hunting down some books..

i decided that once i am on the westcoast and settled in. i shall begin my search of the five major classical reads that all of the great chefs currently in america regard as the reasons why they cook. i'm hoping to buy one each month and read it before the fall. and hopefully i'll be very well read in my history of food prior to the planning of the french laundry trip. 

Stick to what you know..

okay today's blog is dedicated to FAST FOOD. 

**photo by grubgrade

lately in anticipation of my graduation I've been severely stressed out and filled with anxiety, during which I've consumed more fast food in one week than i would in a normal year. and that means more than 2 times in a week! eek! but here's the problem with fast food joints, you get there and you decide you cannot decide what you want, at least that's my personal problem and then to solve it i end up consuming about $10 worth of food, and for fast food you know that's A LOT of food. and just for the record, i have a tendency to go online and find out the caloric count as well as sodium amount in everything in hopes that i will have more of a resistance in ordering 1000+ calories in food. . . but usually i fail. sad i know, but during times of anxiety/stress anything goes as therapy even if it's slowly killing me. Ill swim it off once i move towards warmer weather. 

**photo by yummyinthetummyblog

so today i went to both McDonald's and Wendy's. i decided i would try these crispy chicken sandwiches that have been advised. I'm not going to go into detail exactly what else was consumed with this but it was not a good thing in terms of calories/fat/sodium. *i did eat broccoli for dinner.  but back to the subject at hand, value menu chicken sandwiches.. well both were of good size, i mean for $1 its not a bad sandwich. if you ordered your meal from the value menu you would get an actual normal caloric meal for under 4 dollars. but most people opt for the bigger 900 calorie lunch instead. but anyhow.. the mc chicken wasn't as good as their other stuff. it was a bit on the 'getting soggy any minute' texture group. and the Wendy's crispy chicken sandwich held up to the name very well, the protein was still crispy and the flavor in

the breading was actually pretty good. i was happy with that much more than of the McChicken. so overall, if you want a nice dollar menu chicken sandwich, go with Wendy's. 

**photo by Eating in Translation

and to another fast food joint we go.. well theoretically, as i will not be consuming PR chicken. KFC launched its Grilled Chicken recently. this would NEVER happen if Sanders was still alive, why? because he spent his LIFE perfecting the million secret spice combination recipe for his FRIED Chicken. I'm serious. it bothers me that they decided to branch out to get more sales, and go against the company name.. FRIED. I guess there is a side of me that believes that if you're good at something stick to it. Historically, the development of restaurants were actual stands in the market place where one person would make a mean dish, so good that it was all they made and people would buy it until they were gone. the name escapes me right now, but in ancient Chinese history, one emperor heard of a lady's soup that he summoned her to cook for him and all she sold was one thing, every day for 365 days a year. and it made her famous, its when you get greedy about the money you make other things that start to take your standards and passions down. but then it could be just the marketing issues i have with these fast food joints. here are two examples of fast food using a good strategy to introduce more stuff to make you buy... 

Taco Bell: Fresco, yes Taco bell has a healthy fresh menu. a way to introduce the same things but slightly healthier and less calories to get some people in. packaged in a green and clean manner, it makes you think you're eating great at a fast food place. not bad, almost made me want taco bell. 

McDonald's: McCafe, to compete with Starbucks, they added Iced Coffee with syrup options. and from what my sister says, it was crappy. i bought it for her and she told me to never do it again. so i guess the coffee done cold isn't as good as Starbucks blended concoctions. but the marketing decided to make it a whole theme of a new element of the McDonald's world, making people think they should get coffee here too, instead of a place that only sells coffee drinks.. 

so with that i hope I've given some insight into the world of fast food through my perspective. enjoy it in moderation, fast food that is. 

eat extraordinary everyday. 

** the images were taken from Flickr, these photos were credited as they are not mine. If you find them interesting please search the photostreams listed under the photos. 

