Kodak Gallery Photo Book

The first ever digital camera I had was a Kodak. This was almost 10 years ago. Here's the story: my mom asked me if I wanted a camera. I said no. Then when I came to visit my parents in Seattle for New Years and opened my New Year present, amongst towels I found a Kodak digital camera. I lost my sh*t. Seriously! In fact, my reaction, a full-on meltdown, was recorded by my dad. Trust me, it's not pretty! If I ever bring a man home, I'm sure my parents will show him that video to tell him what he's getting into.

I did not want a camera. I did not have a computer back then, so what good would it do me to have a digital camera?

Needless to say, I've come a long way from my first Kodak camera to my Canon Rebel. I also hope I learned how to behave more graciously and grown up, but you'll have to ask my parents about that.

Why am I telling you this story? Because things have a funny way of coming a full circle. As part of The Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I occasionally have a chance to try out new products. This time, instead of trying a food product, I got an opportunity to make my own Kodak Gallery Photo Book. How cool is that?

The hardest part in this project was deciding which photos to choose. Everything else was incredibly simple: you basically choose a page layout, upload photographs or text and you are pretty much set.

In the end, I decided to make a book of some of my favorite food, travel and flower photos. See the pages below and make sure to look/read the entire post because there will be something special for every one of you at the end. Promise!

Blueberry Chia Lemon muffins I made for Robyn's blog
 

Goat Cheese Ice Cream and Mango Frozen Yogurt 

Dinner at Estadio in DC
 

Chicken for Chicken Tortilla Soup and Breakfast Pizza 

Stir Fry for Robyn and Mint Chutney with Indian Puffed Rice

Beet greens with Swiss Chard and Peaches

People holding fruit {Nicole on the lower left and Julia on the top} and Seattle Pike Place Market
 

Travel: Boston & DC
 

Flowers: Boston & DC
 

Flowers around Capitol Hill in DC
 

My love: Orchids!
 

Thoughts? Hope you enjoyed looking at my book. My dad told me I should find a publishing company and sell it world wide. Oy!

And now, here's a little surprise to YOU: you can get 40% off your own book until August 31st! What are you waiting for? Let your creativity run wild and follow this link.

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Goya & Foodbuzz Sponsored Dinner: Lazy Stuffed Peppers

As part of Foodbuzz, I sometimes receive different products to use in my kitchen. This time around, I received Goya products. The first time I've heard of Goya was 9 years ago when I met my friend Laura (hola, Laurita!). She's from Puerto Rico and introduced me to Adobo all purpose seasoning. For a while I was using Adobo in everything: soups, rice dishes, to season fish or chicken and to sprinkle on steaks. I was in love. Every time I cook with Adobo, I think of Laura.

Foodbuzz and Goya sent me yellow rice, Adobo, black beans, garbanzo beans and Manzanilla Spanish olives.

I opened a jar of olives and pretty much finished all of them in a few days. But then I decided I should probably come up with a meal using some of these ingredients.

Lazy Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
a few dashes of Adobo seasoning
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 onion, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed, drained
1 large can chopped tomatoes, drained
3 green peppers, roasted, chopped
10 green olives, chopped
yellow rice, cooked following directions on the box
toppings: chopped avocado, grated cheese, sour cream, salsa, cilantro

Directions
1. Heat a pan. Add beef, adobo, and vinegar. (Adding vinegar is something I learned from Laura). Cook the meat until it is no longer pink.

2. Add the onions and cook until they've browned.

3. Add beans, tomatoes, peppers and olives and cook until everything is heated through.

4. Serve the meat mixture on top of yellow rice and top with any (or all) of these: cilantro, cubed avocado, salsa and shredded cheese.

This dish is quick to put together (other than roasting the peppers, which you can just chop fresh and add with chopped onions), is well balanced and is pretty to look at! It also freezes well.

What are you cooking this weekend?

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Cork & Fork Family dinner courtesy of Foodbuzz

Earlier this month I received an email from Foodbuzz letting me and other Foodbuzz members know that they've paired up with Columbia Crest Wines and were looking for proposal projects for Cork & Fork entertaining soiree.

I decided to apply. Below is my proposal, which got accepted!!!

Here's the background story: after I joined Foodbuzz, I told my twin sister Anna to join too! And she did. She blogs here: www.snackinginthekitchen.com    She lives in Seattle, WA while I live in Arlington, VA. Despite the entire country between us, we chat all the time, travel together, and share many hobbies/interests such as FOOD, salsa dancing, crafts, etc.  One of the differences between  Anna and me is that she prefers red wine, while I prefer white wine. When I saw the Cork & Fork "challenge," I thought this would be perfect for my upcoming trip to Seattle to visit Anna and our family.    And so the name for this would be Red vs White Wine Cork & Fork Twin Cook-off. Anna will make one of the red wine pairings, and I will make one of the white wine pairings.    We'll invite some of our closest friends and depending on the weather have the meal outside or inside: sorry, with Seattle weather you can never tell! At the end of the party, the guests will choose the winning menu. 

