Since the fiancé can’t have eggs, I have been using ground flax seed instead, but the days the fiancé is not home I actually make some eggs for myself. My new obsession has been adding cornstarch to my scrambled eggs: it adds so much texture!
Look at the twin eggs!
For each egg, just add 1 tablespoon of milk and ½ teaspoon of cornstarch. Mix well. Then, in high heat, cook the eggs, stirring them for 15 seconds. Yes, that’s it: 15 seconds and done.
Scrambled eggs with cornstarch
The fiancé loves to have muffins for breakfast, so I’ve been playing around with some recipes lately. Unfortunately the carrot muffins where I used grated apples as applesauce went bad right way, but everything else has worked out. One of our favorite healthy muffins is actually the traditional All Bran recipe.
All Bran Muffins
All Bran Muffins (from Food.com)
2 cups Kellogg’s All-Bran cereal
1 ¼ cups milk
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed steeped in 2 tablespoons of water
¼ cup oil
1 ¼ cup flour
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Combine cereal and milk. Let stand ½ hour. Add flaxseed and oil. Stir well. Add rest of ingredients and stir until combined. Put into muffins pans. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Makes 12 servings of 170 calories each.
I had a lot of left over buns from my birthday barbecue, so each day I tried to use up the bread. Who knew hamburger buns made for delicious garlic bread and croutons? (Just brush them with butter, salt, and herbs and bake it for 20 minutes!) My favorite recipe though was the bread pudding one. So good I ate it all before even taking a picture of it!
Just chilling after eating
Bread Pudding
2 cups milk
¼ cup butter, melted
3 eggs, slightly beaten
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups soft bread cut in cubes (about 6 buns)
Heat oven to 350 F. In large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, spices, salt, vanilla. Stir in bread. Stir in milk and butter. Pour into 9×9 pan. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.
Makes 9 servings of 252 calories each.
In May there was an event in downtown Reno called “Dine the District”. Basically you pay $20 and walk to 20 different restaurants downtown for a small sample. It was an awesome experience: food, drinks, nice weather, and walking. Some of the participating places were Pignic (a new “bring-your-own-food” bar where we had a Mint Julep since it was Kentucky Derby Day), Fuego (nice Spanish guitar), Noble Pie Pizza (best pizza and friendly service), and Crafted Palette (new wine and paint restaurant). Even the gay dance club Five Star Saloon joined the food event and served cheesecake pieces. At the end of the event there was a drawing and, guess what, the fiancé won a gift certificate for Reno Provisions!
Surprisingly, I have also cooked A LOT this spring. Lots of firsts for me: seared ahi, all bran muffins, raspberry muffins, vegan pancakes, Brazilian panqueca (crepes), Brazilian flan, scrambled eggs with cornstarch, chicken marsala, healthy turkey meatballs, baked French fries, croutons, bread pudding… I’ll be posting my favorite recipes soon! We also went to a couple of kid’s birthday parties and baby showers and had lots of cake. Man, do we eat!
I don’t even know where to start – we ate out so much the in last three months! I’ll just make a list and try to remember the highlights.
Jazmine – An Asian restaurant with lots of options, but we had sushi. It was good, especially the ones they sear with a torch.
Sushi from “Jazmine”
Kimmie’s Coffee Cup – Super cute place for brunch.
Salad from “Kimmie’s”
Lucky Beaver Bar and Burger – Small casino/bar in Reno with great food specials.
Slides from “Lucky Beaver”
Reno Provisions – Another restaurant by chef Mark Estee, but cafeteria style.
Reno Provisions
Flowing Tide Pub – another bar in our neighborhood with good happy hour specials.
Chicken Tacos from “Flowing Tide”
Twisted Fork – love this restaurant near our house. The beet ravioli is to die for and they have a cocktail with bacon in it!
Drinks from “Twisted Fork”
Super Taquería – awesome burritos.
Burrito from “Super Taqueria”
Centro Bar & Kitchen – new upscale restaurant in Reno from the same chef as La Vecchia. Can’t wait to go back.
Lamb tacos at “Centro”
Uncork’d – their ratatouille is the best!
Ratatouille at “Uncork’d”
Miguel’s – new location (Summit Mall) of this established Mexican restaurant in Reno. We went there for Cinco de Mayo with friends and although they were extremely busy, they did a good job.
Cinco de mayo at “Miguel’s”
BJ’s – we went there for Mother’s Day. Great avocado spring rolls and, of course, we had to have a Pizooki (their cookie with ice cream dessert).
Avocado Egg Rolls from “BJ’s”
My Thai – restaurant in Tahoe that I went with a friend and her newborn daughter. Really good Pad Thai.
Spring Rolls from “My Thai”
Silver Peak Restaurant – although I had been to the Silver Peak downtown several times, this was my first time at the midtown location. Lovely terrace. Then crafted cocktails at Z Bar was calling us.
Drink from “Z Bar”
Sierra Gold Casino – this place near our house has a 50% off pizza special every night. Always full and always delicious.
1/2 off Pizza at “Sierra Gold”
Tahome Gelato – one of my Spanish students started this little booth in Tahoe and served this bark-like gelato. The presentation is super cool as they make it right in front of you, but it was also very tasty and refreshing. They don’t have a specific location but participate in several Farmer’s Market.
