Winter Trip LA: Summary

It's been so long since I last posted that the entirety of the holiday season has passed (sorry...so guilty). 3rd year of med school is as vicious as they say, but I'm 2/3 of the way through and hopefully I'll have more time to cook and post during 4th year. During my winter break, I vacationed for a week in LA and wanted to share some photos. 

Downtown Disney! Khoi and I really wanted to go to Disneyland actually but the holiday season is awful, and after weighing pros and cons, it wasn't worth it to pay $150 per person to to wait in line all day. And honestly, the Downtown Disney area was pretty magical in and of itself.

Lilo and my Stitch!

We also went to Anaheim Packing District to hang out with one of my old college roomies, Laurel. Anaheim Packing district is a high end large marketplace with a variety of small eateries, similar to the North Market in Columbus but slightly fancier. I tried a delicious popsicle at Popbar here, but the photo was too blurry, so sad :(

While we didn't wanna wait for Disneyland, waiting for The Broad was much more manageable since it was only a couple of hours. The Broad is a relatively new museum in DTLA, with tickets that can be reserved (a few months in advance) or via standby so we waited for standby. Truth be told, our goal was to see The Infinity Room but by the time we made it into the museum, reservations for the room were already gone for the day. 

But there was some nice (and some creepy) art that was overall worth seeing, especially considering that the museum is free. 

What a cutie :D

In terms of food, I had one of the best cocktails of my life at Perch, a popular rooftop bar in DTLA with a gorgeous view of the city. We were there for the view (I couldn't get a good picture on my DSLR) but the food impressed me too. The cocktail I had was the penicillin and man oh man I gotta make this the next time I have a cold.

Khoi and I met up with another one of my friends for lunch in DTLA at Bottega Louie, which is an enormously beautiful restaurant that has over 12,000 reviews (!!!) on Yelp. Look at him so pleased with his Italian soda. 

Meanwhile, I had one of the most amazing desserts that I've ever had. I don't really know what it is, but it has mango and white chocolate, and it deserves a 5 star review because I definitely cannot make something this tasty myself. 

While not as tasty, I did make a pretty mean tiramisu for a holiday party using this recipe -- I've made this recipe numerous times before, but this has been the best one and I'm going to stick to it for years to come. Also, at this point I've made tiramisu with rum, whiskey, wine, and kahlua, and kahlua is hands down the best. 

Happy belated holidays everyone! I'm sorry to be so MIA but I post when I can and hopefully I'll have more time in the future, please don't think that this blog is dead just yet. 

Subscription Boxes!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you may have noticed that recently I've been posting less about what I make and more about new restaurants that I'm trying. I feel a tad guilty about this, but part of the reason is that I've had less time to cook now that I'm in 3rd year of my program and it's rather stressful. And when I do cook, I now enjoy simpler dishes and often don't put effort into making my food look as good as I did before...but hopefully I'll start having more time soon.

During Step 1 studying season, I pretty much ate only cafeteria food (since I studied on campus from morning to night), with the occasional restaurant date with Khoi. And the only food I would cook would be from subscription boxes, since I pretty much stopped grocery shopping altogether. I collected pictures from some of the dishes I experienced and overall, I would definitely utilize these services again and again whenever I anticipate a rough week.

Least favorite - Plated. My beef with this one is that everything tasted too...healthy. And I like healthy, but I don't want to compromise taste because I want to love what I eat. This one just didn't do it for me.

Miso ginger pollock - pollock is a type of fish

Pork with beets - I learned that beets is my least favorite vegetable

Ricotta corn empanadas - needed more flavor

Middle Ground -- HelloFresh. I thought this service was alright, as a lot of the dishes were hit or miss. I saved the recipes for the dishes that I liked.

Brioche shrimp rolls - this was top notch

Smokey adobo chicken tacos - also good, I liked how fresh everything was

Poached cod in chorizo fennel broth - this tasted awful and took forever to make, which defeats the whole purpose of subscription boxes :(

Favorite - Home Chef. This is a Chicago-based company and people there understand good food. I loved each dish. 

