Vietnamese food = LOVE...

I broke my canon. Again. But I got these in before I broke it. again. :)

This is a soup-y thing that's not really soup. It's not stew either. It's called "canh cua rau day vuoi muop". This, apparently, when translated into English is soup with crab, jute/salyot leaves, and luffa squash. *shrug*. Alls I know is, it's kind of like spinach and zucchini--except in the broth, it ends up being a little viscous when cooked. The crab is just lump meat more or less nothing exciting. Either way, delicious--and apparently Jute leaves/saluyot is also eaten in Egypt/West Africa. *Shrug*.

Beats me. Either way, the nice thing about "canh" is you can eat it alone, or depending on which region of Vietnam, u can also eat it with your rice and rest of the meal allllllll mixed in together. I was eating it with my all time fave--ca phao mam tom. Ca = eggplant--but in this case it's usually pickled baby eggplanst, hence them being so round and poifect! It's occasionally picked in regular ol' brine type stuffs, or in this case, with a little shrimp paste and chili. Shrimp paste: if only you bastards knew how freakin' AWESOME it is--just never mind the initial...aroma. *shakes fist!* :) This is a "northern" vietnam kinda meal...YAAAAAY. Comfort food like u don't even KNOOOOW. [for me it's also canh chua ca thi la-- sweet & sour soup with steamed tilapia and thyme/dill, trung duc (which is a little like a frittata), and I dunno. banh cuon (crepes type thing)].

and then there are the fruits: this one is a rambutan--kinda like a lychee, and kinda not.

It comes completely covered in that red/tentacled little casing-- my mom tends to do this whole cut it in half make it look pretty on a plate kinda thing. *ah* l'amour. This was dinner for Xmas eve. Shame no place in NYC or a lot of vietnamese ventures don't get down home like this and dilutes the menu, or rather, cater to the masses by doing solely pho or whatever french influenced (cubed beef) crap that overshadows the fantastic freshness and flavors that is Vietnamese food. One day...wocka wocka wocka!

What's the scoop on hippo poop?....

..beats the poop outta me, but I like ze hippos w/ ze wafery outside and creamy hazelnut chocolate inside with EYES drawn on top!! :)

Originally found these in East London w/ Albee @ the local Sainsbury market in milk chocolate and white thingies around it. Then in Paris at the Odeon station vending machine on the way o Versailles in white chocolate with milk chocolate dippings!

...AND THEN AT FAIRWAAAAAY!!!!! :) in German packaging. from an Italian candy co (Ferrero--makers of ferrero rocher, nutella, Kinder, ...and TicTacs!! :)) and on my windowsill :) with its head bitten off :P

a review of chocolates and candies from abroad is in order--not to mention a long overdue entry on the fantasmacularosity that is Sadaharu Aoki. :)

Kefi on the UWS...

We were going to a Juno screening last wkd, but the line was ginormous and snaked almost completely full circle into Columbus Ave, so no seats =/ Claudz left so Karen & I walked about 12 blocks in the bitter cold to 79th St--I wore ballet flats, my feet froze and my toes tingled...HOWEVER, my god..kefi...mmmmmm. Gladly lose this little piggy for some Kefi meze plates :)

I forgot my camera so I borrowed these pics from a Yelp user and NY mag :) An NY Times article lamented the tapafication of dinners/restaurants, but WHATEVER. We got 3 meze plates and 1 small pasta dish but that were sufficiently full if not more so.

Firstly, we got the Grilled Octopus with chickpea salad. I don't know why, but after eating at Kión for Sam's semi-going away dinner, I just had a newfound appreciation for Octopus and more untraditional meats. Texture was great--you could cut w/ a fork, chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans were lightly seasoned and tossed in olive oil i think? (Btw, in my latest iron deficient anemic episode, I found out that chickpeas are an excellent source of iron, along with prune juice, and spinach :))

We also got some pita with melted feta cheese under a bed of tomatoes, dill, red onions, and ANCHOVIES ^_^ I can't just assume it's so good b/c it was melted--but it seems to really make a big difference in the feta flavor. *shrug*. I love dill. ohhh how I love dill. ANYHOODLE...the next thing...is SWEETBREAD!!

