Spaghetti with Bok Choy

Here's what happened: I was in the mood for lots of garlic, crushed red pepper and olive oil with spaghetti (otherwise known as aglio e olio, but if I'm being honest, I never think of that entire phrase in my head when I'm putting the dish together) and some bok choy was sitting around solemnly waiting to be forgotten. As home cooks like to do, I asked myself "why not?" and threw some shredded bok choy in with the pasta (this step was done a few minutes before the pasta was done). I am happy to report that it worked out! The bok choy didn't add a ton of flavor, but it brightened things up visually and the spaghetti pairing was an unusual way for me to enjoy it. I may end up doing the exact same thing with the rest of the bok choy; it's just so simple yet delicious.

London

I have wanted to visit London for a long time (my whole life, possibly). A steady diet of Jane Austen, "Love Actually," and BBC shows will do that to a girl. So, I was beyond thrilled that I finally made it over there! It was wonderful to take in the immense history, the gorgeous parks and all that tea. As an American, I will admit that England has a magical quality to me, so I took great delight in the small, ordinary things. Case in point: eating crisps in a pub, which is something I've seen British TV detectives do after a long day at the office (also, calling bagged chips "crisps" was a small thrill). Here is a collection of my London eats:


A full English breakfast was a major to-do item on my list. Beans on toast!


Lovely scone with clotted cream and jam at afternoon tea. The allure of clotted cream is completely deserved.


Mango lassi at Dishoom, a very busy, modern Indian restaurant. The ruby chicken curry below was excellent.




My favorite version of fish and chips was at Kerbisher & Malt. These fish nuggets were notable because of the batter. Not at all soggy! Plus, the shop design is super cute.


And lastly, a very good chicken pie with a beautiful crust, which revealed to me that I had never had a proper savory/savoury pie until this trip.

Since this was my first trip to London, I was interested in trying a lot of "traditional" fare. But, next time around, I would love to have more ethnic food as well as visit some of the current/hip darlings of the restaurant scene.

Carrot and Daikon Pickle

Pickles are my jam. Not just cucumbers, but any vegetable, really. I especially love the pickled radishes and carrots at Vietnamese restaurants, so I was pleased to find this Saveur recipe (short and simple, just the type of recipe I gravitate towards!). I did things a little differently: I am not great at cutting uniform sizes and overlooked "salt" in the wilting stage, so had to sprinkle that in, mix again and wait a bit longer. I also used rice vinegar instead of white. (Sidenote: I did wonder why the recipe mentioned only sugar and no salt, but shrugged it off. Just goes to show, trust your inner voice! And read the directions.)

For more flavor, the veggies probably need to hang out in the fridge for a while. I'm planning on eating them as a snack or a side dish since I need to add more produce to my diet. But, I think they would work well in their "quick pickle" form in a bibimbap or a lettuce wrap. I'm just happy to have found an alternative to bagged salad!

Inari Sushi

I find inari sushi irresistible. Yet, I only eat them at restaurants or buy them pre-made at the Japanese grocery store. As I'm trying to expand my cooking repertoire, I decided it was high time to cross this one off the list. And... it turns out there's not much to it if you work fast and not think at all about making your rice look pretty.

But, you do need to carve out some time to make the steamed rice, start assembling the inari, take a tiny break to wonder why you started this whole endeavor, tell yourself to stop whining and soldier on until finally you have a plate of these stuffed fried tofu pouches (pickled radish are optional, but I love them so, so much). TRULY IMPORTANT: keep re-wetting your hands because otherwise, the rice will get unmanageable.

I bought my fried tofu pouches (with sushi rice seasoning and savory sprinkles of some sort included) at the Korean grocery store, but I did throw in some roasted sesame seeds to "make it my own." For my next inari experiment, I am thinking about adding something a little extra to the rice, such as kimchi, shiitake mushrooms or even cheese (okay, that last one could be going too far, but I'm probably going to do it anyway).

Fried Egg with Kale

This egg was going to be photographed sunny-side up, but then the yolk looked weird and I was like, whatever, I'm going to flip it over and just take the picture. Perfection is relative. Let's move on.

I got it into my head that a gooey fried egg would be pretty tasty on top of a mound of kale. After trying it, I can say I was about 85% right. I cooked the kale on the stove with broth, so there was a little too much juice on the plate. Next time, I will try a roasted something for the base (cauliflower? Brussels sprouts?). I like a good kale salad as much as the next person, but I adore braised kale. Here's my quick version:

-Chop as much garlic as you want. Heat olive oil in a pot over low to medium heat; give it a few seconds to warm up before throwing in the garlic.

-Once the garlic is sizzling, add kale (I tore it up by hand because kale gets everywhere when you chop it) and toss it around, making sure to get the garlic up from the bottom of the pot.

-After the kale has wilted down, add enough vegetable or chicken broth to cover (I happened to use chicken this time) and raise the heat to bring to a boil. Then, drop the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or until the bitterness is gone. If you have the time, keep simmering until you're happy with it. I generally like to eat as soon as possible!

-Add seasoned salt and pepper to taste after the kale is done (the broth can add a good amount of salt, so do a taste test to see what is needed). Regular salt is fine, too, but I am on a crusade to use up my spices! I have a lot of seasoned salt to go.

Warm Herb and Jam Goat Cheese Spread

When I saw Joy the Baker's Warm Herb and Jam Goat Cheese Spread recipe, I was immediately intrigued by the flavors. It sounded like a fresh take on the cheese spread and I didn't want to forget about it. So, I put it at the top of my mental to-do list and boy, am I glad I carried through with it. It is fantastic for two reasons: the flavor combination is superb and it can be thrown together in two shakes of a lamb's tail (how delightful to have the chance to use that phrase).

I used cherry fruit spread with rosemary and thyme and it was a very pretty, very festive home run. The genius of it is that it takes all the flavors normally seen on a (goat) cheese plate and puts them in one bite. Also, perhaps even more exciting for all the hosts and hostesses out there, it's just one dish and one spoon for serving! Thank you to Joy for this game changer!

Miscellany of Berlin Food

As a traveler, the food of a place is very important to me. A lot of times, everything else is the backdrop or the stuff I do until it's time to eat again. Here is the roundup of the other things I ate in Berlin:


A glorious cheese pretzel from Kamps Backstube, which was an extra welcoming sight after a very jet-lagged night.


Currywurst is a local dish of "wurst" with curry powder. I've had currywurst before and thought it was fine, but I liked it more in Germany eaten at Dom Curry. When in Berlin.


Obligatory photo of soda in a different country.


This meal of bratwurst took place after a quick visit to the Schloss Charlottenburg. I was fading quickly and had to skip the gardens to make a beeline for food. Thank you, Brauhaus Lemke.

This post concludes the Berlin series. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my travel eats; I would love to visit the other German cities (and eat their food) at some point. Usually when traveling, I'm already thinking about my next big trip (I am constantly trying to live more in the moment, I will get there). This time, I was relieved to be home and settle in before the holidays. November and December are my favorite months of the year, but we can probably agree that we all need a break between the end of sweaty summer and the peppermint bark and eggnog latte-fueled holiday cheer phase! That's basically what it feels like out here in southern California, at least.