Posts Tagged ‘food’

It seemed like a lot of people really liked the last post about oxtail soup (thanks!) so I felt inspired to continue to document some of my simplistic adventures in the kitchen. Before that though, this past weekend the BF and I tried out a new restaurant - Firefly.

If anybody is looking for a really quaint date place with good food, this would definitely be the place. If you’re curious about my thoughts, you can read them here on Yelp.

It’s been awhile since I’ve learned of any new sort of food, but recently I’ve discovered that a lot of places have been using olallieberry. Call me ignorant, but I have never heard of it before. In addition to olallieberry pie, Firefly had a really interesting lemon and olallieberry float with lemon sugar cookies.

Quite possibly one of my favorite desserts in the city.

At any rate, a few weeks ago I went to Ruth’s Chris steakhouse and I had one of their salads. It was really simple and refreshing, and I thought it was easy enough to replicate:

Tomatoes, red onion, a bit of pepper, blue cheese and - just to mix it up (not a part of the Ruth’s Chris salad) some cilantro.

Pretty decent…next time though, I’d definitely put in fewer red onions. Makes the stomach less unhappy.

As an update to my prior post, the holiday weekend was pretty laid back. On Sunday I ended up waking up late, eating, napping, then eating and going out. And on Monday the BF and I ran some errands and then I met some friends for lunch. Afterwards I hung out a bit more at home and spent most of the evening watching the top episodes of the first season of Mad Men.

Because of my overly indulgent and lazy weekend, that means the inevitable guilt-ridden feeling when the work day rolled around and I tried to put on …. work pants.

It’s been awhile since I updated on any food adventures or attempts at cooking. Truthfully, other than being extremely lazy this weekend, I just haven’t found the motivation to check out a recipe, go to the store, prep the ingredients and then make myself a meal that can hopefully be eaten over the course of a few days.

Regardless, I recently decided to try my hand at making the super food quinoa:

It doesn’t look too tasty, but so far it’s been a fairly decent replacement for my normal bowl and a half of white rice. Although it does taste a little tiny bit odd, I’ve been able to pair it with some of my favorite Asian staples like rou song (dried beef) and vegetables. If you really have a tolerance for odd, try it with a bit of kimchi as well.

Not much else to report lately … other than the fact that I’m still eagerly awaiting the arrival of Illustrator so I can finally get some use out of my Wacom pen and tablet. In the meantime, I leave you with this photo of the cat:

I love my Canon S90! Pretty amazing shots for automatic - though I really do need to start weaning myself off and start getting used to the manual settings.

I’ve been informed that it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I sat down a few minutes earlier to hammer out a post evaluating the goals that I set for myself, but then I decided that it was too boring. I thought about commenting on the ridiculous events happening around the world like the oil spill, the manhandling from a North Carolina senator, USA’s tied “victory” with England, or even Microsoft’s new Kinect…but then I realized, why not just write about whatever I want?

This past weekend was both lazy and busy at the same time. Ended up spending a good portion of Saturday cleaning and cooking, and later at night got together with friends for some food, chatting and of course a bar crawl in the neighborhood. Sunday was squandered away with a nice long session of sleeping in (I’m quite a pro at that) and then an escape to suburbia where the BF and I spent the afternoon in Barnes & Noble in Emeryville.

Call me simple and nerdy - but something about stacks and stacks of books upon shelves in a florescent lit room really makes me feel comfortable. I guess I always associated the fake lighting with school and libraries.

Anyway, it’s also been awhile since a food update. Not much to report, except that I did start to discover the joy of cooking….vegetables. And ok, it’s not really even cooking. As my friend Vivian used to say: it’s adding heat to things.

I always loved that wilted spinach that Asian restaurants served. So, finally, after visiting the local Asian market with some friends, they encouraged me to buy a bundle of spinach.

I thought that amount was ridiculous…

Anyway, I thoroughly washed it and heated up a pan.

Then, drizzling a little bit of vinegar and throwing in some minced garlic, I stirred around the leafy greens until they took on the familiar wilted look in restaurants.

Not too shabby! Though next time I would definitely add a little bit more vinegar and garlic, but overall it was a really nice pairing with some rice and salmon.

Another recent favorite is chopping up cucumbers and then marinating in vinegar, soy sauce and sugar. Also pairs very nicely with white rice (and, yes, I know I know…white rice isn’t good for you….but I can’t help it, I grew up with it for 20+ years! Old habits die hard, and so do acquired tastes over two decades).

Next dish up - maybe a stir fry. Oooo. We’re getting all fancy up in here.

On a random side note, I just have to say that I have a love/hate relationship with purchasing things on the Internet. Love because they usually come cheaper, hate because I don’t get instant gratification, love again because having things arrive at my door is like a random day of Christmas, and hate again because it just makes me want to spend more money. My latest purchase (which I have sadly yet to use) is my new Wacom pen and tablet:

Squeee! I couldn’t wait to get it open to start doodling my little heart away to add some pizzazz to this blog…but unfortunately, I am still trying to get Adobe Illustrator. Sigh.

