Time to clean out the fridge to make room for the new CSA basket! We had some spring onions and a few carrots left, along with some asparagus and cabbage that we had bought early in the week and kind of forgot about. We also picked up the most gorgeous yellow-orange "Lemon Boy" tomato at the farmer's market. It was begging to be thickly sliced and put on a burger. The weather was perfect for grilling, and since we watch way too much Food Network, we got a crazy idea: "Jucy Lucy" burgers. We watched Man Vs Food in Minneapolis, which is where the Jucy Lucy burger originates. It's a cheeseburger with the cheese inside the patty and it is delicious! We made a quick slaw from the cabbage, carrots and one small onion to go with it. Since we had the grill going already, we threw the asparagus on as well and then sauteed the rest of the onions. It was "healthy" since we used 9-grain buns and had 3 veggie sides, right???
I made a peach blueberry tart earlier in the day (before it got hot), and we ate that with a dollop of whipped cream for dessert. They were the nicest peaches I have ever used! They were super ripe, but didn't get bruised or squished when sliced in half to remove the pit. The skin came off by just peeling it, not using a knife and losing half the flesh as well. I really need to find out what kind they are so I can remember. Freestone peaches are the best!
I made a peach blueberry tart earlier in the day (before it got hot), and we ate that with a dollop of whipped cream for dessert. They were the nicest peaches I have ever used! They were super ripe, but didn't get bruised or squished when sliced in half to remove the pit. The skin came off by just peeling it, not using a knife and losing half the flesh as well. I really need to find out what kind they are so I can remember. Freestone peaches are the best!
On Fridays and Saturdays, we usually find ourselves trying to figure out what to do with whatever is left in the CSA basket. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's the real "challenge" part of the week. I don't usually like to throw a bunch of stuff randomly together and call it a meal, but that's kind of what we did last night. However, unlike a lot of times in the past, it actually worked! We had baby beets with greens, some wilty leftover mizuna and de-podded but still unshelled and uncooked fava beans. We also had shrimp to make as well, so a salad seemed like it would be a good match. Thinking of previous salads with beets and cheese, and liking the texture of adding beans to salads, gave me an idea to try a "sauteed" salad. It turned out to be very nice and all the flavors and textures went well together. The cherry tomatoes we added gave it a great extra pop of flavor (literally!) and the cheese added a little salty butteriness.
So, we scrubbed and boiled the beets and washed and chopped the beet greens and mizuna. We cooked the fava beans in the same pot with the beets, since they take about 5 minutes to cook. While the beets were finishing, we took off the tough outer shell around the beans, which is kinda fun, since they just squirp out easily. As the beets were cooling, Leah peeled and deveined the shrimp and prepared all the garlic we'd be using for both dishes. We decided to add some cherry tomatoes to the sautee as well, so we started with those in pan with the garlic, then added in the greens and finished them off with some lemon juice. As Leah was sauteeing, I cut up the beets, got a plate ready and got out some crumbled feta from the fridge. We needed to use the same pan for doing the shrimp, so she put the beat greens in the middle of the plate and then quickly sauteed the beets and the beans, to warm them up a bit, and poured those on either side of the greens. Rather than spend time tossing them all together, I just sprinkled the cheese over the dish and we each served ourselves from it, family-style.
Then came the shrimp, which was sauteed with more garlic, butter, a good helping of the pepper sauce we brought back from California, and some lemon juice. It was spicy! We sopped up the extra sauce with some french bread leftover from making BLTs earlier in the week. It was really a nice dinner, totally random and last-minute, but it worked!
So, we scrubbed and boiled the beets and washed and chopped the beet greens and mizuna. We cooked the fava beans in the same pot with the beets, since they take about 5 minutes to cook. While the beets were finishing, we took off the tough outer shell around the beans, which is kinda fun, since they just squirp out easily. As the beets were cooling, Leah peeled and deveined the shrimp and prepared all the garlic we'd be using for both dishes. We decided to add some cherry tomatoes to the sautee as well, so we started with those in pan with the garlic, then added in the greens and finished them off with some lemon juice. As Leah was sauteeing, I cut up the beets, got a plate ready and got out some crumbled feta from the fridge. We needed to use the same pan for doing the shrimp, so she put the beat greens in the middle of the plate and then quickly sauteed the beets and the beans, to warm them up a bit, and poured those on either side of the greens. Rather than spend time tossing them all together, I just sprinkled the cheese over the dish and we each served ourselves from it, family-style.
