and now something for the entomophagists...

for all your bug-based protein dietary needs, i give you the home tabletop bug incubator. it's like having a farm on your countertop!

Heinz, you've done it. and now, everyone's going to do it.

if you know me, even a little bit, you know i've often asked, how come they don't make stupid plastic condiment packets easier, bigger and easier to biodegrade??!

i saw this today, and now i'm wondering what great invention or patent i should be working on next?

grrrrrrrrrrr

Avec Eric: Ripert with Bourdain, Chang, Achatz, Fearing, Andres...

best episode EVER. i love...
José Andres' cigars and airs; Dean Fearing's throwback respect; Achatz' matter-of-factness; David Chang's intensity and high-strung Asian-ness; Tony Bourdain's insecurity (he sounds like Marc Maron!).

you gotta watch the entire episode.


The CAYMAN COOKOUT , avec Eric Ripert and friends, is happening 13-16 January 2011. this year, we're talking $3k for TWO DAYS, people! total bliss.

FOOD: Triumphant Orange County Return of Grill 'Em All Truck or NOT??!!

it speaks volumes when FoodTV's Great Food Truck Race (GFTR) is the only reality show my husband AlSto dares admit watching. luckily, we had the privilege of eating GRILL 'EM ALL truck's brutal cuisine before people chose to wait in line around the block this evening!

Grill 'Em All was scheduled to arrive at 6pm, at Fullerton's Bootlegger's Brewery, but they were running late. i was on the road at the time, but AlSto got periodic updates from our friends who had been waiting in line since 5pm-ish...

by 7pm, according to our friends' reports, no orders had been taken yet, but someone was out in front of the line, rallying supporters, the faithful and the hungry. we were at home still. AlSto considered (aloud) heading down to Fullerton, Pig amp in hand, to play 'Fight Fire with Fire' a la Venice Beach's Harry Karry (sp?) sans rollerskates and head dress. seriously. except i'm just kidding about the Harry Karry part.

despite a bunch of cheaters cutting in line, our friends managed to get their hands and mouths around the BEHEMOTH (but search for 'behometh'. doesn't that sound/look like something from the bible?!). they hadn't run out of food yet, but the Orange County health inspectors were supposedly onsite, doing what health inspectors do. or were they?

the following two twits were all i could find in the Twitter universe:

RT @englishboila: @GrillEmAllTruck got harrassed by health inspector nazis in Fullerton so they are running really late!! We need to stop this harrasment!! (sic) - via search.twitter.com

@englishboila: Apparantly they let @GrillEmAllTruck go tonight cos of huge line but they won't be allowed in OC again until pass OC codes!! (sic) - via search.twitter.com

as of 2.49 Friday morning, OC Register had nothing more current than their post announcing Grill 'Em All's planned appearance. the OC Weekly had nothing to report, either...but on STICK A FORK IN IT my guys Edwin Goei and Dave Lieberman had said some of the things i had wanted to say about the outcome of the GFTR. and those damn nom noms.

so did anything really happen tonight? i don't trust rumours when i have nothing to support or substantiate... so please fill me in, Grill 'Em All guys!

or, help us, Gustavo Arellano !

-Thursday, 23/9/2010 Twitpic via @threefrenchs

Pappy Van Winkle's Sicilian Lifeguard à la Terranea

Wednesday night 15/9/2010 with AlSto and BriKa in no particular order... or maybe, in order of recall:

the S.C. thing is apparently brash spicy tomato sauce, briny caper berries, sweet currants, sharp scallions, and soft balls of Israeli couscous:

"I have never actually met a Sicilian lifeguard, but if one were to cook up a pot of calamari, this is how he or she might make it." - Mario Batali

sounds kinda gross to me. i didn't have it but i did have tiny vegetables. but please find a reference or definition of the Sicilian Lifeguard preparation without Batali, other than at MAR'SEL (sea salt! geddit? and their salt was really quite extraordinary) or its super young chef MICHAEL FIORELLI (worked under both MARK MILITELLO and SUSANNA FOO?!! holy crap. but i still don't like K Simon). then, please tell me cos i'm too lazy to page through 10 pages of results.

- per Saveur article of BABBO.

• gin IS vodka. - per CHOWHOUND
  

• long, slow and wet = braising! - per EPICURIOUS

• don't be a jerk. thanks to waiter George. he takes care of you! ask for him.

