JM's Memorial Day Getaway

Memorial Day weekend was spent gloriously on the beach with a group of girlfriends.  A long weekend of fun and sun was exactly what I needed after the past few very stressful weeks at work.  At the beginning of the trip I only knew half of the girls going, but we got lucky and the whole group got along really well.  Everyone was laid back and fun to hang out with.  We rented a small townhouse a block from the beach, and to save some money we decided to cook most of our meals.  We skipped the usual barbeque and grill foods, two of the girls were vegetarian and we didn’t have a grill anyway.  At first I thought meals might be difficult- I almost always cook meat- and wasn’t sure what we would eat all weekend without it.  I’m happy to report that it wasn’t difficult at all (the girls ate fish, so it made things a little easier).  Meals were cooked together and served family-style, so it was easy and a fun way to hang out. 

I learned a new meal that I am definitely planning on making again, fish tacos.  I’d had shrimp tacos before, but never ones made with fish, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  They were delicious and healthy!  We were limited on spices since we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something we’d use once or twice, but we used such fresh ingredients that we didn’t need much more than salt and pepper anyway.  We baked tilapia with a tequila lime seasoning rub (just a packet of premixed seasoning), mixed up a cabbage-cucumber salsa, and topped off with homemade guacamole and fresh tomato salsa.  The cabbage-cucumber mixture was a big improvisation, we bought mangos with the intention of making mango salsa, but they weren’t ripe.  Instead, we threw together some red cabbage (prepackaged), diced red onion, a jalapeno, cucumber, tomato, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  It was so easy and had a ton of flavor.  It had just enough citrus to complement the fish, and a little kick from the jalapeno.  The tacos were incredibly fresh tasting; it was a perfect summer beach meal. 

All in all it was a successful weekend away, I got plenty  of sun (my sunburned skin says too much), made some new friends, and even learned something new.  If you did anything fun or made an interesting meal, tell us about it in the comments!  

Bro-date at G-hut

Hey everyone it's B.  So the other day I met up with a good buddy of mine at Galaxy Hut, or as we like to call it, G-hut.  It's a little dive bar in Clarendon on Wilson Boulevard pretty much directly across from Whole Foods.  I love the place. In my opinion, for its size, they have one of the best beer selections in town.  You'll pay a little more per beer, but you're also getting some top notch liquid deliciousness.  The decor is not what you might expect for a little hole in the wall bar:  there's a lot of interesting art hanging on the walls, as well as several tables made up of old-school arcade games which you can play for a few quarters (we're talking Pac Man here!).  And I'll tell you a few more reasons I keep going back to this place...1.  The grilled cheese sandwich is awesome.  It's two thick slices of Texas toast, and an abundance of ooey gooey cheddar and American cheese.  Go ahead and try to find a better grilled cheese sandwich.  2.  These guys were selling tater tots before the Napoleon Dynamite craze, and they have perfected them.  These aren't the broken and smashed up tots you used to get at the cafeteria in middle school.  These bad boys are deep fried to a delicious crispy brown.  The epitome of what every tot should strive to be.  3.  As long as I'm willing to wait about 5-10 minutes, and keep a sharp eye, I can usually manage to find a couple seats at the bar.  And there's nothing better than going to a dive bar and being one of those guys with a bar seat.  You become one of the respected, the envied, the desired. Basically you become Chuck Norris, except you have a tasty beer, scrumptious grilled cheese sandwich, and the tots of a champion.

Thanks for reading,

B.

Family Cooking

I’m sorry I’ve been a bit MIA this month.  Things at work have been crazy busy, and I’ve been out of town every single weekend in May (and will be for the rest of the month…).  Needless to say, I haven’t been cooking much. 

