caracas arepas

Hey everyone, here are some bad instagram pictures from my dinner at Caracas

Guacamole and plantain chips and some other sort of homemade chip, but I can't figure out what root vegetable it is. Maybe it's not even a root vegetable. Who knows, but it was very good. I don't like it when chips are too salty then you can't even taste the dip since your tongue has gone numb from the salt.

De Pabellon shredded beef, black beans, white salty cheese and sweet plantains. I like all the sweet plantains, it creates a nice balance for all the other salty ingredients. And also for when I use too much hot sauce and feel like my mouth is going to burn away. I also had some of La Mulata which has grilled white cheese with jalapenos, black beans, sauteed red pepper and fried sweet plantains, but that picture looks even worse than this one.

brooklyn star and paulie gee's

Biscuits and sausage gravy and scrambled eggs from Brooklyn Star

This doesn't look as good as it tasted, although I think it was probably sitting on the counter for a little bit before it was brought to us, it wasn't as hot as I wanted it to be. The gravy was really rich and creamy, and there was cheese on the biscuit too, so it was a really heavy but delicious lunch. The biscuits were also nice and buttery, right in between flaky and crumbly, but that might have just been the gravy in action. I would prefer the eggs on the side next time though.

Suerynn's torta: pork sausage, refried beans, avocado, pickled onion, over hard egg

Oona's pizza from Paulie Gee's: ricotta, arugula, 2 kinds of sausage, one of which was a fennel sausage

Paulie Gee's has so many kinds of interesting pizzas (even one with pickled grapes??) and in my experience, they've been really good. The best one so far is the pepperoni one with the spicy honey, but I forget what it's called. David ordered it but I accidentally deleted the picture. Pizza crust is maybe my 2nd favorite part of pizza so I ate Oona's crusts. Gross? Paulie Gee's crust is perfectly chewy and soft on the inside, and just a little crispy on the outside.

The "cheek corea" salad" chick peas, pasta, escarole, sliced red onion, olive oil, lemon juice and oven crisped berkshire guanciale

I had to be that loser to order a salad in a pizza place. Not because I didn't want pizza, but I had already eaten biscuits and gravy earlier in the day and I didnt think I should have that much more dairy :-(. But I ordered this salad because it sounded great and also, even when I say I'm not hungry and can't eat, if I'm presented with options, I usually don't say no. It was really simple and light, which was balanced so well with the guanciale. I would order this next time just for the pork. 

westville chelsea and a snack

Kathy is away from Pace for a good chunk of the summer, it sort of feels like "mom" is leaving. She took me and Kristin to lunch. I know, so many nice people keep taking me out, I don't know how I got so lucky. We went to Westville Chelsea, and whoa (woah?) it was great. There are actually some leftovers in the studio fridge right now and I'm wondering if I should go in, just to sneak a bite of it...maybe.

We ordered two fish burgers from their daily specials. This was definitely the best fish burger I've ever had. I know I say things like that a lot, and usually by "ever" I mean "in most recent memory," but this time I really do mean best of all time. Or my time. I've only had 3 types of fish burgers: where the fish is breaded and fried like fish and chips style, a salmon burger patty, or that fake square of fish from McDonald's Value Menu, yes SOMETIMES I go there ok, their fries are good. The last one I had was at RISD and Dylan rode on his bike and brought it back to my apartment. Why we did this I can't really remember. Anyway, this burger had lots of different types of fish cooked in this perfect patty with a crunchy crust on the outside, and topped with sprouts to give it a coolness and fun texture too, I think. Everything was just right, not too boring, greasy or overwhelmed by mayo, which are the things that usually keep me away from fish burgers.

Top right corner going clockwise: roasted fennel, korean cucumber salad, fried plantains, roasted artichokes with parmesan cheese. The artichoke was my favorite, and the fennel was also really good, it tasted like curry, I'm not sure why. But fennel is weird, it always tastes like something different every time I eat it. The plantains were a good sweet note to end everything on. The cucumbers were ok, but I might say they were good if I didn't have a Korean mom who can make that with her eyes closed.

I've been living out of cardboard boxes for way too long, and I finally had to go to Ikea and get myself some sort of real furniture. I dragged Neal with me to be my strong arms, so I gave him snacks in return.

pies and a sandwich

Sooo...I've been using Instagram, in case it hasn't been really obvious, hah. I guess it is sort of fun, FINE, I admit it.

 Mini key lime pies from Rachel's Pies, who you should look for at Smorgasburg. Look at her website here: http://rachels-pies.com/ But really, have some of her pies because this was the best key lime pie I have ever had ever. I think often key lime pies are too sweet because whoever makes it is afraid it will be too sour but duh, the tartness is why it's good. These pies are the perfect consistency (not runny, gross) and also just sweet-citrusy enough.

 

Vegetable sandwich: hummus, persian cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, and some smoked gouda cheese

kale and beets

Now that I've crossed beets off of my list of 5 foods I don't like, I want to eat them all the time. I'm glad I finally like them because I feel like I've been missing out. Or maybe I don't like them at all and I've tricked myself into liking them, but either way, here is my lunch from today.