If you don't know, sweetbread is thymus/pancreas--u know, the ish that makes bile? :) WHO KNEW!! I used to do DNA extractions w/ my students w/ sweetbread--who KNEW indeed :) It was heavy on the garlic--as u can see in this pic, with onion rings-ish, and really tasty, but large, caper berries. FREAKISHLY large caper berries. but yummy :)

This next one is a pasta (brai) with pulled rabbit meat with Graviera cheese and other things. I was really excited b/c when I was in Florence, IT we were all at this little trattoria in the Oltrarno neighborhood that had the best olive tepanade & stuffed calamari (it was so soft we thought it was just pasta) and the local tavolo caldo that had coniglio cotto (grilled rabbit) but alas they were out that day =/ If you ever go back, it's across Ponte Santa Trinità and the other one was somewhere else =/ sorry it's been 4 yrs? But here's a picture of us outside of a giant Costco equivalent supermercato north of the Boboli gardens :)

oh yeah and here's a chinese restaurant in Venice//IT by the entrance of the ferrovia ;)

I am now Jewish and/or Tenente Henry...

I always thought eating cheese with some pears/apples and chunks of bread was really Hemingway-esque and really foreign to me, but as of late I really like eating Grana Padano cheese (sort of like Parmiggiano but more flavorful), and by "really like" I mean I'm certifiably obsessed--i CRAVE it...

Seriously isn't that the most beautiful cheese on earth? I love slicing it superthin and eating it with the Fairway 5 mix Olives & rosemary...thing...and mini toast that just rocks my little socks. You can't go wrong with olive tepanade but I'm digging the whole olives at the moment--green, purple, red, french, italian, greek, californian, etc...

Did I mention I bring a little tupperware thing of the Grana Padano sliced up, with some olives, and some Zomick's egg challa bread (comes in an orange/white checkered plastic bag--and sometimes breakaway rolls! :))? That or the All from Fairway? yeaaaaah.....

Btw--kalamata olives are overated, the French's (nicoise) and Italy's (Belle di Cerignola) is the bommmmmmb. :)

In Vino + [Mike's Pastries v. Ferrara's]...

There are 2 places in the city I go for Italian: Pisticci's near Columbia, and In Vino in the LES. Both have distinctive, brief menus--all the food is well portioned, well seasoned (or perfectly lightly flavored), culmination of interesting sauces + flavors that sets them apart from other Italian places *anywhere*. (side note: I don't like the lobster tail @ Ferrara's on Grand & Mulberry b/c the filling is more custardy and marscapone-like instead of a sweet cheese like ricotta @ Mike's Pastries in beanown) Here's some torrone instead :) :

Anyway, Annie visited from CA in October with her boyf--so I took her for non-Asian foodies @ Cuba Cafe and In Vino :)...Cuba Cafe will be saved for later when I can find my photos--so back to In Vino.

Anyway, Annie got the Gnocchi w/ gorgonzola cream sauce + walnuts, I got the Papardelle with shrimp arrabiata (which I always do), and Chris got the porcini Ravioli in truffle cream sauce.

The pastas are home-made...per se...but it tastes noticeably different and wonderful ^_^ Anyhoodle, I ran into Albee w/ his boyf there once and they got the risotto special--it was freakin' amazing, but me & Jun still stuck to our usuals.

We [as in pretty much anyone I go with, and I go too often] tend to start with the sottocenere cheese plate (cow's milk cheese with truffle oil and truffle flakes) with apples, walnuts, and a really intensely flavored, dark honey. I don't care much for many cheeses but I LOVE the truffle cheese!! warm, kinda nutty, creamy taste (sorta) with a delicate truffle flavor, but especially fragrant per se with the truffle.

