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}

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.