eats along the 33rd parallel - Food reviews from friends

April 22, 2009

Miriam: Morocco Sushi Pictures and Generic Update

Months ago, I promised pictures of Moroccan sushi (it gave me a legitimate excuse to go back and spend tons of money on happy happy fish!). The only problem is that they still did not have tuna: "Tomorrow, in sha Allah." Well, as a result I had to try the King Crab Roll, which consisted of oodles of crab. That's it. Crab.

Crab and me, we go way back, but this was a bit too much crab for Miriam. I've finally found a point where I had enough crab. The salad was interesting, and it was certainly a relief to have a dressing that wasn't just watered-down mayonnaise. It was a wasabi vinaigrette and there wasn't any lettuce, instead shredded carrots and cabbage, but they were in strips that were so long that they wrapped around the bowl and were difficult to navigate into our mouth's without flinging dressing on our shirts. The ambiance was unparalleled modern chic in Fes, where most expensive restaurants emphasized the Moroccaness of their features as opposed to contrasting it.

I have since moved to Oman and live an hour and a half away from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The culinary opportunities are much greater there, but most of the fine restaurants are at hotels and are beyond the reach of a student's budget. We did have amazing catered Chinese appetizers at a US Dept of Commerce function, though. Can't remember the restaurant, but ... I thought I saved a cocktail napkin. Most restaurants in town are very inexpensive Lebanese, Syrian, or Indian places. I have been meaning to do a couple write-ups on them. First, I had to put my house in order! The most recent food events have been the weekly dinners hosted by one of our group of students. We have had Nepalese food, Philipino and Thai food (that was me, of course), Chicken Alfredo, Breakfast-for-Dinner, Variations on Chicken with Bros. Special Sauce, Biryani, and tonight Aaron whipped up some amazing vegetable lasagna which is a departure on his vegan-matzoh-Passover-kosher lasagna. We will be going to Jordan, and possibly Kenya and Tanzania, where I will most definitely have things to report! Food! Happy feasting!

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Miriam_Morocco_Sushi_Pictures_.zip (394 KB)

Filed under // 2009 home-cooked japanese miriam morocco oman pictures uae

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February 19, 2009

Bobby: Cake in a Mug

A great recipe if you want cake at the office or anywhere without an oven!

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February 13, 2009

Bobby: Jeong Won Korean BBQ (it's all you can eat!!!)

Text review coming soon!

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February 1, 2009

Miriam: Sushi and Camel Burgers

This weekend's culinary adventures can be united by one thing (other than price): no mayonnaise on salad! Hooray! We went to a sushi restaurant on Saturday night. We had heard nothing but praise for this restaurant with people saying that it was even better than Nobu and all the best and favorite sushi places in America. Braced for the high prices, we took a petit taxi to Kiotori, a chain of Japanese restaurants in Morocco. The decor was sumptuous with the chefs working on the floor above us, showcased in glass. I bet you've never seen a sushi waitress wearing a headscarf before. The first disappointment of the night came with the announcement that they had no tuna. NO TUNA?! TUNA IS SUSHI! We had to rethink our entire order when we realized that we had planned to eat tuna in nearly every dish. Instead, we had a nice unagi/roe/avocado/crab roll, a crunchy roll with tempura shrimp and some heavenly sauce (maybe the best eel sauce ever), and then some kappamaki, tekkamaki with salmon instead of tuna, and california rolls with and without cream cheese. This came with a salad and miso soup. The salad was comprised of long strips of finely shredded cabbage and carrots with this horseradish vinaigrette. It was a bit difficult to eat with chopsticks. The miso soup had tofu (!!!!!!!), our first since coming here. They served it in a cute bowl with a lid, but it wasn't piping hot and the spoon was stoneware, which was remarkably heavy! The second disappointment was at dessert, when they had neither the passionfruit nor lychee ice cream listed on the menu. I was even going to just order a handroll: it was mango, avocado, and tempura shrimp with other yummy things, but they couldn't do that either!! Probably a good thing we left it at that, because we spent nearly $50. For Morocco, that is LUDICROUS. For sushi, that is about par for the course. We thought we'd splurge anyway, since we missed the trip to Marrakesh. As an added bonus, they took MasterCard, so we didn't have to pay out all our cash.