It's lightly sauteed kale (I don't like it raw), beets, goat cheese, some avocado, and balsamic vinegar

So nice and easy for a hot day like today, although I didn't go outside after I got to work until I absolutely had to leave and go home, so I guess I just like to complain about the heat. But you know, I'm from Seattle, I'm not made for these temperatures. At least I don't use an umbrella when it's only drizzling outside.

I went to Maggie Brown for breakfast with Matt this weekend. I didn't post a picture of my breakfast because I got the same thing that I had last time, which was corned beef hash in the size of my FACE, for real, two eggs, and a biscuit. But the biscuit was no good this time, it was super mealy and dry and the butter didn't help much. The eggs were cooked perfectly the way I like them though, like half cooked and half runny.

Matt's: cheddar jalapeno grits and fried eggs which are somehow coated in some sort of breading?? We couldn't figure out how they did that, but it was great because it made the eggs crispy, like how the edges of the whites get a little bit crispy. The grits were also so creamy and silky but they were really really rich. I only had a few bites and that was enough for me.

Mile End

The Ruth Wilensky: smoked beef salami, mustard, onion roll, plus a side of french fries from Mile End in Boerum Hill

 I'm updating this from the Genius Bar at the Apple store. Heh

balthazar

I'm so lucky to have nice friends, and luckier that they have even nicer parents who helped me cross Balthazar off of my "list of restaurants to try, but probably won't ever try until I am one day a real adult living, maybe." So yes, I got to go to Balthazar!!!! I was so excited and also freaking out, like I was on the subway nervously sweating even though there were no people in the car and the A/C was blasting.  I don't really have the right words to describe how much I enjoyed my food here, so I won't  try. But it was great, so so great. And it has such a nice atmosphere, you know, a big room with lots of mirrors and little tables and funny yellow light, and that weird buzz of lots of people talking within really close proximity to each other and there's constantly all this beautiful French food being moved on and off of tables and you're just waiting waiting waiting for yours to arrive, then when it does, you go sort of deaf and everything turns into this low hum and all your energy goes into eating your food and it's a great day.

 Chicken liver and foie gras mousse with red onion confit

This is what dreams are made of. My dreams, at least.

My saffron risotto with shrimp, leeks, and mascarpone cheese

 Pan roasted chicken with beet greens, chanterelles, tomato confit and potato gnocchi

David and his mom got the same thing, but she had mashed potatoes instead of the gnocchi, which was probably a good idea because they tasted like someone just added potatoes to butter, not the other way around. I mean that in a good way.

Duck confit with potatoes, cipollini onions, wild mushrooms and frisée salad

Caramelized banana ricotta tart with banana ice cream


:) :) :)

White bean tuna salad

Tuna (in water, no salt), cannelli beans,  olive oil, tomatoes, scallions, feta, balsamic vinegar on spinach

Shaved asparagus salad, rice medley, and dijon mustard salmon

I've never had raw asparagus before, but it's really nice and silky when it's shaved like that. I just had it with some salt and lemon juice. I would have added some pecorino romano but I didn't have any, what a bummer. And for the salmon, I sort of just guessed at what would taste good and it turned out great, but I'll be less salt-happy the next time. I really should remember that. First I just salt and peppered, then cooked the salmon, skin down for maybe 2 minutes. Then covered it in the mustard-sauce-whatever (dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, a little bit of white wine) and broiled it for like 5 minutes. This is all riveting information, I know.

breakfast by neal

Neal is back, time to eat

blueberry pancakes with bananas and blueberries, some cheesey eggs and avocado, bacon, sweet potato hash brown

Tofu and mushroom summer rolls from An Choi. And a dark and stormy. Last time I was here, I had a dark and stormy liquid dinner and my evening did not end well. No, actually, it did. But the next morning was not so hot.

Sometimes if my mom was really tired, for dinner we would just have rice with soy sauce and sesame oil, a runny egg, and kimchi, and it would be the best. I still like to have that for breakfast, but this morning I had a "rice medley" with spinach, an egg, and just a little sesame oil.

Smoked salmon crepe from Bar Suzette at the Chelsea Market:

smoked salmon, capers (I asked for extra), shallots,  some sort of lemon sauce MAYBE? it was tangy, and some dill

This was delicious, that's all I have to say

I went back to Korzo Haus. Again. The frequency of my visits to this restaurant is increasing at a somewhat alarming rate, I should slow down. You can only have a burger wrapped in fried bread so many times a year.

