Joe's 30th Birthday- Thai themed!

It was Joe's birthday yesterday and he just wanted to stay in and cook a nice meal.... or have me cook him a nice meal. Which of course I obliged. He chose a Tuna dish out of his favorite cookbook, Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen. He is one of Joe's favorite Chefs, from the Seattle area. He does mostly seafood and usually with an asian/thai twist.

The cookbook

We've made his short ribs with rosemary cannellini beans that were to die for! So we figured another one was worth a shot. I don't recommend any of Chef Tom's recipes for the beginner cook, as most recipes are complicated and a process. This dish however, was pretty easy. Highly recommend, although I wish the curry sauce had thickened a bit more....

Tom Douglas' Wok- Seared Albacore Tuna with Coconut Curry
(makes 2 servings)
I don't have wok, so I just did this in a large saucepan on very high heat.


1 bunch cilantro
For the curry sauce:
1 13 1/2 oz can coconut milk (approx 1 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup mirin or sweet sake
1 tbsp asian fish sauce
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
1 tsp asian sour shrimp paste or 1 tsp lime (I used lime and it was great, even though you can pretty much find anything in NYC)
For the dish:
3 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 lb albacore tuna, cut into 2x1/2 inch strips (I used whatever red tuna Whole Foods has, no clue if it was albacore or not)
1 1/2 cups Japanese eggplant cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 1/2 cups Napa cabbage, cut into 1 inch ribbons
1/2 cup zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch thick 
1/2 cup seeded red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
1/3 cup peeled carrots, cut into 1/8 inch slices
2 lime wedges
Steamed rice


Pick off 1/4 cup of the cilantro leaves and set aside.


To make the curry sauce, combine remaining cilantro leaves and stems, the coconut milk, chicken stock, mirin, fish sauce, curry paste, and sour shrimp paste or lime juice in a medium saucepan.
Bring to a simmer, cover, and barely simmer for 30 minutes. (I did about 40 minutes and still couldn't get the sauce thicker- maybe some flour next time?)
Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, you should have about 1 1/2 cups sauce.


Heat wok (or saucepan) on high heat with 2 tbsp of peanut oil.
When the oil is smoking, add the sliced tuna and sear briefly, tossing, about 1 minute.
The tuna should still be rare. Remove from pan and set aside.
Add remaining peanut oil to wok or pan, put in eggplant, cabbage, bell pepper, and carrots, and stir fry for 4 minutes.
Add the curry sauce and the tuna and simmer for 1-2 minutes.


Serve the tuna and curry sauce over the rice and garnish with cilantro leaves and lime wedges.

Excited about the tuna

Everything all combined and simmering away

We had it with a lovely Chardonnay from Italy, but it also suggests a Pinot Gris from Oregon.

Topped off the lovely meal with the dessert Vin Santo we brought back from San Gimignano, Italy

Punta Cana es Excellente!

Joe and I just got back from an amazing jaunt to Punta Cana, on the Domincan Republic. We had an amazing time. We stayed at the Excellence Punta Cana. To anyone looking for a nice Caribbean get away, I highly recommend this place. Beautiful grounds, fantastic pools, gorgeous beach views, cabanas, pina coladas, and some of the friendliest staff in history.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon, and went right to the beach and had our first taste of the frozen drink. Not much sun left, but not to worry we were on the beach and out of the snow! Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent sunning ourselves at the pool and beach every day, snacking at the Excellence club in the hotel, eating at one of their 9 restaurants, watching a little playoff football, and drinking every and any amazing rum drinks- in and out of coconuts. The staff is so friendly and helpful, you really don't want to leave. So you can only imagine what flying back home into Newark in the dead cold of winter must've felt like. Never again. Here are a few picks from the trip.

Joey swimming in the ocean

Joey getting sold by Joseph, his brotha from anotha motha, in the cigar shop

Me, pensive at lunch over the pool

View of the pool

Uvero Alto beach

They will literally bring you anything right on the beach! Joey thinking about a tea sandwich

Joey and I in the lobby before dinner

My only shot of food the whole trip, shocking. Surf n Turf Caribbean-style. Not like Maine, that's for sure

Happy.

Our last night

The Cleanse.

I just started a juice cleanse on Monday, figured I'd share the deets.
If you are ever looking to detox, cleanse, jump start a diet, or just try something really healthy for a change, doing a juice cleanse is a great idea. I have done one of these once before my wedding, but never really thought I'd do it again. Until the other day when I realized I have to get in a bathing suit in a few short moments. After the sobbing stopped, (kidding) I thought doing a 3-day juice cleanse could be a good plan to shed a few lbs before the poor people of the Dominican Republic have to look at me nearly nekid.

The first cleanse I did before my wedding in May was with a company called Blue Print Cleanse (www.blueprintcleanse.com). I lost 4 pounds in 3 days. Pretty good, no?
This time I opted for their competitor Cooler Cleanse (www.coolercleanse.com),  just to give it a shot and try some other juices. These are the 2 dueling juice cleanse companies here in NYC. They both have the same idea, you can choose 1-day, 3-day, or 5-day cleanses. Blueprint has different levels for more advanced users, but who am I kidding? I will never be an advanced juicer. They both offer delivery options, or you can pick up your order at various locations in the city. I have only done the 3-day cleanse, thats pretty much all the juice I can handle. They deliver 3 small coolers to you, each with 6 juices that are clearly numbered so you know what order you should drink them in. You start with your breakfast drink, and have a juice every 2 hours throughout the day- to prevent from being too hungry. Oh did you think you drank the juices and still got to eat food? Umm no. JUST JUICE. For 3 days. Toughen up people.

