Hardwood Smoked Ahi Tuna

We love smoked salmon in our household, so when we saw that Trader Joe's had a new product that was smoked ahi tuna, we knew we had to try it. The full product name was "sesame crusted hardwood smoked ahi tuna," and it was indeed crusted with lots of white and black sesame seeds. The ingredient list was pretty simple - just tuna, salt, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and hardwood smoke (but which hardwood? Curious minds want to know!).

The back of the package listed several suggestions for how to use the tuna - chopping it up for a salad, adding it to a rice bowl, making smoked tuna sushi, eating it with a bagel and cream cheese, or just eating it plain. Although smoked tuna sushi sounded like a great idea (haven't had sushi in forever), we decided to just pair it with some white rice, edamame, soy sauce, and sesame oil for a very simple bowl lunch. (I don't know if I would call it a poke bowl - haven't had one of those in a long time either - because there weren't really any other toppings, but I guess it could be a very barebones one.)

The tuna looked really good coming out of the package, but we didn't love it as much as we thought we would (especially considering all the internet raves). It tasted fishy, and the texture was a bit tougher to chew than we expected. Also, we knew it would be somewhat salty since it was smoked fish (and one package is 1210 mg of sodium), but it tasted really salty. Combined with plain edamame and rice, it did make for a nice, light, healthy lunch, and the other parts of the bowl did temper the salt and fishiness a little bit, but we probably wouldn't recommend eating it plain.

Buy again? Not for us. I wasn't a fan of the fishiness, and for both of us, it was just not as good an option as other products at TJ's. We prefer the smoked salmon that TJ's sells. Not 100% sure what the price comparison is between the two, since that's the one TJ's receipt from the past couple of months that we can't find, but the internet tells me it's $5.99 for the tuna (50 cents cheaper than the smoked wild sockeye for the same portion size). That's not a huge difference, so between the two, we'd pick the wild sockeye instead.

Captain Daniel Packer Inne

After a relaxing afternoon in the sun and sand at the beach in New London, we decided to take a short drive up to Mystic for dinner. If you're not familiar with Mystic, Connecticut, they're known for their re-created seaport village and maritime museum with buildings that date back centuries. We didn't have time to visit and sightsee on our weekend getaway, and I hadn't been to the seaport for at least a decade before our trip, but I've always had fond memories of Mystic.

We chose the Captain Daniel Packer Inne for dinner, a historic building on the Mystic River that had been built in the 1750s and which had served as a resting place for travelers between New York and Boston. We may not have had time for a full historical exploration at the seaport, but at least we could get a little taste of history by stopping by the inn.

It was crowded when we arrived, and we, of course, had not made reservations because we hadn't actually pre-planned anything for our last minute getaway. That just meant beers at the bar while we waited! What kind of beers did we get? A's Untappd app says he got the Mystic Bridge IPA, but beyond that, we have no real memories about the beer.

We were so hungry once we finally got our table. They brought out some complimentary bread alongside roasted garlic butter, and it was delicious. It wasn't just butter with some roasted garlic mixed into it though. It was better - an entire head of roasted garlic in melted butter - so not only did you get butter for your bread, but you could spread on soft garlic as well. Great start to the meal.

After indulging in our garlicky bread, we shared the portobello mushroom appetizer, which we ordered in part because the menu labeled it as "a Packer Inne original." Whether that means it was on the menu from colonial times or it was the chef's original creation, it was unclear, but the menu described it as a "large portobello cap rubbed with garlic and herb butter, then topped with Alouette cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs, baked golden brown and served with an intensely flavored chive-infused olive oil and balsamic reduction." I put the entire description here verbatim because we don't actually remember anything about the specific flavors five years later except that it was tasty and we liked it. (Really wish we took some notes about this trip...) At least now you'll have some idea what it might have tasted like.

