Does anyone else love to look at other people’s bookshelves and do you get really excited when you find that you have books in common with someone else?  I do.  Super excited.  The people who hosted us for dinner had the absolute cutest, sweetest little boy and had great books.  I scored a couple to borrow, which also accounts for my absenteeism.  Right now I’m reading “Marriage to a Difficult Man:  The Uncommon Union between Jonathan & Sarah Edwards” and I borrowed “Sex and the Supremacy of Christ.”  I now have about 22,465 books in my “to-read” stack, most of them borrowed.

Today, I experimented with some energy pudding inspired by Miss Gina’s efforts over at her blog and also going from memory from Brendan Brazier’s Thrive. I lent my copy of Thrive to a kick-ass tri-athlete friend of mine (she’s the one who got me into running and she rocks.  And makes the best chocolate chip cookies ever) and vaguely remembered maca being a good thing for training recovery.  As a practice for my 5k run tomorrow (oh yeah, I’m also running a 5k!  How about that?) I made some pudding for my pre-Zumba snack with chia seeds, hemp nuts and coconut milk.  I also dumped in a scoop of maca for good measure.

NEVER, ever, EVER do that.  It will make you gag.  Possibly barf.  This is the strong taste I sometimes catch in Amazing Grass or Vega products.  I never knew what it was before, but now that I have the taste isolated, I know.

I googled around for it to make sure maca really does taste that awful and I didn’t buy a bad batch.  Kristen over at Kristen’s Raw thinks maca usually taste like feet.  I think that’s an insult to feet — I think it tastes like dirt in a sweaty butt crack.  Sorry to be graphic, but that’s the only way you can understand the horror.  Blended with 32 ounces of smoothie, the pudding was tolerable.

That globby stuff in the middle is the pudding. I would totally make this again WITHOUT maca. It's kinda tapioca like.

I have a lot of catching up to do on the ol’ blog! I mentioned last week about a hip-releasing yoga vid I wanted to review, I took a step that might will change my life, I bought one of those Body Bugg things (I call it my Body Buddy) and I wanted to tell ya’ll about my experience with it this past week (hint:  my boss is about to buy one now!) and there’s more to come!!  Sheesh!

Peace (and thanks for sticking around!)

E.

Husband and I LOVE the Korean food and Sushi at Shira Kiku in Nashua.  Of the two of us, only Husband has been to Korea.  He dug the stone pots with rice and veggies and the little dishes of pickled goodness.  If he hadn’t tried it, I don’t know if I ever would have been brave enough to try kimchi.  I’m so glad I did!

The lady who runs Shira Kiku is so sweet.  Every time we wolf down the kimchi she brings us, she seems so pleased and surprised that we did. Tonight was date night and, partly because of some work-related digestive issues, I was craving Korean food.  Kimchi is fermented so it is rife with healthy bacteria for your digestive system. In addition to all the little mini dishes of kimchi, scallion pancakces, tofu, potatoes, and sweet radishes, I ordered the Kimchi stew with pork, veggies, and tofu but asked for no pork.  Meanwhile, Husband got a spicy pork dish.  No pictures, sorry, we forgot the camera.  BUT!  Later on, the already great meal got even better so Husband busted out his iPhone for posterity.

After we were full of cabbage and rice and spice and other good things, the chef stopped by our table to ask how we liked the food.  He kidded me about not liking pork (last time we were there, he kidded me about ordering an extra dish of his mom’s spicy kimchi) and I explained to him that I’m a vegan.  THAT was when the fun began!  Rob, the chef, is a terrific guy. He immediately told me that I should have told him I was a vegan because he could do any dish I wanted vegan-style.  I thanked him and thought we would definitely be back next week to put his offer to the test.  Little did we know while we were finishing up our tea and paying our bill, Rob had a treat in store for us:

Sweet Potato Sushi

This was incredible!  I’ve never had vegan sushi before (I think the only veggie sushi I’ve had are California rolls, but those have cream cheese in them and I think they’re kind of icky).  Rob proceeded to sit down with us and go over the entire menu and listed the different vegan sushi selections already featured on the menu and the modifications he could make to the Korean dishes for me.  He mentioned one of the other people dining in the restaurant was gluten-sensitive, so he makes special dishes for her all the time. He even knew her by name.

For awesome service, for incredible food and for being so willing to make wonderful food for vegans and no-gluten peeps, I encourage everyone to try Shira Kiku.  If you’re nervous about the more exotic dishes, there are plenty of stir fries and Pad Thai type dishes to try that aren’t intimidating.  In my pre-vegan days, I had the sashimi and fish sushi and it’s super fresh and delicious. I asked Rob how he learned all of his sushi skillz and he told me he got it all from his Dad — a sushi chef of 47 years who works in Boston. It’s a family gig for sure! Meat lovers will certainly find amazing morsels of animal here as well — Korean’s ain’t famous for their barbeque for nuthin’.

I was sort of sad I was so full of Kimchi stew, because I wanted to giddy-up on some of that vegan sushi.  Oh well, the next date night is just a week away!

Peace,

E.

PS.  The kimchi?  Took care of what ailed me.  Bless the Koreans for this magical tummy elixr!

It was 4 miles round trip and it was so nice to be out in the sights, smells and sounds of the real world instead of in my car.  I sometimes will catch a faint whiff of something unidentifiable… a mix of exhaust and hot brick pavement and funky gas smells and it will remind me of the hot summer I lived in Europe.  I think it’s probably a smell common to all cities, I just never notice it at home because I only walk when I’m in foreign countries.  Here’s what I saw and ate:

A really nice, stone public bathroom. A mama lets her baby dabble in the fountain.

