CoSkay.com

Ok, not really, but I’ve had an overwhelmingly large number of people ask me that question in various forms

“Are you a vegetarian?”

“Have you drank the CA kool-aid?’

“Have you denounced the east coast yet?”

and my personal favorite:

“Are you guys living in a commune?”

People, I have written posts on bacon and steak.  I’m pretty sure two months of California living isn’t going to make me turn away filet mignon anytime soon.  That said, I think I went a little overboard with the beef jerky while hiking in Yosemite last weekend.  I haven’t eaten any meat, poultry or fish in four(!!!) whole days.  This evening’s dinner was no different, I threw together some veg-friendly products into what my roommate called, “A Vegetarian Super-Protein Dinner.”  It was pretty good.  If I didn’t like steak so much, I might consider being a vegetarian.

It started with veggies:

and more veggies:

and ended with a delicious well-rounded meal

Vegetarian Super-Protein Dinner

• 1 cup uncooked Quinoa
• 9 oz. Firm Tofu, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 Zucchini, diced
• 1 Bell Pepper, chopped
• 1 can Artichoke Hearts, halved
• 1 1/2 cups Cherry Tomatoes, halved
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions.
2. Saute onion in 1 tbsp olive oil until tender.  Add zucchini and bell peppers.
3. Once all the vegetables are tender, add the artichoke hearts and tofu and heat until warm
4. Meanwhile, whisk together the remaining olive oil, Dijon mustard and vinegar
5. Combine the cooked quinoa and warm veggies.  Drizzle the Dijon dressing over the mixture, add the cherry tomatoes and carefully stir.
6. Serve hot or cold, with a side of bacon.

So I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but I looouuvveee farmer’s markets.
They take place on weekend mornings. A time when you can slow down, relax and wander around (did I just write “slow down?”…I can’t remember the last time I actually did that). The variety of food is fantastic and ever-changing. I’m very sad I won’t be here in California during the Fall when the strawberries and corn transition into apples and squash. It’s a great way to change up your meals and get creative with new recipes. Plus, once you get home, you can eat everything, clearly my favorite part.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to find an assortment of lettuce options, all of which would be great for a salad. The temperatures have been 90+ recently and my house lacks air conditioning. Any measure I could take to avoid turning on the oven was taken. Plus, I found a great recipe for Shallot Vinaigrette at the market. I made the dressing yesterday and ate the salad today. Simple, yet delicious salad of leaf lettuce, bibb lettuce, arugula, toasted pine nuts, goat cheese, strawberries and vinaigrette.

Shallot Vinairgrette
Adapted from a Coke Farm Recipe

-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
-1 shallot, diced
-1 tbsp dijon mustard
-1-2 tsp honey
-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
-salt and pepper to taste

Add vinegar to shallot and let sit for 10 minutes. Add mustard and whisk in honey and olive oil. Will keep for a couple of days in the fridge.

This is a self-imposed challenge. I haven’t prepared my own lunch on a regular basis since…well, ever.
My parents did such a great job making my lunch when I was younger, yet somehow the concept was lost on me. In college, I got accustomed to people making me food at the dinning halls. At work I never had time to buy groceries, so actually bringing something to the office was hard. Plus, grabbing lunch was usually the only time I got to see daylight. During grad school, there are just so many events during lunch that I didn’t need to pack anything.

And now here I am. Working again with time to buy groceries. Gasp. I’ve been buying my lunch everyday at our really nice office cafeteria, but I’ve been thinking (as I like to try and do every so often) that it’s probably more economical and somewhat healthier to bring lunch. So I’ve decided to do just that. Bring my lunch, brown paper bag style.

BUT I’m a foodie. Clearly a regular turkey and swiss won’t do on a regular basis…I need to mix it up! I want to make things that will compare to what I could be getting at the cafeteria so I won’t feel like I’m missing out. So here it is, my sandwich for today:

Prosciutto with sliced sheep’s cheese, basil, baby arugula and black olive tapenade. Ok….arguably healthier than the cafeteria. But then I realized these are expensive ingredients, so perhaps it’s not economical to make lunch. To figure this quandary out, I made a spreadsheet, ex-banker style.

So it costs me approximately $4.37 per sandwich (provided I use all the ingredients to their capacity), which is less than the ~$7.00 spent at the cafeteria. That’s a savings of $13.15/week or $52.59 per month. Hmmm, maybe I should start making this a regular challenge for the summer…suggestions are welcome for other great sandwiches.

Stop Number 1

Mooo….

No really, that’s the name of the restaurant (kinda awesome, huh?).  As an early birthday celebration, I got to experience some fantastic high-class steak in an uber-swank location.  I’ll cut right to the chase on this one, we only ordered 1 course…steak.  No appetizers, no dessert (I know, I know, I’m just as shocked as you are, after all this was my birthday dinner). To be honest, the one course was almost too much, almost.

