Solo Sushi Times c/o Doma

On my drive back to Philly I began thinking about what I needed to do about dinner...the responsible thing would, of course, be to actually go to a grocery store and get regular people foodstuffs. I opted not to do that and, instead, chose to go to Doma for a sushi fix. I decided to also try their shrimp dumpling appetizer, which was quite satisfying. Nice big chunks of shrimp perfectly wrapped and steamed. The pickled daikon (or whatever the pink stuff is) was a nice garnish that I actually quite liked...I would eat more of it if they put it in front of me.

For my main sushi meal I went with the sushi regular option, which comes with 7 pieces of sushi and a spicy tuna roll. The ones I remember are (from left to right) tuna, unsure, salmon, unsure, shrimp, seared white tuna and yellowtail (I think). I also ordered an extra piece of ikura and ankimo. If you like sushi and things like that, I'd suggest you try ankimo if given the change. I think it's monkfish liver or some such thing. Whatever it is, its texture and taste are, to me, quite satisfying.

I ordered one more round, which included eel, wasabi tobikko, ikura and another piece of the yellowtail...unless it wasn't yellowtail, in which case another of the fish I really liked and then forgot.

A very satisfying meal.

Mushroom and Radish Treats Along With Chili, Sunchokes, Beans and Rice

It has been a bit of time since I last saw M&A. In fact, the last time I saw them they were unmarried and now they are entirely married! In any case it was good to see them and I did enjoy the meal they made when I came up to see them a few weekends back. These mushroom tops with boursin are so unbelievably simple to make, and yet make such satisfying appetizers.

Also, buttered radishes.

I hadn't really known much about sunchokes. I've had them in the past, but I would have been incredibly hard pressed to describe them to anyone. Now I am slightly better prepared for the task. Let's see. They have the basic 'look' of a potato or turnip, and perhaps a bit of the texture of an incredibly tender turnip. But their taste also has a definite artichoke heart quality to it. A. also did much of the planning and making of chili, which was good too. And gluten-free cornbread as well, though there was some confusion as to what ingredients were needed to be added to it, which ended in a perhaps less than ideal texture.

A lovely meal that ended with a round of Catan, because of course it did.

Bucks County Roasted Chicken Dinner

As in years past, I had the opportunity to watch over Mr. Ass's parents' dogs a few weeks back while the collective family traveled south to celebrate the 90+ birthday of their matriarch. I drove up the evening before so I would be properly ensconced to start taking care of the two Jack Russells' breakfast and morning medications, and that meant I got to enjoy the company of the Mr. Ass clan, as well as his lady friend P. Mr. Ass' mother made a lovely roasted chicken dish with prunes and olives, which went quite well with a helping of cous cous and salad.

A lovely dinner with good company. Glad always to catch up, especially in such a wonderful kitchen. I really covet that kitchen.

Thanksgiving Dinner in Maryland

Dad and I returned to Maryland for another Thanksgiving dinner with the T.s. I began driving on Thanksgiving day and picked Dad up from the airport in Baltimore. Traffic was generally not bad and we made it to our old neighborhood during the daylight hours. The T.s were our across-the-way neighbors for pretty much my entire life. They and my parents went to Royal Ascot together for quite a number of years, and I really appreciate their ongoing family friendship and their willingness to include us in their holidays. Here is a very cute cream cheese Dorito pumpkin that B. made.

Here is the dinner table.

There were two kinds of turkey this year...I think one was a bourbon glazed variety, grilled...and the other perhaps a more traditional roasted turkey? I feel like this was the first year I really tried stuffing with oysters...I've never been a big stuffing person, but I have to say that particular stuffing (there were about 6 different varieties) really spoke to me.

As in past years, the birthdays of R. and me fall quite near the Thanksgiving holiday...so we each had the opportunity to blow out some candles and sing the 'happy birthday song to one another.

Mmmmmmm. Sweet heavenly dessert.

B. and T.'s nephew and his wife recently had a baby, who did quite well during the entire evening, I would say. Here is a picture of him meeting his cousin-uncle for the first time.

I really am thankful for being able to spend this holiday with a great group of folks whom I have known in one way or another for quite a number of years. I'll have to post some of the photos that B. and D. gave me for my birthday...major throwbacks from childhood, and images I feel like I've never seen or only saw at the time. Very neat.

