September 2011 – Page 2

End of Summer and a Crayfish Party Plate at Ikea

September 14, 2011 Cathy Chains, Festivals & Events, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is food blog based in San Diego County. Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy share blogging duty. Really, it's narratives about food we ate, eat and enjoy. Sometimes there's an explanation other than just being hungry. Today, Cathy is chronicling another one of her adventures.

Hi. The other day The Mister and I found ourselves in Mission Valley, at Ikea. Ikea is the Swedish furniture store that has a cafeteria in the midst of furniture displays and a small grocery, called the Swede Shop, at the exit. I've Posted about Ikea on two other occasions. We went to the Swede Shop looking for some snacks and noticed the advertising displays- all about the annual Crayfish Party, a Scandinavian celebration of the end of summer.

We could have purchased all the food and decorations for a party for $20…

The food consists of, naturally, kilo of crayfish (which are indeed crawfish, but in Scandinavia, the miniature lobsters are boiled in a dill based brine, instead of the cajun seasonings used for a crawfish boil)

some roe,

bread and cheese. (Sauce came frozen with the crayfish)

and always, gravad lox is part of any Swedish plate.

We decided to walk through the store first to get some exercise while looking at furniture and decor and buy the snack food on our way out. Then we saw this sign. We could get a whole party for $3.99!

So we stopped at the cafeteria.

I spied a whole plate of gravad lax (raw salmon cured with sugar, salt and dill) and took it from the cafeteria display. ($4.99)

We also saw lentil soup as the soup of the day. I always like it from here. ($1.99) It has a deep, rich flavor and is always thick with lentils. You can see my gravad lox plate had plenty of lox and a lot of spinach which I treated as salad. It came with a hot honey-mustard. Heat, but not from chilis…Scandanavian spice…

The Crayfish Party! six cooked crayfish (served cold), small shrimp, crisp bread and cheese, roe, gravad lox on a bed of spinach. That's a half hard boiled egg topped with a mayonnaise in the center. You can see the spices/flavor enhancers for Scandinavians consist mainly of dill and lemon. Simple food. This was a satisfying and celebratory meal for $3.99. Very fancy and very nice.
The Mister is very good at opening crayfish…

We bought all the ingredients as we exited so we could have our own party at home. Easy and good.

Yes, it is almost the end of summer. Does anyone have any traditions for the change of seasons?

IKEA 2149 Fenton Parkway 92108 (619)834-1520

Mariscos Hector’s – Chula Vista

September 13, 2011 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, Seafood, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog you are reading. Lately, Cathy has been writing about her "staycation" walks around the beautiful County parks while Kirk has been updating his Turkey and Greece vacation from this year and ed(from Yuma) has let us in on his vacation to Julian. Cathy is back with something different.

One of our recent walks was quite educational as well as a bit challenging (downhill from the start, therefore uphill to return). This time, we had beautiful views- one, of the Otay Lakes Reservoir…

while walking the one mile path…

with a beautiful view North

and many, many athletic venues- courts, fields, tracks, this archery range…

Yes, the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. There is a path and the public can walk it and view the various venues from it (access directly on the fields is restricted).

There are three BMX riders at the top/starting gate behind the Field Hockey field (court?). You can see we aren't very close to the track. However there is a BMX Development Track closer to the main building and it has several sets of bleacher seats close to the field. The BMX Supercross World Cup will be held here September 30-October 1 (www.ababmx.com) (www.uci.ch)

So anyhow, we walked and enjoyed this new-to-us venue (the Olympic Training Center opened in June 1995) which has a great audio tour as well as the views. Then we drove through the Eastlake section of Chula Vista, looking for something different.

There was a major intersection with three of the corners filled with stores and shops. In the one which had the Kohl's, I spotted this. Of course we stopped.
It was quite large and clean inside, with a bar which had a view of the kitchen,
as well as a bar which was alcohol centric.
We were seated in a booth with very a large, thick granite table and corn chips, a very good spicy-hot fresh salsa and cut limes were placed on the table.

