choices, choices...

I've had a frustrating couple of days.  Not all day each day, but there has been at least a few frustrating hours between the two of them where I've been trying to find somewhere new and exciting to have dinner tomorrow night to celebrate Mister's birthday.  Philadelphia is really starting to be known as a foodie town, thanks in no small part to the innovative and contrary efforts of Jose Garces and Stephen Starr (who is preparing to open his 19th restaurant shortly).  I would like to write Mr. Starr a letter, though, and it would go something like this:

Dear Mr. Starr, I think you have a lot of neat ideas and your restaurants are masterpieces of design and creative cuisine.  However, I am only able to dine at two of them.  Would you please open a vegetarian restaurant for #20?  Thanks!

In case you're curious, those two restaurants are Pizzeria Stella and The Continental.  One of his restaurants, The Dandelion, has a head chef who is on record stating that "Vegetarianism is a disease."  Obviously, we won't be dining there.  There are a couple of others that have enough "small plates" (AKA appetizers and salads) that we could piece together a light meal, but it really turns me off when I get past the appetizers and salads to find that a restaurant does not offer a single entree my husband or I could eat.

Unfortunately, Philadelphia is a town of carni-foodies.  Every menu carries the coveted foie gras and most offer really ethical main courses like veal with an appetizer of bone marrow... Heavens, do people even think about that when they order it?  You have bone marrow, too, did you know?

Anyway, after hours of poring over websites and even directing a snippy tweet at OpenTable about the dearth of vegetarian restaurants (there is one on their site) available for reservations, I broke the news to Mister that there are absolutely no new restaurants in Philly worthy of my hard-earned dollars right now. We are both actively anticipating the opening of Vedge - it cannot come soon enough.  The closing of Horizons left a huge hole in the Philadelphia fine dining scene, especially for people like us who would prefer to have choices on a menu, rather than ordering the one entree offered that we can consume and trying to add creativity through appetizers.

Anyway, although it was Mister's request that we look around for new restaurants, I keep forgetting how much he loves pizza more than anything but me.  So we'll be dining at Stella tomorrow night.  I'm pretty happy about that, actually, because I've been wanting to go there for weeks.

In the course of our conversation about which Italian, Pizza-Serving restaurant we would dine at (Stella, Pietro's, or La Fourno), Mister got confused and thought we were eating out tonight.  I said I thought we would go out tomorrow, since that's his actual birthday and I did take the day off from work and everything.  He agreed, so then we had to decide what was for dinner tonight.  I consulted the menu and asked him if he wanted an Italian noodle dish or an Asian noodle dish.  Not surprisingly, as my husband seems to be seeking balance in his old age, he said we should have the Asian dish since we would have Italian tomorrow night.  As I walked back to the kitchen he was solving the philosophical conundrum of whether pizza is inherently Italian since all cultures seem to have embraced it.  I pointed out that okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) is not even remotely similar to "Italian" pizza.

With that brilliant contribution, I got to chopping up my bok choy napa cabbage for Ginger Bok Choy and Soba from Appetite for Reduction, with napa cabbage subbing for the bok choy, which has successfully hidden from me two weeks in a row, reinforcing my belief that bok choy is only available at Whole Foods.  Which sucks, since I've committed to avoiding WF for August.  Still saving money, by the way!

It came out so well, I'm not sure if I would have liked it as much with bok choy anyway!  To be completely honest, as I was slicing the napa cabbage, I nearly put the book away and grabbed The Accidental Vegan to just go ahead and make Yakisoba, but I wanted to give Isa a chance and I was not disappointed.

Since the fine edge I walk with Yakisoba is that the recipe calls for "too much ginger," I found that this recipe had it just right with 1 tablespoon of minced ginger.  I will definitely make this in the future because

1. I want to try it with real bok choy (so we'll at least have to wait until September, it seems).
2. Mister did not eat around or complain about the soba noodles - in fact, he had two big bowls!
3. It came together so quickly Mister thought I was kidding when I told him dinner was ready.  This is a very helpful quality during busy times at work or when I just don't feel like cooking (I know, it's crazy, but sometimes, I don't feel like making dinner from scratch after working all day and spending 3 hours commuting there and back).

