Here's a quick recap of my food adventures of the past few months:
My favorite curry where I cooked up the holy trinity of celery, carrots, and onions along with some shiitake mushrooms. Once soft, I blended the stew to make it thick then added potatoes and meat along with the curry rue.
Curry and a fried egg is a match made in heaven.
This is kurobuta (black pig) curry with zakoku gohan, a blend of grains and beans with rice. It adds a heartiness and varied texture over just eating curry with white rice.
Hayashi rice - very similar to curry rice but instead of curry the base is a rich beef stew. That richness is cut by mixing in a dry red wine into the sauce.
Onion soup from Frenchi's Bistro in Long Beach. A nice little pot that Miho took a liking too.
Frenchi's fois gras appetizer. My 1st taste of fois gras with a layer of truffles and strawberry glaze. Not bad - a cross between butter and a nice soft cheese. Truffles add a nice smokiness. The portion was larger than I thought it would be so by the time I finished the liver dish, I had more than enough to last me a long while. I know all the stories about the forced feeding they sometimes use on ducks to create fois gras, but I also know in France there are very human farmers of fois gras. I'm no die-hard animal rights advocate but the lesson is to be aware of what you eat (nutrition and origination) as opposed to just eating something just because it's food or it tastes good.
Ah a classic favorite - braised lamb shank. Frenchi's may be on par with Soliel's but I have nostalgic memories of my Soleil's lamb shank.
Miho had the free range chicken at Frenchi's. It almost looks like rib smackin BBQ chicken but the sauce is a much more pleasant taste to compliment the delicate flavors of the meat.
My favorite curry where I cooked up the holy trinity of celery, carrots, and onions along with some shiitake mushrooms. Once soft, I blended the stew to make it thick then added potatoes and meat along with the curry rue.
Curry and a fried egg is a match made in heaven.
This is kurobuta (black pig) curry with zakoku gohan, a blend of grains and beans with rice. It adds a heartiness and varied texture over just eating curry with white rice.
Hayashi rice - very similar to curry rice but instead of curry the base is a rich beef stew. That richness is cut by mixing in a dry red wine into the sauce.
Onion soup from Frenchi's Bistro in Long Beach. A nice little pot that Miho took a liking too.
Frenchi's fois gras appetizer. My 1st taste of fois gras with a layer of truffles and strawberry glaze. Not bad - a cross between butter and a nice soft cheese. Truffles add a nice smokiness. The portion was larger than I thought it would be so by the time I finished the liver dish, I had more than enough to last me a long while. I know all the stories about the forced feeding they sometimes use on ducks to create fois gras, but I also know in France there are very human farmers of fois gras. I'm no die-hard animal rights advocate but the lesson is to be aware of what you eat (nutrition and origination) as opposed to just eating something just because it's food or it tastes good.
Ah a classic favorite - braised lamb shank. Frenchi's may be on par with Soliel's but I have nostalgic memories of my Soleil's lamb shank.
Miho had the free range chicken at Frenchi's. It almost looks like rib smackin BBQ chicken but the sauce is a much more pleasant taste to compliment the delicate flavors of the meat.
Tea time! A little yokan - Japanese desert made with red bean and green tea (hence the green color). The outer crust is crystallized sugar for a crisp bite into a soft center.
With Miho sick I whipped up some Chinese chicken noodle soup from the left over bones and meat of a Costco whole broiled chicken we ate the night before. A little ginger and Japanese shungiku give this soup a fragrance that does wonder for a sore throat.
With Miho's parents in town we feasted on a home cooked "Surf and Turf" grilled meal. Fresh veggies included baby bell peppers, asparagus, Maui sweet onions, sweet corn, portabella mushrooms, and eggplant. Just a little sea salt, olive oil, and ground pepper goes a long way. To wash it down, a nice Armenian pomegranate wine.
For the meat side there was rib-eye steak, tiger shrimps, fresh scallops, and (drum roll) spiny lobster tails.
For breakfast the next morning I took the left over grilled veggies and chopped them up for a vegetable omelet. Cooking with left-overs is an under appreciated art.
And the night after that, the left-over rib-eye steak was sliced thin and placed over a bed of baby greens along with corn and eda mame for a nice steak salad. This was complimented by a silken oyster cream soup.