I wanted a champechana cocktail, but also wanted to try other items on the menu. When I saw there was a champechana tostada on the menu ($5.95), I decided that would get me the flavors but not be overwhelmingly filling…but it was huge! Lots of fresh shrimp, octopus, bay scallops cooked in lime juice with added cucumber, tomato and cilantro. This was definitely fresh made for me with tender octopus, fresh shrimp and flavorful, small, bay scallops. There are oysters in the champechana coctail and I can get that next time, if I am so hungry.
The Mister saw a calamari tostada on the menu for only $1.95, so he ordered it for us to share. This was not your typical squid. First, this must have been a very large squid since the pieces had a good diameter. The meat was tender and meaty. It was sauteed, cooked in a salsa which made it tender…almost stew-like. It was very good and I'll order it again.
On the menu, the tacos were priced as "Piece" and "Order". Piece meant one taco; order meant two tacos plus rice and beans. The Gobernador was $3.95 for the single taco and $7.95 for the order. I pulled out my phone and used its handy calculator…

ANYHOW…the gobernador was *wonderful*. This version had a lot of chunks of mild chiles in an almost cream sauce…or really melty cheese and were filled with shrimp. (Gobernador tacos, Sinaloan in origin, have the common denominator of shrimp and cheese and then each chef seems to make it their own…this is a great version).

One note- the corn chips that came with salsa, the corn tortilla with the tostadas and the corn tortilla used for the tacos were each unique and flavorful and very very different in texture. That was another delightful surprise. We will be coming back to try the Parrillada dishes (barbecue) which include carne asada, kabobs and lobster as well as the various fish dishes. Oh and there is a breakfast menu! I guess we'll go back to the Olympic Training Center more often…

Hector's Mariscos 2305 Otay Lakes Road Ste 201 Chula Vista 91915 (619)421-1300 Website

(yes, the website is www.hectorsmariscos.comand the sign above the door is Mariscos Hector's. You'll find it)

Mushroom Ragout with Poached Egg on Toast

September 12, 2011 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking, Recipes

I recently purchased Yotam Ottolenghi latest cookbook Plenty. Yes, it is a vegetarian cookbook, but I love the simple, yet hearty recipes and the Missus has taken to the photos. We're still in the mode of eating at home so I thought I'd make this for Saturday brunch. The original recipe uses duck eggs, I had some really nice extra large organic eggs so I used that. I didn't fuss about with creating sourdough toast in the oven, I simply went with some Cherry Blossom white bread brushed with roasted garlic olive oil. Also, for some reason I couldn't find any fresh thyme….and I really didn't want to spend too much, ahem, time (pun intended) looking for it. I had some fresh oregano on hand so I subbed that. I hadn't poached eggs in years….like fifteen years, so they didn't come out as pretty as I desired…..but man this was good.

Man that drizzle of truffle oil does take it up a level too…….

Things not to sub out; the dried porcini plays a key role. Do use a variety of mushrooms…..I mean really, you don't have to go hunting for chanterelles or anything, but I did use oyster mushrooms, along with some maitake mushrooms to go with the standard white and crimini mushrooms. Of course the Missus spent a good deal of time picking out the porcini mushrooms to savor. I added garlic to the dish because, well, we love garlic and replaced sour cream with creme fraiche….because….well, just because.

So with out further ado…..

Mushroom Ragout with Poached Egg on Toast

1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 lbs mixed fresh mushrooms
5-6 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1 onion sliced
1 carrot sliced
3 stalks of celery sliced
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tb chopped fresh oregano
3-4 Tb chopped tarragon
4 large poached eggs
3-4 Tb Creme Fraiche
salt and pepper
chopped tarragon for garnish
truffle oil
4 slices thick cut toasted white bread brushed with roasted garlic olive oil