Then came the shrimp, which was sauteed with more garlic, butter, a good helping of the pepper sauce we brought back from California, and some lemon juice. It was spicy! We sopped up the extra sauce with some french bread leftover from making BLTs earlier in the week. It was really a nice dinner, totally random and last-minute, but it worked!
Leah made roast pork in the slow cooker with the leftover pork loin, baby red potatoes, yellowstone carrots and a spring onion. She made a great sauce to go with it by adding some brown gravy mix to the crockpot and then reducing it with a little apple cider vinegar. We made a salad to go with it from the flashy trout's back lettuce and mizuna from the CSA, with some mixed heirloom cherry tomatoes and chopped up sugar snap peas.
This dinner was all Leah! She marinated two whole chicken breasts in the leftover balsamic-honey syrup from dessert the night before with garlic, pepper sauce and a little red wine. Then she roasted them in the oven with a little more pepper sauce to add some extra flavor. The pepper sauce is from California, by Pepper Plant. It's not spicy, just really flavorful. We picked up a couple bottles after having some on potatoes during brunch in Pacific Grove and plan to use it a lot in our cooking this summer. Luckily, we found out that it's also carried locally at Central Market as well, so we can replenish our supplies when we run out!
The rice was Leah's take on kale-rice, but with swiss chard instead. She steamed the chopped up chard, onions and garlic in the rice cooker with the rice and a mix of water and chicken broth. When the rice was done, she just stirred everything together and added a little butter, salt and pepper. It was really tasty! I ate a ton at lunch today with my leftover chicken.
The rice was Leah's take on kale-rice, but with swiss chard instead. She steamed the chopped up chard, onions and garlic in the rice cooker with the rice and a mix of water and chicken broth. When the rice was done, she just stirred everything together and added a little butter, salt and pepper. It was really tasty! I ate a ton at lunch today with my leftover chicken.
Now that we're back from vacation, we can resume our CSA Challenge! We missed 2 full weeks of fresh veggies, so I was happy to go pick up our basket this week. This week we got fava beans, flashy trout's back lettuce, mizuna, swiss chard, spring walla walla onions, baby red lasoda potatoes, yellowstone carrots and chioggia beets.
For dinner, we made a spice rub for a couple of pork loin chops that we had cut from a full pork loin roast and grilled them. It was much cheaper to have pork chops this way: less than $5 for the whole roast, which makes about six 1-inch thick pork chops, as opposed to $5 for only 2 chops that are pre-packaged. We had some leftover green beans from last week that were starting to get a little limp, so we decided to roast those with some of the baby potatoes and yellowstone carrots from the CSA. We just tossed them in a little oil, salt and pepper and roasted them for about 30 mins at about 425. We timed it so that when we started the charcoal for the grill, we put the veggies in the oven so the meat and veggies were done at the same time. We finished them both with a lime and garlic butter, which was fantastic, especially on the potatoes!
For dessert, Leah grilled some apricots and then simmered them in a syrup made from balsamic vinegar and honey. She served it over vanilla ice cream and it was one of the best desserts I have eaten in a long time! The sweet and tart balanced each other perfectly and the warm sauce and fruit made the ice cream melty and creamy and just perfect.
For dinner, we made a spice rub for a couple of pork loin chops that we had cut from a full pork loin roast and grilled them. It was much cheaper to have pork chops this way: less than $5 for the whole roast, which makes about six 1-inch thick pork chops, as opposed to $5 for only 2 chops that are pre-packaged. We had some leftover green beans from last week that were starting to get a little limp, so we decided to roast those with some of the baby potatoes and yellowstone carrots from the CSA. We just tossed them in a little oil, salt and pepper and roasted them for about 30 mins at about 425. We timed it so that when we started the charcoal for the grill, we put the veggies in the oven so the meat and veggies were done at the same time. We finished them both with a lime and garlic butter, which was fantastic, especially on the potatoes!
