nightshades

No, I'm not referring to Corey Hart's song about wearing sunglasses at night -- I'm talking about vegetables and fruits that are classified as "nightshade foods". My coworker mentioned this term to me a couple of months ago when the topic of my food allergies came up, and he gave me a list of things that fall under this category:

• tomatoes
• eggplant
• bell peppers
• cherries
• tomatillos
• potatoes

At that moment, I gasped when I read potatoes and thought, "Well, I know for sure that I'm allergic to the first five but I can't -- I just CAN'T! -- be allergic to potatoes too!"

So I kind of ignored the fact that they were on the same list and went on eating potatoes for the next couple of months.

Itch here, rash there ... but it had to be something else. It couldn't be the french fries I ate with my burger. It couldn't be the mashed potatoes. It must've been the carrot that touched my plate. Or the pickle that came on the same plate. Or maybe they used corn syrup in something.

I was in denial.

Then one day I ate some fries at lunch time and later that night broke out pretty badly. (I still think the hot and humid weather contributed a little bit to it.) And then at that moment I had to confess to my husband about my knowledge of nightshades and that sadly, potatoes fall under that category.

Sigh.

So for the past week and a half, I've been staying away from potatoes. I can't say that my skin has miraculously gone from being dry and flaky to perfect, but I don't think I've broken out very badly either. It is still hot and humid so I find myself getting pretty sweaty, and I have eaten a couple of questionable things too (cucumbers? maple syrup? pancakes?) so who knows. But I think I'll continue another week without them (it's been difficult, let me tell you!) and then maybe have them again one day and see what happens.

As a result - and this was the 2nd day of not eating them - I asked for brussel sprouts instead with my burger at the Indo last week. I have to say, they have the friendliest and most patient waitstaff there. Plus, they kind of know me by now so I think that helps. :) I asked for a bunless burger with the brussel sprouts instead of fries, cooked medium rare, with no tomatoes, but with swiss cheese, mushrooms, grilled onions and garlic aoili. It turned out perfectly!

Okay, oops, forgot to say no pickle but my order was already pretty complicated! The burger was cooked perfectly and all of the flavors went together so well. Without the fries it was a little bit more on the healthier side.

Anyway, it will be really sad if I can't eat potatoes any more but I'll have to try them again in a week to see if anything drastic happens.

the independent in union square

After a day of moping around the apartment because I've been sick, plus forcing myself to sit down and work on new card designs, Tony took me out to the Independent in Union Square for dinner. I know, I have a wonderful husband. :) (Although, you wouldn't have known that we were married if you were strangers there that night. He's been without his wedding band for almost two weeks now so whenever we go out I tease him that people probably think he's going out with a married woman. LOL)

Anyway, I was totally craving red meat that night (when do I not, seriously?!) so I ordered their half rack of lamb special. Of course, I didn't tell the waiter about my food allergies so Tony flagged him down and made me tell him about the cracked red pepper. Sure enough, he goes back to the kitchen, comes back with a menu and says that they use it in the marinade. Of course, I wouldn't think that they used it in the dish (because it wasn't in the menu) so it's a good thing we said something! That avoided a trip to the ER on a holiday weekend, thank gawd!

So I decided to get the steak frites. Yeah, I know, I'm so predictable! But hey, I love me some steak frites any time!


The funny thing is that I thought I had them here at the Independent before, but I don't remember it being served like this, as one big piece of steak. So perhaps this was my first time getting steak frites here. Anywho, it was absolutely delicious and cooked perfectly medium rare (maybe a tiny bit undercooked, but still very yummy).

Tony got the seafood fra diablo special (yes, we know it's really fra diavolo but that's how they printed it on the menu) which had shrimp, mussels, and calamari.

And since there wasn't anything left on either of our plates, I'd say it was pretty yummy. :)
But to top it off (as if we hadn't already eaten enough!), we had the profiteroles for dessert.

I think it's safe to say that we love the Independent. :) (And our bellies do, too!)

the independent

One reason that we would find it really difficult to move away from this area ("Camberville") is the culture within each neighborhood that I don't think you'd be able to find in suburbia. For instance, Union Square. It's a short walk from where we live now and it has so much cool stuff going on. Obviously, our favorite these days is Bloc 11 Cafe, but there are also places like the Independent, Great Thai Chef restaurant (proclaimed by Tony to have the best tom yum goong soup), Grand the store, Capone Foods and so much more.

This particular post is about the Independent. They have consistently good food there and a nice, cozy atmosphere. We tried their deviled eggs appetizer and they were so tasty! I don't think I've ever seen deviled eggs on a menu before, but I have to say that if I ever own a restaurant, that's something I'd like to include on the menu. They're so simple but so yummy.

Tony had the french dip sandwich and I had the steak and gruyere cheese sandwich appetizer with a side order of french fries. The food was delicious and the portions are generous. With a beer and a glass of wine (and before the tip), our bill only came out to $40. Not bad for a Thursday night outing.

yoki sushi + the independent

We met Mike and Erin at our favorite sushi restaurant, Yoki, in Medford last night. First of all, I am just so happy that we have another "couple" friends that like sushi as much as we do. Second, Yoki is definitely our favorite place for sushi. We have never had a bad experience there -- the sushi is consistently delicious and the wait staff is super nice. Mike and Erin liked their sushi so I think we made a pretty good recommendation (i.e. there wasn't a speck left on anyone's plates).

Mike had the Spider Maki (soft shelled crab tempura with tobiko, cucumber, avocado, spicy mayo and sweet soy sauce) which was one of my favorite rolls before I discovered my avocado allergy [insert sad, pouty face here]. He also had the Rock 'n Roll Maki (jumbo roll of yellow tail, salmon, white fish, avocado, and scallions with sweet soy sauce). A nice surprise is that this roll is fried in tempura batter, too, so it gives it a crunchy texture.

Erin also had the Spider Maki and a California Maki (crabstick, cucumber, and avocado).

Tony had the Rock 'n Roll Maki and the Good Time Maki (cream cheese and cucumber topped with smoked salmon). He thought that the cream cheese taste was a little too powerful but Erin and I thought it was really good.

I had a Negihama Maki (yellow tail and scallions roll), Sake (salmon), Ikura (salmon roe), and O-Toro (fatty tuna) Nigiri sushi and it was all so yummy. The O-Toro was something that they had as a special, seasonal item that night and it was super fatty. Super fatty = super yummy!

Afterwards, Tony and I went to the Independent in Union Square in search of dessert. We saw my new coworker, Elissa, there with her boyfriend which was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, we couldn't sit at the bar with them because the place was packed, so we went over to the other side of the restaurant and managed to find two seats there.

We shared the profiteroles dessert and it was so good! We both ordered a glass of the Riesling wine but Tony didn't care for it as much as I did because it was more of a sparkling wine and he thought the bartender gave us Prosecco in error. He didn't hate it because his glass was empty by the time we left. ;) Anyway, a fabulous dessert and we were so glad to see that the Independent was full of people.