Tilapia and Quinoa with Feta and Cucumber

For dinner last night I almost had the whole plan before getting to work.  By "plan" I mean I had a protein that was sitting in the fridge defrosting.  For me that is huge - I never remember to make that switch!  For some reason I was set on using the tilapia filets in the freezer that came from Whole Foods, nicely vacuum packed and ready for just such an occasion. 

Having the main ingredient really helps narrow down the recipe to use.  In this case, Martha (of course) had the most interesting recipe that called for tilapia and quinoa, so I went for it.

Dinner is ready!

Addis Red Sea - a trip to Ethiopia in Boston

Boston does not have what you call a "plethora" of restaurants from many cultures like many other big cities.  I always want to try out different types of food, but when push comes to shove, I don't - not because I don't want to but because its easy to get intimidated by the menu, and really, I don't think about these less-traditional options when the time comes.  In this case, however, Groupon helped push us into going.  In March Groupon was featuring Addis Red Sea, a completely authentic Ethiopian restaurant, and so I decided to go for it.
Nick and I went last week, somewhat early, and the place was busy.  The set up isn't your traditional table and chairs but rather stools and smaller chairs, and something more like a high ottoman than a table.

Table and Chair

Taste of Beacon Hill - where everyone knows your name

Last week was basically the "who's who" in Beacon Hill dining - it was the Taste of Beacon Hill!  This year the event was held in the ballroom on the 14th floor of the Omni Parker House.  The ball room was set up with tables set up everywhere with plenty of food stations to go around.  We set off with a plan: up and down both aisles twice, making sure we didn't miss anything.  Here are some of the highlights.

The first stop was Zen Sushi.  I mean, how do you walk by that sushi boat - it has to be the biggest I have ever seen!

That's a sushi boat!

This place is one my favorites for sushi in Boston.  They had some shumai that was delicious, and I will definitely be ordering some the next time I head in. 

Craigie on Main Burger with a trip to Toscaini's

If you are at all into burgers and you read any Boston-based food articles, then you have probably read the accolades of Craigie On Main in general (Tony Mays is a recent James Beard Award winner!) and their burger in particular.  In case that press wasn't enough, during the "chat" with Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert, they said that was the place they wanted to try on their trip to Boston.  According to the "New York foodie mafia," it is THE place to go.  On our first trip to Craigie we sat in the dining room (where they actually don't serve the burger at dinner) and had an amazing meal - still the best octopus I have ever eaten.

Since then we have been wanting to go back for the burger but just had not found the time.  Randomly on Friday night we check out whether it was something that was served on their brunch menu and when we found out it was, we had our Sunday brunch plans.

The Burger

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

After struggling for awhile to get through another historical fiction book (I am done with Henry VIII stories!) I decided to finally read The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

The novel tells the story from the viewpoint of three different women, all from different backgrounds, over the course of about a year in Mississippi in the early 1960's.  Two of the women are black maids to white families across town - some who have plenty of money and others that only pretend to.  The final storyteller is a white women who grew up with a black maid, but has some issues with their treatment.  After a very disturbing movement made by one of her friends, which would allow the maids to only use bathrooms outside or in the garage, she decides to do something about it. 

This book has been all over the best seller lists for over a year now, but for some reason I had trouble committing to reading it.  I thought it would be hard to find a book that could be so convincingly written from the perspective of three very different women.  Even more, writing as two black maids and a wealthy white woman without sounding like a caricature is difficult, to say the least, but somehow Stockett does this amazingly well.  The whole town is so vividly imagined and laid out you feel like you are going through each of these experiences.

I think the fact that the movie will be coming out soon with actors that I enjoy helped push me to buy the novel.  I hate not reading the book before seeing the movie - I like to make sure I have my own version of the characters in my head and then judge the casting fully!

I fully admit I jumped on this bandwagon, but it was totally worth the read.

Cinco de Mayo Fish Tacos!

I was feeling a bit uninspired looking for a recipe last week - I wasn't even sure where to begin looking because I was not in the mood for anything specific.  However, it was Cinco De Mayo, so that took me down a path that led to only good things.  The fantastic food blog We Are Not Martha featured a recipe for Crispy Fried Fish Tacos that looked like it would hit the spot.  To be honest, I had never fried fish at home so I was really curious to see how this was going to go - a fun challenge, shall we say.

Crispy Fish Tacos