For our entrees, we split two different sandwiches. One was the hot lobster roll, fresh lobster with a sherry butter sauce on a grilled roll. The two main types of lobster rolls are Maine and Connecticut-style, and this one was your classic Connecticut-style lobster roll, warm with butter. It was so rich and buttery, but what else would you expect when you combine lobster and that much butter? The fries on the side were also really good.

The second was the grilled crab and cheese, described on the menu as "fresh seasoned lump crab meat, red onion, fresh avocado, and gruyere cheese grilled on a ciabatta roll with tomato coulis dipping sauce." Unlike the lobster roll which came with regular fries, this one came with sweet potato fries. Between the two, we remember this sandwich being our favorite, but they were both good.

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and called it a night. Weekend getaways are always so short, and it was time to pack to head home the next day. We wouldn't be headed straight home though. We had plans to take the scenic route home (at least for part of it), to drive down the Connecticut coast sampling even more food and taking some more relaxing walks, so there will be a few more posts in this weekend getaway series!

Week 25 - Australasian

Australasia was the focus of the Week 25 challenge, focusing on the area of Oceania comprised of Australia, New Zealand, and the neighboring islands of Melanesia (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea). Since I've made Australian food for two other challenges before (here and here), I thought I would focus on an area I haven't really explored before and try making some Fijian dishes. After researching for a bit, two recipes stood out that I really wanted to try: lolo buns and ika vakalolo (coconut-style fish).

Lolo Buns (Steamed Coconut Buns)

Lolo means coconut milk, which you might have been able to figure out since it appears in the names of both things we made for the challenge. Lolo buns are basically coconut buns that can be either steamed or baked. Most of the recipes for baked lolo buns included an egg, so I gravitated toward a recipe I found on Nom List that was steamed and required zero eggs. We've never been to Fiji, so another reason I liked this recipe was because the author learned how to make them in a cooking class while in Savusavu, Fiji. They also mentioned that Fijians prefer the buns boiled/steamed compared to baked, and if that's true, then I saw no reason not to make them that way!

We started the lolo buns first since they were going to need to steam in the pot for half an hour, giving us time to work on the fish. The ingredients for the lolo buns were:

- 5 cups flour (plus extra for kneading, probably ended up being 6 cups) ($1.20)
- 5 tbsp brown sugar ($0.30)
- 2 tbsp yeast ($0.39)
- 2.5 cups warm water ($0)
- 5 tbsp butter, softened to room temperature ($0.45)
- 1/2 can full-fat coconut milk ($0.85)

The total cost for the lolo buns was approximately $3.19, and it made a lot of bread.


We tried to stick close to the recipe, but our time spent ended up being way more than the recipe. The steps for making the lolo buns were:

1. In a big bowl, mix 5 cups of flour with the brown sugar and yeast. Mix lightly.

2. Slowly pour up to 2.5 cups of warm water while mixing with a spoon. Mix well but don't overwork the dough. [I should have stopped pouring water before I did. My instincts told me to stop, but I think I had somewhere between 0.5-1 cup of water left, so I thought I needed to use more because that's what the recipe said. I should have listened to myself, because it was too wet.]

3. Knead the dough for 1-2 minutes, folding and pressing it together, sprinkling it with flour between steps. [It looked like pancake batter at this point and couldn't form any shape whatsoever, so we probably kneaded it more than we should have, and we used a lot more flour, probably another cup.]

4. Take 1 tbsp of softened butter and knead into the dough.

5. Grease a deep pot with about 3 tbsp of butter (or more if needed).


6. Rub butter on your hands, and then take chunks of dough, shaping them into circular buns and putting them in the pot. [Once we added all that extra flour, they sort of resembled buns until they went into the pan, and then they just all melted together.]

7. Pour coconut milk over the buns until almost completely covered. [The original recipe said 3 cups, but the buns were almost completely covered with half a can of coconut milk, which was a little confusing. But this time, I told myself to listen to myself and not pour in 3 cups. In our case, this step also included using a chopstick to try to make holes and divisions so the coconut milk could get inside and around the dough in as many places as possible.]


