I made a small change by having Jeney whip up a Sriracha aioli and skipping the hot sauce due to that.

Not surprisingly, this was DELICIOUS!

I’ll be making this again and trying out a few different things, including longer soaking of the carrots (nothing wrong with 30 minutes though), and different peppers.

With the exception of the 8 hour slow cook time, the prep was pretty simple. Some prep for the carrots soak, slicing up this and that, and pulling the pork apart. Great to make in large batches so that you have extras or at least extra pulled pork.

Now, time for some food porn pics.

Next up I think I’ll try making my own summer rolls. We’ll probably wait until the summer to do that and make some large batches at one go so that we can get some practice. Something tells me that the sticky wrapping is going to be fun to figure out…

Now, I won’t go into details about that part of the trip here; I’ll just say that it was a good time and meeting in person allowed us to take care of planning that probably would have taken weeks or more remotely.

What this quick post is intended for is to highlight the places that we were able to eat at while in Miami Beach. We had some outstanding meals – nothing we had was just “OK”.

A thank you is in order to our friend Sarah for her recommendation of the website Eater (http://miami.eater.com/). This site has a subdomain for each city with some outstanding recommendations and a quick overview of their top picks. Every place we’ve been to in various cities that was chosen from this site has been a winner.

Here’s a quick run down of our favorite places we got to try:

1. 27 – this place is attached to an outdoor lounge (which we went back to the follow night) that is run by the same owners. We showed up on a Thursday night, were seated immediately and had a very informative waitress that gave a good run down of the menu and various highlights. The only down side here was that the tap was down. And by tap, I mean every local beer that was connected to their tap system…We ended up order a good variety of food that was flavorful, presented well, and delicious. Just to throw it out there, our table had the octopus, two catch of the day (red snapper), and a burger (enormous!). Two thumbs up!

2. Roasters and Toasters – Jewish deli on one of the main roads into Miami Beach. If you’re looking for a big lunch this is a good place to go. Huge, meat packed, sandwiches, large salads, and friendly service. I would agree that service might be a tad slow, but for the price and what you’re ultimately getting I still love this place. Come with an appetite.

3. Taquiza – So good. Go here. This cool little “upscale” street taco looking place is on the main drag (Collins St) into South Beach and has seating for maybe 20 or so people in a first come, first serve area. You order at the counter and grab it yourself when it’s done. Several good beers on tap and lots of good taco choices (pollo, barbacoa, etc). Tacos were served fast, even though we ordered 15 at once and the chips were freshly made tortillas that had been quickly fried and served with a nice chunky and fresh salsa. Great for a quick meal and relatively low cost compared to other options in the area. I think the word that describes this place is “fresh”.

4. Makoto – In Jeney’s words, “This is the best sushi I have ever had in my entire life”. Strong statement coming from her! We stopped by here for lunch before hopping on flights back north and we had an excellent experience. Quick service with a helpful waiter who helped us figure out what we should be doing – seriously, this place is apparently quite famous locally and somewhere that chefs like to go and eat it – so he gave us the run down on the menu and made us quite happy eaters. Best parts of this meal? Sushi, obviously, and the many types of delicious rice – seriously, the rice (from sushi to chirashi) was insanely good. What’s that? Why yes, the presentation wasn’t half bad either (no joke, click on the picture to the left and check out that chirashi!).

We also were able to go out on our last night in town and sample some of the local beers, but to be honest we didn’t find any that we came home raving about. To be fair, we didn’t feel strongly about the ones we did try, but nothing really took ahold and made us want to share with friends back home.

If you’re into some sweeter and stronger type beers, you should check out Abbey Brewing Company – they offer a sizable tasting flight with a good range of flavors. Again, not necessarily my style but worth checking out.

If you find yourself in Miami Beach, do yourself a favor and get out and try some of the food – you won’t be disappointed!

