Spaghetti and Meatballs

When I wasn't inspired to go out for food today, I decided to make a grocery run so I can make spaghetti and meatballs. Thanks J. for the inspiration. Pic of my proud accomplishment:

Meatball based on Rachel Ray recipe below:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/spaghetti-and-meatballs-recipe.html

My instructions (step by step)

1. Preheat oven to 425 F before making meatballs. 
2. I used about a pound of ground sirloin (exactly maybe .8lbs on the scale), 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs, 1/3-1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, crushed garlic, one egg (beaten well before adding in), crushed red peppers, dried parsley/basil herbs, and some olive oil. Mixed the stuff well first with a folk, then with greased hands next. Made around a dozen or so meatballs with hands. Pic of raw meatballs:
   
   
   
3. Put in oven on cookie sheet (I added greased aluminum foil) and cook for 10-12min. Check one with fork/knife when time is finished just to see how it turned out. 
4. While meatballs are in the oven, boil water to make pasta.
5. Pasta in my recipe is Barilla (I like Linguini Fini and Thin Spaghetti types), cooked according to box instructions (boil water, add salt, cook pasta for about 6-7min, always taste for right consistency before draining).
6. Pasta sauce is Ragu 7-herb tomato cooked with some water (from cooking pasta above), crushed garlic, and sundried tomato. Add cooked meatballs in sauce to coat well. I used 4-5 meatballs and saved the rest for snacks / food later this week.
7. Presentation: place drained pasta on plate, layer on meatballs and sauce, top off with fresh basil, black pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Eat!

Food Roundup

Vineapple Cafe (brooklyn heights)
http://www.vineapple.com/

-comfy counches make this coffeeshop feel like your living room. free wifi and decent lighting for getting some reading done.

-the cafe is on Pineapple Street, how cool is that. or am I the only person who loves funny street names and stores that use them!?

 

Wahoo Tacos (near flatiron)
http://www.wahoos.com/menu.php

-I got the two taco entree with grilled fish taco, carne asada (grilled steak) taco, black beans, and brown rice.

-this is a Hawaiian chain that finally made it to NYC, yay! great for casual group food get together. there is also a bar out front with various alcoholic beverages.

 

Sanctuary T (west broadway and grand)
http://www.sanctuaryt.com/menus/

-fresh ricotta / bread to start

-coffees are served in insulated clear glasses. nice touch.

-I had country breakfast. T. had BLT and E (bacon, arugula, tomato and fried egg on a croissant).

need to see about their afternoon tea menu next time. probably best for meeting a friend, maybe difficult for large groups.

 

Veselka Ukrainian Restaurant (east village) 
http://www.veselka.com/

-pierogi of all kinds. I liked the potato and cheese ones best out of my selection.

next time I need to get the platter. hearty and warm foods make for a good group outing. 

 

Otafuku Okonomiyaki Stand (st marks)
http://otafukunyc.com/

-be prepared to wait and stand (no seats) for delicious oknomiyaki (somewhat similar to omelette). I ordered the shrimp one and have no complaints. I recommend it on a week day when the weather is nice and the crowd hasn't quite started yet.

Georgetown Cupcakes (SOHO location, there are more)
https://www.georgetowncupcake.com/menu.html

-I liked the double milk chocolate birthday cake (chocolate frosting on chocolate cupcake). wanted to see what the hype was.

Chopt Salad (various locations)
http://choptsalad.com/

-there is a reason why this place gets crowded for lunch. very hearty salads with limitless combinations. I am usually too indecisive to make up my own salad so I usually look at their classic combos for ideas. They also have a few seasonal features which are inspiring.

-if you find the salad too large, you can also order it as a "wrap". they put the chopped salad in a wrap and it's slightly more manageable.

-my favorites: shrimp palm beach, steakhouse.

 

Dorado Tacos (near union sq)
http://www.yelp.com/menu/dorado-tacos-new-york-2
-good quick eats. it’s finally been enough months since my San Diego trip and I can have fish tacos again. yay.