• j'adore l'amuse bouche! caramelised shallot tart with sofrito sauce. i heart odd numbers on a plate. seashell-shaped café mocha chocolate for dessert.
  
  
• check out the small world of bourbon...PAPPY VAN WINKLE is bottled at the BLANTON'S plant!

the distillery has a webcam of several different rooms! Frankfort is about 70 miles from Loretto, Kentucky...for when we eventually go on our KY Tour. and PVW is related to Ole Grandad (just kidding. but maybe it should be!).

• JUSTIN cabernet sauvignon is pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.

did i forget anything?

VIDEO: Cookin' with COOLIO???!!!

funny. thanks to RiSmi for this!

i really did enjoy Coolio's music, but i guess he's through with that for real, now...

"look good, smell good, taste good IS GOOD!!!" (and don't forget the mahz-a-rella, insults, Coolio special seasoning and the coagulation of flavours...)

Miguel Medialdea, Veta la Palma and the beauty of relationships

if you know me, you may know about my (recent) conflicted feelings about farm-raised seafood as well as overfishing in the wild. then, VETA LA PALMA's (frames and Flash warning! see this pdf and another pdf from the website) aquafarm and bird sanctuary gave me hope. Veta la Palma's biologist, Miguel Medialdea, has spearheaded a system that is:

1) A fish farm that doesn't feed its own fish - the system is totally self-renewing, and the fish eat only algae and phytoplankton that already exist in the water.
2) A fish farm that measures its success by the health of its predators who feed on the fish - It is a thriving bird sanctuary, where hundreds of avian species stop by and feed upon 20% of the farm's fish and fish eggs. In fact, a group of pink flamingoes is said to fly over a hundred miles each way from where they brood (a place where the soil is better for them to nest).
3) A fish farm in which water leaves cleaner than when it was introduced - Water running through the farm is purified, not polluted, as a result.

read an article about Manuel Medialdea and Veta la Palma from Time Magazine called SUSTAINABLE AQUACULTURE: NET PROFITS by Lisa Abend, and watch this TEDtalks with chef DAN BARBER of Blue Hill Farms in New York.

FOOD: Grill 'Em All truck is brutally good food from seriously thoughtful cooks

i don't usually write much about my food experiences, but i must tell you about my Reign in Bun experience... it's one of the specials of the day from the guys at the GRILL 'EM ALL truck: a [veg] burger with grilled red and green bell pepper, pepper jack cheese and freaking lemon pepper crème fraîche!!! delicious.

AlSto had the Waste 'Em All: marinated green chiles (with some actual scoville points!?), pepper jack, beer soaked onions. our friend PhiLe asked for the Lars (a special they ran out of...how fresh and daily is that?!) but ended up with the Molly Hatchet...but good thing he did; it has seared sausage gravy with fennel!!!... as well as applewood smoked bacon and maple drizzle. soooooo sick, and amazing smelling, with what i imagine would be an ideal blend of the salty and the sweet, plus the smokey! incredible.

they serve belgian frites as a side dish, double fried like they should be. crisp and fresh...they obviously change their oil. not to mention, kosher salt, which was sprinkled immediately post fryer cos it actually stuck to the fries. thank you!

and if you know me, you know how much i love condiments, and theirs are things of beauty. you could taste every ingredient in their sauces. PhiLe had what he said was a 'japanese aïoli with jalapeño'...enough spice for someone like me, where the heat/burn was immediate, and it lingered but 'twasn't overbearing. totally awesome. and my garlic aïoli was strong and real. fantastic! i think by this time i was totally stoked, so i want to say their regular ketchup is homemade, too. come to think of it, it has to be, cos who would make 5+ sauces from scratch and then use bottled stuff?

one thing i can never get down quite right with my cooking is the timing, and i swear AlSto and PhiLe's burgers were perfectly medium rare and ready in our hands/mouths, with fries, in less than six minutes. impressive.

the only part i was a little bummed about, but not really, was how totally unbrutal and NICE these guys genuinely were. super mellow...and there was no Nuclear Blast compilation, no Dethklok, or even metallica's 'orion' or other instrumental blaring out their speakers. i'll blame that on stupid fullerton's city ordinances or something. and he (i think 'twas chef harkins) actually thanked me for my $2 tip. how nice. :oP

(btw, chefs harkins and chernus, who was that lady glaring at you from inside the truck? god i hope she wasn't a mother... ;-P)

ok fullerton dbags, maybe $8 for a burger is more than in-n-out, but this is serious food...and bravo to BOOTLEGGER'S BREWERY for attracting so many food trucks to your no-food-permitted-beer-establishment-stuck-in-the-middle-of-an-orange-county-industrial-block. most of them can't be bothered to venture further north than SanTana...until they hit Commerce or DTLA at least. kogi bbq's food tastes better at the front of the line, cos they're definitely overrated at >45 min back in the line...but Grill 'Em All deserves your palate, cos i doubt they will disappoint...and you may be pleasantly surprised.

find them on the Twitt'r and the Facebk. photos to come!

