March Madness - Pasta Edition

I've always been mad for pasta...well, truth be told, I've really always been mad for any carbohydrate. And as it works, the few times that I did get around to cooking this month, were pasta dishes that I could quickly through together. 

First round - my sister and I were on our own for dinner, and she had some Vodka sauce that she had been meaning to use...but never did (probably because I was never available to cook it for her o_0). However, the only penne we had, was whole grain, and as much as I am an advocate for eating/being healthy...ok, I'm actually more like 50/50 for healthy versus borderline disgusting junk...whole grain pasta just doesn't do it for me. It has a more grainy texture that I don't like as much. So I used ziti instead. Then I scrounged up whatever veggies I could find (see, HEALTHY!), and came out with an onion, edamame soy beans, carrots and celery. 

Speaking of celery, it's just a vegetable that I don't understand. Can anyone please explain it to me? 

This is what came of all the ingredients listed above. At one point, we got really ambitious, and thought that we could actually finish the whole thing (2 girls, 1/2 pound of pasta). But luckily, came to our senses and saved some for lunch the next day.

Source of Inspiration

Boiling...

Lookit all the pretty colors!

Final Product

And while I am a firm believer that we all have a dessert stomach separate from our regular stomach, not finishing it all also helped save stomach space for this!

Toasted Corn Muffin with Banana Split Ice Cream - absolutely delish!

Near the end of dinner, I also realized that this pasta would probably taste pretty good on pizza. Although we were full, we did make an attempt to find a pre-made crust around the house...no such luck (probably for the better). But I tucked that idea away in the back of my mind for the next time when I could plan ahead of time to make the crust.

Fast forward a week and a half, and I found time! I wasn't so thrilled with the way the crust came out, I couldn't remember what recipe I had used the last time, but it was still edible. I threw together the rest of the ziti and vodka sauce and mostly all the same veggies (had no more onion though), and topped the pasta mix on top of the pizza.

Yeast Mixture

Mixed Dough

Letting the dough rise

Rolled out Dough

I remembered the mushrooms this time...just love the colors!

Pasta Reprise

Pizza on Crust

Final Product w/ extra pasta

Then last weekend, we had a party that was turned into a potluck last minute. I got home later than expected, and didn't realize I was expected to make this fettuccine with sausage and creamy tomato dish that is my go-to dish. When I make it properly sometime, I will post it. But when I got home, I learned that the sausage hadn't actually been defrosted, and I already knew we didn't have fettuccine...and then we also didn't have shallots or heavy whipping cream. Oh well, time to throw some things together again! I did microwave the sausage a little first to defrost. Then I tossed the below garlic, onions, carrots & mushrooms together with the sausage.

Ingredients

Sauteed garlic & onions

Add the spicy Italian Sausage

Add the canned diced tomatoes (such a great dish to throw together in a time crunch)

Final Product

And that's all I've got for the Pasta Edition of March Madness! Not too much variety...but how can you go wrong with pasta?

Missed Connection - The Dorito Taco

Late last Saturday night, I was returning home from a friend's birthday, when I realized that I had some extra time before my train...which meant I could finally try a Dorito Taco from Taco Bell!!! I have heard mixed reviews - some disgusted, some finding it to be a most magical and wondrous thing. Me being...well...me, was really hoping for the magical experience. 

I was not disappointed.

I also had a missed connection experience. 

w4m. 

I didn't get a good look at your face, as I was too busy enjoying my magical taco, but you sat a seat away from me and I could tell you were tall. You were also enjoying your purchase from KFC - which coincidentally is often paired up with Taco Bell. I think it's a sign. Your stop was 3 before mine. Perhaps we shall meet again. I think you might have been my soulmate.

4.22.12 Update

First of all, Happy Earth Day everyone.