So the steak… 8 oz. Fllet Mignon, which was the smallest one offered on the menu, with a wine sauce…medium-rare.  I debated going rare but MR was perfect, melt-in-your-mouth perfection.  It didn’t even need the wine sauce, but that just made it all the more delicious.  My partner in crime also ordered the filet mignon, albeit the more aggressive 12 oz. portion.

For sides, we ordered the “Mooo Side Flight,” which consisted of  yukon gold mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, truffled Parmesan fries and a mushroom medley.  Here is my advice on this one: don’t get it.  Instead, just get the truffled fries and mushrooms.  The fries were amazing and the mushrooms were a nice delicate balance.  I’m not a huge fan of creamed spinach to begin with, but this wasn’t even good.  I took one bite and decided my stomach capacity should be saved for other things.  The potatoes were just potatoes, nothing fancy..again, not worth it.

At the end of the meal, I was very happy, beyond full and then realized I just ate half a pound of steak.  Gluttony at it’s best.

And now for something completely different….

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The Clover Food Truck

A relatively recent addition to the famed food trucks on the MIT campus, my friend Emily introduced me the day after my steak excursion.  Not your typical street-meat cart, this place serves vegetarian, local and when possible, organic food.

Started by MIT grad Ayr Muir, the food truck brings easily accessible healthy food to the the Kendall community.  I’m just bummed I didn’t find out about this place until after the semester was over!  Hopefully it will be back next year.

While more expensive than the competing food trucks, Clover delivers warm meals with uber-fresh ingredients.  For lunch I had a Tofu BLT, cucumber and tomato salad and an unsweetened iced tea (my favorite summertime beverage) all for only $9.  The only catch is food runs out quickly, so you have to get there early for the full selection.  You can also follow them on Twitter for updates.

I also recommend reading these articles on the Clover Food Truck and Ayr’s food concepts in

The Boston Globe and

MIT News

Note: This post is not for the faint of heart.

There has been a lot of talk (some might call it hype) about Hungry Mother in Cambridge.  It was ranked #7 in Boston Magazine’s Best Restaurants Issue.  It has an impressive 4.5 stars (out of 5) on Yelp and a ranking of 92 (out of 100) on The Phantom Gourmet.  Well I am here to tell you, it is well deserved.  Go make your reservations now because you’ll need them and by the time you finish this post you’ll be wishing you were there now.

We arrived for our dinner and were promptly seated on time.  After a quick perusal of the menu (that’s all you need, it’s not a huge menu), we ordered our drinks and food in one shot.  The appetizers included fried oysters, squid and cornbread.  Now it was difficult to get my head wrapped about the oysters.  I always get them raw with horseradish and cocktail sauce and throw them back like candy.  Well, I’m a convert.  They were delicious.  Warm and crunchy without being overcooked and the remoulade was the perfect amount of tang to counter the Tabasco sauce drizzled on top.  The cornbread was good (pretty standard to be honest).  The squid was also delicious, not chewy and the accompaniments made the plate in my opinion.

Then there was the beer.  My friends had ordered a beer recommended by the waitress.  They loved it.  So she recommended two of their bottles (they’re 22oz each, so we split them). Well, I would like everyone to know, the Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project is going to blow up and take over the craft beer scene.  One sip of the Jack D’Or and I was sold.  Two sips and it might have taken over the #1 favorite beer spot.  Our friend who doesn’t even drink beer liked it.  We were so impressed my friends took the bottles home with them (which apparently according to one of the owners is a fairly frequent occurrence).

Ok…back to the food.  For dinner I ordered the Cornmeal Catfish, which came with andouille sausage and rice (which was clearly cooked in the wonderful wonderful sausage grease).  It was perfect.  The fried crust of the catfish was the right about of crunch, I can still taste it in my mouth.  We also got the collard greens side (nothing exciting) and the grits.  I love grits, and these were no exception.  Grits with ham and cheddar raised the bar.  Although the real winner of this meal was the chicken.  I know, I know.  Chicken?  I have no idea how it was cooked or with what, but I wish I could replicate it.  The inside was juicy and the roasted skin was one of the best things I’ve ever tried.  Plus, it was served with fiddleheads, which are baby ferns.  I had never had them (or knew one could have them) before.  They were really tasty (and form super cute little rings when cooked).

For dessert, we ordered the fig and pecan galette and the honey & buttermilk panna cotta.  The panna cotta was ok (not spectacular to be honest), but the galette, oh the galette.  I would compare it to a fancy, warm fig newton with ice cream.  Swoon.

I also think one of nicest parts of the meal was having one of the owners come over to our table.  The restaurant is over a year old at this point and clearly doing well, but he took the time to come over, make sure everything was alright and chat with us for a few minutes.  It showed the level of commitment and love for their place, which is always appreciated.

And finally, for the record, I did not eat again until 3 pm the following day.