Inspiration, in the form of soup...

For my dear friend Kristin Demers' last night in Cincinnati, we wanted to try someplace new, special and cheap. Myra's in Clifton fit the bill.
It's in a house across the street from a new development and strip mall in the middle of campus. Myra's is an institution on the UC campus -- it's been there since 1977.
There are myriad vegetarian dishes, plenty of ethnic choices (some of which even I hadn't heard of, like pulao) and tons of soups.
The place is tiny, so Fred and I arrived early and guiltily took over the largest table in the restaurant. After pita and tzatziki and a glass of Chablis, people started drifting in, as did the food. I had the most delicious wheatloaf with mushroom gravy, cheesy mashed potatoes and steamed veggies ... for $6.75.
Everybody ordered at least an appetizer and an entree, plus alcohol, and no one spent more than $15!!!
Myra's menu lists more than a dozen soups, and a board above the doorway lists the ones made fresh that day. Fred and I shared a bowl of the Thai pumpkin, and I also tried the Spinach Coconut....heavenly!
It's a rainy, chilly night, perfect for soup and sandwiches!

finally reaching my heat threshold, and a review of heat

It's freakishly cold in Cincinnati this weekend, so I decided to heat up with a review of hot food around town.
I love hot food, the spicier the better. After a year of Korean food, I have a pretty strong gut when it comes to spice, so I tend to be a bit ballsy when eating out. On a scale of 1-10, I usually go with 10 at Thai, Korean and Chinese places and an 8 at Indian restaurants.
I met my match at my favorite restaurant, Udipi. I ordered chana batura, which is a light, fried balloonlike bread with spiced chickpeas on the side. I had ordered this a couple of times before, but this time I asked for "extra spicy."
PJ laughed as tears ran down my face and I greedily slurped raita in between long, exaggerated inhales through pursed lips. My nose ran incessantly, but I kept eating. My stomach would be fine and my fiery lips would cool. The chickpeas were so rich, so spicy, so delicious! I couldn't stop.
Oh, and a meal at Udipi for two with appetizers, never goes above $20! More reason to love it!
Here are my observations on other spicy dishes I've eaten recently.
Riverside, in Covington: Tofu soup with clams. 2, perhaps. As far as Korean food goes, it was tame. (But the food there is delicious and quite authentic!)
Teak, in Mount Adams: Seafood Choochee curry. Oh, the squid was divine. So tender, as it should be! I ordered an 8 the first time and felt nothing. The second time there I went for a 9, which was a nice 4 or so at dinner. The next day, the leftovers were definitely a 9. Their curries are the best I've found in town.
Wild Ginger, in Mount Adams, also makes good curries. I ordered salmon choochee there a couple of weeks ago, and an 8 was nicely flavored but not hot enough. Not even the leftovers were fiery. Oh, and the salmon -- a nice-size fillet -- was buried beneath the vegetables and sauce. Perhaps this was to conceal that it had been dreadfully overcooked. I love a crispy piece of salmon, but this piece was crunchy most of the way through. The thinner end of the fillet was nearly inedible. The last time I'd been there I ordered a green curry with chicken. I think I ordered a 6, because my friend and I were planning to share. It was bland.
My "book club" went to Aqua in Mount Lookout for half-price sushi night two Wednesdays ago. The sushi was fabulous, as were the scene and the wine, but the spicy scallop rolls were what really stole my heart. The scallops were fresh, sweet and succulently tender. The spice almost detracted from them, but the heat was so serendipitous that I didn't mind.
I'm always looking for good ethnic food, so share!

Where I've eaten. (updated frequently)

(Mostly for me)
Vinyl
Mesh
Udipi
aoi
Wild Ginger
Teak
Riverside
Moon Garden
Molly Malone's
Hideaway
Greenup Cafe
Chez Nora
Zola's

