I suppose an education of classics has always been penciled on my bucket list, but navigating the prolific output of the genre and separating wheat from chaff is a daunting task. Spurred by the quality of The Stars My Destination, I'm planning on wending my way down the list of SF Masterworks, a series of out-of-print sci-fi novels republished by Orion/Gollancz. My hope is to discover some writers I may have missed, and visit left of center novels of authors I enjoy. Also of interest, are the Gollancz Future Classics, and Fantasy Masterworks titles. Apparently these objects are highly collectible, but seeing as how I'm mostly interested in content, I'm sure I'll find most books at the library.

Bonus:

Edward Gorey's online comic strip interpretation of Star Trek episode, The Trouble with Tribbles.

Pad Thai - minimalist with just noodles, eggs, and chicken; not bright pink or overly sweet!
Papaya Salad - real hot, almost like the real thing, as in, on a real Thai beach.
Red Curry - fresh vegetables and tender beef!

We ordered the affordable (under 8 dollars), combo dinner that includes rice, edamame, salad, soup (slightly tangy), with fried dumpling and eggroll (better than Panda Express, but not as good as my grandma).  Choice of meat in each dish, and interesting specials on the board. Looks like small portions, but we were not left wanting. I might try the family meal for an extra large portion of the main dish without extras for a dollar more. Not the most refined either, but certainly towards the top of my list for Thai food in this area. Definitely a great value.

The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

This book is on countless best of sci-fi lists and for very good reason; hard and soft, prose and pulp, literary and accessible, scientific and mystical, fantastical and satirical, cyberpunk and steampunk, fastpaced and thoughtful... Hitting the sweet-spot between the directives of speculative techno/cultural fiction and new-wave psycho emo/humanism is a rarity - a feat even more astonishing, given the truly well-crafted storytelling and Bester's liberal though accomplished writing style.

There's almost nothing, including my typical gender nitpicks, that I really dislike about this book, from premise to structure to execution. And while countless imitations, spin-offs and sub-genres have centrifuged away from Bester's serialized novel with enough conviction of their own, The Stars My Destination manages to think and read fresh more than 50 years later. An excellent read.

The Blade Itself (The First Law), Joe Abercrombie

Abercrombie's first novel reads like one of the Coen Brothers more violent movies, with blood spattered everywhere and wry dialogue. But where the Coens are calculated and sparse, Abercrombie is halfway to a potentially cheesy version of cheesy 80's fantasy classics on tv. The scope may be a tad ambitious, but on a whole, the book is easy to take in even with all the blood and gore.

I appreciate the author's handling of magic. While all fighting is described viscerally, furiously, and becomes almost baroque, the magic doesn't include a lot of flowing robes, muttering of abracadabra, exposition on mechanics, or zipping lances of light which explode into fireballs. Instead, the magic happens internally, producing dramatic results without mysticism shrouding the proceedings. In fact, it feels more dangerous this way. Ultimately, I appreciate Bayaz, the magi and not-so-simple butcher. I like him a lot in fact and am glad that Abercrombie leaves the mystery intact.

Abercrombie's greatest strength is the unusual humor that his characters are prone to wittingly or unwittingly inspire. However, sometimes the transition for their actions seems rushed and implausible, the reconciliation between the inquisitor and West for example. Overall, the author developes a unique tone of brutal animism and satirical farce that spar from chapter to chapter and at the end, from scene to scene within the chapter. This structural climax is where the slow construction of the book shines. The clash/knitting together feels highly intuitive and natural, mirroring the plot and reinforcing the connections between the characters. And while the stereotypes themselves come from a shallow barrel, their perspectives are broached slightly off center enough for the reader to get something out of it. Logan, the barbarian, is a cipher through most of the book, withdrawn and full of internal conflict, but by the end of the tale, when Abercrombie shoves us into the mindset of his berserker rage and hacks down corrupt minions, we understand where all that comes from. This structurally devised suspense was subtle enough when it needed to be yet satisfyingly dramatic. The weight of the images is all words here and works quite well.