Anyway, the juices keep in your fridge for the 3 days of the cleanse. Its quite convenient, because you can just take each individual "cooler" to work with you.
Each company has relatively the same types of drinks, with slight variations. I will speak to Cooler Cleanse, since thats the one I'm doing now.

Juices 1-6 in their order

Drink #1- Essential Green, my least favorite, but still rather tasty considering what you're drinking. Its essentially all greens- spinach, kale, dandelion greens, with a touch of lemon and ginger to give it a bit of a kick.

Drink #2- Ruby Red Grapefruit and Mint- extremely yummy and naturally sweet. (Blue Print does a pineapple/mint drink here- which is also pretty amazing)

Drink #3- unfortunately your back to the Essential Green. Yes, twice. This second one I always have a little trouble getting down. Its during lunch time, when I'm usually pretty hungry anyway. Not to mention, my desk at the office is directly in front of the kitchen. The smells of food my coworkers cook in there from about noon until 1pm is a bit torturous at this point in the day.... is that a cheeseburger someone's cooking? Heating up last night's meatloaf? Did someone just order chinese food? I sadly stare at my green spinach juice but I muster through it, small sip by small sip... with the help of a straw.

Drink #4- Coconut Water- SO much better than the kind you get in the deli- and I love those kinds too!

Drink #5- Essential Red, beets, carrots, fuji apple, and lemon. This one has slowly become my favorite. Tastes like the best apple juice you've ever had. I may actually miss this one when it's over. Seriously.

Drink #6- Almond Nut Milk with dates and vanilla bean- meant to taste like a milk shake for dinner... and actually kinda does, but maybe its just cause at this point in the day, you havent had any food, so milk begins to taste like a crazy awesome treat? Who cares. It's good.

Morale of the story, I'm only through day 2 of this cleanse. I did weigh myself the first morning, and I will weigh myself the morning of day 4 and report the findings. Regardless of actual weight loss, if there is any, it's a good thing to clean out your system every once in a while and not have to cook or meal plan for a few days. And for someone who loves food as much as I do, if I can do it, you can too.

Looong overdue Post

I've been slacking on the posts,  so I figured I'd combine a few entries into one.

We spent NYE weekend in the Cape with friends.We planned on spending the weekend with some relaxation, seafood eating, and a good old fashioned new years eve celebration.

It ended up being a weekend filled of  Ping Pong, Beer Pong, HGTV House Hunters (sometimes in addition to the computer showing another episode, simultaneously-- this is what DINKS do) and on top of that...... the 30 year old hangovers (so much more brutal than the 21 year old kind). We did manage massive amounts of seafood (clams, lobsters, and oysters), which along with hopping around to Mumford and Sons and Rod Stewart and playing Cranium and Trouble, was really the best part of the weekend. Well that, and planning a European tour with the other DINKS in the car ride home. That will make for a fun post in October!

(2 recipes to follow of our NYE dinner of Clams and Chorizo over Pasta and one of the yummy appetizers we served)



Some pics from the weekend

The crew ready for clams!

 

The bay at sunset

CHEERS to 2011!

Lobster races

Hadley's Chorizo and Clam sauce (shout out to my friend Hadley, who put this recipe together with me at the office one random afternoon, it has become a common dish I serve that is certainly well-liked). Since this recipe was created by us, I don't have exact measurements or instructions, but its not hard by any stretch of the imagination.

2 dozen clams, cleaned- little necks or Itushus
2 cans minced clams (don't be put off by the cans of clams, they have great flavor when cooked in this sauce, I promise!)
2 cans whole clams
Plum tomatoes (or whatever's fresh)
Spanish Chorizo, removed from casing (hard to find, but the best kind for this recipe)
Garlic (up to you how many cloves, I use around 4 medium sized)
Dry white wine
Small box of clam stock
oregano
anchovy paste (optional, but gives it great flavor)
Linguine

Cook pasta al dente, save some pasta water for sauce
Simmer the garlic, some butter and/or olive oil.
Add a tbsp or so of anchovy paste, if using
Add chorizo while breaking it up in the pan, and brown
Add white wine and simmer until it reduces
Add tomatoes and oregano
Add all jarred clams, continue simmering
Add whole clams and clam stock
Cover pot to open clams, add pasta water if need be.
Throw out any that don't open.
Serve sauce over pasta. It should be slightly liquidy, but mostly chorizo, clams, and tomatoes (see picture below)
Serve with a sprinkle of chopped flat leaf parsley if you're feeling fancy.

I doubled, nearly tripled the recipe for the 7 of us

Fake Turtles (we made these for just something to snack on, they went fast and were SO tasty- the easiest things to make also)
1 large bag of mini pretzels (the square-shaped ones work really well)
1 large bag Rolos
1 bag pecans


Preheat oven to 350
Arrange pretzels on a cookie sheet and place Rolo on top of each one.
Bake for about 5 minutes, or until chocolate has begun to melt
Remove them from the oven and press a pecan into each Rolo.
Let them cool completely before serving... and watch them go quickly!