This past weekend I was back in Pennsylvania visiting my dad and brothers.  When I’m home, I try to help out my dad and clean up the house - it’s a lot of work cleaning up after two boys - and I try to cook a nutritious meal, since I highly doubt they eat any kind of vegetable when I’m not there (they’re subscribers to the meat and potatoes diet).  While I’m usually on my own on the cleaning front, I usually end up with at least one brother acting as my assistant when I’m preparing dinner.  Cooking for my family has turned into one of my favorite parts of going home.  Even though it’s a lot of work, I like being helpful and get really excited when they enjoy something I’ve cooked. It’s even better when my brothers join in to help.  Cooking together has really become a bonding experience for the three of us. We’re all very different, but hanging out in the kitchen seems to be second nature to all of us (must be the Italian blood).  It gives us a chance to talk and is one of the times I feel like I can teach them something useful.  Showing them how to incorporate vegetables, make things more flavorful, or just teaching simple cooking techniques is a chance for me to really embrace the “big sister” role.  I value that time I get to spend with the boys, and we all get to enjoy the end result after! 

Cooking is such a great activity to spend time together.  The next time you are making a meal, simple or complicated, for a few people or many, I encourage you to ask for others to join in.  Use that time in the kitchen as part of the time you spend with others, rather than a task you have to complete before you get to enjoy time with your loved ones. 

The Best Thing I Ever Ate (not in DC)...

Part of what JM and I wanted to do with this blog is find all the “have to try” foods the DC area has to offer.  My current goal is to find the best hoagie spot in town, but so far I’ve had difficulty finding a place that makes amazing bread and stuffs their sandwiches with enough meats and cheeses to even leave Kristie Alley satisfied.  In my life, I’ve had lots of good sandwiches, but when my family was coming in to town over Easter, I had to use the opportunity to have my sister bring me a special delivery of the best sandwich I’ve ever tasted.  It’s the buffalo chicken cheese steak found at the one and only Nuse’s Deli in Morgantown, PA.  If you’re ever in the area, make sure you stop and give it a try.  I like mine with extra hot sauce and blue cheese.  I was thinking about this sandwich for at least a month and it made me realize that I haven’t found something around here yet that brings out the same “need to scarf” attitude in me.  So if you know of any sandwiches in the area that don’t allow you to think straight until you finally get to take a bite of it, let me know, because I’d love to give it a try.

Leave your thoughts in the Comments!

B

Quick and Easy Dessert

I’m not much of a baker.  Baking tends to require more precision than I am willing to use (I’m a little of this, little of that kind of girl), therefore I don’t usually make desserts.  However, on Sunday I found myself with not much to do and some leftover phyllo dough in the fridge that I needed to use up.  I had some apples sitting out, and remembered that B really likes apple turnovers.  I never made them before, but figured a lazy Sunday was the best time to attempt to create a dessert recipe.  Now I won’t claim that this experience has turned me into a pastry chef, but I did manage to pull off the turnovers quite well with a recipe loosely inspired by Emeril’s Apple Cups.  Read on for a quick and pretty foolproof dessert.

Apple & Pear Turnovers

Makes 4 turnovers

1 apple

1 pear

2 tbsp. orange juice

2 tbsp. water

2 tbsp. honey

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. butter, melted

3 sheets phyllo dough

1 tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Peel, core and slice apple and pear.  Place fruit slices, orange juice, water, cinnamon and honey in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until apples are soft, approx. 10 minutes.  Lay out one sheet phyllo dough, brush with melted butter, then layer on a 2^nd sheet.  Repeat and add a 3^rd sheet.  Cut into 4 strips.  Place a tablespoon or so of the filling at the end of each strip, fold into a triangle shape and continue folding up the rest of the dough, maintaining the triangle shape.  Brush the end with butter to seal.  Brush both sides of the turnovers with butter and sprinkle with a little sugar.  Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes until brown.  

Comfort Food Done Healthy

B’s surgery this week went very well, and he’s on the road to recovery.  He’s handling it really well, but I know he’s still in some discomfort and tired of being stuck in the apartment.  Being the (part) Italian that I am, I immediately turn to cooking for others in their time of need.  Food is one of those things that people look to for comfort, and providing that for others is my way of consoling and (hopefully) helping those in need.  Since B can’t be physically active for a while, I wanted to make him something comforting but still somewhat healthy.  Lasagna is one of B’s favorite foods, so I decided to put a healthy spin on the old classic.  What I came up with was turkey and vegetable lasagna rolls.  Rather than layering sheet upon sheet of noodles and filling, I thought that rolling up the noodles and filling would make it easier to portion out and serve.  I ended up with individual lasagnas instead of a big messy pan.  To increase the health quotient, I replaced the classic ingredients with healthier versions and added lots of veggies.  Read on for my recipe!

