Week 46 - Seasonal

I love fall seasonal dishes, whether it's a warm, hearty stew or something often found on the table at Thanksgiving, like mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, or stuffing. I wasn't sure what to make for this challenge, but like some of the other challenges, somehow it found me instead. We had ordered delivery from Whole Foods, requesting a Napa cabbage to make some moo shu, and they messed up and sent us a green cabbage instead. Although we could have used it in the same dish, we had coleslaw mix left over from something else that worked better, so we were then left with a green cabbage. Not wanting it to go to waste even though we received it in error, what should we do with it? Cabbage rolls!

Cabbage rolls were one of those things we always thought about doing, but knew it would be a lot of work. We found a recipe on Pressure Cooking Today that seemed to make it a little simpler because it used the Instant Pot, but we knew this had to be a weekend project because it would take at least a couple of hours. (It took more than 3 hours.) Originally, I was thinking it could be a seasonal dish because it was warm and soupy and filled with comforting flavors, but after reading the Wikipedia entry, it seems like a common dish that many cultures serve near Christmas. Definitely appropriate for the seasonal challenge! Also, although cabbage rolls turn up in many cultures, these seem to line up most closely with the Polish version described there (meat and rice stuffed in a cabbage leaf with a tomato-based sauce), which is what we were thinking when we made it as well.

We only made a few variations to the original recipe, but no ingredients photo this time because we were just trying to get a lot of moving pieces going and didn't really have space on the counter with the Instant Pot already out. Also, even though I was sort of considering this for the seasonal challenge before we made it, I didn't actually decide on it until partway through. Anyway, the ingredients we used were:

For the cabbage leaves and filling:

- 1 box of Trader Joe's chickpea and red lentil risoni ($2.99)

- 1 large head of green cabbage (technically $0 because it was given to us in error, $1.77 if we had purchased it)

- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped ($0.79)

- 1/2 head of garlic, minced ($0.33)

- salt and freshly ground black pepper ($0.03)

- 1 package of Impossible Burger ($7.99)

- 1 flax egg ($0.08)

For the sauce:

- 2 tbsp butter ($0.18)

- 1 yellow onion, chopped ($0.79)

- 1/2 head of garlic, minced ($0.33)

- 2 cans (14.5 oz) of diced tomatoes with juice ($1.78)

- 8 oz can of tomato sauce ($0.50)

- 1/4 cup white vinegar ($0.10)

- large spoonful of chicken bouillon ($0.25)

- garlic powder ($0.03)

- freshly ground black pepper ($0.02)

- a tsp or so of Worcestershire sauce ($0.08)

- cornstarch and cold water ($0.10)

The total cost of the meal was about $18.14, which covered dinner for the three of us (although B didn't eat a ton of it) plus a bowl of leftovers for another day. Not the cheapest meal, but using Impossible Burger pretty much guarantees that since it's $8 by itself. Using ground turkey or some other ground meat would probably knock that total under $15, a more standard amount for our dinners, but we like splurging with Impossible Burger every once in a while.

To make the cabbage rolls, the first step was to get all of the components in motion. We made the risoni on the stove, cored the cabbage and then boiled it for 10 minutes, and then started on the sauce (melting the butter, adding the onion, then the garlic, then everything else other than the cornstarch-water mixture). This sounded simple, but as we expected it to, the cabbage preparation part took a while. Once it boiled (and cooled a little), we had to pull off the outer leaves. After boiling the rest some more, cooling and pulling off more leaves, some of the remaining leaves from the inside were chopped up and added to the sauce when it was done. That was the instruction from the recipe, although if I were to do this again, I would add all the remaining cabbage into the sauce. It came out so tender from the Instant Pot that I would definitely just throw it all in there if there were cabbage remaining. The last piece of preparing the cabbage leaves was something A picked up from YouTube, which was to pare down the stem a little bit to make them easier to fold and roll.

