00

Admittedly, this was a bit of a weird one for us. One, I used perch. Not that perch is weird, we just haven't ever used it. I don't know why. I don't know why I tried it this time, either. But I was curious. And I'm glad I was. But more about that later. Two, I served this over a little tomato and onion salad. Weird. Probably won't do it again. But I don't know. It wasn't bad. Worth a try. Anyway, that's sorta why this one was weird.

So I started with the little salad that went down on the plates:
- campari tomatoes
- red onion
- olive oil
- black pepper
- sea salt
- rice wine vinegar

And then I whipped up a little glaze for the perch:
- jalapeno jelly
- whole-grain mustard
- sriracha
- soy sauce

I slathered that mix on the fish and threw it under the broiler for a few until the top was all crisp and the fillets were cooked through.

Meena also made a lovely salad featuring:
- campari tomatoes
- field greens
- avocado
- red onion
- dressing (canola oil, garlic, rice vinegar, sea salt, black pepper)

So ... the results were pretty good. I loved the perch. A lot meatier and firm than I had anticipated. Sorta like a poor man's halibut. REALLY poor man's halibut. But still. Similar in some ways. The topping was the real kicker though. A little sweet, a little spicy. Very delicious.

Meena's salad was the bomb. The avocado was decadent and went well with that raw onion bite.

I think we'll try this one again - we may have a future with perch!

RECOVERY

2009-06-17T18:57:00.002-04:00

When the world finally slowed down a bit, I was actually able to get out of the office at a reasonable hour and run by the fish market on Court to pick up some elements of a much needed home cooked meal. Salmon was the plan. When you just want to make some good and make something easy, there's really no better fish in my humble opinion.

For the salmon, nothing special ... just a bit of salt and pepper, seared up on the stove top and then finished in the oven at 500.

I threw together a neat little base for the salmon to preside over:
- spinach
- soy sauce
- mushrooms
- chicken sausage
- olive oil
- black pepper

Pretty solid. I liked this one a lot, actually. The sausage and mushrooms and spinach provided a nice bite alongside that silky salmon. Can't complain ... this one was solid.

FINALLY

2009-06-16T18:49:00.002-04:00

When I finally got home on Monday night, I was beat. Destroyed. And even though it was Meena's birthday, we just couldn't do much. I offered, but Meena knew. We just needed a little delivery from Szechuan Garden.

I had some kung pao chicken. Nice.

Meena had some sweet and sour prawns with a bit of lo mein.

Thank goodness we'd been to Montreal for Meena's birthday or I would have been a real heel.

B-MORE

2009-06-15T17:31:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the delay, folks. This week was ... well, it felt like it took a month to get through. We worked through the night on Sunday and then straight through Monday. And this was after a lovely (but tiring) weekend trip to Baltimore. So ... yeah. I just didn't have it in me to keep up this week. I had to recharge. Refresh. But I'm back and I have some photos that should bring everyone back up to speed on what we've been eating. Because I know the internet has been pining to find out what we've consumed.

Like I said, we were in Baltimore for the wedding of Madeline and Pedro and we got it started off right on Friday night at Nick's Fish House. Not really sure where it was, but it took our cab driver a minute to get there from the Inner Harbor.

The place was sorta weird. Sorta like ... spring break for an older crowd. They had a DJ. I'm not kidding.

But we had come for the crabs and crabs we had. We got a dozen of those lovely little blue suckers all bathed in a metric ton of Old Bay. We cracked and picked and dug our way through all twelve of those delicious little bastards and moved on to about a dozen east coast oysters on the half shell and a couple lump meat crab cakes. It clearly wasn't classy, but with a couple Miller Lights and Natty Boh's ... Meena, Jen, Geoff and myself felt like we'd had a rather authentic Baltimore experience.

Saturday was the big day and I have to say, this was one of the finer weddings I've ever had the pleasure of attending. Madeline pulled out all the stops and the reception at the Peabody Library was one of the most beautiful venues I've ever seen. Folks, my photos don't do it justice. If you've been there you know. If you haven't - let's just say it's just incredible. Six narrow stories of opulence and knowledge. Definitely Baltimore's finest hour.

The food was just great. We kicked it off with a gazpacho and greek salad combo (Mad is Greek and Pedro is from Spain ... natch). We moved into a lobster ravioli that left me wanting to literally lick the plate. The main course was a perfectly cooked piece of tenderloin, "Minnesota" rice pilaf and green beans. Did I mention that it was perfect?

We closed it down with some lovely wedding cake, lots of wine and a fairly obnoxious dance party.

I can't thank Mad and Pedro enough for having us - it was a very, very lovely affair. And what a couple? They're so lovely together and we couldn't be happier they've taken the next step in their lives. Enjoy Bora Bora, dudes. Thanks again for the hospitality.

OUR BEST PIZZA EVER

2009-06-12T07:02:00.002-04:00

This is a title I may use again in the near future because we just seem to be getting better and better each time we try this routine. Which is natural, I suppose. Practice makes perfect - and we're certainly interested in refining the practice of pizza making.

We got the oven super hot this time and I think that was the real key. The dough spent almost no time in the oven. But that extreme heat on the pizza stone for a short time gave it crisp outsides and bouncy, airy insides. Perfect.

Toppings went like this:
- marinara
- mushrooms
- spinach
- red onion
- worcestershire sauce
- soy sauce
- sea salt
- chicken sausage
- telaggio
- parmesan

We decided to try moving away from mozzarella and I couldn't be happier. The dude at Stinky Brooklyn recommended the telaggio and boy oh boy was he right. This stuff is pretty stinky and just a touch fruity when it's in the solid form but when it melts down into all the ingredients on the top of the pizza ... wow. That's pizza at a different level. That's future pizza. My taste buds were transported to 2015 and I'm happy to report that the pizza there is WAY better than here.

THE BALLGAME

2009-06-11T07:15:00.002-04:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Mets game at the new Citi Field last night and I'm happy to report it was a delightful park and a lovely evening. The Mets didn't win, but that's OK. I'm not a huge Mets fan - I would have liked it better had they won - but it's not the end of the world. There's always tomorrow, Mets.

Anyway, I did what most people do at the ballpark - I had a Nathan's hot dog and a couple beers. Matt and I also split a pretzel which was still a touch warm. Matt said it best - warm to the touch, that's always a good sign.

Food looked pretty good throughout the statium, though. I think if I wanted, I could have ventured into some shake shack burgers or pulled pork sandwiches. I figured I'd just stick with the classics, though. I'm sticking by my decision.

Meena was at home and just ordered in a bit from Sezchuan Garden:
- shrimp with veg
- brown rice

I said very healthy when I heard her order but she claims it wasn't. Whatever - better than a hot dog and a beer.

Anyway, I'll try to check out Yankee Stadium next. I heard it's half theme park, half mall. And a little baseball thrown in on the side. But maybe that's just the opinion of jaded New Yorkers. Further reports to come later. I promise.

MEATBALLS!

2009-06-10T07:11:00.006-04:00

We're back in the saddle and cooking like champs. I think so anyway. I'm afraid our little salmon meatball spread up here might not look like anything to write about, but I promise, it was a pretty lovely meal.

I started in on the meatballs when I got in. Meena had prepped a bunch of stuff so the creation went pretty quickly. Here's what went in:
- salmon
- parmesan
- egg
- soy sauce
- olive oil
- worcestershire sauce
- garlic
- sriracha
- panko

And then I wilted a little spinach and sauteed some mushrooms with a bit of soy sauce and sea salt.

While the spinach was going down, I threw a bit of marinara in a pan just to warm it through. When it was all ready, I threw the whole meal on a plate and topped it off with a bit more Parmesan.

We served it all with a yummy little side salad Meena threw together - it featured:
- romaine
- red onion
- dressing (canola oil, garlic, rice wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, sea salt, black pepper)

The meatballs were perfect. Moist and packed full of flavor. I got the first batch a little burned, but I switched pans for the second round and it was a little better. I mean ... not really burned. Just a little crisp on the outside. Anyway, it was fine.

