New Year's at the Rialto

We rang in the New Year last night at the Rialto, part of the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. And boy what a night it was! We had an absolute blast and the Rialto treated us so well that we can't imagine going anywhere else for New Year's next year!

The Rialto was decorated in silver and white balloons. We got these great silver and white New Year's props: a hat, a tiara and noisemakers. Last year we went to the Noir Bar at the Charles Hotel for New Year's and we had a lot of fun. But every time I would go upstairs to use the bathroom, I'd pass by the Rialto and take a peek inside. The people at the Rialto looked like they were having more fun. Also they had live music! I was hoping to see live music at the Rialto this year but there wasn't any. We still had a fabulous time.

 We started our evening with two cocktails. On the left is a Tangerine Tango served in a chilled martini glass. This was a really good cocktail! It had Bourbon, Aperol, Blood Orange, Lemon, Honey and a Blood Orange Rind Twist! Carlos had a Whiskey Sour which was pretty good too. Our reservation was delayed and the general manager offered to give us these drinks on the house! He took care of us the entire evening and made us feel really special.

Our table wasn't ready quite yet, so we moved from the bar to the bar lounge. 

Downton Abbey reference FTW!

At the lounge, we sat in a little nook and ordered two more drinks. I had an Old-Fashioned and Carlos had another Whiskey Sour. Rialto's cocktails are well-made with quality liquors and ingredients. Carlos and I have been there before for drinks and dessert but not for food so we were excited to try some of the restaurant's savory delights.

From the Bar menu, we ordered the Stuffed Dates from the Antipasti selection. All the Antipastis are $5 each or $14 if you buy three. They are great way to start off your meal if you don't want a full appetizer. These date were stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, wrapped in pancetta and topped with toasted chopped almonds. They were a taste and texture explosion in your mouth! Salty, sweet, smoky, peppery, crunchy, smooth. They were nice and hot too which made them all that more enjoyable.

Our table was ready, later than expected but the general manager thanked us for our patience and rewarded us with a gift certificate. We thought that was very generous of him so we decided to buy a couple expensive plates to use the card and to also kick back something to the restaurant for treating us so well!

In the dining room, we were seated at a nicely decorated table. There was a vase with a White Gerber Daisy, a white candle and magenta star confetti and crinkled paper. I thought this was very classy! The waitress brought us over an Amuse Bouche also on the house. It was Prosecco with candied orange, peppercorn and the rim had bay sugar. This was so good! I wish I had set it aside to toast with because by countdown time I had no drink left. The cocktails were too good.

Sorry for the dark pictures but flash made these look terrible. Carlos got the Spiced Chicken Under a Brick which came with one big gnocchi, pumpkin, gorgonzola and truffles. I had a bite of the chicken and it was amazing!

I had the Cacciucco (which I still don't know how to pronounce), a seafood soup. It had cod, shrimp, mussels, clams, lobster and calamari. It was topped with a parsley crouton. I love seafood soup and this one was quite tasty but just a bit too salty.

I had some fun with the confetti at the table!

For dessert, we had the Walnut-Apple Bread Pudding with vanilla ice cream, poached crab apple and compote. It also came with a nice caramel candy on top. Carlos loved this dessert but I thought it was so-so. I had my heart set on something chocolatey but we both agreed to get this one instead. I wish the pudding was warm but it was cold. Because the bread pudding was cold, I didn't see how the ice cream was even necessary. Next time I'll get the Chestnut-Chocolate Cream Puff which sounds divine.

You can't really see in the picture but a lady sang Auld Lang Syne to us. Then we all used our noisemakers to ring in the New Year. I wish there was a countdown but oh well. Perhaps there was one at the bar. We can't complain because our New Year's was a great time. A couple of friends were supposed to join us, but one of them was feeling really ill. In fact, today I'm supposed to be at my parents home cooking my dad a birthday lunch but they are both sick too! So I guess Carlos and I were lucky to be able to ring in the new year with health.

I hope all of you had a wonderful New Years and here is to a great 2013!

Holiday Recap

For the holidays I really wanted some Egg Nog and Hot Chocolate but I came across two issues. First of all, everyone and their mother keeps referring to Egg Nog as drinkable pancake batter. This has disgusted me and I wish people would stop! So when I was at Whole Foods, I found this SO Delicious Coconut Milk Dairy Free Egg Nog. I thought I'd give it a try. It was pretty good, a lot lighter in texture and flavor than regular Egg Nog and it was pretty taste with a bit of rum.

My second problem was finding a Hot Chocolate mix that did not have High Fructose Corn Syrup. Forget finding that at your local grocery store! I looked at every Hot Chocolate mix at Market Basket and all of them had HFCS or some sort of Corn Syrup solids. Ugh. The tin in the picture above was from Whole Foods and the ingredients were: Sugar, Dutch Cocoa and Vanilla. That's it! Perfect, right? It cost $7.99! And it's only 6 oz worth of hot chocolate mix. I hope it cures cancer too because that price is outrageous.