Blue cheese crusted sirloin steak - beautiful and flavorful

Shrimp and grits - simple and tasty

Cajun blackened chicken - my least favorite of the three but 'twas fine

I haven't ordered a subscription box in awhile, but when I do again in the future, it'll be Home Chef or another company I have yet to try (Blue Apron and PeachDish are at the top of my list :D)

Summer Trip DC: Food Summary

I'm back :D But also back to school :( We finished the OBGYN/surgery block at school and then Khoi and I spent last week in DC to visit friends and family, and so that I could show him around a bit. We were there for the best weather week of the year -- it was so incredibly beautiful there and I'm already missing the place. Here's some notable food from that week.

Frolicking at the WWII memorial

Scarlet Oak

Reunited and it feels so good uh uh uh. One of my old friends has been working at a new restaurant that just opened near Navy Yard, so I stopped by to grab lunch where she worked and catch up a bit.

Angus burger with blue cheese and harissa aioli. Khoi was in the mood for a burger so a burger he got, and I snuck a bite and it was pretty good hehe.

Lamb ragu penne. If it says lamb ragu on the menu somewhere, I will order it because its my favorite pasta sauce. I think this dish could be improved is if they used pappardelle instead of penne.

Scarlet Oak

909 New Jersey Ave SE

Washington, DC 20003

(202) 780-0140

Georgetown Cupcake

This place is crazy famous so I was weary to stop by since I was afraid of the line, but there was none (lucky us). Their seasonal raspberry peach cupcake was amazing and likely of the best cupcakes I've tasted, and the chocolate ganache cupcake was solid.

Georgetown Cupcake

3301 M St NW

Washington, DC 20007

(202) 333-8448

Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant

The restaurant at George Washington's Mount Vernon is the best tourist trap because the food is actually amazing, the vibe is so fun, and the waiters are all dressed up in colonial gear.

Colonial hoecake - corn cake with country ham, sauteed crab, and hollandaise. Think a colonial rendition of crab cake. 

Bacon-wrapped meatloaf. So bad but so good...

Shrimp and grits, featuring George Washington's Gristmill grits! As in Georgie's estate has a mill that makes grits, and they use them for this lovely dish. I wanted to buy a bag of grits as a souvenir but the shop was closed when I tried, but at least I got to experience this.

Cherry pie, since good ol' Georgie didn't chop down the tree huehue

Churning whiskey as a workout after an amazing, filling lunch

Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant

3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Hwy

Mt Vernon, VA 22121

(703) 780-0011

Le Diplomate

This restaurant has been on my list of places to visit for the longest time, from back when I lived in DC two years ago. They had just opened then and was crazy busy constantly (within a few months they had 1000+ Yelp reviews!), so I never got to stop by and we decided that we had to dine here before leaving DC this time around

Escargots with parsley, garlic butter, puff pastry, and champignon ('shrooms!). This was my first time trying escargots and these tasted...surprising is the only way I can describe it.

Pea soup with crab and creme fraiche. Now this soup was amazingly creamy and so bright and summery. I greatly enjoyed this.

Roasted duck breast with polenta, swiss chard, and cherry jus. So classic, so delicious, so perfectly cooked. This was the best dish of the night.

Bouillabaisse, it was tasty but I regretted my decision to get this because I order it quite frequently and I could've tried something else more special on the menu. But still tasty.

Strawberry charlotte with almond crumble and creme fraiche sorbet. This was amazing, I've never had a charlotte before and I would definitely order it all the time if it was on menus more often.

Very pleased after a great dinner

Le Diplomat

1601 14th St NW

Washington, DC 20009

(202) 332-3333

June Recent Eats

Happy July 4th, world! This post won't be July 4th related unfortunately, but I will be recapping all the fantastic food I've experienced over the past month since I finally have a two day weekend and hence some time off to update. So here goes...

Restaurants 

Curio. This is one of my new favorite restaurants in Columbus because the atmosphere, the drinks, and the food are hard to beat. I really love the vintage vibe and everything we tried was delicious. We each got a drink, then split ricotta gnocchi and a pizza that was so spicy that I got a tummy ache the next day. But totally worth it.

The Market Italian Village. Another restaurant I'd add to the amazing brunch repertoire available in Cbus. I loved sitting at one of their huge open window seats, so I felt like I was dining outdoors minus the humid heat. The smoked salmon BLT was great, but the baked egg dish was the star of the show.

