yoso-silly – Page 40

Odds And Ends

October 14, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, yoso-silly

Hope everyone has a great weekend; just thought I’d throw in some Odds n’ Ends. That is, places that I’ve already posted on and some of the different dishes, as well as maybe a few "silly" links.

Dropped by Buga; yet again. This time I had Yookhwe, that wonderful beef tartare like dish:

This refreshing little dish – sorry about the photo, I starting mixing and almost eating before I remembered to snap a picture. But it’s thin slices of beef with sesame seed oil, served along with thin slices of Asian Pear, with an egg yolk on top. Nicely nutty, sweet, and a bit "metallic" or cucumberish in taste. Because the meat is partially frozen before slicing, you can get a "ice cream headache" when you eat this.

Dropped by Noble Chef for a quick dinner. I still get looks of complete amazement when I recommend this place. You just have to know what to order. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT order the Chinese Fast Food style dishes. Instead go for something like the Shrimp Chow Fun (Hong Kong style) with XO Sauce($6.55):

If you think there’s some "wok hey" going on, you’d be right. Nice and spicy, with good sized shrimp, this is my favorite. We also got the Shrimp with Tomato Sauce Rice($6.55):

Nice size shrimp, with a tangy, slightly spicy tomato sauce, this is delici-yoso!!! Stick with the Fried Rice, Turnip Cake with Scrambled Egg, and Shrimp with Scrambled Egg, and you’ll do fine.

As for links, here’s a few fun ones:

Howie Email’d me his Foodieview ‘s Most Disturbing Recipe Searches. It’s fun and reminds me of Pam’s great "Asparagus" ummmm, "residual" post!

I don’t know if you read the News story on the 4,000 year old noodles found in China. I get another laugh at the expense of my Italian Food loving friends. I can still call Italian Food "Nouveau Chinese"….. Angie covers it well on her Blog.

Annie has revamped and changed the URL for Green Beans in San Diego, so check it out.

I enjoyed this really short article from The Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego about the History of Japanese Restaurants in San Diego.

And finally this sign, which always makes me chuckle it’s on the corner of Palomar and 3rd Ave in Chula Vista:

23/5 Meme

October 8, 2005 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I had considered letting this Meme die. But seeing that it’s Reid from Ono Kine Grindz who tagged me, I thought I’d go ahead and do it. Mainly because Reid is a good guy, and I’d feel really bad if I didn’t.

The rules?

1. Delve into your blog archive,
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to),
3. Find the 5th sentence (or closest to),
4. Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions,
5. Tag FIVE people to do the same.

So I went to the beginning and started counting; and lo’ and behold, it was one of my favorites. Hogetsu Bakery! It was a short post on June 19th of this year, and the 5th line was; "Many people I know still drive to Los Angeles to get their Manju, or just buy them from Nijiya or Mitsuwa. " Which is still probably true…..

So knowing that I’d be doing this, I drove down to Hogetsu on Friday:

And picked up some manju:

The Missus enjoyed the Kyoto-style confections that I picked up on this trip. And of course I also got all her other favorites as well. All told these five pieces cost $4.70. I also had a nice conversation with one of the owners who remembered me as the "guy with the camera".

So who am I tagging? Well, let’s do something different. I’ll let whoever feels like volunteering for this meme to carry on. Just "pencil me in" as the "tagger"!

At the SDAFF: My Girl (Fan Chan) and Sneakin’ Stuff….

October 4, 2005 mmm-yoso Burgers, Movies, yoso-silly

On Friday we viewed a charming Thai coming of age film, My Girl, titled Fan Chan in Thailand:

The basic plot is that a Young Man, Jeab finds out that the best friend from childhood whom he hasn’t seen in 13 years, Noi Nah, is getting married, and that he’s received an invitation. As a child Jeab wasn’t allowed to cross a busy street and play with the other boys, so he spends his time playing with Noi Nah. Through a flashback we see Jeab and Noi Nah as children, and eventually the event that leads to the end of the friendship. There’s alot of fun, laughter, music, and pretty good acting. It would seem that this film is directed at Thais’ raised in the 70’s and 80’s, as it features the music, television, and other "nostalgic" events of that era. But I soon found that laughter and love are universal. My Girl, is a warm and funny movie that explores universal themes associated with growing up.

