the great outdoors

I took some pictures, intended for the blog, in late summer 2012. Then, due to the kind of job that frequently ended up with me doing infinite hours of work… on a Sunday… while on vacation… it was fall and the pictures no longer seemed topical.

Then, we had a spot of shockingly temperate weather in the late fall and I said, perfect! I can now post about these lovely warm-weather experiences. Surprise surprise, didn’t happen.

And now it is April, and at last warm enough again (with my qualification for being “warm enough” being, of course, the ability to grill outdoors with comfort). So at long last I seem to be ready to publish the pictures (though of course I’m only three short paragraphs into this post as I type this, so you never know, you may be reading this in 2016).

Regardless of the time of year, I love the W&OD Trail. It is particularly atmospheric on the days it threatens to storm.

When the sky began to look decidedly ominous (albeit beautiful)…

… Steve and I decided we could be warmed and sheltered in one of our favorite spots, The Pure Pasty. If you live within, say, 200 miles of Northern Virginia I’d recommend coming just for a pasty.

1. The crust is a buttery, subtly tangy, flaky, chewy taste of heaven.
2. The fillings range from perfect executions of traditional fillings to delightful experiments, including a seasonal vegetarian one that in the past has included roasted autumn vegetable delight, Indian lentils and potatoes, and spinach and feta for summer.
3. They get local, sustainable, humane meat.
4. You can get all kinds of fun British treats like bourbon biscuits (<3<3<3) and digestives.
5. Yes it’s a lot of calories but there is a beautiful and long trail a mere block and a half away to burn ‘em off!
6. Or if you want to let your inner fat kid run free (recommended), there’s a great cupcake bakery next door and a Great Harvest a few doors down.

This time we opted to split one (meaning I wasn’t hungry but Steve is Steve so he got one and then I had to take some bites cause read the above please).

And, as has happened MULTIPLE times near closing, they offered to send us home with pasties that hadn’t sold. For free. Like four. (Note that the way to differentiate the pasties is the little shape they carve on top of the crust).

Then it looked REALLY ominous. So we went to the coffee shop next door. And, knowing us, probably also stopped in the pizza place a few doors down from that (can you tell there’s a lot of good food on Church Street?!) so Steve could get another “snack”

 

Remember when I grew tomatoes? Tending and then harvesting them was one of the most rewarding, fulfilling, emotionally soothing experiences of my life.

Now that grilling season has returned, here are two things you have to do:

1. Make Martha Stewart’s grilled chicken with lemon and oregano. Butterflied whole, marinated with lemon-herb awesomeness. So amazing.

 

2. Grill peaches and serve them with cream (we had leftover cream from somethingorother and GOD cream is good).

 

Now we’ve moved up chronologically to last fall, when I made the yummiest salad.

 

It really had the whole shebang of flavors: dark, bitter farmer’s market salad greens; buttery roasted cauliflower; protein-rich hardboiled egg; sweet and crunchy chopped apples.

Best of all was the dressing: Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and mango chutney. I HIGHLY recommend this combination.

 

And now we have reached the present day, where my family hosted our first cookout of 2013!

We knew we wanted some nice grilled fish for the party, so I picked up some beautiful steelhead trout (very similar to salmon; I would’ve gotten wild salmon but Costco didn’t have it and while steelhead is farmed sustainably, not so much for salmon, per the Monterey Bay seafood guide).

For a vegetable side dish, what was fresh and beautiful and the farmer’s market- leeks- served as inspiration.

My mom found another Martha Stewart recipe, for grilled leeks. I’ll be straight with you: cleaning leeks is a huge pain, and since the recipe recommended two leeks per person (which is completely unnecessary if you buy big leeks, as ours were) it took a good long while.

Then I blanched them til just tender..

And grilled ‘em til charred and gorgeous. I had to kind of splay out their innards so they’d get charcoal-licious all the way through.

 

The steelhead soaked in this tangy lime marinade for about an hour and then I grilled it whole.

