Aerogarden: Week 16

I dropped in the two last nutrient tablets last night, so this will most likely be my last Aerogarden update (unless something amazing happens and all of my herbs suddenly grow a lot). I haven’t been watching the herbs as closely since I moved it to our new bookshelf (because I can’t reach the Aerogarden without stepping on a chair) and totally didn’t notice the basil killed all of my thyme:

I picked a lot of the basil last night and made pesto (finally!) but haven’t had much luck using the other herbs. My Thanksgiving party is this weekend, but since all of my thyme is dead, I’ll still have to buy a bunch at the grocery store.

My mom bought me another Aerogarden package – my next garden will be grape tomatoes! Hopefully it’ll yield better results than the herb Aerogarden.

Jane Restaurant

After partying together on Halloween, a bunch of friends decided to continue the party on Sunday morning (more like late afternoon) at Jane on Houston. I’d walked by the restaurant many times on my way to Soho, but have never actually eaten there because the lines for Sunday brunch were always so long. Luckily, I wasn’t the one making reservations on Sunday and just had to show up. Since we were a large group, we were seated on the lower level, which had six or seven long tables for large groups. After we were seated, the waitress brought a huge bread basket to our table with some strawberry (or raspberry) butter:

The white bread was delicious and the cranberry bread was even better – hints of sweetness with crunchy bits of walnuts in every bite. The raspberry butter was a little too whipped (something more dense would’ve been more delicious), but it tasted okay with the breads.

I read a couple of reviews beforehand, and knew exactly what I wanted (French toast! French toast! French toast!), but after finding out that someone sitting next to me was set on French toast, I went with the country breakfast:

I forgot to tell the waitress that I wanted my breakfast served HOT because when it came to the table, it was completely cold. I guess that’s what you get for going to a breakfast with so many people! My grits (below the ham steak and biscuit) were barely lukewarm and I was forced to send the breakfast back. The waitress came back with another breakfast, and even though that one was hot, the eggs were overcooked and not properly seasoned.

In addition to Sunday brunch, you also get a free drink (I choose the bloody mary):

The bloody mary was actually really delicious – lots of horseradish and even a pickled green tomato! I’d say it was a step below Public‘s bloody mary.

Lou, who sat on one side of me, ordered the Benedict Jane:

The Benedict Jane comes with poached eggs, crab and crawfish cakes, spinach, and terragon hollandaise as well as a side of home fries. The crab and crawfish cakes were too breaded, not flavorful (or hot), and too greasy for my tastes. The poached eggs were very good, but the dish in its entirety was too heavy.

Nick, who sat on the other side of me, ordered the vanilla bean french toast:

The vanilla bean French toast was made with brioche bread, creme brulee batter, and Vermont maple syrup. The bread was unevenly dipped into the creme brulee batter because some pieces were completely soggy and other pieces still had bread that hadn’t been dipped at all. However, this dish was probably the best one I tried during brunch and if I went back, I’d probably order this to share (the pieces were quite large).

Samira ordered the Caesar salad, a lunch item:

As I was going over the menu just now, I noticed that the salad came with “the best dressing” – I’ll have to follow up with Samira to see if it really was the best.

Samira also ordered a raspberry Champagne cocktail:

The Champagne cocktail comes with fresh raspberries, and a little raspberry puree.

Sona ordered the salmon scramble:

The salmon scramble comes with scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, chives, imported Italian mascarpone cheese – it looked delicious, but I didn’t have a chance to sample the dish.

Pri and Natasha ordered the roasted shrimp “ranchero”:

As well as mimosas:

The ranchero came with baked eggs, Vermont cheddar, black beans, avocado, flour tortillas, chipotle salsa (Pri got the dish without shrimp, Natasha ordered the dish as is).

Neerav ordered the eggs Florentine:

Neerav didn’t have any huge complaints about the dish’s taste, however, he also mentioned that his food was cold.

I think overall, the meal would’ve been a lot more enjoyable if the food was served hot and it wasn’t so heavy (afterwards, I had to walk off brunch in Soho). The music was also too loud for a dining room (it was so loud that when we asked the waiter to turn it down, he couldn’t hear us). I’m not sure I’d return to Jane for a large group meal, but I would definitely give them a try for a small group dinner (4 or less).

