Shrimp Wonton Cups

Last week I made these for a church meeting. I thought these would be fresh and easy to make and something a little different for the group.  Wouldn't you know I get to the meeting and put my shrimp wontons on the table and see across from me that someone else brought some kind of wonton cup appetizer? What are the odds?

The other lady and I just laughed after she told me she thought the same exact thing! Oh well! Hers had a different filling which were also very yummy. And by the end of the night every wonton cup of both kinds were completely eaten up!

This is a recipe I got from a Pampered Chef cookbook called Celebrate!   Here are the ingredients...

24 square wonton wrappers (found in the produce section of the grocery store)
1 TBsp melted butter
10 oz shelled, cooked medium shrimp, chopped
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/3 cup grated carrot (you can also use the matchstick carrots and put them through the food processor)
4 oz cream cheese softened
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup (4oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray mini muffin pan.  Using pastry brush, brush one side of each wonton square with melted butter. Press each wonton, buttered side up, into muffin cup.  Bake about 8 minutes or until edges turn light golden brown. Remove from oven to cooling rack.

wonton cups before baking

wonton cups after baking

Reserve 24 shrimp for garnish later and finely chop the rest, along with the green onion and carrot.

another chance to use my food processor!!

shrimp, mozzarella, cream cheese, green onion, carrot

Combine cream cheese, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce. Blend well. Stir shrimp, green onion, carrot, and mozzarella cheese into cream cheese mixture.  Fill each baked wonton cup with a scoop of the filling and top with reserved shrimp. Bake 5 minutes or until wontons are golden brown and filling is bubbly around edges.

wonton cups served

Note: these make great appetizers alongside some Asian meatballs and sweet and sour sauce.  These could also be nice served with a sweet spicy chile sauce!

Sun City Cafe

Its really rainy and windy and humid outside here today. Gross. I wish I could stay in my pajamas, eat junk food, and watch movies all day. :(  Its making me wish for a vacation.  A few months ago, Superking and began making plans and saving money for a big trip...to Japan...then the earthquake and tsunami and nuclear disaster happened...figures.  We're still saving our money but I'm pretty sure a trip to Japan is out of the realm of possibility for this year at least.  So we've been thinking about a Plan B vacation spot.  And that coupled with a few really warm days recently, has had me thinking of the beach.  Oh how I love the beach!! I could live on the beach and never get sick of it.  All I need is a beach chair and a grass hut and cold drink...I'm set.

Last September 2010, Superking and I took a vacation to Myrtle Beach, just the 2 of us. It was so relaxing and romantic! I hadn't started my food blog back then but I was in the beginning stages of thinking about creating one so I began writing down everything we ate!

One of the favorite places we went was the Sun City Cafe. Its actually a very tiny Mexican restaurant located in a strip mall that was half vacant.  Its so tiny in fact, we drove right by it twice. But it had very high ratings on Yelp and is frequented by many locals, which is always a good sign! 

From the outside, it looks like a bit of a dive. And at first, so does the inside. We went for an early dinner so it wasn't very busy. Actually, if it hadn't been for a large family who came in at the same time we did, it would've been almost empty.  The decor was very eclectic with a lot of vintage looking furniture and very brightly colored abstract paintings all done by a local artist named Bryce.   None of the tables and chairs matched and neither did any of the dishes.  Some of the dishes were even chipped and on the ceiling was a trellis with fake ivy and flowers hanging down from it.  As eclectic and odd and mismatched as everything was, all of it pulled together to create a lovely, down-home charm, like you were being welcomed into a Mexican Granny's home.

This homey feel carried over into the food as well.  When seated, we were given complimentary chips and salsa, which were made in-house. We also ordered guacamole which was made fresh and very chunky, served with lime and topped with pico de gallo.  We then split an order a shrimp soft tacos.  They were quite large and filled with succulent grilled shrimp, tomato, red onion, sour cream, melted cheese, lettuce, cilantro (I love the smell of that stuff!), and slices of roasted red pepper.  All of that served with a small bowl of rice and beans.  It was muy delicioso!! Very filling and very comforting! Certainly not a super fancy meal, but a yummy one that was a perfect end to a day at the beach. 

And now I am dreaming of shrimp tacos on the beach at sunset (sigh)...