Once the cabbage leaves were ready, it was time to make the filling by combining about 60% of the risoni, the Impossible Burger, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and the flax egg in a large bowl. When the filling was ready, it was time to roll! I don't know why I thought this would be the most time-consuming part. Once we got the technique down (add a couple tbsp of filling to the bottom stem part of the leaf, roll up once, roll both sides in, then keep rolling away from you, putting it seam-side down on a plate/cutting board when done), it went pretty fast. I also found it really meditative to do.

We didn't end up using all the filling in our 14 rolls, so the rest of it I just threw on the stove and made "burgers" to snack on while the Instant Pot worked. Since the filling was designed to be eaten inside cabbage with the sauce, it wasn't the most flavorful, and I probably liked it more than everyone else in the household. Maybe I just like the taste of Impossible Burger plain. Snack was that, plus some of the leftover risoni, plus some of the leftover cabbage which I just stir-fried for a little while.

Back to the cabbage rolls. It was time to fill the Instant Pot, and here, we followed the instructions carefully to make sure everything would cook correctly. We put the rack on the bottom of the pot, then added a cup of water, and put the first layer of rolls on the rack. It only fit six, but I did pick the six biggest ones. Next up was to cover them with about 1/3 of the sauce. The second layer of rolls was then added, alternating the direction from the first layer. The rest of the sauce was added on top and around the sides of the rolls, being careful not to go past the fill line. (We were close, but not past it.)

We set the Instant Pot to high pressure for 18 minutes, and then followed the instruction to unplug it and let it naturally release (although we did 10 minutes instead of 15) before doing the quick release. It took quite some time to come up to pressure, and the quick release sprayed more water out than usual, so maybe we should have waited the full 15 (but it was late and we wanted to get going).

Once the rolls were moved to a separate plate and the rack removed, the Instant Pot went back on, but this time on the saute function. The cornstarch-water mixture was added (twice, so no idea how much I used) to thicken the sauce while it boiled for about 10 minutes. We topped the cabbage rolls with the sauce, and dinner was finally served (near 11 pm)!

So, how did the cabbage roll experiment go? Really well, especially considering it was our first time making them. I think the only things we would do differently next time (besides starting earlier, as we're still getting used to estimating total time when using the Instant Pot) would be to: (1) season the filling a little bit more, maybe adding some garlic powder or other seasonings, and (2) add all of the remaining cabbage (chopped up) into the sauce. The tomatoes and cabbage in the sauce were so tender, and the flavor of the sauce was like tomato soup. So comforting for the season. The cabbage leaves were also super tender, and the whole dish really worked and would be so good with those two slight modifications. I don't know when we would make this again because of how labor-intensive and time-consuming it was (so I'm counting it for Poland for the AtWCC now), and also because B doesn't currently seem to be a fan of cabbage or Impossible Burger (has only really eaten it 1/4 of the time we've served it), but we (A&M) were really satisfied with the final product. 

A Visit to the Strip District

We had one full day in Pittsburgh on our road trip. We were planning to spend the second half of that day at a Pirates game, but for the first part, we wanted to get in some sightseeing. It wasn't my first time in Pittsburgh since A had lived there for a few summers with his family, but it was my first time doing any real sightseeing there. Since it was lunchtime, we decided to start out over in the Strip District, which had developed over the years into a historic market district. A had been there several times during the time he lived there, mostly with his mom to go food shopping, but hadn't really spent much time wandering around or eating at the various vendors since they went there specifically to shop at a couple of stores.

A suggested we start out with Wholey's, a grocery store that had been in Pittsburgh for over 100 years. We strolled around the aisles, but couldn't really buy anything because of our schedule. After that, we went to some other shops, like Penzeys Spices and also open air markets. Since it was a Saturday afternoon, the narrow streets were packed with people, very slow-moving, and it took forever trying to get anywhere. As a result, we didn't investigate too many places before deciding to get something to eat for lunch.

