Fun Playing with Food Over Labor Day Weekend

For only the second time in 24 years, Bob and I spent Labor Day Weekend at home and not at the Western PA Mensa Regional Gathering in Pittsburgh. In 1991, we first met at this event, and we married five years later. Bob is experiencing some health issues that make travel and hotel stays difficult. so home it was. Sad as we were to miss the festivities, we did eat well.

Our Saturday breakfast was another take on Hash Brown Waffles topped with poached eggs, similar to the photo below.

Saturday's dinner was about using up some lovely peppers we'd gotten at Basketeria at the West Side Market two weeks prior, together with Farmers' Market sweet corn, and some of the last fresh Alaskan Wild King Salmon of the season, from Mister Brisket, which was fabulous. 

Stuffed Peppers with Lentils, Tomato Sauce, Onions, Cheese

Ementaler and Gruyere Cheeses complimented the salmon perfectly.

Grilled Alaskan Salmon topped with garden Garlic Chives, Grilled Corn, Stuffed Pepper

The leftover salmon became salmon salad Sunday morning, served on beautifully rustic dark rye from Lucy's Sweet Surrender at the Chagrin Falls North Union Farmers' Market and market tomatoes.

Dinner on Sunday and Monday was the same: grilled Mr. Brisket Burgers, On the Rise buns, Farmers' Market lettuce, onion and tomato, leftover stuffed peppers and corn salad made with the leftover grilled corn from Saturday's dinner:

For Sunday breakfast, the Waffle Iron Chef-ed again! I'd been wanting to make Falafel Waffles, and this was my big chance!

The recipe suggested using about a tablespoon of batter in each grid - good if you wanted falafel-ball sized waffles to stuff in pita, but not so good if the waffles would be the star, so I tripled the amount per grid after the first four. We served the waffles on the plate, with more tomato and onion, and topped it with Amir's Tahini Hummus (which was more hummus than tahini, I'm afraid, but Heinen's didn't have Amir's straight tahini), and my riff on Michael Symon's Tzadiki sauce - substituting local Anaheim Pepper for Cucumber. Since the hummus wasn't sesame-ee enough for me, we drizzled some additional Sesame Oil over all. 

As we count down the last days of summer, and the last days before Bob's surgery (to hopefully at least make a dent in his spinal problems), it was nice to pause and enjoy good food and one another. I hope your long weekend was equally delicious and that you had fun playing with your food! 

More Fun With Turkish-Russian Food at Antalya Red Square

What a wonderful lunch we had at Antalya Red Square today! Antalya is located at 5131 Mayfield Road, Mayfield Hts. OH As always, when we lunch at Antalya, Emil and his staff treat us well - and there was a new treat on the menu: Borscht! Now, we've just finished Passover, during which Jewish people of Eastern European descent often make borscht. Most of my memories of broscht, or beet soup, are of disgusting looking glop in a jar that my mother would buy around the holiday; not the kind of food I normally play with.

But Antalya had borscht as their special soup today, so I decided to try it. I didn't ask if it was hot or cold, or with sour cream or what - I just ordered it. It was a splendid choice!



Hot and steamy - tasting of fresh beets and sweated onions, and, incongruous with anything I knew about borscht - beef. Yes, beef. And potatoes, which soak up color and flavor from the beets.





Aha! Chunks of beef in the soup, and probably also beef stock, which explained the beefy flavor. And no sour cream. This dish is a super-duper-play-with-your-food winner - RUN to Antalya to enjoy this delicacy!

Jamie decided to try an appetizer today, which we all shared:


Kisir



According to Wikipedia, Kısır is a traditional Turkish side dish made from bulgur wheat, parsley, and tomato paste. Common additional ingredients include parsley, tomato paste, onion, garlic (in some regions), sour pomegranate juice (in southern regions of Turkey) or lemon, lettuce leaves, and a lot of spices. It had a reddish color and a little bit of spice, and was quite tasty.

These next few photos are from our last visit, April 15:


Chicken Adana

Ground chicken meat, seasoned and grilled.


Chicken Shish

Grilled cubes of marinated chicken breast - this was my lunch and it was delicious, with a smoky flavor from the grill and tender from the marinade.




Donner Kebab

A Turkish take on the Lamb gyro. Delicious! These next two meals were from today:


Lamb Shish

Generous slices of lamb, perfectly cooked (the piece I sampled was still pink and juicy inside), in pita with pepper salad, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber sauce on the side.




Falafel

I know I've shown this before - but Antalya has some of the best falafel I've ever had - and adding humus to the sandwich takes it to another level.





The hummus is that pasty looking stuff between the falafel balls - and it is good.



Yum! We love to play with lunch at Antalya and you should too!

More Fun With Turkish Food at Antalya, p. 2

Once again, I had occasion to lunch at Antalya Red Square 5131Mayfield Road, Mayfield Heights, Ohio. This time, I wanted to try the Falafel. But first, a little history.

After graduating high school early, I raced into and embraced New York City, and specifically, Greenwich Village. I enrolled at New York University, took a room in the Joe Weinstein Dorm on University Place, and immersed myself in the music and culture of the 1980s Village scene. It was during my six years living in the Village that I learned about falafel - and the greatest falafel of all: Mamoun's, located at 119 MacDougal St, New York, NY 10012, 212-674-8685, Open 11am - 5am everyday. Mamoun's was right next to Speakwasy, a folk music club where I spent many hours with my guitar. When hunger called, Mamoun's was always open with a hot, fresh, satisfying - and most important to a college student - cheap, falafel.

In Cleveland, as anywhere, there is a huge variation in falafel. The most well known and ubiquitous purveyor of Middle Eastern eats is a local chain called Aladdin's. The falafel there taste pre-cooked - they are re-heated on order and are generally hard and not fresh tasting. I've had amazingly good falafel at Maha's Falafel at the West Side Market, and at Wafa's in Akron - falafel that is shaped into a patty and deep fried from a homemade mix only at the customers' order. So I enjoy comparing a newcomer to prior experiences.

I was not disappointed at Antalya. First, however, we ordered beverages.


Turkish Coffee

Bob determined that this deeply roasted beverage is a bit of an acquired taste, but he was glad he tried it.


Ayran Yogurt Drink



Though not sweet, this beverage was not quite as tart as the version I had at Anatolia Cafe - it was rich and thick, and the ice did not dilute it much at all. It was very tangy and refreshing.


Doner Kebab - Vertically Grilled Lamb

Bob was impressed with the range of spices in the meat and the pepper salad tucked into the pita.



Falafel Sandwich



The falafel tasted exquisitely fresh, and had a lovely range of spices. Most important, it was not at all greasy. It was served on pita with salad and a touch of hummus, and with a side cup of "special sauce" that was straight tahini - no cucumbers! Note to self - ask for falafel sauce with any meat order.

Once again, Antalya delivers tasty food in a lovely environment.