– Soak the porcini mushroom in 1 cup of luke warm water for 30 minutes
– Clean and slice mushrooms
– Heat 1 Tb of olive oil over medium heat in a thick bottomed pan and scatter one-third of the mushrooms in pan (do not crowd). I divided up the mushrooms based on cooking time. Leave mushrooms to caramelize for a minute or two without touching before turning to brown for another minute or so, then remove. Follow the same process for the rest of the mushrooms.Add oil as necessary.
– Once mushrooms are done, add 1-2 Tb of olive oil and put onion, celery, and carrot into the pan and saute, but do not brown.
– Once the vegetables soften add the white wine and let simmer for a minute or two.
– While vegetables are softening remove porcini soaking liquid, squeezing out excess liquid. Chop into pieces matching the cooked mushrooms and combine.
– Add the porcini liquid to the pan, making sure to not add the grit and bring to a simmer.
– Add 1 1/2 cup water, garlic, the oregano and tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste.
– Let this liquid simmer slowly for 15 – 25 minutes until you have about 1 cup or so liquid left.
– Strain this mixture over a large bowl and discard the vegetables.
– While the stock is reducing poach your eggs.
– When you are done poaching eggs and the stock has been strained, put stock back in pan, adding in mushrooms and heat. Add creme fraiche to thicken.
– When the dish is composed drizzle a bit of truffle oil over the eggs.

Eat, then go back to bed……

Cappadocia: Up, up, and away…….and one of the highlites of my trip.

September 10, 2011 mmm-yoso Cappadocia, Travel, Turkey

Sorry….almost no food in this one…..

One of the things the Missus really wanted to do, was to go for a balloon ride in Cappadocia. So during my correspondence with Mustafa from the Arch Palace, whom I wrote about earlier, the possibility of a early morning balloon ride was brought up. After thinking a bit and doing some research I decided to book a ride on our first morning, that way should the weather be terrible and all rides cancelled we'd still be able to get a "make-up" the next day. Good thing too, since it rained like crazy the afternoon and night before our ride. After dealing with Mustafa, I now understand the term "fixer" when I hear it on travel shows……. My request was pretty simple:

"As for the balloon flights, we'd like one that is not so crowded and safe."

Mustafa booked our flight on Atmospher Balloons. We awoke at 4am in the morning and were driven to….well, I'm not sure where in the darkness of early morning where there was a huge crowd of people all having sweets and tea or coffee and waiting for their shuttles to come and pick them up.

When we arrived and checked in we were handed a card with out pilot's name on it. We waited for our group to be called. There seemed to be some pretty large groups, and we were among the last called…..a small group of a dozen people, just as Mustafa promised.

We arrived at a large open area as dawn cracked. There were balloons being prepared for take-off.

We met our pilot, by the name of Serkan……a very witty, funny, and more importantly very experienced pilot.

The basket was big enough so each person would have a clear view (if they desired) from the rim. I had a look at the impressive burners…..

Which looked even more impressive when they were on!

You can't help wonder, "man, what if this thing catches on fire"…… but of course, the skirt/scoop which directs air into the balloon are fire resistant. But still, you can't help but wonder…..

Initially, you're part of a huge "flock" of balloons rising from fields all around the area. (Click to enlarge any photo.)

The sky is full of balloons, a pretty dramatic sign in itself…….

But eventually, everyone kinda goes their own way…….

Until it's just pretty your balloon and the amazingly diverse terrain of Cappadocia…….

Serkan took us very close to several ridges and low enough to brush treetops, only to slowly drift back up.

I'm not a big fan of heights, but I loved this….you actually felt like you were floating on air. We noticed that several of the other balloons had pretty much landed at an hour rght on the dot, but Serkan told us, "don't worry, we'll go longer….you have spent a lot of money on this, and you may never have a chance to do this again…so we'll keep on going."

Of course, eventually we'd have to land……this is where the real fun began. Apparently, there was a problem with Serkan's crew getting to us. Roads had been washed out in the previous day's rain storms. At that point, Serkan pointed to a couple of us and said, "ok, today you'll be my crew….." If you though he was joking, he wasn't. We found a flat spot and Serkan brought the balloon down. It landed so gently, like your head hitting your pillow. Serkan handed me a rope and told me to get on out and pull the balloon down……the men got out and we pulled like heck. The Missus got some great photos.

Once the balloon was on the grass, Serkan jumped out and joined us, teaching us how to flatten the balloon.

A couple of minutes later, one of Serkan's crew joined us. We were told that we needed to hike out….. which is what we did, over pastures, trying to walk on high and dry ground….

We eventually passed the reason crews couldn't get to us……one of the crew's trucks had flipped over, blocking the access road.

We made our way to the small town and jumped into a minivan back to our hotels…..

We were supposed to have had a champagne toast at the end of our flight, but of course since the crews couldn't make it to us that was cancelled. But I wasn't disappointed at all…..hey, I got the chance to help land a hot air balloon! I don't know why, but I really got a kick out of that. It was one of the highlites of my trip. I have a neat story to tell about the time I helped to land a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey……….

So what did you do on “Dark Thursday”?

September 9, 2011 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Were you one of the 5 millionpeople who were unwilling participants in "dark Thursday"?

I was driving on Balboa avenue at 340 pm yesterday afternoon when I noticed that all of the traffic lights went out….then I noticed all of the lights everywhere were out. It was a bit chaotic getting home; the usual 15 – 20 minute drive took twice as long and I know folks whose drive home took 3-4 times as long as usual.

We had made tentative plans for dinner, but didn't think it would be a great idea to go out and decided to just stay home as we sent text messages (for some reason voice calls wouldn't go through, but texts worked just fine) to our friends to make sure everyone was ok. So it ended up being Spam and Egg sandwiches for us……

I later went to the nearby strip mall to see what was going on…….. the supermarket, Rite Aid, and all other businesses were closed…except for the liquor store where a line stretched all the way across the strip mall:

Funny thing was, it looked like folks were buying a whole lotta beer…and not much anything else! Strange priorities….and like one of my co-workers told me: "If last night was the zombie apocalypse, we'd have been dinner….."

Man, without all that white noise it sure did seen quiet, but the moon sure did look beautiful, though my photo didn't…..

And in the end I joined all the folks who would have become zombie fodder……heck, I couldn't let those two cans of Tecate go to waste, could I?

Like they say…."when you have clamato…you make Micheladas". The overall vibe was not nearly as crazy as the last time we had anyrhing close to this and I was glad for that.

Today, I'm sorta feeling…well, outta-synch might be the best description, so we ate at home again.

So what did you do during Dark Thursday???

Roadtrip: Omar’s Xinjiang Halal Restaurant – Alhambra (LA)

September 7, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Omar's Xinjiang has closed

I had recently heard about an honest to goodness Xinjiang/Uyghur restaurant opening in the SGV…. not Northern style Muslim Chinese, but real Xinjiang. Last year, during our tirp to China we had eaten with friends at an Xinjiang restaurant called Jinsite in Beijing. I really enjoyed the food, all the different skewers, "rice to be eaten by hand", and other stuff. The Missus wasn't so thrilled, but She seemed rather enthusiastic about checking this little restaurant, located on the corner of New avenue and Ralph street (more on that later).

We arrived at around 11am and found the restaurant empty. The decor seemed right, though the young lady seemed annoyed that we had interrupted her television show and treated us like we were proverbial flies in the ointment….after all, how dare we walk into this restaurant and actually expect to eat?

The menu is small but packed with lamb, lamb, and more lamb. The Missus looked over the menu and gave me a puzzled look, but didn't say anything. We had thought about trying the rice to be eaten by hand…here called pilaf, but that would take an hour. We decided on a couple of other dishes instead.

We started with the house made yogurt ($2.50), which had a nice, sweet hint to eat, much like Suan Nai, but whereas Beijing yogurt is liquid, this was a pretty thick curd. It was much thicker than the Xinjiang yogurt I had before as well.

Still, I found it nice and refreshing.

I had wanted to try the Spicy Ox Tripe ($5.99).

These type of dishes are usually cold appetizers, so we were caught a bit off guard when it arrived warm. I'm not a big fan of honeycomb tripe, but this was wonderfully tender. the flavor wasn't especially spicy, and the Missus added even more black vinegar to it, but I can say I really enjoyed this dish. From here, things went pretty much downhill…….

We ordered two Yang Rou Chuan - Lamb Skewers ($3.55), which were salty, but other than that very weakly seasoned.

