yoso-silly – Page 26

Going out to eat and craving SPAM™

June 24, 2011 Cathy What Cathy Eats!, yoso-silly

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Kirk is busy, ed(from Yuma) is busy and Cathy has some free time.

The other day, after posting about America's SPAM™ Championship at the County Fair (at the bottom of the post), I was wanting more than a simple SPAM™ breakfast, even though I now had some ideas for a more complicated use of the delightful canned pork and ham product.

The Mister and I were at Westfield Parkway Plaza, out here in East County. I saw this sign at Hula Hawaiian BBQ, in the Food Court.
$1 for SPAM™ musubi. I think there were restricted days or hours. Anyhow, I was in the right place at the right time and ordered two pieces (the regular price is two pieces for $3).

The warm rice topped with a nice teriyaki sauce, topped with a thick slice of grilled SPAM™ and wrapped with a strip of seaweed- a perfect combination of flavors and texture and great food at a crazy inexpensive price. Satisfied my craving…
Until two days later, when I went with a friend to Chopstix Too and was told to order "anything I craved".
So, I chose the tofu salad ($4.25) (A very good size lettuce salad with par-boiled broccoli and shredded carrots and red cabbage as well as chopped tomatoes topped with about half a pound of a very silken tofu. There is salad dressing on each table here and I added it to the lettuce after enjoying it plain.)
as well as SPAM™ roll ($3.95) (apparently a 'log' of raw SPAM™ with radish and avocado rolled in seaweed then rice and sesame). This was excellent, and exactly what I wanted.

I hope everyone gets to fulfill a craving when they are out and about. It's a great way to live.

Chopstix Too 4380 Kearny Mesa Road San Diego 92111 (858) 565-1288

Midweek Munching: Cha Soba Tororo…. and SPAM Katsu Curry

June 22, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes, yoso-silly

I've been kinda bored with things lately, so over the last week I decided to play with my food a bit. My pantry is a bit too heavily stocked so I picked an item or two to liquidate, a would pick up some ingredients on the way home….often with little idea of what I was going to do. This is what I ended up making.

Cha Soba Tororo:

I enjoy Cha Soba, basically soba with green tea powder added. I enjoy the flavor; it seems to have some inherent saltiness with hint of green tea in the background.

A little actually goes a long way. I only made half of the bundle which was enough for two small servings. I know you can't see it but there's a bed of grated yamaimo(mountain yam) adding some refreshing…. well, snottiness to the whole dish. I picked up some ikura and benishoga on the way home. Both were on sale at Mitsuwa.

A bit of mustard and a drizzle of Chiba Shoyu and this was good to go…. the Missus didn't think much of it at first, but really enjoyed it.

I finished up my smoked duck legs, added some hiyakko tofu and konnyaku sashimi, and I had a nice refreshing summer meal.

I had also picked up some quail eggs, but really didn't know what to do with them. So I decided to take the easy way out and made some:

SPAM® Katsu Curry……something that I've posted on before. A while back Marukai had SPAM® Singles on Sale. And while the internal me cringes at how expensive this stuff actually is compared to a can of SPAM®, at least I won't feel obligated to eat the whole can of SPAM® after I open it…… wait a minute, I'm going back to cans after this!

Anyway, 1 package of singles cut in half made two panko breaded "cutlets" if you will. Two packages of Japanese Curry from the pantry, benishoga, and four quail eggs later….. You got crunchy breaded and fried SPAM® over rice appropriately formed by my musubi mold on a bed of curry, topped by some fried quail eggs.

Not something I'm particularly proud of…….. but it was tasty….. and one of my favorites. Hey maybe if Curry House had served this, they might still be open in San Diego? Nah…..

