After having spent a weekend mostly lying in bed, recovering from the remnants of my horrible cough & cold, I had a really strong craving for ramen. Not the instant kind, but specifically tonkotsu ramen. The kind that makes you feel like you’re being tucked into a warm cashmere blanket by your mommy. The kind that makes anything and everything instantly better, especially when your throat is raw from coughing so much.
In this case, being sick not only made me crave ramen, it made me crave the best I’ve had on the east coast: Ippudo in NYC.
And it made me wish I get better pronto so we could take a trip to the city to get a bowl, with a side of pork buns.
Happy Monday folks! Here’s to making it through the rest of winter in good health and good spirits :)
We’re in New Orleans for a few days, and our friend Kelly drove over from Florida to hang out with me (read: eat) while Chris attends his conference.
After a crazy travel day on Saturday, we drove into New Orleans at 1am. To make a long story short, our flight from Philadelphia to Houston was delayed, causing us to miss our connecting flight to New Orleans. Since this pharmacy conference is going on AND a home Saints game, there were no flights available until Monday. We decided to just make the 6-hour drive from Houston to NO. I hate long drives, but this was particularly aggravating because we had already waited at the airport for a few hours before getting on a flight.
We made it, and Kelly’s and my first order of business was our cooking demo at Crescent City Cooks. We had a bit of trouble finding the actual location (the Riverwalk Marketplace is a realllllly long mall so we were wandering around the wrong part for a while), but we had such a good time! Chef Scott was a great instructor, giving us the history behind Creole and Cajun styles of cooking. Kelly and I were right in the middle of the front row, so I was able to get some great action shots.
Making jambalaya…and holding up the mirror so people in the back could see.
Roux for chicken and andouille sausage gumbo. Look how dark it is!
Best names for spices EVER! Chef Scott used another brand though.
MMMM GUMBO! It was the first time I had it and the bar is set pretty high.
Jambalaya. Had a nice kick of heat to it; I was surprised I was able to finish this.
Making bananas foster…
It’s the perfect dessert for pyromaniacs! ;)
If you’re ever in New Orleans, definitely set aside 3 hours to do this! We’re here for a couple more days but this is easily on my list of favorites. It was nice having someone else do the cooking but still get to eat. Plus, you get 10% off everything in the store after class!
December 18, 2010
Posted in food
Last week, Jaden from Steamy Kitchen posted a prime rib recipe. Steph got excited and planned a dinner party just so she could try out the recipe.
On the menu:
Mixed spring salad with caramelized walnuts and grapefruit vinaigrette
Sauteed asparagus and shiitake mushrooms
Roasted garlic and mozzarella mashed potatoes
Prime rib (a 6-pound hunk of goodness)
Ghirardelli chocolate souffle
I usually have a story or two to share, but this time, I’ll let the pictures do the talking (make sure not to drool over your keyboard ;)).
I’m not a huge fan of grapefruit, but this salad was damn good!
Yum! Make sure to check out Steamy Kitchen for “fast, fresh, and simple” recipes! I also highly recommend getting her cookbook. Steph gave it to me for Christmas last year…when I tore back a little of the wrapping paper and saw Jaden’s name, I seriously started jumping up and down (or rather, bouncing in my seat). It’s a great cookbook and has a ton of easy-to-make Asian/Asian-inspired dishes.
Tagged:
beef,
prime rib,
Steamy Kitchen
This year marks the second Thanksgiving Chris and I have celebrated as a married couple. We’re so far from our family, but I’m so grateful that we have friends who kindly invite us to spend the holiday with their family (thanks, Steph!)
We started off the day at Steph’s grandparents’ house, watched a movie, then ended up at her parents’ house for my favorite thing EVER in the winter: hot pot.
Here is Steph’s dad taking care of two of our dinner “guests”:
If you haven’t had hot pot, it is what it sounds like: a pot of boiling water where you cook various veggies, seafood, meat, and tofu. You then dip your goodies into your choice of sauces. The one we used is a mix of Chinese bbq sauce and oyster sauce, with a small splash of soy sauce. You can also add whatever else you like…some people add Sriracha sauce.
It may not seem like a filling meal, but eat enough of it and you’ll be rolling out the door like we were. The best part about it is that it is SO healthy. There are really no carbs (except in the sauce you create, and the noodles at the end), and since everything is boiled in a pot of water, all the extra fat in the beef is boiled off. The very end of the meal is my personal favorite, especially if you’ve used crab and/or lobster: the water becomes a savory broth that is paired with noodles (in our case, udon noodles). The crab/lobster meat adds this nice, subtle sweetness to the soup that makes me want to dunk my head into the pot. That’s how good it is!
I am so thankful for all the blessings God has given my family and me. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Tagged:
hot pot,
Thanksgiving
