mmm-yoso – Page 485 – As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.

Luang Prabang: Dinner at Tamarind Part 2

February 22, 2009 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Laos, Luang Prabang, Memorable Meals, Travel

The first half of dinner at Tamarind had already been quite an adventure, and though we didn't know it at the time, there was much more to come.

Next up was this Or Lam like stew. It lacked much of the bitter tones of Or Lam, and was fairly hearty, and studded with sticky rice, which probably contributed to the thickness of the broth.

The highlite of the soup were all the small frogs, which were fairly sweet. You ate the frogs whole, the bones were soft. The Missus loved the flavor of the frogs…..which She called "crab-like."

Next up was the plate that would probably be the most challenging for any Westerner…. yes, bugs!

Also on the plate were two large "Mok" – banana leaf wrapped items, and a eel that had been grilled in the typical Lao style.

The eel was hard…..like eating solid bone.

The large packet contained a flower that we had seen all through the Fresh Market, always surrounded by swarms of fruit flies…it must be really sweet.

It had been stuffed with pork, and was very, very tasty. Even better than Mok Pa, it literally melted in our mouths.

As we opened the next packet, Joy suddenly appeared and told us; "here in Luang Prabang, that is what you'll make for your children if you love them." So we opened up the packet…..

It tasted sweet, but was a bit "liver-y" for me. The Missus on the other hand loved this, calling it, "really rich, and almost like crab brains and eggs." I knew this was something from the organ/offal category. Can you guess what it is? This folks……was pig brains. Even though this was so rich She barely finished it, the Missus still smacks Her lips when I mention this.

Of course I know that you only really want to hear about the bugs……

The various critters really challenged you mentally rather than flavor-wise. The grasshopper were fairly nutty, the crickets a bit more gamey. I really, really enjoyed the tiny bugs that looked like small Cockroaches, as did that forest bug….they had a nice, almost floral flavor. The Missus didn't care for the Bee Larvae. You basically cracked open the hive, and larvae fell out to the plate.

I on the other hand loved the sweet, honey – floral flavor of the larvae. A quick dip into salt actually improved the sweetness.

The one bug that we didn't enjoy was this fella':

After removing the head, legs, wings, and hard shell, the squishy flesh had a mildly bitter, offal-like flavor.

The next plate (yes, yet another!) that arrived looked positively tame next to what we had just consumed. It looked very familiar to me.

It was a plate of herbs, spices, and other items, that would be wrapped in lettuce leaves, and dipped into the tangy tamarind based sauce and consumed. I've had a similar dish in various Thai Restaurants, where it's called Miang Khum. Curious about this, I inquired, and found out it is a popular party appetizer in Luang Prabang. Unfortunately, I forgot to get the Lao name for this dish. Upon my return, I turned to David Thompson's awesome book Thai Food, where I found a listing for "Miang Lao". Thompson claims a Northern Thai origin for the dish, but notes that the version in the book is of Lao origin. I'm sure a few readers will chime in on this.

It was a nice palate cleansing end to the meal…in which we had finished several glasses of LaoLao and two containers of sticky rice each, in addition to all the food.

The Missus told me, "I wish we could squeeze in another meal here……." All the more reason to return.

The meal ended with a typical sticky rice confection, which reminded me of arare. I had already consumed an entire bag of this that I had purchased earlier, so I had no problem polishing these off.

As well strolled the one block back to our room, I reflected on all the amazing meals we've had over the last 2 years. Meals that had changed our opinions on food, from an amazing home made Cuy dinner in Cusco, to Astrid y Gaston in Lima. Roasted Sparrows at Highway 4 in Hanoi and 10 courses of snake in Le Mat. A lunch with a touching toast at Can Cau Market, dinner with the guy with 2 wives in Bac Ha, learning that you should be "Happy Happy Everyday" in Siem Reap…and so many more. All of these meals (and many more) have really added color to our lives. Thank you for honor of letting us share them with you all.

