A constant stream..

My wonderful trip to Ohio got cut a day or so short because RIT's men's hockey team made it to the championship semi-finals in Indiana on Saturday before classes started. So instead of driving to Cleveland and going home Saturday we went in the other direction up to Notre Dame College in South Bend and made it to the hockey game. 

Turns out we're kind of awesome and the men's team (seated 16th) beat the 1st seat Minnesota State so RIT played again Sunday night against Omaha. Of course we stayed. No matter that we were 8 hours away from school and classes started for a couple of us 10am Monday. Did I mention that the game didn't start till 7:30? No? Well yeah that happened. No big deal. 

Sunday rolled around and we were pretty excited for the game but until 6:30 when doors opened we had to entertain ourselves. We managed to keep the hotel room a little later and didn't get kicked out until noon so that was great. We went bowling (because spring break in Indi equals bowling, duh!) until around 2 or 2:30. We ran out of things to do so we just ended up going to a sports bar to hang out and try to catch another game of the championships. 

Jump to the four of us sitting in a small booth at 'Between the Buns' deciding what to eat. Then we came up with the great idea to just order appetizers and snack until the game on TV at 5. (This bar happened not to have ESPN U where the game was playing so we re-located around 5 for the TV game). Cue 3 hours of us making snacks stretch. It worked!   

Don't be fooled by the lettuce and tomatoes, we started off with loaded nachos which was smothered in layers of melted cheese and ground beef. It was so good. Aside from the fact that three of the four of us don't like black olives, it was an incredible bowl of nachos.

This lasted us awhile. Then we took a little break before round two. Mozzarella sticks, thick cut fries, and the biggest onion rings I've ever seen. These guys were basically onions cut in half and deep fried. They were crazy. The mozz sticks were really good too but I'm a sucker for fries so I'd have to say they were my favorite thing. 

Thumbs up to our last meal in South Bend. Way to go between the buns! See you next time (if there is one....)

CINCI - Krueger's Tavern

Our light night in Ohio my friend's mom took us out to dinner and let us pick the place at Over The Rind. Neither of us have been there (since she's been in Rochester since they started to develop it) so we had no clue where to go. We ended up at Kreuger's Tavern. 

This place was pretty popular and we understood why. It had a great atmosphere and was kinda hipster-y which was really cool. They have a huge beer list and a cute little food menu. I'm not a fan of the first but dinner was really good.  

I ordered the Roast Chicken Club sandwich and holy cow it was good! This sandwich had everything on it - sliced roast chicken, green beans, tomatoes, bacon, avocado, and lettuce all on toasted italian bread. The garlic aioli on the side was amazing too! Everything was on this sandwich and it was all just fantastic. This sandwich was filling and great - not too heavy and greasy. 

We also had the nicest waitress around who was funny and the right amount of sassy.  She knows how to make tips. Props to her! 

CINCI - Chef's Cafe - World Famous Chicken Salad

I know chicken salad isn't the most gourmet sounding dish (and it isn't really) but when they say World Famous.. I understand why. 

Chef's Cafe is the cutest little deli place I've ever been to. As soon as we walked in everyone knew my friend and were jumping up and down in excitement to see her again. Regulars straggled in an out and everyone seemed to know each other by name. Beyond cute. 

Of course they have a cute little older gentleman taking my order behind the counter that is just a little bit taller than both of us. 

Turns out he's around 80 years old, which just makes him 100x better. He takes my order of chicken salad on white bread (we came pretty close to closing time and they ran out of croissants for the day) and sweetly asks me what I want as my side - I got for the jello. Score. I know it doesn't look like much, but this was an awesome lunch. The chicken salad had such great flavor and the consistency was perfect. It felt like I was a little kid again eating this cute little lunch. It made me so happy. 

Everyone who works here is super nice and was so great to talk to. They made me feel right at home and I had such great conversations. I'd go back again and again, easy.   

CINCI - Graeter's - Done right!

