Hold on a minute, summer

I love fresh corn. And cherry tomatoes. I could eat those all day long come summer. Tried out a corn pancake recipe from Smitten Kitchen this morning. I'm not particularly into pancakes- they've got nothing on waffles, IMHO. But man, these fresh corn ones were doing right: very light and fluffy, savory and soft, with chunks of fresh corn folded throughout. Smitten Kitchen suggested they may pair well with fresh tomatoes, so I made a topping of cherry tomatoes, some more fresh corn (lightly sauteed in the breakfast sausage juice), tons of basil, green onion and a pinch of salt, sugar and thyme. I took one bite and kind of freaked out. James added syrup to his plate, but I did fine without.
I will def be making these again. They would be a prime candidate for upping the savory factory- perhaps some green onion or shallots would be good thrown into the batter...

The Wonders of Paris' Garden (part 1)

I'm holding down the home steady for Paris, which means aside from feeding his carnivorous kitties, and plants , I also am caring for his community garden lot, which is full of goodies! I picked some of the swiss chard, which is getting a bit too big. I have a couple ideas for cooking it, but I started with a simple little soup.

swiss chard
Potatoes
carrots
mushrooms
rice noodles
chicken broth
usual yum yum spices
lots o garlic
fresh thyme!( I love having Paris' herbs available)


It turned out super yummy, but even though I added the swiss chard last, it was still a bit over cooked. The next day I heated the rest of it up(mostly potatoes and broth left). I put it in this cute little bowl, found through the vigorous cleaning of Paris' apartment, and then I put the rest of the chard in, closed the lid, and let it just sit for a bit.

It was just right! but I wish I had more rice noodles to add.

stay tuned for the Wonders of Paris' Garden part 2!!

The longest journey begins with a single taco.

I am cold. There is no sun today, in fact there is a drizzle of rain. Since it is the middle of August I certainly didn't bring a coat, and I am getting a little wet. And you know what? I am not alone here, there are other crazy people here. At least some of these people brought a coat.


Why are we here? Outside? In the rain?


You have probably already guessed, Taco truck=tacos!

Yes, I go to the taco truck twice a week for lunch for the tacos, and the mind destroyingly awesome tortas. And today I felt like a soda to go with it.


Anyway, I am heading out of town today and I plan on trying tacos throughout my trip! Next up is Happy Fresh Taco in New York City! Then California is in the plans!


(this taco truck is located in the parking lot of the Chevron gas station next to the Bellevue Fred Meyer.)

K – Town shenanigans

So when Tara came to visit me the second time around we decided to go eat in K-Town! Korea town is basically just one measly block and right off Harold Square, but they do have some GOOD eats!

Here’s Tara looking silly and hungry and Peter looking irritated while we waited for Peter’s friend Adam outside.

The Restaurant is that window on the left, I was trying to take a picture of this guy, who is actually behind the guy walking by. The guy I wanted a picture of was on his phone talking loudly about sleeping with some girl and how everyone found out except her boyfriend and this girl named Josie and how it was really incredible because she was going on this trip to Cancun with her cousin who is also the girlfriend of this guy he went to school with! OMG, I know. It was all very fascinating. In the end though I didn’t get his picture, OR, a good picture of the front of the restaurant, but if you ever wanted to know what the door to the right of the restaurant looks like, this is a perfect shot.

The restaurant is called Kunjip and it’s always super packed, so they had us waiting for a table at the back and even took our order while we were still waiting. They are really pushy and probably would be even meaner if we didn’t have an actual Korean with us.

This is by far the best Korean food I’ve ever had, in a Restaurant I guess. Peter doesn’t know the phonetic spelling of the dishes but the one in the middle is this kimchi pork stuff served with tofu, and the one on the far left is kinda like pot roast type stuff only a thousand times better and Korean-y. Plus at Korean restaurants they give you all these little side dishes things and some of them are really nasty, like the pickled cuttlefish, but some are really amazing, like the seaweed and foamy egg soup thingy.

OK, this is already a really long post so, IN CONCLUSION: The Korean food at this place is AMAZING, but they’re really rude and kinda ignore you and kick you out as soon as you’re done. Bringing a big, rude, Korean speaking escort is sort of a must. Afterwards we walked to a bar/eat place called the Blind Pig. Pretty good. Although Peter was disappointed they didn’t have any Root Beer and I got pretty much soused off two glasses of Pinot Grigio.

The End.

Soup fit for summertime

Natalie wasn’t feeling well recently, and normally what makes her feel better is my chicken soup. However, with the temperature in the 80s, how can I made a hot chicken soup that doesn’t feel out of place in the summer?

Normally I like my soups with potatoes, rice, pastas, and other hearty ingredients. I decided to go lighter for the summer. I made a standard chicken broth, shredded some of the chicken breast in it.

Then in the bowls I was serving it in, I sliced up some fresh chard, spinach, and thinly sliced broccoli. Then I poured the hot broth and chicken over it, topped it with some cilantro, some slices of avocado and a few slices of tomato. When I gave it to Natalie, the green veggies under the broth were just barely cooked, and when a bit of lime was squeezed over it, it tasted really fresh!

I don’t normally think of soup in the summertime, but this was pretty damn good!