Tommy DiNic's

The powers that be have decided that pork is forgotten more often than not, and that is a tragic situation that we here aim to rectify through lots o' pork.

Tommy DiNic's is in the Reading Terminal Market on Arch St and 11th St N in Philly.  They sell the best pulled pork in all of Philadelphia as demonstrated by the many framed and laminated reviews within sight of the register (one review proclaimed capitally, "PIG OUT!") and I cannot say that I disagree.

While I do not totally understand how pulling and shredding the pork alters the flavor, I think that the pork can be pulled is in fact a symptom of a slow-cooking process that tenderizes the meat in that succulent way.  If that is the case, the good ol' boys at Tommy Dinic's have mastered the slow-cooking process.

This was one of my first meals in Philadelphia, and it did not disappoint.  Each sandwich is huge and costs $7-$8.  Order from the man at the register who is a savant for orders and receipts and faces and proudly march to the bar, a table of your choosing, or out into the street.  Margaret and I preferred to stay inside to avoid the heat and listen to the pianist nearby.  We may or may not have scoured the surroundings from our vantage point for the next target (dessert) despite the ever increasing strain on our belts.

the italian sausage - just as good, not as famous

pulled pork with grilled peppers

Places I Wanted to Eat: Philadelphia & DC & Baltimore

Thanks mostly to my grandmother's wanderlust and tendency to settle in remote villages and my parents own traveling aspirations, I am fortunate enough to be twenty years old and fairly well travelled.  However, this is the first trip that I have planned, paid for, and embarked on by myself.

Notice the "paid for" part.  As a direct result, I managed to survive eight days on $32.04 worth of food.  In other words, I passed up on eating out.  It was not that difficult...  My meals were perhaps not balanced, but I was always satisfied (rice goes a looong way).  Still, here is a list of places to eat that I have yet to sample, although their reputations DO precede them:

(There may be a few cultural events or bookstores thrown in here as well because I cannot resist..)

so many books! so many books
that I am now carting across the coast!

Washington, DC

• Ben's Chili Bowl (apparently they ship to all 50 states as well)
• Julia's Empanadas
• On the Fly (a fleet of eco-friendly SmartKarts)
• Johnny's Half Shell
• Chinatown Express
• Dukem Ethiopian
• Sundays 3-9pm in Meridian Hill Park for a drum circle and African dancing
• The MLK Dedication.  I was heartbroken that Irene ripped this experience from me.

I actually did eat at Dukem Ethiopian

Philadelphia

the good men of Tommy Dinic's

• Tommy Dinic's
• The Book Corner

Mercifully, Mary and Margaret were there in Philly to impart their wisdom and experience, so I will have to go again to expand my bucket list!  If that makes sense.

Baltimore

• Red Emma's (a cafe and bookstore)
• Faidley's crab cakes in Lexington Market
• Free music IN Lexington Market
• Batimore Farmers' Market
• Zeke's Coffee (it truly is unbelievable what $14/lb coffee grounds can do)

motto? read, revolt

If you are ever in a position to do any of these things, do not hesitate!  These are recommendations from international travelers, hostel (hostile? hah!  No, everyone was really nice!) staff, and the local city-dwellers.

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

For my birthday this year, my mother gave me a stock pot (SCORE) because most of my pots at school are of the cooking-for-a-single-person size and one of the best, easiest ways to feed yourself is through massive, whatever-is-in-the-kitchen soups.  My grandmother has perfected this method of cooking and inspired me to learn.  One giant hurdle in this process has been lentil soups.

Lentils are apparently a type of edible pulse (a leguminous crop) that are incredibly healthy, but people also tend to be a little picky about flavoring and such.  Earlier in the summer, I spent one glorious day cooking with my friend Elizabeth, and we attempted this recipe.  Lordy, was it good.

Elizabeth took the photos, which
is why they are so good!

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

from 101 Cookbooks

1 cup yellow split peas

1 cup red split lentils (masoor dal)

7 cups water

1 medium carrot, diced

2 tbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced

2 tbs curry powder

2 tbs butter or ghee

8 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup tomato paste (this is one of those little cans)

14 oz canned coconut milk

2 tsp sea salt

one small handful of cilantro, chopped

Rinse the split peas and lentils and put them in a large soup pot with 7 cups of water.  Bring it to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.  Add the carrot and a quarter of the ginger.  Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the split peas are soft.

In a small dry pan, toast the curry powder over low heat.  (This will open up the flavoring in the curry powder - just don't let it burn.  It is going to smell delicious.)  Set the curry powder aside.

