Vienna Pure Pasty Co.

The hubs' friend went to Taste of Vienna yesterday and tried out some delicious pasties. After their brunch today, they stopped by The Pure Pasty Co. shop in Vienna to pick up a few baked delights.

 A little bit of Britain in Vienna.

Checking the internal temperature is perfect.

 Traditional Pasty ($5.95)

Filled with seasoned beef, potato, Vidalia onion and carrot in a buttery pastry.

 Mini Cottage Pie ($6.99)

Sausage Roll ($3.95)

***

These were all delicious. I prefer my pies and pastry to be savory over sweet. Really great flavor in the beef and cottage pie. Along with a salad, this a fantastic dinner. We split each of the pasties to have a chance to try all three. We would definitely pick up the traditional beef pasty and the cottage pie again.

Breakfast Pizza

We went grocery shopping the other day, and I picked up a package of naan bread from the bakery. The naan is perfect size for pizza, along with some sliced low-fat mozzarella cheese and fresh vegetables.

Breakfast Pizza 

Sauteed onions, mushrooms, spinach, tomato and mozzarella cheese with bacon and a fried egg.

Bazin's on Church

The hubs headed out to Vienna to catch up with a good friend of his over brunch and an impromptu jam session. He was kind enough to take some snaps of the meal to share with me. They went to Bazin's on Church and had some lovely brunch foods.

 Voss water and a Bloody Mary ($8).

 Eggs Florentine ($12)

Spinach with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce on toasted brioche. 

The hubs said this was really nice. 

Bazin's Eggs Benedict ($20)

Poached eggs on crabcakes and toasted brioche with hollandaise sauce.

Krispy Kreme "Coffee and Doughnuts" ($7)

The hubs loved this dessert, which is bread pudding dipped in coffee with espresso cream.

Blue Duck Tavern

We went to lunch with two of my husband's co-workers for a sobetsukai, farewell luncheon, with one who's leaving the office due to the closure of their division. He had gone previous for a work dinner and really enjoyed it. This time was no different, excellent service, fabulous food and a nice atmosphere.

Wagyu Hanger Steak ($28)

Fantastic flavor.

Braised Beef Rib ($24)

Tender beer in rich sauce.

Handcut BDT Triple Fries ($9)

These potato slices are tripled fried in duck fat and really lovely.

Crabcakes ($30)

Cheddar Cheeseburger ($22)

Asparagus with Sabayon and Citrus Crumble ($8)

Mixed Greens Salad ($8)

A bit small quantity for the price, but a nice and light vinaigrette dressing and succulent greens.

Honey Vanilla Ice Cream ($9)

Apple Pie ($9)

***

Service is very good, and the atmosphere is nice at lunchtime. Soon the weather will be perfect for dining al fresco on the patio. The sparkling water is $7 per bottle, which quickly adds up when you have three bottles. I had to run back to work, but the rest enjoyed sharing the desserts. 

Dinner for the Hubs

While I attended a post-work dinner event with the Emir of Qatar at the Willard Hotel, the hubs was busy working late at the office. After the event finished, I met up with him and we commuted home together. Since he had missed dinner, I threw together something nice for him to eat.

Tonkotsu Ramen with sauteed cabbage, scallions and snowpea tips.

Panfried and steamed pork and garlic chive gyoza.

***

It's nice to have gyoza on hand in the freezer for quick dinners or snacks. It takes a bit to fold all of the pleats and freeze the gyoza, but it's definitely worth the effort.

Steak Salad

I had picked up a package of strip steaks and wrapped them up separately before putting them in the freezer. After defrosting one of the steaks, I grilled it in the Le Creuset grill pan with crushed black pepper.

One steak for two.

Dinner

After grilling the steak, I sliced it and separated it into two portions, then topped the sliced with enoki mushrooms cooked with butter and soy sauce. Alongside, was a light romaine lettuce, avocado and tomato salad with a small baked potato. By sharing one steak, we had more than enough protein each, and a lovely weeknight meal.

Leftover Hainanese Chicken

The great thing about trying new recipes, is figuring out fun things to make with the leftovers. I picked up a package of chicken thighs instead of a whole chicken, because of the price. With the leftover Hainanese Chicken, I made lunch bentos for us. The sriracha sauce added a nice kick.

The rice was cooked with the chicken broth from poaching, and sauteed garlic and ginger.

Chicken, Snowpea Tips and Snowpeas with Rice Soup

While the husband was out at a lovely work dinner at Equinox with visiting colleagues, I hit the gym to run a  few miles to keep up with my work group fitness challenge competition, and then made a light soup with the leftover chicken and broth, some fresh green vegetables and rice. 

Bagel Breakfast Sandwich

There's a cute little breakfast and lunch shop next to Wicked Waffle and Loebs that serves fantastic breakfast bagel sandwiches. The husband and I ventured over early on day this week for a pre-work sandwich with egg, bacon and cheese.

The bagel is toasted on a panini press.

Post-Golf Nibbles

Weekends are hopefully for outdoor or athletic activity. While I was running six miles, the husband was busy playing in and co-organizing a golf tournament. While he was out golfing, I set to cooking a nice dinner for my tired husband. I had found a lovely recipe on Steamy Kitchen and wanted to try it out.

Hainanese Chicken poaching with ginger, garlic and scallions.

Hainanese Chicken on rice cooked with the poaching broth with cilantro and tomatoes.

Handmade pork and garlic chive gyoza

Panfried gyoza

Mixed Seafood Ceviche with Avocado and Tomato

Asparagus wrapped in Bacon

***

By the time the husband arrived home, I had a nice cold beer ready with some other nibbles ready to go. 