Two years ago, just around Thanksgiving I went to Ohio with this same friend. Only instead of spending the week with her back then, I went to visit my friend at Xavier and followed her and some of her friends back here to Rochester in time for Turkey Day. Before that we made a stop to Graeter's and I ordered Elena's Blueberry Pie ice cream. I'm not a huge chocolate person so I don't eat chocolate ice cream leading me to gravitate towards fruity flavors. It was pretty good but nothing too exciting. 

I got back to school and mentioned that to my Ohio native friend.. and she quickly told me that I did it wrong. Apparently the point of going to Graeter's is their chocolate chips. And I of course, ordered one of the very few flavors without chocolate chips, therefore messing up my first visit to Graeter's... whoops... 

This time around I did it right though!

I got the special Strawberry Chip and it was great! I understand the hype about the Graeter's chocolate chips now. First off, I'm in love with strawberry ice cream. It's my go to favorite which makes me picking strawberry kinda boring. The chocolate chips were incredible. The big chunks you find in the ice cream are chewy and soft but still chippy! I don't understand how they do it but I'm sold. Graeter's is going to be a must any time I'm in Ohio now.. now that I'm there very often. 

CINCI Just missed it..

The reason I ended up in Ohio is because a former roommate of mine is from there and when our plans fell through to head south for the break she decided I could come home with her if I was interested. I know it's only Ohio, but it's not Rochester so.. lets go! 

Because of this, we went to a lot of local places to eat that she swears by. One of which being the European Cafe. She was really excited about the breakfast hash/home fries and said no matter what I ordered, we were getting a side of home fries to share. We walked in at 11:34am. Breakfast ends at 11:30. She was a little upset. 

We made up for it with loaded fries. They were incredible. The fries were the perfect size so that they were potato-y but still crispy enough. Then cheese, bacon, and sour cream. We couldn't stop eating them.

For brunch I was feeling like a hot sandwich so I ordered a hot steak sandwich with au jus and a side of chips. I'm not a huge steak person but when I want it, I really want it. And this sandwich hit the spot! It was warm and the cheese on top was melty and perfect. The bread was really nice and soft and the au jus was just perfect. I was beyond happy with my choice and it was even good the next day when we had it for leftovers. Yummmmmmm.

Maybe next time we'll wake up in time for those home fries because if they're as good as the rest of this meal was, I'm not going to be disappointed.  

CINCI - Oh hey, Ohio

I'm lame and broke so for my last spring break as an undergrad I went to... OHIO! (Yeah even when you try to make it sound exciting, it's still Ohio). But I love roadtrips and I had fun so that's what's important! 

First note-worthy food stop was Tom+Chee. I know, I don't usually post so much about chains but these guys were pretty good.  

Turns out they have their special donut grilled cheese. I was a little iffy about trying it, and not all super hungry. My friend and I ended up splitting a mac and cheese grilled cheese sandwich. That's right, I have a professionally made one finally. 

It was awesome. Hot and cheesy, this place knows how to make them right. Maybe I'll venture for the special next time I see a Tom+Chee. 

Chicken Cacciatore

Fancy name for a pretty simple dish! 

All we did for this was dredge about a pound of chicken pieces (legs, thighs, breasts, all of it!) in flour, salt, and pepper. We heated a little olive oil in a pan and browned the chicken really quickly on all sides and then took it out of the pan. We added 2oz of medium diced onion, 2oz medium red peppers (we didn't have green like the recipe called for), and 1 clove of minced garlic and sauteed them. Then we added 2oz of sliced mushrooms a pinch of dried thyme and kept sauteeing until the mushrooms were soft and tender. 

We deglazed the pan with 2oz of white wine then added a cup of chicken stock and half a cup of tomato concassee (basically pureed tomatoes). 

We threw the chicken back into the pan and covered and cooked it for 30minutes until the chicken was done and served it! (Don't turn up the heat too much! We don't want it burn!). I'm not a huge fan of peppers so if I made it again at home I wouldn't add them but they did add a lot of the flavor to the dish so I'd had to season a little more, but overall it was really good and a simple one pan dish!

Turkey Scallops!

It's a weird name but basically it's just round turkey slices with pine nuts! So. Good.

