A review: Nagomi Sushi

Tonight our fearsome foursome (Nick, Carly, Mister, and myself) went for sushi. If you know us, you know it's our go-to dinner choice. What can I say? We're suckers for raw fish. Anyway, since we've been to pretty much every sushi place in town, our sights are always set on something new. Nick and I had read an Ann Arbor Observer review about Nagomi recently. In addition Yelp gave it glowing reviews, but Google/Yahoo, not so much. We took a risk and tried it anyway. So glad we did!

Nagomi by Nightfall

The entrance to the restaurant seemed a little strange. It's in a strip mall, which isn't the nicest. Plus they put some sort of shade/anti-glare covering on the lower windows, which you could totally see into. Then you walk through the strip mall door into an entry with another real wood door. It seemed odd, but actually once we were inside, made perfect sense. I thought they did a really good job of making the restaurant NOT feel like it was in a strip mall. This was helped by a sushi bar in the middle/right of restaurant, and benches with throw cushions all around. Overall, cute, comfortable feel.
The menu itself looked pretty promising. Carly and I immediately were drawn towards something called an "avocado bowl," under the appetizer section. It. Sounded. Awesome. So of course she had to order that. Also, since they didn't have a specific sweet potato roll on the menu, Carly asked for vegetable tempura, but only sweet potato. They were happily very accommodating. Next up, placing the sushi order. There were plenty of interesting rolls on the menu, including a Las Vegas roll (tempura battered cream cheese, tuna, avocado, and jalapeno!), a Boston roll (lettuce, mayo, shrimp, cucumber and avocado), and a Sunday Morning roll (salmon, cream cheese, and house special sauce). We opted for those, plus some nigiri (tuna, salmon, and yellow tail), a black mushroom roll and several old standby's of basic California, spicy tuna, and plenty of veggie options. The only bothersome part, (other than our server being a complete dimwit) was that Nagomi has no sheets for recording your order. The menu appears that you could use a dry erase marker, but they had none. How are large groups supposed to record what rolls they want?? Anyway, we ended up using the notepad feature in my iphone, and we pressed on with our order.
Despite service at the restaurant being less than stellar (insert dimwit waiter), the quality of our food was really great. We were given a little pickled cucumber starter (mmm, perfect!) to go with our included miso soup and salads. The soup and salad were pretty standard, but I will say the carrot ginger dressing on the salad here seemed distinctly different than other sushi restaurants I've been to. In a very good crisp, clean, and refreshing way. Finally though, what we'd all been waiting for arrived.

Nagomi sushi!

Avocado bowl!

Sweet potato tempura

Final thoughts? Sushi Nagomi is a real winner. Nick declared it his new favorite. I thought it was still second to Sadaku, but was a very surprising contender for best sushi in town. We'll definitely all go back. Probably many times.

Home

Our home just got a much needed pick-me-up. After Thanksgiving, Brad and I felt that our living room set-up was in dire need of help. The couch we bought when we were just 22 has held up well, but it combined with a borrowed love seat from Brad's parents, just wasn't enough room for all the guests we usually have over. So we bit the bullet, and placed an order for a new couch. After a super long wait, and much anticipation, it finally arrived this weekend! We couldn't be happier. The color is perfect, the extra seating is optimal, and we didn't loose any of the previous features we loved, like the ability to recline and easy vacuuming for stray kitty hairs. Now we just have to think of the right opportunity to have people over for a celebration.

On Balance

I don't know about you guys, but January is a really hard month for me. After going full speed ahead for the holiday's, come January, I'm exhausted. Instead of feeling rested and recouped to bring on the new year with a smile, I'm often left feeling cold, moody, and out of wack. This year is especially hard as things at work for me are crazEE! I find myself in the routine of getting up way too early to go to work, working a long hard day, running errands after work, racing home to work out, cooking dinner, cleaning up, then falling brain-dead into bed much later than I should. As Birgit so cleverly described, my schedule seems to be a lot of lather, rinse, repeat lately.
So in order to bust these January Blues, I'm going to work the next few weeks on bringing some balance back into my life. I've got plans to set some work boundaries, to carve some time to myself to do small project that have been piling up, and most of all, I'm going to do some reading on how to bring organization back into my life. All of that is probably going to mean a little more saying "no" on my part. So to those of you dear to me, please don't be offended when I can't attend your events or am not totally my cheerful self. Just know that my sanity depends on getting back into a groove!

Many More Minis

My goodness the mini Gods have been blessing me around here! Several gifts I received over the holidays were mini's, and for that, I am ever thankful. Steph found me the cute mini bowtie pasta that I used in my previous Mexican Pasta post. She even found a mini bowling set to go with it! My friend Erin gifted me some mini pralines direct from Germany. They made my heart go pitter patter! I may or may not have even eaten some while drinking champagne and soaking in a bubble bath. ;-)

Mini Chocolates

With thumb shot for size

Brad found me the cutest little mortar and pestle for my stocking, and Kristal has been saving for a whole year, this CUTE little leaf dish and spoon that we saw in a shop in Empire. I don't even know what I'll do with them, but I'm so glad to have them both.

