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.