Iron Works, Portabla, weekend

So lunch on Wednesday at Iron Works was amazing. I had said that I was going to get the salad bar but when we walked into the place the salad bar consisted of a bowl of lettuce and that's about it... so instead I went for the next best thing. I got the smoked turkey sandwich. Now, this place is definitely simple to the core. The sandwich is on a white sesame bun with sliced smoked turkey (not deli meat) with sliced pickles and raw white onions. That's it. Very plain. But amazing. I took off the pickles, some of the onions, removed the bottom half of the bun and ate it like an open faced sandwich. And then I doused, literally doused it in barbecue sauce. It was awesome! And really well priced. Way better than Lamberts, for sure

Lunch on Thursday ended up being at Portabla on west 6th. Sandella's had really bad reviews on Yelp so I got kind of scared and changed plans at the last moment. Portabla had been on our list of places to go for a while so it all kind of fell into place. It's a really cute salad/soup/sandwich kind of place with more upscale sandwiches that your regular sandwich shop. It reminded me a lot of Panera but on a smaller scaler, which is good because I asbolutely love Panera!

I got the 1/2 sandwich and 1/2 soup. The soup of the day was Tomato Fennel. It was flavorful but extremely salty - too salty! I got the Aubergine sandwich and it was absolutely amazing. A hot panino on ciabatta bread with eggplant, goat cheese, mayo and some other roasted vegetables. Apparently our waiter told us he didn't have enough soup left for two bowls so would it be okay if he just each gave us a cup and we could get another side? We ended up getting green beans but then he brough us each a bowl of soup anyway? I'm not sure what happened but... the green beans were deliciously green and crisp. I'd definitely go here again to try another sandwich! Their other soups sound good too - when we were leaving they were just finishing up a batch of baked potato soup! Even though ours was way too salty the place is worth revisiting.

This weekend I went to Houston, it was bliss.

Thursday night my mom made pan fried chicken with oven baked sweet potato, pinto beans and a spinach and tomoto salad.

Friday for lunch I made sandwiches which we cut into four and shared! One had cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers. One had sliced fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and avocade. And another had provolone cheese, ham, avocado, tomatoes and mustard. For dinner we made coconut shrimp! And served it with a salad of spinach, arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, chopped pecans and vinaigrette.

On Saturday lunch was more sandwiches, like the ones I made on Friday. For dinner we went to a friends house, a Brazilian. And her husband made crepes the way we eat them in Brazil. I had mine stuffed with shrimp, tomatoes, garlic, spinach and mushrooms. I also made a cake to take with me from one of Ina Garten's cookbooks, I think Barfoot at Home but I'm not sure! It was the Lemon Yogurt Cake and it was divine! I don't really even like lemony things very much but this was delicious! A lemon-zest flavored yogurt cake with a lemon juice syrup soaked into it topped with a lemony-sugary icing. It was scrumptious! Earlier on Saturday I had made a Banana, Pecan, Coconut coffee cake from my Coffee Cakes cookbook. It was lightly spiced and so moist and flavorful! This cookbook is the same cookbook out of which came the Spice cake I made for Christmas... I'm really falling in love with it!

On Sunday I made french toast for breakfast. One of my mother's students brought us a fresh loaf of challah bread from the school my mom teaches at and the moment we got it I said -ding- french toast! Usually I just make french toast from my head throwing together some milk and eggs but on Sunday I followed the french toast recipe from my Williams Sonoma breakfast cookbook to a T. It called for orange zest and vanilla, some Cointreau, milk, eggs and sugar. I let the challah soak for about 10 minutes and then cooked it on a flat griddle. It. Was. To. Die. For. The flavor of the orange with the sweet challah. Topped with sliced strawberries and cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup... it was amazing. The day on Sunday was beautiful so for lunch we sat outside with a nice assorted spread of meats and cheeses and condiments and bread. That's my favorite way to eat lunch with my parents. Sure I end up eating way more than if I have just a sandwich on my plate but it's so fun to just sit around for two hours making your own little assorted sandwiches.

My parents returned from their trip to London and Paris and my mom brough me some awesome Darjeeling and Chai teas! She also visited various chocolatiers in Paris and brough back a box of truffles from Pierre Marcolini for us to try. Over the weekend we tasted various truffles and I have to say that they were okay, but my mother's chocolates are a million times better!