Sweet Basil in Bethesda

I worked out this morning and still being on vacation I decided to luxuriate in a relaxing lunch.  I had noticed Sweet Basil the other day walking around town and went there.

I already knew I was going to order my favorite Thai dish, drunken noodles with chicken. After seeing the menu I also ordered a chicken curry puff for appetizer.  I didn't realize that a free spring roll came with an entree order.

Everything was delicious!  The spring roll was crispy, hot, and had fresh vegetables inside.  The chicken curry puffs were amazing!  They came with a side of red onion and cucumber in some kind of faintly sweet liquid.  The red onion and cucumber with the chicken curry puff just complimented eachother wonderfully.  My drunken noodle with chicken was fantastic.

I'd definitely go back to Sweet Basil.

Florentine omelette at Visions

With grits and bacon, delicious as always.

Quantum communication takes a ... quantum leap?

Quantum teleportation achieved over ten miles of free space

It's about time

Scientists create synthetic cell, version 1.0

My first frittata!

I needed to think of something to take a friends brunch party in a couple weeks and realized a frittata would travel well and be good for everyone.  The problem was id never made a frittata before!  I looked up several recipes and realized they all had different cooking instructions.  I decided to cut across them all and wing it.

It turned out delicious and only stuck to the pan on the sides and only then at the top where I hadn't covered with oil beforehand.

Southwest (?) Frittata

1 red onion
1 green pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1 italian sausage tofurky link
5 eggs
1/3 cup milk ( I didn't measure this but I didn't pour very much either so I'm guessing it's 1/3. )
Gorgonzola
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Pour quite a bit of olive oil into your pan to sautee the red onion and green peppers.  Cook them as much or as little as you'd like.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add the minced garlic at the very end and the tofurky.  Let the garlic cook for a couple of minutes and then pour the egg and milk mixture in.  Crumble the gorgonzola on top and push it down into the ingredients if you need to.  Place the pan into the oven for 25 minutes and it should be done.  When a fork in the middle comes out cleanly, you're done.

Let it sit for 10 minutes and then cut and serve.

Plain greek no fat yogurt goes very nicely on top of a slice too.

Snakes fucking on the rock creek trail

I was riding back home and someone had to point out the dark log on the trail was really 2 snakes.  I stopped and watched them writhe (sp?) around eachother for awhile and took a pic.

Broccoli and mushroom curry with tempeh

I took a walk tonight and ended up down at trader joes and decided to check if they had any tempeh.  They did and it was only $1.69.  I sauteed it and added to leftover broccoli mushroom curry and had it with a baked sweet potato.

Tonights dinner

I decided to make an old favorite, broccoli mushroom curry over couscous with a baked sweet potato.  Its very easy to make and is delicious. 

I used to survive on this and curried couscous during undergrad.

Early morning reading.

The Enemy Within - Magazine - The Atlantic http://b-cr.it/b4NpAo

Spiced oat bran cookies redux

I decided to try adding ground flax seed that was called for in one of the original hodgson mill recipes and had left out before.  They are just as delicious and do have a slight nutty flavor from the flax.  I anticipated that and decided to decorate them with a pecan half to just make them a little more special.

Yummy spicey cookies!

Papusas

Tonights dinner is from one of the co-owners of Visions restaurant in Bethesda, Chef Tony's GF.  The papusas were delicious and would have been even better if id taken 3 minutes to warm them up a bit, but I was hungry. :)
The tomato sauce had a nice background heat to it that I enjoyed.

Cutting boards deployed

I went on a cleaning spree today and did a load of laundry, dusted the whole apt, cleaned the stove and kitchen sink by scrubbing the stainless steel marks out of the porcelain, organized my bedroom a bit more and put some empty gym bags into storage, put felt feet on the chaise and also finally opened the packages for my cutting boards.  I wiped them down and oiled them with mineral oil and put them in place.

Brunch at Persimmon

I had the egg strata which came with a little salad and a lot of toast.  I'm not sure if their intent was for the strata to be warm/hot, but it came out room temp.  It wasn't bad but would have been better warm.  The salad was ok but I couldn't place what the dressing was, I got a slight hint of citrus maybe. 

It was a fine meal but I would have preferred a little more flavor in everything, but that is how my tastes are running now.  The service was very nice though.  My waiter was attentive but mostly absent, perfect.

Pic of dessert

Friday night

Dinner:
Baby spinach, cucumber, roma tomato, red onion, feta, chicken, and fresh toasted pecans.  The dressing is lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

I had intended on putting garlic in the dressing but forgot.

Dessert:
French vanilla ice cream, homemade chocolate sauce, and fresh toasted pecans.

Brunch at Visions

I decided to try brunch at Visions restaurant in Bethesda because:
1. I hadn't been there before, and
2. The chef commented on some google buzz posts and let me know about lunch specials.

I ordered the Italian Egg Bake and it was delicious and equally beautiful.   

Croutons James Style

I wanted to make croutons to go with my fatoosh and all the recipes I found involved the oven.  Well, it was warm and I didn't want to use the oven so I did it my own way.

I cut up a kaiser roll and toasted it up in a pan with olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  It only took 5-10 minutes and I left them in the pan to dry out while I cut up vegs for fatoosh.  They weren't as dry as oven croutons but they were crunchy and seasoned, which was the point.