All'Antica in Scarsdale

Gourmet toppings on thin crust pizza is SO in right now... at least in Miki's world.

All'Antica in Scarsdale is a new pizza place right in front of the train station that has the best (IMO) thing crust pizza in the area... I was really in love with Scarsdale PIzza Station pizza but i really really like the toppings at All'Antica

I had the Portabello mushroom, smoked mozarella, red onion, and balsamic vinegar slice first....
Its amazing what the smoked mozzarella does to this slice.... it was sweet and delicious!

And oh man.... look at the thin crust.... NO FLOPPAGE! And the cheese/topping/crust ratio is perfect!


My next slice was the eggplant, gorgonzola, basil and plum tomato slice. I would have to say if i had to choose one, I would go with this one.... The gorgonzola gave a huge BURST of flavor in my mouth accompanied by my fav veggie.... EGGPLANT!

Ugh... and look at this... isn't it beauuuuutiful!?


The only problem is that the place is TINY! Probably about like 4 tables... but luckily it was really nice out today, and we ate outside.

All'Antica (Reviews on Chowhound)
8 Depot Place
Scarsdale, NY 10583
Phone: 914-472-4848
Fax: 914-472-4899

Another Wednesday Sleepover

So.... yesterday was Wednesday and you know what that means! Dinner and a sleepover with Ed!!
Tonights menu was basically 1. Using a new ingredient... QUINOA! and 2. Using up leftovers from my fridge...

The outcome?
For Ed---> Quinoa with olive oil, salt and pepper, and sweet corn, mashed potatoes with cheddar, and Korean BBQ marinated shrimp skewers!

Quinoa is so cute!

Cheesey chunks of melted cheddar!


For me---> Indian spice shrimp skewers, quinoa with onions, peppers, garlic, and freshly grated ginger, and leftover roasted eggplant and zucchini..... yummmm!



I cooked 1 cup of Quinoa and it made a lot! So I just cooked the Quinoa plain and prepared it in separate portions:

Quinoa
-1 cup of Quinoa
-2 cups of water

1. Put the quinoa and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Lower the heat and cook for 15 minutes (until the quinoa gets plump and releases their little "tails"!)

Quinoa with Sweet Corn
-1 cup of cooked quinoa
-1/4 cup of frozen sweet corn
-1 TBSP olive oil

1. Heat a pan with olive oil.
2. Combine the corn and quinoa and sautee.

Quinoa with Ginger and Vegetables
-1 cup cooked quinoa
-1 TBSP olive oil
-2 garlic cloves chopped
-1/4 onion (diced)
-1/4 green pepper (diced)... I used peman which is a japanese green pepper that's a little more bitter
-Grated ginger
-Salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a pan.
2. Sautee the garlic, onions, and green peppers.
3. Add the quinoa and stir.
4. Finish by stirring in the grated ginger and season with salt and pepper.


I'm really diggin' the quinoa! Im gonna continue my use of new ingredients!!!

Tori Shin NYC

Yesssss.... Yakitori! On of my favorite types of Japanese food! Yakitori is various versions/parts of chicken on a stick.... and vegetables of course! Grilled to perfection here at Tori Shin.
I think chicken can be VERY awesome but a lot of times, it's not because someone didn't know how to cook it well... tender and moist is how chicken should be! Tori Shin did an EXCELLENT job at preparing their chicken.

Here at Tori Shin, if it's before 9 PM, you have to choose between 2 of their OMAKASE course menus. The only difference between the two is that one includes 6 skewers total, and the other one has 12. I went here last night (Monday) with my mom, boyfriend (Ed), my brother (Kyuta), and his girlfriend Amanda. So the ladies got the 6 skewer one and the manly men got the 12. Of course by the end of the night, it really didn't matter because everyone ordered extra skewers off of the A La Carte Menu.
Here is me and Ed

And here is my mom, Kyuta, and Amanda


The night started off with some pickled vegetables, vegetable sticks with Mentai-Mayo sauce (karashi mentaiko with mayo), eggplant with okra and myoga (for the 6 skewer people), and yamaimo sticks with okra and katsuobushi (for the 12 skewer people)...





Now onto the good stuff! I tried a lot of different skewers....
Chicken breast with wasabi... cooked medium (the chicken is THAT fresh so its ok). It was SO juicy...

Chicken breast with shiso and plum paste... again, super juicy!

Then.... the highlight of my night.... liver. It was incredibly creamy and melt in your mouth DELISH! I took a really dirty looking picture of an individual piece hehehe....


This was the breast meat with leeks which DID NOT come with my course

Chicken thigh and breast combo

Chicken hips (??) a.k.a Soriresu

My vegetable choice # 1... Shishito Peppers

Chicken "Oyster"... the muscle under a chicken wing (??)

Chicken Wings!!! So crispy on the outside and so fatty and juicy on the inside!

Harami- Chicken belly!

Vegetable choice #2 Asparagus with butter... yummmm

From the A La Carte Menu..... my favorite....... DASHIYAKI TAMAGO!!! The rolled egg!!

Ground Chicken Meatballs

Potatoes

Fried Tofu

Chicken Skin.... I could live on this CRISP deliciousness!

