Mr. Dips - A Long Overdue Review

 Ok so this was an outing I did solo because my little partner in crime was with her dad that weekend, but I was in Brooklyn so the opportunity could not be wasted. I finally made it to Mr. Dips at the William Vale Hotel at the end of summer. My obsession with this place is more about the Airstream hitch it is housed in, because I guess in one of my previous lives I wanted to travel cross-country in one of those modern homages to the pilgrim way. However, I digress, I did want to try them because their Instagram account constantly tempted me with images of their waffle fries and soft serve ice cream, dipped in whatever flavor the hard shell of the month is (drool worthy for sure). 

Ok so I decided to go all in and had The Hot Bae from their Chixy Dips menu and their Dirty-dipped Waffles, as well as their Blackberry Buttermilk from their Dipsy Doozy menu. Every bite and sip I had was delicious, even if I cut my lifespan by a decade because of it. It was worth it. Here are some pictures of my food as well as some little bird friends who were feasting on the crumbs left by those who came by before me. Oh and this gorgeous heart shaped cloud that just caught my attention while I was sitting on the grass, enjoying my feast.

Needless to say. I will be visiting this certain Mr. again, just will probablyhave to bring my skates with me next time to burn at least some of the calories afterwards. I definitely recommend you visit them withat this and their other NYC locations. Here is the link to their website.

 

 

Slow Cooked Pork Loin in Malbec Reduction

 

I love a good piece of slow cooked meat, and even more so when I can make a nice thick gravy from the juices produced as the meat cooks. There is nothing that can beat the experience of the tenderness of meat that falls apart at the slightest pull from your fork and the taste of it accompanied by that delicious gravy. This recipe was inspired by my beef stew recipe. I didn't use quite as much wine in this one but the tase was tremendous. Here is the list of ingredients:

Pork tenderloin (I used a piece that was about 1 lb)

1 Medium White Onion (cut into slices)

2 Garlic cloves (minced)

8 Medium size white mushrooms (cut into slices)

2 TBSP Olive oil

1 Large Bay leaf

A pinch of cumin

2 to 3 cups of water

1/2 cup of Malbec (or any spice infused red wine of your choice).

Salt and pepper to taste.

2 to 3 TBSP of flour.

In a Dutch oven, heat up your olive oil and sautee the onions, garlic and mushrooms until the onions start to get a little translucent. 

Push the garlic, onion and mushroom mix to the sides and put your pork loin in the center. Sear it on all sides and then add your water and season with salt and pepper to your preference. Add the bay leaf in at this point as well.

Cover and simmer until the liquid in the pot has reduced to half. Now you can add your wine. Cover again and let things simmer until the liquid is reduced by half again.

Start adding the flour a little bit at a time using a whisk to stir the flour in and break up any lumps. Only add enough flour to help things thicken a bit. Once that happens you will be done. The whole process should take about 30 minutes or so, but it is always worth checking your meat to make sure it is cooked through. Once you are sure this is the case you can cut your pork loin into nice thick slices. Serve with your favorite sides and add some of that beautiful gravy along with some onions and mushrooms. Enjoy and savor the fruits of your culinary labor.

Here are some pictures of the cooking process.

#comfortfood #porkloin #winterfood #stews #foodthathealsthesoul

Whole Wheat Bread - Take 2

 

You might recall my post from about 2 weeks ago and my lackluster attempt at making whole wheat bread. I did my second attempt tonight and it definitely yielded much better results. All I did was tweak the proofing times. I let the dough go for 1 1/2 hours on each proof, which allowed it to rise nicely as you can see on the picture. Glad to say it turned out delicious.

#bread #bakingbread #breadmaking #homemade #homemadebread

Honey Dijon Brussel Sprouts

As I mentioned in my previous post, I bought a bunch of vegetables when I went food shopping this week. Among those were a beautiful stalk loaded with Brussel sprouts. My challenge was trying to find a recipe that would help me do justice to them. So of course I did a search, which yielded the usual ones. Some called to sautee them in garlic, others said add bacon. I had already tried that so it was only when I checked Instagram that I came across a recipe for coating the sprouts in a honey dijon concoction. 