NaniMoku Hawaiian BBQ

February 20, 2009 mmm-yoso Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego, Loco Mocos, Plate Lunch

*** Nani Moku has closed

I realize that over the last couple of years, I've kinda gotten away from all da' plate lunches, and stuff like that……. Still, once in a while, I just need a plate lunch. And in spite of the many Hawaiian BBQ joints in San Diego, a good plate lunch is hard to come by. As I mentioned before, for me, all Hawaiian BBQ is a subset of plate lunch. And most Hawaiian BBQ places do not offer the variety, nor quality of food that an old school plate lunch joint would.

I wondered, what exactly would Nani Moku be….just another Hawaiian BBQ rehash, or perhaps a good solid plate lunch.

I had made a trip to Nani Moku's back in September of last year, thinking I'd be visiting Da' Kine's. I was shocked to find Da' Kine's gone, and Nani Moku in its place. But after looking at the menu, it looked just like Da' Kine's with a new name. Even the staff looked the same, as did the "daily specials….. Except for a little placard that had "Loco Moco" specials….. did you say Loco Moco specials? I was so there, tucked in the pocket of my personal, gravy laden, comfort zone. I ordered the Chicken Katsu Loco ($6.95). Which to me was basically what we call a "Chicken Cutlet" back home. In Hawaii, the term Chicken Cutlet is synonymouswith Chicken Katsu with Gravy. Which this was, except for the easy over egg…….

And I enjoyed the very runny easy over eggs. Many places nowadays are starting to hard cook their eggs, but this was wonderfully runny, if unseasoned. I'm sure the eggs could have been a bit more crisp around the edges, but that may have been asking a bit much. The cutlet was full on Da' Kine's, thin, with lots of breading. It was moist, which was nice, and the gravy was dark and seasoned. The macaroni salad was chilled, though still lacking in salt, but better than it usually is.

Can you tell that I enjoyed it? I told myself to hang in there, save the photos, and return later on. Soon enough, it was a new year, and I still hadn't returned to Nani Moku. One day, I was going through and deleting photos, when I came across the Chicken Katsu Loco….. and I knew where I'd be headed for lunch……

I returned to Nani Moku, walked up to the counter……

And no moa' Special Loco's…. and what the heck is a "Kaluha Plate?"

You may say; "you know what they mean……" To which I'd reply, "oh, like ordering some Dung Pao Chicken?" At this point, the menu was Da' Kine's recycled, which, if done well is not a bad thing.

So I ordered a Three Item Mix ($8.75) to get a taste of several menu items, which was a good amount of food:

The Chicken Katsu was a safe bet, and was fine as always, along with the ketchup based Katsu sauce:

You can tell by the photo the problem with the Kalua (not Kahula) Pork and Cabbage:

Once upon a time, this might have been half decent, with a good pork to cabbage ratio, but what I got served was the stuff scrapped from the bottom of the chafing dish…hard and dry.

The Teriyaki BBQ Chicken was moist, but lacked a nice marinated flavor.

The Mac Salad was again, nicely chilled, with a perfect amount of mayo, but lacking in salt, or a good savory flavor.

Overall, pretty much typical inconsistent Da' Kine's…except for one thing….the rice. Da' Kine's had a bad habit of serving mushy rice. On both visits to Nani Moku, the rice was good….at least that was consistent. As to whether I'd be back…. I dunno…..

Nani Moku
1635 Sweetwater Road
National City, CA 91950

Sun – Thurs: 11am – 8pm
Fri – Sat: 11am – 9pm

Luang Prabang: Dinner at Tamarind – Part 1

February 18, 2009 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Laos, Luang Prabang, Memorable Meals, Travel

Ok, ok, I'm finally getting around to posting on our dinner at Tamarind. After attending the Tamarind cooking school, I was really excited at the prospect of dinner at Tamarind. There was one special "gourmet" dinner that fascinated me. It was called "The Adventurous Lao Gourmet", a degustation type, multi-course meal. Because the items included in the meal take a bit of what we shall term "shopping", it is imperative to make reservations for the meal. In fact, when I first tried to make reservations, the young lady hesitated, and said to come back after the cooking class. I made it a point to return to the restaurant after the cooking class, and again attempt to make reservations. Again, the young lady hesitated, and called Joy. After chatting briefly in Lao, the young lady hung up and said; "okay, Joy says you'll eat anything….."