Secondly - apparently I am not the only fan of the Dorito Taco as Grub Street recently posted about its success.

brgr

A few weeks ago, I had checked into Pita Grill on Foursquare, which was where I was grabbing dinner before class ($3 for a falafel pita sandwich? Can't really beat it when you're in the mood for something quick and cheap - not to mention pretty healthy too). While searching for the location, I saw that the nearby burger place, brgr  had a special for checking in. I have often passed it and wondered what the food was like. The special was that you can get a seasonal, off-the-menu, white truffle burger if you showed that you had checked in. Um, first of all, as per my last post, I love anything truffle (as in the mushroom, I am not as obsessed about chocolate truffles), and the chance to feel uber cool and exclusive? I've been craving it ever since - even though I've never even stepped foot in brgr before.

I mentioned it to my manager, and she promised to take me there and indulge my food cravings - she calls me a big baby because of all the foods I eat and want to eat. And I'm totally ok with that...especially when it gets me delicious foods :-)

So last Thursday after work, and before my class, she indulged my baby needs, and we went with a few other coworkers for a quick dinner. All I have to say is - SO WORTH IT!!! We also got 2 sides of trio fries to share - fried onions, sweet potato fries and regular fries. And since everything tastes better with hot sauce, I also finished (in my defense, there wasn't much left), their bottle of Chipotle flavored Tabasco sauce. However, I only added the hot sauce after having tasted it in its original form first. If you're into milkshakes (I personally am not really), apparently theirs are pretty good too.

Best part of it all - they deliver! And my workplace falls within their range of delivery too :-D

Next burger I want to try is their morning burger with the fried egg!

White Truffle Burger!!!!!

Trio Fries

Half Eaten burger w/ Chipotle Tabasco

Italy in Glen Cove

It was Saturday night, and I had made plans with 2 of my girlfriends to get dinner at a local restaurant - the Fishery  Grill (formerly Crabby Dan's). I pass by it every morning walking to the train station, but I've really never thought anything of it, even after they remodeled and renamed it. To be frank, I've never really thought much of any of the local restaurants since I've grown up here and always ventured out west to the city for eating.

However, we decided this time to stay local - little did we know, that apparently no one likes to cook on a Saturday night. We stopped by and called a number of restaurants after that to see if and when they could accommodate a party of 3 - everything was packed. So we're driving around time, racking our brains trying to come up with places to go while searching on our Yelp and Alfred apps on our phones [hooray for iPhones!] and yelling out names of restaurants and reading out their menus. At least we had narrowed it down to Italian, so that made it only slightly easier. 

As we're driving, we also keep our eyes peeled (not the driver of course), for anything that looked like it was open with a decent amount, but not too many cars in the parking lots. We seriously had no idea there were that many restaurants in our area! I stumble upon Riviera Grill on Alfred right as we're driving by it. My friend was craving gnocchi, and there was gnocchi on the menu at a price that wouldn't break the bank either. I call them, they said to just stop by. Done Deal. We park. We go in. We're seated. 

The man whom I assume is the owner comes by, and he's like a little Italian grandpa with a constant scowl on his face, and apparently, he asks us if we wanted anything to drink...thankfully Kate understood what he was asking and asked for a wine menu. While sipping on our Pinot Grigio and Chiantis, we look at the menu - everything looks delicious. 

I myself love me some risotto, and while searching the menu online, saw one with champagne and black truffle that looked amazing. But then it wasn't on the menu in the restaurant, so I ask what the "Risotto Del Giorno" was, and the waiter (whom we all wanted to adopt as our grandpa) replied "whatever you want it to be." I think I heard the angels singing as he said that. IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES!!! I was already in love with the waiter as soon as I heard him say "allora,"but this, just made me fall that much more in love with him. In addition to letting you create your own risotto dish, they are very flexible on substitutions on their other dishes. The gnocchi gorgonzola was switched out for gnocchi alfredo, and whatever pappardelle they had on the menu was made into a pappardelle alla vodka with green peas. And my risotto, was mixed in with porcini mushrooms, truffle oil, prosciutto, and green peas (Alex and I really love our green peas and carbs). When I asked him if that was ok, he goes, "Porcini mushrooms + truffle oil, go very well together, porcini mushrooms + truffle oil + prosciutto, beautiful! + peas, eh." But I wanted the green, so the peas stayed.