Today, we went back to Cafe Clock (which I may not have posted on this blog). It's run by a Brit in the Medina Qadima and is incredibly popular with tourists. It is a very nice cafe, but the prices are most certainly tourist prices. I was hell-bent on going to the Medina today, even though it was raining. I didn't realize that the streets would be rivers of mud, but we got to the cafe without getting too filthy and then I ordered their famous camel burger, which came with fries and salad. The fries were light, not drowned in oil like most fries in Morocco. Unfortunately, without a dip, I think I would have preferred oily fries! Back to the sandwich: it was AMAZING. It was my first time having camel, but it was out of this world tasty. They dressed it up with "taza ketchup." I have no idea what that means, but it was just like haroset, which is a Jewish dish served at Passover and is sweet, made with fresh apples, dried dates, raisins, apricots, figs, walnuts, and wine. We like to eat it with raw horseradish on matzoh. Digression aside, it was an interesting and complimentary addition to the meat, which also had an onion slice, lettuce, and tomato. As per my usual, the onion went to Aaron and I enjoyed the burger slowly. The salad that came with the meal had a horseradishy vinaigrette! And hence the connection between sushi and camel burger. I also had a mocha and then a hot chocolate (it's rainy, forgive my drink choices), but this is the only place I've ever had unsweetened mocha and hot chocolate. This is especially surprising since most Moroccan drinks are comprised of sugar with some liquid on the side. Pictures are of Cafe Clock, I need to get the sushi ones off my camera.

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Miriam_Sushi_and_Camel_Burgers.zip (434 KB)

Filed under // 2009 burger camel chain horseradish japanese miriam morocco pictures salad

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January 27, 2009

Miriam: Pictures of Moroccan Food

Here are pictures of Moroccan food:

Lamb and Quince Tajine at Al Fassi Restaurant in the Sofitel Palais Jamai Hotel, Fes.

Next is the dessert at the same restaurant on the prix fixe menu. Note the very light portion!

Bisarra - a white bean, garlic, olive oil, and cumin soup. Available from many street vendors, retail at about $1.

Addis - lentils cooked with lemon and spices and oil. About $1.25.

Hummus - not the Lebanese style you're used to, this is just cooked chickpeas. Sometimes the chickpeas are a bit hard. $1.25.

Fancy Fruit Guy - Vendor of all your favorite exotic fruits including raspberries, lychee, mangoes, strawberries, prickly pear, and the like.

A mostly finished platter of couscous. One of these fed about 8 people! I have taken cooking classes with Laila, the housekeeper, and have recipes for couscous, hummus, harcha (semolina breakfast thing), and tajine. Tajines are conical clay pots that you cook meat and vegetables in. Oftentimes, the food is cooked in big vats and then served in a tajine (that's at a restaurant). At home, you can use small to large tajines to cook up to 3 people's worth of food.

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Miriam_Pictures_of_Moroccan_Fo.zip (16385 KB)

Filed under // 2009 couscous lamb miriam morocco pictures street food tajine

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January 16, 2009

Miriam: Moroccan Street Food

We've been sampling Moroccan street food, usually our lunch fare after class. No pics yet, but I'm working on it. So far we've had b'sarra, which is a Fassi specialty (from Fes). It's a white bean soup with olive oil and garlic and served with fresh, hardy bread. It's about 6 Dh which is less than a dollar. And includes wormwood tea - yes, the same stuff absinthe is made out of. Addis is currently Aaron's favorite: it's a bowl of lentils with bread and tea and goes for 8 Dh ($1). We've also tried their version of hummus, which is really just unmashed chickpeas that have been cooked with spices (served with bread and tea). That's also 8 Dh. The other day I splurged and ordered tajine. Tajines are ceramic conical dishes that you bake meat, couscous, whatever in. At restaurants (even side cafes), they usually just use a big pot and ladle it into a tajine for serving. Tajines are really single or double serving and used at home. Anyway, I had chicken tajine which was chicken so moist and seasoned... with carrots and potatoes cooked in the chicken juices. Mmmmm. The first day we went, a large group of us ate so they brought out free sides like Moroccan salad, fried eggplant, and an eggplant tomato mash-up. I really wish that they brought that to us all the time. It makes them look good to have a table of foreigners sitting in front of their stall, so they keep plying you with treats to get you to stay. And I don't think we were charged for any of it other than the main dish, which usually comes out to a dollar. I think the tajines are a whopping 13 Dh, but a nice change (especially because they have meat). It's always fun trying to talk to the people their in a mix of Fusha, Dareeja, French, and English. I think I might put my old pocket Minolta in my purse so that I can more surreptitiously take photos rather than using my big new Nikon SLR.

Filed under // 2009 miriam morocco street food tajine tea

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January 10, 2009

Miriam: Zoës Kitchen

One of our favorite Columbia, SC haunts is Zoës Kitchen. There's currently only one location, over in Forest Acres by Trenholm. This is the num-yummiest place around! I'm not a big chicken salad fan, and what originally got me in the door was the design and decor. I didn't know if it was a burger joint, a veggie place, or what, but I didn't expect it to specialize in chicken. The menu is somewhat extensive, but they keep their ingredients to a minimum.

My favorite thing, hands down, is the coleslaw. None of that mayonnaisey, watery, limp stuff you get most places. They shred cabbage and toss it with feta, chives, oil, and spices to give you the freshest tasting slaw ever. They put the slaw on the Gruben, a grilled sandwich featuring turkey, swiss, spicy mustard, and slaw on rye. I do not like rye in the least, and this sandwich is phenomenal!