For these guys we took a heavy saucepan and heated it with about 3 tbsp of virgin olive oil. We threw in about 2 or 4 tbsp of chopped shallots for about 5 minutes. Next 1/3 cup of white wine vinegar, 1 cup of water, 10 black peppercorns, and 3 bay leaves to simmer for 20 or 30 minutes to reduce the liquid by half.

While that was going we beat 3 egg whites with salt and pepper in a bowl. We coated the 8 turkey breast cutlets in the egg mixture and set them aside then heated another heavy sauce pan with 2/3 cup of veggie oil. Once that was HOT we coated the turkey cutlets in about a half cup of bread crumbs, then browned them in the pan (about 1 or 2 minutes per side. They cook fast).  

We plated the turkey, sprinkled on a combination of 1/2 cup of chopped parsley, 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic, and 1/2 grated orange zest. We topped it with the sauce we had going in the first pan, then threw on some toasted pine nuts (one of the best parts in my opinion!). 

This was such a good dish and I'm questioning why I haven't made it again (even those this was just a couple weeks ago). It's going on my grocery list really soon.  

Eggs Benedict 2.0!

Awhile back I wrote about my first attempt at making eggs benedict, then my first taste of a real eggs benedict from a diner, and now it's back again! 

Breakfast week in cooking class was a blast! Class starts at 9am and finishes at noon so it's not even close to being too late for breakfast. It could be 6pm and STILL not be to late for breakfast but that's besides the point! 

Starting off, we team had to make an omelette and a perfect egg over easy. We hit crunch time and my team only made one omelette (a tiny bit brown on one side but nice and soft on the inside). But we each made our own egg over easy. I'm just gonna brag here a little and say mine was perfect! (I'm patting myself on the back right now as I right this - not really but shhh) I got the perfect flip on the egg so that the white cooked just a little and the yolk didn't break or overcook. I'm super proud of myself!

Back to the Eggs Benedict! This one came out much better than my first one and was much more traditional. Toasted english muffin, slightly browned canadian bacon, and a poached egg on top! I guess the excitement is in the hollandaise sauce...

For this I whipped 4 egg yolks with 1tbsp of water in a metal bowl. I placed the metal bowl over a pot of boiling water (make sure the bowl isn't actually touching the water, that would be too hot for the eggs!) and I stirred the eggs to heat them up a little. Then I took it off the heat and my lab partner slowly added a cup of clarified butter while I whipped the mixture (Yes. Use clarified butter. It makes a difference and it'll taste better that way!) until it was blended together. Then we added 1 tbsp of lemon juice and seasoned it with salt and cayenne pepper to taste and voila! incredible eggs benedict! (We added more hollandaise sauce after I took the picture. Just cover those eggs, they like it that way.)

Filled Croissants

I don't quite know how I came up with this idea but one day I decided it would be a good idea for me to stuff croissants with a fruit preserve and some brie. I'm inventive! 

Again with the pre-made croissants in a tube because they are my best friend when I want to experiment. I just rolled them out, spooned out some blueberry preserve that's been sitting in my kitchen forever. Added a little bit of brie on the big end and rolled! 

Turns out I may have used too much blueberry preserve... my ratio was a little off.. but it was still good! Breakfast on the go for a week! 

Where Dreams Come True

The last day in New York we had our first meeting at Food Network Magazine. Let me tell you, this was the visit I was most excited about. I love food and Food Network is my go to channel when I'm at home. Dreams coming true. 

Of course this was the morning that both my trains were delayed/late which ended in me frantically texting multiple people in the group to stall and keep the professors from heading up to the magazine without me as I sprinted several blocks to the building. I barely made it. I ended up sprinting to Hearst building, begging the front desk guy to let me up to the right floor (he responded with "Do Yo Thang Girl" - Thank You) and getting to the magazine with one professor holding the door open for me. I apologized profusely for being to which he responded "aren't you cold?". No... the adrenaline pumping through my veins kept me warm.. 

But I made it. Land of Emily dreams. 

NYC - Il Laboratorio del Gelato

How do you know you're from around here? When it's below 30 degrees in March and there's snow on the ground but you still go get gelato anyways. Yep. Winter does not stop us. We had to find Il Laboratorio. And it was worth it.  

