Eat Bar and "lifestyle changes"

Last night Raina was nice enough to take me to Eat Bar to celebrate the engagement- woo hoo! Not only do I love the food and relaxed atmosphere of that place, I also love that I can walk there in about 5 minutes. First we each had a glass of dry rose (my favorite summer wine) and we then we shared some small plates:

- mini hamburgers with caramelized onions and some sort of truffle condiment

- one order of bacon-wrapped marscapone stuffed figs

- chickpea "fries"- a new menu item. Brian, our bartender described them as deep-fried hummus, but the shape and texture reminded me most of fried yucca. The fries were served with spicy horseradish mustard.

I then had a glass of Cabernet while Raina had proseco, and we finished the meal by sharing a butterscotch ice cream sandwich.

Eat Bar's proximity makes it really tempting when I don't feel like cooking. They also have mini chorizo corn dogs. Do I need to remind how I feel about corn dogs?
So all this good eating and wine drinking brings me to a bigger issue... how do I cut back a bit on both calories and food spending while maintaining my foodie cred? About every 6 months or so I talk big about making a "lifestyle change." In my fantasy vision of myself I become someone who wakes up early, goes for runs, eats lots of fruits and practices yoga. In reality I hit the snooze button about 5 times, watch the "Today Show," come home and drink wine, eat cheese and watch "So You Think You Can Dance." I know the answer is making choices, moderation, blah blah. It's all going to take a little more willpower than I care to exercise most of the time. So baby steps- I guess that means the next time I go to the Farmer's Market I need to walk on by the new bakery booth that sold me the pain au chocolat on Wednesday night.

Who out there has the magic solution to all of this? What exceptions and allowances do you make while still maintaining a healthy diet/lifestyle? Cooking healthily isn't my problem- I know what to do and generally only use a little bit of olive oil and use low fat meats (if any), lots of vegetables, etc. It's all of the extras that are my downfall: picking up treats, drinking and eating out. Also, while I know the low carb route works for some people (and in the past it has produced quick weight loss for me), I think Tim and my co-workers can attest that I am a PROFOUNDLY UNHAPPY person when I can't eat bread!

Maurice says: "I eat gravy with every meal and I'm still svelte."

Breakfast- Great Depression Style

The cupboard was bare. The only thing we had to eat for breakfast this morning: the two remaining heels of bread, toasted with peanut butter. I had mine with strawberry preserves, but TBC (should I just go ahead and call him Tim?) had his with honey. Tim's love for honey rivals that of Winnie the Pooh's.
Last night we ordered Cafe Asia for dinner. Because there are some things we just can't share, we each had our own order of steamed vegetable gyoza & grilled lime chicken. Erin and Tu aptly refer to Cafe Asia as "room service" - we probably order from them about every 10 days. You know what I discovered last night? I have a hard time eating grilled chicken and watching a zombie eat human flesh at the same time!

A mini- Whole Foods trip was in order- just a few basics until I can get some produce from the farmer's market tomorrow. One of my go-to easy weeknight dinners is a doctored-up Amy's Organic pizza. I sauteed a sliced red pepper in olive oil with a thinly sliced shallot to top the mushroom and black olive pizza. I made a quick salad to go with and called it a night. I think tonight will be the last night of engagement cake for dessert. I'm kind of relieved. While I don't plan to undertake a major diet in the time between now and when we get married (so weird to write that), we do need to start make some better eating decisions. Maybe that means I can't have both wine AND and an ice cream sandwich every night.

P.S. I almost forgot about today's food highlight. Tracey made chocolate cake pie (or "magic" chocolate cake pie, as I would like to call it.) Cake & Pie! At the same time!

Cheese of the “week,” monkfish and a side of proposal

Going into this weekend, I was looking forward to a relaxing sojourn at the Northern Neck with TBC and his parents, as well as the opportunity to sample a new cheese with a group of like-minded cheese lovers.

Who knew the cheese would be the least exciting part of the weekend?! Check out http://timandmelinda.blogspot.com/ for a play-by-play of what went down at 1:00 p.m. on the dock.

To celebrate our big news on Saturday, as well as TBC’s aunt & uncle’s Northern Neck house acquisition, we had dinner at Swank’s on Main Street in Kilmarnock with TBC's family and friends.

In all honesty, at my first review of the menu I expected a mediocre meal, albeit in a quaint setting. The appetizer list was all over the place: thai beef salad, fried catfish & dunk confit egg rolls among others. The entrée list was more focused on standard upscale American offerings: assorted seafood, pasta & meats.

I started with a Maker’s and Ginger and then shared an order of duck egg rolls with mango chutney.

The egg rolls had nice flavor, a crispy exterior that wasn’t weighed down by the peanut oil used to fry them and a slightly chewy texture. However, the mango chutney overpowered the eggrolls. The use of cinnamon in the chutney became the dominant flavor and disguised the subtleties of the egg roll's filling. The chutney would have been better paired with vanilla ice cream.

Isn’t it hard to concentrate on the egg rolls with all that bling in the way?

