In the Kitchen Video 01 - Green Onions (Scallions)

With the help of super director and producer Christina Colorina, I made my first instructional cooking video with green onions this weekend in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.

The video is on five way to cut green onions (scallions) for use in Taiwanese cooking.

Check it out here: S.O.F.A.T. in the Kitchen - Green Onions (Scallions)



Does it really have anything to do with St. Patty's Day? Not really, other than the scallions we used were GREEN.  It's a bit dorky, and there are a few flubs here and there, but the first time is never what you expect anyway, right? HA.  Enjoy, and leave a few comments to help improve our future clips!

Until then, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20130317

Post 103: Year in Review - 2012

2012 was a year full of memories, discoveries, adventures, lessons learned, and experiences that will be carried on with me for forever.  It was a tremendous year for food and travel.  I returned to the Big Apple twice and the Windy City twice.  There were also countless trips to San Francisco, San Diego and Las Vegas.

It was the first time in ten years that I did not do any international travel.  Not Taiwan, not Canada, not even Mexico.  But I did visit some great American cities for the first time... Niagara Falls and Downtown Buffalo (NY), Washington (DC), and Portland (OR), all of which have awesome food and require more visits in the near future.

Thank you to all those that traveled with me in 2012.  Since I did not get to visit Taiwan this year, a special thank you goes out to all those that brought my favorite pineapple cakes from Sunny Hills and Chia Te back from Taiwan for me.  Bonus brownie points for you.

2012 was the year that saw the demise of foie gras in California.  I never thought the ban would go through, but alas, all good things must come to an end.  I will admit I did panic just a little bit, which resulted in an eight course gorge on the fatty goose liver.  Never. doing. that. again. ever.

It was the same year that I had uncontrollable cravings for fried chicken, pork belly, bacon.  It did not matter how it was prepared, which restaurant made it, or whether I made it at home... I just could not get enough of those three things.  Some of the most satisfying fried chicken came in a brown paper box from Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken in Culver City.

It was also the year that I found myself searching for contemporary American fare... restaurants that used farm-to-table, local, sustainable ingredients... and celebrity chef dining.  Yes, Anthony Bourdain, David Chang, Gordon Ramsay, Rick Bayless, Stefan Richter, and Thomas Keller... gentlemen, you did well.  Sir, did you drop that? Let me help you pick up all those names you dropped just now.  Ha.  I also found myself returning to my favorite Michelin starred restaurants on the two coasts: Providence in LA and Jean-Georges in NY.  The most unforgettable was most definitely Dave Chang's $200 succulent pork shoulder at Momofuku Ssam Bar.  What a beast.  My friends and family absolutely annihilated Miss Piggy.  No kidding.

For me, 2012 was all about carpaccio, ceviche, crudo, and charcuterie.  Quartino in Chicago served up an awesome duck proscuitto, and Olympic Provisions in Portland had the best quality and selection overall.  But the charcuterie from Bow & Truss in North Hollywood was tops.  It was fun and whimsical and brought delight throughout the entire meal.  These meals confirmed for me that the age old tradition of curing and salting a quality, fresh cut of meat is the way to go.

There were so many food and travel adventures in 2012 that I did not have enough time to blog about all of them.  Some of the year's best culinary discoveries and most memorable meals were simply unblogged.  For example, at the beginning of the year my eyes were opened to khanom bueang, also known as Thai tacos, on a Six Taste food tour of Thai Town in Hollywood.  They were found in the back corner of Silom Supermarket. The crisp, little crepe-like wafers of skin curl around a layer of coconut cream.  They are then topped with salted coconut or sweet shavings of egg yolk.  Thanks to Lalita and Wanda for taking us on tour.  These little things were irresistible.

Later in the year I was introduced to Vietnamese bun bo hue, a homey beef noodle soup that comes from Central Vietnam.  Instead of rice noodles (pho), bun bo hue uses actual noodle noodles (if that makes any sense), and it is drowned in a beef broth with thicker cuts of beef, beef tendon, pigs feet, and pork blood.  Right before diving into the bowl of noodles, cabbage, banana peel, soy bean sprouts, mint, and a fermented chili paste are added.  Whether I had it for the first time at Bun Bo Hue An Nam in San Jose or at Nha Trang in San Gabriel (twice also), my face dripped with sweat.  Thanks Vickee and Connie for taking me.  Every time was exhilarating.  Really.  If you sweat like me, Nha Trang is probably a more comfortable space for you to indulge in this big bowl of noodle soup.