8. Cover pot with a lid and cook over low flame for 30 minutes.


This was our first time using yeast, and I knew the bread was going to end up rising, but I was surprised at how much it had ballooned to the top of the pot when I opened it after 30 minutes. Despite my best efforts to separate the dough into buns, it came out looking like a well-formed cake. While the shape may not have been what was intended, the bread/cake itself turned out pretty well. There was a light flavor of coconut (more would not be bad, but no idea how it would have turned out completely covered in coconut milk; maybe an experiment for another day), and it was just really soft, tasty bread. We all liked it, and I think it ended up being the majority of B's dinner as he kept asking for more (not surprising; the kid loves bread). I would definitely try making this again. Maybe when we get around to our Fiji exploration in AtWCC, or maybe earlier, because that could be years from now.


Ika Vakalolo (Coconut-Style Fish)

Part 2 of our Australasian dinner was ika vakalolo, or fish cooked in coconut milk. I found a bunch of different recipes for this online, all making the fish slightly differently. Some fried the fish first and then simmered it in coconut milk with some vegetables. Others cooked the vegetables in coconut milk first and then added the fish as one of the last steps. I liked the idea of pan-frying the fish a little bit, but I also wanted our vegetables to be softer and less crunchy, so I decided to adapt a recipe I found on Fiji Vacations from the Flavors of Fiji Cooking School to do just that.

The ingredients for the ika vakalolo were:

- 1 lb boneless skinless cod ($7.91)
- about 1 lb bok choy ($4.98)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.79)
- 1 small container of grape tomatoes ($2.69)
- 1-2  tbsp grapeseed oil ($0.20)
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk ($1.69)
- juice of 1 lime ($0.49)
- salt ($0.02)

The original recipe called for 12 stalks of Chinese cabbage, 1 onion, and 1 tomato, but I used a lot more vegetables since that's how we like to eat at home. I also swapped lime for lemon, since we had a bunch of limes left over from key lime pie, the internet said both limes and lemons are found on Fiji, and at least one recipe said you could use either. The last big change was to skip the chilies so B could eat it too. The total cost for the fish portion of the meal was $18.77, and we also split a microwaved rice packet, making the total for the entire meal, with the lolo buns, approximately $22.96. Not a cheap dinner, but we did have a pound of cod, plus bok choy is much more expensive outside of an Asian grocery store.


The steps for our adapted recipe were:

1. Prep - wash tomatoes and bok choy thoroughly. Chop bok choy, onion, and tomatoes. Check fish for bones.

2. Heat grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add onion and the chopped stems of the bok choy, and cook until starting to soften. Add bok choy greens, and after a few minutes, the tomatoes.

3. Push vegetables to the sides of the pan, and add the fish. Cook on each side for a couple of minutes until opaque/almost done.

4. Add coconut milk to mostly cover the fish and vegetables. Season with some salt. [One of the recipes I found also used fish sauce, sugar, and basil, which I seriously considered doing, but I just went for the simple version this time and did coconut milk and salt.]

5. Simmer for a few minutes while juicing a lime.

6. Add lime juice, stir, and remove from heat.


We really liked this dish too! Using just a simple coconut milk, lime juice, and salt broth really allowed the flavors of the fish and the vegetables to stand out, and it just felt so light and summery, perfect for the current weather. Although we made some rice to go with it, I didn't think it needed the rice at all. It worked fine as a stew, and we had the lolo buns to dip into it if we wanted to soak up some of the liquid. My main issue with this dish had to do with the pieces of fish we got, as they were different shapes, one a nice thin fillet and the other, a thick, steak-like piece, but that has nothing to do with the delicious recipe. Would definitely make this one again too, and maybe even try it with some of the extra seasonings. I consider this adventure to Fiji a success, and I'm so glad we did it!

