Texas Flashback Part 2: Return of the Meat

I downloaded the rest of my Austin, TX trip with JC and BC. Aside from some really good BBQ and crepes, my food-filled trip covered everything from cupcakes to grass-fed beef burgers. The highlights of the trip was Hut's Hamburgers. It's in downtown Austin and as BC explained it to me it was one of the few places that sells grass-fed beef in Austin. That's what he got. I got a buffalo chili burger and J got the veggie chili. BC has given up french fries -- he's did this long before I ever met him, and I have to say it impresses me. But since I didn't give up fries, we got one order plus an order of onion rings - the thickest cuts I've ever seen.

After Hut's we went to Whole Foods and wandered around. The one in TX has several food options including a chocolate fountain and a walk-in beer cooler. I love this place. They also had some funny cupcakes, considering it was a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving.

The cupcakes might have been funny, but I did not taste them. Instead we got cupcakes from hey cupcake! which is based out of an airstream trailer. They looked great and tasted even better and it made an excellent post-half marathon treat.


Lastly, no trip to Austin would be complete without a meal at Kirby Lane, BC's favorite Austin eatery. Every time J and B have taken me there, the food has been good and filling. My breakfast before my flight out was no different.

I (Heart) New York

I was in New York City this weekend to run the MORE half marathon with cousins GO and EH. My trip started with a ride to NYC with Vamoose Bus. It was the fastest trip from DC to NYC that I had taken in awhile. We left at 8am and I was off the bus headed to packet pick-up in Chelsea by 11:45am! Since I had some time, I thought I'd meander to 18th street between 6th and 7th Ave. I was trying to find 'wichcraft so I could have a sandwich. Instead, I stumbled on a Chelsea neighborhood fair.

My first stop food-wise was a Thai food stand's Fried Banana. After that I went and got a vegetable pancake from the Korean stand. I saved the best for last. A guacamole taco.

It was guacamole tortilla with guacamole, jalapeno, tomatoes, red onion and crispy duck skin. Since I'm still in my Year of Veggies, I had mine sans skin. Still it was quite tasty.
But it was the fact that they had everything from pickles

to Fried Oreos (Yes, Fried Oreos. You'll be surprised to hear that - while tempted -- I passed on that one. It was 5 for $6. I just wanted one.) and grilled meats of all kinds. There was one that spun around over an open flame.


The Half Marathon took place on Sunday morning. It was a hot Sunday morning. Hot enough for the race organizers to cancel the marathon and turn the half into a "fun run." I don't how anyone could refer to 13.1 miles as a fun run, but there it is. Basically, the course was not timed. They took our chips and the timing mats off the course. Still, they actually made it a bit more stressful because they were putting a time limit on the course of about 3 hours and telling people that if they couldn't do 7 miles in 1:40 that they should stop after one loop. I was pushing myself a bit harder than I think I would have otherwise. I finished in about 2:26 and some change. GO and EH also finished the full 13.1 miles and I'm just happy that they aren't suing me for cruel and unusual punishment!

Tapering Down

The thing I enjoy the most about approaching races is the tapering down. That's when you cut back on your running/training. It's been fun and it happened to coincide with a somewhat normal work schedule. I had a chance to finally try a recipe from Michel Richard's Happy In The Kitchen. This books is food porn, as far as I'm concerned. A friend sent it to me while I was in Iraq. At the time it was like rubbing salt into the wound -- and anyone who's every eaten DFAC food knows what I mean. I tried an easy recipe, albeit with some changes because I didn't have an onion on hand and I forgot to put in the balsamic vinegar. With spring in full-swing, I stopped at the farmers market Sunday and they had fresh beets. I remembered that there was a beet puree recipe in the book. You can see a picture of it on the right. It's time consuming because you have to roast the beets for a little over an hour, but after that it's a breeze. I chopped the roasted beets and put it into the blender with some olive oil and salt until it was smooth. Then I set it aside to let it cool down a bit. What gives this recipe body is, I think, potatoes. Per the Richard's recipe, I boiled potatoes and then put it through the food mill. Over a double broiler, I mixed the potatoes into the beets. And voila! I used it as a base for some grilled scallops.

This week, I also tried the Chana Punjabi recipe again, only I didn't use the chickpeas (and yes, I know the name doesn't really apply anymore), but substituted it with eggplant and some peas. I didn't have a jalapeno, so I added some chili powder, but this time it lacked a good spicy kick. Still, it made for a good lunch two days this week.

Well, I tomorrow I head to NYC! I'm a little nervous about this race -- it's suppose to be a warm day and I convinced some family members to run it with me. I hope they have fun. I don't want to be known as the cousin who likes to torture her other cousins by making them run 13.1 miles on a hot, New York City day!

Comfort Food

This has been my first week back on a normal work schedule. While I only ran twice (and short runs at that) I did get out and do things I normally wouldn't have been able to. For example, I saw Flight of The Conchords in concert with M, J, and M. It was a lot of fun. They did a lot of songs from the second season. And Jemaine is very funny. But I've always been in awe of people who can come up with quick come backs off the fly. It's a talent that I lack. "Mel" aka Kristen Schaal opened for them and she was hilarious. She did these skits, such as pretending to be a mattress and telling the mattress's life story that still make me laugh just thinking about it.

