July 26, 2016 In All recipes, Noodle/Pasta/Rice

HOW TO USE KITCHEN TOOLS TO MAKE FRESH PASTA

[ezcol_1fifth] [/ezcol_1fifth] [ezcol_3fifth]OMG YOU GUYS HAVE TO TRY THIS OUT!Inspired by @miyukiadachi, a Japanese pasta chef in Toronto who creates beautiful pasta with self-made pasta boards or even vegetable grater! It made me wonder what kind of pasta shapes I could potentially create in my own home without spending an extra dime, and after testing with what I have in my kitchen drawer, I'm amazed at how many different and beautiful fresh pasta shapes that came out from simple kitchen tools like tongs! Like rice spatula! Or even from making my own pasta board simply with wooden skewers!Here, three types of fresh pasta doughs that could be used interchangeably with each different method. Really!? Do you really want to hear me say another word at this point?! Go! Run! Make it now![/ezcol_3fifth] [ezcol_1fifth_end] [/ezcol_1fifth_end][ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaca0J8UJw8MUSHROOM WATER PASTA DOUGH:Yields 2 servings1 1/2 cup (195 grams) tipo 00 flour, or all-purpose flour2 large egg yolk1/8 tsp salt5 tbsp mushroom water (the water you use to soak dry mushrooms)Mix flour, egg yolk, salt and mushroom water in a large bowl

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July 13, 2016 In All recipes, Meat, Snacks

SUMMER PHO BO ROLL

[ezcol_1half] In the walk of a cook who fancies herself a genius, there is no pain more excruciating than to realize when someone else has out-genius her.  If you were one of "her" (not saying that I am)(I mean genius?  Who?  Me?), careful, because this is gonna hurt. This guy, Tyler Kord, who wrote this book, A Super Upsetting Cookbook About Sandwiches, is really pissing me off. Okay, fine, go have a super successful and ever-expanding sandwich shop all over New York City as if that was a dream of mine or whaaaatever.  Dream-stealer

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June 22, 2016 In All recipes, Poultry

GENERAL TSAO’S CHICKEN WINGS

This is a seriously, seriously great General Tsao's recipe.  I was never a General Tsao's fan but this, this I can really down a bucket. The recipe is roughly based on The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook, which I have, as I always do, rendered almost unrecognizable.  Besides sugar and ketchup, almost none of the original ingredients has remained intact (see note at the end of the recipe) but something tells me that it can stand proudly on its own.  The chicken wings are impossibly crispy, and more importantly, stay crispy even if they are hopelessly coated with this fruity, tangy, sweet and spicy sauce under that rich and deep rouge color with an almost jewel-like gloss.  Really, this sauce, a reduction of pomegranate and cranberry juice with a layering of vinegars, chili paste and garlic .  I don't even care if you did it justice by frying your own batch of crunchy jacket-ed wings.  I mean drench your McNuggets in it for all I care and I guarantee you that you'll still want to bottle your own. I don't have much else to add, especially about the mystical emergence of General Tsao's chicken in virtually every Chinese restaurant in the US (I mean Netflix has a

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June 15, 2016 In All recipes, Meat, Noodle/Pasta/Rice

that spicy, sour Thai street noodle

[ezcol_1fifth]  [/ezcol_1fifth] [ezcol_3fifth] Just came home from an extra long weekend-getaway from Bangkok, my second time visiting this feasting sanctuary and wow, it is even better than I remembered.  I'm not going to play expert and include a traveling guide with this post because when it comes to Bangkok, I'm not, yet.  But I will however, include some links (with or without photos) to some of the memorable moments we experienced on this trip.  It's not a lot.  After all, it was a 2 1/2 day quickie.  Plus a noodle recipe that brings me back whenever I miss that city, which is to say, always. JUST STICK WITH THE DON AND THE HOLY FOURSOME   [/ezcol_3fifth] [ezcol_1fifth_end]  [/ezcol_1fifth_end] [ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end][/ezcol_1half_end] [ezcol_1third] BOAT NOODLES [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third] RICE VERMICELLI WITH PORK DUMPLINGS [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third_end] DUCK NOODLE WITH CHINESE HERBS [/ezcol_1third_end] [ezcol_1half] T&K SEAFOOD [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] ANOTHER SEAFOOD JOINT ACROSS THE STREET [/ezcol_1half_end] PORK OFFAL SOUP WITH FLAT RICE NOODLE TOM YUM SOUP WITH RICE VERMICELLI SIAM PARAGON - shopping mall with an entire floor of food paradise KITCHEN SUPPLY STORE WITH UNIQUE FINDS THAT SPICY, SOUR THAI STREET NOODLE: Before you say anything, you're right, this isn't authentically anything.  It isn't a particular Thai dish, doesn't even have a real title (the fact of the matter is, I didn't have a clue what most of the dishes

