Homeroom: (Belated) Valentine's Day Mac & Cheesiness

Homeroom's Gilroy Mac & Cheese. 

With poor Ben severely sick and in pain with an old person's disease shingles on Valentine's Day, it's pretty needless to say that we didn't really get a chance to celebrate. Luckily, neither of us puts too much stock in the made-up holiday, so we weren't too upset about this. But we do usually mark it in our own little way and, despite the fact that it came a little later than usual, this year was no exception. I had heard good things about this mac & cheese place called Homeroom in Oakland, so we decided to check it out for a belated Valentine's Day date.

Homeroom's DIY Chandelier, hanging over the community table.
Photo Credit: Homeroom.

It was a Friday night and the place was packed, but we fortuitously managed to get seats right away. Now, I should have expected this from a place that specializes in mac and cheese, but the place had a total hipster vibe to it (in a good way). There's a community table, diy chandeliers, wall decor consisting of succulents, and a chalkboard with a map of California on it and other cute Bay-Area-bougie things. They even served their drinks in mason jars!

Ready to eat our mac n' cheese!

Anyways, this particular night, Ben ordered the "Spicy Mac" with breadcrumbs, which for some reason is excluded from their online menu, so I can't give you specifics in terms of ingredients, but I can tell you it lived up to its name. Seriously, you need to have something to wash this down with or your mouth might be left with third-degree burns. I ordered the "Gilroy" with breadcrumbs and broccoli, which includes gouda, sharp pecorino and a hint of roasted garlic. (As a native NorCal gal, I appreciated the playful naming of the dish). We had fun being couple-y as we ate, taking bites off of each other's plates, which had the added bonus of making both of our dishes taste better. Because Ben was still recovering, we both made a wholesome choice with our beverages by getting homemade root beer, which had this refreshing, almost spearminty aftertaste that we both found to be quite enjoyable.

Tell me what homemade oreos look like?
This is what homemade oreos look like.
(Also Blue Bottle coffee in a big red mug)

I received a lovely tip from miss Miraya (whom you should all know by now from this and this) that their homemade oreos were to die for, so we ordered some for dessert. This was probably my favorite part of the meal. The oreos were not only made from real chocolate cookies (not those little cracker-like things you get with the name-brand version), but they also a bit of sea salt on top of them which was just the icing on the cake. I actually think that sea salt and chocolate could replace icing and cake in that proverb because the combination is just that natural and heavenly. And, in spite of my coffee-hating ways, I quite enjoyed dunking my oreo into the Blue Bottle coffee that Ben ordered to top of the meal. (I even took a few sips, but don't tell!)

 Our return to Homeroom: "Mexican Mac" takeout 

Now, not to get too cheesy (get it?), but the wonderful meal that Ben and I had that night more than made up for the fact that we weren't able to celebrate Hallmark Card Day in a timely manner this year.
We got to do some of our favorite things: talk about nothing significant for long periods of time, make fun of each other, and geek out over delicious food. Best of all, we discovered a new place to eat, and we've since gotten takeout from there (I was boring and stuck to "Gilroy", Ben tried "Mexican Mac," which has chipotle peppers and a lime on top, nuff said). All in all, it was a pretty good time with a pretty cool guy. And that's as cheesy as I'm gonna get.

Parisian Palate Pleaser: Brunch at La Note

Brunch: 1 Soft Boiled Egg + 2 Lemon Gingerbread Pancakes

As the title of this post suggests, I was quite happy with my recent inaugural trip to La Note with my wonderful friend Miraya, who has accompanied me on many of my adventures, culinary and otherwise, including the one that inspired this blog. Knowing how popular this place is and being an avid Yelp consultee, I was prepared for a long wait to get into this place, especially in the mid-morning on a Sunday. After putting our name on the list we got in relatively fast (30 minutes or so), but waiting even longer for the food to arrive was not something I had anticipated. By the time we got our food, it had been about an hour, which to my hungry stomach seemed like forever, and I was getting a little delirious.

