Pedantialand

Carnitas 3 Ways - Curtido, Black Bean Chili, Soup

2012-01-30T23:03:00.001-08:00

Carnitas

3 lbs pork shoulder or butt, cut into large 2.5" cubes
lime juice, about 3 limes
orange juice, about 3 oranges
1 tsp crushed garlic, about 2 cloves
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp kosher salt

In a dutch oven, toss in all ingredients and cover with water just barely. Raise heat to a boil and skim surface once, then simmer for 2 hours uncovered without stirring. Turn up to medium heat till water has evaporated and only fat remains, about 30 minutes. Meat should be slightly firm still. Fry till browned on the outside with crispy edges. Meat should be fairly tender.Turn gently, so the meat doesn't fall apart, and often, so it doesn't stick.

Black Bean Chili

1 tbsp oil
2 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp mexican oregano, dried
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp new mexico chile powder
2 tsp ancho chile powder
2 tbsp chipotle in adobo
2 cups beef stock
2 cans (14.5 oz.) dice tomato
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cups dried black beans, soaked overnight and drained
carnita leftovers, serve with

Curtido

Boiling water
6 cups cabbage, 1/2 head red or green, shredded
2 carrots, grated
1/2 onion, sliced, or green onion
1.5 tbsp brown sugar or cane sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar
1/3 white vinegar
salt
opt. 1/2 tsp mexican oregano, dried
opt. jalepeno or red pepper flakes

Black Bean Chili Soup

carrot
celery
squash - butternut or acorn
molasses
1 tsp cocoa powder
lime juice

chicken broth
black bean chili, puree
sausage, bacon or ham

Salted Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treat

2012-01-30T22:48:00.000-08:00

Smitten Kitchen Recipe. So Good.

Japanese Seasoning, Sour Cream Brown Sugar Cookies, Crunky Choco

2012-01-22T18:21:00.001-08:00

All caught up.

Haven

2012-01-22T18:18:00.001-08:00

Copenhagen Bakery

2012-01-22T18:17:00.001-08:00

Codmother's fried fish

2012-01-22T18:15:00.001-08:00

Limon Rotisserie

2012-01-22T18:14:00.001-08:00

2012-01-22T18:12:00.001-08:00

Angelino's

2012-01-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

Godfather's Burgers

2012-01-22T18:09:00.001-08:00

Nini's Cafe

2012-01-22T18:07:00.003-08:00

Playing catchup with photos.

The Personals

2011-10-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Apples and Oranges, mirrors, masks, mispresentations, expectations and missed connections, the kinds of melancholy and absurd revelations that occur during the painfully unnerving process of getting to know others and oneself after a breakup. Biting and languidly observant film that uses the camera to establish the tenor of the connections, or lack of, being made.

Lucca Delicatessen and Yogorino

2011-09-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

The Delucca Special

Barley Gelato

Mad Rock Shoes and Homemade Chalk Bag

2011-09-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

My first diy chalk bag made to match my new climbing shoes. There could be improvements for next time, namely, the drawstring sphincter doesn't sphinct good. But my loose weave linen "sock" does work perfectly, letting out just the right amount of chalk without getting white dust everywhere. I filled it with Metolius Super Chalk which I got from Sports Basement with my Planet Granite 10% discount.

Cancun Tacos Al Carbon

2011-09-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

Susie Cakes

2011-09-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

Shin Sen Gumi Izakaya

2011-09-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

2011-08-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

2011-08-29T22:55:00.000-07:00

Anonymous Chinese Food

2011-08-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

Felix's

2011-08-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

Lynda Sandwich

2011-08-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

Ride to Big Bear and Santa Ana River

2011-08-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

Ginger Duck

2011-08-27T10:56:00.001-07:00

The point of this dish, says my dad, is the ginger and not the duck. I might be missing some steps though, so I need to do a test run.

Break the duck up with a cleaver and mallet.

Scrape the skin and slice the fresh young ginger into1/8" thick rounds. Salt liberally and let the ginger rest till some juice comes out, then squeeze gently with your fingers. Drain and repeat till the ginger is soft. Finally, rinse in cold water to remove the excess salt and squeeze the liquid out one last time. Drier is better.

Note: Use quality young ginger. When you salt the slices, the ginger should be pliable and not crack or split.

Heat up a wok with a tiny bit of oil. Saute several slices of ginger and a chopped scallion with the duck, quickly and briefly. Toss out the ginger and greens but save the duck.

Return the pieces of duck to the wok and add the rest of the ginger. Saute ingredients together then pour in sweet rice wine and reduce a bit. Adjust with a small amount of water till ingredients are almost covered. Note: The rice wine in this case is the dregs, which will have bits of rice included, and is found in the refrigerated section of the store. On its own, the rice wine is sweet and sometimes served warm with eggs. This soup is said to be good for pregnant ladies or perhaps just ladies in general.

Cover and simmer till the duck is tender. Reduce liquid if needed. Season with sugar and rice wine.

Brodard Restaurant

2011-08-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Banh Khot

Rice cake with shrimp, mung bean, scallions, turmeric, greens, pickled daikon and carrots, and dipping fish sauce,

Pork and shrimp patty spring rolls.

Mi Quang

Rice noodle with pork ribs, fish cake, shrimp in orange sate sauce, with sesame rice cracker and peanuts.

Mysterious Vietnamese

2011-08-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

On Bolsa between Magnolia and Brookhurst... somewhere...

A & J Restaurant - Arcadia, CA

2011-08-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Best Shaved Ice Ever, like freshly fallen snow...

Pondahan Filipino

2011-08-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Lechon Kawali

Pancit Malabon

Pinakbet

Portos

2011-08-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Green Island

2011-08-10T23:57:00.001-07:00

not...

Over $30 order gets you a free hot dish fried rice.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/green-island-temple-city

Liang Village aka Liang Ma Ma's House

2011-08-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.yelp.com/biz/liangs-village-cuisine-arcadia

Honda CRF 230L

2011-08-07T11:24:00.001-07:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Hot Stuff Cafe aka Romantic Steakhouse

2011-08-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Dopo

2011-07-28T23:55:00.000-07:00

Snap Source

2011-07-19T17:47:00.001-07:00

La Chapina

2011-07-15T02:59:00.000-07:00

Discovering hidden gems are what being a food adventurer are all about.

At La Chapina, where the Guatemalan natives flock, I got a large plate of savory Guisado Chicken, rice, and black beans for only $8. A scoop of creamy chicken salad and thick homemade tortillas round out the meal. Pork Tamal on the side.

All on the Line

2011-07-14T00:52:00.000-07:00

Each new fashion show that comes up, I get a little excited and I think, OK... THIS show is now at the top of the list. However, in All on the Line, Joe Zee, editor of Elle, basically mentors a professional designer through the low of a struggling business. Sometimes, the criticism gets tough, but Joe's comments are always to the point and highly tailored to the individual. While some designers have a hard time seeing the roadblock in the way of their success, namely their own egos, there seems to be no shortage of enablers and sycophants that confuse the rest of the issues tremendously. Professionalism can also be a big issue, again, often just a cover for a messed up ego. Unfortunately, some of the designers most resistant to Joe Zee's advice become lost causes and crack miserably under pressure. But when capsule meetings go well, I feel personally gratified as if I negotiated my own promotion. Sometimes I wonder if business "reality" has this level of honesty and emotion, probably not, but maybe it should. And at the end of the day everyone says "No hard feelings!" Or, "Good Luck to you!" and... Good Riddance! The Bonus: All the marketing for world class boutiques and appearances by top shelf designers.

For realz, All on the Line is THE fashion show.

Buttermilk Pound Cake

2011-07-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

1 cup cake flour, sifted

2 cup all purpose flour, sifted

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 tsp baking soda

2 1/3 tbsp buttermilk powder

3 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened

7 large eggs, room temp

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 tbsp orange zest

1 cup water

opt. turbinado sugar

Put oven rack in middle position, but do not preheat oven.

I don't have a sifter so I beat my flour with a whisk. Then I measure the desired amounts. Combine the whisked flour in a bowl with the dry ingredients and give it another good mixing.

I also don't have a tube or bundt pan. Instead I greased and floured an 9" cake pan which is 3" deep. In the center, I placed an oven proof ramekin, also greased and floured. Pretty good substitute!

