THANK GOD IT'S FRY-DAY!!

Now if that isn't the best blog post title ever!!  Anyway, we were at Sam's Club a while back and made an impulse purchase of some chicken/fish seasoning mix for frying (Lefty's Spices). We were very excited to use it with our new deep fryer that we bought!!  

So we bought some shrimp, oysters and frog legs and decided to have a proper Fry-day!! (hehe!)  We simply took the meats, marinated them in a bit of the spice mix and water for a few hours, then battered them in spice mix/flour, followed by egg and then dipped in panko. There was also a pickle that got the same treatment. Towards the end, we ran out of panko, so some of the shrimp and all of the oysters didn't get a panko topping. They still turned out delicious!

The deep fryer we bought is awesome- the husband did a great job picking that one out! It is super easy to clean and set up, and it doesn't splatter during cooking. We found that the shrimp and frog cooked a lot quicker than we thought they would. I guess it goes to show that 'frying' in our dutch oven without steady control of the heat probably wasn't the most efficient way to fry. The shrimp take about 2-3 minutes, and the frog legs about 4-5 minutes. We did a few batches of each, taking care not to overload the fryer. Super easy!!

Grill, Baby, Grill!!

This weekend was a grilling bonanza!  On the menu: giant burgers, shrimp skewers and grilled veggies. We used the common area picnic tables and grill stands to make our feast. It was kind of like a picnic- we brought paper plates and plastic cups/utensils, prepared everything ahead of time, and then packed it all up in our freezer bag, brought it outside and set up our grilling station. This was our first time grilling together, so it was very exciting!  And also a pity that it took us this long to grill.  Silly us!  In preparation, we went to Lowe's yesterday and picked up what we needed: charcoal, lighter fluid, a lighter, and other miscellaneous grilling items. And even though there was a severe thunderstorm earlier that afternoon, it cleared up beautifully in time for our grilling- blue skies and cool temperatures- just what we needed!

 

The first thing we made were grilled tomatoes, along side shrimp & mushroom skewers. We cut the tomato in half and seasoned with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. We marinated the shrimp overnight in old bay and olive oil. The shrimp were bursty and very tasty (heavy on the old bay), the mushrooms were great. The grilled tomatoes were slightly charred and very juicy. First round, a success!!

 

Towards the end of the shrimp, we put our veggie foil packet on the grill. Inside, we had put some baby shanghai tips (a veggie similar to bok choy), which were tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, rice wine, soy sauce, salt, pepper, sliced garlic and a little bit of sugar. We put it in a foil packet so it could steam while being grilled.  

 

After the shrimp skewers were done, we put on the burgers. Oh, the burgers, how I love you forever!  You are so juicy and delicious and ridiculously oversized!  The burgers were 1/2 pounders, and we seasoned the ground beef with minced garlic, parmesean cheese, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, minced onion, soy sauce, worchestershire sauce and black pepper. We grilled the buns and had a slice of fresh tomato to top the burgers as well. I put ketchup and dijon mustard on my plate and dipped my burger as I ate. AMAZING!! 

For dessert, we toasted marshmallows over the still hot coals. A perfect ending to a fantastic dinner!

Give Me Some Dim Sum!!

Dim Sum is, without a doubt, the highlight of our month. Side story: we've had to regulate our consumption of dim sum by limiting our visits per month, or else we'd be big as houses and dirt poor. I'd be there every weekend, shoving my face with turnip cake and dumplings.  

Back to weekend feasting: this weekend, we were able to fulfill our dim sum craving!  And although we've been eating dim sum together for almost 5 years, we've never taken pictures before. This is probably because I am way too embarassed to do so. I fear that I, who am already judged (as evidenced by the forks I am always given after being seated), will only be more judged and ridiculed for taking pictures. I am not sure my fragile ego could handle it (evidence: see picture below with weird smile).  In any case, we were finally brave enough to take some pictures this weekend, so that we could blog about our awesome dim sum habits. Go team! 

Above is a picture of what we typically order from the steam cart. The steam cart is the best cart of all the dim sum carts. We get (from left to right): lo mai gai (sticky rice stuffed with goodies that can vary- at Silver Fountain, you'll get dried shrimp, chinese sausage, sliced pork/beef, battered chicken, mushroom- all good stuff), steamed pork ribs (with black beans and spicy peppers), siu mai (shrimp and pork dumplin in egg wrapper), har gao (shrimp dumpling in rice wrapper). In my humble opinion, the har gau and the sticky rice are the best- as you can see from my plate in the back. I apparently don't know what it means to wait.

We also always get turnip cake (above). It's best when it's fresh and hot, and just melts in your mouth. It is a steamed daikon radish (with chinese sausage or pork bits mixed in) cake that has then been pan fried. As you can see from this picture, I wasted no time getting my half of the dish to my plate, all the while sweating because I was sure someone was going to say something to us about taking pictures of the food.