We started off with tacos at Edgar's Tacos, which had a sign proclaiming themselves the best tacos in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, four years and probably at least a hundred tacos later, I couldn't even tell you which tacos we got here. Even though the details are a bit fuzzy (I really wish we had taken notes on this trip), I do remember that the portions were generous and that the tacos did taste good. That was a nice start to lunch.

Our next stop was at S&D Polish Deli, where we split the Polish platter. The platter had three pierogi,  haluszki, and stuffed cabbage, and also came with a drink. Don't remember which type of pierogi these were, but they were good, as was the stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce. The haluszki, I think, was the "Pittsburgh style" with cabbage, onions, and butter. All of the food was really good, and we were really happy with our platter. After eating, there was some customer service-type drama relating to getting a bathroom key which had me steaming for a bit until I wrote it all out in my journal to get it out of my head forever, and that must have worked since I don't remember the majority of the details anymore. So our takeaway from here was that the food was good, but maybe not worth dealing with the foot traffic and the potential for a bathroom key drama repeat.

Our last stop was at Peace, Love and Little Donuts, which we went to partially because we wanted a snack and partially because we loved the name. We got the cinnamon sugar (in part, because they were giving out samples before we ordered) and the Samoa donuts. Both were fine, although we think the donuts we have at home in NYC (or when we visit Chicago) are better.

Overall, while it was nice to visit the Strip District, what we ate and experienced wasn't so different from anything we could get at home, including all the crowds. We have since accumulated other bookmarks for places to visit in Pittsburgh, so I'm not sure if we'll do this Strip District visit again, but I'm glad we at least did this together once.

A's Favorite Food Memories 2014

So like the last few years, M and I have decided to write up our favorite food memories for the past year. 2014 was different from previous years. We didn't have a big, food-centric vacation that dominated our lists, but we did get to explore the world through our World Cup eating challenge and M's 52 week cooking challenge. Here are my top 10 favorite food memories of 2014 in no particular order:

1.   Uni Tostada - Cosme (NYC)

This was a dish that opened my mind up. I love uni, and I love bone marrow, but I had never thought to put them together. The crisp blue corn tostada provided an amazing crunch and base, and the bone marrow salsa added a beautiful richness, but the true star of the show was the uni. It was so fresh, and you could definitely taste the sea with this dish. When you paired everything together it all melded into a seamless, perfect dish.

2.   Lobster Pibil - Cosme (NYC)

I usually don't go out of my way to get lobster. I find that, for the price you end up paying I just don't find the value to be worth it. Sure it's tasty, but I'd rather split the cost of a lobster dish into two dishes to try. I'm really glad we got this dish, though. The lobster pieces (claw, knuckle, half tail) were so sweet and tender. There was no chewiness to them at all. The black bean puree mixed with the avocado leaf puree offered richness and body, and the chorizo added some saltiness to balance out dish.

3.   Gorgon - Otto's Tacos (NYC)

After M showed me a picture of what this special "off-menu" item looked like, I knew we had to try it. It's a San Antonio style puffy taco filled with their carne asada, chopped onions, cilantro, guacamole, and a serrano chile crema. It's a gut bomb, but at the same time it's one of the most delicious things ever. I would eat this again in a heartbeat, but you need to make sure to only order when they're not busy. Since it's a special order they have to make it fresh so it takes some time.

4.   Cevapi - Cevabdzinica Sarajevo (Astoria, Queens)

As part of our World Cup eating adventure, M and I were fortunate enough to try food from some new countries. One was Bosnia, and we made a special trip out to Astoria for cevapi, which are a homemade sausage. The spice mix is obviously a secret, but it was delicious, and when paired with their homemade bread, chopped onions, and ajvar was an amazing dish.