Combine the wet ingredients, almond extract, zest and water. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. This takes quite a while by hand, which I find personally gratifying, but you can use a mixer. The sugar should almost be dissolved into the butter. Start adding eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each one. Roughly stir in half the flour, then pour in the wet ingredients. After another good whisking, stir in the rest of the flour. Keep whisking till the batter is creamy and shiny.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Place in the cold oven and turn on the heat to 350 degrees. Bake till golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean. I found 1 hour to be sufficient. On a rack, cool cake for 30 minutes or when the cake has pulled away from the sides. Run a cake spatula around the edges of the cake, both inside and outside rings, and invert on the rack to cool the rest of the way.

Notes:

I find the best way to grease the pan is to use the butter wrapper as a smearing implement.

Often, I forget to place a round of greased and floured parchment at the bottom of the pan when I'm baking cakes. Really though, this is one of the most essential steps, because I can never get the darn thing back out again. Not an issue really with a home cake like this, but could be if I was trying to make it for a party.

For inspiration, I used an Epicurious recipe, supposedly a favorite of Elvis.

Daihakken - Tokyo Jihen

2011-07-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Opening big with Bond/Barry smolder and dipping into my favorite big band/bepop wellsprings, all the familiar elements are alive and present in Tokyo Jihen's latest. The album glistens with Shiina's trademark melodies and space jazz improvisations, where the furious rockabilly pummeling of the drums are modulated by the nimble of tinkle of the keyboard. When the songs trend towards the obligatory, friendliness, or ballads turn nostalgic for Shiina's first grunge influenced album, I get a little twee-d out and sleepy.

Notably though, the album explores rock references with a bit earthier grit than usual (more bluesy! more funky! and way more virtuoso electric axing!), and it's this energy that seems to define the album. The chameleon-like guitarist takes front seat, channelling Rage Against the Machine chord-walls and visual-k squeals. There's a goth/hair band feel to a couple tracks, as well as unusual key shifts in Kaze ni Ayakatte Ike, which conjure up scorched velvet and sweaty basements that reek of gloamy STP.

01 - 天国へようこそ For The Disc (Tengoku he Youkoso)
02 - 絶対値対相対値 (Zettaichi Tai Soutaichi)
03 - 新しい文明開化 (Atarashii Bunmeikaika)
04 - 電気のない都市 (Denki no nai Machi)
05 - 海底に巣くう男 (Kaitei ni Sukuu Otoko)
06 - 禁じられた遊び (Kinjirareta Asobi)
07 - ドーパミント！ BPM103 (Dopamint!)
08 - 恐るべき大人達 (Osorubeki Otona Tachi)
09 - 21世紀宇宙の子 (21 Seiki Uchuu no Ko)
10 - かつては男と女 (Katsute wa Otoko to Onna)
11 - 空が鳴っている (Sora ga Natteiru)
12 - 風に肖って行け (Kaze ni Ayakatte Ike)
13 - 女の子は誰でも (Onna no Ko wa Daredemo)
BT - 天国へようこそ For The Tube (Tengoku he Youkouso)

Love Letter - R. Kelly

2011-07-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

R. Kelly, (self) proclaims that he's is bringing Love back to the R&B, a move that I've been yearning for since Next came out with Too Close. Nevermind that Robert is to blame for putting the raunch in radio... On his PG-rated, unabashedly romantic new album, the consummate crooner shows Minaj how to mimic, with loving renditions of Michael Jackson and Sade tempered with his own maudlin stylings. Occasionally, the respectability is leavened by that trademark excess, a love for silly metaphors, ridiculous narrative and warbling melisma. This time, we get to reminisce about a mournful hookup in the back seat of a Taxi. But, Kelly's obvious breadth of knowledge and affinity for the the rich history of rhythym and blues, including his own place within that history, permeates the album. While, others have been taking it back, no one has the vocal capabilities to bust out the emotional dynamism like R. Kelly can, even when he's equating great sex to lady muse-ic. Yeah, he gets a pass on that one.

Balenciaga at the De Young

2011-07-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

Hamish Bowles monograph on the influence of regional vernacular on the Spanish designer is wonderfully detailed and much more informative than the book that was offered with the YSL exhibit.

Inspirational matador coats and resultant boleros.

The ollection included the metamorphic kelly green caterpillar/cocoon cape/dress. Flat pack capes in green (above) and yellow (shown in the book) are ingenious in their simplicity.

Voluminous red silk coat.

Series of black dresses, highlighting unique forms.

Pert New Look suits and lace gowns.

Flamenco influences.

While the pieces themselves are amazing, the De Young likes to cram the fashion exhibits into a small roundabout up the main stair, lighted dramatically like a theater production. I find the pieces don't have space to breathe this way and the written descriptions get confusing in density.

Set in the chiaroscuro, neon/electricity of modern life, the artifice of the flashbulb becomes a kind of explosive club energy. But while the show gains in high impact, it loses intensity in examination. Details disappear from the picture plane when cast in harsh shadows. True, these curatorial decisions evoke Goya, and Surrealism, and high drama in atmosphere much like a bustling soiree. Perhaps this encouragement to look with the glance, to shuffle through quickly and be stunned at every moment, speaks to that. But, I expect a bit more introspection for my money at a museum. Laymen only see garments as flat pictures or illustrations, so the chance to view in person what cannot be shown on paper should not be squandered.

Compare to the superb Gres exhibit in Paris as covered by the New York Times and Stylebubble, where natural light reinforces the experiential aspect of greek naturalism. Ancient sculptures and gowns are presented together, training the eye to see the garments 3 dimensionally and encouraging slow traversal around major pieces. Furthermore, garments are displayed as half size models on stands, in spare galleries, within intimate salons, or behind glass in large boxes. From each shift, the viewer intuits the workings of the atelier, the eventual use of the garment, and the intellectual journey of the curator in preserving antiquity to find meaning in detritus.

Zuni Cafe

2011-07-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Kumamoto, Beau Jolie Oysters

Roast Chicken with Bread Salad for two. Order an hour ahead.

Some sweet thang with cherries, grappa cream, wafers, and crunchies

Barbacco eno Trattoria

2011-06-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Date night ended with lively conversation at the beautifully designed Barbacco bar. iPad wine list was fun to play with but lost on us teetotalers. Photos, unfortunately, came out way too dark to share.

Sashimi fluke with strawberry, shaved fennel, and dill vinaigrette
Roast mushrooms and herbed ricotta. Not my favorite but a safe choice.
House made salumi
Rims de Trentino cheese with pomegranate gelatina, rich like a fine balsamic, matched perfectly with a hearty rye bread
Tender grilled squid alla piastra aka spicy tomato sauce
Mint Lemonade

Curry Up Now

2011-06-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

Affordable curry burgers, saag burritos or wraps, are rounded out with an extra $4 combo of mint mango lassi and samosa. Thali dinners available, as well as spicy Paneer and Chili Cheese melted over sweet potato fries. Lines can be long when the place is busy, but I found the pace swift and the people friendly. One time, when the restaurant was nearly empty, the counter boy had to oversee some kind of delivery and offered me free chai for the wait. After my first taste, I think I've been back once a week to work through the rest of the menu.

Not Really Chembu Curry

2011-06-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately my local grocer was out of taro, so I bought some sweet potato instead. I imagine taro will give the sauce the right consistency.

1 cup coconut, grated, dried

4 green chilies

1 tsp kala jeera/black cumin

1 tbsp coconut oil
2 cup sweet potato, diced.
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp tamarind concentrate

1 tbsp ghee

1/2 tsp mustard seed

1/2 large onion or shallot, diced

curry leaves

salt

Grind coconut, chilies and cumin to a paste.

In pan with hot coconut oil, bloom turmeric powder, then quickly saute onions and potato till lightly browned. Add coconut paste and 1 cup of water. Mix well and bring to a boil. Dissolve tamarind, then lower to a simmer till potatoes are tender. Season.

Meanwhile heat oil till almost smoking. When mustard seeds starts to pop, fry curry leaves till crisp. Pour mix over curry while hot.

Achari Paneer

2011-06-23T01:46:00.000-07:00

8 oz paneer, cubed
1/4 cup yogurt

1/8 tsp turmeric

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp ghee

1/4 tsp kalonji aka nigella seed

1 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp methi aka fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp fennel seeds

4 whole red chilies

1/8 tsp asefetida, very scant

Mix paneer, yogurt, turmeric and salt.

Heat ghee and roast whole spices and chilies. Cool slightly and grind in a mortar and pestle. Turn up heat and bloom asafetida, then stir fry paneer mixture till sauce is reduced but yogurt is lightly coating cheese. Toss with spices and serve immediately.

