Category: Food

Asian Night Market Festival: Red Eye Market

A later post, but went to the first Asian Night Market Festival: Red Eye Market back in early November. It was amazing to see all the various Asian food restaurants in the DMV area in one place.

Background Music Info:

Upbeat Chill Electronic by Infraction [No Copyright Music] / Surfing Time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M51bm-EHmgs

*Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. All video content are my own. Links are affiliated link

TATTE IN DC

I have been waiting for this place to open as soon as I heard they are opening a location in Washington D.C.

It’s a bakery/cafe called Tatte. This was my favorite local cafe in Boston and a place I missed very much even though it has been over 5 years since I left.

I HIGHLY recommend their mixed nut tart and their cheesecake. Overall, I don’t have a huge sweet tooth so their desserts and baked goods are the perfect amount of sweetness for my palate.

The location in Washington D.C. is also in a nice location New Hampshire Ave not too car from Dupont Circle in the West End area. I do on their website a second location is to open right in Dupont Circle. For me personally, either locations won’t be too far from work when I do go back to working in the office so I am pretty excited about that.

They are currently allowing pick up and delivery and while the weather is still warm, there is outdoor seating also available. Looking for a day when I can go back to pick up some more delicious goods. 😋

*Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. Photos and opinions are my own. Links are affiliated link

QUARANTINE PROJECT 2: Growing Microgreens

It’s already August?!

Somehow already 5 months into working from home with a pandemic. Like everyone, I’ve been trying to keep busy and decided to do another project, which required not too much time and energy on my part.

I came across this company Hamama through my Instagram story feed and decided to give it a try cause why not? Also the influence Instagram ads can have…. The thing that most triggered me to give it a try was in the FAQ it said even a plant killer can be successful.

The result: I was! It was super easy and it required me to not have to give it water on a regular basis. In addition, it didn’t require for me to do it outside, but the comfort of the inside of my home. I just placed this tray of seedlings near the window where sun came through and that was all the light it needed.

It is worth giving a try. I admit a tray of seedlings is a lot of microgreens for one person to eat. However, it was nice to have a fresh produce easily accessible for salads.

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. Photos and opinions are my own. Link is an affiliated link.

End result with microgreens after 7-10 days

QUARANTINE PROJECT: Kimchi Making

Left: gat/mustard leaf kimchi
Right: yeolmu/young radish kimchi

Starting to lose track, but I think it’s week 10 of the staying home initiative and quarantine due to COVID-19. It’s a bit wild and crazy of how quickly the whole nation, let alone the whole world changed.

I am sure like everyone else outside of working from home and taking classes to pursue my MBA, I have been trying to keep myself busy. With more time in my hands, one thing that has significantly changed is that I have been cooking more than normal and trying recipes that I never really had time for because life was so busy.

One new recipe that I tried and was honestly too afraid to try because it seemed so time-consuming is making kimchi. I didn’t do a big amount because I live alone and also made two types of kimchi that I like, not the normal napa cabbage kimchi most people know of. Fun fact if you didn’t know, there are actually 200 varieties of kimchi!

I can’t guarantee taste, but hoping it will turn out well! Recipe for the seasoning is based on the amount I made so feel free to change the amount/quantity if you would like to make more. One thing to note is for the seasoning/sauce, you can use if for any variation of kimchi you will like as it is the basis for most kimchi recipes.

Kimchi Seasoning Recipe (based on 1/4 lb of mustard leaf /gat+ 1.5 lb of young radish/yeolmu)

  • Seasoning
  • Rice paste (5 tbsp of rice flour and 3 cups of water)
  • 1 2/3 c of grounded red pepper
  • 7 long red chili pepper
  • 5 tbsp of pickled shrimp (새우젓)
  • 5 tbsp of fermented anchovy sauce (멸치액젓)
  • 2 apples
  • 1 pear
  • 1/2 c of sugar
  • 15 cloves of garlic
  • 1 1/2 onion

*For the gat/mustard leaf and yeolmu and for anytime of vegetable you are using to make kimchi, you need to wash at least 3 times and then season it with coarse grained salt for at least 2 hours so the vegetable is a bit wilted. This step plays a big part of the pickling/fermenting process for kimchi

  1. Boil 3 cups of water and add 5 tbsp of rice flour till it thickens. (Make rice paste ahead of time as it needs time to cool before you mix it with the rest of the seasoning)
  2. Blend all ingredients except for the grounded red chili pepper
  3. Add grounded red chili pepper to the cooled rice paste and mix the blended ingredients into the paste as well
  4. Mix the vegetable with the seasoning and store in a plastic/glass container
  5. Leave the container out for a day or two at room temperature and then store in the refrigerator

Homemade Wings

A quick and easy way to make fried wings without deep frying it in oil.

