Hi everyone! Sarah is currently in an undisclosed location in preparation for an as yet unknown event (or maybe she’s just doing homework), so for this post I will be taking over the blog narrative. My name is Erik and you may recognize me from previous posts with food in my mouth…and not much is going to change here either. At some point during the previous week, the inspiration came to embark on making a Shepherd’s Pie. Here we loosely followed this recipe for Turkey Shepherd’s Pie with Mashed Sweet Potatoes.



I have no idea where the idea to make Shepherd’s Pie came from, but I was glad it came to fruition and even more delighted with the end result.





In it were peas, corn, ground turkey, carrots and to top it all off, sweet potatoes! I have never really had sweet potatoes outside of Thanksgiving, but it is a flexible food that complements well. I have no idea how to write about food, but nevertheless I cannot recommend sweet potatoes enough! Perfect for a Shepherd’s Pie. Just look at it!!



So good it made me smile …



… do the mouth strut …



… exhibit unrestrained bliss just thinking about the next bite …



… and just take some good hearty bites:



Later that week, Sarah and I decided it would be nice to get out and enjoy some sushi. Actually, I suggested it because I never eat sushi. We found a place called Migita in downtown Brooklyn that totally impressed me. This place absolutely changed my outlook on sushi! First we had to enjoy some green tea …



… followed by the Chirashi platter:



It included shrimp, tuna, caviar, salmon, yellowtail among other palate pleasers. It was heaped on a pile of delicious brown rice, apparently a rarity out in sushiland.



Then came the delicious Dragonroll!! Eel and avocado also served with brown rice:



Mmmmmm…



Here is the whole meal for your viewing pleasure:



And on to dessert!



I’ve never heard of red bean ice cream before, but those were some good iced red beans! If they even are beans. Who cares! The ice cream was great and came with fried bananas. Nothing can beat fried bananas! (except, perhaps, for sweet potatoes).





This is proof that we couldn’t get enough:



Thanks for letting me visit! I’ll “see” you around 🙂

After three long months of (cough) diligent (cough) practice, I finally took my yellow belt karate test on Friday.

Before the test, I was pretty sure I would fail. In fact, I pronounced on several occasions that I would be happier staying a white belt forever.



Once Friday night came around, however, I got super nervous and REALLY wanted to pass! I demonstrated my (shaky) proficiency with basic moves:

I sparred:

Watch out for crazy red-eyed possessed Sarah and her laughing pleasedonotpunchme move.



Yes, I smile and laugh the whole time I am supposed to be fighting.

I had to break a board in half with my side kick:



Somehow, I did it!



Yay for color!!



Since I was so successful on Friday night, I let myself be coerced into hitting up brook-vin with Erik on Saturday before we had to go to a friend’s good-bye party.



I looooooooooove this bar.

We started off with the best-ever mulled wine:



And then got really excited about the house-infused liquors:



We ordered the pumpkin spiced Manhattan:



It was tasty, but it got way too strong for me after a few sips. Erik had to take one for the team. The candied ginger on top was my favorite part, of course.

To soak up the alchy, we got in on some bacon mac & cheese action:



This was really Erik’s dinner because I had been nibbling all day, as usual. I certainly managed a few (aka many) crispy cheesy bites, though:



Cheers!



What is your favorite hot drink?

Helloooooo!!! I’ve been living such an exciting food life the past couple of weeks, but hardly any of it managed to get on my camera 😦 Here’s what I managed …

A giant, serving bowl-sized Greek salad (all for me!) with romaine, cucumber, red pepper, grape tomatoes, feta, homemade toasted pumpkin seeds, and oregano:

Dinner at Duke’s with Amanda, Willie, Ali, and Danny, complete with a basket full of cornbread, biscuits, and gravy:



I ordered an unremarkable salad but had a glorious bite of Willie’s chicken-fried steak:



And a glorious 30 bites of Amanda’s macaroni and cheese:



A few nights later, I saw Amanda again (along with Meghan!) when I went to their apartment for our book club meeting. Meghan made balsamic-glazed pork chops this time!



Mmmmmmm, can’t you just smell it right through the computer screen?



While dinner was cooking, we nibbled (inhaled) French bread with brie and fig jam:



Bread + spreads = nothing better.

First course was butternut squash soup:



Followed by the main attraction, of course: balsamic-glazed pork chops with broccoli:



I rounded out the meal with dessert: leftover cake from work (where else?!) and Stonyfield nonfat chocolate frozen yogurt:



Later in the weekend, Wes came over to watch the playoffs with the new roommates (Clare AND Erik!), so I made chili … the leftovers of which I obviously ate for lunch all week:



It was perfect for all the freeeeeeeezing days we had. The chili was a random mix of beans, onions, garlic, carrots, meatless meat, and probably much more stuff, topped with shredded cheddar, nonfat sour cream, and blue corn chips:



To cap it off, Jessica shared the delicious bakery-fresh cookies that she received courtesy of a certain secret admirer.