Which is how we ended up at back at Tamarind at 4pm. (Tamarind closes at 6pm) The interior of Tamarind is much smaller than it appears from the exterior. The walls are lined with photos, and the overall appearance is clean, if a bit spartan.

Another reason reservations are required for this meal, is that either Joy or Carolyn will present the dishes, describe what you're eating (yes, you'll need that info), and answer questions. And I had many, many, questions.

Everything is served with the Lao staple, sticky rice:

The first plate soon arrived, and it was as beautiful (at least to us), as it was exotic looking:

As I was digging through my photos, I realized that I have photos of almost everything except the item in the middle right, which was a green bean and "mushroom" (cloud ear fungus) salad, which would have been fairly routine, except for the fresh tenderness of the fungus.

On the upper left, was a fern shoot salad:

I grew up eating "Pohole" (i.e. Warabi, Fern Shoots), so this wasn't a real big deal. It was very mild in flavor, but very fresh.

Next to it was something I hadn't had before, a Jeow (Lao dip) made of what they call "Lao Olive".

It had a salty-fruity-mildly spicy flavor, which was very satisfying. The Missus loved this. The Missus even went after the olive on the side….which tasted like….an olive of course. Wonderful dish. The flowers topping the olive dip are Hop blossoms, which are edible.

To the right of the olive dip was the Jeow King, the Lao Ginger dip.

This was a bracingly spicy dip, the ginger brought up the heat from the dish, as did the ginger leaves. Talk about waking you up…..

Next up was sticky rice flavored with coconut, and I believe taro, roasted in leaves.

This was more like a dessert.

There were two powders in the lower center part of the plate:

On the left was ground pumpkin seeds, nice and nutty, and good for rolling your sticky rice in. On the right, was dried and ground "bok choy", quite bitter in flavor. The ever present bitter flavor in Lao food made its appearance again.

On the lower left was sliced pork "rind", with sticky rice powder, and chilies.

I had expected this to taste like Vietnamese "Bi", but man was this good. The strands of rind almost melted in our mouths, and the flavor was excellent, a sweet-porkiness that made you wanting more. Mmmmm, pork with the texture of butter……

In the middle of the plate was a greenish-gooey substance called "Sa Thao". This dish was made with the algae genus, Spirogyra…sometimes called "pond scum". Khai Pene, the river moss that I'd been eating in all the restaurants, is made from algae genus, Cladophora glomerata. A totally different species.

The algae is pounded with eggplant, garlic, green beans, and spices, making for a LuangPrabang - TamarindDinner15 wonderful savory, gooey, dip. The Missus blasted through this like there was no tomorrow. We had also blown through a container of sticky rice each, as well as a few glasses of flavored Lao Lao (rice whiskey).

We sure did some damage.

When the Missus had sopped up the last of the Sa Thao, our next plate arrived:

Joy had seen how the Missus went after the Sa Thao, so he made sure we had another bowl!

On the upper left are water buffalo patties(Buffalo Sausage), much like a very spicy-herbacious Bun Cha:

I sensed a real tingling while eating this, and Joy told me that Sichuan Peppercorns are used in the meat patties. Very nice, in fact, we tracked some down from one of the grill stands on our way out of Luang Prabang.

Pickled Pork Skin and pickled garlic:

Tasted like pickled pork skin……and pickled garlic. Nice refresher, though.

The Water Buffalo Jerky was decent, but nothing we hadn't had before.

The salted-pickled fish tasted great……

If a bit tough….think of it as Lao pickled herring if you must. Two of the basic preservation techniques, salting and pickling used to perfection.

Pickled Fish "Curd".

So well pickled that this almost tasted sweet, with a mild fishy background.

And than it was the most interesting item on the plate:

No it's not the "Pork Sung"(Rousong) on the left. It's the item to the right. When I asked what that was, Joy told me, "fish poo." "Fish poo?" "Yes, fish poo." Apparently, the fish is gutted, than all the intestinal matter is scraped out and used in preserving the fish……and you have "fish poo." Living up to it's name, the outer layer tasted quite funky, dark, and dank. The fish itself was soft, tender, and quite mild.

Each plate had given us insight to Luang Prabang food, from the various dips, to the items that used classic preservation techniques; salting, pickling, and drying, we had learned much about what what was eaten in homes, on the rivers, and perhaps even the forest. And much of it was delicious to boot. We had not been sure how much food we'd be eating, and had even thought, that this was it…..but we weren't even half way through!

Stay tuned for part 2!

Road Trip: Kingburg Kitchen – San Gabriel (LA)

February 17, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Niu Rou Mian, Road Trip

Yes, I have a "little black book"……no, not that kind of little black book! This Moleskin that I carry around is full of little handy dandy notes…things like addresses, how to change the time on my wristwatch, and sometimes, when I anticipate that all to often occurrence nowadays, where the heck I parked my car. And of course, it contains names of restaurants, many restaurants, an unmanageable list of places to eat in several cities, some which I'll probably never set foot in….but like making sure you wear clean underwear, you know, "just in case", I'll jot down a restaurant, the address if I have it, what to order, and other stuff, in my own little undecipherable scribbling….just in case. And recently it dawned on me, this list of restaurants, having no rhyme or reason, has become untenable. Luckily for me, I can, most of the time, locate my restaurant scribblings when necessary. A good example is Kingburg Kitchen. Several months back, I scribbled "Kingburg – Shengjian Bao". And after reading first, Eileen's post on Kingburg Kitchen, which led me to Pepsi Monster's post on said dining establishment, we just had on head on over during a recent trip to the SGV. Please check out their wonderful posts.

Kingburg Kitchen is located on Las Tunas Drive, quite close to Lucious Dumplings, a place that we'd been to a few times. And yet we had never noticed it, in spite of the very bright and yellow banner.

The interior is San Gabriel Schizoid……everything from a faux cloud ceiling, to the fake fish tank. And man does this place love fliers….sheets of paper posted everywhere. Many of them saying, "We have the best buns in town".

The tables were only mildly "San Gabriel sticky", and the usual suspects were in display with regards the soy and vinegar.

The menu is a simple two sided laminated page full of soups, dumplings, buns ("the best in town!!!"), and cold appetizers.

The woman working was very efficient, and quickly brought out some pickled napa cabbage, which was pretty bland, but kept the starving Missus satiated.

We started with the Niu Rou Mein (spicy beef noodles soup – $6.50):

My first thought was, "this looks nothing like what I saw in Eileen's post." And to put it bluntly, we didn't care for it very much. Nice mild spice, but no beef flavor to speak of, the meat was very tough, and tasted a bit off. The noodles started out with a decent chew and pull, but went mushy real quick.

The broth needed a more richness, it just reminded us of soy sauce water. Perhaps this was the first bowl of the day, and it needed more simmer time?

We couldn't finish half of it.

Of course we ordered the Shengjian Bao, starting with the pork and cabbage version ($6.50). After the requisite 20 minute wait, it arrived nicely browned on both sides.

The Missus and I both bit into our buns simultaneously, chewed and stopped, well, I swallowed. There was something wrong with these, the taste was decent, full of pork flavor, and well seasoned. But the texture of the buns was on the "gooey" side. This is when we took a look at the buns…..

Good God, the pork was still raw, and the dough on the interior of the bun was uncooked! I watched the Missus turn several shades of yellow, or was it green. The Missus managed to flag down the Server, who was already working on several tables, and explained to Her quietly in Mandarin what was going on, and of course we displayed the uneaten portions of the Shengjian Bao. Now, when something like this occurs, there are a whole range of responses we've gotten from restaurants. Everything from very defensive attitudes, to actions that try to place the guilt on us ("well, it's your fault you ordered this"), to where everything would just be reheated and dumped on our table. This lady responded in the best way possible to make things right. She was very, very, apologetic, and told us that they would like a chance to make us a fresh batch (this is a Chinese Restaurant, ain't no way you're getting comped, and we're not into making a scene). Of course this would take 20 minutes. So we decided to go ahead, but take the Pork Buns to go. In all honesty, I still get the heebies just looking at that photo…….

By this time our Vegetarian Buns($6.50) had arrived, and to be perfectly frank, I was ready to turn into a vegetarian about now anyhow.

