Monday, February 25, 2008

Delicious Food

Any of you who know me, know that I love food. It is indeed among my favourite things. Here is a list of some of the great meals I've eaten in the last few days:

Last Thursday Niyati and I went for tapas and sangria at Jaleo's in Bethesda. We had all sorts of good things... Endives filled with oranges and goat cheese, duck confit with clementine sauce, bacon-date fritters (best thing ever!), sauteed mushroom, salted tuna with cucumber and tomato... and for desert, a wonderful custard and just-right coffee.

On Friday, for lunch, I made seaweed salad with rice vermicelli, 2 kinds of seaweed (I don't remember which at the moment: the clear kind and dark green skinny strips), sesame oil, sesame seeds, chili oil, and some rice vinegar. Quick to make, healthy, and very tasty.

On Saturday I made pan-fried snapper with garlic mashed potatoes and kale cooked with sesame and chili oil. The snapper was melt-in-my mouth tender and buttery. Kale is one of my new favourite vegetables! Versatile and tasty.

Yesterday I made wild rice pilaf with chicken. I made it sort of like my mom taught me, but with boneless-skinless thighs and I cooked it on the stove-top instead of in the oven. It could have cooked a few minutes more I think, but I was too hungry to wait! J also made some rye bread from scratch, which smelled heavenly all night.

Tonight I made pan-fried fresh brussels sprouts and yellow zucchini with garlic and dried chili flakes. I ate them with rye crackers with cream cheese, lox and tomatoes. Not a very intuitive combination, but I'd just arrived home from my pilates class and needed something easy.

Tomorrow I think I'll make soup with sliced, browned lean steak, kale, and potatoes. And maybe some chilies. I'm very much enjoying the chilies lately--they seem to add just enough heat to deepen the flavour without burning my mouth.


Finally, my favourite new blog is Bitten, by Mark Bittman. I've been a fan of his video series "The Minimalist" for a long time, and his recipes have inspired me often (most of my latest cooking adventures have been inspired by him, in fact!). I'm also inspired by Whole Foods... I really wish they would move up to Canada.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reading this entry has made me hungry! I made myself risotto yesterday, which was a lot of fun (though I always get a bit exasperated with all of the stirring by the end...), but otherwise I'm stuck in the student rut of baked potatoes, stir-fries, salads, and sandwiches...

N

Sheena said...

Hey Jess,

I've been lurking around your blog for a while, and it's nice to read about your experiences. It makes me feel like we're still in touch or something. :)

Re: food blogs, have you seen orangette.blogspot.com? It's my favorite (read: only one I read). Also, move to TO because we have whole foods!

Miss you

Jessica said...

Sheena! It's so great to hear from you. Do you have a blog still going? Time for me to engage my awesome research skills...

Sheena said...

nah, I quit the blog a while ago. It seemed like what was going on in my life at the time was too overwhelmingly personal and the blog wasn't the right place to let it all out. So, we parted ways. Oh well.

How much longer are you in DC?