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Saturday Stuffs: Flavaful Yogurt now serving Banh Mi, and what I had for dinner

June 18, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, yoso-silly

Flavaful Yogurt now serving Banh Mi:

At least that's what the sign says. So now you can get a Banh Mi to go with that Durian fro-yo. I guess I'll be checking them out soon. Actually, I enjoy the lychee and coconut more than the durian yogurt here……

Flavaful Yogurt/Avian Fresh Drinking Water
6937 Linda Vista Rd
San Diego, CA 92111

What I had for dinner:

I really wasn't up to going out tonight….so I made due….

Some Sun Noodle Cold Udon.

Earlier in the day I smoked some duck legs on my stove top smoker. I tried them straight out of the smoker, searing off the skin, but really didn't think the texture was too great.

I decided to deep fry the duck leg, which turned out quite well, along with some hiyakko tofu…..

I've been using my stove top smoker quite a bit recently…..

I hope everyone;s having a great Father's Day weekend!

What to do……..

June 15, 2011 mmm-yoso Cooking, yoso-silly

When your spouse requests that you make something; then refuses to eat it? Well, when you have lemons……

The Missus wanted me to make Melitzano Salata; basically an eggplant dip. So being the way I am, I selected a recipe, and made it as directed, something that I'll do just to see how it turned out.

It just so happened that I selected a recipe from a Greek Cookbook that I have, and this version, in addition to the standard lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil, uses Greek Yogurt and finishes off things in a blender. It actually tasted delicious. But the Missus wanted a chunky version, and I guess just as you wouldn't give someone who wanted chunky peanut butter, smooth…. She just plain refused to eat it. And told me that, "you better finish every drop…."

So while the Missus stuck with Her oven roasted vegetables…..

I had to figure out what to do….. bread and melitzanosalata got pretty old pretty quickly. But I soon had an idea. On the way home, I bought free range chicken leg cut for karaage, which cost me all of $1.79. I smeared a good amount of the eggplant on a plate, poured some olive oil (they call it "liquid gold") we brought back from Crete on it, and brought it to room temp.

Meanwhile, taking the Ali Nazik Kebab, as my point of reference, I seasoned the chicken with sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, oregano, ground chili, and a pinch or cumin and seared it off. I placed the chicken on the bed of eggplant puree….

Served with roasted fingerling potatoes, thin slices of onion (love the bite of onion, it cuts the richness), and some sliced tomatoes (ditto the acid)…. this turned out to be pretty good.

So good, that the next night I bought some lamb loin chops on the way home and did the same……

Which was even better….. the Missus loved the lamb chops, but of course She wouldn't touch the eggplant. After all, it was a matter of principle and all that…..

Which leads me to the question. What have you made that you thought was a major flop, but in the end turned out to be delicious? You gotta love those blessed mistakes……

Yes, it’s that time again………

April 16, 2011 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

And no, I don't mean it's time for Sammy and Frankie's pre-Easter haircuts and degrading Easter "gear"…… I do love Sammy's expression though. It's almost as if he knew how silly he looked. And here I thought dogs don't have a sense of "self"!

Frankie on the other hand, doesn't really care so long there's a treat to be had at the end of this silliness.

No, it's time for the Missus and I to go on vacation……..

So, as always, I'll turn things over to Cathy, and we'll see you in a couple of weeks!

Here are photos of some of our recent meals….. nothing new really, but I had to use these photos sometime, right? Somewhere in here lies a clue of where we're headed….

Thanks for dropping by! We'll see you in a short while!

mmm-yoso! Shows some skin!

March 31, 2011 mmm-yoso Guatemalan Food, Hanoi, Peru, yoso-silly

You really didn't think, what I think you thought, right? That paints a pretty scary picture in my mind's eye……

Right after my post on Tri-Village, I received an email from "Dave" who asked me about…. well, basically skin, and where I've had the best dishes. The wording was quite interesting, and really cracked me up. So I thought I'd do this post as a companion to the mmm-yoso raw! post. Just for some fun…… After all, there are few things better than fried animal skin. What's interesting is that some of our favorite skin dishes aren't from anywhere here in the US. Even this one, from a future post…..

