The RoundUp: April 2022
Favorite Foodie Things:
I was influenced and made the Half Baked Harvest One Pot Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta and it lived up to the hype. It was delicious, full of flavor and beyond easy. The only thing I did differently was instead of laying the whipped ricotta on the bottom of the serving plate, I combined it into the pasta. STILL AMAZING!
I went to H Mart with a friend this month and we hadn’t been in a while! I got a lot of goodies and we made ssam for dinner (meat and lettuce wraps) but we also got lunch at the food court at the Fairfax, VA H Mart and it was soooooooo good. We got a bulgogi stone pot noodle dish and the rabokki (ramen and tteokbokki) with dumplings and fried squid.
As I mentioned in my last Round Up post, my work travel has picked back up again and this month it brought me a to a few places (see below). I started out April in Durham, NC and obviously had to get BBQ. I went to Moe’s Original BBQ and it was really good AND a great price.
April also brought my favorite Jewish holiday of Passover which meant a LOT of Jewish cooking. I made a Jake Cohen recipe French Onion Brisket, potato kugel, Jake Cohen’s Iraqi salmon, a lovely green salad with shaved fennel and radish, honey roasted carrots and my future mother-in-law made two Israeli-style quiches. For appetizers we had a chopped liver, white fish salad and egg salad and don’t forget a classic MBS (matzo ball soup) and charoset! Everything was delicious!
Post Passover, I obviously had a large amount of brisket leftover (since I am never able to cook for the correct amount of people) so I made a really delicious batch of brisket Bolognese sauce. I chopped up the remaining brisket and combined it with about 28 oz of diced tomatoes. Added in a bit more salt and pepper to taste (but the brisket was already pretty seasoned) and some dehydrated garlic and let it simmer for a few hours. Served with with some fresh pasta from Al Volo and chef’s kiss it was amazing.
We wrapped up April with a visit from my parents (see below) which obviously included a lot of food. My favorite meal of the trip was the Lutece in Georgetown. We did the chef’s table experience and it was simply out of this world.
While my parents were in town, I also had my first Joe’s Stone Crab experience and it did indeed live up to the hype! Stone crab not pictured because I was too excited and ate it too fast!
To wrap up April, my girlfriends and I had such an amazing dinner at a new-ish spot in DC called El Secreto de Rosita and it was incredible. We are already chatting about when we will go back. They serve Peruvian cuisine, which I don’t know much about, but I really enjoyed it and the cocktails were amazing. We had the Gambas Alajillo, Salmon Tiradito, Ceviche Mixto, Aji de Gallina and the Pescado A Lo Macho. Everything was amazing!
Other Things That Made Me Happy:
As I mentioned in my last The Round Up- my work travel picked up in Spring 2022 and I went to a global training in Chicago. Check out the view from our Chicago office! I love Chicago so much! I will also mention that it did snow while we were there in early April so that was a surprise!
Work also brought me to Charlottesville, one of my favorite places to visit near DC! In my spare time I went to check out this new spot called the Wool Factory. They have an awesome coffee shop/wine shop where I grabbed a coffee, some of the best English muffins I have ever eaten, an almond croissant (duh) and some local VA wines. I can’t wait to go back!
Like I already mentioned, my parents came out to visit and it was so nice to have them here! Here are some pictures of us in front of the White House and at the chef’s table at Lutece!
What’s Up with Len:
