A little wile ago, Ben and I decided to take a shopping trip to H Mart. For those that don't know, H Mart is a huge Asian supermarket. I had one by my house in NY, but Ben and I were looking to really explore the one in our neck of the woods. We went up and down every isle and made some awesome discoveries.
First, in our normal supermarket, tofu is usually around $4, while in H Mart its only $1.5! I can't believe how much money I had been wasting. Actually, all of their produce is much cheaper, and with a much larger verity. We also found great non-food items like a knife-sharpener, and some tea accessories.
However, I was on a mission of my own. While on my last trip to Austin, David took me to a delicious Asian restaurant. For the first time I tried rice medallions, and ever since then, I just couldn't get them out of my head. In such a large Asian supermarket, I was really hoping to find them. Finally after a long shopping trip of searching, there they were! We also picked up some of our other favorites like curry and miso paste, and once we got home I threw together a meal I had been craving for months.
What you need:
4 Tablespoons of curry paste
1 large can of coconut milk
2 medium heads of broccoli, chopped
1 pound tofu
1 bag of rice medallions
What to do:
Start by sauteing the tofu and broccoli.
Next, stir in the coconut milk and curry paste.
While everything is simmering, cook the rice medallions according to the instructions on the bag.
Once everything is done, mix it together and serve.
This ended up being very coconuty, with a bit of heat and an authentic Thai flavor. The rice medallions were creamy and chewy just like I remembered. I loves how the tofu and broccoli soaked up all the curry flavors. It was the perfect mix of sweet and spicy.
I was so happy to get to eat these little morsels of goodness. I will be traveling back to Austin again in a few weeks,and hopefully I'll get to have them again!
Hello everyone! I just want to start off by saying sorry for missing my last few posts. Things got pretty stressful around here and I felt that blogging needed to take a little break while I got things in order. I still have a lot of things going on right now, but I was really missing blogging and I knew I needed to come back!
Today's post is really exciting for me. I'll start with a little story...
Three years ago, Ben and I took a weekend trip to Baltimore. While seeing some of the touristy things (like the zoo) and some me things (like the dental museum), we also ate at a few different places. One night, it was getting late, and we still couldn't decide where to eat. We looked online and saw a near-by diner and decided that was good enough. When we got there, we saw photos of Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives all over the place. Apparently the place we had chosen to eat at out of pure desperation, was actually a really popular and amazing place.
I had never seen the show before, but after that experience, I would watch it on TV when I saw it was on, just in case it was the episode about that diner in Baltimore. Along the way came an episode about this little place in Philly, called the Memphis Taproom. Now, while Guy usually talks about BBQ and burgers, at the Taproom, he showed us a smoked coconut and tofu sandwich. With Ben still living in the Philly area, I had instantly decided that I needed to try this place.
After 3 years of begging for Ben to take me to the Taproom while I visited him in Philly once a month, we ended up moving in together, to Virginia, without ever getting to go to the Memphis Taproom.
We did plan a trip to Philly last weekend, for Ben's birthday, and he told me that if I still wanted to go, we could hit the Taproom on our way home. I had never said "yes" so fast in my life!
I had been dreaming of the Smoked Coconut Club for years, but once I saw the extensive vegetarian, and vegan menu, it was hard to not stray from the whole reason we came! But in the end I knew that's what I had to order.
While I have to say this sandwich was worth the wait, I am sad that this was not in my life sooner. The lettuce and tomato were so fresh and the sauce was perfectly tangy. The smoked coconut was incredibly amazing! It was so smoky and had a great bite to it. Moist and with a bit of crunch, all I kept thinking of was its resemblance to bacon. Ben actually said it was the most accurate fake bacon he has ever had. I even caught him stealing pieces off my plate!
The tofu itself was a bit on the bland side, with a bit of an eggy taste and texture. The bread was a crunchy and toasty wheat bread that was vegan. Actually the entire sandwich was vegan! As you can see, the sandwich came with a large mountain of french fries, which were crunchy and perfectly spiced.
We decided to split an order of onion rings too.
These O-rings were super spicy and had a nice crunch. The sauce was cool and creamy, which paired perfectly with the spicy fried onions.
This place definitely lived up to my expectations. Even Ben couldn't stop talking about the Memphis Taproom for days. I think he might have enjoyed it more than I did, which is funny since I was the once begging him to take me and he kept putting it off! I wish we could have gone more while he still lived in the area, but I know we will be back. I still need to try the rest of the items on the vegetarian/vegan menu!
