DC Eats: La Tasca

Holy Smokes - I just discovered a large number of unpublished posts that I wrote LAST SUMMER! Ugh! Why didn't I ever publish? Who knows? Why am I going to publish them now? Who knows?

Let's travel back a few months ago to a hot night in July. It was a friend's birthday. A friend that I've known since elementary school. In fact, we used to be neighbors and did a skit on Dolly and James Madison when I was in 6th grade. She lives just outside of DC so we get to see each other a few times a year. Anyway, her (now) fiance threw together a birthday evening for her at a tapas restaurant in Chinatown, called La Tasca.

I think I had heard mixed things about the place but was so excited to try it out. On that evening, we were able to get unlimited tapas for $35/person. Yes, pricey, but it gave us the ability to fill out bellies with delicious food.

If there's two things you need to know about this place it is that 1) they like their garlic and 2) they like their salt. BIG time.

The first thing I always order at a Spanish restaurant is their croquetas. That allows me to accurately judge each restaurant. La Tasca's were awesome - and a bit different: Chicken and pork croquetas served with a garlic aioli. Not traditional to Spain - but so good nonetheless.

Next: the albondigas. Say it with me - Al- BON-di-gas! These were the beef and pork meatballs. Another winner in my book. I followed these with their pan a la Catalana: an airy bread with a tomato, olive oil, and garlic bread. The menu forgets to mention that SALT is another ingredient in it, as that was the most powerful part of the bread. This was a dish I ordered for breakfast while in Spain, but enjoy it for dinner here. Someone ordered bacon wrapped dates which were good until you were just about finished with it, and then the date TOOK over your mouth and all you could taste was the sweetness of it.

Tom arrived late and was a little daring with his ordering. He got 'pulp a la gallega' which is actually octopus with paprika and potatoes. I ate more of it than he did. The 15 year old version of myself would have been appalled at what I did, but I liked it. My taste buds have become much more adventurous over the years.

Then came the tortilla. I've stopped ordering these at restaurants in the US because they normally aren't that good. However, since we had unlimited tapas, why not try it....

It was seriously the best tortilla I have ever had. I wanted to take a photo, but I wanted to eat it more, and ultimately my tongue won out.

We haven't been been back to La Tasca, but I there is nothing that would stop me from going back. I love living in a diverse city full of different cuisines and originally planned to do more DC Eats posts like these when I moved down, but honestly have enjoyed the food too much to document it.

Good Eats: Palena and Ice Cream Sandwiches

After a long, lonely day of unpacking boxes with Wilson, I was very excited to hear that Tom wanted to go out to dinner when he got home. We live near a bunch of restaurants and had to decide between Thai, Indian, Mediterranean, American, Mexican, or Italian. I'm sure there are more choices but I am still not that familiar with the restaurants near us.

We did a quick scope out of the row of restaurants before settling at Palena, an Italian restaurant.

I ordered the gnocchi with peas, bacon (only fancier - I just can't remember what it was) and goat cheese. This was my second time having gnocchi ever, and I am very happy I gave it another try. It was delicious! It had a hint of lemon which made it the perfect summer dish. I was in love with it and was sad to take my last bite. 

Tom had their grilled Salmon which was even more delicious than the gnocchi. And you certainly did not need ketchup with these fries. A dip into the salmon's sauce was more than enough.

Since it was about 93 degrees when we got out of dinner, we decided to hit up Sugar Magnolia on our way back to the apartment. It's a cute little cookie bakery that has unique ice cream flavors as well as homemade ice cream sandwiches. 

We both grabbed the salted caramel ice cream sandwich with chocolate cookies. I really enjoyed the sandwich if I "forgot" that it was supposed to be salted caramel. Otherwise, I couldn't really tell that it was caramel or salted. It was a nice little treat to cool us off for the rest of our trip home.

Adventures in Malaga: Day 1 - The Beach and Paella

You can't get a good beach nor good paella in Vermont. We don't have an ocean, and chefs just can't seem to produce authentic paella. Guess I need to go to Malaga when I'm craving either of them.

After our visit to the Gibralfaro we went back to the beach to check it out. It was around 5pm and it felt as though people were just starting to leave the beach. And yes, beaches in Spain are tops-optional.

At around 8pm we headed out in search of good paella. We had asked the clerk at the hotel's desk if she could recommend a particular restaurant, but she wasn't of much help. After about a half-hour walk we were in the heart of the city and were able to find a restaurant with outdoor seating and paella on the menu. Gosh, even writing about this is making my mouth water again. 

I really wanted to finish this whole plate.... but my belly is only so big. 

Dinner was delicious. We tried a Spanish custard dish for dessert, but it wasn't the best that I had ever had. Oh well! I really couldn't complain because it had been years since I had so much Spain in one meal. 

The most wonderful thing about being in Granada is how long the days were. It didn't get complete dark until well after 10pm! 

On our way home we took the beach route instead of the street route. The moon was full, lighting up our way along the sand. 