Grilling fish is tricky. Keeping on the skin as long as possible is helpful for holding it together, but at some point you have to take it off to get both sides that nice grilled flavor.

 

It all worked out. The fish was really yummy.

And I channeled my grandmother in multiple ways with dessert; first, as my mother reminded me, my grandmother always served fish with lemon dessert.

And, this dessert was really her signature. My family goes crazy for it; we were scared it had died with her, but my aunt found the recipe and I’ve made it a few times. It’s extraordinary how tasting this dessert makes all of us feel like she’s with us.

And that recipe is… Gingersnap and Lemon Ice Cream Sandwiches.

A few things to note:

1. The gingersnaps are chewy. They’re also buttery and homemade. But I want to just emphasize, these are not dried-out store gingersnaps. They are CHEWY.

 

2. The lemon ice cream is just that- ice cream. Not sorbet. Creamy, lemony ICE CREAM.

Enough said.

 

classy valentines

Though Steve and I have been together more than 2.25 years (!) we still get to learn all kinds of fun new things about each other. Like Steve is ticklish if you poke him under the ribs in just the right way, and other important things that will allow me to victimize him.

And there is still something very fun and exciting about going to a snazzy new place with someone, especially this glamorous locale.

 

True story: I am NOT a fan of Valentine’s Day. Like I hate other Hallmark holidays. While we’re on the subject, I’m disgusted by wedding expos and public proposals, and excessive quantities of Facebook posts using the word “husband” (no joke, I starting hiding all posts from a certain friend).

However, Steve is a true believer in love and destiny and all of those things, and is thus more tolerant of the ersatz expressions of love all around on Valentine’s Day because he still believes in celebrating the real thing.

Thus, our fancy fancy dinner!

You know you’ve got class when a restaurant is only named in numbers.

2941 is literally the classiest place you’ll get in the DC Metro area without actually going to DC. Well… okay, Beyonce and Jay Z stayed at the Four Seasons at Tysons (whaa? In a mall. Beyonce you are so above that. I would have let you stay at my house and renovated it in your honor and put in some kind of throne). But I still think 2941 is classier.

The outside is goooooooorgeous, on a lake (a fake lake, but cmon, it’s Northern Virginia, all the lakes are fake). There are koi ponds and enormous windows.

We were seated near an architecturally interesting and wonderfully warm fireplace, as well as a… geodey kind of thing.

  

Because of class schedules, we actually went out for our classy Valentine’s Day meal on the 15th, which ended up being kind of brilliant. No paying absurd prices for food that in all likelihood is probably worse than a typical day, no awkwardly overhearing the lovey dovey conversation of the couple next to you because they shove in so many tables for V-Day.

The menu was classy…

… unlike Steve and I, who were snorting under our breaths at “fingered citron”.

Bread arrived and was stupid good. STELLAR crust, with lots of seeds and things. Wonderful lightness within, even in the whole wheat! I have a special place in my heart for restaurants who take a stab at whole wheat, and they succeeded.

 

So the reason we were able to swing this classy classy restaurant was because of a Google Offer. I would never in a hundred bazillion years allow my boyfriend to drop the kind of bank required to swing the regular menu items.

For that Google Offer, we got a small bite and an appetizer to share, and two entrees.

The “small bite” was both of our favorite item!

Per the menu, Mushroom Tartine ricotta, sauteed mushrooms, parsley and garlic.

Well menu, WELL, what you neglect to mention is the TRUFFLE OIL ALL WHIPPED UP IN THAT AWESOMENESS!

Super awesome toasty crusty bread, heaven-truffle-cheese-whip, mushroom heaven, herbs. We were happy, happy campers as we ate this.

 

Now, let me mention our waiter, in that he was awesome. All of the waiters were, like, grownups there. And our guy was the most hilarious, charming, amusing, attentive without being hovering guy. I suspect he makes MAD TIPS.

So we told him we were just soooo overwhelmed by the delicious sounding menu and wanted to order all of these things, and he gave us our expertise.