Building the Recipe collection...

so today I'm going to do something a little different. I'm going to share a recipe because its earth day. if you've been reading my blog I'm sure you've noticed i don't put any recipes up. even though Susy asked that i should share. the reason is because i usually try not to share my recipes because i usually do not write it down. but lately I've been collecting a lot of different recipes and coming up with my own as well, its slowly building up and everyday is a new idea, something new to try and so the list goes on. there are various notes on my computer, my phone, my planner, my magazines; they are just everywhere. I have collected some insane amount of recipes which i rarely share especially those i come up with but sometimes I'm nice enough to share with people. 

so what is the recipe today???  well since in Los Angeles its summer, I'm going to give a grilled steak recipe. and the whole recipe is eye balling it so add a bit or take off a little of what you like or dislike. 

you'll need: 

freezer bag-large

skirt steak -about 1-2 lbs

olive oil 1/2 cup

fresh rosemary 1/3 cup

fresh basil 1/3 cup

fresh flat leaf parsley 1/4 cup

lemon zest/lemon juice

salt 

pepper

crushed red pepper 

dash of Worcestershire sauce 

• chop up all the herbs (you can do this in a food processor if you dislike knife work)
• In a freezer bag- good tablespoon of salt/pepper , with 1/2 cup of good olive oil, the herbs, zest of one lemon and juice, dash of Worcestershire sauce, add the skirt steak in and let it sit for 30 mins. 
• fire up the grill to high heat and grill until reached to the medium, let it rest and slice after the meat has rested for 15 mins. 
  

serve with some grilled garlic bread and a side of grilled Caesar salad you have yourself a wonderful meal. i used to prepare this dish for the family i cooked for, everyone loved it and it was simple. 

recipes to me are like stories that come to life when they are made into meals. every dish I've made for my friends and family and clients have been ingrained into my mind as moments of living life. sharing a meal with people is the fastest way to creating memories and truly enjoying life and recipes are just an easy reminder to how to do that. i have so many fond memories of wine tasting parties, burgers and steak dinners with my friends and when i think of my friends i always think of how i can create some more memories through new foods that they would enjoy trying. I've been diving into history books of food and the food culture of all types of civilizations and one thing I've learned is that regardless of where people are in the world and their financial or class status, food was the uniting factor to good times. so with that i hope that everyone is enjoying a nice earth day and remember buy organic, buy local, buy fresh and cook fresh for yourself and your loved ones.  

eat extraordinary everyday

*shout out to the people in my photo, easter brunch 2004; fear factory band members,  evidence, dj salam wreck, Segal mix master, and the rest of the crew. 

**using dom perignon and cristal for mimosas was how the brunch originated 

edamame

today i've decided to blog just about one thing. hopefully i'll stay on track, as that usually does not happen, i'm trying to make sure i write often in case i take a sharp turn into writing. so anyhow here i am sipping on my homemade soy milk thinking about the benefits of soy beans. a few stories of my life to be shared about this amazing legume.

1) when i was a little kid, i often loved when my parents bought fresh soy milk home, it was usually warm and i would have to wait forever for it to cool, or i would climb up the freezer to get some ice. (i still owe my parents a fridge when the current breaks down) i love soy milk, i love the way it taste and so when i tried the 'American' version i finally found out why people hate soy milk. it taste weird, i mean not in a bad way, but it has a very soy flavor that is not very appetizing kinda way. which is odd because i always loved the stuff, and never took into account that some people were not having the same stuff we called by the same name. freshly made soy milk is yummy and there are some really good asian breakfast places (i think it is common for Taiwan  and parts of china) where its hot/warm soy milk both savory and sweet dipped with a special bread/dough and that's always a fun way to enjoy soy milk for the

 dunking loving breakfast peoples. and for those who are interested in making your own soy

 milk, there are these machines that look and operate like a coffee machine, it cooks/grinds/filters soybeans into a hot yummy soy milk. we add just a touch of sugar for it, so we enjoy it more so like a sweet beverage but of course it's not as sweet as drinking soda or anything like that. check your local Chinese emporium store and ask around or look for it online, we bought ours for $100 and its been so great making weekly soy milk. i say its a nice way to have something healthy to drink. if you can pour water to soak up the beans and work a coffee machine, you can make your own soy milk. check on it. 

