Eating in Asheville, NC

This weekend we packed our bags and drove down to Asheville, NC.  It's a good thing my boyfriend loves road trips, because my seasonal allergies and allergy medicine left me about as responsive as a sloth on the drive down.  We chose the mountain drive, heading first towards Shenandoah and then south until we crossed through Tennessee before reaching North Carolina.  We saw miles of farmland, cows, horses and mountains.  It was super peaceful and scenic.

Asheville's a beautiful and interesting area.  Nestled in the mountains, there's a strong arts community located in the area. You get the feeling that people interested in getting back to nature would find their niche easily here.  My boyfriend had described it as having an "aging hippie" vibe, which I could see, but it's developing into much more than that, partially due to recognitions from Frommer's, AARP and Self magazine that the area is one of the best places to "reinvent your life" and "Happiest City for Women".  I had done some cursory research on the food scene and discovered the area was known for locally-sourced, vegetarian-friendly New South cooking. 

I love Southern cooking, but have always wished for more delicious meatless options.  Asheville is an amazing food-lover's destination, with a little bit for everyone.  We started off with dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe on a cold and rainy night.  It's not a large restaurant, but they did have a little waiting area in the back, which I felt was a nice touch.  The menu was a list of so many wonderful options, it was truly difficult to decide what to try.  My boyfriend sagely suggested I order things that would be difficult to find back home.  He's a wise man.

 Biscuits with tupelo honey and house-made blackberry preserves.  Swoon.

My friend V said that tupelo honey was pretty special, and she's right.  It's produced from White Ogeechee Tupelo and has a distinctive flavor.

 Honey-Chipotle wings with bleu cheese dressing $8.50. 

 Fried Green Tomatoes with goat-cheese grits $6.95. 

The crunch of the cornmeal was fantastic.

 Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with chorizo, goat cheese grits, salsa verde pinto beans $19.95.

Smokey flavors, with the pork cooked medium, and intense chorizo sausage. 

 Shrimp and Grits with a spicy red pepper sauce $15.45. 

Luscious grits, the sauce had a nice spice, and the flavors were nicely melded together.

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We love breakfast and brunch.  Next up was Early Girl Eatery. The cafe is located close to Tupelo Honey on Wall Street, a narrow road that reminded us of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter books.  The area is super quaint, and ridiculously hard to find parking.  We circled and circled, until we found a spot over on Battery Lane.  There was a 30 minute wait when we arrived, so we went for a walk around the neighborhood.  It's definitely worth the wait.

 Early Girl Benny $7.95.

Grit cakes topped with spinach, poached eggs, tomato gravy and avocado and choice of bread.  A little honey and preserves would have made the biscuit spectacular, but the butter was nice.  The tomato gravy had a lovely smokiness to it, and this was one of the best versions of an eggs benedict I've ever tried.

 Porky Breakfast Bowl $8.25.

Homefries, bbq pork, scrambled eggs, and farmstead cheese with an herb gravy.  This was excellent with layers of flavor.  My boyfriend felt that the addition of the tomato gravy would have made this even better. 

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Rounding out our eating adventure, my boyfriend saw the nearby cafe on College Street had beignets.  Mayfel's has a funky vibe to it, and definitely worth a proper stop the next time we visit Asheville.  They were super sweet to let me place a takeout order for beignets and coffee for our roadtrip home.

$5 for 8 powder-covered beignets.

Cooking at Home

March has been a busy month for us.  We've been settling into our new place, and figuring out some of the quirks.  I'm slowly learning that opening a hot oven will set off the two fire alarms without reason.  Fun times. I am enjoying experimenting at home, and try to have something ready for him to eat the nights he has to work late.

Oven-roasted pork belly and kimchi bundles with Japanese-style potato salad and a tortellini-vegetable salad.  My Japanese potato salad included chopped egg, onion, carrots, apple and a slightly sweeter Japanese mayonnaise. 

 We like Korean soups and stews a lot. This creation blended soon dubu and kimchee chige.  I made a dashi with katsubushi flakes and konbu (dried bonito fish flakes and seaweed), added some leftover fresh kimchi, tofu, rayu-spiced green beans, cabbage, onion, carrots, leftover sesame-crusted tuna and Korean chili powder.