Mint Raita

2011-06-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

1/2 cucumber, small diced
2 cups yogurt
1/4 cup mint
1 tsp kala jeera, lightly dry roasted

1/8 tsp black pepper

pinch ground cayenne, to taste
1/4 tsp salt

Combine ingredients thoroughly.

Urad Dal

2011-06-23T01:40:00.000-07:00

Adapted from Lisa's Kitchen.

1 cup split urad dal, white. Washed and soaked in hot water for 30-60 min. Soaking is not entirely necessary but helpful to reduce the cooking time.

3 cups water

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate
2 cups crushed tomato with juice, canned

curry leaves

1 tbsp ghee
2 tsp kala jeera/black cumin

5 dried red chilies, crumbled
2 green chilies

2 tsp garlic paste

1" ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 cup coconut, dried, grated

1 tsp of amchoor/mango powder. I think my powder has lost legs and should be bumped up with lemon.

1/8 tsp cayenne to taste

1.5 tsp salt

Bring dal, turmeric, tamarind and 3 cups of water to a boil. Add tomatoes and curry leaves. Then turn down to a simmer for about 30-45 minutes or until dal is tender.

Meanwhile, heat ghee and roast cumin seeds, then blister chilies. Saute garlic, ginger, then coconut, amchoor, and cayenne powder till pungent. Before serving, pour spiced butter over dal and mix well. Season and adjust liquid if necessary.

Note: First batch, added toasted coconut after dal completed boiling

Miso Short Ribs

2011-06-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

beef short ribs
soy sauce
red miso
mirin, sake
sugar, brown or palm
water or beef stock
peppercorn
butter
herbs - bay, thyme

Marinate meat overnight. Remove from liquid let rest for at least 30 minutes. Pat dry and lightly brown in butter. Add herbs and slowly braise beef in the marinade and enough stock to cover, about 2 hours or till tender. Crockpot also works well. Reduce sauce separately if necessary.

Italian Macaron - Amaretti

2011-06-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

1 1/4 cup blanched almonds
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar, caster sugar or powdered sugar
2 large eggs whites. Old eggs or eggs whites left for several days, covered, in the fridge are supposed to promote cohesive cookies. I don't know why.
~~1/4 cup granulated sugar~~
pinch of salt
3/4 tsp almond extract. This amount depends on your taste and the strength of the extract. Or several drops bitter almond oil extract* in addition or as a substitution to the almond extract.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

Toss almonds with cornstarch and run through a coffee grinder in two batches till very fine in texture. Run the granulated sugar through the coffee grinder. The texture should still be a little gritty and not as fine as powdered sugar. Whisk to combine.

Separate eggs and beat with hand mixer or mixer till frothy. Add salt, almond extract, and 1/4 of the sugar and continue beating. Little by little, in a continuous stream, add the rest of the sugar and mix until the sugar is incorporated. Keep beating till the eggs are thickened, glossy and stand in stiff peaks that fold over.

Gently fold almond flour and sugar into the egg mixture in two batches, till the batter is just incorporated but there are no streaks.The texture should be a little bit like meatloaf. With a tablespoon, shape the dough into balls and use another spoon to drop a rounded 1 1/2 mound onto the sheet 3 inches apart. Likewise, use a piping bag with to create the rounds. Rest for 30 minutes.

Bang the baking sheet on the counter twice. Bake until the cookies begin to crack, about 15-20 minutes. ~~Turn the sheet and bake at 200 for another 30 minutes or until the shell is crisp. Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door ajar very slightly.~~ To check if the cookie is done, turn one over and poke the bottom. The center should smooth and dry, rather than moist moist or crumbly. The tips should be slightly golden, with a thin crackly shell and chewy paste inside.

Beware the amount of egg white. Too much and the cookie will be flat.

Recipe Planet on Italian Macarons
Dessert First on French Macarons

Hayashi Rice

2011-06-21T01:25:00.000-07:00

The original from No Recipes
And below... how it plays in my kitchen.

Hayashi Rice

olive oil
1 lb beef, sukiyaki or thinly sliced angus
3 medium onions, thinly sliced, caramelized
2 tsp garlic paste

2 cup red wine
1/4 lb pearl onion
1/2 lb mushrooms, quartered
3 cup water and 1.5 tbsp demi-glace, or 3 cup strong beef broth

3 tbsp ketchup or tomato paste
1.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp cloves

1 tsp paprika

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp butter
2.5 tbsp flour

green onion

green peas

Mission Cheese

2011-06-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

Image from SF Weekly.

Crispy, melty sandwich and friendly if distracted service (very busy, those guys) at Mission Cheese. Will definitely be back for a tasting/buying binge in the near future, as they carry "Stinky & Delicious" cheeses like Nicasio (SF Weekly's pick for best local cheese 2011), Red Hawk (which isn't really that stinky).

Stuffed Shells

2011-06-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

Lovely no fuss pasta recipe from 101 cookbooks that works great as freezer food. I used large pyrex pie pans for baking, and gouda instead of mozzarella. All my lemons were missing their zest, so I just substituted several squeezes of juice, and added green onions to the cheese.

1 lb large pasta shells

filling:
16 oz ricotta
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup gouda, grated
2 green onions, sliced thin
1/2 lemon, juiced

sauce:
olive oil
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp garlic paste
large can crushed tomatoes

Sweet Orchid

2011-06-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

Pretty dessert shop in San Mateo with beautifully molded ice cream cakes, small batch gelato and tender flavored mochi. Mini french pastries are asian inflected with tropical flavors. The above is the Lychee Bavarian cake, tasting slightly artificial (like sweetener), a dry sponge, and a floral aroma (personal turnoff). I will probably try another flavor next time, but will definitely go back for the superb black sesame gelato.

Cocoa Nib Pecan Sables

2011-06-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

Adapted from Alice Medrich's recipe, which can be found all over the net.

1 cup AP flour
1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 pecans, crushed

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 lb butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 scant cup cacao nibs

Typical two stage mix recipe

Chilled log slice shaping.

375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

http://www.notderbypie.com/whole-wheat-sables/

On Splitting the Difference

2011-06-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

To the fundamental question belying model asian american career choices and how academics/expectations stifles self expression/desire, comedian (and certified M.D.) Ken Jeong answers:

"I don't think I was stifled, I think that I was worried that I would feel trapped, that I would lose my window of opportunity to do something I wanted to do. So I split the difference, I compromised.
In the back of my mind, I always secretly wanted to be an actor.
Once I got into residency, that changed my life. My residency director in New Orleans [Donald Irwin], said to me: 'I know you want to do comedy, but you have the potential to be a great physician. Have you ever thought of blending both? You can not only use your comedy to help your medicine... but you can also use your medicine to make you a better comedian. Have you ever thought of it that way? This experience would be good for you, and you would have a unique perspective in comedy that no one else in the world will ever have.'
It's because of him I wasn't miserable as a physician. I found a way to love what I did. I found a way to enjoy it because of my comedy and because I had a director that actually nurtured and encouraged me to keep doing comedy while being a physician. It actually made me want to be a doctor even more." -- Koream, June 2011, Volume 22 Number 6

Mint Meatballs and Lentils with Rice

2011-06-15T00:35:00.000-07:00

Meatballs

3/4 cup whole wheat flour, chickpea flour, fine bulgar, cooked rice or split peas

1 cup boiling water
2 lbs ground lamb/beef
3 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, grated
2 large eggs
1/2 cup fresh minced herbs, packed - mint, dill, tarragon, parsley, cilantro
2.5 tbsp advieh or spice/seasoning mixture.
1 tsp salt
opt* nuts, finely chopped pine nuts, pistachio

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Soak flour in water for several minutes. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Shape into 2 inch balls, on a baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes.

Advieh - equal parts each

cardamom
coriander
cumin
cinnamon
dried rose petals
black pepper
lime zest, dried lime (limu omani), goje sabz
turmeric, saffron
ginger

nutmeg

cloves
allspice

anise
mace
angelica

Simplified Spice Mix

1 tsp coriander
2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1/4 tsp black pepper

Lentils with Rice

1 tbsp olive oil

2 large white onion, sliced into rings

1 cup orange lentil

1 cup rice

chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

On medium-high heat, caramelize onions till browned and edges are crispy. Set aside. In the same pan, lightly toast the rice and pour a cup of chicken stock to cover. Bring to a boil for a couple minutes. Then add the lentils and add water till covered. Stir, then turn down heat to a simmer and cover for 15 minutes. Season. Mix with the onions.

Serve everything with yogurt sauce.

