Urban Myth: Airline Food is Bad

A recent CNN article brings to light the amazing fare of fine-dining dishes that are available to you in first class. It got me thinking about all the wonderful airline meals (yes...I said AIRLINE!) I've enjoyed in the last few years.

Myth: Everyone uses plastic sporks.

Each airline has its own china style set and sets your table (aka, tray) one passenger at a time. (US domestic flights first class carriers excluded.) Photo from the Tahiti based airline, Air Tahiti Nui.

Myth: Food isn't Good

If I am on an Asian Airline, 9 times out of 10, I will get the Asian menu option. This is still the best, most flavorful and well prepared Bim Bam Bop I have ever had! Photo from South Korean based airline, Asiana.

Myth: Will it be Chicken or Fish for your entree?

Another Asian meal option selection, where I got to enjoy tons of things that I could never possibly find in an any Asian resturant in the DC metro area. Pictured beginning from left and going clockwise: steamed rice, shark fin pudding, marinated beef and veggie stir fry, pickled veggies, etc., miso soup (in the black covered container) and braised seafood and veggies. And this was just my main course, from a 5 course dinner. Photo from Japanese based airline, All Nippon Airlines.

Myth: The only difference between first class and couch, is that the seat is bigger.

I never buy caviar. I fully admit it is the cost vs. joy. Plus everytime we fly internationally (on a non-domestic carrier) I eat so much caviar, I cannot stomach more for about 6 months. Can you see the amount of caviar on the plate? Insane! And sometimes I ask (and always get if I request) seconds. Photo from German based airline, Lufthansa Airlines.

Myth: If you don't want to go hungry, always bring some snacks for your flight.

People that don't fly internationally or on non-domestic carriers are generally surprised when I tell them I never go hungry on a plane. I always tell them they really should save up their airline miles, because a 5+ multi-course on board dinner, that doesn't include the welcome on board snack (pictured here), the snack menu or the 2nd meal service (usually a mere 3 courses) really ROCKS for foodies like me. Photo from Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific Airlines.

Travel: Texas BBQ

My husband and I have been known to travel for food. Be it flying to Barcelona for the weekend to eat at El Bulli or stopping in London (on the way home from China) to eat at the Fat Duck.

So in September, we will head to Texas for a long weekend to taste some fantasic BBQ. Currently our list contains 9 locations, each noted from our research (from friends, websites, etc.) for a meal that is sure to be special. We'll only have 48 hours, so we may have to stop eating several days before we go!

This is only our first part of our BBQ tasting trips. We do plan on visiting Kansas and Tennessee separately. If you have a suggestion for any of these areas, please let me know. And of course, I will post lots of pictures after our trip.

Our current San Antonio-Austin Area, Texas BBQ restaurant list (and the minimum we'll be tasting there!):

• Kruez Market (lean brisket)
• Gonzales Food Market ('candy-coated' brisket, sausage that perfectly 'snaps')
• Novosad's Market (spare ribs)
• Franklin BBQ (brisket, pork ribs)
• Louis Mueller (beef ribs)
• Fargo's Pit (perfect smoke and seasoning combo, meat regularly has 'sugar cookies')
• Smitty's Market (sausage)
• Black Barbecue (smoked turkey breast)
• Luling City Market (the 'bark' on the brisket and ribs)

Recipe: Fueling Your Workout - Quinoa with Chickpeas, Roasted Veggies and Herbs

Break out of your pasta-with-meat-sauce runners diet rut and fuel up with a delicious nutty-flavored grain: Quinoa. Pronounced Keen-waH, in just 1 cup, it packs over 100g carbs, 20g protein and 10g fiber. You can enjoy it warm or cold, so it is very versatile through the seasons.

This is a great dinner entree for vegetarians or a wonderful side dish to supplement a grill out. And here is a great little background from the Whole Foods blog with some other recipe ideas.

Quinoa with Chickpeas, Roasted Veggies and Herbs

• 1/2 c. dry Quinoa
• 2 asparagus spears, sliced into 1" pieces
• 1/4 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 artichoke, heart only, diced
• 1/4 spanish or red onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 small zucchini, diced
• 1/2 c. cherry, grape or small heirloom tomatoes
• 1/2 c. chickpeas, from canned, drained and rinsed
• 1 T. minced herbs (parsley, oregano, basil, thyme, tarragon - whatever!)
• 2 T. evoo

1. Bring a medium pot to high heat, filled 1/2 way with water to a boil and sprinkle in a little salt.
2. Preheat oven to 425.
3. Add quinoa and turn down heat to a 'heavy simmer' or 'light boil' for 10-15 minutes until quinoa starts to 'sprout' and is al dente.
4. In the meantime, toss veggies and herbs in a bowl with 1 T. evoo and salt and pepper to taste. Place in oven to roast for 10-15 minutes until cooked through, remove from oven and set aside.
5. Strain quinoa from water and gently toss over sink in colander to remove excess water - then place in medium bowl.
6. Add veggies, remaining 1 T. evoo and chickpeas to quinoa and gently stir to combine. Ready to enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Servings: 1 very large entree or 2-4 as side dish