Of course we had to get the Zi Ran Yang Rou, cumin lamb ($10.99). I currently use cumin from Xinjiang, it is pungent, but almost mildly sweet so I was itching to see what would arrive…. and I couldn't believe my eyes……

I'm not a big fan of grey meat, and tough grey meat is even worse. This was both, it was a very cheap cut, full of gristle, and not much cumin to the whole thing. Some onion, chili, and garlic would have surely helped and this was fairly low on the cumin scale in terms of flavor. Of course it didn't help that this looked like it was cooked over a can of sterno………

If you compared that, with this, which is what I make at home, honestly, which would you rather eat?

We took most of it home and I tried to rescue it with more toasted cumin, some onions, wine, and dark soy…. but to no avail, it was DOA, beyond resuscitation.

The last dish was supposed to be the crowning jewel as I love the chewiness of hand pulled noodles ($12.99). what I do not love is hard, tough, almost brittle noodles, which is what this was.

Plus for thirteen bucks in the SGV, I expect a bit more than the three thin slices of lamb (though it was tasty lamb) and minimal vegetables in the stir fry. Man were those noodles hard, if you flogged me with this wet noodle, I'd be scarred for life……as it was the mental scars are more than sufficient.

All this combined with the server who made us feel like we were intruding…..it was a rather uncomfortable feeling. She did flash a smile though….when I asked for out check! It was so absurd, we can only laugh about it. In the end, we really didn't feel that this meal was worth forty bucks…….

As we were leaving, the Missus told me, "you know I don't care for Xinjiang food…." I asked Her why She had agreed to checking this place out. Her answer cracked me up; "I thought you said JINJIANG (Fujian) not XINJIANG! You owe me….." So we quickly rushed to Qing Dao Bread Food, then found some pretty good duck, had a visit to Domies bakery, and did take-out from a Yunnan restaurant……

Omar's Xinjiang Halal Restaurant
1718 New Ave
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Pho Ban Mai

September 6, 2011 mmm-yoso Pho, Vietnamese Restaurants

On one of my "morning drives" a couple of weeks ago, I drove into the strip mall that houses Seafood City and noticed a new Vietnamese restaurant had opened next to Siam Nara. Even though the weather had been pretty warm at the time, I thought that a nice bowl of Pho would be just the thing. It was not quite 10am, so the mercury had not yet quite reached an uncomfortable level for consuming Pho.

A very friendly young man seated me by the front window and I looked over the menu which was filled with all the usual suspects (Pho of course, various egg and spring rolls, Bun, Banh Mi, etc…). The interior of the restaurant was very nicely done….not gaudy, but clean, spacious, and comfortable.

So of course I ordered some Pho…. and as is my usual M.O. I went with the Dac Biet (the special), which is a good way to find out what, if any of the meat items a particular Pho shop does well. Feeling hungry, I went with the large ($6.95)….maybe I haven't been paying much attention….but when di Pho pass the $7 mark?

The garnishes, save for a thin, withered, leaf of Ngo Gai was impeccable, the bean sprouts were so white they almost reflected the sunlight. The broth was slightly cloudy and on the mild side for my tastes. Very faint anise and beef, low on salt, as if afraid to offend the eater. It wasn't bad, but by no means good. Protein was on the sparse side, though the flank had a nice flavor. Again, as if a "Pho focus group" had gotten together and determined that tendon and tripe were persona-non-grata, I found one thin strand of tripe, finely prepared and two small strips of beef tendon.

What amazed me was the huge clump of noodles in this bowl.

I don't recall having this much Banh Pho in any bowl in recent memory. Sadly, the noodles were severely over-cooked and mushy; not very pleasant to eat.

If I discounted the noodles, this would have been a decent bowl, but nothing to make me stop going to my other favorite Pho shops in Mira Mesa.

It's become a habit of mine when visiting restaurant for the first time to walk to the restrooms, especially if they are located in the rear of the restaurant as is Pho Ban Mai's. This is not because of any pernicious bladder problem, nor is it because, like some folks I know, do I usually feel the need to check out the state of a restaurant's lavatory. Rather, it allows me a chane to check out what other folks are eating…..and sometimes, as in the case of Pho Ban Mai, it pays off. There were several dishes that looked promising. So the Missus and I returned a couple of days later.