Pulp Fashion: Isabella de Borchgrave

2011-06-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

Beautiful and voluptuous, tactile. Such is the exhibit of Borchgrave's paper art on display at the Legion of Honor. A hard seed though, of the uncanny, pokes at me as a I walk through the compact exhibit. Here are beautiful gowns and jewels of Bronzino's Eleanor of Toledo, historical, complete, but stiff and mummified and slightly cartoonish in the rendering of the real, which is in itself fantastical to our modern eyes.

Each interpretation is a museum piece come to life as another museum piece, a transference of 2d documentation writ large and slightly dis-remembered from the original into a 3d paper mache, displacing the copy with cutout copies that are slightly stiff and visibly lossy.

In opposition to the showier and more ornamental dresses, in themselves reflective of ornamentation as a function of the originals, certain experiments blend material and construction in a way that loses the qualities of neither. One cape in particular suits the materiality as an origami monolith, a folded, spacial mobius garment that sweeps from the floor into a magician's hood (shown briefly in video 4 from the back.)

Borchgrave's artisty shows best in the details: lenspaper "fabric" recalling burnout velvets and silks, pleated constructions a la Fortuny, or intricate lacework built up from corrugated papers like a messy nest made by fractal avians.

Ada Louise Huxtable on Charlie Rose

2011-06-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

"I discount the theory. I just go and look at the building." - Huxtable.

Without much preamble, Charlie Rose interviewing Ada Louise Huxtable.

And a tidbit from Paul Goldberger, a lecture from 2003, Architecture Criticism: Does It Matter?

Kraken - China Mieville

2011-06-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

The illustrious Perdido Street Station was an interesting read with a lot of ideas, but well... enthusiastic with clunky young writer prose. Even the the author himself admitted in an interview that the writing was perhaps not quite up to snuff. But China Mieville has grown up. Or rather grown into his skin. And Kraken is just so. Incorporating street slang and meta hipness with egghead meta philosophizing. Mieville has perfected the expository paragraph - compact and communicative, drawing in with clauses and expelling with statement, inserting 411 packages rhythmically into the windup structure and noir dialogues to make the story hum.

Kraken is a grown man's Harry Potter (a comparison that Mieville slyly references), set in a London underworld teeming with magic but dirtier, grittier and much more violent. Mieville's obsession with the urban world and contingent conspiracy is less cut and dry in Kraken than Perdido Street. Reversal and intrigue reveal the man behind the plan, behind the other man behind the other plan and all the cockroaches taking advantage of any weakness in between. This is no criminal mind forcing his vision lockstep into being, but a messy sort of survival, where bits of meaning catalyze and go extinct on the constantly mutating fodder of human belief. Not surprising then, that the battle between Faith and Darwin is the fulcrum on which the story revolves.

There really is a lot of esoteric to chew on in this novel but the cranky, sarcasm and breakneck pace throws you into the fray front-loaded with information; an experience of truth seeing as malleable and consensual, elided meanings, always being made and broken and never really understood till just too late, a messy process that not only rewrites history but revises it as if the former never was.

Two Japanese Films I Greatly Admire and Enjoy

2011-06-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

Revenge of a Kabuki Actor

Also known as An Actor's Revenge, director Kon Ichigawa combines stylized pulp and arthouse purity in a film built of precise, rhythmic compositions, illicit conversations half concealed by foreground objects, a comically loose patter of dialogue hiding razor sharp intent. The theatrical staging, traditionally japanese, is swathed in saturated mid-century film stock, and a hip 60's soundtrack. A suggestion of international modernism makes the film seem timeless and fresh, though the improbable material dates back to the 1930's.

Woman of the Dunes

Barren and sensual, desperate and resigned, Hiroshi Teshigahara channels the surrealism of Kobo Abe in this film of entrapment and drudgery in a ghostly nowhere town. Moments of fluid beauty punctuate the unremitting emotional desolation of the collective life.

Buttermilk Cake with Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

2011-06-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

Enjoyed this simple cake from 101cookbooks.com, which fluffed better than expected when baked in a 9" cake tin. Below is the recipe with my adjustments. Floured pan and parchment on the bottom does the trick when it comes time to flip.

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup fine-grain natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
2 tbsp buttermilk powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled a bit

2 eggs
1 cup water
zest of 2 lemons

1 generous cup of raspberries or other fresh fruit
3 tbsp turbinado sugar. Be generous.
1/2 tsp large grain salt

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another. Combine without overmixing. Crush fruit over the top and sprinkle turbinado sugar and grainy sugar in a layer. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 min.

James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon

2011-06-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

Biographies are a kind of mirage, a layer of one person over another, a layer of time over the past, everything constructed, artificial, or perhaps overly factual in an effort not to be artificial, although there's always a feeling that the entire narrative is an act of fiction and that the subject not only disappears but will never have been once the film is inevitably wiped away. Truth in identity, then, is illegible in domestication, and best avoided. However, the biography of Science Fiction author Alice B. Sheldon, also known as James Tiptree, also known as Racoona Sheldon, compels for illuminating exactly that conflict.

"To grow up as a "girl" is to be nearly fatally spoiled, deformed, confused, and terrified; to be responded to by falsities, to be reacted to as nothing or as a thing - and nearly to become that thing. To have no steady routine of growth and training, but only a series of explosions into unwanted adulation - and then into limbo. The world was not my oyster." - Alice Sheldon

Julie Phillips doesn't create a vivisection for our study, but delicately knots together the contradictory desperation, drives, and desires that eventually allowed Sheldon in the guise of a man, to reveal herself to the world. From Phillips, we empathize with the intensely, internally mercurial Sheldon and her public elusiveness, even to herself. The relief then, when Tiptree allows Sheldon to drop her own baggage for a moment to speak and be heard, is both in the biography and the work. Her fatalism is there too. In a way, Sheldon's entire life is a coming of age story that is cut short, one in constant flux with it's own narrative, self aware and disguised, but much realer for it.

"Tip" started publishing only in her late years, and that work is some of Sci Fi's best. Dr. Ain, the short story on which 12 Monkeys, and before that, La Jetee, is based, come on like a fever, quaking through the theme of suicide dreamlike and neurotically towards the impending apocalypse, and carrying the fatalism heavily and rationally. Often told from the perspective of "innocent" contemptuous male narrators, Sheldon's stories express a deep outrage for the workings of gender politics, letting slip the masks of female acculturation for those in the know, to reveal the deep rage and violence beneath. At once fielding the morally squishy and hard science with instincts of a thriller, Sheldon's work defies gender authorship but is labile with feminism.

Accordingly, the book takes the temperature and meaning of Sci Fi through decades, first personally for the author and culturally, as context. As a fan, this peep into the heady world of Golden Age and New Wave editing rooms is a particular treat, how our tastes are shaped, what humanist principles those editors were trying to sculpt, and in particular, how institutionalized ideas of gender restricts our understanding of the hard/soft paradigm of Sci Fi at large. Pleasant asides: Sheldon's tentative wooing of various authors through erudite letters assigned to Tiptree, and his penetration into the circle of sometimes similarly reclusive people, their collective work creating a safe harbor for the deranged, the damaged, the insightful and oppressed, in other words - the alien.

Note: Reading this biography was a highly personal experience. But I think anyone who has suffered from or is interested in the effects of repression or depression may gain something from both Sheldon and Phillip's insight. While Mad Men's Sally Draper is definitely an unsympathetic character, I imagine that in some sense she, and all the other women on that show, would empathize in a primal way if not fully understand Sheldon's personal despair of "seeming" just a woman yet "being" so much more.

NPR interview with Julie Phillips.

Rare, for me, promotional Amazon link to Sheldon's short story collection, Her Smoke Rose Up Forever.

Win Win

2011-06-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

People who feel out of control in their lives, trying to do the wrong thing by the right means. Channeling that adolescent sense of invincibility and anger. That wistful nostalgia. Lovely winsome film that reminds you that no matter what, you do have a choice.

Summer Express: 101 in 10

2011-06-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

With all my time devoted to learning Revit as quickly as possible, I havn't had a lot left over for cooking and dishwashing. I found this article for 101 "fast" foods in the New York Times. Some of these are intuitive, we do sausage dogs as well as cannellini bean salad a lot, but a nice consolidated list is convenient for those quick restocking trips at the grocer. I would pick up some spring salad mix, bread or make a big pot of rice or quinoa to round out these dishes. Mark Bittman is The Minimalist!

Creamy Kimchi Udon with Pork, OR Udon Carbonara. Again...

