One Night in Bangkok

Readers, as promised I am restarting my recipe posts. I have decided that once a week I will treat Nate to a new recipe that I've never tried before. This week I decided on Pad Thai and Coconut Soup.

Coconut Soup retrieved from All Recipes

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp grated ginger

1 stalk lemongrass, minced 

2 tbsp red curry paste

4 C chicken broth (or use 2 C vegetable broth and 2 C chicken broth) 

3 Tbsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp light brown sugar

3 cans coconut milk

1/2 lb fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced 

1 lb shrimp, peeled and de-veined

2 Tbsp lime juice 

Salt to taste

1/4 C fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

In a large stock pot over medium-high heat, heat oil and then add in lemongrass and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Note to readers, mincing lemongrass is a pain in the behind! I sharpened my biggest kitchen knife and still struggled to chop the damn thing. Just be prepared for some struggling. 

Pour in broth slowly and stir continuously. 

Mix in fish sauce, brown sugar and curry paste and simmer for 15 minutes. 

Add in the coconut milk and mushrooms and simmer until mushrooms are soft, this took about 10 minutes. 

Add in shrimp and cook until no longer translucent. 

Mix in salt and lime juice and garnish with cilantro when serving! 

This soup has a very strange smell, not necessarily a foul smell just different from anything else I can compare it to, however, don't let this throw you off! The soup is very delicious! The shrimp were succulent and juicy, the lime juice and cilantro gave it a freshness and the red curry added a nice heat without being too spicy. 

Now readers, despite my being a kitchen perfectionist not everything always works out. However this was definitely operator error and not a problem with the recipe. 

Pad Thai retrieved from Wall Street Journal 

4 oz fettuccine-width rice stick noodles

1/4 C peanut oil (we didn't have any so I substituted grapeseed oil) 

3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter (the recipe called for tamarind paste but we didn't have any plus I wanted to add peanut taste since we had no peanut oil) 

1/4 C fish sauce 

1/3 C honey

2 Tbsp rice vinegar 

1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes

1/4 C chopped scallions 

1 clove garlic, minced 

2 eggs

1 small head Napa cabbage, chopped 

1 C bean sprouts

1/4 C cilantro, chopped

2 limes, quartered 

This was where the recipe and I decided to not be friends, Wall Street Journal told me to place the noodles in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. I followed these instructions and unfortunately my noodles were left severely undercooked (practically uneatable) so I suggest following the instructions on the package instead.

In a small saucepan on low-medium heat, heat together peanut butter, fish sauce, honey and vinegar. Stir in red pepper flakes. 

In a large skillet (or wok if you have one), heat 3 Tbsp peanut (or grapeseed) oil over medium-high heat. When oil slides easily around the pan, heat garlic and scallions for a minute. 

Add eggs to pan and scramble them just as they're about to set. 

Add cabbage and bean sprouts to pan and cook until the cabbage just begins to wilt. 

Add in shrimp and cook for 3 minutes per side (or until the shrimp form a "c"; "c" for cooked! Cute way to remember right?) 

Add drained (and hopefully fully cooked) noodles to a big bowl, add in shrimp and other ingredients, pour sauce over and toss to coat. Serve with cilantro and lime garnishes.

Despite the awful and leathery noodles, the shrimp and other ingredients had such wonderful flavors! It truly is a disappointment that these noodles turned out so horribly but oh well, you live and learn. 

Hope you enjoy this international dish, readers! It was pretty simple to make and relatively few dishes to wash and who doesn't love that?! 

Banana Bread

So I hate bananas. I think they're awful but I know they're good for me so I often hide them in things (yes, like a parent does with their children). So since I had 3 super ripe bananas I decided to make banana bread. 

3 very ripe bananas 

1/3 C unsalted butter, melted

1 tbsp baking soda

1/4 tbsp salt

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C brown sugar 

1 egg, beaten 

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 C flour 

Preheat oven to 350. 

In a mixing bowl mash bananas with a fork until smooth. When mashed, mix in melted butter. 

Mix in baking soda, salt, sugars, egg, vanilla extract and flour. 

Pour into a greased loaf pan, smooth the top and tap the pan on the counter a few times (I saw Martha Stewart do this once, she said it got out the air bubbles. Not sure if it really does but if Martha recommends it, I guess I should try it.) 

