Pumpkin Tasting Menu

Celebrating the end of college, 2 years at Penn together and because we bought Moet for Valentine's Day that we never drank and needed an excuse to drink it now.

There are basically two things left I really want to try out in Philadelphia before I leave, the 5-course tasting menu at Pumpkin (only offered on Sundays) and the 5-course tasting menu at Matyson.  Sunday was Cinco de Mayo and for some strange reason I thought Pumpkin would be closed for the Mexican holiday, fortunately I was wrong haha.

1st Course: Cauliflower Soup with pickled cauliflower, golden raisins
2nd Course: Coddled Egg with asparagus, gribiche, homemade tartar sauce

I've heard mixed reviews about Pumpkin but I have heard mostly great things about the tasting menu which are only offered on Sundays. The restaurant definitely has a distinct style of cooking, which I appreciate even if I don't love all of the dishes that this style inspires.

2nd Course: Burgundy Snails with red wine, hazelnut, foam, garlic
3rd Course: Haloumi with smoked english peas, pickled ramps

A 3 Course Meal

Had a kind of an amazing meal last week that was also absurdly easy to make.

Recipe from here. A certain somebody wanted to be fancy and used cooking string to tie it up roast style. A quick youtube video taught us him the trick.

Revisiting Lunch

Finally got around to taking my drug test for work and decided to make a little road trip adventure out of it. Kept hearing how good this Vietnamese place was so finally decided to check it out. The ironic part of the whole thing is I have been going to the same Vietnamese place next door with my parents for 6 years and never realized Nam Phuong was in the same parking lot. Maybe now I'm just biased but I still think the one next door is better.

Went back to Barbuzzo and Matyson for lunch because I realized there are only so many good places to go for lunch in Philly (and I also wanted better pictures).

Got the hanger steak with truffle fries again because the steak is cooked perfectly and I freaking love french friers.
Also ordered the BBQ brisket sandwich. BYOBed this time with some white wine.

We walked down to Barbuzzo since the weather was nice which meant we were starving by the time we got there. Last time I complained the meal was too carby, but this time that carbiness was perfect.

[Sheep's Milk Ricotta]: Classic
[Prosciutto Pizza]: Loved the white sauce on this pizza

Veggie Madness

Happy Hour @ VEDGE

YES! Finally made it to Vedge after reading the same Philly Mag article 5 times. And we just happened to be in the neighborhood during happy hour which made it that much more fun. Notice the quality of pictures have improved significantly now that my lens has been fixed and I have started using my DSLR again.

[Pomegranate Sangria] Totally remaking this asap.
[Blueberry Tea Thyme] Didn't realize the pun until now. An elevated gin + tonic which I always love.

[Crispy Cauliflower]: Green harissa, garbanzos. Yummy but Zahav is still much better.
[Smoked Mushroom Sandwich]: With bean sauerkraut puree (tasted like hummus).
[Korean Seitan Tacos]: Super spicy and DELICIOUS, yup it tasted like meat.

Overall, a fun afternoon experience. Tiny portions but what do you expect for happy hours, not sure if I love vegan food enough to come back for dinner when there are other restaurants still left to try that actually serve meat.

 Roasted Brussel Sprouts & Eggplants

I always see these gorgeous vegetable shots on Smitten Kitchen so here's my attempt to recreate some.

I've never cooked with brussel sprouts before and didn't know what to do with them except roast them in the oven. There usually isn't a single vegetable I don't like but for some reason, I wasn't crazy about them. So naturally, I drenched them in some turkey meat, marinara sauce and egg and the outcome was delicious.

Wound up mixing the roasted veggies in some marinara sauce which made them taste a lot better :)

Thai Cooking Class

About 1.5 years late but better late than never. Was going through my old photos and realized I never blogged about this!

Last last winter break, some girlfriends and I traveled to Southeast Asia and for part of our trip, we went to Bangkok for a few days (which I might add was nothing like what was depicted in The Hangover 2). One of the items on our to-do list was to take a Thai cooking class and we found an adorable place called Silom Thai Cooking School which was owned by an equally adorable man who had traveled the globe and then retired to open up this cooking school (gave me some ideas for retirement). We made 3 "real" courses and 2 mini courses which in total spanned about 3-4 hours. Everything, from all of the fresh produce to amazing spices to anthropolgy-like dishwear made it such a memorable experience (the 150+ photos I took also helped).

Having authentic Tom Yum Soup in Thailand was a dream. Cooked with the right ingredients, its light, savory, spicy and so satisfying.  

Part 1 of Tom Yum Soup involved making fresh coconut milk (ahh so exciting). Who knew it was so easy, all you actually need is just fresh coconut meat from the market...nbd.Oh well, everything else international has already become part of the foodie lexicon (and part of trader joes), hopefully this will soon too!

Ingredients for Tom Yum Soup, too bad I can't just stroll into FroGro or even Whole Foods and get some kaffir leaves and lemon grass whenever the mood strikes.