If you have read this blog before, you know by now that I am not one to follow recipes exactly as noted (unless it is for baking and even then I figure out a way to differ). Here is the link to the original recipe  

Here is my list of ingredients and cooking instructions

1 lb Brussel sprouts (cleaned and cut in half)

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp coarse dijon mustard

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Fill a medium sauce pot with water and add saltto lightly season. Put your sprouts in and heat up until simmering. Cook your sprouts until tender.

While your sprouts are cooking, in a large bowl, mix the olive oil, honey, dijon mustard and garlic powder, until all ingredients are completely incorporated. 

Drain your cooked sprouts and then toss them in the honey dijon mixture, until evenly coated.

As an additional step, I put my sprouts into a baking dish and put them in my air fryer for about 10 minutes to give them a little crisp finish and intensify the mustard flavor. 

It turned out pretty well. 

The Lonely Girl's Cream of Asparagus Soup

 

Since cold weather has actually started in earnest in the Northeast US, I figured it would be a good time to make one of those soups that makes you feel warm and good all over. When I went food shopping this week, Trader Joe's had these beautiful bunches of asparagus. I couldn't resist getting them because I wanted some veggies, and since my daughter is with her dad this week, I could get something other than broccoli. The problem is that even for me the bunch I got was a lot more than I could eat in one week without all the other veggies I got going bad. The answer was to make something that I could have already prepared and that coukd keep for longer than a few days in the fridge. Creamed soup to the rescue!

Here is the list of ingredients and cooking instructions.

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp ground ginger

2 garlic cloves - minced

1/2 large russet potatoe - diced

1/2 medium white onion - diced

1/2 lb asparagus stalks

2 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp butter

3 cups chicken or other kind of stock

1/2 cup milk

1/4 tsp dried thyme

Salt and pepper as preferred

In a medium sauce pot heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil and toss in your diced potatoe and onion and sautee until the onions get nice and translucent.

In a pan heat up 1 Tbsp of olive oil and drop in your ginger and garlic. Sutee until the garlic starts getting fragrant, then add in your asparagus and toss in the oil, ginger and garlic medley unitl the asparagus get nice and deep green. Remove and cut up unto small pieces. Add to the onions and potatoes in the pot. 

Add in the stock and heat to a simmer. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Put the contents of your pot in a blender and add the milk. Blend until completely smooth.

In your now empty pot, melt the butter and mix in your flour with a wisk to create a roux base. Slowly add in the contents of your blender making sure you wisk as you add it in to break up any lumps forming in your roux base. Once all the contents of the blender have been incorporated add salt and pepper to taste, and heat until it simmers. 

Serve as a side, or serve a full bowl with a side of rice and enjoy the creamy goodness.

#wintersoup #heartysoup #coldweatherfood #comfortfood

Sunday Baking - My Return to Blogging

 I hope there are still some of you following me out there. I have been away for a while because there were major changes in my life, which took a toll on me. It took me meeting a wonderful person who is just as in love with food and cooking as I once was, to get me inspired to want to do this again. So this post goes out to Luca. Thank you for sharing your love of cooking with me. 

Today's post is about my first attempt at making whole wheat bread. The recipe is from one of my Pinterest pins from "The Woks of Life" here is the link to the recipe 

https://thewoksoflife.com/perfect-whole-wheat-bread/

And here is the step by step pictorial of the process and my results

The wheat flour and yeast mixture.

The ball of dough after adding white flour.

Getting ready for the 1st proof.

It has risen!

Putting the dough into the 

loaf pans for the 2nd proof.

They didn't rise as much :(

The final product.

It was not a complete disaster, but I wish I had gotten a bit more rise out of the second proof. Maybe a longer proofing time might have helped. I will try again in about a week and will let you know how that goes. 

Brussel Sprout & Shallot Flatbread

This is a very simple one but very delicious if you are into brussel sprouts. I had bought more of those than I really needed for a recipe and found myself at a loss for ideas of what to do with them until I realized that I could make a flatbread with the pizza dough recipe I had found in the blog Kayotic Kitchen. I had some shallots and Parmesan cheese which I thought would compliment the sprouts nicely so I set about the task of putting these ingredients together.