While the slow pace and unusual structure of climaxes in the book didn't bother me, much of the fighting scenes are simply descriptive scenic detours, ones that didn't really move the plot as much as get the characters from one place to another. They felt almost extraneous, a novelized version of a flashy film scene - or what I'm calling action writing. Like an action movie you can fast forward through them and sometimes not miss a thing. I'm not sure that this kind of detailed play by play serves a book that flirts with being an epic. The intensity actually makes the book seem slower than it really is.

This is not only just literary snobbery talking - to show and not tell - because don't get me wrong, Abercrombie is good at telling about picturesque medieval gore, but some aspects of the written word don't translate well or easily to cinema in terms that we are used to, and so the reverse. I wouldn't put that down as a universal rule but perhaps any discussion of action writing should be spoken about in tandem with the bias against cinematic spectacular, particularly, the argument that they are essentially empty of meaning but visually rich. And while this becomes a hairy topic when comparing visual and visual meaning, it is even more strange to find such a comparison between written images and mental ones. I can't quite circle my finger around the entire objection right now, but the distance between reading and imagining is part of it. Perhaps this novel has a workmanship that I can't appreciate, like a really good splatter scene in a slasher movie, or a particularly fine special effect in a sci-fi flick. Maybe The Blade Itself is more like porn and romance novels in function. In that case, this book is genre bending and pretty awesome right?

Definitely uneven, The Blade Itself accomplishes some sound literary feats that I appreciate. The author's prose is serviceable enough, if not completely polished, but falls apart as a story when indulging in description or weak plotting that perhaps work better on screen. Definitely flawed, but I'm invested in the characters and their backstory enough to be curious about the next novel in the series. If there's just going to be a lot more "telling" however, I'm going to take it as an invitation to bash the fast forward button.

Edit: The second two novels made no impression except more of the same unfortunately. Perhaps this a flaw in my ability to pick up the pleasures of such a text.

Beyond the Great Wall (NPR link), by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, features recipes from the non-Han territories of China. These recipes can be previewed here. I'm not sure why the Tsampa Stew in the book is so red. I'm guessing it's because I used pressed instead of whole grain barley. I might add tomato to the leftovers just to see how I like it.

Bone Broth:

2 lbs ox tails or shanks, sliced into 6 pieces by the butcher
1 whole dried anise
1" ginger, peeled and sliced into 1/4" pieces
1/2 tsp salt

In a large pot of cold water, bring all the ingredients up to a boil. Skim of the scum. Turn down the heat and simmer with the lid cracked for 1 - 1 1/2 hours till the beef is tender and is easily pierced with a fork. Keep skimming during the cooking period. If  possible, refrigerate and skim off excess oil.

Tsampa:

2 cups whole grain barley. I used pressed grain because that's what I have. Barley flour that is similarly roasted as below, can also be used for recipe's that use tsampa as a thickener. For tsampa porridge, home roasted whole grains have a softer, less grainy texture.

Roast grains in a dry pan over medium high heat. Stir continuously for around 10-15 minutes to prevent scorching and make sure that all the barley is evenly toasted. The grains will crackle and turn golden then darker colored and release a toasty smell. If the grain yields easily to a bite, it is done. Take the pan off the heat and continue stirring for several minutes until the pan is cool enough not to burn the barley.

Grind the toasted grain in a coffee, spice grinder, or flour mill to get an even, fine consistency. Let cool completely and store in a sealed container either in the fridge or in a cool cupboard.

Tibetan Barley Stew:

1 onion
1/2 lb of sirloin steak cut into strips 1 1/2 in long and 1/4 in wide
6 cups bone broth, beef or chicken stock
1/2 asian radish, daikon, peeled and shredded
2 cups spinach, chopped, baby spinach, or other greens like bok choy
2 tsp salt, to taste
2 tbsp butter*

In a small amount of oil or butter in a hot pan or wok, saute onion and sirloin till browned but not cooked through. Set aside. Deglaze pan with 3 cups of stock and bring to a boil. Add tsampa and stir till smooth. Add remaining 3 cups of stock and bring to a boil. Add radish and lower heat, simmering for 10 minutes or until tender. If necessary add 1 or more cups of water, and return to boil. Add onions and meats to simmer for several minutes, adjusting salt and water level. Then add vegetables and continue simmering till they are almost ready. Just before serving, swirl in butter. 

