Food

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This is another “make this now” sort of meal. If you like lots of flavors, textures, and a sriracha kick of spice, this healthy dish is for you. Luckily it makes lots of leftovers and is even more delicious after it’s been sitting for awhile!

I planned to make summer rolls, but was feeling lazy was really hungry and didn’t want to make individual rolls. Tossing everything together turned out better than I had hoped. I would love to add some noodles to this for a little extra bulk. Otherwise, it was just perfect.

tofu salad

The ingredients:

1 block of firm tofu, drained, crumbled and seared in a pan on high heat until lightly browned

3 cups of grated carrots

2 large jalapenos, chopped

1 cup peanuts, roughly chopped

8 – 10 leaves of mint, shredded

juice of 1 lime

tofu

mint

peanuts

Before I started any other prep, I drained the tofu, crumbed it into a frying pan, and turned the heat to high. This tofu, from Trader Joe’s, was particularly watery, and exposing it to high heat dried it up and made it a lot more firm. If you have time, putting the chopped or crumbled tofu in the oven at a low temperature for a long time is also a good way to dry it out. Or you could buy a tofu press, which I definitely need to do.

Next up, I pulsed the peanuts a few times to get them roughly chopped and prepped my jalapenos, mint, and lime. My dear husband did all of the carrot grating.

ingredients

When the tofu was nice and dry, I just tossed the tofu, peanuts, mint, jalapeno, and carrots in a casserole dish and squeezed the lime over. Then came the best part, the amazing dressing I made for our gyoza over the weekend and that I now want to put on everything.

1 cup of rice vinegar

1/4 cup or more of sriracha

a few drops sesame oil

chopped cilantro

If you like the above ingredients, you will want to find food to put it on. It is amazing, and it’s kind of how this whole dinner came about. 

sriracha dressing

The salad was seriously tangy, spicy, crunchy and offered a warm and cold contrast between the tofu and the rest of the ingredients. It also brought a little brightness to an otherwise very dreary day. I need the sun!

Meatless Monday is always a fun way to ensure we eat vegetarian eat least one day a week (though we usually do 3-4 days) and a nice time to try a new recipe or whip up something fun on your own.

Do you participate in Meatless Monday?

Tags: dinner, Food, healthy, recipe, tofu, vegan, Vegetarian

Where did the time go?! June 1 officially marked my three year blog anniversary – somehow I thought it was the second week of June, and I missed it!

A lot has happened in three years, and it’s so fun to be able to look back on our lives through the blog. Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting through  the years!

I also find it really fun to look through my Google Analytics to check out how people find my blog and the posts that are the most popular. I gave up caring about traffic a long time ago, but some of the words and phrases people use to get here are hilarious!

Randomly my top post of all time is my review of Trader Joe’s Super Red Drink Powder, a product I blogged about years ago but swear by to this day. I don’t get sick when I diligently add it to smoothies. It’s also delicious with some water and crushed ice.

The rest of the Top 5 includes my About, Professional Background, Sites I Love, and the Grilled Corn Salad I love so much.

My favorite posts? I think my Boston Marathon recaps (2010, 2012)  and my Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival recaps from 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Since we missed the official blog anniversary, we decided to take advantage of the bad weather on Saturday and spend a cozy afternoon in the boat’s cabin. It was kind of perfect.

rainy boat day

While listening to the rain and the waves hitting the hull, we enjoyed a bottle of wine picked up on our last trip to Sonoma, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Harvest Moon.

Harvest Moon Cabernet Sauvignon

meat

Lunch was simple, just some chorizo, prosciutto, salami, and port Salut cheese from Trader Joe’s.

Port Salut cheese

We brought the iPad along and watched the 1972 version of Last House on the Left which was absolutely awful. It was SO gory! I definitely thought it was going to be more suspenseful, instead it just grossed me out.

Other than the movie, we had a great day and a relaxing weekend which was something we both really needed.

I’m a lucky girl.

I hope you all had great weekends too!

If you write a blog, what’s your favorite post? If you’re a blog reader, what are your favorite types of posts to read?

Tags: blogging, boat, Food, wine

One of the highlights of our girls’ weekend was definitely dinner at The Blue Room in Cambridge’s Kendall Square.

The Blue Room

From start to finish, we were treated like VIPs, starting with a coveted table on The Blue Room’s beautiful patio. The space is urban yet secluded, and it is definitely one to add to my patio dining list. The wine list, atmosphere, service, and food all made our dinner at The Blue Room one of the best dining experiences in recent memory

The Blue Room

The Blue Room has an incredible by the glass and bottle selection of wines, including an impressive array of rosé wines.

The Blue Room wine list

wine by the glass

Our server and the hostess kindly started us off with glasses of cava rosado, a pretty, fresh pink bubbly with lots of bright fruit flavors.

cava

We were also treated to these cheese gougeres to pair with the cava, which turned out to be one of the best food and wine pairings I have ever had. The gooey, tangy cheese and light pastry were perfect with the cava.

gougeres

As food bloggers and people who love to eat, we were all excited to browse the menu, and surprisingly, we decided on starters fairly quickly.

The Blue Room menu

We also decided on more pink bubbly, this time a Cremant de Loire from Domaine de la Bergerie. Tiny bubbles and a nice acidity made this wine a great pairing for all of our starters.

octopus

{Wood Grilled Octopus and Squid}

This was some of the best octopus I have ever eaten. There was not a hint of toughness to it, and I seriously went to town mopping up the zesty sauce that was underneath.

The Blue Room surprised us with more treats, this blood sausage paired with Txakoli, a Basque wine from Spain. I’m not normally a blood sausage fan, but I wanted to give this a try with the wine, and I really enjoyed it. blood sausage

cheese plate

(One perfect cheese, rhubarb jam}

tomato basil soup

The surprises kept coming. Chef sent out this chilled tomato and basil soup for us. It was richly flavored with basil and very smooth, a soup I could easily eat all summer long.

After all of that, we still had entrees. To go with our main courses, I ordered an old favorite, Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare. I’ve been a Bonny Doon fan since our visit to the tasting room last year, and the Vin Gris, another rosé, is a favorite of mine.

clams

{Wild Duxbury Clams}

Ever since the weather started getting nicer, I have had a major shellfish craving, so I went with the local clams, topped with generous portions of grilled bread for dipping. The broth was simple but flavorful, and the clams, just like the octopus, cooked to tender perfection.

I also stole a few bites of Daisy’s faro. Doesn’t that look beautiful? 

faro

{Buttered Faro}

dessert

We were thisclose to skipping dessert, but we decided to share the chocolate terrine. To add a sweet ending to our evening, The Blue Room sent out a little dessert sampler as well. By that point, I could barely fit another bite, and I know that I need to return soon.

The Blue Room really treated us like special guests and made the night spectacular. I can’t recommend them enough for a special occasion or date night dinner, and I hear that their lunch grill is fantastic as well.

We worked our dinner off by dancing the night away at Naga, the nightclub portion of Moksa. You won’t be seeing any photos of that. Winking smile  It was a lot of fun, and I would also definitely go back to Naga. I LOVE dancing.

Many thanks to The Blue Room for taking such good care of us. They are truly a top notch team.

What’s your favorite place for a night out with friends? Date night?

Tags: cambridge, dessert, events, Food, food and wine pairings, restaurant, The Blue Room, wine

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