Nutritional Info:
Calories: 1400
Carbs: 218g
Fat: 48g
Protein: 42g
Fiber: 24g

Nutritional values are based on Prevention estimates

Recipe: This Weeks Favorite - Grilled Mahi Mahi Corn Tacos with Brazilian Collard Greens, Lime Scented Slaw and Avocado Salsa

In a regular work week, I can prepare over 300 recipes - be it sauces, sides, salads, etc. This can make it difficult for me to motivate myself to prepare dinner for my family everynight. But without fail, there are some things that look and smell so good when I am preparing it for my client, that I'll think about it constantly until I can prepare it for myself!

Grilled Mahi Mahi Corn Tacos with Brazilian Collard Greens, Lime Scented Slaw and Avocado Salsa

• Hard or soft shell corn tacos
• 8 oz (about 1/2 lb) mahi mahi filet (skin and center bone removed), cut into large, bite sized pieces (so they fit in your tacos)
• 2 1/2 T. ground cumin
• 1/2 T. ground coriander
• 2 t. cayenne or chili powder
• 1/4 c. cilantro, minced
• 2 T. parsley, minced
• 2 T. canola oil
• 1 small sweet yellow onion (1/4 of the onion is diced, the other 3/4 is thinly sliced)
• 1 head of garlic, minced
• 1 bunch of collard greens, stems/ribs removed, rolled longways (like a towel) and thinly sliced
• 1 small green cabbage, thinly sliced (outer edge - about 1" - only)
• 4 limes, juice and zest separated
• 1 avocado, smashed
• 1 plum tomato, diced
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a medium pot, filled 3/4 of water to a boil, generously add salt.
2. In a saute pan over medium high heat, add 1 T. canola oil, when hot, add about 3/4 of the thinly sliced sweet yellow onion and all the garlic (except about 1 t.). Saute onions and garlic until golden brown on edges, then deglaze the pan with chicken stock or water, bring to medium boil until au sec (pan is dry) and remove from heat.
3. Drop sliced collards into boiling water until bright green and slightly wilted (about 1 minute). Strain from water, stir in caramelized onion-garlic mixture, 1/2 t. cumin and 1 t. cayenne (or chili powder), set aside.
4. Heat your grill pan or outside grill.
5. In a medium bowl, add salt, pepper, 1 T. canola oil, mahi mahi, 1 T. cumin, 1/2 T. coriander, 1 t. cayenne (or chili powder), 1 T. cilantro and zest from 2 limes. Toss mixture and place on grill for about 2 minutes on each side, remove from grill and set aside.
6. (If you use soft corn tacos, heat then on the grill for about 2 minutes each side)
7. In a large bowl, toss together cabbage, remaining sliced onions, 2 T. cilantro, 1 T. parsley, juice from 3 limes, zest from 1 lime, salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
8. In a small bowl, combine mashed avocado, diced tomato, remaining diced onion, (about a teaspoon of) garlic, 1 T. cumin and 1 T. cilantro, salt and pepper to taste.
9. Build tacos with collards, mahi mahi, cabbage slaw and avocado salsa to enjoy! 

Recipe: Fueling Your Workout - Fruit, Yogurt & Granola Breakfast

Being a runner means you need a lot of carbs to fuel your energy. Most runners need a minimum of 300g/day. Having some protein in your pre or post workout meal is helpful too, when your run is particularly hard. And in this hot weather, you can't help but sweat!

So start your morning run off right with this great combo of fruit, greek yogurt and granola.

Fruit and Greek Yogurt Parfait with Granola

• 1 kiwi, peeled and chopped
• 1 small granny smith apple, chopped
• 1/2 c. green grapes
• 1/3 c. blueberries
• 1 pkg. Skyr Vanilla Yogurt
• 1/3 c. Bear Naked Peak Protein Granola

Place fruit in bowl, spoon over yogurt and spread over the top of the fruit. Sprinkle granola over to enjoy!

Calories: 550
Carbs: 90g
Fat: 11g
Protein: 28g
*Nutritional values are based on Prevention estimates

Events: Restaurant Unleashed Week: March 1-7

The Restaurant Association of the Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) is running a "UNLEASHED" Restaurants! week - basically a week of discounted menu options at participating restaurants in the area (a.k.a., restaurant week).