And so, this Tuesday Anna and I set out to make a family dinner for our parents and brother. Anna chose Shiraz, and I chose Pinot Grigio. Luckily, the weather was absolutely perfect for a dinner outside.

Here's a view of the table with a few of the dishes. Scroll below to see what we cooked.

For her appetizer, Anna made a bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, onions and basil on top of a grilled ciabatta bread.

For my appetizer, I made a pear salad with blue cheese and spiced pecans. The recipe called for roasting the pears, but it was too hot for that. The pecans were toasted in butter, sugar and a bit of cayenne and gave a bit of a punch to the salty blue cheese and the sweet pears. The dressing for the salad included reducing two cups of orange juice to two tablespoons: I just did not have enough patience for that and only reduced it to about quarter of the cup. Still, a success.

I also made steamed mussels. Instead of using poblano peppers as the recipe called for, I used roasted red peppers. The broth also contained onions, garlic, clam broth, coconut milk and white wine. I absolutely love mussels, but neither my brother nor my dad tasted a single one of them. Fine, more for the girls in my family :)

Anna chose to make grilled lamb chops with balsamic honey glaze and mint pesto. The mint pesto was absolutely awesome and also went well with bruschetta. It smelled fresh like summer!

To go along with the lamb, Anna and I made grilled baby potatoes by first cooking red and white potatoes in salted water till they were tender and then drizzling them with some olive oil (thank you, Misha, for doing that) and seasoning with salt and pepper before putting them on the grill.

Anna grilled the lamb till medium rare and everyone enjoyed it with shiraz. Everyone other than our dad, who has very strong dislike for lamb (and also cilantro).

There was too much food to also make a dessert, so we ended up choosing a watermelon as a finale for our dinner.

Thank you Foodbuzz and Columbia Crest for sponsoring this dinner with my family. As far as who the winner is, my mom's favorite dish was the lamb, and my brother liked bruschetta.  My dad liked all the food, other than the lamb and mussels ;) He's diplomatic like that.

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Destination DC + Foodbuzz = Staycation in DC

A few weeks ago I received an email from Foodbuzz letting me know that they've paired up with Destination DC and would like to fly me in to participate in the "Washington, DC: A Culinary Capital." I was confused: I actually live in DC area, but decided to email Foodbuzz back and see if I could still participate. Not only did Foodbuzz say yes, but they also agreed to let me stay in the posh Liaison hotel, conveniently located steps away from my work.
I was on cloud 9! Three days and three nights of eating out in some of the best DC restaurants--I was ready for an adventure. I packed my bags (including exercise clothes in order to use the gym at Liaison), watered my plants, and set out on staycation of the lifetime!

I was greeted in my hotel room with an information folder with a hand-written note from Rebecca and Chris (my "chaperones" and "tour guides" from Destination DC), some beauty products, potato chips (that were left uneaten) and a large salty cookie from Teaism (♥!).

After a hard day at work (sarcasm!), I decided to take a nap before meeting the rest of the group for dinner. Before I tell you about dinner, however, let me tell you that I fell in love with the black-out curtains in the room and how much water pressure there was in the shower: little things make me happy!

Where was dinner, you wonder!? At Art & Soul, where Art Smith, two-time James Beard Award Winning Chef (who was also Oprah's personal chef), creates dishes using fresh and seasonal ingredients with a Southern twist.

I've been to Art & Soul once for an alumni happy hour and was looking forward to trying out the restaurant's dinner menu. I wasn't expecting to see Art Smith, whom I saw the night before on Top Chef, where he was a guest judge. But as soon as I made my way to our private dining room, there he was! Art sat at the table with us for several hours talking about food, travel, love and everything else under the moon.

After meeting the rest of the people on the tour including bloggers, freelancers and journalists, it was time to order drinks. I chose Savannah: vodka, African Nectar Tea and peaches. The cocktail was pretty, but lacked in sweetness. (Speaking of pretty, my photographs came out horrid, so I'm posting some photos courtesy of Cathy from GastronomyBlog.)

While we were chatting and sipping our cocktails, we were treated to a few passed appetizers. One of my favorites was a mini sandwich with fried chicken: you can't get more Southern than that.

Photo by GastronomyBlog

(and another favorite: seared tuna appetizer)

Photo by GastronomyBlog

And then it was time for dinner. I wasn't playing around: I wanted steak. And steak I got: Bone in prime ribeye with crisp fingerlings, creamed spinach and black pepper marmalade. I wish you could see the plate: it could have easily fed 4 people: don't worry, I shared my food with others.

The meat was cooked to order: medium rare and had a luscious pink center. It was tender, satisfying and my only disappointment was that the hotel room did not have a refrigerator, so I could not take my leftovers back.  The potatoes were tender on the inside and crispy on the outside: just as I like them. And the creamed spinach...well, that was just a dream. If you can't get your kids to eat vegetables, try luring them in with the creamed spinach.