El Bullì or BUST!

after course 12, i imagined i still would have been hungry. after course 30, maybe not so much...? check out the beautiful photos (and videos!).
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2009/08/dinner_at_el_bu.html

MANY thanks to ArBa for the link to this!

Del Taco Orange Shakes, and from SNL so-so to full on koo koo

i forget the difference between a dreamsicle and a creamsicle, but this shake sounds pretty, pretty, pretty good! i learned about the return of the orange shake from the fabulous Orange County Mexican Food blog.

and...my friend WaDi mentioned the recent fundamentalist crusade of Saturday Night Live's Victoria Jackson. and of course i forgot about it. until i read an entry today on William Lobdell's blog, that began like this:

"Obama legally kills babies and now he can legally kill Grandmas! "

fun food...n'est pas haute cuisine.

now i'm going to stick dried spaghetti into any food that i can boil. except spaghetti.
via Twitter via http://maraz-m-moroz.livejournal.com/255878.html

Fish paste, i think, is kamaboko.

Via BOING BOING, thanks to JaHe...shrimp, sesame, fish paste and all!

turBACONducken

Check out this beaut:
Many thanks to ErWa for the link to the wonderful website known as BACON TODAY.

Menudo ain't fine cuisine...is it?

While staying in Paris at the Plaza Athénée recently, Ricky Martin reportedly turned down ALAIN DUCASSE's cooking, a fine dining offer made by the hotel. He brought along his personal chef, instead. The story has a nice ending, though:

"Rather than some arrogant American health freak, a lovely, rotund, 60-something Puerto Rican lady arrived and knocked them all off their feet with her Latin charm. And not only did the chefs share the kitchen, they also sourced nothing but the best ingredients for her feasts. "

Read the article courtesy of KITCHEN RAT.

Lament on the Cheesecake Factory

So last night, i went to the Cheesecake Factory in Brea with AlSto, JaHe, FraKa and ChriPre. Food was good, service was decent, everything else was pretty blah...which is what bummed me out enough to write this complaint letter:

Sorry for the tone of this letter, and if it sounds like a complaint, i suppose it is, although i just wanted to express my disappointment more than i wanted to actually complain. Last night, there was an issue with your computer system and this prevented our orders from being fulfilled in a timely manner. The restaurant had only a few tables of diners at 9.30pm. Our server was pleasant enough, keeping us informed of the reason why it took over twenty minutes to get our food. ...and it took a WHILE to get our drinks from the bar, too. There were lots of smiles and seemingly heartfelt apologies, but i couldn't help but notice that in the end, our table of six was forced to shrug off the issue and go 'oh well'. Bummer. i understand you are no longer the 'old' Cheesecake Factory. CF used to be a special experience, a place where i wouldn't mind if we had to wait nearly two hours for a table, cos i knew the restaurant would take care of us in most every aspect. i just wanted to let you know how much i miss the 'old' CF, where the manager would come over and offer a free appetizer, or at least make sure we had plenty of bread (no, we didn't ask for more but we weren't offered any, either...). Thanks for listening, or at least reading.

oh yeah, and the music sucked about 85% of the time. (and i know i counted the number of people wrong. i just noticed that.) it makes me sad to sound old and complain about stuff.

A Noodle ATM in K-Town

Thanks to my brother Kaze for this! i especially like the crazy Korean ladies yelling in the background...


RoboRamen from eric alba on Vimeo.

i may be a vegetarian, but i still love the smell of bacon.

thus begins an article on SLATE.COM by Taylor Clark. i agree with every word in that sentence, so i read more. he goes on to say:


"Believe me, if obtaining bacon didn't require slaughtering a pig, I'd have a BLT in each hand right now with a bacon layer cake waiting in the fridge for dessert."

agreed.