When the food came out - my word, it was ah-maze-balls. Seriously good. Between the ambiance of the restaurant and the quality of the food, we felt like we had been transported to Italy. I had meant to take pictures of us eating the food as well, but became too distracted by the actual action of eating that I forgot to do so.  I also realized for the first time, that Italian risotto, is very much like Chinese sticky rice *light bulb moment!*

Pappardelle alla Vodka w/ Green Peas & Cherry Tomatoes

Gnocchi Alfredo - aka, little fluffy pillows of cheesy, creamy potato-y goodness

Risottoa alla...me - this picture doesn't even do it justice, and I ended up taking half of it back with me

We were sitting right in front of the dessert table, so it was already decided at the beginning of the meal that we would be ordering dessert - good to know, because it helped us control how much of our actual meal we ate. Kate & Alex both ordered the chocolate mousse, and I got Nonna's (Grandma) Lemon Custard Tart. Before we even finished, the waiters came around with some limoncello and biscotti. He even left the bottle at our table "just in case." I think all in all, they refilled for our three times. And it was delicious every time.

Torta della Nonna

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Alex enjoying her cake

Limoncello

Good friends of 20+ years (which we didn't even realize until the waiter asked us how long we have been friends for)

Shennanigans...Alex "hugging" the fancy car...though it looks more like she is trying to lift it up

WD~50

After a discussion on New Year's Day 2012 over brunch about the New American restaurant, WD~50 which experiments with molecular gastronomy, after coordinating a date that worked for everyone (probably the most difficult part), our reservations were made within the week! 

Once there, there was talk of possibly getting the 9-course tasting meal which everyone at the table needs to participate in. While we may have missed out on some food experiences by opting out, I'm pretty sure it was the right choice to prevent and gut-busting...an attractive image, I know. At a restaurant like this, where I have no idea what to expect, I figured I'd go with whatever has been recommended by previous diners and by our waiter, who was asked to give his opinion on what he felt were the best dishes for every course before ordering. 

Drink:  WD~75 (which is White dog whiskey, meyer lemon, cocchi american) - my first reaction was...MY DRINK IS BUBBLING!!! But it was quite nice, light and bubbly, but still pretty strong

WD~75

Appetizer: Cold fried chicken with buttermilk ricotta, tabasco, and caviar. It was interesting, the chicken was cold, but the caviar was warm and overall, all delicious. I also took a bite of my friend's Aerated foie gras which was really rich and yummy, especially in combination with the paper thin "bread" that we had already devoured a round of before our appetizers arrived. 

Addictive flatbread...or the top layer of toasted bread?

eyeing my neighbor's aerated foie gras

Cold fried chicken

Entree: While Smoked Char was also on the menu, I didn't want to compromise my Char experience from Lure Fishbar earlier that week, so I went with the Pork ribs with hush puppies, spaghetti squash and red-eye gravy. I can't say I was all that excited about the Pork Ribs, they were kind of cubed, and just too much for me. The hush puppies however, with the spaghetti squash mixed in with the red-eye gravy, and yes, that's like the red-eye coffee, were awesome. 

Pork Ribs

Char - which I did try, and was pretty good, but not the same!

Taking the opportunity between courses to pose with the menu

Dessert: My friend and I split our desserts because they all just looked really good. I got the violent looking Chocolate with beet, long pepper and ricotta, and she got the Liquid Churro with bitter cocoa, chilies and meyer lemon. The chocolate and beet dessert was really interesting...in addition to looking like a crime scene, what looked almost like rock candies, was actually soft, and beet flavored. Overall, it was just...interesting. I didn't quite know what was going on, but I didn't dislike it...The liquid churro wasn't quite what I expected, but I must say I was a fan of the pepper chocolate. I'm just a fan of spicy chocolate in general.