Day one in Malaga was a success. I had never been there before so Tom and I were truly exploring a new city together. The only thing we needed to make the day better was ....

Some aloe....

Us Vermonters weren't used to so much sun! It's too bad we hadn't busted off a piece of the aloe plant that attacked Tom in Granada. 

Need to catch up on our June 2011 vacation?

Madrid Day 1

Madrid Day 2

Granada Day 1

Granada Day 2, Part 1: Albayzin

Granada Day 2, Part 2 Exploring Granada

Granada Day 3, Part 1: The Alhambra

Granada Day 3, Part 2: Flamenco

Malaga Day 1: Arrival

Malaga Day 1: Castillo de Gibralfaro

Adventures in Granada: Day 1

Tom and I packed our bags for Spain last June. I'm finally getting around to documenting it.
You can catch the first two days of our trip Here and Here

We woke up super early on June 11th to catch the train to Granada. Having arrived at the station early, we decided to grab some orange juice at a cafe. Orange juice is made fresh each day. Most cafes have their own juicer, so it's incredibly hard to pass up such a refreshing drink. 

The ride took four and a half hours and we enjoyed bocadillos (sandwiches) on the train. I absolutely love the warm, toasted bocadillos with jamón serrano and Machengo cheese. MMmmm

Tom was blown away by the number of olive trees during our train ride. These trees dominate the landscape of Spain.

We arrived in Granada and I immediately forgot which direction we needed to head. I didn't have a map, thinking that I knew the city well enough from 2008. We  followed some other travelers from the train and eventually found our way to recognizable streets. 

Two things I noticed immediately.

1.  The city doesn't smell like perfume. As I wrote in my journal: "it smells like home. Or roses. Or the Albaizín. Or té, or spices, or seafood, depending where you are."
2. It was a lot warmer in Granada than Madrid. 

We were sweating by the time we got to our hotel in Plaza Nueva, one of the main plazas of Granada. Our hotel's name? Hotel Plaza Nueva. 

It was so cute inside!! The wood furniture was beautiful and we had an amazing view of the Alhambra and the plaza below us. 

One of the towers of the Alhambra

It's was neat and weird at the same time to see all of the changes that had happened in the three years since I was there. There were more Gelaterias in the city (which I was very OKay with), and an H&M had finally moved in. The street poles that used to be down my street, Jardines, had been removed. Construction that had been going on while I was there was finally finished. And there was no dog poop on the street!

The best way to explore any new city is to run through it. Tom and I dropped our bags and headed toward El Parque de Garcia Lorca. We stopped to play on the in-ground trampolines, do a swing thing, and test out the exercise equipment.  Tom fell in love with the park, which is full of beautiful rose bushes.

After the run we were off for a walking tour of the city, with stops at tapas bars along the way.

Our first stop was so perfect for a welcome-to-Granada meal. For less than 2 Euros you get a small cerveza (beer) or tinto (wine with fanta) AND this plate of delicious seafood paella. There was no complaining here. Just two very happy tummies. I think we ordered one more drink and tapa before starting the walking portion of our tour.

The fun part about tapas is that you never know what you're going to get for food. Each restaurant/bar has it's own lineup of food. At most, each round of drinks comes with a different round of food. At our second stop we were surprised to get squid. I passed on this round.

A lot of people may associate 5 pm with drinks. We associated it with ice cream while we were in Spain. We went to my favorite gelateria for Gelato stop #2. I got the most delicious flavor ever - Rocher (Ferrero Rocher)!

We did a little more site seeing around town, but left out the Albaizin and Alahmbra for the remaining days.

Dinner was a lot of fun. We stopped at a modern gastro pub and joined in on some Spaniards that were watching a fútbol game. Granada was playing and the whole city was watching. 

I wish I could remember the name of the place we went to because the food was great. We ordered three rounds of drinks and tapas and it was at this point that I tried to teach Tom how to say hamburger and the fixings (onion, cheese). He could say it while we were there, but forgot immediately when we left the bar. It took a few months of practice but he finally has them in memory.

On our walk home people were running in and out of the bars to catch the ending to the soccer game. Cheers were heard throughout the streets. If I remember correctly, Granada won. It was a fantastic way to end our first day in Granada. 

Dinner Recipe: Teriyaki Salmon

Today was my final day of vacation, and I am sad to see it go. I studied for the Praxis (my license exam) and got to see my old roomie and name buddy, Danielle. 

Last night Tom cooked a de-li-cious Teriyaki salmon that he found on allrecipes.com. It wasn't too fishy like salmon can sometimes be. I absolutely recommend that you try this recipe. The marinade made all the difference, and was especially good as a dipping sauce.

We had a side of salad which took up more than half our plates. I have fallen in love with salads all thanks to one thing: toasted almonds. Our friend Ara made a salad with them back in October and I was hooked. Prior to almonds I suffered as I ate salads. Now I can't get enough!

What are your favorite salad toppings? 

