Weekend Update: Italian Market Festival
May 25, 2010
After our Spring Patio Brunch, Kerry came to scoop Tom, Dre, & me to join her at the Italian Market Festival. 9th Street was alive with South Philadelphians, music, arts, &, of course, amazing food! We settled our brunch over a few beers and perused our snack options. Dessert was up first! The Italian Market has always had a battle of the cannoli between Isgro Pasticceria on 10th & Christian and Termini Bros. on 7th & Dickinson. This day, Termini Bros. wins with their fresh “filled to order” cannoli! The cream was a cool, decadent on a hot South Philly day.
Termini Bros. Cannoli - Filled to order with a smile!
Termini Bros. Cannoli
Making our way back down 9th street, we relocated the impressive Trompo of marinated pork for some tasty Tacos al Pastor. Again, “to order” service with a smile!
Trompo of Al Pastor on the Italian Market
The spiced pork was moist & tender and brimmed with flavor & depth. What I was truly impressed by, however, were the tortillas. Each order didn’t just call for hand-shaved pork, but also hand-pressed & fresh grilled corn tortillas. To top them off, literally, were fresh cilantro, mango, and salsas. Taqueria Los Taquitos de Puebla (9th b/t Ellsworth & Federal Sts.) ”officially” wins best tacos in Philly!
Tacos al Pastor
UPDATE: Special thanks to Drew Lazor, of CityPaper’s Mealticket food blog fame, for the shout-out! Without you, dude, we wouldn’t be able to do what we all do so well.
Italian Market + Food Love = Al Pastor Lust
Weekend Update: Spring Patio Brunch
May 25, 2010
The last few weeks were a whirlwind as I finished up my last few weeks at my job. I was faced with Sunday as my only day off and was gonna make the best of my 50% of a weekend. Sunday morn, Tom popped over for brunch with champagne in hand. I was stoked to host him & Dre on my cleaned up patio. It was a perfect sunny day over orange raspberry-lemonade mimosas, buttery blueberry pancakes, bacon, & sriracha scrambled eggs with my favorite guys!
Buttery Blueberry Pancakes
L'eggo Tom's pancake!
Dre - picture of confidence in his Sunday whites
My Moufullobacon
Spring Patio Brunch
I <3 U Lemon Buttermilk Cake
I have a hard time following recipes. I prefer to peruse a few different versions and just go for it. That, obviously, is why I rarely bake. Since Dre made me a delicious breakfast in bed & an impressive dinner, I decided I’d whip up whatever flavor of cake the he wanted. I looked up a recipe for Lemon Cake & came across Martha Stewart’s Fluffy Lemon Buttermilk Cake. I carefully measured each ingredient & set up a mise en place to take a pic of them all…
Lemon Cake Ingredients
… and then I realized I had already ignored the first two instructions. I had mixed ALL the dry ingredient together, including the sugar. Thus, there would be no creaming of the butter & sugar and then no folding in the flour, baking powder, & salt. I couldn’t give up so I figured I’d see how things would turn out if I just went for it. I creamed just the butter in my stand mixer and added in the eggs, vanilla, & lemon zest. I then folded in the dry mix & buttermilk for a smooth, lemony batter. After about 25 min in the oven, I had successfully baked one 9″ layer of my lemon cake (recipe or not!).
Lemon Cake Layer
While the second layer was baking, I made my first attempt at lemon curd from the Joy of Baking’s recipe. It was really easy and the perfect filling for my cake!
Lemon Curd Filling
While the lemon curd set in the fridge, I worked on a simple Cream Cheese Frosting. I whipped together (1) pkg of cream cheese & (1) stick of butter, both room temp. Once smooth, I added in powdered sugar, scraping the bowl & whipping to a smooth finish in my Cuisinart stand mixer.
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
So in the end, persevering after a little mistake turned into a delicious lemon cake. It was moist with a dense crumb cake consistency. The tart lemon curd filling & sweet & creamy frosting blended for a perfect end to our Valentine’s Day!
I <3 U
Vday Lemon Buttermilk Cake
VDay Din: Fried Chicken Cordon Bleu, Tarragon Dijonnaise, & Champagne-Asparagus Risotto a la Dre <3
February 28, 2010
Dre always has a plan. He had a shopping list prepared for our grocery trip, did prep work Saturday night, and researched recipes for cooking on Sunday. I dig that kind of organization in a man.
The breakfast he made me was amazing, so I was looking forward to the dinner on Dre’s Vday menu. I was especially impressed with his ambition. Saturday night, Dre trimmed chicken breasts & marinated them in a habanero-buttermilk mixture. We both almost choked to death, not realizing how crazy hot those peppers are!
On Sunday, Dre seasoned & double-breading the breasts before frying them to perfection in my Cool Daddy. He topped them with crisped slices of prosciutto & Jarlsberg Swiss cheese, paired them with his homemade Tarragon Dijonnaise, and proudly declared it fried chicken cordon bleu!
On our shopping excursion, Dre picked up a bottle of champagne. After no mimosas for brunch, I got curious about it’s part in our Vday. Little did I know, but not only was Dre making a creamy batch of risotto, he was perfecting it with the bubbly and some fresh asparagus. I’m so proud of my Valentine!