This place is super cool with a sterile lab feel chock full of tubes and weird funnels accompanied by the cute italian guy scooping you ice cream. I'll take it. I love the fun aesthetic/fun theme they have going for them and the gelato is great. I got a small (all of the sizes come in these cute mini take out containers) which was two scoops. I got the marshmallow and I think pomegranate. They were both good and blended well together. Creamy and delicious. And cold. 

NYC - Veselka

We had a solid day off near the end of the week and decided to have our adventure eating around the city and hitting a bunch of places with our spare time. We started a little late and had brunch at Veselka! 

Veselka was pretty cool. It was a freezing day and we somehow managed to be seated at a table so close to the door that it snowed a little right above us. This place had an eclectic diner kind of feel which was fun. The waitress we had was a little iffy with us but another one that happened to walk by our table was funny and really sweet about the snow. 

Veselka has Ukrainian specials all over the place and I of course went for the Perogis because I'm in love with all things potato and Perogis are boss.

I ordered a large plate - fried (which is supposed to be 7 perogis according to their website now but I'm counting more in my photo... hmmm)  

So let's see, I got 2 spinach & cream cheese, 2 sauerkraut & mushroom, 2 arugula & goat cheese, and 1 meat. I think.... in any case the arugula and goat cheese were my favorite. The perogis come with a side of caramelized onions and sour cream which is awesome too. (Not a huge fan of applesauce though but that's a personal preference thing). Anyways, this was a solid brunch. 

NYC - El Camion Cantina

El Camion was not a place on the list but I'm sure glad we went. We had our alumni party at a bar nearby but we had just enough time before that to get some dinner. So we wandered around near the bar and ended up at this place. Yum.

As you can clearly see I started off with a small margarita. I'm pretty sure I ended up with the pomegranate flavor too. I happened to get a small (because I'm small) but I got a pic of my friend's medium because it was prettier. The struggles of a lightweight photographer. While we drank those we munched on some chips and guacamole which was really good. 

Then as my main dish I ordered beer battered cod fish tacos. They were delicious. The cod was crispy and there was a slight kick from the avocado crema! Such a filling meal that was a fun twist on tacos.     

New York City and the Butcher's Daughter

My class load this semester is packed. But I got into some awesome classes, so its worth it. For the first week of March one of my classes had a great field trip to NYC to meet some awesome agents, photographers, magazines, and tech studios. This means while I was in NY, I didn't have to go to class, I got to had adventures with my friends, I got to meet some really cool important people and network with them (hey guys, still on the hunt for a job if you're hiring!), and of course I got to eat at some awesome places. 

Some of my friends have a running list of restaurants in NY that they want to try (we're all kind of foodies) and I was not going to miss out on it. 

One place we checked out was Butcher's Daughter. 

This place is super cute and cozy. They have all this raw wood and plants strategically placed with DIY style furniture. The food, was perfect. I started off with a yellow juice and I couldn't tell you all of the things inside of it but it's a mason jar of awesome.

For lunch I had the Vietnamese because I grew up on these things so whenever I see a re-invented version on menus, it just screams "Emily, Try Me!". So I did. This sandwich was great! Crispy french baguette style bread, a pate like spread, and veggies for days. It was incredible. This place is a must for sure! 

French Onion Soup!!

That's right! I made french onion soup and it was great because it's french onion soup!

As far as I'm concerned, french onion is amazing so I'm glad I got to make it. Of course we caramelized about 3lbs of onions in 2 tbsp of butter until they were soft and light brown. We turned off the flame (fire safety first!) added about a cup of dry sherry to deglaze the pan, then turned the flame back on to cook off the alcohol. We added 2 quarts of beef stock and then reduced the soup by about 1/4. We made some toasted garlic bread, put a chunk of that into a bowl with the soup, then melted some awesome swiss cheese on top until it was soft and gooey. French onion is great. Simple as that! 

Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice!

As you might have been able to tell, this post is about Rice! Grains day included a lot of rice recipes and I ended up making a Rice Pilaf and A brown Rice Salad. 