Some kinda crunchy cartiledge... I forgot what it's called! It hit the spot for my love of crunchy goodness though!

Eringi Mushroom... you HAVE to get this. It is SO good!

Tsukune with egg yolk dipping sauce



Now after your skewers, you get a choice of one rice or noodle dish. The choices were Soboro Don, Ochazuke, or Somen. Everyone in my group got something different. At this point I was so stuffed that I could only take one bite per dish!





And finally dessert (which is included in the course), there was a choice of Shiso Sorbet (so refreshing and not sweet at all!) and Yokan (which is kinda like a red bean paste in jelly form; well, softer than jello but firmer than a pudding....)



Everyone was very happy and extremelyfull after this 3 HOUR LONG dinner!

Tori Shin
1193 1st Ave (Btwn 64th & 65th St)
New York 10065
Phone: 212-988-8408

Some Home Cooked Meals

So Wednesdays are sleepover nights with my gorgeous boyfriend!

In't he gorgeous?!
Anyways, every Wednesday, he comes over, and we have a home-cooked meal. It's nice to see him in the middle of the week because A). It sucks if I only saw him on the weekends and B). It gives me something to look forward to in the middle of the week.
Yesterday, since I was kinda busy and didn't have much time to devote to cooking something extravagant, I made a simple yet satisfying Japanese meal. We had rice, tamagoyaki, kurobuta (Berkshire pork) gyoza, and Kimchi. Not only is tamagoyaki one of my favorite foods, I LOVE to make it! It's so much fun!

We also had a fresh salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and scallions.

The gyozas were just some frozen ones that i bought at my local Japanese supermarket.... they weren't bad!

Tamagoyaki
-3 eggs
-2 TBSP sugar
-2 TBSP mirin
-2 TBSP water

1. Mix together the eggs, sugar, mirin and water.
2. Heat a small frying pan* and coat with oil.
3. Pour enough of the egg mixture into the frying pan to spread and coat the whole pan.
4. Cook until it is still a little runny on top and starting on one side, roll it into the shape of a cylinder or log. Push the egg to one side of the pan.
5. Put a little more oil in the pan and put more of the egg mixture in the frying pan, making sure there is enough to fill the whole bottom of the pan.
6. While the egg is still very runny, lift the existing egg log up to fill the under area with the new egg mixture.
7. Once it is cooked until the top is still a little runny, take the existing log and use it to roll up the new egg mixture.
8. Repeat with the layers until all the egg mixture is used up!

Tonight for dinner, I used an ingredient that I have never used or even thought of using.... Canned black beans!!

I think the idea came to me yesterday when my nutritionist suggested I put beans in my salad.
After looking through some recipes, I decided to make a simple Rice and Beans... For the rice, I used a mix of Wild and Brown Rice...


For the black beans, I looked at recipes for Arroz Con Frijoles and improvised...

Arroz Con Frijoles Miki Style (for 2)---> I always only make small portions because I'm usually only cooking for one!
-Chopped garlic
-1/2 Can of black beans
-1/4 diced onion
-1 diced carrot
-1 large portabella mushroom diced
-1 diced jalapeno pepper
-Seasoning (salt, pepper, cumin, chilli pepper, basil, cumin, paprika, oregano, coriander) to taste

1. Sautee garlic, onions, carrots, and jalapeno peppers.
2. Add the portabello mushrooms and canned black beans. Stir gently.
3. Season to your liking.

The end result?

Some previous Wednesday night sleepover meals include

Sanshoku Gohan (3 Colored Rice)


Rib-Eye Steak with Whole Wheat Pasta and Tomato Sauce


Whole Wheat Fettucine with Zucchini, Ricotta, Lemon, and Basil

USHIWAKAMARU

The next one which I dined at on July 18, 2008 was ::drum roll please::...
USHIWAKAMARU

In short, it was the best sushi experience I've had in a while... Sushi Den was a dissappointment and my local joints here in Westchester, NY have been iffy.... So here's some food porn to make you cream your mouth...

The fish here is top notch! Both the sashimi and sushi were perfect.... super fresh, perfect amount of rice, right size fish, just a perfect sushi experience!

We did the omakase and got:
Sashimi (starting from the center of the delicious, fatty, sweet toro ---> clockwise)
-Toro
-Sardine
-Amaebi
-Kampachi
-Mirugai


Moving onto Sushi
-Shiraebi

-Saki

-Saba

-some rare seasonal salmon

-Uni

-Ikura

-Kinmedai

-Madai

-Anago

-Uzura no Tamago with Caviar

-And i totally forgot what the last fish was, but it was well liked by my mouth


And of course.... i ALWAYS, without fail, finish off a sushi meal with TAMAGOYAKI!!!


So going back to the disclaimer in the last post... I did it again (oops!). I forgot to take pictures of the dessert. But i can assure you it was delicious. We got the Grapefruit Jelly and the Anmitsu.

I definitely left this restaurant super happy and super full :-)

USHIWAKAMARU
136 W Houston St (Btwn MacDougal & Sullivan St)
New York 10012
Phone: 212-228-4181
Fax: 212-228-4187