Birthday Fun Times c/o Buffalo Billiards, Han Dynasty and Yakitori Boy

My birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, which isn't really ideal for a night of celebration given the propensity for the people I know to have jobs that require them to use their brains effectively on weekday mornings. So I sent out a call to birthday arms for the Saturday preceding the actual day of my birth. It was sort of a two-pronged call. To a slightly  more select group I suggested dinner and to a broader, more dart-loving group I suggested darts before that dinner. This was all a bit more last minute than might have been ideal, but I was still really pleased and grateful for the turn out...nothing worse than inviting folks to your own birthday celebrations and finding yourself totally alone. L. and Fat T. came down from Brooklyn a bit before our first scheduled activity. I made a little cheese plate and L. and I drank champagne while Fatty and A. drank beer. We all threw some darts. Then it was on to Buffalo Billiards, where our numbers soon allowed us to take control over all three boards.

Mr. Ass couldn't make dinner, but we did play a game of darts. It was a funny mix between the true blue darters and some of my less dart savvy friends. The majority of darters are legitimately better than me, and usually when I played them I lost. Meanwhile the friends who aren't throwing darts on a daily or weekly basis were quite impressed by my prowess. My dart ability: a sliding scale of awesome based solely on others' own abilities.

After a good amount of time playing the darts, it was time for our rather late dinner reservation at Han Dynasty's new Old City location, just down the block from its old one. I basically ordered for all of us after hearing certain suggestions or desires from the crowd. So our meal ultimately included dumplings in hot chili oil.

Cucumbers in hot chili oil...these suckers are sooo good .

Dan Dan Noodles. Not everyone ordered a sazerac, but I did and I loved it.

This was the cumin lamb.

This was L. reacting to her imminent turn getting the cumin lamb as A. scoops some on his own plate.

I think this is Fatty and LW with the eggplant.

Yep. Succulent, savory eggplant. Love it.

This was either the kung pao chicken or the garlic chicken,

I think this was the twice fried fish maybe?

String bean magic.

Pepper scallops if I recall correctly. SO GOOD.

The dinner was quite lovely and I was so pleased to share my birthday with such fun and funny folks. After that C. and R. went home while Fatty, L., LW, A. and I decided that we would try to do some karaoke at Yakitori Boy, which we did. I sang a Tom Petty song. We also just sang along with all the other people singing. A.'s gf G. joined us and the night went late.

Sake bombs did happen.

I don't really know what's happening in this photo except that LW and I both look quite taken aback, but from different things.

I'm a homebody for much of my daily, weekly or monthly existence, and the older I get the more okay I am about it...that said, every once and a while it's good to have an evening full of folks and fun, and this was certainly such an evening. A hearty thank you goes out to all who partook in my pre-birthday fun times!

Lamb Tacos

We had a properly late dinner as a result of our delicious afternoon cheese plate and the fact that it takes a more than a minute to put together taco fixin's from scratch (or at least mostly from scratch). The meat portion of the tacos was predominantly lamb with a little bit of beef thrown in for good measure. I must admit that while I did add a little salt into the meat, most of the flavor work was done by Rick Bayless's chipotle lime skillet packet.  I was also unable to find already ripe avocados, so I bought the grocery store's relatively fresh guacamole instead.

The pico de gallo, however, was entirely of my own making. I seeded the tomatoes and chopped them. Then chopped red onion and cilantro to add into the mix before adding lime juice, a smidge of olive oil and a tad pinch of salt. Let that marinate for a minute and you get magic man. Magic, man.

I also cooked rice and heated up some black beans.

Oh yes and also some fajita like peppers and onions for good measure.

I'd say a pretty satisfying eating experience. The leftovers of which made quite a number of additional meals for me in the days that would follow.

Martini and Lobster c/o Route 6

When LW and I went to Alla Spina a few weeks back, it was because I foolishly had said that we could enjoy a meal at Route 6 without a reservation. We wanted to have a meal at Route 6 because in the world of arbitrary/promotional calendars, it was "Lobster Month." For Route 6 this meant that pretty much every menu item that included lobster was half off the original price. A pretty sweet deal. Unfortunately, when we showed up it became quite apparent that walk-ins weren't really going to get anywhere, and so we went to Alla Spina and determined that we would try the lobster festivities the next week. And this time with a reservation. So about two weeks ago that's just what we did. Though we arrived on time, things were a little behind, so we sat in the bar area for a small amount of time. I ordered a dirty martini, which was delightful, though I would have enjoyed it even a tad dirtier.

I rationalized getting the shrimp cocktail by thinking of all the money I was saving on the lobster, and I'm glad I did. These were some succulent and tasty shrimp, perfectly chilled but still tender. You know how some shrimp can become rubbery or strangely listless? Neither was the case here. Just well prepared shrimp with a bit of cocktail sauce.