The marinara went so well with it all. It was like salmon with a tomato confit. Sorta. I guess that's me projecting greatness on a weeknight meal. But whatever. It was really good!

COOKIN' AGAIN

2009-06-09T07:18:00.004-04:00

We both got home at a reasonable hour last night and we were dead set on getting dinner together in the kitchen with a couple ingredients we had around. Meena had seen a recipe for a shrimp Caesar she wanted to get into so we moved forward with that as soon as we came through the door.

Ours included:
- homemade crouton (whole wheat bread, garlic)
- romaine
- parmesan
- red onion
- shrimp
- avocado
- sea salt
- black pepper
- chicken sausage
- dressing (red wine vinegar, anchovy, mustard, olive oil, sea salt, lemon, black pepper, garlic and sriracha and worcestershire sauce)

Delicious. We got a little nervous the dressing would be too tart, but when incorporated across all those lovely ingredients, it came together perfectly. I looked forward to a shrimp in each bite and when I got those little bits of chicken sausage and avocado on the fork as well? Well, well, well - that was a pretty incredible bite.

I don't know if this was super healthy or anything, but it was super FILLING and I didn't want to snack or eat other stuff later. That's a winner in my book.

TO MONTREAL AND BACK

2009-06-08T07:21:00.006-04:00

Oh, Montreal. Where do I even begin?

I think I may have mentioned it earlier, but Meena and I went to Montreal for the weekend. It was a little pre-birthday trip that I surprised her with last week. I really expected to enjoy the time away from NYC exploring a new city.

I had no idea.

Montreal is flat out amazing. It's laid back. It's fun. It's clean. It's active. Everyone who speaks French can easily transition to English (sorry Montreal, I tried, but I'm just BAD at French).

And the food.

The food is pretty incredible in Montreal. The folks up there are really passionate about everything from fine cuisine to french fries covered in gravy and cheese, so you know we did our best to plow through everything we'd heard about and all the stuff we stumbled upon.

I'll just start by mentioning the stuff I missed with the digital camera (I have some of them on film and I haven't made it to Duggal yet):

1. We had the legendary Montreal bagel and I'm happy to report it's actually better than the beloved NYC bagel. Just barely. But it is. There's not the giant divide we'd read about prior to our visit. But the Montreal bagel is smaller, more compact and in possession of a crispier, thicker crust around all that doughey goodness. That's the real kicker that puts Montreal ahead in this genre - that crust. The wood fired oven gives each bit of dough this slightly smokey, golden brown finish that resists the initial bite before giving way to that classic bagel softness. Whew.

2. Le Cartet breakfast. This one wasn't anything we'd read about prior to travel, but we stumbled upon this chic Rue McGill spot. I only mention it because I had the most amazing croissant with ham and goat cheese. Flakey, buttery, cheesy and ... cheap. Le Cartet is worth stopping by if you're ever in the neighborhood.

So on to the stuff I did photograph starting with our dinner Friday night at Bistro Bienville on rue de Mentana in the Plateau. I'll just go ahead and say, this was one of the best meals I've had in a long, long time. These guys just get it right. From the atmosphere (just a handful of tables, a couple guys in the open kitchen, perfect lighting and incredible service) to the food, everything was perfectly executed.

All of these things had French names but I can't recall any of them. I'll just describe our five dishes in English if you don't mind:
- 3 west coast and 3 east coast oysters
- shrimp cocktail with spicy remoulade
- grilled octopus with asparagus and potato
- escargot bruschetta
- veal with fennel and potato

We also had a bottle of Muscadet to accompany the whole meal. I'm not all that sophisticated with wine so I don't know if that was a good choice, but I really enjoyed it. Meena, too.

The grilled octopus was probably my favorite dish. They just knocked it out of the park. It's so easy to ruin octopus and these guys grilled it to perfection. Every bite was better than the one before it. The east coast oysters and the shrimp were pretty close second place finishers. But honestly, it was all remarkable. I didn't want it to end.

Saturday night we stopped by one of Montreal's undisputed culinary institutions - Au Pied De Cochon. They're famous for using foie gras in wonderful ways - like stuffing it in a pig's foot. They also have this duck in a can thing where they cook duck and fois gras in a can and open it at your table. Pretty awesome.

Anyway, we didn't go goose liver crazy, but we did manage to combine Cochon's infamous specialty with one of Montreal's most beloved foods - poutine. That's right, we had fries, gravy, cheese curds and ... fois gras. Everything in me told me I probably wouldn't have liked this heart attack on a plate, but I can't front, it was incredible.

For the main courses, we moved into some more standard plates - Meena had bison steak frites and I had duck magret. Both were cooked perfectly. Meena's bison steak especially. Perfect crust and rare in the center. Smothered in mushrooms. Awesome.

So that was basically Montreal from the food point of view. We had such a good time. I think we missed the smoked meat sandwich. I don't think. I know. I probably should have picked one up, but whatever. Next time. We have every intention of going back. I probably should have had some Canadian Whiskey? I don't know what else. But everything was so perfect that I don't even really care what I missed.

We can't wait to go back.

A BROKEN STREAK

2009-06-05T07:02:00.003-04:00

We'd been pretty good about cooking for the better part of the last two weeks. We'd been making an effort to eat healthier but the night before our trip to Montreal, we just didn't have it in us.

Further complicating things, we'd been at Nikko's birthday in the city and we rolled back in around 9:30 or something.

Anyway, we threw in the towel and called Joya. Meena had:
- phang nga curry

Alec had:
- pork salad

Delicious. And tomorrow we're off to Montreal so we'll have a lot more food we didn't cook on display. No service up there so I'll see you when we're back.

HURRY UP

2009-06-04T07:13:00.002-04:00

I got home (surprise) late last night and because Meena had a work function to attend, dinner was in my hands. I gladly accepted the challenge and got rockin' and rollin' on a pizza and a quick salad as quickly as I could.

It was too late to stop and get fresh greens from the store so I just used what was in the fridge for the side:
- cherry tomato
- red onion
- mozzarella
- anchovy
- black pepper
- red wine vinegar

And then I threw together the pizza with the quickness:
- chicken
- mozzarella
- marinara
- red onion
- roasted red pepper
- black pepper
- dried basil
- garlic

The crust was probably the best crust we've made yet. Bouncy yet crisp on the edges and firm through the center. Just right. The toppings lacked a bit of flavor but we threw on a little sriracha in the eating phase and it took it to the proper place.

The salad was surprisingly excellent. The anchovy balanced out the fire of the onion and the acidity of the tomato and vinegar. And the mozz cooled it all down and mellowed it all out. Who knew? I just threw together stuff from the fridge but this one worked out like a champ.

SOUTHWESTERN PERFECTION

2009-06-03T07:14:00.003-04:00

Meena totally knocked this one out of the park. She's been cooking at lot lately as I can't figure out how to get home earlier than 8:00 or 9:00 at night. And it's much appreciated. Especially when she makes such delights as this incredible Southwestern chicken salad.

She got started with the chicken salad that went on top of this dual layer delight:
- chicken
- reduced fat sour cream
- red onion
- lime juice
- cumin
- sea salt
- black pepper

And then she whipped together a bit of salad that had all sorts of amazing Soutwestern flair:
- mixed greens
- cherry tomato
- avocado
- dressing (canola oil, sugar, red wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar, garlic, salt, black pepper)

That's it! It's amazing that so few ingredients can produce such an incredibly flavor packed spread. The chicken salad was equal in flavor to the superbly spiced salad. Bits of avocado mixed with bits of chicken and a few triangles of toasted pita in complete harmony.

Remarkable dinner. Thanks, wife!

NO WORRY, SHRIMP CURRY

2009-06-02T07:23:00.002-04:00

Oh, boy. I think that's a Jon & Kate Plus 8 reference. Or, that's where I picked it up, I guess. How terribly, terribly lame of me. But whatever. It happens.