Hopefully it won’t be much longer….!

Okay, random thought here — I still find it pretty amazing when I think about the changes that occur in a mere four years. Four years is the difference between high school and college. It’s the difference between a new college graduate and somebody who has been working for a solid amount of time. In fact, it’s the amount of time (I would say) between the phase where friends are getting married and the phase where they begin having babies. Luckily, I feel as though I’m still at the beginning of the flurry of weddings.

Anyway!

I promised myself that I would have a productive weekend, and in a sense I did. On Saturday the BF took me shopping (along with two willing friends) and he helped me make some pretty awesome additions to my scant wardrobe. On Sunday, I went to a pole dancing class (yes, you read that correctly…and yes, it was ONLY FOR WORKING OUT PURPOSES ONLY) and went grocery shopping. Unfortunately, my productivity should have been more focused on cleaning instead of eating.

As for the eating part - I finally had Shabu Shabu for the FIRST TIME and it was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that the same friends who went with me on Saturday night wanted to go again the next night. Who am I to say no to a pot of boiling miso soup chalk full of kobe beef and vegetables??

Deeeelicious. Of course, the first evening was slightly ruined due to the obscenely loud and raucous table of 30 people behind us (at one point two shirts went flying — luckily they missed our table and didn’t end up in my pot of food, otherwise there would have been hell to pay *shakes fist menacingly*). Despite the cacophony, it was still a fabulous meal.

I also promised myself that I would start cooking more. I was quite pleased with the meal I made tonight (soft tofu with thousand year egg, topped with a tiny sprinkle of soy sauce and fish furikake, a present from Gogo) along with wilted spinach cooked with vinegar and minced garlic. Oh, and marinated chicken and some rice. Sounds boring, but definitely did the trick.

Yum, yum!

A few weeks ago, I made one of my first attempts at cooking. This was all inspired after I was thoroughly traumatized by Food, Inc - and I swore to myself that I would cook wholesome food that was in season. At the time, artichoke was in season. Hooray! I thought it would pair nicely with a walnut chicken salad.

So, with newfound determination to buy the best ingredients possible, I headed to Whole Foods and assembled my arsenal of organic food.

I ended up cutting off the bottom part of the artichokes and boiling them, since I didn’t have a steamer.

The salad was a spring mix topped with some anchovies, feta cheese and a little sprinkling of balsamic vinegar.

After salting and peppering the chicken, I cut it into cubes for the food.

Unfortunately, I have this problem where I like to do a little bit of…improvising. It’s something that BF absolutely hates, since he’s one of those people that follow the Alton Brown school of thought (i.e. meticulous measuring and no deviation from the recipe). I love chicken salad, and I like beets - on a whim I decided to throw some beets in the chicken salad. I mean…c’mon. I like beets in REGULAR salad.

The end result turned out to be a funky pinkish chicken salad and a limp looking dark green artichoke. BF called it alien food. Sigh.

At least it was edible.

And yes, I do find it ironic that most budding chefs post pictures of their masterpieces, and I’ve been posting pictures of my simplistic endeavors and…let’s be honest…failures. Ha.

My poor future children will be building plenty of character when it comes to food, I can assure you of that.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already Wednesday, and I’ve been back in the Bay Area for two days after my excursion home. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m getting older (and thus days are a smaller percentage of my whole life) or what, but it really felt like this past weekend FLEW by.

As always, it was fantastic seeing family and friends…and the trip back home was even more special because there is a new member of the family coming shortly. It’s funny and a bit sad when I think about it…the last time I saw my cousin she wasn’t pregnant at all, this time I saw her with the baby bump, and the next time I see her there will be a little wiggling human who is related to me.

It’s times like these when I really miss being around family and being able to see them whenever I wanted. Thank goodness for Skype and webcams….the baby will probably think that I am a 2D person for a good portion of his early life. At least he (hopefully) won’t freak out when he sees that I am three dimensional.

Anyway, Friday was mostly work and getting prepped for the surprise baby shower. It was the first baby shower that I have ever participated in, let alone throw, so I wasn’t sure what the proper etiquette was. Regardless, it turned out to be a great time - and I LOOOOVE throwing surprises!

In addition to the presents, the cake, the food … we played the obligatory “smell the diaper” game. For those of you who have NEVER heard of this game, you basically melt different chocolate bars into…diapers. And then you make your guests guess what they are.

I don’t know about you, but it did turn out pretty realistically….grody…

Sunday was mostly spent hanging out with family and friends and then jam packing in even MORE family and friends time on Monday, before my flight.

