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!

Crêpe Time!

Inspired by all the TV shows, I decided to make crepes at home for breakfast on Sunday. I made a whole bunch of batter, from Alain Roy's recipe, by whisking together 2 eggs, 1 cup of all-purpose flour, a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp butter, and 1 cup of milk. My cast-iron girdle was awesome with even heating, in making these crepes. The filling for our breakfast crepes was bananas browned in butter and sugar, with some cinnamon and nutmeg, mixed with some ricotta cheese and topped with walnuts. The crepes did not turn out great, but waaaay better than what the competing chefs made today on Hell's Kitchen.

For dessert tonight, the filling for the crepes were peaches softened in a rum sauce - butter, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, glazed with some rum, then went the peaches till they were soft. I finished the filling with a spoon of creamy mascarpone. Yummy!

Plantains with Cheese - Bolo de verde

I love plantains! My absolute favorite is when they are simply sauteed with spices, but I have also baked them in savoury pies. When I was in Ecuador in 2005, our first breakfast at Guayaquil was a plantain and cheese ball. I can't remember the sauce it was served with, but the taste was so good in a dish with just three ingredients - plantains, cheese and salt! My first attempt in recreating this dish was not a good one, as the plantain had ripened a bit and the taste was less than delicious. I made another attempt on Labor day, this time after a little bit of research. The outcome was so yummy, and is wonderful as a side dish. I am also thinking it would make a great appetizer.

I boiled the plantains, and along with fresh mozzarella cheese grated them in the food processor. To this mixture I added a little bit more salt, some green chili powder and my mom's milagai podi (a blend of red chilies with more toasted lentils and spices). After this Shankar took over, and made the mixture into small cutlets and baked them for about 20 minutes in a 400F oven. Next time, I am going to pan fry them before serving, instead of baking and thinking a lemony aioli would be perfect for dipping.

Another Tiger

To continue with the Tiger Time, here is one from the Milwaukee County Zoo. We went to the zoo for the first time ring our Anniversary weekend in July. We spent almost half a day at the zoo with one of our friends. We saw the tiger towards th closing of the zoo. There are more than 200 tigers in the zoos in the US, and numbers are in 1000's that are privately owned. Though the tigers themselves are probably not going to go extinct, the populations in the wild are declining at a very alarming rate. One just simply cannot highlight the role of zoos as conservation centers. One of the impressive things about the Milwaukee Zoo is that as you walk along the road, you can see the predator and its prey together. In the pen in front of the tiger were the prey. I definitely want to go to this zoo again to see the Snow Leopard, that we missed the last time.

First Meal @ Madison

Its been two days since we have moved into our new home in Madison. As with any move, the first few boxes that we opened helped get things in the kitchen going. I have now a wonderful gas stove - after many years with the electric range, I am so glad to get back to cooking on a gas stove. With a semi-functional kitchen, I was able to put together a good dinner last night. With Shankar packing food for a few days every week, I have been cooking a variety of food every time. Yesterday, dinner included a quick Mushroom and Tofu fry, Sauteed Cabbage - south Indian style with coconut, Kale with Moong dal, and Lime Rasam made with orange heirloom tomatoes, all served with rice. The tofu and kale were kind of bland and the cabbage and rasam were pretty hot! The week is gonna be busy with the house filled with boxes waiting to be unpacked.

Tiger Time

One of the things I was hoping to do during my India trip this summer was to see a Tiger. I was pretty excited when a friend was enthused about the idea of going to one of the National Parks where you can still see one. However, due to scheduling issues, the tiger plans fell through and I went to Eastern Himalayas and on the way managed to see a Great One Horned Rhinoceros at Gorumara National Park. So, now I have to contend with the time spent watching tigers in the zoos.

This one is from Atlanta Zoo, from our 2007 Holiday trip.

The Bridge to Bliss

Raspberry Delight

I had been getting Raspberries almost every time I was at the Farmer's market in Oshkosh this year. Week one - I made a galette with them. Another week, it was the raspberry delight, inspired by The Budding Cook. This is basically a modified version of Shrikhand, with raspberries. The base was Greek Yogurt and Mascarpone cheese. The advantage of using Greek Yogurt or Lebna is that you can skip the step of straining regular yogurt. The raspberries were crushed with the yogurt mixture, and to it, I added sugar - enough to satisfy Shankar's sweet tooth, and lemon juice. I layered the bowl with the raspberry shrikand, some raspberries, topped with plain shrikand (yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, garnished with kesar pista). The dessert was finished with more raspberries and a little lemon ginger chocolate.