Hong Kong Palace Spice-Seeking

Following the major thunderstorm, the weather changed and the temperatures had fallen back into the 60's F. While I did a long workout, the husband put in some serious time at the golf driving range.  We decided to head over to Hong Kong Palace for some spicy Sichuan.

Dan Dan Noodles

The sauce is on the bottom, so you have to mix the noodles, pork and spinach with the spicy sauce. I prefer the saucy version at Sichuan Pavilion on K Street better.

Zhong Dumplings

Beef and Vegetables in Peppery Broth

This is my favorite dish at HKP. Love the spice level and numbing effect.

Sauteed Spinach with Garlic

Tea-Smoked Duck (1/2)

I saw an article about this dish, and the lengthy preparations. It sounded intriguing so I suggested we try it out. While I liked it, the husband was a little less enamored with it. He really loves the duck at Peking Gourmet Inn, so this style with the smokiness was less appealing to him.

Breakfast Gyudon

We had early morning haircut appointments. Following our haircuts, we headed home and I put together our breakfast gyudon (beef topped rice bowls) with leftover bulgogi (marinated thinly-sliced ribeye steak).

Steamed rice topped with bulgolgi and sauteed onions, scallions and zucchini.

A fried eye topped the gyudon.

***

Following our gyudon, I ended up taking a post-breakfast nap before commencing regular apartment cleaning and put in my 10 miles of running and walking. 

Lunch at Acadiana

The last event of my work week was a full-day conference on OFAC sanctions. Fortunately I found a working WIFI signal so I could keep up with the breaking news. This week has been emotionally draining, between the news from the Boston Marathon to the horrific fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, as well as the realization that the dysfunction on the Hill will not allow a reasonable revision to gun laws to pass. Sigh. 

OFAC was able to host a free conference on financial sanctions, especially admirable in these days of sequestration. We were left to our own devices for lunch, so I ventured out to a nearby restaurant.

Buttermilk biscuits at the Acadiana bar.

The Highlight: Bowl of Andouille and chicken gumbo. 

Great flavor, although a bit pricey at $9 per bowl.

"The Peacemaker" oyster po'boy ($18)

Massive po'boy at quite a dear price. The oysters were nicely fried and the tomatoes were surprisingly ripe with a true tomato flavor, which is much more rare to find that one would wish for.

***

In all, it was good to try the po'boy finally, since it's only offered on the lunch menu, and the gumbo was lovely. It was just what I needed to sustain myself for the rest of the day of discussions. 

Texas Chili Spices

My current infatuation is throwing in ripe strawberries or other fruits into arugula salads with a balsamic vinaigrette I throw together in a Totoro-theme cruet. 

The husband brought back a Texas chili spice mix package from his visit to Houston a few months ago. I finally got around to giving it a try before he heads back to Houston for another meeting next month. Nice and spicy blend of spices and chilies, I added ground beef, a mix of cannellini beans and chickpeas, plus green bell pepper, jalapeno, onion, tomato and chayote. I cooked it Wednesday and reheated it Thursday night. It was fantastic. Hopefully he'll pick up another package of chili seasonings during his next visit.

There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

One of the few things that stuck with me through the years from my undergraduate business classes is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. There's always a cost associated somehow, whether it's through the time that is utilized when you could be more productively engaged in another activity, or some other price. 

Grilled salmon, grilled chicken, rice pilaf, salad and a buttermilk biscuit at PIIE.

***

Interested in learning how Moodys creates their scoring rubric for sovereign bond ratings and always learning something new at Peterson's events, I attended a luncheon event this week. The event lasted four hours, which is longer than most of my lectures. In addition to the educational discussion and the high quality lunch buffet, the highlight of the event was the casual chat I had with the nice visiting economist at my table. 

Magnificent Mackerel

We finally found a salted mackerel in the frozen section at Super H that is the right mix of flavor and texture. Generally I bake or broil the mackerel, which creates an aroma that cannot please the neighbors. 

Arugula salad with blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes and cucumber.

Served with some steamed rice, this was a filling yet healthy dinner.

Hay Adams Hotel Luncheon

One of the nicest views of the White House and Washington Monument is from the top floor event space at the Hay Adams Hotel. It's really one of the most picturesque places, and I can imagine a number of beautiful wedding receptions have been held in the space.

View from the Wrap-Around Balcony.

One of the loveliest spring salads.Beet and soft goat cheese with mixed lettuces.

*

The entree was chicken with Israeli couscous and asparagus, which I missed taking a surreptitious photo of during the luncheon.

Artistic Dessert.

Ravi Kabob II Karahi

On the spur of the moment, we headed to Ravi Kabob after work to try out the Pakistani version of curry called karahi. The husband LOVES kabobs, but wasn't really over-impressed with our first Ravi experience when we tried the Ravi Kabob combo. We tried to go another time to satisfy my interest in the karahi, but there were no free tables. While we were there, he saw the bowls of karahi on the tables and finally became intrigued.

Lamb Karahi, spicy

The sauce is made of tomatoes, garlic, onion, with fresh ginger, cardamom, chilies, jalapenos and cilantro.

Chana Masala and side of rice.

I think I would have been just as happy just with a large bowl of chana. Such deep flavor, it's addictive in a good way.

The karahi serves two and comes with two pieces of naan.

***

Two things to keep in mind, Ravi is cash-only and the karahi takes a little longer than the kabobs generally do. The spice level was significant. It had my husband dripping with sweat, and I think he loved every bite. The flavor was fantastic and I highly recommend anyone who likes spicy food to give this a try. We tried the lamb, but there's also a chicken or a kabob option. Hopefully we'll return soon with a friend or two, so we can order a biryani as well as a karahi.