Weekend PLUS PICTURE!

The Pedant (while cooking breakfast): Oh, did you want to take a picture of it?
Sherbs: Oh, right.

(Taken with iPhone)

This is basically about 1/2 of the cooking we did all weekend, which is unlike us.

Friday night, we ended up ordering in Chinese food, which we haven't done in ages. It was warm out, we had little food to cook and we were really happy watching TV.

Saturday, we ended up eating at Subway for lunch and then had dinner with friends at Not Your Average Joe's. Dinner was good. Nothing fancy, and well priced. The portions were also really reasonable, which is sometimes hard to find in chain restaurants (where they overcharge you for HUGE portions...Cheesecake Factory, I'm looking at you...)

Sunday, we made this for breakfast. It was a fun creation:

• Leftover rice from Chinese food
• 1/2 a can of black beans
• Salsa
• 1 egg
• Taco seasoning

TP did most of the cooking and I took this token picture.

We ended up having Costco pizza for lunch. Which was tasty. Tasty, tasty, tasty.

I did cook for dinner (but 100% forgot picture...will work harder). We had gotten greens from our CSA so I improved on a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Assertive Greens with Kielbasa. We used soy chorizo instead of the kielbasa. Quite tasty. Paired with roasted mini peppers and a low fat cherry muffin (random, but...) that TP's sister made up the recipe for, it was great.

The best part of dinner: caramel sea salt dark chocolate from Trader Joe's. Mmmm...

Tonight's plan is sushi. I was supposed to go out with friends and that feel through, so TP and I will go out together instead. We've eat out a lot lately (we usually just eat out 1-2x per week, not 4+ times), but things change.

Changing Habits

Since this is (half) my blog, I get to pick my posts and topics. Now I SO don't want to turn into a "diet blogger" because really, no one wants to hear about that, I do enjoy the fact that I have successfully lost some weight in the past 3 years and have been eating better. And more interestingly. Not that I didn't before, but I definitely have changed eating habits and exercising habits (which, when I exercise, I can eat more sweets, so I'm all for it) for the better.

I was at a Weight Watcher's meeting last night and the leader mentioned briefly how your taste buds change when you loose weight. Well, not necessarily change, but are different. He talked about fried chicken. How he eats it and is disappointed. And I have a similar situation. Not with fried chicken, but (sadly!) with Chinese Food.

It started in April. I was home for a wedding and had been really craving good, New York Chinese food. The greasy, saucy kind. The fried chips with duck sauce, the dumplings, the cold noodles with sesame sauce, moo sho with lots of hoison, the works. The only thing I didn't get was General Tso's Tofu (or mock chicken) mostly because the don't have it at the restaurant we went to. But I can taste it in my mouth. There is one really good take out place that does the tofu and it's amazing. Sweet, spicy, fried, saucy, amazing. The problem: after I had the dinner I'd been waiting for, I wasn't happy. I was overly full for one thing and for another, it just wasn't as comforting anymore. A few weeks later, The Pedant and I ordered in lots of Chinese food one night (it was after an argument and both of us didn't really feel like cooking or going out so we ordered a bit too much) and again - same thing. Too greasy! Too fried! Not what I wanted. I was a little bummed. Maybe my taste buds have changed. Or I can't handle the amount of food I used to and therefore am eating too much without realizing. I'm not sure. I still crave Chinese food (I will get my Gen. Tso's one day as a treat dammit!!) but no longer want to go out of my way for it. It might also have to do with proximity. In college and grad school, I would order from a local place a few times a month and it was always just good enough. Here, I can't replicate that meal (there are apparently no scallion pancakes in DC?!) and when I have Chinese food infrequently I build it up in my mind for being amazing. And it's not. It never was, but it was always good.

Man, now I want some Gen. Tso's. TP - want to not make another curry from our favorite curry book and order in?! Probably not, but worth a shot.

Chinese Feast!!

This weekend The Pedant and I, after a successful trip to my favorite store, decided for the first of two weeks in a row NOT to eat Ethiopian food, but rather, return to our roots and eat Chinese. I know I have said it before that I love Chinese food, and I understand that it is nothing like what they serve in Asia, but I love it. TP and I have been scouring our new neighborhood but just can't seem to find a good place. (One place does good take out, and even has General Tso's Tofu and really great String beans.) But, TP knew of a good place near his ancenstral home and it was amazing. We over ordered by a lot, anticipating lots of leftovers. The run down:

Chinese Spaghetti (aka Cold Noodles in Sesame Sauce): This might be my most favorite food ever. As a kid I called it Chinese spaghetti and it is just so good. Sadly, though, I haven't had it in a while (TP and I got it in China Block once, but it was more like a cup of peanut butter tossed in with the noodles). This however, was fantastic. So gooey and creamy and fatty.

Chow Fun with Beef: For TP mostly. Since I got...

Vegetable Moo Shu: (...which isn't TP's favorite) I love this dish I think for the Hoison sauce. Alone, it's boring, but with Hoison, it's AMAZING.

Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce: Very well done. Spicy and oily and fatty and delicious.

The last two made a great lunch Sunday and we still have more.

Another reason I love Chinese food: The whole meal with tax and tip: $30.00. Amazing.

A Whole Ki of What?