Bake for 50 minutes to an hour (do the toothpick thing). 

Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Slice with a bread knife to avoid crumbly slices and serve with some butter and cinnamon (seriously, try this). 

Enjoy the banana bread, readers! And sorry for the recipe hiatus, it's been a busy few weeks but I promise I'll get back to the recipe posts! 

Das Gut

When I say "German food" what comes to mind? Latkes? Schnitzel, perhaps? Well, these are undoubtedly delicious but what I had at Heimat House Resturant and Beer Garden was even better than those, plus it was an adorable Greek family dinner with Nate and his "Little Bros" from Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. 

The Heimat House is located at 6910 Montgomery Blvd, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109. They only have one sign visible from Montgomery Blvd so the Resturant is easy to miss (I never knew it existed until about a month ago despite living a block away from it for over a year). 

But I can honestly say my mind and opinion about German food has been changed by the Heimat House. I was (am) a notoriously picky eater, Nate can certainly attest to this. I went to Germany when I was 12 and refused to eat anything that looked or sounded weird but at the Heimat House I decided to branch out. 

Heimat House has a huge list of German beers on draft and in bottles. The reason we decided to go Thursday night (besides family dinner) was the free Krombacher steins with purchase of a Krombacher draft beer (of which they have 3 varieties - Pilsner, Dark and Hefeweizen).

Decor: excellent, the Resturant was very homey (makes sense since "Heimat" in German means "house", huh?). Dark wood booths and tables, a huge and fully stocked bar. It was what I would label approachable elegance. I felt in place in jeans and a t-shirt but would've felt just as comfortable wearing a nice dress for date night. They also have a row of televisions for watching a game while enjoying some beers (the Blackhawks were playing that night). They have a bar, three dining areas and what looked like a possible patio seating area coming soon. 

Food appearance: good, one thing that can be said about German food is that it's meant to be hearty and filling, not necessarily pretty. However, the plating was more than just plopping food on the plate. 

Food taste: excellent, we ordered the potato and cheese pierogi appetizer (Nate loves pierogi). These dumplings of potato goodness were sautéed in butter with onions and served with sour cream (yummy!!) I also tried a bite of the Spaetzle mit Kase, aka dumplings with cheese. It was like the creamiest macaroni and cheese I've ever eaten. 

Hungarian Spicy Sausage soup, this was a recommendation from our waiter and I would like to thank him profusely for it! The broth was spicy without being overpowering, the sausage was plump and despite being submerged in broth still had a bite (please explain this phenomenon to me?!) and had delicious broth-soaked potatoes. 

For my entree I got the Bratwurst with sauerkraut and German potato salad. The bratwurst was flavorful and served with delicious hot mustard, I dislike sauerkraut but everyone else said it was top-notch, the German potato salad reminded me of my Oma's, slightly warm, potatoes well-cooked and well seasoned. For dessert, Nate and I shared a HUGE slice of Black Forest cake. The cherry filling was sweet with the cherries still slightly firm, the chocolate was slightly bitter and it was served with fresh whipped cream, did I mention that all their food is made in-house?  

Cleanliness: excellent, everything from the booths to the bathrooms were perfectly in order. 

Service: excellent, our server was attentive, friendly and helpful. Our drinks were never empty and dirty plates not left on the table too long. 

Total: 14/15 

If you're craving some seriously delicious and home cooked Eastern European food, please go to Heimat House, everything I ate was sublime and their beer selection is unparalleled. 

Relish the Thought

So I hate saying anything is my "favorite" food (unless it's pizza, of course) because I feel like it limits you to one thing. You're committed. That's it. It's like marriage (although once again if it were pizza I wouldn't mind). That being said, sandwiches are a food I definitely enjoy eating because there are so many different ways to make them: sweet (pb&j), meaty (Reuben), salty, cheesy, or a mix (Monte Christo). 

Yesterday for lunch Nate and I went to Relish located at 8091 Menaul Blvd NE, Albuquerque, NM 97110. The thing I love most about Relish is that you know their ingredients are fresh and everything is freshly prepared but they don't have to boast about it. 

The menu has hot and cold sandwiches, salads, and freshly made sides. 

Decor: Excellent! Local artists' work lines the walls, so if you see something you like but it! You're supporting your local economy! The space consists of 2 dining areas (roughly 100+ seats), the walls are colorful, and the tables and chairs are comfortable and inviting. 