The lemon icing was so refreshing and delicious that I wanted to eat 50 of these cookies, but supplies were limited and I only managed to get my hands on one. Thanks for sharing the love, Jessica 😛

To ice or not to ice?

I’m trying to take advantage of my last nights of freedom before the new semester starts, so my long weekend was full of exciting restaurants! Friday night, Erik, Jose, and I headed to Camaradas (ok, so technically East Harlem is not part of my beloved Brooklyn, but Camaradas is so cool, I will let it share post-space with my ode to Brooklyn eating) after work so that I could finally order the jibaro about which I have been fantasizing for months!

The jibaro is composed of pulled pork sandwiched between … get this … two big slabs of fried green plantain:



Can you imagine anything more mind-blowing? Or romantically lit?



Saturday night, Erin Gunn Brennan and Mike came down to Brooklyn so that we could try the beer table at long last. This place opened a couple years ago literally steps from my apartment, but I’ve never been motivated to go because I don’t like beer. I’ve been trying to get my favorite beer lover down here for ages to try it, and we finally had the chance this weekend!



I had a little chat with the owner and explained that I did not like beer and wanted the least beer-y beer on the menu. Enter Harvest Ale ’99, the beer that motivated the owner to open beer table in the first place!



The tasting notes mentioned something about “hedonistic, figs, maple …” amongst other exciting descriptors, so I took the plunge and bought the $18 bottle.



And I loved it!



We needed nibbles to support the high alcoholic content of these beers, so we split the spinach salad with pear and Gruyere:



And the maple bacon with caramelized potatoes:



With our bellies full of expensive beer and miniature food, we took off for real dinner and football a few blocks away at Flipsters, the place where, according to the website, Brooklyn hipsters flip burgers:



I’m pretty sure I did not see any hipsters standing at the grill …

Anyway, I continued the beer theme by ordering a Blue Point Blueberry:





Proof that I drank my second beer of the night:



While Erin and I tossed ’em back, Erik and Mike had their eyes on a clearly very riveting playoffs game:







I was very excited when my salmon burger on whole wheat arrived:



I think this is the most beautiful salmon burger to ever exist:



Sandwiched:



I was feeling bold and slathered on a TON of mustard without realized that it was the spiciest horseradishiest mustard EVER. I literally had tears streaming down my cheeks through the whole meal. I was delicious, but I REALLY had to focus on my breathing!

Sunday morning, I headed out to meet the NYU girls minus one — Gina, Kate, JQ, and Di — at Buttermilk Channel. Sadly, Buttermilk Channel had an hour and a half wait, so Gina and I set out to do some reconn and found Le Petit Cafe. It looked like a little to-go cafe from the outside, but two people walking into the restaurant separately saw our contemplative expressions and told us it was excellent. The hostess informed me there was a 20 minute wait, so we summoned the rest of the crew over and were seated in no time … smack in the middle of this urban paradise!



You can’t even tell it’s Brooklyn! We were sitting right next to a little waterfall cascading the height of the wall. Kate and I agreed that the space and ambience, combined with the peaceful music playing, would make this an ideal spot for yoga classes. We all felt very zen.

I got complicated with the menu and ordered an egg white Huevos Rancheros over polenta instead of over a tortilla.



The colors were amazing, so I went nuts with the pictures.



And the polenta was perfectly crispy and cheesy:



Just one more:



Mmmmmmmm, sooooo good. I chopped it all up so I could mix it together and get every flavor in every bite.

It was a perfectly filling and relaxing meal, capped off by a few bites of Kate’s pumpkin pancakes 😛

Yayyyyyyyyyy Brooklyn, the best borough EVER!!!

Do you have a favorite borough!

A couple Sundays ago, Kate invited Gina and me over to her apartment for some home-cooked comfort food! Kate had decorated her coffee table with wine glasses, bread, and herbed olive oil for dipping:

Fancy schmancy!

While Kate tended to the Ribolita (Tuscan bread soup) …



… Gina and I broke into the snacks!



Gina brought over veggies and HungryGirl’s buffalo chicken dip:



I ate about a gallon of this stuff. It was AMAZING.

Meanwhile, over by the stove, Kate continued her flurry of dinner-prep activity:

This soup was delicious and SO hearty:



The big chunks of Italian bread that had been baked right into it were delicious and FILLING.

For dessert, I brought over the last of the goodies that Coco sent me from Argentina:



Perfect!

At work the next day, my international dessert sampling continued with this bowl of food left from a meeting (french bread, eggs with ham) and dulce with guava jelly that Rosalie brought from Puerto Rico!



Mmmm, I think I’m addicted to dulce de coco.

And then, just since I’m talking about delicious things, I might as well mention that Diana, Vani, and I met up at the newest raw restaurant in Brooklyn, Sun In Bloom, for dinner on Tuesday night.



I ordered the Southwestern Burrito:



The “meat” inside was made of sunflower seeds and was absolutely delicious and tasted like tacos!



Plus, I ordered my burrito wrapped in collard greens instead of a tortilla — brilliant!

I love having so many people with whom to explore the food in my borough! Who do you call when a new place opens?