The one and only time I’ve worked out in my new apartment building so far this year was on an eliptical machine with a TV attached to it. Unfortunately, I was watching FoodNetwork’s “Cooking for Real“. This recipe was featured on it as a dessert; Grown-Up Banana Pudding. I love the portion size! (It only makes 1 serving). I picked up the ramekins for 2.50 at the local grocery store. I made this for Dan as an early birthday present (because my heavy cream expired before his birthday).

Verdict: I still like the original, no-bake banana pudding better! (vanilla instant pudding, vanilla wafers, bananas, and whipped topping). I also don’t like the peanuts in it, and one ‘heart’ is a little bit too much for one person (though I ate all of mine!).  This is a really easy way to make a sophisticated dessert for a weekday night.

• 20 vanilla wafers (recommended: Nilla Wafers)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Pinch salt
• 3 teaspoons butter, melted
• 1 banana, peeled and sliced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
• 2 egg yolks (save the whites for an omelet the next day!)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a food processor or blender, pulse vanilla wafers until reduced to crumbs. Continuing to pulse, add 1 teaspoon of the sugar and salt, then slowly drizzle in butter until completely combined. Divide mixture in half and pour into 6-oz ramekins. Using the bottom of a small glass, press the crumbs into the ramekins to make a crust on the bottom. The crust should be about 1/4-inch thick.
In a medium bowl combine banana, brown sugar, peanuts and chocolate chips. Divide this mixture in half and place in the bottom of each ramekin. In the same bowl, whisk together yolks, heavy cream, vanilla, zest and remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar until sugar is dissolved. Pour evenly into both ramekins and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. (Note: Mine were done at 30!)

April 18th, 2009
The Flat is not a new place for me, I just happened to re-visit it (and document it) when I went back there this past-past weekend for an event for my sorority. I usually get the cinnamon-sugar-butter crepe (for only $2.50!) because it’s the cheapest and, in my opinion, one of the best. I’ve tried savory crepes from here (ham and spinach) and more elaborate crepes (vanilla yogurt with apple, strawberry, and banana), but the best is still the simplest.

They have a strong following down in Charlottesville, mostly among the college students, and its usually for something involving that heavenly hazlenut spread: Nutella. I think they put too much on and it pools in the center (aka, when folded, the bottom), then again, I don’t love love Nutella like many people I know. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever bought a jar myself before.

This really is a town secret. Hidden in the quaint Historic Downtown district, it’s a trolley-ride away from the center of the University of Virginia campus. Not only that, but it’s also hidden again! It’s off the beaten path, near a parking garage, in a small green brick-claden shack. All the ingredients are fresh, and the crepes are made to order right before your very eyes. But, you might want to call before you go. Inclement weather and other interesting reasons have often lead to disappointment upon seeing those shutters closed.

I have spent many a minute playing checkers on the cute little tables to the side of the ordering windows (bottle cap checkers!), and also time spent huddling near the warm window or casually waiting on the warm, colorful benches. These crepes are worth every penny! And I’ve had worse, more expensive crepes up here in the city.

I know, I know. I’m lazy at posting things.
Last weekend, after visiting UVA for my sorority’s Installs, I drove back up in the morning (Sunday) so that I could catch the Green Apple Festival (April 19th). Okay, well, the free Flaming Lips concert. That was the real draw.
Even though they were calling for rain, and I don’t like the Flaming Lips that much, it was free, and kind of for a good cause.

I’m glad I got there right at the end so I didn’t have to deal with all the mumbo jumbo earlier. I kept my mouth closed as the “green generation” passed out plastic frisbees and plastic balls (aherm.. counter-intuitive much?) and waited for the concert. The Flaming Lips were alright. They did um… spray the entire crowd with little confetti pieces and shoot smoke bombs all over the place. Oh, and I was expecting some jammin’ tunes, but they slowed everything down ballad style, leaving out the electronic funk. Except for the first song — that was good.

Also, the in-between songs conversation was just… lacking. And weird. And obviously not scripted. Props for trying, and props for still drawing a crowd when you’re old!

Just for kicks, the song that has been stuck in my head since then:

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From their album “The Soft Bulletin”, Race for the Prize , and a Remix as well!

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April 4th, 2009
I had originally made reservations at Tachibana for my school’s Sakura Matsuri trip last year, but changed at the last moment to Konami. We went to Tachibana this year in an attempt to salvage the disaster that was Sakura Matsuri 2009–added bonus: we were going for shabu shabu (so it was double redemption because it would be answering to the failure of “Bob’s Shabu Shabu”).

