East Harlem Taco Tour

Mother's Day is such an arbitrary holiday. I really despise it. Along with Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Grandparents' Day, and any other day that forces you to appreciate family members or loved ones. Truly, one should appreciate them all the time. Restaurants, flower shops, candy stores and retail in general reap the benefits of these ridiculous commemorations. Maybe people look at me with particular curiosity when I tell them that I'm not doing anything for Valentine's Day. In fact, two years ago, I spent Valentine's Day with Rohit and my parents, enjoying a wonderful meal of duck breast at home in Chelsea. It was damn good.

But this Mother's Day, I did do something with mummy dearest. She biked up to Harlem and I took her on an East Harlem Taco Tour. Spanish Harlem, is really more Mexican Harlem. There is an abundance of taquerias, food trucks and grocery stores that cater to the homesick Mexican or simply anyone who craves a real, honest to goodness taco or gordita. (And no, it's nothing like Taco Bell).

We started at the El Paso Taco Truck. Our food blog guides had told us about the lengua, which, yes, means tongue. I wasn't intrigued, but we tried it nonetheless. Mom said I was doing "kanna ruchi" but truly, I didn't like the smoky texture of the meat. I made her eat most of it. She claimed she wanted to save herself for the rest of the samples, but I know she didn't like it either, since when something is good, we eat all of it without complaint or excuse. Then we headed to a few of the little supermarkets along 116th street. The pork taco tasted strangely like the lengua, so I was rather put-off, but we journeyed onward. At Taco Mix, we tried the famous al pastor and when we saw that they had huaraches, we couldn't help ourselves. Into the bottomless pits they tumbled. The Taco Mix al pastor was certainly the best of the lot and I will certainly be back there at some point soon. Huarache, however, is best left to the ball-fields folk. Mom introduced me to some Mexican-style FrozFruits, in a chickoo-like flavor and one with mango and chillies! The latter was exceptional. We decided to leave East Harlem and all its Little Mexican glory and head to W 116th street to share a red velvet cupcake from Make My Cake. Finishing up the afternoon with a visit to the Studio Museum of Harlem made this the perfect Day with my Mother.

Diet?!?!?!?!

I hate that word. I hate everything it means, everything it encompasses. I hate those stupid Nutrisystem ads on tv. I hate the Hydrocut ads, with the before and after. I hate cutting anything out of my life because what kind of life is worth living if you can't sample the world's tastiest foods? I have always been on the larger side, mainly because I didn't know the concept of working out until my senior year of high school. Until then, I was content to share a pint of Ben & Jerry's with a friend (or, let's be honest, by myself) and not worry about the consequences. Now I work out. So I don't feel quite as badly when I do end up eating a whole carton of Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Lately, though, I have noticed a significant change in my body when I eat vegetarian foods. I'm not as incredibly stuffed when I finish a vegetarian meal. I don't feel sluggish or lethargic. I don't feel guilty, even when I have completely overdone it. In fact, I feel like I have done the world a good turn. Or at least, myself. So somehow I managed to talk myself into a diet of sorts last weekend. Or rather, it's an experiment to see if it works. And if it works, I'd like to stick to it. Here it is: five days out of the week, I will be a pescatarian. I'll only eat seafood as my "meat" option. No chicken, no turkey. On two days of the week, I can eat whatever I want. This weekend, when we hit Fairway, our buying habits changed significantly. No more package of ground turkey. No more lamb shoulder. No more whole chicken. Instead, lots of vegetables. A package of quinoa. A package of wheatberries. A lot more cheese. We'll see how this pans out, but last night, I was so excited about all the new purchases, that I totally outdid myself cooking last night. Here is what the newly formed vegetarians ate last night:

Lemon-scented Quinoa Salad (from 101 Cookbooks)

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 can garbanzo beans, or dried equivalent
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped

Tahini Dressing:
1 garlic clove, smashed and chopped
1/4 cup tahini
Zest of one lemon
scant 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons hot water
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Rinse the quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer. In a medium saucepan heat the quinoa and water until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15 minutes. Quinoa is done when you can see the curlique in each grain, and it is tender with a bit of pop to each bite. Drain any extra water and set aside.

While the quinoa is cooking make the dressing. Whisk together the garlic, tahini, lemon zest and juice, and olive oil. Add the hot water to thin a bit and then the salt.

Toss the cooked quinoa, beans, cilantro, red onion, and half of the dressing. Add more dressing if you like and season with more salt to taste. Serve garnished with a bit of cilantro.

Serves 4.

Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes Salad: I blanched a generous handful of green beans, halved a pint of cherry tomatoes and made a red-wine vinaigrette with olive oil and chopped shallots.

David Pasternak's Salt Baked Branzino

This recipe is one I've seen served at many Italian restaurants, and while the presentation is awe-inspiring, I can't understand how restaurants charge so much money to make this dish when it is so incredibly easy to make. I kid you not. All you need is a cannister of salt and some egg whites.

We bought a beautiful branzini from Fairway on Sunday night and yesterday, I stuffed the cavity with some lemon slices, sprigs of thyme and olives. Then I took a little less than 2 cups of salt (this was about a 2 lb fish), mixed it with two egg whites and covered the fish whole in in (put some parchment paper on a baking sheet so that the salt doesn't stick to the pan). Let the fish bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 400F. This was so easy to make and comes out looking really impressive. Don't tell people that it's easy to make though, since it truly looks like people spent hours slaving. The fish was moist, flavorful and succulent.

Finally, in honor of the Kentucky Derby on Sunday, I made Blackberry-Bourbon Juleps:
(courtesy of Bobby Flay)
Serves: 4

1 pint fresh blackberries, rinsed and dried
1⁄2 cup simple syrup
1 big bunch of mint leaves
Crushed ice
11⁄2 cup bourbon

1. Divide the berries among 4 mint julep glasses or rocks glasses. Add 2 tablespoons of the simple syrup and 8 mint leaves to each glass and using a muddler, mash the berries and mint together. Add 1 shot of bourbon to the mixture and stir.

2. Fill each glass with lots of crushed ice and pour 1⁄4 cup of bourbon over the ice in each glass. Garnish with lots of mint sprigs and serve.

I felt like I ate a ton but didn't feel full or overbearingly heavy in the stomach as I do after a meal of lamb or even turkey burgers. So far, so good. We'll see how long this lasts. But tonight is Cinco de Mayo. Is it possible to enjoy a Mexican meal without meat?!