Mango "Ceviche"

Wow, is it hot or what?

We are experiencing a crazy, muggy, very humid heat wave here in Boston. It's been tough walking my normal 20-minute walk to work. By the time I arrive, I feel like I already need a shower and another change of clothing.

It's days like this that I really don't feel like turning on the stove, oven, or anything that could generate more heat.

I crave something refreshing and cool, full of seasonal summer ingredients.

Thankfully, summer is blessed with an abundance of fresh produce. I'm reminded of my trip to Thailand not too long along (another very hot place!), where I took cooking classes and learned so much about the glorious variety of herbs, fruits, and vegetables available there.

Fresh produce market in Bangkok, Thailand

Just a couple weeks ago, P.F. Chang's asked me if I would be interested in designing an Asian-inspired dish based on summer ingredients featured in their new Summer Seasonal Menu. They are currently hosting a Flavors of Summer Sweepstake Pinterest contest where contestants can pin their favorite ingredients from the summer ingredients list for chances to win P.F. Chang's gift cards (from $50 to $500!).

Inspired by my recent trip to Thailand, I think I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

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Olive Oil Poached Halibut with Garlic Spears and Fresh Peas (sous vide)

Summer is quickly slipping by me, and I feel like I have barely had a chance to really savor it.

Part of it was my crazy June schedule, I guess. We went to Yellowstone with Bryan's parents (mesmerizing place, by the way - one of the top places to visit in the US, in my opinion) for a whole week. After that, it was two weekends in a row where we darted from coast to coast. First to attend a wedding of some friends in Seattle, and then off to another wedding in DC.

Needless to say, the pile of unopened mail on my counter is spilling over and I am so behind on processing photographs.

It's time like these that I'm grateful for simple meals that I can make at home. Meals which taste better than what I could get at most restaurants and don't necessarily restrain me to be "stuck" at a restaurant for hours.

This simple olive oil poached halibut relies on excellent ingredients to shine. The prep is extremely easy and the entire meal preparation can be done in less than 30 minutes. Just make sure you get the freshest, best quality fish you can find. We (or shall I say, Bryan) hand carried ours back from Pike Place Market in Seattle (along with our 20+ lb Copper River King salmon (!)), and paired it with local, seasonal farm vegetables that came straight from the farmers market.

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A Work Week in London

I love going to London.

Yes, I am lucky that I get to go there on a pretty regular basis. My company has a site there and I work closely with many people there. As a result, I usually end up visiting the UK about once a year.

I never tire of visiting.  Just being in London makes me happy. I get that nostalgic feeling whenever I see the "Mind the Gap" signs, the huge double decker red buses, and my favorite British cookies.

In the past, I've tried to use London as a spring board to visit other places in Europe. One year I appended a "weekend" trip to Greece with several friends from college following my business meetings in London. Another year Bryan met me on a Friday after my business trip and we flew to Rome for the weekend. In general, it's a great way to see Europe since you can fly to so many places from London for not much extra cost.

This year, however, various obligations back home made it hard for us to stay the weekend and take any extra trips. The London trip this year was short and sweet: Monday leave Boston; Friday arrive back.

Thankfully, we managed to schedule our business trips to London around the same time.  So instead of visiting a new country, we had the opportunity to spend the week together in London and dine at some very cool places.

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Happy Fourth of July!

I've been traveling a lot around this great country of ours the past few weeks.

From hiking around the gorgeous canyons and geysers at Yellowstone National Park to buying a whole King salmon (!) at Pike Place Market in Seattle, it's been a crazy (but fun!) June.

Old Faithful Geyser erupts every 90 minutes

The 20-lb Copper River King Salmon that we bought from Pike Place Market.

I've always loved going to see the fireworks in Boston. The show is spectacular, synced to music played by the Boston Pops Orchestra. This year will be a bit bittersweet, as security is ramped up and tons of rules are set in place due to the bombings that occurred a few months ago.

This year, I won't be able to enjoy the celebrations with my local Bostonians. Instead, I'm at our nation's capital to attend a wedding and visit friends. For the first time ever, I'll descend upon the Mall like so many other Americans to actually see the fireworks in DC. I heard it's quite a show, so I'm looking forward to it (though also a bit anxious about the crowds!).

Hope you all have a wonderful fourth. Like so many others across America, I'm at a friend's house this afternoon enjoying your classic BBQ dishes - burgers, hot dogs, Taiwanese grilled corn (OK, maybe that's got a slight Asian twist to it!), and lots of salad.

Let the celebrations begin!

Yellowstone National Park steaming lakes

The Capitol Building in DC

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Roasted Beets and Fennel Salad

Last week I ate the most interesting sort of diet.

As you may know, I've just started receiving weekly boxes from my CSA at Siena Farms. In many ways, it's been super exciting each week to anticipate what kind of cool and unique produce will show up in my box. I haven't been disappointed yet!

However, it also started at a less-than-convenient time.

We've been traveling a lot in June. We visited Yellowstone earlier this month (fascinating and beautiful place, by the way), and then proceeded to fly to Seattle the following week to attend a wedding. On top of all that, Bryan left mid-week to go to New York for a business trip.

Which means I was left eating the entire box of vegetables myself.

It was good training, and sort of fun, actually. I became really disciplined about cooking as much vegetables as possible in order to eat as much of it as possible before we left for our next trip.

It was crazy. I ate two heads of lettuce and kohlrabi crunch salad for dinner one evening. Another evening, I made my mom's Asian crunchy broccoli stem salad. I even stayed up late at night roasting beets and fennel to make this salad for lunch the next day.

I ate so many vegetables. It was like a 95% vegetable diet (with a few nuts thrown in there).

I loved it and I felt amazing.

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ABC Kitchen

This is the final and sixth post in the series A Casual Weekend in New York. Other posts include Frank Pepe's Pizza, Salumeria Rossi Parmacotto, Szechuan Gourmet, 15 East, and Angel's Share.

Are we crazy or what?

Bryan and I were en route to Australia for a family trip with his parents and sister. We had an overnight stopover in New York City - essentially 12 hours in New York. Bryan thought it would be fun to go all the way into Manhattan just for dinner.

Since our flight didn't arrive into JFK International Airport until around 8:30PM (and JFK is a good 45 minutes away from Manhattan) we made a 10:30PM reservation for dinner. I don't think I've ever had dinner so late in my life! 

I felt like a real New Yorker.

We decided to visit Jean-Georges Vongerichten's wildly popular farm-to-table, locavore, sustainable, organic, things-are-recycled-or-reclaimed, environmental etc. etc. restaurant. On top of all that, it's located on the first floor of the ABC Carpet and Home department store.

We'd heard great things about it, and the location intrigued us.

Plus, we were starving. It was 10:30PM after all (how do New Yorkers eat so late?).

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