Sunday, December 30, 2012

Leg of Lamb with Tomatoes and Garlic

Christmas dinner at my house usually involves some kind of lamb dish, since all four five of us love lamb. While catching up on Gossip Girl, my sister and I flipped through our Gourmet Cookbook to find something suitable. We found two recipes that we really liked, and decided to visit the grocery store and make our decision based on what kind of lamb was available. Leg of lamb it was!

Friday, December 28, 2012

Ricotta Hotcakes with Honeycomb Butter

My sister and I usually prepare a nice Christmas morning breakfast. Last year, we made doughnuts. This year, we wanted to do something a bit more low key and that did not involve warming large amounts of large oil. Pancakes!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Spinach and Fromage Blanc Gnocchi

My sister and I have tried our hand at gnocchi quite a few times. Sometimes it ends up great, sometimes, not so much. This time, we found a recipe that makes gnocchi out of spinach and cheese.
This recipe is from our New Brooklyn Kitchen Cookbook, which features a variety of Brooklyn restaurants / recipes. This particular recipe is served at Convivium Osteria, which, coincidentally, my boss' son recently wrote about on his food blog (sidenote: cute blog, right?)

Monday, December 24, 2012

A New York (Food) Minute

Oops, I have fallen off the updating wagon again. I have been going out to eat every night of the week, it seems like, and eating carrots and hummus when I am not.

I had a few friends in town this week, so most of my dining adventures were at restaurants we've all been dying to try. Lucky me!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Ski Weekend in Stratton

About a month ago, I was at Mai & Paul's place mentioning how I really wanted to get back into skiing regularly this year, but it was hard to match up schedules with my few friends who do ski. They quickly told me how they had found a great deal on lift tickets at Stratton on liftopia.com, invited me to join, and in a matter of 5 minutes, I was on my way to booking my first ski weekend of the season. What a fun and yum weekend it was!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Holiday Entertaining!

Today we have a new guest blogger, Jane. Jane and I met in 2007 through my former colleague Erin, at a polo match in Newport. We were both moving to Manhattan at the same time, and after a few email exchanges, we decided to be roomies (along with Marisa!). The three of us lived together in Midtown East for about two years, and somehow made do in one of the tiniest kitchens ever. Now, Jane lives in Philadelphia with her hubby Andy, and has a kitchen that has space for a lovely Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. Since the holiday season is upon us and likely all of you will be throwing or attending parties, Jane has some recipe ideas from her holiday party. Welcome to Hom Nom, Jane! 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Thanksgiving in Seattle

A belated post, but, thought I would include it because of all the delicious food I ate while I was in Seattle for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Hot Chocolate and S'mores

While waiting for my sister to come home, I was flipping through our Joy the Baker cookbook. After drooling, ooh-ing and aah-ing over all the photos, I decided I wanted to make hot chocolate from the Joy the Baker cookbook once she got back, while we watched our DVR'ed episodes of Gossip Girl. Well, Joy the Baker, thanks for making such a delish hot chocolate recipe, I can never go back to Swiss Miss!



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Thanksgiving Ideas

My second favorite holiday of all time is approaching! I have not quite put together my Thanksgiving menu yet, but it will include one pie, a few sides, and of course, a turkey. And some wine or champagne. Or both! To inspire you with some ideas, I have put together some ideas I have / will be making for sure. My older Thanksgiving posts may have some ideas for you too (just search "Thanksgiving" in the search bar).

Friday, November 16, 2012

My Beloved Kale Chips

Since November is unofficially VS Fashion Show prep month/tribute to flat abs here at Hom Nom, I am continuing on my quest to find healthier recipes. How could I forget my favorite thing in the entire world? Kale chips! I am in love with kale chips. I eat them as a side for dinner every night when I am at home.