Which is how we ended up with a half order of the pasta for an appetizer.

Butternut Squash Agnolotti fried Brussels sprouts, Parmesan cheese, fingered citron

 

Our waiter said the pasta was good but a little one-note with the sweet, creamy filling, and it was better to get as an appetizer portion. That made sense to us, and I was shocked how large the portion was for an appetizer.

The highlight of this? The BRUSSELS SPROUTS. They had this rich, intense, meaty flavor that was just crazy good. Our waiter saw us salivating us and went, “Aren’t they good?!” and we were like, “Yes! Yes!” and so he starts telling us how they make them:

“… So they deflower the brussels sprouts…”

Chortle chortle chortle. Steve and I are just incredibly immature. We belong together.

Round about this time we decided that a special meal should involve a special drink. And, quite honestly, I am such a lightweight that one drink generally goes right to my head, and Steve finds me to be a charming and amusing drunk. Eesh.

Anyway, I got an exceedingly exciting cocktail. I can’t find it on the online menu, but it involved gin, a French liqueur that was sort of herb-y, lime, and a hint of cherry (I had assurances it was not excessively sweet, which it wasn’t).

Glamorous.

Steve got a glass of Malbec, and I was glad to switch with him midway through the meal as I felt a bit wobbly.

As for the entrees, we got two to share.

Lobster Fettuccini Fideuá style, lobster ragú, saffron, pimento, chorizo

and

Grilled Rockfish squash, quinoa, salmoriglio sauce

And honestly? Not all that exciting. Good, well cooked, high quality ingredients, yadda yadda. Just nothing to write home about. Honestly, I find that to often be true at fancy restaurants. The chef uses up all of his or her creativity on the appetizers and the entrees were just, meh.

Both had their thumbs downs and thumbs up. The pasta tasted too distinct from the sauce it was in; my understanding is that it’s the common practice at restaurants to blanch the pasta before service but then finish cooking it in its sauce, and this didn’t taste like that had happened. However, the sauce, once the pasta was gone, was fab-u-lous and we sopped it up with a ton of bread. Meanwhile the rockfish was cooked well but didn’t have any particularly vibrant flavor; however the quinoa and vegetables it was on top of were peppy, flavorful, and texturally interesting.

Fortunately, we had to order dessert. Because it was Valentine’s Day! You HAVE TO!

Because our waiter was just generally so awesome, we told him we wanted a dessert to share and to bring us his favorite.

Ohhh, yes.

Chocolate Pecan Bar pecan shortbread, dark chocolate mousse, malted milk ice cream

Once it arrived, I actually remembered having read rave reviews of the fancy dessert that looked like a chocolate bar. HEAVENS this was good. Subtly salty cookie base, rich and wonderful dark chocolate mousse atop, intense shell that was still smooth (not hard like ganache gets). Heavenly. And then on the side, those little brioche bits that I swear tasted like classy french toast sticks. And that ice cream! Delightful.

A final adorable dessert note.

Cheap it isn’t, and the entrees weren’t earth-shattering like the rest of the food; still, for the sheer glamour of the experience- the gorgeous surroundings, the immensely likeable staff, and the dishes that DID wow us with their inventiveness- it was a wonderful, wonderful evening.

Happy V-Day kid.

(Final confession- all the giggling about double entendres in the menu? That was all me)

bonus easter

Step 1: Be born into, or convert to, Orthodox Christianity. Check.

Step 2: Befriend any other kind of Christian, who celebrate Easter on a different calendar, and thus (most years) a different day.

Step 3: Bonus Easter!

I got Bonus Easter before Actual Easter (which will be, I have no doubt, an epic post of its own.)

My heathen boyfriend requested that I accompany him to Mass! (I’m not at all implying that Catholics are heathens. Just that my boyfriend is a heathen nominal Catholic).

So to Mass we went. But first pancakes, obvi.

