.... 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! 

omg.. i made it..

actually that title is perfect for this blog. you just wouldn't believe. it all started with developing a summer grilled corn salad... side dish ideas.. anyhow.. i started to make a dressing.. mind just wandering about and just adding stuff.. then i started to finally think it was coming together and then i taste. and o my o my... i made the dressing just like my favorite dressing at Houston's. i think it goes on their grilled chicken salad.. but the dressing is just amazing.. makes you just want to drink it up.. and when i used to frequent that spot i would.. 

anyhow i made the dressing and was jumping for joy. sadly no one in the nearest 100 miles would know what i was jumping about. but that was really excited.. 

then part deux .. pastry.. i decide to make beignets... i remember having them when i was little with my grampa.. which for a Vietnam resident for much of his Chinese heritage, the french colonialism gave us some great treats. and aside from my favorite banh mi sandwiches i love the beignets with french drip coffee... here would be a great time to say i might be a bit favoring towards the french due to my childhood favorites have direct influence from them via Vietnamese family. 

sadly no pictures of this great moment of mine. but the fact that i can just whip those out at the parties now is just a great thing as well... yay. 

food is suffereing and we did it.

my summer reading so far has consisted of only art history books and food books. As well as all the current issues on food around the world. Keeping up to date with the many new food trends is really hard but what is even harder to deal with is the war on food that is occurring right now in our world. prices of food has sky rocketed in the last year and the food isn't even real!!

organic foods. i encourage all people to buy when they can the best quality of food. you don't want to be putting junk into your body. it is so easy to drive up to some place order something that taste okay for the moment and then the long haul comes and you're sick. it happens to me every time i go to the golden arches. i actually get a bit sick. cramping in the tummy. i guess it could be mental. but i like to think i eat pretty good. i like to make most of my food and of course dine out as often as my purse allows but i take my food seriously. i see how people shop at the store. i see the prices take over their ability to let their own common sense decide whether the food they are about to buy good for their bodies... but i guess the pocket book does have a large affect on how people consume. is it just that though? or can it be lack of knowledge/time/skill? I really don't know, but I'm going to find a way to help.

my sister told me the other day that out mother had instructed her to go out and store up on rice. and then i spoke to my mother asking her about it and she told me that people were trying to Asians how to use more potatoes in their diet instead of rice... and after hearing that i was a bit upset. the rice shortage is because of horrible weather in the growing regions that are probably a result of the global warming and weird weather.


so we're to blame for everything. We drive the cars/planes/ships for our own materialistic morals, we mess up the ozone/environment/air/pollute/seas and then that carries onto the food/farms/animals and when we consume we get cancer/allergies.... karma is a bitch! wow. if we had stuck to the old traditions of taking only what was needed and giving back to earth what we have taken we all would be eating great food and enjoying life. lack of morals/tradition/education/love the people of our time are going to pay for it. mother earth is pissing and we're to blame. i hope people are able to see this cycle soon and try to change/respect/act. Cause if not we're all going to hell all them levels in the inferno... seriouso.
we should 'check ourselves before we wreck ourselves'. so let go plant some more food and take care of them instead of letting chemicals do it, the care we give in nurturing the earth will return to our bodies keeping them strong.

eat extraordinary everyday!

BLT.

I love to watch television like every other person these days. I was watching Sex in the City and in the show they always are eating something while discussion their conquest/issues with sex in the city. So therefore one day I forget which episode I noticed the sandwich that Carrie was eating, club sandwich. Then I was thinking about sandwiches that I've loved or haven't had in a long time. And there it came into my head that all this time I've been eating all these complex sandwiches that I had forgotten the wondrous simple flavors of the BLT.

BLT. Bacon/Lettuce/Tomato on slightly toasted country white bread with a touch of mayo. the simplicity of such flavors always gets to me and I was pleasantly surprised to find it on a menu the other day as I was taking a lunch break from the museum where I intern. It was nice to see the BLT on the menu because I haven't seen it in such a long time. I don't think its even on menus of chain sandwich places. which is why I have forgotten it. But it is so nice to have had it the other day for lunch. It was a pleasant surprise. I enjoy the salty and crispy taste of real good bacon is just enough seasoning for the sandwich. The clean, crisp taste of the lettuce build the sandwich higher as well as give it a great clean bite. The sweetness of the tomatoes help bring the sandwich to a close. Although I know most people do not like mayo just a light spread over the toasted bread help keep the sandwich together.