I am gas-less in my apartment for the next two weeks, so I won't be able to bake anything for the time being. But, I am looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving and eating them to my heart's content.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Spinach and Beet Smoothies

Another breakfast smoothie to start your day right! And, it doesn't taste gross, I promise! Dessert Fest 2012 wrecked havoc on my tribute to the VS Fashion show/flat abs month, but it was well worth it. This week, I'm trying to get back on track to chock full of veggies and fruits prior to Thanksgiving. We all know I have no self control around delicious home cooked food, but my parents have a juicer so I am hoping to try out a few juice recipe while I am there. 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Salted Caramel Pie

This one is a winner!

For Dessert Fest 2012, I was in a salted caramel mood. I wanted to make a pie, and after browsing around a bit, I found this salted caramel pie. Ice cream, check. Cookies, check. Pie? Next up!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Almond Date Truffles

It is that time of year again! Time for Dessert Fest 2012! 6 chefs, 5 types of ice cream, 17 types of dessert. So much sugar. This is quite possibly my favorite event of the year!

Here are some highlights from this year:


{Dessert Fest Eve, baking away}


{Taste testing ice cream} 


{Assembling pumpkin trifle}











{Paul making some caramelized bacon}





The Dessert Fest team has decided to make this year's fete a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief, given that our community is still being impacted by the storm. We are supporting the Salvation Army with its relief efforts, and if you would like to make a difference, please click on our giving page here.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Post-Sandy Sandwiches and Cocktails

Well, I have my power back, but, I am still without heat, hot water, and gas. Since I could not really cook anything, Mai & Paul invited me over for dinner. They warned that they had to throw out all their food too, given the 5-day outage. I suggested something simple. Grilled cheese? Done.

After oooh-ing and aah-ing at the newest addition to Mai and Paul's family, a sweet, baby blue colored Le Crueset, we got to work at prepping. Paul ran out to get cheese.  We were dreaming of gruyere or emmentaler, but, the cheese section at Fine Fare was thread bare. Of course, the only thing New Yorkers want to eat after not having power for 5 days are fine cheeses and charcuterie. Of course. (Ok, to be fair, I'm sure that Fine Fare had to throw away a lot of cheese because of the power outage, and just didn't get a new shipment in yet).



{No fine fare for us! Photo Credit: Paul}


{Grapefruits ready to go!}



{A perfect pour}



{Keeping it classy with grown up martini glasses}


{I should never be left in charge of the cheese}




We devoured our grilled cheese sandwiches in the blink of an eye. And yes, that is in fact a yellow fever certificate in the background. You know, usual dinner conversation. We had a side of some roasted cauliflower as well, but I was too distracted by all the cheese to photograph it. I've had roasted cauliflower all week, yay!


Ok, I know this strays from my November is tribute to flat abs posts, but really, who doesn't love melted cheese and toasted bread on a cold winter-ish night? 

Open Faced Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, a Hom Nom/Mai/Paul original recipe

Serves 3

Ingredients
  • A loaf of bread of your choice (I picked multigrain)
  • Melt-y cheeses, could include any or all of the following: gruyere, swiss, cheddar, extra sharp cheddar, mozzarella, brie, etc. We picked up one block of extra sharp cheddar, one block of normal  cheddar and one block of mozzarella
  • Red Onions, sliced into rings
  • Tomatoes, sliced
  • Olive oil and/or butter
  • Garlic
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Set up one baking sheet with a silpat or aluminum foil. 

Mince the garlic. In a small pan, melt the butter and sautee the garlic (not too much or they will become bitter). Once those are done browning, turn the heat off (safety first!), remove, reserve. Heat up the pan again and brown your red onions. Remove from heat and reserve. 

Slice up your cheeses and tomatoes, and keep aside. 

In another small pan, butter the bread and begin to toast it to your linking. Remove from the pan, and place on the baking sheet. Drizzle the garlic/olive oil mixture on top. Top each slice of bread with some cheese (mix and match if you want to! we combined both cheddars together, and kept the mozzarella separate), the red onions, and the tomatoes on top. Bake in your oven for about 10 minutes (note: Mai's oven is really fierce - you may need more or less time so just check in on them.). Remove from oven, and cool slightly before eating. Best served with a Salty Dog cocktail (scroll down for the recipe)!

