FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

How Refined

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Another Seminole Heights hip spot has been added to my list of favorites!  The seasonal menu is creative, the rooftop patio is divine, and the background music is beyond grin worthy.  My ipod, on it’s coolest day, wouldn’t play The Knife and The Refreshments in the same shuffle session!

My recent craving for adventure was not enough to coax me into sampling the bone marrow or sweet breads, so I played it safe with ceviche.  The portion was plenty and the coconut accent was delightful in every sense of the word.  To top it off, select bottles of wine are a mere fifteen dollars on Friday nights.

I can’t wait to experience a Refinery Brunch.  And with dishes titled the Early Girl, Hangover Helper, and Tree Hugger – I’m bound to visit again soon!

Wokin Wontons

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The first blog entry after a brief hiatus better be a good one.  And because of this, the pressure for a blog worthy dish has been rearing its ugly head for entirely too long.  Solution?  A gift from my favorite (and only) uncle.

At first glance, bamboo steamers seem like they could be deceivingly difficult.  Not the case.  Just set atop a wok with shallow boiling water and you’ve got yourself a deal.

And homemade dumplings?  The closest I’ve ever come is plopping a few frozen nuggets in a traditional pot of boiling water.  And even though I’ve always purchased a “natural” brand, their contents have always been a slight mystery.

The following shrimp wonton recipe is heavenly.  They’re fresh, and there’s nothing mystery about them.

– 1/4 to 1/2 lb of cooked shrimp
– 1/2 cup mushrooms (I used baby portobellas)
– 3/4 cup green cabbage
– 1/3 cup green onions
– 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
– 2 teaspoons fresh ginger
– 1 tablespoon Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1 packet of Nasoya Wonton Wraps
– Ponzu Sauce

Finely chop all of the ingredients up until the ginger.  Use a cheese grater to grate the ginger.  Mix the shrimp, veggies, and soy sauce in a bowl.  Plop a spoonful of the filling in the center of each wonton wrapper.  Wet the edges of the wonton wrappers, fold them, and firmly press the edges together.  Fill a wok with as much water as you can that won’t seep into the bamboo steamer and bring to a boil.  Place the wontons on cabbage leaves on each rack of the bamboo steamer (this will prevent them from sticking to the steamer).  Set the bamboo steamer in the wok and steam wontons for 6 minutes.  Serve with ponzu sauce for dipping.

Mid-Day Escape

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I am fortunate to be able to come home daily for lunch.  Most of the time, I re-heat my leftovers from the previous night.  But with spring creeping in, I was in the mood for something fresh.

I’ve had this sandwich in the back on my mind since hitting up the airport Starbucks a couple weeks back.  Don’t get me wrong, theirs was good, but I knew I could bedazzle it and make it mine.  I subbed sprouted wheat toast, nitrate-free turkey, baby spinach, honey mustard vinaigrette, and goat cheese.  So…  I modified pretty much everything but the cuke.  It’s a safe bet that I’ll be eating this exact sandwich for lunch this week until I’m forced to make the vegetarian version because I’ve run out of turkey.

To satisfy my dessert tummy, which on a rare occasion is full, I ate the leftover “Avocado Chocolate Mousse” from last night’s feast.

Eggstraordinary

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A few years ago, he brought over a slab of raw tuna, sliced off a chunk, and said “taste this”.  Oh my goodness, no.  For some reason, eating raw meat that bypassed a restaurant was unfathomable.  After careful convincing that it was indeed more fresh than anything I’ve experienced, I ate it.  Chewing was barely a necessity, it melted, I loved it.  Trust was earned.

So when he offered to bring me eggs produced by his urban yard birds, I accepted without hesitation.  I’m able to pinpoint obvious differences between these eggs and retail eggs: smaller, harder shell, the green one.  Wow, I totally missed my CSI calling.  But other than these subtle differences, are these eggs the same?  Absolutely not.

I go through phases in which I eat eggs for breakfast daily.  The breakfast means nothing to me, it’s breakfast.  But this morning as I ate my eggs, sunny side up on sprouted wheat toast, I smiled.  I know how my eggs came to be.  I know the yard.  I know the farmer.  I was a part of the exchange between the farmer and the consumer and there’s something innately cool about being a part of a process in which you’re able skip the man.