Last night I rolled in late (as usual) and Meena had whipped up an incredible little shrimp curry. Right? Shrimp curry for a regular old Monday night meal? I'm lucky.

She used:
- shrimp
- brown rice
- red curry paste
- fish sauce
- green onion
- garlic
- carrot
- bell pepper
- spinach
- light coconut milk

Pretty awesome ingredient list, right? Well, no surprise, it yielded a pretty awesome little meal. I threw a ton of sambal oelek on mine to make sure it was spiced to the extreme. Just the right portion, just the right amount of rice to shrimp and veg. My wife is the best.

CHARRED

2009-06-01T07:47:00.003-04:00

Meena picked up a bit of salmon Saturday afternoon and given the fact fish tends to head south in a fridge with the quickness, we decided to get it in a pan and fired up before the close of the weekend.

We had a couple ingredients that go great with this omega-3 goodness so this one came together lightning quick. I was actually surprised that it was on the plate and ready to rock in about 30 minutes, all told. Dishes like that are always winners in my book.

I started with a bit of the veg for the base:
- green onion
- shiitake mushrooms
- red onion
- rice vinegar
- garlic
- ginger
- sea salt
- black pepper

That all sauteed around with a touch of cooking spray and some water. Once that came off in went into a bowl to stay warm, I got the salmon searing up on the iron skillet. Just the simple old "season the pan, flip once" method. It just works so well!

I added just a bit of flavoring to the fillets when I fished them off in the oven ... a touch of brown sugar and a dash of soy. Just to give them a sweet, lacquered sheen. And, of course, a bit of punch in the flavor department.

I have to say, I loved this one. The charred veg gave this one such a lovely depth of flavor. And the silky salmon finished with that salty and sweet topping just complemented it perfectly.

It was a lovely cap to a long and laid-back weekend.

MEENA SCRAMBLER

2009-06-01T07:45:00.002-04:00

Meena whipped up a delightful little breakfast the moment we stirred back into action on Sunday morning. She was inspired by Buttermilk Channel's scrambles so she got cracking with that in mind.

Hers featured:
- egg
- shrimp
- mozzarella
- chicken stock
- spinach
- pepper
- onion
- siraracha
- sea salt
- black pepper
- olive oil

With a little side of grapes and in a beautiful little bowl, this one was a winner for our taste buds and our eyes alike. Seriously, my wife straight killed it on this one. Light ingredients and a gentle touch on the skillet yielded a breakfast masterpiece. I'll be looking for more like this one for ... oh, I don't know, the rest of my life maybe?

DINNER BY D

2009-05-31T07:25:00.000-04:00

I've said this before and I'll say it again ... our friend D is amazing. Like ... seriously amazing. She makes incredible food whenever there's a special occasion and actually, even when there's not. She's awesome.

That said, she rolled out the red carpet again for Meena's birthday! Early birthday, mind you. Super early. Her birthday isn't until the 15th, but we're gone the next few weekends so we thought it best to gather before and not after.

Anyway, look at that stuff up there! There was quick Korean chicken, stuffed artichokes, hummus, homemade pasta with fresh peas, scallops over avocado and shrimp with tomato and corn and that amazing dessert with incredible cream and berries.

Perfect. Just perfect.

And we also consumed about 8 bottles of wine between D, Meena, Dan, Steve, Matt and myself. Probably the lion's share going in my direction based on the fogginess I felt the next morning, but that's beside the point, right? We had a great time for Meena's early birthday!

THANKS, D! And also her lovely assistant, Mr. Naddeo.

SATURDAY LUNCH

2009-05-30T07:24:00.000-04:00

I don't usually cover lunch on this thing but for some reason I had a photo of this and just figured I'd throw it up. I made a quick couple bites for us on Saturday afternoon while Meena was out running some errands.

I started on a quick salad:
- dressing (whole-grain mustard, olive oil, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar)
- campari tomatoes
- red onion
- mixed greens

And a pita pocket with tuna salad:
- whole wheat pita
- tuna
- garlic
- mayo
- apple and onion chutney (American Spoon Foods)
- red onion
- sea salt
- black pepper

The whole wheat pita was a bit grainy and rough, but the salad was nice. Both salads, actually. And there was even a little extra left over! Bonus.

GREEN PIZZA

2009-05-30T07:22:00.000-04:00

After a long week (I know it was short, but when you cram all that work into a couple days, it gets intense), we just wanted to sit around Friday night. No dining out, no nothing. We just wanted to chill.

And the world's greatest chill food is a shrimp pizza. Weird. I know. But it's true.

Our pizza featured:
- shrimp
- spinach
- fresh mozzarella from Fairway
- marinara
- red onion
- bell pepper
- pizza dough
- olive oil
- sea salt
- black pepper

Oh boy. It was a pretty amazing Friday night effort. Not our best pizza to date - it was a little watery due to all the veg and I'm guessing the shrimp. But it was still quite nice and the crust got plump and airy around the edges. I like that. And I like weekends that start this way.

STAYIN' HEALTHY

2009-05-29T07:16:00.002-04:00

I think we're staying healthy. I think. We're trying to eat more fish, more salad, more stuff that won't make us fat and lazy and dumb. It's nice. And I think for the the most part, we're enjoying it quite a bit. I can't say it's completely different from how we normally eat. But you know. We're trying.

Anyway, last night Meena made up another nice salad:
- field greens
- campari tomatoes
- carrots
- bleu cheese
- dressing (garlic, sugar, rice vinegar, canola oil, soy sauce)

And when I finally got home, I threw together the steelhead we'd picked up at Fairway with a bit of olive oil and a tiny bit of Korean BBQ. We served the whole thing over some onions and spinach, also sauteed in a bit of the oil of the olive.

NICE!

This was our first adventure with steelhead and I think we were fairly please. It's a little lighter than salmon but similar in flavor. Meena's salad was top notch. No surprise there.

So it was a solid effort. I'm glad we're staying on track. I'm happy we're eating well. I'm happy we're figuring out ways to make eating well taste really good.

FAST!

2009-05-28T07:15:00.002-04:00

Dan and Steve were heading to Fairway to do a bit of grocery shopping last night and because they offered to let us tag a long, dinner time became condensed into a very small window between the time I got home from work and when the dudes arrived at our door.

The dinner was divided into two parts. First, Meena got started on some fried rice:
- brown rice
- broccoli
- carrot
- onion
- spinach
- egg
- soy sauce
- siraracha
- chicken broth

And when I got home, I tore into the salmon. I just cooked it with a bit of olive oil in the pan and dripped a few drops of Korean BBQ sauce on the crispy edges as it finished in a 500 degree oven.

Delicious. The salmon was cooked just right. Crisp on the outside and silky smooth on the inside. The fried rice was just perfect. That heat from the siraracha was light but very much present. It was the best I remember brown rice tasting since ... well, since it did with our shrimp stir fry, actually.

Anyway, we got it all done. We ate, made it to Fairway, stocked up and ... went to bed. BIG NIGHT!

GETTING HEALTHY

2009-05-27T07:22:00.003-04:00

Again, if you've read this blog over the years, you know that we, like most Americans, make a pledge to eat better off and on throughout the year. Well, it's one of those times again, folks!

Last night Meena got to work on some nice stir fry before I got home. She did all the prep and I just threw a few things in a pan and stirred. Here's what went in:
- stir fry sauce (sesame oil, corn starch, soy sauce, rice vinegar, siracha)
- broccoli
- onion
- garlic
- ginger
- shrimp
- brown rice
- spinach

Delicious. And ... pretty good for us! I think. I don't know. But lots of greens and veggies and seafood. And brown rice. Can't ask for much better than that, right?

Anyway, I hope the rest of this week looks similar. We'll do our best to cook stuff that won't kill us each night this week!

