Obento and Onigiri, Oh my!

Have I mentioned my love of obento before? Of course I have. But today I got to check out a free Obento session with Stephanie at our local Ann Arbor library branch. Frankly, I wasn't expecting much, since I know I could practically teach the class myself. I went to see if I could find any new bento books at the library, or talk to some of the instructors about where they buy their bento stuff. Unfortunately, both of those ideas didn't pan out. But I did get to spend some time with lovely lady Stephanie, and we each got free bento boxes. Score!

Getting instructed in traditional Japanese dress
A whole pile of free bento'sStephanie gets her bento skills onMy finished project after the class

If you're interested in more information on Obento, I found this great site that does some in-depth explanations.

Snow days and tea times

Today, the Mister and I finally got some rest. After a nine inch dumping of new snow overnight, I headed into work to finish a few things and await word of an impending accreditation arrival. No word appeared, so I headed home as quickly as possible so I could work from home and avoid the snowy commute (it was a disaster of all disasters on the roads today--no wonder all the schools were canceled)! Working from home included a small nap though, and hence I finally got some much needed rest. Then while working on my laptop, the Mister and I got caught up on some of the Olympics over the weekend that we recorded (loving snowboard cross, ski cross and curling). It was a really nice relaxing day at home, which I concluded was just the perfect time for tea! So I busted out some aurora borealis and my awesome new tea strainer.

Tea time

Going along with my comfort theme today, I made some macaroni and cheese for lunch. It was tasty, but wasn't quite like the macaroni and cheese place Rick Bayless recently tweeted about, S'MAC in NYC. I am DYING to go here. Sampler platter of 8 different macaroni and cheese's? I literally cannot think of a better idea. So here's to being warm and comfortable, and to hoping your day was as lovely as mine.

On easy pickling

After reading a lovely review here recently about Spicy pickles, I decided there was no time like the present to make some. Especially since I had a bunch of cucumbers lying around. So I stopped at my local grocery for a 2 quart jar (plastic, which I was surprised to find) and some fresh dill, then got to work chopping cucumbers into chunks, crushing garlic and halving jalapeno, then I layered away.

Pickle layers

After 24 hours in the fridge, I cannot recommend these pickles enough. They are perfectly brined and SO easy to make. If you're a pickle fan, I highly recommend.

Finished pickles

In da Club

Recently, the Mister and I joined a Supper Club. It's something I've been intrigued about for quite some time. The basics of the club are such: 1)assemble a group of about 5 couples (8-10 people fit comfortably at one big table) 2)the host couple picks a theme 3)the host couple prepares the main course 4)the other couples randomly draw from other courses of dessert, sides, drinks, etc. We meet on the third Tuesday of every month and so far, it's turning out to be a smashing success. For January's inaugural meeting, I made spicy greens and cornbread for our dinner honoring Martin Luther King, Jr day. This month, our hosts chose a South American theme. I was nervous, but decided to try my hand for the first time at ceviche and jicama salad, both Rick Bayless inspired.

Prepping the talapiaFish cooking marinade

Overall, making the ceviche was pretty darn easy. Make some fresh citrus marinade, cut up some fish, mix, mix, and let it sit in the fridge. Once it's cooked (~4 hours) chunk up some avocado, stir it all together with some fresh chopped cilantro, then lay it in a lettuce lined dish. Easy peesy!

Finished ceviche!

The Jicama salad, was only slightly more complicated than the ceviche. I had never seen nor purchased a jicama before, but thankfully, I was able to find one no problem at my local Meijer. Jicama kind of looks like a big potato! I got to work peeling and slicing it, then added some cucumber, some sliced radish, some orange segments and some seasonings while my red onions picked.

I own you JicamaGrinding some spice & final prepFinished Jicama salad with pickled red onions

Dinner was, in short, amazing. I'm constantly impressed with the cookery skills of individuals in our club! From the homemade chicken and green chili pupusa's, to the stuffed mashed potato street food, to the Yucatan cheese balls, to the alfajores with dulche de leche, not just one but two Chimichurri's and even the wines from Chile and Argentina, everything was delicious and my growling stomach beast was satiated. If you're interested in a different take on the evening, Stephanie wrote her own lovely review of our dinner here.

Mmmmm, South American Food

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for "French Cuisine" in March!

I love my Valentine

The Mister and I didn't have much planned for Valentine's Day this year. I generally don't like eating out on V-day, since I think service and quality suffer for an overpriced meal. I'm also not one for pre-packaged cardboard hearts and expensive roses that only last a few days. Consequently, we made a loose plan to just spend the day together cuddling, watching the Olympics, and then cooking a nice dinner together. Imagine my surprise then, when I awoke yesterday morning and walked into the kitchen to this:

O.M.F.G.

My jaw literally hit the floor. I haven't been surprised like that in quite some time. Maybe since we got engaged 8 years ago? It was a big smiley moment. I had no idea this was coming. Of course once I saw my coveted Vitamix, I was so giddy that I had to run out to the store and pick up ingredients to supplement our original dinner plans. I couldn't not use my new toy! Thankfully, I'm also a bit sneaky, and had something prepared for the Mister when he went downstairs to brew during the day.