The only small downside to Memorial Day in Texas is getting used to the 90+ degree Texas heat after being away for 7 months. I’m starting to feel as though I’m losing my Texan-ness (if that exists) since I whined to my mom multiple times that it was just sooooooo hot.

And then she told me the weather in Texas was actually cooler than it had been. Yikes.

My friend also mentioned that I seem paler than I have ever been before. I guess that’s what happens after 2 years living in a fog - and not just a mental one. Har.

Anyway, family and friends aside….the other highlight was the FOOD.

Chick-Fil-A, Rudy’s Barbeque, and Popeye’s Southern Style Fried Chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes and corn. Oh, and not picture of course is Fat Straws and home cooking.

I do love Texas.

I’ve been inspired lately to start cooking more on my own, beyond just heating up water and boiling ramen noodles. I figured I’d start incorporating real food like … vegetables! Apologies again for the soddy photos off my phone — I’ve been taking some photos on my Canon S90 but after some heavy duty cleaning, I’ve misplaced my battery charger. GRRR.

Anyway, I was inspired by the corn salad from last weekend’s dinner at Armadillo Willy’s. It seemed simple enough. Since I wasn’t feeling too hot the past week, I figured a simple corn salad would be light enough and the perfect side to some soup (not homemade, I’m not that fancy yet).

Voila! Corn salad:

I boiled two ears of corn for about two minutes. After that I cut off the kernels and mixed it with half a chopped red onion and a healthy helping of cilantro. Squeezed a bit of lime and then seasoned it off with some pepper and salt.

The verdict? While it wasn’t a gourmet salad by any means, it was definitely simple and edible (two very important things to a new “chef,” I must say). It’s still missing a little something - I think next time I’ll add in some tomatoes to see if it balances out the onion a bit more…and maybe a bit of jalapeno for a kick.

Now I just gotta figure out what else I’ll be doing for this week. I have so much more respect for my mom now that I’m starting to forage for my own food beyond the TV dinners and instant noodles!

I realize that I have been posting a TON lately about Asia due to my recent trip.  Unfortunately, I begin this post with my previous sentence because I just want to acknowledge that fact, but do nothing to change it.

Anyway, one of the first things that people ask me when they talk to me about the trip is, “Is it really different?”  Well, yes.  It is very different.  It’s different because there is an abundance of Asians, they speak a different language and they have a different sense of humor (and commercial style on TV).  And, you know, the food is different.

I could really continue on, but I think that when you really boil it down to the very core, however - a city is really just like any other city in the world (or so I think and heard).  People basically go about their day-to-day routine.  Usually this means commuting to work, working, then sometimes taking a moment to relax with friends whether at a bar, karaoke place or going home to veg in front of the television.  Of course, I do realize that it doesn’t apply to tourists there for a vacation or foreigner taking a bit of funemployment.

Regardless of the similarities and differences, there are a few things that I started to see after I returned to the US that I really wish we’d learn to adopt here from Asia…and I’m not just talking about the abundance of video games and anime (which would be sch-weeeeet).

I’m sure, dear reader, that you’re wondering what sorts of things I’m referring to. Well, I’m glad you asked.  Okay, I was going to write it anyway, and I’d like to think that somebody out there is interested…especially when it’s in list form!

1. Cleanliness EVERYWHERE

Everybody I talked to who went to Japan raved about how clean the city is, and I remember wondering: just exactly how clean could a city be?  The answer is very, very, VERY clean.  Everything seems to look the same at first glance, until you start to take a closer look.  I don’t recall seeing tons of garbage, spilled drinks and graffiti on the subway - in fact, I don’t think I saw any at all.  This evening’s MUNI ride, on the other hand, was filled with shady spots on the seats and litter all over the place.  Oh, and you know that rancid city smell of sewage and fecal matter?  Nope - I don’t remember smelling that in Tokyo at ALL.  Even the convenience store bathrooms were sparkling clean.  I could have dropped my purse and jacket on the floor, danced on it and felt okay about it.

2. Night markets

I had always heard so much about night markets before, but it didn’t live up to the actual thing.  And I’ve come to realize that night markets are AWESOME.  They’re always bustling - every night - and filled with food and shopping.  It’s like a boardwalk carnival every. Single. Night.  What better place for street cart vendors to share their wares or to have a cheap date?

3. Seven-story arcades

Sure, there are bars, lounges, karaokes, clubs.  But arcades in Japan are downtown office building sized monstrosities of awesomeness.  There’s every type of game you can imagine, machines to get try your hand at nabbing toys, fancy picture booths and different floors for adults to gamble…and play more video games.  I don’t think I need to delve into it in further detail to explain how great this would be.

4. Hot drinks in vending machines

This probably doesn’t really apply to people in places with perpetual hot weather, but for places that have Jack Frost gnawing at their nose more than nipping at it, hot drinks in vending machines are a great on-the-go bit of warm happiness.  Of course, this would NOT be as enjoyable if people don’t adopt #1 above … cleanliness.  Apparently, in Japan, it’s rude to eat and walk at the same time.  Why?  Because you’d most likely be tossing your trash somewhere it doesn’t belong.