BRING ON SUMMER

2009-05-26T07:23:00.006-04:00

Another excellent trip back to the land of Hoosier. Those of you who read often know that going home for the race is a time honored tradition for me and missing it would be about the worst possible thing on the planet. Fortune was shining on me again this year and Meena and I went back for a couple days of Midwestern wonder, enlightenment and race cars.

And the food was pretty darn good, too.

We started things off on Thursday with a trip to Oakley's Bistro for lunch with the grandmothers. Meena and I both tried their tarts ... a bit of puffed pastry with various toppings and a small salad. I had salmon ... she had shrimp. Meena also started with a bit of their wild mushroom soup with truffled cream. The tarts were lovely but the soup may have been the winner. I felt like we could have used slightly more topping to balance out the dryness of the pastry. It was still delicious. Really delicious. Just sayin' is all.

Thursday night we had what was probably one of the best meals of the trip - BBQ chicken and mayo + mustard marinated asparagus on the grill. Perfection. It gets no more Indiana in the summer than that wonderful combo.

Friday afternoon we were treated to a bunch of deliciousness courtesy of Grant and Sara. Our most pregnant friends were kind enough to get us heaping portions of BBQ from a little spot in Westfield in addition to Sara's spicy cheese dip, cherries, salsa, chips, cole slaw and a terrific tomato salad. Man ... we're lucky to have friends like these.

Friday night was beef tenderloin, salad and mashed potatoes. Mom and Dad took care of the beef and the salad, the Amish of Indiana took care of the potatoes.

The beef tenderloin carried over into lunch the next day and that was just another lovely development in our weekend love affair with food. Some toasted asiago bagel and thinly sliced beef? That's lunch.

Saturday night we had a bit of a party and the grill was once again fired up to feed a small army. Dad made BBQ pork chops for the whole crew to go along with an Asian coleslaw and a handful of other delicious stuff Mom prepared to accompany. At this point you may think we would have had our fill of grilled meat but let me assure you this was very much not the case. We came to Indiana to eat from the grill and eat from the grill we did.

Sunday was, of course, the race. I drank beers liberally and devoured sandwiches with gusto. There's nothing quite like the race and there are few things more enjoyable than eating and drinking massive quantities of grub while it's all happening.

Sunday night we hit the Guggys for a post-race party filled with yellow birds, brats and a bit of scotch. And some slaw and some other stuff. Did I mention there were yellow birds and scotch? Anyway, Anne and John delivered another wonderful evening for massive crew.

Monday morning was our final breakfast and Dad once again delivered with some omelettes made to order. I had some pork, peppers and pepper jack cheese. Perfect.

Our final stop on the Indiana food circuit was the OG Jewish Deli in the Indianapolis metro area - Shapiro's. Meena hadn't ever been and it's just one of those places everyone who visits should try to hit at least once. But if you go once, there's probably a good chance you'll want to make a second visit at some point. It's just good food!

Meena had some beef brisket on a roll with mustard and mayo. I had peppered beef on rye with mustard. Man. I miss it already. I know Katz's is like ... the place. But for my money, it's Shapiro's every time.

So ... yeah. Sorry, long description. But it was a great trip and I wanted to try and get it mostly mapped out. Needless to say, we both miss home already. We've been back less than 24 hours and it's already a bit of a bummer. We miss it! But we had a great time and we're already looking forward to Thanksgiving!

PIZZA, PIZZA

2009-05-19T07:30:00.003-04:00

We’re becoming more and more savvy with this pizza business and I feel like this one might have been our best yet. You heard me. BEST. YET.

I think the time spend in the oven at 500 degrees was the real kicker here. I went a little beyond what I would normally attempt after giving the undressed crust a bit of heat prior to topping addition.

Anyway, it was a great effort. Here’s what we used:

- pizza dough

- balsamic chicken

- buffalo chicken sausage

- mushrooms

- red onion

- olive oil

- sea salt

- black pepper

- mozzarella

- chives

Pretty similar to the one we had on Saturday … but WAY better. We probably need to find some new toppings, but … man. I’m liking this.

Meena also whipped together a salad with the following:

- red onion

- dressing (canola, garlic, sea salt, pepper and rice vinegar)

- salami

- bleu cheese

Outstanding.

DA WEEKEND

2009-05-18T07:10:00.001-04:00

Well, it was a necessary weekend. We started out with a bang but I think the week finally caught up to me and I crashed Saturday morning. I was just beat. So ... from Saturday morning through Sunday night, I was just sitting around, friends. I think I left the house once. Maybe twice. And I just drank tea, had a few good eats and got better. So necessary.

Friday we started it off at Butcher Bay in the East Village. We'd heard a few good things so we stopped by. I'm guessing this will be our last trip to Butcher Bay.

We had:
- half dozen oysters
- hush puppies
- hamburger
- lobster roll

The oysters and the hamburger were both pretty good. The hush puppies were OK. The lobster roll was awful. It wasn't the worst ever ... but it's just one of those places we won't need to experience again. Sorry.

Saturday morning marked the beginning of the end and because I was so down and out, Meena took the reigns on our new fav breakfast. It featured:
- ciabatta
- smoked salmon
- red onion
- goat cheese
- cream cheese (for meena)
- chives

Delicious. I know you've seen it every week, but friends, it's the best.

Saturday night we were supposed to hit Lucali with James and D but because I was dead to the world, we just stayed in and made our own pizza. No Lucali but we're picking up steam, y'all. We're getting better and better each day. This one feature:
- pizza dough
- buffalo chicken sausage
- mushrooms
- onions
- marinara
- mozzarella
- sea salt
- black pepper
- chives

That crust was pretty awesome. Like I said ... we're getting the hang of this thing.

Sunday morning Meena knocked out another little Caputo's ciabatta joint. This time it was a nice little egg and cheese on that lovely, salty bread. It featured:
- egg
- cheddar
- sambal oelek
- ham

Mmmmmmmm. That's how I like to start day two of recovery. Operation "ALEC FEELS GOOD FOR THE RACE" was going just as planned.

Saturday night we threw together a little "15-minute" meal we saw in Bon Appetite. I'm not sure it took 15 minutes, but it was pretty solid. It featured:
- chicken (marinated in balsamic, sea salt, black pepper, olive oil and cayenne pepper)
- bleu cheese

I also threw in a salad that featured:
- mixed field greens
- red onion
- goat cheese
- olive oil
- sea salt
- black pepper
- rice vinegar

I think I used too much bleu cheese on the chicken, but ... now I know. It was good, no doubt, but I could have used less. The chicken was SOLID. I loved that. I had the butcher butterfly out our chicken breasts and the thin little slivers really soaked up that marinade and just burst with flavor in every bite. Nice. I like it. I love it.

The other coup of this meal was the fact that Meena enjoyed the goat cheese in the salad. It mixed through to all greens and she was into it. It's always a big deal when I can get her on board with ingredients I love.

Anyway, that was the weekend. Boring ... but necessary to my recovery.

MAN, I'M SORRY

2009-05-15T07:03:00.003-04:00

It's been such a long week. So many things to do at work. I really wanted to cook. I really did. But it was not to be. Man, I'm sorry.

Last night Meena called in some Bombay Dream because ... we hadn't in a while. Why not?

Meena had:
- fish pakora
- chicken tiki masala

Alec had:
- lamb vindaloo
- chiken tika

I think we've mentioned this before but Bombay Dream is no Baluchi's. And that's fine. I just wanted to put them on the Indian scale. Baluchi's is a 9-ish. Bombay Dream is probably a 7-ish. Maybe 7.5-ish. It's good. Not great, but pretty darn good on a stressed out Thursday night.

IT DIDN'T HAPPEN

2009-05-14T07:12:00.003-04:00

Well, I wanted to cook but work wasn't having it. I got home 2 minutes before LOST started and there just wasn't any way I was going to step away from that to fire up the kitchen.

Cube 63 it was.

