To my Blog Readers,
Very sorry that you haven’t gotten any new posts and you probably won’t for the near future. My Dad has had some very serious health problems and is in critical care. For that reason I will be rather distracted.
Thank you for your loyal support during this time.
Katelin
I have been itching to go to New Heights now for months. In the whispers of foodie land I heard great things about Logan Cox, the chef and the creativity he has brought. And I wanted to go before everyone realizes he is a genius and you have to make reservations a month in advance. Can I just say with strong affirmation: now is that time.
I went during Restaurant Week- of all weeks to try out a new fabled legend, Restaurant Week is not it. Still it was the only interesting place on the list with a reservation. But man, if ever did a restaurant pull off Restaurant Week while still keeping it high end and creative, New Heights did.
New Heights is in an akward area of Woodley Park, but thankfully they have valet parking. Downstairs is a small, but glamorous gin bar. While everyone is touting dark woods and prohibition era cocktails, this bar keeps it really prohibition style with a huge gin list and house made tonics. No nonsense just good gin. It is glamorous in that it doesn’t try to hard, but feels particularly delightful to sit at. It isn’t Gibson or Zaytinya glamorous, it is glamorous for people who don’t need other people to make them perfectly happy. I particularly recommend the Krahn.
Then you go upstairs to a cozy, warm dining room. The owner Kavita, is particularly friendly and you can tell she puts a lot of care into the oversight of her restaurant. The server chilled our wine while we sipped various gins, and the bread basket with warm, moist cornbread gave promise to the rest of our meal.
The appetizer of chicken liver pate was smooth on perfectly crisp toast and eaten with the pickled vegetables had a really nice balance. The artic char entree was creamy in texture on the tongue; however, the skin was crisp and had just the right amount of salt to balance out the sunchoke puree and broccoli rabe. However, the real winner was the roasted pork loin that was cooked perfectly with perfect texture- a little crisp on the outside but juicy and incredibly tender on the inside- the smoked apple butter served with it made the bites a refined, homey taste that you could have eaten four plates of, paired with brussel sprouts and buckwheat polenta the dish had a great winter warmness to it.
Desserts were a nice finish to the very composed meal. Ginger creme brulee had a wonderful taste of real, fresh ginger not something you get in many “ginger” dishes. The toasted almond biscotti served with it was some of the best biscotti I have had. I would love that recipe (hmm, this might have a follow up post). The sugar and masala doughnuts were light cake doughnuts with good spice, but the chocolate dulce de leche sauce served over them was incredibly decadent, and you will want to finish any part not swabbed by your doughnut with a spoon.
The service was professional, not fussy, not too absent, he hit that fine line where he read you just right. Wine glasses looking a little low, filled, but not after every sip. Recommendations given when asked and very thoughtful to personal likes. Courses explained as they arrived, and yet it was never intrusive.
And this was only Restaurant Week… I look forward to seeing what this place can do every other night of the week. Next time I am bringing my gin loving girls with me.
Sometimes I find buying big huge pieces of meat in the grocery store a bit daunting, especially when there is only Hubby and I to eat it all.
But you can get some wonderful deals on whole tenderloin, ham, chicken, and etc from time to time. Right now bone in cooked hams are on sale in many places. So here are some ideas on how to use a whole ham in a relatively healthy and tasty way:
First- cut your ham into manageable sections, leaving the ham hock with a bit of meat, not large sections because you want to be able to thaw and use a piece completely.
First night: Ham, butternut squash and green bean saute. This is a quick fix because well after breaking down a ham you don’t want to linger hours over a soup, but want something filling. Either start cooking your rice out ahead of time or cheat and use instant rice. I suggest brown or wild rice. Set your over to 350 degrees. Cut half a peeled medium butternut squash into about 1/2″ cubes,roughly slice/chop a shallot put them in a roasting pan with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon parsley and salt, pepper and mix pieces to coat. Roast about 20 minutes. While that is roasting cube about 1 1/2 cups of ham into 1″ cubes (Cut about 1 cup extra for future use). Then snap and cut about 1/2 cup of green beans into 1″ segments. Remove the roasting pan and add the ham and green beans and stir the mixture. Roast about 10 more minutes. Remove and add your rice (however cooked) right to the roasting pot, add about 1 tablespoon of butter and mix gently. Then serve.
Then slice some ham for sandwiches. Refridgerate your ham hock and sandwich meat. Wrap the remaining meat in butcher paper and freeze for a time that you won’t be sick of… ham.
Next day: Ham and swiss panini with mustard, mayo and bread and butter pickles, a faux cuban if you will. If you don’t have a panini maker at work you could use a toaster oven to melt your cheese for the desired goodness.