Of course, we didn't just dig in this time, but daintily cut the Bao in half to check out what was going on first. Overall, we both weren't too pleased with the bun, in spite of the decent browning on both sides, we found the overall texture to be a bit too gummy, and the browned areas hard instead of crisp.

Personally, I love bitter greens, so I enjoyed the filling.

The smoked tofu and cloud ear fungus really just adds texture, but there was enough seasoning and flavor of my tastes. I think the Missus was still mentally consuming raw pork………

We did have an entire order of Bao which we took home….but we really had a hard time eating them. I tried to have a few, but for once, we wasted food……which I feel real bad about.

We thought the service to be efficient, and the Server was very nice and professional. We really wanted to like this place, but I'm just not all that sure we'll be back.

Kingburg Kitchen
715 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Safari Grill

February 16, 2009 mmm-yoso Somali Restaurants

**** Safari Grill has closed

According to The Somali Family Service, San Diego has the second largest Somali Population in the country! Reading various websites puts the population in San Diego somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000. And I've heard the little stretch of University Avenue from Fairmont to 54th Street called "Little Mogadishu" by several folks. I have been fascinated by one little restaurant which I've passed many, many times. And on this day, the Missus was in the mood for something different ("how about something good for a change"). So we headed off to this little strip mall (what else?),on the corner of 50th street. Right next to Mini Ha Ha Market, and a Vietnamese Jeweler is Safari Grill.

And for us, it doesn't get much more different than Somali Cuisine. And yes, the window does say Mediterranean Cuisine. After looking for the menu, which doesn't exist, we determined that all items are listed by photos on the wall, and several "new" items are printed on the paper stapled to the "Please Pay Here" sign, probably a total of 11 in all. Needless to say, we walked in, and drew a bit of attention……

In case you thought you'd be getting anything resembling Ethiopian Injera here, you'd be out of luck.... I think. Somali's have a version called Canjeero, which is served as a breakfast dish. Here, at least on the menu, it is your meat (and let's just ignore the Gyro's ok), and either rice or pasta, spaghetti which they call baasto. The young man manning the counter, took our order, and we had a seat. I'd say this place was pretty darn clean, and we watched the staff constantly washing their hands.

Soon enough, this arrived at our table:

The water was great…but the banana? When we asked, the young man told us that bananas are often eaten with stews and meats. Like I say you constantly learn new things all the time.

I ordered one of the new dishes, the Stewed Goat Shoulder.

I loved the salad, which was very fresh, and was studded with tons of onions. The goat was very mild and on the dry side. The sauce on the side, which I can only describe as a garlicky chutney was really good.

What caught me off guard was the amount of rice:

At first I thought it was for both the Missus and I. But about five seconds later, the Missus's own plate of rice arrived.

We enjoyed the fluffy basmati rice, which had just enough spices to add character, without masking the flavor of the rice.

The Missus had ordered the Stewed Lamb.

The lamb was excellent, moist, tender, with a decent gamey flavor. The spices heigthened the flavors. And though the meat portions look small we were only able to finish half our meat and rice. I'd gladly have this again, unless I get waylaid. As we left the little restaurant had filled up with Somali men (I'm wondering if women don't eat in restaurants, a cultural thing?), and one of them was eating stewed chicken legs on rice that looked really good. Oh yes, the price? A total of $20…..not bad at all….

The service was very nice, the restaurant clean, and the Missus said the bananas did help to cleanse Her palate a bit. And we were taken a bit out of our comfort zone for a bit. What's not to like?

Safari Grill
4990 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

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Sorta Coq Au Vin, or Half Coq’d Au Vin

February 15, 2009 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Like I mentioned in my "White Chili" post, I've been feeding the Missus and Her co-workers when She has to work on weekends. But there's just so much I can make before I hit the wall. I was wracking my grey matter trying to determine what to make….but while staring at some chicken legs, going for 49 cents a pound, I thought why not doa version of Coq Au Vin, the French chicken fricassee cooked in wine? When I told the Missus, She appeared skeptical, "isn't that French?"

