Where have all the posts gone?

My lack of a functioning digital camera and unwillingness to drop enough cash to buy a fancy one, has made blogging less than pleasurable. [published 12/20]

Ghost of a Dinner Party

Last month I decided Hurricane/Tropical Depression Felicia was a good enough reason to invite people over to eat. At first I was hesitant to announce my party plans, but after a few days of watching the trajectory, it seemed like it wouldn't do major damage and would die down before landfall. Afterward, I was super-juiced that "my" hurricane didn't kill anyone.

Since Felicia was on a path from Baja to Hawaii, I thought a Mexi-Hawaiian menu would be quite appropriate.

• Bottled Coke (USA and Mexican)
  
• Elotes Asados featuring Japanese Kewpie Mayo
  
• SPAM Musubi
  
• Slow Cooker Kālua Pork Tacos
  
• Dulce de Leche-filled Churros
  

As with most common with my dinners, I rarely remember to photograph what I make. The only pic was of the last cob of grilled corn schmeared with Kewpie mayo, showered with cilantro, sprinkled with Cotija, just awaiting a sprinkle of two of my shortcuts to extra flavor... mouth-puckering Tajín seasoning (dehydrated lime juice is surprisingly addictive) and/or smokey bacon salt.

The Kālua Pork was my first time trying to dry-roast a piece of meat in the slow cooker. I took a hunk of bone-in shoulder, seasoned it with some salt, liquid smoke, and wrapped it in [frozen] banana leaves. The amount of fat it shed was positively shocking. A little Mi Pueblo salsa and fresh corn tortillas warmed on the grill made those suckers tasty, but a the meat was little dry.

Low sodium SPAM was the dark horse and clear winner of the evening. Nga helped my wrap them using my new acrylic sushi mold. There's something deeply simple and pleasurable about rice and pan-fried SPAM.

Stacey and Mark picked up the filled churros at Mi Pueblo. We reheated them on the grill and admired how the dulce caramel oozed from the center of every inch - in one continuous stream, top to bottom.

****

A couple weeks ago, I ended up improving the pork by using fresh banana leaves to line the pot and added a touch of Coke to keep the meat moist. I drained and shredded the roast and seasoned it with a little Mr. Yoshida's sauce a la Costco. I made 17 lbs. of the pork and less than half a pound remained for a crowd of 50.

Nothing Fishy Here...

 

One of the pleasant, positive externalities about making visits to properties in my work portfolio is their proximity to places to find tasty eats.

My day trip to Monterey and Santa Cruz meant that a lunch stop in Moss Landing would be totally doable. Since Moss Landing is smack between the two and a minute off the highway, I was happy to follow Cindy's recommendation to grab lunch here.

I didn't do much research except the customer ratings linked to Phil's Fish Market on the Google Map search. Had I done my homework I probably would have chosen Phil's Throwdown-worthy Cioppino. Instead, I just went with my gut - I had the steamed mussels & garlic bread. I even had my choice of green or black mussels. For fun, I went with the green.

On portion size I was not disappointed. My appetizer-sized bowl would have been totally adequate to share, but I plowed through two-thirds of it on my own. The mussels were some of the freshest, plumpest I've had, but they weren't the cleanest. I had to de-beard most of them on my own, and I got a bit of grit in the beginning that made me more cautious than I had hoped. I totally loved the clean, just-right flavors of the broth... the fresh chopped garlic, tomatoes, and green onions had me till the very end. Had I carried clean, empty Ziploc Twist 'n Loc containers in my purse, I would've taken my leftover broth for the car ride home.

My co-worker who accompanied me was determined to choose something from the artichoke section of the menu. Yes. We were in artichoke country. She had the stuffed artichoke with bay shrimp, lettuce and cilantro dressing. She was pretty thrilled with her choice and liked the heady cilantro flavor.

I was pretty impressed with how busy the place was even at 2:00 PM. I would like to go back on a lazy day and take my next bite there at the wine bar or walk out back to see their view of the ocean.


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p-burg farmers' market

I made my first trip of the season to the Pittsburg Farmers' Market. For about $7 I walked away with a bunch of kang kong, two delectable white peaches, two ears of corn, and two bitter melons.