Meena had:
- cube 63 roll
- bahama mama roll
- shrimp shumai

Alec had:
- miso soup
- seaweed salad
- spicy tuna
- part of meena's bahama mama

Nothing too exciting but the food was spot on. Cube 63 typically is spot on. They just don't mess around. I know Meena wasn't a big fan of that bahama mama, but I thought it was OK. A little weird. But OK.

REMEMBER THE THAI

2009-05-13T07:07:00.003-04:00

I'd like to say we'll cook tonight, but I don't know. Big LOST night. So it would be nice. But who knows. I'm not making any promises.

I got home late again last night so Meena just went ahead and called Joya. Totally fine. I stuck with the standard but Meena enjoyed some new favorites.

Meena had:
- phang nga chicken curry
- woon sen with shrimp

Alec had:
- pork salad

All of the above came in way better than normal. Why? No clue. But we weren't complaining. The pork salad had a lovely smoky flavor. Like the pork had been grilled outside at a backyard bbq or something. I'm sure it wasn't, but it was nice to think about.

Meena said the same. The curry was rich and spicy and sweet. The woon sen was spicy and bursting with that caramelized punch. So awesome.

AT LEAST THERE IS ZAYTOONS

2009-05-12T07:00:00.001-04:00

Monday was another awful start to the work week so we figured, why not just order some delicious delivery? Why not make things right by allowing ourselves the delights of Zaytoons? Why suffer when a world of taste is only a phone call away?

I'll stop. But you get it. We were tired so we called our friends.

Meena had:
- chicken shawarma sandwich

Alec had:
- combo plate with hummus, babaganoosh, fatoosh salad, grape leaves, and cucumber yogurt

All was well. I ordered zaytoons mix and not the grape leaves, but whatever. I didn't need it anyway.

Onward and upward.

BIRTHDAY PARTY

2009-05-11T07:56:00.005-04:00

Sunday was a day we’d been waiting on for quite some time. It was to be James’ big surprise birthday party in Prospect Park and cooking (none by me) and preparation (some by me though admittedly very little) had been underway for weeks.

The payoff was amazing.

James was sufficiently duped and the whole thing came as a giant, friend and family filled surprise. The weather was amazing and as you can see, the food was both plentiful and exceedingly delicious. Just what you’d expect from Diana’s lovely mother.

I can’t remember much of the stuff featured in the spread. Not solid details. But I remember lovely pasta, pasta salad, cheese, nicoise salad, crackers, roast beef, chicken, caesar salad, olives, tuna salad, eggs, cupcakes, brownies, taco dip, cookies … man. The list goes on.

Happy early birthday to James. What do you say we do it again next year? Or maybe even next week?

WE'LL TAKE CARE OF IT

2009-05-11T07:29:00.004-04:00

Because the bagel shop around here never seems to have any of the baked salmon salad they list on their menu, we figured we'd just take care of it.

While our salmon was cooking Saturday night, we threw some extra in the oven to get it baked up and ready to be flaked up for the salad.

Once it came from the oven, I threw the following together:
- salmon
- truffled salt
- light mayo
- black pepper

That's it. On a Caputo's ciabatta with some red onion ... oh boy. Maybe we'll just keep on doing this from now on. I'm not sure the bagel shops are even necessary any longer.

Just kidding. But it was pretty good!

SATURDAY SALMON

2009-05-10T07:23:00.004-04:00

Meena and I picked up a bit of salmon on Saturday afternoon and we put it to good use for dinner later that evening.

Meena whipped up a little salad featuring:
- mixed field greens
- carrots
- bleu cheese
- red onion
- cucumber
- dressing (canola oil, rice wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, garlic, sea salt, sugar, black pepper)

Delicious.

I got moving on a bit of bbq for the salmon. It featured:
- brown sugar
- honey
- sambal oelek
- sesame oil
- sea salt
- soy sauce
- fish sauce
- ketchup

All that was whipped together and generously applied to the salmon that I had grilling on the stove. I finished each fillet off in the oven and let the sugars in that sauce really thicken and adhere to each and every crack in the fish.

In the end ... boy. Boy oh, boy. The fish was just perfect. Perfectly cooked and so full of caramelized, bbq flavor.

Oh, what a night. Oh .... what a night.

A NEW STAPLE

2009-05-10T07:17:00.000-04:00

I think this one is going to become a staple. Meena said she's going to start requesting it the moment we wake up. I have no problem with this because a) I love it and b) it only requires two quick stops outside of the house - Caputo's and the organic grocery.

This one is simple. All I include is:
- goat cheese (for me)
- cream cheese (for Meena's)
- smoked salmon
- ciabatta
- chives
- red onion
- truffled salt
- black pepper

This one is just the perfect little Saturday morning breakfast. Perfect.

TARTINE!

2009-05-09T07:07:00.000-04:00

Meena and I had the wonderful opportunity to join Dan in our old hood for a delicious Friday night dinner at Tartine. We picked up a couple bottles of Rose, tucked ourselves into a diminutive little corner of the West Village's famed BYOB and proceeded to nibble some delicious treats and get a little drunk.

Both Dan and Meena had the classic:
- sauteed chicken with frites

Alec had:
- pissaldiere with goat cheese and anchovy

Pretty incredible food as always. Meena said her sauteed chicken had an abundance of tartness not normally found in this classic, but she was still a fan. My pissaldiere was perfect. Just as good as always .... maybe even better.

At any rate, it was an amazing night. Great food, great rose, fantastic.

EAT AND RUN

2009-05-08T07:06:00.003-04:00

Last night we had a few special guests in the house for some delivery and, in one case, some kicking back on the couch. James and D ran by because there was a little show in the neighborhood that he and I wanted to check out and Meena and D just wanted to chill.

And because James and I needed to run out early, we did two rounds of delivery. Round 1 was for James and me and we went with our friends at Zaytoons, naturally. James had:
- fatoosh salad
- chicken shawarma sandwich

Alec had:
- zaytoons mix
- shish kebab sandwich

Meena and D ended up calling in some Cube 63. Not sure what they had, but the review was good as always.

So it was a good night! Good show, good food and some hangin' out. Pretty good for a Thursday.

FACE IT

2009-05-07T06:58:00.005-04:00

I got home a little later last night but Meena was kind enough to run by the fish market and grab a bit of the fresh salmon for us. I just feel like it's better if we eat fish more often so ... yeah. That's all.

I didn't have any real plans last night, but Meena mentioned that we once made salmon burgers all the time back when we lived in the city. And she's right. We did. All the time. So given we've been digging up all sorts of our old favs as of late, we figured, why not the salmon burger?

I just threw the following in the processor:
- salmon
- garlic
- spinach
- soy sauce
- panko
- egg
- light mayo
- dijon mustard
- black pepper
- sambal oelek
- cucumber

Then I made up a little sauce for the top which wasn't really even a sauce ... it was just cucumber, black pepper and light sour cream. This sauce and a burger went over a whole wheat english muffin half and that was that.

Before I did any of this, Meena threw together one of her stellar salads with the following:
- field greens
- spinach
- bleu cheese
- cherry tomato
- dressing (sugar, canola oil, garlic, truffled salt, red wine vinegar and rice wine vinegar)

The burgers were awesome. Normally we just try to get these together with good old knife work. Using the processor is clearly the way to go. Clean up is a little more annoying, but whatever. Blending all that stuff together properly is the only way to go. I'm not sure what I've been doing all these years.

Meena's salad was, as always, very excellent. She's mastered that dressing, folks.

Anyway, awesome dinner. And I have one left over for lunch!

CINCO DE THAILAND

2009-05-06T07:09:00.003-04:00

When Cinco de Mayo happens to be a disgusting, rainy, cold evening, how do you really celebrate?

You order Thai food?

I don't know. I guess that's probably not the best way of commemorating such an important holiday, but getting hammered in a divey Mexican restaurant probably isn't what the Mexicans of yore had in mind either.

Anyway, Meena had taco salad for lunch, so we just went with Thai. No biggie.