Note my self-restraint as I pose for a picture whilst deliriously hungry.
Photo Credit: Miraya Berke. 

In spite of this lengthy delay, the food was absolutely delectable. I ordered deux Lemon Gingerbread Pancakes which came with refreshingly-moist poached pears and blueberries. And to satisfy my hypoglycemic need for savory flavors (and because I saw it came in a cute little egg holder and precious little spoon), I ordered a soft boiled egg as a side, which was garnished with what tasted like oregano. For me, no Sunday brunch would be complete without a glass of orange juice, so I couldn't resist getting that as well.

PANQUEQUES.
(Pancakes are more fun to say in Spanish)
Note the beautiful poached pear.

HUEVOS.
(Because I've already started speaking Spanish)
Note the cute little doily and tiny spoon. I felt dainty.

All of this was quite delicious. I started on the egg first, which was a delight to eat and I felt super adorable eating with my tiny spoon. The pancakes had a good amount of gingerbread spice to them, though––being a lover of sour tastes––I could have done with a little more lemon flavor. (Come to think of it, by the time I was finishing my second pancake, my palate was on sweet overload and I found myself wishing I had saved some of the egg just to balance the flavors out a bit). Their butter was somehow noticeably yummy too. The poached pears, however, were my favorite part of the meal. I literally could have an entire bowl of them just by themselves. Overall, it was just nice to be out having a tasty meal and shooting the breeze with a good friend.

In the Kitchen: Zucchini Boats + Mashed Sweet Potato

Close-up of my take on Zucchini Boats, made with garlic, grape tomatoes, mozzarella, parmesan and basil (for garnish).

So, things you've missed since I last posted: I'm cooking a lot more, and enjoying cooking a lot more; I'm on a weird veggie kick, since I'm trying to minimize meat in my diet; and I got a Pinterest, which has given me a lot of creative recipe ideas. Put these trends together and what do you get? ZUCCHINI BOATS!

Photo Credit: Proud Italian Cook

Here's the original recipe from Proud Italian Cook and above is a pretty picture from that page. I excluded bread crumbs, because I was lacking, but they probably would have added a nice little crunch to the texture. Also, make sure to make deep grooves in the zucchini beforehand, or else the tomatoes will sit on top, like mine did. Besides these little things, this was such an easy dish to make and the copious amount of garlic I used made the entire apartment continue to smell yummy for days afterwards. The grape tomatoes were packed with flavor and tasted so good after being roasted. And the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses lent the whole thing a bit of richness and texture, and provided the much needed unhealthy segment of the dish.

Photo Credit: Beau Gustafson, Mindi Shapiro Levine (Styling)

That same night Ben also made mashed sweet potatoes. I've been obsessing over sweet potatoes lately. Not only are they immensely delicious, but their high concentrations in several nutrients (dietary fiber, maganese, potassium, and Vitamins A, B6 and C) prompts some to call this a superfood. Anyways, Ben is a master at making this and it's so simple: boil the potatoes until soft, mash' em up, then mix in butter, milk, tiny bit of brown sugar, salt/pepper. ("And a lot of love," Ben is telling me, half–tongue-in-cheek, as usual). Anyways, it makes for a delicious, simple and filling dish –– highly recommended!

Lovely Sweet Potatoes, boiling away.

To end this post, I want to share a video that takes a bit of explanation. My latest obsession with sweet potatoes just happened to coincide with my recent discovery of this hilarious youtube comedian/absurdist/dj/German-immigrant/early-morning-investigator-of-American-idioms/ridiculous-guy, Flula Borg. (Here's my fangirl blog post about Flula on Briana + Her Fascinations). It just so happens that Flula helped bring my two obsessions together: I give you Flula's "Sweet Potato Casserole". Warning: this song is very catchy and may involuntary enter your brain at inopportune times.

...I'm Back! The Catch Up (Ketchup?) Post.

Let's Ketchup Guys!

