DELICIOUSNESS *yumyum*

Came back on Saturday from a 2week vacation to China. Here's a tiny glimpse into the wonderful variety of foods we had. Tried many new things that I've never had before. The carb-filled diet (with all sorts of bing and fun) of the saanxi people was satisfying and made this carbie's tummy smile =) We traveled from the south to the north to central china to the north east sampling the local delicacies and specialties.

Brought some photos to share...(now the names of these are unfortunately not quite authentic)


Peanut filled sesame ball (Shanghai)


sweet taro balls (Suzhou)


Sweet Glazed fried fish from the local waters (Suzhou)


Savory Flaky Pastry (Suzhou)


Step-by-Step: GoBuLi baozi freshmade/tableside (Tianjin)


Pumpkin-filled Pastry (Xi'an)


Potato-noodles (Xi'an)


Freshly made bin stuffed with pork (Xi'an)


Fresh hand-rolled and hand-cut noodles (Xi'an)


Fresh table-side handtossed noodles (Xi'an)


Spicy Tripe (Xi'an)


Fresh fruits (Passionfruit, Dragonfruit, Oranges - yes they look like limes) (Taipei)


Fresh Mochi (Taipei)

The 'N' Wedding.

Congrats to our friends A & R!! We couldn't wait for this one to come...tucked away in a cute ranch in SLO..here are a few shots of the food...


appetizers creamcheese layered w/ diff't fillings (prosciutto/figs and pesto/sundried tomato). so yum!


Banana Nut cake from Madonna Inn..w/ the cute caketoppers. my fave of the three. can't believe i never had this one before..


Black Forest cake from Madonna Inn, this is the famous one we've always gotten..


Raspberry Delight from Madonna Inn...this is supposed to be a popular one, but this was my first time having it.

more details of this amazing wedding to come on my other blog

House of Prime Rib

1906 Van Ness Ave * San Francisco, CA

For our anniversary, mr. Lee decided to chow down on some prime rib. this was his first time and my multiple time. We arrived a few minutes early for our reservations and were promptly seated in a cozy booth in the back by the fireplace.

We perused the menu, which is fairly simple with 4 different cuts/sizes of prime rib. There are a few other items, but why would you go to the HOUSE of prime rib to eat anything but that.



We both ordered prime rib. I had the English cut and he had the House of Prime Rib Cut. The meal includes a salad, potatoes (mashed or baked), creamed veggie (spinach or corn), and yorkshire pudding.

The hunk of warm sourdough arrived at our table just as we were being seated

Sourdought Loaf crunchy crust and a soft springy inside


House Salad Lettuce, beets, eggs, and tomatoes with a delicious creamy thousand island-like dressing

I've always loved their salad. Maybe its because they toss it table-side making for a dramatic approach to salad. More probable is the fact that its super saturated with dressing.


Left: HOPR cut Right: English cut we both got ours with mashed potatoes and creamed corn (the yorkshire pudding is not pictured here)

The prime rib was carved tableside to our liking. We both ordered it medium, although looking back, I should have ordered mine Medium Rare since it was cut thin and placed on a super hot plate. Nonetheless the meat melted and was flavored really nicely. the creamed corn was a newer item on the menu, it was nice, could be a tad more flavorful.

Overall, it was a delicious meal with great service. We had a great time. I recommend it for special occasions or if you want to get a prime rib fix.

Paws: 4

(apologies for the fuzzy pictures, it was quite dark in there and did not want to flash the other diners)

state of the economy...

has made it quite difficult for me to continue eating out..however, it has given me the opportunity to eat in more and try new recipes...and old ones too...

therefore..i have not had much to blog about..hopefully soon..

Valentine's Dinner

Made by mr. edmund lee :D


what's for dinner?

Entree: GoatCheese-SunDriedTomato Stuffed Chicken









Prepped, Cooked and Plated!


Salad nice and simple


Dessert: Croissant BreadPudding





i didn't wash.cook.clean! how nice it was :)

Christmas Eve Dinner...

(disclaimer: there was much more food than what i photographed, but i was too busy eating to take a photograph)

I celebrated Christmas with my parents for the first time in 4 years...we decided to do alittle potluck on Christmas Eve with a few family friends.

I decided to tackle my first prime rib :) With the help of my dear chef friend mLee, i obtained a recipe and an idea of what i wanted to do...get a bone-in prime rib roast, make a good rub of garlic, rosemary, and olive oil...I tried to capture the process i took in making it, but as you will see below, i did not do a great job in getting my camera out.


The 8 lb standing rib roast


The spices used for the rub


Fresh out of the oven, with a bulb of roasted garlic on the side


moose cookies that my friend made...they're like rockyroad ice cream put into a cookie. quite delicious (i'm eating one as we speak)


The gingerbread house (from a kit) that a few of the girls made.


