Flavors 518

 This week we went to Sitar Indian Restaurant , and I really enjoyed myself. Indian food is my favorite. We thought about going here when we first moved here, but it seemed a bit more expensive than other Indian restaurants in the area. When I was out of town last week, Scott went there (because the Garden Bistro was closed). He reported back that while it is more expensive, the price includes naan or rice (some of the dishes also include a vegetable). He also reported back that it was really good. There are quite a bit of Indian people in surburban Detroit (where I am from) mostly because of engineering opportunities in the auto industry. I worked at a Blimpie sandwich shop throughout college, and it was owned by an Indian couple. To this day it remains the longest period of time I have ever worked anywhere. The owners were really great to my ex-boyfriend and I. The whole family was very much like the family in Jhumpa Lahiri's novel "The Namesake" (the father was...

I was told John Roberts would force me to do this: Fortunately, broccoli stir-frys are terrific.   Adam Gopnik has more tips to deal with our scary new constitutional era.

This weekend a couple ladies from my book club and I want to the Joan Osborne concert at The Egg, and we stopped by Kinnaree before the show. My friend who suggested it had been there before and really liked it. The same day that we went, the restaurant got four stars from the Times Union . Check out Albany Jane's experience from back in January .  Above is what I got. The Jjam Pong, "a spicy seafood soup with udon noodle, shrimp, squid, scallop, mussel, white fish, vegetables". I really enjoyed the heat of the spice and the variety of the seafood. The vegetables in the soup also tasted really fresh and getting the side dishes without knowing what they were going to be was a fun surprise. Those are a carrot side dish, fish cakes, and bean sprouts. My favorite was the bean sprouts which tasted like they were in sesame oil. Above is Gob dol bi bim bab in a hot stone bowl, that is "an assortment of sautéed vegetables, egg, beef over steam rice served with red...

We've lived here almost three years, and up until last Saturday I had only been to Schenectady three times. Once when we first moved here, we missed the turn off for Crossgates and accidentally got on I-90 the same day someone had recommended the Appian Way to us so we ended up there mostly by accident. I checked out Erin Harkes at the Moon and River Cafe once while planning our wedding and looking for a singer for our first dance. A couple weeks ago we saw the RPI/Union hockey game and because none of us knew any restaurants in Schenectady worth going to (including our friend who lives there) we went to Garden Bistro 24 in Colonie . Well, I threw off my annual schedule of visiting the fair city by going again this past weekend because my friend, Jessica, was working back stage at Fiddler on the Roof at the Schenectady Light Opera Company. My husband was out of town, and past times when he has been out of town I've made lavender sorbet for dinner, watched every movie on th...

We like Dragon City Chinese Restaurant on Western Avenue for take-out. Here is the Times Union review I read posted on the wall as I waited for our food . Here is what is good about it: Very cheap. We got enough for like 4 meals for under $20. (Pictured above is the curry beef and the broccoli with garlic sauce, not pictured is the hot and sour soup which my husband, a connoisseur of hot and sour soup, seemed to really enjoy.) Unlike lesser Chinese restaurants you actually get a good amount of fresh tasting vegetables (the above linked Times Union review notes this fact). In this way, Chinese food can be a really cheap take out option that actually offers real vegetables (maybe Wendy's and Taco Bell should offer a side of broccoli?). They are fast too. I browsed their Time magazines from around the time of Hurricane Katrina and when Jonathan Franzen's Freedom came out (far from current), and before I knew it my order was ready. This is good since it can be hard to k...

The other night we checked out MezzeNotte Ristorante in Guilderland. We sampled some very tasty risotto balls from there at the Albany Wine & Dine for the Arts . Also, my husband took a class from the chef at Different Drummer's Kitchen and really liked Mark Graham. So we decided to check it out. I got the Caesar salad which I really liked because it had a strong lemony flavor. My husband got the Zuppa di Polpetti (meatball soup, with mushrooms, farro, cippolinis and spinach in a rich broth), which was deeply flavorful and really satisfying. For my entree I had Lasagna "Matta" - free formed lasagna tossed with Chef's three meat Bolognese, which I really, really loved. It was a pretty big portion, and Scott helped me, but we definitely polished off the whole thing. It is a world of difference between this fresh conventional pasta and dried pasta.. Also, when I went to the bathroom you could really smell either fresh pasta or bread coming out of the kitchen and ...