2) edamame- there are so many ways to preparing these little pods and eating them is so much fun. my little nephew eats them slowly by pushing the beans out on one end. i usually pull them out with my teeth, everyone has a different way of getting the beans out. overall a great thing to eat, both fun and good for you.  while i was attending college in los angeles, i went to a

 restaurant in the marina and they had the edamame appetizer dressed in some sauce and it was soo addictive. i came back to the place a few more times to try to get a better understanding of the  recipe, i ended up solving it and went home to make it just like the restaurant did. my friends were so happy that i figured it out and they were able to eat it for free at my home when they came over for movie night. the odd part about the story is the chef or the person who came up with the spicy edamame is my current boyfriend. i told him this story and he laughed, i guess i do have good taste. i also recently went to a robata restaurant where everyone in my party was raving about the unique taste of the edamame, even my Japanese friends loved it, no one could figure it out. since it was my first time eating here, i was excited to find out what they loved about the place. as i tasted the edamame, there was something very distinct about them, very different yet very subtle which is why everyone

 couldnt figure it out. thankfully (at least this time) my sensitive palate was able to pick up on the secret ingredient. the water they boiled the soy beans in had corn cobs. i check the menu and they had corn, so what the chefs were doing were cutting the corn off the cobs and tossing the cobs into the water and the soybeans would boil in the slightly corn flavored water. mystery solved, and that will be the next party snack food at my home movie nights. 

3) natto lovers. i've come to adore this preparation of soybeans, fermented soy beans. yes it sounds gross, it smells gross to the untrained nose, its sticky and slimy. if you're a kid or have a kid this might be the messy healthy food that you will fall in love with. i found the natto in the frozen section of the asian food market and at all japanese markets i've been to. it varies in the brand in how nutty the natto will be and if they give you a mixture of broth and mustard, or the seasoning packs are separated. either way, topped with some thinly sliced green onions over hot rice, makes for great breakfast. very filling and I'm not as hungry as i would be if i had an egg sandwich for breakfast, very good for you and fun to eat. 

historically, soybeans have been grown and eaten in asia for over 5000 years. so with that amount of time, of course this stuff is good for you! so go out and eat it, regardless of the form, soy milk, tofu, edamame appetizers, natto, miso, black/yellow/green, whichever you choose i hope you incorporate them into your daily routine and you wont be disappointed. 

eat extraordinary everyday. 

*just a note, these pictures were collected from flickr and google images. i did not have any photos on hand so i used online sources. 

WHAT! that is not it!

You don’t go around calling what is actually a TACO a Burrito. You also do not call something that is distinctly Chow Mien, Pho. Yes they are similar in the regional cuisine that they come from but they are completely different in every which way it is made but are only the same in the happiness they give you as you put them in your mouth. Then what is my problem? My problem is calling it the wrong thing; you know exactly what I am talking about, you chefs and foodies out there. You know what you’re ordering based on what is called and or described. That being said there are some restaurants out there that are giving popular dish names to some random creation they’ve put on the menu is one way of mis-educating the public. I for one do not appreciate to order something to receive something that is completely different. If it’s a hamburger I expect and imagine and anticipate a burger not a wrap that has the same ingredients of a hamburger, if it’s a hamburger wrap, call it that then. Make it clear as to what you are making and what I will be eating and if its something made up, then please give it a great name.  

