Birches Restaurant, Baltimore

We went to Birches Restaurant in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore for dinner one night. The cuisine is basically upscale comfort food. In fact, every year, they have a competition for best comfort food dish which they then add to the menu.
My favorite dish was the Baby Spinach Salad because it included avocado, grilled Halloumi cheese, and chile oil popped corn. I probably could have just eaten this.
My friend Lamphole got the Camponata Brushetta with eggplant and also grilled Halloumi cheese.

One of Birches' specialties is their Macaroni & Cheese. The use Grafton Vermont Cheddar cheese and then add Panko bread crumbs. The result is a creamy version of the dish.

This is the Ashley after Sam which consisted of grilled shrimp with jalapeno grits and black beans.

Lamphole got the Shrimp and Scallop Risotto.

I got the Birches Steak Pizzialo which is a flank steak with tomato sauce, mozzarella & parmesan.

Girls Cooking Night: Green

For our last girls cooking night on March 17, we went with a St. Patrick's theme and all made green food.

We started off with green-flecked scallop ceviche in a coconut milk base with avocado, chiles, and cilantro.

My contribution was a pureed asparagus and leek soup with just touch of cream.

Our main dish was a green curry with chicken, eggplant and snowpeas, with crushed basil and peanuts, over thick rice noodles, accompanied by a spinach salad with a bacon raspberry dressing.

We finished the meal with two great green-themed desserts: creme-de-menthe mint chocolate bars, and key lime pie with a delicious pecan graham crust.

Our recent new mom member made a really pretty green pea hummus. Sadly, baby kept her from being able to make it, but she participated by proxy with her shamrock-garnished dish.

Guy Savoy, Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas

Last month, Fougoo, Redneckhunter, and I were lucky enough to have dinner with our family in Las Vegas at Michelin two-star restaurant Guy Savoy inside of Caesar's Palace.
When we arrived at the restaurant, the esteemed chef himself, Guy Savoy greeted us at the entrance.
In the dining room we ate in, they offered the ladies each a small stool they could place their purses on. The wine list came with it's own podium. We had a bottle of 1985 Chateau Lafite Rothschild with dinner- probably the best wine I've ever had.

We knew it was going to be good from the start when we got the bread. Despite it's odd shape, it was amazing- a perfect crust, and delicious.

They started us off with several amuse bouches. The first was like a slider in a stick- a mini grilled beef inside a small toasted bread.

They also gave us a small container with vegetables like parsnips, poured some soup in it and then you pushed some cayenne into the mix for a "shot" of soup.

Afterwards, you could lift up the "cup" and underneath was another small bite on a taro chip.







For our starters, we were able to try a good variety of items, however the main ingredient prominent in all of them were black truffles- wow- so extravagant. I got the black truffle risotto.

We also got to try the black truffle soup- definitely a more stronger flavor of the truffle in this presentation. This came out with a cinnamon brioche.

The scallops were really fresh and sizeable in this other appetizer.

Redneckhunter and I, for our second courses, got the special, and big surprise, more black truffles. The dish was a turbot layered with truffles. It came with some little veggies and foam.

We also split an order of the foie gras which came with chestnuts. Delicious.

For an entree, I got the venison special.

My dad got the beef rib dish which was topped a piece of marrow.

Fougoo got the sweetbreads with guess what, black truffles.

For dessert, I wanted to have something light, so I got the citrus plate, with tea used to steam the items on the plate.

This was the very unique grapefruit terrine.
All in all, this was a pretty unique meal experience for us. Chef Savoy allowed us to even stop into the kitchen to see the staff at work.

Giant Mandoo, Insadong, Seoul

Our friend GH took us out again in the traditional Insadong neighborhood to this famous mandoo (dumpling) place. I wish this picture actually portrayed the size of these mandoo - like I had a Swiss Army Knife held up to them for scale. Each mandoo above was about 4 inches in length and 2 inches wide!

We had our mandoo in a big hotpot that cooked on a burner on our table - here it is in still-raw state -- raw beef, raw egg, enoki and other mushrooms, cabbage. While the stew cooked, we had cold noodles, bulgogi, and panchan.

Western Food in Korea Part Four: Brunch

A recent NY Times article wrote about how brunch is the hot thing in Korea, as result of the mandatory 5-day work week (down from 6) and the perception of brunch's sophistication brought on by such popular shows as Sex in the City.

Our motivation, however, for going to brunch in Korea was because redneckhunter's brother, having been stationed at Kunsan Air Force Base for months, missed real eggs and bacon that weren't rehydrated in an MRE!

We went to The Flying Pan Blue in Itaewon (the ex-pat district). I'm Asian, so I can say this without being racist, but I wondered if the name was a play on the Asian inability to pronounce "r"s...

For the first time in Korea, we had "Western" food that was indistinguishable from what we get back home. Plus it was really really good -- poached eggs with pesto over mushrooms and grilled sourdough, fried eggs over easy with bacon, banana pancakes, fig and ricotta pancakes.

Needless to say redneckhunter's brother was very very happy and vowed to go back every time he had leave off-base and to bring all his basemates. If the Flying Pan Blue suddenly notices an onslaught of U.S. Airmen as customers... well, we'll know why.

Western Food in Korea, Part Three

I've always loved Western-style bakeries in Asia. The bread dough favored by Asians is akin to challah - soft and buttery, light yet chewy. And the combinations of ingredients deemed appropriate for pastries is great -- corn, tuna, whatever!

We were lucky enough to have a "Paris Baguette" at the base of the building where we were staying.

Above is a vegetable breakfast pastry from there -- ham, red pepper, cheese, ketchup, and mayonnaise. To the left is a breakfast sandwich with egg salad, ham, and American cheese.

At a place in Itaewon (the ex-pat district) we got this breakfast wrap -- pieces of white bread with the crusts cut off wrapped around fried eggs, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise. Redneckhunter's brother thought it was one of the best egg sandwiches he'd ever had.

Western Food in Korea, Part Two

Can you believe there's poutine in Korea? We had to go into this place when we saw the menu outside.

We tried three kinds -- the poutine of course, nacho-style, and chili-cheese.  

The poutine didn't compare to Montreal of course, but was the best of the three.  Instead of curds, I think they used pizza cheese.  Sadly, the blandest of the three was the chili.

Western food in Korea, part one

Just as Chinese people who come to the States and eat at an American Chinese restaurant are baffled by the fortune cookies, so too am I amused by what they call "Western food" in Korea. Redneckhunter and I had this meal at one of the food courts in the Dongdaemun market shopping area, at the restaurant labeled "Western food."  Kimchi fried rice (above), and ohmu rice (below) -- basically a rice omelet.   The lattice work of condiments on my omelet was mustard and barbecue sauce.