Hello world! I am bringing Alimentary My Dear out of the dusty recesses of the blogosphere and into the light of readership once more. Now, I know it's been a while since I've posted and that I've neglected my bloggerly duties. Forgive me, dear readers, things have been busy as always, but that's no excuse. Look out for a couple of new posts soon. (Just some reasons to come back: I've got an ice-cream maker and a pizza making kit for Christmas. Also, I'm trying to cook at home more and eat less meat, so expect more 'In the Kitchen' posts and more veggies).

In the meantime, to make things up to you, I want to supply you with a good amount of food porn. The following are some of the foodie photos I've taken in the past few months. Many I took with the intention of writing a post, but I never got around to it. In the future, I will try to write shorter posts and include more photos so I don't fall behind again. (If you're for some reason dying to read my writing, I actually started another blog, dedicated to all the things that fascinate me, called, unsurprisingly: Briana + Her Fascinations. I just wrote a post on Food Waste and Composting too! Talk about good timing.)

Now, without further ado, the backlogged photos (betcha can't guess which I took with my phone and which I took with my DSLR :P):

Garden Delight Pizza, from La Val's on Northside.

In the Kitchen: Homemade crockpot chili, made with Ben.
This tasted way better than it looks, sorry guys. 

A ridiculous amount of Thanksgiving Pies.
(over 10 at least, not all pictured.).

Three beers and my wimpy cider with friends at my favorite pub, Jupiter.

The most amazing cheesy bread with roasted garlic ever, from Jupiter.

 In the Kitchen: A wee little salad I made one day with arugula and asian pears.

In the Kitchen: Shrimp Stir-fry, with red peppers, garlic and basil.
Added this some thai noodles. The ratio was off, but still a decent meal.

Garlic/Rosemary Sweet Potato Fries and Asparagus

Ok, I  have to say something about our Christmas feast photos below. I'm seriously so lucky, I get the best homecooked Persian food on the planet for Christmas every year. My grandma is the most amazing entertainer/cook I've ever met. She makes everything look so beautiful and it all tastes so good!

Most beautiful and delicious appetizers ever.
I always regret filling up on these before the meal has started.

I wanna say this is Baghali Polo, but I think it's something else entirely.
(I'm sorry, I don't speak farsi and I forget food names easily)

Rice with saffron and candied orange peels.

Fesenjoon.
I still love it, even though I'm not an eggplant fan. 

Gheimeh, one of my favorites.

Even her salads are pretty.

More appetizers.

Apologies for the blurriness, but here's dessert.
 My grandma's specialty assorted fruits beautifully arranged on pound cake.  

And that's all I got in terms of photos. Here are some of my more memorable eating experiences in the last few months that I haven't photographed. I'll have to revisit some of these:

• Pho, at The Pho Bar on Northside
• Bulgogi, at BeBop on College Ave.
• Lamb Souvlaki Wrap and Baklava, at Troy's Greek Cuisine on College Ave. 
• Circe Pizza (shrimp, garlic, green onion, red peper flakes), at Jupiter's, mentioned above. 
• Spiffy Tiffy at Ike's Place, in SF. I MUST RETURN AND WRITE A POST.
• Proscuitto and Arugula Pizza, made for a potluck by my friend Shannan. 
• My mom's experimental spinach pasta with basil, broccoli, mozzarella, and red pepper flakes.
• Ben's fried rice with multicolored bell peppers, green onions, onions, garlic, and the kicker, Anaheim peppers.
• In the Kitchen: Recreating my Dad's famed spaghetti (garlic, parmesan, burnt red pepper flakes and olive oil)
• In the Kitchen: lots and lots of sweet potatoes. I'm going through a sort of phase
• In the Kicthen: Hardboiled Egg, Balsamic Vinegar, Tomatoes and Toast Breakfast. It's become a new staple for me.

I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, I'll be sure to add them as I remember. Until next time, faithful readers!

The Pasta Shop: A Tasty Backup Plan

Apologies again for the late posting! It's been a hectic week, and it promises to be a pretty hectic month as well, and sadly, I don't have as much time as I would like to dedicate to this blog!