Fried Chicken Cordon Bleu, Tarragon Dijonnaise, & Champagne-Asparagus Risotto
Vday Bfast: Bacon, Egg, & Gruyère Toast Cups a la Dre <3
February 22, 2010
I’m the one who does a vast majority of the cooking, so I was excited to hear that Dre planned to make me breakfast AND dinner on Valentine’s Day. Sunday is the only day that we both have off (may it be school or work eating up our time), so my only Vday wish was to spend the day together. In the morn, I stayed in bed watching whatever crappy TV I wanted while Dre got to cooking. About an hour into his kitchen session, love was in the air! I smelled something delicious!
Trio of Breakfast Toast Cups
That delicious something was breakfast delivered in a perfect package of love. Dre presented me with a charming trio of whole wheat bread cups baked full of eggs, turkey bacon, & gruyere and perfectly seasoned with S&P. All that was leftover was a bed full of crumbs, but I loved every bite.
Breakfast Toast Cups w/ Creamy Yolk, Turkey Bacon, & Gruyère
Weekend Update: Mmmm, Bacon Sunday
August 4, 2009
Sunday morn, the man & I made a quick Italian Market trip for some fresh bacon! We popped into Cappuccio’s Meats (1019 S. 9th St.) for 2lbs & headed home for a very late day brunch for 4. My awesome mama sent me Kona Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix from Hawaii, the perfect main course. I’m glad I remembered I had a heart-shaped pancake mold in my kitchen gadget stash, as they were adorable & delicious with ripe bananas & strawberries!
Heart-shaped Banana Kona Chocolate Chip Pancakes (breath), Fresh Banana & Strawberries, Bacon, & OJ
Bacon Sunday wasn’t complete without another round of fried piggy greatness! The next best way to serve bacon besides straight-up at breakfast is the trusty BLT. I stuck to a pretty traditional setup of Bacon, Ripe Tomatoes, & Romaine on Country White Bread.
My man requested some Garlic-Herb Mayo to finish it off & I couldn’t let him down! The result was perfection on a new level!
Shallot-Garlic-Herb Mayo – Classic Hellman’s w/ minced Garlic & Shallots, sauteed in bacon fat (of course!), & chopped Parsley, Lemon-Thyme, & Thai Basil
BLT w/ Sauteed Garlic-Shallot & Fresh Herb Mayo on Country White Bread
Visit my Flickr Photostream for more pics of my Heart-Shaped Brunch & Garlic-Herb BLT!
Weekend Update: Asian Edition – Part 3
August 4, 2009
Friday was my sister’s 27th Bday so we celebrated with a Korean BBQ dinner at the new Miga in Center City. I’ll spare you stories of the horrendous service and just skip to the fun parts! Starting with the Japanese River Crab Photo Bomb a la Greg:
Japanese River Crab Photo Bomb
More photos of the teensy-weensy Japanese River Crab & festivities after the jump…
Weekend Update: Asian Edition – Part 2
August 4, 2009
Thursday, I made a visit to my favorite (bc it’s close & I’m lazy) Vietnamese supermarket, aptly named Asia Market. Philly’s Washington Ave is lined with your choice of Asian markets, shops, & restaurants directly perpendicular to the famous Italian Market. I was certainly excited on this visit as now that I have a BlackBerry (aka my Frankenberry), I can look up all the crazy products encountered on my Asia Market excursions! This time was a quick trip for familiar dinner items for Friday night & some kitchen staples: Shallots, Fresh Ginger, Snow Peas, baby Bok Choy, Japanese Eggplant, & some chopsticks.
I had “plans” for a Friday night at home, cooking dinner & enjoying some TV/relaxation. A quick Google search for “chicken bok choy recipe” brought me to Food & Wine’s Ginger-Sesame Chicken w/ Mushrooms & Bok Choy, and thank goodness I had some fungi in the fridge! I always interpret recipes into my own taste, so I omitted the red peppers, prepared the baby bok choy on the side, & added my own splashes & dashes to the sauce. This recipe will def stay in my back pocket, especially for the brown sauce! I finished the meal with some white rice & good laughs via The Love Guru.
Ginger-Sesame Chicken w/ Mushrooms
Baby Bok Choy
Weekend Update: Asian Edition – Part 1
August 4, 2009
Without intention, I had the pleasure of enjoying a weekend full of Asian cuisine.
The Weekend: Asian Edition began with a perfect lunch at Raw, a Japanese restaurant in the heart of the Gayborhood at 12th & Sansom. I enjoyed the amazing company of my business partners/great friends (& a little one that kept extra big smiles on our faces). Raw is certainly a great deal for lunch with their Bento Boxes running around $14. I opted for the Tuna Bento, featuring:
(8) piece Spicy Tuna Roll ~ (2) pieces of Tuna Sushi ~ (2) Cucumber-Avocado Rolls
(2) Crab-Cucumber Rolls ~ (2) Shrimp Shumai
Green Salad w/ Carrot-Ginger Dressing ~ Vegetable Tempura ~ White Rice
Raw's Tuna Bento
Seems like alot, but that’s not all!
Erin