Not the film based on Do Angels Dream of Electric Sheep, but The Bladerunner, a 1974 novel by Alan Nourse. In some near future, good health care is provided to anyone who agrees to pay the fee - sterilization. Those who don't want to comply with these terms are forced to turn to black market practitioners. The idea is to weed out those who have genetic diseases or those with less immune resistance, allowing the rest to breed healthier, stronger children. Truly deadly epidemics, however, choose victims indiscriminately regardless of healthcare choices. The book is really a cautionary tale about the dangers of "socialized" or two tier medical systems.

I suppose in the the early 70's, this doomsday prediciton may have sounded like a pile of invisible cymbals making an unnecessary din, or communist evil. But substitute "lots of money" in place of sterilization and "HMO/single payer/insurance" for government medical center and Nourse's book is amazingly prescient. Some of these fears have become founded - a two class system of those who have and don't have healthcare, "free" clinics = black market, mutated man-made super virus, children with poor immune defense systems, etc. We have yet to see if nationalized healthcare will produce such a staggering social program like the one in The Bladerunner, but we know that China ran such an experiment for a long time. To think of this story loosely and in global terms is important because disease is transmitted in exactly that way.

These doughnuts were a labor of love. First, after soaking my beans overnight with some foresight and spending all day babying my boiling beans, I ended up overfatting my first painstaking batch of bean paste with duck confit. Not my best idea. Determined not to give up, I starting over with just enough beans for half a recipe and started making the doughnut dough by hand. Contrary what you would think given the fried doughnut's pillow soft nature, this is not a gentle process, as the dough is very sticky, floppy and yet extremely elastic. Rolling in otherwords is likewise a tricky proposition to fulfill.

After several days of ongoing work, I am however, generally pleased with the results. The bean paste recipe is a Frankenstein culmination of techniques and ratios in three separate books. The dough is almost verbatim  from The New Best Recipe by Cook's Illustrated for Yeasted Doughnuts.


Sweet Red Bean Paste

1 cup dried red beans, adzuki
water
4 cups tepid water
3/4 cup sugar, white or brown. Some recipes call for as little as 1/2 or as much as 1 1/2 cups. Adjust to taste and the final use of the bean paste. Likewise, add less if you are making paste to store and just add more sugar later.
1 tbsp peanut or vegetable oil, or lard. Butter also works depending on the final use.

Soak beans in water overnight. Or in a pinch, cover beans with 3 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil for several minutes. Beans should be covered at least 1" by water. Drain. 

Return beans to the pot, and add 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and turn heat to low for a simmer. Cook for 30-60 min or until the beans are very soft. Halfway through, crack the lid. If the beans didn't soak overnight, this may take 1 1/2-2 hours. Monitor the process so the bottom doesn't burn. Stir once in awhile and if necessary, add a little hot water. By the end, most of the water should have evaporated, with concentrated liquid covering only the very bottom 1/3 layer of bean. Carefully gauging this process means you will not have to reduce or squeeze the liquid out later.

Once soft, let the hot beans cool till easily managed. Put beans and liquid through a food processor or blend with stick blender or blender to a smooth consistency. Alternately, to make a very smooth paste, smash through a sieve, reserving bean water and tossing the solids. You can now reduce the paste further in a pot or press it in cloth to get rid of some moisture if necessary. The consistency will depend on what you might be using the paste for.

On low heat, add sugar and stir till glossy, for 5 minutes, reducing slightly while the mixture "burps". Swirl in the oil, and leave on the range to cool. For a more traditional approach, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the red bean paste till mixture becomes thick. Stir and stay attentive, so it doesn't burn.


Doughnuts: 

Adapted from Yeasted Doughnut recipe in The New Best Recipe

1 1/2 cups plus 2-3 tbsp extra all purpose flour if needed for hand mixing
1 1/4 tsp yeast
3 tbsp granulated sugar plus 1-2 tbsp for rolling
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp whole milk, room temp
1 large egg, 
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
2 1/2 cups Crisco

I added at least 3 tbsp of flour during final mixing to make the dough more workable. Adding flour also makes the doughnut a bit more bread-like. If using a mixer, this step may be unnecessary. After rising, the dough is still gooey but not too hard to shape. My dough was still quite springy (maybe due to undermixing), so I just "pasted" my shapes to the Silpat surface without using a lot of flour.


