Dinner Inside a Cantaloupe

There are several Mexican eateries in the Ghent area of Norfolk, but (in my humble opinion) they're all topped by the South American restaurant Luna Maya. Topher & I checked it out last fall with our friends Naaman & Amber.

Situated in the middle of a non-descript strip of shops, it doesn't look like much from the outside. But the interior is a different story: the walls are so orange that you feel like you're sitting inside a cantaloupe! The warm yellow glow from the overhead lamps only enhances the effect.

What I Ate:

• Pastel De Choclo Con Chorizo: sweet & savory Bolivian corn casserole filled with spicy chicken chorizo, topped with cheese, and served with rice - a hearty, delicious dish, creamy with just the right amount of spice
• Margatini: Sauza Gold, triple sec, and a splash of sour mix, served in margarita glass rimmed with chipotle salt - so much fun for your taste buds!

The Scoop:
Luna Maya is located at 2000 Colonial Avenue (at 21 St.), Norfolk, VA 23517. They don't take reservations. They're open T-R 5:30-9:30pm, F-Sat 5:30-10pm.

Note: The photo of Pastel De Choclo above is from HamptonRoads.com.

Dinner at Home

Just thought I'd post a few photos of my hubby at work in the kitchen. We had a fun dinner at home tonight with our good friends Adam & Meredith and their daughter Eden.

Topher made chicken cordon bleu, grilled asparagus, and chocolate bread pudding (the only Paula Deen recipe he makes).

With dinner, we enjoyed a nice Buena Vista Ramal Vineyard chardonnay -- not a big buttery, oak-y chardonnay, but one that's a little more crisp & fruity. Bon appetit!

Birthday Dinner at Tautog's

My good friends Heather & Ally have birthdays only four days apart this week, so we celebrated together yesterday in Virginia Beach. The three of us laid by the pool for a couple of hours and read, then met up with our husbands for dinner at Tautog's.

Housed in the wood-shingled Winston Cottage just a block from the oceanfront boardwalk, Tautog's has a cozy atmosphere – a cute screen porch out front, lots of dark wood décor inside, and a friendly, laid back wait staff.

The regular menu includes standard "seafood at the beach" fare: crab cake sandwich, salmon salad, cornmeal-coated oven-fried catfish, tilapia au gratin with asparagus, and Mid-Atlantic pasta (penne tossed with shrimp, artichokes, zucchini, and portabella mushrooms in marinara sauce). Last night the specials looked amazing, so we decided to go with those.

They also have a pretty decent wine list, including quite a few from California (Seghesio, Frog's Leap, Hendry, Honig, Cakebread, and Chateau St. Jean). Topher chose a bottle of Nautilus for the table – a nice crisp, citrus-y New Zealand sauvignon blanc that went well with the fish.

The Appetizers:

• Spinach artichoke dip, served with corn chips – much better than the average dip! Made with cream cheese and large leaves of spinach
• A dozen steamed shrimp, served with butter & cocktail sauce
• She-crab soup – Ally's favorite that she generously let us taste – rich & creamy!

The Entrées:

• Topher: Pepper-seared mahi, served over pasta with homemade spicy red sauce, topped with chopped fresh herbs & lemon butter
• Ally, Heather, & Reid: Oven-baked salmon, served over Kahlua sweet potato hash and sautéed green beans, topped with saffron hollandaise
• Me & Seth: Oven-baked tilefish, served over buttermilk mashers and cauliflower infused with smoked apple wood bacon and parmesan, topped with Old Bay beurre blanc

The Dessert:

• Key lime pie

The Scoop:
Tautog's Restaurant at Winston's Cottage is located at 205 23rd Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451. Their hours are Sun-W 5:30pm-12am, R-Sat 5:30pm-2am. Reservations (recommended) are available by calling 757-422-0081.

Three notes about my entrée:

1. I had never had tilefish before, so the guys enjoyed using their Blackberrys and iPhones to educate me on the spot: tilefish is a mild, firm white fish similar to flounder or tilapia. While delicious, it's not recommended for pregnant or nursing moms, due to concerns about its mercury content.
2. I feel that cauliflower is an overlooked and often neglected vegetable, kind of like the forgotten stepsister of broccoli. I appreciate a chef that can bring out its subtle flavors. :)
3. As the photo below attests, my entire dinner plate was white!

Easy Summer Side Dish

I don't know about you, but I spent most of last weekend (Memorial Day weekend) eating--at least, when I wasn't laying by the pool reading. On Saturday, Topher & I went to a dinner party with 6-8 other couples (for which Topher made a delicious cheesecake). On Sunday evening, we enjoyed barbecue at a graduation party. And on Monday afternoon, we grilled bratwursts for our friend Adam's 30th birthday.

I especially like the potluck meals, because everyone brings their favorite dish and I get to taste them all. Last weekend was no exception: I tried a delicious squash casserole, roasted potatoes topped with caramelized onions and a cream sauce, a black bean-corn-red pepper salad, and yummy lemon bars topped with raspberries.

