Oh my goodness, I can hardly believe the whole month went by without a post! I will do a recap of some fun things we tried (some successes, some failures) and hopefully that will be up soon!
May wrap-up
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Category Archives: Weekly wrap up
Two new restaurants in one week! Thai and Ethiopian
This week we went out to eat twice, which is sort of a lot for us. On Tuesday we were shopping at the supermarket after work and we spontaneously decided to drive to Bonn. Hey, it was Valentine’s day after all. We tried a new place called Rueen Thai, which was pretty good food, although we had to wait FOREVER for our food to arrive. Milo’s Panang chicken curry was my favorite, because my Chili-lemongrass tofu was a bit too spicy for me, contrary to my expectations. It was after all “Thai food for Germans – not very spicy” per our waitress. I don’t think I would be able to handle real thai food. We left feeling satisfied, the food was good and fairly priced, although the service was so-so.
Today (Friday) we went to Bonn again and ate at Roha, which is an Ethiopian restaurant we discovered by chance as we were wandering around on Tuesday. Awesome decision! It was a nice atmosphere, the service was super friendly, and the food delicious. We shared the mixed plate for two, and it was the perfect amount of food. We felt satisfied but not stuffed. At the end of the meal we had traditional Ethiopian coffee brewed from freshly roasted (as in while we were eating) beans. This is the best Ethiopian restaurant we have been to and overall was a great dining experience. Then we realized the last time we ate Ethiopian food was a year ago at Restaurant Menelik off of Ave de Clichy in Paris. How did a year go by so fast?!
A few new things
This week we tried a few new things.
Friday night was Gambas al Ajillo (which isn’t really new, but was courtesy of our new freezer!) and rucola salad. To drink was Care Tinto Roble, Syrah/Tempranillo 2010. Really quite good for a seven buck wine, but I liked it best right after we opened the bottle, before it “opened up”.
On Saturday, Milo made Chicken Yakatori from our Japanese cookbook Everyday Harumi. They turned out awesome! Much much better than our attempt at Karaage (Japanese fried chicken).
Over the weekend I made chai concentrate, to make my own Chai Lattes. This recipe is a winner. Its a brew of black tea, ginger, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, clove, star anise, nutmeg, and ground black pepper. 
Steep for 20 minutes, strain out the spices, add some sweetener and it’s done! I used half the sugar because I don’t like my chai too sweet. Instead of honey I used agave nectar, because the honey we have on hand is rather chunky, and I thought the agave would dissolve into the liquid better. Plus, agave nectar is a NEW ingredient. Instead of loose black tea I just used the standard tea bags (the kind I use for iced tea) and it was fine. The recipe made enough concentrate for five lattes, so I froze the leftovers in dixie cups and have been enjoying chai lattes all week! Just pop in a pot with an equal amount of milk and heat up and voila! You can find the recipe on the tasty kitchen website.
I also roasted almonds with rosemary and sea salt. No picture here because we ate them before I remembered to snap one. I know probably everyone has made these before, but they were a first for me. One cup almonds, 1 Tbs olive oil, 1 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary, sea salt, roast at 325 F for about 15 minutes. But I actually think they were done after 12 minutes or so. They were on the darker side of toasty and if I let them go much longer I think they would have burned. How long do you roast your almonds for and at what temperature?
So that’s what was new this week in our kitchen. Anybody else make something new?