As a Christmas gift I signed my husband up for a pasta making class at Different Drummer's Kitchen in Stuyvesant Plaza. The instructor was from MezzeNotte in Guilderland. We sampled some food from this restaurant at the Albany Wine & Dine for the Arts and really enjoyed what we tried. He said they made some risotto, ricotta gnocchi, and a couple kinds of long fresh pasta. He said it was all hands-on and that the staff was very helpful. He said that in the class he learned the having a Kitchen-Aid mixer with a pasta attachment is the easiest method of making fresh pasta at home. He said that the hand crank ones really need two people - one person to feed in the pasta to the machine, and another to crank it (sometimes a third person is also needed to keep the device steady on the counter). Check out some of his photos - it all looks delicious! Apparently it was not difficult to learn.

 We first went to the Delmonico's in Utica when we were visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown a couple years ago. We also visited the Ommegang Brewery, and had worked up strong appetites. I consulted my guidebook I bought when we first moved here, and there didn't seem to be a whole lot in Utica listed, but Delmonico's sounded interesting ( here is the menu ). We went there, and I got the full pound lasagna  (wow), not sure if I finished it all or not (I definitely haven't since then). I remember liking the cocktail glasses, and liking how many celebrations seemed to be taking place all at once (birthdays, family get togethers, couples on dates). Going to Delmonico's  seemed like a super popular thing to a certain group of people - and I immediately liked it for what it was. Sure it is not Italian-Italian but as far as Italian-American goes, I think it is great. It is so much better than it needs to be. Upon coming home we realized there was one i...

I'm having a couple friends over for dinner on Friday. It is no big deal. In fact, Marguerita Pizza is one of the absolute cheapest foods you can make even if you buy really great fresh mozzarella. I use the Cook's Illustrated recipe, and it works great . Sometimes you want to push yourself and cook something really ambitious, but sometimes you just want to have a couple friends over to keep you company, and it should be very casual. I have though seen some very fun ways to enhance the adult pizza party experience. Martha Stewart a while ago had a tip about using store bought pies, and letting people add their own ingredients. This blog (Celebrations at Home) makes it look really cool. Here's some other tips: at 20Something Cupcakes blog , The HipHostess , and the kitchn . Sometimes parties aren't about the fuss. Especially if you get your friends to bring the salad. I'm thinking about making Dorie Greenspan's chocolate mousse. But if not, it is no...

There are so many things I love about El Mariachi . I've only been to the one on Hamilton Street. From the delicious drinks to the sizzling food and the bright decor it is just all in all a good time. We went there for my bachelorette party in June and it was a blast (as shown above). Did I eat lots of fried salty food two days before my wedding? Yes, yes I did , and I didn't feel bad about it. I first went to El Mariachi with my friend who has now left Albany, and I always associated it with a fun girls' night from that time on. What about chips and salsa and tequila doesn't set the stage for fun gossip? The fajitas actually make noise when they come out. Some dishes are things you would not routinely see at a Mexican restaurant. Also, there's Spanish food on the menu. Actually, our waitress one time came up to us and mentioned that Scott was her professor at Hunter when we lived in New York. Small world! And it turns out that her parents own the place and that o...

Two years ago this week I was getting ready to go on a study abroad program in London. It simultaneously feels like a lifetime ago and like it was just yesterday. That summer, I knew if I didn't go abroad that I would never have a chance like that again. I thought (rightly so, it turns out) that upon finishing graduate school I would get a job and a car payment and all of a sudden become a lot more tied down. It was exhilarating. It was the trip of a lifetime, and it certainly was an adventure (for better or worse). The problem was I hated the food. I will say that I have read defenses of English food online, and most of these have the qualification that if you spend a lot of money there is good food in London. Well, I will counter that with saying in NYC some of the best food is inexpensive, and that definitely a person who is not wealthy can acquire tasty food there. Here were some causes of my misery: mushy peas, lack of seasoning (even salt and pepper), limp bacon, soft fish a...