Saturday, July 30, 2005
You Just Have to be Original, Don't You?
Cukindergarten
These here in the photo are babies, barely the size of my index finger, but I picked seven full-sized cucumbers off this plant about a week ago. Today I had two the size of my forearms! I am not a large woman, but still! It is incredible! The flavor is very good, as well. They are really almost too cucumbery.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Tomato Invasion!
42nd Battalion, Marrow Spoon Tomato Army
Lock up your daughters, folks. Hordes of innocent looking young tomatoes are taking over!
A Love Letter to Hatcho
Haribut, grolirous, haribut!
Dear Hatcho,
I love you. I love the way you shout "Issirrimasee!" when I arrive, I love your live sweet shrimp. Most of all, I love when you have fresh halibut with the proper accompaniments. The ponzu sauce and the mixture of grated radish, chili paste and bonito flakes is so amazing with the sweet fish and fresh green onions. Every time I feel like I have tried all of the Japanese food there is in the world and nothing could ever be so new and intriguing, you surprise and delight me. Thank you for your kind servers, your kaiseki menu, your oysters that are the size of a 5th grader's shoe and the incredible octopus and green apple salad.
Domo arigaato gozaimasita,
Comida
Saturday, July 23, 2005
An Embarrassing Wealth
This is the garden on July 23rd, a ridiculous abundance of fruit and foliage for a 6x6 plot.
As you can see from the photo I took on June 10th, and again on June 29th, it has grown like mad.
The plant in the front grows gorgeous English -type cucumbers. Reaching out to the right is the kabocha squash, and feeling out the left side is the Amish watermelon.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Chinese Broccoli
I feel that I am slow at getting this obvious clue, but the seafood department at Ranch 99 in Milpitas is amazing. They have lively Maine lobsters that are easily 15 or 20 pounds! Monster Lobsters!
Similarly wonderful is the selection of leafy greens. Let's start with Chinese Broccoli. You're not likely to find this at Safeway or Whole Foods, so you'll have to venture out to a real Chinese store. The kale/cabbage/broccoli family is large, so there are many varieties! Chinese broccoli looks like the better known Italian broccoli rabe, but the taste is quite different. It has a strong flavor, almost spicy, bitterish mustard-like that is absolutely fabu with oyster sauce, garlic and sesame oil.
The flavor is also a little smoky, like a caper, so you can pair it with similar traditional caper dishes as well. Sauteed with garlic, it would be great with saltimbocca or salmon. Though it seems to need an acid sauce to balance the bitterness, I don't think I would put it in a tomato based puttanesca sauce, but it would make a nice pairing with eggplant, grilled or otherwise, if you spritzed it with a lemon and sprinkled with toasted mustard seeds.
Ooo, or wrapped in prosciutto like asparagus and grilled would be wonderful. A nice substitute for nasty asparagus. (I just hate asparagus, and what it does to your body chemistry is just wrong.) And, with 41% of your daily recommended allowance of vitamin C and packed with calcium and A too, Chinese broccoli is very good for you.
Similarly wonderful is the selection of leafy greens. Let's start with Chinese Broccoli. You're not likely to find this at Safeway or Whole Foods, so you'll have to venture out to a real Chinese store. The kale/cabbage/broccoli family is large, so there are many varieties! Chinese broccoli looks like the better known Italian broccoli rabe, but the taste is quite different. It has a strong flavor, almost spicy, bitterish mustard-like that is absolutely fabu with oyster sauce, garlic and sesame oil.
The flavor is also a little smoky, like a caper, so you can pair it with similar traditional caper dishes as well. Sauteed with garlic, it would be great with saltimbocca or salmon. Though it seems to need an acid sauce to balance the bitterness, I don't think I would put it in a tomato based puttanesca sauce, but it would make a nice pairing with eggplant, grilled or otherwise, if you spritzed it with a lemon and sprinkled with toasted mustard seeds.
Ooo, or wrapped in prosciutto like asparagus and grilled would be wonderful. A nice substitute for nasty asparagus. (I just hate asparagus, and what it does to your body chemistry is just wrong.) And, with 41% of your daily recommended allowance of vitamin C and packed with calcium and A too, Chinese broccoli is very good for you.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Oolong Tea, Picked Especially for Vous...by Monkeys
"Monkey Picked"*
I apologize for the fuzzy picture, but my hand was unsteady after drinking two pots of fabuleaux tea this afternoon.
It was tieguanyin oolong tea at the Imperial Tea Court at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. My server brought out the dry tea in a celadon porcelen tasting cup, and presented it to my nose for approval before rinsing it in a quick splash of hot water. Yes, rinsing. I'm not sure why, but your finer Chinese teas are rinsed in a 30 second bath of hot water. At home, we pour this off in the sink, but the staff at the Imperial Tea Court has conveniently two-tiered metal serving trays, which allow them to pour the first rinse off into little holes on the tray. The wee cup was perched in a delicate saucer and had a lid to both keep the tea warm, and keep you from drinking the whole leaves. My server demonstrated to me how one holds all three pieces without spilling, dropping, dribbling, choking on leaves or otherwise humiliating one's self.
The decor in the place is a little tacky, and before I was served, I was afraid that I had overestimated the committment of the Ferry Building to provide quality AND tourist diversions. But the staff there is genuine, kind and helpful. Shrimp dumplings were also nice, and paired fantastically with the tea I chose. The red bean buns are not recommended, however.
And the tea? Served to me and the giggling pre-teens at the table next to me alike, with, can I say, imperial formality and respect for good taste. The water was piping hot, and refreshed as needed, everything impecably clean. At first I thought $5 for a cup of tea was, um, steep, but I got two pots of supremely flavorful oolong out of it over two hours of alternate reading and people watching. (Apparently half of SF is pregnant, btw.) Tieguanyin to go is $14 per ounce, and so worth it. I've never had such a complex, long finishing tea. It's a dark roasted oolong from Fujian, not at all bitter or tannic, but crisp and balanced. Oolong tea is not fermented as long as black tea, but of course, more than green tea, which is often not fermented much at all. So it is an "inbetween", but has more complexity than either of its siblings. The tasting notes say it has a peachiness and a chocolate nose, but I really didn't get much peach. It is fruity, but not in any annoying way you can identify. I had intended to stop in for a quick cup before heading over to the oyster bar, but I was so taken in by the richness of the tea, I couldn't leave it. Two hours later, I headed home feeling truly rejuvinated.
*My server gave me the "idiotic tourist" chuckle when I asked (in jest! I am actually not a moron) if it was really picked by monkeys. Apparently, that is a legend and the tea is, in fact, picked by human beings.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
The Impossible Shirataki!
I discovered a noodle that has 20 calories per serving, 1g protein, 3g carbs and 1g fiber. It is also available 24 hours a day at Safeway for $1.79.
It is made of some magic Japanese yam and tofu. Quite rubbery, but not in a bad way.
Looking at the nutrition info, I still can't get my mind around it. How could it be? It's not synthetic, like olestra or whatever cheating they're always trying to do to allow people to put greasy food in their mouths and swallow it but not actually eat. It is somehow just not that nutritionally available. Sometimes eating foods that are not nutritions will upset your system, (I think you know what I mean,) but unless you have some kind of tofu or yam allergy, these do not.
It seems to be actual food.
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