Sometimes I get the crostino di avocado (avocado + goat cheese puree on toast and it's freakin' AWESOME). Jun and I split the calamari salad the last time I was there--white wine sauce w/ tomatoes and...lemon and something whatever. Blah di blah blah. pictures later.

Khyber Pass + JASmart's Relaxation Cake...

...was near St. Mark's today dropping off my old powerbook to Julia @ Cooper's Square...decided to go for a little solo dinner as is my way when I want a little rejuvenation...

Last time I went to Khyber Pass (afghani food) was with Michael sometime in May or June this year--it was really empty, and for St Mark's well...that's just pretty damn surprising [granted it was a Sunday]. The food then was great, the service then was shit...both of which remained the same this time around.

I got the Shireen Palow: saffron rice with citrus zest, almonds, and pistachio with Cornish hen (kebab style). Also had dill with parsley, and some kind of spices maybe paprika. The Cornish hen is/was tender, moist inside, outside perfectly browned, golden and glistening. Hint of lemon, onions slightly cooked was also sweet but it contrasted with the sweetness from the saffron rice. Big notice was the almond flavor, and how good the citrus zest was--didn't have that bite/kick to it anymore, just almost like a candied feel.

Went to JASmart after and perused the sweets section as always. Saw this version of those little swiss rolls/cakes they always have and are always a go. Caught my eye b/c it reminded me of the 20 layer crepe cake @ Lady M's on the UES when Mike & I went up on our fancy-cakes hunt (I always eat well when Michael visits haha--and end up buying expensive shoes ;)) Now back to the JASmart cake...

I'm gonna need u to click on this and read what it says...it's almost "engrish.com" worthy, but a little more poignant and encouraging :P...

Birthday Scampi...

happy birfday to moi! (cake from billy's bakery on 22nd & 8th--i lobe it!) 3 layer chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream in lavender (u can't tell but it's a pretty lavender :) with pastel green, white, and yellow sprinkles in a gradation of each color. u likey the comma splice no? ;)

so for bday dinner, I "made" shrimp scampi with my spin on garlic and oil pasta which is just with tomatoes and basil sauteed in garlic w/fish sauce. Yeah--u thought I was lying about using fish sauce in everything didn't you!! *shakes fist!*

I can't rave enough about using fresh basil (fresh dill, fresh herbs blahblah) enough garlic to stink for days. Basil rocks my socks. Basil and dill. SERIOUSLY. I also like arugula--I never took to bitter produce or spicy/hot foods, but man, u can really taste the diff and I eat spicy selectively now.

Back to the bday dinner food--I put "made" scampi in quotations because the scampi was frozen shrimp from Costco :) It used to be my fave b/c it was all seasoned and whatnot and just fantastically *salty* to my taste per se with a really robust flavor. (I also never understood that phrasing, robust, until lately anyway so it's just one of those things that you can't fully get conceptually until you really experience that taste.)

ANYWAY, I have to drain crazy amounts of butter every time I made it. Either way, it was a little disappointing that they altered the scampi to be so bland and buttery but great in that it made the tomato-basil-fish-sauce aspect really pop out more. I was sparing in the fish sauce. :P

Hot pot-ing...

Sean hosted hot-pot at his house. we came. we mixed sauces. somebody else bought the ish and cleaned the shrimp and meats were presliced. we ate. and ate. and ate. aaaaand *scene*.

one of the many incarnations we had that night. chinese broccoli, fish balls, cuttlefishballs, other processed meats balls, sliced beef, sliced lamb, prawns, enoki mushroom, napa cabbage, udon, clear vermicelli...

and a tub of Edy's icecream melting by the hotpot :)

Sauce comprised of sesame oil, soy sauce, and chinese bbq sauce (char siu...i think), and honey. Evidently you can mix in a raw egg in there for a diff taste and viscosity. MY MY MY....

yummers. (and the mango juice made an appearance as well :))...

Leftover materials...

Had some extra tomatoes and herbs, excess of soba noodles but no soba sauce so here's what happened:

Here are more pics. just b/c I can. blah di blah blah I buy and make enough food for like five people and then end up eating it forever, which I'm perfectly fine with.

