Desta Ethiopian - still fabulous

Strawberry cake at Desta Ethiopian Kitchen - the extremely bright photo resulted from taking this outside in the dark!

I returned to Desta a couple of weekends ago to find the same wonderful food I tried for the first time last August, especially the fish tibs served with salad and the vegetarian platter. This place is great for a quick Ethiopian meal. They also have a nice deck and stay open late. If you've never had Ethiopian food, you owe it to yourself to try it - see my previous post here.

Amy's Lasagna and Peach/Blueberry Cobbler

Lasagna - the finished product.

First, the sauce.



The filling, with mushrooms.



Ready for dinner!

Amy's Lasagna

1 lb. Ground beef or turkey OR chicken, cooked and cut into strips or cubes (or use thinly sliced eggplant, squash or zucchini to make vegetarian lasagna)

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves (or more) garlic, minced

2 cup mushrooms (any variety), divided (if desired)

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

1-2 cups tomato sauce, more if you like it juicy

2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed

1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

9 dried lasagna noodles

2 beaten eggs

1 2 lb. Container of ricotta cheese (regular or part skim)

1 10-oz. Package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained

3 cups mozzarella cheese

1 cup parmesan cheese (the fresher kind in the dairy case)

Make sauce by cooking onion, meat, 1 cup mushrooms (if desired) and garlic in a large frying pan. If you are using a lower grade cut of meat, strain the fat. Stir in stewed tomatoes with juice, tomato paste, tomato sauce, basil and oregano. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. At the same time, cook the noodles for 10-12 minutes or until tender but still firm. Drain them and rinse with cold water. Set aside. For filling sautee the remaining 1 cup mushrooms in oil or butter. Combine the eggs, ricotta, spinach, sauteed mushrooms and ¼ cup of the parmesan. Put a couple of tablespoons of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a deep rectangular baking dish or divide to make several smaller dishes. Layer three of the noodles on top, followed by 1/3 of the filling, 1/3 of the sauce mixture and 1/3 of the mozzarella and the remaining parmesan. Repeat until all 9 noodles are used up. Allow for a generous layer of cheese on top. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes or until the cheese bubbles and browns. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.

Fruit Cobbler

Ever since my mom suggested it when we were in the mountains, I have been making summer fruit cobblers using this recipe. You can use any combination of fruits you like, but I am partial to peach blueberry. I cut the sugar in the fruit by half (only 1/2 cup instead of a full cup) and add several teaspoons of vanilla to the batter. Also, I use regular flour and add about 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder (instead of the self-rising flour). It's great by itself or with ice cream!

Boiling the fruit.



The cakey cobbler.



Yum! Ready to eat.

Mexican Close to Home - Caramba Cafe

Out front on Highland Avenue.

Despite living less than two miles from this place and walking past it all the time, I had never been to Caramba Cafe until recently. The food was your basic Americanized Mexican fare, but the margaritas are tasty and you can't beat walking to dinner. This is a very family friendly spot and I love the patio seating. The poblano pepper stood out, as did the shrimp in the tacos.

Back patio.

Shrimp tacos with beans and guacamole salad.

Cheese-stuffed poblano pepper.

Bean burrito with rice and guacamole salad.

Asheville Treats and Eats

Selection of chocolates from The Chocolate Fetish.

The Chocolate Fetish is a neat shop in Asheville, NC. I love that they make their own truffles including one with cayenne pepper (dark and delicious) and another with chai tea flavors. They also have a vibrant selection of chocolate dipped fruits (above I have kiwi, plum, peach, ginger and orange peel) and the rounds they do (raspberry almond pictured, with bites already taken!) are also a great. If I lived nearby I would be tempted to come in for a different piece every day! They do ship their chocolates if you need your fix and can't get to the shop.

The sign out front - really you do not want to miss this place.

For lunch we grabbed a bite at Cafe Ello, as the more famous places (Early Girl, Tupelo Honey etc.) had long waits, as usual. Their simple menu highlights breakfast items, sandwiches and a huge selection of teas. I enjoyed the chicken salad sandwich with greens - something about having a sandwich on a fresh, toasted croissant make it extra delicious. Asheville has many wonderful restaurants, definitely a nice place for a foodie to take a vacation. Hopefully I'll have a chance to visit again soon and post about more Asheville eateries.

Chicken salad on croissant with greens.



Breakfast sandwich with tea.

Fun in Celo, NC

The South Toe river - cold but so nice!

Dad and his HOB (hunk of beef).



Diane blows out her birthday candles on the 4th of July.



Burnsville, NC Farmer's Market - nice selection of fresh produce, baked goods, cheeses and meats.



Cute signage.



When pigs fly...

Pit Stop in Greenville, SC - Saffron Indian Cuisine

Garlic Naan - warm and just out of the oven.

On the way to the NC mountains I stopped for dinner at Saffron Indian Cuisine in Greenville, SC for a very enjoyable dinner. The Kachumber salad, chicken tikka masala and okra dishes I tried, along with the garlic naan, were all delicoius. I also sampled a mango lassi and tried a sip of fabulous hot spiced tea. Apparently Saffron has a great lunch buffet also. This is a nice place to stop along I-85 between Atlanta and Charlotte (Exit 51, Woodruff Road, turn right) if you're looking for a good meal. We did spend about an hour here so it's not th best place to come if you're in a hurry. Still, if it's lunchtime, I'm sure the buffet would be much faster! There is also a Whole Foods at this exit as well as many other restaurants.