Brussel Sprout & Shallot Flat Bread
1 TBSP Olive oil
20 Brussel sprouts cut in half (about 3/4lb)
2 medium shallots
1 Cup shredded Parmesan cheese
 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a skillet pan saute the sprouts and the shallots together until the shallots get nice and soft and aromatic. Set them aside and roll out your dough onto a baking sheet, making sure to poke holes into it with a fork so to prevent it from rising when it is baked. Coat the dough with some olive oil, then put the sprout and shallots on it spreading them evenly throughout the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese evenly over the vegetables and dough. Place the whole darn thing in the oven until the dough starts to turn nice an golden at the edges and the cheese has melted (approximately 20- 25 minutes). Enjoy and accompany with your favorite wine.

Talde - Bucket List Check

Once again my cohorts J & J invited me to go out and check off another one of my bucket list restaurants. Talde is one of three restaurants owned by Dale Talde of Bravo's "Top Chef" fame, which is where I first became familiar with him. Although the restaurant is relatively close to where I live, it took the invitation from my cohorts to actually get my ass out the door tempted by the promise of Kung Pao Chicken Wings and Waffles (part of their weekend brunch menu) which had been calling my name for too many months until finally I succumbed.

This place definitely lived up to the hype. I recommend getting there as early as possible which we did (and I was grateful for since the place started getting packed not too long after we were seated). Well of course I started out with something wonderful to drink with booze in it, because let's face it, a brunch without a little booze and good conversation is just breakfast. I had the Very Excellent Bellini, which was very excellent indeed, packed with all sorts of nice tropical fruit goodness, and prosecco adding even more wonderful notes to it. Then J & J and I proceeded to try to make decisions about what to have. We knew for sure that we wanted to get the Kung Pao Chicken Wings and Waffles with the coconut brown butter syrup. We also decided to get the Pretzel Pork and Chive Dumplings, the Sausage, Egg & Cheese Fired Rice and the Corn Pancakes. To say we had plenty to eat would be an understatement. The chicken wings were the right kind of spicy and flavorful and definitely packed with all the good Asian inspired flavor you would expect. The coconut brown butter syrup is something I wish they would bottle but perhaps it is best that they don't because it would become my number one abused substance. The fried rice was a great twist on an old time favorite. The dumplings were great because of the crispy dough layer, and packed full of flavor. The corn pancakes were perhaps the more understated of all the things we ordered but we made generous use of the coconut syrup with these as well which helped to kick them up a notch.

 The Menu

 The Dumplings

 Kung Pao Chicken WIngs and Waffles... 

and coconut brown butter syrup...droool!

 My partners in crime

 Sausage, Egg and Cheese Fried Rice

 The Very Excellent Bellini

 Half way through eating our feast.

 

I definitely am glad I got to check this one off my list and hope to come back to it again soon. If you are planning on coming to NYC on a food pilgrimage, this restaurant should definitely be on your itinerary.

Ippudo - Bucket List Check

Happy 2015!!! Although the year got started with a few sad events in the midst, I did manage to end 2014 on a high note with my little munchkin. OK so it was not a blow out party, but it was  wonderful because it was calm which is exactly what this girl needed after the hectic year 2014 turned out to be.

Right before the year ended I did manage to check another name from off from my restaurant bucket list. Thanks to my friends J and J (Names are withheld to protect the innocent) who are two of my five partners in crime when it comes to these sort of endeavors, we managed to get into Ippudo after a one and a half hour wait. Ippudo was part of a list of noodle restaurants around the city that were noted in Tasting Table's Ten Great Bowls of Ramen We Are Craving Right Now List (although one of my favorites Nauruto Ramen was not part of the list much to my dismay). This place was well worth the wait especially because December 30th turned out to be one of the chilliest days we've had so far this winter, so a hot bowl of ramen was just the thing to chase the chill away. For an appetizer we had the Hirata buns, which are about as wonderful as Baohaus' Chairman Bao (but not quite enough to make me want to stop my illicit love affair with this little bundle of deliciousness). For our main course us ladies went with the Akamaru Modern while our other cohort went up a notch ordering the Akamaru Chasu (which is the Akamaru Modern with extra pork chasu). All I have to say is that this was probably one of the most wonderful and satisfying experiences I have had eating ramen. Now I am looking forward to checking out the rest of the other places on that list and hope that they are all as wonderful as Ippudo was. Here are some pictures I managed to take.

