Wish you a warm and cozy week!

Look at the pretty ice formation from the windowsill this morning.

I have a piece of Swarovski crystal and made a necklace out of it.

We were going to order some cheese and salumi plates, but after the waitress explained the menu, we couldn’t resist to have the main courses. The food were delicious. Batali never fails!

Insalada Di Mela: Local apple, fennel, cabbage, speck, asiago with lemon vinaigrette

Extra virgin olive oil with bread

Beer braised pork shoulder with celery, local apples and mustard vinaigrette

Olive oil smashed potatoes

I love to eat chicken wings! Recently, a few like minded office mates and I sampled wings around the pubs near work. We liked the ones when the wings are hot and crispy, coated with a thin layer of pungent sauce. This prompt me to give it a try at home. And I decided to try this recipe from the Pok Pok restaurant, famous for its Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings in Oregon.

I have to say, the result was great! And it was really easy! The crunchiness of the fried garlic and the fragrance of cilantro, mint are irresistible! Perfect with a cold beer.

Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
1/4 cup superfine sugar
4 garlic cloves, 2 crushed and 2 minced
1.5 pounds chicken wings, split at the drumettes
1 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for frying
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/2 tablespoon chopped mint
(add a bit of freshly chopped chillies for some spice!)

Directions:

1. Mix the fish sauce, sugar and crushed garlic in a bowl. Add the wings to marinade. Refrigerate for 3 hours, tossing the wings occasionally.
2. Heat the 1 tablespoons of oil in a small skillet. Add the minced garlic; cook over moderate heat until golden, 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
3. In a large pot, heat 2 inches of oil to 350°. Pat the wings dry on paper towels; reserve the marinade. Put the cornstarch in a shallow bowl, add the wings and turn to coat. Fry the wings in batches until golden and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels and transfer to a bowl.
4. In a small saucepan, simmer the marinade over moderately high heat until syrupy, 5 minutes. Strain over the wings and toss. Top with the cilantro, mint and fried garlic and serve.

Here’s a recipe from Norecipes.com to try for this ramen.

Enjoy!!

Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme is a lovely small museum that is the home of American Impressionism. In the 1890s, a women named Florence Griswold decided to operate a boarding house and it just happened that one of her visitors was Henry Ward Ranger, a New York artist in search of establishing an art colony like what he discovered in Europe. What followed was his friends and fellow artists like Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf…etc. Many of the paintings were inspired by the house, its garden and the Lieutenance River that runs pass the property. Today, the museum has a new building with a rotating exhibition and a gift shop. We happen to catch the current exhibition of “…isms: Unlocking Art’s Mysteries” and enjoyed it quite a bit.

After the museum, we drove in to S & P Oyster Company for some lunch. We ordered  lobster tacos and lobster rolls to help celebrate the local annual Lobster Fest. The lobsters were nice but the highlight is to sit by the water and watch the Mystic river and the old drawbridge. After lunch, we walked around the main street a bit and dropped in some of the vintage shops and souvenir shops. For us, this quick escape outside of Manhattan was perfect!