On my previous visit, I noticed how crisp and light the Banh Xeo ($7.50) looked and it did not disappoint.

Thinner than most, the crepe was very crisp and not as greasy as many we've tried. Although it didn't have a whole lot of filling, the thin slices of pork were very tender. The flavor wavered was a bit heavy handed with regards to "coconutiness" but that was balanced with the nuoc mam cham which was (surprisingly) not watered down and stood up well. The lettuce and other garnishes were bright and fresh.

I'd also noticed that the Fried Rice, not something I'd usually order in a Vietnamese restaurant looked quite good. So we decided to order the Fish and Squid ($7.95) version.

Even though the portion was on the small size, this photo does not do it justice, as there were at least six or more shrimp (albeit a bit over-cooked) and a good amount of squid hidden in the rice. The rice also had a bit of a mildly smokey "wok-hay" thing going on which made it a pleasure to eat. Even though both items were on the small side with regards to portion size, they were both well prepared.

I thought the service at Pho Ban Mai was quite good; the Servers were friendly and attentive. This ain't your dad's menu slapped on the table and server hovering over you to take your order kind of place. It's not quite a destination for us, though if we lived in the area we'd drop by now and then.

When I mentioned the name of the place to my good friend "Yummy Yummy", she told me "what a neat name". When I inquired I was told that Ban Mai means something along the lines of "natural morning breeze" (sorry if I didn't get it right YY)……..

Pho Ban Mai
8991 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

Open Daily 8am – 10pm

Please check out Kirbie's post on PBM here.

Sunday Sandwiches: Unique Deli

September 4, 2011 mmm-yoso Sandwiches

There quite a few "business" delis/sandwich shops all thru San Diego, feeding the folks working in office complexes and industrial parks all over San Diego. They fulfill a vital role during the work week; especially when it's lunchtime, and to paraphrase a well known movie filed partially in San Diego, when "I feel the need….the need for feed!" Corny enough?

You may have passed Unique Deli hundres of times without noticing it.

Located on Balboa avenue in the office building just to the East of 94 Aero Squadron you'll pass the place in the blink of an eye if you're driving the usual speed on Balboa. I did indeed notice this little shop and felt the need to find out what was truly unique about Unique Deli……

The shop is not really unique, typical of those lunch hour sandwich joints. The menu is quite large and has a good variety of choices…….but that in its self is not unique. Neither is using Boar's Head products.

I did find the two older, I believe Korean women making sandwiches with machine like precision a bit unique…though maybe not. Neither were the prices, which all fell in the mid $4 to $7 range. So I thought I'd try some of the sandwiches.

The most unique sandwich I found was called "The Charger" ($6.49):

Though the turkey and bread was standard issue deli stuff, I did enjoy the sun dried tomatoes, feta, and olives. My only complaint was how messy the sun dried tomato oil made the sandwich as it oozed all over the place and through the wrapper soiling my car seat. Over all, this was the best of the bunch in terms of flavor…….

The sandwich they call the Manhandler ($5.69) is probably next on the list. The roast beef was fairly tender and the avocado made for a nice textural contrast.

It's not a particularly stuffed sandwich, but there's sufficient protein for my tastes. One of my pet peeves, severely under-ripe tomatoes was present here…..bringing nothing to the sandwich and adding an unpleasant sourness to it. i'd also order it sans mustard next time, for some reason it just seemed to clash with everything else between the bread.

My least favorite to date was the Torpedo ($5.79), which is strange because I usually love this type of sandwich.

This was by far the most "meaty" of all the sandwiches I tried, but the Italian Dressing tasted a bit rancid…so maybe it was just a bottle, and believe me this tasted like it came from a bottle, that had gone past its due date.

So what's really unique about Unique Deli…..hmmm…. well maybe because it is uniquely the only sandwich shop located at 8865 Balboa avenue? Well, whatever the reason they call it unique, it's still a pretty good little shop. And it got me wondering, how many more of these little shops are in the area? I'm sure there's one near you…..

Unique Deli
8865 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92123

Madison: What’s in a name? Dinner at Fugu Restaurant then I get totally naked…..

