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.

Cafe Asia in Rosslyn

Life has become increasingly hectic lately.  I feel like I've been moving belongings for months since the office move just finished and I'm preparing to move apartments now.  Weekends mean sorting and packing up my belongings now that the apartment search is finally over.  Today I was able to catch up with one of my favorite people for lunch near my apartment in between boxing up kitchen things and clothing.

 Lemongrass chicken soup with vermicelli noodles.

 A good friend is one who not only waits for me to take a quick photo of the dish, but also does a noodle pose for me. (^o^)

Curry Laksa with shrimp and fried tofu puffs with egg noodles.  It's not as spicy and flavorful as the version at Malaysia Kopitiam, but it's a nice bowl that helped make the rainy gray day a little warmer.

Jjambbong at Home

We picked up a frozen jjambbong kit on the last trip to Super H Mart.  It's great to have in the freezer for those cold winter nights when I'm home hours before my boyfriend.  With the addition of some frozen vegetables and shrimp, and some fresh red pepper, I had a fast meal that was easy to put together again later when the hardworking boy finally made it home.

 You can find this in the freezer section of Super H in Fairfax.  At $7.99 for 2 servings it's fine as is, or you can add whatever vegetables you have on hand to make a more robust bowl.

 The noodle package with frozen seafood, mushrooms and chili peppers.  A sauce packet is also included.

 We also had a some frozen mixed vegetables and shrimp in the freezer. 

 Bring 2 cups of water to boil, add the frozen vegetables and noodles.  Stir in the sauce packet.

Enjoy.

Bonefish Grill in Ft. Myers

http://www.bonefishgrill.com/ We went one night to Bonefish Grill with my parents.  Ft. Myers has pretty much any chain restaurant you can think of, and everywhere is crazy busy once the snow birds arrive.  With the cold snap, everyone was stuffed into the entrance way waiting for their party to be called. 

Bang Bang Shrimp - fried shrimp tossed in a creamy, spicy sauce.

Imperial Longfin stuffed with shrimp, scallops, crabmeat and lemon caper butter sauce with mashed potatoes and spaghetti sauce.  (If you ever see a photo of a Longfish, eek!)

Wolf Fish sauteed with rockshrimp with lemon butter sauce.

Grilled salmon with mango salsa, mashed potatoes and spaghetti squash.

Sesame-crusted Ahi Tuna with jasmine rice and vegetables.

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.

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.

Fish Market's Anchor Bar in Old Town

Capping off a full afternoon of P90X, running, walking and attempts at frisbee (I'm still working on the toss), we headed to the Fish Market in Old Town.  Given the option between the restaurant and the livelier Anchor Bar, we settled into a wooden booth in the bar surrounded by tvs showing football and sporadic Simpsons audio.http://www.fishmarketva.com/index.php?/site/menus/

 2 pounds of snow crab legs with coleslaw, butter and fries ($31.99).

The Captain's Fried Platter of oysters, scallops, shrimp, fish fillet and crab cake with coleslaw and fries ($25.99).

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We shared everything.  The crab legs were sweet and reminded me that we should pick some up the next time we go to Super H.  The fried crabcake was surprisingly good, not too much filler, and good flavor.  The scallops were plump, juicy and my favorite part of the mix.  The fried shrimp were forgettable.  The Fish Market's house pilsner is light and a good foil for the grease, and comes in 16 oz or 32 oz schooners. 

Cooking at Home

After a busy Saturday, we stopped in Whole Foods and picked up groceries to go with a Sangiovese.  My boyfriend loves steak and hasn't had one in a while.  I picked out a few other things.

 Practicing green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. 

 Twice-baked potatoes with three cheeses, milk and butter.

 Pound of shrimp for a shrimp boil

 Mixed water with half a lemon and 5 tablespoons of cajun spice powder.

 Cajun-spiced shrimp.

Cast-iron pan-seared t-bone steak. 

Mark's Duck House

Mark's Duck House in Falls Church is a very popular weekend destination for dim sum with their rolling carts of nibbles.  They also have an  extensive menu of over 400 dishes.  It's Hong Kong-style with a growing Vietnamese clientele.  Specials and the menu are written in Chinese, Vietnamese and English and the restaurant  has been around over 25 years.  With a large number of round tables, it's good for groups and families.  http://www.marksduckhouse.com/mainmenu.htm

Salt-baked prawns with chili, head and shell ($15.95)

A bit cumbersome to eat, it was one of the recommended dishes from reviews I read.

Diced chicken with cashew nuts ($10.95)

Sliced chicken with asparagus ($11.50).  The asparagus were delicious.

Half Duck ($16.95) with scallions and pancakes. 

It's not sliced tableside like at Peking Gourmet Inn, but with a name including "duck" you have to try it.

Seafood Lo Mein ($13.95)