Meena had:
- pha ngan curry with chicken
- spicy noodles with shrimp

Alec had:
- a bit of meena's food
- pork salad

I picked at Meena's orders and I have to say - she did a fine job last night. The curry was spicy and sweet and just spectacular. The noodles were caramelized and spicy.

Awesome.

My pork salad, most importantly, actually showed up this time. That was great. And the taste was spot on, too!

So yeah. Weird Cinco de Mayo, but whatever. It was cold and nasty. We do what we want.

BAKED SALMON FISH

2009-05-05T06:56:00.003-04:00

I've probably noted this joke on the site before but I guess I'll do it again. Sometimes when we go to the bagel shop and Meena asks for baked salmon salad, the man behind the counter will ask in response, "baked salmon feeeeesh?" We're not laughing at his expense. We just love the way he says "feeeeeeeeeesh" with such enthusiasm. Anyway, that's why this post is called baked salmon fish. Now you know. And knowing ... I won't. You know.

Anyway, this one doesn't look all that spectacular. I'll have to work on that part. I feel like I've become OK at making grilled salmon look good on a plate. I'll need to do something about keeping the baked version from looking totally yucky when presented.

This one was super easy. I just threw the salmon in the oven in a foil packet with:
- salmon
- dijon mustard
- olive oil
- truffled salt
- black pepper
- rice vinegar
- red onion
- garlic
- chili powder

That cooked away in the oven at 500 degrees for about 15 minutes. Maybe longer. I don't remember. I checked on it a few times.

While that was going, Meena made a nice salad:
- romaine
- dressing (sugar, vinegar, canola oil, pepper, sea salt and garlic)
- cherry tomato
- bleu cheese
- red onion

I topped the salmon off with a bit of dijon mustard mixed with low fat mayo, rice vinegar, black pepper and olive oil. Just to give it a little kick.

This one came out pretty well. Not only was it super easy, it was full of flavor. That dijon, garlic and vinegar really cooked into the salmon and gave each bite a ton of taste. The salmon, while I can't recall how long it languished in the oven, actually came out perfectly cooked. Not dry, not undercooked. I was pretty pleased with that part.

Anyway, this is the easiest thing ever. When we lived in the West & East Villages, we did this all the time. Baked fish was a staple for us. I'm not sure why we got away from it but I promise you, this one is going to make a massive comeback in the months to come.

GONE FISHIN

2009-05-04T07:31:00.005-04:00

We wanted to close the weekend out with a simple bit of fish and that's just what we did. I had picked up a bit of rainbow trout from the fish market the previous day and I read a recipe that seemed simple and featured only ingredients we had on hand. No extra shopping on a rainy day sounded perfect to me.

This little number went like this:
- trout rolled in cornmeal (also sea salt and chili powder)
- olive oil
- spinach
- garlic
- red onion
- pine nuts
- chipotle hot sauce

Simple. I think the fish ended up being just a bit too cornmealy. I should have probably cooked it a bit longer to make sure that the skin got super crisp. But whatever. There's always next time. I think there WILL be a next time, too. We liked this one. It didn't look amazing, but it was a good, light meal. I'm not sure I'd do the pine nuts next time. But other than that, this one is a winner.

FILLING IN THE GAPS

2009-05-04T07:27:00.003-04:00

Meena was feeling a bit of the post-bachelorette party blues so I was left to fend for myself a bit yesterday afternoon. What to do when you're just making lunch and snacks for one (and later two, really. Meena was on board with the guac) .... grilled cheese, of course!

My grilled cheese went like this:
- cheddar
- goat cheese
- salami
- mustard
- sambal oelek

And then the guacamole came together once Meena was up and hanging out in front of the TV. It went like this:
- avocado
- cumin
- red onion
- tomato
- sea salt
- cayenne pepper
- lemon juice
- black pepper

Simple and lovely. With a couple tortilla chips, it's the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

MATT DELIVERS

2009-05-03T07:18:00.000-04:00

Saturday night Meena was at a bachelorette party so I was on my own. Luckily for me, I made my way over to Matt's house and took care of dinner in wonderful fashion. James and D and I were just chillin' watching some basketball and Matt went to work on two really lovely recipes pulled from his employer, Saveur.

We started with a brussels sprouts salad that featured tons of those lovely little cabbages shredded lovingly by Matt on a mandolin. He added a few other things ... parmesan, walnuts, mustard oil, chili oil. Awesome. Just a little bit of crunch and that nice, rich cheesy, walnutty flavor.

He followed up the first hit with some amazing mussels. He cooked them in a mix of wine and oil and lemon and spice. I think. And those lovely little bits came out perfectly flavored and cooked to perfection.

Matt, this one was Epic. Even if we won't ever get James on board with these delightful treats, I hope this is just the first of many of these dinners.

INSPIRED

2009-05-03T07:04:00.001-04:00

I love the crostini at Ted & Honey. I've written about it several times here at MOAP and I just can't express enough how good I think these guys are. Delicious, homemade stuff.

So on Saturday morning, pressed for time, we decided to try and replicate something they make rather than running down to Cobble Hill to pick up the real thing. So ... I made an attempt. Our smoked salmon crostini went like this:
- caputo's mini ciabatta
- smoked salmon
- goat cheese
- basil
- truffled salt
- black pepper

Meena isn't a huge fan of goat cheese, so I gave her a mix of goat cheese and cream cheese.

So ... this is lovely. Just fantastic. I mean, cheese, bread and smoked salmon is always going to be a winner and maybe that's all there is to it. But yeah. Thanks for the tip Ted & Honey. We'll be back to have yours, of course, but I'll be making these whenever we can't stop by for original.

REDEMPTION

2009-05-02T06:55:00.000-04:00

After our last trip to Bocca Lupo when Allison was in town, we were left feeling a little unsatisfied. If you recall, their oven wasn't working that night and we were stuck with either cold stuff or things that could be made on a panini press.

Everything was good that night, but you know ... our favorites couldn't be created and we left full, but feeling a bit like we'd missed the proper Bocca Lupo experience.

Anyway, we went back on Friday for a real meal and I'm happy to report they delivered.

Meena had:
- corkscrew pasta with cream and bacon
- shrimp diavola

Alec had:
- selection of bruschetta (chicken liver, mushroom and truffled cheese, butternut squash and fontina w/ speck)

Not that we ever doubted them, but we're glad they're back in full swing.

REMNANT

2009-05-01T07:01:00.003-04:00

We had a fridge full of remnants last night so we decided there was no better plan than to make a nice big bowl of garbage pasta with little bits of great stuff.

No surprises with the ingredients ... we just used the stuff that's natural in this environment. The list went like this:
- homemade pesto
- marinara
- mozzarella
- sardines
- basil
- sea salt
- black pepper
- cayenne pepper
- cherry tomatoes

Lovely. The sardines and the pesto just sorta melted together into this rich, thick, garlicky flavor that permeated the entire dish. Every bite had this mellow sardine flavor followed by a bit of cayenne spice and that comforting basil freshness.

The fresh mozzarella probably wasn't necessary in hindsight, but it did give it an added layer of decadence. Not bad for at Thursday.

WRONG ORDER

2009-04-30T07:18:00.003-04:00

I got home late last night and Meena was kind enough to call up Joya to inquire about having them bring us some delicious foods. They were, in fact, more than willing to bring some of their Thai delights over to our spot for a low, low price. Great news.

Until the order showed up.

Dudes at Joya brought me what I'd probably call THE WORST THAI DISH EVER INVENTED. See, normally I have that pork salad you may have seen on MOAP before. It's nice. Greens, pork, onions, dressing. I like it. Love it a little. Look forward to it. But last night, they must have misheard Meena or just totally messed up delivery, because what showed up was a steaming pile of mushy rice mixed through with some pork and a few bits of onion and cabbage. I think it was pork fried rice? Maybe. If that was the case, it was the worst pork fried rice I've ever had. Hands down. Terrible.

But whatever. It was nourishment and after my tom yum koong, I was pretty full anyway. No biggie.