I had roasted monkfish served over caramelized onion mashed potatoes for my entrée. Monkfish has a texture and flavor that’s pretty similar to lobster. Another member of our group also had the monkfish and agreed that it was a knock-out dish. The few bites I had of TBC’s trout amandine topped with crab and served over stone-ground grits were also fantastic. In fact, all 9 of us that dined that night were pretty impressed by our meals.

Most ordered coffee after dinner, but TBC and I have a really hard time passing up a dessert menu. (After our first date at Firefly TBC said that my eyes lit up when he suggested we split a dessert!) There were only three options on the dessert menu- cheesecake, vanilla crème brulee and what was described as a chocolate “pate.” I’m sure you can guess what we ordered! The pate had the consistency and flavor of smooth semi-sweet chocolate fudge. It was topped, predictably, with whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

All in all, it was a great evening with a wonderful group of people. We were lucky to celebrate the day of our engagement with such good meal (thanks again to R & B for dinner!).

So, onto Sunday afternoon… the First Cheese in a Series of Cheeses. Deciding to try a new cheese every week might be a bit ambitious. Bi-Monthly Cheese perhaps?

The first cheese in my exploration of new and different cheeses is Grayson, made by Meadow Creek Dairy in southwest Virginia (shout out to the local cheese- woo).

It was a brand new cheese for the Whole Foods in Clarendon, straight from the farm as it finished aging in the last 1-2 weeks. The cheese monger described it as an American Taleggio.

Meadow Creek Dairy says: "Reminiscent of the Italian Taleggio or French Livarot, but with our rich Jersey milk and a longer aging time. A soft, finely textured cheese, very rich and beefy with a pungent aroma and a nutty, sweet overtone. Surface ripened with a thin reddish-orange washed rind."

For comparison purposes we also tried a traditional Taleggio. It probably wasn't the most scientific of processes. Who knows how long the Taleggio had aged, but I could see a few similarities. Also, I think we tried the Grayson a little too chilled (we were impatient to try it). Where it started out too mild for our tastes, the flavor intensified as it came to room temperature. Ultimately, I think we all preferred the Taleggio- but the Grayson is worth another try.

Clarendon Farmer's Market & Roasted Beets

Last night I stopped by the Clarendon Farmer's Market on my way home from work for a few mid-week replacement/supplemental ingredients.
On the shopping list:
tomatoes,
red leaf lettuce & blackberries.

I pureed the 4 cored tomatoes and added the puree to two cloves of sliced garlic that I had cooked momentarily in about 1.5 T of olive oil, kosher salt and a solid sprinkling of red pepper flakes. After about 5 to 10 minutes I added a handful of chopped basil and let the sauce simmer until the rest of the meal was ready. I finished the sauce with a pat of unsalted butter to bring the sauce together at the end. TBC and I were happy with the outcome. I used the sauce to top some prepared Buitoni whole wheat ravioli. Not a fan. Whole wheat pasta can be a little chewy and I found that layers of it together are too dense. For such a simple sauce, I should have used a more delicate pasta. Angel hair would have been ideal.

I liked the tomato sauce, but I loved the salad. I roasted the small orange beets individually wrapped in foil at about 375 degrees for a little over 30 minutes. After a few minutes to cool, the skins slipped off easily. I sliced the beets and drizzled them with a variation of my "house" dressing.

My standard dressing is a combination of diced shallot, kosher salt, fresh pepper, a dab of honey, a touch of dijon mustard, white wine vinegar & olive oil. The vinegar to oil ratio is about 2:1. For this particular salad I also added a little bit of orange juice to the dressing. I often make a roasted red beet salad with orange segments, for both flavor and color. After tossing the tender greens and topping them with beets, I added toasted walnuts and soft goat cheese to the salad.

On the menu for tonight? Papa John's. Yee haw!

Shredded Chicken with Ginger and Cilantro

For dinner tonight I used this Gourmet recipe for inspiration: Shredded Chicken with Ginger and Cilantro. The recipe was my starting point, but I modified it to accommodate the ingredients I had on hand. I picked up a rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods yesterday and shredded it rather than poaching chicken breasts. It made the process faster for a week night meal.

For the dressing I used a combination of thai red chili paste, a couple of garlic cloves, grated ginger, sesame oil, a few squirts of Sriracha hot sauce, the juice of one lime and kosher salt. I still used at least a cup of cilantro.

To accompany the chicken I whomped up some quick peanut noodles with leftover whole wheat pasta from last night. My quickie version of peanut sauce included peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic & a little white wine vinegar.

Finally, I made a salad with radishes from my farmer's market trip. Even though it wasn't thematically appropriate, I tossed the radishes with kosher salt and truffle vinegar a friend brought me from her trip to France. I used the radishes to top mixed greens that were dressed in vinaigrette made with the truffle vinegar and olive oil that a different friend brought me from Spain (edible gifts are the best!)

Liberty Tavern, Farmer's Market & Mike's American Grill

I feel like I've been eating non-stop since Thursday- which is all quite fun, but not at all conducive to my "eat healthily for summer" plan.