I’m fairly certain I just searched for “cilantro corn black bean salad” and found “Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing” by the GardenGrazer.  She’s incredibly clever, and it is fun to read her comments on making the salad. All credit goes to her! Unfortunately, the salad typically disappears so quickly that I don’t have time to capture a picture…and she doesn’t allow people to borrow hers…

I’ve added a few notes which helped me, but you can ignore them (especially the first time making it).

Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro Dressing

Prep time: 20 minutes (depending on how fast you chop)

Ingredients

• romaine lettuce – one head
• 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can sweet corn
• 1 orange bell pepper (I also tossed in some red and yellow)
• 16 oz cherry tomatoes (any tomatoes work, grape…roma…etc.)
• 1 avocado
• 5 green onions
• 1/2 of a cucumber, skin or no skin…your choice!
• Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing (see below)

Directions

1. Chop romaine and dice bell pepper, green onions and tomatoes. Size does not matter. It is just about how much you can fit on a fork and into your mouth.
2. Mix all chopped ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add dressing and toss to coat!

Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing

Prep time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 handful cilantro with stems removed (Uh…I just added a lot. I never measured)
• 1/2 avocado
• 3-4 garlic cloves (In fact, once I used 4-5. That was only slightly too much. I didn’t complain.)
• 1 whole lime – juice 
• 1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar – I’ve also used white vinegar. Slightly different taste, liked both.)
• 1/4 cup olive oil – I used a bit less.
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Add all ingredients into a food processor and puree! I pureed until the cilantro was fairly small bits.
2. Taste and edit with whatever ingredient you are lacking. I kept adding cilantro, vinegar and garlic.

I’ve made batches of 3 at a time. It keeps for a few days, and I try to eat it for every meal during that time. Good luck and enjoy!

I don’t say ‘no’ to ice cream.

Adam and I have a very hard time saying ‘no’ when one of us gets an ice cream hankering. I’ve often lamented how our guilty cravings for foods align too much: hot chicken wings, burgers with the works, fruit tarts, ice cream, Taco Bell (shhhh – don’t tell anyone), cheese-covered chili on Frito’s, chocolate-covered gummy bears – the list goes on.

It seems that in the summer, both of us are more inclined towards trips to Purity, our favorite ice cream parlor. Plus, it is a cute date. D’awww.

With all the running we do, it is also hard to feel guilty about it. C’est la vie!

My cone: one scoop Chocolate Peanut Butter, one scoop Gimme Mocha Fudge
Adam’s cone: one scoop Sea Salt Caramel

The first night we ate around Dorchester, on Lundy’s Lane at a brew pub called The Syndicate:

– good beers, a good IPA with west coast hops. Apparently a good bloody mary (“caesar”) can be had there as well.
– solid burger with great bun, cheese, meat (local), and more.
– the 3 course meal was lackluster, the steak was overcooked and fairly fatty.

Overall, would go back and stick to more standard up fare.

While in NOTL wine tasting we stopped at the Angel Inn, another pub that is touted as the oldest in Canada.

Solid drink choices and hearty food selection. Had myself a decent Rueben, the fried fish was likewise Ok, and the service was fairly fast. Nothing blew us away but it was a good amount of food for a good price while out tasting.

Dinner on the second night was at Mai Thai. Overall we thought it was good, but not impressive Thai food. Few vegetables and not very hot when ordered “spicy”. The pad thai was actually a little better out of the fridge the next morning. On the upside, they serve 9oz pours of wine…

The food highlight was saved for last, when we went to Smokies – a poutinery near the falls that has some kick ass poutine. We had the double pork (pulled pork and bacon), fajita, and one other I can’t recall… Fresh fries, good cheese, and tasty toppings made this a win. Good serving size (not crazy huge) allowed us to nearly finish and still be able to walk out

Hit up the falls on the way out – pretty awesome even in winter:

At least the poutine is still filling me up while we wait at the border crossing!

