Week 19 - Ecuadorian

As part of the AtWCC, I'm hoping to make some form of bread (or explore bread in some other way if I'm not making it myself for whatever reason) for each location. When the Ecuadorian challenge came up, the recipe I was most interested in at the time was for pan de yuca, a chewy, cheesy bread, so it looked like I found my bread for Ecuador! I found a recipe on Laylita, and the challenge was set. Although we'd never had pan de yuca at an Ecuadorian spot before, it sounded similar to the Brazilian pao de queijo that we love, so I was hoping this would come out well.

For the challenge, I made a full batch and tried to follow the recipe closely, although I did do a couple of ingredient modifications, using a mix of fontina, asiago, and parmesan instead of grated mozzarella, and substituting flax eggs for the "regular" eggs. I chose to prepare it by hand instead of using a food processor, and it was fairly easy. You basically mix all the ingredients together until smooth, adding a little bit of warm water if dry, form the dough into balls, and then chill them in the fridge for about half an hour. I baked them for about 5-8 minutes, and then broiled them.

I pulled them out from the broiler when they started looking more brown than golden, but unfortunately the insides were still a little gummy. I wasn't sure if it was how I made them or an effect of using flax eggs instead, but I was a little disappointed. They were definitely edible and had a nice crunch to the outside, but the inside just didn't feel right texturally to me.

I tried the recipe again a few months later, only making a partial batch this time (quartered most measurements). I tried to make them the exact same way, but with other things going on, I left them baking a little longer before broiling them, and then maybe broiled them a little longer too. They were more golden than the last time, and this time, the insides were just what I was hoping they would be, not gummy at all. Unfortunately, I don't know if I know exactly how long I baked them for, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to replicate it. I kind of just lucked into it because I was doing other things. I guess I'll just have to give them another try and take notes next time!

M's Favorite Food Memories of 2017

Somehow it's already May, and we still haven't posted our favorite food memories from last year. We originally planned to do it by Chinese New Year, and then wanted to finish them before we moved, but things got so busy and so hectic (multiple all-nighters level of busy), much more than we anticipated despite knowing we had 12 years of stuff to move, and we never got to it. A lot of our stuff is still in boxes, and we still don't have a complete living room, but we don't want to neglect this blog forever. So this post is long overdue, but before summer officially kicks off, here are my favorite food memories from 2017. We ate a lot of good food in 2017, both at home in NYC and on our trips to LA, Seattle, and Vancouver. In (sort of) alphabetical order, here are my 10 favorite food memories of 2017.

1. Eatsa (NYC)

I went to Eatsa for the first time early in 2017 (we posted about it) and returned several more times over the course of the year. (It probably would have been many more if I had still worked in a Midtown office.) Eatsa revolutionized the eating scene in two different ways: the ordering process (automat-style from a kiosk/phone app without any human interaction) and making healthy quinoa bowls affordable (pretty much everything was under $10). In the end, the price may be part of what did them in, since quinoa isn't cheap, and they closed all their non-SF stores in October. (The cynical part of me still wonders if all the stores were just a test run for their tech.) I'll always be sad that I can never have another no worry curry (what ended up being my favorite) bowl again, with its tasty quinoa, spaghetti squash, apple-cabbage slaw, pickled onions, red Thai curry sauce, and more, but all the tasty bowls are a happy memory of 2017.

2. Bollo de pescado from Ecuadorian Delights at the Queens International Night Market (NYC)

I love going to the Queens International Night Market (which has already started up for 2018 before I finished this post). In 2017, we made two visits and sampled Burmese, Guyanese, Antiguan, Salvadoran, Ecuadorian, Guatemalan, Persian, Nigerian, and Filipino cuisine. There really isn't anywhere else in the city where you can do all that in a short period of time and at affordable prices. My favorite thing at the night market last year was the bollo de pescado from Ecuadorian Delights, a green plantain tamale with tuna and peanut sauce wrapped up in banana leaves and topped with pickled onions. It was so delicious, and tasted like something that was just made in someone's home kitchen. We got it on both visits because we liked it so much, meaning we were too full to try their hallaca or corviche, and now I have no idea where to go to get any of those.

3. Corn ice cream taco from Empellon (NYC)

We went to the Midtown Empellon to celebrate my birthday, and one of the desserts that we heard a lot about before our visit was the corn ice cream taco. I figured it would be good, but I wasn't prepared for the explosion of corn flavor in every bite. Corn and ice cream are a great combination, one of my favorites, with some sweetness, saltiness, and savory flavor all in one bite. It wasn't a big dessert, so we were also able to get the avocado dessert and a seasonal apple dessert sampler, but it was probably my favorite dessert of the year.

4. Acai and pitaya bowls from Fruit Wonders (Palm Springs, CA)

Our big trip last year was to California, and we spent a few relaxing days in Palm Springs. It was really hot during the day, and the perfect way to cool down was a visit to Fruit Wonders. We got an açaí bowl the first time and a pitaya bowl the second, and both were really good. Sweet smoothies with granola, hemp seeds, oatmeal, blueberries, bananas, strawberries, kiwi, coconut, and agave. We'd been wanting to try açaí bowls for a while, but this was our first time, and we were hooked thanks to Fruit Wonders.