One of the really fun parts of the movie was the amount attention brought to the "games" played by the children in this rural Buddhist community. Even though we may or may not have played any of these games, we all have those games of our childhood, like marbles or paper-football, which brought on all those nostalgic feelings. Another thing I remembered as a youth were the movies, as well as another thing about going to movies as a kid in the 70’s and 80’s in Hawaii, sneakin’ in food!

I mean, especially in a week long film festival; how much popcorn and hot dogs can you eat? As a kid we used to sneak in Spam Musubis, arare, or something similar. Mom wouldn’t let me bring anything that the theater served, in her words, "they have to make money, and a living too". In my early twenties, we all brought our jackets when we went to the movies, even when it was almost 90 degrees, and 100% humidity. Why? Well, we’d tie up the sleeves and you could fit 3 bottles of beer in each sleeve…..hehehe! Better watch when you stand though, you might knock those bottles down; and you’d be soooo busted! Careful when you open those bottles too! Psssst…..

Nowadays, after we burn out from the popcorn and hot dogs, we’re more apt to go with maybe the arare, or maybe roasted chestnuts or mochi, for the Missus. And no, we don’t do the dried cuttlefish, or other snacks that smell, or make alot of noise…..

Also, can’t forget those Haw Flakes for the Missus:

Though we have an all time favorite sneak in. All you need to see is this:

So we’ll drive through and pick up a couple of burgers from In-N-Out, and seal the bag well, and stash it in the Missus purse. Better than those cheese whiz nacho’s, no? We don’t bring them to movies that are too crowded though. A few movies ago, we opened up our burgers, and heard a whisper from above go; "Hey, who’s eating A Double-Double?" I never knew the smell was so distinctive! Hehehehe – giggle….. And no we still don’t sneak in anything the theatre will have, think I’ll have some Kappa-maki tomorrow…..

Open wide:

So what do you sneak in? I know you do it………

At the SDAFF: 20:30:40, Saving Face, and Dumplings

October 1, 2005 mmm-yoso Cooking, Movies, Recipes, yoso-silly

Ah yes, another wonderful day at the San Diego Film Festival. Today we went early and saw Alice Wu’s fantastic film; Saving Face. Alice Wu’s Directorial debut is a wonderfully funny, yet an a amazingly perceptive and complex tale, one that is both light, and yet reveals very deep social and cultural issues that are put at the forefront.

At the heart of the movie is the question; at what length and what price is one willing to pay to "save face". Saving Face is of the best most polished Asian American Films I’ve ever seen. After the film, Director Alice Wu, and the three lovely Leading Ladies, Joan Chen, Michelle Krusiec, and Lynn Chen were very generous with their time during a Q&A session. What I was really amazed to find out was that the film was completed in 27 days, all single takes! If I’m being a bit vague with the plot details, it is with good reason. The film takes some really fun twists and turns, and keeps you guessing til the end. If you’re interested in a movie that’s like a cross between The Wedding Banquet and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, this is for you. By the way, I never knew Joan Chen could be so funny!

On Thursday Night we saw 20:30:40, a funny, yet very interesting and revealing Taiwanese/Chinese film Directed by, and starring Sylvia Chang. 20:30:40 portrays the life of 3 Women. Xiao Jie (Lee Sin-Jie), is a 20 year old, who has come to Taipei to become a pop star. Suddenly free, and learning about life with no responsibility, she starts learning and experimenting in her journey to find out about life and who she is. Xiang (Rene Liu), is a thirty-something Flight Attendant, attempting to find love by juggling two men, a married Dentist, and a possessive somewhat unstable Music Producer. Forty-something Lily (Sylvia Chang) is the owner of a Flower Shop. Her world is turned upside down when she finds out that her Husband has a second family.

Though the women never actually meet, they pass each other, and their lives are intertwined through associations with other characters in the film. Featuring some very funny moments, this is a showcase for the actresses and in the end a very honest and entertaining effort.

What about the food? Among the many food scenes in these two films were two that got our attention; in 20:30:40, Lily (Sylvia Chang) is having dinner with would be "Romeo", Jeff (Tony Leung Ka-Fai), as he teaches her to eat her dumplings by first eating an entire clove of garlic, he tells her; "what do you care, we’re both sleeping alone tonight…", one of the funniest lines in the film. In Saving Face, Joan Chen is making dumplings for a "mah-jong party".

