.... summer time..

i just wanted to warn everyone that in the next few days... a new blog post will include some amazing food/sushi porn with great insights into the world of food. so watch out... its been cooking in my head for a while now..

culinary boners for all... hehe i love top chef.

sushi ... part deux

so I'm back in Cali... the wondrous ways of the sunshine really makes my day a bit better even if i am not doing anything special. yesterday i had a few hours to kill and lone behold i was at sushi central in the west side. amazing.. i was fed some amazing stuff.. Ono...scallops... Spanish mack.. and some other good stuff i have no clue at this current moment to their names.. but it was just amazing. i spent roughly 3 hours there and just had a blast sitting. its one of those places that you can just eat great food and be happy. and surely it makes me smile every time i have something new placed in front of me. i like going to places where i can just sit in confidence that the food that is coming out is going to be great every time.

finding a place that you love is key to being a happy eater. not only does the food need to be great, but the space itself needs to be welcoming. and nothing makes me happier than seeing the faces of people who love to make and eat food just as i do. when you go into a place where instantly feel much better, you know good times will come of it. since being back in Los Angeles I'm just glad to be able to have the options of going to my favorite places to dine. its great to be able to just eat well. once you live in a place where there is nothing but fast food you start to appreciate the small family owned joints that you see all over Los Angeles.

so everyone go out and have some sushi... and btw.. don't eat bluefin tuna/toro*... its getting on the endangered list actually extinction list.. so as consumers you stop ordering it, the chefs will stop buying it and the fish will get a chance to reproduce and not be over fished. we humans have a responsibility to replenish what we eat and be aware of the way/things that we consume for our pleasure. ..speaking of pleasure.. i need to get some oysters up in my tummy ... nothing like fresh raw oysters to brighten up my day...

eat extraordinary everyday.

*correction to the blog. i was corrected by the trusty sushi chef i work with on the daily basis... so eat all the other types of fish you like.

PHO?? what?

wow.. 

never in my life did i ever think that the wonders of my childhood foods would come full circle.. these days all types of people are asking me about the foods of my family. they ask because they know i am part Vietnamese. its so odd to hear that, considering while i was growing up i wanted to try something different, anything that wasn't what was for dinner in my home. Italian, fusion, french, Mexican, Japanese were all so unique and different. and i just thought home food was just ordinary, because everyone else was having something else for dinner instead of me. i always had something odd in regards to everyone pasta/pizza/burger night. i remember at one point in school my Asian teacher asked me to share what i eat for dinner and i cringed at the idea of revealing what i was eating... beef/tripe carrot stew with rice noodles.. or mustard greens with shrimp.. 

how do i explain that i like tripe? it dawned upon me that Asian foods isn't that bad in regards wit all the other foods out there, its actually pretty damn good. historically its up there with them frenchies... (i love the customs of french gastronomy) As i started to eat more foods from other cultures and read about the foods i have yet to eat, I've learned that all cultural foods use the whole animal and so tripe isn't that bad after all.. and thank god morrow is making a big come back into good light, cause I'm pretty sure my parents have a picture of me eating bones and sucking out morrow at the fun age of five.. but I'm glad that the public is starting to be curious about the foods of Vietnam. for me curiosity opens doors for people to try something new.. perhaps fall in love.. I'm excited. 

anyhow... now that the world is somewhat ready for Asian and i mean REAL Asian food i guess its time for me to review my childhood flavors. this summer i will be jotting down all the family recipes and perhaps share them with the world. for some odd reason the flavors of my childhood are so dear to me that I'm a bit afraid to share them with people, but i guess is kind of  like art, made to share to the world to reflect upon a time/culture/people/lives. maybe i could ask the food network to have me teach some Asian foods.. well i better get to getting those recipes down... real vietnamese food.. the broths the simple flavors the lightness.. its gonna be amazing.. get some pho if you don't already know what it is.. 

eat extraordinary everyday!