From ...food/ACTUALLY...

and...one more!....

From ...food/ACTUALLY...

so...my bodega (which is pretty much 2 floors under my apt building) rocks, it has mango juice :)

costco has it in little bottles and in bulk. me loves. save the ales.

mi Chelsea kitchen...

Contrary to popular belief, and what you might surmise from this site anyway, I actually don't like to dine out TOO often. I do, when I have the time and serenity of mind, very much enjoy cooking--except I'm no vegan/organic/food snob, I just like to make what's good to my palate, down home shit with a little fancy pants to it now and then, and a little nouveau asian-mediterranean twist to it, as I've coined my style anyway.

Jun and Jane came over for dinner and yelled at "The Hills Have Eyes" playing OnDemand while I poofed it all up (dunno why that was the film of choice for dinner given some uh...unsavory scenes :P). Went to Whole Foods (the Gristedes near me is appallingly shady in produce/expiration dates/pricing for that kinda wilted crap anyway so I had to settle for overpriced perceivably organic fancy pants crap) and picked up some Bok Choy, dill, parsley, lime, roma tomatoes, shallots...AND LOTS OF GARLIC. Toss in a little fish sauce in there (and yes I use it in EVERYTHING I make and no one knows the diff).

Jane brought over her mom's pork...things. I can't remember what I/she/we call them but they're just pork pieces on bone, sauteed--u know, often in those clay pots. Whatever, moving on. Made my random concoction of usually pan-roasted chicken in a lime-dill-tomato sauce, and the giant bok choy with oil and lotsa garlic, sometimes in the remnants of whatever sauce I made for the meats. And we had brownies for dessert :)

And all with rice of course, b/c well, that's the way we do. YAAAAAAY.

Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn...

I haven't had much time to do anything for the first 7 mos of the year really until I went on a working vacay to England and Paris for the month, then CA for a couple weeks. Anyhoodle, I now had the leisure to go to Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn for part of Labor Day in the city--yes I turned down Bermuda to do nothing locally :)

The last time I went there was with Julia in the dead of winter in my little ZipCar, making pit stops @ Costco and Target, because apparently that's our idea of fun. Serious. Pizza here. F*cking amazing--it's all in the sauce. OHHHH it's all in the sizzaaauce!! (of course a little oregano never hut anybody.) Open 7 days a week even most holidays. GO NOW. by the D train at 2725 86th St. by Ave U in the bk and if by car exit #5 to Bay Parkway off the BQE/278W.

We got lost (*damn you googlemaps!*) but either way it's far but it's the best damn pizza and totally worth freezing our asses off then, and sweating our asses off this past weekend for some fluorescent green Italian ice-cream (not gelato mind you), and the half tray of sicilian pizza on the face of this earth. Being the italio-phile that I am, you know that speaks volumes.

You like the clear shot of my bag? Yeaaaah you do! And the Pepsi product placement. Anyhoodlekins, I usually bring back a pint of Pistacchio ice-cream but I settled for a cone this time--a SMALL. Julia and I both got pistacchio, Jane got the rainbow. O.o even has little chunks in it. Given the heat this labor day weekend, I figured green guck could possibly NOT be the best idea. Plus we brought our dogs. They'd probably devour whole. OoooOhhhhhh my doggies.

That's Hansie (No) Pants and Baby. Also Julia's feet, and my feet in the right picture. You can see my ten dollar flats from urbn start to fall apart :) annnnd *scene*. There will be no pics of people on this site--except minor cut offs in pics :P

English Fare...

Fish and chips can die for all I care. Pub food is decent now and then except well--not for a month of living in Oxford (which btw, there are 2 bus services that take you to London every 15 minutes). No notable pictures of "bangers & mash", or fish & chips, of fish/meat pies. Why? b/c why bother--except the fish was HUGE. Okay okay here's the fish and chips from The White Horse tavern on Broad Street in Oxford.