I find that the perfect BLT is hard to come by. Its funny that the simplest things are always really hard to come by these days because we have come to place where food isn't prepared the way they used to. People are afraid of bacon, but bacon is one of the oldest foodstuffs that has been eaten by people. So bacon is good when its natural and not fake. Good old fashion REAL bacon gives flavors that cannot be found elsewhere. Tomatoes fresh organic room temperature tomatoes are my favorite. The type of lettuce that I think most people use is romaine which is okay but I really like butter leaf lettuce. It has enough richness and bite to it that makes the sandwich really great. Although I know most people do not even know what is in mayo, homemade mayo is so awesome. When I was smaller my father's friend who owned a Vietnamese sandwich shop, would make their own mayo. It was fascinating.. another thing that I also think is lost is homemade butter... but that's another blog.

anyhow I encourage everyone to go out and try to find a place with the BLT or better yet make your own BLT. Making the perfect sandwich is an activity that I find is most enjoyable and fulfilling, cut it at an angle and enjoy and maybe share with a friend. maybe some tomato bisque soup with a little garlic creme fraiche over it. how delightful does that sound? reminds me of a nice day with the daily paper and eating a perfect sandwich. enjoying life one bite at a time.

eat extraordinary everyday!

sushi part. 1

i was in sixth grade. thats when the love affair started. my sister in law has been a big influence on introducing me to a variety of new foods and Japanese was one she knew i was going to really like. we went to a place in monterey park, a small joint that was ran by some Chinese *mandarin speaking family. but they had a few authentic sushi chefs (aka Japanese).. well we had the usual. cali rolls, eel, salmon, tuna, shrimp, miso soup. i tried it all and i loved it all. it was fun. the whole putting wasabi and soy sauce together and finding that special balance was harder than i thought. i was told to be careful but with my young chopstick skills i put a bit more green than i had anticipated so i had that wonderful thrilling and painful sinus cleanse. now when i do put a little too much wasabi it reminds me of when i was young and new to sushi. now i feel a bit of a pro. ..

back in cali, i have a few spots that i absolutely adore. one place i have only taken a few people to. i've been going there for over ten years now and i think its only about within the last two years that i actually started to take people who were not blood relatives there. its in little Tokyo and thats all i'm going to say about it. the food is a bit insane. so good and so simple that you might have a food induced high afterward that cannot be explained. i dont even try anymore. my friend once told me that the way you feel after biting into a spicy tuna hand roll is like being on some special shrooms from Amsterdam. and he would know. so i think the sushi is a bit insane. great. but now adays there are so many people going there the wait is about 2 hours. and it makes me sad. but no matter what the wait is... you wait and you enjoy even more. another solution to the 2 hour wait is to go to another sushi spot and have some appetizers, sushi hopping as my friends and i like to call it. two to three sushi spots in one night a foodie's adventure. a bit surreal when you actually sit and realize what you're doing but its amazing none the less.

my second spot is in the west side. sushi central. OMG. phil is the chef and the man knows what he's doing. i started going there when they first opening walking in and ordering to go to check out the flavors... they had amazing chicken terriyaki, to be honest i only ate the cooked food. because i was doubtful at first to any hole in the wall new places. and so one day i was in for lunch and phil and tally being the nice peoples they were made me feel like i was at home. and i was family and so we talked about food. and phil made me some amazing sushi. and from then i was sold. the food made me feel much better about life after i left the place. so it became my place to run to when i was sad and need some pick me up foods.

Now i live in Pittsburgh and it is much harder to find a open hearted eater to join me for dinner at the few places i might have found to be good sushi. but i have yet to enter them. I miss having sushi places and places where the food will make me happy again. Last week I went to a random sushi place in the waterfront and ordered over fifty dollars worth of sushi for myself, hoping just the act of mixing wasabi and soy together would bring back soothing times. it didn't really work long after i left the sushi spot. i love leaving being stuff and smelling like miso but i didn't here so i hope that sooner I'll be with my beloved favorite meal once again in Los Angeles. but i do encourage people out there to get past the preconceived fears of the food and try it out and you might be surprised at what you find. and if it isn't a great experience go find someone that is in love with sushi and they will explain to you why its great and go back... try and try again.

eat extraordinary everyday!