In love with Georgetown

Ok, I don't normally post twice in the same day but I had to boast on the Lobster Pound's food truck win. And I wanted to share my little adventure I had today.

crossing a bridge on M Street entering georgetown

Superking occasionally has to work at a customer site in DC and this particular customer is right on the edge of Georgetown, right on M Street.  So he asks me last night, "Do you want to go with me? We should be there a couple hours."  I'm like, "Yeah that'll be fun!"  He goes to work and I walk down M Street to do some shopping!!

looking down M Street

cool colorful old buildings

So of course, the first thing I do is walk straight down to Georgetown Cupcake on the 3300 block. I knew they would be opening soon and the line would form fast.  I got there and there was only one guy standing in line so far! Awesome! I hop in line, Number 2, behind him.  He was a nice guy from Idaho visiting with a high school group he teaches. He heard all about the cupcakes and knew he had to get a box to take home to his wife that afternoon.

lots of cupcakes

lots and lots of cupcakes

The flavors I got this time were...2 Chocolate Hazelnut, 2 Cherry Blossom, 1 Hummingbird, and 1 Peanut Butter Chip. AND I even got a FREE SECRET cupcake!  SSHHHH!!  Don't tell anyone!

cute little blue bird on the hummingbird cupcake

If you follow them on facebook they alert you to a daily secret cupcake flavor thats not on the menu. Theres only 100 of them, 1 per customer, and of course you gotta know what it is to mention it at the register. And its free! Did I mention there were free cupcakes involved?  Today's secret flavor was Strawberry Lava Fudge. Yumma yumma!! It was difficult to only eat half of it so I could let Superking taste it later.

secret cupcake with fondant DC cupcake emblem

Anyway, after my cupcake adventures, I walked back down M Street and hopped in a few shops. One of my faves is Anthropologie.  I love their clothes but they're so expensive! However they generally do have a pretty decent clearance section where everything is marked down really low. I picked up a couple shirts with bright springy colors.

hungry cupcake customers

time to make more cupcakes

By then, my arms were full of bags and umbrellas in case of impending rain. I needed a rest! So I went into the triple decker Barnes and Noble, got a drink and a crossword book, and settled down at the cafe bar with a big picture window overlooking M Street.

eating lunch in the car parked at a Gtown Parkway overlook

Ah! Cupcakes, shopping, books...this is the life! Even with a few rainy sprinkles, it was a beautiful walk down the busy street.  Even the honking horns in traffic sounded melodious to me today. Why can't every day be like this?

And in this corner...The Lobster Pound!!!

Recently there was a Food Truck Fight in DC hosted by the Washingtonian, I think.  All the DC food trucks compete and fans vote to see which food truck is the best.  Out of dozens of trucks of all types of cuisine it came down to two...Lobster Pound and Solar Crepes.

But in the end only one can be the best. Whose cuisine reigns surpreme?? None other than the Lobster Pound!! The Food Truck Champion!!

And having had one of their famous lobster rolls, I can definitely attest to its delectableness! And I just found out that they are going to be adding a second truck in the very near future.  Yumma Yumma! Go Lobster Pound! Keep trucking!!  Check out my previous post about them!

Little Girl in the Kitchen

Today I want to highlight someone else's food blog called Little Girl in the Kitchen.  A couple weeks ago, Superking and I were watching Foodography on the Cooking Channel  The episode was all about food websites and food bloggers. 

One of the food bloggers they featured was this 12 year old girl who loves to cook. In addition to her food blog, she has several YouTube videos of her demonstrating some of her recipes.  She's adorable and so articulate.  She's got some really nice recipes too.  To hear her talk is so funny because she sounds so adult, like she's had her own cooking show for years now!

This is her on the CBS Early Show back in October 2009 where she makes the perfect sage risotto.

This is her recipe for Roasted Tomato and White Bean Stewed Chicken with Apricot Pine Nut Couscous that she made on Foodography.

Its amazing to watch her and its also inspiring to see a young person doing something so productive and creative and at the same time be so passionate and knowledgeable about it. She said she wants to inspire other kids to develop a passion for food and cooking as well.  I hope so too!

Keep cooking Little Girl in the Kitchen!

(You can even follow her on facebook!)

Sensational Sustainable Sushi

This past Wednesday Superking and I had an epically blog-worthy dinner (in DC no less).  It has been killing me that I had to wait this long to post about it (Thursday was a busy day)!! As part of the DC Cherry Blossom Festival, The National Geographic Museum hosted a Sustainable Sushi Tasting Event.

National Geographic Museum

The ceiling in the lobby looked like a starry night

In addition to the museum and the festival, it was co-presented by Genji, a purveyor of all natural sushi and Japanese cuisine. A lot of their products are available at Whole Foods and their main goal is to provide healthy, sustainably caught and responsibly farmed fish and seafood.

