Reconnecting through lunch

Hello again!

It has been a while since I was last here. Eons ago, I took on a new job that allowed me to either cook or to write about cooking. If I gave up the cooking, I would have had the time to write about food but no material. An uncomfortable situation. I chose the food.

I'm back because an old friend, Emily, is running a contest of sorts on her site. She encourages everyone to get creative with their lunches. Because I have come to the conclusion that my cafeteria's offering of fries & schnitzel is not always my friend, I have been packing a lot of my own lunches. Today was a Vietnamese-style summer roll with a peanut dipping sauce and chopped mango and strawberry.

The rolls are filled with Thai basil, lettuce, bean thread, MSC-approved shrimp, mint, and slices of carrot, radish and red chilies.  The peanut sauce has chili oil, peanut butter, maybe soy sauce, maybe rice vinegar, maybe green onions. I'm not really sure because it was leftover from something else. Because I planned this lunch ahead of time, the actual assembly was 20 minutes for 4 rolls. It took me more time to make the fruit salad that I only realized was necessary after I saw all the empty space in my lunch box.

Summary: both the Workaholic and I were content. And it was the envy of my co-workers who had spaghetti with meat sauce.

Eating Out - Qube

Last Saturday, I happened to be passing by the Qube hotel, which opened 5 weeks ago in Heidelberg. Someone I know who works there said they were trying to create a restaurant that is not a "hotel" restaurant. That is, they are trying to create a restaurant where locals would eat. I qualify as a local, and I would eat there.

When we walked in, we were invited to have a tour of the hotel. On the grounds that once held a little cottage in the middle of the town now stands a 6 story hotel, with a focus on sustainability. As was explained to me by our tour guide, this is not because they want to be an eco-hotel, but simply because this is a long-term business model. This is a long-term business model that I agree with.

After having enjoyed the view from the rooftop patio, we went back downstairs for dinner. I ordered the "Kleine Apperetif" - the small snack - as an appetizer to share. I quickly realized that I had to grab my cell phone to blog about this place. The photos could use some improvement but the snack couldn't have been better. Grissini, presented with a trio of tapenade, aioli & foie gras. My only complaint is that there was not enough grissini. We were, however, given a basket of bread from a baker who has been recognized as one of the best in Germany.

As a part of the effort to encourage locals to eat there, the chef has been imported from Schumann's in Munich, apparently a legendary hotel. I'm not a fan of titles, I'm not blown away by a resume. I am blown away by a snow-white aioli.


After our small snack, the mains arrived. For me, the shrimp and summer vegetable tempura. For my companion, the tuna in sesame crust. The shrimp was drizzled in a mildly spicy chili sauce, and the summer vegetables were reduced to carrots and yellow & green zucchini. There are no local sweet potatoes but there are currently local green beans and eggplant. I would have greatly enjoyed this seasonal addition.


The tuna, on the other hand, was great. Half in a sesame crust, pink in the middle with large strips of daikon on the side. The better choice.

In the past week, I have recommended the place to 2 more people and discovered, while walking past, that they also have a 3 course lunch menu. Maybe I'll try it when I'm working from home one of these days. Or I'll just head out there for drinks with small snacks. It's nice to have a good hotel restaurant so close to home.

Some Meals Fail

Being experimentative is good. Trying new things is good. Gathering ideas from other sources is good. Tonight, I have come to the conclusion that following recipes written by people who must produce new recipes every week might not be so good.

As an avid reader of The New York Times food section, I have appreciated Mark Bittman's writing style, as well as his ideas. They have inspired me to adventure on in the kitchen, making adjustments here and there to suit my palate and my pantry. Today, I decided to make noodles, shrimp & some sort of veggie. It just so happened that I had all the ingredients for the Peanut Noodles with Shrimp from last week's column. I thought that the addition of sugarsnap peas would be good. I am also believe that shrimp with the heads on add more flavour. These were my only 2 variations on the above recipe. The result: less than satisfying. Yes, we ate our dinner but it just wasn't that great. Maybe it's the concept of peanut sauce, maybe it's a lack of right spices, I'm not sure, but it wasn't a repeat for me. I think I'll just wing it next time.

There is no posted picture of tonight's production. Because no matter what you do to them, noodles in peanut sauce just don't look that good. And in this case, they didn't taste that great either.

Shopping in Strasbourg - I

While on a whirlwind shopping tour in Strasbourg this weekend, I managed to swing by the supermarket, and in the 40 minutes before they closed, I got wine, cheese, meat, fish & some veggies. The freezer will be full.

I've eaten baby goat, I've eaten snails, I've had oysters, cockles, lamb, quail, pheasant, ostrich; I'm not afraid of eating animals. Normally the rule is: if I'm not allergic, I'll try it. I know that I'm not allergic to crab; I know that I really like crab meat. As I saw the 3 pre-cooked crabs in the fish section, I selected the one with the least amount of barnacles, with the best colour, in short, the cutest crab available. Tonight, I pulled that crab out of my fridge & prepared to turn him into a seafood quinoa-isotto.

After having done my research on the best way to open a common crab, I set to work. But he looked so darn cute. I like to dive and if I saw this guy underwater, I'd stop for a while and look at him, maybe even have a little chat - he's that cute.Now, I know it's a little silly to be remorseful over the same food I was so excited about while in the supermarket.

1. crab is dead
2. if I didn't buy it, someone else would have - on sale!
3. he's here now and it would be wasteful to not use it

Good. I'll take it apart, make that quinoa-isotto I was planning & be more careful of my purchases in the future.

I took the shell apart, breaking the top off allowing me to get into the inside to pull out the meat & buttery bits. At this point, I realized that I was dealing with a female crab. This is the result of my meticulous meat extraction:

This is the plan for seafood quinoa-isotto:

take 200 g squid & 100g shrimp out of the freezer
sautee 1 onion (chopped) & 2 cloves of garlic (minced) in olive oil over low heat.
Add 1 cup rinsed quinoa & stir around.
Add safron-infused chicken broth (I had some in the fridge) bit by bit, allowing liquid to soak. Maybe about 2 cups.
Throw in cut up squid & allow everything to cook for 30 minutes.
At the last minute add shrimp, & both crab meat & crab red stuff (I think it was roe, but I'm really not sure - I was just squeamish).

The result was decent, my girlfriend came over & said it beat the pants off the salad she was about to make herself.

I still have a bunch of meat (& cheese & wine) from the shopping trip - I'll try to post about that as I slowly extract things from the freezer.