*of course this is possible if you have an air fryer😅

Honey-glazed wings

Ingredients:

1 pack of chicken wings (I bought a 1.5 lb pack and it had about 13 wings)

Tempura flour (can use regular flour)

  • For marination:

3 small onions

2 tbsp of garlic

4 tbsp of mirim (can use white wine)

  • For sauce:

1 1/2 tbsp of sugar (I used brown)

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp water

2 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp honey (I used agave syrup and it gave the same glaze feel like honey would)

Cooking Instructions:

  1. Wash the wings in cold water
  2. Dice the onions and garlic very fine and mix in the mirim (this is the marination
  3. Marinate the wings for 30 minutes in the onion and garlic mixture
  4. To make the sauce, mix the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, water, and honey
  5. Once the wings are done marinating, add enough tempura flour to lightly cover the wings
    Cook the wings in the air fryer for 25 minutes (I have a preset option for chicken on my air fryer so I chose that, but the temperature was 400 degrees)*every 5-10 minutes flip the wings over so it cooks properly all over
    Heat a pan to cook the wings with the sauce. Once the pan is heated, pour the sauce and wait for it to starting boiling
    Add in the wings to the sauce and mix until all the wings are covered in sauce

Michelin⭐️ Sushi Taro

 

Thanks to the invitation of a special friend-went to another Michelin ⭐️ restaurant 🤩

Loved the interior and all the sushi fish tasted fresh!! Outside of your typical salmon, tuna, and yellowtail, I loved how this restaurant had a variety of nigiri fish options and most were fish I never heard or saw at other sushi restaurants.

I had the portland sea urchin, pike mackerel (seasonal), ocean trout (seasonal), squid, and blackthroat seaperch (seasonal). With friends, I shared the fatty tuna roll and Saniki Kama-Age Udon. Everything I ordered was DELICIOUS! Though my favorite was the sea urchin, mackerel, and squid.

Recommendation: make a reservation ahead of time. There was not a line of people waiting when I got here, but my friend told me she had made a reservation ahead of time cause this place was so popular.

Pike mackerel, ocean trout, Portland sea urchin

Blackthroat seaperch and squid nigiri

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. Photos are my own photos I took at the restaurant. The website above is an affiliate link.

Salmon Donburi (연어덮밥)

I love salmon and always wanted to try making this because I realized it is not hard…

I bought some salmon sashimi from H-Mart (a Korean grocery store) and everything else I had at home.

On the rice, add and mix a sugar+vinegar mixture (2 tbsp of vinegar and 1 tbsp of sugar).

Cut the salmon into slices and layer the slices onto the bowl.

Cut some avocado🥑 into slices and then place it on top with some alfa sprouts. I had made tomato🍅 preserves a couple days back and added that on top and… there we go!!!

LOCAL EAT: TEAMANIA

Found a local gem! It’s cute cafe called Teamania. They say their an Asian-European bakery and that’s the PERFECT description.

For a non-sweet tooth like me, the desserts aren’t too sweet. They have your typical coffee drinks, but also some interesting and tasteful tea and fruity drinks too.

Anyone who lives in the Rockville, MD area I recommend checking it out!

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. Photos are my own photos I took at the cafe.

Michelin Star ⭐️ Restaurant: Fiola Mare

Spring is here! The weather was a bit cloudy yesterday, but temperature wise it was great! I took advantage of this to head to the Georgetown Waterfront to get dinner with a friend.

We went to a 1-Michelin Star⭐️ Restaurant, Fiola Mare, an Italian restaurant that is right out on the Georgetown Waterfront. Food was tasty though the portions were a bit small for me, but all in all the seafood in both dishes were fresh!🤩

Gragnano Spaguetti Alla Chitarra
Roasted Icelandic Cod
Gragnano Spaguetti Alla Chitarra (Pasta with clams and tomatoes)-first photo

  • Roasted Icelandic Cod (Cod served with capers, taggiasca olives, cherry tomatoes, livornese jus, black trumpet mushrooms)-second photo

Restaurant website: https://www.fiolamaredc.com