I had Christmas lunch over at my parents house. Our Christmas lunch is always very unusual and this year was no exception. We had octopus, a potato-carrot-beet salad, green salad, avocado, hard-boiled eggs, broiled asparagus, my mom's rice and fruit salad.

The main focus of our meal is Octopus made by my dad. He has a very special way of cooking it that I still haven't learned quite yet but I did watch him make it this time and learned a few tips.

Including this one! In order to not over cook the octopus and to keep it tender, my dad puts a large baking potato on top of the octopus. He covers it with water (I forget how much) and cooks it. Once you can easily pierce the potato with a knife, the octopus is cooked.

My dad dresses it in olive oil and vinegar and onions. This year I think he just forgot to do it. He's turning 85 in January so his mind isn't always sharp but I am so very grateful to have another Christmas with him. 

When my mom moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1979, the first two things she bought at the grocery store here were Asparagus and Strawberries. They are not common in her country and only the really wealthy ate them. She never did learn how to cook asparagus so I taught her my method. I snap the bottom fibrous part, lay them on a foiled baking sheet, drizzle them with olive oil, move them around so they are coated and then I broil them in the oven for 8-10 minutes until they start to brown and wrinkle. Then I shake some sea salt over them. This really is the best way to eat asparagus. Don't ever boil asparagus!

 I hope you all had a great holiday!

Holiday Gift Guide - Foodie Presents Under $100

If you didn't take my money saving advice and you are dead set on getting Christmas presents for your beloved foodie, here are some great options for under $100!

OXO Mandoline Slicer - Good Grips  - Chefs Catalog

$69.99

I still dream of having a Mandoline slicer one. To be honest, I was super bummed when no one picked this as a gift from my wedding registry. One day I will have a Mandoline slicer! One day! It's a very versatile tool and slices vegetables and fruits evenly.

Garlic Press-Slicer - Williams-Sonoma

$21.95

This is a Garlic Press that also slices! This one comes with a cleaning utensil that will get garlic out of all the little crevices making clean up really easy. The utensil even attaches to the inside of the press so you don't have to worry about losing it. I don't hand chop fresh garlic anymore. This garlic press/slicer does a better job than I would ever do!

Beacon Grille Gift Certificate

$25, $50, $75, $100 and up

A great option for a loved one or family member who lives in Eastern Massachusetts is a gift certificate to Beacon Grill in Woburn, MA. I have reviewed this place more than once. It's a wonderful fine dining experience with top-notch food, drinks and service. You can't go wrong with Beacon Grille.

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

$35.00

Foodies love The Smitten Kitchen blog for it's fine photography and for Deb Perelman's commitment to good food made well. These are time tested recipes that have been fine tuned to perfection. Any foodie will love having this cookbook!

Julia Child: The French Chef DVD

$39.95

Julia Child was the quintessential chef. She is so entertaining to watch and you'll learn a few things too. Any foodie will revel in his or her nostalgia with this DVD of Julia Child's classic show.

Wusthof Classic Hollow-Ground Santoku Knife 7"

Sale Price at Williams-Sonoma is $69.95

I have had this knife for many years and it's so versatile. I can do almost all of my chopping with it. All you need is this knife, a good pairing knife and a good serrated knife and you are all set.

Wusthof Handheld Knife Sharpener - Williams-Sonoma

2-stage is $19.95

4-stage is $29.95

Pair the above with this sharpener for a complete gift!

Christmas Eve Lunch and Christmas Dinner

Sometimes the holidays can be a bit tricky when you want to spend time with more than one family. I split the holiday by visiting my parents on Christmas Eve and spending Christmas evening with Carlos and his dad. For Christmas Eve, my Dad cooked up his traditional octopus. However, he didn't quite remember how to make it so it wasn't quite like it was in previous years. It was still delicious though.

My mother made this vegetable rice with carrots, peas, olives, capers and mushrooms. It was delicious! 

We had some fresh salad, Portuguese olives and bread with our meal. For dessert, it was pasteis de belem (egg custard cups) from the local Portuguese shop (not as good as mine though!). 

Since I didn't do any cooking for Christmas Eve, I spent a lot of time planning a Christmas dinner. Most of the recipes come from My Colombian Recipes, a blog I recently discovered and adore. Lots of great Latin dishes there to try!

Appetizers were garlic stuffed green olives (from a jar) and homemade Black bean dip. I served the dip with tortilla chips. The dip was amazing and we scraped the bowl clean. 

For the main meal, we had a fresh salad of sliced cucumbers and plum tomatoes along with chunks of avocado, dressed in lime juice, extra light olive oil, salt and pepper. I also made fried sweet plantains. Carlos isn't a big fan of sweet plantains cooked with sugar, so these were naturally sweet plantains that I just fried in canola oil. I've been experimenting with frying tostones so it was nice to try another way of frying plantains.