Today's Bento.  Mapo Nasu with rice and pickled ginger.  Cook-Do is a brand of sauces by Ajinomoto  that I used to buy when I lived in Japan.  You can find some at area Asian markets like Super H Mart. We recently received the sauce with some Japanese staples from a coworker who returned to live in Japan.  I added some fresh vegetables, mixed in the Cook-Do sauce packet, and cooked some rice.  It's a pretty fast and versatile meal, although a bit high sodium content-wise.

Korean Cooking at Home (Viewer Discretion Advised)

(If you are vegetarian or squeamish, don't look further down at the photos.) 

We went to Lotte supermarket for the first time last night to pick up our weekly groceries.  I'm a fan of Super H Mart, but my boyfriend's coworker said Lotte had yukkejang packages and a better food court so we checked it out.  We needed more rice and kimchee, and I planned a few other meals that used Asian ingredients.  One of his special requests was pork belly with kimchee. 

 He loves roasted garlic, so I roasted a clove in the oven at 400F for 50 minutes until it was nice and soft. 

 Korean-style bean sprouts with soy, chili and sesame oil

 Baby bok choy and green beans with ginger, soy, mirin and sesame oil.

 Salmon fish heads.  Delicacy for Asians, trash for most Americans, therefore inexpensive.  It's actually one of the most tender and delicious parts of the fish, especially near the jaw bone.  The best way to prepare this is to salt the skin side and broil. 

 Homemade spicy pork belly with kimchee.  I made the marinade from gochujang, sesame oil, soy sauce, onion, garlic, sugar and chili pepper powder.

 Shioyaki shake-kama. 

(ok pretend the eye is not there, but this is something that makes my boyfriend remember nice dinners with his family and I'm happy to recreate it even if it means I call him into the kitchen every 10 minultes to check out how it looks.)

 Table-top teppanyaki grill.  Kimchee, jalapeno and spicy pork belly at 350F. 

The best way to eat the pork belly is wrapped in a lettuce leaf with grilled kimchee and the marinated bean sprouts. 

Japanese at Home

My boyfriend and I are trying to be more economical with our food expenditures, cook more meals at home and eat less processed foods.  This means I need to think about what we're eating for dinner and lunch bentos for the week before we head to the store.  I planned to make meals that take less prep time during the week, and the more time-intensive ideas on the weekend.  Tonight's dinner was a return to Japanese meals and included leftover soon dubu and hamul pajeon from last night's Lighthouse dinner.

 I have fancy lacquerware bento boxes I picked up at Ching Ching Cha in Georgetown.  The boxes help set the mood and presentation.  I also have lacquerware covered soup bowls I received as a gift from my Board of Education Office colleagues in Japan.

 Leftover soon dubu (spicy tofu soup) from Lighthouse Tofu in Annandale.

Hamul pajeon (seafood pancake), tonkatsu (fried pork) on cabbage and bell pepper, brussel sprouts with bell pepper, umeboshi with kyuri, and Japanese potato salad.

Christmas in Florida

We headed to Florida for the Christmas holidays.  Driving south, we stopped for the night in Savannah, Georgia.  Looking online, we debated which place to try out for dinner.  We ended up going to the southern classic, Lady & Sons, owned by Paula Deen.  Now Paula is not really known as a "less is more" kind of gal, but we were on vacation.

The buffet has a nice variety of southern classics.  Fresh fried chicken, collard greens, creamy macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a variety of beans.  There were also ribs and ham, corn on the cob, salad and desserts.  Really nice collards. 

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We finally made it to Florida after another day of driving.  It was the first time for my boyfriend to meet my parents, and happily everyone got along really well together.

Christmas Eve dinner we had portabello mushrooms stuffed with crab, shrimp and a cheesy rice mixture.  With a light salad, rolls and a crisp Pinot Grigio, we had a very relaxed night before Christmas.

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Christmas morning tradition:  coffee, juice, fruit salad and cinnamon rolls.  This year we had orange cinnamon and regular glazed cinnamon rolls.

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Christmas Dinner

Grilled potatoes, grilled pork tenderloin and asparagus.

Shrimp casserole

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After a bit of home-cooking, we picked up some pizza to eat after watching True Grit.  It's become a holiday tradition to go see a movie. 

Vegetable lovers pizza - garlic, onion, fresh tomato, olives, mushrooms and peppers.

