Restaurant: Green Papaya (takeout)

I am sick. I think I brought it upon myself, between the sadness of taking down our Christmas tree, the frustration of having to work an extra six hours last week and this week, and the snow that was so pretty to watch fall is now dirty and melting to reveal brown earth beneath. Today's high of 34 degrees feels like a heat wave, and I wonder if I'm feverish or if it feels balmy since this is the first time the outside air has been above freezing in two weeks.* This might be my least favorite time of the year, and to top it off, I have a cold.

I know I’m just whining. I’m fine. One thing that’s funny about this cold is that it has not affected my appetite at all. If anything, I’m hungrier! Maybe that’s due to me not taking in my beer calories. Maybe.

I haven’t felt like cooking, or grocery shopping, or going out. So, we are getting take out. I was hungry for – no, craving – the pineapple fried rice from Green Papaya.

I’ve been to Green Papaya several times, often eating there and sometimes bringing it home. I can see that many patrons go to Green Papaya for sushi, and I’ve tried it although there are few vegetarian options. I’ve ordered several dishes there, from the Crazy Noodles to Pad Thai, various Thai Curries, and the “Cheese of Asia” fried tofu appetizer. My favorite, though, is the pineapple fried rice.

Chunks of tofu, pineapple, baby corn, corn kernels, carrots, red bell pepper, mushroom, onion, snow peas, and cashews are all lightly fried with egg, rice, and curry powder. This is delicious and so unlike what I considered fried rice from the Number One Chinese Kitchen down the street when I was a kid. This fried rice isn’t greasy, or doused in a brown sauce, or scattered with limp frozen peas and cube-cut carrots. This dish is loaded with fresh, tasty goodness. For me, it’s not that I wanted to go to Green Papaya – it’s that I wanted this dish and that’s where I get my pineapple fried rice.

Alex got Pad Thai, which he likes with about 70% of the enthusiasm I show for the pineapple fried rice. The Pad Thai is made of noodles, tofu, peanuts, and a few bean sprouts. I much prefer the variety of veggies in the rice dish. On top of that, the Pad Thai is like most other examples in the city here: it’s sweet. Really, really, sweet. Perhaps if he ordered it spicier, the sweetness would be less overpowering. (By the way, in other cities do they ask you how spicy you want your food, on a scale of 1-10? I’ve only encountered that in Cincinnati, and people seem to be upset if you order and aren’t asked!)

*Disclaimer: I wrote this without checking my meteorological data, but then I decided to do some fact-checking at weather.com. Today is the first day in 12 days that it's been above freezing.

Restaurant: Green Dog Cafe

It seems inevitable: for someone like me, who prefers to cook at home and have control over what I eat, I’m likely to fall into a rut with where I eat out. The more infrequently I eat out, the more frequently I want to dine in the same old favorite spots. So when I’d heard mixed reviews of an enticing new restaurant, I took my sweet time finally trying it.

For Sunday brunch, we went to the Green Dog Cafe in Columbia Tusculum. The food was tasty, but it was a really weird experience. We walked in and reviewed paper menus from a brochure holder, which seems almost contradictory to their desire to be seen as environmentally conscious. Standing there over a sheet of paper was also somehow more awkward than looking at a blackboard. I placed my paper back and proceeded to order the Chihuahua Bowl.

Alex and I were both drawn to the veggie patty Green Dog Burger, but we agreed to sample two entrees. (I know I mentioned this was brunch, but we arrived after 1:00 p.m. and weren’t interested in egg dishes anyway.) Alex asked if he could upgrade his side to the Green Dog fries, and the kid behind the counter said no. Then he asked if we wanted the fries to come out first, and we told him to bring everything together. Well, the fries came out before the rest of the food. Kind of unnecessary to ask if he’s not going to listen. Although we didn’t know until later that our fry preference wasn’t heard, that was the first of many problems communicating with this order-taker. The details aren’t really relevant, and I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he was hungover. That explains why he was mumbling and whispering to us, and looking at me like I was paining him when I spoke in a normal voice.

Green Dog Fries, $5

Let’s get into the happy talk for a bit. The fries were good. We were both surprised to see them brought out to our table before our meals, but whatever. Looking back, I’m glad I had a chance to munch on fries as that probably toned down my (then unknown) upcoming disappointment with my Chihuahua Bowl. The fries come with two dipping sauces: banana tomato ketchup and honey curry mayonnaise. I much preferred the mayo and might have to try something like that at home. Alex says he enjoyed both.

Green Dog Burger, $11

That burger was delicious. It’s made with garbanzos, mushrooms, and some kind of grains, topped with finely shredded white cheddar, arugula, and sweet tomato jam. The patty fell apart so it was more like eating a sloppy joe, and the jam was obtrusive in its sweetness, but the bread and patty were very good. Alex kept looking across the street to Allyn’s, home of his favorite veggie burger and, coincidentally and tauntingly, visible from the front windows of Green Dog. He didn’t like the burger as much as I did. He let me eat most of it. We both enjoyed the light vinaigrette over the small side salad of tender greens.

