Culinary art.

I'm back now (sad!). And because I need to catch up on sleep, I'm just going to give one more quick little highlight before I sum up the whole trip:

We spent the second half of our Saturday in Golden Gate Park where we attended San Francisco's Zine Fest, a conference for independent and underground publishing. I didn't know what 'zines' were before that day (short for 'fanzine,' Wikipedia defines them as a "small circulation, non-commercial publication of original text and images"), so it was a super neat experience in learning about something completely new and observing such diverse talent in art, storytelling, wit, humor and weirdness. The last part I say with admiration.

And wouldn't you know it, there were even some food-inspired items:


These deliciously adorable note cards are by Motormouthpress, which produces stationery rather than zines (it's sorta related, I guess). Click through their site to see more food-themed cuteness.

I should have gotten twenty more of these. Although, then I'd just have a huge stack of note cards that would sit on my desk forever, as they are almost too pretty to part with. I suppose I could send them to myself.

"Dearest Me,

I WANT TO EAT THESE CARDS.

Love, Me."

(And if you're wondering what's on the other side of the card, it has the chocolate petite cake in a gift box, with a speech bubble that says, "I miss you, too, Raspberry." AWW.)

Lunch at Haight and Ashbury. Or near, rather.

Okay, so I'm really behind. And now I only have time (and room) to talk about one part of my Saturday: lunch at a Nepalese restaurant.

Metro Kathmandu in/near the Haight and Ashbury district was my first venture into Nepalese cuisine. And first impressions were delicious.


A mango lassi was a sweet, thick thirst-quencher, which whet my appetite and made me hungrier. Luckily, the food came out quickly.


A chicken and mango spinach salad with tamarind dressing and shaved fennel. The chicken was a little on the tough side, but the perfectly ripe, juicy mango more than made up for it.


Chicken curry with basmati rice was a lighter, less rich version of Indian-style curry. Which isn't bad at all -- just pleasantly different. This time the chicken was fall-apart-in-your-mouth tender. SUPER MONEY TENDER. Hahaha silly Guy Fieri.


Finally, I was most excited to try these Everest momos -- stuffed with ground buffalo meat, curry, onion, garlic and ginger, served alongside a tomato chutney. Since this is the first time I had buffalo, I can't really say yet what its distinct qualities are. Perhaps.. a juicier version of beef? 'Yummy' could be another distinctive quality..?

I would love to try more of Nepalese cuisine. I wonder if there are any restaurants in Orange County.

Sounds like a food quest is in order.

* * *
Metro Kathmandu
311 Divisadero Street
San Francisco 94117
415.552.0903

"Asian Ghetto," nap, sushi.

Hah! You probably thought I wasn't going to update, huh?! Yet, here I am.

So just a quick rundown of today's food consumption:

A late lunch at Berkeley's "Asian Ghetto" on Durant Ave. consisted of lamb gyros from Meesha's Berkeley Gyros and a lychee-avocado smoothie from Sweetheart Café. Both were yummy and filled an empty stomach caused by preceding hours of luggage-towing.

Don't ask me why we got Greek/Mediterranean grub at an Asian Ghetto. There happens to be pretty good Italian there, too.

After an impromptu tour of UC Berkeley's campus, we returned to my sister's apartment where I promptly collapsed on the floor and snoozed for an hour and a half. I awoke to: "I'm hungry -- let's go eat some sushi!" and groggily (and happily) obliged.

We got three monstrous rolls at Joshu-ya Sushi. They were too gigantic for this blog, in fact. I'll show you only one: The Lucky Danny Roll. (I wonder who this Danny is. And why is he so lucky?)

Shrimp tempura, crab meat, asparagus tempura, topped with fresh salmon, avocado and tobiko. Quite heavy because of all the fried goodness, but pretty damn tasty. And the fish was very succulent.

To sum it up: Traveling, food, nap, more food, sleep. It was a pretty good day.

Tomorrow: San Francisco!

* * *
Meesha's Berkeley Gyros
2519 Durant Ave.
Berkeley 94704
510.849.4771

Sweetheart Café
2523 Durant Ave.
Berkeley 94704
510.540.0707

Joshu-Ya Sushi
2441 Dwight Way
Berkeley 94704
510.858.5260

Berkeley foodventures to come!

I'm leaving for vacation to Berkeley tomorrow, camera in tow, and the part I'm most excited about is checking out all the local food places! Oh, after seeing my sister, of course.

I've heard that Berkeley has some of the best food and most talented chefs in the country. Ooh! I'll try to update while I'm there, but I might be too busy having fun or stuffing my face.

On a separate, but related, note: I am really wanting and trying to update this blog more often. It's not that I have a lack of material (SO many things to ramble on about) -- it's a lack of time! Boo, bill-paying job!

Chocolatey goodness.

When your pastry chef cousin Irene asks you if you want to attend a free Valrhona chocolate demo, all you can do is say 'hells yes.'

