Necessity is the mother of... good food...?

I love cooking because sometimes it's science, and sometimes it's art. And once in a while, it's the magic of two totally unrelated items, bound together into one surprisingly delicious mouthful.

When I opened my fridge up yesterday, there was some leftover polenta that I had left sitting in a ramekin. Polenta by itself is delicious, but I didn't have enough to have as an entire meal. A quick inventory check turned up mushrooms. And zuchinni. All good stuff. But then my imaginary mad-chef light bulb dinged, as I spied some chinese sausage in a side shelf. Oh the madness! Or... is it? Polenta is pretty much used as the staple starch in northern Italy, so that's like rice, right? Right???!

To start, I pan-fried the leftover round of polenta

On top of the polenta, I added a seared round of zucchini, and some
diced mushrooms and chinese sausage. Looks pretty already! Seeing
these layers, I was struck again by my hidden mad-chef. This reminded me
a lot of eggs benedict, with its round layers. So the logical next step is...

Adding an egg on top! I was too lazy to poach the egg, so it's just fried
sunny-side up. Mmmm, yummy layers.

Creamy yolk, canvassing all the little nooks and crannies underneath.

It certainly LOOKS good, but how does it taste? Surprisingly delicious.
The salty/sweet fat from the chinese sausage worked perfectly with
the creaminess of the polenta. The zucchini added a nice greenness, and
the egg just bound everything together.

Holy cow, did I just cook a fusion dish??? Watch; Momofuku is going to be serving up this combo in 6 months!

Salad for dinner

I'm finally home again! It was cute and fun to have a dog around, but I don't think I'm cut out for pet ownership. They're so needy and clingy... I don't think I'd be okay with that after a while.

Anyway, it's nice to be in my own kitchen again with all my usual ingredients and tools. Since it's still technically summer, I wanted to make something light and seasonal for dinner. It ended up being kind of a kitchen sink sort of dish, but still very delicious and fresh!

Not pictured: the rest of the salad. Of course I'm eating more than this
little plate!

I started with jicama as a base, then added carrots and radishes into the mix. Three different types of crunchy, with the sweetness of the jicama and carrots offsetting the slight bitterness of the radish. To that, I added a handful of local summer tomatoes. It's amazing how much sweeter and juicier tomatoes are when they're in season! I had some herbs in the fridge, and julienned in a handful (mint, cilantro) before dressing everything with a lime and sesame oil vinaigrette. I let everything hang out in the fridge for about half an hour, then it's chomping time!

Sweet, tart, crunchy and juicy... the only thing that would have made this better is some protein (mmm... shrimp!). But alas, my fridge is pretty bare at the moment, so I will just have to be vegetarian for the evening.

Jersey Scenes

The weather has been surprisingly nice in New York this month: not too hot, and mostly sunny. I've been enjoying my time with Ollie (the dog); it will almost be sad when it comes time to leave in a few days!

Hanging out with Ollie

Watching the clouds float by as Ollie and I hang out

View from one of the balconies by day. We're juuust northwest of
Manhattan, and this is the view into the Upper West Side. Some of
the taller midtown/downtown buildings are visible.

Same view, by night. One of the taller blots of lights near the middle
(in blue) is the Empire State Building.

This is like Toto! On the yellow brick road!

Love LOVE Mitsuwa

I think the most exciting thing about my dogsitting gig is that it's located near one of my favorite grocery stores. It's not ordinary grocery store, of course. The place is called Mitsuwa, and it sells exclusively all Japanese products. In addition, there's a delicious food court in the front, all showcasing fantastic food.

As soon as you walk in the door, you're greeted by multiple displays of food. They're all fake, of course, but it gives an idea of all the food available!

Fake food in windows. Still looks yummy!

This vendor showcases different ramen dishes.

This vendor offers different fried meats paired with rice.

I walked back and forth for 10 whole minutes, trying to figure out what to get. I couldn't decide between rice and noodles, and finally found a set lunch where I didn't have to choose!

Pork katsu mini don, with a mini udon bowl. Yes, I had carbs... with a side
of carbs! Accompanying were two pieces of tamagoyaki (Japanese egg
omelette) and some orange slices.

The "after" picture! I was hungry! And boy, it's a good thing that the
supermarket is a mile walk from the apartment... I need the exercise after
eating the huge meal!

My stomach sated, I spent some time roaming around the huge space. Every item you can imagine in Japanese cuisine was available.

A whole wall of miso options!

Mmm. Calbee chips in many flavors. Which one to get??

Was tempted to splurge on this fancy wagyu beef.

One of my favorite displays... pickles! I managed to limit myself to one
pickle purchase... for this visit.

There's prepared food available in the supermarket section too. Here's
some really fresh-looking sushi. The salmon don looks delicious!

More prepared food. There's a big selection of onigiri (rice balls) on the
top row, then other pre-cooked food. There's a microwave nearby,
handy for immediate consumption.

I was able to curb my spending for the visit, and just got some food for future meals. But I have a feeling I'll be visiting a lot over the next week! Hey, at a mile walk each way, it counts as exercise... right...?

My ward... for the next 2 weeks

I'm helping out a friend of a friend for the next two weeks, dogsitting while they are on vacation. Look at this little cutie pie...

His name is Ollie

Hijinks to ensue!