Category Archives: Eating

More: We’re engaged!

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I know, I know… Not much running lately, but I’ve been pretty busy with some other things happening in my life 😉 Don’t worry, there will be some running news soon.

We're engaged!

We’re engaged!

The boyfriend is now officially the fiance! We had an incredible anniversary together: we slept in, had pizza (my favorite food) for lunch, watched “The Hunger Games” movie at the exact day/time of last year’s “The Hunger Games” (our first date), shot some arrows (representing another “Hunger Games” movie – our second date), and went on a sunset hike to the top of Huffaker Hills, where he proposed after we watched some of the planes taking off against the Reno skyline.

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Our city

Our city

Later we had a celebration dinner at this awesome French restaurant by the river: “Beaujolais“. We had cocktails, wine, champagne, venison, stuffed rabbit, and much more.

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We are so excited!

 

So beautiful :)

So beautiful 🙂

Eating: Seafood Paella

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A couple of weeks ago I finally used the saffron I bought in Spain 5 years ago to make a seafood paella. I made brown rice with garlic, onions, tomatoes, and a tablespoon of saffron, and then at the end added a frozen seafood mix we had gotten from Costco. Super easy and delicious, although it turned out more like a risotto when I accidentally let some of the water from the cover back into the pan.

My seafood paella - Hey, it doesn't look bad!

My seafood paella – Hey, it doesn’t look bad!

Seafood Paella

4 cups of brown rice

8 cups of water

1/2 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tbsp saffron

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb frozen seafood mix

 

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add water, rice, tomatoes, saffron, salt, and pepper. Bring it to a boil. Simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes. Add frozen seafood and cook for another 10 minutes. It makes SEVERAL servings!

My seafood paella

My seafood paella

 

Then last weekend we had a real homemade paella at a gourmet dinner we went to. Our hosts had not only a paella pan, but a paella circular burner to make sure the rice caramelized evenly. They added shrimp and scallops and paired the dish with a Pinot Noir. They also had several gourmet salts that I didn’t even know existed! For appetizers we had guacamole made with roasted avocado and veggies, a tomato/minestrone soup with figs, margaritas and white wine. For dessert, it was a delicious pear tart with blue cheese. Yummmm!

Gourmet salts
Tomato Soup with Fig
Pear and Blued Cheese Tart
Seafood Paella

 

Eating: Napa, California

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Napa is known for its wineries, but its food was the center stage of our trip there last weekend. Following my friend V.’s recommendation, we went to this indoor public market called “Oxbowl“. With so many places to eat, we couldn’t decide and ended up having three lunches in two hours: oysters at “Hog Island Oyster Co.“, duck tacos at “C Casa” and mushroom pizza at “The Kitchen Door“. Everything was paired with wine, of course. In the afternoon we walked around downtown, where they were having a Cajun Festival, but were too full to try their grilled oysters. Later in the evening, our host D. went to “Napkins” with us, a delicious restaurant (bison sliders!) that turns into a lounge at night. On our way back to Reno, we found time to eat even more, stopping in San Francisco to have breakfast at “The Ramp” with my friend J.

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Eating: Reno in the Fall

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Can’t believe it has been over a month since I posted something! Time flies and… I still haven’t been running. I blame it on the fires bringing smoke to the area! However, I continue to enjoy the nice fall weather by walking the dogs whenever I can.

Beautiful Day for Walking

Beautiful Day for Walking

This past month I’ve only really cooked three times: chicken red curry with rice, pumpkin pie (because it’s fall!), and gluten free double chocolate chip cookie (because October 1st is Homemade Cookie Day!)