To shape, the dough needs to be rolled rather thin, about 1/8-1/4 of an inch. Roll (or press the dough by hand into a circle) with the desired thickness at the center and tapering to the edges. You can make 2 rounds and fill it like a sandwhich, or 1 round and pull up the edges as you would for a char-siu bun. Whatever works so the filling doesn't squeeze out when fried. Give the closure a firm pinch. Put the doughnuts sequentially on a floured surface, with the seam side down for bun shape, and give them a 30 min rest while the oil is heating up.

Despite my reservations, I used Crisco and the results are superior to oil - virtually no oil squeeze when biting, crisp crust, no off flavors towards the end. The dough should poof up immediately. I only cooked about two at a time in a small saucepan, as that was the number I have the presence of mind to concentrate on at once. The sandwich shape is easier to fry, as they capsize less, but more difficult to shape. Either shape should take about 30 sec to fry.

Drain hot doughnuts on paper towels. Roll the finished product in granulated sugar when cool enough to handle. Serve immediately. The doughnut in the back is a first and rather overcooked attempt at a sandwich shape. The bun shape in the front was more golden than mahogany but a tad undercooked inside. It takes several tries to get the oil just right, but you can eat all the mistakes!

My friend's grandmother was a wrinkly toothless little mite with a big temper. She made the most wonderful mung bean pancakes which I couldn't stop eating. While the filling can be as fancy as you like, grandma's thin 4" pancakes only included strands of bright green chives that required no sauce.

When using store bought mung bean flour I find it advantageous to leave it soaking in water overnight or at least several hours. The flour is dry and drinks up a lot water, making the final product less gritty.

3/4 mung bean flour
1/3 cup rice flour
2 1/4 water
pinch red pepper flake*
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt

Additions:
green onions or chinese chives
red pepper, sliced thin
onions, sliced thin
kimchee or cabbage, thinly sliced

I am partial to the original Chinese version of Zha Jiang Mian 炸酱面, which consists of fried and lightly sauced meat with fresh shredded vegetables on top. The Korean version is another animal altogether and is composed with a rich syrupy sauce in which the vegetables are braised.




For this recipe, the vegetables should be diced uniformly to bite size pieces, about 3/4" square is ideal. The total amount should be about 6 cups, or 1 1/2 quarts, in about equal ratio of vegetables and greater proportion of meat and onion, but adjust this to your taste.

fresh korean wheat noodles
pork belly, diced or sliced
daikon or korean radish, peeled, diced
waxy potato or sweet potato, peeled, diced
1 large onion
1/2 cup fermented black bean paste, chunjang
3 1/2 cup water
3 tsp potato starch dissolved in 2 tbsp water
1 tbsp sugar
cucumber* for garnish, thinly shredded

In a large pot, fry pork belly briefly on medium heat until the meat releases some liquid. It doesn't need to be cooked through. Scoop into a large resting bowl and drain most fat from the pot. Turn down the heat a little and gently saute vegetables in the pot for several minutes, adding one at a time, first daikon, then potato, and a shorter period for onion, and very briefly zucchini. Do not brown. The goal is to sweat them so the final texture is uniform but the vegetables remain relatively intact after braising. Add vegetables to pork belly bowl.
In the same pot, heat in almost smoking hot oil, and fry the black bean paste till broken up and glossy.
Return vegetables and meat to the pot with the water. Vegetables should be barely covered. They will release  Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer and cover for 15-20 minutes till vegetables are tender. Meanwhile boil water for noodles.
Once the potato and daikon are cooked through 
Add the potato starch in water, then add sugar. Adjust seasonings. The final sauce should be a little sweet with the aroma of bean paste dominant. Smooth like a gravy but glossy and translucent, the texture is comparable to a Japanese curry but less thickened by potato starches. 
Serve with slices of bright yellow danmugi, also known as takuan.