Chihuahua Bowl, $10

My dish was not impressive. I like brown rice, and this Chihuahua Bowl had a lot of it. Plus corn chips. The black beans were pretty flavorless, and there just wasn’t enough corn salsa. There was enough manchego cheese topping the rice and beans, but the dish overall was a disappointment. This bowl was large, and it was full, but the food was bland.

Would I go back? Sure. But I’m not in a hurry.

Here’s a public service announcement in case anyone in the Cincinnati area doesn’t already have a Best of Cincinnati card. Get one this month, for free, by using the code BOC4FREE. Use it at Green Dog or any of the other twenty or so restaurants that take it. I had been considering getting this card, which essentially gives you a 40% discount at certain local restaurants, but I hadn’t wanted to shell out the $25 administrative fee for joining. However, until the end of the month, you can get the card for free! I got mine on the same promotion in December, and they’ve extended it.

Homemade Pasta: My first attempt

I almost laughed when I read an article about pasta makers in the 1980s – yes, we had one, but it was probably in the 1990s. My mom loves gadgets, and we’d make our own pasta. I remember those dinners fondly, though, even though whoever wrote that article is poking fun at the home pasta extruder machine. My first adult attempt, however, did not go so well, even though I used a roller.

We were given the ever-popular pasta roller and cutter attachment set for our Kitchen-Aid mixer as a Christmas gift. These seem to be most coveted among the newlywed, registry-hungry, I-don’t-care-because-it’s-a-gift-and-I-need-it crowd. Not that I belong to them, ahem. This was not on our registry. After using it, I agree that a hand-cranked one would provide much better results, be easier to use, and on top of that – cheaper.

I followed the recipe in the manual for the Kitchen-Aid roller, hoping that by abiding by the manufacturer’s instructions, I would be less likely to fail. (I deliberately did not link to the aforementioned article because it’s full of junky ads, but I found it by searching for vegan pasta recipes. In the end, I used semolina and egg as directed. Maybe next time I’ll make her eggless pasta dough.) In addition to the dough not coming out right, the biggest problem was that the roller pulled the thinnest dough through first, leaving the rest to crumble. I think the manual control of a hand-crank would help correct this defect. But then again, I’ve never used one.

Oh, and yes, you heard me say next time. As promised, I will not abandon my failed recipes. The good news is that this time we made enough pasta to have a little serving each. The rest of the dough got too dry and overworked in our experimentation, and I think the dough was too dry and not pliable enough to start with. The pasta we ate was okay, if a bit thick due to inexperience in rolling it thinly enough. We topped the pasta with grated Parmesan and jarred sauce, served with grilled eggplant and mushrooms.

Carrot & Raisin Salad

Part of what draws me to certain cookbooks or blogs (I’m looking at you, Vegan Crunk) is familiar recipes, made in a new way that aligns with my health goals and values. Perhaps I should learn to make these adjustments myself, and maybe one day I will. For now, I’m doing things as the recipes suggest. I’ve tried a lot of new foods and even grown to love some new favorites, but nothing can really replace those long-time favorites, whether it’s a chewy oatmeal cookie or this carrot and raisin salad.

My grandmother would make carrot and raisin salad, a great side dish or snack that could be made with a little or as much carrot as you like and just tossed together on the spot. Grate the carrot, add a dollop of mayonnaise and a generous sprinkle of sugar, and some raisins. The carrots are sweet and the raisins swell with the juices, making this is a good, crunchy sweet salad. Distinctively Southern, Chick-Fil-A offers something like this.

I found a recipe for this salad in a new cookbook I’d been drooling over, The Vegan Soul Kitchen. In his recipe, Bryant Terry replaces the raisins with cranberries (which I did not do) and adds toasted walnuts (which I did add). He fancies it up by calling it “Carrot-Cranberry-Walnut Salad with Creamy Walnut Vinaigrette.” The vinaigrette in the recipe calls for walnut oil, which I did not have and did not buy.

What was most helpful? Replacing the mayo! Duh. I did need a recipe for this as I’ve never used silken tofu and never replaced mayo. Mayo is one of those secret pleasure, but icky-when-I-think-about-it foods for me. So I blended soft silken tofu with some cider vinegar, oil, and Dijon mustard to pour over my grated carrots, raisins, and toasted walnuts.

The dressing was really good – although I did later toss in some sugar – and I’m proud to say that I grated all the carrots by hand without injuring myself.

Slow-Cooker Mushroom and Hoisin Stuffed Onions

This is yet another recipe from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, perfect for winter ingredients. I kept giving this cookbook a chance even after a few 'meh' recipes. I thought this would be an instant favorite as it puts together three of our favorite things: onions, mushrooms, and hoisin. Sweet and earthy! I think this would have been better with a little less hoisin. A little bit goes a long way.