Oh, hey - speaking of choices, there's a new post up at Pretty Woman in an Ugly World.  Go ahead and check out the epic battle between Sephora and MAC for my consumer vote and see how the winner won!

lucky number 4

Do you have a lucky number?  Yes, I know that's kind of BS, but bear with me.  Although I know most things are purely chance, it does seem like 4 has done me well over the years.  It could be that I prefer the number 4 because everyone in my immediate family has a 4 in their birthday.  Mom's 4, I'm 14, Dad and Sis are 24 (of different months)...that's kind of cool, if you think about it - what are the chances?  Also, these four birthdays occur over the course of four months.

So, that's my excuse for favoring four.  Does anyone know Isa's?

One of the fun things about constructing a menu completely from one cookbook, or even from multiple cookbooks by the same author, is that you start to pick out patterns.  Now that I am....well...more than four meals into Appetite for Reduction, It seems like Isa's magic number for garlic is 4 cloves.

That was kind of a tangent that has nothing at all to do with dinner, but it was on my mind, so I thought I'd share.  Besides, it's better than the story of how Blogger wouldn't let me post anything last night, so now you get a two-fer.

Last night, I made Braised Cabbage with Seitan and finally, Jerk Asparagus.  It was fantastic.  It may or may not look like much, but it tasted heavenly.  Once again, even though I work for the #1 home-delivery weight loss program in the country, I was astounded that "diet food" could taste this downright decadent.  Granted, I probably violated the portion a little bit, but how can you really go wrong with cabbage?  Again, I was very pleased with the flavor and texture of the homemade seitan - it has the savory-spicy flavor of a Tofurky sausage and is nice and chewy.

Something I noticed while browning the seitan before adding the cabbage: since I just re-wrapped the seitan in the tin foil and stuck it in the fridge, it was quite thirsty and willing to rapidly soak up the broth I added to prevent it from sticking to my non-stick saute pan.  Perhaps next time I will experiment with a simmered seitan and store leftovers in leftover broth.  That will probably more closely mimic my dearly loved Ray's Seitan.

Because I used green cabbage and because I braised it in a relatively rich stock with a generous helping of thyme, the cabbage was surprisingly savory.  Normally, when I cook cabbage, it's red and retains some sweetness, regardless of the way I prepare it.  The flavors and textures of this dish complemented one another perfectly and it was a pretty easy dish to prepare, so I'm sure it will find its way into some kind of rotation.  The 15 minutes of braising on the stovetop gave me time to cook the Jerk Asparagus.

It was a different taste for me.  Ordinarily, I roast asparagus because ordinarily, I buy the thick stems.  These were not pencil-thin, but they only look so substantial in the picture because they are perched upon a 1940s bread and butter plate (did you know our dinner plates have increased in diameter by as many as 3 inches since the 1950s?).  The asparagus might have been a little cinnamon-heavy...I didn't add more than a dash, but it has such a pungent scent, I might do better in the future to either leave it out or counter it with a little more thyme.  It was good and Mister was thrilled, though.

Tonight, I made Ginger Bok Choy and Soba, which allowed me my treasured privilege of finding a rose at the bottom of one stalk:

I absolutely love how it does that, and the Evil Martha Stewart lurking within me will eventually collect a bunch of bok choy butts and spray-paint them gold for a centerpiece someday.

The finished product was not terribly attractive and upon first bite, not terribly exciting.  I added a little more tamari to mine and felt it was substantially improved.  Mister happily wolfed down two bowls before I was halfway through mine without additional seasoning, so it could be personal preference.  I don't enjoy ginger quite as much as Mister - I'm more of a tamari/umami kind of gal.

If I could end on a tangent, the gorgeous, slimy bowl of noodles you see above almost didn't make its way onto the table tonight.  I know you're going to get tired of reading this because I know my car-less butt is going to be complaining about it all winter, but here it goes:  It was SO COLD when I was walking home from the train tonight.  As I got closer to home, I tried to take my mind off the dreadfulness nipping at my nose by plotting dinner.  As I drew nearer to Superfresh (if I detour a block I'll pass it), it occurred to me that I did not want noodles for dinner, I wanted something hearty and innard-warming.  I thought of creating a casserole, but didn't want to invest the time.  Suddenly, I remembered one of my favorite, fast-cooking slow-food recipes (figure that one out) and nearly ran to SF for supplies for Chickpea Stew with Fried Polenta, but in the end, decided I had such good momentum going that I didn't want to screw it up by taking a detour...  I wonder, though, if I'll make it home without a pit stop tomorrow, because it's still on my brain!