Cleanliness: Excellent, the tables were turned over quickly by staff despite the fact it was 12:30 on a Tuesday. 

Food appearance: good, food is served on disposable plates but I think it works for the location. Relish is supposed to be a quick-service restaurant to cater to the many businesses in the area so the disposable is good for the get-up-and-go atmosphere. Plus look at this food and tell me honestly that you're not tempted to lick the screen of the device you're looking at. 

Food taste: excellent! Like I said before, the freshness makes this place incredible. I ordered the Isotopes hot sandwich which has smoked turkey, bacon (aka nature's candy), Havarti cheese, tomatoes, mixed greens and spicy buttermilk dressing on a toasted roll  with a side of their pasta salad (farfalle pasta, grape tomatoes, basil, mozzarella and balsamic vinegarette). Everything was incredible and I'm salivating now just thinking about it (excuse me, I need to go get a bib now). Nate ordered the Homemade Mozzarella (vegetarian), homemade mozzarella cheese, roasted red pepper, mixed greens, tomatoes and balsamic vinegarette on a toasted roll with a side of potato salad (IDAHO potatoes [sorry, I gotta tease because Nate went to the potato museum in Idaho, bet you didn't know there was one, huh? And told me how gung-ho the tour guide was about Idaho potaoes], hard boiled eggs, relish, mayo and mustard). 

Service: good. It's hard to rate service since the only interaction you have is when you order and when your food is delivered to you. However, with this limited interaction I will say both people I met (order person/delivery person) were both friendly and efficient. 

Total: 13/15 

Not bad Relish, not bad. If you are in the mood for a gourmet sandwich and in the height's area check it out. However I have some tips to make your experience better:

1) Parking is limited! The parking lot is small to begin with and then factor in that the lot is shared between multiple businesses. However, there is street parking available on Vermont St NE

2) It's not as cheap as Subway. In this case you are definitely paying extra for quality but keep in mind that it is well worth it. A sandwich or salad run you anywhere from I'm $8.00 to $10.50 not including a drink. 

3) If possible try to go around 12:45 when the lunch rush dies down or call ahead to place your order. This tip will help alleviate the stress of realizing you've spent 15 minutes of your lunch hour just waiting in line to order your lunch. 

Check out the 3 time Albuquerque the Magazine Best of the City winner (2011, 2012 and 2014) next time you're nearby and craving some seriously good sandwiches. 

What Goes Better with Cupcakes Than Booze?

Baking has become my passion lately, it's so weird but it's like I want to bake cupcakes all the time now. Today's occasion is tomorrow is Nate's last day of his undergraduate college career (cue the "awes"). 

He has to present his senior design project to his professors, a project I may add that he's been working on for the better part of a semester. So to celebrate this momentous occasion, I made him (and his fellow seniors) Irish Car Bomb cupcakes! I chose to make these partly because we had a single bottle of Guinness in the fridge and also because after this semester these hardworking seniors need hard liquor. 

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes 

1 C unsalted butter 

1 C Guinness beer (I used the Extra Stout) 

2/3 C cocoa powder, sifted 

1 C brown sugar 

1 tbsp salt 

2 C cake flour

1 C sugar 

1 1/4 tbsp baking soda 

2 eggs 

1/16 C water 

1/16 C Bailey's Irish Cream 

1/16 C heavy whipping cream 

1/16 C milk 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter and combine with Guinness, cocoa powder and brown sugar whisking frequently. Remove from heat to cool to room temperature after combined. 

In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt, sugar and baking powder and combine. After the Guinness mixture is cooled, add in and beat with electric beater for 1 minute. Add in 2 eggs, water, Bailey's, heavy whipping cream and water. Beat additional 2 minutes. 

Divide batter into lined cupcake pans, fill liners about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 20 minutes adding more time as needed until a toothpick can be removed cleanly. 

Let cool on wire rack completely before icing. 

I was going to make Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream to compliment these boozy concoctions, but I thought that might be frowned upon on a closed alcohol campus, so instead I'm making my tried and true vanilla buttercream (see my "Baking (Again)" blog for recipe). 

I bought myself some reusable pastry bags and tips to be fancy so I'm having fun trying them out. 

Hope you missed me during my hiatus, readers and I hope you are enjoying your end of school/start of summer, or if you're a working stiff like me, just being hot and sweaty.