Post 57: Wisdom Teeth Food

Not everyone remembers when their first tooth fell out, but everyone remembers when they had their wisdom teeth pulled out.  I was fortunate enough to experience this extraction of dental knowledge this past week.  After being completely scared by all the wisdom teeth horror stories from friends and family, I was hell bent on making sure I had all the culinary concoctions to make my discomfort bearable.  The last few days I have been able to consume the following items... most of which are not the least bit glorious, but I guess that depends on who you ask.

Lucky me... Kimmy dropped by with a dozen mini Beard Papa's cream puffs and two regulation sized puffs.  I started off by scooping out the insides of one mini cream puff... but by the end of day, I managed to devour seven mini cream puffs (the puff portion and all) and one regular sized cream puff.  Yes, I did that in just one afternoon.

I also managed to spoon in two cups of my favorite Japanese flan from Mitsuwa Marketplace... along with a number (four to date) of Korean honeydew melon flavored jumbo popsicles.

Since my face was throbbing with crimson fury, and the Maytag-produced hemispheres of ice weren't sufficient, I thought that the best way to calm the swollen rage down was with some Taiwanese shaved ice.  I dragged my mom with me to a local joint called Tasty To Go for their acclaimed mango shaved snow.  Being the obedient son that every Asian parent hopes to call their own (even I make myself sick sometimes), I ate all the cold, frigid, brain freezing ice... and left the nutritious, fiber-filled, vitamin-rich mango for my mom.  Heh, heh, heh...

After I thought that I would hit the roof with an uncontrollable sugar high, I decided to counter all the sugar with some protein... eggs.  I employed a very sumptuous recipe for Japanese style chawanmushi (茶碗蒸 or steamed eggs), which is a soft and simple way (and probably the most glorious of the aforementioned food choices) to endure the discomforts of wisdom teeth extraction.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten
1 can of chicken broth
1 package of ikura and/or uni (optional)

To set up a makeshift steamer, pour four or five cups of water into a large soup pot.  Fill a rice bowl one-third of the way up with water, and place the rice bowl into the large soup pot.  Fire up the stove.

Combine the two eggs and just half a can of chicken broth into a ceramic bowl.  Whisk until smooth.  Carefully place and balance the ceramic bowl carefully on top of the rice bowl into the large soup pot.  This is now your makeshift steamer.  Place the cap of the pot on top, and let the eggs steam away for no longer than five minutes.  a chopstick into the middle to see if the eggs are still runny; the eggs are ready when the center has solidified.  The texture should be similar to a soft custard or a delicate flan.

Here's the glorious part.  After the chawanmushi has cooled off, spoon some ikura or uni onto the surface of the egg.  All of the ingredients should be easily conquered by even those who under the effects of Vicodin or Tylenol No. 3.  Here's my disclaimer: if your medication says you should not operate heavy machinery, please do not attempt to build a makeshift steamer no matter how simple it is.  Let your mom and dad, spouse, significant other or indentured sibling do this for you.

I hope these eggs distract you from your dental debacle.  Oh, and if the steamed eggs work, fire up the stove again... as long as there are more eggs, you still have half a can of chicken broth left! Until solid food invigorates my diet, let's all get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20110728-31

Post 37: Birthdays at Maison Akira (LA-SGV: Pasadena)

There are a slew of friends' birthdays coming up, so I have been plotting (err.. planning) a few festivities.  While looking through pictures from last year's birthday celebrations for a few ideas, I came across a series of photos from outings at Maison Akira in Pasadena.

I came here for the first time for the Sunday champagne brunch for Connie's birthday.  I discovered right then that everything Maison Akira offers, from food down to service, is prepared, executed and presented with innate Japanese precision, courtesy of Chef Akira Hirose.  Granted, the brunch buffet is nowhere close to the spread at Universal Hilton, but not a single one of Chef Hirose's dishes are disappointing.  And the doesn't have the same mass-produced feeling that the Vegas buffets or the Universal Hilton buffet has.  Here are some of the expertly prepared plates from the Sunday brunch:

Assorted sushi.
Eel (unagi), salmon (sake), tuna (maguro), egg (tamago), and eggplant (nasu).

Crab chawanmushi.

A petite pool of pesto graces the top of the steamed egg.

The crab chawanmushi was my favorite item in the buffet spread.  The steamed egg is absolutely supple... beautifully supple.  Just slight pressure from the push of my fingers on the teaspoon pierces the skin of the chawanmushi to lift a portion of porcelain delicate, custard colored, tofu textured, protein laded bliss.  The pesto that sits atop the egg allows the tongue to flirt with a slightly saltier flavor for just a few seconds... just long enough for your brain to process the pesto's European origins... but not long enough for your brain to change its views on how Japanese the chawanmushi dish actually is.  Continued excavation into the sake cup sized chawanmushi reveals a pinch-sized lump of fresh crab meat, tender from its recent steam and juicy from absorbing of surrounding egg.  Mmmmm... who's ready to head back for seconds?

The first visit was such a relaxed and pleasant experience that it mandated an evening visit during the dinner service.  I revisited Maison Akira with a group of friends for Allison's big birthday, and we ordered a range of appetizers and entrees in both the tapas and regular plates.

Duo of Japan hamachi sashimi and big-eye tuna tartare.
This dish is so simple yet so tasty.  The wasabi tobiko atop the hamachi
is a creative substitute for the traditional grated wasabi root. 
It literally bursts with nose-clearing spice. 