I also went to a cooking class at Zola Wine and Kitchen. I've taken a pie class and a cake decorating class there in the past. This time it was fish -- how to buy, store, and cook. I learned how to filet a fish and different methods to cook it, including how to do a salt crust. The salt crusted fish tasted sooooooo good.

In between all this, I've been looking for a new place to live. It's quite exhausting. So, I needed some comfort food this week. For me, this means going back to my Asian roots. There was this place in London that I use to go to all the time called Wagamama's -- noodles any way you can think of. The Japanese market - Hana - on U street just happened to have my favorite brand of ramen -- yes, I have a favorite -- it is the one I grew up with. So ramen stir-fry with veggies and tofu it was. (Granted the tofu was not something I would have eaten as a kid, but I have matured -- supposedly.)

The Beauty of Leftovers

I really love the Chana Punjabi recipe from Tuesday. It's even better 2 days later.

Now I want to experiment with it -- only use one can of chickpeas and add potatoes or spinach to make up for the other can, maybe even some cauliflower. The mustard green dish went into the trash. Lastly, the pesto has been tasty! I used it as a dipping sauce for some fish and even made a whole wheat pesto and peas with it.

I really think it was the addition of the nuts that made it better. I've never made pesto this good before!

I haven't run today, but it is still early -- maybe after my farmer's market trip. Challah bread, here I come!

The good, the bad and the very pretty!

I'm taking the week off and having a mini-vacation in DC. Today, I did a very short bike ride and will go swimming in the afternoon. However, yesterday and today I'm having a kitchen clean out of sorts.
MONDAY
I had some mustard greens in the fridge that looked like they were on the verge of going bad. Typically, I saute greens or blanche them. So fuss, no muss and usually very tasty. I had heard that mustard greens are stronger in flavor than kale or chard, so I searched the internet and found a recipe by a chef that I like and thought I'd try something different with the greens this time: Mustard Green Gratin. Not only would it require the greens, but the ricotta I had in the fridge. On paper, the recipe had everything I like -- a bit of kick and cheese. But I'm not sure if I cooked it too long or not enough but it came out dry. Part of me wants to try this recipe again, tweak it a bit so it comes out cheesy-er, hte other part of me says, "Don't waste tasty greens on this again!" The dessert came out better. This idea is courtsey of my co-worker KR. She brings in these cookies with a Peanut Butter Cup center. Needless to say, i can't limit myself to just 1 or 2. I used a basic chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, but stopped short of adding the chocolate chips. The dough went into a mini-muffin try, about 3/4 full and I cooked it longer than I would a cookie, about 13-15 mins. Once the muffin-shaped cookies were out of the oven, I pushed the peanut butter cups into the center. The only problem is getting the cookie out of the pan. I tended to smush some. I suggest letting them cool in the pan longer normal -- and if you use liners, like I did, they still manage to slide out.

TUESDAY
This morning I made a Chana Punjabi recipe I found, I think, on The Wednesday Chef blog. It was a great way for me to use up my dry herbs/spices and didn't require me to buy any more. Tomatoes, chickpeas, lots of dried spices in pot!

While I waited for the Chana Punjabi to simmer away, I used the rest of my fresh herbs and slivered almonds. I've had some good pestos, including a basil-walnut pesto. So, I figured what's wrong with a basil, parsley and almond pesto? I added a clove of garlic, some salt and pepper, and fresh Parmesan cheese to the basil, parsley and almonds. The results?
This turned into that !

Lunch is served!

Cherry Blossoms!

It is officially spring, as far as I'm concerned. The Cherry Blossoms in DC are in bloom --actually a lot of the trees are in bloom -- and Sunday, 5 April, I noticed green - that bright, young, pea green on the trees! Where did I notice this? Well on my 10 mile run, as part of the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. I had a PR of 1:44:09! It helps that the course was flat for the most part. Definately not as hilly as last year's Baltimore 10-miler (although the post-race activities in Baltimore was better than Cherry Blossom). I ran most of the race with my running buddy SM.

But all this spring-thinking started creeping up on me earlier than the run. The Farmer's market during the winter had beautiful squash, eggs and meat (too bad I'm not eating the latter). Now, I'm seeing much more green and many more veggies! It should be a fun spring/summer of cooking and eating!

Tomato and Mozzarella Tart

So, as part of my year of vegetarianism, I've been hunting for good, simple and tasty recipes to try. Today I made a Tart from a Cook's Illustrated recipe. It was nice. The crust was buttery, but not a soggy mess and drawing the water out of the tomatoes helped keep the crust firm. It called for puff pastry for the base of the tart and was probably better than any tart dough I could have made. I had to cook the base first and then I let it cool. Prepping the tomatoes was easy -- core them and slice them about 1/4in thick, place them on paper towels or a clean cloth and sprinkle with some salt and cover with paper towels/another cloth. Let it sit for about 20-30 mins. Also, mince some garlic (2 large cloves) and olive oil (2 Tablespoons) add a little salt and pepper and put to the side. After the puff pastry base has cooled, sprinkle mozzarella cheese in an even layer on the bottom. Top the cheese with the tomatoes and then lightly spoon the oil mixture over the tomatoes and put it back in the oven for 15 mins. When it's ready take it out and sprinkle with fresh basil (and I also added some parsley).

It was yummy and surprisingly light (and I have leftovers to take to work for lunch). The only thing I would change is adding some red pepper flake to the oil to give the meal a little kick.