Shady trees and a swinging park bench

But let’s be honest, The Black Orchid is a wee bit pricey ($7-$11 for appetizers, $16-$31 for entrees, $7-$8 for salads) for our general dining out budget. I guess we could go and skip the appetizers, not order wine, order a modest entree… but this post is about my dinner last night, not the struggles between palate and pocketbook.

There were a few minor annoyances detracting from The Black Orchid. First, parking is a bit difficult. You may only park on the streets at meters. Good luck finding one if you’re dining downtown during the dinner rush. But that’s a minor annoyance that you would run into dining at any of the downtown eateries — park in the Nashua Public Library’s lot (after hours you don’t have to pay) and walk a few blocks to the restaurant. It will burn off one or two pieces of the delicious Black Orchid bread you’ll be stuffing yourself with. Also, while I like drowsy, intimate feel of the Art Nouveau interior with its dark red walls and the ubiquitous prints, little tchotchkes like fake topiaries and painted harlequin masks detract from the simple lines that I usually associate with Nouveau. Too much stuff on the walls and you feel like you’re dining in a TGI Fridays, know what I mean?

Enough with the annoyances, let’s talk about the good stuff. First, the bread. Is fantastic. Fancy pants food people are probably rolling their eyes, but bread is the one common denominator in every diner’s meal. Neglecting one’s bread would be like having dirty silverware. And their stuff is AWESOME. It tasted like a foccacia/sponge bread, but with a sturdier, flakey crust (almost like a pie crust?) than you would usually find. I ate more than was good for me. Yum!

The Black Orchid offers your usual $12 fruity martinis, which I never order because I am not a character on Sex and the City and $12 for half a cup of alcoholic sugar-water is ridiculous, but if you must have them with your dinner you will find them there. The wine list offered wines by the glass (about $8 a glass) and bottles ranging from $28 – $60. They have a nice selection of wines many of which were not familiar to my inexpert, but adventurous, eyes. There was a Spanish bottle of wine whose name escapes me that I was interested in, but in the interest of economy I ended up with a glass of Six Sense Syrah which went very nicely with my lamb. Husband got a glass of Big Fire Pinot Gris. We enjoyed both very much and I would definitely pick up a bottle or two of the Syrah if I run into it when I’m out and about.

Black Orchid just debuted their Fall menu and I was all set to order their Macintosh Crepes with gorgonzola and pecans. Then our server came to the table and ticked off the specials. Among them where escargots with a cream sauce and brioche. True to form, I had to order the escargots, which were delicious though the portion was a bit small for two people to share. It was excellent and very well-prepared.

Husband ordered the Black Orchid Salad (greens, candied pecans, gorgonzola, raspberry vinaigrette, and dried cherries). He liked it very much and noted the cheese was tasty and a mild gorgonzola, not a sharp, bitter one. I had the goat cheese salad which included 3 soft little balls of goat cheese rolled in herbes de provences, salad greens, white balsamic vinaigrette, shallot confit, and duck cracklings (which turn out to be deep fried duck skin — heck yeah!) Tried alone, a duck crackling is a bit greasy and bland; taken with the white balsamic, goat cheese, shallot-y goodness, the duck is perfect.

Husband had the seared Tuna on dandelion greens and carmelized onions (the special of the day). He was not a huge fan of the bitterness of the dandelion greens, but that Tuna was some piece of fish. It was seared perfectly, rare in the middle and is what I would order if they have it on the menu again. It was also a pretty large portion.

I ordered the Wild Mushroom Lamb Loin served atop a pinot demi glaze with a wild mushroom risotto. Risotto can be a tricky dish in some restaurants. Occasionally, I’ll order it with great hopes and receive a gloppy porridge of cheese and rice. Black Orchid’s was a nice, al dente risotto dish with a hearty sauce (sans cheese). To be honest, the texture of the rice was a bit to al dente for my taste, but the flavor of the dish was very good. The lamb was rubbed with mushroom duxelles, which I had to Google when I got home. According to wikipedia, it’s finely-minced mushrooms seasoned with herbs and shallots. The lamb was also good (Husband points out that he wouldn’t know, I didn’t offer him a bite, despite sampling his fish. Such manners!) and everything a meat dish should be — tender, juicy and savory. If you’re not a fish person, or can’t imagine eating fish not completely cooked, the lamb would be a good choice. This portion was also a very good size.

We finished off our meal with cappuccinos. I thought they were good; Husband is the coffee-roasting latte artist in the family so his opinion is more meaningful. He considered the coffee pretty average but found fault with the airiness of the cappuccinos’ foam. He wouldn’t order them again. We also shared a Napoleon for dessert which arrived artfully presented — and with a layer of butter cream frosting on top!! Don’t get me wrong, if I had my druthers I would skip cake and just order a pastry bag full of butter cream frosting to be deposited into my gaping maw, but it made the Napoleon a bit sweet. Husband pronounced himself too full to finish it, so I worried down the lion’s share of the dessert in spite of the sweetness. Such a brave little toaster am I!

So there is our dining experience in excruciating detail. The service was good, the general manager stopped by our table for a friendly chat. He seemed to know a lot of the regulars and that gave the upscale restaurant a pleasant, “sometimes you wanna go/ where everybody knows your naaaaame” feel. They have a customer loyalty program and offer tastings and special events which contributes to the sense of community. There were no kids in the restaurant and no child’s menus or high chairs that I noticed. Most of the diners seemed like they belonged to the tax bracket where people play a lot of golf. For some people this may be a boon, to others, a detraction.

I recommend it. Here’s The Black Orchid Grille’s website.