New London Memories

Five years ago today, we were off on a much-needed weekend trip. (We were supposed to write about this a long time ago, but even though so many of our memories have faded, better late than never.) It had been a long summer with zero visits to the beach, and we were just craving some sun and sand so it would really feel like summer. We went to New London, Connecticut, which was close to Mystic if we wanted to go to the seaport, close to the Rhode Island border if we decided we wanted to investigate their beaches instead, and someplace with reasonably affordable, last-minute hotel availability. (It was a very last-minute getaway.)

We started our first day by exploring the area of New London near our hotel and, of course, checking out some of the local food spots. Our research first led us to Kamp Dog, a spot walking distance from our hotel, known for their hot dogs (but which also served burgers and other treats), especially their namesake Kamp Dog with dynamite (a meat sauce), cheese, and raw onions. Considering it was the name of the place, we had to get that. Each hot dog was made by Hummel Bros, "Connecticut's #1 hot dog" according to the sign at the restaurant, and served on a toasty grilled bun. When it arrived, we saw that it was pretty much a chili cheese dog, but an excellent version of one. The hot dogs had a crisp snap to them, the sauce was meaty and tasty, and the cheese and onions just brought it all together. Great start to our trip.

Our next stop before beach time was a place called Fred's Shanty, "famous since 1972" according to their signs, for fried seafood. While we wanted a weekend getaway to get in some beach time, we have to admit that one of the reasons we went up to New England instead of the mid-Atlantic was fried clams. We hadn't had fried clams in a while, and we couldn't stop thinking about clam strips. Fred's Shanty had clam strips, whole belly clams, clam chowder, scallops, and more seafood, and was exactly what you would imagine from a New England seafood shack on the waterfront. We ordered a bunch of things for lunch (although it was only two hours after hot dogs, so we only had so much stomach space), and then grabbed some seating with a view of the marina, and it was just what we were looking for from our weekend getaway.

We shared the clam strip dinner, which came with sides of creamy cole slaw and fries, and also another side of onion rings. We were so happy with everything we got. Sitting outside in the sun, listening to the water and the rocking sailboats, feeling the breeze coming in off the water, eating clam strips and fries and onion rings, that was just such a classic summer meal for us, and we loved the whole experience.

With our bellies full of hot dogs, clams, and more, it was time to head to the beach for the rest of the afternoon!

Kerbisher and Malt

Before going to London, I did a lot of research into fish and chips. That was one thing we knew we wanted to get in England, and it seemed like everyone liked different spots for different reasons. One of the highly recommended spots online was Kerbisher and Malt, which we were especially attracted to since it was located in Hammersmith, only a short walking distance from our hotel room.

Kerbisher and Malt offered up fried fish in almost every form imaginable - plain, with chips, in butties and burgers, as fish fingers. (You could get it grilled too, but we don't remember seeing anyone do that.) One thing we really liked about them was that all the fish was from sustainable sources and cooked on the spot after ordering (and then delivered to your table). We also liked that they had some lunchtime specials which came with chips or a salad, ranging from £5-6. I got one of the specials, while A ordered off the regular menu and got fish and chips.

Since A was already getting chips with his fish, I opted for the salad as my side, thinking it would be healthier and we could also get some vegetables in. It was a small portion on the side of the plate, but at least it was more interesting than just some lettuce. The salad consisted of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, radicchio, and pomegranate seeds. It was lightly dressed with what tasted like olive oil and vinegar. The salad was fine, nothing extraordinary, but it was nice for lightening up the rest of our meal of fried food.

For the special itself, I got the fillet of fish "burger" which really just seemed like a fried fish sandwich. What arrived was a fried fillet of fish on bread with lemon mayo, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, and onions. We weren't sure which fish this was (they had several options you could choose from for the regular fried fish, but the sandwich didn't specify), but it was good. The vegetables on the bottom were very reminiscent of the salad ingredients (quite possibly were the same without the pomegranate), and the lemon mayo added some nice flavor. Unfortunately I was still feeling some of the effects of the stomach discomfort from the day before, so I didn't have as much of an appetite as I thought I would when we were ordering and couldn't finish the sandwich, but I wished I could have.