Melt the butter in a pan (let's be honest... you should just use the same pan as the curry powder - without the curry powder) over medium heat, add half of the green onions, the rest of the ginger, and the raisins.  Stir constantly and let it cook for two minutes.  Next, add the tomato paste and cook for another one to two minutes.

green onions

Add the curry powder to the tomato paste, mix, and add it all to the simmering lentils with the coconut milk and the salt.  Uncover and simmer for another 20 minutes.

final product with the chapati that I love so much

Sadly, I don't remember what music was playing at the time, but we're going to go with some Red Hot Chili Peppers today.  This is the classic "Zephyr Song":

Swanson, Heidi. "Coconut Red Lentil Soup Recipe - 101 Cookbooks." 101 Cookbooks - Healthy Recipe Journal. 15 Mar. 2010. Web. 14 June 2011. <http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/coconut-red-lentil-soup-recipe.html>.

Vik's Chaat Corner

Somehow the entire summer passed by me while I went from cooking daily to not cooking at all and eating chickpeas out of a can (that wasn't actually me, but it conveys my point).  Much to my culinary consternation and gastronomical aggravation, I had no time to cook for eight weeks.  My time was ever so delicately sucked up by three bridge-crossings a day because of a class at UC Berkeley four days a week and work at UCSF five days a week.

my house is in this valley, SF is the little bubble of buildings
on the horizon, and Berkeley is on the far left of the horizon
YAY TRIANGLES

The class (Data Structures and Programming Methodology, for those of you that care) was made entertaining by my more than delightful lab partner, and I was grateful for the chance to make some money this summer.  However, the endless cycle of driving, working, driving, programming, driving, homeworking, and sleeping was a little tedious and I started to lose a bit of my sanity.  I subjected my lab partner to sporadic bursts of maniacal laughter and, as a considerable portion of my job entailed removing staples, I started to hoard my mangled staples in a small box in a drawer.  I turned into a strange human hybrid, alternating between Cruella de Vil and Milton from Office Space, depending on my location in the Bay Area.

Point is, I survived those eight weeks.  (Was it that short?)  I am now on a weird, unintentional tour of the eastern part of the Mason-Dixon Line before I return to New York City and all that entails.  At the moment, the charming Mary and Margaret are letting me crash in the suburbs of Philadelphia.  Wednesday I continue my way to Washington DC, Baltimore, Delaware, and finally New York.

But wait!  Before I left, I made sure to indulge in a couple of my favorites: Sol Food, Good Luck Dim Sum, Puentez Taqueria, and, for the first time this summer, Vik's Chaat Corner.

gotta love the hard-core, spandexed biker dudes

Vik's started out in the warehouse district of Berkeley.  When I was younger, I was always shocked by the bustling restaurant after driving through the empty streets.  Since then, they have changed locations to the corner of 4th St and Channing Way and added a market that sells all the ingredients needed for delicious Indian food.

it still has this warehousey feel

Their menu is a little intimidating at first, but everything is more than worth a chance-ordering.  (Apparently "chaat" literally means "to lick," as in, "I will now proceed to lick my plate.")  I recommend the Cholle Bhature (that big puffy thing), the Samosa Cholle (lamb samosas), the plate of Mixed Veg Pakaros (spicy nests of vegetables), Lamb Baida Roti (...lamb roti), Chicken Biryani, and their Mango lassi.  Never, ever forget the mango lassi.

I did not forget the mango lassi

As for the desserts, Gulab Jamun (Indian donut-like things soaked in a sugar syrup... I would compare them to the Greek loukoumades) is always a popular choice.  If you're in the mood for something a little more unusual, I would recommend Kulfi Falooda.  As a disclaimer, it took me the better part of six months AFTER eating this dessert to decide that I liked it and to start to crave it.  That said, kulfi falooda is composed of saffron ice cream that is topped with vermicelli, basil seeds, and a rose syrup.

the kulfi falooda in its elegant to-go container

Everything is decently priced (I bought a meal for 5 for about $25) and the Berkeley-ites that stream in are entertaining as only Berkeley-ites can be.  As an added bonus, Vik's offers vegan and gluten-free options and makes a solid contribution to greenery with compost bins and compostable utensils as well as environment-friendly plumbing and architecture.

Artichoke

My dad occasionally talks about the various things that my mother taught him when they met.  They met when he was well into his adult life, and yet he still did not know how to open a bottle of wine, appreciate a meal NOT made from a can or some sort of frozen dinner, or eat an artichoke.  I guess the artichoke thing is kind of acceptable, but I have grown up on these weird vegetables (turns out they are vegetables) so I think it is a little strange.

Artichokes are actually flower buds that have not yet bloomed and are technically thistles.  They are really low in calories but have something like 16 essential vitamins and minerals.  Now we know that artichokes (carciofo in Italian... isn't that a great word??) are full of antioxidants, but historically people have used them for everything from aphrodisiacs to deodorant.  Yay..

Artichokes

however many artichokes

splash of vinegar

Pour a decent amount of water into a pot that will hold all the carciofi.  The artichokes will float, so there should be enough water that they are comfortably chilling.  Splash a bit of vinegar into the pot as well (this will prevent the artichokes from browning unpleasantly).  

Bring the water to a boil, cover, and let it simmer for 20 minutes or until they are done.  You'll know that the artichokes are done when you can slide a knife through the center and the artichoke meat is tender.

