the arugula files

Delicious Chinese Food in NYC

There are not many good Chinese food restaurants in DC, so when Marcus and I traveled to visit friends in NYC the idea of going to Flushing for Chinese was super exciting.  We ended up at Spicy and Tasty where I had the best dumpling I've ever eaten.  The dumpling was served in chili oil with garlic and was filled with fatty, salty pork.  We also ordered crab sichuan style; the sauce struck a number of notes: garlic, chilis, ginger, and plums and was topped off with fresh cilantro.  Although the sauce was good enough to drink, it made it difficult to break apart the crab.  We did a lot of sucking on shells and finger licking.

My Tiny Kitchen

The New York Times just launched a series called "Tiny Kitchen," which features Jill Santopietro, a recipe tester for the paper.   I love it.  I can't believe that Jill's kitchen is smaller than mine (featured above).  Even though I like to cook, my tiny kitchen can sap my motivation.  I especially avoid making anything that I have to roll out.  This includes bread, which is unfortunate for me because I've been craving fresh baked bread ever since I visited my friend Elise and she fed me some of her olive bread that she made following a recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes A Day.  Since Elise lives in Portland, Maine I'll have to make it myself or buy a plane ticket.  I bought the book, and, so far, all I've done is lie in bed and read about making bread.  Mark Bittman says a tiny kitchen is no excuse, and after seeing Jill's vlog on making spelt crackers, I feel inspired.  So, before Christmas, I'm going to make some bread.  Promise.

Molasses Spice Cookies

I know this sounds absurd, and most people don't believe me, but don't have much of a sweet tooth.   I prefer deserts with cheese in the name (cheese cake, for example) and also like breads and cookies with spices or vegetables in them (like carrot cake with cheese cake frosting).  That's why these cookies are perfect for me. 

This recipe is from America's Test Kitchen.  If you are looking for a last minute gift that you can order from home, America's Test Kitchen On Demand is one of my favorite things.  

I HEART Gordon Ramsay, Still

I was disappointed to read about Gordon Ramsay's cheating ways. Allegedly he's been carrying on with a "professional" mistress for 7 years. This hurts all the more because of how Ramsay incorporates his adorable kids and lovely wife into his TV show, basically making them a part of his brand. Papers are reporting that Ramsay is denying the affair and his wife hasn't left him yet. So I guess I can still heart Gordon Ramsay after all. Here he is making rack of lamb, just in time for the holidays.

Banana Bread with Walnuts

How many recipes call for ingredients that are past their prime?  That's what I like about banana bread: I get to transform those blackened bananas that are destined for the trash into a delicious treat.  This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

Eat Bar in Arlington, VA

Recently I met a friend for drinks and small plates at Arlington’s Eat Bar.  We are planning a dinner for 18 at Tallula, and thought it was a good excuse to try out the menu at Eat Bar, the lounge next door served by the same kitchen. The standouts among the crowd of six dishes we ordered were the tender brussels sprouts and the creamy mushroom and goat cheese roll.  The onion rings were light and crispy, but a heavy roll eclipsed a flavorful mini-burger and the chorizo corndog failed to live up to its promising description, mostly because the chorizo tasted like a hot dog instead of its spicy cousin.  The sixth dish, black bean dip with crostini, was missing zing (solution: add lime or garlic).  Overall, the food at Eat Bar far exceeds most bar food.  I would order three out of the six dishes again (my standard for how good they were), and there are many more on the menu that I would like to try.  The plates are priced reasonably, from $3 to $6.

Eat Bar offers 70 wines by the glass and plenty of micro brews.  The space is comfortable—big booths and walls painted in earthy tones.  Eat Bar is a 15-minute walk from the Clarendon Metro (the website says it’s a 5 minute walk; I guess that could be true if you are an avid speed walker).

Photo: Flickr user voteprime

Cranberry Bread Topped with Turbinado Sugar

What happens when you are in the middle of a deep, dark recession and you find that you are spending one-third of your income on food magazines?

DC's Top Ten Dishes of 2008

2008 was a great year for the restaurant scene in DC.  Don't get me wrong, DC has always had great ethnic food and delicious seafood, but this year marked the opening of a handful of great burger joints, a few tasty pizza ovens, and the rise of mussels and frites (to help absorb all those Belgian beers).  Here's a few of my favorite dishes from this year; these are dishes that make me want to return to these places again and again.  Most are from affordable, if not down right cheap, restaurants.

1. Vermont Pizza at Liberty Tavern (pictured)

2. Cheeseburger at Central

3. Parmesan encrusted calamari with snow peas at the Black Squirrel

4. Coletti’s Smokehouse Burger with village fries dipped in chipotle mayonnaise at Good Stuff Eatery

5. Crabcake Eggs Benedict at Hank’s Oyster Bar

6. Clam pizza at Pete’s Apizza

7. Palek Chaat at Rasika

8. Hot and Sour Squid Salad at Nava Thai

9. Fromage Bleu Mussels at Dr. Granville Moore’s

10. Braised short ribs, with a mole pipian sauce of pumpkin seeds at Oyamel

Lemon-Blueberry Sorbet and an Ode to Mark Bittman

I love Mark Bittman. It started with How to Cook Everything, my first cookbook ever.  Before our introduction, I was buying store-made guacamole from the produce aisle. Oh dear. 

Some nights, I would lie in bed with Bittman, browsing recipes and learning how to do things I had never done before, like cut a mango (p.636).  We made everything together—crab cakes, banana bread, even omelets, which were hard to master.  And while I've never had a Cool Weather Japanese-Style Dinner, when I do, the menu is already planned (p.818).  The other thing I like about Bittman is that he has a small kitchen, just like me.  Basically, he taught me how to cook and to appreciate the simplicity of great ingredients. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, then, that he inspired this sorbet.  I was reading the New York Times online when I came across his recipe: frozen fruit, yogurt, and sugar, mixed in a food processor.  That is it?  I thought about the blueberries I had in my freezer.  That lonely cup of blueberries I picked in July, still waiting for something special to come along.  Here it is.

Cajun Brussels Sprouts

I used to despise brussels sprouts.  My early experiences were straight from the frozen food aisle: soggy and tasteless.  It was only a year ago when I bought some from Whole Foods and cooked them, closely following guidance from Super Natural Cooking goddess, Heidi, that I fell head over spaghetti for these mini cabbages. They are currently my favorite vegetable and I'm always looking for different ways to cook them.  This is my newest method. Adding breadcrumbs can turn this side dish into a full meal.