The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen -  Grace Young

Stock Base:

10 dried anchovies
2 4" squares of kombu
2 dried shitaki mushrooms, or sliced equivalent
4 cups water or thin beef broth

Tofu Soup:

4 garlic, crushed
1/4 red or yellow onion, sliced thin
3 slices of pork belly, sliced thin
1/2 daikon, peeled, cubed or radish kimchee, whatever is handy
1 tbsp red pepper flakes, kochukaru. to taste
1 tbsp fish sauce*
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms. sliced, beech, straw or white. whatever you like.
1/2 silken or soft tofu
1 tbsp gochuchang*, 1 tsp miso*
2 scallions, shredded
egg, per serving

Alternate fixings:
1. greens, napa cabbage or kimchi, whatever is handy
2. thinly sliced beef and fresh live clams

In a small stockpot, bring stock ingredients up to a boil and simmer for 30 min while preparing soup. 

In a larger soup pot, lightly saute garlic, then onion till fragrant and softened. Add pork belly till color just turns. Doesn't need to be cooked through. Saute daikon until it starts to turn translucent at the edges. Strain solids from stock and add the liquid into the pot. Bring to a boil then turn heat to a simmer. After 10 minutes or when the daikon is nearly finished, add pepper flakes and fish sauce. Adjust seasonings, with a dash of sesame oil and gochuchang or miso. Stir to dissolve thoroughly, then add mushrooms and tofu and bring to a boil. When vegetables are just tender and heated through, taste again to adjust seasoning, Just before turning off heat, add scallions. Serve very hot, still bubbly, with whole egg on top in thick bowls.

1 cup rice - jasmine or short grain
2 quarts very light chicken stock. American stock works but will turn the porridge yellow. Water is an acceptable alternative.
2 1/2 tbsp oil

Rinse rice and soak overnight. 
Bring to a bare boil and immediately turn to low and cover. Cook for 2 hours until most grains are broken down and broth is thickened. I tend to like mine on the soupier side so adjust water if necessary to taste. 

Season with:
white pepper
salt

Serve with:
1. Tender greens and Chinese deli meats - roast duck, chicken, pork
2. Pickled black cucumber or pickled mustard greens or bamboo shoots, roasted salted peanuts, fried pork floss, bits of Chinese fried donut or wonton skin, salted duck egg
3. 1000 year old egg, salty fish and chicken, finely shredded scallion, fresh coriander - cantonese dim sum style
4. soy sauce or sesame oil - can also be added if you would like, though these are unusual and less delicate options. When I was young, Maggi sauce was my favorite

Despite the inauthentic addition of soy sauce and coconut milk, this recipe, adapted from Memories of a Phillipine Kitchen, creates a pleasing roasted candy sweetness with a sour tang.

3 lbs whole chicken thighs works really well, as breasts easily become overcooked. Take breat meat out earlier if using.

1 1/4 cane vinegar
1 cup coconut milk. I use 1/2 thick coconut milk in a can (creamy and stiff) with 1/4 cup water. You will have to gauge this based on the consistency of your source. 
1/4 cup soy sauce
12 garlic cloves, crushed, minced
3 bay leaves
3 birdseye chili
1 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1" ginger peeled

Marinate chicken in all ingredients overnight. Pull out to come to room temp before cooking.
In a large dutch oven, heat chicken and marinade to a boil. Reduce to a simmer until the chicken is tender and cooked through, 20-25 minutes for legs, or maybe 15 for breasts. Remove chicken and reduce sauce until preferred consistency. The book says heavy cream, but I prefer it slightly less viscous. I find there is a surfeit of sauce for a whole breast (broken down) and two thighs, if reduced to a lesser degree.

Return chicken to the pot on low-medium heat till just heated.
I served this adobo with some sauteed greens and rice with long fried garlic and salt.

At Romantic Steakhouse in Monterey Park, CA I would often order the special dinner set. The first course was always a cup of light and tasty ruddy soup, served with toasted baguette slices infused with melted butter and crispy garlic. A small iceberg salad with creamy dressing came next, followed by a sizzling steak platter, a substantial and perfectly medium rare tenderloin wrapped in bacon and topped with a mushroom or pepper sauce flavored with wine and lightly thickened with cornstarch. On the side, you could have rice, but I always had the "spaghetti", Chinese egg noodles with a translucently sticky, sweet tomato sauce ladled on top. For dessert, there was a scoop of vanilla ice cream with coffee or tea. The entire meal, at once humble and fancy, cost less than 13 dollars, in an age when a lonely steak at a chain might run you 25 dollars and up, so I often had a virgin Mai Tai on the side.

