all i do is eat

in an effort to be recession-friendly and healthier, i'm cooking more. after spending 2+ months in a hotel, i also really missed cooking/having a kitchen. after our eating bonanza monday afternoon, i planned shrimp scampi dinner tuesday and osso buco yesterday.

i chose to serve the shrimp scampi with spaghetti & broccoli; my S.O. only likes a few veggies, so there aren't many choices. i added the broccoli to the pasta cooking water about four minutes before the pasta was a touch undercooked, and i doubled the sauce for the shrimp scampi (plus some additional olive oil) in order to finish cooking the spaghetti & broccoli in the yummy scampi sauce. i tossed it all together and served with grated pecorino romano. the S.O. loved - hooray!

i woke up yesterday at 4:08a (ugh), so i started prepping my osso buco in the morning. i took a recipe from cook's illustrated, but i adapted because i only had two veal shanks. i decided to serve with polenta and either asparagus or cauliflower, and i thought i'd make a little extra sauce for the polenta to soak it up. i threw it into a low oven, then went to the gym (1h 15m alternating walk/jog - about 775 calories) before i rushed to meet my new mandarin tutor!

i arrived home starving, and perfect timing - my friend bunnard asked me to lunch! he wanted asian, and ramen sounded quite appealing. we went with ippudo because in my quick research, it's been deemed a top spot in manhattan AND neither of us had been. it's also convenient to both of us, located right near union square. we started with shishito, and the yuzu salt that comes with it is fantastical. i chose the akamaru ramen with extra pork lunch set (with grilled eel rice) PLUS a topping of kakuni (because who can resist pork belly); bunny chose the tori ramen lunch set (with mentaiko - spicy cod roe - rice). this was probably the best ramen i've had in new york (the best i've had is in LA, but i'll keep trying!). my only concern is the salt content. i was dehydrated the ENTIRE afternoon and evening, and i drink A LOT of water.

ippudo akamaru ramen

the jetlag was so horrendous last night (and my leg hurt from being exhausted AND overdoing it) that i decided to forego the afternoon pick-me-up workout and started to make dinner an hour before the S.O. said he was coming home. i made polenta with water, added a touch of salt, butter and grated aged provolone. the osso buco was very tender (i pureed the sauce because it was too veggie-chunky, and my S.O. wouldn't eat it if he saw the veggies). and i went with roasted cauliflower with prosciutto, garlic, lemon and a touch of grated pecorino romano. so the verdict: since i only used two veal shanks, i think the sauce lacked a lot of the meaty flavor. the polenta was a good base, but i think my cornmeal is too fine for polenta. but the star of the show was the cauliflower - it was yummy caramelized from the roasting (i tossed in garlic & tiny diced prosciutto during the last 5 minutes), and the squeeze of lemon juice gave it a fresh/clean taste while the cheese, mmmm, cheese makes everything better. my S.O. deemed the osso buco just eh.

today is another food-filled day. lunch at alto and dinner at sushi uo!