After we finished the main course, the table was filled with dessert: one of each from the menu. My favorite ones were chocolate terrine with espresso gelato and popcorn brittle and strawberry cheesecake made with whole wheat crust and balsamic molasses.

Photo by GastronomyBlog

This was such a wonderful start to what promised to be a great staycation. Stay tuned for more posts about Ethiopian food, Jose Andres' Restaurants, dinners at Birch & Barley and Belga Cafe, a tour of Dupont Farmer's Market and brunch at Blue Duck Tavern.

I leave you with a photo of a rooftop swimming pool at Liaison.

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Saturday at Foodbuzz Food Festival, Part 2

Are you tired of my Foodbuzz recaps yet? Please say "no" or just wait a few more days: I promise to post something non-Foodbuzz related.

Saturday night (last weekend) was perhaps my most favorite part of the Foodbuzz Food Festival. We were put on a bus and driven to a produce warehouse in the middle of nowhere (or so it seemed).

That's where we had a truly outstanding dinner: Outstanding in the Field, which included great food, a lot of wine, chatting with friends we've made over the weekend and being surrounded by cartons of tomatoes, onions and huge containers of soy sauce.

We were greeted by the owner of the winery which produces 2008 Ca' del Solo Albarino.

While sipping the wine (and refilling it at least once) I walked around the warehouse taking photos of food and cool quotes:


Look at all the tables Outstanding in the Field set up for us!

The menu had an Asian feel, and most of the food was consumed using chopsticks.

Just so that you know, there wasn't too much light: we were enjoying candle light instead (the situation was different depending on where in the warehouse you were sitting).

And now to the food:

Mushroom dashi, maitake, shimeji, enoki mushrooms (in plain English, a delicious mushroom soup)

Udon, grilled Monterey calamari in a browned butter ponzu reduction, cucumber, kaiware, frisee & yellow pear tomato with chojang & sesame vinaigrette (served with 2007 Le Cigare Blanc)

not pictured, but consumed and really enjoyed:

Sea trout baked with dashikombu, fried garlic and Japanese curry powder

Mushroom risotto with koshihikari rice, crispy maitake mushrooms

Soy braised beef cheeks with oxtails, baby carrots and fingerling potato, OB Beer and denjang demi

Roasted brussels sprouts, ponzu fried garlic, guanciale, bonito flakes (served with 2005 Le Cigare Volant): this was everyone's favorite course

Koshihikari rice pudding, cookie crumble and warren pear (with 2008 Vinferno): this was a disappointing end to the meal: I wasn't a huge fan of the dessert or the Vinferno.

After dinner, I was guilted into going salsa dancing with Anna. I'm sorry, but the people asking me to dance were horrible. One guy was not even moving to the beat of music, but wanted to teach me how to dance! Seriously!?

Sunday we enjoyed brunch at Lulu restaurant, said our final good-bye's to the people we met at the festival, also Foodbuzz employees, and then hung out with Anna's friends the rest of the day, before heading back to the airport.

Such an awesome long weekend.

I leave you with one "person" photo of me :)

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Saturday at Foodbuzz Food Festival, Part 1

And now back to Foodbuzz Festival recap. Saturday morning Anna and I got a late start. I was not going to get up at 8 am :) After a cup of coffee at our hotel, we headed to the Ferry Building for breakfast. Below are a few photos I snapped on the way. For those who don't speak Russian, the first sticker says KGB, the second one says "Come in, Sit down, Hold on, Shut up!"--priceless. The third photo is just a cool sculpture I saw across the street.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to breakfast, there was only one pastry left and a bunch of grapes. Not to worry, with grapes in hand, we headed back out to an art/craft market in front of the Ferry Building, where I bought a pretty jade necklace and a matching bracelet. Anna wasn't able to find anything that she loved (I will try to take photos of jewelry later and post it on my other blog).

After jewelry shopping, Anna and I parted ways: I went to a seminar on Farm to Table (all about meat), and she went to Cowgirl Creamery tasting. Needless to say, she made a smarter choice.

And then it was time to sample a ton of food at the Metreon. Below are just some of the photos of the great food Foodbuzz made available. Apologies for not noting down everyone's brand name, etc.

The first photo is the amazing ceviche with octopus: loved it! And what a pretty presentation. And then of course there was a ton of cheese from Kerrygold.

For a bit of sweetness, there were these chocolate/peanut butter/jam concoctions. I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter, but really liked these.

Then there were adorable little tarts with beef and the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. The cookies were from Annie the Baker. It's amazing how she got the consistency to be chewy, the chips to stay intact, and the cookies to be so tall.

And then it was time for a tasting of Sparkling wines from CA. Four different wines ranging in color and flavor. By the looks of the wine, I liked the one on the right the most, because it was pink. But scroll down to see which one I liked the most taste-wise (the glass with the least amount of wine left).

Happy and slightly tipsy, Anna and I spent the next few hours shopping (without buying anything), then went back to our hotel and changed for Outstanding in the Field Dinner (best part of Foodbuzz Festival): stay tune for write up of that coming up soon.

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