Some of the best meals, such as the multi-course one I shared with Ken and Tiffany from The Royce at The Langham in Pasadena, were not mentioned a single time on S.O.F.A.T. Blog.  Too much food, too little time to write.

With all these delicious meals and adventures during 2012, I reconfirmed three things that I may have already known.

No. 1.  Breakfast is still my favorite meal of the day.  Huckleberry in Santa Monica has some great breakfast selections.  I love that they can make healthy breakfast dishes without sacrificing taste.  The poached eggs with fresh vegetables and pesto are a personal favorite.

No. 2.  I love Taiwanese food, and Taiwanese people make some damned good Taiwanese food.  Was that enough Taiwanese in one sentence for ya? A bowl of braised pork over rice from Why Thirsty (滷肉飯 or lu rou fan in Mandarin) is Taiwanese simplicity at its best.

No. 3.  Nothing can beat home cooking.  Whether it's mom's beef noodle soup, dad's stir-fried udon or my own pasta dishes, the food that comes from a familiar kitchen is the best.  Familial comforts, parental love, and childhood nostalgia are ingredients that no restaurant has in its pantry.

That is it for this 2012 post.  There are still some food and travel posts that will just have to wait to be blogged.  I just realized I have never posted about any of the delicious food I had in Portland or any of the food in the last five trips to New York.  Insane.  But until the next post, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML

Post 83: Lobster Rolls - Aunt Li Had A Pair of Lobster Tails

Auntie Li had a pair of lobster tails, so I made them into lobster rolls... without taking any pictures.  So I went out and bought some more lobster, made some more lobster rolls... and took some pictures along the way.

This time I brought home two live lobsters from 99 Ranch.  At $9.99 a pound, it wasn't too bad of a price considering the season, but at a combined total of 11 pounds, the two live lobsters went way above and beyond my budget.  As a struggling yuppie (not only am I no longer young, nor do I live in an urban community... I am far from professional), it hurt my wallet.  But when the lobster rolls were ready to be eaten, the hurt became a paradoxical painful pleasure that was simply beyond description.

The most common way to tell whether or not a lobster is fully cooked is by checking the color of the shell.  Most people will say that a lobster is done once its shell is bright red.  But when cooking a King Kong lobster like this one (its full body barely fit onto my 18 x 24 cutting board), sometimes the meat in the middle isn't always fully cooked even when the outer shell is red.  Many sites that I read suggest to boil lobster for 10-12 minutes per pound, so that was the recommendation that I followed.  I had one big ass lobster.

To the mayonnaise I added minced garlic, finely chopped red onions, black pepper, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Toward the end I tossed in just a pinch of chopped basil, a hint of olive oil and just a few drops of butter just for that seafood essence.  The amount of mayo to add to the lobster tail meat depends on personal preference, but I would suggest to make sure each chunk of chopped tail meat is well coated by it.

And in case you were wondering what kind of bread pairs best with lobster salad, it's got to be the softest rolls on earth... King's Hawaiian.  Just an extra squeeze of fresh lemon, and you've got yourself some pretty dreamy lobster rolls.  And for the many, many friends who thought I was making lobster sushi rolls... these are, in essence, lobster salad sandwiches.  I got good laughs from the many, "You're going to make sushi?" comments.  The lobster rolls were rich from the mayonnaise but light from the lemon and basil.  The sweetness from the bread brought out the seafood saltiness of the lobster.  Oh me, oh my... they were delicious.

Oh, and I had a whole bunch of potatoes lying around, so I made a skillet of cheesy bacon potatoes while I was at it.  I tossed in a handful of chopped Serrano peppers for that nice spicy kick.  This was the best breakfast skillet sans eggs... and eaten at midnight.  Take that, Denny's.

Thank you Aunt Li for employing me to cook those lobster tails the first time.  Thanks to my roommates for enduring the ever squeamish task of boiling a live 5.5 pound lobster with me... twice.  Flashbacks of that scene from Julie & Julia appear.  Many extra thanks for my awesome cousin for shelling lobster meat with me for hours... literally.  Until the next gift of food, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

This post features photography by Monica Han.

ML - 20120407-08