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Entries Tagged as 'Asian'

Myers + Chang

February 21st, 2010 · 8 Comments · Asian, restaurant reviews, snacks

It seems that the Asian food bug bit my husband as well. Yesterday in an attempt to get out of the house while there was work being done on our kitchen (still another week or so to go… *sigh*), we decided to go for a walk around Boston. There was no real plan – the only goal was to stay out for as long as possible. It ended up being an absolutely gorgeous day in Boston – sunny and warm-ish (50* at some point!!). Good weather makes everything better, doesn’t it?

Somehow, we ended up at Myers + Chang. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised – maybe it was my one-track mind lately on everything-Asian, or maybe I know my husband all too well. Regardless, when he asked that we make our way towards the restaurant, I didn’t hesitate. I had a latish breakfast and wasn’t too hungry, but the second we stepped in the door, I knew I had to order something.

The giant windows bring so much light in – perfect on such a sunny day. The atmosphere is clean and fun – lots of cute “grafitti” all over the windows and mirrors. Love it!

Adam was definitely doing most of the ordering. I decided to get a few lighter things, just to taste. The Asian pickles first caught my eye. I’m obsessed with pickled veggies. Thank you, Myers + Chang for a whole dish of them!

Asian pickles are sweeter than “regular” pickles. My favorite of the bunch was the cauliflower, with shredded carrots being a close second. The jalapenos were nice as well – most of the seeds were taken out so they weren’t too spicy. The cabbage on the far right I think had onions it in. Not my thing. Adam loved the pickled veggies as well, and he’s not as pickle-obsessed as I am. Great “starter.”

Next up, a few of Adam’s dim-sum dishes came out.

Braised short rib with asian pear

He said it was the best thing ever. I had a bite and thought it was tiny bit too sweet but still yummy.

Mama Chang’s fried pork dumplings

I didn’t try these – too many scallions. Adam said they were too fried for his taste and next time would ask to have them steamed, if at all possible. They look pretty mouth watering, though, don’t they?

Garlicky and spicy chicken wings

I had one. The description is really off. They are kind of sweet wings. I’m not a huge wings person so I thought they were fine but nothing amazing – Adam loved them!

Finally my dim-sum dish came out – the green papaya slaw

Green papaya salad is one of my favorite thai dishes and this one was great! The menu indicated it was extra spicy. I didn’t taste the spice at all but that’s fine with me. Just the memory of the crazy-spicy green papaya salad at Montien makes my eyes water a bit. I like to be able to enjoy my food without tears. Loved the crushed peanuts on top as well!

This was a great little brunch. Many other things on the menu looked great…too bad I wasn’t hungry enough for a bigger lunch. I think Adam and I would like to try Myers + Chang for dinner next time. I’m sure their dessert is amazing, since Joanne Chang is also the owner of Flour Bakery and we all know how much I love it.

And just for good measure, here are the rest of my eats yesterday. I was kind of snacky all day so that’s why there is no picture of a real dinner. I pretty much ate all night long.

Breakfast in bed… I love weekends!

Bloody-Mary replacement

Add 2 more crackers to this (6 in total) – combo of the artichoke antipasto with hummus – mmm, good stuff! Plus, some roasted almonds, walnut halves, chocolate covered edamame and Barney Butter out of the jar (a few tablespoons probably).

I was hoping all this food would at least be good fuel for my long run this morning. I’m happy to say that it was! More on that in my next post. What are you up to on this lovely Sunday afternoon?

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Shabu-Zen in Allston review

February 21st, 2010 · 16 Comments · Asian, Boston, restaurant reviews

I’ve been on a serious Asian food kick lately. My first craving a few weeks ago was not satisfied, and I just cannot get enough since then. So when Adam suggested yesterday that we get together with a few friends to check out Shabu Zen in Allston, I instantly agreed. I love the healthy and fun concept of a Shabu-shabu Japanese do-it-yourself hotpot, and this particular restaurant received great reviews.

After way too much time spent looking for parking, we finally decided to just stay in the restaurant’s parking lot and wait for someone to leave. Luckily, we didn’t have to sit in the car for too long before someone finally moved their car. The whole parking situation was quite stressful, but a beer (or a glass of Riesling in my case) was the perfect way to take the edge off and mark the beginning of the weekend.

