Cooking to Discover Your Roots

I've always imagined that I'd one day want to spend time travelling Malaysia and the Philippines to learn how to go about authentically preparing foods from the homelands. So many of my cookbooks and food memories have compelled me to spend more time understanding what I eat through a more historical and political context.

The cookbook Memories of Philippine Kitchens does just that. It explores chapters by region and by distinct Philippine dishes. And more than just a cookbook it provides family and cultural history behind recipes and ingredients. The authors, restaurateurs in NYC, do a wonderful job of why describing we eat what we eat. I particularly love their research about where dishes originated and how they were named. It's a huge volume and makes interesting reading.

Taco Mex - Yummy Tortas y Pupusas

The roommates with out-of-towners Vicki and Percy ate lunch today at Taco Mex, a Mexican/Latin American restaurant in East Boston's Maverick Square. I had a Pork Adabado Torta - slightly spicy and sour marinated pork.. mmm. The bread was oustanding as was the portion size for $4.75. The chicaronnes pupusa was also a winner. The burritos were reported standard but satisfying, and Thuy approved of the sweet plantains.

I was also happy to try the special drink of the day, atol de elote, beverage made from corn, milk, sugar and cinnamon (lika a corn version of horchata).

6 of us ate well under $50 with tip. The place seats groups of up to 4 comfortably. 5 0r 6 max can sit with the help of extra chairs.

california food log

SoCal:
Jamba Juice - Aloha Pineapple!
Jack in the Box - Grilled Chicken Sourdough Jack
Sprinkles (Beverly Hills) - Red Velvet and Coconut cupcakes!
Denny's - Extreme Slam

Bay Area/Stanford:
Punkins (Pittsburg)
Del Taco
Crepes A-go-go - House special with avocado. Condiment of choice? Rooster Sauce!
Pluto's (Palo Alto) -Farmer's Salad with grilled flank steak and slice of herb slab focaccia. Why can't salads be this tasty in Boston?
The Tree House - Grilled Chicken Quesadilla with pico de gallo and guacamole. Tastes like college.
Jamba Juice - Bright-eyed and blueberry. Creamy and delicious!
Cafe Verde - Black frothy milk tea, no pearls. Classic. Frothy. Yummy.
Rose and Crown - Basket of fish and chips with a tall glass of Stella.

Expensive Cupcakes

http://www.sprinklescupcakes.com/
per Jennifer's suggestion, Eddie and I made the Trek to Beverly Hills to find the Red Velvet cupcake from Sprinkles. It was pretty darn good, especially for being over 3 bucks for a normal sized cupcake.

note to self

one heaping table spoon (a spoon for cereal) is just shy of 50 grams.

Cheap Bar Food

McCormick & Schmick's is a national seafood chain. I've actually never dined in the dining room, but I've been many a time to the bar during the after work $1.95 happy "hour." During these magical hours (about 3:30 - 6:30 and 9:30?) you can get a quarter pound cheese burger with fries, quesadilla, etc. I usually spring for a plate of mussels for an extra three bucks. Not surprisingly, since it's a seafood restaurant, the mussels are almost always plump and steamed to perfection.

Sam Adams Summer Ale is a nice compliment.

Two Boston Locations.

Out of Control Cupcakes!!!

Today was our office manager's birthday, and you know what that means? Mandatory birthday cake. I was given the charge of finding birthday cupcakes in under two hours. I turned to a bakery I've been hearing lots of buzz about, Lulu's Bake Shoppe. Lulu's is probably the North End's no-canoli establishment. Instead they serve outstanding cupcakes. Chocolate and vanilla cake and butter cream frosting may sound boring, but when executed well are pretty darn amazing! Most of the office people couldn't believe something so tasty wasn't homemade.

The frosting doesn't look like "regular" frosting. It has a translucent quality that's no where near as opaque as regular stuff. I suspect this is because the frosting uses only butter and absolutely no shortening!!! The taste is surprisingly great, but that's what you'd expect of pure butter. It's rich and sweet, but is still very enjoyable. The absence of shortening makes it easier to consume frosting, although not having a very strong sweet tooth, I ended up "wiping off" most of my frosting. I'd recommend trying a chocolate cupcake.

I'll definitely go back. Why? The S'more Cupcake...

Bottom line. Lulu's makes a super addition to my list of under 2 dollar treats, but I'm not leaving Beard Papa's chocolate fondant anytime soon.