Florida in Fruit, Nuts, and Animals

I took time off from my DC two job life to go to Florida and visit my grandfather last week.

We saw turtles.

There were fresh bananas from the tree in his backyard.

It's strawberry season in Florida. Who knew?

Alexis, Rob's dog (who looks a lot like my childhood dog.)

I ate a lot of different types of oranges. And sodium free bread.

I'm getting back into the swing of things, more posts soon (as I am working less now with the economic downturn).

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

PS Who spends $800 on food in a month? Answer in the next post. (Note: it's not me!)

Ladies' Night Dinner

On the rare night I have off from the hotel, my coworkers from the Institute and I like to grab dinner and have a ladies' night. Dinner 10 out of 10 times is at Pizza Paradiso.

Paradiso has two locations: there's one in Georgetown (which Ashley and I have had date night at is larger but in some ways more intimate - meaning more of date place- and has a much larger beer menu) and there's one in Dupont, which is small and has a neighborhood feel and always has a wait.

We frequent the Dupont one for convenience sake: its near the red line and its not far from the office. Last night was such an occasion: Megan, Ashley, Brittany (Ashley's sister), and I met for a mid-weekend catch up, complaining about life, and some really good pizza.

All my dinner companions got some variation of the Margherita pizza. Ashley and Brittany split a large and got onions on it. Megan got an individual Margherita. And I, per usual, got the individual Bosco (mushrooms, spinach, onions) with soy mozzarella (now, do you see why I like this place?).

I should mention that we started with the Bruschetta - which was marinated white beans and halved cherry tomatoes on homemade bread. It was delicious, don't get me wrong, but if you're expecting some sort of tomato/basil combo this isn't the bruschetta for you. Brittany, an avid bean hater (which I no understand), took one look at it and refrained. It WAS really good - just not the traditional Italian-American bruschetta I'm used to.

I should mention that the pizza is cooked in a wood-burning stone oven. Yeah. It's that kind of pizza. It's hot and fast and has that traditional-cooking-method smokey taste. It's some of the best quality pizza you can get in DC.

So that was last night. Today is a typical overcast mid-January Sunday. I've been taking down holiday decorations (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas- no joke) from around the apartment in the hopes of cleaning everything up before Amanda gets home next weekend from Idaho.

I'll probably be doing some cooking later, so expect a post or two about what I'm eating this week before I leave for Florida.

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

Asylum Brunch - Biker Bar and Vegan (!)

My coworker Ashley and I got to meet Kevin (also coworker/ vegetarian cook extraordinaire) 's new boyfriend Tim today over brunch.

I was late (s-l-o-w metro) but we had brunch around 1:30 pm in Adam's Morgan at Asylum. Asylum is a biker bar/ hipster hang out by night and a brunch place by weekend day. They have a whole vegan menu (in addition to a regular menu, I should mention).

http://www.asylumdc.com/newHome.htm

I didn't get any photos but we had mimosas and (vegan) bloody mary's (I think the BMs were better ... but I really like them/ normally can't have them because they're not Robin-friendly).

Ashley got the blueberry pancakes (which were vegan and great, not sure they were AS great as Kiva Han, but I'm super duper biased). Kevin got the vegan burrito wrap, which was delicious (I should note I sampled off both their plates ... to the point of being obnoxious). Tim got an eggy-something, which I didn't try but he seemed to like.

I ordered the hot wings: great texture, not hot. Spak Brothers in Pittsburgh is still my hold out for best faux wings. I also got the vegan BLT because I've been moaning for one since last week. It was really good. Lots of vegan mayo and a pickle.

We had a great time, lots of fun chatter. We really like Tim (and we LOVE Kevin). After brunch we wandered to Sticky Fingers, where I got a peanut butter fudge cupcake and a peppermint brownie (the brownie is in my purse for tomorrow, I'm not that much of a fat kid). We also hung out in the gentrification of Columbia Heights, scoping out the Target.

A pretty great Sunday, I highly recommend Asylum. I think I'll be there again ... soon.

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

Ethnically Promiscuous Dinner

I think I've mentioned before that I LOVE it when people cook for me. This past Saturday night, my friend Andy had my roommate Amanda and me over for dinner at his new apartment. When I called him from the grocery store to ask if he needed us to bring anything, he told me that he was all set: we were going to have an ethnically promiscuous dinner.


The dinner started with some delicious Syrian lentil soup (which I really liked, despite Andy thinking it was too lemon-y.)

The cook! Andy in the kitchen. (Hope the Army guys don't see this picture...)