Wouldn't make the list…..

And in spite of what most folks think; this stuff:

From our banquet in Beijing was plain awesome…. but still didn't make my top three.

So without further ado, in no real order:

Fried Chicken Skin from Pollo Pinulito in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala:

Man, you gotta hand to the country that is home to Pollo Campero; they sure know how to fry chicken. And this little shop in the village of Santiago, on the shores of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala made some very good fried chicken skin.

I could smell the seasonings from outside the place. When we entered, that chicken skin, just out of the fryer was calling to me.

I actually carried that bag of chicken skin by boat from Santiago to San Pedro, and then on the next boat to Lomas de Tzununa, then up 400 steps from the muelle to our room. Was it worth it?

You bet……..

Hats off to the deep fried chicken skin in Thailand, but this had it beat by a mile.

Whenever the Missus and I talk about fried foods; this chicken skin from a humble little restaurant in Santiago Atitlan gives us "chicken skin".

Deep fried snake skin from Le Mat Village outside of Hanoi:

Even beyond the whole chugging down the cobra's beating heart…..

And drinking the snake bile and blood shots bit…….

One of the highlights of our Nine courses of snake in Le Mat was the deep fried snake skin, which we dipped in a really complex Nuoc Mam:

I'm not quite sure about meeting the snakes though. I think I'll pass on that next time, though that snake ruou was fantastic!

Cuy skin from dinner in Cusco:

I've probably mentioned our Cuy dinner in Cusco maybe a thousand times. But it is without a doubt, one of the most memorable meals we've ever had. And that skin on the Cuy, simply seasoned with olive oil, huacatay, and salt, was better than any lechon I've ever had.

And while we felt a bit uncomfortable meeting our dinner's siblings. It really didn't stop use from nibbling on those delicious crunchy toes and feet of the Cuy.

I know, I know…. I've shown waaaay too much skin today! But I hope you enjoyed the post. I hope I answered your question Dave!

Thanks for reading!

I was made for sunny days…….

February 12, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, yoso-silly

I've been a bit under the weather the last couple of days…… nothing serious, congested, a bit of tickly throat, you know….. that kind of thing. Today was such a nice day, it was kind of a bummer ot be sick. After all, I could be doing all those fun things I enjoy on sunny days…. like eating!

Usually, I'll crave some noodle soup, Pho, Mi, or ramen when I feel congested. But today, I just wanted, one, well make that two things…….

I guess because it was rather warm; I wanted the Spicy Cold Chicken (aka "Saliva Chicken") and the Cold Sichuan Noodles……

From Ba Ren, of course…….

From Ba Ren of course. In truth, it did cause me to cough a bit, but man did it clear my sinuses. Plus, this cold has got my taste buds in a bit of a fritz, so the strong flavors sure was comforting in it's own way.

During a recent wonderful dinner with friends, the subject of cravings when sick came up. I mentioned saimin, as it was what I always wanted as a child when I felt sick. Perhaps I'll have to amend that! I really want to feel better soon, since there's a wonderful bottle of sake in the fridge that's been calling to me!

To quote The Weepies:

"I say, I was made for sunny days.

I made due with gray, but I didn't stay.

I was made for sunny days……"

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Postscript: "Little K" sister of FOY (Friend of Yoso) "Yummy Yummy" is off on a wonderful adventure for the next six months. I wanted to drop by and wish you well, but I really don't think you want any part of whatever ills me. So I'll just have to tell you this way. We'll miss you, but we all know you're off on an exciting adventure. I can't wait to hear all your stories when you return!

Saturday Stuffs: Honey Pig is now Old Village and Silver Ark is gone(or has been for quite a while), and would you hold it against me if I ordered a Ma-ka-ka Burrito?