Chicken and Veggies Red Curry
Gluten-free cookies

On the other hand, my pilgrimage to Reno restaurants continue: Fuego has great tapas like meatballs, scallops and crab cakes,  Two Chicks is a new breakfast place in Midtown, Los 4 Vientos has some huge burritos, there is an amazing Sicilian pizza at Nu Yulk Pizza, the beef wrap from “All Wrapped Up” was just okay during Food Truck Fridays, O’Cleary’s Irish Pub has lots of fried food, pool, darts, and even bowling, Indian Kabab’s lunch buffet has chicken masala and more, Shenanigan’s English Pub has cheap and abundant bar food , a cute place for high tea is The Isles Tea Shop, and even The Cheesecake Factory has surprisingly awesome food (check out their pumpkin/pecan cheesecake!)

 

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Other fun stuff that happened: having my Spanish students play with shaving cream, finally getting my World Map up with our travel pins, a couple of friends’ birthdays, Brazilian karaoke (I sang Ivete Sangalo and Marisa Monte and no one complained about my voice!) and  Colbie Caillat’s concert (did you know her family is from Reno?)

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More: Labor Day/Boyfriend’s Birthday Weekend

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My birthday always falls on Memorial Day weekend, while the boyfriend’s is always on Labor Day, making them perfect for weekend-long celebrations!

We started, of course, opening gifts: the new chess table is perfect for our Midtown porch. Then we had one of our favorite inventions: grilled cheese with chips in the middle. Even more delicious after a run (or walk… I’m still not running…)

The afternoon was spent at Animal Ark, a sanctuary for wild animals that can’t live on their own anymore. It was a hot hot day in the dessert, but the black bears, pumas, cheetahs, jaguars, and several birds were worth seeing. Then off to Reno’s Rib Cook-Off: the french fries with pulled pork from BJ’s are the best!

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Finally, we finished our weekend (which was filled with food, drinks, and friends as seeing on the previous post), with a picnic by the river, watching Slick and Parker play in the water, and a trip to the new luxury theater in Sparks to watch “Guardians of the Galaxy”. I totally recommend the new movie theater: they serve beer, wine, food, and have comfortable reclining chairs for a reasonable price.

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More: The Boyfriend’s 1920’s Themed Birthday Party

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The boyfriend and I love to dress up, so on his actual birthday we decided to have a 1920’s/Gatsby themed party. With my flapper headband and the boyfriend with his cane, we first headed to Rapscallion for dinner, one of the best and oldest restaurants in Reno. Besides, delicious seafood, they have great specials on set-menus and drinks too!

Birthday Dinner at Rapscallion
Birthday Dinner at Rapscallion – Bacon wrapped scallops
Birthday Dinner at Rapscallion

Then we met everyone at Death and Taxes, a pretty cool bar in Midtown, perfect for the theme. We had a blast sipping on the super expensive but amazing cocktails. It worked out great, as most of the people who couldn’t make it to his surprise birthday party made it to this event instead. We were not the only people in town that decided to have a themed party though: later that night we mingled with a Greek group as well.

1920's Birthday Party

1920’s Birthday Party

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Eating: Peach Cobbler

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It’s peach time! The boyfriend’s backyard tree is just bursting with peaches, so this past weekend I picked a few to make a cobbler. I looked up some recipes online and I chose one that had two many complaints about one thing: it’s too sweet! Well, that’s my kind of recipe. It turned out oh so sweet and so wonderful! The texture is more like a cake or bread pudding than a flaky cobbler, but I actually liked that better. If I had time, I would just make dozens of cobblers and freeze them for the year.

I love peaches!

I love peaches!

 

Peach Cobbler

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups of sugar, divided

1 tablespoon of baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 cup of milk

5 cups fresh peaches, peeled, cut in quarters

1 tablespoon lime juice

Ground cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

 

Melt butter in a 13×9 baking dish. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients (use just one cup of sugar!). Add milk to form a batter. Pour over butter, but do not stir.

Bring the remaining cup of sugar, peaches, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat. Pour over batter, but do not stir. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Makes 10 servings of 325 calories each.