Long Runs, Cake, and a Birthday Celebration

First, tell me what on Earth could be better than having a long run, a cake, and a birthday to celebrate all at the same time. Second, it was handy that I did have a birthday to celebrate as I had leftover cake to eat before my run today. My maybe-8-miler turned into a 12 miler and those extra calories were much needed!

Yeah.... I'm probably crazy to eat cake before a run. And to eat chips and salsa. I know I should be fueling my body with nutritious foods, but the cake always looks better than a banana. *sigh* I definitely need to work on my pre-run food decisions....

Anyway, I'm not posting about my own cake creation, but instead am introducing you to the decorator-in-training - Tom! His mom's birthday was this weekend and to go along with the new serving platter we bought her we decided to make and decorate a cake.

Unfortunately Friday wasn't a good day for me baking-wise. My attempt at a Boston Cream pie looked more like an omlette when I flipped the cake onto the cooling rack. Lesson: don't forget to pre-heat the oven and make sure you put the batter immediately into the pans and into the oven if the instructions say to. I reluctantly threw out the "pie" and began a batch of chocolate cakes. After a little snag baking those I finally had two cake layers and Tom began to decorate. 

For a first timer, he did a great job. He started to get the hang of doing a shell border and is way better at centering his lettering than I am. His mom was very happy to receive the-one-of-a-kind cake. 

We celebrated her birthday yesterday, and enjoyed a seriously-delicious dinner of fresh pasta with garlic shrimp, prepared by the Tom, his brother, his dad, and a family friend. It was very entertaining to hear four men in the kitchen attempting to create this at the same time. For someone who doesn't eat shrimp, I ate all of the shrimp that were on my plate! Although I don't have the recipe, it seems fairly easy: shrimp sauteed in  butter, with parsley, lemon, 5 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper. Cherry tomatoes were thrown in at the end and that was served over warm, fresh pasta. 

Sadly, my one-week summer vacation has come to an end and tomorrow I start class full-time. I promise I'll try my best not to forget about the blog. 

It's about Time for a New Post!

There have been a few happenings in my life since my last post so I apologize for not updating sooner. Here's a quick recap of what's happened since the beginning of the year

• I started "training" for the Boston Marathon but have had difficulty due to freezing cold weather and less free time to run.  
• Tom and I had a good friend from DC come up for a weekend. We learned to ski, toured the area, ate lots of Vermonty food, and enjoyed the company of our great friend.
• The session started up again for Tom so he's rarely home. However, neither am I, see below. 
• Last week I said goodbye to Hannaford after working there for 7 years. My mom and I put in a combined 42 years with the company. Crazy!
• I started working part time at a great, new bakery in Essex, My Little Cupcake :) It's heaven
• I discovered why I'm missing all of my hair ties: Wilson steals them off tables or out of my hair and runs away with them. Where he puts them, I have no idea. I had to buy a new package of them last week. Makes me feel better knowing that I'm not the one that's misplacing them.

Last Sunday when I got home from the bakery I was exhausted and hungry. Thankfully Tom was around and he cooked up a delicious pre-Valentines Day dinner for us. It's been a long time since I've had something that delicious! He made surf and turf: beef tenderloin, scallops, asparagus, and bread. The beef was incredibly tender and I couldn't get enough of the asparagus. The lemon made it delicious!

He finished the meal with a delicious parfait creation: chocolate chip ice cream, strawberries, raspberries, vanilla cake, and homemade whipped cream (that he made on his own!). Only, I was too tired to stand and too excited to eat it to get a good photo of it.

Goodbyes Over Frog Legs

One of my really great friends is going off to law school tomorrow. Tom and I got the chance to see him one last time on Friday. We went putt-putting at Essex Mini Golf and I lost. My score was almost double the winning score. What can I say?

After our grueling game, we headed across the way to Tiny Thai in the Essex Outlets. Their appetizer special was 3 fried frog legs. For some reason I was very excited to try them! When I was younger my mom would surprise my dad by bringing frog legs home for dinner. She worked in the Seafood department at Hannaford and every once in a while would order frog legs for my dad. He'd hang out of his mouth and we'd laugh at him, but we were too grossed out to try them ourselves.

I have to say, they weren't bad. They had their own distinct flavor. The sauce served with the dish was absolutely delicious, especially when combined with the crispiness of the batter. Once the legs were gone, it doubled as a salad dressing! Our waitress, who was around 17, basically told us that she thought we were crazy for trying the legs. She had never tried them, and had no plans to do so.

The rest of the meal was amazing as usual. I ordered the Pong Garee, which was chicken stir-friend with yellow Indian curry powder, egg, onion, mushroom, bell peppers, and scallion. There were too many peppers for my liking, only because I'm not a huge fan of peppers to begin with. I thought that the chicken was cooked very well, and it went amazing with the curry, egg, and rice. I've eaten at Tiny Thai three times and have ordered this dish twice. It easily surpasses anything that I've had at Montpelier's Thai restaurant, The Royal Orchid.