shake shake shake

Some things are just made to go together...peanut butter and jelly, coffee and hangovers, and burgers and shakes. Our friend, Charlie, just opened a new burger spot in Tacoma with some buddies called Shake Shake Shake, so we headed down there to check it out. The menu is simple, but the food is outstanding! The highlights for me included a bacon hot dog and a "tiger shake" featuring Almond Roca and salted caramel sauce. Although the burgers are all clear winners too. So good! And the fact that it was sunny and warm spring day didn't hurt anything either. If you are ever in the area, check out this new retro spot. You won't be disappointed!

din tai fung

It really takes a lot for Anders and I to make the drive all the way from Seattle and across the lake to the "east side." I mean, Seattle has everything the east side has except for one very important thing...Din Tai Fung. Din Tai Fung is THE BEST dumpling house in the city and quite possibly the world. It was named one of the world's top 10 restaurants by New York Magazine, and it was awarded its first Michelin Star in 2010. It started in Hong Kong, but has spread across the globe, and we are lucky enough to be only the second city in the USA to have a restaurant (the other city is Los Angeles). They are known for their soup dumpling, which are quite literally dumplings filled with soup. They are to die for, however, we have tried every category of their menu (the soup, the fried rice, the dumplings, the noodles), and we have yet to have one bad dish. We went today as a kick-off to Anders' birthday weekend (psst...it's tomorrow!), but I'm already trying to figure out when we can go back. 

Go check it out! I mean, if you are into this sort of thing.

once upon a time

Every holiday season, the downtown Seattle Sheraton hosts a gingerbread village that features houses (okay, houses is an understatement) made entirely of candy by local architecture firms. They put the village on display in their lobby for everyone to view. Donations are accepted and benefit the JDRF Northwest Chapter. This year's theme was Once Upon a Time, and it was over the top! There were lots of fairy tales featured including Beauty and Beast, The Little Mermaid, Narnia and Alice in Wonderland (my personal favorite). 

il corvo

Ever since we got back from Europe, I haven't seen much of my husband. I went home to IL for a while and he was in Tampa for work, and it just seemed as though we kept passing each other in the night. So yesterday, Anders picked me up at work and we went on a little mid-day date to Il Corvo, a place that has been on a radar for awhile now, but we had yet to try.

Il Corvo is a tiny pasta shop hidden in the market. It's open only Tuesday - Friday for lunch only, and it only serves up three pastas a day. The owner, Mike, learned to make pasta in Italy and brought his knowledge back to the states. Every day he chooses seasonal ingredients from the market to make his three dishes, and around 10am he posts the dishes to his website so you know what's available for the day. Since there were only three pastas to choose from, Anders and I decided to try them all! I'm so glad we did. Each one was perfection with simple ingredients that complimented his homemade pasta perfectly. If you live in the area (or if you ever come visit) this place is a MUST.

 Spaghettini with Garlic, Olive Oil and Mama Lil's Pickled Goat Horn Peppers (and because Mike is the nicest guy ever he threw some anchovies on it for me...my favorite!)

Cavatelli with Sunburst Tomatoes, Butter and Fresh Oregano 

 Pappardelle with Salsa Salumi

Clearly we hated it.

the rodeo

It was so nice and so sunny this past Sunday in Seattle, so Anders and I decided to spend the day at the rodeo....the food truck rodeo that is! We headed to Freemont where a whole fleet of food trucks from Seattle and Portland got together to serve up delicious grub. After scouting the whole scene, we decided on coconut shrimp pizza from Veraci Pizza, a beef slider from Happy Grillmore and a torta from Barriga Llena. We followed up the whole experience with vegan and gluten free treats and coffee at Flying Apron because, you know, we're kinda health nuts :) A very delicious Sunday it turned out to be.

yum

Anders and I had no plans this past weekend (first time in SIX weeks!), so we made it all about food!

1. I poached my very first egg! It took me four eggs before I got it right, but I finally got the yolk runny. 

I used this method.

2. I've tried and tried to create a chicken salad recipe that doesn't use mayo, but I've never found anything that makes it creamy like mayo does. I learned (from this blog) that adding an avocado will create the creamy style I was looking for. It worked like a charm. My recipe below.

3. Anders and I started growing our own mushrooms! Get your own kit here and use them in this recipe.

4. Anders created a crab quiche that might end up in this cookbook. I'd share the recipe, but then you wouldn't buy the book :)

Un-Mayo Chicken Salad

Serves 1 for lunch

1 can of chicken breast in water, drained

1/2 an avocado, smashed

1 tbs chives, chopped

2 tbs of red onion, diced

1 tbs of mustard

handful of walnuts, chopped

half a lemon

salt and pepper 

sprinkle of red pepper flakes (optional)

Savoy cabbage

Directions:

Mix everything together in a bowl, season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste and the juice of half a lemon. 

Scoop into a cabbage leaf and enjoy standing over the kitchen sink while listening to the Grateful Dead.

what's for lunch

I spend a lot of time making lunches. I make Anders a lunch every day that he works, and one for me too. It's cheaper and much healthier than buying your lunch downtown, but it does take a bit of work and creativity to come up with inspiring lunches every.single.day. 

I originally saw this idea on Pinterest (here), and I thought it was too genius not to try. Anders and I eat a lot of salads, and I always have the issue of what to do with the dressing...do you put it on the salad and let the lettuce get soggy, or do you find a separate container to store it in? This idea puts the salad in a jar with the dressing on the bottom keeping the lettuce crunchy! (in this particular case, I put the kale next to the dressing because kale needs to be softened in advance, but you can see the regular lettuce on top). Problem solved!

P.S. This is a kale, squash and pomegranate salad, and I highly recommend it. It's so delicious and healthy and a great thing to eat mid-day.

what's for lunch

Even if I don't feel like roasted vegetables for lunch, I usually try to make all my lunches veggie-heavy. Today's lunch included a scoop of cooked quinoa topped with a variety of raw vegetables (use whatever you have, but I used tomatoes, bell pepper, broccoli, mushrooms and carrots). Then, I topped the whole thing with two heaping spoonfuls of cilantro pesto. It was so good! I like to heat it up for just a few minutes, so the veggies get a bit soft. It makes an excellent work lunch too because you can make a big batch of quinoa for the week, and the pesto lasts a long time too. It's easy to throw this together for work. 

Yeah lunch! 

lunch

I love lunch.

And I'm going to tell you about mine. Roasted vegetables is my favorite lunch to make since it's easy and uses up a lot of bits and pieces from my kitchen. I believe this exact bowl included wrinkly mushrooms and bell peppers, a half used carrot, garlic that may or may not have started sprouting, a roma tomato, bits of red onion and leftover brussels sprouts. You can use anything you have, though! Most recipes will tell you to toss them in olive oil before roasting (25-35 minutes at 350 degrees), but I prefer to roast them plain since heating oil is never a good thing. Then, when they are done, I add a few teaspoons of olive oil to the roasted veggies and toss with salt, pepper, fennel seed and thyme. Awesome.

It's sad Anders is working. He totally missed out.