The yule log cake that we had for dessert...unfortunately looked better than it tasted..

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

My sis made some delicious pumpkin pie (as reference on cathalinaK). she made the crust from scratch..and then mixed the pumpkin mixture. it turned out pretty well.

here are some photos of the process.


pouring the batter into the pie crust...


after the filling was poured into the crust...


after coming out from the oven..notice the crater...anyone know why?


first slice of yumminess.

Our Food System...

I came across this video...an interview with Michael Pollan..who is a writer..and has a very unique view on our food policy as a nation..

I'm currently reading through his book "Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" (thanks to Peter)...

Take a look at the interview here. You can read the transcript here.

He talks about how our food policy affects our health care crisis...how the food system affects our energy independence...moving school lunch to department of education...

one of my favorite parts:
"Cook. Simply by starting to cook again, you declare your independence from the culture of fast food. As soon as you cook, you start thinking about ingredients. You start thinking about plants and animals, and not the microwave. And you will find that your diet, just by that one simple act, that is greatly improved. You will find that you are supporting local agriculture, because you'll care about the quality of ingredients. And you know, whether you're cooking or not is one of the best predictors for a healthy diet. It's more important than the class predictor. People with more money generally have healthier diets, but affluent people who don't cook are not as healthy in their eating as poor people who still cook. So, very, very important. If you don't have pots and pans, get them."

E'Tutto Qua

270 Columbus Ave * San Francisco, CA

This past Friday went out with a group of friends for a night out on the town...decided to give E'Tutto Qua a try before hitting up Bubble Lounge (sorry! no pictures, no post) Our reservations were for 7:30, but at 7:15 our friends called to say that they were stuck in traffic by SFO. So i called the restaurant and asked if we could push our reservations back and the maitreD was very nice about it. good thing we pushed back our reservations, it took us a good half hour to find parking :( no fun...

The food was delicious here with homemade noodles, lotsa italian accents all around, and a great atmosphere!


(debuting my new logo!)

elbow pasta with Italian Sausage & Mushrooms in cream sauce


Spaghetti Neri Squid Ink pasta with Seafood


Swordfish Pasta Special


tonnarelli di mare Homemade Spaghetti noodles with seafood


Scallop Pasta Special


Shells from our delicious meals

There were too many dishes to write a lil blurb about each. I didn't get to try all of them, but the reaction from the rest of my party indicated that the dishes were all good.

Paws: 4.5

Bouchon

at the Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd S * Las Vegas, NV

Was in Vegas a few weeks ago with Ed and took him to Bouchon to celebrate his birthday. Now, if you don't know what Bouchon is...it's Thomas Keller's (French Laundry) Las Vegas bistro. I was expecting to be wow'd, which i can't say i was completely wow'd. The food was executed very well, however, I was not a big fan of all the flavors.

They brought us some delicious bread and butter, i love this kind of fresh, fragrant butter. Along with the bread they brought out some pistachios, i've never seen this before, but it was greatly welcomed!





To start off we had some appetizers...


Rillettes aux Deux Saumons
fresh & smoked salmon rillettes served with toasted croutons

This was a good appetizer, recommended by our waiter; Ed was a bit skeptical b/c there are minced shallots in it, but it came out pretty good, no strong onion-y taste. The salmon is preserved in a little jar with a later of solidified butter on top (see below). The croutons were a perfect accompaniment to the salty salmon. They were nice enough to give us extra croutons.


See that layer of fat that he's scooping out??


Soupe du Jour: Butternut Squash Bisque
Butternut squash bisque with a drizzle of oil and some currant compote

I really enjoyed this soup, it was nice and creamy, and the currant gave it a nice kick to freshen it up. The bread was a great dipper for this soup.

To the main entree


Bay Scallops Special
Scallops on a bed of brussel sprout leaves and chicken of the woods mushroom with a balsalmic/shallots reduction sauce

The scallops were cooked really well, to the perfect temperature and texture. I wasn't a big fan of the mushrooms, but they were something new and interesting. The sauce was good, but alittle too tart for me.
This dish also comes with a roasted shallot, but due to someone's dislike of all things onion, they kindly didn't plate it.


Poulet Roti
roasted chicken with puff pastry tartelette, ratatouille, garlic chips & chicken jus

The chicken was again executed very well, moist throughout. The puff pastry surprising held up under the mass of wet sauciness. I found that I am not a fan of the flavors in ratatouille. I was quite full after eating this.

Overall, i think this was a good place to go to for getting my feet wet into Keller's cuisine, definately a lot easier on my wallet than French Laundry. The food was fresh and well executed, and i think my taste palette is just not developed enough for French food.

Paws: 4 (bc my expectations were too high)