Sushi @ Home and in Ann Arbor, MI

Now that we’ve prepared sushi at home, I think we’ll mostly be eating it out. It was not our easiest cooking adventure, although we did enjoy the results with a glass of chilled Saki.

If you decide to try it at home, I recommend watching these helpful Youtube videos:
Video on how to make sushi
Video on how to make handroll sushi
In the Ann Arbor area, you can buy almost everything you need at reasonable prices at the Hua Xing Asia Market.

The rice requires a bit more attention than other rice, as it needs to be properly cooled and mixed with rice vinegar. Carefully follow the instructions on your sushi rice package.

On recommendations from friends, we tried and fell in love with these two restaurants in the Ann Arbor area: Yotsuba and Godaiko. Both are outside of the downtown area and worth the short drive. Godaiko, next to an enormous Asian food market, has a Tatami room where you can sit on the floor with friends while you feast. Yotsuba is a bit further out and seems more popular; I’d recommend reservations. We were taken by the fresh ingredients, kind service to those of us who had questions about the menu and inventive sushi rolls.

Corned Beef: Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thanks to Epicurious, I made Corned Beef with Cabbage to celebrate the holiday. I was surprised to discover how easy it was to make. Essentially, you slowly simmer the meat, onions and carrots. That’s it! I also bought sauerkraut and made mashed potatoes on the side. With a Guinness, the meal was complete. We’ll have leftovers for sandwiches for days to come, which makes the preparation seem even simpler.

Eating Healthy

I use olive-oil by the heavy jug and cook as much as possible from scratch. Are my husband and I healthy? We could be healthier. I could stop making chocolates and avoid dishes that call for Italian lardo. Still, there are things I prepare and stock up on to help us to feel better and maybe even live longer.

It is all about balance. Do your best to buy fresh, local fruits and vegetables and pair them with healthy meats and grains. Visiting a local farmer’s market can be a fun, family outing. Not all of us, however, have the time to shop at a number of different stores. When you do shop at a major supermarket, do your best to “shop the perimeter,” as loca-vores say. This will help you to avoid the pre-prepared foods in the frozen aisles.

Don’t go crazy. If you are craving something, indulge and eat a little to avoid too much of it later. (Popeye’s anyone?)

Most of us spend our days sitting at our computer working. Sometimes we get bored and start to haphazardly eat. Keep your house/office stocked with healthy snacks to avoid snacking on something “bad” for you. Postpartum doula Elaine Petrowski offers some good ideas for healthy, right-out-of-the-cabinet snacks here. I bought the almond butter she recommended and recently tried it with apple slices. It was delicious.

I have been snacking on more roasted pumpkin seeds (crazy cheap at Trader Joe’s supermarkets) and mixing beets into my salads after reading this article in the New York Times, “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating.” The nutritional value of each food listed is explained. Tara Parker-Pope writes that pumpkin seeds “are associated with lower risk for early death.” Sounds good!

I find that good organization in the kitchen (making one dish that can transform into altered leftovers later) helps to avoid a reliance on pre-prepared, fatty foods. For example, if you are cooking chicken one night for dinner with a side of mashed potatoes and zucchini, why not cook a few extra pieces? Later in the week, these can become sandwich meat or a different chicken dish with either a curry sauce or marinara topped with some slices of mozzarella. The leftover potatoes and zucchini slices can be mixed into a frittata perfect for breakfast or even dinner. The changed flavors will make it seem as though you are eating new dishes instead of leftovers.

For some more recipe ideas, try these vegetarian dishes from the historic Moosewod Restaurant. I enjoy soups (especially because you can make a lot at once and freeze portions to eat throughout the month) and often make spinach versions. My favorite is from my old standby, The New York Times Cookbook. This Zucchini and Spinach Soup on Epicurious.com looks delicious. While you are on the site, try searching by ingredient for inspiration before your food starts to go bad in your fridge.

Today’s post is in response to a reader who asked for some suggestions for healthy foods. Hopefully these quick tips will help to make your kitchen a healthier place and a more user-friendly space, too. I am not a nutritionist, so if you have more specific questions or concerns, speak with your doctor or a certified nutritionist to plan out a diet that works for you.


What is your favorite healthy snack?

Sichuan Pork Noodles & The Splendid Table

What is your favorite foodie program to watch, listen to or read? I enjoy cooking and listening to The Splendid Table on Michigan Radio. If I miss an episode, I can download it or catch up through the newsletter.

Since Sunday night is pasta night, last night I swapped the traditional Italian-American “macaroni and gravy” for the Sichuan Pork Noodles from a recent Splendid Table newsletter. The recipe was surprisingly quick and easy. The sauce – a mixture of ground pork with chicken broth, peanut butter, fresh ginger and other flavors, was cooked in one pot while the water boiled for the noodles in another. The result had a kick and was satisfying for a rainy spring night.

I wasn’t the only one who was taken by the recipe. The blog As Kat Knits also tried it – thanks to her for the photo!

Carlyle Grill in Ann Arbor, MI

I’ve been on the hunt for good, fresh ravioli in Ann Arbor. Carlyle Grill’s mushroom ravioli were recommended to me. So, I obediently went to the restaurant and ordered them. The ravioli were alright, but not as delicious as they’d been described. The creamy sauce and the filling were too heavy for the lighter dough and enormous plate.

We started with the fried calamari. Besides good ravioli, I regularly crave fried calamari. This restaurant has transformed the dish into something unique. The calamari is tossed with lemon cream, capers & artichoke hearts. It sounded interesting, but we didn’t enjoy it as much as we would have enjoyed it the traditional manner with marinara on the side. The creamy sauce on the crisp surface of the calamari made the calamari turn mushy. There were also some cucumbers mixed in which didn’t quite match the other flavors.

My husband’s steak with French fries was the hit of the evening. The steak was perfectly cooked and the fries were crispy on the outside. I stole some of his dinner before packing up most of my dinner to take home.

Like a lot of the independently owned restaurants on the outskirts of Ann Arbor, Carlyle Grill is built to look like a chain restaurant. It was comfortable enough, although a bit loud since it attracted a number of families with children.

If you decide to try it, be sure to check the website as they offer some discounts. It is located in the same shopping center as the Quality 16 movie theater and combines a discount with the theater.



Where have you had good ravioli in Ann Arbor?

Pilar's Tamales in Ann Arbor, MI

Where I lived in northern New Jersey, you could eat almost anything cooked by someone who grew up in that country, or the culture, of the dish. I remember one student at a university where I taught bringing the class fresh empanadas that her grandmother made just for us (and her niece’s grade? Maybe, but they were delicious.) My parents brought me to an annual Cuban pig roast in the summers. In particular, there was no lack of fabulous Latin American food.

Here in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of course, there’s less. After a positive article in the local Edible magazine and driving by its colorful exterior, my husband and I ate lunch at Pilar’s Tamales recently.

As you can see from the photos, we ordered entirely too much: mixed plate of tamales (beef, pork and beans with cheese), one pork tamale, pork papusa and fried plantains. We shared an imported Coca-Cola made with real sugar instead of corn syrup. Needless to say, we were stuffed. As the menu describes, menu, almost everything is made there and they use many natural ingredients.

It is a small space that seems designed to mostly serve take-out. Since we were the only ones there, we comfortably ate at the counter. Everything was delicious and we enjoyed eating something not only authentic, but less common for this town. We look forward to going back and trying the other dishes.

Ann Arbor Cooks! Knife Skills Class

I’ve wanted to take a knife skills class for years. Ok, that sounds creepy, but it’s true.

In Italy, I often found myself struggling with a piece of fruit while the Italians peeled and sliced their fruit with a few flashes of the knife left over from lunch. It was a mystery to me how they did it so quickly and never had to run for a Band-Aid.

After taking the Knife Skills class taught by Natalie Marble, Owner of Ann Arbor Cooks!, my husband and I are now qualified to return to the Old Country. We can julienne, batonnet, brunoise and dice with the best of them. Ok, I’m not sure if those are all really verbs, but we learned a lot.

Preparing dinners, we have been slicing with the right knives at home and even standing properly while we do it. We practiced enough in class that we started to not only learn, but also remember the lessons. Starting with a large platter of vegetables and ending with a chicken, we used a number of different knives and techniques.

We each had our own comfortable workspace and Natalie was not only generous with offering personal assistance, but she was also quite patient when someone, I won’t mention names, kept regressing to her old ways.

I won’t give away her secrets; you’ll have to sign up for the class. If you do, you might see us there. We are eyeing some of her future cooking classes.

Disclaimer: As a former vegetarian and generally squeamish person, I wanted to – really wanted to – cut the raw chicken. As I sunk my fingers into the meat, however, I was displeased by the activity. I’m sorry I’m not the kind of person who can do that, but I am glad that I married someone who enjoyed the challenge. He had the opportunity to try twice since I shared my chicken with him.