For dessert, Leah grilled some apricots and then simmered them in a syrup made from balsamic vinegar and honey. She served it over vanilla ice cream and it was one of the best desserts I have eaten in a long time! The sweet and tart balanced each other perfectly and the warm sauce and fruit made the ice cream melty and creamy and just perfect.
More recap, the last couple days have been busy at work and at home, so I haven't had much time to write.
Day 6: We decided to drive up to Santa Cruz to check out the boardwalk and beaches there. It's only about a half hour drive from Monterey, so we had plenty of time to check stuff out. The route to get there goes right through farmland of strawberries, lettuce, cabbage, spinach and artichokes. There were lots of workers out harvesting in the fields. We stopped at a Goodwill and a St. Vincent de paul thrift store, but both were small and neither had good stuff. We had a nice lunch at a REAL mission-style burrito place, that actually had great choices for fillings (mmm, steak and perfectly cooked prawns) and you could unwrap and eat without getting it all over yourself. Taco del Mar, I am looking at you! The boardwalk was cool, we got some ice cream and slush puppies and walked around and took pictures for a while before heading over to Natural Bridges State Beach. The weather was perfect and there really weren't a lot of people there, so we relaxed in the sand and watched the teenagers body surf and kids play in the waves. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in Moss Landing to have dinner at The Whole Enchilada, which speciallizes in Mexican seafood (and was very good). We sat outside on the deck and the owner was there and saw us taking pictures of our food and stopped by to check on us and make sure we were doing ok. He was cute, with big fat black square like Giorgio Armani glasses. On the way out, he gave us this piece of sage advice: Remember to be like the ocean: keep on making waves!
Day 7: We were sad to be leaving Monterey, it's so nice there. We made sandwiches out of our leftover Madonna Inn steaks to eat for breakfast, finished packing and hit the road for the Redwoods. ETA: I almost forgot! We hit the Goodwill in Monterey just before we got on the freeway and scored bigtime! We found 4 Pyrex refrigerator dishes in great shape (2 big, 2 small), a Strawberry Shortcake FireKing mug, our first Catherineholm piece (an enameled bowl in pink) and a cool wood-burl like treebranch California Pottery planter. All for only $12! We hit a lot of traffic outside of San Francisco (Friday afternoon traffic always sucks) and it took us a long time to actually make it to the Avenue of the Giants on the 101. We stopped at Bean Hollow State Park, which was really cool because there are all these little polished stones and shells that make up the beach, with cool rock formations from erosion. There were also a ton of farms, right up to the ocean's edge. I wouldn't mind having a little farm that could actually be named Seabreeze or Oceanview Farm! We ended up stopping in Santa Clara to find a bathroom and some food for lunch and discovered it was the hometown of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz. There's a Charlie Brown and Snoopy statue in a park near in the downtown area. The drive through Sonoma county with all the vineyards was pretty, but traffic sucked too much enjoy it. We didn't get to the redwoods until about 6 pm, so we stopped at the drive-thru tree (one of many in the area) and then looked for a motel. We stayed in a sort of sketchy place, but it was fine and clean. The owner was really friendly and helpful with suggestions for dinner and what to do and see in the area. He also had a pet goat that he put in a crate at night! We ate dinner at a little diner down the road a couple miles and then watched TV for a bit before bed.
Day 8: After stopping for coffee and snacks, we drive through The Avenue of the Giants, of course stopping along the way to take pics. We saw the Founders Tree and another Big Tree (to add to our list, of course) and a herd of elk grazing the yards of some summer cottages. Interestingly, the "elk viewing area" half a mile down the road, where the elk supposedly hang out in a big pasture near the forest, didn't have any elk at all. Disappointed, we got back on the road, only to spy them about 3 minutes later off the side of the road! In Eureka, we drove through the historic downtown area and saw a really cool display of The Wooden Sculpture Garden of Romano Gabriel. He apparently created these elaborate wooden sculpture pieces and filled his entire yard and covered his house with them. After he died, they took them all and made this:
We made it ip the coast as far north as Florence, OR before stopping again for the night. I got a speeding ticket outside of Eureka, my first ever (and I was being so careful the whole trip, except the one time I get distracted on an open stretch of road and lost track of my speed!), so that kinda sucked. We stayed at another sketchy motel, which also ended up being fine, but it still made us crabby to have to stay there. We went to dinner for fish and chips and then played video games on the DS and watched TV til bedtime. We debated going to the Sea Lion Caves, the next morning, but checked the reviews on Trip Advisor and pics on flickr and decided to skip it and save time and money.