Back on Thursday night TBC and I joined his brother at Liberty Tavern in Clarendon. Downstairs is a pretty typical Arlington bar scene, but it's in a restored historic building with a dining room upstairs. First off, the solid service we received all around was a pleasant surprise- from the host stand to our waiter, as well as a manager (who came by to apologize for the long wait for our entrees). The bread basket was nothing special, but I did like the whipped ricotta spread and herbed honey butter accompaniments. I had the apple & endive salad (with candied pecans & bacon) to start. It was not quite what I was expecting, as it reminded me of a Waldorf salad - and was a little over-dressed. I also would have liked more bacon to balance the tartness of the apples. However, I was very pleased with my pasta- especially that it came with the option to order it in a half-portion. Linguine with cockles, shrimp, fennel pollen, mint and heirloom tear drop tomatoes. I'd definitely order it again and can anticipate craving it in the near future. I would NOT order the pizza- I tried a bite of TBC's and the crust was tasteless. I had pizza from Costco on Saturday with a much better crust, and that's just sad. TBC and his brother ordered desserts as well. Of the two that I sampled, I think the common element is overkill. TBC's was a chocolate tart with a banana topping (and a little monkey shaped cookie). That would have been fine on its own, but it also came with a tiny chocolate milkshake. Bizarre. Similarly, his brother's piece of red velvet cake was encased in a merengue dome. I think the cream cheese frosting was more than enough.

On Saturday morning I made my first farmer's market trip of the summer and I went a little overboard with my purchases:
cauliflower
basil
green tomatoes
squash blossoms
patty pan squash
beets
radishes
walnut raisin sourdough bread
cherries & strawberries.
Woo hoo! So much good stuff- I can't wait for the peaches, corn & tomatoes later this summer. Unfortunately, I had a full day ahead of me on Saturday and wouldn't be able to use any of my purchases until today. Last night, after helping TBC's brother move, we had dinner with his family at Mike's American Grill in Springfield- part of the Great American chain of restaurants. My dinner was fine- nothing great, except for maybe the ozzie rolls (buttery fried dough balls that are more like doughnuts than bread). I had the lobster bisque, which was too salty and a little pasty and then a green salad with roasted chicken. That makes the salad sounds healthier than it was- it also had dates, dried cranberries, pine nuts & goat cheese.

See? so much eating this weekend and I haven't even written about today. For breakfast I toasted some of the raisin walnut bread- we also had strawberries & cherries. To continue my fried green tomato theme for the week, we had them topped with a little bit of honey ham, an egg over easy and a basil chiffonade. I really wished I had some diced fresh tomato as well because I really like the combination of green tomatoes and ripe tomatoes.

Tonight I had the opportunity to play around with a little more of my farmer's market bounty. I stuffed the squash blossoms with basil & goat cheese and fried them (yay, healthy) and then had seared scallops over whole wheat pasta tossed with lots of garlic, basil, parsley & scallions.

I need to rein it in a over this next week. However, I really want to start my "cheese of the week" experiment. One of my New Year's resolutions was to learn more about cheese. TBC gave me "Cheese- A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best" that he picked up at Cowgirl Creamery. Maybe I'll head over to Cowgirl Creamery tomorrow at lunch and pick up something new?

Biscuits

So all of those choices last night and we didn't pick any of them. We decided instead to wander over to Acadiana because TBC hadn't been there before.

Starting with the bread basket: seriously buttery biscuits with a side of sweet pepper jelly. Maybe my favorite part of the meal? We ordered couple of the specialty cocktails. I had a basic mint julep (with a splash of seltzer, which I don't usually add to mine but might in the future) and TBC had a Bourbon Fizz (bourbon, praline liqueur and a sugared rim- totally him).

Instead of choosing big entrees, we went the multi appetizer route:
- trio of deviled eggs
- fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade
- trio (notice a theme?) of pies (crawfish, Natchitoches meat pie & vegetarian) with a buttermilk dipping sauce

Then we each ordered appetizer portions of soup- TBC had the gumbo and I had a creamy corn & crab soup. Pretty good- but not as good as the Northern Neck corn soup at Corduroy.

For dessert we shared the bourbon pecan tartlet.

So not the casual meal we intended to have, but solid. As a native of Kentucky/Georgia, Southern food is still my favorite. I've been craving fried green tomatoes since reading this month's issue of Food & Wine and the recipe for the "Knuckle Sandwich". I plan on trying this out at home soon- I'll provide a full report. I've never actually tackled a live lobster at home. I think I'll be taking full advantage of my sous chef for that task.

Where to Eat Tonight?

TBC and I are headed to the Rock & Roll Hotel tonight to see the Heartless Bastards. It might be easiest to stay in our work zone and find something to eat in Penn Quarter. However, some friends are headed to Pizzeria Paradiso.... hmmmm.....

We'd been considering either Matchbox or Capital Q - looking for something low key. Because we work around here, we're pretty tired of most of the restaurants in the vicinity.

Rosa Mexicana perhaps? I think a margarita & some guac might hit the spot.