A ordered the fish and chips with haddock (the other options on the menu were cod, plaice, pollock, and coley). He also got a side of tartar sauce, but we had forgotten with the initial order that you had to order the sauces separately so we had to add it while we waited for the food to come. (The other sauces they had were mayo, lemon mayo, red curry, and sweet chilli.) The price wasn't too bad for the fish and chips with sauce (a little under £10), and for people with smaller appetites, they did have slightly less expensive "small" fish and chip specials.

As for the fish and chips themselves, we found the batter a little on the sweeter side, sort of like those Chinese fried milk things you get at banquets. The fish itself was a really large single piece of fried fish, and very flaky. It wasn't very seasoned or salty, which was good since it seemed like they were trying to let the flavor of the fish itself shine through. We thought similarly about the chips which were also not very salted so you could really taste the potato. I didn't love the batter and preferred the way the fish sandwich was prepared, but A liked it.

Kerbisher and Malt also offered numerous sides, many of which sounded good. We had to decide whether to get mushy peas, or a fennel and dill salad, or coleslaw, or pickled onion rings, or baked beans. I've made no secret of my love for onion rings, and we were really interested in trying the pickled onion rings because they sounded different (and looked good in all the Instagram pics we saw before going). Basically they take pickled onions and then batter them and fry them up. The flavor was definitely different from "regular" onion rings because of the pickled flavor, and they were definitely worth trying. Back then, we had no idea pickled onions were so popular and loved in England, but between these onion rings and the pickled onion snacks we brought home to eat, we feel like we didn't take advantage of this as much as we could have when we were there, and have definitely learned our lesson for next time.

It's hard for us to compare Kerbisher and Malt with other fish and chips places in London, since we didn't visit any others. But we did like what we got there. We probably would have enjoyed it more if our stomachs weren't so uneasy and uncomfortable from the days before (no fault of theirs, obviously), and we would return to try it again if we were in the mood for some fish and chips.

Mackerel in Sunflower Oil

We bought this canned mackerel some time ago, and it's been hanging out in our pantry with other canned fish and assorted pates for months. No idea how much it cost when we got it, but it's $2.99 now. Although we got it a while ago, it was still more than six months out from its best by date when we had it, so still perfectly "fresh" to eat.

M's review: I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this as it looked like there were little bones in it (despite the fact that it said boneless) and mackerel has a tendency to sometimes be fishy. The bones didn't end up being an issue as A determined they were edible, and surprisingly, I didn't find the mackerel fishy at all. The taste was absolutely fine, very mild, but they were a little on the dry side despite soaking in that much oil. That was the only negative in my opinion.

Buy again? I think I would, which is not what I expected. Maybe the dryness was just a fluke.

A's review: I like canned fish. From a young age my mom got me hooked on those canned sardines, and mackerel was right up my alley. Mackerel on the whole is an oily fish and has that "fishy" taste that a lot of people don't like. Somehow, after soaking in sunflower oil, it was less fishy. Also, it was much firmer/drier than I expected with that oil bath. Even so, it was enjoyable and tasty.

Buy again? Yes, assuming it's not too expensive.

Nopi

For our London trip, we planned on frequenting mostly casual spots, but we did set aside one night for a "nice" dinner at Nopi, a more formal Ottolenghi spot located in Soho. Visiting an Ottolenghi restaurant was a must for us, and when we looked at the menu for Nopi before our trip, we wanted to eat everything on it, so making a reservation was a no-brainer. Nopi has two floors, a more formal upstairs and a communal dining room downstairs. We made a reservation for downstairs, thinking it would be a little more casual, but when we got there, they offered us a choice and said we could be seated faster if we were okay with sitting upstairs. If they had no problem seating us upstairs, then that was fine with us!