2011-05-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

1.5 tbsp Kewpie mayo
1 egg, room temp
1 tbsp softened butter
1 large dollop of mentaiko, or other fish roe
1 small package fresh udon, well drained but still hot.
3 green onions, sliced
1.5-2 cup radish, or cabbage kimchi, sliced or roughly chopped. Rinse if preferred. Squeeze and drain.
3 slices of pork belly or thick cut smoked bacon, and thin slices of beef if preferred. Drain.
garnish with bonito flakes and/or thinly sliced seaweed
pinch of salt

Boil water for the udon. Fry sliced bacon over medium heat, and when almost crisped, quickly saute the green onion. Meanwhile, beat together eggs, mayo, and butter. Fold in mentaiko, warm green onions and bacon. When noodles are ready, drain very well. While still hot, add to the sauce and test for seasoning. Garnish with bonito or seaweed.

Source Code

2011-05-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

Alternate Titles:

Groundhog-train-day

Fail Again, Fail

Epic Fail

The Fail Train

The Conversation:Dick Gregory with Tavis Smiley

2011-05-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Please give a listen to this discussion. I stumbled across this broadcast today while driving in my car, and Gregory really put a smile on my face.

Streaming from PRI: Smiley and West website

Download free from iTunes.

Japanese Cheesecake

2011-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

My 2nd cheesecake shows a crust of wrinkle where I poked the side experimentally, which despite the very souffle-esque interior, did not fall one whit when cooled or flipped. Again, good technique when prepping, mixing, and folding makes a big difference - Cold eggs and utensils. Absolutely no fat or water when beating eggs. Proper folding technique. Etc. Etc.

This cake really did need some more time baking. The top doesn't have the dark shiny layer that it could, and the inside was more souffle-like and soggy than it should be. Ample time for the interior to firm up and dry out however, makes the texture and flavors come together. I find weighing ingredients much easier than measuring.

8.4 oz milk, room temp

9 oz cream cheese, room temp

60 g unsalted butter (about 4 tbsp), room temp

6 large egg yolks
opt. 1/2 tsp lemon zest, juice or vanilla
60 g cake flour
20 g corn flour

6 large egg whites, chilled; in a large chilled bowl, with chilled beater attachments

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

130 g granulated sugar, or caster sugar

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare a tray, the size of a pie plate, filled with 1/2" of hot water on the bottom rack.

Oil and flour a 9" cake pan with 2-3" sides. Place a circle of oiled and floured parchment on the bottom. You can also use a spring form pan with the bottom well insulated with foil to stop leakages.

Heat milk and cream cheese in a double boiler over low-medium heat till thickened to the consistency of cream. Do not let the water boil or even simmer to prevent the milk and eggs from curdling. Just be patient. Low heat may take longer but will cause less grief in the end. Melt in the butter slowly, then turn off heat and whisk in egg yolks. Sift the flours into the batter in several batches, whisking thoroughly each time. Pour the custard into a mixing bowl.

Remove the chilled egg white and implements from the fridge - a cool kitchen helps during this step as well. Immediately begin beating with a mixer on high. After the egg whites foam up, add half the tartar while continuously beating. When the eggs start going pale, tip in the rest of the tartar and start drizzling in the sugar very slowly. Keep non-stop beating till the eggs form stiff peaks. If necessary use a spatula to scrape down the sides. The bubbles must be small and uniform.

Fold egg whites gently into the now cooled custard - good technique is key because the batter likes to hide beneath floating clouds of meringue. I do this step three times in batches. Each "session", I incorporate well, so there are no streaks. Do not mix vigorously or beat together.

When the batter is a uniform color, pour into the cake pan and gently smooth the surface with a spatula.

Place in oven on the rack right above the tray. Bake for around 70 minutes or more - until top is well browned and a toothpick comes out very nearly clean. Remove water tray and turn off heat. Crack the oven with a kitchen spoon and let the cheesecake cool down for at least 10 minutes. When the cake has mostly pulled away from the pan on the sides and is cool enough to handle, remove from oven immediately. Run a knife around the edge, invert to a plate and then a wire rack.

Chill for several hours.

References:

http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2011/02/japanese-cheesecake-fluffy-creamy.html#ixzz1L9EY4tMK

Tonkotsu Ramen

2011-05-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

Notes on pork stock: I wasn't quite happy with the results and may go with a plain broth without fried aromatics next time. One can always add them later. Also, bone stock needs to be boiled with serious vigor, and a decent amount of time, not coddled like a consommé or a delicate broth.

1) Bone Stock

2 pig trotters
1.5 chicken bones - wings with tips, chicken feet, legs
1.5 pork hock, cracked

poach in boiling water

cool and drain

1 head of garlic, trimmed
1 onion
ginger

in the oil:
deep fry garlic cloves
fry ginger
caramelize onion

crack large bones with a hammer
fill the cleaned pot as much as possible with water

bring to a high boil

strain scum till clear

add aromatics

lower to a rolling boil for 6-12 hours, covered
add water as necessary
boil till the bones are clean

2) Clear Stock:

pork bones - neckbones, hock
chicken bones - wings with tips, chicken carcass, leg

poach in boiling water

cool and drain

6" kombu square
1 leek, green part
2 slices of ginger

fill the pot to cover ingredients by 1"

heat to low boil and then turn to a bare simmer

strain scum till clear

add aromatics

continue simmering for 6-12, uncovered

Ketchup Spaghetti

2011-04-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

After straining my back, I've been awfully lazy lately in my endeavors. This includes cooking. The upside is that I've been pulling a lot of old standards that get forgotten in the spirit of learning new recipes.

This variation on Hong Kong style spaghetti is a dish I've eaten in many different asian households, where the vegetables tend to be sweated rather than browned or sauteed. Heck, they were probably frozen or came from a can. Diced carrot is a popular addition, like a bolognese, but also crushed black olives, which is what I like to add right before serving. Sometimes, I add in a glug of red wine, or a several pinches of dried oregano or basil, just because. The flavor should be more sweet than your normal spaghetti, and probably a bit ketchupy.

1 lb of spaghetti

1 medium onion, diced
clove garlic, opt

1 lb white button mushroom, sliced

opt. diced carrots

1 lb ground beef

ketchup

crushed tomato, big can

sugar to taste

salt, pepper to taste
opt. wine, spices, olives

Set the spaghetti to boil. Sweat carrots, onions, garlic and mushrooms. Brown beef, breaking up till some pink is left. Add ketchup to coat stirring till thickened slightly. Pour crushed tomato into the pot and bring to a boil. Turn down heat immediately, add sugar, then wine if using, and simmer for at least 15 minutes. Adjust with seasoning or spices. Before serving stir in olives.

Game of Thrones

2011-04-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

So I don't want to get in that whole internet discussion about what a real woman does with literature in her spare time. Instead, I offer this much about the first episode (mild spoilers to follow):

Enjoying...

1. Opening credits are undeniably amazing and deserves a show in its own right.

2. The tone is a bullseye - dirty, medieval, noble and barbaric vs voluptuous chivalry, corruption, retribution and politics - with descriptors being interchangeable on either side of the "vs." As they should be... As they should.

3. Production crew doing great detailed work establishing the character of the various houses, cultures, continents, and costumes.

4. Fine acting, mostly. Dinklage/Tyrion, how we love you already. Reliable Bean. And oh, Robert Baratheon. The Stark children are perfect and the albino brother is a skeeve. Goes to show that good casting can do a lot of work for a director.

5. Succinct fidelity to text, hitting all the major points in dialogue and plot without making everything staid. Complexity intact so far, not that figuring the peeps out is that tough - to the chagrin of one Bellafonte.

Minor Quibs

1. Violence and bloodshed and sex a bit excessive but not far from the bar set by Martin himself, but I can only guess those decisions are the directors solution for distilling the book's convoluted emotional setups into a single scene.

2. Camera dwells on full facial cuts during emotional moments that perhaps are just a bit too long.

3. Cheesy epic soundtrack for a show that should just have a bugler, jester, bard, or piper, according to the situation, because the book, while epic, is not that kind of epic.

4. On the fence about Dany, though her blankness is perhaps expected given her story. And both the Queen and Catelyn are more vulnerable than I expected, though this may also be a red herring, or simply paving their future motivations in a way that makes sense.

Reading such long serials, one tends to forget after several books the simplicity with which we first see a character. Then again, Martin always gives you a clue when he introduces someone. Wether or not the reader catches it at first or remembers it despite the following intrigue is something best left to hindsight.

I need to go read the book again...