 

I made this yogurt-packed, egg-free pancake recipe I'd made before, subbing plain Greek yogurt (that quite honestly was a bit sour and only appropriate for baking applications), and adding some banana slices. Though they caramelized a bit messily and detached from the pancakes (oops), they scraped off okay and added wonderful sweetness.

It had been TOO LONG since pancake Sunday!

 

Just for kicks (and apparently, at a point in the morning when the natural light became a TOTALLY DIFFERENT COLOR in my kitchen) we sprinkled salty peanuts on top.

Excellent, excellent idea. Monkey pancakes, I’d call ‘em.

 

So off to church we went and it was very nice and I seriously love going to other peoples’ houses of worship. Takes me back to my anthropology days! (I did an, if I do say so myself, excellent project on evangelical Christians at a sort-of-megachurch in Boston. And loved loved loved interviewing everyone!)

Then, surprise, Steve and I were hungry.

To amend: Very hungry. And when Steve is hungry, serious, serious food gets made.

We decided we should go to HMart.

Because HMart is where one can buy MEGA CONDIMENTS. (Kinda like my boyfriend’s mega biceps in the background :D)

Just to give context (and show the other condiments. Also the lighter fluid, which we did not eat.)

 

So what was this meal that involved mega-Sriracha?

Well.

It started when Steve said, “It’s a beautiful day. Let’s grill up some fish!”. Since he and I are both pretty committed to sustainable seafood, that meant a trek out to Whole Foods, where we picked up some pretty boss-lookin’ (local!) black sea bass, whole. I had eaten and adored grilled whole fish, prepared very simply, in Greece, and was confident I could do it.

Then Steve went, “Ooh! Ooh! When I was studying abroad in Costa Rica, we ate rice and beans and plantains all the time. Let’s make those!”

Sure!

I found a recipe for grilled plantains which sounded healthful and delicious and also convenient since we were firin’ up the grill anyway!

 

You sliver them up like that, then glaze ‘em with a mixture of melted butter (I used oil cause I’m lazy and worried about burning cause I was on a charcoal, not gas, grill, with less good temperature control) as well as some brown sugar and cayenne, mm.

Steve said the bowl I selected to make the glaze mixture perfectly evoked the colors of cooking in Costa Rica. So there you go.

You started grilling them skin down, where they did most of their cooking.

Then flipped and finished for a few minutes on the other side where yes, they sort of charred. But tasted great!

Okay; fish, rice, beans, plantains!

“Oh, also, let’s make dumplings!”

Steve is such a dork. And can eat more than anyone I have ever met.

So millions of veggies were assembled. Green onion, carrot, mushroom, ginger, garlic, and in I think a stroke of brilliance, BEAN SPROUTS! They were GREAT in there.

 

And at Whole Foods we also got some US shrimp.

The mixture was bee-yoo-ti-ful. Lotsa colors!

 

So the plantains had finished up, and we had great lookin’ coals. I copied a trick I picked up from Cook’s Illustrated: put a disposable aluminum pan over the part of the grill where you want to cook the fish. This will concentrate the heat in that area and burn off any drippings from the last time you grilled that might remain on the grate, giving you a clean surface to which to adhere your fish and minimize stickage!

 

Fish did stick, a little, but I don’t eat the skin anyway, so it really worked out great. And PERFECTLY flaky fish!

This was two fish, totaling, after removing scales and guts, three and a half pounds or so. I grilled them for about ten minutes a side over somewhat indirect heat (but next to very hot coals).

Also made a salsa to go with the fish that was mango, cucumber, green onion, and Sriracha. Yum!

Oh, also, we learned that you can grill dumplings! Cause the grill was already hot.

 

Steve just wasn’t quite sure we’d have enough food, so he picked up baby eggplants at Hmart. I rolled my eyes at him and sure enough, they were my favorite part of the meal. When you just cut slits in their side and let ‘em cook on the grill, they lose any bitterness and become tender and amaaaaazing.

 

And then… we feasted!

The sort of Latin American side of the table:

Annnnd the Asian side:

   

Annnd my happy belly. And more.

 

And tomorrow… I get to do it again!