Monday Night Football

Well, at least the food was good.  I wish I could say the same about the outcome of last night's game, but I can definitely say the food and family was good.  I had made a French silk pie for my boyfriend's birthday and thought he needed good excuse to come over to watch a Packer's game with my parents.  It turned out really well and was truly as decadent as it was light.  I got the recipe from this blog.

Meatball subs with spinach, provolone, basil and garlic bread

Classic: velveeta and picante dip with chips

Fall lineup!

There is an exciting new lineup this fall and I'm not referring to new episodes of Glee (Britney Spears tonight anyone?!?). No, I am referring to the re-opening and opening of restaurants in Minneapolis. Check out this article for more information:


Fugaise Rises! Plus: Other Restaurants Opening This Fall - Dara & Co. - September 2010 - Minnesota


You better believe I will be going to these restaurants and taking a look for myself. Plus, a family friend of mine, Pete Thillen will be the sous chef at inSeason Restaurant!

Really?

After stuffing my face full of D'amico catered food at work, I returned to my usual routine of re-checking Facebook, Twitter and Food Gawker.  You see, I've been sitting at the front desk of the Weisman since about noon today and have (what feels like) looked at every single page of every single website that is online.  (Okay, kind of an exaggeration)  Just when I thought I had exhausted just about every source of online entertainment, I stumbled upon this article:

14 Uses for Your Microwave

Let me just say one thing about this article.  It has to soften butter and to melt butter as two separate uses.  I really hope the average Yahoo reader doesn't really need a list of ways to use their microwave, because if that is the case, I am very, very sad.  It is hilarious to say the least and the comments people left are even funnier.


So please, enjoy.


Also, please don't use a microwave to cook bacon or "toast" anything.  Thank you.

Packers + Poached Eggs

What a successful day!  Not only did the Packers beat the Eagles 27-20, but I poached my first egg!
 I had been obsessing over whether or not I could successfully poach an egg for days, and decided the first Packer game would be the perfect stage to try.  I love ordering dishes with poached eggs at restaurants because it adds such a rich, beautiful and luscious component to any dish.  It can be used in so many applications; on pasta, any breakfast dish, on a sandwich or even just with bread.  It is impressive and delicious, causing it to be intimidating and plain old scary in my own kitchen, hence the reason I order it in restaurants.  After reading about how to poach an egg on millions of different blogs and learning it was the healthiest way to prepare an egg, I became obsessed.  Obsessed with the whole process and how to properly execute a poached egg.  So, I decided to make an open faced sandwich with prosciutto and a poached egg and it went a little like this:

What you need:

• One French baguette (only need half, save the other half for cheese or soup!)
• 8 thinly sliced prosciutto
• 4 Laughing Cow cheese wedges, swiss flavor (great way to make a light, creamy spread)
• 1/2 cup mayonaisse
• 1 bag of spinach (won't be using all of it)
• Olive oil
• 4 Eggs
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Lemon juice
• Dried basil

What to do with it:

• Cut the baguette in half, long way.  Brush olive oil over bread and spread around minced garlic.  Place bread in broiler and toast until golden brown.  Cut again into 4 separate pieces.
• To make spread:

• Combine Laughing Cow cheese, mayo and dried basil.  Probably about 1 teaspoon is enough.  Add a dash or 2 of lemon juice (fresh or not).  You can keep adding mayo, cheese, lemon and basil until you get a flavor you like.  Sprinkle in some black pepper too.

• Assemble!  Take your slice of bread, spread mayo/cheese mixture on it and then add 2 slices of prosciutto.  Grab a handful of spinach and lay on top, drizzle olive oil over whole thing and add a dash of salt and pepper.  Then, add your poached egg.

I am not going to get into how to poach an egg because I am no pro, and there are millions of instructions online.

 So, I poach my first egg, and it is everything I had been dreaming about for the previous two days.  I add my dash of vinegar to keep the egg from coagulating, I make a little whirlpool to drop it in and I keep a close eye on it.  I take my slotted spoon, and carefully scoop out my first poached egg.  I set it down on the paper towel, and finally exhaled.