Next evening: Ham Hock White Bean Cabbage Soup, well it’s more like a stew really. Put the ham hock in a large stock pot with about 3 pints of water, bring to a boil then down to a simmer for an hour. Use that time to dice 3 potatoes, 3 cups of cabbage, half a cooking onion and 3 cloves of garlic and drain and rinse a can of cannelli beans. Add those to the pot with 1 large bay leaf, 2-3 tablespoons dried parsley and 1 tablespoon dried thyme and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Let simmer for about 5 minutes and remove the ham hock let it cool and shred the meat to add back to the pot. Add a couple dashes of Old Bay to the pot. Then remove the bay leaf and serve. It is excellent with a few dashes of Old Bay.
Next day or two if you are full of ham. It is time for a ham and brie sandwich on pretzel roll. I first discovered this sandwich at the Greenbrier and have loved it ever since. Put some spicy grainy mustard on it to cut the richness and enjoy.
Then use your left over dice to make breakfast with a ham, cheddar and jalapeno (or spinach or mushroom with swiss) scramble.
That should do quite well for about half or more of your ham. I suggest waiting a little while before using the rest.
In this time where everyone (or just Fox News) is telling old people to buy gold, and telling everyone else to sell their gold, gold has become passe. Which is a real shame because gold is a fabulous statement. Gold is classic, like Coco Channel, if you pick the right pieces it will look amazing forever. Anyone who doesn’t like gold just has never owned the right piece of gold.
But let’s face it when it comes to dining you just can’t afford the gold or sterling silverware that used to be customary in yesteryear, and it is so pricey you feel bad even putting it on a registry. But with many of the beautiful china styles, with amazing colors and warm hues out there you really do need a classy set of gold settings.
The solution: Seletti Midas Cutlery.
Normally available on Yoox.com or Bloomsburystore.com, it is all sold out right now because it is fabulous, but don’t despair because The Conran Shop Online has a full 24 piece set for $225.00.
This is gold plated steel cutlery with a matte finish. Allowing it to blend with modern and classic china sets. I think it would even look particularly stunning with mixed plates or plain white casual china, as well. And it comes nicely packed in a china box, small enough to actually fit in all those places you would want to store your china. I am really quite smitten with this set of silverware, actually less smitten more absolutely covetous. So get it while it isn’t sold out. And if you are looking for a nice wedding present for those brides out there who aren’t registering (ahem bad idea) I think this would make a really nice present that any modern couple would find quite pleasing.
*Sigh* If only I had seen this BEFORE Christmas.
Last night I met up with a few girlfriends at Overwood. The space is tucked away on North Lee Street, in a little brick building full of shops with La Bergerie right next door. The inside is warm and casual, with an open kitchen in the back, just the right place for a cold winter night. There is a nice small bar space with TVs showing news and sports. We had a nice booth in the back of the restaurant near the wood grill.
We happened to be there on half price bottle of wine night, and considering how reasonable their bottles of wine are anyway, this was a particularly good deal. As a note they have very nice wine list, with a lot of affordable, but good bottles. We had two bottles of Tepana, Tempranillo for $26. It was a nice red that was mildly fruity with a nice balance, which is good for us ladies as we can have some very different taste in wine.
We were waiting for our last friend stuck in traffic and our server was really fantastic about letting us take our time and wait for her to arrive while enjoying our wine, but checking in to make sure we didn’t need something. Then when our friend arrived she was wonderful about letting us take our time to catch up. The service really was wonderful, the server read us so well, she anticipated our needs and had perfect timing.
All of us on best New Year Resolution behavior ordered salads, although the Blackened Mahi Mahi on grits, and steak going by to other tables smelled amazingly good. I really like places that offer interesting dinner salads, as sometimes for whatever reason a big dinner salad is really needed. And I really liked that they understood that a salad isn’t just iceberg or romaine with tomatoes, red onion and a couple cucumber slices. Rachel had a nice looking ceaser salad with wood grilled salmon, I had the arugula salad with chicken instead of duck (I know it can be rather lean and it looked beautiful, but doctors recommendations are to eat more fish and white meat so I am trying.). The salad was really lovely with spicy arugula lightly tossed with vinagrette with oranges, hearts of palm and a few fried onions. the chicken was sliced thinner than normal grilled chicken in a salad which made it easier to eat. Next time will get it with duck.
We all split a brownie sundae to give us time to finish our second bottle of wine, and to splurge a little. Sometimes after all the fancy desserts you just need something simple. I have to comment that many places have one or two desserts on their list that are tempting, but the whole list at Overwood looked quite good: Godiva chocolate bread pudding, key lime pie, the Elvis, Sweet potato cheesecake… it all looked great.
Between the reasonable prices ($84 for three huge salads and two bottles of wine), the wonderful service, and the very good food (and very good smells eminating from all directions) we will be back, and I think I might have to take Hubby for a date here. It is a perfect low key, but nice spot which tends to be my favorite.
