Trip to Door County

As S and I celebrated our wedding anniversary last week, we took a trip to the Door County for fun over the long weekend. We decided on Door County so Kalki can also go with us. One of the best decisions we made since he had so much fun!

Before the trip we loaded on good home-made food & a wonderful anniversary dinner at a friend's house. I made a red-lentils & Cauliflower soup topped with chickpea sundal.

One of the nice meals we had during the trip was a Roasted Vegetables quesadilla & a Black-bean burger at The Cookery in Fish Creek, WI

 I have not seen my baby be this happy ever, though he is always a happy baby. He spent an hour in the water for two days and another 20 minutes the third day. Though he gets to swim quite often, he has never seen waves before! He tried to catch the waves and refused to leave. 

And he also got to eat an ice-cream everyday! When we got back home on Monday night, I made a simple buttermilk gravy with zucchini &  sautéed red cabbage for the side dish. I also got a lovely, new bowl from the trip. Supporting other artists :) 

the girl and the fig

Last month we were in CA - a business trip for S and a fun time for me - we made a day trip to the Sonoma Valley and hit my favorite wine celler - The Cline. After a wonderful tour of the winery, we went to the town and had lunch at 'the girl and the fig'. It was a early Valentine's day celebration for us and we had fun.

Started the lunch with their cheese board of Goat cheeses, fig and apricot compote with pears, candied nuts and fig cake.

Entree was a Butternut Squash Arancini with peppercress, oyster mushrooms and mixed chicories.  The portion size was really small and a little disappointing for an entree, but it was delicious.

 

And we finished off with Walnut Clafouti and ice-cream :) Next time I am making Claufouti, it's going to be in single servings in a muffin tin!

Egg Curry with Okra

Ever since we had dinner at Mingalaba Burmese Restaurant in the Bay Area last month, I have been dreaming about their okra egg curry. And during thanksgiving I tried tor recreate the dish from what I tasted there. And here is my version which was pretty close to the restaurant's. The only change I would make it add tomato paste to it and make the dish a little more tart. This was the second dish we made minus the okra for the cooking class.

 

Ingredients: Eggs - 4, hard boiled and sliced in half; Onion - 1 (finely chopped); Okra - 1/2 pound, sliced to 1 inch pieces and teamed in the microwave for 5 minutes; Tomatoes -  2 (chopped); Tomato Paste - 1 tbsp; Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp (Alternately use minced garlic and ginger); Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp; Red chilli powder - 1 tsp; Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp; Garam masala powder - 1 tsp; Curry Powder - 1/2 tsp (optional); Salt - 1 tsp; Cilantro - for garnish.

• Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.
• Add the chopped onions till it becomes translucent.
• Add the ginger garlic paste followed by the chopped tomatoes and salt.
• Cook for a few minutes and add the okra pieces.
• Add the rest of the spices. 
• Fry it for 2 minutes and then add water as needed. Add cilantro now or garnish later.
• Once the sauce is cooked, add the eggs and let it rest for a few minutes before serving.

8 Season's Grille

Madison Magazine's festival of Food was last week in Madison. And I won a couple of gift certificates for the 8 Season's Grille. On Saturday, S and I had a romantic luncheon there, with a three course meal. Well, we had leftovers for the next day's lunch. I was surprised we had not been to this place before. The ambience was neat and the food was good - except for a couple of minor things. 

The chai was very dilute and though S liked it, I couldn't be happy with it, especially after the wonderful description they had on their menu. Chai needs whole milk folks. Especially when it is made from a concentrate. And my quinoa quesidilla was minus the quinoa. Even when I mentioned that to the hostess, there was no explanation and it was disappointing. But the bisque was totally worth going there in the first place. Delish! And the huevos rancheros was wonderful too. We couldn't have enough of the key lime pie. 

Thank you Madison Magazine for the free lunch :)

Chai

Roasted red pepper - tomato bisque

Quinoa Quesidilla

Huevos Rancheros

Key Lime Pie

Dinner at Hilo Bay Cafe

Ever find yourself in Hilo, don't skip out on having a delicious dinner at Hilo Bay Cafe! And don't get put off by their location. Though they are located between office max and wal mart, once you enter, you will be pleasantly surprised by their upscale ambience. We had to convince a couple of our friends to go there for dinner, but the food makes up for all the trouble. The art on their wall was inspiring for me. They do have almost daily specials too. And what more, their food is local and organic. Yum!!!