Our peach tree
Peach Cobbler
Peach Cobbler
Peach Cobbler

 

2014 Summer in Reno: running, eating, and more

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I finally spent most of the summer in Reno this year and while I had plans to run everyday, go to the beach in Tahoe, and take short road trips here and there, I spent most of my time relaxing, going to Artown events, and eating. Not that I didn’t want to run: I tried, and one week I even did over 15 miles, but July in Reno is just way too hot, over 90, to be exercising outside. Even at night it was crazy hot, so all I could do was walk around Virginia Lake at 10 pm with the boyfriend. Not that I didn’t want to go to Tahoe either: I took the boys there as soon as I came back from Brazil, and then I had to work at the college for a week. I tried going to the beach after work everyday, but, of course, it rained non-stop that week and after that I just gave up; however, we did spend the day building a raft in Tahoe for our first day back to work.

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Nevertheless, it was a great summer with art shows, plays, and concerts. Every July there is an art festival in Reno called Artown. There are so many events to choose from! The boyfriend and I went to an art show of a Brazilian artist (Marcio Decker), a local performance of the Broadway show “Avenue Q”, and another play called “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”, which attempted to show the audience a fun and quick version of all of Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies in less than 2 hours. Artown is not only for people: one day at the park they had the dogs do some paw painting. Slick and Parker are quite talented 😉 Finally, this summer, I went to a Lady Gaga concert at Harvey’s Outdoor Arena. Super fun, although I was expecting more craziness from her fans!

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I shouldn’t even start naming all of the restaurants the boyfriend and I have been to this summer. I think I only cooked twice in the past two months: my Brazilian pancakes for dinner, and American pancakes for breakfast. I think even the boyfriend was at the kitchen more than me, making lasagna and chicken croquettes. It was nice to seat on the porch watching all the Midtown action, or having friends over for some s’mores in my backyard. Speaking of friends, we went to a fun French party at the O.’s: nutella crepes, croissants, and lots of cheese, and another great get-together at T.’s where we watched “The Wizard with Oz” paired with a Pink Floyd soundtrack.

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As for the restaurants I wasn’t going to name, I have to give a shout out to at least a couple. A new favorite breakfast place is Little House on Center Street. For dinner, the Santa Fe Restaurant, a family-style Basque restaurant downtown, cannot be beat. Okay, now I’m hungry also thinking about the food trucks downtown, fish tacos from Bistro 7, sushi from Kei in Carson, and even the burger from Johnny Rockets. Although not a restaurant, the Greek Festival had an amazing baklava as always.

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Then on my last day of summer vacation, the boyfriend and I spent the day relaxing in Genoa. We went for a jog downtown, had a drink at Nevada’s oldest bar, soaked at the hot springs, and had a nice four-course dinner at David Walley’s restaurant. After all, you don’t need to travel the world to have a fun, relaxing, and nice summer vacation.

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Eating and More: Belo Horizonte, Brazil

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The Whole Family

The Whole Family

Pretty much all the events we attended in Belo Horizonte revolved around food, so here are some of the places we’ve been to and the things we ate. Everyday my mom, my aunt, and my parents’ maid would cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner for us. The highlight for me was pão de queijo (cheese bread), since it was homemade and warm. If there were any left from breakfast, we would also eat it as a snack with coffee in the afternoon. My mom’s maid also found out that palha italiana (a chocolate and cookies patty) was one of my favorite desserts and made that for my last day in Belo Horizonte. Since açai was one of the boyfriend’s favorite juices in the Amazon, my mom also defrosted the special pulp for him. Another thing that cannot be missed at my parents: bacalhau, the salted cod fish baked Portuguese style.

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Some days it seemed all we did was eat, watch a World Cup game on television, eat again, watch another game, play with the dog Sucki, and eat again before going to bed. There was always a snack too, like banana frita (fried bananas), goiabada (guava candy), and ovo de pascoa (the huge chocolate Easter eggs they had been saving for me).