We didn’t have to wait long, and during our wait I read the articles on the wall that discussed the calligrapher’s displayed art. We were moved to a small table and when we ordered shabu shabu, the waitress looked at me and said “do you know what that is?”. Okay, offended. I assured her I knew what it was and we opted for the $20 per person (2 person minimum) a la carte shabu shabu, which was a few dollars less than the dinner option that included a salad and dessert.

We were moved to a larger table to accommodate the nabe (pot) that the shabu shabu would be cooking in. Well, in the end the shabu shabu was more shabu shabu than I had thought, but it was still a bit lacking. It was cooked nabemono-style, which was everything in the pot at the same time, instead of cooking the meat first and then adding the vegetables at the end with the left over liquid. Also, we were missing the koma sauce (brown, seseame based). Our waitress actually pointed this out to us, saying that it wasn’t real shabu shabu because we were missing this sauce. I tried to shut my ears when she started that sentence, but alas, it was too late.

We received miso soup as a starter–it was pretty good! I ate all of mine. Then the waitress started cooking some of our shabu shabu, left us to cook it for ourselves for a while, then came back to cook some more. The only bad thing was that the noodles were ridiculously slippery. I couldn’t even get them out and I like to think of myself as some-what of a chopstick master.

Dinner was pretty good — I’m glad I got my shabu fix, but I don’t think I’ll be going back. Maybe for sushi if we’re in the area, but there are much better Japanese restaurants out there to try and much closer ones for the sushi-fix.

From Zagat

“If you’re a fan of high-end toro”, this “reliable” McLean Japanese “rocks” with an “extensive menu” of “outstanding sushi” cut in “generous” pieces, and “if you like cooked food” it has a host of “authentic” “offerings that do not include the word ‘teriyaki’”; regulars “overlook its tired decor” in favor of its “good reputation”, and the “amazing lunch deals” and the chance to “sit at the bar and let the owner choose for you” elevate the experience for others.

Food: 25, Decor: 14, Service: 19, Cost: $36
Mclean | 6715 Lowell Ave. (Emerson Ave.) | 703-847-1771

April 17th, 2009
After hearing about EatBar via the Washingtonian (both touting their marvelous hush puppies and in the ‘Burger Brackets’), we made it our mission to sample both the ‘puppies and their burger.

We seated ourselves in the bar/lounge area and waited a while to be served. Service was spotty, but not much can be expected from a venue of this sort. I’m sure that everything was just a little nicer next door at Tallula, the parent restaurant. Now, it may just be due to the couple of drinks I had up the street at Clarendon Ballroom, but the hush puppies were good. Not as good as the ones I’ve had at Outer Banks, but they were pretty good. The burger was good as well–in fact I didn’t even care about smearing ketchup all over my face in order to shove all parts of it into my mouth in each bite.

But, the bottom line is, I’ve had better versions of everything here somewhere else before. I’d rather eat french fries at Farrah Olivia or Sweetwater Tavern, and rather have the burger from Palena Cafe or Central.

I had ‘The Rock Star’, a super bubbly drink that still had a strong taste of wine. The area that EatBar is located in is far from the metro and is not a very attractive one at that. The decor is very confusing. I can’t decide if it’s Gothic-gastropub-chic or a weird mash-up of things that reminds me of the inside of a funeral home or a psychic/tarot reader in the country.

Glad I went, but not going again. Especially since the crowd that seemed to be around us was… “special”. Not the kind of ambiance I’m looking for in a place.

From Zagat

(For Tallula) Hailed as the “best idea to come to Clarendon since the yuppies invaded”, this “sleek, urbane” New American serves an “imaginative menu” of “delicious” food crafted from “fresh seasonal ingredients”, plus an “extensive”, “wonderfully priced wine list” (including 70 by the glass); the adjacent “gastropub”, Eatbar, is “perfect for noshing” on “fabulous small plates”, but given the “lively” crowd of “twenty and thirtysomethings”, “expect loud weekend nights.”

Food: 23, Decor: 22, Service: 22, Cost: $40
Clarendon | 2761 Washington Blvd. (Pershing Dr.) | Arlington, VA | Clarendon Metro | 703-778-5051

Yep, exactly what the title says. I adapted the recipe from Cupcake Bakeshop’s.

I cheated and didn’t use her adzuki recipe. Instead, I just bought the pre-packaged, pre-sweetened red bean rectangles from the asian store and mixed them with the hand mixer until it was more paste like and less gel. I also used my grandmother’s mochi recipe to make the mochi, but I wasn’t happy with it — I recommend the linked recipe above. For some reason the adzuki didn’t turn out the same, and this recipe made 37 cupcakes instead of 24! I think they might have burnt a little bit because they smelled like burnt coffee, but it might have just been me.