We shared the appetizer, another daily special. 

S had the Hamakua mushroom potpie

I tried the three cheese and mushroom pastry, with spicy green pesto. Was the best dish of the evening!

And we finished with a rum-infused panna-cotta, mango & pineapple coulis and a macadamia nut shortbread cookie. 

Kuya's Asian Cuisine

It's been a while since I wrote a restaurant review, but thinking about Ishq in South Beach the other day has motivated me to catch up. A few weeks back when we went to CA for thanksgiving, our flight from Milwaukee was delayed by a couple of hours. By the time we landed in CA at 3 pm pacific time, we were literally starving. From the airport we headed straight to Kuya's Asian Cuisine in San Bruno, serving primarily Filipino food. This was one of the closest restaurant which was still serving lunch and had good reviews on yelp. It was a nice (but small) restaurant, and they were ready to customize any dish as vegetarian for us. We love that about Mom and Pop type of places. We ordered the Bicol Express (Spicy mixed Vegetables cooked w/ Coconut milk) without the shrimp and pork. I think they basically made use of all the veggies they had, with a good amount of tofu. The dish was delicious and we finished it really quick. I was a lot more impressed with the flavors than I expected. They also had a good hot sauce on the side that helped us up the spice level on this already hot dish. A good place for a quick lunch!

Fried Okra

During spring break - when we were in Florida, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant called Ishq at South Beach. Our appetizer was Crisp fried Okra with dried pomegranate (first pic). We have not tried deep fried okra before (other than the breaded variety), and it was delicious. I have wanted to make it at home since, but as I hardly ever deep-fry, haven't had a chance to make this dish. Last week, when I had some friends over for dinner, instead of deep-frying, I simply sauteed the okra till crisp, on my cast iron with high heat.

The paring knife was great in slicing the okra, then I added some rice flour, salt, green chili powder and Amchur - dried mango powder, for the nice tangy kick. I started with about a tea spoon of olive oil, but not anymore after that. All that yummy-ness without a lot of oil :)

I am sending this to Think Spice blogging event by Sunita for the Think Amchur hosted by Bhagyashri of Taste Buds.

The must-visit Map Room

During our trip last week to St. Louis, one of our best finds is The Map Room in the Benton Park neighborhood. We came across this place through a search for desserts on Yelp! For once, I was glad that Ethiopian restaurants don't serve desserts, and to please my sweet tooth, we ended up in this quaint place. The Map Room is special in so many ways - their extensive yet inexpensive menu offers a range of pastries (all made by local small businesses), coffees ~ that you can spike with your favorite liqueur, and alcoholic drinks.

Michelle, the owner is so friendly and full of contagious enthusiasm. She has converted an old meat factory - which you cannot even guess unless you pay attention to the pictures or talk to her - into a wonderful place that we ended up visiting three times in 4 days! The theme reflects the name and has a charming international flair to it ~ music from different countries on different days of the week, international movies on Saturday nights in the courtyard, and their drink selection is also based on this theme. Michelle is hoping to have their pastries reigned in to reflect country specials soon.

They have a variety of games and Shankar and I ended up playing cards while sharing some apple Sangria.

The Caribbean Mango Pie was seasonal and I was so happy to have the last piece of the day! The fancy chocolate pastry is actually chocolate ganache on an almond macaroon, dipped in milk chocolate. (There was also a dark-chocolate version of this). I cannot get enough of this little delight. We even brought some home, along with a couple of Budapest torte. The next day, we also played scrabble while enjoying pear sangria and a carrot cup cake. If I lived in St. Louis, you know where to find me!

The Icon @ Madison

Friday evening we went to State Street for dinner and ended up eating at the Icon - restaurant and tapas bar after contemplating a few others. This was our first time dining at the Icon. One of the nice things about restaurants on State street is that most of them have their menu posted outside, and we were surprised to find quite a few vegetarian options on the Icon's menu. We started with a seasonal Mango Sangria - I would go back again just for this sangria!