I didn't contribute much to the menus last weekend (except my husband's cheesecake & his brat-grilling expertise), but I think this recipe--Corn Salad with Feta and Walnuts--is a simple & yummy dish to bring to a summer cookout or block party. I tend to skip the jalapeños, since I don't care for that much spice. And although it calls for fresh corn cut off the cob, I've made it with frozen or canned corn, and it works just fine. The recipe doesn't say whether it should be served warm, at room temperature, or chilled -- so I've tried all three, and they all seem good to me!

Also, check out my friend Michelle's go-to potluck dish--Red Skinned Potato Salad--on her blog The Daily Ramen.

Inspired by Julia Child

I just finished reading Julia Child's memoir My Life in France, which starts with her move from the suburbs of DC to Paris in November 1948 with her husband Paul and ends with their final move from Provence back to Boston in 1992.

I don't envy their nomadic lifestyle (Paul worked for the U.S. Foreign Service, so they moved with his job every few years) or Julia's intense devotion to both the art and science of cooking (as I've mentioned before, I don't really like to cook, and my husband Topher is the one with the culinary skills).

But I do envy her writing skills, and all the exquisite food that she ate during their many years living in France. She has a talent for describing meals in such detail that it makes your mouth water. Remembering her very first meal in France, she writes:

"Rouen is famous for its duck dishes, but after consulting the waiter Paul had decided to order sole meuniere. It arrived whole: a large flat Dover sole that was perfectly browned in a sputtering butter sauce with a sprinkling of chopped parsley on top. The waiter carefully placed the platter in front of us, stepped back, and said: 'Bon appetit!' I closed my eyes and inhaled the rising perfume. Then I lifted a forkful of fish to my mouth, took a bite, and chewed slowly. The flesh of the sole was delicate, with a light but distinct taste of the ocean that blended marvelously with the browned butter. I chewed slowly and swallowed. It was a morsel of perfection" (p.18).

Another time she wrote about trying recipes for game animals during the autumn hunting season:

"I was thrilled when [Chef] Bugnard instructed me on where to buy a proper haunt of venison and how to prepare it. I picked a good-looking piece, then marinated it in red wine, aromatic vegetables, and herbs, and hung the lot for several days in a big bag out the kitchen window. When I judged it ready, by smell, I roasted it for a good long while. The venison made a splendid dinner, with a rich, deep, gamy-tasting sauce, and for days afterward Paul and I feasted on its very special cold meat" (p.122-123).

The care she took to remember each color and smell, and to actually taste each bite, inspires me to slow down and really enjoy my meals, however humble they may be.

The Perimeter Rule

When we started dating, one of the first things that I learned from Topher was to shop the perimeter of the grocery store and avoid the interior aisles. Why? Because most real foods are on the perimeter--fresh fruits & vegetables, poultry & seafood, dairy products, and frozen foods--and most food products are in the aisles--microwaveable soups & entrées, soda, dry cereals, and cookies & cakes, most of which are high in sodium and contain HFCS.

Not surprisingly, Michael Pollan mentions the same simple food rule in his book In Defense of Food:

"SHOP THE PERIPHERIES OF THE SUPERMARKET AND STAY OUT OF THE MIDDLE. Most supermarkets are laid out the same way: Processed food products dominate the center aisles of the store while the cases of ostensibly fresh food--dairy, produce, meat, and fish--line the walls. If you keep to the edges of the store you'll be that much more likely to wind up with real food in your shopping cart" (p.157).

Dating in DC: Beef Tartare at Dukem

While we were engaged, my husband Topher was eager to try beef tartare (at the prompting of his friend Randy), so our second foray into ethnic food in DC was Ethiopian. Again, we ate with just our hands, sans silverware.

I wasn't brave enough to order a full serving myself, so I got a vegetarian platter instead. Imagine my surprise when the plate was accompanied by a whole cooked fish on the bone - head, eyes, tail, everything! (I think they gave me a fork to eat that.)

But I did try a few bites of Topher's entrée. It had a moist, warm, chewy consistency - not bad, but I couldn't eat much of it. I think we both psyched ourselves out a little. I mean, it was raw beef.

What I Ate:

• #33 Special Dukem Veggie Combo III: spicy splint lentils, yellow peas, greens, cabbage, shiro, salad, and chickpeas in spicy sauce, all served over injera bread, with a whole cooked fish

What Topher Ate:

• Dukem Kitfo: Beef tartare mixed with homemade cottage cheese, herbal butter, cardamom, and mitmita

The Scoop:

Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant (www.dukemrestaurant.com) is located at 1114-1118 U Street (12th Street NW), Washington, DC 20009. Their hours are Sun-R 11am-2am, F-Sat 11am-3am.

Note: The picture above isn't my actual plate, but it's as close as I could find online. It's from here.