Lasagna Rollups

Makes 9 servings

9 whole-wheat lasagna noodles

1 c. diced onion

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

½ lb. ground turkey (93% lean)

1 c. fresh spinach

¼ tsp. red pepper flakes

½ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. basil

½ tsp. oregano

4 tbsp. part skim ricotta cheese

1 jar marinara sauce

1 c. mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook noodles according to directions on box.  Drain and lay out on foil so they don’t stick together.  Chop the onions, peppers, and garlic, then sauté in olive oil (I usually add the garlic a minute or two later so it doesn’t burn). 

When the veggies are soft, add the turkey and spices and brown.  Put the spinach in a large bowl, add the cooked turkey/veggie mix and stir.  Let cool for a few minutes before adding the ricotta and half of the mozzarella cheese.  

Mix well, then spoon filling on each noodle, spreading down the length of the noodle, then roll.  Put a layer of sauce in the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan, then add the lasagna rolls (seam down) and top with remaining sauce and mozzarella.  Cover with foil, bake for 15 minutes.  Remove foil and cook another 10 minutes. 

Restaurant Review - The Boulevard Woodgrill

So B is having surgery for some back pain he’s been having and since his sister (K) is down for the week to help us out, we decided to go out for dinner.  We wanted to get something in the neighborhood good and not too expensive, so we decided to go to The Boulevard Woodgrill in Clarendon.  We’ve both been there a few times, so after tonight we feel we can give a fair review.

Since we were just in for a quick dinner and B’s having surgery the next day, we skipped the drinks and went straight for the food.  We shared a crab and artichoke dip with pita bread for a starter, which we all really enjoyed.  The pita bread was fresh and hot, and the dip had a good crab to everything else ratio.  It was also a good serving size for 3 people, just enough to do what an appetizer is supposed to do (whet your appetite and hold you over until the meal arrives), not stuff you before the rest of dinner even gets to the table.  The service was good, the timing between the arrival of the appetizer and the meals was right (I hate when you get rushed through your appetizer because the main course has arrived- what’s the point of the appetizer?).  Our server was also friendly and attentive. 

For the main course, B had the cheddar bacon burger with French fries.  B said it was one of the better burgers he’s had in the area.  I snuck a fry or two, though they were nothing to write home about.  I thought they were a little soggy, but B thought they reminded him of Boardwalk fries and didn’t have anything bad to say.  Maybe I’m a picky fry eater. 

B’s sister got the chicken Caesar salad, which had plenty of sliced chicken (K said it was a ridiculous amount!).  She enjoyed the meal, but thought the amount of chicken overwhelmed the rest of the salad. 

I ordered the special, a roasted duck and arugula salad with a mimosa vinaigrette.  Overall I enjoyed the salad, the dressing was the right amount of sweet and tart, and countered the peppery flavor of the arugula well.  The duck was a little overdone; I didn’t get much flavor from it.  The salad was topped off with sliced oranges (could have used more), cherry tomatoes (didn’t add anything to the salad), candied pecans (YUM) and dried cranberries. 

Combining our past experiences at the Boulevard Woodgrill, we would have to say that it’s a bit of a mixed bag.  Some menu items are fantastic, while others are so-so.  Can’t complain about the service though, even when they’ve been busy we have had attentive servers.  We are also both fans of the décor- a nice bar off to the side, plenty of booths (restaurants under-utilize booths these days), and floor to ceiling windows perfect for people watching.  It’s somewhere we’ll continue to dine since it’s walking distance from home and overall a pretty good restaurant, but it wouldn’t necessarily be our pick for a special trip.