February 5, 2011 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Taco Shops, yoso-silly

Honey Pig is gone:

Man that was quick. I first heard about it from "YY", and saw that a new business had quickly moved in. It's now a place called Old Village… and the sign says "Korea's best Chef in twenty years!"

It makes me wonder what the saturation point is for Korean Tofu Houses…. well, I guess it's much higher than the saturation point for Korean BBQ's, huh?

Silver Ark has been gone for a while:

A couple of days ago, the Missus asked if we needed to do a revisit of Silver Ark after our last not so good visit. I told Her that Silver Ark has been gone for a while, and is now a Thai Restaurant. I then displayed photographic evidence. Which made Her ask me why I hadn't mentioned anything…..

She had a good point…… so here's a mention several months after I actually took a photo of what was Silver Ark and is now Siam Nara. I've heard that they are associated with Amarin. Anybody been there yet?

And finally…….

I've been waiting months trying to figure out when to do this post. And have come to the conclusion that there really wouldn't be a perfect time. It involves Vallarta Express on Genesee, a place Cathy has posted on. I really don't eat too much taco shop fare anymore, perhaps I'm still suffering from post tramatic shock from Howie's "Battle of the 'berto's", but I just have kinda stopped eating Carne Asada and California Burritos. But to paraphrase a much more interesting man then me, "I rarely eat Carne Asada Burritos, but when I do, I prefer Vallarta Express." Well kinda…… for some reason, when the carne asada is on it's quite good, I think they use soy sauce……but I've had my share of clunkers as well. The last time I stopped in at Vallarta Express was back in October. I was tired, on my way back home from a long day at work, and a trip to Henry's, and I just decided to grab a California Burrito….. I hadn't had one in a while. I even took a photo of Vallarta Express….which I think came out pretty peachy-keen and neato-rooney….

It almost says….. "aaaah Vallarta Express at sunset", huh? But on this day, the food was really secondary…and knowing me, what I eat rarely takes a back seat. I was in the drive thru, behind a Lexus SUV. The woman sticks her head out and orders a "Cho-rye-zo burrito". The disembodied voice blares from the speaker "so that will be a chorizo burrito?" The woman, using her best "outside voice" says "ummmm yes, and one more thing, can I get a ma-ka-ka burrito?" I'm laughing so hard I almost take my foot of the brake. The Lexus doesn't move, mainly because not an utterance comes out of the little speaker box. Perhaps they're searching for some "ka-ka"? Having worked in restaurants and fast-food, I can only imagine what is currently going on in that little shack…… Yes, one could only imagine……

The woman finally moved forward, puzzled look on her face and eventually made her way out of the drive-thru….. I hope she got her "ma-ka-ka", or reasonable facsimle.

In comparison, my CAB…. that's a California Burrito, not you CAB was totally anti-climatic.

OK, so I "set-up" the burrito by taking my photo of it leaning up against a container of brown rice…. perhaps it's a Jungian duality statement….. but maybe I just needed to lean my burrito against something.

This wasn't the best burrito I've had from Vallarta….too much sour cream in this one.

But just having that moment was, at least to me, worth $5.25………

Have you ever had one of those moments?

Vallarta Express
4277 Genessee Ave.
San Diego, CA 92117

Open for "Ma-ka-ka and Cho-rye-zo" 24 hours a day.

Monday Meanderings

January 24, 2011 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, yoso-silly

Yes, I've been hacked:

My email that is. Sorry to say that I think everyone on my contact list was sent high volume spam from my email address. I've hopefully corrected that. On the good side; it was really nice hearing from folks I hadn't heard from in a while. I just wish it was under better (and legit) circumstances. My apologies.

Meet my latest "toy":

For some reason I actually opened up and looked over the monthly adds for Marukai. I noticed that various Shichirin were on sale for the whole month. I decided that we needed a bit of an upgrade from our little Hida Konro. The one selling for forty bucks was a bit too large….

So I went with the one on sale for just under twenty bucks.