 Bowls adorn the entry to our noodle heaven

 My partners in crime

 Hirata buns

 Hirata bun food porn

 Akamaru Chasu

Akamaru Modern

My Restaurant Bucket List

This week was very stressful for many reasons. Because of this I had to find ways to calm myself and get my mind thinking about happy things. Of course good food is an instant mood booster for me, not only in the consumption end but on the inspiration end. I wound up turning to Mind of a Chef which is now available on Netflix. The first Season follows chef David Chang (of Momofuku fame) around. I have had the distinct pleasure of dinning at Momofuku's Saam for a birthday celebration that involved the consumption of that wonderful  BO SSÄM dish they are so famous for. Watching this show and the type of people whom David Chang associates with and who his friends are got me thinking about what my restaurant bucket list would be. I consider myself lucky because I live in the New York metro area which is not lacking for tremendous restaurants most of which would have made my bucket list regardless. I have had the pleasure of dinning at wonderful five star restaurants as well as some very unassuming but wonderfully delicious hole in the wall type of establishments that I consider better than some of their more expensive counterparts.

So the question now is, what would a restaurant have to tempt me with in order to make me want to put it on my bucket list? I am still not quite sure yet but I do know that I have started my list and I am planning on making good on eating at these places before either, they decide to close or I myself expire. I have just started it off with a few restaurants (places where I have not eaten yet) but I am sure the list will grow as I learn more about what makes my favorite chefs tick and if what the places are doing peaks my interest. Here is my short but very tasty bucket list.

Arzak - San Sebastian
Noma - Copenhagen
Bird Land - Tokyo
69 n' Roll One - Tokyo (for those who are serious about their Ramen)
Sushi Sawada - Tokyo 
Mugaritz - San Sebastian

I should mention that there are many places that are on my list of favorites where I have already eaten including the above mentioned Momofuku Saam Bar. These are my top ones.

Baohaus - NYC
Bar Americain- NYC
Brasserie Les Halles - NYC
Le Padock - Brooklyn
Woodbury Kitchen - Baltimore
Pok Pok - Brooklyn
Seersucker - Brooklyn

Miso Paste - The Sequel

OK, OK I have slacked a bit and then went off on my Parts Unknown tangent, but as promised here is the second recipe that came out of my experimentation with red miso paste. On the side of the miso paste container I got, there was a recipe for miso barbeque sauce. As you might have noticed by now, I only stick to a recipe when there is actual chemistry involved that needs to be heeded in order to prevent culinary disasters. Otherwise, I pretty much try to challenge the norm. I was not particularly happy with what the ingredients in the recipe noted on the container yielded (to me it came out a little too acidy), so I adapted it and made it a little more me. Noted below you will find the ingredients list broken down into what the recipe called for and then what I chose to add to it. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Miso Barbeque Sauce
Base Ingredients:
2 Cloves of garlic - minced
1/2 Cup of onion -  minced (vidalia will probably work best if you want your sauce to be sweet)
2 TBSP Sesame oil
1/4 Cup of mushrooms - sliced (the thinner the better)
6 oz tomato paste
1/4 Cup red miso paste
3 TBSP Vinegar
3/4 Cup of Water
Extra ingredients:
1/2 Cup Packed brown sugar
1/4 Cup dry white wine
1/4 Cup maple syrup (in honor of Nadia G, one of my favorite Canadians)

In a nice, deep pan, saute your garlic and onions in the sesame oil on medium heat. Let them get nice tender and fragrant. Add the mushrooms and saute until those are nice and soft too. Add in the remainder of the ingredients and mix with a whisk, making sure to break down the lumps from the miso paste and brown sugar. Once everything is nicely incorporated, cover and allow to simmer for five to ten minutes. Uncover and let simmer on low to reduce and thicken to your desired consistency (some people like their sauce a little runny. I prefer mine a little thicker because I like it to grab on to whatever I am putting it on). Voila! You now have barbeque sauce with a little twist. Now what to do with it?