"...allow me a quick word with the hardworking chefs at America's dining establishments. We really appreciate that you included a vegetarian option on your menu (and if you didn't, is our money not green?), but it may interest you to know that most of us are not salad freaks on a grim slog for nourishment. We actually enjoy food, especially the kind that tastes good. So enough with the bland vegetable dishes, and, for God's sake, please make the Gardenburgers stop; it's stunning how many restaurants lavish unending care on their meat dishes yet are content to throw a flavorless hockey puck from Costco into the microwave and call it cuisine."

absolutely!

"As you're enjoying that pork loin next to me, I am not silently judging you. I realize that anyone who has encountered the breed of smug vegetarian who says things like, "I can hear your lunch screaming," will find this tough to believe, but I'm honestly not out to convert you. My girlfriend and my closest pals all eat meat, and they'll affirm that I've never even raised an eyebrow about it. "

AMEN! except change 'girlfriend' to 'husband'.

and just as i thought the entire article would speak for me, i read about how Mr. Clark wears leather. bummer. it's still pretty close.

MARIO'S PERUVIAN RESTAURANT in LA MIRADA!!??

i know, i know. you are skeptical. you think, there is NO WAY IN HELL it's the same MARIO'S PERUVIAN RESTAURANT as on Melrose and Vine, next to the Radio Shack and Popeye's, across the street from that church. there is absolutely no way it is the same saltado de ______, the same ceviche mixto, the same inka cola, for chrissakes.

then, you pull into a parking lot across from a steinmart and a mexican restaurant, next to a burger place, on the intersection of IMPERIAL HIGHWAY and SANTA GERTRUDES in la mirada. the place looks like an old Coco's Restaurant, which in fact, it IS. you walk up to the door, and there is no queue of ravenous mario's lovers. you walk inside and you're greeted by a manager guy in beige shirt and slacks. you're seated in what definitely used to be a Coco's Restaurant. then, they hand you the menu...

YES! it is the same menu, pale yellow in colour, laminated, with the peruvian carving/design on the cover with the black block lettering. you're thinking, "hmmm, could this possibly be the same mario's?" YES, it is the SAME saltado, ceviche, and inka cola...and the flan...except, NO HOUR LONG+ WAIT FOR A TABLE! in fact, the food is as fast as the original store, but there are many, many empty tables waiting for you to fill!

i have gone to the original location for over ten years now. i have travelled from my home in orange county to the original location in hollywood. i used to bring it home on occasion, condensation on the inside of the styrofoam container, devouring my bread after dipping it in the perfectly spicy green sauce on the drive home. NOW, it is YOUR turn to take a little drive to Mario's in La Mirada. you won't regret it. oh, but don't forget to ask for some lemon.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=34.02364,-117.997284&spn=0.241865,0.450439&z=11&om=1&msid=115329167909327958751.000440d5fd0e73fbbce2a

nice and easy was nice and fun...and plastic

went to the nice and easy store in la mirada california on santa gertrudes and imperial highway. it was a weird combination of trader joe's and albertsons, with the lighting of 'one hour photo' thrown in.

IT'S LIKE TRADER JOE'S!

• cheap cage free eggs
• tons of their own 'nice and easy' brand
• pasta is 69 cents for a pound
• organic this and whole wheat that
• super friendly employees
• decent wine section

IT'S LIKE ALBERTSONS!

• self checkout
• accepts coupons
• name brand stuff like fritos and stouffers
• lots of fresh meat [sausages with i think synthetic casing] and fish [we're talking freaking catfish with their heads and whiskers!!!?]

i guess i was bummed about their supposed green approach, which in reality meant: plastic wrappers on individual pieces of produce, and 'reusable' shopping bags, which were like those huge plastic to-go bags that you get at buca di beppo's, except sans the sturdy cardboard bottom. the thing about these is, once they're worn out, you turn them to the store for another plastic bag!??

i was also bummed cos the store wasn't fully stocked [read: shelves were empty];the nice and easy chips are in 10-ounce bags only [although still less than $2.50];and although they carry secret and mitchum deodorant, they don't carry mentadent toothpaste or filo dough.

we went out of our way to shop here tonight, and i think i'd go there in the same way i go out of the way to shop at trader joe's. plus, the food actually tastes pretty damn good. the thing i REALLY like about nice and easy, though, is how they are committed to serving underserved communities with their healthy, somewhat green approach. that's a LOT more than trader joe's can say, with their cropping up in every bougie neighbourhood that doesn't have a whole foods.

shop there and tell me what you think.