So if you haven’t been, GO! It is really a great place that I wish I had discovered long before I did. And if you are abiding by your New Years Resolutions too, they have a lot of healthy options other than salad to help you stay on track even when eating out.
So I have to be bathing suit ready by the last weekend in January- ugg. But now and then even on the best of diets you must splurge. I crave pizza, a lot, and lately American Flatbread has been there to coddle my obsession. They strive to be local, organic and sustainable, which I really honestly think equates to better pizza mainly because the ingredients are superior to so many other places. And they are community friendly, here they are at a soaked Clarendon Day.
I have had their Virginia Country Ham with Apples and Cheddar and their Revolution Flatbread with additions and variations. I love their tangy red sauce, it has the distinct taste of real tomatoes without being too thick nor to thin. They have a terrific spice blend on the cheese, and just the right amount of cheese (although anyone who is a NY pizza fan will find it lacking). I think their pepperoni is really fantastic. It is savory and spicy and just tastes fresh to me. Now the crust isn’t as thin as you would suspect a place called American Flatbreads to be, but I would argue that it doesn’t matter because it is excellent. It has nice crunch while still being soft and balanced in terms of testure and flavor. I think there is nice salt to the dough without being salty. It has a wonderful texture of real bread- homemade bread- bread made with care. They have a wood fired earthen oven lovingly built by staff and volunteers that just puts out lovely lovely bread.
I also like that their pies are cut in small squares which makes it easier to share and easier to portion.
It is in the Zoso building off Fillmore Street in Clarendon and boasts very helpful staff and free parking. The interior is a little stark, but it is a pizza place. They have happy hour with $3 draft and $5 house wine. They also have a personal pizza at the bar (why isn’t this restaurant wide?). They have a TV at the bar often showing sports and games to keep you or your little ones occupied.
Note: They also have an Ashburn location for those of you who live way the heck out there.
There are a couple caveats: The wine list, especially wines by the glass need some work. They need purse hooks badly. And the diet soda tastes, well, very diet. But these are minor details I am sure they will address in time.
So this report has been a long time in the making…
Melbourne
Where to stay: The Park Hyatt.
As you might know from previous posts or just happen to realize for me to rave about a hotel it must be pretty nice. Well the Park Hyatt Melbourne rates up there in terms of even the hotels I like. I don’t need a huge superior room, what I need is a clean, comfortable, quiet room with a nice view, a great bathroom and nice amenities.
We went to Australia in May, which is their fall, but it meant off season rates in Melbourne and Sydney, not a ton of tourists and nice crisp, but warm weather. We got a great deal at the Park Hyatt at less than $200 a night.
For that we got a really nice comfortable king size bed, valet attendants that helped us figure out how to work our GPS system, a hotel that was a close walk to most of the attractions in Melbourne, a huge bathroom with a shower that had a tv and speakers, a electric tea kettle with good tea and nice toiletries that I actually used.
Also the breakfast served here was wonderful. There was a really nice a la carte menu, but we normally went for the buffet with a huge selection of fruits, breads, cereals, juices, cheeses, charcuterie and hot items including the traditional English breakfast of course. We normally had long days of walking or exploring ahead of us so a nice big breakfast really hit the spot.
What to do: The very top of your to do list should be the Queen Victoria Market. This is a huge market. They have some little restaurants, fish market, meat market, a deli section with stalls selling breads, meats, cheeses, olives, dried goods, eggs, honey, teas and everything else you could imagine. Then outside they have fresh produce. They have a lot of produce that is hard to find here like Nooshi a fruit that is like a small juicy apple and very fresh ripe Passionfruit. Also outside are bins of flour and other grains and people selling wines and other homemade goods. Then in back of that is a huge flea market. My favorites were a cracked black pepper meat pie sold at a deli in the bottom left section. The crust was flaky, it was piping hot and fresh and the fresh cracked black pepper made it the best meat pie of the trip. Hubby and I also picked up some kangaroo salami, cheese, bread and fruits to take with us on our adventure out to the country that afternoon.
If you are adventurous- and you should be this is Australia for God’s sake- I highly suggest renting a car and driving down to Philips Island. Now I went mainly for my obsession with non-flying birds of the black and white variety, which you can see nightly. We got the “Ultimate Penguin Experience” which was really great. You were taken to a separate area for viewing and walked down the beach to a small break in the dunes where we sat for probably about an hour and fifteen minutes watching with night vision googles little penguins teetering all around you within feet. Then you hike back along the road spotting little Philips Island Penguins running and nesting all about you. We were unfortunate and fortunate enough to be able to touch a penguin that was rescued by our ranger when we saw him injured and floundering on the beach in front of us. I am sure they took good care of him.