5. Los Tacos No. 1 (NYC)

Los Tacos No. 1 has been open in Chelsea Market for years, but they finally opened a second location, right near Times Square, last summer. Their tacos are some of the best in the city, and this new location was so much closer to us. We went there a lot since their opening, getting tacos, quesadillas, mulas, and nopal plates topped with (most commonly) pollo asado or adobada. Even with all the new spots in Hell's Kitchen/Midtown West over the past year, its arrival was the most exciting thing that happened for us. One of my few regrets before we moved was that I didn't manage to go there even more.

6. Salmon oshi sushi from Miku (Vancouver, BC)

We had a lot of things on our Vancouver to-try list for our few days there, and one of the must-dos was aburi oshi sushi, a special type of sushi that is not very common around here, pressed and flame-seared. We went to Miku, an expensive restaurant on the downtown waterfront, and sat at the bar for a light meal just so we could try the sushi. The salmon was BC wild sockeye salmon, and it was topped with jalapeño and Miku sauce. This was unlike any other sushi we'd had before. It basically melted in your mouth, and was so full of flavor. Pretty much a perfect bite of sushi, and I still dream about it.

7. The famous chicken for two from The NoMad (NYC)

We went to The Nomad for A's birthday, and we were finally able to try their famous whole-roasted chicken for two. We weren't sure if it would live up to the incredible hype, but it definitely did. They bring the chicken out to you once it's done, but then bring it to the back and plate it. You get a large piece of white meat chicken, so juicy and tender, with foie gras, black truffle, and brioche bread crumbs under the skin, on a plate with potato puree and leeks, and then you get the dark meat in a small bowl like a stew. It was amazing, and its stellar reputation is well-earned.

8. Cheddar garlic roll from Piroshky Piroshky (Seattle, WA)

I'm not big on waiting in line for food, but we waited for Piroshky Piroshky. We had tried their salmon pate piroshky years ago when a relative gave one to us to try, so we got that again along with some other stuff that looked good. While the salmon one was as good as we remembered, what we really loved was the cheddar garlic roll. Layers of perfectly chewy pastry with cheddar cheese, garlic, and scallions, it was a combination of some of my favorite things. We went back again on the day we left to get some more, because it was just that good.

9. Sisig tacos from various spots around NYC

We don't have any Filipino restaurants in our neighborhood (last year or now), so before last year, we only ended up getting Filipino food once in a (very long) while. Last summer, we got some sisig tacos at a street fair, and that ended up kicking off an unplanned summer of Filipino food exploration. We got so much Filipino food last summer, everything from halo halo to sisig bangus to chicken adobo to buko pandan, but of course, more sisig tacos all over the place. They may not be traditional Filipino cuisine, but they're fun to eat and delicious.

10. Sockeye salmon sashimi from Sushi Itoga (Vancouver, BC)

Last but certainly not least, the sockeye salmon sashimi from Sushi Itoga in Vancouver. Sushi Itoga was another one of those must-try things I put on our Vancouver list. It was a small spot where you ordered sushi at the counter, and then they brought it to your table. Even better, it was incredibly affordable. We got six rolls, a plate of sashimi, seaweed salad, and the included miso soup and tea for like US $35. Even better than the price was the quality. That sashimi was so fresh, and it was so soft that it really just melted in our mouths. (I realize I said the same thing about Miku, but it's true.) We went there on our last day in Vancouver, and we were talking about the sashimi the entire way back to Seattle on the train.

There you have it, my favorite food memories of 2017. Somehow it took over four months to put it into words, but it's finally done!

Espumillas

Last weekend, we went out to Jackson Heights for the Viva La Comida festival. There were performers, bands, and lots of street food, and we loved it. One of the foods that we had for the very first time was a popular Ecuadorian street food dessert called espumillas. We had never even heard of them before that day, but they were one of the few dessert items at the festival and we had been wanting to try something Ecuadorian ever since we didn't get around to checking that out during our World Cup challenge.

The cart at the festival was a small cart that usually sets up somewhere in Corona. They had a big bin of what looked like a cross between ice cream and foam in both white and pink colors. All of it was covered in sprinkles, which always attracts me to a dessert. Some people were getting cones, but we opted for one of the small takeout containers instead, and since we were getting kind of full, we decided to just take it home to eat as a snack later that afternoon. They were nice and gave us cones to take home too.

Espumillas are basically a fruit-flavored meringue, a mix of egg whites, sugar, and fruit, usually guava. We weren't sure what flavor these were, but we did get a hint of guava or maybe some berry flavor. We didn't really taste any difference between the white and the pink, so that may just be food coloring. A ate his espumillas both in the cones and straight from the box, while I am not a big cone person and just ate it straight. The texture was a bit like a foam, but denser. A bit like whipped cream, but lighter and airier. Not heavy and didn't feel oily or greasy like whipped cream can. It felt a little bit weird at first, but it quickly grew on us. We also liked that it was sweet, but not overly sweet. It was nice and light.

We had no idea if the espumillas we got from the cart were authentic or typical, and I was so interested to learn more about them, that I spent some time while we were eating on Google looking up espumillas. I found lots of pictures of espumillas from Ecuador and they looked pretty much exactly like ours in both consistency and color. (They're different from the Nicaraguan and Salvadoran versions which look more like what I picture when I think of meringue.) We were really happy that we were able to try such a unique treat and something truly Ecuadorian. We don't know when the cart is out in Corona, and it seems to be the only place in the city that makes this, but we would definitely love to get more some time!