Day 9. The home stretch. We just wanted to get home at this point and decided to skip the reast of the Oregon Coast. I am sure it was nice and all, but the weather was crappy and after being in Monterey all week, the Oregon Coast was just boring! We cut over to I-5 at Eugene and stopped at Elmer's outside of Salem for some breakfast. It was soooo good! I expected like Denny's, but it was so much better, with giant dutch babies and super tasty bacon and cheese filled potato pancakes! After this, the trip was all downhill. Traffic between Olympia and Tacoma was bumber to bumper stop and go, for who knows what reason, so we stopped at Shipwreck Beads to have a look, but it was too overwhelming (it's a HUGE place!) and we were too tired to actually try to get anything there. We made it back to Seattle just in time for a big thunderstorm and we went directly to Szechuan 99 in Lynnwood for dinner before even going home to unpack!
Day 6: We decided to drive up to Santa Cruz to check out the boardwalk and beaches there. It's only about a half hour drive from Monterey, so we had plenty of time to check stuff out. The route to get there goes right through farmland of strawberries, lettuce, cabbage, spinach and artichokes. There were lots of workers out harvesting in the fields. We stopped at a Goodwill and a St. Vincent de paul thrift store, but both were small and neither had good stuff. We had a nice lunch at a REAL mission-style burrito place, that actually had great choices for fillings (mmm, steak and perfectly cooked prawns) and you could unwrap and eat without getting it all over yourself. Taco del Mar, I am looking at you! The boardwalk was cool, we got some ice cream and slush puppies and walked around and took pictures for a while before heading over to Natural Bridges State Beach. The weather was perfect and there really weren't a lot of people there, so we relaxed in the sand and watched the teenagers body surf and kids play in the waves. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in Moss Landing to have dinner at The Whole Enchilada, which speciallizes in Mexican seafood (and was very good). We sat outside on the deck and the owner was there and saw us taking pictures of our food and stopped by to check on us and make sure we were doing ok. He was cute, with big fat black square like Giorgio Armani glasses. On the way out, he gave us this piece of sage advice: Remember to be like the ocean: keep on making waves!
Day 7: We were sad to be leaving Monterey, it's so nice there. We made sandwiches out of our leftover Madonna Inn steaks to eat for breakfast, finished packing and hit the road for the Redwoods. ETA: I almost forgot! We hit the Goodwill in Monterey just before we got on the freeway and scored bigtime! We found 4 Pyrex refrigerator dishes in great shape (2 big, 2 small), a Strawberry Shortcake FireKing mug, our first Catherineholm piece (an enameled bowl in pink) and a cool wood-burl like treebranch California Pottery planter. All for only $12! We hit a lot of traffic outside of San Francisco (Friday afternoon traffic always sucks) and it took us a long time to actually make it to the Avenue of the Giants on the 101. We stopped at Bean Hollow State Park, which was really cool because there are all these little polished stones and shells that make up the beach, with cool rock formations from erosion. There were also a ton of farms, right up to the ocean's edge. I wouldn't mind having a little farm that could actually be named Seabreeze or Oceanview Farm! We ended up stopping in Santa Clara to find a bathroom and some food for lunch and discovered it was the hometown of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz. There's a Charlie Brown and Snoopy statue in a park near in the downtown area. The drive through Sonoma county with all the vineyards was pretty, but traffic sucked too much enjoy it. We didn't get to the redwoods until about 6 pm, so we stopped at the drive-thru tree (one of many in the area) and then looked for a motel. We stayed in a sort of sketchy place, but it was fine and clean. The owner was really friendly and helpful with suggestions for dinner and what to do and see in the area. He also had a pet goat that he put in a crate at night! We ate dinner at a little diner down the road a couple miles and then watched TV for a bit before bed.