Indian restaurant above High Street by Cornmarket (Cafe Zouk)--pretty food & presentation, sufficiently tasty and distinct from major Indian fare, however the woman/hostess was pushy as ballllls.

Starting counterclockwise from top that's just papadum with various chutney, tomato/herb rice, Shahi Korma (chicken in some kind of cream sauce with ground almond and saffron), and preshawari naan. With a mango lassi :). And my utensils.

Didn't take any pictures of my crazy passion fruit/jasmine smoothie with flecks of something I can't recall, or crab (kwieatow?) pad thai (which isn't the usual pad thai-ness but fresher, a little more delicate, with more variant meatsies!!) @ Busaba Eathai in London (various locations but coworker/travelbuddy/fellowfoodie and I ate at the SoHo location by Store St. and Tottenham Court Rd). They don't have a site or menu. so boo, but it's all pretty "cheap" comparatively speaking--as much as most pub fare if you can believe.

Was wandering around Covent Gardens & Chinatown in London when I came across Abeno Too (on Great Newport St and Charing Cross Rd), and "okonomiyaki". Just fancy pants japanese omelet really, but eggs is never ever a bad thing :)

Some sauces on there which I can't quite determine but the white stuff seems like radish-y possibly mayo, and...won't venture a guess on the other.

And then of course...there's the Samphire & Prawn salad (with sea asparagus) @ the Slug and Lettuce restaurant chain at Oxford, but alas no pics of that. Or the Crayfish salad @ QUOD in the Old Bank Hotel on High Street by Queens Lane. The funny thing is the salads in England are actual salad, possibly frisee or rocket, romaine, actual veggies mind you, and full of meats and other contents instead of a giant plate full of iceberg crap.

What else do I have of London?....hrm....
well, there was the Tate Modern Cafe with at first turn freaked the crap out of me so much that I was visibly disturbed, facially contorted at the diminutive little pot ot deviled crab (think pate with that fatty glaze over too) with toast and somethign else...but MAN that actually was really filling and suck-your-finger-poke-somebody's eye-out surprisingly good :) Shame I can't find a picture. Anyway, for dessert we had Gooseberry Fool (beats me, looks like gelatin, mousse, topped with gooseberries--a little tart really, like a cross of grapes and kiwi).

We stayed in East London when we weren't doing daytrips. Happened indavertenly the best neighborhood (in my opinion) which is Spitalfield, home to the upmarkets, old and new Spitalfield markets I don't really understand the differentiation. Also, there's a stretch of Indian food there on Brick Lane. Nothing extraordinary. BUT, I can't remember the name of the pizza place but it was adjacent to The Spitz and it was open air, bench seating in an "alley" home to other restaurants nad shops--really relaxing.

and of course my faves...the candy. Didn't take many pictures of it, but just like the NYtimes article said, the chocolate quality is starkly different in Europe b/c they use less preservatives and emulsifiers, so even the KitKat was better! Here's where my loyalty lies--with Ferrero :) Kinder, blablabh same people.

This is like the Bueno bars (available in NY at my bodega anyway) except it's white chocolate..and shapped like a hippo :) They're also like 500 calories per piece. It's insane.

oh...and this is a cake store front in Chinatown, London UK. nothign special about it other than that it's Garfield. And colorful. me likes :P

Escargot...

Subscribed to snail-ism for the first time during pre-Thanksgiving festivities in 2005 w/ the family at Orange Hill (restaurant) in California. Went mostly for parental's anniversary and the view.

Escargot, escargot...first impression was that it was quite pretty and flashes of Julia Roberts flinging the little suckers around with those tongs in Pretty Woman.
Second thoughts (shame I didn't take a picture of what they looked like without the shell): it was a bit on the chewy side, no significant taste other than buttery with various herbs. Nothing particularly exciting or riveting other than that you're eating very healthy, well groomed looking gastropods.

FYI: snails poop on their head b/c of torsion causing their body to twist over their head over their "feet". YAAAAAAAY. Bachelors in Biology is good for something! :) And, according to wiki they're mostly right handed. O.o