huge breakfast food at 3pm, while biking around clinton hill,

at mike's coffee shop - i had 2 over easy eggs and grits (and a bite of sausage)

and m got a huge platter of hanger steak & eggs, with a side bowl of grits as well.

dang that was a lot of steak but it was so good, especially at $9 for the whole plate.

m came back from trader joe's with a huge haul (yay!) and with some sushi from there,

since i've been craving some lately.

unfortunately their gummy-textured rice didn't do the name sushi justice, but still hit the spot oddly enough.

luckily i made a simple miso soup with woodear mushrooms and kale so it wasn't too hard to swallow the gumminess.

made kimchi jigae again with our csa greens that needed to be eaten,

tatsoi to be more exact, with some smoked trout from trader joe's in

lieu of tofu. brothy and good, eaten over rice.

and m eats it with much less broth over rice like this, and slurps the

broth in separate spoonfuls :

a longish walk and a bite to eat at LA burritos - as the name says,

their food is LA/Mission style mexican food, decent for the price

and a huge variety of styles.

m got a chipotle chicken burrito and i got a "monterey", which is a

kind of huevos rancheros burrito, done in californian style.

pretty dang yummy.

homemade tamago-don (egg & mushroom over rice), basically oyako-don

minus the chicken, m made tonight.

i had a recipe in mind, but he just winged it, and it came out so so good!!!

nom nom nom we slurped it all up wanting more.

pho! banh mi!

at lollipop.

lunch & hangout at super core : yummy lunch specials of meatballs over rice,

veggie curry, and "super healthy" (tofu patty, salad, brown rice with carrot

dressing). yummy yummy.

then m made another amazing pasta - farfalle with maitake mushrooms

and tinned sardines in tomato sauce - so good and brothy tasting.

ahhhhh!!! so good.

it finally feels more like winter now that it's snowed, and we skipped

eating at samurai mama like last year, and went next door to dokebi

to warm up & celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. :D

after debating over whether or not to get a table grill of bulgogi or shrimp,

we got a nice, brothy bowl of spicy kalbi-tang (spiciness making it more

like yookgaejang, but still really good), and nakji bokum, a spicy stir fry

of octopus (a smaller kind more like squid, not the regular ones) and

veggies over udon noodles - alongside really yummy mixed grain rice &

banchan.

unfortunately, the nakji hokum was a bit of a letdown due to the toughness

of the octopus and overly saucy spiciness, but the soup alone was a real

success. and their rice is so good.

still super satisfying and still too full.

and it did snow finally (yesterday)!!

made some kind of unorthodox (because i put broccoli rabe & salmon)

version of denjang jigae, which turned out pretty yummy over rice,

especially on a rather windy night after a windy run.

next time i cook with denjang, i will make this "Kang denjang" with some

lettuce wrap (ssam) with rice. yum yum.

m made yet another amazing pasta - spaghetti with clam meat, garlic

& edamame (!!) in tomato sauce. edamame was brilliant - a bit nuttier

& chewier than had it been some other beans, like fava or broad beans.

yummy!!!

and a delicious apple pie & coffee we had earlier in the afternoon

at blue stove :

i think today was the coldest day this winter so far, walking back

home from our coffee excursion was almost unbearable (i blame

that on this unseasonably mild winter that made me such a wuss).

back home, m made this incredible shoyu ramen (one of the semi-

instant fresh ramen from fridge sections) with woodear mushrooms,

clam meat and kale. i am not sure that i could eat ramen at restaurants

much anymore, this was so good.

wow wow wow.

dreary windstormy winter days (i swear i've seen some snowflakes

somewhere in there) require some comfort food - today it's kimchi

fried rice - enhanced with some spicy mentaiko pasta sauce, and

topped with over easy eggs. yummy yummy.

definitely nowhere near as good as pho in chinatown, much less

comparable to californian phos, but the classic pho at lollipop

has definitely improved - and sometimes a staple when the winter

has actually started to act like one in NYC.

m's first kimchi jigae (great job!!) - kind of similar to this one i made

a while back, with the brat-makrele, and fortified with tofu & perilla leaves.

so so brothy and delicious. yum yum yummy.

who knew broccoli rabe would be so good in pasta?!!

m made yet another amazing pasta tonight with whatever was in

the fridge - dried mushrooms, broccoli rabe that was dying, some

tinned trout, anchovies, and tada - this was amazing!!!!

sometimes one needs a good, simple slice from a nearby 60+ year old,

old timey brookyn pizza parlor.

we got a classic cheese slice, a fresh mozz, and a sausage/pepperoni with mozz,

that pretty much took us over the edge of breadiness for a while.

(this was after a gyro and a falafel wrap for each of us).

my favorite part of the whole shopfront is this old, hand drawn historical

map of the neighborhood hanging on the wall :

m made this great mixed veggie & beans soup, clearing out our

remaining winter vegetables from our last month's csa haul.

i took a turn at making the cornbread this time, which turned out

pretty decent!! all topped with fage greek yogurt and it's all goodness.

beautiful spring-like day in the middle of january!

farmers market, biking around, and having lunch at ash box :

my usual salmon onigiri with tofu salad, and m got a brunch special

of turkey & egg with salad & brown rice.

as always, so cleanly good - which seems very hard to do!

and some exciting new/old things :

newly equipped front handlebar situation on my city bike -

m snuck around and surprised me with new handlebar/brake levers/

basket/cork grips!

m recently got this gently used aeropress off craigslist (for $10!),

which became a revolution to our coffee drinking experiences. wowwow.

goodbye french press! (at least for a while).

finally tried the ramen & other food at brooklyn ramen joint, chuko,

where my friend kana works. it really helped to go with her, since

we got extra food from the kitchen on the house!

above are appetizers : pork meatballs with soft-cooked egg, topped with

pickles & mustard - so perfectly cooked, amazing.

the bottom two are fried brussels sprouts & kale salad, were both on a tad

bit saucy side for me, but still amazing. kale salad came with fresh kale AND

crispy fried kale - brilliant & so so good!!

(they also gave us fried chicken wings, which i forgot to photograph)

then the ramen!

my shoyu ramen - perfectly cooked eggs & chicken. great broth.

kana's tonkotsu ramen - the best part as the mustard greens, which

perfectly balances out the richness of the pork bone broth.

the roasted pork on it melts in your mouth.

then m's special ramen - spicy miso broth topped with kimchi and

ground pork, making up for interesting flavors :

yummy!!!!! thanks kana!!

made dukboki (once my favorite food of all time) for the first time

in a while.

this time, using kimchi, veggie sausages, broccoli rabe, fish cake,

and topped with sesame leaves (perilla) and romano cheese.

pretty good but next time i'll crisp the duk (mochi) and the sausages

before putting the sauce on.

vamos al tequila has delicious food that sadly doesn't seem to agree

with us very well - m got food poisoning there once, and today i got

a stomach ache after the grilled chicken salad & the ground beef burrito.

i bet this was our last visit there, unfortunately.

oh well.

yummy vietnamese lunch at lollipop on the coldest day this winter

so far (it was round 19ºF at the time) - some banh mi's, sardine &

grilled chicken, and hot pho noodles with grilled pork chop did us

right for all that windchill.

actually had this before the lunch above - raspberry pecan

cobbler pie at blue stove, with their bottomless coffee.

and amazing pasta m made for dinner- spaghetti with clams,

smoked oysters, brussels sprouts, tomatoes & mushrooms with

grated romano, making it all creamy and delicious.

i hereby declare him my favorite pasta chef in the world!

yes yes i do!