Beautiful Japanese paper umbrellas everywhere

fancy dining hall

our table with fake cherry blossoms sprinkled on it

The menu was created by Genji's executive chef Miki Willis, who trained with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Which, if you've ever seen Iron Chef, Morimoto has been on both the American version and the Japanese version and always kills with his creativity of the dishes. Chef Miki Willis would have definitely made her mentor proud with the beautiful creative presentation of this edible art called sushi that we had the other night.

our menu and event program on a fan

First course: Appetizer, skipjack miso tartare with cucumber slices, rice crackers and sesame ponzu dressing

speaker, Barton Seaver

As I take you through the exquisite menu, you'll see that we were not presented with what most people would consider a typical sushi menu.  In fact, as we went through the first five of our seven courses, some may have wondered, where is the sushi? This event wasn't just about sushi but, as the two guest speakers tried to convey, it was also about the sustainability of seafood in our world today.

Second course: Sashimi; wild salmon pastrami with salmon roe, daikon radish, and creamy yuzu dressing

the roe (salmon eggs) beautiful round bubbles that pop in your mouth

The introduction speaker was Barton Seaver, a chef who has dedicated his career to spreading his belief that what we eat for dinner directly effects the ocean and our surrounding environments. The main speaker was Casson Trenor, an author, a supporter of marine resources, student of the ocean, and founder of the first sustainable sushi restaurant in North America. Both men had very thought-provoking points about what "sustainable" means and how we should view our food, specifically seafood, and how that impacts our environments and our well-being.

Third Course Soup: local blue crab in a soy milk miso broth

to die for! sweet! I slurped mine down and then had some of Superking's when he went o the bathroom!

Being in the National Geographic Museum, they spoke about how the National Geographic people go out and explore the world with their cameras to create these magnificent images for us to see.  The rest of us, on the other hand, may not have the opportunity to travel around the world like they do but rather, we explore the world with our forks.  How many of you have eaten Chilean sea bass or sipped an Italian wine or tasted a French brie cheese?

Fourth Course Sampler: scallops three ways

blanched kale and simmered scallop with creamy walnut sauce

roasted beets and fresh scallop with Japanese plum vinegar dressing

sauteed leek and seared scallop with vinegared Japanese mustard miso

Sushi restaurants are now the fastest growing type of restaurants in the U.S.  You can go into a sushi restaurant in Chicago and see the same menu items in a sushi restaurant in California.  This is not necessarily a good thing because it means they are taking fish from somewhere else around the world instead of using what's available to them nearby.  Many of our waters are being over-fished as a result.

Fifth Course Grilled and Fried: grilled ginger miso marinated Spanish mackerel (the main fish with silver skin) with Japanese seven spice (the small brownish mound at top left)

served with purple sweet potato tempura (under the big green leaf), tempura sauce (in small dish), grated radish and chive (the small pink clump at bottom left), and green chili pepper (green thing on top of fish)

What is over-fishing and why is it bad? Over-fishing means to continually catch more fish than can be naturally produced.  Right now world-wide about 90% of large predatory fish stocks are gone forever. Just a hundred years ago there was six times more fish in our waters than what we have now. If this epidemic continues on this down-ward spiral, the results would be devastating on a world-wide scale

Sixth Course Blossoming Sushi: tuna nigiri, butterbur nigiri, shrimp nigiri with smelt roe on top and fried fish head centerpiece

also anchovy nigiri marinated in garlic oil topped with sun-dried tomato and panko breaded horse mackerel in edamame hummus roll

cute little bottle of soy sauce that came with this plate

Here are four S-words the sushi speakers gave us to think about as ways to help this issue and make things better for us as well as the fish and our world in general...
*Small - eat smaller fish instead of always taking from the top of the food chain.
*Seasonal - what's available to you right now in your part of the world? Work with the natural ebb and flow of nature.
*Shellfish - these creatures create more protein than other seafood and they help clean the waters they're in.
*Silver - eat more fish with the silver skin on. These live in cold water and contain high levels of fish oil and omega-three's which are both very healthy.

Seventh Course Dessert: yes, a dessert, a little fishy but surprisingly sweet and yummy

sesame tofu pudding with shiso jelly and a salted cherry blossom on top

Eating sustainably means we need to be better stewards of the creations God has given us to eat and dominate.  We need to make better, more healthy, more environmentally-friendly choices with our forks while we still can. A lot of people, when serving or getting ready to eat a meal say "Bon Appetit!"  In Japan, (I don't know the Japanese word) they say "I take your life". Or in other words, "I humbly accept the honor of taking your life". A strange thing to say about your food before you eat maybe. But I think it says a great deal about how we should view our food.  One of our speakers said, "eating is an act of sacrifice on someone's part".  We should eat with respect to the food and the creatures sacrificing their lives to provide the food. And thank God every day that we even have food to eat.

the chef and her crew

chopstick wrapper

more umbrellas

Superking and I stuffed to the "gills" with sushi (I know bad pun, couldn't resist!)