Weekend Adventures in Bogota!

Sanjay, Becca and I ventured down to Bogota for Labor Day Weekend. This was particularly exciting because visiting Colombia got me to my goal of 30 countries - and before 30!

{A Toast to #30!}

Home Made Ravioli

I hadn't seen Mai in over a month, so we thought it was long overdue for some cooking fun! We decided to make ravioli - from scratch.  No, we do not have a press or ravioli molds.  We decided to wing it and see where it took us...

Rainy Day Pizza

Ew, apparently it is monsoon season in New York.  The rain started last night about 1am, and has been going strong since.  Normally I'd roll out of bed and log onto seamlessweb, but lately I've been disappointed by the quality of everything on there. We all know how much I love pepperoni pizza.  I just didn't feel like waiting 40 minutes for my pizza to show up. So, I did the unthinkable.  I rolled off the couch and went to the grocery store downstairs to get the at home pizza essentials: pita bread, cheese, pizza sauce and pepperoni.

Another perk: I was probably consuming 1,000 less calories than I would have if I ordered in!

Pepperoni Pizza, a Hom Nom original!

Ingredients

• The fluffiest pita style bread you can find at your grocery store
• Mozzarella cheese (try to get the kind that is in a ball - not the pre-shredded it stuff)
• Pepperoni (I picked Boar's Head - I'm sure any kind is fine)
• Pizza Sauce 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  

On a pizza tray, place the pita bread and spread some pizza sauce on it. Slice your mozzarella into 3-4 pieces.  Top the pizza with the cheese and pepperoni.  

Bake for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the pepperoni smells good.  

Devour while watching The Parent Trap on ABC family! 

Hello Kitty Chopsticks

I was excited for the opportunity to try fresh sushi, kobe beef, and green tea everything. Tokyo far exceeded my expectations by all counts.  The city is easy to navigate, even if you don't speak or understand a shred of Japanese. We did not visit many historical sights, instead, we spent hours touring the various prefectures of the city.  Everyone is friendly and helpful, and, while this was a city of 35 million, I noticed that hardly any bikes were locked when parked outside a store.

I also noted that most things geared towards women were pink and sparkly.  That pretty much moved Tokyo into a top spot in my own personal "World's Best List".  Oh, and not to mention all the fresh, delicious food that we ate pretty much every block along the way.

Summering in Europe - Round 3

And last but not least, I visited Copenhagen.  I met Sanjay and his brother Rishi (who are on their own Euro-Trip).  You might remember Sanjay from here.

I was excited for Copenhagen, as I had heard many great things. And it certainly did live up to its expectations! Sanjay had asked a few friends for recommendations in the city.  One friend adamently suggested that we avoid Indian food at all costs.  Well, I can't say that I would travel over 5,000 miles to eat...Indian food? But we heeded her advice.  Copenhagen is filled with Michelin starred restauarants, and we tried to get a table at Noma or Formel B (recommended by my Danish boss).  No luck there, but we did enjoy some Danish/Danish-fusion cuisine along the way.

Happy Summer!

One of my favorite parts of summer is bbq-ing.  Nothing is quite as relaxing as sitting outside, sipping lemonade, and waiting for your food to cook.  Also, for me, most times, bbq-ing is synonymous with carefree times with family and/or friends.  I have been lucky to do both, on both coasts! The first BBQ of the 2011 season was with Becca, Michael and Alyx at their rooftop.  The other BBQ's were while I was visiting California for Memorial Day Weekend.  For a nanosecond I could see my grownup self in suburbia with a huge grill area and pool throwing fun themed parties.  On second thought, maybe when I grow up I'll have an apartment with a patio large enough to do so.

{See that down there? That is my future backyard}

Summering in Europe - Round 2

I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was already near LHR for work, and decided to visit Stockholm my first weekend.  Brent and Rebecka (also featured here) offered to let me stay with them - how nice!

We started the morning off with a fresh baguette, cheese, avocados, tomatoes, coffee and juice.  Rebecka also introduced me to a vegetable spread - and it was quite tasty with all the other fixings we had.  Brent made some coffee with his US coffee maker.  He showed me a bin he had filled with all kinds of convertors for all things US. I couldn't have asked for a better cup of coffee to wake up to!

{A lovely breakfast!}

{Brent's mom sent over a US coffee maker - so nice of her!}

{Berries on the porch}

Since it was a beautiful day out, we trekked to Vaxholm, an island in the archipelago. We had a lovely picnic lunch, complete with rose, cheese, and crackers.

After walking around Vaxholm for a bit, we stopped for some ice cream.  I decided to try the Daim flavored ice cream.  I've also decided that this will be added to my Princess Ice Cream party, to honor Crown Princess Victoria.

{Perfect for a sunny Swedish day}

We stopped for a few drinks at Katerina Hiss.  I sampled some Swedish beer - I was impressed! 

For dinner, we went to a newly opened Storstad. As an appetizer, we ordered the Toast Pelle Janzon.  This is basically beef carpaccio, topped with an egg yolk, some roe, and onions, all on top of a piece of bread.  The carpaccio was melt in your mouth perfect, especially when paired with the toast. This photo doesn't do the dish justice! The flavor was significantly enhanced by squeezing some lemon all over it.  

Rebecka ordered an interesting white asparagus dish.  I wasn't expecting much from the dish, but this was equally good.  The crisp stalks of asparagus were accompanied by a hollandaise sauce with roe.  Stay tuned for asparagus as it will be a recurring theme in my Scandinavian adventures! 

{Örtmarinerad lammrack med chevre- 

och grönsaksterrin, rödvinsås samt 

tapenadepotati}

 {Salad}

{Pork!}

The next morning, Brent and Rebecka took me to a brunch that rivaled brunch in NYC. It included traditional Swedish fare, but also the standard brunch fare such as Eggs Benedict.  I enjoyed a waffle (below) and an apple crisp with a type of creme anglaise on the top.  I will definitely be making that dish at some point in the future!

{Heart waffle with whip cream and sauce!}

And now to the candies.  I picked up a dajm bar (okay more than one...a few...but I need some to make ice cream!), some circle shaped chocolate balls that have something similar to marshmallows in the middle, and something covered in milk chocolate with caramel on the inside.  

My last meal in Stockholm was at the airport (can you see a trend here?).  I decided to eat at Andersson's.  There was no Sbarro...But I did enjoy the light yet filling canapes I picked up.  

{Skagen Canape, Salmon Canape,Wild Game Canape, 

and Smoked Salmon Canape}

Farewell Sweden! Till we meet again! (Or till I go to Ikea).