I was looking around for something different and found a recipe for plantain tortillas. My first thought was, “hmmm…I wonder if they will taste like banana…”. Deep thoughts…

Good news – they do not really taste like bananas, because they’re plantains, and they only smell slightly sweet.

Making Plantain Tortillas

The trick to making these turn out well is to make them as thin as possible. When thinning them by hand on the baking sheet we found that using the spoon or ladle was impossible and you basically have to do it all by hand. Keep a bowl of water nearby to dip your fingers into so that you don’t stick to the pureed plantain mix. Go until you think you’re going too thin…and then maybe a little more.

Plantain Tortillas – visit the site for some great pictures of the process
(makes 12 5″ tortillas)

• 3 large or 4 small yellow plantains, about 2-2.5 pounds before peeling
• 1/3 cup egg whites (about 2 eggs worth)
• 3 tablespoons lard or coconut oil, melted (I highly recommend lard if you have it!) – I went with coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Peel and chop your plantains and place in a food processor.
3. Puree until somewhat pureed, and then add the melted lard, egg whites, salt and lime juice.
4. Puree until smooth.
5. Drop about 2 tablespoons at a time onto a baking sheet lined with a lightly greased sheet of parchment paper, 4 per standard baking sheet (spaced as shown above)
6. Smooth into a circle with the bottom of a ladle, getting as thin as possible, switching to wet fingers once the ladle stops being efficient.
7. Bake for 15 minutes, until dry to the touch, and just starting to brown on the edges.

Note: Since it takes a few batches to be done cooking (only 4-8 at a time depending on how many tray and oven racks you have) you want to take that into account if you’re not making them beforehand.

Tilapia Taco Recipe 

9 times out of 10 we go to one of the Ithaca Bakeries, which is one place I will really miss when we move. That said, the run organizer this week found a new spot for us to try – and ended up taking us to one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in Ithaca!

The Coal Yard Cafe in Ithaca is a small building (converted house?) with 4-5 tables and a few chairs around a gas fireplace. In the adjoining room they have the register and a large cooking area that is fully visible by the customers. On this cold day it was a warm escape from the outdoors and a welcome ‘homey’ environment.

An Awesome Breakfast Burrito

After asking for an estimate of the size of their breakfast burrito and getting a response via hand signals that looked like a small milk jug I was hooked – breakfast burrito it was! I think I made a pretty good choice

It was delicious and filling – two great qualities after running 12 miles! The others ordered a range of breakfast sandwiches (really more like sandwiches than most places – bread instead of english muffin or biscuit) and omelettes.

We’ll be going back, that’s for sure – the waffles need to be tested and tasted! For science of course…

Luckily I remembered coming across one of those sites where you can enter whatever you have laying around and it will tell you what you can make. I’m going to guess that the process of just listing the items out also helps you figure the meal out, instead of blankly staring at a range of items that, for some reason, are not magically coalescing into a meal while you watch.

We did in fact have some basics around; add to that an entire garlic bulb that had been cooked the day before and we had a meal. The screen of my tablet told me it was to be fettucini alfredo! I decided to add a few items to the basic pasta dish (chicken & onions) and got to work.

Good news – it turned out great! I’ll be making this one again and recommend it for anyone wanting a warm pasta dish with a medium amount of effort. From start to finish you can crank this one out in less than 30 minutes.

Chicken Fettucini Alfredo

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 4-6 oz fettucini noodles
• 3 tbsp butter
• a couple garlic cloves (pre cooked or not – just mince them and add them with the onions if not pre cooked)
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 4-8 oz chicken breast (same deal as with the garlic cloves)
• 1/2 onion
• salt, pepper, whatever else floats your boat
• Wine

 
Go ahead and put the oven at 250F and stick an oven safe bowl or dish in there. Cut up the butter and add it about 5 minutes before the pasta is done cooking – you’ll be tossing the fettucini in the melted butter – and the noodles stay warm with the pre-heated container. Boil the pasta until done (10-12 min). Before the pasta is finished, start caramelizing the onions with some olive oil. Give them a few minutes and then toss in the garlic and chicken. If the chicken isn’t pre cooked, put it in a few minutes early to let it cook through. As far as size goes, I find that smaller pieces of chicken work well and make this recipe go faster. Add in some salt and pepper as wanted.