J. Lohr “Bay Mist” Riesling

This was a sweet fruity wine that paired perfectly with the spicy food.

All five of us were shabu-shabu virgins but the waitress kindly (and patiently) explained the concept and the menu to us. I think at the end we did a great job ordering!

A picture of the room we were in, probably 1/4 of the restaurant – it was huge!

I started with the squid salad, which tasted exactly like the squid salad I had at Samurai a few weeks ago. The portion was small, but it was so delicious. I loved the marinated squid – so much flavor!

We got half a pot with Spicy Chinese broth and half with Shabu-Zen’s standard chicken broth. Can you guess which one is the spicy one?

Both were great, although the Spicy Chinese broth had one spice that I wasn’t crazy about. I think next time I’d order the tom yum broth but I was out-voted this time.

Each person got a little dish with soy sauce…

… to which we could add any of these extras – garlic, scallions, red pepper flakes and Japanese bbq sauce

I added all but the scallions. It was the perfect flavoring agent for the veggies and fish. I loved that each person could customize their own dipping sauce.

All meal combos came with a plate of veggies which included 3 types of mushrooms, broccoli, radishes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, tofu and tofu skin

+ a choice of udon noodles, rice or vermicelli noodles. Adam and I choice the udon noodles (they were individual size portions so we actually ended up ordering another one of these – one each)

And we went with the surf & turf combo – scallops, prawns, salmon, cod, squid, clam, and fish cake + a choice of beef, pork, chicken or lamb. We went with pork. As soon as the food arrived, we started throwing stuff in the hot pot. SO cool!!

Our seafood plate:

The pork (thinly sliced for quick cooking)

SO MUCH FOOD

Working hard for our food

Clearly, we all hated it.

All right, all right – we were all very happy campers

I forgot to mention that the waitress mid-way also brought 2 nice dipping sauces for the meat – a peanut sesame sauce and a thai sweet and spicy sauce. Both were indeed fabulous with the meat.

This was a really fun interactive dinner. We all loved playing with our food and the service and the quality of everything at Shabu-Zen were great. Have you ever been to a shabu-shabu restaurant?

For other restaurant suggestions, check our my Restaurant Reviews page.

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My video debut

January 11th, 2010 · 28 Comments · Asian, Cooking Light, breakfast, chicken, dessert, sandwich, snacks

Hi guys, I had such an awesome today – I can’t wait to share it with you. It started with some yummy food, continued with the best run I’ve had in months (!!!!) and finally finished with my first blog video! Some of you wanted to know what I sound like, whether I have an accent, etc. Well, now you can find out for yourselves (and maybe even learn something productive in the process ). But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, here is how today went…

BREAKFAST

Part I – 1/2 cup 4% cottage cheese + 2 kiwi fruits

Part II – office coffee with Agave nectar + bran muffin

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK

1/2 banana with a packet of Barney Butter. I forgot how much I love this snack!

WORKOUT

As mentioned, my workout today rocked! I planned on doing 5 miles on the treadmill and believe it or not, I haven’t done that in months. I was actually nervous before going to the gym today, something I used to experience before super long runs. My game plan was to start out easy to conserve some energy. It worked like a charm – this run was fantastic!! Here is what I did…

0.15 mile walk at 4.5 mph, 0.35 miles at 6.5 mph – warm-up. Then the 0.2 mile intervals began…
0 incline at 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0 mph
0.5 incline at 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0
0 incline at 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0
1.0 incline at 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1
0 incline at 6.9, 7.0, 7.1
1.5 incline at 7.0, 7.1
cooldown at 4.5 mph – incline 1.5-4.5

Total distance = 5.5 miles (5 mile run, 0.5 mile walk), total time 50 minutes – it was awesome!!!

I did an additional 10 minutes on the elliptical after that, just because I like round numbers. Total workout time = 1 hour.

LUNCH

Baby spinach, carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower, black beans and Annie’s balsamic vinaigrette

+ 1/2 FFL english muffin with laughing cow cheese

All together…

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

I was hungry all afternoon so I couldn’t help but snack away. Healthy and Sane YouTrailMix:

The dried apricots in it are waaay too hard. Quite disappointing. The rest of the mix is awesome (of course it is – it’s a combo of my favorite stuff! )

Reese’s snacksters

DINNER

I promised Nasoya I’do a video of how to use their wonton wrappers, so today was the day since our kitchen will be gutted soon. Here is the video for your enjoyment. Let me know what you think!!

