Austin Adventures - Sake Social at Uchiko Austin

When we did our research for places to eat in Texas, one of the food tips that stood out was the Sake Social at Uchiko or Uchi. In our food calendar for the week (yes, we have a food calendar when we travel!), Uchiko was planned for either in Houston or Austin.

After exploring Austin most of the day by taking some easy hikes, enjoying some beautiful views and dipping our foot in the Barton springs we decided to freshen up and make it to the Sake Social at Uchiko Austin for 5pm.

The Sake Social happens every day from 5-6:30pm. It is pretty much happy hour with drinks and food at "happy hour" prices. Here's a link their sake social menu. Thankfully, the place we were staying at was fairly close to Uchiko, so we made it there very close to 5pm. Upon arrival, Dan and I were treated to their complimentary valet service. Seriously, such a great service to have as it's harder to find free parking in Austin. Also another first for us in Austin as I am pretty sure we haven't experienced that before.

Once we arrived, I was more than excited to find out that there was still space at the sushi bar! This was also a food tip from what we read and I highly recommend doing the same if you are a small party of 1 or 2. While sitting at the sushi bar you not only get to see all the food action, but you also get to interact with the sushi chefs. After we sat down and ordered our drinks, the chef who was working in front of us, Kelsey, introduced herself and gave us some great recommendations on where to start in the Sake Social menu.    

We started with the crispy Brussels Sprouts that had a sweetness from the fish caramel (we think it's caramelized fish sauce) and finished off with lemon and chili. I don't usually love brussels sprouts, but if they are always presented this way I definitely could eat more of them! 

 I love hamachi (yellowtail)  so when I saw that their Negihama roll had yellowtail, I knew I had to order one of those. In fact by the end of the night we ordered two of these rolls! Uchiko's yellowtail actually comes from Japan, so we even had a taste of Japan tonight.

The next dish we had was the Koviche. A play on ceviche with fresh diver scallops, black lime, kalamata and tomatillo. Tomatillo is actually part of the tomato family and added a slightly crunchiness to this dish along with the scallops and balanced very well with the lime. 

The next dish that Kelsey recommended was the Bacon. You can just see the crispy rice peeking out from this dish, and there is an ajitama egg buried under the onions, cilantro and cucumbers. Using a spoon we mixed the egg and all the ingredients in the bowl together. I would characterize this dish as comfort food. Probably because crispy rice and and an egg harkens memories of childhood for me.

The Komaki Roll was probably Dan's favourite plate of the night. Think: Fresh. Mainly due to the pickled red peppers, gobo (burdock root), carrot, topped with onions and mint leaves. It was also wrapped in a soy paper (as opposed to the usual sea weed wrap) which made the roll very unique.

The pork ribs which came after were super soft, like, fall-off-the-bone soft. Kelsey explained that this was because they were prepared in a sous vide bath and finished on a grill with galangal (which is part of the ginger family).
Hearing how much I love hamachi, Kelsey/Uchiko treated us to a dish called "Hama Chili". The Japanese yellowtail rested on sliced orange supreme in ponzu sauce and was topped with thai chili. It was melt in your mouth yellowtail.

Dan and I, then, decided to venture out of our comfort zones a little; or more like I ventured out of my comfort zone and ordered the gyutan nigiri. If I didn't know, I would have no idea that this was grilled beef tongue as it was so tender. The yuzu kosho (made of lime zest, yuzu, thai chili) balanced the flavour of the beef tongue very well.

 

I also noticed that there were fresh  oysters on their daily special menu. So, Dan and I ordered half a dozen Beausoleil oysters. These oysters have a nice briny start and a sweet finish. In this case, Uchiko also flavoured theirs with cucumber granita, lime and a touch of chili.

We were starting to get full by the time we got near to desserts. Now, for those of you that know me, there is one Cantonese style dessert that I love called Deep Fried Milk. In his research, Dan noticed that Uchiko also had their version of Fried Milk. Their deep fried milk has a roasted corn flake crust, and accompanied by whipped chocolate milk, toasted milk, and an iced milk sherbet. So good! 

 Last but not least, was Kelsey's favourite dessert that she ordered for us of the Sweet Corn Sorbet. Polenta Custard, caramel salt, and lemon gelee. I really liked how the lemon flavour interacted with the polenta custard. I am thinking I will have to try making a polenta custard once we get home as my friend who is gluten free would love this!