Salty Dog, recipe from Mai

Makes 6 cocktails (or, 2 rounds of cocktails for 3 people)

Ingredients
  • Juice from 4 grapefruit (that should get you about 2 ounces of fresh juice per serving)
  • 1/2 of a lemon, quartered for juicing
  • 6-12 ounces of Vodka (essentially, you want 2 ounces of vodka per drink)
  • Lemon peel for garnish
Mixologist Mai says "cooling the cocktail glasses first is always a classy move". So, stick your cocktail glasses in the freezer to chill while you prep everything else for your beverage.

Squeeze your grapefruit into a bowl or large measuring cup (i.e. a pyrex). Fill your cocktail shaker with ice. Pour the grapefruit juice into your cocktail shaker and shake, shake, shake.

Remove your cocktail glasses from the fridge and place a small sliver of the lemon rind in each glass. Using your juice squeezer thing, squeeze some lemon juice into each glass. Pour in the mixture from the cocktail shaker. Then proceed to get tipsy on Sunday night while eating grilled cheese sandwiches, repeating as often as necessary. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Driving Up The 101

*Cue Phantom Planet Song*

Time for a trip to San Francisco! I was born in San Jose and my cousins, aunts and uncles still live there, so I went to visit for the weekend.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Kale Smoothies

The Victoria Secret Fashion Show is less than a month away. In honor of my absolute favorite fashion show of all time, I have decided that I will include more ab-friendly recipes on here. I am not a nutrionist by any stretch of the imagination, but I can venture a guess that eating more nutrient packed foods is probably better for your abs than say, my usual salted caramel ice cream and medium rare burgers.

I am currently not doing a very good job of maintaining a healthy, balanced diet, so I have googled ways to incorporate as many veggies into one meal as possible.  Ah-ha! Smoothies! I have started swapping in these kale smoothies in place of my usual oatmeal for breakfast. I get an extra serving or two of veggies and fruits in the morning even before I've checked my email and updated my instagram feed! Yay!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Hocus Pocus

Well, it's that time of year again! JELLO SHOTS!!!!!!!! A halloween tradition since 2005.

Since you will likely be getting into some mischief tonight, here is a quick recipe that you can use for your festivities tonight.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Birthday in Baltimore!

For the past few years, my sister has been visiting me in New York for my birthday. This time, I had to be in Baltimore the day after my birthday, so I decided I would go down early and celebrate my birthday with her there.

The day before, I visited the New York location of Laduree and packed a goody bag for us to enjoy once I arrived. I also picked up one (yes, just one) for me to eat. I'm happy to announce that our macarons safely made it to my final destination.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Fall in Seattle

I flew home to Seattle for a weekend to play with my adorable 3 year old nephew. 

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Champagne and Beer, Part II

Continuing on from my food adventures in Nice and Monaco...We missed our flight to Munich, but luckily we were quickly moved to the next flight out and were well on our way to Oktoberfest extravaganza.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Champagne and Beer, Part I

If there were ever a more gluttonous trip than this one...

Champagne at all hours of the day and night, a decadent four course meal at one of Alain Ducasse's restaurants, sausages and beer. In other words, a visit to Nice, Monaco, and Munich.

There was so much to write about that I split this up into two posts, one on Nice/Monaco, and one on Munich.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Beantown!

Yay, Boston! It is always fun to visit the town where I spent my fond college years. My college friend, Ky, was getting married, so it was going to be a mini college reunion. My cousin currently attends my alma mater, and one of my old colleagues was back from her stint abroad in London, so yet another impossibly huge reunion was in store for me.

I arrived at Logan with an ear to ear grin on my face - I couldn't recall the last time I flew into Boston, as usually I take the train. I know it had to be senior year, because my friend had just accepted a position at the company we now both work for, and I recall smiling proudly when I saw said company's advertisement in one of the terminals. Well, that advertisement was still there, in a slightly different format, so I couldn't help but crack a smile.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

My Kind of Brownie

I have been reading about something named a "Slutty Brownie" for quite some time, but haven't really felt the need to bake it. Sanjay, I know what you are thinking already.