We ordered two hot tapas - the Patatas Bravas "spicy potatoes" with a sun-dried tomato aioli. This was a more fancy fine dine french fries, but was pretty well seasoned. The second tapas was the Piquillo Peppers "stuffed peppers" - peppers stuffed with vegetables and served with cous-cous. We did not have to wait for long for the food, and our flatbread - the special Margherita flatbread with Manchego cheese and cherry tomatoes. The best part of the flat bread was the crust. It was by far the best crust I have had on a flat bread / pizza. The portion was also pretty big on the flatbread, that we had left over for lunch the next day. We finished the meal with caramelized bananas, with pistachios and vanilla ice cream. And the wonderful dinner cost $35.97 :)

I think Icon is a wonderful place for good food without spending too much. I would seriously suggest that they reduce the crowding of the tables though. It was kinda weird to be so close to other diners at a restaurant like theirs. We would definitely go back, though I would prefer to be seated outside, weather permiting; will also be sure to take the camera along!

July 4 Fireworks

We were in Milwaukee last weekend, as our anniversary / July 4 getaway. After a wonderful dinner with our friends at Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, we went to watch the fireworks by the lake. It was a long evening and the fireworks went on for almost an hour. We were pretty close to the action, by the Milwaukee Art Museum. Here are some of my favorite shots of the evening by Shankar, with the Burke Brise Soleil on the Quadracci pavillion in the front.

Tamarind @ Chicago

Tamarind - an asian restaurant in the South Loop has become one of our favorite Chicago restaurants. They have a wide array of Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and now Indian cuisines in a beautiful setting. We had been there last November when Shankar attended the AME conference. We went to Chicago in August to show Shankar's parents the big city, and went to Tamarind after a long day downtown.

We stared the dinner with some Avocado rolls and deep-fried Tofu. This is the first time I had Tofu garnished with ginger and toasted Nori. Both of them were excellent.

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Shankar loves his fruit drinks with bobo and Tamarind has a selection of fresh fruits, from which you can choose up to three for a blended drink. We had a Melon trifecta - with water melon, cantaloupe and honey dews.

Shankar's parents had vegetable fried rice and we had a Cashew and Vegetables in a brown sauce with Tofu. This was a perfect meal for us. We noticed that they add a slice of cucumber to their water jars - a refreshing touch!

The staff were very friendly and we also got to talk to the owner. She promised us dessert, but after such a big meal we just couldn't order anything more. Tamarind is very reasonably priced, actually I would venture to say they are in-expensive for the quallity of food and their location. A must-go to restaurant in Chicago!

Angry Trout Cafe @ Grand marais

We were pretty hungry after our ~3 miles hike for more than a couple of hours and headed for Grand Marais for lunch. Our first stop was at the visitor's center, where in addition to a lot of good information, we were able to park our car for the next few hours.

We strolled along the beach to Angry Trout Cafe, which was recommended to us by two of our friends. Though they don't have a menu on their website, we were sure they had vegetarian fares. We were pleasantly surprised to find that they used mostly organic vegetables in their recipes and supported a variety of local producers and also artists.

The appetizer was Fried Eggplants with a very lemony aioli sauce.

It was followed by a Wild Mushrooms sandwich, served with chips and coleslaw

And of course, we had room for a big slice of Maple Butter Cream Cake that is from a local bakery (Lola's Sweet Life Bakery) that supplies to almost all the good restaurants in town. I really liked the idea of outsourcing the dessert department in a restaurant :) This is one of our top restaurants, with not only really good & healthy food, but an awesome view of the lake, good ambiance and great service.

Night at Cascade Lodge

After what seemed to be a long night, we reached Cascade Lodge in Lutsen, MN for the night. The staff were kind enough to leave our keys on the front desk, so we can check-in late. We woke up to a beautiful morning and an awesome view from our room. I got up at the first light to see the lake and went back to bed !

We had breakfast at the Cascade Restaurant next door. Our breakfast was a simple Swedish Pancakes & Blueberries. We also packed a Cinnamon Roll for the hike. Unfortunately the coffee was very disappointing.