Sweetbreads and other new treats

Life, sometimes, is funny. Last night I worked the election desk in the Kentucky bureau, taking results from a reporter in Campbell County. It was a bit of an ass-backwards setup because Kentucky has no direct feed unlike Ohio. I was there until 11:30, then came home and passed out.
I went to work an hour late today and just wanted to come home and sleep. But for reasons I shouldn't blog about, I was offered a great dinner... at a great, five-star restaurant downtown.
The menu:
Côtes du Rhône rosé
amuse bouche: tuna tartare with a yummy sauce and micro cilantro
oyster velouté with seared sweetbreads and a poached oyster with purple peruvian potato chips
bonus course: skate in a fabulous sauce with grilled baby fennel
duck with curry sauce and a cabbage roll stuffed with basmati rice
with a great pinot noir
cheese course...
mmm.... very happy I am.
Sweetbreads are something I've always wanted to try. I was afraid of them at first, but the texture is velvety inside and crisp outside. They were perfect. Heavenly.
The skate has a crablike texture. Yum!!!
And the cheeses: a sheep's milk cheese from France, firm and a bit pungent, served with honey and honeycomb. A weeping, soft sheep's cheese from Portugal, with a kumquat. The grapefruit flavor, slightly bitter and acidic, mellowed the cheese. And a fine blue from Spain, with a fig jelly. Divine!
Et puis, je ferai dodo!

NYT prospects and un peu de fromage

Got my French-English picture dictionary tonight. Yay! Let the learning begin. I am lame. Waiting for PJ to get here so we can have dinner. I am famished. Ate crackers with baba ghanouj and cucumbers for lunch... at 1:30. I made an incredible dinner that is waiting to be eaten. I prefer to eat with good company. It feels more like real life :) Chicken marinated in beer and Dijon mustard, then coated in whole-wheat (health nut, maybe?) bread crumbs. Broccoli. Mac n cheese made with skim milk, mustard, a bit of beer and cheddar. Healthier than the usual. This is a bad meal... so fatty! But the chicken is baked, and this is the first time there has been cheese in this apartment. (oh, there was some feta once for a Greek meal... oh well.) Had a great night tonight. Walked 2 miles home and got free hummus at grocery store (Kroger card discount + coupon machine at store + double coupon day = free hummus! Lame but funny!) Had a glass of wine while waiting... might explain the post being so random. This weekend will be the second I've spent here, the first with nothing to do. I plan to do nothing. Scratch that. I plan nothing. For once in my life, I do not have any plans. And that's OK. Sigh. 5 minutes more, then I'm eating alone! My good friend Katie Gill is coming here soon. She is from Indian Hill, so she's not coming to see me. Still, it will be great to see her. I haven't seen her since before Korea, hard to believe. I love this girl. She's more gung-ho about copy editing than I am. She works for the TImes in Washington. She rocks. I have a great gift for her... a compact. She once told me that she wanted to dress and look nice as easily as I did... or something like that. I am usually a mess, so I took it as a compliment. This girl is 22 going on Buddha in terms of wisdom, I swear. Plus, she can drink. Who could ask for more? Work is going well, by the way. OK, I give up. I am going to eat. or maybe I'll wait.

no hunger here

So one thing is for sure. No one is going hungry in this apartment. I have created some real culinary masterpieces since moving into my own place. Cooking is something I missed terribly when I lived in Korea and then with my mom. Last night I marinated beef in garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil, cilantro, red pepper flakes and salt. To that, I added a sliced onion. Tonight I : - made rice with cilantro, hot sauce and lemon juice - sliced roma tomatoes and made a guacamole for dressing - seared the beef and caramelized the onions. With a nice bottle of red, yum. PJ was impressed. Monday night I was cranky and hungry. I finally acquired all the ingredients for my favorite pasta: alla puttanesca. anchovies, garlic, red pepper flakes, kalamata olives, capers and tomatoes. Delish! There have been other good ones: the cilantro/lime chicken with black bean-corn salsa tarragon chicken baked with white wine, jasmine rice and artichokes Korean fried rice with kimchi, tofu, tuna, lots of veggies and hot sauce Oh, I love cooking. Pj thinks it's funny that I won't eat ANYTHING from a box/can except for raw ingredients. I bought light microwave popcorn tonight, and it's the first snack food I've had in the apartment. I won't eat premade food, and I don't eat fast food unless traveling. That's what being overseas did to me. He did introduce me to my new favorite ice cream flavor: cherry cordial. Dark chocolate and maraschino cherries in sweet cherry ice cream. Divine! I usually don't eat ice cream (the whole milk aversion... for the record, yogurt and cheese good for me. milk, ice cream, stand back! Milk tastes spoiled to me because I've been drinking soymilk for six years now.) The other night we read the CIA World Factbook and ate the rest of the ice cream in bed. It was decadent. I love having quirky couple things. We read NYT online together and challenge each other with vocab words. OK, I really am tired now.