I once was watching a television show where they were making what were clearly empanadas, but she kept calling it a taco. She was clearly from a normal region of Mexico, so I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do about regional names, it was the fact that she did not know what she was talking about. It was seriously so annoying that I was yelling at my television set, and it happened again today when someone decided to call some noodle soup concoction Pho. Pho is Pho if it has certain components of spices, ingredients and rice noodles. If it doesn’t have the correct spices or the correct preparation of the dish please do not call it something it is clearly not. If you’re creative enough to come up with something completely original and new in our modern culinary culture, then by all means give it a new name of type of food.

I am all for new fusion cuisine provided that they are actually doing a good job doing the fusion part. Nothing worse then bad naming of an idea executed wrongly, it sits on your plate and you end up just hating fusion food. The problem with a lot of fusion food places is that these chefs do not really understand the flavors and techniques of the types of food they are merging. For me True fusion food marries the completely different cuisines together that make you happy and want to travel to taste the real deal. That is my definition of great fusion food. Sadly a lot of places are not doing that, they just put together something that could go well and due to a lot of people saying ‘ooo that is amazing’ they come out with something that is actually failed the test of true identity. Like artists, I only respect those who know the history of art and chefs are no different. The best chefs in world know the history of the food they are cooking and love learning and discovery new food flavors. So for all those newbie chefs and food lovers out there, grab a region, learn the flavors and move on to the next. Only after some years of eating and learning the true origins and flavors of foods can you say you know what you’re eating. This actually goes for me as well, but I am currently reading history books on food so I’m doing exactly what I am telling you!
 

with that

eat extraordinary everyday. 

table for one..

like most people who blog about food, i have a passion about food. the culinary world has so many different aspects that you can enjoy. there's cooking, writing, eating and looking. it uses all your senses and that's what i love most about food. i often eat alone as most of my friends and family are usually working when i get a spare minute to eat. so i've learned how to dine alone and when i do, i am able to truly enjoy my meal. but today this entry is about a bad experience.... 

sometimes servers look at a one top as a pain. a single person eating probably wont eat as much or even tip as much. sadly some servers judge their single diners a bit too fast. i usually tip well all the time. today i went to a restaurant that many people told me was 'amazing' 'one of the best' and i decided to try it out. 

• i was promptly seated  and greeted with a smile. (so far so good) i get a cute table in the middle of the place. my server comes and ask how i'm doing i say fine, i want water to drink. he goes and gets it. i have to ask for the specials after staring at the menu for 5 minutes. but i now start to notice that he greeted everyone else and told them the specials... odd. 
  
• i ask if the ravioli is homemade and he says yes, i get it. simple as that. my salad that comes with the pasta arrives shortly.. its wet. dripping with dressing. not tossed but just lots of dressing. the greens were wet. i don't complain because I'm going to take what this 'amazing' restaurant is giving me. sadly the salad dressing ruined the whole salad dish for me but i politely eat it all and drink lots of water. 
• *good point: they put sunflower seeds in the salad. i love sunflower seeds. 
• my ravioli comes. the thing is okay, nothing super special about it, and for some reason it reminded me of the stuff you can get at Costco. which of course makes me think it might not be homemade. but I'm going to give it to the restaurant this time. 
• i'm excited to get dessert because i saw my server ask another one top if he was having dessert.
• after i finish my meal a nice girl comes by and takes my plate away. i wait patiently for my server to come back and ask me if i want dessert. sadly that DIDN'T HAPPEN. i was given the check. 
• therefore, i paid and left. 
• i did ask the nice girl if they only served dessert at dinner, she said no we have dessert for lunch as well... with that i say thank you and leave. 
• if you're not going to offer me dessert i wont know if you have it since its on a separate menu. 