I started reading a fun blog named The Londoner, and she had a post about said brownies. Since this is my last weekend in New York until Halloween (weddings, engagement parties, Oktoberfest, a few west coast visits, etc etc), I decided to bake these indulgent treats and lounge on my couch all night.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Caprese Salad

I had basically a whole package of basil left over from my Aubergines & Quinoa dish, and I wanted a quick way to get finish it up. I knew I would be going to the farmer's market on Saturday, and would find some tomatoes, and some kind of artisinal mozzarella cheese or the other. My mind was basically made with what to make - CAPRESE SALAD! Done.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Aubergines and Quinoa

I have a few more weeks left of my 2012 CSA, and I haven't really experimented with eggplant yet. I found a great grilled eggplant recipe on Sprouted Kitchen, so I figured this would be a perfect attempt for me to try something healthy and get a variety of veggies into my regular diet (apart from my beloved kale chips). I actually dislike eating vegetables and I am on a quest to find easy and/or fun recipes in which I can cram in as many different types of veggies as possible without cringing. If I had my way, I would likely have the black label burger from Minetta Tavern (medium rare, of course) every night of the week.

P.S. I think that eggplant may actually be classified as a fruit.
P.P.S. Doesn't the word aubergine remind you of that yellow box of 64 count crayola crayons you got every year as school started again?

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

I love arepas!

I'm addicted. After a weekend in Venezuela, I can't stop thinking about them. In fact, I almost asked my cabbie to make a pit stop at Caracas Arepas Bar in the east village on my way home from the airport...but I realized that might be a bit unreasonable.

Prior to departing, I dragged Pallavi to Guayoyo in east village for a primer in Venezuelan food. We shared yuca fries and a cachapa, which is a dish that looks similar to an Indian dosa, but thicker and made with corn and stuffed with meat, vegetables and or cheese.

I was now more than ever excited for my next food adventure in Venezuela!

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Uhuru and tiger prawns

I went on a trip with my sister to Kenya, Tanzania and a very quick layover in Johannesburg. We spent a week hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, and the rest of the time stalking lions in the Masai Mara or dolphins in Zanzibar.

The last time I was in Africa, I visited South Africa, I had delicious tiger prawns from Mozambique. So, I was looking forward to gorging on tiger prawns and other sea food. Maybe a prawn pizza or two?

For the record, uhuru means freedom in Swahili. The top of Kilimanjaro is named Uhuru Peak - or freedom peak - named after Tanzania received independence in 1961 (from the Brits).

Friday, April 6, 2012

A Visit to Charm City!

Charm city is a cute name for Baltimore. It also reminds me of Charm City Cakes (and we know how much I love cake). I went down to visit my sister for a weekend. As much as I wanted to eat dorm food (ha), my sister had bookmarked a few restaurants she wanted to try. If you are hungry or on a diet, you probably shouldn't look at the rest of the blog. I'm still in a food coma, a week later. 

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Cousin Reunion

I love traveling to other cities - and especially when there is a cousin reunion involved! My cousin Amar lives in DC, and my sister is in Baltimore. My other cousin Ajay lives in Boston and for his spring break he came to DC. So, the four of us got together for a weekend of good food and fun times!

On Friday night, we went to Good Stuff Eatery, which is former Top Chef winner's Spike Mendelsohn's place. What the reviews say are true: what is UP with the fries? They were soggy, and I didn't feel like dipping them into my milkshake. I'd like to think that an important quality of a fry is whether you can dip it into your shake or not. These failed the test.


{Bad. Very bad.}

The shakes (I had Vietnamese Coffee, my sister ordered the Toasted Marshmallow) were to die for - but my cousin made a good point - shakes are just a ton of ice cream blended together so really, how could those go wrong?


{Good. Very good.}

The buns on the burger were fluffy and moist, and I thought the burger was ok (not fantastic).  My burger was a bit too well done for my tastes - would have preferred it medium rare or medium at most - but they did not ask me how I wanted my burger prepared. Would I come here for another burger? No, probably not, but I'd stop in for a shake if I were in the neighboorhood!