September 2, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Madison, Wisconsin

What is in a name? I'd heard about Fugu restaurant from a person I ran into in Madison during a previous visit. After being told what type of cuisine the place specialized in I was really, really, puzzled….more on that later. I promised myself that I'd check the place out if I ever returned to Madison…..and a bit over a month ago I had that chance.

Now what kind of food do you think a place called Fugu serves? I think most people know that Fugu is the Japanese name for puffer fish, so this is Japanese restaurant, right? Here's a photo of the dining area……

Looks like a pretty generic, low-middle range, perhaps Asian restaurant, right? Open up the menu and you'll see dishes like Masaman Curry, Basil Eggplant, and Pad See Ew….. Fugu, a Thai restaurant? Look at the website and check out the most popular dishes….hmmmm, Spring Rolls, Crab Rangoon, Sesame Chicken? Sounds like perhaps a Thai – ABCDE (American born Chinese dining establishment). When I arrived, I was given two menus…the first had those Thai and ABCDE dishes. The second looked something like this:

Even though the area around State Street has it's share of Indian, Nepalese, and Afghan restaurants, a few of which I've eaten at, for some reason I'd never been motivated to eat at the Japanese and Chinese restaurants in the area. Until I heard about Fugu's Sichuan menu.

Since it was a solo eating trip, I ordered just two dishes. The first was the Zi Ran Yang Rou (Cumin Lamb ($14.95).

One of my favorite dishes, I often make it at home with cumin from Xinjiang. This however, was not a good rendition. The lamb was very mildly flavored, the meat cut really thick was tough, and I think the cumin was added to late as there was a real powdery texture to the dish.

Not a real good start. The other dish I ordered was the "Hot Crispy Pork Intestine" ($13.95), basically deep fried intestine with dried chilies.

Ordering this was a bit of an adventure of sorts….you see, I ordered the lamb in Mandarin….really bad Mandarin. I had no idea of how to order this so I just ordered it in English. The young man taking my order took a step back. He asked me, "you sure???" Of course I was sure. He walked away and placed the order….then came back to verify the order….twice!

As you can tell by the photos, this was pretty good. Not too spicy and the flavors of Sichuan Peppercorns were present, though not quite enough for my tastes. Still, the pork intestine was well prepared….and fried to a crisp. If I told you this was chicken skin, albeit a slightly funky chicken skin, you'd love it. This was a nice dish overall…….and in Madison, who'd have thunk it?

Being used to West Coast Sichuan prices, I found the cost a bit high and the portions a bit small. But those pork intestines were quite good. As I left, the place had filled up….with Chinese students, many of which were hovering over steaming cauldrons of Huo Guo (Hot Pot), the familiar and temping fragrances dancing in the air as I walked out….of a restaurant called Fugu…..with a menu of American-Chinese and Thai dishes….in Madison, Wisconsin….that serves up some decent Sichuan food.

Fugu
411 West Gilman St
Madison, WI 53703

Finally…..mmm-yoso gets….Totally Naked!!!

I walked to one of those chain bar and grills for a night cap and was happy to see a couple of local brews on tap. So I got….Totally Naked!!! Well, the beer of course….. a light ale that went down real smooth and quick. A perfect end to the evening. You didn't think that I'd be….. well……you knew it was about a beer right????

Xi’an: The Army of Terracotta Warriors and the Dumpling Banquet from De Fa Chang Restaurant (德发长)

September 1, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

Since we were in Xi'an you knew we weren't going to miss a visit to the famous Terracotta Army, located in the Lintong District about an hour's bus ride (40 km) out if Xi'an. In fact, even huge morning downpour and the incessant drizzle wasn't going to stop us from visiting….. it did help that our hotel loaned out umbrellas for free. We managed to catch bus 306 and arrived outside the parking lot of this world renowned archaeological site…..the drizzle had dampened the spirits of the many hawkers and vendors and we made it to the front gates unscathed if a bit soggy.

There are three main pits and we'd recommend starting in reverse order, from the smallest (pit 3) to the largest. This increases the dramatic effect of the visit.

Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China must have been one heck of a force of nature and a pretty amazing individual being credited with starting the Great Wall, unifying China, and starting the national system of roads. Of course, he was also known as a brutal and tyrannical ruler who ordered the destruction of all Confucian and non-"scientific" texts, and supposedly buried 460 scholars alive for having the forbidden books. All of the great building came at cost of hundred of thousands of lives……no wonder the emperor felt he needed a large army to protect him in his next life!

The actual discovery of the army is an amazing one; in 1974 a group of farmers digging a well struck something about 15 meters down…. it was a head….but as time would tell, not just any head! The rest as they say is history, though I'm always interested to know what "fame and fortune" these poor farmers found in later years, and found this interesting article.

We started our visit in the museum to the right of the entrance. The most interesting item was a replica of the bronze horses and chariot found near Qin Shi Huang's tomb(about 2 km west of Terracotta Army), along with photos of how it looked at the time of discovery.

We started at Pit 3, the smallest excavation, it is thought to be the "command center" of the army, though strangely, we saw nothing recognizable as a commander or general. Perhaps the Emperor thought himself to be the commander?

Also, many of the soldiers are missing heads in this pit. Experts have surmised that perhaps grave robbers had broken into this pit and stole the heads, or perhaps vandals broke in at an earlier time and destroyed them. There are a total of 68 soldiers in this pit.

For many, Pit 2 is the most interesting as it features the 1300 or so warriors, horses, and chariots in various military formations.

What I found most interesting about this pit were the remnants that were unrestored, showing the shards of terracotta that were reassembled…..being that I was never much good at jigsaw puzzles, I can't fathom the work it takes to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Pit 1 is pretty amazing. The building is the size of a airplane hanger and lines of terracotta soldiers stand almost as far as the eye can see……

The hall is over 19,000 square yards and you can't help but be awed by the amount of work it took to build this army.

According to what I've read, every face is unique and was based on an actual Qin soldier.

This is a definite must see…….

Feeling great we headed back to Xi'an catching the bus in the parking lot of the museum……it was interesting as the bus driver knew most of the folks getting on and off the bus, he'd stop without them evening pulling the bell cord.

We thought that we should get something special to eat, it just felt right . We got off the bus and sloshed our way back to the mall across from the Bell Tower, again crossing under the streets and ending up on the wrong side of the road! De Fa Chang, right across from Tong Sheng Xiang was recommended for their dumpling banquet.

The display on the first floor looked quite impressive…..

We were ushered quickly to the busy second floor, ordered our dumpling banquet, and our food started arriving very quickly….

Starting with some "appetizers" which were no big deal……..

The mushroom based soup was very bland…..

The pastry were cold, hard, and somewhat greasy…..

The steamed dumplings started appearing, most were very uneven in flavor, sometimes cold inside, oddly bland, waxy, etc, etc, etc……

One that stood out was the goose dumpling, which had a nice gamey flavor and a hint of spice.

Many of them looked quite pretty………

But we were severely underwhelmed…….

Until we got the one item we ordered a la carte, the Dry Cooked Mushroom, a dish that we loved so much, I've been making it at home. This one was excellent, earthy, with a touch of sweetness and heat. There was also some Sichuan Peppercorn in this which was a nice touch.

We could really see the potential of the kitchen with this dish…..

Unfortunately, the next item out was the Jiaozi, which were terrible……

Whomever had made this dough had over-worked it….I have a feeling they made it in a large stand mixer and went to town. The wrappers were very brittle with little stretch to it. The filling was on the bland side…the Server gasped when the Missus asked for black vinegar then used it as a dipping sauce. I guess they don't eat them that way in Xi'an.

The last item (thankfully) arrived soon there after, a little bowl over heating element.

Opening the top of the pot didn't reveal much….a pale broth with some greens and a wolf berry or two…..

But soon, as the broth came to a simmer, mushrooms and tiny dumplings rose to the top…..

This was not bad….the broth light in flavor.

Much like the snack banquet in Nanjing, htis proved to be a lot of premade dishes with little attention to detail. We could tell that the folks cooking had some skill, but it was not put to good use in mass producing these dumplings. Still, all was not lost since Jia San wasn't a long walk away!

Thanks for reading!