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June 7, 2016 In All recipes, Condiments, Dairy, Seafood

THE EGG YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEED – PART II, SALTED YOLK TARTAR SAUCE AND SPICY FISH STICKS

[ezcol_1half] This is Idea No 2 for incorporating what I call the red diamond of foods, salted duck yolk, into your everyday cooking regimen (check the previous post for a new age of carbonara!), and that is, it makes an over-the-top, creamy and decadent base in mayonnaise or aioli which goes on to become thousand different sauces with limitless possibilities. In this case, an incredibly rich tartar sauce which is worlds away from those pale-assed, loose-fitted watery blah that we've gotten too used to to question its legitimacy.  This tartar sauce, using cooked then pureed salted duck yolks, has a creamier and velvety mouthfeel with a hidden depth of richness that whispers its secret through its beautiful orange-yellow hue.  Yes, this tartar sauce uses 2 extra salted yolks for the amount that's made (the yolk-to-oil ratio), and you may be inclined to suspect that the difference may simply just be a result of the extra yolks, regardless whether it's salted or fresh.  But I can't sss this loud enough - salted duck yolks do not taste like plain egg yolks!  They just don't, ok?  Does fresh pork belly taste like bacon?  Huh?  Does milk taste like cheese?  Huh?  We y'all female homo-sapiens but do I look like Giiiiiisele?

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May 31, 2016 In All recipes, Dairy, Noodle/Pasta/Rice

THE EGG YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEED – PART I, CARBONARA 2.0

[ezcol_1third] I understand what it's like.  It's totally okay.  Happens to everyone. We venture into unfamiliar, "exotic" markets coming from strange corners of the world, seeing bewildering ingredients for the very first time of our small existence, feeling intrigued, curious, excited even, and then at the end of a good thorough lap we walk out of the markets with our sparkly eyes wide open and our shopping bags, utterly empty.  Hey, I do it all the time, like last week in an Indonesian grocery store, and then again yesterday in this "sports goods" shop?  It's no fault of our own, actually if anything, only human nature, to take caution with unfamiliarities.  It's survival instinct 101.  As far as I know, no one has ever died from tomato sauce in a jar or freezer-section pizzas, right?  I guess I'm just trying to say, I can relate. [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third] NESTED WITHIN, IS A JEWEL, DENSE AND COMPRESSED WITH THE ESSENCE OF ITSELF, HIDDEN TO BE EXCAVATED FROM THE BLACK SALTED EARTH A RED DIAMOND [/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_1third_end] But growing up from two distinctively different backgrounds and cultures also means that, I too, relate to the other side, perhaps from your perspective, the scary side, the side that is teeming with strange and unfamiliar ingredients, flying pig-parts

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May 13, 2016 In All recipes, Bakery/Pastry

ULTRA SOFT STRINGY, STICKY RICE BREAD

[ezcol_1fifth]  [/ezcol_1fifth] [ezcol_3fifth] Is it going to be blue or purple, this wall, or perhaps, a minty green?  Should I tile the bathroom, covering it in organized shines, or leaving it as is, a rustic plaster of diffused grey?  Those clusters, years of emotional settlements that are solidified in actual physical forms, are bothering me, a lot, and I want to dump them all away and start over, as if it could work both ways.  Did I mention these walls here where I stand, damn it, made of fucking concrete, are mockingly strong and defeating and apparently, impossible to drill through by whatever strength and tools I have left.  What's happened?  I used to be able to drill through lots of things, now apparently, not anymore.  Now I can only paint shit over.  Maybe there's nothing wrong with that, that it's just life bitch, but the mirror that came to us from an obliviously happy time of my life from a wholesaler in Jersey City, broad, reflective and inescapable, is now helplessly laying against the ground, catching things ruthlessly from a low and unnatural angel, a woman standing with her head cut off.  The mere wish to just to get it 3 feet up in perspective, to frame things, once

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