so with that i experience diner discrimination in service. if you serve you know the routine very well. the more the person eats the more the total will be and usually people take the percentage of the total to tip you. if you follow the correct processes you would have provided decent service. if you go above and beyond then you get more added to your tip. in Pennsylvania servers get half the amount of minimum wage and tips as their pay. so tips is usually what they are trying to get most of their rent money from. maybe my server didn't need the money or maybe he didn't like me because i was a girl, or i was sitting alone. nonetheless i receive crap service. as a former server i always give my best service to everyone who comes in and eat, the dining experience is both great service and great food. today i had half ass service and okay food. nothing 'amazing' as everyone said. everyone else that ate at the restaurant seemed to be known by name and the servers were friendly. sadly i didn't feel the welcoming vibe from my server and that was the only interaction that i was given from anyone. and believe me i sat with a smile hoping i would get a bit better service. i did not. 

now i can only wonder if the dessert could have save the day. i went on yelp and gave them 3 stars. i wont be going back but i'm sad to have receive that type of service as a food lover. 

i hope your culinary adventures bring you to better service and food than i had today. 

eat extraordinary everyday. 

fresh fresh fresh...

live scallops: they bite unless you eat them

what makes food great? mind blowing? memorable? its all about how great it taste. and to do that you have to respect the product, treat it and cook it and serve it with the utmost respect. and that's how you get great food. people for centuries have taken that into account. how our society has turned food into something fast and mediocre is just sad. people used to stand in lines just to walk past the kings and queens eating lunch, a glimpse into what these royals ate was what drove them to make recipes that somewhat resemble what they saw. i love that! i love how people used to love food more than war. well i love food more than war, hey given the choice between perfectly made eclair or a hand grenade I'll pick chocolate with sweet cream filling any day of the week. maybe all the war lords just need a good cook meal and maybe a hug. who knows.. but that's just going on to way too serious of a topic of my liking. 

orange clam: it is really both man and woman in appearance

back to food. good food starts with great products and then of course the chef, the guy/girl should do their best to bring out the best flavors and not mess it up. yes, some so called chefs mess things up and make people hate something that actually started out really really good. point being sushi. its fish, yes just fish. an actual creature that was swimming a few hours/days ago is now sitting on your place. he/she has not been cooked by the chef and there isnt some

generic sauce on it (thats goes to all those places who have taught people that ponzu or spicy mayo is a substitute for soy sauce and dunking your fish in: yes, people do ask for ponzu or spicy mayo, that doesn't say you know how to eat sushi, it only says that you pay for overpriced, over sauced fish and probably don't know what salmon or tuna actually taste like. stop telling people you eat sushi, you eat sauce). real sushi, you place that piece of fish in your mouth and it melts your tongue into a burst of life and stars... i'm not sure about you but that's the type of experience i have on a regular basis when i'm eating sushi. if you're not getting that same feeling, you should reconsider your sushi place. give me a ring and i'll bring you where the food transcends earth. people have often why i'm so passionate about food and my reasoning is that it makes me feel better about life. it not only provides sustenance for me but it makes me feel happy, builds relationships with those who i dine with and those who serve/prepare my food. its how relationships are built between people. hell there was a trade based solely on spices, spices that made food better. if something as small as saffron was more valuable than gold then i think those priorities of that world is one of the reasons why i love history and history that involves the foods that people ate. foods that made a difference in everyday life. 

golden eye snapper: he was delicious

i was able to be at my favorite sushi spot recently during the slow times and i was able to take some cool pictures of the fish/seafood that had just came in. yes they let me go back and see what they are cutting and this is why i love this place. i know the food is fresh. so fresh sometimes the things are still moving or alive. live scallops , live abalone, live sweet shrimp, live giant clam, and fresh whole salmon and golden eye snapper. these are not only delicious but are soo beautiful when they are whole, its amazing how fresh these things are. the owner was playing with one of the scallops and almost got bit! scallops shutting on a sushi chef's finger might have been a funny and ironic story. but thankful it didnt happen. 

salmon

so there you go. why i love sushi and why i love food in a nutshell. i dont take life seriously but i do take my food seriously. eat what is good and eat with people who love food as much as you do and life will be a bit more pleasant regardless of other issues. if i wasn't in love i would be content with being in love with food. i'll have more post coming up from my week in los angeles. 

eat extraordinary everyday!