While such a meal is singular (Romantic has been defunct for many years) the soup is a mainstay at any number of Hong Kong style western-cafes, where it's often part of a cheap lunch meal that includes tea or coffee, a savory appetizer (like a fried chicken wing), and a small main course (often Chinese noodles, baked pork chop, or whatever the house special is). This humble vegetable beef or tomato borscht is often replaced  in newer establishments by the trendier cream soup covered by a baked puff pastry hat.

4 quarts of water
3 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
scant 1 lb of beef chuck roast 
1/2 lb of beef bones
1 carrot, small dice
1/2 very large red onion, small dice
3 stalks celery, sliced
1 large garlic clove, minced
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, diced. I find it easy to score them and poach them directly in the poaching liquid as the beef is cooking.
1 1/2 cup crushed tomato, juice drained off very briefly. Tomato paste is more common, but I find the crushed tomato makes this dish fresher
5 small waxy yellow potatoes, small dice, skin on
1/4 cabbage
1 tbsp sugar, to taste
1/4 tsp ground white pepper, to taste
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice. optional.
salt to taste

Boil water in a 5 quart pot. Trim obvious fat off the chuck roast simmer in the pot uncovered with spices. Keep the water to just a tiny roll, lifting off scum on occasion. Turn the meat every 20 minutes so it doesn't dry out. Cook 90 minutes or until the beef is tender ie easily pierced with a fork and the connective tissue gelatinous and soft. Set aside to cool. Can be made the day before but do not remove oil as it makes the soup richer.

Sweat carrots, then onions and celery together in a large soup pot. Add garlic after several minutes and stir till fragrant but not brown. Turn the heat to high and scoot vegetables into a pile on one side. Add fresh tomato on the bare part of the pan till broken down and slightly reduced. Then, add crushed tomatoes and do the same. 

Include remaining poaching liquid, resting juices, and waxed potatoes After the liquid boils for a minute, bring down to a simmer for 10-15 minutes, about halfway through. Cut the chuck roast into bite size dice. Add meat and cabbage to the soup pot and continue simmering until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Add sugar, white pepper and lemon juice. Adjust salt to taste.

This dish keeps well in the fridge. I find 1 lb of chuck to be much more than enough, as I enjoy the soup and vegetables most, but used 1 1/5 lbs in my maiden trial which gives a nice flavor to the poaching water.

You may have to adjust the amount of tomato and beef broth liquid to get the right consistency. The soup should be like a thin tomato soup flavor, acidic but leaning towards the sweet side.  Not very salty, the flavor of vegetables should shine through rather than beef. If fresh tomatoes are readily available, a good amount can substitute for the crushed tomato and paste. Making this a truly healthy soup.

For a thicker soup, use russet potatoes that break down with cooking. For deeper color, add a little tomato paste at the end.
Serve with garlic baguette rounds.


update:  Romantic is now Hot Stuff Cafe, a location that I'm sure to try the next time I'm in the area. Bacon wrapped filet mignon?  Still 13 dollars. Hell yeah!

2 chinese eggplants, halved, cut into two inch sections, quartered. If some of the pieces are still to big, I halve them again.

Without a food processor or a hefty mortar and pestle its hard for me to make my own galapong for this dish. Instead, I used an equal amount of rice flour and added several tablespoons of water because the batter was a bit stiff. To my taste, the bibingka seemed more cake-like and dry, rather than slightly sticky inside. I like to eat this as I used to with my friends, with the sugar and coconut sprinkled on top after the butter was slathered. From pictures, the batter is supposed to be fairly thin and spreads like a custard by itself after being poured in the mold.

Recipe adapted from Memories of a Phillipine Kitchen 

1/2 cup 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/8 cup white sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup 2 tbsp rice flour (not glutinous)

2 eggs separated
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp whole milk
1/4 cup 2 tbsp coconut milk
salted duck egg, cut into 1/4 inch slices
4 tbsp crumbled feta, gouda, or goat cheese

garnish:
grated fresh coconut
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp sugar

Notes: Needs to be more sweet, more sticky and moist, cheese slightly funkier and saltier. Possibly add more sugar, coconut milk, and bit of glutinous rice.