We had a short wait before being seated at our table, and while we waited at the bar, they brought over a board with two small cups, one with marinated olives and one with roasted spiced nuts. We weren't sure if there was a charge for them since both were on the menu and at least £5 each, so we were hesitant to start eating them. When we got to our table, the server let us know they were complimentary because we had to wait. That was fantastic hospitality and very unexpected, especially since the wait wasn't long at all. The meal was off to a great start. A ate most of the olives, since M isn't a huge fan, but she did try a few. Like most olives, they were salty and sour, and in this case, also a little bit spicy. The cup of nuts seemed to have quite a variety in it. We spotted macadamia nuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, almonds, peanuts, and cashews with lots of spices and seasonings that we couldn't quite identify. They were really good.

They brought out some bread and olive oil once our orders started to arrive. It was two pieces of something like country bread, and the olive oil was really, really good. We expected nothing less from the olive oil from an Ottolenghi spot considering their focus on quality and Mediterranean flavors.

The menu at Nopi was split up into nibbles, mains, and small plates to share, the last of which comprised the majority of the menu. We decided to order one item from the nibbles, but otherwise concentrated on the small plates so we could try as many things as possible. From the nibbles, we got the mixed seed lavash with burnt spring onion dip (£6.5, all prices as of a year ago). The lavash was very crispy and covered in a variety of seeds, including black and white sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and many some others that we couldn't identify. The burnt spring onion dip was a dark greenish-gray color, similar to a black bean dip, and garnished with some pieces of scallions and microgreens. Both the lavash and dip were really tasty, and we made sure to finish the entire thing, even wiping up the remainder of the dip with the aforementioned bread. We especially liked the dip, full of onion and scallion flavor, nice and smoky.

Outside of the nibbles, we had five other plates and they split them into two rounds of three dishes and two dishes. They tried to match up things that they thought would go well together, and we thought they made very good choices. One of the dishes in the first set was the "roast aubergine, black garlic, broad beans, basil" (£8.9). There was also yogurt and pine nuts but those weren't listed on the menu line. We loved this dish. The aubergines were soft and tender. The flavor of the basil was so incredibly vibrant, unlike a lot of the basil we buy in the grocery store which can sometimes be a little dull. The yogurt was creamy and a little tart. We liked the garlic chips, the pine nuts, and everything worked so well together. The whole dish just tasted really fresh, really light, really clean, and it was the type of thing that we have pretty much always thought would come out of an Ottolenghi kitchen.

The next thing we tried were the scallops with apple yuzu puree, endive and pork (£12.9). Although we saw these on the menu and they sounded good, they didn't immediately jump out at us as a "must order" dish. Then the dish arrived at the table next to us, and the dish smelled so amazing that we had to order it. The dish had three large scallops, perfectly cooked, little bits of pork, soft roasted endives, and both apple and yuzu purees, together on the plate but not blended together. We tried the purees on their own and they tasted strongly like apple, but when we ate them together with all the other parts of the dish, the apple wasn't anything more than an accent. The balance of all the ingredients was just perfect, and this was one of our favorite dishes of the night. The scallop dish was so good that it made M's top 10 list in 2015.

Fish was our final plate in the first round of dishes, seared hake with roast chicken cream and pickled girolles (£12.9). We weren't sure what girolles were, but looked them up online and found out they were chanterelles. There were also peas which were not listed on the menu. We liked the fish, but just not as much as the scallops which were on the table at the same time. We couldn't place the flavors or small seeds in the sauce that the fish was cooked with, but the chicken cream was like a really thick, rich chicken gravy. The peas and mushrooms helped to balance out the dish, providing some fresh and light vegetables alongside the chicken cream. Even with all the cream, the dish felt pretty light, even though it was filling. It also felt very seasonal for the fall.

The first dish in the second set was the courgette and manouri fritters with cardamom yoghurt (£11.5). This was the first thing M saw on the menu when researching the restaurant, and she was immediately sold on them. Each of the three fritters had grated zucchini that was mixed with chunks of manouri cheese, formed into a conical shape, and then fried. These were rich and creamy because of the cheese, but lightened up a little bit by the zucchini. The cardamom yoghurt was a little bit tart, but also had some warming spice to it. We liked this, but not as much as we thought we would. Maybe we were already getting full, maybe we were spoiled for everything else because of the amazing scallops, or maybe our expectations were too high, don't know. They were really good, but just not the star of the night we thought they would be.

The last savory dish was the twice-cooked baby chicken with lemon myrtle salt and chilli sauce (£10.9). This was also listed in the mains section at £21.9 where they gave you a whole chicken, but we went with the smaller portion. The chicken had both dark meat and white meat, and the flavor was smoky and sweet. The chilli sauce provided a little heat (but not too much) and also some sweetness. It was like a sweet chilli sauce you can buy in the store, but not as sweet. M recognized the name lemon myrtle from native Australian week of the cooking challenge, but we didn't really taste anything but salt from that ingredient. That said, on the whole, the chicken was so much better than we anticipated. We really liked the flavors.

Once the savory courses were done, we moved on to sweet. With our desserts, A got a flat white, which he liked.

We got two desserts. The first was strawberry mess, sumac, rose water (£8.5). M was immediately drawn to that one. She didn't know what a strawberry mess was, but didn't really care because the listing of strawberry, sumac, and rose water combined three flavors she really loved. It also seemed in line with the Mediterranean flavors that we had been enjoying all night. What came out of the kitchen looked like a scoop of strawberry sorbet, rose water meringue, whipped cream, sumac, and pomegranate seeds, topped with edible flower pieces. M's favorite part was the strawberry sorbet on top. It tasted like wild strawberries, and had such a pure strawberry flavor without extra sugar. The rose water meringue pieces were a little bit on the hard side. We tasted some sumac in the whipped cream, but not much. After doing some research, we realized that this was their take on the typical Eton mess, which Wikipedia describes as a "traditional English dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, broken meringue, and whipped heavy cream." Without even knowing it when we ordered it, we were trying out something traditionally English.

The second dessert was roast pineapple with macadamia nuts, lemongrass, coconut cream (£8.5). This was pretty good. The pineapple was roasted and a bit caramelized. The coconut cream was fine, it tasted like whipped cream hinted with coconut milk. M preferred the pineapple without it, but A liked it much better with the pineapple than M. The more interesting of the two desserts though was definitely the strawberry mess.

Overall this was an excellent meal. It didn't come cheap, but we didn't expect that it would. We were very glad that we were able to try all the dishes that we did at the restaurant, and we would highly recommend a visit. Whenever we get back to London, we may choose a different Ottolenghi spot just for some variety and to try new things, but if we had a lot of time, we would go back to Nopi. The food was excellent, the service was wonderful, and the entire experience was great.

A's Favorite Food Memories of 2016

This was an interesting year for me with regards to eating and drinking. M and I did a decent amount of travel this year, and that's reflected in my list. This list, as always, isn't necessarily the best things I ate or drank all year, but it's a list of the most memorable events. It just happens that most of these are the best things I ate :)

1) Chesapeake and Maine - Warm Maryland Crab Dip
This is a dish of pure comfort and decadence. It's cheesy, sweet from the succulent crab meat, and simply amazing as a dish. We went to Chesapeake and Maine twice on our visit down to Rehoboth Beach, and we got this each time. In fact, it was so good that it was the only thing we duplicated.

2) Convivial - Scallop Boudin Blanc
I included this because it was so different from anything I had ever eaten before. It was scallop that was ground up and formed into a sausage of sorts. They topped it with sliced snow peas, sea beans, and roe. We couldn't place all of the flavors on this, but it tasted like a smooth, silky chowder.

3) Craft Beer
One thing that seemed pretty constant with most of our trips this year was amazing craft beer. With trips to Delaware, Portland, and San Diego we hit some of the biggest names in craft brewing, and these also happen to be some of my favorites. The highlights for the year are definitely Dogfish Head, Cascade, Stone, and Ballast Point. I had initially debated between adding in small batch coffee instead, but I opted for craft beer because it's something that M and I can enjoy together.