I usually get the chickensalad sandwich. The first time we walked in, they gave us a free sample since we were new. Oh my goodness. It's like no other chicken salad I've had. Once again, no watery mayo with chunks of chicken floating in it. This stuff is shredded to perfection, mixed with the right amount of everything, and spread over bread with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. They use a nice whole grain bread where you can taste the grains. And personally, I'd hold off on the mayo because it's already in the salad.

Each table has salt, pepper, and a yummy oil-vinegar mix which I am compelled to put on the chickensalad sandwich because I like my sandwiches a little moist and I find the bread sucks up the moisture. This is the de facto dressing for the pitas and salads.

There are a couple misses on the menu: Corey ordered some chicken roll-ups one time that were blah. I think it was chicken, cheese, and marinara in a tortilla that was tossed on the grill for a minute. I also dislike the chocolate cake, but that may be because I'm a cake purist. The kabobs and salads are big hits, though.

It's a franchise located out of Texas and the franchise-owner in SC is looking at opening one up in Lexington, but I think they could be well-served in the Vista. They have a drive-thru for phone-in orders only. This serves mostly families who will order family meals. What better clientele than the government and downtown employees who are heading home? Meanwhile, they could serve the college kids in the dining room. Perhaps a bit unorthodox for this company, but good food and fun decor would be appreciated, as well as the price. http://www.zoeskitchen.com

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Miriam_Zos_Kitchen.zip (284 KB)

Filed under // chain chicken miriam pictures slaw south carolina

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November 27, 2008

Miriam: Thanksgiving

What better holiday for a food blog than Thanksgiving? This was my first year cooking, even though I've spent past Thanksgivings without family I've never cooked the meal. We wanted to invite classmates, but it seems as though most everyone is out of town with family, extended family, or friends so we said "To hell with everyone, we're still going to cook the full meal!" I was inexplicably excited about cooking a turkey. I should point out that I've never cooked a whole chicken, just chicken parts.

At about 9:30 a.m., I rolled out of bed and trundled downstairs to dress my turkey. He was a 9 pounder Butterball and after going through the motions (you know, remove giblets and neck, wash, pat dry), I stuffed him with carrots, onions, cloves of garlic, celery, rosemary, sage, thyme, cloves, allspice, pepper, basil, and oregano. I gave him a dry rub with some of the same spices and then rubbed on some olive oil and it was into the oven for 2 hours.

Then I did my mother's infamous holiday rice. Best stuff ever! And so simple. You get Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage. It's precooked, they're these little turds of a sausage, but they're delicious. Dice them and pan fry them up, add onions, green bell peppers, and mushrooms. Finally finish it with day old white rice, seasoned salt, and pepper. It sounds so boring, but it's the combo of the flavorful sausage and the salt that really make it shine. You can nuke it for a week, have it for breakfast or enjoy it as a side dish.

I steamed some green beans in the rice cooker and tossed them in lemon juice. Aaron made yummy candied yams: he took canned yams and cooked them with butter on the stove. Then he put them in a casserole dish with sweetened condensed milk and brown sugar and used a cake mixer to stir it up but good. Pop it in the oven for a while and top it off with marshmallows under the broiler for that amazing burnt sugar campfire nummy taste.

I cheated on the new potatoes, gravy, and cranberries: Trader Joe's. I chose not to have a salad with it because we had so much food already, but one thing remained: Red Lobster-style cheddar bay biscuits. I had made the batter last night because it's better if you refrigerate it overnight. Bisquick, buttermilk, garlic powder, cheddar and butter went into the batter and while they baked I made a garlic butter with parsley flake glaze for the biscuits.

All in all, a very successful Thanksgiving meal! I'm making turkey soup at the moment and Aaron made brownies for dinner. I've been thinking a lot about our next Thanksgiving since it's still unclear where we'll be living, but I'm 99.9% sure it will not be in the United States. So then I look forward to two years from now and I'll be finishing up my degree, back in South Carolina. We have less than a month before we're packed up and out of South Carolina and I still have so much to write about the place.

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Miriam_Thanksgiving.zip (5228 KB)

Filed under // 2008 home-cooked miriam pictures thanksgiving

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November 1, 2008

Bobby: Halloween 2008

Ah, Halloween! A day many use as an excuse to act out of the ordinary by dressing up really unusual (human breathalyzer), doing strange things to others (girl flashing me & a coworker), and of course giving and receiving loads of candy. Originally, I planned to go trick or treating at Horton Plaza to accumulate a variety of candy to blog about, unfortunately, I didn't have time so I blogged about the candy that others brought to work. There wasn't anything special... well, maybe the apples, I guess those count as treats?

Eating candy on Halloween from Bobby on Vimeo.