I mean, come on: it's free, at Surfas (absolute heaven for chefs, gourmands, and cooking enthusiasts), and it features the be-all and end-all of chocolate -- mother effin' Valrhona. You don't have to ask me twice.

Corporate chef for Valrhona, Derek Poirer, with his endless capacity for patience and chocolate knowledge, demonstrated recipes and humored silly questions from participants for more than two hours.

Oh yeah, and he also fed us chocolatey goodness:


Above, a chocolate financier, studded with streusel and "Valrhona's solution to the chocolate chip," per the description of chef Poirer's assistant. And that Tootsie Roll-looking thing on top? A luscious log of chocolate custard.


Valrhona's chocolate mousse topped with macerated strawberries. Because 'macerated' is a way cooler word than 'chopped.'


Chocolate soufflé, which was actually a baked version of the chocolate mousse.


Finally, chocolat chaud made with a special chocolate spiced with curry, cumin and other spices. Oh, and topped with fresh vanilla foam, of course.

The recipes are supposed to be available someday soon on the Surfas website -- if and when they do post them I will include the link here. For now, please join me in drooling at the photos and fantasizing about swimming in a giant tub of chocolate mousse.

* * *
Surfas
8824 National Blvd.
Culver City 90232
310.559.4770

Happy Independence Day: The red velvet strike ends!

In celebration of 4th of July, my cousin Cha and I made red velvet cupcakes. Or rather: "Blue(berry), White, and Red (Velvet)" cupcakes. Tee hee hee.


I had a much better, less redder experience with red velvet this time around (we only put half a teaspoon of red food gel into these babies).

My cousin preferred red sugar crystals for decorating:


"Aww, yours are cute. They're rustic and homey!"
"Hey, Irene always uses 'rustic' whenever she messes up on something."

"Rustic" or not, they were mighty tasty. And not frightening in the slightest. REJOICE!

Beaucoup chili.

Ack! I totally forgot to blog about this last week.

The Tustin Street Fair and Chili Cookoff is long gone (June 1), but for the sake of reminding myself what I should try next year, I am documenting it anyway.

The Tustin News did a full report of the chili cook-off winners as named by the International Chili Society, but here are the favorites as named by the Supercool Spicy Sexy Chili Society (my sister, boyfriend, and myself):

Out of the dozen or so we tried, my boyfriend's top pick was Duffy's Fantail Chili (front), which placed fourth in the aforementioned judging. It was just all-around good, flavorful chili -- one of my favorites, too.


The chili in the mini bread boule, for which I can't recall the name, was fricken' adorable but much too salty.

My sister's favorite was the Spice Girls Chili. I forgot why. I think because of the tomatoey flavor.


Mine was the Fire Ant Chili. It was unique, smoky and had a really nice kick. Y'know, it had "layers of flavor," and all that jazz.


I also really liked the Paradise Chili, which I forgot to photograph. Mostly, I think I liked it because it had corn in it. Everything is better with corn. You should know that by now.

And to cool off, Repicci's mango-flavored Italian ice was the perfect treat on this scorching summer day:


Next year I must remember to try:
Blue Ribbon Chili (sold out before we even arrived)
Roadkill Chili
Ring of Fire Chili
Oh, and we overheard people talking about steak chili... but could not find the vendor ourselves.

* * *
Tustin Street Fair & Chili Cookoff
El Camino Real & Main Street
Tustin 92780
714-573-3326

Apparently, I cater, too.

As a bridesmaid for my friend's wedding and one who loves to cook, I offered to be in charge of food for the bridal shower. And because this turned into my first catering experience, I'd like to share how it went.

Let's start kind of backwards -- the dessert is always everyone's favorite part anyway:


These chocolate-covered strawberries were a collaborative effort by both me and my sister -- I dipped and she drizzled. My first few attempts at drizzling the white chocolate resulted in a couple messy, weird, "artsy-fartsy" strawberries -- or so my bride later called it. I called it more fartsy than artsy. To be completely accurate, it looked like a mentally unstable leprechaun took a tiny little can of white silly string and went to town on the strawberries. My sister had pointed and laughed hysterically at them and at me. That's when I made her my designated drizzler.

She was on a roll and helped me decorate the party favors as well -- homemade giant fortune cookies.


After attempting three and a half recipes for fortune cookies, which all failed because they turned out too delicate, too soggy, or too gritty, I finally settled on a standard tuile batter recipe, provided by pastry chef cousin Irene even before the other recipes' trials and errors. She later made fun of me for ever doubting her recipe in the first place. I promise I won't do it again.

Fortune Cookies (Basic Tuile Batter)
5 oz sugar
3 oz butter, softened
3 oz egg whites (equivalent to about 3 egg whites), slightly beaten
4 oz flour (in weight, not volume -- it equals about 1 cup of flour)

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg whites and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until combined. Beat in the flour. The batter should be a peanut butter-like consistency.