Hopefully your pasta is done at about the same time as the chicken, onions, and garlic – a few minutes either way won’t hurt anything. Drain the noodles and save a little water in case the cheese really dries it out when mixing.

Toss the noodles into the container with the butter. Toss them around and make sure they are coated completely. Add in the chicken, onions, and garlic, and continue tossing. Start adding in the parmesan a small handful at a time. Keep mixing until you are done.

Add some more pepper on top if you want. That’s about it. Enjoy! (Don’t forget the pickles, bread, and salads!)

I had also never used tomatillos before and found them to be very tasty. Preparing them is interesting; they are certainly like tomatoes, but after peeling the paper-like skin off they leave a sticky residue on the fingers.

The recipe and prep is simple and only requires one pot (oven safe). It can be prepped and made in less than 45 minutes and keeps resonably well in the fridge for a couple of days.

I like to add a bit of kick to it with either a little cayenne pepper or some diced up jalepenos with the seeds removed (2 or 3). The amount listed here will serve 4 – although it won’t be a huge amount. If you have a hungry crowd of 4 you might want to toss in more onions and tomatillos.

Ingredients

• 1lb tomatillos
• 1 or 2 onions diced or roughly sliced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 or 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• Salt, will be added to taste
• 1lb shrimp, cleaned and deveined, tail on or off
• 1 cup feta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup of water, or 1/2 cup clam juice (water is easiest and makes the process faster…)
• lime juice
• black pepper

 
Cooking

Start by heating the oil in the pot/pan you will be cooking the entire meal in – make sure it is oven proof. Add the onions and jalapenos, if wanted, and cook until the onions begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Add the tomatillos (cut into quarters), reduce heat to medium, and cook until the tomatillos soften up – it should take about 10 minutes. The tomatillos will soften, but should still retain their shape and not be mushy. As you are cooking the tomatillos occasionally sprinkle salt.

If you use the 1/2 cup of clam juice, add it to the pot and increase the heat. Reduce by half. If you use the 1/4 cup of water, add the water without increasing the heat or reducing.

Add the cheese and shrimp to the pot and mix. Cook in a preheated oven at 425F for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven. Sprinkle lime juice over the top and add black pepper to taste. Add cilantro. Stir before serving.

We went in around 7pm and while it was busy it wasn’t too crowded, always a nice thing. We put our names in and were told it would be about 10 minutes and that we could wait on their benches or head to the bar. The bar it was! We grabbed a few beers and had a seat at one of the open tables in the bar area.

After about 10 minutes one of the hostesses came up and took us to our seats out on the back patio. They did a really nice job with this area, a large portion of it is corvered with a tight cloth tarp and surrounded by a high painted fence. The seats and tables were spread out nicely – we weren’t bumping elbows with the table next to us.

So – the food! We ended up getting the following:

• Guacamole & Chips: great guacamole, almost as good as homemade and much better than most restaurants
• Pulled pork soft tacos: really tasty pork, very soft, and good salsa on top. Going to have these again…
• Beer battered catfish tacos: well done battered fish tacos – very good flavor and not just a “fish and slaw” soft taco.
• Wood fired pizza: our friend had the pizza and I can’t remember what the toppings were…just that it was as good as everything else! Not the most insightful review, but I would consider grabbing one when we go back.
• House margarita: tasty, cheap, and cold – it passed all of my tests for a good house margarita! I think Viva’s might have a run for it’s money in the margarita department.

 
Prices were really reasonable and the service was great – we’re going to be hitting this place up much more in the future!