This dish is pure comfort food, but when I was young I had terrible experiences of it. The pork was usually pressed into a dense hard cake and the egg on top was often puffed like a fried egg and overcooked till green.

The below version is mostly reconstructed through trial and memory, and I'm surprised I didn't post before because after perfecting the steps, the result is delicious. I like my eggs smooth with lots of clear tasty broth from the pork. Sometimes, the eggs near the bottom don't get set through, which means your heat was likely too high and the cooking time too short. The runny egg, however, makes the sauce a bit richer and is great poured over very hot rice where it firms up a little.

1/4 lb ground pork
1 clove finely minced garlic 
dash of rice wine
white pepper
dash of sesame oil
dash of soy sauce
4 large eggs  
tepid, room temp water same volume as egg
salt to taste
2 scallions, white parts minced, green parts sliced longways and 1.5" length.
2 tbsp cooking oil, peanut is nice but I have also used canola
oyster sauce

In a small bowl, lightly mash together meat with garlic and shite parts of the scallion. Season with wine, pepper, sesame oil, and soy sauce so the meat looks glistening moist, but not drippy. In a separate bowl that will be used for steaming, very gently beat eggs and water with several pinches of salt and a dash of white pepper to taste. Drop the marinated meat into the egg in loose chunks.

To use as a steamer, I usually put my old school perforated rice steamer insert into a 6 quart pot, and add water till level with the insert, about a cm. Set on low heat till a bare simmer. Place bowl carefully in steaming pot. Cover and adjust to a bare simmer till the top is set, about 15-20 min. To avoid unsightly pockmarks on the surface, wrap a thin kitchen towel around the cover - I don't usually do this - or pour eggs into the water and stir lightly till mixed. Avoid making bubbles.

Right before serving, heat the cooking oil in a small pan till it starts to smoke. Drizzle the egg custard with oyster sauce and green parts of the scallions, then pour the hot oil over the surface. You should hear a big exciting sizzle. Serve immediately with hot rice. 

My mom used to order this for my at the Cantonese eateries, where the soft egg would appear in a bath of sweet tomato broth, slightly thick. I always thought it was ketchup in there, but this dish is actually very simple and fresh. The texture should be barely firm tomato with pillowy eggs, less cooked through than a perfect French omelet.

6 large eggs
salt to taste
3 tomato, slice into 8 wedges
2 scallions sliced thin lengthwise and 1" long
1 tbsp of sugar
2 tbsp chicken stock
2 tbsp white rice wine
scant dash soy sauce, very light

Heat up the a large pan or seasoned wok to a rather high temperature and then coat with a generous amount of oil. Flash fry green onions. Scramble eggs with salt quickly and then pour evenly into hot pan. The edges should immediately bubble up. Let the eggs set into a layer but don't brown them. Scrape into ridges and set again. This should take less than 30 seconds. There may be some excess runny egg, but that's ok. Scrape the egg into a bowl. 

Return the same pan to a high heat. Add tomato with pinch of salt. Stir fry until tomato skins just begin to blister. Add sugar, rice wine, chicken stock, soy sauce and cook until tomato releases juices but some sauce remains. Return the eggs to the pan and toss gently until they are desired texture - just barely brown with lots of slip. Try not to break the eggs by stirring vigorously.

Pork Belly in all permutations is something I return to again and again.

In Chinese parlance, Siew Yoke is deli food, the stuff you get in the case with lovely brown, hanging ducks. This recipe from Saveur is easy and works fairly well. With roasting, you dont get the slippery, melting fat as you would with braising, but what you have in the end is juicy, tender meat layered with slightly more resilient fat and a crispy skin with puffy crackling on top. Thusly, the leftovers are great for adding to congee or sauteed vegetables and soup if you like. Just trim off the cracklings and save them for a good use, or as as a kitchen snack.

Some tips:

The flavoring is malleable so change the marinade up, but use this technique to get an easy crisp crust.

To get the right texture and consistency, search out a clearly striated piece of pork: meat, thin layer of fat, meat, thin layer of fat, meat, thin layer blubber, skin. Preferably even thickness throughout the slab. This is not superfluous, since the quicker cooking time means the fat doesn't get a chance to render out as nicely as some other preparations.