Bonchon Chicken. They finally opened a Bonchon in Cbus, and their Korean fried chicken is as wonderful as I remembered it to be when I first tried this chain in NY. They remain searing hot and crunch on your plate for a long time, and they reheat nicely in the oven the next day if you have leftovers. Also, the ddukbokki is a bit on the pricy side, but they add some variation to the dish but serving the dduk on a bed of vermicelli. 

ZenCha Tea Salon. This is a great place for tea, although the brunch wasn't quite as good (likely because Cbus has many other places that steal the show). We tried the Arabian Nights waffles and the shrimp and grits which were only okay, so I'm not sure I'd try their brunch menu again. 

Forno. This restaurant on High Street has an amazing happy menu (1/2 off all drinks, apps, and pizzas) every weekday from 4-6pm. My favorite item on the menu was their pork belly tacos, as pictured, but there wasn't anything I tried that I disliked.

Belle's Bread. I love this bakery for their selection of Asian desserts and the best green tea soft serve ever, but they have a lunch menu which I was curious about. I thought the food was decent, but in the future I'm likely to eat at Tensuke Express a few stores down and stop in here for just dessert. 

Khoi's Cooking

Salmon don. Khoi and I bought some sushi-grade salmon, fish eggs, microgreens, and seaweed salad at Tensuke, plopped it on a bed of rice, and called it dinner. This is seriously one of the best and simplest things I've ever had, albeit the ingredients are quite fancy.

Shrimp scampi. Khoi got some fresh-made linguini from Market District and we went to town. So good.

Japanese carbonara, using more fresh noodles from Market District. This tastes pretty similar to regular carbonara, which is among my favorite pasta dishes, but the addition of seaweed on top add such a wonderful kick.

Bun bo, a Vietnamese soup dish with beef and vermicelli noodles. Khoi got this recipe from his dad, and I think I like this more than the pho (which is already great).

Miscellaneous

Nutella pancakes, because this video.

March through May Recent Faves

I've been gone forever, and so much has happened over the past few months. I made it through board exams (and passed!), vacationed in Italy, visited family in Birmingham, and I'm one week into third year of med school. I've eaten so many things, so I figured I'd post about some of my favorite eats over the past couple of months (minus Italy foods, that will get its own post).

Fave pie: cherry berry pie recipe from Food & Wine. I must celebrate Pi Day every year. This year it was during board prep, but I made this tasty pie anyways and it was totally worth it. I subsequently snacked on pie while studying for the next few days ^_^

Fave meal out during step studies: Sultan's delight at Cafe Istanbul. I think this dish is lamb on a bed of roast eggplant puree. This is among my favorite restaurants in Cbus and this is my new favorite dish here. 

Fave sammich: pastrami, avocado, greens, gooey egg, and mayo. I ate this several times a week while prepping for boards since it whips up pretty quickly and is so hearty and delicious. 

Fave weird food: seafood doria (rice casserole) from Hiroko's Place in NYC.  After boards, I took an overnight bus to NY and then flew to Italy, so had a day to frolic about the city. This dish is hella weird but I didn't expect it to taste so good. Think cheesy seafood risotto, but Asian o.O

Fave place I've always wanted to try...but didn't quite meet expectations: Dominique Ansel. I think the cronut was way too hyped so I had major expectations and it was only...okay. I liked their DKA more (another popular pastry sold there). 

Fave restaurant in Birmingham: El Barrio. I haven't sampled many restaurants in Bham since my parents moved there, but this is among the best ones that I've tried (and lots of people seem to agree since it was super crowded on the weeknight when we dined here). The dishes are well-executed, delicious, and seemingly healthy, and I loved the tostada salad and grapefruit margarita that I ordered

Fave dish I made recently: seafood pan roast. Khoi made this dish for me several times and I love it, so I made it for my parents for Mother's Day while visiting, and they absolutely adored this dish too :)

Fave recently-discovered brunch in Cbus: Wolf's Ridge Brewing. I brunched here once I was finally back to Cbus after my trip. I've always wanted to eat here and their eggs benedict is among the best I've had, so this place did not disappoint. I would love to come back and try their dinner menu for a special occasion.

Fave thing Khoi has cooked recently: Vietnamese Shaking Beef with Tomato Rice. My gosh it's pretty, and it tastes as good as it looks. I swear I'm dating a chef or something. 

My study stuffs. Cute things made my depressing study situation more...bearable. And now it's finally all over hurrah :D