This is their veggie burger, the "haus vegi" which is a walnut-beet-black eyed pea patty, edam cheese, caramelized onion, pickled something (I think today it was celery), and dressed greens. Whoa, best veggie burger ever. When I get veggie burgers, I always have to prepare myself and remind myself that I'm NOT eating meat so I shouldn't expect something like it. And besides, that's not really what you want to taste when you get a veggie burger, I guess. But I always end up feeling confused on that first bite because the texture is off. Not this time!! It was so weirdly perfect at having this meat like texture, maybe because the patty was so fat? Maybe because of the beets?? I was really into the beet patty, a little bit sweet with the onions but then balanced so nicely with the cheese, and much better than too much black bean and corn.

pig roast

Jeremy had a big pig roast today. I woke up at 6:30 and couldn't go back to sleep because I was too excited. I've been waiting for this pig roast for so long, and I really worked myself up for today being the greatest day of my life. I don't think it would be too far of a stretch to say that my summer hit its peak today, but I hope that isn't true. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to top something like this though. It was sunny, then it rained, and then it rained while it was sunny, but no food got soggy and I think everyone probably went home a few pounds heavier. Barbeques are like building burritos. You think you aren't eating that much because you're only getting a little bite of everything, but there's just so much food, you end up eating enough food to feed a small family.

That'll do Pig, that'll do

 (you guys have seen "Babe" right??)

The China box that the pig was cooking in for hours and hours

The first wave of food:

cornbread, red and green salsas made by Justin #1, potato salad (without mayonnaise, so much better that way!), guacamole and hummus, and more food you can peep at below.

Melissa and I made 2 dishes. This one is cucumber, celery, mint, and feta in a white wine-olive oil dressing. So easy.

And this one is spicy sweet potato salad with black beans in a garlic-jalapeno-cilantro dressing. I think it's a Mark Bittman recipe, maybe? Find it here

 Brussel sprouts made by Justin #2

This sushi was the food I was the most excited for after the pig, and it was made by Yasu's super wife, whose name I have no clue how to spell, so I won't try. But lemme tell you, it was the best. Ever.

This was so pretty and also really delicious. I really liked the lemon with the smoked salmon.

Watermelon and feta salad made my Sarah, the summer-iest sweet and savory combo

Plate #1 with a little bit of everything on the table, including the orzo salad which Austin and his wife made. Also, just because this is my first plate doesn't mean I hadn't already eaten a ton of food before this without a plate. It just means that I realized having a plate allows me to maximize my eating capabilities.

Taking the lid of coals off

Roasted pig inside

Austin, Justin 1 and Jeremy flipping the pig

Pale pig

Spinach and mushroom gallettes made by Kathy and Richard, supreme cooking team. There were actually a few tomato ones but I couldn't find any, so I just ate two spinach ones...

Cheese platter from Daisy

Normally I wouldn't hover too much over this plate (this is a lie) but I completely devoted my weekend to purifying my digestive system for today by not eating dairy or too much gluten, and I didn't drink (that much). I mean, I drank carrot juice for lunch yesterday. I had a LIQUID LUNCH, I would never do that. Then today, I became a gluttonous troll.

Watermelon and lemon ginger lemonades made my Olivia and her husband

There was a lot of waiting for the pig

And more waiting

Watching the box was like watching golf, you know something's happening but you can't see it. This was more exciting because there's a real crispy, fatty reward at the end. Not some trophy nobody knows about because who watches golf? Like really, name one golfer that's not Tiger Woods. I can even name more football players than that. Maybe.

Jeremy and Anne-Marie, pig-roast hosting angels

Really, it takes some extra nice people to have a million people over to mercilessly attack an 80 lb pig and then some

Checking the back of the pig

YEAH

The main event

Parading the pig in

There it is

Crispy, bubbly, fatty, cracklin skin

 Cutting the skin

 The meat underneath

 Impressed and excited

Jeremy had this wacky bear claws for tearing up the meat and I got to use them. It was a little bit scary how natural it felt to be ripping into the pig with my fake claws. And then I knew I was always meant to be a carnivore.

So greasy

Tacos were the best best best vehicle for the pig meat

Melissa made these for me, with Justin's red salsa (that was so good n smoky), Bill's baked beans, cilantro, and onions

Plate #2.5

Jeremy's pickled ramps

Ok by the time I was done eating, I really thought I was going to have a heart attack. You know that point when you're feeling pretty drunk and you should probably stop drinking, but you're having a pretty good time, so what's another? Then you do, and the rest of the night is a blur but you don't regret it at all. This was me but with food. I totally forgot about dessert, and there was so much of it. It was a real struggle to taste it all (I think I missed a few things), but I got a second wind. Well, it was more like a second gust because I only managed a few bites of each thing.

In the tin is a strawberry crumble tart something but I'm not sure who made it, and going clockwise: strawberry bread (by Kristin), brownies (mystery baker??), key lime pie blob by Rachel of "Rachel's Pies," cornmeal lime cookies and blueberry lemon cookies, also made by Kristin. It was the best dessert selection because I always prefer fruity desserts to chocolate or caramel or..whatever else.

 Pig grease, yum

My body hurts more today than it did after I rode a bike for the first time in forever. It felt like a work out. I am so tired and sore (why do my legs hurt??). I think this is what people mean when they say the "burn" they feel after working out feels good.