The RAMW is advertising it under the guise that people are pent up, our desire for foodie camaraderie is runith over and we demand a fill-up (for a discount) at our local (RAMW member only) restaurant. According to the advertisement on the website:

“This will be a great way for patrons to ‘unleash’ the pent up dining passions that have been so constrained over this winter,” said Lynne Breaux, President of RAMW. “And it’s not just dining; this is also about social contact, conviviality, decompression and so much more that we tend not to think about until it is taken away. Think of our “Unleashed” week as an intense, really big, group therapy session.”

This could be true....there was a lot of snow for a while. But it could have something to do with low/poor restaurant sales in January and February. Normally bad months for restaurants, where made much, much worse by the snow.

So 'UNLEASH' your wallet and pick out some restaurants to visit from the participation list on opentable.

Celebrity Chef Thrown Out with the Cat

An Italian celebrity chef really freaked out his viewers (and the hostess talking with him on the video) the other day when he talked about how to eat and enjoy cat as a dish.

You can watch the video here and read the UK piece that talks about how the celebrity chef's show has been dropped from government run Italian TV due to viewers complaints.

Event: Want to be a reality star?

WASHINGTON DC OPEN CALL FOR 24 HOUR RESTAURANT BATTLE

Date: Monday, February 22, 2010
Time: 10am – 3pm
Location: Zentan Restaurant/Donovan House Hotel, 1155 14th Street NW, Washington, DC

We are looking for:

• Two to five person teams with pre-existing relationships (brother and sister, mother and son, husband and wife, etc.) who would love the chance to prove that they can run a restaurant.
• A dynamic front of house and back of house duo. One person on the team will run the front of the house and the other person on the team will be the chef and run the kitchen.
• All levels of experience (culinary school trained to home cook, little or no restaurant experience to a lifelong career in restaurants) will be considered.
• Lots of energy and charisma! We're seeking personalities that pop.

If you have any questions or need further information, please feel free to contact (jemasa@cbsnews.com) or visit the shows website at http://www.24hourrestaurantbattle.com/.  

Events: Book Signing

Author Nancy Tringali Piho is exploring an interesting subject about children's eating habits, how they develop and what impact having 'foodies' as parents can make.

Studies have shown that children must taste something at least 10 times to be able to know if they 'like it' or not, specifically due to their ever developing palate between the ages of 1-3. This also leads to a battle for the parents, attempting to get their children to try it 10 times!

Nancy Tringali Piho book, My Two Year Old Eats Octopus is taking on this subject and Citronelle is hosting a book party for her (Feb 10th at 6:30pm) with a price-fixed-dinner for the adults ($95/pp) and their children ($37).

To read more about the book, this event and about the author, visit her website: http://www.mytwoyearoldeatsoctopus.com/

Events: DC Coasts Annual Guys Cooking Class

Want to surprise your lovely lady with those culinary skills that she (and perhaps you) didn't even know that you had? Sign up for DC Coasts annual cooking class for guys, which takes place about a week before V-Day, so you have a chance to see the chef in action and learn some new moves!

Stunt Veggies for White House

Several weeks ago I was 'vegging out' in front of the television and caught an advertisement for a food network iron chef episode that would feature Michelle Obamas lovely white house garden as the food for the iron chef participants to use.

I was a little surprised to hear that the white house garden was going to be used in the episode because last I heard, the garden was infiltrated by bugs (a side effect of growing organic) and finding out that the place they made the garden was completely tainted by toxins (just because you plant organic plants there, doesn't make the soil organic) and therefore much of the food items were thought to possibly be inedible.

Was there a secret organic garden somewhere in an undisclosed location guarded by FBI agents?

No....It turns out I was correct.....the food network used different food ingredients from NYC  - rather then the White House - as was claimed on the show (even Michelle Obamas uttered on the show "...your secret ingredient [silent pause] is anything from the white house garden...") and never disclosed that the white house garden has been deemed "polluted" from its toxic lead levels.

Since Michelle Obama (and the white house) claim that they feed food banks, white house events and themselves from this garden, they would have had to replace the dirt with different soil in order to produce anything that could be eaten.

Then there is the contriversy that the garden isn't really a garden at all. Some claim the items in the garden were transplanted from almost-mature plants in a nursey to the 'Victory Garden' (Michelle Obamas name pick, not mine) to grow for a week or two before a harvesting photo op at the white house.
 
Others claim that is silly...why would they do that? But no one can seem to find any pictures of seeds being planted or sprouts being attended too.
 
But there are lots of pictures of Michelle Obama and her shovel-ready organic gardening children (as well as staffers) preparing the garden for the next cycle or harvesting items.

For the children (and food banks)...I hope they changed the dirt.

Update: Bistro Lafayette Shares Thanksgiving Menu

Can't go wrong with their pate or their bourguignon!

More DC Taxes on Restaurants

So what new DC tax allows the government to scrape a little more success off the top of the restaurant industry? A valet parking permit.