Also on Philips Island is a koala sanctuary where you can view koalas a couple feet away doing there thing aka sleeping or eating, I think that’s all they do honestly. They are cute as can be! Also if you are lucky like us you will also see some wandering wallabies throughout the park grazing on grasses.
Philips Island also has an area called the nobbies that has beautiful rock outcropping. Sometimes they have seals, but we didn’t see any on our visit (apparently they sometimes have Great Whites too). And a working farm. What we enjoyed most was the beautiful scenery and quiet beaches.
For eclectic shopping and some really good casual restaurants check out Brunswick Street. This was my favorite area in all Melbourne. The cute store signs and shop fronts give way to cute fashions, home goods, amazing coffee and tea shops.
Where to eat:
Now we didn’t do a lot of fancy eating in Melbourne, there are so many great casual restaurants to check out and the market was just so tasty, but we had a really great dinner at Movida- Bar de Tapas. The atmosphere is laid back with nice low lighting. The croquettes were just like what you get in Madrid. We also sampled the San Jacobo de Cordonice a quail stuffed with cheese and ham, Pimientio de Piquuillo hickory smoked peppers with potato and salt cod and some other small plates while Hubby had a Bees Knees Beer and I drank some good Australian wine.
While exploring Brunswick we check out the Real Greek Souvlaki Bar where we had huge gyros and lamb platters filled with juicy and flavorful lamb, ripe tomatoes and tasty pita. Hubby laughed at the size of my gyro, it was a food as big as your head moment.
We also stopped on our way back from Philips Island at a co-op fish and chippery. I think getting some fresh fish and chips and a meat pie is kind of one of those quid essential things to do, just make sure you have lots of napkins.
In Sum: Melbourne we love you to death and really we do want more time with you. You are a dirty mistress to our love of Barcelona and Melbourne, and while we might not be able to work you into our regular rotation, you will be on our mind. So keep stylin.
Welcome back from the Holiday everyone (except you Greek Orthodox who will be celebrating soon). I am making it my New Year Resolution to improve the blog with more articles and maybe even some guest entries, so feel free to send me any ideas or suggestions.
This Wednesday I am dealing with a post-wedding issue. My Mother loves the pictures taken at my wedding- thanks Dominique Attaway you are fantastic- but asked me about getting one turned into an oil portrait. I really hadn’t known about this service until I ran across OilPortraits.com. But apparently, even Hubby and I can be turned into masterpieces of art and you can too!
Pricing goes by the number of subjects and they will paint people or pets. I think their black and whites are extremely good looking. And they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so they seem like the right company for my business, I don’t like to take risks when it comes to me on display. So anyone looking for this service should check them out. And they were on OneKingsLane.com with a discounted price about a month ago, so you may watch and see if they ever pop back up.
With New Year’s Eve upon us and lots of party planning going on, I thought I might offer the following suggestion for those of us who have leftover piles of snow nearby:
Festive All Natural Beer Cooling. It actually doesn’t melt as quickly as ice, and it looks so much better don’t you think? Just make sure you get some snow from the middle of the pile to avoid dirt and umm, etc.
My very generous Husband decided to share his cold with me, so today I am stuck in the house, again. In this condition there is no way I would subject anyone (except my generous Husband, of course) to my grossness, so I have been perusing and I found something helpful for you frantic gift buyers:
Williams Sonoma can still guarantee standard shipping in time for Christmas if you order by 9am on Tuesday.
They even have some good deals still like this:
I know so many people who could use a decent knife in their kitchen. So many people have knives that just don’t cut it, literally. Wusthof knives are classics that stand the test of time. And a sanotoku knife is really a handy knife. I prefer chopping a lot of my veggies with a sanatoku over a chef’s knife.
Or EVEN better: Cutlery and More has FREE delivery until midnight on many wonderful items, like these:
I love Chef’s Choice, it is the knife sharpener that I have and use for everything, but my Shun and Global knives. It keeps your knives nice and sharp. This one not only comes FREE, but it comes with a free 7″ sanaktoku knife, as well. That is 2 gifts with free delivery for $150, not bad.
Or not one, but two Calaphalon skillets for $50. I have this skillet in a smaller size and can attest that it works very well.
Last, but not least the mini-keg dispenser. My husband would have really liked this, and at $100 it is a real steal, since it originally listed for $400, but alas Honey, sorry I already ordered your gifts. I don’t know many men that would be disappointed to open this gift. Again with FREE shipping guaranteed by Christmas from Cutlery and More. They have lots of other great gifts like an electric water kettle, or stove top smoker, so if you are still looking for that great gift and like me hate paying for shipping, give this place a browse. I have always found their prices to be the most competitive for really great products.