So this evening, the Missus decided to end her self imposed Dumpling retirement, by saying, "hey, let’s make some shrimp and chive dumplings…" So even though it was after 6pm, I jumped into action and ran up to 99 Ranch Market to pick-up some shrimp and chive, while the Missus made the dough for the wrappers:

Sorry that there is no set recipe for this. I will go through the ingredients, though. Dumplings have been a way of life for the Missus. She was raised in Qingdao in the Shandong province in China. Dumplings, handmade noodles, and various breads are a way of life. This dough was made with flour and room temperature water. While kneading she knows at what point the dough is "ready". My job is easy; shell and devein 1 1/2 lbs of shrimp, which is then chopped to desired texture.

The chives are chopped to desired texture. Here’s a very "rough" recipe for the filling for these dumplings:

1 1/2 lbs shrimp chopped
1 bunch chives chopped
2-4 Tbs Sesame Oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp Shao-Tsing Wine
2 eggs
Ginger Juice(everybody wonders what the garlic press is for)
Mix together and start filling them dumplings:

Here’s a hint; before mixing the dumpling filling, start boiling a small pot of water. When the mix is ready make a "test dumpling" and cook – it’ll be pretty quick since the dough is fresh. You can taste the filling and make adjustments. For me, the only way to eat these freshly made dumplings is to boil them. You get the full range of flavor and most of all the wonderful slightly doughy wrapper, that should have a bit of pull. Of course you can pan fry if you must:

This is one of the things that I am able to contribute to the whole process! Also making the sauce:

Chinkiang Vinegar
Soy Sauce
Garlic
Green Onions
Optional – Chili Paste, Sugar, etc….

The belief is that boiled dumplings are the true test, fried dumplings are for later. Even though she declared a "second retirement" after making these, I still love and appreciate the fact that she knew after watching all these "dumplings on film", that I’d be wanting some. Also, I know we’ve now got a few dozen in the freezer! he-he-he….. Need to find more dumpling movies!

At the SDAFF: Marathon and Bibim Naengmyun

September 30, 2005 mmm-yoso Korean Restaurants, Movies, yoso-silly

The Opening Night film at the San Diego Asian Film Festival was the Korean film, Marathon. This heart-warming drama tells the story of an autistic Young Man, Cho Won whose doting, driven Mother pushes him to succeed at running marathons. Cho Won is 20 years old, but has only a child-like understanding of the world, and loves Zebra’s and anything resembling a Zebra, Choco-pies, noodles, and The Wild Kingdom television show. But Cho Won, is unable to express his emotions, and lacks any concept of the workings of the " real world". Enter into the equation a has-been former Marathon Champion, Yun, working off his community service for a DUI at Cho Won’s school. Cho Won’s Mother attempts to get him to train him. We go through this journey along with Cho Won, and in the end there is of course, a Marathon.

Marathon succeeds in rising above the formula"underdog drama" by utilizing great acting, lot’s of humor, not stooping to "cheap" manipulative tricks, and showing the impact of the social realities of being "stigmatized" by being handicapped in South Korean society, not only to Cho Won, but to his Family as well. Though the ending is predictable, it’s the journey to that end that makes this film worth watching. I’m thinking of buying this one! A great start to the SDAFF.

A quick note, this movie is a semi-biopic, Director Jeong Yun-Cheol interviewed Bae Hyeong-Jin,on whom the story was based, over the course of two years to develop this film. Amazingly this is Jeong Yun-Cheol’s Directorial debut.

Where’s the food? In Marathon, food plays a major role. I stopped counting at 12 the number scenes where food plays a role. Choco-pies play a very important role in two pivotal scenes in the movie, and plums in one. And of course Cho Won loves noodles. Most of the noodles shown looked alot like Jajang Myeon, a Chinese based, Korean noodles dish. Here’s an example of a sad "instant" Jajang Myeon:

But I didn’t have Jajang Myeon, I ended up at Buga and had the Bibim Naengmyun ($9.95):

These somewhat chewy-elastic buckwheat noodles, are served cold, with a spicy sauce. Add to it vinegar and mustard, and you have a wonderful refreshing, spicy dish! Have the Server cut the noodles with a scissors, though, otherwise you’ll be "pulling" for quite a long while! With all of the chewing and "reeling in" of the noodles going on, this dish may take a while to eat. It almost seems as if; if I may quote the Missus; "The more you eat, the more there is…"

Notice the panchan in the middle of the picture below, there’s a funny story about this:

So I’m having lunch, and a quite distinguished looking Gentleman siting on the table in front of me calls the waitress over, holds up the little plate with the "konnyaku" (I apologize I can’t for the life of me remember the Korean name), and tells her "I thought I told you no fish!", She tries in vain to explain to him that it’s not "fish", but made from "potato", but he insists that "No potato can ever make anything like this!" So after the Waitress looks at me with a pleading look, I tell the Gentleman that it’s made from a specific potato. I get the response, "Humph, don’t tell me what this is, I know fish when I see it!" I truly hopes he chokes on his Bulgogi….."humph"

Oh, what did I have for dessert?