[A special thank you to Adam for being the videographer. ]

To make the dumplings, I used this recipe from Cooking Light. I couldn’t find ground chicken breast, so I took an organic chicken breast and processed it in my food processor, then cooked the ground mixture on the skillet before mixing it with the rest of the filling ingredients (since I didn’t bake my pot stickers, the filling had to be pre-cooked). They were delicious, dipped in TJ’s gyoza sauce. I had quite a few while filming. Yum!

Dessert – Bridget’s chocolate almond orange macaroons – SO good!

Great day all around. I had a really fun time making the video. Tomorrow I plan on doing the video tour of our apartment because the construction on the kitchen is starting this week!!! So exciting.

Are there any videos you’d be interesting in me doing? I think I’m on a video kick now.

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Thanksgiving leftovers get a new life

November 27th, 2009 · 19 Comments · Asian, Cooking Light, Ellie Krieger, breakfast, dessert, oats, soups, turkey

I mentioned that one of my Thanksgiving day “strategies” was to keep it to just one day of indulgences, which means no leftovers. Well, this wasn’t 100% true. White meat turkey and cranberry sauce I consider perfectly healthy eats, so today, each of them got to star in their own separate dish.

BREAKFAST

Banana oatmeal with PB&J + coffee

The “J” was actually cranberry sauce from last night’s Thanksgiving dinner. I could really taste the dried cherries in it today. Delicious!!

DINNER

For dinner, the turkey leftovers were transformed into Asian wontons, based on the tip from page 74 of the November 2009 Cooking Light issue. I made a mixture of minced turkey, ginger, mushrooms and soy sauce, then Adam stuffed them in Nasoya wonton skins and boiled them in some chicken broth for a few minutes. They were really delicious with TJ’s gyoza sauce (I had about 4 or 5)!

We took the Asian theme a little further and decided to make some hot and sour soup. I followed this recipe from About.com, omitting the pork, the dry lili buds (what are these anyway?) and scallions, used dehydrated black trumpet mushrooms instead of black fungus, 2 cups of chicken broth and 4 cups of water, and a little more rice vinegar than the recipe called for (based on reviewers’ suggestions). I also finished it with 1 teaspoon of chili oil for the whole batch.

This picture doesn’t look like much, but I really felt like I was in a Chinese restaurant, except I’m sure this was way healthier! It tasted very authentic. The whole meal really hit the spot and took care of my Asian food craving that I didn’t even know I had. SO good! I can’t wait to have it again!

DESSERT

Tonight’s dessert was not Turkey day inspired, but is my CEiMB entry for the week. This week we were allowed to pick our own Ellie Krieger recipe to feature, and I decided to finally make this recipe for cherry almond chocolate clusters my sister told me about nearly a year ago! Chocolate, roasted almonds and dried cherries are probably my 3 favorite things in the world, so I can’t believe it actually took me this long to make these. I’m glad I did, because both Adam and I thought they were incredible and I think will be a great treat to have around when that sweet tooth kicks into high gear.

The key is to definitely use high quality chocolate (I used a mixture of organic Green & Black’s espresso chocolate and Scharffen Berger semisweet chocolate) and I guarantee you’ll fall in love. They’re even pretty healthy (dark chocolate has lots of antioxidants!), as long as you can stop at just 1 I’ve been a good girl so far.

I’m loving this super long weekend! What are your favorite ways to enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers? I’m thinking there is a turkey sandwich and maybe cranberry sauce muffins in my future

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My head is getting to me

October 13th, 2009 · 20 Comments · Asian, Cooking Light, breakfast, comfort foods, dessert, salad, tofu, yogurt

Today was a tough one. There was a lot of self pep talk. Sometimes it worked; sometimes my head got to me. I need to get over the hump asap – it’s killing me! I woke up this morning and had a comforting breakfast – apple crisp yogurt!