The kang kong was my favorite vegetables when I was a kid. Apparently it was one of the foods I remembered from my toddler days in Malaysia. However, I haven't had it in a while, mostly because it never looked as fresh in Massachusetts Asian grocery stores. It was nice to enjoy it stir-fried with a little garlic. My mom also stir-fried the bitter melon with a little chicken, garlic, soy n such. It's funny how I never cared for the stuff until I went to college. Now I craved that bit of bitterness. I was also super-impressed with the white peach. I usually get burned when buying stone fruits at the grocery store, so it was completely refreshing to have a perfectly ripe and juicy peach.

Old School: Caspers Famous Hot Dogs

Even though Caspers is a Bay Area institution, I never set food in one until yesterday. The menu is pretty straight forward - it's all about the hot dog and each dog variation hovers between the $2-$4 range. Toppings are straight-up too. Fresh tomatoes, hand-cut onions, mustard, relish... The chili cheese dog features a mostly-bean chili and finely shredded cheddar.

I get the impression that the dogs are famous for their natural casing, which their website describes as the "SNAP sensation." My first reaction was that the snap is more like an entertaining, semi-rubbery squeak. That's probably not the most tantalizing description, but the audible reminder that you're eating THAT-part-of-an-animal casing can freak you out if you haven't thought about it much before.

I'll be back for more, but I'm not going to leave my Costco dog any time soon.

How does your garden grow?

After my semi-successful attempts at herb gardening in Boston apartments, a California backyard has created my first opportunity to garden. This year it's all about my first tomatoes and herbs. All of the organic plants are from Sweetwater Organics in Sebastopol, CA. I picked them up as part of a 2/$5 deal at Whole Foods.

Herbs: Basil; Chives (organic); Thyme (organic); Parsley (organic); and Rosemary (organic)

Tomatoes: Bush Champion (early-season, organic), Sun Gold (cherry, organic), Pineapple (late-season, bi-color beefsteak heirloom)

I went all out with the organic theme and used organic soil and organic fertilizer. I'm a little skeptical that I can keep the plants pest-free on my own, so I've been inspecting for anything scary looking and subjecting them to a good finger-squishing or toe-stomping. If the folks at Stone Soup Farms could hand-pick potato beetle larvae, surely, I can keep my own backyard creepy crawlies away.

And after almost five years of watching infomercials, I bought two Topsy Turvy tomato planters (not to be mistaken for the knock-off Upsy-Downsy planter). The two larger tomato varieties are in the planters, mostly because the thought of having to cage/stake the plants as they grew made me less excited about gardening. So far so good with the planters. They don't look completely ridiculous and the plants seem to be doing okay. We'll see what happens once I can actually taste the fruits of my labor.

My first-in-a-long-while attempt at baking a cheesecake

I don't think I remember making a cheesecake since college or before. While I like eating cheesecake, the idea of baking one usually just seems way too torturous because of the wait-time needed to completely cool and chill the darn thing before eating it. And the act of making it reminds me of how deliciously caloric a piece of cheesecake can often be.

Mom had one of those pre-made graham cracker shells that was nearing it's recommended freshness date so I flipped over the label for some help. The recipe was simple enough, but I didn't have 16 oz of cream cheese, sour cream, or a fresh lemon on hand to complete the uncake cake. What I did have was a cup of heavy whipping cream, a mostly unused 8 oz tub of mascarpone cheese, and vanilla extract.

In the end, I made substitutions and recipe tweaks with what I had on hand and came out with an airy, slightly sweet and lemony cheesecake.

Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, softened at room temp
8 oz(more like 6 oz) mascarpone cheese
1/2 c super fine sugar
3/4 c heavy whipping cream, whipped into soft peaks
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. lemon zest
1 t. vanilla extract
6 oz. Honey Maid graham cracker pie shell.

cake pan filled 1/3 of height with water

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees Fahrenheit
2. Whip cream into soft peaks with an electric mixer, set aside
3. Blend cheeses with mixer on medium speed
4. add sugar, blend
5. add eggs , blend
6. add lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract
7. fold in whipped cream

Pour into shell and bake for 25 minutes. Place the cake pan of water on a lower shelf to keep a moist, quasi-bain marie atmosphere. The cake will rise a bit and still be jiggly, not-quite set when done. Cool cake on rack until completely cool. Next, chill in the refrigerator until chilled through (4-5 hours for me or 24 hours if you can bear it.

Eat some. Share some. Be merry.