Day 8: After stopping for coffee and snacks, we drive through The Avenue of the Giants, of course stopping along the way to take pics. We saw the Founders Tree and another Big Tree (to add to our list, of course) and a herd of elk grazing the yards of some summer cottages. Interestingly, the "elk viewing area" half a mile down the road, where the elk supposedly hang out in a big pasture near the forest, didn't have any elk at all. Disappointed, we got back on the road, only to spy them about 3 minutes later off the side of the road! In Eureka, we drove through the historic downtown area and saw a really cool display of The Wooden Sculpture Garden of Romano Gabriel. He apparently created these elaborate wooden sculpture pieces and filled his entire yard and covered his house with them. After he died, they took them all and made this:
Day 9. The home stretch. We just wanted to get home at this point and decided to skip the reast of the Oregon Coast. I am sure it was nice and all, but the weather was crappy and after being in Monterey all week, the Oregon Coast was just boring! We cut over to I-5 at Eugene and stopped at Elmer's outside of Salem for some breakfast. It was soooo good! I expected like Denny's, but it was so much better, with giant dutch babies and super tasty bacon and cheese filled potato pancakes! After this, the trip was all downhill. Traffic between Olympia and Tacoma was bumber to bumper stop and go, for who knows what reason, so we stopped at Shipwreck Beads to have a look, but it was too overwhelming (it's a HUGE place!) and we were too tired to actually try to get anything there. We made it back to Seattle just in time for a big thunderstorm and we went directly to Szechuan 99 in Lynnwood for dinner before even going home to unpack!
We're home now, so I thought I'd recap some more of the trip while It's still relatively fresh in my mind. We drove a grand total of 2500 miles in 9 days!
Day 4: We had a great breakfast at Toasties Cafe in Pacific Grove. The food was delicious and they also offered French Roast coffee as a choice! Afterwards, we went to the Aquarium, but on the way, we stopped to watch some seals on the beach and playing in the water. It's amazing how much wildlife was so close and in their natural habitat! We spent 3-4 hours at the Aquarium, took tons of pictures and then headed for 17 Mile Drive in Pacific Grove. That's where the Pebble Beach Golf Course is located (along with 3 to 4 others) and the Lone Cypress from the picture above. There were seals or sea lions on the rocks there as well, and a few deer on the golf course. The weather wasn't great, it was windy and overcast and a little foggy, but still beautiful. We stopped at Henry's BBQ for dinner on the way back to the hotel and had some awesome pulled pork and tri-tip. The sweet potato fries were perfect and they served chili instead of baked beans, along with coleslaw and macaroni salad.
Day 5: This was the big drive down the coast on Hwy 1 through Big Sur, past San Simeon and on to San Luis Obispo. It was a looooooong, winding, slow drive but we saw some pretty amazing sights on the way! In addition to a couple of huge California condors flying just about 20 feet above us (which I got a cool picture of!), we also saw a bunch of elephant seals on the beach about 50 feet away from the fenced off viewing area, and even some zebras herding with some cows! These were both right around San Simeon (where Hearst Castle is located) and totally unexpected. We stopped in Morro Bay to dip our feet in the water for the first time on a nice sandy beach during the trip. Then we got the San Luis Obispo and ate dinner in the Steakhouse at the Madonna Inn. It was so over-the-top, pink and gold and wood and stone and just so awesome! The steaks were great too! We couldn't face another 4 hour drive back up the coast, so we just took the 101 back, which only took about 2.5 hours. There were fields of oil rigs and a beautiful sunset over the hills and farmland.
Day 4: We had a great breakfast at Toasties Cafe in Pacific Grove. The food was delicious and they also offered French Roast coffee as a choice! Afterwards, we went to the Aquarium, but on the way, we stopped to watch some seals on the beach and playing in the water. It's amazing how much wildlife was so close and in their natural habitat! We spent 3-4 hours at the Aquarium, took tons of pictures and then headed for 17 Mile Drive in Pacific Grove. That's where the Pebble Beach Golf Course is located (along with 3 to 4 others) and the Lone Cypress from the picture above. There were seals or sea lions on the rocks there as well, and a few deer on the golf course. The weather wasn't great, it was windy and overcast and a little foggy, but still beautiful. We stopped at Henry's BBQ for dinner on the way back to the hotel and had some awesome pulled pork and tri-tip. The sweet potato fries were perfect and they served chili instead of baked beans, along with coleslaw and macaroni salad.