It looked ugly, but man was it good. Warm apple crisp over cool nonfat yogurt, fresh apple slices and pecans. Definitely comfort food at its best! This breakfast kept me full for over 4 hours. In fact when lunch time came, I didn’t even want a full blown lunch so I had a snack – TJ’s organic double fiber blueberry muffin. So hearty and delicious. Love these!

So far, so good. Not sure if it was the anxiety at work that kept my mind wondering, or the fact that my co-worker stopped by to see how my race went (she ran it too!) and my dad called to tell me it’s ok (he read my blog post – I kind of avoided most phone calls this weekend). Oh yeah, I also had a recovery clinical massage for my sore legs and had to tell the girl about how the race ended. Somehow I couldn’t get the race off my mind and I just wanted to have that moment back so I could do things differently this time. I don’t remember exactly what happened. I’m still in awe that I walked off the course and just quit. It doesn’t make sense to me. I know my body needed the rest, but couldn’t I have walked for 0.6 miles?! I wanted the satisfaction of crossing that finish line SO BAD and now my first half marathon will forever be my worst nightmare. I can never have another first half marathon. I know this is irrational. My husband keeps reminding me that I blacked out (!!!!) and that I can’t keep blaming myself. I know I pushed too hard and that’s another reason I keep wanting to relive that moment – so I can pull back and finish. My sister and I emailed back and forth a bit and she tried to screw my head on straight about this whole thing. I know everyone else is right. It just really was traumatizing and I think the only way to change it IS to run another half, but race season is basically over (and it’s freaking cold outside!!!) so I’ll have to wait a whole year to do it again. Can I do it next weekend, lol? I’m all about instant gratification (you know, instant as in 2+ hours of constantly challenging my body beyond its limits)

Back to food – the next self-pep talk involved snacking. This gorgeous German chocolate cupcake won this time

Wowza. Amazing rich dark chocolate, pecans + coconut. I was in heaven! The problem with delicious treats like that is that I want more right after. Instead I decided to wait a little, and about an hour later enjoyed a healthier sweet treat: 1/2 FFL english muffin, Barney Butter + 1/2 banana – my favorite go-to dessert “alternative.”

Wait, did I forget to tell you all about lunch? Mixed greens, green and yellow beans, borlotti beans, hard-boiled egg and a scallop from last night’s dinner.

Dinner was also delicious and nutritious (hehe, this sounds like it should be in some kind of infomercial ). I had some nappa cabbage left from chop suey last week, so I searched around for another good recipe to put the rest to use. This recipe from Cooking Light for tangy stir-fried vegetables caught my eye, and I was even able to buy all veggies at the local farmers market. Sweet

You know the drill – I omitted the onions and otherwise followed the recipe (except that I used over 3 times the tofu, doubled the sauce and added a whole bunch of veggies without really measuring). The marinaded tofu was out of this world flavorful! Great spicy kick too! Adam and I were eating the tofu raw while the veggies were cooking. So delicious – the vegetables were so fresh and the recipe made them shine. My husband was excited about tofu. What have I done to him?!

And I wish this was it. I was full and satisfied. Did I stop eating? Nope. Somehow the chocolate covered almonds and roasted salted pistachios were consumed – in large quantities, while watching the Biggest Loser. I tried to talk myself out of the madness but gave in. Seriously, what happened? Literally a month ago I was on top of the world, eating intuitively, losing weight and feeling spectacular, and now I’m back to old stupid habits that I can’t seem to reverse. This needs to end asap, so I can once again be healthy and sane!

All right, this post became whinier than I planned on it. My apologies. Let’s see if I snap out of it soon and become the inspiration that many of you tell me I am. <3

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Entries Tagged as 'Asian'

Myers + Chang

February 21st, 2010 · 8 Comments · Asian, restaurant reviews, snacks

Shabu-Zen in Allston review

February 21st, 2010 · 16 Comments · Asian, Boston, restaurant reviews

My video debut

January 11th, 2010 · 28 Comments · Asian, Cooking Light, breakfast, chicken, dessert, sandwich, snacks

Thanksgiving leftovers get a new life

November 27th, 2009 · 19 Comments · Asian, Cooking Light, Ellie Krieger, breakfast, dessert, oats, soups, turkey

My head is getting to me

October 13th, 2009 · 20 Comments · Asian, Cooking Light, breakfast, comfort foods, dessert, salad, tofu, yogurt

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