Of the two, the Rice Pilaf was my favorite for sure. What we did was heated about a tablespoon of butter and an ounce of olive oil in a heavy pan, added some carrots, celery, and onions (a traditional mirepoix) along with a clove of minced garlic and a bay leaf. We threw in about 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and sweat the mirepoix until it was tender. Then we added 2 cups of long grain rice then let that sweat a little until it was nicely coated. We added salt, 3 cups of chicken stock and brought it to a boil.

 Finally we set the stove to low, covered it with a tight lid, and let it steam for about 15minutes before turning off the lid and letting it sit there for another 10 minutes. Then we served! It was really soft and flavorful and I could eat bowls of this and be happy. 

The brown rice salad was a little less successful.. It's a cold salad so we cooked 1 1/2 cups of brown rice to start and my partner and I may have burned it a little... whoops... I'm sure it would've been a little better if we didn't do that...

Anyways, we mixed a vinaigrette of 1 diced shallot, 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard, 1/3 tsp kosher salt, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, and a dash of fresh ground pepper all together. Then We slowly whisked 2 tbsp extra olive oil into it to emulsify the dressing. 

The actual salad was a combination of the cooked brown rice, 1 diced pear, 1/4 cup of toasted walnut pieces, 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese, and 1/3 cup of the dressing to start as well as salt and pepper of course. It was actually a lot better than I was expected and I liked it, I probably would've enjoyed it more if the rice wasn't burned.. Next time!   

Sushi in Buffalo!!

More sushi because yes. all the time. My cousins go to school in Buffalo and recently their parents moved there too for work. The cousins work at a cute little sushi restaurant called Fuji so we decided we would go there for lunch one weekend when I was came over to visit. 

I honestly just let my cousins order because they know what good, especially since they work there. Their boss also sent a few plates to our table because apparently they love her. That works. Everything was incredibly good. Such a good sushi trip. I would definitely go there again in a heartbeat for sushi. 

Pasta Carbonara and Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Starches and Carbs! Yummmm! 

So I may have used the wrong kind of pasta for Carbonara... but that's okay! First off we poached an egg which was pretty cool. Then we sweat an ounce of pancetta in a small saute pan (probably a little more than an ounce....pancetta is good..) We drained some of the fat out, poured in 1/4 of a cup of heavy cream to a simmer and seasoned with some salt and pepper. 

Then we tossed about 4 ounces of al dente pasta into the sauce pan and topped it with a tablespoon of chopped parsley. We served the pasta with the poached egg and ta-da! That was the pasta dish. The egg was really creamy and it was such a good dish.  

The garlic mashed potatoes were pretty good too. I'm always a sucker for potato dishes. My lab partner for the day peeled about a pound and a half of all purpose potatoes, and simmered them in salted water and 3 or 4 cloves of garlic until they were tender. We let them cool and threw them in a mixer with the paddle attachment until it was broken up really well. Then we switched to the whisk attachment and pureed it. We added an ounce of butter, the 1/4 cup of light cream to get the consistency just right. We also added about a head of roasted garlic to the mix too just to add some more flavor. Then salt and pepper to taste. It was so good. I'm a fan of garlic too so that was just a plus.  

Deep Fried Eggplant! (and Skillet-Steamed Vegetables)

I've had deep fried onion rings before so I figured it would be fun to try using eggplant instead. They turned out alright. A little dry but with a marinara sauce or something they would be so good! 

Just cut up one large eggplant into 1/2in slices then stick them in cold water for 5 or 10 minutes. Coat them in flour (shake off the excess), dip them in an egg mixture (we used 2 eggs beat with 1 tbsp of milk), then coat them a second time in bread crumbs. Fry them up in some hot oil for a few minutes and they're good to go! Watch them too, they cook fast and some of our slices turned really brown, really fast! 

We also made a skillet-steamed vegetable dish (mine are a little overcooked...whoops) but they were perfect for me! 

I cut up a medium zucchini and a yellow squash and heated them in a pan with 1/4 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of butter. I put a lid on it so it would steam the veggies (supposedly for 3 minutes but apparently for longer since they were a little over done...). I took the lid off and let the water reduce a little so there was a butter sauce and then I served it. Super easy, healthy, and delicious!