Then finally, after shopping with Brad in several beer stores lately for ingredients, I've come across a few alcohol related mini's. We found a mini version of our special Christmas Eve cava, and I just couldn't pass up a teeny version of my favorite amaretto!

Mini drinks

I can't wait to see what other fun mini finds turn up this year!

Spicy Mexican Pasta

Tonight's dinner in our household was a record, as it was both prepared and eaten by 6:15pm on a weeknight. I can't even remember the last time I've eaten dinner like that at "normal" hours. The holiday break really messed me up. That, and eating chicken schwarma for breakfast yesterday at 5:15pm probably didn't help either. :-)
Anyhow, for tonight's dinner episode I took a step outside my comfort zone. I've been casually checking in on Kath Eats for some time now, and yesterday's post about Mexican pasta interested me. I mean come on, pasta? with Mexican? That could either be so good, or so, so wrong. I'm pleased to report that after my first attempt at it tonight, it's the former. With my modifications this was so tasty that it might even make it into the once a month rotation. A coveted slot!

Spicy Mexican Pasta

1 lb ground beef (or veggie/soy crumbles)
1/2 lb small pasta (I used piccolini farfalle)
2 whole peppers, sliced (mixed colors preferred)
1 small onion diced (I used mixed yellow/red)
1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 can corn (drained)
1/2 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
3 Tbsp homemade taco seasoning (see this post)
1/2 tsp adobo seasoning
1 tsp Jalapeno seasoning
For Garnish:
Cheese (mixture of cheddar and jack is best)
Avocado
Sour Cream or plain Greek yogurt
Cholula or other hot sauce

1) Boil water and prepare pasta according to the package.
2) While the pasta cooks, saute the onion until translucent, then add the beef and brown until cooked throughout. Liberally sprinkle on the seasonings as the meat is cooking.
3) Add the whole can of tomatoes (including juices), corn, and beans to the meat mixture. Let that simmer about 10 minutes on low.
4) While the meat sauce is simmering, dry saute the mixed peppers over high heat. You want them just crisp and slightly charred. Remove from the heat and roughly chop.
4) When the pasta is al dente, add the meat mixture and peppers, and mix well.
5) Garnish with your favorite toppings and dig in.

Spicy Mexican pasta topped with garnishes

Things that make you go...Mmmm

Dudes. I totally just made falafel at home. Okay, okay. If you want to get all "technical" I made falafel from a boxed mixture I bought at Hillers. But it's local (Dearborn, MI), and it's all natural with no preservatives, so that's sort of like I made it, right? Either way, I think it fits just fine into Food Rules.

Falafel mix My new copy of Food Rules

For the falafel itself, I had to make some modifications. The box said 1 cup mix to 1 cup water, then let it sit for 30 minutes. Well I did just that, and 45 minutes later, it was still sort of a wet mess. So I added more mixture, stirred it up, and took a bath while I was waiting. After another 30 minutes, still too wet! So I resorted to stirring in some brown rice. Oh baby, that worked! And I totally think you can't taste the rice at all, and quite honestly, I enjoy the change in texture. The Mister thinks the rice may have muted the flavor a bit though. Anyway, you mix up some falafel goo, spoon it out into patties, then drop those babies into some hot canola oil. I actually froze my patties a little bit beforehand so they'd hold their shape. Here's what they look like a-frying.

Falafel oil bathFinished falafel

I also made my own hummus to accompany the falafel's for our sandwiches. A can of chickpeas from TJ's, about 1 tsp of tahini paste, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1 clove of garlic, some sea salt, and a whir in my Kitchen Aid. It's that simple, and man o man, tasty! Here's all the various accoutrements for our dinner.

Makings of falafel sandwichMmm, falafel taco??

I'm sort of proud of myself for making and eating this meal at home, as opposed to going out to Jerusalem Garden like I always do when I have the craving. While my meal doesn't quite compare to my favorite at JG (I was also missing my favorite fatoush!), it'll do in a pinch. For all my veggie friends out there, check it out. I don't think you'll be disappointed if this picky-pants approves.

Soup and Bread

Well, the bread experiment turned out less than fantastic. Not because of the pots (both performed beautifully), but because I kinda screwed up the recipe and ingredients. I used a pretty old container of bread flour, and I added too much water. I got confused you see, because the original article in the NYT calls for all-purpose flour and 1 and 5/8 cups of water. Jim's book recipe calls for bread flour and 1 and 1/3 cups of water. Apparently, it makes a world of difference! Anyway, the bread turned out okay (other than being a little sticky and dense), but I have high hopes for future loaves.

