Birthdays and Israeli food

These past couple of days have held birthdays of a few people close to Chris and me. On the 28th, it was my parents' 28th anniversary and my aunt's 54th birthday. Last night, we celebrated our good friend Wes' birthday at an Israeli restaurant in Philadelphia called Zahav.

Five of the six of us had never been to this place before, and we were all pretty much blown away by how good the food was. Plus, it was tapas style, so we were all able to taste a little bit of everything. My favorite presentation, though, had to be the starter salatim, which had eight different salads.



While the portions were small, we had so many dishes that we were all stuffed after the meal...but not stuffed enough to decline dessert! Cashew baklava, yum...



And here's Wes blowing out the candle from his dessert (the Halvah mousse):


Happy birthday!

Slow-roasted salmon

I absolutely love seafood. I can eat it raw, roasted, baked, broiled, fried (although not my favorite prep unless it's calamari), sauteed, you name it.

I recently found a recipe for slow-roasted salmon from the Cooking for Friends cookbook from Williams-Sonoma. My friend Steph is an avid cook and she and I like to scour the internet for recipes and trade. I saw this book at WS, fell in love with the photography first, and realized that this was a book we BOTH needed.

Chris and I decided to (and by Chris and I, I mean I decided to...he just agreed) try out this new recipe. It sounded healthy, very simple, and absolutely delicious. I paired with smashed potatoes from Simply Recipes, using red potatoes instead of new.

Verdict on the salmon was...well, let's just say Chris bought 1.8 pounds and we ended up eating 95% of it. It was THAT good (and good for you). Rubbed with olive oil and seasoned with only salt and pepper, it was simple enough to let the freshness of the fish shine through. We did squeeze some lemon on, after garnishing with chives and parsley, and pair it with a little bit of creme fraiche, and that just catapulted us into a whole other level of bliss.

Spicy Asian Crab Cakes

When it comes to adding anything hot or spicy to a recipe, I tend to go a bit overboard. Not that whatever I'm making becomes inedible, but enough to make Chris and me hiss a little when we take our first bite. Nothing wrong with a little kick though! ;)

Tonight's dinner is courtesy of the Steamy Kitchen cookbook.

I got the sear!

One of my other passions (besides photography, traveling, and anything diabetes related) is cooking. Don't get excited now, I hate spending lots of time in the kitchen, so I appreciate quick, easy recipes. The last thing I want to do when I get home after a full day at work is cook something that takes three hours. No thanks.

Today, I found a simple recipe for scallops and pasta by one of my favorite food bloggers Jaden Hair. I thought I'd give scallops another try, because a few months ago, I made a dish with scallops purchased from the market. The guy lied to me and said they were dry packed, when in fact they were not. I was so disappointed that I gave up on trying again— it was a fairly expensive mistake. The total cost of ingredients that time around was about $20, which is a lot when you're accustomed to paying $5-7 for dinner.

This time around, I decided to go to a high-end market (Di Bruno Bros.) on the way home, pony up the extra dollars, and give it another shot. I got some tips from the seafood guy, who said, and I quote: “Pat it dry, then sear the f*ck out of it.” YESSIR! *salutes*

Imagine my joy when I did exactly what he (and Jaden) told me to do. I got an AWESOME sear (the apartment filled up with smoke, but let's ignore that). I whooped and hollered (literally; I scared Chris) when I flipped over the first scallop.

Chris snapped this while I was plating. For the record, we each had six jumbo scallops, but I only put four on so you could still see the pasta. ;) Total cost of dinner tonight: $25, which includes the scallops, pasta, tomatoes, onions, and other items.

Spicy Shrimp with Coconut Rice

I was inspired by Jenny Sun's post on how career women do make dinner, so I decided to post pictures of a meal I haven't made in a while-- that's what a limited kitchen will do to ya!

Spicy Wok Shrimp is one of my favorite recipes; I found it a few years ago when I was perusing food blogs for dinner ideas. It's pretty quick to make, and although it is a little on the expensive side (compared to good ol' chicken or beef, that is), it's a nice treat. The only funny thing is, I used to make it in this giant wok I had when we lived in Irvine. Since our kitchen in Philly is a joke, it's really Spicy Pot Shrimp. It's yummy, nonetheless! :)

It's Chris' and my dating anniversary tomorrow (don't even ask how long; we find many reasons to celebrate, and this is our "official" dating anniversary, lol), it calls for a little celebration.


bubbling away happily in the "wok"


plated with the coconut rice


I love tinkering around in the kitchen. :)

these are a few of my favorite things

Ahh, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I fell in love with the combination during our trip to Italy in spring of 2006, back when Chris and I conquered Italy with nothing more than a passion for traveling and a Canon PowerShot SD500.

I knew he was going to be my husband when we both went to Costco, very early in our relationship, ate our hot dogs plain (Polish sausage, yum!), and used the condensation on our soda cups to "wash" our hands. Of course, I didn't tell him that. But it was in Italy (Florence, to be specific) when I realized I loved Chris-- overlooking the Arno River just as the sun slipped below the horizon. Of course, I didn't tell him this either, but now he knows. ;)

Anyway, we went to Di Bruno Brothers on the way home from work today, and aside from the cheese samples they always have out, there was a table set up with pieces of bread, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. "OoOooohhhhh!" we exclaimed, grabbing a piece and dipping generously. As I popped a dripping piece into my mouth, I prayed people were kind enough to refrain from double dipping.

The explosion of taste in my mouth took me straight back to Italy. Now, I'm no expert in olive oil or balsamic vinegar, but this stuff was GOOD.

A store worker came up to us and started explaining that the olive oil was Di Bruno's own, in celebration of their 70th anniversary this year. He hadn't even finished his spiel when I grabbed a bottle of balsamic vinegar and attempted to grab a bottle of the olive oil. I failed in that regard, because my vinegar-less hand was holding a container of shrimp doomed for tonight's dinner. Chris helped me out, haha. He also grabbed a loaf of Italian bread sitting in a nearby basket.

We're super full from dinner (whole-wheat spaghetti with vodka cream sauce and shrimp, heyyyy), but eventually, when we eat this wonderful combination, I will be taken back to Italy...to where I fell in love with my future husband.

sayoonara, wordpress

I had the WordPress blog up for a couple of weeks, but I kept getting spam comments (to approve or deny)! Hopefully we'll have better luck with Blogger-- I don't forsee it though, as we've had good experiences with Blogger in the past!

Anyway, here's a photo of last night's dinner: flank steak with asparagus and bell pepper, tossed in an amazing stir fry sauce. According to Chris, this is one of his favorites. ;)



I think this tasted better than it looks; we have horrible lighting in the apartment. :(

In further preparation for our launch this spring (I'm keeping my fingers crossed), I calibrated my MacBook Pro a few days ago and am currently going through our portfolio images to see what's going on in terms of color, specifically warmth. Still getting used to the settings-- my images look way warmer than I'm used to! For example, Chris took a picture of the view from our hotel in Hilo, HI, last year...and the sky looks almost purple! Aside from that, it's very frustrating because what looks good on the MBP doesn't necessarily look good on another monitor and vice versa.

Oh yeah, and I have to brush up on post-processing too. :)