Mission Chinese Food

2011-04-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

Camera malfunction, but definitely not food malfunction at Mission Street Chinese Food. Pork belly, deep fried Filipino style, with traditional tea smoked eggs and flat rice noodle rolls that usually are served at dim sum.

Mission Chinese is queer place, both hipster and humdrum. The 90's rap on rotation and the lantern lit dragon on the ceiling, recalls some seedier sections of Asia, and the menu mixes takeout standards with some beloved but lesser known favorites that "non-asians" dont typically order or even see. Chef likes to tinker and his dishes reflect that sense of whimsy, so the food here is inconsistent from visit to visit - by that I mean, mixing things up, rather than taking a downturn. There is tender, oh so tender, brisket rivaling the best that Oakland has to offer, melty fat infused with woodsmoke and tempered with Mexican Coke bbq sauce. A variety of tart pickles that recall Chinese street fare and Korean pan chan, make the best accompaniment. Then theres a hodgepodge of pan Chinese references for the main courses, from Lion's Head Meatball Ramen, where the meatball is actually a twist on the pungent stinky fish patty, to Mapo tofu, hot on all kinds of levels, fiery, searingly, and numbingly. Surprisingly, the Salt Cod Fried Rice plays it safe but offers a soft landing to all the bigger flavors on the menu. This flip flop of textures and tasting profiles is what defines Mission Chinese Food, where fusion comes correct, and with a low price tag. Get in line!

Chairman Bao - Off the Grid

2011-04-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

Chairman Bao's Braised Pork and Pork Belly sandwich

The food at Off the Grid is a little lackluster from some vendors, but fair in general, and everyone will find something to love. I've had better tacos at the Walnut Creek DMV, but without the foodie fancy toppings. But if I could cross Chairman Bao's pork belly "salad" with the daikon relish from the braised pork and have it on the steamed bao, that would be ideal. I've heard Cupcakery has some great desserts, but they were out by the time we stood on line. Next time!

Sundance Restaurant

2011-04-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

12 oz Shareholder's Primerib with baked potato

Sundance also has an affordable 20 dollar Twilight Dinner that includes a 6 oz steak, cup of soup and same choice of sides as the regular meal. As for the rest of the straightforward dishes at this basic steakhouse, everything was carefully executed. While I don't love the creamed spinach, mashed potatoes were creamy and garlicky. The squid in the calamari appetizer was perfectly tender (DD loved the smoky spicy dipping sauce), as were the clams in the chowder, which everyone preferred to Sam's New England. Heck, the steak was tender too, even after microwaving the leftovers.

Yellow Cake

2011-04-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

My second attempt at making Yellow Cake from the The New Best Recipes book ends in success! The small blemish on top occurred when the skin stuck to the plate before reversing on to the rack. Otherwise, the cakes are only slightly lopsided and rose to a healthy inch. The flavor is extremely eggy, and may not be the kind of cake that I ultimately want to proceed with in future, since I'm after a French or Asian cafe cake which is based on the chiffon. However, the Yellow Cake recipe is really not as complicated or delicate as others that I've come across and therefore is a reliable American style cake that serves a purpose at the end of a homey, hearty weekday meal.

Tinkered Yellow Cake Recipe

1 3/4 cup (7 oz) cake flour
1 1/2 cup (10.5 oz) sugar

2 tbsp buttermilk powder; I used Bob's Red Mill

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

16 tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but cool, cut into pieces

2 tsp vanilla

4 large eggs, room temp

1/2 cup water, room temp

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. Grease and flour a parchment circle for the bottom of each. In a large mixing bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. Cut in butter with a fork till the meal is coarse with pea size bits.

Beat together the wet ingredients, egg, water, vanilla. I do this straight in my large 4 cup Pyrex measuring "jug". Pour 1 cup of the egg mixture into the flour and with a hand mixer beat on low for 5-10 seconds till incorporated. Turning the mixer to high, beat until light and fluffy. Add the remaining egg liquid in a slow stream for about 30 sec, then stop and scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix on high until thoroughly combined and the batter looks a little curdled, about 15 seconds.

Divide batter equally in the pans, spreading with a spatula till smooth. Bake till light gold and tooth pick comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the perimeter of the cake, and invert onto a large flat plate quickly. Peel off the parchment and immediately turn onto a wire rack. Cool before frosting.

Several points of note:
1. The cake pans really need to be well oiled and floured, especially in the corners, or else some loved bits get left behind.

2. Leveling the batter before baking is important to achieve a perfect layer.

3. My hand mixer is old and grumpy, so the mixing takes a bit longer than stated above. Furthermore, this cake is perfectly fine as made with a wire whisk but will likewise take a proportionally greater length of time and more elbow grease. The consistency is more crucial than the timing.

Since this is my everyday dessert, I didn't bother knife leveling the layers. Instead, I whipped up the Penuche from Betty Crocker's All Time Favorites and slathered brown butter frosting all over my peaked and lopsided cake. Again, I'm making use of my buttermilk powder in lieu of milk. The below recipe is slightly less frosting than needed for the cake above. One option is to substitute a light whipped cream filling in the center, or increase the Penuche recipe by about 1/4.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp buttermilk powder
2 cup powdered sugar

Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan. Heat to boiling and whisk in buttermilk powder and water until the mix looks like roux. When bubbly remove from heat and gradually stir in powdered sugar little by little, whisking till smooth and spreadable. The book says to put the hot pot in ice water while whisking, but I just did it off the heat. To compensate for the evaporated moisture I did have to add a little water once cooled and whisk again before applying to the cooled cake. While tasty, the frosting is not particularly light and fluffy. I would have to test the recipe again to be sure. For now, the cake is just right.

Chicken Paprikash

2011-04-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

Serve chicken garnished with chives and flour dumplings on the side. However, I just used packaged fresh gnocchi in lieu of dumplings. While flavorfull, the skin is not very appetizing and can be dispensed with prior to seasoning.

1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 garlic clove, minced, or powdered garlic
4 chicken legs
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup sour cream

Rub chicken with garlic, salt and pepper on all sides. Dredge lightly in flour. Brown in a large skillet with olive oil and butter, turning once. Remove from heat.

In the same pan on lower heat, saute onions till barely wilted. Make a little room in the pan and bloom the paprika on the bottom surface. Deglaze fond with chicken stock. Lay chicken pieces over the onions and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes until chicken is cooked through or longer for chicken that is falling off the bone. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Adjust seasoning.

Reference:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Paprikash-with-Sour-Cream-237284
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_paprikash/

Master Granola

2011-04-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

Granola is a no-brainer really. Below are the basic ratios with some ingredient suggestions following. Recipe makes a good amount for having on-hand and is ripe for spontaneous experimentation.

Syrup

2/3 cup liquid sweetener, in preferred combo; brown sugar, honey, molasses, maple or rice syrup.
1/4 cup oil; canola or vegetable; butter or coconut also works

3/4 tsp salt
opt. 1/4 tsp spices; vanilla and cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg; citrus zest

opt. 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce, substitute for equal portion of liquid sweetener; likewise, peanut butter is a good substitution

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.In a small saucepan, heat on low until salt and sugar are dissolved.

Dry Ingredients

1.5 cup shelled nuts of choice; pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashew, macadamia

1/4 cup shelled seeds; pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, flax
3 cup grain; rolled oats (not quick cooking), rolled barley, quinoa, buckwheat
opt. 1/4 cup wheat germ

Toss the dry ingredients and slowly pour the syrup in batches, making sure everything is well coated. To make clusters, cool just to touch and squeeze granola in your fist. Spread granola on a parchment covered baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour or until the granola is at the preferred crispness.

3/4 cup dried fruit; cranberry, raisins, currants, dates, pineapple, etc

opt. 1/2 cup special ingredient of choice; cocoa nibs, chocolate chips or carob, dried coconut, etc

When the hot granola has cooled a little, add in the dry fruit or specialty item. Cool and store.

A savory option to try is Chef Daniel Humm's recipe for Provencal Granola in Saveur. Or, why not substitute sugary dessert flavors for spicy? Give in to goji berries, agave syrup, chili, and garlic powder with pumpkin seeds.

Dinner Save

2011-04-17T02:49:00.001-07:00

A recipe for layered yellow cake turned into disaster when I forgot the sugar. Faced with two 9" round vanilla scented biscuits, I figured fried chicken was the way to go. The easier solution? My take on Shake and Bake, perfected in college. Martha Stewart's buttermilk herb dressing with a twist necessitated, once again, by missing some items on the grocery list and a desire to test out different ways of using that bag of buttermilk powder.