My student making Gelato at the Ski Run Farmer’s Market
Oyster Bar – a small bar at the Hard Rock Café in Tahoe that serves creole food. I loved the oyster and the fiancé, who is picky with his New Orleans inspired food, loved the gumbo. Surprisingly authentic.
Bouillabaisse from “Oyster Bar”
My birthday this year fell on Memorial Day, so we had a barbecue at home to celebrate – burgers and hot dogs! One of our friends had a selfie stick and we took lots of pictures. Although it had rained for three days straight that weekend, the afternoon of my birthday was beautiful!
Now, the real treat was what the fiancé did for me the day before: he cooked a whole complete meal for me. We had shrimp scampi, salmon cakes, filet mignon with blue cheese sauce, and he took me to Twisted Fork for dessert. To end the day, I had a warm bubble bath and relaxed with a magazine and port wine.
But wait, the birthday celebration didn’t stop there. Since the weekend of my birthday the weather wasn’t good, we waited to spend a night in Tahoe to celebrate even more the week after. We started with drinks at my old job, the restaurant 19 on top of Harvey’s and then we had dinner at Edgewood, by the lake. Beautiful views and incredible food.
During my Spring Break I went to Napa again to visit a friend and look at more wedding venues. Of course, the trip was full of food and wine.
Napa
Since it was my friend’s boyfriend’s birthday, we had a nice dinner at Bistro Don Giovanni, but before we had a wine tasting at Merryvale, checked out Tra Vigne has a possible wedding venue (it was the restaurant the fiancé and I went to for our first Valentine’s Day) and had a milkshake at a burger place across the street. I also scouted a cute schoolhouse for the wedding: super cute, but way too small.
The next day I drove to Healdsburg in the Russian River Valley to see a wedding planner. She took me to a couple of different venues in town and then she became my designated driver in the area while we checked out all the different wineries: so pretty! My favorite was this modern one called MaCrostie. Unfortunately they were all too far and too expensive, so I don’t think we will be having the wedding there, but it was great to explore the area.
Another perfect holiday with the fiancé: starting with an Easter Egg hunt, church in the morning, North Lake Tahoe for brunch in the afternoon and Polish/Brazilian Easter dinner with friends in the evening.
After attending Life Church in our neighborhood, we had brunch at Lone Eagle Grille, a beautiful restaurant by the lake at the Hyatt in Incline Village. Mimosas were flowing and I was on a mission to try almost every dish they had, including my first cronut (croissant + donut)!
Then at home I cooked a Polish Easter soup that includes broth, Polish sausage, ham, cottage cheese, and eggs (the fiancé’s family recipe) and Bacalhau (my Brazilian/Portuguese cod fish dish). So great to unite both of our traditions. Our friends approved of my cooking too!
Happy Easter!
Life after Antarctica has been pretty busy, so I have lots of updating to do to this blog, but I wanted to post one last thing about our trip. When you think of Antarctica, you probably don’t think of food at all, but One Ocean Expeditions did a great job catering to us.
Everyday there was a dinner with soup, a salad bar, three options for entrees, and a dessert. The funniest thing was the line for the salad: all those healthy runners couldn’t wait to eat their carrots! The fiancé and I hate lines, so we just stayed at our table with more soup and more bread. The staff was really accommodating towards the fiancé’s food allergies and even made him special desserts without eggs.
Some of the days we had a buffet and the day after the race we joined another boat and had a barbecue outside in 30 degree weather. I also heard the breakfast buffet was awesome, but I never woke up early enough to get there 😉
Each lunch/dinner we sat at a different table to get to know our fellow travelers. There were people from all over the world: Australians, French, Russians, and, of course, lots of Americans. There were couples in their 70’s, families with their teenage kids, a group of friends who take vacations together without their wives every year, people travelling alone, and all sorts of people.
Besides good food, the Vavilov had good drinks. The bar was upstairs and had an amazing view, so that’s where most people would be after each excursion. They even served an afternoon tea with cookies that turned into Happy Hour. The fiancé and I weren’t drinking before the race, but after we completed our run we celebrated with a bottle of champagne. The next day there was an auction for a few of the race items, such as the mile markers and we sipped more drinks while that was going on.
The best part was when the fiancé and another guy got an ice block out of the ocean. The bartender cut it into smaller ice cubes and made drinks with it. Whiskey on the rocks – but with really really old rocks!
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Argentina has a huge Italian influence, so some of its best food items are pizza, pasta, and gelatos. Of course we tried all of those things. The fiancé’s top choice for Italian was Filo, near our hotel, but the best pizza I had while there was actually a “fuegan” lamb one in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the country.
Buenos Aires is also known as the “Paris of South America”: it has lots of cafes full of delicious pastries and empanadas (a mini calzone). You can’t go to Argentina without having alfajores, which is dulce de leche (caramel) between two cookies and then dipped in chocolate and/or coconut flakes. There is a coffee shop chain called Havanna that sells some of best, but we also tried some from Café Tortoni, a coffeehouse opened in 1858 by a Frenchman and that is now a historical (and touristy) monument of Argentina.
The fiancé had been a vegetarian for over 2 months when we went to Argentina, but he broke his streak when we went to a parrilla, an Argentinian steakhouse. Argentines are said to eat the most meat in the world and always boast about the quality of their beef. Asado (or barbecue) is a way of life that comes from the gauchos (cowboys). Of course our meal was accompanied by some wine: Malbec is also an Argentine way of life.
Run, eat, travel, and more 