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While we were there, we also had a couple of birthdays: my mom’s and my nephew’s. My mom’s was a low-key one at home, with chocolate cake. My nephew’s 6th birthday was a whole production with Batman decorations, huge cake, an entertainer and bouncy house for the kids, and, of course, salgadinhos (Brazilian appetizers, like croquettes and mini-quiches) and brigadeiros (chocolate-caramel little ball).

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Of course, World Cup games were also an excuse to eat. For Brasil vs. Chile we went to my sister’s and had more salgadinhos and brigadeiros, along with other dishes brought by her neighbors, like hot dogs and lasagna. For one of the USA games we met my friend S. at Bar Itatiaia for some beer, and then for the Germany vs. Brasil I met her again, but at Bar do Carmo. During Brazil games, downtown streets were closed for people to watch the game on big screens. Very crowded, but I went there anyway to see my friend M. and his family.

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Belo Horizonte, being a big city without a beach, has many malls as a pastime. I went many times to Pátio Savassi Mall since it is so close to my dad’s office. There I met my friend M., walked by our old high school that is nearby, and ate at Graciliano, one of my favorite places because they have an upscale all-you-can-eat buffet. Also, one of the only places I can find this almond cookie called “financier”.

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When you think of Brazilian food and drinks, you think of two things: caipirinha and churrasco. Caipirinha is a cachaça (Brazilian rum), sugar, and lime juice drink best found in “botecos” (bars), like the one we went to with my siblings: Armazém Medeiros. Now for the churrasco, we went to churrascaria Ambrosios, which is an all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse/barbecue place. The servers bring each of the several cuts of meat on a big skewer to your table, one by one, for as long as you can eat them. All the side dishes are on a buffet, but the meat will be brought to you if you have a green coaster that says “go” near your plate. Are you hungry yet?

 

Eating in Manaus, Amazon, Brazil

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People always ask me how is the food in Brazil, and I always say it’s the same as in the U.S.: pasta, chicken, burgers, potatoes… But that’s because I grew up in the Southeast. In Manaus, we still had all of that, of course, but my aunt made sure we also tried all of the typical things from the Amazon and their diet consists of mainly three things: fish, fruit, and whatever they can make from the manioc root.

Family Lunch

Family Lunch

Pirarucu is the largest fish of the Amazon and one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, growing up to 10 ft. long. At our boat tour of the Amazon, we saw them being spearfished and my aunt prepared a baked one for us with lots of olive oil and herbs: delicious. On a different day, she cooked another fish, which was even more interesting. The ribs of the tambaqui are so big, we ate them with our hands, just like pork ribs.

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To accompany every meal, there is always something made from manioc. Also known as cassava or yuca, this starchy root has many uses, but it needs to be prepared correctly or it can be toxic. If dried and made into small sized little pearls, it is called tapioca and can be eaten as a snack. Then from the flour, you can make different cakes, breads or a white crepe topped with fruits or maybe just butter. Toasted manioc flour is called farofa and served as a crunchy side dish. You can also fry it and eat it like French fries, and make into a broth for tacacá, a soup with shrimp. There are so many more dishes made from manioc, that potatoes take a secondary role as a starch in the Brazilian Amazon (but certainly not in its native Peru).

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Fresh fruit markets are everywhere in Brazil, including on the side of the road, like the one we went to on our way to Café Regional (typical brunch place). We saw lots of fruits, including tucumã (a small orange fruit from a palm tree) and cacao (yup, the fruit they make chocolate from). At Café Regional we tried tapioquinha with tucumã, two different kinds of manioc cake, and fruit juices, like passion fruit, and cupuacu, which ended up being the boyfriend’s favorite fruit in Brazil. The fruit itself is not very edible, but the white pulp is made into juice, jelly, mousse, candy… It is considered a superfruit, much like another Amazonian fruit that is more popular in the US: acai. This one is a berry and the most common use is for juices and smoothies eaten with granola, bananas, and condensed milk. Good news: Whole Foods sell frozen acai juice in the US.

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