We also had Breaded Pork Cutlets. These were tricky because we didn't pound the meat enough so it didn't cook all the way through. I ended up baking them in the oven so they would be fully cooked. However, baking them made them soggy. Oh well. They tasted fine but I really wanted crispy cutlets.

For a starch, I had Arroz con Fideos (Rice with Noodles). I didn't cook the noodles enough. You are supposed to brown them in the owl so that they are more visible against the white rice. Oh well. Tasted fine though and it was a great side with the pork, salad and fried sweet plantains.

For dessert, it was Mango Flan. It didn't come out clean as I cut up some of the edges with a knife. I'm still learning how to make flans so I'm not quite there yet. This flan had Mango and sweetened condensed milk which made it different from other flans. It was like cheesecake in texture and flavor (almost). I have to say, this surprised me! It was absolutely delicious. I put a slice of lime on top just to make it look pretty. The caramel came out better than expected. I'm still very nervous about cooking caramel so it was nice to have a decent color on the flan from the caramel I made. The mango isn't very noticeable in the flavor though. It might be because I didn't have mangoes that were ripe enough or perhaps the sweetened condensed milk overpowered the mango flavor.

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!

Christmas Bark - Two Kinds

These recipes were originally posted on my Thoughtful Eats column at the Woburn Patch.

 Candy Cane Bark 

Ingredients:

2 11-oz bags of White Chocolate Chips
10 candy canes

Remove the wrappers off your candy canes and break into pieces. Place the pieces in your food processor and pulse until you only have small chunks of candy cane. You’ll have a lot of candy cane powder so don’t be discouraged if you see this. Set aside.

 Set up a baking sheet and cover with one piece of wax paper so that it covers the entire sheet. Add an inch or so of water to your pot and bring to a boil. Place your heat-resistant bowl into the pot and add your white chocolate chips to the bowl. Stir and fold the chocolate continuously until it’s all melted and there are no chunks of chips left. White chocolate melts differently than milk or dark chocolate. You’ll have a lump that looks and feels sort of like very soft clay. Immediately transfer the chocolate to the wax papered baking sheet.

With spatulas, spread the chocolate evenly over the entire baking sheet. You may need to hold the wax paper taut as the chocolate can be tricky to deal with. Sprinkle the crushed candy cane over the top of the chocolate.

Refrigerate for 45 minutes.

With a sharp knife, cut the sheet of chocolate into uneven sections.Don’t worry if some of the candy cane will fall off, only some will stick. Pack and keep in the refrigerator.

M&M Peanut Butter Cup Bark 

Ingredients:

2 11-oz bags of Milk Chocolate Chips
mini peanut butter cups, chopped into quarters
red and green M&Ms

 Follow the same instructions as above with the following changes. Omit the candy cane. Cut the mini peanut butter cups into quarters. I recommend a generic brand of peanut butter cups instead of Reese’s as they’ll be sturdier and will lend themselves to chopping.

You’ll also need about half a small bag of red and green M&Ms. This time you’ll be melting milk chocolate, which is easier to melt and handle than white chocolate. Once melted, add to a wax papered baking sheet and smooth out evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle the peanut butter cups on top then fill in the spaces with red and green M&Ms.

 Refrigerate for 45 minutes and cut into uneven pieces.

Keep refrigerated. Enjoy!

A Dominican Feast for Thanksgiving

Carlos and I headed to my parents house for Thanksgiving lunch. We dressed up in our best.

I asked my mother to cook a Dominican meal rather than a traditional American Thanksgiving. Carlos and I have a Thanksgiving lunch with my parents and a dinner with his family and frankly that's a lot of Turkey and fixings for one day. I'm not a big fan of the traditional Turkey dinner so it was great to mix it up.

A nice big pot of beans. My mom makes it with onion, carrots and bacon. Delicious!

A big pot o' rice. It is Dominican after all.

Slow cooked beef with peppers and olives.

My mom also cooked a Turkey breast and filled the cavity with stuffing.

I'm on a Pescatarian diet (which means I don't eat meat or poultry just fish and seafood) so my mother baked a Cod & Potato dish that has tomatoes. It's so delicious! Technically that's a Portuguese dish but who is counting?

Carlos tucked in his tie and was ready to eat!

There's my mom, the chef.

Even on my Pescatarian diet, I was a little lenient. I had the beans even though it had bacon and I had some stuffing with gravy. But I skipped the beef and Turkey. Carlos had plenty for the both of us.

My mom outdid herself and served up some homemade Baklava for dessert. Again, not Dominican. So far this is a Dominican-Portuguese-Greek-American feast!

We had some pumpkin pie along with the baklava.

Today is my birthday but yesterday we celebrated. Here is my birthday cake! Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving. I'm glad my mother cooked up the feast that she did. I'm so grateful for my family, for Carlos and for my life. 

How was your Thanksgiving?