Kachumber Salad.



Chicken Tikka Masala (left) and Bhindi Masala (okra with vegetables).

Top Flr - a new favorite

The Top Flr sign.

Update: Read about my experience in November 2009 here.

Nestled behind Mary Mac's and Papi's Caribbean is Top Flr, a gem that I've been meaning to try for awhile. I'm so glad I finally did. Last Tuesday Calvin and I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner here and vowed to be back again very soon. Everything we had was top notch, creative and delicious. The menu online is slightly out of date, although some of the same dishes remain - hopefully they will never remove the tuna tartar! Apparently there is a $15 set menu offered on Mondays (3 courses) that changes weekly - see Cliff Bostock's piece about that here.

Tuna tartar on Sardinian flatbread, Thai miso pesto, avocado and lime aioli. This was so tasty - I don't think I can come back without ordering it again!

The menu.

Scallops with lemongrass, carrots, horseradish and other flavors (can't remember exactly), cooked to perfection with side of sweet potato succotash with pancetta, roasted peppers, preserved lemon, jalepeno, and cream corn (top). The side was out of this world - very interesting combination of flavors.

Warm chocolate cake with saffron ice cream - also delicious.

Home Cookin'

Last week my friend Kimberly and I created this tasty meal as we prepared to go to the mountains for the holiday weekend.

Chicken caprese salad over arugula - leftover grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, basil* and arugula with balsamic vinaigrette.



Sun dried tomato chevre* with toasted baguette.



Mashed potatoes* with sauteed onions* and garlic and Bulgarian cheese.

* = locally grown/produced

Highlights from The Shed at Glenwood Media Dinner

Date Cake with Vanilla Chantilly - best saved for last!

Last week I attended a media dinner at The Shed at Glenwood. We started with a wonderful foie gras torchon with blueberry jam on country bread and a tasty chicken liver & bacon bruschetta. I would order the foie gras again any day. After sitting down we were served watermelon sorbet as an amuse bouche. This was a bit strange to me as such a sweet sorbet seems more fitting as an intermezzo between the appetizer and entree courses or as a dessert. Still, I really enjoyed the concentrated watermelon flavor and ate every bite! The following photos are highlights of the meal.

Yours truly with Chef Lance Gummere.

Roasted Beet Salad, Goat Cheese, White Balsamic.

I usually love beet/goat cheese salads but I think the white balsamic overpowered this one and the cheese was not strong enough to compete. I'd like to see a more flavorful goat cheese paired here and the white balsamic toned down a bit. Still, I really enjoyed the yellow beets' wonderful flavor.

Watermelon salad, Feta, Aged Balsamico.

This salad really worked well. I loved the pairing of the feta and watermelon here and the balsamico and mint added nice extra touches. A bit more mint would have been welcome, maybe even chopped and tossed with the melon prior to plating.

Steamed Mussels, White Wine, Garlic, Cream with Frites.

Loved these mussels. Great flavor - a shame there was no bread for sopping, although I'm sure I could have asked for some. I was trying to save room for everything coming up!

Fried chicken sliders - we also tried housemade pastrami and pork schnitzel sliders.

After hearing so much about Wednesday slider night, these were a disappointment, although I did like the pork schnitzel one quite a bit and the pastrami was tasty. The problem seemed to be an unevenness of saucing and a lack of other condiments - no tomato, lettuce or other inventive toppings? The bread was also rather thick and made these taste dry. I wish we could have tried the scallop sliders with jalepeno slaw.

Pan Seared Trout, Crystal Farms Organic Summer Squash, Pesto.

I really enjoyed this lighter dish, especially the squash and pesto. The fish was tasty but did not blow me away. Perhaps I have been spoiled eating fresh mountain trout in NC.

Ribeye, Jumbo Lumb Crabmeat, Roasted Sunchokes.

The steak was okay (I am not a huge read meat fan) and the crabmeat is an interesting touch, but the sunchokes (AKA Jerusalem artichokes) blew me away. I never had these before and they were so tasty - like a combination between an artichoke and a potato. I want to find out where to buy them so I can cook them myself. Definitely a great idea to include them in this dish, giving it a uniqueness unusual to beef entrees.

We also tried a chicken dish, which was juicy and tasty, but not really what I go to restaurants to order. I would have enjoyed trying one of the more unusual entrees on the menu like the swordfish or the pork dumplings rather than chicken, but those who like to order chicken out will enjoy this well-executed dish.

Housemade Ding Dong.

I preferred the date cake (first photo) although I think the ding dong is a cute idea. It didn't really taste as rich or flavorful as I expected. We also tried the chocolate peanut butter bar, which had dark chocolate layered with peanut butter. The dark chocolate was a bit overwhelming for this dish and although I prefer it to milk, it seems like a milkier chocolate would have worked better. I was disappointed we did not get to try any ice cream (especially since it was about 95 degrees out) - the profitoroles with espresso ice cream I saw on the specials board sounds like a winner.