Choco-pies of course!

In Case You’re Wondering Where I Am….

September 29, 2005 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Every year around this time the San Diego Asian Film Foundation presents the San Diego Asian Film Festival. This year the 6th annual Festival has been expanded from the usual 4 days to 7 whole days at UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas.

This is a wonderful event and we always make sure to get All Festival Passes so that we can come and go as we please. You also go to the front of the line for all events – but of course that has nothing to do with it, right?

For a listing of films and schedules – go here.

If there’s one thing that many Asian films have – its alot of food! So I may have a fun post or two up my sleeve.

The 6th Annual San Diego Film Festival – Sept 29th thru Oct6th.

So where’s the food? I found the comments to the Loco Moco Post to be very interesting. Rachel, was of course worried about my dental hygiene. Clare was worried that I wasn’t getting enough "green stuff" and also started searching for a Loco in Oz. Reid was concerned that I couldn’t find a good Loco. And of course Jo, wanted to make sure that she got the Hamburger right, while Mealcentric was worried about the gravy, while Pam immediately went searching for one! Aren’t Bloggers the best!

Just to make sure that you all know that I do eat veggies, once in a while at least:

I actually had 2 plates of salad tonight:

From our local Soupplantation. The Missus had 3. I of course went into immediate cardiac arrest, and had to be revived with a Spam Musubi. Rachel and Clare, I’m still alive and kicking!

See you at the Film Festival!

yoso-nosey: Where the Dim Sum Starts

September 20, 2005 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

As Elmo and Reid both noted, it seems like everyone has been eating Dim Sum over the last week or so. What I also noticed was that we each have our "standard bearer", that is the dish that serves as the basis for judging whether a specific restaurant serves "good" or "bad" Dim Sum. So, I’d like to see what your baseline Dim Sum dish is:

The survey has closed – results are here.

Feel free to comment away..

BTW, I did leave Siu Mai out, sorry my mistake – you can vote for it as "Other"

I’ll close out the poll on Sept 30th!

yoso-silly: The New Football Food???

September 4, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, yoso-silly

College Football season has arrived, and even better the Warriors of the University of Hawaii is on National TV. The bad thing is that they’re playing #1 ranked USC. This doesn’t bode well, UH had the second worse defense in the NCAA last year. Oh-oh…..

So what I decided to do this year was to watch the game at home, so any cathartic moments of pain and grief will be expressed in the privacy of my own home. You see last year, I watched two of the games "outside", the first at a sports bar, and Boise St ripped UH 69-3, it was hard to watch the other customers yelling for the Broncos to "pile it on…", the second was at Sammy’s, and Sam and I watched Fresno St crush UH 70-14. I sat there in my University of Hawaii shirt, watching the others around me chanting, "go for a hundred..". Much to my chagrin, I stayed home to watch UH beat Michigan St, that’s my luck…..

So I had to make a decision with regards to "grinds". Pizza? Nah, I can have pizza anytime, plus, delivery would be pretty bad today. "Wings?" Bor-ring! I finally settled on Ba Ren. How’s that for "football food"?

So I drove down and ordered a few cold dishes from Ba Ren. Starting with a combo appetizer:

This was (from the right counter-clockwise) Fuqi Feipian, the famous "husband and wife" dish, dried beef with peppers and peppercorn, and Sichuan Peanuts (just for you Jo).

The fried peanuts were a nice combination of nutty, salty, spicy, and sweet, with those crunchy little fishes. This is a really good "pu-pu", I think this a a gametime regular for me.

The beef slices were nice and hot, with the assertive "ma la" (numbing hot) flavor with chilies to add another layer of heat:

One of my favorite things is to have a nice glass of ice water with this. After eating a few bites, it "becomes carbonated water".

I’m a Fuqi Feinpian addict. I love the textural combination of the brisket, tendon, and Chinese celery. Positively addicting:

This wasn’t all. After all I needed an entree, right? So I chose the Cold Chicken with Spicy Sauce:

Nice and numbingly hot, with the combination of sweet, salty, and spicy, this dish is very addicting and one of my favorites. The addition of crushed peanuts and sesame seeds gives the dish an added "nutty" dimension. The layers of heat in the dish is measurable. Delici-yoso!!!

