Lemon Ginger Muffins

Otsu

Bake This If You Want to Be Popular

 

Click here for the recipe!

The Smitten Kitchen blog has always impressed me with it's recipes, but this Espresso Fudge Cheesecake is just insane. I made this for a friend's birthday and it was absolutely incredible. I have made a good amount of cheesecakes, but I think this one takes the cake (har har) for the best so far. It was also insanely indulgent, and I experienced something very rare; I was satisfied and full from half a piece! I do not even want to know how bad this cake is for your health. Anyways, the only thing I changed about the recipe was that I used about 2/3 box of Oreo cookies, by way of a blender, for the crust. It took me awhile to find chocolate covered espresso beans but I finally managed to find them at Trader Joe's. Check out all the other amazing recipes on smitten kitchen's blog and make this awesomely sinful cake only if you 1- have several hours to spare and 2- you don't mind if you won't be able to fit into your work pants the next day : )

Scallop Crudo and Guacamole

Ok so probably not the most normal combination of food, but I was really craving some guac and had been eyeing this scallop recipe in Bon Appetit. Click here for recipe It was very quick and easy to make, which is always a nice surprise. I could not find a red thai chile so I used a jalapeno instead. I also used plain olive oil rather than splurging on sunflower oil. In this recipe, the acidic juices are intended to cook the scallops, but that weirded me out a little so I ended up cooking the scallops about 2-3 minutes on each side (if you cook them much longer they will be tough and chewy). I then covered them with the sauce which was orange juice, lemon juice, soy sauce, ginger, olive oil, and sherry vinegar. Sprinkle sea salt, chopped chives, and mint on top. This dish is perfect for the summer- light, citrus-y, and the jalepeno gave it a great kick!

The bf made the guacamole so I'm not exactly sure of the proportions, but we usually make it with 2 or 3 avocados, 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, 1/2 lemon's worth of juice, 1 jalapeno or serrano, 1/2 onion, 1 medium sized tomato, and a few sprigs of cilantro. Because everyone has such different tastes, it's really up to you what proportions of each ingredient you want in your guac. My boyfriend likes to add copious amounts of garlic to just about anything, so we have to compromise on that a bit, but I do love a lot of onion and lemon or lime juice in mine. Not everyone is a cilantro fan, but I think it adds so much to the flavor. Put everything in the blender and add more of whatever is lacking in flavor. A little sea salt and freshly ground pepper is a good addition as well.

Yumbii Food Truck!

I've been going to the food trucks that congregate in the Virginia Highlands on Wednesday nights and they are all so good! I cannot wait to try more of them. There are usually trucks ranging from cupcakes to gelato to hot dogs to tamales to tacos, etc. Yumbii is Mexican/Korean/Southern fusion (crazy I know). Their tacos have a BBQ Korean kick of flavor and spice to them and are very good. I usually get the tofu or fish tacos which I highly recommend. All their tacos have lettuce, green onion, green cabbage tossed in soy sesame vinaigrette and onions, cilantro, lime, and jack cheese. I had a bite of a friend's Daeji gogi sliders- two spicy pork sliders with cucumber kimchee. I also have ordered the sesame fries, which were sooooooo tasty. I did some research and found out there is a restaurant version of this food truck called Hankook Taqueria (1341 Collier Road). Of course I immediately had to try it once I learned of it's existence. I went on my lunch break during the week and it was PACKED. I guess I am a little behind in finding out this place exists, but since I have a minor obsession with fish tacos I am happy to now know about this restaurant since it has slightly longer and more consistent hours of operation than the Yumbii food truck.


Hankook Taqueria Hours of Operation:
Mondays: 11-4
Tuesdays through Saturdays: 11-9

Click here for Hankook Taqueria's website
Click here for Yumbii food truck's schedule

Gu's Bistro

Recently I tried Gu's Bistro, mainly because I have been trying a lot of the dishes on Creative Loafing's new list of "100 Dishes to Eat in Atlanta Before You Die". I went with my good friend Nicolai, who I recently and gleefully discovered shares my affinity for all the many hidden ethnic restaurants on Buford Highway. Gu's Bistro is Szechuan cuisine, which from my understanding, is Chinese food from the Sichuan region, which is known for being really spicy. The dish on Creative Loafing's list is chengdu cold noodles (third picture). It definitely did not disappoint. The noodles were a small dish, so we also ordered two more of these tapas like dishes: chengdu wontons (first picture) and fried rice with a few meats and some veggies (second picture). The chengdu noodles, along with the wontons we tried were very spicy, but in a good way where even though my mouth was numb and my eyes were watering, I could not stop eating the delicious food that was in front of me. I thought those two dishes were incredible. The fried rice was good, but nothing out of the ordinary. I loved this place so much that I took a coworker a few days later. Again we ordered the chengdu cold noodles and the chengdu wontons. This time we also ordered the steamed pork buns which were delish! Gu's Bistro is a nice sit down restaurant, which is little more upscale than the usual hole in the wall type places I frequent on Buford. I am excited to go back to Gu's and try more of their dishes! Gu's Bistro is located on Buford Highway, right off exit 32 on I-285.  Look for a Chick-fil-A and it's tucked away in the strip mall behind it.

Hours of Operation:

Monday-Thursday: 11:00am - 3:00pm, 4:30pm - 10:00pm

Friday-Sunday: 11:00am - 10:30pm

**Closed Monday for Lunch**
Click here for the website