Liquid Churro

Chocolate & Beets

I might have more of an idea of what everything on the plate was...and everything that we ate throughout the course of the meal for that matter, if we all hadn't been so focused on taking photos of our food while the waiter was patiently trying to explain what our food was. By the last course, he pretty much just gave up. But hey, now I have all these photos of my food to remember by and can look up the meal descriptions on their website anyway =P


The whole experience was really interesting and pretty good, but I think ultimately, I'm still more a fan of comfort home-food!

WD-50's take on the Rice Krispy Treat, sweet & salty with ice cream in the center...
I happened to get the last one, which is why it looks to forlorn...and also resembles something else...=X

NYC Restaurant Week

In order to fulfill my "Dine 3x and get an Amex Credit" requirements, which really was just an excuse for me to go out to eat many times during restaurant week, in addition to dining at Le Cirque, I also ate at Brasserie Ruhlmann and Lure Fishbar.

Brasserie Ruhlmann was pretty good, though I must say nothing totally spectacular, especially after I had already had the braised beef at Le Cirque the night before.

Menu & Bread

Appetizer: I chose the Winter Squash Risotto because I'm a sucker for anything risotto and have become a huge fan of anything squash lately as well.

Entree: Braised short rib, wanted to see if I could actually tell the difference between the one here and the one at Le Cirque. Was pretty good, but a bit on the salty side.

Dessert: My gut told me to go with the Banana Tart & Maple Sauce, but I had a last minute panic moment, and I chose the Bittersweet  Chocolat Pudding (it was fahncy with the capital "C" and without the "e"). Luckily, my mom had ordered what I call the "dessert that got away" and she was nice enough to trade with me!

Winter Squash Risotto

Braised Short Rib

Bittersweet Chocolat Pudding

The "one that got away" - Banana Tart & Maple Sauce

A week later, I went on a "date" with my sister to Lure Fishbar, which she had been to before, but I have only peered into before and dreamed about their lobster roll and tuna tartare. As with risotto and squash, I am an even bigger fan of anything tartare. Unfortunately, they no longer offer lobster roll on the restaurant menu (my sister said it was because she ordered it the last time she was there), but what I got instead was ah-maaaaazing! I can't even describe the food-gasm that was going on in my mouth. And it seems that another "Yelp" user had a similar experience. I found her review when I was trying to find the name of the entree that I ended up ordering, as it was a special on the regular menu that could be substituted into the restaurant week menu. But before I jump to there, I actually for once, got there early, and didn't feel like wandering the nearby shops for too long, so I settled into the bar for Happy Hour and a most delicious Grapefruit Margarita and playing with Instagram. The bartender was also so kind as to provide me with a bowl of chips without me even asking! I was a fan.

tempted to eat the jar of lychee behind my drink...

Grapefruit Margarita w/ chips!

Finally, my sister arrived...well, to be fair, she arrived on time, and we went to our table for the following food that I am even excited to be writing about (I  know, I'm a dork):

Appetizer: Tuna Tartare. There was no sharing to be had, so we each ordered our own.

Entree: Some sort of char that was one of the most fantastic things I have ever tasted. It just melted in my mouth and had all these different flavors happening at the same time that I thoroughly enjoyed. Here's how the Yelp user described it: 

"They had a special fish of the day that was added to the restaurant week menu. It was called something Char. The waiter told me it's similar to a Salmon. OMG! It was so buttery soft...melted away in my mouth. It was mixed in with this creamy yogurt sauce...YUMS. The warm chocolate cake was an explosion of sin and delight. Loved it. "

Dessert: Warm Chocolate Cake with Candied Popcorn. I was a little on the fence about what to get for dessert, but she sold me on the popcorn. Also love popcorn...come to think of it, there doesn't seem to be many foods that I don't love...it was good, but I was already so full from dinner. Also, hard to compete with the chocolate & green tea cake that I have had from Spot Dessert Bar about a month ago.

Our drinks are friends.

Tuna Tartare!!!

Char View 1

Char View 2

Warm Chocolate Cake w/ Candied Popcorn

My sweet ride.