Why am I not buying all fresh? Because I'm tired of throwing out half empty cartons of dairy and digging up wilted bunches of herbs from the bottom of my crisper. Have I eschewed produce forever? No. But that dried stuff needs turnover too.

Baked Chicken

I'm totally guessing at the amounts here.

4 whole chicken legs with skin, room temp, lightly salted
1/3 cup of panko flakes, but breadcrumbs of all kinds will also do
1/4 tsp of smoked paprika
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1/2 tsp of powdered garlic
2 tbsp flour
cracked pepper
*opt. parmesan, dried spices like parsley or seasoning of choice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Throw the dry ingredients into a bag and shake till chicken is coated. If theres a lot of extra panko left over, sprinkle some drops of water over the surface and press on the excess breading. Bake legs skin side up for about 30-35 min or until juices run clear and the skin is crackling and golden (more golden than in the picture). If theres not a pool of tasty liquid on the pan, then the chicken isn't done yet. To make the skin extra special all around, bake on a rack.

Buttermilk Powder Vinaigrette

2.5 tbsp buttermilk powder
1/2 cup water
1.5 tbsp balsamic
1/2 tbsp each of rice, cider, white vinegar (last dregs...)
1 tsp kosher slat
1/3 tsp ground pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup minced chives
1/4 tsp dried tarragon
1/4 tsp of dried thyme
1/8 tsp of dried oregano

Whisk all the ingredients up and let it sit before using. Add some extra pinches of herbs if you want the dressing stronger.

Fabriclive 56 - Pearson Sound/Ramadanman

2011-03-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Granted, music these days is essentially polyamorous, but dance mixing live or otherwise, has often not been. The phenomenon of the "x" night is somewhat understandable given tribal groupings, but points to a somewhat archaic way of categorizing given the medium, and clouds, or what have you. In terms of alchemical properties, a laptop offers the capability to transcend genre, indeed formal musical constraints, and still maintain a danceable beat in a way more inline with cultural consumption today. To the effect that Ramadanman ushers us into an aural revolution, I would be hardpressed to make a case, with much respect to those that come before. Subjectively though, I hear in his music a kind of syncretism which the dance floor often alludes to but doesn't quite achieve.

If Glut was a microcosm of perfect balance in a single dance track arrangement, then Fabriclive 56 is the debut of DJ/producer David Kennedy's, aka Ramadanman's macro. At once ethereal and earthy, Kennedy's mixes are a throwback to a pre-digital sensibility of wax, the windups and timeouts organized in a familiar way to our collective bodies, but with complicated layering and time play made possible through digital technology. He often favors a tick-tocking, bouncy pinpoint of snares that clears a way through the dark,rhythmically textured, grimey, dubby, steppy haze. The setlist, brimming with syncopated drums, lends itself to opportunity in the spaces between songs where the transition becomes an entity in and of itself rather than simply a clean getaway to the next track. Tonally these are phase shifts but ones that never feel forced or off kilter as some mashups often do. A superb balancing act modulates the crash of genres as well as the particularities of their individual soundscapes, nudging them into a whole bigger than the sum of its parts. As an end of set bonus, an ambient "remix" of Glut seamlessly morphs into Euro juke, raises arms to a house breakdown and segues into dubstep, which in turn evolves into a juke/dub remix of summery house that disintegrates slowly into white noise.

To my mind, Ramadanman is the most paradoxical of djs, thoughtful yet still accessible, technically perfect and emotional, artificial and organic, bridge and jumper, etc. etc. This particularity is what makes his music unique, the subtleties and variety difficult to pin down and copy. His music appeals to eggheads and still rocks the dancefloor, seriously. That's another hard balance struck. Underneath is a mental process that contemplates with the rigor of pure cinema, a reliance on autonomous sound to produce affect rather than style, a core belief of the first digital practitioners, Cage, Stockhausen and their contemporaries. Really, that's the structural noise I've been after.

01. Pearson Sound – Hawker
02. Levon Vincent – Late Night Jam
03. Elgato – Music (Body Mix)
04. Marcello Napoletano – Everyday Madness
05. Tiyiselani Vomaseve - Vanghoma
06. Pearson Sound – Wad (fabric Edit)
07. Julio Bashmore – Battle for Middle You
08. Ramadanman – Grab Somebody
09. Ramadanman & Appleblim – Void23 (Carl Craig Re-edit)
10. Pearson Sound - Project
11. Joy Orbison – GR Etiquette (Pearson Sound symphonic refix)
12. J Kenzo – Ruckus (Martin Kemp Remix)
13. Fugative – Bad Girl (Lil Silva Dub)
14. A Made Up Sound - Demons
15. Jam City – Night Mode
16. Mr Mageeka – Different Lekstrix
17. Pangaea – Inna Daze
18. Pearson Sound - Stifle
19. MJ Cole feat. Wiley – From the Drop
20. Pinch - Qawwali
21. Joy Orbison vs. Ramadanman – J. Doe Them
22. Pearson Sound - Picon
23. Burial - Pirates
24. Die Barbie Musik Kollektive – Face (Junk)
25. GIRL Unit – IRL (Original / Bok Bok Remix)
26. D1 - Subzero
27. S-X - Woo Riddim / Ramadanman - Glut
28. Addison Groove – Fuck the 101
29. Mala – City Cycle / Joe - Claptrap (Tease)
30. Sigha – Light Swells (In A Distant space)

Read the XLR8R article on Ramadanman.

G Dragon

2011-03-09T23:49:00.000-08:00

Vogue's March issue finally declared that Korean Fashion is the new Japan. But scores of menopausal Chinese moms knew this many years ago, when JDrama was overtaken by KDrama in the afternoon VHS rotation. Can one doubt?

Korea is a parallel world of momentum at the moment in terms of music. And when I say parallel I mean precisely, much more neck and neck than ever before to the juggernaut of American pop, at present enamored of Eurodance trash of many yesteryears ago. Not since the golden era of Korean pop has there been as much energy in the music industry, fulminating around the careers of DBSK, Super Junior, etc. While, true, the music is derivative in an overall sense, there is a feeling that stylistically the touchpoints are getting smaller and smaller.

The industry has long been the provenance of a fairly competent and professional group of rappers and R&B crooners, at a collective technical caliber higher than say, Japan, and with a swagger all bratty/cocky or sweaty shirtlessness that a Western audience can relate to. But G Dragon's chameleon-like Lady GaGa/gender ambiguous pose stands out against the backdrop of the typical Korean male, who is traditionally more bicep showy, more macho, clean cut or respectable, even in this (oh how quickly burnt the candle) era of Shinee rainbow jeggings.

Culled from the safety of Big Bang, G's Heartbreaker album carved out a neo glam presentation and dirtybit sound that does a lot of fancy empty visualizing and calls to mind the flamboyant ethos of Visual Kei in the Miyavi vein, or less fortunately, The Far East Movement.

Honestly, I have no high brow illusions about this. I am a G Dragon Fan. All that slim, shiny pizzaz stuns me into submission. And now, with G's haute couture clad stick figure gracing the covers of so many arty fashion magazines, I have whiplash. Is any of this sustainable? Just as much as space travel, I suspect. Perhaps though, the wriggle room for such a phenomenon even in a tiny space of cultural time is making enough flash to carry the minimal substance.

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

2011-03-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

These cookies are really just a bunch of muffin tops (yeah...) and you don't need a special pan. The original recipe from Martha Stewart on her website. My slightly tweaked version below.

Cookies:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1/8 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat eggs, pumpkin, and vanilla till smooth, then add dry ingredients in stages till thoroughly combined.

Pipe cookies onto a silpat covered cookie sheet in 1 1/2 in rounds and bake for 12 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool.

Melt and brown butter. Remove from heat, stir in sugar, then milk, and vanilla. Stir until very smooth. Use scant tsp per cookie. Add milk if the icing firms up too much

Ike's Place

2011-03-02T17:48:00.001-08:00

Not A Reuben

Japanese Treats

2011-03-02T17:46:00.001-08:00

Soy flavored Kit Kat? Red Bean Toast Pretz?

And More!

Lunch in Halfmoon Bay

2011-02-11T11:26:00.000-08:00

Barbara's Fish Shack Minimix Tempura - shrimp, squids, fish, chips, scallops, zucchini - fried fish and chips style. Not bad, but the breading falls off easily. Bring your own tartar sauce.

From Bottom Left Clockwise:

Barbara's Fish Shack Clam Chowder - Translucent soup, thickened with cornstarch or similar, embodied by a strong chicken/seafood bouillon taste and a big hit of thyme. Powerful seafood aroma and heavily seasoned with salt. Served with oyster crackers.

