Tomato, Zucchini and Goat Cheese Pasta

We love Whole Foods and while they don't have the cheapest items, we love the quality and integrity of their ingredients. One way that we make shopping there more affordable is to shop their weekly sales. They often have a weekly sale that starts on Wednesday to the following Tuesday and then also a weekend sale that has some great deals. A couple weeks ago, I saw cherry tomatoes and goat cheese on sale and thought that combo sounds like it might work together. I also grabbed some basil and a zucchini to add to the mix. Here's the creation:

Tomato, Zucchini and Goat Cheese Pasta 
2 tbs olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small zucchini, diced
1/4 cup chicken broth
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 oz goat cheese and more to put on top
3/4 lb of pasta (I used spaghetti)

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook until tender.  Add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute, careful not to burn.  Add the zucchini and cherry tomatoes to the pan and cook for about 10-15 minutes.  Add the chicken stock and continue to cook for another 10 minutes until the tomatoes start to burst and get soft.  I like to smash the tomatoes to make a rustic sauce.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the goat cheese and stir to incorporate into the sauce.

Heat a large pot of salted water and cook the pasta to al dente.  When the pasta is cooked, transfer the pasta to the pan with the tomatoes.  Stir to incorporate.  If it's dry, you can take some of the pasta water and add to the pan.  Stir in fresh basil.

To serve, plate the pasta and top with goat cheese crumbles and more fresh basil.  Enjoy a fresh summer meal that you won't remember is meatless!

Xinh Xinh

I was craving some Vietnamese food and was lacking some Vietnamese ingredients to cook with so I looked at my good buddy Yelp to see if there were any good restaurants in Chinatown.

We decided to try Xinh Xinh, which looked like it was on a small street with mostly Vietnamese restaurants. I opted for my standard rice noodle bowl with grilled pork and egg rolls while my husband decided to go for a rice noodle bowl with grilled beef and pork patties.

Here are some pictures of our food:

My rice noodle bowl with grilled pork and egg roll

My husband's rice noodle bowl with grilled beef and pork patties

I would have to say the noodle bowls were satisfying for our Vietnamese craving but weren't great.  The portion sizes were big and they gave a good amount of meat.  When we checked the reviews on Yelp, most of them said that the pho was very good.  Since it was 90 degrees outside, a hot bowl of pho didn't sound refreshing at the time.  When we were at the restaurant, however, most people were ordering pho.  That probably tells me something.  Next time we go, we will get the pho.  (Usually, we don't always follow the yelpers' suggestions but this time, it looks like we should have.)

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

My husband and I recently went to London a couple weeks ago.  I went for work and he had the time to come and join me for the trip.  Since we had recently gone to Europe, we didn't want to eat too expensively but decided to splurge on one meal.  We had heard of the Fat Duck by Heston Blumenthal but sadly, it was booked (good for our wallets though).  I had only known that I was going on the business trip two weeks before we were to leave so the Fat Duck being booked was expected.  While doing some more research on restaurants, I saw that Blumenthal recently opened a new restaurant in 2011 called Dinner and it was #9 on the San Pellegrino List.

We were able to secure reservations for lunch at "Dinner" (sounds weird to say that) and really had a wonderful time there.  Their food, while rich and heavy, was super tasty.  Blumenthal's concept for this restaurant was to take old world British recipes and transform them into more modern dishes.