Of Montreal at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Music Hall of Williamsburg is located close to the L stop Bedford Ave. I don't usually go out on Monday nights but a last minute concert idea was suggested by Vin and I decided to try it out. (who really does anything fun on Mondays!?)

We have the tradition of meeting up for food before a concert. This time I met up with Vin and Laura at Baoburg, a block away from the concert venue. There were half a dozen restaurants/bars in the area so I'm sure everyone can find their choice of food and beverage. My favorite dish from Baoburg was the duck noodles. Please beware the place is cash only (for now, maybe they can look into Square payment in the future), which I learned the hard way. 

The band we saw was Of Montreal. I know I've heard of band but post concert still have no recognition of their songs. Clearly I need to refresh my music library. 

The venue is cozy and the best feature is a bar on each floor (three floors total) and plenty of couches and seating. During the opening act Luz, we lounged around the couches on the top floor balcony near the bar. According to the bartender we had a happy hour deal for drinks. Maybe because it was Monday. Most of the crowd was on the lower floor. 

During the main act, we ended up on some bleachers on the top floor. Relatively good view and a back to lean against. 

New band, new venue, and new restaurant, all on a Mon night. Hard to top that for the rest of the week but anything is possible in New York. 

Thanksgiving Magic

I've gone over to J's for thanksgiving for a few years but always managed to miss the prep stage of the big feast. This year I finally found an opportunity to participate in this ritual and wanted to write down a few key notes. Maybe next year I will remember to take photos.
Corn Bread
Since the entire family liked this year's corn bread better, I'm going to give J credit for mixing the ingredients. The wet ingredients went first (sour cream, canned corn, whisked eggs, etc), then the cornmeal were stirred in. Lastly was the melted butter (all two sticks of it, but at least the sour cream was non-fact...). We waited for the butter because we didn't want the hot butter to cook the raw eggs.

Potato/Sweet Potato
Boil them in giant pots of water until soft/done. Let cool and soak in cold water after discarding the hot water. This process will help the skin come off easier. I used a knife to make a few cuts on the surface then just use my fingers to kind of peel off. For mashing, J's family has a few tools to help which turns them into small strings. It reminds me of a pasta machine or something, I'm not sure what the real name is. To season mashed potatoes, add salt/pepper/garlic. For the sweet potatoes, mix well with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and some tbsp of orange juice concentrate. We put them into two separate baking dishes, one with candied pecans on top and another with marshmallows. Cover them for baking right before the dinner.

Zucchini Quiche
Peel the zucchini first, but don't worry about not being perfect since a little green actually makes the resulting quiche more colorful. Tip for grating zucchini is to keep the end for easy handling instead of chopping it off. L liked the hot version of this and I agree with her. At dinner the cold and warm versions were served.

TurkeyThe main event. R always gets a fresh turkey and therefore it doesn't take as long to cook. I didn't get involved in this as much since it follows a recipe and cooking time. I just have to add that cranberry sauce (homemade) goes so well with turkey that I don't understand people who go without it.

Dessert
Two hours after dinner, assorted teas are served with piles of dessert. J actually managed to survive the lines at Mr. Todd's [link] and got the apple pie and blueberry pie.

Tips for the cooking experience:
Sit down, relax, and put on some music. Make it a group activity. Since we had a can of orange concentrate left over, I made orange coke. You can also make orange mix drinks and get creative.
Thanksgiving Wisdom:
1) Q - Why do we make these dishes only during thanksgiving? The recipes are easy enough for everyday dishes.
A - It's more special if we only make them on thanksgiving.
2) Order pizza the night you're prepping all the dishes. You don't want to think too much about food while you have to peel potatoes and other stuff. Since J's household always start the prep/cooking process on Wed (except the turkey and the last bit of marshmallow sweet potatoes), Thurs is relatively stress free with only the turkey to mind. We had time to play board games (Carcassonne, blokus, etc) and watch TV.