LW and I both ordered the steamed 1.5 pound lobsters. We were given the option of them being broken down for us or doing the dirty work ourselves, we both chose to get our hands properly lobster-y. Of course I was so excited that I completely forgot to take a photograph before I started separating the lobster into its main components, but you can get a basic sense of the presentation even though it is in mangled form as opposed to its pristine arrival format (lobsters have formats, don't doubt me). We wore bibs and took slight advantage of the crackers (what's the proper term for that device you use to crack open the claws?) and mallets, but even when 'doing the work' the restaurant kind of cheats and pre-breaks the main parts so it's not nearly as labor intensive as it would otherwise be. This was especially the case with the tail.

A good and satisfying lobster it was. LW seemed to enjoy the lobster but expressed a desire for a heavier one in the future; she said she was still a little hungry even after finishing the meal. I was more generally pleased with the amount of meat I got for my buck, but I also had the shrimp as an extra component of my meal.

As far as made up special months go, lobster month at Route 6 was definitely a success. The place was packed, but service was quite good, as was the food and overall ambience. Definitely a place to return for future meals. And my goodness, lobster is always such a treat!

Burger c/o Rembrandt's

Sometimes you want a good burger, and sometimes you want a great burger, and sometimes you just want a burger. At some point after work I found myself in that last category and LW found herself in a spot of hunger as well, so we went to Rembrandt's. Rembrandt's does everything nicely though I never leave there saying 'that was the best fill-in-the-blank.' Though they used to have a lamb burger that was damn tasty, which is astoundingly no longer on the menu. In any case, I did have a moment's debate as to what I most wanted to eat from their new menu, but in the end their burger with cheese, bacon and porter onions still was the frontrunner. I enjoyed it quite a bit. The fries, on the other hand, were meh. I guess I really like a crisp fry over a more soggy version.

Chirashi c/o Umai Umai

At some point in the past I once again made my way to Umai Umai and sidled up to the sushi bar. I briefly looked at the menu, but I already knew I was destined to order the chirashi. And destiny cannot be denied. There were a few changes from the bowl I had last time around. Perhaps the most noticeable being the octopus wrapped around mint...or maybe it was a shiso leaf. In any event, it was just what I wanted it to be and I remained quite impressed with the quality of the cuts and the fact that I actually like raw scallop.

I had a brief conversation with the sushi chef (and I think owner?) about the restaurant's lack of social media presence, how moonies supply the restaurant (along with pretty much all other sushi joints in the U.S.) and that was really the crux of the conversation. He's a pretty chill guy and I hope that we will slowly become friends in the way that a customer and a chef can, which is to say that he happily takes my money and I happily give it to him? I'm not sure what I really meant there.

In any case, it was a delightful evening's meal.

Food Truck Party in Columbus

My only big stop was to Penn Alps. After that it was pretty much just me driving. I left Philly around 8 I think. And I got there a little after 5:30. Or something like that. In any case, I arrived at Cuz K. and A.'s house and it wasn't long thereafter that I had a beer in hand. They gauged my interest in a food truck festival in the city and you know I was on board. So off we went. Columbus, for those of you who aren't fans of cities not on a coast, is a nice town. Not too big, but a fair amount of stuff going on and I always feel like people seem happier or nicer, which I guess is a kind of midwestern thing. In any case the festival was well attended. We took a long walk around the perimeter, which was were all the trucks were, to determine what we were most interested in trying. Then we went in a few different directions to stand in line. I debated between barbeque and Jamaican, and ended up thinking that jerk chicken was the thing to do. It was a pretty substantial wait, but definitely good stuff. This was not jerk chicken made for a frail palate and packed quite a considerable punch in terms of spice. It was not terribly surprising to realize just how dumbed down and 'for white people' the jerk chicken I so thoroughly enjoyed in Jamaica really was.

A good evening indeed.

A Little Pasta

On some day in the not so distant past I concocted a meal for myself that included sauteed garlic, mushrooms and green pepper, bits of smoked salmon, a lightly fried egg and pasta. I'm not sure of this, but I would guess that I added cheese and truffle oil to boot. Because that is simply how I roll.

Spatchcocked Chicken

Another spatchcocked chicken. It's kind of a thing I like to do. It's so simple. And in the summers it's so much easier to keep the house cool by keeping the oven off. And that makes grilling very much the thing to do. And as a single lady, roasting a chicken isn't the worst way to have a week of meals at your disposal. You can eat it fresh off the grill and love it. Then do any number of things with the leftovers.

Fresh off the grill I went with a drumstick/thigh, grilled sweet potato and one of my own tomatoes. And a glass of water that looks like it is filled with the light of angels. But it was actually water. I forget which book I was reading at this particular point in time, but there are quite a few books that I have enjoyed this summer that I'll need to write up. Books are great.