Contemporary Quinoa Salad Art

We took a weekend trip to the Windy City for art, shopping, and numnumnums. While checking out the Jeff Koons show at the MCA we had a delightful lunch at the Wolfgang Puck cafe. The presentation of the dishes we ordered lived up to the context of the location. This sculptural quinoa salad was surrounded by a little moat of a mint-laced vinaigrette. Eating it was akin to an archaeological dig, uncovering layers of micro-greens, marinated mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and purple potatoes.

We also had a great experience at this tapas bar: http://www.mercatchicago.com/

PB&J... &Basil

Trust me. Num. Num. Num.

Oven Roasted Summer Veggies and Salmon

The marinade for our roasted veggie mix started with lots of fresh ginger along with sesame oil, mirin, soy, rice vinegar and chopped garlic. We tossed it with baby bok choy, summer squash, and a variety of eggplant. We reserved some to also marinate the salmon. The veggies were roasted in a 450° oven for about 20-25 minutes, followed by the salmon for about 15.

Summer Mix

Since we've been back in town and getting up to speed for fall, dinners have been small easy dishes of this and that. Here is a salad of mixed greens with fat slices of an heirloom tomato that had been holding court on our kitchen counter for the past week. It was dressed with a little balsamic and lemon juice. Next is sticky rice with baked tofu slices, and in the background are potstickers that TPY picked up at CostCo. (Gasp! I know! We have a total transparency policy here at N3 about the store-bought nums we occcccasionally put on the table. And we have to admit that Trader Joe's is currently rockin' our world).

We are also both currently on "Operation Deflation"- so stay tuned for lots of low-calorie, high-nutrition, numnumnum posts in the coming weeks!

Chinatown, Boston

Here are another round of shots from a fantastic, memorable meal we had this summer.

Koreana

These shots have been sitting on my desk top for the past 3 months and are from one of our favorite meals this summer at Koreana in Cambridge. I believe I ate so much that my eyes even gained weight. Num!

http://www.www.koreanaboston.com/

Simple Nummy Vegs

Numnumnum is one year old this month! We're celebrating with a few simple veggie dishes. Num-number one is pea sprouts sautéed with garlic and red bell pepper. Num-number two is steamed baby bok choy and yellow squash tossed with nori strips and tamari.