We really enjoyed our time at Uchiko and I would definitely recommend visiting during the Sake Social. The staff are really friendly and helpful, and if you are able to, sit at the sushi bar since you will get a great interactive experience.

Uchiko
4200 N Lamar Blvd
Ste 140
Austin, TX 78756
http://www.uchiaustin.com

Texas Adventures- Austin Day 1 @ Easy Tiger

Today was a day of many firsts! Why do I say that? First of all I don't think I have ever woken up for a flight at 3 am. In some ways it was similar to me taking one of my regular naps instead of a good night's sleep. Another first is that thanks to Dan winning a door prize, we were able to fly business class! Not only was there a lot of leg room, but a full serviced breakfast. Also if you wanted to have beer, wine or alcohol you could! If it wasn't for the fact that it was 6 am in the morning and we were about to drive for a couple of hours we would have definitely had a glass or two in the air. 

During our drive down to Austin we passed several people taking photos of blue bonnets; which means Sprig has definitely arrived in Texas! We found our accommodations without too much trouble and after some rest, headed out to Easy Tiger for some food!

Easy Tiger is both a German bake shop and a beer garden so we checked out their pastries (packing some away for breakfast/late night snack) before heading down to the restaurant portion.

The weather in Austin has been super nice (27 C and sunny) which meant that we could take full advantage of the outdoor beer garden. We sat at communal picnic tables in the patio which is next to the ping pong tables and enjoyed our food. 

Borrego Verde - Housemade sausage of Lamb, Pork, Poblano, Cumin, with Tomatillos and green chile salsa on a pretzel bun.

Smoked Turkey Breast on Pain au Levain bread avocado, radish, roasted jalapeno aioli. 

Since we liked the pretzel bun so much and was still a bit hungry we decided to order a share plate. 

"Snack Board" - 2 small pretzels, large beer cheese, house mustard, chex mix, and beef summer sausage.

We left Easy Tiger thoroughly satisfied and full, we can't wait to check out some of the other things (including BBQ!) in Austin over the next few days. 

Hopefully we'll be able to keep you all updated with our adventures in Austin. Stay tuned for more!

Easy Tiger

East 6th Street. 

Austin, TX

http://easytigeraustin.com/

Cooking with Chef Lynn Crawford & Catelli Healthy Harvest Ancient Grains Giveaway

Last Wednesday I had the incredible opportunity to meet Chef Lynn Crawford! You probably recognize her from Food Network's Chopped Canada or Pitchin In. Last week, Chef Lynn Crawford was out in Western Canada cooking and demoing Catelli's newest line of pastas - Healthy Harvest Ancient Grains.

It was a great night enjoyed by all in Get Cooking's space filled with tasty pasta ideas from Chef Lynn Crawford, canapés from the Get Cooking team, and demos of Catelli's Ancient Grain Pasta from Chef Lynn Crawford. We also had the opportunity to put together a dish using Catelli's pasta ourselves! 

Phyllo pastry with crunchy pear and pear soup (left from Evert), buckwheat noodle with yellow asian pear and a cumin coconut pancake (right from Alexei of S'wich Food Truck). 

The pasta is made with 100% whole grain Canadian wheat and five ancient grains: quinoa, amaranth, millet, sorghum and teff. 

We also learned how cooking times could affect the firmness of the pasta. However, the firmness depends on preferences as well so there can be a lot of variety in cooking times.


One of the exciting parts of the evening was watching Chef Lynn Crawford demonstrate a simple but delicious dish of pesto-dressed spaghettini and marinara rotini with fresh shavings of cheese on top. 

Then all of us food bloggers and the media (after taking photos) cleaned our plates!

After all the demos, we divided into groups to make our own Chilled Noodle Salad with Ginger Wasabi Dressing to take home and of course photograph.

Of course, I had a slight celebrity chef fan-girl moment when I wanted to get a picture with Chef Lynn Crawford. The bonus was when I shared with her that she could use a timer for selfies, she even instagramed our photo!

Giveaway

Alright! So I am excited to share that one lucky Canadian reader or follower can win a year's supply of Catelli®'s Healthy Harvest Ancient Grains pasta through this blog! Catelli® will ship the year supply of pasta to you. This giveaway is open only to residents of Canada. Enter the giveaway in the Rafflecopter below with your details. Make sure you leave a comment as that is the mandatory requirement for entering the giveaway. Good luck!

Prize: One (1) lucky reader or follower will win a year supply of Catelli® Healthy Harvest Ancient Grains Pasta (60 boxes, valued at approximately $200).