Meena had some yummy spring rolls and shared a few bites of her chicken pad thai with me. Even that seemed a bit off last night. Not sure what their deal was. But again ... whatever.

I'm sure we'll still call Joya. Dudes just had an off night. It happens. Maybe I'll cook something delightful tonight. Not sure. But maybe.

LONELY INSPIRATION

2009-04-29T07:06:00.004-04:00

Seeing as that Meena had a work thing and I was all by my lonesome last night, the dinner for one that came from the kitchen was surprisingly inspired. Nothing spectacular, mind you. I still had a Yankees game to watch and some kicking back that was long overdue, but you know, for nobody but little old me, not bad, right?

So I started with a little grilled cheese type thing. I got the pan too hot (you can see the burns ... but the pinstripes were having a killer seventh and I was distracted at times), but that was the only real error here. I threw in:
- country french loaf slices
- fresh mozzarella
- homemade pesto
- raw white onion
- salami

As that sucker was getting the heat treatment, I whipped up a bit of a salad as well. Just a little caprese type thing with some leftovers we had around:
- basil
- fresh mozzarella
- grape tomatoes
- sea salt
- black pepper
- olive oil
- red wine vinegar

I know the last ingredient isn't one of those traditional ones, but I just didn't feel like balsamic. And all I wanted was a really subtle vinegar pop. So it was hardly even a real ingredient. Just a dusting. Like ... red wine vinegar vapor almost. Not really, obviously. I'm just trying to give you scale. Sorry. I'll stop.

Anyway, other than smelling like an onion patch when Meena got home (that raw stuff is SERIOUS ... I think I still smell like it this morning), this was a delightful little Tuesday night meal. Not sure what's on the docket tonight. We have a big (HUGE) episode of Lost. We should probably celebrate with something good to eat, right?

A LITTLE LIKE A DINER

2009-04-28T07:17:00.002-04:00

Last night we had planned to do a pesto chicken salad but when we got to the store and realized chicken breast were ringing up at 15 bucks for two ... we changed direction and went with tuna. Seriously? 15 bucks for two little chicken breasts? This isn't halibut, dudes. It's chicken. Sheesh.

But whatever. We went with the tuna and didn't look back. One of Meena's favorite things in the world is a good tuna melt, so I set out on a mission to make a good one with a little twist. I threw together:
- our homemade pesto
- tuna
- red onion
- light mayo
- french bread
- cheddar cheese

I threw all that under the broiler and got everything crisp and bubbly. Meena made up a quick salad that featured:
- romaine
- bleu cheese
- red onion
- grape tomatoes
- dressing (garlic, sugar, canola oil, red wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar, sea salt, black pepper and lemon juice)

Lovely. The tuna was tempered by the pesto and given a nice richness from the cheese. The salad was perfect, as always. Excellent Monday night meal.

WE ARE GETTING BETTER

2009-04-26T21:58:00.002-04:00

I think we've finally gotten the hang of the pizza stone. This time around, we heated the stone to a really high temp, thew the dough on with some olive oil and salt, pulled it back out, dressed it up with toppings, then threw it back on the stone to finish off.

That's the trick.

Nothing too special in the prep. Just rolled out the dough and gave it some salt, pepper and olive oil.

Threw on the following:
- marinara
- pesto
- red onion
- salami
- mozzarella
- basil
- black pepper

Crisp and blowing up the flavor receptors all over my tongue. I guess by flavor receptors I mean taste buds. But flavor receptors sounds way funnier to me. Oh boy.

Sorry, long weekend. Great weekend. Glad we finished it off with this sucker.

LEFTOVER

2009-04-26T21:55:00.003-04:00

We had a ton of ingredients left over from the previous night's festivities, so we figured it was best just to use things up.

A bit of the leftover salad went on the plates and then we threw together:
- eggs
- milk
- pesto
- parmesan
- campari tomatoes
- sea salt
- black pepper

Cooked those suckers off and topped with the tomato. Garlicky and delicious.

MAKE YOUR OWN

2009-04-26T21:45:00.004-04:00

Steveo was out of town for the weekend helping the moving efforts of his younger brother, so we made it our mission to make sure Dan was well fed on Saturday night. James and D were recently back from Mexico and we wanted to catch up, so we just decided to merge friends and have an awesome make your own pizza festival.

Meena got us started with a really, really good salad:
- romaine
- baby spinach
- shallot
- salami
- kalamata olives
- campari tomatoes (these things are AMAZING!)
- pine nuts
- parmesan
- dressing (canola oil, sugar, garlic, red wine vinegar, rice vinegar, salt and black pepper)

Really lovely. And those tomatoes were off the hook. When you can get a really awesome tomato at this point in the year, it's a gift from the big guy.

Then we had a big pizzetta making station with the following:
- mushrooms with garlic
- yellow and red bell pepper
- mozzarella
- chicken sausage with hot pepper
- chicken sausage with sun-dried tomato
- sauteed white onion
- bleu cheese
- parmesan
- esposito's marinara
- homemade pesto (basil, parmesan, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, rice wine vinegar, sea salt and black pepper)
- flour tortillas
- basil

We were also treated to some of D's homemade pasta with a bit of homemade sauce. Out of this world, folks. When directed by Italian grandmothers, pasta is something far greater than just pasta.

Meena capped the whole thing off with some lovely cookies - banana, chocolate chip and coconut. AWESOME. She sandwiched some vanilla ice cream in a handful of those joints and made some pretty amazing ice cream sandwiches.

Great food, plenty of wine, tons of fun, great night.

START IT OFF

2009-04-26T21:41:00.002-04:00

The weather was legit this weekend. Up in the 80s and nothing but sun for the foreseeable future. We knew we would be heading on down to Fairway on the bikes later on, so a breakfast was necessary.

I ran over to Caputo's for a really nice roll that was, get this, STILL WARM FROM THE OVEN WHEN I BOUGHT IT. Awesome. Simple fixings went on:
- bacon
- egg
- mozzarella
- chipotle hot sauce (lots of it)

Oh boy. This thing was heaven on a roll. Would have been great without the bread, but boy, oh, boy, that Cuputo's put this one over the edge. Awesome.

NOT DHARMA

2009-04-25T21:28:00.000-04:00

Friday night Meena and I decided we wanted to try something a little different so we did a little searching around the internetz. After reading a few reviews that were remarkably positive, we wound up deciding on Daruma on Mott near Prince.

I'm really glad we did.

This spot has a bunch of different options in the Japanese genre, but their specialty is the yakitori ... the little sticks of grilled meats and veggies and rice that come in at just 2 bucks per.

In hindsight, I probably should have ordered the entire menu of yakitori for the two of us. It would have been fine. Not too much food ... but lots of nice variety. I was a little worried about the portions though, so we just picked out the following:
- yotsumi chicken tender
- bacon with scallop
- gyu tender beef
- shu mai x 2
- rice stick
- squid ball
- fish ball
- salmon

Amazing. We also had the pork munchkins appetizer and the shrimp popcorn appetizer. Both were pretty solid, but in all honesty, the draw is the yakitori and I could have been perfectly happy with that alone. Meena felt like it was ideal to have a little more variety. Some sushi or something. But I could have just destroyed the yaki.

Anyway, I think the squid ball was pretty awesome. Meena loved the shu mai. The beef was also really nice and peppery. The rice stick was, as noted in reviews, surprisingly awesome.

This spot is totally worth the trip, though. It's cheap, fast and totally delicious.

MEDIUM WELL

2009-04-24T06:55:00.004-04:00

We finally got the kitchen going again last night and with the exception of me finishing the meat just a smidgen too long in the oven, everything was pretty glorious.

The moment Meena got home, she threw a couple sweet potatoes in the oven and got them roasting on high. When they came out, we didn't do a thing but crack them open to add one little pat of butter. Delicious.

