Songkran Festival at Wat Thai, Silver Spring, MD

I went to the Songkran, Thai New Year, Festival held at the Wat Thai temple in Silver Spring, MD this past Sunday. There were dozens of food stands serving different Thai dishes, and even though I arrived as soon as the festival opened, it was already crowded.
Since it was my first trip to this event, I decided to head to the food stand with the longest line first. I made a good choice because it led to my favorite taste of the day, a version of the floating market noodle soup. When I made it to the front, I could see a pile of roast pork as well as other pig parts. They asked me if I wanted everything, and I said, "yes, please".
I received a bowl of dark broth loaded with meat, a soy egg, and rice noodles that were square and came in small rolls. This was topped with cilantro & ginger. At a side table, they told me to add some fish sauce, a spicy vinegary sauce and chili powder. The resulting flavor was sweet and savory, and as I ate, it became more and more spicy.

Now I love all kinds of noodle soups, with authentic Japanese ramen being at the top of the list. I think after having floating market soup, it might just be second on the list, toppling off Vietnamese pho.
When I finished, I proceeded to check out other food stands, sampling small bits of what a could and trying to negotiate for loosies. I felt like Chris Rock from an old skit from back in the day, "How much for a wing? Just one wing."
It seemed like every other stand had grilled satays. I gravitated to one that had pork and beef meatballs. They were drizzled with sweet chile sauce.
I also tried a table that made small savory balls of tapioca filled with pork and chiles.
In the deep frying section of the festival, they were making fresh pork rinds, fried banana, and sweet potato. I had nibbles of all three, the best being the pork rind.

I went on to explore the dessert stands. There was one with that had "soups" that were made of sticky rice or tapioca with fruits, coconut milk and other items. I tried one item that was described to me as Thai "jello", which was a firm custard made with coconut milk on top and taro on the bottom. They also had sweet fried taro cakes that were good.

I made sure I saved room for durian fruit with sticky rice and coconut milk. If you've never had durian, it is a fruit that you either love or hate as it has a strong pungent odor to it. It's texture reminds me of a roasted garlic bulb, soft and a little stringy.
I had another order to eat later, mango with black sticky rice and custard. The black rice is more toothsome than the white rice.

I also picked up a couple curries to eat over the next couple days. First, I had a fish curry. The fish was ground very fine and it was loaded with ginger. I think it's usually supposed to be poured over noodles, but I didn't have any so I used rice instead.

The second curry I got was a red curry with pork belly. This was tasty as well, and again, had a lot of ginger in it.

After this safari, I still have a craving for that floating market soup. It needs to be the next fast food craze.

Dinner at Grapeseed Bistro, Bethesda, MD

I had a wonderful summer-themed multi-course dinner at Grapeseed Bistro in Bethesda prepared by chef Jeff Heineman.
Many of the vegetables and fruits came from the chef's own garden.
For starters, we had a grapeseed tomato cocktail. They used tomato water and mixed it with spices and a splash of Hendrick's gin. It was light, sweet, peppery, and I did not realize there was alcohol in it at first.

We followed with a trio of items using tomatoes grown on the roof of the restaurant.
My favorite was a fried green tomato topped with cheese. We also had a mini-bruschetta, and a cherry tomato with thai eggplant on toast.

The second course was a Frito Misto & mixed grill of summer vegetables including eggplant, squash, okra and green beans. Chef offered 2 choices of dipping sauce- a kind of remoulade or olive oil with balsamic vinegar. For this dish, the olive oil was so good I wanted to drink it.

Next up was soft shell crab, delicately yet perfectly fried, topped with a smoky piece of Benton's bacon, on top of corn chowder.
The fourth course was Piedmont Farms Beef hanger steak with creamed spinach, and Pecorino new potatoes served with a chili sauce. The meat was beautifully cooked, and I liked how the potatoes were a little smashed.
The dessert might have been my favorite: blueberries from Woodbine, MD prepped 3 ways with Limoncello. The blueberries were served raw, stewed and sauced, and the combination with the limoncello was so simple and delicious.
It was a pleasure to have experienced this seasonal menu at Grapeseed Bistro.

4865 Cordell Ave
Bethesda, MD
(301) 986-9582

Dinner at Publican, Chicago

Last weekend, I flew up to Chicago to celebrate my friend's birthday, and his wife, knowing our love for food, organized the event at Publican, a restaurant known for all things pork and beer related.
When we arrived, I started with a delicious glass of Three Floyd's Alpha King pale ale, and we ordered a small cheese plate of Big Ed's, a raw cow from Wisconsin, and Summer Snow, a sheep from Vermont.
We sat down to dinner in large communal dining hall tables. Our first courses were Publican's famous house-made spicy pork rinds, and their Little Gem salad which consisted of lettuce, pig ears, basil, radish and a buttermilk vinaigrette.
The pork rinds were still warm, served in a brown paper funnel. I could not get enough of them.
We then ordered the house charcuterie plate. This included head cheese, a pork pie, a guinea hen gallantine, warm morteau sausage, and sliced bresaola. I loved the head cheese.