5.   Crab Spaghettini - Jamie's Italian (Quantum of the Seas)

On our big vacation of the year, we found ourselves on a boat in the Atlantic with limited food options. All that said, we did find a really nice meal at Jamie's Italian, the restaurant designed and created by Jamie Oliver. This dish tasted and felt really clean and fresh. The crab was sweet and delicious, and the pasta was simply prepared with olive oil and garlic.

6.   Herbs Spring Rolls - Chada (Las Vegas)

The reason this dish resonated with me so much this year was that it was so different than anything else I had ever eaten at a Thai restaurant. Sure, I'd had fresh rolls and summer rolls in the past, but this was something entirely different. I couldn't quite place the flavor, but the herbal nature of the vegetables was so refreshing and so bright. The filling was warm and added a nice balance of salt to the dish. It's something that I would love to have again.

7.   Nam Prik Ong - Lotus of Siam (Las Vegas)

This is something that is something else. It's often described as a spicy pork and tomato dip that gets served with sliced vegetables. Obviously there's much more to this than just being a simple dip. In the end, the only way I know how to describe this is as one of the best and richest bolognese sauces ever. I would pour this all over pasta and eat this every day if I could.

8.   Hungarian Pancake - Smak-Tak (Chicago)

On our most recent trip back to the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago for a wedding, we made a trip into the city to get some Polish food. Chicago has a thriving Polish community so we knew our best chance of getting something for the World Eats Challenge would be there. I'm not sure why it's a Hungarian pancake in a Polish restaurant, but it's a specialty of Polish cuisine apparently. It's a massive potato pancake folded over and filled with gulash with red cabbage slaw and sour cream on the side. It's hearty, it's filling, and it's amazingly delicious. This is one of those dishes where you eat it and instantly need a nap. I'm also pretty sure that's exactly what I did.

9.   Arepa Con Queso - Arepa Lady (Elmhurst, Queens)

M and I have always talked about how we want to find the Arepa Lady in Queens. She's famous for her amazing arepas and also for her insanely inconsistent hours. Often times she doesn't even show up to her spot until right around midnight. Recently she had also opened up a brick and mortar store, and we really wanted to check that out, but people always said that the cart was still better. Luckily for us we were able to get to the Viva La Comida street festival where she and her cart were vending. She has two options available, one made of corn and one made of choclo (a Peruvian large kernel corn). The one I selected was the corn version. It has a subtle sweetness from the corn, but it's stuffed with cheese, griddled, and then covered in more cheese. 

10. Home cooking (NYC)

This year M did a lot of cooking at home. She unofficially participated in the Reddit 52-week cooking challenge, and it turned into a lot of amazing meals. I'm highlighting four of them here as these were my favorites. For TV inspired she made Hawaiian Garlic Butter Shrimp inspired by Hawaii 5-0. It was such a rich, amazing flavor. You could really taste the butter and garlic paired with the sweet shrimp. For street food she went Mexican and made esquites. Charred corn mixed up with chilis, garlic, scallions, cilantro, spices, and mayo ended up being one of our most favorite things she made all year. For "American" she made Hoppin' John and Collard Greens, and the collards were unbelievable. I'm a huge fan of collards, and these rivaled almost every other one I've had in restaurants. For Belgian week she made Carbonnade and Stoemp, Flemish Beef (M used chicken) and Beer Stew and Mashed Potatoes with mixed in vegetables. We'd had carbonnade while in Belgium, and this was just as rich and sweet as we remembered. The stoemp was filling and a perfect complement to the rich stew.

Millie's Pierogi

Last weekend was the annual 9th Avenue International Food Fair (last year's report here) and we stopped by both Saturday and Sunday. We love visiting the neighborhood fair to see what local restaurants have stands (don't believe all the reports on Yelp that there are no local places participating; those people must be clueless) and to make our yearly stop at Millie's Pierogi.

We got our usual trio of pierogi on Saturday for $4.50 - kielbasa, cabbage, potato & cheese. We get the same ones every time because they're so good.