The cost is $50 to file for the permit ($50 annual renewal) and then the city charges restaurants .50 cents per 20 feet curbside per hour the restaurant uses for valet parking. Doesn't sound like much, right?

But there may be additional fees associated with the permit based on the restaurants location - say - a restaurant has parking meters along the area where the valet is and therefore the restaurant will have to pay for the loss of parking meter income the city could have received along the valet permit area. This is weird, because many restaurants have public parking in front of their location and you just pull up, double-park and they come and take the car away right? No more. I assume this means that the city will actually take away those parking spots in the front of the restaurant and put up signs saying 'valet parking permit area only'. Oh, and the restaurant will have to pay for the cost, installation and upkeep of those signs in front of their restaurant.

Or lets say there is a bus stop in front of the restaurant, where the valet permit is issued and buses may be re-directed to another stop during the permitted valet hours. I am not in favor of more government fees, but if you have ever tried to valet at Zengo, during the dinner rush, where there is a bus stop and no curb access, you know my pain.

But are all valet locations really that valuable to the DC government? I mean, how much could the government make at a valet style restaurant?

Case in point.....I received an email from PS7 stating that because of this law, they would no longer offer valet service. This email is what got me interested in this new DC government permit and sought me to investigate and run the numbers. So here they are, generally thinking (because I am just guessing the numbers from experience, I have no idea who or how PS7 does its books) about what would effect PS7 over the course of 1 year:

• $50: valet parking application fee (must be annually renewed)
• $0: additional bus re-routing during valet permit hours (there is no bus stop in front of the restaurant so this doesn't apply);
• $500: cost of new signage at valet location (I really have no idea how much this costs, but we are talking about DC city government, so whatever number you are thinking would be reasonable, times that by 10)
• $5616: parking meter loss of income to the DC government: $18 (based on 2 parking meters in front of the restaurant, charging $2/hour for the 4.5 hours the city loses on the 2 meters)/6 days a week (the city doesn't charge on Sundays)/52 weeks a year (if the restaurant was open all year long)
• $1274: the city charges .50 cents per 20 feet per hour of valet usage so thats ($3.50/7 hours (if PS7 offered valet from 5pm to 11pm)/7 days a week (if they where open 7 days a week)$24.50/52 weeks a year
• Therefore the total cost to be in regulation is: $7440

So technically, the costs associated in providing valet service at PS7 would be an additional $20 per day (in the first year alone).

But how does this compare to what they are already spending on valet parking?

• cost: $100,000/year - if they hired the nicest valet service in DC
• cost: $16,400/year - if they only had 20 diners per day (this is a low estimate), 7 days a week, utilize their valet service. They may charge you $8 to park your car, but it only costs them $5 to park it in the garage (this is a high estimate, because restaurants usually get quite a deal on contract parking in garages)

So this is about an increase of 6.4% in costs associated in providing valet service at PS7. Now that is quite a tax hike!

And if the restaurant is only making $12/diner (based on the cost of 30/30/30 - 3 course menu - where the menu price is broken into thirds, where 1/3 goes to paying for the food, 1/3 goes toward paying for the staff, electricity, etc. and 1/3 is profit) that means that the restaurant now 'forks' over the profit from 1.5 diners a day to the DC government - just for offering valet parking between 5pm and 11pm 6 nights a week.

So by not offering valet service or even discounted garage parking, the restaurant has taken the costs associated with valet parking ($318/day) off their books completely.

Although I adore valet parking, but I praise the restaurant for watching their bottom line and not giving the DC government another outlet to overcharge the restaurant industry. I just hope that this new taxing idea doesn't spread to VA or MD. And I hope that restaurant patrons won't mind circling PS7 block for parking.

If you are interested in reading the regulation go here

Events: Thanksgiving at Bistrot Lafayette

Don't feel like cooking on Thanksgiving? Want to go out? Its often hard to find a nice thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant that isn't a very pricing buffet spread.

No worries though, Bistrot Lafayette has you covered - they are offering a Thanksgiving 3-course menu (including turkey) for just $32/person from 12pm to 8pm on Thanksgiving day.

You might want to make reservations, as I didn't see this special occasion listed on the website.

Events: Hooked on Mad Men

Hook Restaurant in georgetown is looking to bring you in to their restaurant - even if it means you don't eat the food, just drink and watch tv.

Event: Watch the season finale of Mad Men
Date: Tonite
Time: 8pm to closing (tvs in the bar will be turned to watch Mad Men at 10pm)
Showcasing: Serving appetizers and showcasing the drinks on the show (side cars, manhattans, etc.)

I enjoy Mad Men, but I am just into season 1 on netflicks, so I don't want to spoil it.

This event does seems slightly ironic in that a restaurant so clearly coming from a sustainable 'point of view' showcases a television show where an important basis of character development comes from red meat and smoking.