My friend, Chupacabra, told me to get a glass of Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbach, a smoked beer from Bamberg, Germany. Its smokey flavor pair perfectly with the charcuterie plate.
For our main entree, we ate the roasted farm chicken with summer sausage and frites. It was a simple dish, but all parts were good. Great fries.

Dessert was a fresh, seasonal glass of nectarines, vanilla ice cream, basil, saba (a grape syrup), & almonds.
It was a great evening celebrating a friend's birthday with fantastic food and wonderful drinks.

837 W. Fulton Market
Chicago, IL
(312)733-9555

Mangosteens

It's been great to be able to find mangosteens in the Asian markets in the area. Sure they're priced at $10/pound, but the chance to eat this super sweet and juicy fruit here in the U.S. makes it worth it. I don't know how long the season lasts, but I would encourage all of you to go out and try some.

Marche Jean-Talon, Montreal in July

Just posted some pictures from Marche Jean-Talon in Montreal from a few weeks back. Strawberries were just in season, and you could try almost any item on display.
We ended up grabbing a 36 hour baguette from Au Pain Dore and then grabbed a nice stinky Quebecois cheese for breakfast one morning. Perfect.

Ban Thai, Baltimore

It's Thai Restaurant week in DC-Baltimore and the same goes for our blog. Tonight, driven by a fever for the flavor of fresh Thai Mangosteens, I went to Ban Thai restaurant in Baltimore.
It was not "redefined" like Born in Vienna- rather, it was more straight up Thai cuisine.

Their Basil Duck dish was delicious and crispy.
We also had the Beef Panang which was surrounded by a forest of un-Thai broccoli. The Pad Thai was nice as well.

Certainly the highlight was the Thai fruit plate. We got Longans, Rambutans, and of course, Mangosteens. Some crazy customers didn't finish their plates, so of course, we snagged some of their unpeeled longans. Sad, I know.

Born Restaurant, Vienna, VA

Today was Songkran, the Thai New Year, and we went to Born Restaurant in Vienna, VA for lunch.
For starters we got the Chicken Sate which came with a nice peanut-lemon-basil sauce. We also got the Ginger Chicken Dumplings, and I had a nice cup of Tom Yum Goong.

For an entree, I got the Olive and Basil Duck. This was delicious. It was served on top of a Malaysian Roti bread, and the duck had a crispy exterior to it that went well with the salty and spicy basil sauce.

One of my group got the Soft Shell Crab special which was deep fried and was smothered in a sweet and spicy sauce.

My other friend got the Pad Thai which, while it came with chicken, had secret bits of pork that gave it a nice flavor.

To commemorate the Thai New Year, the Thai Embassy specially brought over fruit from Thailand to be served in several restaurants in the area, and Born was one of them.
For dessert we we served Rambutans, Longans, and Mangosteens.
The rambutans were like lychees with a spikey skin, but not as sweet. The Longans or "dragon eyes" were smaller like grapes.
I was most looking forward to trying the Mangosteens, and they were fantastic. They looked like bulbs of garlic, but wow- the flavor was like a cross of an orange and a lychee. I hope they start selling these in stores in the US soon.

Girls Cooking Night: Fruit and Meat

Last week's Girls Cooking Night theme was fruit and meat - excellent theme inspired by 1000yregg love of the combo. I have to say we all thought it was one of the best meals yet.

To the left, is brownie's scallop and mango ceviche. Clockwise, above: Melissa made a salad with perfectly crisp and smoky bacon and cranberries; Debbie made tacos with chicken, mango, and roasted red peppers; Kim made a Moroccan lamb stew with apricot and lemon; and I made a Cuban pork and banana stew.

For dessert we decided eggs counted as a meat, so Marian's decadent chocolate mousse served with strawberries ended the meal.

Finally, because he was too cute to resist, we've allowed a new male member to girls cooking night... Welcome little Matthew!

Dragon fruit

We tried an interesting fruit yesterday. The Chinese name is huo long guo, which mean fire dragon fruit. I think the English name is just dragon fruit. Apparently they're a hot item in China nowadays. Anyway, my mom got one in Chinatown Philadelphia -- they were $5 a pound -- which means this 2-pounder was $10!! It was quite tasty though, kinda like kiwi fruit, and very pretty.