Day 5: This was the big drive down the coast on Hwy 1 through Big Sur, past San Simeon and on to San Luis Obispo. It was a looooooong, winding, slow drive but we saw some pretty amazing sights on the way! In addition to a couple of huge California condors flying just about 20 feet above us (which I got a cool picture of!), we also saw a bunch of elephant seals on the beach about 50 feet away from the fenced off viewing area, and even some zebras herding with some cows! These were both right around San Simeon (where Hearst Castle is located) and totally unexpected. We stopped in Morro Bay to dip our feet in the water for the first time on a nice sandy beach during the trip. Then we got the San Luis Obispo and ate dinner in the Steakhouse at the Madonna Inn. It was so over-the-top, pink and gold and wood and stone and just so awesome! The steaks were great too! We couldn't face another 4 hour drive back up the coast, so we just took the 101 back, which only took about 2.5 hours. There were fields of oil rigs and a beautiful sunset over the hills and farmland.
We're on Day 4 of our road trip to Monterey, CA. Today we're going to the Aquarium (of course!), but I thought I'd post a quick recap of our adventures so far.
Day 1: Left the house, got breakfast and gas and hit the road by 9:30 am, which was only half an hour later than I had aimed for. Headed south on I-5 and stopped in Salem to see the "Park of One Tree, which is a giant Sequoia that was planted in 1872 and the city had to make a park out if it. Slightly disapppointing as a park, but we added it to our List of Giant Trees we have visited. Stopped at our first Sonic Drive-in for lunch and hit the road again. We ended up in Ashland, OR at around 6 pm and checked into our motel (which was cute!), took a nap and headed for the downtown area for dinner. After dinner, we walked around and looked for a spot to see fireworks, then headed back to our room.
Day 2: Hit up a coffee shop for cappuccinos and breakfast burritos and the hit the road again. We stopped along the way to take a few pictures of Mt Shasta and then headed for Redding, to check out the Sundial Bridge. It was really cool and we spent about an hour there, taking pictures and walking around the butterfly gardens. Then we went downtown for some lunch (yummy mexican food) and hit the road again, headed for San Francisco. We got to the hotel in Japantown at around 5:30 and then wandered over to the adjoining Japan Center mall and Kinokuniya building to look for food. We couldn't find the izakaya we were looking for (turns out it's only open late!) and stopped for shabu shabu instead, which was awesome. We decided to try out the hotel's O Izakaya Lounge for dessert anf drinks, and had some great beignets and a couple tasty cocktails. Before we went to bed, we had to try the japanese deep soaking tub in our room and it was amazing! Very relaxing after driving for 2 long days.
Day 3: We got some delicious danish pastries and coffee at a bakery in the Japan Center before browsing the Kinokuniya bookstore and heading out to find a taiwanese restaurant for some dumplings and beef noodle soup. Super tasty and worth the over 1000 4-star average reviews on Yelp. We drove through Golden Gate Park and tried to check out the Conservatory of Flowers, but it was closed on Mondays :( So, we headed for the Presidio to get some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and then hit the road again. It's kind of a very boring drive on the 101 to Monterey, but the views when you there make it worth the drive! We checked into our swanky hotel and then went to dinner at a cool place that's a fish market and restaurant. You can basically get anything they have grilled for dinner, and the rockfish and halibut we got were perfectly cooked and seasoned. It was a really nice meal in a very casual dining place. Then we went down to the waterfront in Pacific Grove to look at the sea otters playing in the kelp beds and take some sunset pictures before calling it a night.
Day 1: Left the house, got breakfast and gas and hit the road by 9:30 am, which was only half an hour later than I had aimed for. Headed south on I-5 and stopped in Salem to see the "Park of One Tree, which is a giant Sequoia that was planted in 1872 and the city had to make a park out if it. Slightly disapppointing as a park, but we added it to our List of Giant Trees we have visited. Stopped at our first Sonic Drive-in for lunch and hit the road again. We ended up in Ashland, OR at around 6 pm and checked into our motel (which was cute!), took a nap and headed for the downtown area for dinner. After dinner, we walked around and looked for a spot to see fireworks, then headed back to our room.