For now, however, I want to share one of my favorite places to eat when I need a quick meal that is sure to be delicious: The Pasta Shop! Both their Rockridge Market Hall and 4th Street locations have a wonderful deli with delicious prepared foods, perfect for when you are having a busy day, are hungry and need something tasty fast! 

The Pasta Shop's Prepared Food. A Lifesaver.
Photo Credit: http://rockridgemarkethall.com/pasta-shop

Sure enough, a few days ago, that very situation arose. I had been shooting my friend Estherina (with a camera––don't worry, I'm not going to jail and she is fine!) for her blog, Estherina's World and for her lookbook. I had just finished a long day of classes and was pretty hungry, but I couldn't pass up the chance to spend a few hours with Estherina before she jetted off to London. So after a fun couple of hours of fashion and photogeeking together, I was delirious with hunger and had my heart set on the Pasta Shop! 


I drove us, god knows how, to Market Hall (my favorite place in the world), and we entered the Pasta Shop. This store is a veritable foodie's dream, it has all sorts of cheeses and fancy olive oil bottles and lots of treats to satisfy even the sweetest sweet tooth. But one of the best things about them is their prepared foods and deli section. Whenever I've been so tired and hungry that I can't even think, this is the place that saves me. And this is the place that saved me that very night.


I ordered their Phat Thai, which I had had before and knew was delicious, as well as a Summer Fruit Galette for dessert, something I had been wanting to try all summer and now, I finally allowed myself t.  Estherina, like me, has a strong sweet-tooth and, after ordering herself a slice of Pesto Lasagna for dinner, also got herself a slice of Chocolate Cream Pie and a packet of homemade Italian Butterhorns. After eating a bites of my Phat Thai in the car to ensure that I had the energy I needed to drive us home safely, we made our way back to my place to enjoy our meals together. 

Phat Thai in the Car. Keeping it Classy.

The Phat Thai was delicious, as I knew it would be. Unlike most other Phat Thai I've tried, this is refreshingly tangy and the peanut flavor is complementary rather than overpowering. For me, this is what makes this Phat Thai stand above the rest. I had a few bites of Estherina's Pesto Lasagna, which was good and filling, but probably not the best thing that I've had from Market Hall. (A word of advice: get their pasta salads, they aren't called the Pasta Shop for nothing). I also had a couple of her Italian Butterhorns, which were so sugary, cinnamony, and buttery that I knew they were bad for me, but they tasted sooooo good. I decided to save my Galette for breakfast in the morning, and at the end of our meal, Estherina headed home and, later, off to Londontown to begin her studying abroad adventures. I was glad I got to spend a few hours with her doing the things we loved to do the most: eating, taking photos, and being all around goofy. 

Photo of Estherina taking a photo of lasagna. This is one of the many reasons we're friends. 

The next morning, my Summer Fruit Galette awaited me, and I was so glad I had saved it. It made the perfect breakfast pastry, it was simultaneously sweet and tangy, which if you know me well, these are the flavors that drive me wild! (And the reason why I love orange juice so much.) 

Summer Fruit Galette Morning Wonderfulness.

So what did I learn from this culinary adventure? First, the importance, for me at least, of eating on time. When I don't, I get delirious and dysfunctional and all around unpleasant. Second, the importance of having a backup plan when you can't eat on time. For me, the Pasta Shop provides one of the tastiest backup plans you will ever encounter.

In the Kitchen: PLT with Basil Mayo

Delicious, quick and easy: PLT with Basil Mayo.

PLT? Yes, you read that right. I have discovered my new favorite twist on the classic Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich using...prosciutto! Prosciutto is an Italian dry-cured ham, that has a strong and delicious flavor, and, though it can be a little pricey, I was able to find a cheap-o pack at Trader Joe's for about $5. Thankfully, using prosciutto as a substitute for bacon in this sandwich doesn't seem to compromise the spirit of the BLT. While it may not be any healthier than bacon, in terms of taste, you can hardly tell the difference between the two delicious meats. 