  

Eventually, I realized no one was going to kick us out for taking pictures, so I was able to enjoy my meal. It's unfortunate that I didn't reach that point before the picture on the right was taken, though, where I am so nervous I can't smile properly and end up just looking weird. 

 

After Dim Sum, we took a walk around the lake at the Rio. It was a beautiful day, and a very pretty walk!

Don't be so Crabby!!

Crunchy, yummy soft shell crab and oven baked fries

We were going through our freezer recently, and realized that we had two soft shell crabs in there that we hadn't eaten yet. I couldn't believe we had forgotten them- they are so scrumptious! Hopefully one day I'll be able to forgive myself for this horrible transgression. In the meantime, we decided to have them for dinner ASAP.

We dredged the crabs in flour, then dipped them in an egg wash, then breaded them with panko. They were fried in our dutch oven using vegetable oil until golden brown and crispy. They are very messy to fry, since they are so wet and therefore cause splattering, but very very worth it! As a side, we made oven baked fries (potato wedges, skin on, that were dressed in olive oil, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, old bay and red pepper flakes- heavy on the old bay!!).

Pre-fry prep station

Some fried mushrooms (also breaded in panko) as an appetizer

We ate the crabs as sandwiches on just toasted wheat bread. We also used sweet chili sauce to dip our sandwiches in.  They were moist and crunchy and delicious. My favorite part is taking the very crispy legs off and chowing down! What a great dinner. Next time, I won't forget to make it as soon as I come back from the store :-)

Crispy = Good

Spring is in the Air

Our Rita's stash: mango, peeps, peach, tangerine, pina colada and pineapple

This post is a little bit behind the times (seeing as we're halfway through May right now), but on the first day of spring, we celebrated in style with Rita's free ice day!!  We started off the day with dim sum, and then proceeded to visit a few Rita's on our day out :-)  The first one was a Ritas we didn't even know existed in Silver Spring, near a asian supermarket. So we got two ices (one peeps, and one mint chocolate chip) and browsed the supermarket. We were actually hoping to find kaya, since our grocery store no longer sells it, but we were disappointed in that regard. We did notice that the supermarket had a restaurant section where they were doing very good business selling noodles. We'll have to try it the next time we're there.

The peeps flavor was the best!!

It was beautiful weather, and we even went to Brookside Gardens to walk around and enjoy the day.  Other Rita's we visited were the one in Gaithersburg and the one in Germantown. The lines at each one were huge!! All in all, we visited Rita's a total of 4 times, ate 2 whole ones, and took 6 semi-snacked-upon ices home.  A good day all around!

Some pictures from Brookside Gardens:

And back to Rita's:

Ah, to be surrounded by a week long supply of sweet deliciousness!

Can't decide which one to eat first!!!

Baking: Good Times!

One of our primary objectives when Rachel came over to visit recently was to do some serious baking. You see, we didn't have the chance to do any Christmas baking this year, so I was going through some serious baked goods withdraw. I needed some cookies in my life, pronto! 

Rachel & Melvin to the rescue!!

In our zeal for baked goods, we may or may not have gone a bit overboard and decided that we need/required/had to have cookies and brownies. And not just any brownies, but fudgy brownies!!  We did some research and decided to use the recipes from King Arthur Flour. Then we went to Target and spent an ungodly amount of time deciding exactly which add ins to use for our cookies and brownies. We ultimately decided on white chocolate chips and some Andes mint baking chips.

We are so messy!

In any case, we were soon off to creating our baking nirvana. During that journey, we made the awesome discovery that just baked cookies dipped in brownie batter are freaking delicious.  

The glories of a cookie dipped in brownie batter are manyfold

We decided that we would make both the brownies and the cookies half with white chocolate chips and half with Andes baking mint chips. That way, it was really four different treats although we only baked twice!

White Chocolate Chip Cookies on the left; Andes Mint Cookies on the right

My favorite were the fudgy brownies with the white chocolate chips. Here is the progression of that pan of brownies throughout the evening:

Oh no! Where did all the brownie go??

This was a very fun weekend!!  Also, brownies make the world a better place. True story.

White Chocolate & Mint Chip Cookies

(adapted from: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe)

2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vinegar, cider or white

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 large egg

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Andes mint baking chips

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets. In a large bowl, combine the sugars, butter, salt, vanilla and almond extracts, vinegar, and baking soda, beating until smooth and creamy.

Beat in the egg, again beating till smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is thoroughly combined.

Mix in the flour, then the chips. Use a spoon (or a tablespoon cookie scoop) to scoop small balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving space between them on all sides; they'll spread (we didn't really heed this instruction, and we had to dissect our cookies after the fact, as they merged into one giant cookie when baking).

White Chocolate & Mint Chip Brownies
(adapted from: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/fudge-brownies-recipe)



1 cup unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon chai tea powder (we didn’t have expresso)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Andes mint baking chips
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan

In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.


While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.


Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth. Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips (Note: this will increase the odds of you eating a fair bit of the batter due to 'testing'!!!)


Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan. Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

Even with our snacking, there were so many left over!!