By the end of third quarter I was sweating harder than the players on the field!!!

Oh, the game. USC 63 Hawaii 17, but all is not lost, I got some really good food, and Hawaii’s defense didn’t look as bad as I thought, there was a time where Hawaii was down only 28-10, before collapsing. I think I’ll do a different "pu-pu’s for the game" for the Televised UH games I watch this year. Stay tuned!

Yoso-silly: Vegemite – Vege-might not….

August 20, 2005 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I promised Clare from Eat Stuff that I’d go ahead and attempt to eat Vegemite. After her Vegemite-for-non-Aussies post, I’d pretty much committed myself to actually trying some Vegemite from this little bottle brought back by a friend from Australia. So I figured today, with the bright sunny sky shining and nice breezes would be as good a day as any to die…….

But someone had already tried some of the Vegemite. A few days ago I got a phone call from the Missus:

She: "I think there’s something wrong with the Vegemite"
Me: "Ummm, okay, what’s wrong?
She: "Well, I tasted some…."
Me: "You Tasted Some!"
She: "Yeah I tasted some, and it tastes like it’s rotten or spoiled or something!"
Me: "Can’t be, I’ve been told it lasts forever!"
She: "Nothing lasts forever…"
Me: "Maybe Vegemite does, it might be the perfect food."
pause….
She: "So you’ve never tasted this Vegemite stuff…."
Me: "No, I, um.."
She: "So it could be spoiled and you wouldn’t even know it!"
Me: "From what I understand, this stuff tastes so terrible, it really wouldn’t matter if it was spoiled or not!"
click….

On a follow-up phone call, a detailed description of the taste and texture of the Vegemite was passed on to me, to be kept forever in the "bowels" of my mind. In case you want a little history of Vegemite it can be found here.

So this morning I set out to make me some Vegemite toast. For some reason a song kept popping up in my head – "Goodbye Papa its hard to die….. ".

I decided to use wheat toast. I mean, Vegemite is "healthy", right? So I figured wheat toast is the way to go. I spread some butter on the toast, and got a little spoon of Vegemite. At first glance, Vegemite is black and tar-like, with a distinct yeasty smell. I moved the spoon toward Sammy who ran and hid in the bathroom. Not a good sign!

"When all the birds are singing in the sky…."

So I spread the Vegemite on the toast best I could:

I actually tried to make a "smiley face", which failed horribly, so my extreme lack of artistic talent is clearly visible to the entire world. See any apparition on the toast that could possibly make me some cash on Ebay? I then thought, "any black food that I like", "caviar", "yeah, that’s the ticket, caviar is black, caviaaarrrr…", "aaah, who am I kidding, this is about as far from caviar as I can get!"

So I took a bite, than another for good measure. The taste? Well after having my stomach pumped in the ER – just kidding Clare! It’s very salty, and a bit on the bitter-astringent side. I didn’t enjoy the after taste it left, but overall not a bad experience. Not something I’ll ever crave, but I’d eat it if I had to. Thanks Clare, this was fun. That Vegemite would just have continued being a paperweight at work, if not for your encouragement.

Another song just popped into my head:

We are happy little Vegemites as bright as bright can be,
We all enjoy our Vegemite for breakfast, lunch and tea,
Our mummy says we’re growing stronger every single week,
Because we love our Vegemite,
We all adore our Vegemite,
It puts a rose in every cheek!

A Big Thank You!

July 31, 2005 mmm-yoso Road Trip, San Francisco and Silicon Valley, yoso-silly

To Jo, for providing a wonderful home for Pepper, and her wonderful family. I’ll leave all of the pictures and reports for her to post on her site. Also milgwimper for the great info and conversation. Jo and Mills took me on a shopping tour of Mountainview and the surrounding area – when we left, the sun was up, we got back at 9pm! I had a blast, and there were lot’s of laughs! – Pusit….

Thanks to Mike; he makes a mean cup o’ joe. Jo I still think you need to raze the kitchen and build a coffee drive thru!

Of all of the places we visited, it was Dittmer’s that made the biggest impression. They have the "best Wurst"! Friendly Staff and great service, I’ll be back!

Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats & Wurst-Haus Inc
400 San Antonio Road
Mountain View, CA 94040

Here’s a picture of Pepper in Soledad, sorry, bad joke….at the Soledad filling station.