Less than fantastic, but still good bread

In the mean time, I still managed to munch this bread down with some awesome spicy chicken soup I made tonight. :-) The secret ingredient is saffron. I had no idea how fantastic just a pinch of it would make my soup!

Zawacki Spicy Chicken Corn Soup

12 cups stock (I used 8 c. turkey and 4 c. chicken)
~ 3/4 lb of ditalini pasta (cooked and drained b/f adding to soup)
~ 3/4 cup minced yellow onion
~1 cup chopped carrot
~1 cup chopped celery
1 large can chicken breast in water
12 oz frozen sweet corn
~2 tsp red pepper flakes
pinch of saffron
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp 21 seasoning salute
kosher salt to taste

I basically boiled the frozen broth over medium. Once it was hot, I added the onion while I cooked the pasta seperately. I let that simmer on medium-low for about 15 minutes, then added the carrots and celery and spices. Another 5 minutes or so, then I added the corn, chicken (broken up and shredded) and the noodles. I let it simmer and combine for about another 15 minutes, and then it was time to eat. So easy and tasty!

One Happy Camper

I'm a happy lady these days. You see, my mister knows how much I love that bread from Jim Lahey, who's recipe I posted about. For Christmas, he knew I just NEEDed this book.

Mmmmmm, delicious

He also knew, that I would consequently demand a trip to the outlet mall at Birch Run in order to acquire a fantastic bread baking pot. As luck would have it, there were crazy deals at the mall, and I got a much coveted oval orange Le Creuset for 40% off. Imagine my surprise then, as we made a quick trip into a store called Chef's Outlet and I found an even more coveted Emile Henry for 75% yes, SEVENTY-FIVE percent off. I almost died and went to heaven right on the spot. So now for the price of what I was going to have to (make Brad, teehee) pay for one pot online at the Emile Henry factory store, I got BOTH a Le Creuset and my new blue baby.

Heaven in pot form

Lest we not forget, I also managed to snag myself an Emile Henry salt well. It looks sooooooooo cute next to my spatula/utensil bouquet!

Salt Pig

Finally, I just couldn't pass this next one up. Check out my new mini ladle. Could anything BE more cute??

Mini awesomeness

Birch Run, your deals continue to make me proud. Now, I'm about to go get in the kitchen and make some yummy yeasty bread! After that, maybe I'll drizzle on some melted butter with my new teeny tiny ladle and stew in my complete state of bliss.

Sledding!

As many of you know, I spend time over most holiday's at the Mister's family place in Beulah. During the winter and my break between Christmas and New Year's, this usually involves a lot of snow and a lot of sledding. This year, the conditions were by far the best they've been in a long time. There was already about a foot of snow in the north when we arrived on Thursday evening, and it basically didn't stop snowing the whole time we were there. It made driving home less than ideal, but getting snowed into the cottage is always welcome! Here's an idea of the fun we had.

The sledding hill from aboveThe sledding hill from belowOur two man skeleton rideLook at us go!Sylvie is covered in snowMolly wipes out

I don't have pictures to prove it, but we also did a midnight sledding run on Friday night. It was beautiful outside. The snow was falling ever so quietly, nobody else was out on our sledding hill, and the deep dark night made for some dangerously awesome conditions. Too bad the zipfy sled I bought didn't perform as well as these sleds the Mister's family got from a cousin in Pittsburgh many moons ago. These steerable sleds are the bomb!

A man and his sled

Other than the sledding, we had a nice long weekend visit. We spent good quality time with my in-laws and my niece and nephew, enjoyed a tasty taco/burrito Christmas gathering with extended family and played insane amounts of Ticket to Ride. I even managed to win a game, which was much needed based on my early game frustrations. It was a lovely weekend cap to what is certain to be a bummer week going back to work. I wish the Holiday's could last forever!

New beginnings

I'm kicking off the new year as usual, with a list of goals I'd like to accomplish over the next year. Last year I wasn't the greatest at checking in to determine progress towards reaching my goals. This year, I plan to correct that by meeting every 2 months with my accountability partners. It always helps to have friends who are setting goals and trying to stick to them as well. So without further ado, here's what I'm hoping to accomplish this coming year:

2010 Goals

Health and Wellness
* Meet with accountability partner(s) 6/yr to track progress towards goals
* Train for and complete the Big House Big Heart 5K in September/October
* Finish one complete cycle of Power 90 including level 3-4
* Work on portion control by only eating 1/2 of at least 2 meals/week
* Take fiber, vitamins, and omega-3's every day

Personal Enrichment
* Take level one yoga through Ann Arbor School of Yoga
* Make at least 1 bento per week
* Enroll in and finish a leadership class for work

Organizational
* Donate once/quarter to the Salvation Army (de-clutter!)
* Create a December/Holiday binder
* Finish (up-to-date) travel scrapbook
* Finish (up-to-date) house scrapbook

Financial
* Pay off Wells-Fargo balance in full by November 2010 ($210/month)
* Save $50/month to an emergency fund