The frosting was pretty good. Unfortunately, the color changed and by the time they got down to UVA, they looked like savory cupcakes — topped with guacamole and salt and pepper. That ‘salt and pepper’ was actually left over sugar/espresso powder from the holiday espresso cookies (1/2 cup sugar to 1 tablespoon espresso powder). I dusted the tops with matcha (bought from Lotte or Super H Mart, I forget) and a small piece of mochi I cut out with a straw. I should have cut out a larger circle, but didn’t think to get out my pastry tips. *sigh*

‘Twas a good effort! I want to try to make green tea cupcakes with maybe an espresso icing now. We’ll see, we’ll see…

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Say bye-bye to winter with this easy to make soup!
(Recipe adapted from SeriousEats.com)

• 3/4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1.5 pounds cut and cleaned butternut squash (usually sold like this)
• 1/2 large sweet onion, cut into chunks or rings
• 1/2 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled
• 1 3/4 cups stock, divided
• Salt and pepper
• 1 or 2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Toss squash, onion and garlic cloves with olive oil; spread on glass baking dish and pour 1/2 cup stock over the top. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bake at 350ºF for about 1 hour or until fairly soft and a little caramelized-looking; check on the pan every 30 minutes (if necessary, add additional liquid to keep it from scorching to the bottom of the pan and stir). Add squash, garlic, onion, and any liquid from baking dish into a large pot. Add remainder stock, salt, and pepper to the pot, and cook over medium-low heat for at least 20 minutes. Purée all ingredients in a blender. Add back to pot, stir in cream and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

I waited over two weeks to eat this (refrigerated it) and it still tasted pretty good! This recipe makes 3.5 cups soup, which is too much for one person, but is a great side dish or snack.

I adapted this recipe from a recipe I saw on Serious Eats for “80-Cent Citrus Corn Muffin Madelines with Raspberry Confiture“. I wanted them to be more like scones so I used these triangle silicone molds (which when filled to the line only yielded 10 servings). Even though I used more zest than the recipe called for, I should have used all of the zest of the lemon and orange because these weren’t zesty enough for me. I think they would also work well with orange or lemon extracts/juices as well.

I didn’t have whole milk so using the leftover heavy cream from the Boston Creme Pie cupcake’s ganache, I was able to make 1/3 cup whole milk out of half a tablespoon heavy cream and filled the remainder with skim milk. I used the same bottle from the boston creme pie to fill them with raspberry (very convenient!).

I won’t make these again because I don’t like the texture of corn muffins (too gritty). I’d much rather citrus-ify a normal mix or bread recipe.

• 1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• orange zest to taste
• lemon zest to taste
• ~1/4 cup raspberry jam or preserves

Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the corn muffin mix, egg, milk, and citrus zests. Allow to sit for 4 minutes. Then stir again quickly just before dolloping it into pans/liners. If using pan, spray or grease lightly with vegetable oil or butter. Bake for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes in the oven, pull the madeleines out. Fill with raspberry jam slowly just until the jam fills the hole and starts coming out. Bake 2 to 4 more minutes—2 minutes until done; 4 minutes until golden and crisp. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool, or eat warm with extra jam and a cold glass of milk.

• Friday: Dan Bento (Honey Chipotle Chicken)
• Saturday: Sakura Matsuri, Tysons Corner shopping, Tachibana
• Sunday: Family things and New Lotte (where I bought a new bento)

Since I included links for the main events on Friday and Sunday, I’ll mostly talk about Saturday. I don’t usually post personal things (outside of bento and reviews) here, but figured this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival was worth it!

Saturday

First off, for some reason the Metro was horrible. Maybe because it was filled with tourists that don’t know anything about the Metro, riding the Metro, DC Geography, and Transit ‘rules’ (like if you stand, stand to the right on escalators so that others can walk up if they want to). Thankfully, we were able to bypass the long line snaking out of the metro because we had SmarTrip cards! Then we waited for a train and snagged seats. People were complaining about it being crowded and how people ‘wouldn’t move down’ to fill the entire car. What they didn’t realize is that we couldn’t move down. Oh, and maybe people didn’t want to move down because they didn’t want to get trapped inside the Metro and not be able to get off at their stop (my constant fear ever since it happened to me at Metro Center a few years back. That, along with being stabbed by turnstiles or elevator doors closing on me, but that’s another subject).

There were a few things that led to the failure of Sakura Matsuri.

