Pike Pizza in Arlington

For lunch, I had Bolivian soup, with Mocochinchi to drink.

I would be more specific, but I don't remember what my soup was called. I first tried to order a tripe dish, but was told it's only available Mondays and Wednesdays; then I tried to order a different dish (but decided against it when the waitress mentioned it was a soup) before settling on this particular dish (which is also, oddly, a soup). It contained large chunks of pork, tons of hominy, some chuño,and small, green-colored pepper slices. The broth was a bit oily, but very richly flavored and filling, kind of like pho broth. The hominy and pork were really nice together, and the chuño (aka blackened, "preserved" potatoes) was not nearly as funky as the stuff I had in Bolivia- it tasted more or less like a normal potato, with a slightly chewier texture.

To drink, I had mocochinchi, which is sort of like a Bolivian agua fresca. Apparently, it's made by soaking dried peaches in very hot water, then adding copious quantities of sugar. It was pretty awesome, with a slight cinnamon note, and came with its very own dehydrated peach:

It looked like a shrunken head, but was extremely tasty.

I'd definitely go back to this place- Bolivian food is always hearty and comforting, and the atmosphere was very cheerful. Jon ordered a salteña (which is, I think, where the "pizza" comes from in their name- they do not serve any pizza) and a lomo montado sort of dish (fried meat, covered with fried eggs, on top of rice, with some pico and sometimes fries), both of which were extremely tasty.

Looking forward to more Bolivian around town- this part of Virginia has a huge number of Bolivian immigrants, and is sometimes known as "Arlibamba" for the large percentage who hail from Cochabamba. Also hoping for cheap airfares to Bolivia someday- it's a fabulous place to visit.

Garlic Soup at Home

For dinner, I had homemade garlic soup, with a roasted acorn squash half.



I had leftover garlic, olive oil, and anchovy pasta for lunch, so I figured my breath was already shot for the day (Jon confirmed this. Rapidly.) Then, while we were grocery shopping, I remembered reading this and this awhile back, and decided to give the concept a try. Did I actually bother to call up the recipe on my new iPhone while at the grocery store? No. I laugh in the face of recipes.

So, of course I come home and realize I don't have the baguette I need. Nor sherry, sadly. I actually like fino sherry and usually do have it on hand.

Forget recipes, I decided to read a few different ones for context and then improvise. I ended up cooking perhaps ten cloves in olive oil, then adding chicken broth (half from a leftover box, half homemade!), and simmering it for awhile.




I decided it needed body, so, with much trepidation, I tried a technique I've never tried before- adding an egg to the hot soup. Embarrassing blogger confession, but eggs make me really nervous. My mayonnaise always sucks. Custards are even worse. And poaching? I can do it, but I usually don't want to eat the result.

The technique is to add the hot liquid to the egg in very small increments while stirring furiously. To my surprise, it actually worked, and I got a nicely emulsified soup without any egg chunks.

The result was very Japanese to me, and not at all garlicky. The flavors were incredibly subtle, with a silky, chickeny creaminess that makes it seem like dairy was involved, without any heaviness. I did not cook the garlic long enough to render it mushy, so the cloves remained whole in the soup. They had been thoroughly cooked, so added only a very mild, mellow flavor. I added some leftover arugula to the soup, and a bit of lemon juice and salt to balance it all.

Soup at Home

For dinner, I had some homemade potato-leek soup, with bread and a glass of red wine.

I wasn't actually going to blog about food today again, but I found this photo in my inbox, from Jon. I can take the hint. Did I mention HE made it? Maybe if I blog about it, Jon will cook cool things more often. I can hope.



It is pretty soup. And it was pretty delicious. Jon followed a modified Julia Child recipe for potage parmentier, chosen for its simplicity (we found several that required fifteen ingredients, which is ridiculous). This one contained only four real ingredients, although he modified it by using chicken stock instead of water. It took less than an hour of mostly unattended cooking, and turned out really well. It was very creamy, even though Jon used butter in lieu of heavy cream, and managed to be very filling. It's reasonably healthy, but doesn't taste "healthy". After my breakfast, and some crazy tallow-fried chicken for lunch, I was grateful for something light but substantial.

The wine was good, considering it was less than $4. It was a strange/slightly sketchy bottle we picked up at my favorite Italian market. It's bottled under the "Lost Vineyards" label as a Portuguese table wine. It definitely wasn't as robust and rich as my beloved Portuguese reds, but it was an inoffensive dry red. I'm tiring of TJ's international selection, so it's nice to find cheap, good wine that's new, even if it's not amazing.

Soup at Home

Exciting dramatic use of breadsticks, no?

For dinner, I had tomato soup, roasted potatoes, and some ciabatta bread, with a glass of red wine left over from a few nights back.
The potatoes were very creamy on the inside, and the bread was great to accompany the soup. I don't talk about soup often, because I don't ever eat it.

Soup is like salad to me- most of it is not very filling and not very interesting. I make exceptions for spinach and arugula salads, and for French onion soup (yummmmm). I especially hate tomato soup. It's a longstanding dislike, going back to early childhood. I blame Campbells' funny grainy texture and metallic taste for turning me off. Other brands are too creamy and gloppy. Tonight's soup, however, was really good- albeit still full of cream. It was a tomato-chipotle soup from Whole Foods' prepared foods section. I never would have considered it, but for the fact they were giving out samples last week while I shopped. I wasn't in a soup mood last week, and I stay away from cream-based soups regardless of how tasty they might be anyway...and then I got sick. Hello soup! It has a nice smoky heat that balances the tomatoey creaminess well. It made me feel a little better, and, perhaps more importantly, the dog loved my leftovers.