My Sushi Obsession

Fish and Chips Roll (top) and Spicy Salmon Cilanto Roll (bottom)

I absolutely love sushi. I started eating it about three years ago and after the first bite I practically spent the next few months trying to make up for the 31 years I hadn't eaten it. I'm not joking! I think I ate sushi everyday for a while. One of my favorite sushi places is Sei in DC. It's on The Washingtonian Top 100 restaurants list. They have a Fish and Chips Roll that is oh so good. It has flounder, malt vinegar, potato crisp and wasabi tartar sauce. What makes this roll so good is the different flavors and textures you taste with each bite. First you taste the wasabi tartar sauce, then the flounder, then the potato crisps and finally the rice. This is how serious I am about the fish and chip roll... I once waited for my waiter to leave my table before I ate my last piece. I was having a moment and wanted to enjoy every bit of my last bite and I didn't want to be interrupted! So after my waiter refilled my water and left my table I picked up my chopsticks ever so gently and picked up my last piece of fish and chips roll and put it in my month and closed my eyes and savored every single flavor. It was delicious (in fact I am reliving the moment right now lol!).

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Pound cakes are so versatile, you can eat them plain, with a glaze or with fruit and cool whip. No two pounds cakes are alike and there are hundreds of recipes out there.  I love this pound cake recipe for several reasons: it's easy to make, the ingredients aren't complicated, it uses cream cheese so it is super moist and you can use margarine instead of butter! I always have margarine in my fridge but I can's say the same about butter so I if decide to make this cake at the last minute I don't have to go to the store.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients

• 1 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups of margarine or butter, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 3 cups all purpose flour

Directions

1. Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature by removing from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to making cake or soften for 15-20 seconds in microwave.
2. Using a mixer cream margarine, cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
3. While mixing continually add eggs one at a time and then add vanilla, lemon and almond extract. Gradually add flour until texture is smooth.
4. Pour batter into a greased and floured tube or bundt baking cake pan.
5. Bake at 300°F for 2 hours or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Remove from cake pan and allow to cool on cooling rack or plate before serving.

Trucko De Mayo

I attended DC’s Trucko De Mayo festival at RFK stadium on May 5th.  There were over 40 of DC’s best food trucks selling everything from Korean tacos and grilled cheese sandwiches to popcorn and cupcakes.  I was overwhelmed with the assortment of trucks, so many options and I could only eat so much (all the food was served in normal size servings so there were no sample sizes) and since I foolishly attended the festival by myself I had to have a strategy.  I decided to try two of DC’s most popular food trucks and then find a truck for dessert. 

I started at the Red Hook Lobster Pound Truck, voted one of the best food trucks in DC.

The line was one of the longest at the festival but it moved fast.

The food was so worth the wait. This lobster roll was sooooo good. I ordered the Connecticut style lobster roll with fresh Maine lobster poached in butter with scallions and buttery grilled bread.

My next stop was the Takorean truck, another popular DC food truck, which serves Korean BBQ tacos. I waited in line for 40 minutes.

I ordered three tacos, chicken, beef and caramelized tofu with all the toppings. Each taco had sriracha sauce, lime crema, fresh cilantro and sesame seeds.  I order spicy kimchi style slaw on the chicken taco and napa-romaine slaw on the beef and tofu tacos.  It looks good but I was a little disappointed. The meat and tofu were seasoned well but I felt the tacos were missing something and a little dry,  maybe more lime crema or maybe a fresh salsa would have added more flavor.  Also, each taco had two corn tortillas. So by the time I finished the first two tacos I didn't want to eat the tortillas on the last taco so I just ate the filling.  The food wasn't bad but it just wasn't that great. It was definitely not worth the 40 minutes I spent waiting in line.

My last stop was the Sweet Bites Mobile Cafe Truck.

I ordered two cupcakes, a red velvet cupcake and a double Madagascar vanilla. I love red velvet cake and vanilla cake with butter cream icing is my absolute favorite, so I had high hopes for these cupcakes.  I loved the icing; both cupcakes had a light and fluffy vanilla butter cream that wasn’t too sweet.  The cake was dense and not light and fluffy like I prefer, overall not too bad.  Of the two cupcakes, the red velvet cake tasted the best.  I was disappointed that the double Madagascar vanilla didn’t have a stronger vanilla flavor.  Overall the cupcakes were ok not the best I have ever eaten but not the worst either. 

Foodie Events in DC -- May 5th & 6th

It's that time of year again, the weather is getting warmer and the days are longer and the weekends are filled with farmers markets and and festivals. This weekend in the DC Area there are two notable foodie events.

Curbside Cookoff - "Trucko de Mayo"
40+ Food Trucks, live music and activities
Saturday, May 5th 11:30am - 9pm
RFK Stadium Lot 3
Free Admission

National Harbor 2012 Wine and Food Festival
Saturday and Sunday May 5th - 6th
1pm to 6pm
$37 in advance (online)/ $45 on-site