Trio of big-eye tuna tartare, sashimi and sauteed Hokkaido scallops.
The first dish was a favorite, so we ordered a second helping.  The tartare is fresh,
and the hamachi melts in your mouth.  The scallops are still rare in the middle.  Perfect.

 Tower of portabello mushrooms, yams, tomatoes and maytag bleu cheese.

This combination of vegetables from the ground is piled as high as the pungent 

yet creamy bleu cheese will allow it to go.  It has a transcendentally earthy feel.

Grilled duck foie gras in a port wine truffle sauce

with daikon pot-au-feu and king oyster mushroom.

One of the greatest experiences in life is biting into a chunk of fatty foie gras 

and having its fat juices burst into your mouth and run over your tongue.

Oyster flan in a sea ikura beurre blanc.
This dish combines two of my favorite foods together... oyster and sea urchin roe.
Their creamy textures and ocean origins blend well together.

American kobe beef ravioli in karashi red wine sauce.

Although flavorful, the tender fattiness of the kobe beef is missing from the ravioli.

I'll be having Japanese kobe beef in steak or for shabu shabu in the future.

Sauteed Canadian scallops with king oyster sympatic in lobster jus.
The zucchini basil flan acts as the nucleus for the electrons of scallops,
holding the soft flavor and smooth texture of both flan and scallop together.

Baked Alaska.
Teenage Glutser has an action shot of the baked Alaska during the flambe process here.

I've only ever read about Mrs. White's baked Alaska at Mr. Boddy's extravagant dinner parties in the Clue series as a elementary school kid.  I finally got a chance to try this marshmallow flambeed dessert dish.  The surprise inside is a Japanese green tea ice cream, sweetened by the raspberry sauce and softened by the tough yet airy roasted marshmallow.

 

Vanilla ice cream with fresh berries in a cookie shell with caramel netting.
The best desserts are simple, fresh, and don't push you into a food coma.

The restaurant is nestled on Green Street behind the Pasadena's main thoroughfare in a space that has room for just over a dozen tables.  The mirrors at any ends of the dining room trick the guests into thinking that the restaurant is actually much larger than it really is.  There are chef prix fixe menus as well as a chef's omakase tasting menu, which I am quite curious to see about next time I visit.  Reservations are highly recommended.  Who's ready to drop some bills?

Until we make it rain again, let's get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20101014/20091101+28

Post 32.2: Kalbi from the Korean Countryside (LA: Koreatown)

When most people think of Korean food, Korean BBQ is probably one of the most common thoughts that pop into mind.  Images of sizzling pieces of tender meat on a cast iron plate or smoke produced from meat over a charcoal grill are what come to mind.  Scratch that.  What used to come to mind.  I've recently come across so-called Korean comfort food from Seongbukdong in Koreatown, a restaurant that specializes in Gyeongsang cooking.  After reading about this style of home cooking in C. Thi Nguyen's LA Times article and experiencing what she calls the "trinity" of the three most popular dishes, images of steamed kalbi rather than grilled kalbi now permeate the inner thought cavities of my brain.



There's nothing more than can be said about steamed short ribs (galbi jjim) that hasn't already been said by Nguyen, The Thirsty Pig, or Stuffy Cheaks.  The meat is so tender that you don't even feel like you're chewing.  It's not the same as gnawing on grilled kalbi and working your teeth around the bone.  Here, the meat has already been stripped from the bone by the service staff upon setting the porcelain bowl down on the table.  It's hard not to have just one chunk of beef.  The salty and sweet (soy sauce and sugar perhaps) flavor combination keeps you from putting your chopsticks down.



The braised mackerel is what made it really hard to put my chopsticks down.  But unless you're amazingly adept at grasping chopsticks, fish, and bones simultaneously, you have to put your chopsticks down in order to get all the bones out of the spiny fish.  The mackerel is blanketed by a mound of kimchi... the flavor is rich, salty, and spicy... and absolutely amazing-delicious. 




On the two separate occassions I've visited Seongbukdong, I've also ordered the rice soup (gook bap) and kimchi stew (kimchi chigae).  The gook bap is great to have with the spicy braised mackerel and the salty and sweet steamed short ribs.  It gives you the warmth of chicken noodle soup but the heartiness of a tomato soup (although neither chicken, noodle, or tomato are amongst the ingredients used to prepare the gook bap).  I felt almost cleansed with each spoonful of gook bap.  The gook bap washes the sauce from the braised mackerel's kimchi away like the way the rain takes the pollution from the sky.  Mmmmm... this would be great to have on a rainy day.  Or... great to have any day.  Both Karin and one of the staff say that gook bap is one of their favorites.



The kimchi chigae is not my favorite here because it's more sour than I would like, but the service staff say that Seongbukdong is known for their kimchi chigae.  It tasted authentic, and Tiffany didn't mind it, but I still enjoy a kimchi chigae that's less sour and more spicy.



Some of my favorite banchan are the pepper with fermented bean paste, the sweet red beans, and of course, the huge chunk of steamed egg.  But I still can't get over the mackerel's fatty meat enshrouded in the little quilts of kimchi.  It's not everyone's favorite, but it's definitely mine.  Based on the reviews on Yelp and comments from other bloggers, I'm definitely coming back for the marinated spicy pork.  I'm dreaming out it already...

Read the post on Seongbukdong from The Thirsty Pig here.

Read the post on Seongbukdong from Stuffy Cheaks here.

Read the post on Seongbukdong from Food Pants here.

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

ML - 20100901