The lodge has activities planned for the guests everyday and this day it was Alpine Trekking. However, they had to cancel it and instead let us borrow their new hiking poles for free for the day. This is the view of Lake Superior from the pine forests behind the restaurant as we started the hike.

Split Rock Light House

As we drove North, our next brief stop was at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. We had to get a vehicle permit here (that is valid for all state parks for the day) and wanted to take some pictures of the light house with the sun light falling on it. However, by the time we reached the Pebble Beach it was already getting dark. Though we didn't get to spend a lot of time here, the beach was beautiful, with few people and we are glad we stopped here.

We had reservations for the night and since it was already close to 9 pm by the time we left Split Rock, we had a quick dinner of Wild Rice Baguette loaded with roasted vegetables for dinner at Northern Lights Restaurant in Beaver Bay. Most of the restaurants have a good view of the lake and it makes the food (even a sandwich) taste so much better!

Betty's Pies - The Best Pies Ever

From Duluth, we took the North Shore Scenic Drive (instead of Hwy 61) to Two harbors. As the name says, the drive was really beautiful with such a splendid view of the Lake Superior.

Our first stop was at Betty's Pies, about 3 miles North of Two Harbors. Our friend Chris recommended we stop there and it is a popular tourist destination on the North Shore. Opened in the 1950's, they are a full service restaurant and have unusual dishes like a Pie-shake.

Though they did not have any pie with nuts in them when we went, their French Strawberry Banana Cream Pie was quite the pie.

A thin crust, a mixture of strawberries and bananas, a layer of banana cream, a layer of meringue and a layer of strawberry cream, served with whipped cream - that was the best and the richest pie I ever had!

Back with the Grand Isle Bananas

The spring semester went by faster than I expected and being at home in the summer, there is so much going on and a post has been long overdue on this blog. Before continuing on with our South Trip, I thought I will ease into writing with recent excitements.

Shankar and I went to Eau Claire (city about 55 miles from where we live), to get the car's oil changed - yes, we have to go that far to get the car serviced and for everything else. We also had plans to get groceries, get Amy groomed professionally and have a nice dinner. There is a local dining guide for the Chippewa Valley and I have noticed that one of the best desserts to get in town is the Grand Isle Bananas from Stella Blues. Stella Blues is a Cajun restaurant & we haven't been there before. I had called once to ask how late they are open to go for dessert, but never made it that far. We always end up in the Mall part of town and hardly make it to Down town, Eau Claire.

The place was a pleasant surprise. On the bar counter was a huge metal 'Ganesh' statue - quite unexpected. We were seated immediately and since we went pretty early (~5.45 pm) and had a whole lot of things to take care in town, we skipped the drinks. We had Sweet Potato Fries, with a chipotle mayo that had the kick of habenaro, a simple Cajun Pasta - vegetables and fettucine in a creamy cajun sauce and ofcourse, the Grand isle Bananas. The Sweet Potato Fries was really good, the pasta was nothing unusual, but twe liked the spices. The dessert was awesome :) Bananas were fried in a cinnamonny - buttery - rum sauce, with a huge portion of what I am going to call a Banana Nut Bread, Vanilla Ice Cream, Whipped cream and caramel drizzled on top. Need I say more!

CNN Tower

The CNN Center in Atlanta is also a tourist center, where we can take a guided tour on the news giant - get a glimpse of the newsroom and how they work. After a late start, mostly because of me chatting with Ramya and delaying her too, we made it to the CNN center, also across from the Centennial Park around 11 am.

The tour was 55 minutes long, and it was pretty interesting for us to learn more about how news is processed & delivered to us. Only disappointment was pictures were not allowed. Oh, and even though we go up an escalator, we have to walk down like 13 flights of stairs - so not for the weak legged.

From the CNN center, we went to SbyDee, a new Thai restaurant near Georgia Tech. The place was recommended by our friend Goutham, and he also joined us for lunch. The place was nice, not crowded and the food was excellent. We had vegetable tempura and a cashew curry. Today's good Thai food helped us alleviate the disappointment of the Thai restaurant we stopped at on our first day of this trip.