Nantucket Roundup

I spent a long weekend on Nantucket, celebrating my first anniversary. There was a Nor'easter and a hurricane, but we still managed to have a good time. While on Nantucket, I was honestly surprised by the prices. All food and drink were about 20% higher than what I would expect for the equivalent on the mainland. Even for someone who's used to ordering a $10 martini, somehow the $12 martini seemed way out of line. While on the island, we sampled several types of establishments, some were amazing and some should serve as a warning to others to move along.

Veranda House Breakfast We stayed at the Veranda House. The hotel was hip & cool looking, but the breakfasts were terrible! On Day 1, we had a pastry basket with 3 types of pastries: croissants, scali bread and cranberry nut bread. The cranberry nut bread was nice, but other two types seemed dry (almost as though they had come out of the freezer). For a first course, we each had half a pear and a spoonful of yogurt, artfully presented. The main course was cold muesli mixed with yogurt. Good, but cold and not very filling. On Day 2, we were happy to see the scali bread replaced with blueberry muffins in the breakfast basket. Doh! The muffins were stale too! Then, we proceeded to laugh out loud when the first course was a spoonful of yogurt and yesterday's cold muesli again. The main course was the darn stale scali bread, toasted and served with brie (odd breakfast choice) and sliced out-of-season, underripe strawberries. We joked that breakfast on Day 3 would include strawberries as a first course, since we were now on to Veranda House's plan of transforming leftovers into the first course. Day 3 -- strawberries and yogurt for the first course. We are amazing prophets! Seriously though, the breakfasts were terrible!

Straight Wharf Dinner We dined on the bar-side of Straight Wharf. It was mostly just us in the bar, the service was amazing, the drinks tasty and the table in the corner romantic. We started with the spiced almonds and an antipasto platter. The antipasto was amazing and included some homemade fresh mozzarella. A very fine treat! For main dishes, we had the pesto hand-cut spaghetti (side question: how does one "hand-cut" spaghetti? Linguine, I get, but spaghetti is round...) and some chicken thighs that were served with pomegranate and some sort of barley. Very tasty! We passed on dessert and made our way back home. The bar menu is completely different than the formal restaurant (which is MUCH fancier) and were happy with the result.

Black-Eyed Susan's Dinner One night for dinner, we decided to brave the complicated reservation system and dined at Black-Eyed Susan's, a tiny 20-person restaurant. We landed the primo table by the windows. To start, we had a "deconstructed" version of bruschetta, with slices of heirloom tomatoes served on toasted bread and topped with chunks of mozzarella. Drizzles of a basil oil and balsamic were tasty. I thought the dish was beautiful, but I wasn't digging the large slices of tomatoes. For entrees, we had the fish of the day, which was a halibut in a coconut-Thai style curry, served with fresh corn cut off the cob and small fingerling potatoes. The potatoes were good, but filler -- I focused on the corn and the fish! The other entree we got was the pork confit with sour cherry -- rich, decadent and amazing.

Bento #1

My first bento! Ok, that sounded very Fisher-Price. So I ate and enjoyed today's bento. It mostly filled me up and post-lunch snacking was more due to procrastination than anything else. Also, I microwaved the lower tier full of pasta (with lid removed) just to get it to a warm-enough level. I'd be curious to see how well it retained heat had I heated it up in the morning before assembling the bento. Bento #1: Leftover Baked pasta (campanelle, 3 cheeses, chicken sausage) in the lower tier. Upper tier consists of concord grapes (delicious -- this is the flavor of "grape"), orange slices, one slice of extra sharp cheddar cut into cubes, red pepper sticks and creamy ranch dressing for dipping.

Taking all of this into consideration, I really need to invest in some silicone food cups and dividers. I was able to sequester the ranch dressing off to the side with a red pepper barricade, but the juice of the orange seeped through a bit.

Bento Has Arrived!

Hooray! I credit my friend Hilary for tuning me in to the wonderful world of bento. After much hemming & hawing, I finally ordered a bento set from Ichiban Kan. I laughed out loud when my package arrived and it was stuffed with Japanese-language newspaper. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to try my first bento assembly. I'm slightly intimidated that a) it won't make enough food (the portions of bento are tiny!) b) it will give me some sort of health issue since the pieces are plastic and made in China c) that I won't enjoy room temperature leftovers.

Nevertheless, I gladly venture forward into the wonderful world of bento. I am very excited to try the variety of mini-meals that bento affords and the aesthetics of the food as well. Onward and upward!

Two tier stacking set. It says "Lube Sheep" (?!?) on the cover as well. World's smallest fork. A belt for keeping the 2 tiers snug during transport. A lined thermal bag to ease transport and keep food warm/cool until lunchtime!

Sunday Morning Coming Down

The remnants of Hurricane Hanna came through last night and I slept through it all. Waking up this morning, none of the usual breakfast options seemed enticing -- it was time for something new. Inspiration dawned in the form of a frittata. I had never tried making one before, but after a quick visit to FoodNetwork.com, I found enough about the technique to give it a go. A quick perusal of the fridge yielded tasty ingredients and the overall result was very good for a first attempt. Next time, I'd add more salt. Ham & Pepper Frittata

• 1 slice of deli ham, julienned
• green pepper, diced (about one-quarter of a pepper)
• 1 scallion, chopped fine
• 1/2 c. grated parmesean
• 4 eggs
• salt & pepper to taste
• olive oil

Preheat broiler. Whisk together eggs and add half of the parmesan. Season with salt & pepper and set aside.

Heat a small ovenproof skillet on med-high heat. Add olive oil and green peppers and cook 3-4 minutes. Add ham and scallions and cook 1 minute more. Reduce heat to medium and pour egg mixture on top. As it starts to set, gently lift the sides, to allow the wet eggs to get to the bottom. Once the bottom sets, top with remaining parmesan cheese and transfer to broiler. Broil 2-3 minutes, until it puffs up and is golden brown on top.

Serves 2.

The Muffin and Me

Here is a summer conundrum: what to do when you over-buy blueberries at peak season? Have a Kitchen Aid mixer you received as a wedding gift and haven't used yet? It's a lazy Saturday? Simple answer: make blueberry muffins! I was very pleased with myself for thinking of this while lounging in bed during a long weekend. I had some limitations to consider. First, there were only 2 of us -- we did not need a recipe that yielded 15 or 24 muffins. Second, I had a stick of butter and that was it. After perusing several online recipes, I melded them together to form the basis for my first-ever attempt at homemade, from scratch, blueberry muffins. The results were so good, we had to pace ourselves to make sure we didn't eat all the muffins in a single sitting. Blueberry Muffins

• 1 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. table salt
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. skim milk
• 1 c. fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, salt in a small bowl and set aside. In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and mix until just incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer.

Gently fold in about a third of the flour mixture. Once incorporated, add half the milk and fold unto incorporated. Repeat until all of the flour is combined. Fold in the blueberries and spoon into a muffin tin, filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool slightly and serve warm. Yields 6 muffins.