The main course, a Thai style peanut noodle dish, with yellow and red bell peppers (really really yummy).

Chocolate cake for dessert! This is apparently one of Andy's standard cake recipes (it's so simple that you mix all the ingredients in the dish you bake it in - no need to dirty a mixing bowl). It also just happens to be vegan, which is really exciting. I had two servings.

Me, on my first helping of cake. (And pretty delicious red wine, I might add!)

Here's hoping there's a good friend in your life who cooks you dinner like Andy. Not to mention great conversations about social issues and politics until 1:30 am. : )

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

Cuban Liberation Day Dinner

In case you didn't know, New Years Day (January 1) is also Cuban Liberation Day (Castro took over in 1959). So last Thursday evening, I hosted a small, Cuban-themed dinner party for a few (non-Communist) friends.

I apologize for the lack of exciting photos, between the cake baking and preparing for dinner I didn't think to take a lot of photos. But I will be giving you the recipes here, which if you follow, should have pretty delicious results.

The dinner menu involved Stuffed Peppers (both green and yellow, as noted above), black bean cakes, fried plantains, and a rum cake (which, I will admit I did not make- Amalea, our newly engaged (!) neighbor brought it back from her recent travels for us).

Black Bean Cakes

1 can black beans

1 can pinto beans

1/2 cup grated carrot

LOTS of spices (cumin, chili, whatever you have, I used a Spanish-style mix)

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

Olive oil

1 cup corn meal

1/2 cup soy milk

Oil for frying

Rinse and drain the beans, place in a bowl and mash until smooth with a potato masher. Add the grated carrot and spices, mix well.

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil. Once the onions are soft and cooked, add to the mix.

Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Once the mix is chilled, form into little cakes about an inch or so around, dip in soy milk then into the corn meal and fry.

I want to say the recipe made about 30 or so little cakes. Serve with lots of ketchup (very Cuban).

Stuffed Peppers

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the top off the peppers and clean out the white parts/seeds inside.

2 cups of water

Salt

1 bay leaf

LOTS of spices (again, chili, cumin, etc I used this mix that turned out really well)

1 cup of short grain white rice

2 links of soy chorizo/spicy faux meat

2 cloves garlic minced,

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 big can of diced tomatoes, juice drained and reserved

In a pot, bring the water, salt, bay leaf to a boil. Add the rice and spices and cook for about 15 or so minutes until the water is absorbed. In a separate pan, brown the chorizo with the onions and garlic. Add to the rice mixture along with the can of diced tomatoes. Mix well.

Spoon the mixture into the peppers (which you've arranged in a shallow baking dish). Pour the tomato juice reserved from the can of diced tomatoes into the bottom of the pan to keep the peppers moist.

Bake for about 45 minutes.

I also fried up some ripe plantains that Andy brought, but nothing exciting enough to jot down a recipe for. We also "stretched a bottle of wine" via a recipe from - Glamour magazine - (don't judge!) It involved dumping the bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz we had into a pitcher with some club soda, a chopped up Fuji apple and a blood orange, and a bit of sugar. It was delicious and a great way to get drinks for 5 people.

I'm sure more delicious things will be cooking soon - I will also be trying out a new biker bar/brunch place (I know, right?) this weekend and I am planning to host a Cookie Party (!!!) at the end of the month/beginning of February. So stay tuned, lots of mmmm is forthcoming - it's 2009! : )

Happy Eating!

-Robin-

This One Goes Out to the One I Love

A certain very special someone (although he does not know it ... yet) had a birthday this past week. In fact, he had two birthdays - which means that he got two birthday treats. The first were the Snickers brownies I made him on Christmas. The second was a Chocolate Strawberry Cake I made him on New Years Day. I'm not going to lie - I worked really hard on this cake. And it turned out amazing. He said the cake was beautiful (no word yet if it was incredibly delicious, I suspect it was) and that it made his day.

That's what I was going for.

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

The cake recipe is here. (It had such rave reviews, I figured it would be a safe call to make.)

I made a 9 x 13 rectangle layer and then a 9 x 9 square layer (the layers were thick, it was a lot of cake batter!).

Once the layers had cooled completely, I placed the rectangle layer on a pretty tray, and spread strawberry preserves (holiday gift from my Grandma) over the top of the cake.

Then I placed the square layer on top of the strawberry preserves. I decorated the cake with piped whipped cream and strawberries.

So that seems to be how we're starting the New Year off here- making cakes for unrequited loves. I hope your 2009 has begun in a slightly more reciprocal way. : )

Happy New Year everyone - and Happy Eating!

-Robin-