There is one way in which, for me, prosciutto trumps bacon in this sandwich––and that is in terms of its convenience. On my busy days, when I only have a one hour-long break between classes, I want to use the majority of that time to unwind, relax, to not think about the next thing I have to do. It is at these times, when I am at my tiredest and hungriest, that I haven't the time to spend cooking an elaborate lunch. Okay, I admit that frying up bacon can hardly be considered elaborate; nevertheless, I need every little bit of energy and time saved that I can get. (Plus, there are those dishes, and that lingering smell of bacon in my apartment that will tease me when I return, to consider.) So, prosciutto offers me a ready-made, slap-it-on-the-sandwich, unapologetically-lazy alternative to bacon for this sandwich, one that tastes good to boot. 


When I first made this sandwich, however, I wanted it to be extra special and extra delicious, so I did manage to put in just a little extra effort. I had tried Elmwood Cafe's BLT with Basil Mayonnaise, and though generally I'm not a huge fan of mayo, I thought the sauce added a tasty bit of freshness to their sandwich. Since I had mayo in the fridge and had just bought more basil than I knew what to do with, I decided to embrace my love for DIY and try to make it myself.

Cutting up basil. Someone buy me a food processor!

Finished basil mayo, with lemon juice.

 I took a few basil leaves, cut them up as small as I could (these are the times when I wish I had a food processor). I added them to the mayo along with a bit of lemon juice to cut through my least favorite part of mayonnaise: its thick and creamy texture. And voila! I had recreated the Cafe's flavorful spread (albeit somewhat crudely), which gave my sandwich an little something special. And, of course, being the lazy cook that I am, I made enough so that I could have some leftover and save time in the future. Along with grapes and a glass of iced tea, this sandwich made the perfect quick, simple and, most importantly, tasty lunch for a busy student like me.

Blog Backlog + In the Kitchen: Banana Bread

Dearest readers, I must apologize for my lack of blogging in recent weeks. The start of the school year has been keeping me busy (lame excuse, I know). But I'm back and hope to be posting more in the coming weeks, though my budget and my busy student life may necessitate writing posts less frequently or else broadening the scope of this blog a bit. Since I am currently taking an 'Edible Education' class, taught by Michael Pollan and Nikki Henderson, attended regularly by Alice Waters (I sat two rows behind her yesterday, awesome!), with amazing guest speakers so far, I feel that my thinking about food is shifting and that I am becoming more interested in the food movement and food justice in general. So, maybe a few of my future posts will address this theme, along with my regular restaurant reviews and in the kitchen posts. 


But for now, let me bring you up to date on one my culinary adventures from a few weeks ago. I had just returned from Santa Cruz and had lots of leftover food that was too much for me to eat alone. I recruited Ben and ate Zachary's pizza more frequently than I would like to admit and had been making good progress. But there was one item that I received that I was just not interested in eating: three overly ripe, browning bananas. I found this one item to be so frustrating because I really hate throwing away food, especially when there are others out there who are hungry and I was able to get this for free. (This sentiment has only been reinforced by a recent 'Edible Education' lecture by Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food International, who said that in the U.S. alone, we throw away 22 tons of food a day. Eek!). So it felt wrong to waste these bananas, but it seemed I had no other choice, until Ben suggested that I make banana bread. Such a simple idea had never occurred to me, but as soon as he mentioned it, I was thrilled! This way, I got to use my bananas and eat something delicious, win/win. 

Banana Bread: Waste Not, Want Not. 

We decided to spice our banana bread up a bit with some chocolate chips, and after looking up a recipe, ran down to the store to get some. We returned to Ben's apartment and baked up a banana bread storm, which was much simpler to do than I thought it would be. It was, of course, delicious and the bananas were at the perfect overripeness for making banana bread. We did, however, make the mistake of refrigerating the leftover banana bread, which made it pretty tough when we ate some the next day. While it was still edible, it would have been much more enjoyable had we not done that. Overall, though, I felt triumphant in being able to create something pretty darn tasty out of something I was considering throwing away.