While we were eating the pierogi, we heard lots of people order the same combination. It's definitely the way to go. You can get Millie's pierogi for delivery (in large quantities), but we just don't think it would be the same as these buttery griddled versions we get at the fair.

On Sunday, we finally tried something from Millie's other than pierogi. We were intrigued by the kielbasa and the kraut dog, but we decided to go with the golumpki ($5). M thought about making golumpki back during the Week 2 challenge, but she doubts anything she could have made would have come out this good.

The golumpki consisted of cabbage wrapped around ground meat with rice, soaked in a tasty tomato and onion sauce. The meat was dense and tightly packed inside the cabbage leaves, which were really tender. We enjoyed this.

Ultimately, our favorite thing at Millie's is still the pierogi, but we're glad we tried the golumpki. Can't wait to get some pierogi next time!

Week 2 - Polish

The theme for week 2 of the 52 week cooking challenge was Polish. So many options! I've eaten Polish food plenty of times (although I still have a lot more to explore), but never cooked it before. I love pierogi, but they are the Polish food I'm most familiar with (eating, not cooking), so I didn't want to do that. (I also find anything dumpling-like to be so labor-intensive and the food disappears so quickly.) I had it narrowed down to kielbasa skillets, potato pancakes, variations of cabbage rolls, and a couple recipes for kapusta (something I had never heard of until I started researching, but is apparently Polish for "cabbage"). I couldn't decide so I let A make the call. He chose a kapusta and kielbasa slow cooker recipe I found on Chowhound.

Ingredients:

The only ingredient we had at home was a Costco onion, so everything else came from Fairway.

- 6 Russet potatoes ($1.28)
- 1 large yellow onion ($0.50)
- 1/2 lb of turkey bacon ($1.86)
- 16 oz package of sauerkraut ($1.99)
- 1 lb of kielbasa ($6.99)

$12.62 is more than our home cooking recipes usually cost, even when they include meat, but over 55% of that cost was the kielbasa. I had been planning to get turkey kielbasa from Trader Joe's which was more than $2 less, but we were shopping on the dreadful first Sunday after New Year's (the worst shopping day of the season, compounded by the impending polar vortex). The turkey kielbasa was out of stock and I didn't want to go back out on Monday (the lines were even worse because of weather craziness) or Tuesday (the day of frigid temperatures), so I went to Whole Foods and got the only kielbasa they had. Next time I need kielbasa I may stop by the butcher shop or keep searching for a cheaper option (provided I have more flexibility than I did this time).

Process:

The recipe was pretty easy to follow. I love loading up the slow cooker in the morning, allowing the aromas to circulate around the apartment all day, and then having a stress-free evening while the slow cooker finishes up all the work. 

This wasn't one of those recipes where you just throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker and press start (although I do love those). The preparation went as follows:

1. Peel and chop potatoes into small pieces and throw into slow cooker.
2. Chop bacon into smaller pieces.
3. Fry bacon and layer on top of potatoes (without the bacon grease).
4. Saute onions in bacon grease. Once tender and translucent, put onions and bacon grease into slow cooker. (Since I used turkey bacon and a nonstick skillet, I didn't really have much grease.)
5. Slice kielbasa and put into slow cooker on top of onions.
6. Drain sauerkraut (reserve juice) and add on top of kielbasa.

I set the slow cooker for 8 hours. I checked on it every 2 hours or so to make sure it wasn't too dry. I ended up adding all the sauerkraut juice plus an additional 1/2-1 cup of water about 1-2 hours in. The sauerkraut on top was a little dry but not much else was. I just wanted to use the sauerkraut juice and throw the bowl in the dishwasher. But I think the amount of liquid turned out just right. I stirred it around every so often but tried to keep the potatoes on the bottom so they would boil and soften.

I ended up running the slow cooker for 7 hours instead of 8, but everything was done by then. Stirred it a bunch of times to mix everything together and mash up the potatoes a little bit and then it was time to eat!