Duration: Giveaway closes on Wednesday April 8, 2015.

Who Can Enter: Open to residents of Canada.

Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment on this post about what dish you will make with this pasta and with which type of pasta (Spaghetti, Saghettini or Rotini). Need some inspiration? Visit Catelli's recipes.

How to Enter: Please follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter below. Remember that leaving a comment is mandatory. Additional entries included in the Rafflecopter.

How will the winner be chosen: The winner will be chosen at random and will be notified via email. The winner will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Macaron Day 2015; Reasons Why I Started Blogging

Today, marks Macaron Day 2015! Who would have thought I would love these beautiful french desserts so much! Not only are they pretty to look at but the satisfaction that I get from making a batch of these is incredible. 

When I think about macarons, I also think back to where my blog started. Or more like, how it wouldn't have started had it not been for the encouragement of Dan and local Edmonton food bloggers (Sharon from Only here for the Food, Val from A Canadian Foodie to name a few) during my first food tweet-up back in 2010 at Edmonton's first Famoso Pizza!  Within a year, my fascination with macarons went from purchasing them from French bakeries, to attending a Macaron Mashup, to making them myself.

The macarons I blogged & baked back in 2011were not always stellar as Dan brought many a "maca-wrongs" to work for his coworkers. Over time, though, I became more and more interested in learning how to bake better macarons. Not only did I bake macarons every Thursday for the better part of a year, but I developed a charting system to track the macaronage process, resting time and even the optimal oven temperature! As some of you have experienced, making macarons is not an easy process but it's definitely a craft. Though not always fun and sometimes even frustrating, for me, the journey to making better macarons has been pretty rewarding! I can't wait to show you all some of the new macarons, shapes, and fillings we have in mind.

So, today I want to wish everyone a happy Macaron Day 2015 and to encourage everyone to follow their passions. If you blog, think back to why you started blogging. For me, I started mainly to share the food I was cooking at home, the restaurants I went to, and food events with family and friends back home in Toronto. Today, I continue to share new macaron recipes, as well as recipes that my husband and I have been making at home to share on the blog. I also realized that I love showing the process to how food is made - pictures with instructions mean so much more to me! I continually strive and hope to continue that in my blogging. Without which, I don't think blogging would be as enjoyable for me.

Edmonton Coffee Week - #yegcoffeeweek

Have you heard? If you are in Edmonton, this past saturday marked the first Edmonton Coffee Week running from March 7-15, 2015. 



For the next few days there are several participating coffee shops and events all featured around coffee! Now, I for one cannot live without coffee! So, who doesn't love learning about how to make latte art and all the beautiful creations that could be made on those mochas, lattes, and chai teas? So, I was super excited when the opportunity came up to learn some latte art from François at Cafe Bicyclette. 






Before we even get into the latte art, you need a shot of espresso. Make sure you get the right grind on your espresso (not too coarse and not too fine). Once the espresso grinds are piled up in the portafilter (like the photo below), you tamp it evenly.




Fit the portafilter into the espresso machine (there are grooves to guide) and make sure it is tight. Too loose and espresso will go everywhere - which is apparently not a pretty sight! Also, ensure there are no coffee grinds in the espresso cups before running the espresso through.



Once the espresso is done, pour them into your cup. Then, pour the cold milk into the milk frothing pitcher. François did mention that using whole milk is slightly better as it helps to give a nicer look to the latte art. Plus the milk stays creamy.


Heating the milk was the tricky part for me. You had to make sure that it didn't overflow or get too hot. Once the milk frothing container is hot to the touch than it is done. Using a milk thermometer probably would be helpful as you are learning to ensure that the milk isn't burnt.

 

Now, the part everyone wants to perfect is the actual latte art! You do need to multi-task as you need to quickly wipe down the milk steamer while swirling and tamping the hot milk to get the bubbles out so it will be creamy. When it comes to pouring the hot milk into the cup with the espresso, there should be no hesitations! Below, is my attempt at a heart or more like a heart shaped balloon!

So, it was without a doubt a fun hour introducing me to latte art! I think practice would make perfect! And, clearly that was a great latte as I am wired enough to write this post at 12am. Hopefully there will be more opportunities to learn about latte art in the future. In the meantime, I might try watching Chef Steps - Latte Art to hone this skill. 

If you have a chance, check out all the other Edmonton events for YEG Coffee Week or visit a local coffee shop for a latte or two! 

Couldn't leave without buying this amazing pain au chocolat to have with my latte.