The Sherbs and I were on Chinablock last night with one of my relations, and we learned that when it comes to Chinese, accept no half measures. You want the Full Kee.

It's not as cheap as some Chinese places, but that's because each dish easily serves three. And it's very tasty. They do a lot of fish, much to the Sherbs's chagrin, but there were vegetables as well.

More Chinese

Yesterday the Sherbs and I went out with my parents to Canton Cafe, which my father calls the "Chinese Frog Restaurant" for its penchant for serving a multitude of frog dishes, and my friend Isu-kun calls the "barbecue pork place" for his (and Al's) penchant for purchasing pounds of barbecued pork there.

"Oh look, frog congee," was the first thing my father said on being handed the menu.

We did not have that. While it was dim sum time at the restaurant, most of the diners in our party were not interested in experimenting with dim sum, so we only got some char siu bao and taro cakes, plus some desserts with sesame paste and red bean paste. For our main dishes, we got Hunan beef, eggplant in garlic sauce, and fried tofu and vegetables cooked in Chinese casserole style. Very tasty.

Eat Next

There will be many posts today, as the Sherbs and I had a heck of a weekend with many bloggable activities. But this post will be about the Chinese restaurant we went to yesterday.


We went to Eat First in DC's "China block" for lunch; we picked the name because we were hungry in advance of our journey to the National Geographic Museum and therefore agreed with the sign's audacious call to food. The dishes varied from "meh" to "pretty good"; we had:


1) Cold Sesame Noodles - sadly, these were "lukewarm udon in sesame-Jif sauce." This is pretty common at Chinese restaurants (moreso outside New York). The sauce was far too peanut-buttery, and while it's hard to hate Jif, it's not exactly what we call Asian.


2) Sauteed Lotus Root with Preserved Pork - An awesome dish; my favorite of the meal and a strong showing of food in general. While I like nearly every edible part of the lotus plant, my favorite is the crispy lotus root, which is also quite attractive when sliced, making plating easier.


In this dish, lotus root, straw mushrooms, carrot, celery, and sliced preserved pork, all stir-fried. Had a delicious smoky taste; would order again.


3) General Tso's Tofu - one of the best "General Tso's" sauces we've had in a while; this one actually had spice to it. The tofu wasn't too breaded, so it was less heavy (and hopefully heavier) than many other renditions of the dish.


It was a good meal, and so Eat First should be on your list of acceptable (although not ridiculously cheap) China Block restaurants.

A Post in Three Parts

Part the First: General Tso's "Chicken"

The Pedant and I stumbled out of the and I went to ChinaBlock this weekend and enjoyed some good food. We had a good veggie soup with tofu that was a clear broth (but surprisingly tasty), spring rolls, and the best part: General Tso's Chicken. The catch: The chicken wasn't real! And it was so well done, I made TP check it before I continued to eat it. We both really enjoyed it. Super tasty and super spicy. Also, don't get a "flaming volcano drink for 2" from a Chinese restaurant. I think we had half a bottle of rum in this drink, because it was not for 2, but rather for 5. Needless to say, TP and I stumbled out of the restaurant even without finishing the drink. We did get super long straws which made it worth it.

Part the Second: Sandra Lee's Drunkenness

Saturday night, TP and I watched an Iron Chef and then stayed for the "Sandra Lee Grilling Show" which was an excuse to make fun of Sandra Lee and her drunken revelry. Basically, she grilled some meat that was way too rare, was super perky and made an iced-tea beverage that was so alcoholic. It was a perfect way to poke fun at Sandra Lee. The potato salad looked good, but not enough jalapenos.

Part the Third: Crock Pot

TP a cookbook for and I received several gifts from my fantastic Aunt and Uncle, one of which is a crock pot. We are super excited to use it, and while perusing Barnes and Noble yesterday, we came across a cookbook: vegetarian crock pot recipes. Mostly because the non-veggie one all included trief or mostly meat, which neither of us cared about. Now we are excited for winter to come to cook crock pot meals! Yay!

Chickety China the Chinese Chicken

On the subject of Chinese food, I should really profess my love for it. As a kid, my sister used to say my family ate Chinese food so much that one day we were all going to transform into egg rolls. While that hasn't happened...yet...I really must profess my love for Chinese food here.

SO MUCH LOVE FOR CHINESE FOOD!

I, however, am just not a big fan of rice. (Sorry, The Pedant.) For my pan-Asian carb of choice, I enjoy noodles. Any way: sauteed, fried, soaked, thin, thick, cellophane, whatever. My most favorite, and one of the most un-healthiest, is Cold Noodles and Sesame Sauce (aka Chinese Spaghetti, what I called it as a kid). Mmmm...

In fact, I wish I were eating that right now....mmmmm...

More on Beef n' Broc

Since I spent some time talking to Sherbs about the proper way to make beef and broccoli, even with soy "steak strips" (it includes cornstarch), I thought I should interject here that Chinese food is always better with just enough starch. Also, chili pepper.

Back before we were eating healthy, my mother used to make something called "double-fried noodles," where she'd make noodles, then fry the noodles in a pan so they had crispy outsides and a soft, noodly center. This would be served as an accent to another Chinese dish, like kung pao chicken. Man, I'd like to have some of those noodles again.

Although, on second thought, my trips in the East have taught me the value of a good white rice. Goes with anything.