Marukai also has Binchotan on sale this month…. just be aware that the label says it's made in Myanmar. I know some folks are sensitive to that. I also thought that there were US trade sanctions against imports from Myanmar…. but maybe I'm wrong?

And just because I needed to include some food photos:

I'm including photos of our New Years Eve dinner(s). You know where, right?

Unusual food items found around town. (COMC)

January 2, 2011 Cathy Markets & Grocers, What Cathy Eats!, yoso-silly

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog. Just an online diary. Today Cathy is tying up loose ends. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are being constructive. Elsewhere.

Hi. I was Cleaning Out my Memory Card (COMC) as one of my Resolutions and decided to put together a post of things I thought I would someday mention. That day is here.

One day, The Mister and I decided to go to Food 4 Less, (a bag-it-yourself grocery store, same company as Ralphs and Krogers). Within the cold cuts/hot dog section of the store (I am always looking for skin-on wieners) was this:
A one pound package of bacon wrapped hot dogs, as seen served from many taco trucks. The package was marked down to $1.98, and had an expiration date in ten days. I took this photo in the store and sent it to Kirk. Immediately. He said it was a post waiting to happen.

Five of those hot dogs were a pound. Most of the 'better' hot dogs are packaged seven to a pound. We needed large bread to hold these dogs. Costco. Less than $2.50 for 12 gourmet buns. (We used the extra ones for sandwiches and turned some into garlic bread). I just cooked the hot dogs in a large teflon coated pan on the stove top, turning until the bacon was crisp.

These are giant dogs (five filled that 12 inch pan) and needed that larger than normal Costco roll.
Topped with mustard and pickles, one was filling and two were too much to eat. Our good dogs (and cats) got some treats that day.

I could not figure how to make a whole post about this machine.
We saw it at Parkway Plaza, on the edge of the Food Court, near the Sbarro. I do sometimes crave spun sugar…
You put in $2 in coins, a stick slides over, then down…
The machine spins the candy floss around the stick.

Viola! A fresh made cotton candy treat!
This machine disperses heated almonds and peanuts. It was located in the Paddock Bar at the Del Mar Race Track. I saw it when we were taking a lunch break at the Del Mar Fair. Really brings out the flavor. Now I heat up nuts in the fry pan before we eat them at home.
This past summer, San Diego was a "Test Market" for two Starbucks iced beverages. Each was made with green coffee- raw- beans. Caffeine was in each beverage, which was juice based, but no taste of coffee (and no tea flavor). The one on the left was made with lime juice and had fresh mint in it, the one on the right had fresh blackberries and was made with pomegranate juice. They were refreshing and different and really good on hot days. I hope the testing went well and we can see these beverages as a regular item in the stores in the future.

Here is a photo of our Christmas Dessert plate…International this year. From 6:00: The apple strudel (German) was an experiment which turned out well. The espresso (Italian) was just perfect that day and the pink item is called Vatkattu Marjapuuro. It is Finnish. I call it cranberry whip. Made with fresh cranberries and farina. It could be a dessert or breakfast. It ended up being both. Again, it just wasn't enough to do a whole post.

The Costco on Morena Avenue. Only. Gelato.

Made daily. $1.50 for three scoops- mixed berry, pistachio and stracciatella (torn apart/ less chunky chocolate chips in plain (not vanilla flavored) ice cream). Gelato is more dense than ice cream, is lower in sugar and lower in butterfat. It is made at this Costco location daily and a quart for $5 is a wonderful deal. I like the pistachio the best…fresh crispy nuts.
The Vons at Liberty Station (not the standard footprint Vons)(when you walk in the center/cart area, go to the building on your left) has a 'make your own nut butter' bar. Between $5 and $7 a pound, these bins were just about to be refilled with fresh nuts. You turn the crank and fill the containers provided. Right next to it were fill your own honey containers, two types of honey.

So there. I got another thing off of my "To Do" list! I hope everyone is taking some time to tie loose ends.