5. Convenient stores that are actually convenient

Everywhere you go it seems that there is a form of 7-11 lurking around the corner.  Whereas the 7-11 here in the US is mostly a place to buy snacks for a road trip, use the disease infested bathroom or get gas, the 7-11 in Japan has everything you actually need.  You can send out letters, packages (imagine no more disgruntled postal workers and ridiculous lines), get money, buy tasty food and also purchase tickets.  Yup, tickets.  We purchased our tickets to the Ghibli museum at the Lawson’s, another convenience store chain.  Convenience stores that are convenient.  Who knew?

Of course, there is still a whole slew of other things that I would LOVE for the US to adopt here - but then, a good portion of that is specific foods.

I think I’d be one happy clam if we just start with these five.  Someone help spread the word to the right people, thanks!

It’s still hard to believe that I’m finally here. In Taiwan.

It’s even harder to believe that just a few days ago was Christmas Day (of course, Wordpress is still stuck on Pacific time).  Overall, the weather here is extremely mild, and there is a distinct lack of Christmas decorations. I think I passed by a few lit up trees and people wearing Santa hats to encourage the masses to spend money…but other than that, nothing.

I started off the morning by sleeping in to 10:30am. I thought I would have slept half the day away, or stayed up until 4am twiddling my thumbs. I have to say, I feel very fortunate that my body somehow figured out that it crossed the International date line. Breakfast on the first day consisted of dou jiang (warm soy milk), buns and a rice roll. So ridiculously good.

Then we wandered around the neighborhood and took in some sights.

After watching Gogo get a haircut, we went to the photo studio where I’m getting some pictures done (yikes).  We happened to be around the Chiang Kai-shek memorial, the 228 Peace Park and the President’s hizzouse.

(No drowning allowed!) >: [

(I got yelled at for taking this illegal photo.  Oops.)

And we also came across my mom’s old school…neat!  They had to go to school on Christmas Day.  Sad.

We wandered around some more, and for dinner we picked up a quick dinner.  Four boxes of food was less than $10.

The second day consisted of even more food - we went to Din Tai Fung for lunch…

visited another park, went to church, and I got to meet up Max for some night market shopping at Shi Da Ye Shi.

Fried chicken, stinky tofu, bubble tea milk, this OTHER tea drink with HALF cream (sooooooo ridiculously good) and ice.  YUMMMMM.

Today, we went around some more, first to Wu Fen Pu (the fashion district/cheap clothing area…sadly, I was not successful in my hunt for clothes) then to Taipei 101 area with the tower and mall.

Foodwise, we had amazingly delicious breads for breakfast, gua bao, dou hua and more shopping later.

Whew. Off to the Tainan tomorrow for the LARGEST night market…then back in Taipei again after two days.

During my last trip to Canada, I once again raided different stores as though the Great White North (and its supremely wonderful selection of snacks and candy) would no longer exist.  In addition to my usual favorites, I also purchased two bottles of ice wine.  Since I have so much fun scrounging for the different delicious foods in Canada each time I visit, I thought it was time to document some of my favorite things to get during a trip to the neighbors up north.

So below, I present some of my favorite foods from Canada.  Props to those non-Canadians who know what everything is!

I was having a chat with some friends about food (of course, what else?) and I realized that many of the people who absolutely adore food have at least some sort of memory or moment where they tried something and it stuck with them forever.  Anthony Bourdain, for example, spoke of the first time he ever tried a raw oyster in his book Kitchen Confidential.  The pure thrill and flavors were forever burned into his memory, and he felt as thought it marked the beginning of his food adventures.

Similarly, I can remember the first time I had a few dishes and desserts that soon became akin to food lust.  Sure, I love my spaghetti-os and frozen pizza just like any other person.  But sometimes, there is just that one food or drink that really made you step back as your palate dances with giddy glee.

So, I decided to write a sort of a “Foodie survey” if you will - but it’s not multiple choice.  Nope — unfortunately, I’m like one of those heinous English teachers that just wrote a test containing (dun dun DUN) SHORT ANSWERS.

Shoot me an email, post a comment, or just give me a holla.  I can’t wait to hear the different experiences people had with food whether it’s good, bad, or nondescript.  Of course, I’m sure some of these questions are not applicable to everybody.  Either way, they were just things I was curious about.

Answer me these questions…six:

1. What was your first memory of tasting foie gras?

2. What was one of your first memories of tasting wine?

3. What was your first memory of eating a raw oyster?

4. What is your favorite dessert, and what was your first memory of eating it?

5. What was your first memory of eating a steak?

6. What is your absolute favorite dish - and your first memory of it?