Chipotle Quesadillas

Did you know that you can order a quesadilla at Chipotle? Yeah, neither did I! I read an article on cnn.com about restaurants that have secret items on their menu. Chipotle has the policy that if they have the item available, they have to make it for you. The article said they can make nachos, quesadillas, taco salads and single tacos. I tried ordering the quesadilla and the guy behind the counter just started putting cheese and meat on the tortilla! I was kind of surprised that he would actually make me the quesadilla, so I started asking for random things (like black beans…which were rejected since the tortilla had to be steamed and the black beans would mess up the steamer). My quesadilla:

The quesadilla ended up being exactly like a burrito but the cheese was melted instead of cold…and GET THIS….IT ONLY COST ME $5 instead of $8! I asked for the salsa’s and sour cream on the side (what I usually get on my burrito) and the only thing that was missing was the rice (but come on, who needs rice AND a tortilla?!) Next time I’m going to try the nachos and see how much they cost – I’ll report back after I try it!

Luzzo’s

After I raved about Motorino on my blog, some readers wrote in and told me to try Luzzo’s (and I was searching my inbox the other day and realized that I had written an e-mail to someone saying we should definitely go there….2 years ago). Over the weekend, I was feeling pretty lazy and discovered that Luzzo’s delivers, so I called them up and placed an order for a Bufala pizza (tomato, mozzarella, and basil). Twenty minutes later, this arrived:

And another shot:

The pizza was delicious, especially since it arrived hot even though it was delivered in the cold. One of the problems I had with the pizza, however, was the fact that the crust was too flimsy and lacked sturdiness. The pizza crust was a little plain (as was the tomato sauce) but the mozzarella was flavorful and creamy and there was definitely more than enough for me to stuff my face with. The pizza was good, but definitely not as good as Motorino or Keste.

Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinner: Chinese Chive Blossoms, King Mushrooms, and Pressed Tofu Stir-Fry

This dish is definitely a favorite; it’s really easy to make, you can add flavor and flair by adding different vegetables (or meat), and my version is completely vegetarian and you don’t even notice that there’s no meat because the king mushrooms are so hearty. My mom introduced me to king mushrooms when I was a kid – they’re chewy and fun to eat and really cheap in Chinatown (I recently saw them at Whole Foods for about $19.99/pound – they’re $1.99/pound in Chinatown and you can find them at practically any street vendor). The chive blossoms add a great garlicky flavor, the king mushrooms add an interesting texture, and the pressed tofu adds a lot of flavor since it’s preserved in various spices. Also, since the tofu is preserved, the dish is already salted (although I occasionally add additional salt).

Ingredients:

1 pound of Chinese Chive Blossoms (very easily found in Chinatown)
2-3 king mushrooms (also found in Chinatown)
3 pieces of dried tofu (primarily found in Chinatown, but I’ve seen these in specialty aisles at grocery stores)

First, cut up the chive blossoms into 1.5-inch pieces (cut off the stem of the chive flowers because it’s too fibrous to eat):

The chive blossoms are used a lot in Chinese cooking; my mom used to grow chives in our backyard and everytime we had to cut some up for a dumpling filling or chive box, our backyard had a very strong garlic scent. Chives also spread like a weed, so it was all over our garden and suffice it to say, we used to have a LOT of dumpling parties!

Next, roughly cut up the king mushrooms (I like bigger chunks because the mushrooms are chewy and have a bite to them, but you can cut them thinner if you’d like):

Lastly, cut up the pressed tofu:

Heat up a pan with a little oil and put in the tofu (it takes the longest to cook so it goes in first):

After about 2-3 minutes (just so the tofu is warmed up), add the king mushrooms:

After another couple of minutes, add in the chives (they don’t take very long to cook and they wilt if you cook them too long):

Occasionally stir with chopsticks to make sure everything cooks. You can also add a little salt now:

You can tell the dish is done when the chives have turned a dark green and the king mushrooms are slightly translucent:

The completed dish:

The dish has veggies, protein, and lots of nutrients. It also takes about 15 minutes (max) from start to finish; while the tofu is heating up, you can start making a little oatmeal (with flax seed), which is my grain of choice with this dish.