Sam's Chowder House - Classic New England style with a strong bacon scent, bay leaf, and a sweet clam flavor that is legible but not pronounced. Infused with a strong dose of milky creaminess but not particularly thick with starch. Diced potatoes still have their edges intact. Served with sourdough and butter.

Milk Soup

2011-02-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

I go back to this recipe again and again because it's robust and darn tasty. The texture of the liquid should be somewhere between creamy and brothy, still light and slightly translucent but thickened with broken down starch from the potato and tinted by the milk. I prefer more milk, potato and heat on the tongue, but you may prefer less. Customize!

1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, smashed, minced
4 hot italian sausages, casings removed and broken up; You can also use mild sausage and toast some hot pepper flakes. Hard sausage like linguica can be used, but I prefer fresh sausage. Likewise, mix up ground pork with italian seasoning like anise or fennel.
4 large russet potatoes, diced

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp dried rosemary, minced fine

1 qt chicken broth, or more
white beans, canned
kale, ribs removed and chopped
2 cups whole milk
salt
black pepper

Saute onions and then garlic. Add sausage and brown briefly. Add potatoes and stir for 5 min or so and toss in herbs. Pour chicken broth till ingredients are nearly all covered. Top off with more chicken broth or water if necessary. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Add white beans after about 10 minutes. After another 10 minutes, or when the potatoes are tender, throw in the kale. Lower the temperature again and stir in the milk. Be careful not to have the burner too high or the milk will curdle. Warm till the soup is heated through and the kale is just beginning to wilt. This soup will not need much, but adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Rift

2011-02-08T23:09:00.000-08:00

After several days cloistered in Beta, I'm excited about spending more time with Rift in the future. The play is engaging and varied. There are interesting lore-based dynamic events which utilize a public grouping system that gets your nooby level character raiding straight out of the starting area. I particularly like how NPC chit chat seems to generally relate to whats happening in the world events. The class system is extremely flexible and practically begs for hybrid character builds. Despite my compy being below recommended specs, the game is running surprisingly smoothly. Even with all the eyecandy turned off, graphics are pretty. While the game is sometimes slow in the middle of crazy battles or crowded areas, the amount of lag is better than I've experienced in other games. Maybe mmorpg again?

Black Bear and My Day at the Farm

2011-02-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

French Dip

Apple Pie

SF Masterworks, Edward Gorey's Trouble with Tribbles

2011-01-25T00:49:00.000-08:00

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.

Thaiger Thai

2011-01-25T00:43:00.000-08:00

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 Original Pyrotechnic Novel

2011-01-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

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.

Action Writing

2011-01-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

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, Tibetan Barley Stew, Tsampa and Bone Broth

2011-01-14T12:25:00.000-08:00

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.

The Bladerunner - Alan Edward Nourse, Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

2011-01-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

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.

I also breezed through Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, which is an exercise in finding clarity through hindsight. The premise of cloning humans for body parts is largely seen through a personal lens, and reflects light on the process of connection and dying. The ethical ramifications are oblique in the novel but relevant at a time when research on transplants and the black market transactions for those who can afford it are coming to public consciousness. Sci-fi by high minded writerly writers is often overly soft. "New" frameworks for "old" drama. I point at Atwood.

Invisible, is boilerplate Auster-noir hiding under some fairly pleasant and undemanding reading. Missing is the intense intellectual play that the author is known for, but I'm starting to think this expectation is a red herring. Instead, Auster has constructed a four part dissection of youthful naivete through multiple perspectives. Particularly, he reveals how ignorance enables tragic decisions that shape the characters into the people they eventually become. Clumsy and a little rushed, but nonetheless touching.

Sweet Red Bean Paste Doughnuts

2011-01-14T00:10:00.000-08:00

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!

Korean Mung Bean Pancake

2011-01-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

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

carrots, julienne fine

thinly sliced squares of pork or beef

blanched bean sprouts

Sauce:

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp rice vinegar

lightly toasted sesame seed

Mung Bean Batter from Scratch:

2:1 ratio of water to dried mung beans

Korean Fried Sauce Noodles - Jjajangmyun 자장면

2011-01-13T15:12:00.000-08:00

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

korean squash or zucchini

2 tbsp oil

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.

Favorite Cookbooks

2011-01-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

While, I have a small collection of cookbooks, I really only use a few on a regular basis. Some are strictly for pictures or perusal of ingredients for dishes. Some I found initially lacking. Others I just outgrew ie Jamie Oliver. Some books, like Thai Food (comprehensive and very exact), are complicated, require more elaborate and time consuming techniques, or use foods that are hard to source - I go to these books on special occasions, or if I just want to let my work fly and see where it takes me. Obviously, the results are often uneven with this trial by fire method and so I tend to turn to these recipes less. Schneider's, A New Way to Cook, is interesting and unusual. I reread bits of it every now and again because there are clever tips, but I don't think I've actually made anything from her recipes. These days, I get a lot of inspiration from Saveur magazine, always reliable, or the internet, where I can satisfy sudden cravings for pierogi making by comparing recipes from different websites to see how "on" they might be. Italian-style food, like pasta and risotto are largely improvised, but I may go to Hazan, Hazelton or Silver Spoon to fact check my work on more serious dishes like traditional Lasagna Bolognese.

These below are my favorites in the sense that I use them for reference, techniques or ideas, but actually return to them again and again for actual, everyday recipes of all kinds, regardless of whether i follow them exactly.

The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen - Grace Young

I bought this book for recipes that I rarely see at a restaurant but are often found in home kitchens. While variations of these foods can be found in a good Chinese grocery or at specialized eateries in Chinese enclaves, these fascimilies often can't compare to the real thing. Most of these simple foods are ones that my grandmother used to cook as an everyday meal or health restorative. Some are elaborate preparations done for special holidays. The author takes care to point out the fusion dishes, so you know they are a product of migration and won't be found in the motherland. If you read Amazon reviews of the book, there are countless comments from disenfranchised Asian Americans going as rabid over these dishes as Proust with a madeleine. The book is light on technique but well organized with decent results. Young has a passion for reviving the tradition of cooking within the Chinese diaspora, those barely fluent, well-assimilated black sheep who went on to marry "foreigners". Anglo audiences will likely find her wok cooking books more accessible. Familiarity with ingredients will likely help. When I search for ethnic cuisine books, this kind of homey authenticity is what I'm hoping for.

An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey
The instructions in this book are detailed but sometimes confusing as they are narratively structured and dense. The flavor results, however, are usually above other indian food cookbooks that I've come across, especially in balance. Once I started to understand the basic steps of marination, grilling meats, making pastes, and roasting or blooming spices, braising, and then adding flavoring spices or oil, this cuisine started to make more sense. When I look up new recipes online, I apply these techniques to the ingredient list and the final product is usually better for it. I ought to try some of Jaffrey's other books as well Sahni.

New Best Recipes - Cook's Illustrated
For great American recipes and basic western cooking techniques, this is the book to go to. The explainations and tips are wonderful, with simply organized (occasionally fussy for no good reason), clear and workable recipes. The ethnic dishes are somewhat lacking however, with flavors that are less complex and interesting than they should be. These Asian, South American, Italian or what-have-you recipes have servicable enough directions (that I sometimes incorporate in other dishes), but result in gateway cuisine that is unlikely to astound anyone. Stick to the more familiar items and you can't go wrong.

MAFC - Julia Child
Written in a friendly and exacting voice, MAFC is like having chef/mentor standing beside you in the kitchen telling you what to do next. The extra steps may seem fussy, but by following them, I came to understand how they related to increased flavor at the end. This book beats all others in organization, with a comprehensive index, accurate cross referencing and a 2 column layout which I find personally superior to most texts.

Japanese Food: A simple Art Shizuo Tsuji
This bible covers most everything you might want to cook, from grilled meats to donburi. The flavors in this book are simple (though soy heavy to my taste, although it could be the brand I use) and relies very heavily on good product ie very fresh vegetables, seafood and meat. Make an effort to find them. I appreciate the detailed instructions and in particular the illustrations, which are very exacting. There is diagram of where to set up your bowls of ingredients for making tempura most efficiently. Very Japanese.

I have a feeling that if I ever got around to finally buying a copy of my own, any of Lidia Bastianich's books would be in the top ten.

Korean Tofu Soup

2011-01-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

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

sesame oil

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.

Wagyu Spotted at Hankook Market

2011-01-12T01:37:00.001-08:00