It's perfect.  It's beautiful, probably going to taste amazing, and my mom even threw me a high-five.  My dad walks in the kitchen and my mom raises her hands in the air and cheers, "we poached an egg!"  At the same time, I was walking toward my dad to show it to him and put it on a sandwich, and then this happened:

We had a good laugh, to say the least.  After a couple of more tries, I proudly ended up with:

And then:

 It was so amazing.  The crunch from the toasted bread, meatiness of the prosciutto and freshness of the spread.  All amazing.  And then to throw a luscious poached egg on top?  Please.  Definitely a crowd pleaser, super easy to make and little to no prep work.  Really solid flavors and textures.  Lots of room for variation of ingredients and creativity.

 

Couldn't ask for anything more.  Family, food, and a Packer win.  So good, I made a poached egg for breakfast this morning.

Interesting Info on Restaurant Chefs

I love knowing behind the scenes information about well, practically everything, but especially what goes on back in the kitchen of restaurants.  Interesting article posted on Yahoo's homepage about just that:

25 Things Chefs Never Tell You

One surprising thing: chefs don't always like eggplant?

Food Gawking 101

If there is anything I am good at, it is eating/looking at food.  I can't say I have mastered the kitchen, but I certainly know how to look at food and watch people make it (thank you Food Network).  Sometimes I even like to walk around Whole Foods to look at the all beautiful produce and my mom and I have even been to Kitchen Window countless times, simply to admire yet rarely to make any purchases.  Foodgawker.com is becoming one of my favorite places to look at food, find recipes, learn more about ingredients and observe discussions about food from other people's blogs.  There are SOOO many food blogs out there it is pretty intimidating and overwhelming, but you have to start somewhere right?  Blogs are a great place to share photographs that are specific to a certain topic, unlike Facebook.  It is a multimedia format so I can post photos alongside text which works perfectly when discussing food.  So, in the spirit of simply gawking at food, I have decided to share some of my favorite photographs I took while traveling to France earlier this summer.

Potatoes at the open air market

Olives at the open air market

One of the few home dishes I cooked; green beans, potatoes and a baguette; all from the market.

Beef tartar with mint and jasmine rice. YUM!

Homemade apple rhubarb pie with homemade crust.  All fresh from a farm where I stayed

Raspberry tart

AMAZING tomato, basil and eggplant spread, homegrown at a farm.  Served with homemade bread.

Breakfast.  Homemade bread with homemade jams: blueberry, apricot and orange.  Yeah, the butter is homemade too.

Course after entree, before dessert.  Goat cheese from a local farm.

One of the best things I ate in France, quiche with goat cheese and a homemade crust.  Maybe it tasted so good because it was after a 5 mile hike.

Foi Gras last night in France

An experience to say the least.  Fresh oysters in Sète, a harbor on the Mediterranean Sea.  Just lemon and saltwater.

Also from Ortholon, pistachios and pineapple.

Like a kid in a candy store.  Like a kid in La Cure Gourmande in the medieval town, Aigues Mortes to be correct.

Rose pastry from Ortholon.

Chocolate, hazelnut and pistachio cake (?).

Let me know which ones are your favorite!

Bun Mi, Please

Attention poor college students and cheap eaters alike: welcome to the world of Vietnamese sandwiches!  I am aware that Bun Mi isn't any new revelation to U of M college students but in case you have been living under a rock, Bun Mi is a sandwich shop at 604 Washington SE in Stadium Village on the U of M campus.  Bun Mi is inspired from the Vietnamese sandwich bahn mi that comes in a French baguette with some kind of meat (at Bun Mi the options are lemongrass chicken, grilled beef or traditional BBQ Pork) pickled vegetables, French pâté. and a special mayo.  If you get the combo meal, you get french fries served with their special sauce and a can of pop.  One of the best parts of Bun Mi is the price; this whole meal is 5.99 + tax.  Let me tell you, this is more than just a sandwich and fries.  There are so many things I love about Bun Mi so I will narrow it down to my top 5:

1. The Sandwich: I think the real stars of this sandwich are the veggies.  There are pickled carrots and daikon, cucumber, green onions (fav) and spicy jalapeños.  They add a really refreshing crunch to the sandwich and make it feel like something that has actually been made fresh.  You can taste that there are people back in the kitchen paying attention to these vegetables and making them a key element to the sandwich, rather than just adding them as filler or to make the sandwich appear healthier. The pickling process of the carrots and daikon allow them to add crunch and acidity that add a nice balance.  They have purpose on this sandwich and their purpose is well served.  The vegetables along with the fresh cilantro balance out the meatiness you get from the meat very nicely.  The French pâté is one of those things you don't even know you are tasting, but you are kind of like, "hmm what is that?"  It is creamy along with the mayo and they really bring the sandwich all together.  Then you get the spicy kick from the jalapeños that let you know your taste buds are working.  If you really like it spicy, throw a couple of lines of sriracha on it, and you're good to go.  All together, these ingredients, flavors and textures create a really unique sandwich that is like a whole meal in itself.
2. Sriracha + Mayonnaise: This is what really sold me on Bun Mi.  Their fries are unbelievable in the first place because they have mastered how to make a fry crunchy from using a some kind batter, yet still taste like a potato on the inside.  But, the sauce to dip them in is what brings them to a whole new level.  Yes it is just two ingredients (I found out myself because, well, I asked) but it is the perfect two ingredients that deserve to stand alone on my list.  I found out my love of sriracha by trying it with mayo- who knew?  It is spicy, creamy, balanced and the perfect dip for my fries and or sandwich to bring it all together.  It usually comes to me licking the little cup it comes in clean.
3. Something Different: Yeah you can go to Subway or Jimmy Johns for a cheap sandwich, but let me ask you, why?  Bun Mi is not only unique for U of M students, but for Minneapolis.  Their is a definite void of these kinds of sandwiches in Minneapolis.  They are much more popular in other parts of the country and there is a Vietnamese food truck on Food Network's "The Great Food Truck Race."  But as far as in Minneapolis, I mostly see it on larger Vietnamese restaurant's menus like in Midtown Global Market or at Saigon in St. Paul.  And as for the U of M campus, there are a couple of places to go for a quick, cheap lunch, but nothing as unique or satisfying.  Bun Mi was started by U of M grads and I can always appreciate supporting a non-chain restaurant (cough cough Chipotle, Noodles & Co, McDonald's = booring).  The concept of Bun Mi as well as the flavors offered in their food are bold, bright and definitely something different than your usual cheap college lunch on the go.
4. Cheap Date: My boyfriend and I went to Bun Mi for lunch the other day the total was around 13 dollars.  This included two sandwiches (his a "special" with BBQ Pork AND grilled Beef, 50 cents more) two orders a fries and two drinks.  I think food tastes even better when you know you aren't overpaying.  Well priced, satisfying, quality food.
5. Everything Else: Yes, there is a menu beyond their sandwiches and it is extensive at that.  They also specialize in bubble tea which is something I have yet to try.  They have many unique and traditional flavors from passion fruit to taro or coconut.  I have tried and loved their salads for a lighter choice.  It is basically the sandwich minus the bread plus vermicelli noodles and lettuce.  You get all the flavors of the sandwich in salad form.  They also have a lot of great appetizers that I have tried before and really enjoyed like the fresh spring rolls, fried egg rolls or cream cheese wontons. 

So if you haven't already tried it and you are hungry for lunch between classes this fall or just walking back to campus from Paradigm where you just bought your overly priced course packet, go to Bun Mi to save some money and try something new.  If you don't try it at Bun Mi, I strongly encourage you to try a bahn mi sandwich in some variation from somewhere!

Other great restaurants with Vietnamese sandwiches:

Saigon Restaurant and Bakery
Quang's
Lu's Sandwich

Leave comments about your thoughts/experiences/recommendations!