For brunch the next day, Amar took us to  Busboys and Poets. The space is really cool - a nice coffee shop / restaurant vibe and it is also a book store. I ordered the avocado panini and a latte - I was a bit full from last night and the usual brunch options did not seem too appealing to me at the time.








{Yum town pastrami sandwich}

The four of us stopped by a dog park and gazed longingly for a good 20 minutes. Then we headed back to DuPont circle, and of course, I spied a cupcake shop. Since I had worked out earlier in the morning, I decided I could share a cupcake with my sister. Actually, that is the ONLY reason I dragged my butt out of bed at 9:30am to workout.


Dinner that night was at Cedar, which I enjoyed. We each got an appetizer and an entree. And, dessert. Of course.  My sister's butter nut squash soup seemed out of place, given that we are in the spring, but it was still delicious. And my cousin's peanut butter chocolate dessert was the most salivating item out of everything we ordered.

The most magnificent meal of all was our brunch at Blue Duck Tavern. New York, I love you, but I don't think I've had a brunch this delicious, ever.


{It's not brunch without a little champagne}




{Perfectly baked croissants. Dreaming of these.}




{The best pancake. Ever.}

Let's not forget Baked and Wired. It's a cafe / bakery near Georgetown. The cupcakes are basically divine. Moist and topped with a frosting of perfect consistency and flavor. I could eat four in one sitting. And in fact, I'm pretty sure I have.


{Try and guess which one is mine}

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Switzerland

When a friend of mine, Varun, suggested skiing in Zermatt for a weekend, I couldn’t pass up the chance. Skiing in the SWISS ALPS, a trip to Europe, and the opportunity to eat Swiss chocolate and cheese by the truckload? Who are we kidding, we all know that it is the last one that sealed the deal. 

Monday, February 20, 2012

This One Is For You, Ariel

Last summer, I had an ingenious idea to throw a Princess Ice Cream Party. Only, I ended up traveling for most of the summer, so I wasn't really around to throw said party. Anyways, one of the ice cream flavors I was going to make was salted caramel, for Ariel (get it: salt = ocean = mermaids). Other flavors included earl grey for Kate (now The Duchess, but forever a Princess in my mind), green apple sorbet for Snow White, Pumpkin for Cinderella, and Lavender for Belle.

Fast forward to last week, when I needed to take some pictures for my photo project. I also wanted to try some Salted Caramel Ice Cream, because I was in the mood for something different.

So, Ariel, this one is for you and, I guess, Prince Eric, my favorite Disney prince. Try and share it.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Guest Blog Post: Mango Cheesecake

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Today, we have one of my oldest friends, Avani, guest blogging for us. Avani and I have been friends since we were approximately 10 or 11. We met at a Diwali dance practice and have basically been inseparable since. No really. We could write volumes of books about our stupid inside jokes or silly things we laugh about and we are often connected through various mediums throughout the course of every day (gchat. email. text message. scramble with friends. phone. fb wall). Our favorite story to share with others is how, when we were 22 and visiting friends in NYC, Avani got a slice of pizza at that place across from Port Authority. I ate 95% of it, yet she was the one who ended up with food poisoning the next day. We also both share a deep love for the color pink, and the Middleton sisters. These days, Avani is a journalist based out of Seattle, and loves eating food as much as I do. 

Welcome, Avani! 

Sidenote: I have had this cheesecake before, when I was little and Avani's mom would invite us over, and I probably tried to ("stealthily") consume 100 pieces then. I'd still do the same now. 

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Heart Doughnuts!



This is a very belated post, oops! My sister and I wanted to try our hand at making doughnuts again. Last year, they came out okay. Nothing special. We wanted to try again, since when else can we have a boiling hot pot of oil on our stove top other than when we are at home? So we decided to add Apple Cider Doughnuts to our Christmas morning breakfast menu.

Frying things without a deep fryer is scary. I hate heating that much oil to such a high temperature, and, it takes forever to heat said oil. Maybe I will only make cake doughnuts in the future.