Day 2: Hit up a coffee shop for cappuccinos and breakfast burritos and the hit the road again. We stopped along the way to take a few pictures of Mt Shasta and then headed for Redding, to check out the Sundial Bridge. It was really cool and we spent about an hour there, taking pictures and walking around the butterfly gardens. Then we went downtown for some lunch (yummy mexican food) and hit the road again, headed for San Francisco. We got to the hotel in Japantown at around 5:30 and then wandered over to the adjoining Japan Center mall and Kinokuniya building to look for food. We couldn't find the izakaya we were looking for (turns out it's only open late!) and stopped for shabu shabu instead, which was awesome. We decided to try out the hotel's O Izakaya Lounge for dessert anf drinks, and had some great beignets and a couple tasty cocktails. Before we went to bed, we had to try the japanese deep soaking tub in our room and it was amazing! Very relaxing after driving for 2 long days.
Day 3: We got some delicious danish pastries and coffee at a bakery in the Japan Center before browsing the Kinokuniya bookstore and heading out to find a taiwanese restaurant for some dumplings and beef noodle soup. Super tasty and worth the over 1000 4-star average reviews on Yelp. We drove through Golden Gate Park and tried to check out the Conservatory of Flowers, but it was closed on Mondays :( So, we headed for the Presidio to get some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and then hit the road again. It's kind of a very boring drive on the 101 to Monterey, but the views when you there make it worth the drive! We checked into our swanky hotel and then went to dinner at a cool place that's a fish market and restaurant. You can basically get anything they have grilled for dinner, and the rockfish and halibut we got were perfectly cooked and seasoned. It was a really nice meal in a very casual dining place. Then we went down to the waterfront in Pacific Grove to look at the sea otters playing in the kelp beds and take some sunset pictures before calling it a night.
We used up the last of our CSA stuff this week, just in time! We're leaving for a 9 day road trip tomorrow, so we'll miss 2 weeks of CSA orders. We're donating this week's since it seems everyone's out of town, and friends will pick up next week's and hopefully enjoy it :)
So, this meal was kind of random, but ended up being really good. We had some beet greens and baby turnips (and greens) and a handful of mizuna left from the basket, so Leah sauteed them with some garlic, spring onions and butter. We poached a chicken breast in some chicken broth infused with coconut, curry, garlic and coriander (it's a soup base called College Inn Thai Coconut Curry Culinary Broth) and a can of coconut milk. We cooked some rice in the same mixture and both chicken and rice ended up having just a mild coconut flavor, which was nice. Leah made up a sauce of lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce and grated garlic and that was AWESOME on the chicken and rice in the lettuce wraps. It would have just been "ok" with it, but with it, I just wanted to keep eating and eating! The greens and turnips also were very tasty!
We're leaving for California in the morning, so the CSA Challenge is on hiatus for 2 weeks, but expect lots of pics of the trip instead!
Instead of just using up the items in our CSA basket as parts of a meal, or side dishes, we've also been snacking on sugar snap peas and carrots, adding mizuna into ramen and udon soups for lunch and Leah made a hummus-like dip out of the shelling peas and some of our garden herbs.
I was really surprised by the mizuna, it works great in soups and I'll definitely be using it more often. Leah has been adding it to her breakfast ramen in the morning. I added some to udon that I took for lunch to work the other day and it was really nice and made the packaged noodle soup seem fresher and added some nice color as well. Mizuna has a bit of a tangy-ness to it, much like a mild sorrel flavor.
The "peamus" or "mock-amole" was really tasty and a much more interesting use for the shelling peas than just adding to a salad or using as a side dish. The idea was inspired by a post on Twinkiechan's blog. It's kind of sweet and spicy at the same time and goes great with salty crackers like Triscuits.
I was really surprised by the mizuna, it works great in soups and I'll definitely be using it more often. Leah has been adding it to her breakfast ramen in the morning. I added some to udon that I took for lunch to work the other day and it was really nice and made the packaged noodle soup seem fresher and added some nice color as well. Mizuna has a bit of a tangy-ness to it, much like a mild sorrel flavor.
The "peamus" or "mock-amole" was really tasty and a much more interesting use for the shelling peas than just adding to a salad or using as a side dish. The idea was inspired by a post on Twinkiechan's blog. It's kind of sweet and spicy at the same time and goes great with salty crackers like Triscuits.
