the roundup: april 2024
Food:
If you are ever in need of a not-fussy meal that is impressive AND makes great leftovers- look no further than this meat pie.. I made this for my husband and I the night before a trip I took, and he was able to reheat and eat it over the next few days. Serve it with some salad and you are good to go!
For the first week of April I went home to Northern California and the next few posts will highlight that but my mom made a big batch of her delicious tuna salad for while we were home. One day for lunch, I tossed some lettuce, radish and scallions with olive oil and sweet vinegar. Topped it with tuna salad and avocado and drizzled it all with some chili oil. it was so easy, and full of flavor.
We tried a new sushi spot in SF, Handroll Project, while I was home and it was such a fun experience. I have never been to a specially handroll spot but it was really cool. Their flavors were unique but still had that familiarity. My favorites were the smoked uni and the scallop handrolls, but honestly everything was amazing. The only note I have is this is a great spot for a 2 person dinner as you are sitting at sushi counters. it is hard to have a conversation with a group bigger than 2 while sitting side by side.
One of the nights we cooked at home, we made homemade pizza, kale Caesar salad and Hailee Catalano’s Italian Seafood Salad. My favorite pizzas we made were a ramp pesto pizza with mortadella and pistachios as we well as a pizza with crispy eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes.
I finally got to try El Molino Central on this trip home and it definitely lived up to the hype. Everything was SO delicious! I LOVED the chile relleno, chicken enchiladas and the fried shrimp tacos. If you are up and Sonoma, this should definitely be something to put on your list.
Hon’s Wun Tun House was my favorite meal of the trip… by FAR. It was mind-blowingly good. The broth, perfect, the noodles, perfect, the wontons, out of this world. This isn’t a fancy spot and has jokingly been called SF’s cheapest food but don’t look beyond it. I would go back in a heartbeat if I could. This will definitely be a meal I crave, often.
After we had Hon’s, we went to Chinatown to pick up some Peking duck to eat at home. We made some Chinese greens and had all the fixings. It was fun to eat this at home while watching a movie as a family. The duck was delicious.
Heading out to Marshall, CA for oysters is always my favorite thing to do when I go home. This time we ate at Tony’s Seafood (owned by Hog Island) and it is always amazing. I love their fresh and BBQ oysters as well as their seafood stew. It is stunning and so fresh.
It has been a while since I have made a Thai curry at home and I forgot how delicious and easy it is to throw together. I made an acorn squash and chicken panang curry and it was amazing.
April brought Passover which means a LOT of matzah. I prepped some of Jake Cohen’s Matzah Crunch (with added sprinkles) to put in our freezer for dessert this week.
Going off the above bullet, we had a lovely Passover Seder with friends and made a lot of recipes from Jewish Food Society’s cookbook “Jewish Holiday Table”. We pulled from the Mexican seder menu and then I made my brisket. I LOVED the Matzah Ball Soup Mexicana - it was like a tortilla soup.
Passover also mean matzah brei which is essentially a Jewish chilaquiles (swap the chips for matzah). I personally like it sweet with maple syrup and jam.
Drink
I tried this Echigo rice beer at the Handroll project and it was delightful. I would definitely order this again.
Our friend’s wedding weekend kicked off at Morris in DC and this cocktail was my drink of choice. It was a tequila-based cocktail that was a bit negroni-y and aperol-y. Shout out to their personalized dog napkins.
I went to Nido’s wine tasting happy hour with a friend this month and while it wasn’t one of the wines we tasted, the owner recommended this lovely wine to us and we absolutely loved it. The Borgo Savaian Aransat Orange Wine is a great intro orange wine as it is a combo of Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc.
We had this Powell & Sons Barossa Valley Shiraz from Australia and it is delicious. I love a lighter red and shiraz is not normally what I go for but this is something I will be re-purchasing before.
Other:
Like I mentioned above, I kicked off April with a trip home to Northern California. It was a trip I really needed. I got to spend time with family, eat some great food, enjoy the city and the water and really re-charge. I want to be better about carving out the time for “recharge” this year as we get increasingly busy.
I watched the Black Cake series on Hulu and it was super good (I didn’t read the book but I wish I did). It is a very powerful and gut wrenching story about family and secrets and it was very well done.
Some of our dearest friends got married in mid-April and it was the best day ever! We were honored to share the special day with them and we can’t wait to see what’s next for them.
We hosted a Passover Seder for 6 of our friends and we had the best night. The food was delicious, the wine was great, the company was the best and we got to use the Seder and matzah plates we got for our wedding. It was a really special night.
I bought these Lightweight Barrel-Leg pants from Lululemon and thank g-d I did, because it is now 80 degrees in DC and these are perfect. Light weight, comfy, and cute - what more do you need?
I have been in my closet clean-out era! Nothing is safe in my closet at the moment. I am really trying to define my style a bit more and only keep things I love and fit me well in my closet. No need to hold onto the things that are for specific moments. (Poshmark shout out, again!!)
Lenny:
