May 26, 2017 The Table at Season to Taste
I had been dying to try The Table at Season to Taste in Cambridge for some time now. All my friends who have been said that it was the best meal of their lives. Here’s the thing though, the menu changes seasonally, so get in there quickly!
The 20 seat restaurant feels like you are a guest in Chef Dooley’s home. If you are lucky enough, you can grab a counter seat and watch Chef Dooley create your meal! They’ve also just opened their patio for the season!!
The prix fixe menu is $69 per person wit two choices per course, and they even have a vegetarian menu available. We were celebrating my sister in law’s birthday, so we decided to order the whole menu and share. I have to say that I probably wouldn’t order any of these things if they were on a larger menu, but I’m glad that I tried them because each and every one was better than the next.
First course was a house-cured Scottish sea trout with marinated cucumbers, lemon yogurt and crispy pita. Not fishy at all – really light and fresh.
Option two for the first course was the Vietnamese style beef tartare with grilled kimbe carrots, nuoc cham and roasted peanuts. Not what I envision when I think of steak tartare, but I loved this. Flavorful and light with some nice crunch for texture.
Second course, whole wheat ramen noodles and chicken broth with cockscombs, ramps, bonito flakes and sesame oil. Probably my favorite dish of the night. Just something warm and comforting about this.
The second option was the glazed California asparagus and house cured bacon with black pepper, manchego, and lemon bread crumbs. This is totally a way to get me to eat my veggies – just throw some bacon and cheese on it!!
Third course was a roasted pork and shrimp sausage with red curry, snap peas and spiced cashews. I love this combination – wondering why I never thought about this before. The dish was so wonderful in its simplicity.
The braised veal short rib and morel mushrooms was served with English peas, toasted almonds and vin jaune. The meat was so tender it just melted in your mouth.
The palate cleanser.
Dessert was a chocolate meringue with white chocolate pretzels, chocolate pastry cream and malt ice cream. I LOVE the presentation of this dish and love that while it was a chocolate dish, it wasn’t heavy.
The tres leeches cake was served with passion fruit sorbet, caramelized coconut crisps and chile mango. I love tres leches cake, the flavor, the texture, the sweetness, basically everything about it. This had a little sweetness, a little spice, and a little crunch, making this dessert hit all the right notes.
After dessert, they brought over some complimentary sweet bites.
And some house made granola bars to take home! We really had a great evening, the food was outstanding and the service was excellent. I highly recommend a trip over to The Table at Season to Taste if you have a chance.
The Table at Season to Taste
2447 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
http://www.cambridgetable.com/
Tags: cambridge, celebrity chef, fine dining, restaurant, vegetarian
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
May 25, 2017 Fuji at Assembly
I headed over to Assembly Row recently to meet the girls for lunch. We settled on Fuji, and I was excited to try it out. You may have been to one of their other restaurants, they have a few: Fuji at WOC, B Cafe, Shabu, Fuji at Kendall, Bistro Chi, Kama Lounge, Sabu and Mein, Fuji at Inkblock or Yocha. Reservations can be made on Reserve.
They have a great space – very open and plenty of seating. Service was good and our food came out quickly.
They have a nice selection of sushi, traditional entrees and noodles. They offer hand made dim sum dumplings which sounded delicious – next time! I’ve already bought a Groupon and am planning my next trip!
Fuji has a good kids menu (I’d like to order off of it)- for $10 you can have a grilled chicken, a chicken cutlet or a grilled salmon(add $2) meal that comes with white rice, sweet potato tempura fries, steamed broccoli and a choice of milk or juice box.
The hot and sour soup ($5) hit the spot, made in the classic Sichuan style with tofu, bamboo shoots, wood ears and mushrooms.
Fuji offers some great lunch specials. From 11am-3pm every day, they offer bento boxes for $16. This whole tray above is what you’ll get. So it is served with white rice, miso soup, salad, spicy edamame, 2 pieces of pork gyoza, 2 pieces of shumai, sweet potato and zucchini tempura, and some spicy tuna maki. For your main dish in the bento you have your choice of chicken, salmon or eel teriyaki, stir fried cumin beef, general gao’s chicken or kung pao chicken. I had enough here for two meals! They also offer deluxe bento boxes for $22 and sushi lunch sets staring at $12. The food was tasty – I plan on trying the sushi next. Stay tuned!
Fuji at Assembly
320 Canal Street, Somerville, MA
Tags: asian, casual dining, chinese, restaurant
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
May 24, 2017 Totto Ramen at Assembly
I had been to the Totto Ramen in Allston, so I was excited to try the one that is located in Assembly Row. What are the differences? Well for one, you can get takeout here. SCORE. Also, you can pay with a card. DOUBLE SCORE! Oh, and there’s totally better parking at Assembly. They open at noon and we were right there when they opened their doors. Good thing too, because it filled up pretty quickly and by 12:30 there was a wait. The seating is a little tight, probably best to leave strollers in the car if you have one. We started with the fried chicken bun which was DELICIOUS. This is what late night snack dreams are made of.
They have a few different choices for ramen:
Chicken Paitan:
Original straight noodles in house made Chicken Paitan Soup topped with scallions, onions, nori, *char siu and kikurage. *Choice of pork or chicken.
Spicy Paitan:
Chicken Paitan topped with house made spicy sesame oil, scallions, bean sprouts, nori and *char siu. *Choice of pork or chicken.
Miso Paitan:
Original wavy noodles in our Chicken Paitan topped with finest Koji Miso and ground pork, half boiled egg, scallions, bean sprouts, onions and *char siu. *Choice of pork or chicken.
Vegetable Ramen:
Original straight noodles in seaweed and shiitake mushroom base soup topped with seasonal vegetables and Yuzu paste.
You can customize your bowl of ramen with things like extra chicken or pork, boiled egg, poached egg, kikurage mushroom, wake seaweed, corn, seasoned avocado, spicy bamboo shoots or rays (a spicy sesame oil) to name just a few.
The helpings were generous and pictured above is the chicken paitan. I wish that for $5 we went with the mega patina (a larger portion) because it was so good the next day at home!! The broth was just delicious.
Totto Ramen
463 Artisan Way, Somerville, MA
Tags: ramen
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Restaurants
May 19, 2017 Move Over Hoodsie Cup: There’s New Game in Town
Remember when you used to go to birthday parties and you’d get a Hoodsie cup for dessert? I always ate the vanilla side first and then reluctantly ate the chocolate. And those wooden ‘spoons’? Yeah. Well, good news, there’s some new players in town that will make you say Hoodsie who? Ok, so maybe still get some for the little kids, but step it up a notch for the adults who are going to be there.
Little G Ice Cream is the product of Grace Connor, a 17 year old (yeah, just think about what YOU were doing at 17…). She makes “super premium” ice cream in small batches that are inspired by classic desserts. Oh, and Oprah’s a big fan. So what are her flavors (well they change, but there are always a ton of flavors to choose from)
- Hot Chocolate creamy chocolate ice cream + homemade marshmallow fluff swirl
- Triple Cookie Dough Vanilla bean ice cream + chocolate chip cookie dough chunks + double chocolate chip cookie dough chunks + sugar cookie dough chunks
- Snack Attack vanilla ice cream +a caramelized mixture of pretzels, potato chips, and Ritz crackesr + M&Ms + Peanut Butter Cups
- Chocolate Milk and Cookies chocolate ice cream + chocolate chip cookie dough chunks + chocolate sandwich cookie pieces
- Marshmallow Crispy Treat vanilla bean ice cream + homemade marshmallow crispy cereal treat chunks
- Coffee Toffee Caramel coffee ice cream + chocolate covered toffee chunks + salted caramel swirl
- Confetti Birthday Cake vanilla ice cream + yellow funfetti cake pieces + pink vanilla buttercream frosting swirl
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup chocolate ice cream + peanut butter caramel swirl + peanut butter cups
- Movie Night buttered popcorn ice cream with a mixture of the best chocolate, peanut butter, nougat and caramel candies
- Cowboy Cookie – brown butter brown sugar ice cream with oatmeal cookie dough, toasted coconut, mini chocolate chips, and peanut butter swirl
- Peanut Butter Cup Marshmallow – peanut butter ice cream with homemade marshmallow swirl and mini peanut butter cups
- Peanut Butter and Jelly – Peanut Butter ice cream with homemade raspberry jam swirl and honey roasted peanuts
- Maple Oatmeal Cookie Dough – maple ice cream with oatmeal cookie dough and candied walnuts
Let me tell you, there is no skimping on toppings here. You almost forget that you’re eating ice cream it is so jammed packed with goodies. You can order Little G online and have it shipped to your house or pick some up at places like Whole Foods, Brothers Marketplace, Brookline Grown, Formaggio Kitchen or Fells Market.
Next up, Vice Cream. Founder Dan Schorr, a cancer survivor, decided to pour himself into things that made him happy and worked on perfecting his new ice cream. These cleverly named ice creams are creamy and delicious. I love “afternoon delight” because to has all of my favorite goodies in it – cookie dough, caramel, and truffles! Good news, you can find Vice at most Star Markets. Not at your local shop, head over to their website and check out their “where to buy” section. Here are some of the flavors:
- MINTED
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A BALLER TO ENJOY OUR NEWEST FLAVOR. FEATURING STACKS ON STACKS OF MINT-CHOCOLATE COINS AND COOKIE CRUMBLES DECADENTLY MIXED WITH CREAMY MINT ICE CREAM. IT’S A WISE INVESTMENT - TOFFEE WIFE
RICH PEANUT BUTTER ICE CREAM MIXED WITH CHOPPED TOFFEE BARS, PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE DOUGH AND A TOFFEE RIPPLE. OUR TOFFEE WIFE IS AS SWEET AS CAN BE, BUT MORE THAN A LITTLE NUTTY. - L’ORANGE A TROIS
BORED WITH YOUR TIRED, OLD VANILLA? TRY EXPERIMENTING WITH A LITTLE L’ORANGE A TROIS. RICH, CREAMY VANILLA ICE CREAM WITH ORANGE RIPPLE AND A HEDONISTIC THREE-WAY OF DARK, WHITE AND MILK CHOCOLATE CHUNKS. NO JUDGMENTS. - AFTERNOON DELIGHT
CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULE FOR ULTRA-CREAMY VANILLA ICE CREAM WITH CHUNKS OF CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH, SALTED CARAMEL TRUFFLES, AND THICK SWIRLS OF CHOCOLATE FUDGE AND CARAMEL. IT’S WHAT “DO NOT DISTURB” SIGNS WERE MEANT FOR. - HIGHER GROUNDS
DARK ROAST COFFEE ICE CREAM INTERLACED WITH SWIRLS OF MOCHA FUDGE, CRUNCHY CHOCOLATE COOKIE CRUMBLES AND PILLOWS OF SWEET ESPRESSO. OH, AND IT’S CURRENTLY LEGAL IN ALL 50 STATES. - BOURBON MASH
OUR BOURBON MASH IS AN INTOXICATING BLEND OF ULTRA-CREAMY VANILLA ICE CREAM AND HEARTY CHUNKS OF CHOCOLATE, ALL TOPPED OFF WITH A HEAVY POUR OF BOURBON-CARAMEL SAUCE. NOT ALL BOURBON HAS TO BE NEAT. - CHOC OF SHAME
RICH CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM WITH MOUTHFULS OF CHEWY BROWNIE DOUGH GENEROUSLY FLECKED WITH DARK CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS. IT’S REALLY MORE OF A CHOCOLATE STRIDE OF PRIDE, BUT THAT NAME WOULDN’T FIT ON THE CONTAINER. - BREAKFAST IN BED
SAY GOOD MORNING TO SWEET MAPLE ICE CREAM WITH GENEROUS CHUNKS OF STICKY BUN DOUGH, PECAN PRALINE AND JUST A TOUCH OF CREAM CHEESE. JUST TRY NOT TO GET ANY ON THE SHEETS.
Love your local ice cream shop? Have them hand pack a pint for you. New City Microcreamery in Hudson is one of my favorite spots. They use liquid nitrogen to make their ice cream and their flavors rotate. So when I find a flavor that I love, I have them pack me a pint so I can keep the love affair going at home. Currently on my list of favorites is baklava and blackberry.
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Products
May 17, 2017 Party Favors: La Doce
Let’s be honest, 1 year olds don’t need party favors, but it is nice to have guests leave a party with a little something. La Doce is Boston’s first online boutique to offer Brazilian birgadeiros. They say they are a cross between a truffle and a caramel – these confections just melt in your mouth!
Each box is made to order in Westborough, MA and they are hand delivered in the metro Boston area next day! They can also be shipped if you aren’t in the area. Husband and wife team Bruno and Laura Alves are the brains behind La Doce. Laura started making brigadeiros for school events and soon people we requesting them for events. Using a family recipe, Laura and Bruno are bringing these delicious Brazilian treats to the masses!
Boxes come in two sizes, the 4 piece (perfect for party favors) for $10 and a 12 piece size (pictured above) for $25.
La Doce brigadeiros come in five flavors: Milk Chocolate with Milk Chocolate Sprinkles, Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs, Dark Chocolate with Sliced Almonds, Pistachio with Chopped Pistachios and Coconut with Shredded Coconut.
For more information, or to order, check out their website: www.byladoce.com
Disclaimer: I was given a sample of La Doce brigadeiros for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
Tags: chocolate, dessert, products, shop local, shop small
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Products
May 16, 2017 Party Favors: Spindler Confections
Located in Cambridge, a short walk from the Davis Square T station, is Spindler Confections, a local artisan candy shop.
They have a nice selection of chocolates, salted caramels, nut caramels, pate de fruits and brittles.
Did you know that they have classes? Class 1 is called Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate! and you learn the basics of tempering chocolate, making fillings and capping molds. You get to take home the chocolates that you helped create! The second class they offer is called Crazy for Caramel where you learn how to make caramel from scratch. For safety purposes, the cooking portion is strictly a demo, but you’ll go home with about $25 worth of caramel! The caramel class is $50 per person and the chocolate class is $75 per person.
Now, about the subject at hand – party favors. Spindler offers customizable party favors – prices start at $2.25 for a 2 piece box.
I love the caramel pretzels but decided to try something new this time. I went with the six piece milk and dark assortment of nut butter cups.
Not pictured, I also picked up two white chocolate pistachio nut butter cups. I may or may not have eaten them so quickly I forgot to take a photo. These would be an excellent choice for a party favor, for a birthday party, wedding, or your next big event.
Spindler Confections
2257 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
http://spindlerconfections.com
Closed Mondays
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Products
May 15, 2017 1st Birthday Party
It’s so fun to be turning 1!! The Go Local Boston gals and I put together a fun party for my little one who has a birthday right around the corner. If you’re looking for a traditional cake, The Icing on the Cake is one of my top choices. Located in Newton, TIOTC is in their 29th year of business. They did our wedding cake, which was amazing. The cake designs are beautiful and they can create a custom cake (or cupcakes) for your event. 8″ round cakes, that feed around 10-15, start at $45. This cake, with pale pink rosettes, was a perfect centerpiece for our party.
We paired the cake with a sparkler #1 candle from Greentail Table. Greentail has a large selection of housewares and textiles. I literally want EVERYTHING in the store.
The candle in action!
Sparklers not your thing? Here’s another fun way to top your cake – picked this up in the dollar bins at Target!
Other places to get great cakes:
- Party Favors in Brookline – they do custom cakes, but also have cakes (and cupcakes) ready to go in the shop
- Blackbird Doughnuts in the South End – Chef Anna Perna makes a doughnut cake, 5″ wide, made with doughnut layers and berry jam. For $26 you can get one for your next event, covered in vanilla buttercream or the seasonal buttercream (which is strawberry at the moment). Hey, if Adele loves it, you will too!
- AJ Cakes in Marlborough – for those of you out in Metro West, Ashley is your girl. She makes custom cakes, cookies and cupcakes.Do yourself a favor and pick up a cinnamon roll for yourself while your in there for the ride home…
- For those of you farther out west, try The Crown Bakery and Cafe in Worcester – Our girl Kim swears by the princess cake, but they can whip you up any number of options, they’ve been around for 55 years!
Here’s the birthday girl going after that first taste of cake!
Traditional cakes not your thing? Try an ice cream cake from New City Microcreamery in Hudson. I love New City for their liquid nitrogen ice cream and eccentric toppings. Now, they offer cakes, starting at $25. Choose from three popular flavors:
Strawberries and Cream: Yellow Cake, Strawberry ice cream, whipped cream icing.
Birthday Cake: Funfetti cake, Cake batter ice cream, whipped Icing, rainbow sprinkles.
Double Chocolate: Chocolate Cake, Chocolate ice cream, brownie crumble, chocolate icing.
Pop on to their website, you can order it right online, pick your flavor and pick your size (6″, 8″ or 10″) – BOOM, you’re done. You can make a fully customized cake starting at $35.
We had the strawberries and cream cake – I love strawberry ice cream and the cake was very light and fresh. Pick one up today!
Let’s talk party favors. Before I had kids, I went to some first birthday parties. When you don’t have kids and you get invited to a 1st birthday party, you can probably think of a million things that you’d rather be doing. I love the idea of party favors for the adults at a kids party – make the non parents happy and put out some single serve bubbly and fun party straws. We thought the LaMarca proseccos were a good choice and paired them with fun paper straws from Target.
Bubbly not your thing? The Francis Ford Coppola winery puts out these cute Sofia mini cans. The Sofia Blanc de Blancs come in fun pink cans with their own straw for sipping. Those without kids will thank you. And even if you do have kids, you might want to grab one of these 😉
Now that the adults are happy, how about the kids? How adorable are these sappy cups that Leah found from Francesca’s. Party favors at 1st birthdays aren’t really necessary, but fun for guests to walk away with a little something.
Succulents are so in these days, how about these cuties from Niche in Cambridge? Leah likes to pair these with $5 gift cards for the kids – I like that idea too! I think I’ll steal it. Because you know that those kids don’t need cheap plastic toys or more candy…
Let’s throw in something a little sophisticated shall we? I’ll start off with these amazing unicorn macarons from Maca Boston. Tamy is my go to gal for macarons – not only does she make adorable characters, but they TASTE DELICIOUS! They are so fresh – these ones are filled with fruity pebble buttercream – so fun!! We shot them on top of Hammond’s cotton candy from Brothers Marketplace, because…what kid doesn’t love cotton candy! Oh, and by the way, she also makes MACARON CAKES!!!!!
Another option for party favors, not just for a 1st birthday, but for any event, are La Doce brigadeiros. These Brazilian handmade truffles come in this 4 pack size ($10), perfect for a favor, or a larger size of 15 ($35). They are made locally and are HAND DELIVERED! Yay!!
Stay tuned all this week for fun party themed posts!
Thanks to the following companies who provided the products for this post: La Doce, Brothers Marketplace, Maca Boston, New City Microcreamery and The Icing on the Cake
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Products
May 9, 2017 Mother’s Day Ideas
I’m have to admit that Mother’s Day totally snuck up on me. Maybe my head has been in the sand, but all of the sudden I turned around and oh wait, Mother’s Day is THIS WEEKEND!! So, I checked in with my gal pals from Go Local Boston and we put together a few ideas for Sunday! For a quick and easy meal, we decided on Tequila Lime Chicken. This is an easy recipe, Ina Garten’s actually, and it came out AMAZING. Really tender and flavorful. We paired it with a little pea soup, and I love it served in mismatched mugs.
Brother’s Marketplace in Weston is really my go to place these days. I can pick up almost everything I need in one place. It only looks like I spent hours slaving in the kitchen preparing. Let them do all the work while you sit on the couch eating the Mother’s Day chocolates you bought for yourself. For our shoot, we picked up a few items for a killer cheese board, some flowers and of course a little bubbly. Those delicious desserts are from Praliné in Belmont. Try to just buy one tart, I dare you! They also make some delicious macarons, so pick some of those up for good measure. Need to wrap your gifts and pick up a card? Check out Bottle Branch. Elizabeth creates these amazing botanical note cards, stickers and gift tags. These items just stepped up your gift giving game! Looking to add in a little fun? Have you checked out the gifts at Sense and Humor? I love the “World’s Okayest Mom” mug.
So let’s talk cheese plates. This one has my favorite cheese on it, Cobb Hill’s Ascutney Mountain, along side of Consider Bardwell’s Dorset, and a little Great Hill Blue Cheese to round out the plate. Ascutney Mountain is an Alpine style cheese made with raw farmstead Jersey cow milk that has a sweet and nutty flavor. Dorset is a washed rind, raw Jersey cow cheese that is ripe! It has a rich, buttery texture. Great Hill is based in Western Massachusetts and is full flavored. Leah loves sour cherry, so the Divinia sour cherry spread was a perfect choice. It’s bold and sweet, perfect on this cheese plate but could easily be added to pastry or spread on your favorite sandwich. Effie’s oatcakes are one of my favorite snacks. I eat them straight out of the bag, but they are perfect for a cheese plate. They are made locally in Hyde Park and have a sweet nutty flavor to them. I always like different textures on my cheese plates, so we included Copper Kettle’s Cranberry Welsh Cakes that are made locally in Westwood. For bubbles, I love the 90+ Cellars Prosecco, and for those who aren’t drinking, the Laurel Hill Sparkling Cider is a great choice.
Need a gift for mom? Have you heard about La Doce? Husband and wife team Laura and Bruno Alves just launched their brigadeiro company. These Brazilian chocolates are made from 100% cacao, organic condensed milk and organic butter. They come in five flavors: milk chocolate with milk chocolate sprinkles, dark chocolate with cocoa nibs, dark chocolate with sliced almonds, pistachio and coconut. You can buy them online and they will HAND DELIVER the next day! Talk about fresh. The consistency of these chocolates is amazing, they just melt in your mouth. I love the chocolate with chocolate sprinkles, but the pistachio was a close second. A box of 4 is $10 and a box of 12 is $25. And at 80-100 calories per piece, I’m not ashamed that I polished this box off before Mother’s Day even came.
How can it be Mother’s Day without flowers? These beauties are from Brother’s Marketplace, designed buy the talented Ali Papa. She’s self taught and is killing it over in Weston. Stop by and say hello!
What are you doing for Mother’s Day?
Tags: products
May 8, 2017 Mix It
Located in Cambridge, Mix It serves a mix of Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Indonesian and Korean food. They have noodles, rice, soups, salads and sushi to boot. The restaurant has great light at the tables in the front by the windows – we will certainly be back when the weather gets a little warmer! Can’t make it in to the restaurant? Did I mention that they have free delivery (and you can use the promo code: SPRING17 when you order online to get 10% off).
Did you know that Mix It just recently won the Best High End Sushi category on Boston’s A-List? They came in 2nd for Best Asian Fusion too! How have I never heard of this place before?
I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I saw how large the menu was. How could they possibly have this many items (think Cheesecake Factory sized menu) and still put out good food? EVERYTHING that we had was delicious, and they were all so different, so hats off to the chef! All the dishes that we had were delicious and here’s the thing, they were light. We had a HUGE lunch, but I was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t need to be rolled out of there! The plating was impressive, each dish was a work of art, and the service was top notch.
The fresh rolls ($6.95) were calling our name! They came filled with tofu, lettuce, carrots, bean sprouts, sweet basil and thin rice noodles. The house sauce with peanuts added loads of flavor, which we loved.
Avocados are popular, so of course we needed to try the avocado salad ($8.95) (hey, we needed a break from avocado toast). It certainly doesn’t look like your run of the mill salad, and yet is still refreshingly light and tasty.
When you break it open, there is a mixture of kanikama, cucumber, avocado, tobiko all mixed in a light mayo sauce and topped with a tempura crunch. The crunch was what put this salad at the top of the list for me.
The plating on the tuna tartare ($15.95) was impressive. Fresh cubes of sushi grade tuna is layered with tobiko, mango juice and fresh avocado. Again, a really nice, light dish that was refreshing. The tuna was very fresh.
The duck isn’t on the menu yet, but we were lucky enough to sample it. If you’ve never tried duck before, this dish is very approachable, with familiar flavors. We loved the spicy jalapeño in the sauce!
Mother’s day is just around the corner. Who needs a bouquet of flowers? I’d much rather have these sushi roses 😉
If you’ve never had kimchi, you’re in for a real treat. Again, a totally approachable dish, because you already know the flavors of fried rice. The pickled kimchi not only packs a good crunch, but also a little heat. We added shrimp to ours – this could certainly be enough for a main meal!
The Mongolian beef is one of Mix It’s most popular dishes. The meat is stir fried in a wok and cooked with onions, bell peppers and scallions. The Mongolian sauce is light but packed with flavor.
Noodle bowls – can’t get enough of them!! You pick your broth, pick your noodle type and toppings and then decide if you want add ons. For broth, you have your choice of tom yum, lemongrass, chicken broth, coconut curry or mushroom. We pick tom yum: classic mild sweet and sour broth with be a sprouts, scallions cilantro and peanuts. Noodle choices include: pho, vermicelli, yellow soba, thin egg noodles, udon, or ramen. Of course we go for the ramen, was that ever even a question? We added chicken for our topping and chose bok choy and a hard boiled egg for extras. Perfect comfort food for a cold, rainy day, but also perfect and light enough for a sunny spring lunch.
