Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts

Friday, July 25, 2008

Plane crazy


The airport "limousine" is optimistically named. Sigh. Less than 3 days on the ground, and I'm heading back to California already. I'll just have to squeeze all my restaurant hopping in the limited time I have at the airport. 


Korean draft beer is good.


So-so bulgogi. I guess most airport food is of similarly overpriced quality all over the world.


I found a gelato stand in Korea! Black sesame and yogurt flavoured gelato. Surprisingly good. And the yogurt gelato texture was spot on. I got two spoons so I can share with myself.


Black bean tea tastes like dirt. The dirt that the beans grew in. Blech.



Colonel Sanders looks Asian. I'm not sure this will go over well in Kentucky.



And one last fiery seafood tofu stew pot. Then onto the airplane for the 12 hour flight back to LA! Aie! (And yes Meg, I did eat all that.)

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Laying it on thick


Sunchoke gratin. Late spring and summer produce are about to show up at the markets. Fall and winter items must be cleared out of the refrigerator to make room for the new seasons.


Carrot apple ginger soup. With a smidgen of cilantro. The idea is to take advantage of pectin locked away in unpeeled apples to help give the soup an unctuous texture without muddling up the plant flavors with dairy or gelatinous meat broths. The texture turned out great, but I'm not really sure I can credit the apples. I didn't make a batch without the apples to compare. And pectin's jelling effect probably doesn't do much at warm soup temperatures. Tastes good though, so no matter. These would be great with some toasted pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top, but I didn't want to wash another pan.


Roasted orange beets and garlic- possibly for a salad later in the week, or some sort of marinade or sauce. Orange beets don't stain fingers and cutting boards and clothes and walls and napkins and dog noses like the more common red beets. I think orange ones are also slightly milder and more subtle in flavor, but that may be psychological. I'm easily swayed by pretty colors.


Today's bounty from the Super H Mart includes items such as Ca Ca flavored glazed chip snacks. Assorted shaped and filled mochi. Traditional Chen Pee plum candies, and coffee drinks named "Let's Be Bitter." In addition to being swayed by pretty colors, I am easily tempted by entertainingly named things. I will also be conducting comparison tests on cans of coconut milk.


And I couldn't resist trying the little crabs at the giant kimchee bar. Cute little itty bitty crabs! I'm such a sucker for little kawaii things.


A sucker for things like mini-me bananas. These mini bananas sliced and served with melon baller scooped ice cream would make great banana split sundaes for toddlers and dieters. I would top it with a tiny swedish lingonberry instead of a full sized maraschino cherry.



Sambal grilled corn. And Davy sauced ribs. Sometimes, there's nothing better on a weekend than grilled corn and a frosty beer. I had forgotten how good grilled corn can be. We will aim to grill more corn this summer. The pork ribs were so tender that it fell apart like pulled pork. Messy and delicious. This batch of Kentucky Davy Bourbon sauce included dried mangos and oregano. Now that I've realized bbq sauces are incredibly easy to make, there's really no reason to buy sauces and marinades that include xanthum gum and lecithin.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Seeing red


Lilypads! Cross your fingers, maybe the water lily will flower this year. Will it be red? Or yellow? Or white?


Warming temperatures make cannas more colorful. I totally want a necktie with this color scheme. This is one of the few non-edible plants left in the backyard.


This is kind of scary looking.


Chorizo black bean molé chili. I wish there were limes on the tree. This could use a touch of lime juice and queso fresco.



2 lbs of lentils for 50 cents! Some mirepoix, chicken stock, a smoked hamhock, and bay leaves. Lentil soup warms the soul.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Back to my roots


In the Bay Area for a short little schmidge. This combination microwave/mini-fridge looks like a movie space robot from the 50's. I knew I should have packed my silver lamé overalls. Darn it!


Intimidated by the microwave robot, I decide to forage for food in the neighborhood. GPS brought me to sesame tofu salad and plum tea.


And Szechwan beef noodle soup with thick cut noodles.



Palty hair dye. Because blonde is my natural hair color.