Hey everybody. I posted a few new recipes on my website and just wanted to let you all know. The first, Frittata di Riso (Frittata with Rice), is one I’ve been making since I first learned to cook. I don’t know why I haven’t gotten around to putting it up until now because I make it often. This is one of the few times I use fake meat, vegetarian sausage, but it works really well in this frittata which can be served for breakfast or dinner. The recipe also calls for sweet onion, red bell pepper and fresh basil. You may have noticed that the recipe for Poppy Seed Noodles that used to be on my site back in the early days disappeared at some point. I had taken it down for some minor modifications but now it is back and better than ever! Browned cabbage and onions, crunchy poppy seeds and sour cream and cottage cheese are tossed with wide egg noodles in this rich, Eastern European casserole. Finally, a recipe for Vegetarian Pho. Yes, it may sound like an oxymoron to pho traditionalists but why should vegetarians have to forgo digging into a bowl of delicious anise and cinnamon scented broth and rice noodles just because they don’t eat beef? This soup is really all about the garnishes anyway - fresh basil, mint, bean sprouts, lime, and chili sauce - yum!

In other food news, we went back to 22 Doors last night and had a good dinner again. I’m not obsessed with this place or anything but it is nice to finally have a quality restaurant so nearby. I had the spicy tomato soup with grilled taleggio cheese sandwiches and a side of broccoli raab with bread crumbs and garlic. Upscale kid’s food if such a thing can even exist!

Robert and I go to a lot of pubs and I oftentimes find myself ordering a salad and side of fries as my dinner. I stole the idea from my sister. It may sound odd or perhaps even gluttonous to have an entire order of fried potatoes as my dinner but it’s really hard to go to a pub and pass up the fries and sometimes I don’t want to order a whole veggie burger just to get my fries fix. The Elysian Brewery, a few blocks from my apartment, has really good fries. They make two kinds: “fatties” which are like jo jo’s and “skinnies” which are crisp and delicious. I can make it about a quarter of the way through a serving of “fatties” before becoming too full to continue so I usually go for the “skinnies” which, for some reason, I can keep eating long after I’ve become full. Fries at the Garage are hit or miss depending on whether they are served hot or not. A few years ago, we had great fries at the Canterbury. They were crispy crinkle-cut fries sprinkled with kosher salt but, when we went back, they had changed to regular fries and they were not as good. Tonight, we went to a new-ish restaurant in our neighborhood called 22 Doors. They make these great shoestring fries. According to the website, their fries are made with “essence of truffle” and, indeed, they did have a slight mushroom aroma to them. In a good way.

A word of caution: if you take my cue and begin ordering fries-for-dinner, be sure to make your intentions known, especially in large groups. One time, the waitress set my fries down in the middle of a table full of people and, when I slid the plate over directly in front of me, I received many nasty looks and one very mean comment for my selfishness in not sharing with the group.