I was inspired by a local Italian restaurant to make vodka sauce for cheese ravioli. It's a sauce with butter, onion, tomato, vodka, cream and other spices. It's amazing how much of a difference liquor makes in a  sauce.

Marcella's Italian Restaurant

After going to Osteria Morini in NYC, I have been obsessed with Italian food. I had the best pasta of my life and I have accepted the fact that Columbus, Ohio just doesn't have the variety and quality of cuisine that NYC has. But I have to get my Italian fix some how so I went to Marcella's Italian Restaurant. It wasn't Osteria Morini but it was everything I had hoped to experience at an Italian restaurant. The bread with olive oil, the candle lit table, Italian flags, and of course, pasta.

Arancini

Arborio rice and cheese fried together in a ball. Perfect shell filled with a creamy inside. Probably my favorite thing I ate there.

Ravioli Mezaluna

This ravioli was filled with goat cheese instead of ricotta and I have found that I'm not particularly fond of goat cheese. Needless to say, the pasta and vegetables were cooked perfectly and the sauce was creamy and tangy. 

Tiramisu

The cream was light and the lady fingers perfectly soaked. Everything you expect tiramisu to be.

Sur La Table

For my birthday, I received a cooking class at Sur La Table. The class was all about brunch! You can't get any better than that. We learned how to make: From- scratch English muffins, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce (for eggs Benedict), blueberry scones with lemon glaze, and candied bacon.

I found out that English muffins are not suppose to be chewy and tough like the store bought ones. The ones we made we light, pillowy, but still had bite to them. I'm never going back to store bought English muffins. As for the poached eggs, I had never made one before and I was a little nervous. It's actually really easy. Stir the pot of almost simmering water and vinegar, drop your raw egg in and let it go until the white is set. So easy! The hollandaise was another thing I had never made before (and never eaten either). Also much easier than I expected. It's an emulsion! While you have egg yolks beating in a blender, slowly poor in hot butter until thick an creamy. After tasting that, hollandaise is my new favorite sauce.

We also made candied bacon and since Sur La Table knows what they're doing, they got thick cut, quality bacon and that makes all the difference in the world.

As for the scones, I've made those before and these were just as good as homemade pastries always are.

All in all it was a wonderful learning experience, delicious and the most fun I've had in a while. Thank you to my brother for this birthday gift!

National Pancake Day!

From last week on National Pancake Day! Naturally I had to make buttermilk pancakes. Some plain, some blueberry, some chocolate chip. Also, this was for dinner. My favorite meal of the day should be every meal. Am I right?

Snowy Day

There's nothing like hot chili on a cold and snowy day. I believe bread to be an important part of any meal so of course, there was a fresh baked biscuit on the side.

Lunch Break

A raw veggie sandwich with mushrooms, peppers, carrots, spinach, chedder cheese, and hummus. All of that between two slices multigrain bread from Miller's Baker Shoppe, in Stuarts Draft, VA. I love being able to support local businesses!

Sunday Night Dinner

Yesterday, I finally got Panko bread crumbs! I wanted to try them out so I made panko crusted tofu. I was pleased with the results. Crunchy on the outside, yet maintained the smooth texture of the tofu on the inside. I put the tofu over Freekeh (grain similar to brown rice), with lightly sautéed orange peppers and steamed broccoli.

Chicago

While visiting a friend in Chicago, I made it a point to try some of the city's best food spots.

First stop was dinner at Wishbone. A southern cooking restaurant with a fresh feel. I ordered the Black Bean Cakes with a creamy red pepper sauce, a side of sweet potato fries and sautéed spinach. This meal was the opposite of southern food's reputation. It was light, fresh and flavorful. Not heavy or greasy at all. I am obsessed with the spinach. It was cooked perfectly. not too wilted but also not too dry or tasteless.

The next place we went was a little hipster taco shop called Velvet Taco. It wasn't your typical Mexican taco place at all. They had flavors from around the globe, as well as vegetarian options. My friend and I shared an order of their loaded tots. They were LOADED. Bacon, cheese, avocado crema, and a fried egg. I'm a sucker for avocado crema so this dish really got me. I also had two tacos. The first was the Fish n' Chips taco. The only thing that resembled fish n' chips about this taco was the fried fish. It didn't have fries or tarter sauce but instead a creamy curry sauce. The curry sauce was good but I would have preferred something a little bit closer to the flavors that are associated with fish n' chips. The other taco was called the Nashville. This one was my favorite. It was fried tofu with a bit of a kick, house slaw, buttermilk cream sauce and pickles. All of these flavors went together perfectly. The tofu had a subtle buffalo tang to it and the pickles were the icing on top. I definitely would like to go back and try their other tacos.

The last place we ate at was brunch at Jam 'n Honey. They had endless breakfast options, it was hard to choose from. I ended up deciding on their loaded waffle. The Belgium waffle was buttery and full of flavor. Even though I put syrup on it, it didn't need it. It was the perfect end to a fun visit to Chicago.