1. The weather was horrible! The wind was so strong and it made it too cold to be outside enjoyably.
2. In recent years, the Cherry Blossom Festival became sponsored by large companies like Target. Last year and especially this year, there was a huge influx of people and since it was so crowded, it was not fun.
3. Crowded. This is a sub-item of #2, but it really set off a domino chain. Since it was so crowded, we had to strategically attack the festival. First up was food, because I’m not going to lie — the main attraction for me was to get some real Japanese street food not available elsewhere [FAILURE]. We got in a line for 10 minutes for pre-packaged sushi and taiyaki. Then a 30-minute line for Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki.
4. Which leads to the next point. The taiyaki was cold inside. The Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki were so horrible tasting that we took two bites and threw it away. What a waste of time! I should have expected this since I saw them pouring the yakis out of huge pre-packaged, frozen food bags. What really saddened me is that every single thing that I had there, I could have made at home–better.
5. And the final point: Authenticity. From the first time I went to Sakura Matsuri, the authenticity of the festival has degraded. Now I see a bunch of anime-obsessed posers with no traditional Japanese foods or events. I saw Archery, Martial Arts, and Origami, but I’ve been-there-done-that. I’m not a stranger to the Japanese culture. I don’t want or need education, I want what I want and what I’ve had!

Disgusting Taiyaki. Oh, I didn’t know how disgusting when this picture was taken or else I would have wiped that smile right off my face.

Inari-zushi and FutoMaki

Yakisoba

Okonomiyaki?

Takoyaki?

Oh, thats where it came from.

After waiting in line (and meeting some very not-nice-slash-annoying people), we were done. At one point, a large lady rammed into Dan so hard that he bumped into me and I had to balance on one foot. Obviously, she had not been looking where she was going because we were looking straight up and were following the path of foot traffic. She was crossing the street and had the audacity to shout after us “Excuse You!”. *shakes head* Not to mention that we were waiting in line and someone asked us ‘if it was the line for food’. Now, I didn’t want someone to be mad at me, so I said “It’s the like for this one stand, there are other stands with their own lines”, and apparently I was being ‘condescending’ and got in trouble for that as well.

I even saw Maneki Neko and I wanted to wait in line (maybe their Okonomiyaki would be real?), but it really wasn’t worth it. We got to the cross-section of the food and non-food areas and looked around. I just became exhausted at the prospect of  ‘dealing’ with this huge glob of ‘festival-ness’ and was growing more and more bitter by the moment. So, I turned around and said “I’m done” in a tone that asked if it was okay that I was done.

So basically we trekked out there for bad food and cold. We had to wait in line to get on the metro to get back home, and the worst part: we didn’t even see the cherry blossoms. I had been really excited this year to see them since the last several years, they had been blown to smitherines and were non-existent at the time of the festival. But, it was just too cold.

(Don’t worry, I’ll be looking for redemption at Japan Day this weekend, where I know for a fact they’ll make everything from scratch, for free, because I was doing it last year!)

Free 'Electra' Shadow

Danny picked up on my sense of defeat and we went to Tysons (where I Back2Mac-ed and got a free eyeshadow from MAC!) and to Tachibana for Shabu-Shabu! (That will be a seperate entry). Yay, the day was salvaged!

Sunday

I had to go to my Mom’s to work, but before hand we went to Wal-Mart and looked at paint colors for our living room. We’re looking at bright greens, and I’m thinking between Jalapeno and Lime Spritz. Jalapeno is more of a yellow/brown/green, and Lime Spritz is a yellow/green. Of course, those font colors are not representative of the colors. But, they’re both in the family of the font color used for “Lime Spritz”.

Then we went to Wegman’s (Gainesville for some reason) and I got ingredients to make cupcakes and madelines that are going to be muffins now because I don’t have a madeline pan, nor do I need to justify buying one.

I worked for a few hours then headed over to my grandparents’ to sign my taxes, steal some mochiko, and get a mochi recipe. I also got to eat some bulgogi (korean bbq) and my grandma talked to me about how awesome the new Lotte is (which means I’m officially her favorite grandchild because *I* told her about it). Then I went to the new Lotte and shopped for a bit before going home. Because you know, I have a car this week, so I can do things like that!

On a side note: Congrats to the new addition to the piggie line @ UVA! (and her pledge sisters)

Danny said I could make his bento as cute as I wanted since no one would be at the office (Friday, 4/3/09)!

I used the yellow miffy bento because its just so perfect-sized! Honey chipotle chicken is left over from Thursday dinner I had with my family at Ruby Tuesday. Purple silicone triangle is filled with Jell-o Cook ‘N Serve Sugar Free Fat Free Chocolate pudding, and I made a little rectangle of rice.

You can’t see it that well in the picture, but the chicken is on a layer of baby spinach and the rice has little plastic ‘dividers’ so the chicken wouldn’t wreck it. I think the dividers had little Nemo-like fish on them.

It felt so good to ‘evil-y’ make a cute bento!