Review:

This was a good dish for a winter's night. The potatoes were soft and combined well with the cabbage, soaking up the saltiness and sourness of the kielbasa and the sauerkraut. I liked how well it all blended together. A thought the kielbasa would be more flavorful, and thought the sauerkraut flavor was a little bit blander after cooking (but the potatoes picked up a lot of both of those flavors). I'm not really a huge bacon fan (I know, it's a rarity), but A thinks real bacon would have made this taste better. In fact, A didn't think the turkey bacon had much of any flavor. I agree that it didn't seem to add much. The overall flavors of this dish were good, but we might make some adjustments if we were to make it again. Maybe fresh kielbasa and real bacon instead.

I'm not really a huge "meat and potatoes" eater, so I can't see making this on a regular basis. I just need more vegetables in my meals, especially if the recipe is making enough for two days of meals. But I did enjoy my foray into Polish cooking and would do it again. Maybe next time it'll be golumpki in the slow cooker.

9th Ave Food Festival 2013

This past weekend was the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival in Hell's Kitchen. Although Manhattan has lots of street fairs in the summer, this festival in May is special. A lot of the neighborhood restaurants participate which makes it more diverse than the usual street fair and gives it more character. I've been going since I was a kid (things were really different back then), and since moving to the neighborhood almost 8 years ago, A and I have tried to go every year.

We did most of our food crawling on Saturday. Our first stop this year was Poseidon Greek Bakery, which is probably one of our first stops every time we go.

Clockwise from top left: menina mash, menina mash partially eaten, the Poseidon stand, lots of pies

We got the Menina Mash, a vegetable pie filled with carrots, potatoes, spinach, chickory and escarole. The phyllo is flaky but not overwhelming, the vegetables are mashed together in a delicious green mixture, and the flavors are so comforting. Poseidon is a Hell's Kitchen institution and they have been serving delicious pies for years. We've never had a bad one there and recommend them all. They also have Greek sweets in addition to the savory pies.

Our second stop was a new one for us - Añejo Tequileria, Chef Angelo Sosa's Mexican place over on Tenth Avenue. We've had this place on our to-visit list for some time, so we stopped by to say hi to Chef and get some tacos.

Clockwise from top left: Añejo stand, chicken taco, menu sign, short rib taco

They were sadly sold out of the mushroom taco, so we went with the short rib taco (braised short ribs, cocoa, green cabbage, pico de gallo, chipotle crema, queso fresco) on a recommendation from Chef Sosa and the chicken taco (tender dark meat chicken, scented with banana leaf and achiote, cabbage, pico de gallo, chipotle crema, queso fresco). They were both delicious. The tortillas were a little bit dry but the taco fillings were really juicy and tasty. Our favorite was probably the short rib taco. There were such nuanced flavors to that taco and we would gladly get another one.

Our third stop was another annual stop - Millie's Pierogi! They come down from Massachusetts for this festival with their delicious pierogies and we always stop by to get some.

Clockwise from top left - potato and cheese pierogi, cabbage pierogi, pierogi stand, kielbasa pierogi, menu sign, pierogies plate

We usually get the same three pierogies: cabbage, potato and cheese, and kielbasa with potato and cheese. (They also have cheese and prune, but we've never gotten those.) It varies by year, but this year I think our favorite was the cabbage. We've never tried the kielbasa dog or the golumpki (stuffed cabbage), but maybe some year we will. The pierogies are so good though, that it's hard to choose anything else.

The food festival debuted a new "food truck park" this year on one block of the food festival (at least we don't remember it being there before), where there were about six or seven trucks lined up selling food items. The challenging thing about this was that some of the trucks didn't really have smaller sized food items to offer on their regular menus. If other visitors are like us, we usually don't get full meals at any individual stand but instead look for smaller items for a food crawl. 