Meena also made a salad that was quite delicious and a nice source of my two favorite vitamin groups - bright green greens and deep bleu cheese. The rest of the list went like this:
- dressing (garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, black pepper and oregano)
- field greens
- mushrooms
- bleu cheese

And then I threw the hanger steaks on a skillet to get a nice sear on each side before finishing them off in the oven with a couple pinches of truffled salt (thanks, Allison!).

So yeah, I finished them a little too long in the oven and I went a little too light on the truffled salt, but I'll get it better next time. And because it was hanger steak, even medium well, it was still really tender and full of nice flavor. I just prefer it medium rare, you know?

Anyway, not a bad dinner for a Thursday night. The good weather is coming ... wonder what we'll make next?

WRONG

2009-04-23T07:07:00.005-04:00

It's funny that even when Zaytoon's messes up an order and gives you the wrong sandwich and forgets to put ingredients on a sandwich you ordered ... it still tastes really good.

I don't know what the deal with Zaytoon's has been the last week, but we went in the other day and they didn't have hummus. I mean ... really? No hummus. That would be like if my boss came to my desk asking for a presentation and I told her ... yeah, no computer today. Sorry. Zaytoon's ... dudes ... HUMMUS IS MANDATORY.

Anyway, last night Meena ordered a chicken shawarma sandwich with hummus but didn't get any. I ordered a shish kebab sandwich but a regular shawarma sandwich arrived. Our Zaytoon's mix was on point. Meena said it was weird but I was on board with it. Nice arrangement of peppers and pickles. Few olives. I was feelin' it.

I'm not worried. These guys ebb and flow. We'll stick with them through thick and thin. You know you're good when even the mistakes taste pretty darn delicious.

BITS AND PIECES

2009-04-22T07:00:00.001-04:00

Last night I got home pretty late due to a work function but Meena had been kind enough to order up a bunch of nice little treats from Chance.

We both shared bits and pieces of the following:
- sesame chicken
- chance's chicken (spicy)
- pork dumplings
- curry noodles

I now realize that the most amazing thing this place makes is the chance's chicken ... extra spicy. Just incredible. A little sweet, a little hot. 100% awesome.

KIDZ MEAL

2009-04-21T07:23:00.005-04:00

Last night Meena made an amazing dinner that she claims is designed for a weeknight meal she'll someday make when we have kids. Good, healthy food that tastes good. Kidz meals.

If this is kid food, I'm eagerly looking forward to more kids meals. Because this stuff was pretty awesome.

First, she did a few meatballs:
- ground turkey
- garlic
- minced onion
- italian seasoning
- soy
- sea salt

And then she made a veg mix:
- bell peppers
- garlic
- mushroom
- spinach
- bullion cube
- skim milk
- flour

Finally, she threw both over a box of some wild rice.

Love.

I had a bunch of sriracha with mine and it really made this thing shine. The turkey was perfect. Moist and flavorful, not over-spiced or dry. The veggies had a nice salty punch and a pleasing heartiness to them. And then you got a nice fork full of rice with each bite. Fantastic.

CLOSE IT OUT

2009-04-20T09:19:00.003-04:00

After a great weekend (weather, food, friends ... it really was!), we decided to close it all out with a bit of pizza.

We rode our bikes down to the Fairway earlier in the day and picked up a few nice ingredients. And that's why this one really shined ... we had some great stuff coming out of the fridge. I think the real highlights were the chicken and hot pepper sausage and Fairway mozzarella. The sausage just felt really fresh and subtly spiced. The cheese, also fresh and clean tasting, had a nice bit of salty finish that put this one in the upper echelon.

Anyway, here's the full run down:
- pizza dough
- flour
- corn meal
- marinara
- garlic
- white onion
- mozzarella
- chicken sausage
- spinach
- chili powder
- black pepper

We need to work (still!) on our pizza stone technique, but I feel we're getting close.

Close.

NEW TINI

2009-04-20T07:13:00.002-04:00

Sunday morning we rode the bikes on down to Red Hook with the intention of trying the new Tini and hitting Fairway. We'd heard about Tini moving down the road into their furniture store space, Home/Made, and we were eager to see what the new digs had in store.

Perfect as always, friends. These ladies make one of the most amazing breakfasts in Brooklyn. I don't even hesitate to say that. Not for a second. It's the best.

After a lovely homemade scone with a bit of dried cherry and a nice pot of French pressed coffee, we moved into the main event. Meena had:
- wild mushroom and fontina scramble

Alec had:
- truffled egg scramble

We also had a small side of sausage to cap it all off. Man, oh man. If you're ever in Red Hook and find yourself in need of a brunch, this is the spot. Honestly, even if you aren't anywhere near Red Hook, it's worth the trip. Just go.

AT LONG LAST

2009-04-19T11:06:00.002-04:00

We kicked off Saturday by fighting the hot, sweaty masses at the Atlantic Terminal to secure two new bicycles. See, ours were stolen this winter (they were busted though, so we weren’t terribly bummed) and we love rollin’ down to Red Hook and stuff. So we had to replace.

After a trip on back to Carroll Gardens, we got cleaned up and ready to head up to Williamsburg to meet Matt for our first trip to Marlow and Sons. Why haven’t we been here previously you ask? I don’t know. We went to Diner about 3 years ago. We’ve been told countless times how much we’d like it. I guess it amounts to the fact we don’t like Williamsburg that much and I naturally tend toward avoiding things people tell me to do. Stupid, but true.

Because this sacred cow was recently awarded the cover of Matt’s magazine, we decided it was time to give it a shot. And because we love Matt, we were super happy he was able to join us.

We started the meal off with a couple oysters. Three from New Brunswick and three Old Salts from Virginia. The spots from Virginia were soooooo delicious we had to order three more posthaste. Fantastic.

We then moved into the appetizers … a calamari salad with potato and dill. Reminded me of the octopus salad I had at Saul. Very nice. A ravioli with egg yolk, walnuts and nettles. I think. Can’t remember that one all that well. It was just OK so that’s probably a large part of the memory loss. We also had a crostini with goat cheese and ramps. They went pretty light on the ramps to my dismay.

Entrees were next. Meena and I shared their famous brick chicken. Matt had the fish. I can safely say the chicken was the finest chicken dish I’ve ever had in a restaurant. Matt’s fish was pretty delightful as well (he shared).

I don’t know if it was the seats on the sidewalk + warm weather + Saturday + good company + wine, but this was a pretty awesome affair. One I’d like to replicate again soon. I don’t need to tell anyone how good Marlowe and Sons is … the media has done a fine job before me. But just in case you needed one more recommendation, here’s mine. Go.

NOTE: I forgot to take photos. Thanks to ultraclay! on flickr for the oyster snap.

CLOSE TO HOME

2009-04-18T11:00:00.000-04:00

Meena and I had a pretty lazy (and decadent) Friday. The weather was nice and we were both SOOO over work. With no real options, we did what anyone would have done in our situation … we went out to eat and drank a lot of wine.

We started off at Black Mountain Wine house for two glasses of the house white and a bit of charcuterie. We also had a nice little bleu cheese on the side. Delightful.

We moseyed on back to the Cubana Café after our wine for a couple cocktails and some Cuban. Meena had:

- ropa vieja

Alec had:

- pork quesadilla

Meena wasn’t a huge fan of hers though she did house it. I think the olives weren’t really her cup of tea. Not a total failure, but we should have probably known better. My quesadilla was just right. Small but plump. With a good smattering of hot sauce, it was triumphant.

NANA BEFORE LALA

2009-04-17T10:58:00.001-04:00

Last night we hit Park Slope for a bit of chillin’ with Dan and Steve before they flew west for a little baptism. After a couple rounds of Bond with the Viksjo boys, we called in a bit of the Asian fusion from Nana.

Meena had:

- shrimp fried rice with green curry

Alec had:

- miso soup

- salmon and avocado roll

- yellowtail and jalapeno roll

Spot on as usual. I’m a huge fan of the “blonde miso” from this spot. Coincidence? I think not.

And it was great to get a chance to hang with the guys before their trip.