4) Dominique Ansel Bakery - Cronut
The original Dominique Ansel hype food! We finally took advantage of the pre-order option for cronuts this year and were able to taste one of their monthly flavor offerings. We got the June flavor: Blueberry Elderflower with Lime Sugar. Having had the real thing, I understand the hype. I've tried a couple imitation versions, and they never seemed like anything special, but after eating an actual cronut, I see that the imitators have yet to figure anything out. The combination of light and airy croissant turned into a denser donut is a magical mystery, and the fruit flavors and custard made for an amazing flavor. We're looking forward to getting more of these in the future.

5) Fork and Flask at Nage - Smoked Half Chicken
This is a dish that I know I wouldn't be able to eat every day even though I included it on this list. The reason for that is because it's just too rich and heavy for that to happen. The chicken was good and had a nice smokey flavor to it, but it was the accouterments that really made this dish shine. First and foremost was the black garlic infused mashed potatoes. They had such a rich and umami-filled flavor from the black garlic and butter, and I can still taste it today in my head. The roasted root vegetables offered a subtle sweetness to the combination, and it was also nice to have a bit of vegetable matter on the plate. While I couldn't eat this every day, I would certainly love to try my hand at making that black garlic mash at some point.

6) Mofongo with Pork - Vendy Plaza Harlem (La Marqueta)
I love mofongo, and I've always been intrigued by it since I first read about it over a decade ago. It wasn't until back in 2014 that I finally got to try some, and I instantly fell in love with it. Funny how it took me another year and a half before I got it again, but that wait was totally worth it. I don't remember the name of the stand this came from, but they had a wait because they made all of the mofongo fresh. The additional wait time made this even better because the anticipation built it up in my mind, and it lived up to its billing. The fried pieces of pork had just the right amount of fat on them to keep everything moist and flavorful, and the freshly made mofongo was so rich and hearty. The bowl came with a small cup of garlic water/sauce, and the heavy garlic flavor really tied everything together.

7) Seabra's Marisqueira - Acorda de Marisco (Dry Soup)
This year M and I finally made the trip out to Newark, NJ to get some authentic Portuguese food. For me the highlight of this meal was the Acorda de Marisco which is a soup that is then filled with cubes of bread that soak up the broth and make it a thicker, stewier concoction. I'd never heard of a "dry soup" before, but I could totally go for some right now in this cold winter weather. It has the right amount of saltiness to go with the sweetness of the seafood in the soup, and it's a hearty, comforting dish.

8) Thip Khao - Naem Khao (Crispy Rice Salad)
M and I have had really good luck with Southeast Asian rice salads in our lifetime, and this was no exception. The perfect combination of spice, heat, herbs, and crunch meld to form a near perfect dish. It's clean and light while still bursting with so much flavor. This is definitely something I could eat every day and not get tired of it.

9) Uncle Boons - Banana Blossom Salad
This wasn't my favorite dish of the night for this meal, but it was up there. The reason I chose this dish, though, is because it reminded me so much of a dish M and I had back in Chicago at a different Thai restaurant. It's creamy and fresh tasting, and the fried shallots offer that salty, crunchy goodness that we know and love. This dish brought M and me back to delicious and simpler times in our lives before all of these "adult responsibilities" came into being.

10) Zenebech Injera - Vegetable Combo with Doro Wat
This isn't the first Ethiopian food we've had in our lives, but it was a completely transcendent experience. Zenebech was known as being the bakery that provided injera to almost every other Ehtiopian restaurant in the area. They also had their own restaurant where they served, easily, the best Ethiopian food we'd ever tasted. The injera was light and fluffy, and it didn't leave a sticky residue like all of the versions here in NYC. The stews were so full of flavor and were like nothing we had ever tried before. The doro wat was so rich, and the chicken pulled off the bone so easily.