I chose to use my sauce to coat a beautiful NY Strip I had been trying to figure out what to do with. I first coated the steak in olive oil, sea salt and garlic and let it rest in that mixture for abut 5 minutes. I placed the steak on a rack and put it in the broiler for 5 minutes on each side, then I took the steak out and coated it in the barbecue sauce and broiled it again for 4 minutes on each side. It was delicious. The picture below might not do it justice but I can assure you it was wonderful (and no, I did not eat that humungus piece of meat in one sitting. I still have some self control left).

Food and Politics - Why Anthony Bourdain is More Than Just a Chef

If you have read my blog for long enough, you may have realized by now that I have a tremendous amount of respect if not affection toward Anthony Bourdain. Maverick, rebel, non-conformist, etc.. probably some of his most endearing qualities and the fact that the man can cook doesn't hurt my image of him as an Adonis of sorts. However, the quality that I have come to appreciate most about him is the fact that he is not affraid to discuss and present difficult political issues in his shows. This has perhaps put him in the unique position of being able to humanize issues that the news shows talking heads merely dissect and skew with their constant nonsensical jabber. There is so much of a difference in showing a political situation from disected facts and then seeing it presented from the point of view of people who are sharing good food and showing a side seldom seen. The side of people inside the conflict sharing their fears and hopes over the food that represents their daily living.

The particular reason for this post is regarding the very unsettling situation taking place in Jerusalem and the fact that is was not until a few days ago that I got to see the episode of Parts Unknown that was filmed in this region. It is, in my point of view perhaps one of the best he has done and one that I feel anyone who wants to see the human side of the conflict should be required to watch. Here is part of it that I managed to get from You Tube. Thank you so much Mr. Bourdain for doing this show and for presenting both sides so eloquently. No one could have done a better job. You are more than just a fantastic chef. You are perhaps the best journalist out there right now.

My Week With Red Miso Paste

I have been in a culinary rut for a bit. I decided that the rut had to end and decided to get myself out of it by challenging myself to use an ingredient that I had not used before. As you might have guessed by now that ingredient was red miso paste. What is is? Well in essence it is fermented soybeans with some rice or barley thrown into the mix. Red miso is usually fermented for over a year and has a very robust and salty taste. If you want a little more in-depth information about miso check out this Wikipedia link that really gets into the knitty gritty of this awesome and very versatile Japanese staple.

I will start off with the first of two dishes I made with my challenge ingredient. I call it Tilapia in Red Miso Maple Glaze. Since I am flying mostly solo these days I made this recipe that is supposed to be for one but really could feed two.

1 Tilapia Fillet (usually about 3/4 lb)
1 TBSP Red Miso Paste
2 TBSP Maple Syrup
1 TBSP Olive Oil/Sesame Oil
1 Garlic clove - Minced
Optional Ingredient - Black figs

Preheat Oven to 380 degrees Fahrenheit. mix your miso paste and maple syrup together. Take your tilapia filet and spinkle the oil and garlic over it and massage them on the fillet. Add the miso maple syrup mixture and coat the fillet with it. Let the fillet rest in this nice mix for about 10 minutes. As an option I got some black figs and sliced them thinly and placed the slices on top of the fillet.

On a baking dish place a piece of foil large enough to wrap around the Tilapia fillet. Place your fillet right in the middle and fold the foil over it to contain the heat and allow the fish to sort of poach in all the wonderful liquid it was marinating in. Bake for about 20 minutes. As an added step, since I like a little crispiness, I placed the fillet under the Broiler for about 4 minutes which caramelized those figs nicely.

To serve you can either accompany your fillet with some rice and a steamed vegetable or like me you can place it on top of a nice massaged kale salad garnished with some dried cranberries.

Enjoy.

I will give you the other recipe on the next post. I am tired and need my beauty sleep.

Colombian Food Finally Celebrated

I saw something today that made me entirely too happy among the many things that have happened to Colombia lately. If you watched the world cup you must have seen how much Colombians love futbol (AKA soccer) and how overjoyed we all were at how well the team performed as well as what a great spirit of good sportsmanship they displayed. The joy we feel about this and many other things in life does not just come out of nowhere. We Colombians have it ingrained in our DNA to enjoy everything in the world and that includes food. Our country is known for being one of the most fertile and varied in the type of flora and fauna it possesses. This in turn has given us a wide range of vegetables and fruits, some of which do not exist anywhere else in the world. As you may be able to tell I am incredibly proud of the country where I was born and even more so with this wonderful article published by the Huffington Post celebrating 23 reason why Colombians know what is good. I have to admit I had a napkin in hand because the images just made me drool and long for the days I spent there last year with my munchkin. Anywhoo, I hope you enjoy the link and the wonderful images of the food they put up. I am still drooling and now I am off to get some food albeit not Colombian today but maybe this weekend. I leave you with some pictures I took of a wonderful meal my family and I enjoyed in Cartagena at a place called Mila Pasteleria located in the historic walled city.