Clockwise from top left: menu board, Desi truck, inside the kati roll, aloo masala kati roll, free sample of puri-bhaji

We stopped at the Desi Truck, because out of all of the trucks there, it is hardest for us to visit them since they are down in SoHo. We got the aloo masala kati roll, which had curried potatoes, peppers and onions inside. It was a delicious snack. We also got to try the puri-bhaji, a puffed round flatbread with light potato curry, since they gave out free samples to a lot of people around the truck. That was really good and after the sample, we thought maybe we should have ordered that instead!

Our last snack on Saturday was at Leon Bakery, a Mexican spot on 9th Avenue that used to just have baked goods, groceries and tamales, but now has lots of options like tortas, cemitas and huaraches. We've been there a few times, but of course haven't shared it with you yet since we're so behind on posting.

Left to right: wrapped up tamale, partially eaten tamale, horchata

For our last stop, we picked up a chicken tamale (it was supposed to be spicy but it was kind of mild) and a cup of horchata. It was a nice snack but I was expecting more from the tamale based on past experience with Leon. More spice, more flavor, more from the chicken inside. Maybe I got the wrong one and should have gone with my gut and gotten whatever was in the salsa verde. I think maybe I will stick with the cemita there, which I really like. The horchata was sweeter than usual and less cinnamon flavor, but still refreshing. It also had a bit of a sourness to the aftertaste. Not a sourness like it was going bad, but a sourness that was hard to describe. It didn't make it a bad drink, just a taste we weren't accustomed to.

We only made one stop on Sunday (other than picking up free cottage cheese from Friendship). We were looking for a snack so we stopped by one of the MozzArepas stands which show up several times along the festival blocks.

The MozzArepas stand, corn cakes on the griddle, our arepa

You can get MozzArepas at almost every street fair over the summer and they're nothing extraordinary, but we still like them. They consist of two round griddled corn cakes with mozzarella in between. The cheese is gooey and melty, and if you like corn and cheese like we do, it's always a nice treat. The MozzArepas have a really nice sweetness from the corn to pair with the salty, melted cheese. Not the best arepas, but they're fine. (The only arepas we've ever mentioned here are from the much-missed Farmers Rotisseria, but we've had a bunch of them, both Colombian and Venezuelan style, so we have a fair number of places to compare with.)

Lastly, in case you couldn't make it to the festival, here's a little taste of what it was like on Saturday, in addition to the fabulous snacks we talked about already. There were small street-side beer gardens, cultural performances, free samples of yogurt and cottage cheese, lots of grilled meat and sausage vendors, restaurant stands, carnival games, and people everywhere. It was a little quieter on Sunday due to the incessant rain.

Looking forward to next year's festival!

Kielbasa Pierogies

Other than pierogies, we haven't had that much experience with Polish food. We were excited to try the Polish kiosk to see what they had to offer and it was our final stop for our first day's "lunch."


The strawberry balsamic chiller sounded really good but we went for both food options:


The first snack was "kielbasa and potato pierogie with caramelized onions and sour cream" ($5):


We had been picturing a pierogie stuffed with kielbasa and potato, similar to the ones we get from Millie's truck at the 9th Avenue food fair every May. We were surprised when the plate arrived with both kielbasa pieces and a pierogie. (Of course, had we spent more time on the festival's mobile site, we would have read the description noting that it was a potato pierogie accompanied by kielbasa sausage, but oh well.) The kielbasa was pretty good, but we've had better, more strongly flavored kielbasa. The pierogie itself wasn't as soft and easy to cut as we were expecting, but the caramelized onions were really good.

The second snack was golabki ($2.75):


Golabki is a traditional Polish dish consisting of minced pork wrapped up in boiled cabbage leaves. This was pretty tasty, although a little oily. It was interesting how this dish was so much less expensive than the pierogie, even though it wasn't that much less food. A was expecting more cabbage for some reason, but in the end he was still happy with the dish.

Favorite dishes at the Poland kiosk:
A: Golabki
M: Golabki