Spread the batter evenly in a very thin, 4-inch circle on a silpat or on parchment paper. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 7 minutes or until edges are browned. Remove from the oven and wait 30 seconds, then loosen the cookie from the pan with an offset spatula and flip it over. Place the "fortune" face down on the cookie.

Working quickly (and it helps if you wear thin gloves), loosely pinch two ends of the circle together like a taco. Press the folded side of the cookie perpendicularly against the rim of the baking pan, and gently bring the edges closer together to make a fortune cookie shape. Set the shaped cookie in a muffin pan to cool and harden.

If you're brave and fast, you can try making two at a time.

Other things on the "Asian-themed" bridal shower menu:
Chicken satay
Gyoza
Thai lettuce wraps
Maki-zushi
Egg rolls
Edamame
Tofu with peanut sauce

I also offered to make phallic cupcakes for the bachelorette party, but was reminded of the non-phallus policy. Boo!

Farmers Market, part 2: Bounty of baked goods.

Whenever I spend a day exploring someplace new or rarely-visited, I like to take part of the (food) adventure home with me to savor later.

I call it my "bounty." Because it's like a reward given to myself after a long day of food hunting.

My Farmers Market bounty isn't terribly impressive, but it's worth noting:

Baclava from T&Y Bakery, stall #222.

This Russian bakery features astoundingly large pastries in its display case, including gigantic cheese-filled croissants (I was debating on getting those, too). Their baclava was rather different from the Mediterranean treat of pretty much the same name -- instead of layers of phyllo and pistaschios, this was a crispy puff pastry sandwich of whole raisins and large chunks of walnuts. And I don't know if that's how all Russian-style baclava is, but that's how mine was.

Next: Peanut butter bark from the Ultimate Nut and Candy Company, stall #522.


It looks fantastic, no? Unfortunately, it was just mediocre. I tasted 90% butter/milk/rice-crispiness, and only 10% peanut butter. Lame. I should have gotten the rainbow popcorn.

Finally, meringue cookies from Thee's Continental Bakery, stall #316. Actually, my first-ever treat at the Farmers Market was one of Thee's famous apple dumplings three years ago, when my boyfriend and I stumbled into the area while waiting for our movie to begin at the adjacent The Grove shopping center.


Anyway, these are just large meringues riddled with chocolate chips. It makes me wonder how they taste when they're still warm from the oven. The one I decided to feature front and center is mint chocolate, but I actually preferred the regular chocolate chip because of its walnutty surprise. But I really do need to revisit the apple dumpling.

I can't wait to go back to the Farmers Market. I am craving another hunt and an even tastier food bounty.

* * *
T&Y Bakery
323.930.2355

Ultimate Nut & Candy Company
323.938.1555

Thee's Continental Bakery
323.937.1965

The O.G. of farmers markets. Part 1.

My visit to L.A.'s Farmers Market on 3rd and Fairfax was during one of those sweaty, so-hot-my-face-might-melt weekends Southern Californians are all too familiar with in late spring/early summer... even though oddly, we haven't been experiencing any recently. (The lateness of this post is so apparent.)

Anyway, it was midday when my cousins and I arrived at the Farmers Market, when the scorching sun was at its peak scorchability. I walked around in a daze, overwhelmed by the heat and too many delicious food choices.

In order to avoid passing out, I decided first to find something to drink. I found it at The Salad Bar, stall #424.

"Whatever that is, I'll have it."

It was a clear barrel of pale, natural orangey liquid, with ice cubes and pieces of fresh fruit afloat. It looked so yummy. And ice cold. Perfect.

"It's fruit punch, and sure."


Oh my. With fresh strawberries, grapes, chunks of apple, orange, cantaloupe, watermelon and honeydew, the juice was fruit salad in drink form -- a flavorful fruit party of all the aforementioned fruits. (YES A FRUIT PARTY.) Nope, this was definitely not the gross, artificial crap that stains your tongue red for days. And special bonus: After I slurped up all the juice, I had an actual fruit salad waiting for me at the bottom! Wonderful.

My cousins, who opted instead for watermelon lemonade and a $4+ smoothie, were envious of my $2.50 fruit punch from heaven.

For food-food, I settled on a heaping plate of Mediterranean cuisine from Moishe's, stall #336.


Here it's been half eaten, but shown are pieces of lamb kebab, tabboule, rice pilaf, and in the back is a couscous salad and hoummus. All were delicious -- especially the lamb, which was tender and packed with flavor, and the couscous, dressed with a spicy-sweet vinaigrette.

I washed it all down with a second fruit punch. Mmm.

Next.. Part 2: My bounty of baked goods.

* * *
Farmers Market
6333 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles 90036
323.933.9211

The Salad Bar
323.933.3204

Moishe's Restaurant
323.936.4998