Another sneaky valentine

So after the Mister did some beer stuff and I did some cleaning, we decided it was five o'clock somewhere. That called for inaugural strawberry daiquiri's! I had to break in that Vitamix somehow, so I figured, what better way than with rum from our trip to Jamaica?

Vitamix start your engine
mmmmm, daiquiri

I must say, these were some mighty tasty drinks. I felt super good about them as well, since they weren't made from a mix full of HFCS and other unidentifiable ingredients. These babies were only real organic strawberries, ice, lime juice, rum, and a little agave to sweeten it up. So delish. I can't wait for warm weather to sit on the deck with one of these! But alas, it's still cold here, so on with dinner preparations I went. First course? Carrot soup with creme fraiche, toasted walnuts, and pancetta crisps. I used a recipe out of my William Sonoma Entertaining cookbook as a guide. I basically just sauteed a mixture of yellow onion and leeks in a bit of butter, then simmered 1 lb of chopped carrots with 1 box of chicken stock. After about 1/2 an hour, into the Vitamix it went for blending. The Vitamix not only blends (more like pulverizes) but adds air to the soup, making it amazingly creamy without added milk or cream. It was a pretty great replication of the soup we had at one memorable meal in Paris. I was more than pleased with how it turned out, and I can see us making this for guests a lot.

Carrot soup closeupFirst course table scene

For our main entree's, the Mister had grand plans to sous vide us a steak. I must admit I was skeptical about his confidence in using his brewing equipment to make us a thermal immersion circulator. I know searing the steak at the end kills any remaining microorganisms, but can you blame me for not wanting us to die of food poisoning on Valentine's Day? Thankfully, it actually worked out, and we didn't get sick. Plated up with some garlic mashed potatoes and some spicy tomato spinach, this was a meal worth staying home for.

Plated EntreeSecond course table scene

Finally, it being supposedly a day of love and chocolate and all, we chose to round out our meal with something sweet: Caramel filled chocolate lava cakes. They were as rich as they looked. That didn't stop us from topping them after the photo op with homemade vanilla whipped cream from the Vitamix though.

Third and final course

I hope you and your loved one celebrated St. Valentine by doing something fun together!

More Soup and Bread

I can't seem to get enough soup and bread these days. This time the loaf turned out PERFECT in the Le Creuset. I also tried my hand at my FIL's Vegetable Soup. It's sooooooooo good. The recipe makes a ton, but we don't mind the leftovers this time of year.

Dad Z's Spicy Vegetable Soup

3 cloves garlic (finely diced)
2 boxes low sodium chicken broth (32 oz boxes)
1 small can spicy hot V-8 juice (5.5 oz)
1/2 large bottle V-8 juice (23 oz)
3 cups yellow onion, diced
3 cups broccoli, diced
2 cups cauliflower, diced
2 1/2 cups green beans, cut in 1/4" lengths
3 cups baby carrots, diced in 1/4" lengths
2 cups celery, thinly sliced
1 15 oz can corn, drained
1 15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 small russet potatoes, peeled & diced into 1/4" cubes

3/4 tsp basil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp salt-free seasoning (like TJ's 21 seasoning salute)
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp kosher salt

Directions
On high heat, lightly brown the garlic in a small amount of olive oil. When brown, add the onions and flash saute them until translucent (~5 minutes) then add all of the broth, and V-8 juices. Add all of the vegetables to the pot, except for the celery. The celery gets added about half way through the cooking time along with the seasonings.

Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the temp to just keep it simmering hard for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. A full hour is necessary to let the vegetables get to know one another and blend their flavors together. This recipe makes 22 cups of soup and a ¾ cup ladle full is 75 calories.

NerdZ

I can't try to deny it anymore. It's a serious nerdfest around here these days. WHY are we so board game obsessed?? Somebody, please help! (Or at least join us so we're not alone)

Campus Martias and good eats

I never had Olympic dreams. Some little girls have gymnastic or ice skating determination. Me, I was always just happy playing with my Barbies. They had ice skates and gym clothes! That being said though, I do seem to have a fascination with casual ice skating. So when Kamil revealed to me her same inner demon, we made a date to go ice skating at Campus Martias near her apartment in Detroit. Of course I dragged the Mister along, so we could dine as a four-top with Mr. Williams later. Little did I know he would be so willing to join us while skating as well!

Skatin' Fools

We didn't spend a ton of time skating, since the rink is outside and it was freezing and all. Kamil even got a little bored after a while and was drawn to the advertised s'mores and hot chocolate package for $4. I didn't know until that afternoon that she'd never made a s'more of her own in her entire life! Crazy, no? She was deliriously hilarious.

Get your s'more on

While I was busy taking pictures and Kamil was busy s'moreing it up, Brad was skating around like the speedster he is. It was especially nice conditions after the zamboni came out and the ice was smooth as silk (too bad our skates weren't sharp enough to take advantage of that).

Mister Speedster

After we worked up an appetite skating, we stopped off at Kamil's place to pick up her husband Steve (who locked himself out of the apt while walking the dogs), then headed from some dinner at Slow's BBQ. This was our first visit to Slow's after hearing such GREAT things about it! I didn't take any pictures because I was so focused on enjoying myself, but I'm happy to report Slow's was amazing, and did not disappoint in any way. We will definitely go back, and I can't wait to try so much on the menu. I assure you, the mac cheese is to die for. :-)

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.