 Sinfonia de Coco - Coconut Symphony

(music to my taste buds)

 Case full of many sweets I wanted to consume.

 Bariloche - Shrimp in a cream curry sauce over coconut rice

Posta Cartagenera - Beef medallions in a plum sauce over coconut rice

Boqueria - A Little Bit of Spain in NYC

OK OK I have not gotten around to doing the ginger beer yet. I am going to get going on that between tonight and tomorrow night. What I have for you today is a little tapas food porn. As the title of this post notes this is about what has become one of my favorite places to eat in NYC which is saying a lot because there are a lot of incredible eateries and restaurants in this darn city.

 I am not sure if it is my recent trip to Barcelona or just a bit of my heritage calling back to me, but lately I just cannot get enough of this type of stuff. I love the jamon and the cheeses but overall I just like the little portions that tapas are all about. I stopped at Boqueria over the weekend and had myself a nice little treat. Some nice Vermouth (Dark Perucci, because that is my favorite one now) and The Croquetas Cremosas which come in a group of 6. Three of them are mushroom with a nice hint of truffle in them and the other three have Jamon in them. Lets just say that this is an experience much like that of Baohaus which just means I am going to start an indecent sort of affair with this place and its delicious tapas as well. With two locations in lower Manhattan this little chain has it all going on right for them. If you are in NYC and craving tapas I definitely recommend you go to be transported to Spain via taste buds.

Anywhoo, enough of my yapping here are some images of the restaurant and of my decadent treats.

DIY Challenge: Make Your Own Ginger Beer

I got really excited today for a few reasons. One was that I finally moved into my new place and everything on that front is finally starting to come together nicely. I also had a really good week at work and that is always a good thing, but the best reason of all has been a post by Food Republic on how to make your own ginger beer.

I happen to love ginger beer because it is a spicy sweet blend that titillates my taste buds and makes me do the cha cha. It also happens to be the main ingredient for some of my favorite cocktails. So far I have been at the mercy of the supermarket chains in my area which carry it erratically and expensively so you will have to forgive me if my excitement seems a bit overrated. To me this one little thing is ripe with possibilities.

Anywhoo here is the link to their recipe, which I am going to be getting going on....as soon as I move the heavy stuff tomorrow. Just in case you need a little inspiration to make this, think that it is not only good for Dark and Stormy concoctions. My favorite is to make it sparkly with seltzer and add St. Germain to it. It is sweet and tangy and all sorts of wonderful.  If any one out there is trying this I would love to hear how it turned out for you. I will certainly post my results when I am done with it.

*Photo credit Food Republic Website

The Continental Martini Bar - Great Philly Eats

Because of my job I have the distinct pleasure of traveling between Washington D.C. and Boston  at least once a month. This gives me the chance to check out some of the local places and in some instances find some new favorites. My last visit to Philadelphia, city of brotherly love led me to The Continental Martini Bar in the downton area. The decor here is best described as Jetsons meet James Bond. The food is innovative and tasty. A fusion of Asian influenced dishes with French, Latin and US cuisine.

During this visit, with it being my first time I asked the bartender for recommendations. He did not lead me wrong and told me to go with two of their most popular appetizers. I had the Korean Pork Tacos and the French Onion Dumplings. The tacos had a nice spicy kick that was not overwhelming. The pork was tender and succulent. The French onion Dumplings are best described as a deconstructed French onion soup. Both dishes were more than enough to leave me satisfied and wanting to come back to this place to continue sampling their very tempting menu. If you visit Philadelphia and are looking for more than just their cheesesteaks I definitely recommend this place.

 Korean Pork Tacos

 French Onion Soup Dumplings

Hallway leading  to the Rooftop Bar Lounge