I actually had some dried shiitake mushrooms I reconstituted for this recipe, along with some cremini. Lately I've been buying mushrooms from the bulk bins so I can choose the 'shrooms I want and not wind up with a carton of bad looking ones. Sometimes, this also means skipping the variety I want in favor of what's available.

I hollowed out three sweet onions. I could have used some direction from the cookbook, as this was a really difficult activity! I cut circles straight down with my knife, but that was only a partial solution because I wanted to scoop out onion layers spreading out in an ellipse, not just a circle. I did a good enough job, although I was worried the knife might slip and cut me. I didn't hurt myself, although I did get onion all over my hands.

Chop the onion pieces along with mushrooms and a few garlic cloves. I figure for this the measurements are pretty arbitrary and are mostly determined by the size of your onions. I had too much stuffing mix and wish I'd used less onion, or less breadcrumbs. Or less of both. Which brings me to the rest of the ingredients: some hoisin, sesame oil, and salt.

Stuff each of the onions, place in the slow cooker, and add a cup of water and more hoisin. I actually used the water I used to rehydrate those mushrooms.

I served with quinoa, just cooked plain, and that provided a great mellow flavor to balance my over-sweetened stuffed onion.

Mac and No Cheese

When I saw a recipe for Macaroni and Cheese Florentine in the slow cooker cookbook I just got, I was eager to try it. Of course, upon closer inspection, it's a no-cheese version of mac and cheese. I made something akin to this, but with canellini beans pureed in the sauce as well. I combined the two recipes. So the macaroni had a sauce of sautéed onions and garlic, cashew milk, nutritional yeast, spices, and beans.

The amount of work involved in this is contrary to the spirit of the slow cooker, in my opinion, and when I try this again, I may use that web recipe instead. The macaroni was boiled ahead of time, the spinach was cooked, the onions were cooked in a skillet, and the no-cheese sauce was edible straight from the blender. Putting the combination in the Crock Pot was overkill.

That said, this was a pretty tasty macaroni casserole recipe. I don't think it could replace macaroni and cheese when I want that (right now my favorite is the frozen Trader Joe's variety), but it's certainly healthier, and I like me some spinach.

Top 5 for 2010. Another Year of Food

Wow, it seems like every blog post I read about New Year resolutions is prefaced them with a disclaimer that resolutions are doomed for failure and therefore not worth making. This statement is then unnaturally followed by a handful of achievable goals. A friend got it just right putting out some promises to himself that he will keep, and I intend to do something similar here. Some of my goals are rather vague, and others are things I want to try, or even things I'm currently trying and want to place more importance on them. Getting that head start is also giving me a little preview of possible failure to come. Ugh. So, what will I try to do in my food life in 2010?

1. Give it a second chance: As I continue to try new recipes, I want to revisit some of the flops or near-flops a second time and try to improve them. This winter, I'd like to try another shepherd's pie, as my last one was heavy with grains. I love mashed potatoes, so I just need something better to go beneath them. Also up for improvement: Senegalese Tofu, which I made before I knew how to cook tofu to my satisfaction, and sushi.

Of course, I also need to recognize when to drop things that just aren't working...

2. Eating fewer processed foods: This is something I've been wanting to do for a while, especially since my freezer is stocked with frozen pizzas and Morningstar products. I've tried three times to make my own seitan and it never came out quite right. This last time was such a flop that we threw it away after cooking it, so I won't be telling you about it as promised. Alex said I can try a couple more times and then he prefers sticking to the store-bought stuff. I figure making my own sauces and marinades is a good step, though, and will certainly reduce the amount of high fructose corn syrup sneaking in as well as help me learn about spices and flavors, not just bottle labels.

3. Generally eating healthier: For me, this would mean eating less cheese, fewer fried foods, and not so much beer. Mmm... three of my favorite things. Eating less cheese will certainly be a challenge, but it's been on my mind for a while to start taking this more seriously since I've seen first-hand cows piled on top of each other in dairy farms.

I started this goal by making "Macaroni and No Cheese" a few nights ago. I'll tell you about it soon. Plus, I've already been doing better eating more fresh veggies, and I want to continue to do so and buy more organic and local. Another good trend to continue is eating out less, so that I have more control over what I put in my body. This goes hand-in-hand with eating fewer processed foods; I've already tried to make the switch from Coffemate to Silk creamer, which (I noticed after I purchased it) proclaims its superiority over Coffeemate right on the carton.

4. Try new recipes and new ingredients: In the past month, I have tried quinoa and millet; I've also recently started cooking with kale and sweet potatoes. I have found new cookbooks and blogs to get trusted recipes, and I think this kind of measured experimentation is the best way to make cooking at home interesting. I've been doing a pretty good job with this sine July, but I intend to keep it up actively and indefinitely.

5. Be more careful in the kitchen: Since I've started cooking more, I've cut myself, burned myself, grated my finger, and broken numerous dishes. I don't think I'm a klutz, but all evidence points to the contrary. (Okay, this was just thrown in to make a fifth resolution, but it's probably a good idea nonetheless.)