The doughnuts turned out to be a perfect holiday blend of cinnamon, sugar, and hearts, of course.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Havana Good Time

Cohibas, mojitos and a whole lotta communism. That would sum up our trip to Cuba in a nutshell. And the food? Mojitos, duh. Kidding. Kind of.

Cuban food is delicious - lots of meat, seafood, platanos and that beans and rice dish you guys probably all have seen. And a lot of the food is fried. So really, you can't go wrong.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Dining in the Pacific Northwest

Seattle has a great restaurant scene. Everytime I visit, I am lucky enough to have a chance to get a sampling of some of it!

In my most recent visit, my dear friend Marya took me to the Walrus and the Carpenter, which unbeknownst to me at the time, was rated by Bon Appetit as the #3 best new restaurants in America! Normally I don't like most seafood all that much, but this was fantastic. This was also my first time eating raw oysters. I don't know why it took me this long, but they were delicious!

Sidenote: during my trip, my sister and I were watching some tv show about food borne illnesses...and apparently high levels of horseradish can be very toxic. So, don't go over board. Apparently some lady kept piling horseradish onto her oysters as a dare, and ended up breaking into a feverish sweat and chills and was hospitalized.


{Hama Hama and Horseradish}

The brussels sprouts were simply cripsy perfection with chives. Back in NYC, I think ilili has one of the best brussels sprouts I've had so far, but these were definitely better.


The speck with ricotta was a great combination of fruity and crunchy/salty flavors. I felt the speck was definitely saltier than prosciutto I have had, and OHHH EMMM GEEE the ricotta was so fresh! 


And let's not forget dessert! We shared the roasted dates and the maple bread pudding. You can't leave this restaurant without having the maple bread pudding...


The next morning, Marya took me to Cafe Besalu. Cutest neighborhood bakery EVER! I was sort of hoping for something cutesy like this in my neighborhood. I don't know of anything other than Ost! I ordered a pain au chocolat, a cardamom pretzel, and a latte. Everything was sheer perfection. The latte was super creamy and not bitter. And, the cardamom pretzel was doughy with just a touch of sweetness. I sort of want to move to Ballard now.


More pastries at Cafe Besalu...


After my first breakfast, I had to meet more friends. So off I went to Macrina Bakery in nearby Queen Anne for breakfast #2. I hate my life.


{Chocolate brioche muffin: Before} 


{Chocolate Brioche Muffin: After}



I know I usually start my "Food While Traveling" posts with the airplane food, but I didn't have anything mildly exciting on my flight over during Thanksgiving. During Christmas, I flew American, and as you can imagine, I was excited to try its cheese tray and see how it compared to that of United and Delta. Also on board was a special New American Table menu "curated" by guest chef Marcus Samuelsson. I ordered the turkey chutney sandwich. It was probably the best airplane sandwich I've had in years! And also something I would make myself. It had a nice chutney sauce on top of the turkey with some green apple slices and lettuce. I would probably top off my own home made version with some brie. 


I was extra hungry, so I also ordered a cheese tray.


It wasn't very good. #fail. As you can see, I left behind some yucky pieces. Blech.


For Christmas Eve, my sister and I went to Golden Beetle. The chef, Maria Hines, has another restaurant, Tilth, and has won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest in 2009.


Drooooool. Best.Falafel.Ever.


Now I'm hungry. I also wish all pizza came with a crust like this. We topped ours with some lamb sausage. I am hoping that my daily walks to the dog park with my nephew Cooper will negate some of this. Or not. Def not. 

My sister and I were going to make desserts for breakfast on Christmas day, so these spiced doughnuts kind of kick started the process.


Last but not least, my mom made some papdi chaat, supposedly an Indian street food snack but I don't remember eating it the one time I went to India. The base is kind of like a pita chip (my mom uses baked tortillas cut into pieces), topped with boiled potatoes, chickpeas, onions, tamarind sauce, yogurt and chutney. Crunchy, savory and sweet all at once.