If your slab of belly comes with nubbins, nommables tells you how to trim them. Remember to scrape off any remaining bristles.

I found I didn't need the skewers in the article, but that poker implement will come in handy. I couldn't get carving fork or utensils through the skin, so I stabbed my meat repeatedly with a small knife. This is not the most efficient or elegant way of going about it.

Beware the broiler. Watch the oven so the crackling doesn't burn. I have a small oven so I should have moved my meat down a notch. After only 3 minutes, I was in trouble.

Always serve and eat this Hot!, before the fat congeals and becomes unpalatable.

Asian preparations always have extra steps in the cooking process:
1. To render off fat and impurities.
2. To minimize the porky smell of the meat.
3. To treat the skin.


Other favorite famous pork belly dishes:
1. Nagasaki style - three step slow-braised pork that falls apart by itself if you look at it the right way and with most fat rendered off, but whats left is creamy. Flavored simply with soy sauce and ginger. The least rich of the preparations. A case where a meatier piece of belly with less striations an minimal fat is better.
2. Lechon Kawali  - Filipino style, twice cooked with a final deep fry resulting in pork belly floating inside a cloud of crackling. Made with the thicker cut short rib portion of the belly.
3. Red Braised Pork - two or three step braised pork resulting in a ruddy caramelized sauce having a sweet, herbal taste and syrupy texture. Usually the meat is less flake tender than the Japanese style, but in this dish meat is besides the point. Instead, the fat is alternately creamy and gelatinous with a soft skin like warm chewy mochi. Sometimes served as a whole shoulder or large hunk rather than a bite size portion. 
4. Twice Cooked Pork - poached or boiled and then stir fried with scallions in a light coating of spicy sauce. A Sichuan recipe.

Mine are not the sharpest in the drawer.
Here is how to get yours to slice through a hair long-ways.

Several classics appear in this cookbook, such as a detailed recipe for trice cooked lechon kawali and bibingka, as well as some harder to find staples such as pancit malabon. Be aware that some liberties exist. The adobo recipe includes coconut milk. By the authors admission, the puto recipe is omitted entirely for being too difficult. While there are a lot of "stories" and glossy pictures, there are some familiar dishes missing such as the more ubiquitous pancit palabok. With such heft, this book falls short of being a bible and is organized somewhat erratically in terms of recipes. Perhaps there's a more authentic or comprehensive, in the lax terms of Philippine cuisine, book out there, but I have yet to come across it. Until such a tome appears, this one will do more than fine.

Update: The New York Times published this article in which one of the authors admits that given a choice she wouldn't add coconut milk or soy sauce to her adobo. Why they include both ingredients in a published recipe is beyond me. Perhaps they are catering to a Western clientele? My marinated adobo, with coconut milk, is on the stove later today, so I will have to see how I feel about it.

The few exceptions are Everyone Else and the top two films, True Grit and How to Train your dragon. Next to these, Black Swan and The Social Network, while relevant (or socially relevant) are probably not shows I'd want to screen again. 

Aranofsky doing his familiar formula but with were-ballerina, body horror, jealousy and madness. Ostensibly about sexual awakening, aging, women angst, and so on, the director cleverly wrenched his angles by equating letting loose, getting wild, or being bad as just another form of control and letting the tragedy ensue. There is indeed a method to Nina's madness, and the director wants the audience, sometimes overly didactically, to sympathize with her logic even when it breaks. Maybe she's the endpoint of a collective drive for perfection? Or maybe, she's just plain crazy? Aranofsky reads both, and with no small amount of admiration and condemnation.

Who cares about fidelity really? The Social Network was a solid film, exciting like a trainwreck, on trend with its message, and only faltering with minor moralizing missteps at the end. The rest of the show is filled with enough hubris and caustic nerd antics to satisfy the most bitter among us. Timberlake steals the show with his charmingly cokified portrayal of Napster founder Sean Parker. Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg as the quintessential loner, a sneak peek at the internal workings of technocultural royalty, but one whose motives can only be conjectured. In the Social Network, the audience ultimately is on the outside. After you've googled, facebook'd, myspace'd all your immediate peeps, the question remains... How well can you know anyone anyway?