I love a good lunch special. Mix It’s lunch special is offered Monday – Friday from 11:30am – 4:00pm. We chose the chicken teriyaki bento (a steal for $9.95), which came with an appetizer, soup, salad, rice and an orange. First, I need all my rice to now come in this pyramid shape. Secondly…ALL.THE.FOOD!
Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest to have lunch at Mix It. My meal was provided complimentary. All opinions are my own.
Mix It
1678 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
Tags: asian food, casual dining, restaurant, takeout
- 1 comment
- Posted under Restaurants
May 2, 2017 The Matzo Project: A New Spin on a Classic
Are you breathing a sigh of relief that Passover is over? Have you been counting the days until you could throw out that cardboard matzo that was sitting on your counter? Well move over old fashioned matzo, there’s a new game in town. I paired up with the Matzo Project and put together some fun recipes to make you rethink matzo – and maybe even have it year round (gasp!!). What first caught my eye was the packaging: super cute with a grandmother on the front, asking, “Would it kill you to try something new?”. What kept my interest was the taste. Not like the cardboard matzo I know, more like a cracker, with FLAVOR!! The Matzo Project makes salted and everything flavored matzo and then matzo chips (!!) in salted, everything and cinnamon sugar (whaaatttt?!). They’re vegan, nut free, dairy free and all natural. Oh, and they’re kosher, just not kosher for passover.
When I do anything recipe related, I pair up with Leah, my go-to gal in the kitchen. We decided to make a few fun things – first up, stuffed mushrooms. Totally familiar dish made better with The Matzo Project’s everything matzo chips.
This recipe is so simple, in fact there is no exact recipe (or maybe there is but you’ll have to ask Leah). De-stem mushrooms and place in baking dish. Sautee onions. Grate Parmesan cheese and chop up some fresh herbs (whatever kind you like). Grind up a bag of everything matzo chips and mix together with cheese, onions and herbs. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. BAM!
I could tell you that we went all fancy with this next recipe, but we didn’t. Everyone loves a good dip – onion dip especially, but you don’t want to admit that you could eat it all in one sitting.
1 package of Lipton onion soup mix. 16oz of sour cream. Sauteed onions to make people think that it wasn’t made from a soup mix. Pair with The Matzo Project’s salted matzo crackers – because they can stand up to this sturdy dip.
Our take on French Onion Soup. Make it into a dip. You can use the above recipe and then add gruyere on top – broil it off in the oven until the cheese is nice and bubbly. With French Onion Soup you normally get that nice big slice of bread, but we opted for a lighter version, and paired it with some of the salted matzo.
I’ve been going to a lot of brunches lately, and one of the things that is pretty popular on the menu is a French Toast with corn flakes or frosted flakes. I love the crunch that the cereal adds, so we decided to do our own take on French Toast. I did an easy baked French Toast recipe with blueberries and then we finished it off with some cinnamon sugar matzo crackers on top. Here’s the recipe:
1 loaf of challah (I use OMG challah – it’s a nice consistency for the French Toast)
8 eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon on cinnamon
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 pint blueberries (or any berry of your choosing)
Directions:
Cube challah and add to baking dish. Set aside. Mix together milk, cream, eggs and spices. Pour mix over challah, add berries and cover. Refrigerate overnight. The next morning, bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. In a separate skillet, heat up butter and crunched up cinnamon sugar chips. Sautee until browned and add over cooked French Toast.
So we have finished our meal, make sure that you save room for dessert!
I don’t know about you, but ice cream, over the top ice cream, has been all over my Instagram feed. We decided to use the cinnamon sugar chips on our ice cream cones and see how it would turn out. Leah says, “let’s make ice cream cones with chocolate magic shell”. I’m like, “ok I’ll pick some up from the store”. Leah, “….ummmm, no…we’ll make it”. Here’s the recipe we used, super simple and we used Lindt chocolate – so you know it came out super tasty! We paired batch dark chocolate mexican chile and roasted almonds ice cream with our magic chocolate shell, candied nuts and crushed up cinnamon sugar matzo chips. The cinnamon from the chips paired well with the chocolate and spice!
And we ended the afternoon fun with hazelnut gelato, magic chocolate shell, chopped hazelnuts and cinnamon sugar matzo chips. I think we can consider this day a success!
Want to try out some of The Matzo Project products? Check out their website here. Are you in Boston? If you dare brave the crowds at Eataly, you can pick some up there!
- Leave a comment
- Posted under Products, Recipes