Mushroom, onion, sausage, and pepperoni.

Pizzeria Orso in Falls Church

My friends in Vienna have said they really like Pizzeria Orso. http://pizzeriaorso.com/index.php I finally made it out to Falls Church to give it a try over the weekend.  I knew the owners came from 2Amys, which I like a lot for its Neopolitan pizzas, and overall enjoyed Orso.  Is it worth driving on Rte. 7 from Alexandria?  Probably not.  But very little would be worth that traffic headache.

 Some of the loveliest things at 2Amys were the salads and small plates.  I had to try Orso's fennel salad. Sliced fennel, oranges, chives and olives.  I love that they have a half size ($4). 

Half-portion of the mixed greens salad ($4).

 Margherita DOC ($13).  Nicely charred crust with a light tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil.  We opted to forego the olive oil finish.  I like the restraint used in topping the pizza.  Massive in size.

Orso ($18).  Ricotta, mozzarella, grana padano, fontina, pecorino, garlic and prosciutto di parma.

Present Restaurant in Falls Church

My MBA classmates met for a reunion brunch.  After spending so much time together in class and working on group projects, it's been an adjustment now that we've graduated and rarely see each other.  With a variety of dietary needs to factor in, we ended up at Present Restaurant in Falls Church. 

Silken Shawl Imperial Autumn Roll ($3.95) and Blue Paradise Seafood Summer Roll ($3.95)

The Autumn roll includes minced prawn and pork wrapped in a rice thread wrapper.  To eat, wrap the roll in lettuce with mint and shredded carrot.  The summer roll included pork, shrimp and crabmeat.

Special coconut shrimp appetizer with a coconut dipping sauce. Very good.

Frugally Green Spring Rolls ($3.95 for 2).  Lettuce, mint, shredded carrot mixed with rice noodles in a rice paper wrapper.

Green Paradise Spring Roll without Pork ($3.95).  Scallion, lettuce, mint, shrimp and rice thread in a rice paper wrapper.

Sophisticate Golden Chicken ($12.95). 

Sleeping Duck on the Golden Pond ($9.95).  Roast duck simmered with herbs, mushrooms and egg noodles.

Country Banquet Vermicelli ($8.95).  Grilled lemongrass pork on rice noodles with crispy roll, mint, bean sprouts and carrots.

Pig at the Seaside Vermicelli ($8.95).  Thick white noodles with crab meat, shrimp and pork in a light broth.

Haystack in the Field ($10.95).  Assorted vegetables with rice noodles.

Hard-Working Piglet ($11.95).  Ordered because of the name, it's clay pot carmelized pork ribs.

Calling the Mountain Dewdrops ($8.95).  Fried tofu with sweet and sour tomato sauce.

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It was great to catch up with everyone.  For the vegetarian, the expansive Vietnamese menu fell a bit short.  The items that really shone were mostly meat-inclusive dishes.

Today's Bento

After a few hodge-podge packed lunches, I finally put together a nice bento for my boyfriend.  There's a mixture of all of the food groups and hopefully it'll satisfy him during his lunch break.  It's especially nice to bring a bento when it's a messy and rainy day and I needed to borrow his umbrella.

 Sweet potato fries, cucumber with miso paste, bratwurst, sauteed cabbage and red pepper.

 Orange wedges and Japanese potato salad.

In hindsight I should have put the cucumbers in the bottom section. 

Hopefully he'll take them out before he reheats the top half.

Japa-Oktoberfest

Some times I get strange ideas and create a dinner menu around a theme.  After thinking about Japadogs (http://www.japadog.com/menu/index.html), the colder October weather and my boyfriend's quest for bratwurst, I came up with Japanese Oktoberfest. 

 Persian cucumber with miso paste.  He loves it. 

Baked sweet potato fries.  He loves roasted satsuimo (sweet potato) so I figured he would like these too.

 Japanese potato salad. 

Cucumber, carrot, onion, hardboiled egg, potatoes and Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. 

The mayonnaise is sweeter than American-style Hellmans. 

I should have cooked the potatoes a little longer and mashed some up more.

 Sauteed cabbage, red peppers and onions.

 Beer-braised then grilled pork bratwursts.

With a little pickled ginger and Korean-style nori (dried seaweed), we celebrated Oktoberfest with some Asahi Super Dry beers and a Japanese flair.