Remove them from the water and eat hot or cold, possibly with something in which to dip such as mayonnaise or melted butter.  

(You eat an artichoke by scraping the meat off the leaves with your teeth.  When you get towards the center, you can remove all the remaining leaves at once and eat the ends.  Then scrape all the chokey bits off with a knife and enjoy the artichoke heart - the BEST PART.)

it is actually kind of frustrating that they float

***

I will forever associate this song with San Francisco because of some movie that the deeply impressionable me watched when I was younger.  There was a giant shot of the city's skyline as the opening riff to Glenn Miller's "In the Mood":

Vegetarian Pad Thai

I think it is really interesting how different people having different cooking styles - if that is the way to describe it.  For example, my mom is all about the stir-fries, with a side of meat, and some sort of starch like rice or potatoes.  There are tons of vegetables and everything is seared to perfection.  My grandmother, on the other hand, does not have a microwave and lived in France for 25 years.  She makes quiches and all sorts of other things that - instead of getting reheated in the microwave - inevitably end up in a stew that she just "threw together."

vegetarian pad thai

I think that part of learning how to feed yourself means mastering a few really simple things and learning how to manipulate those dishes to suite your needs.  As for me, I've spent the better part of the last year imitating my mother and my grandmother's cooking by learning how to make the things they usually feed me.  Only since coming home have I started to branch out, such as with this version of pad thai.

we love peppers...

A couple notes though: I think the ratios of pasta to vegetables to sauce/dressing, as presented here, is a little off.  I would suggest a lot more vegetables and more sauce/dressing, or less pasta.  All in all, it is a really great starter recipe for pad thai.  From here it is easy to branch out and get creative.  Also, I used a wok here, but a decently sized frying pan would also do the trick.

veggies

Vegetarian Pad Thai

from The Complete Asian Cookbook

13 oz flat rice-stick noodles

2 tbs peanut oil or canola oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 onion, cut into thin wedges

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 small red pepper, thinly sliced

3.5 oz fried tofu, cut into thin strips

6 spring onions (green onions), thinly sliced

1/8 cup chopped dried coriander leaves

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbs lime juice

1 tbs soft brown sugar

2 tsp sambal oelek

1 cup bean sprouts

3 tbs chopped roasted unsalted peanuts

Cook the noodles (the packaging should say how).  Drain and set aside

Heat a wok (or a large frying pan) over high heat and add enough peanut or canola oil to coat the pan.  When it starts to smoke, add the eggs and swirl to form a thin omelet.  When it sets, roll it up and thinly slice it.

Heat the rest of the oil in the wok, add the onion (not the spring/green onions), garlic, and pepper and cook over high heat until the onion is soft (about 3 minutes).  Add the noodles and toss everything well to mix.  Then add the omelet, tofu, spring/green onion, and the coriander.

Combine the soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, and sambal oelek.  Toss to coat the noodles and then add the bean sprouts and crushed peanuts.

***

Here is Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen," which a lot of people probably recognize from Ferris Bueller's Day Off:

The Complete Asian Cookbook. Sydney, N.S.W.: Murdoch, 2002. Print.

Coconut Macaroons

I wouldn't call this particular effort a failure in any way, but it did get a little messy towards the end - I think mostly because we didn't completely follow the recipe.  (My ridiculous and time-consuming fastidiousness occasionally pays off...?)

I've been hearing all these things about gluten-free baking lately and when a friend of mine suggested we make coconut macaroons, I got really excited.  Someone suggested we try dipping half of each cookie in melted chocolate, which did not really work because the cookies hadn't cooled completely and therefore had not set.  So we ended up having bits of the macaroons floating in a giant bowl of melted chocolate.  We managed to deal with that though.

coconut macaroons with an
enormous dollop of melted chocolate

Coconut Macaroons

adapted 500 Cookies

2 cups shredded or flaked coconut

4 egg whites

3/4 cup superfine sugar

2 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine all the ingredients except the cherries in a heat-proof bowl.  Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir constantly for about 6 minutes or until the egg whites start to thicken (and the batter holds its form and the consistency is the same throughout).

Remove the bowl from the pan, add the cherries, and crop large spoonfuls on the baking sheets.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the macaroons are golden.

Slide the parchment papers onto a wire wrack and allow to cool completely.

coconut globules

this was our problem...
the egg whites were not thick enough so they seeped out

Timo working hard at scraping those cookies

The Tony awards took place the other night.  It was strange and exciting to watch this award ceremony that included all these amazing shows and performers that I saw a month ago.  On the other hand, I was incredibly frustrated because there are still so many shows that I did not have time to see during finals.  So here's a song from Jersey Boys, my first Broadway show even if it was not part of the Tony Awards. It is a song by Frankie Valli and The Four Season called "Beggin'":

Vanstone, Philippa.  500 Cookies: the Only Cookie Compendium You'll Ever Need.  Portland, Me.: Ronnie Sellers Productions, 2005.  Print.