Just keeping things fun, I decided to make this pretty much on the cheap. Not that Coq Au Vin is a fancy-schmansy dish mind you. After all, Coq Au Vin was originally a recipe that marked, ummm, the permanent retirement of a rooster. The chicken was just under 2 bucks, the pearl onions, just under 2 bucks…. the wine? You guessed it, 2 Buck Chuck….good ol' Charles Shaw. I thought of calling it "Chuck Au Vin", but that would've been a bit repetitive, right?

I'd made Coq Au Vin before, but looked for additional inspiration from various cookbooks I had lying around. And boy did the recipes differ! Anthony Bourdain's recipe in the Les Halles Cookbook did away with the flour dredge, and marinated the chicken in red wine overnight. Julia Child's classic recipe uses a brandy flambe, Mark Bittman in How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food, uses porcini mushrooms for flavoring, and so on. Some other differences, many recipes use tomato, I didn't have any at home, so cross that out. Also, most recipes use the "blanching technique" for the bacon or salt pork(guess which I used) to remove excess salt and the smoky flavor. I thought my dish would need all the help it could get, so I bypassed it.

After reducing the wine and sauce, I added a little twist of my own. I added a tablespoon of Demi Glace along with some butter to fortify the sauce. I thought it turned out well, considering. I made buttered egg noodles just to cover my bases. It was also pretty quick, clocking in at a total of 40 minutes prep, one-and-half hours simmer.

Sorta Coq Au Vin

3-4 lbs Chicken parts rinsed and dried
1/2 lb small white mushrooms
1/2 lb Pearl Onions
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 medium onion roughly chopped
2 ribs celery roughly chopped
1/4 lb Bacon sliced crosswise (lardon)
1 Bottle red wine
1-2 Cups chicken stock (optional)
2 Tb Butter
1 Tb Veal Demi Glace (optional)
2 Bays Leaves
3 sprigs Thyme
1/2 Cup flour
Salt and Pepper
1-2 Tb Olive Oil

– Bring a pot of water to a boil. Chop root ends off of pearl onions. Place into boiling water for 1 minute. Allow onions to cool. You'll be able to pop those pearl onions out of their skin.
– Place chicken parts in a gallon ziploc bag. Add flour and shake to coat.Remove chicken from bag to a plate, shaking off excess flour.
– Brown bacon in a Dutch Oven or similar pot. When bacon is browned, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon.
– In the same pot, add pearl onions,add salt and pepper, and saute until slightly browned. Remove onions.
– Add olive oil if necessary, and brown chicken, working in batches. Remove the chicken when browned.
– Add 1 tablespoon of butter, and saute the mushrooms. Remove the mushrooms and set aside.
– Pour off excess fat, and add garlic, celery, onions, and carrots, and saute until vegetables are soft. Deglaze with 1 cup of the red wine, making sure to scrape up all those nice brown bits.
– Add the rest of the red wine, bay leaf, and thyme, and bring to a simmer.
– Add chicken back to pot and simmer; turning every 10-15 minutes until the chicken is done.
– When the chicken is cooked, remove from the pot, and strain cooking liquid.
– Pour strained liquid back into the pot and taste. Add chicken stock, salt and pepper if necessary.
– Reduce liquid by half. You may want to thicken with a classic Beurre Manie (a paste made with 1 tb each butter and flour made into a paste), or be like me and just add butter. I also added the Demi Glace because I had some.
– When sauce is thickened, add pearl onions and mushrooms back (and bacon if desired), and heat.

There you go Half Coq'd Au Vin

Serve with egg noodles.

It’s Valentine’s Day. A little game. About food and making a meal.

February 13, 2009 Cathy What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog, written by a few friends who like to eat. Continue reading.

Hi. Cathy here. It is Friday and I usually show you a meal for two for $5…but tomorrow is Valentine's Day and maybe you want to spend a little more and maybe have dessert. I am here to accommodate.

The Mister and I are strange. It does not take much to amuse either of us. We used to have this game we played…(continue reading, it is not dirty and is food related: I am focused).."pretend there was an earthquake". We still play it, actually.

The rules are simple: We each would have to run into the house, pull at most three cans out of a cupboard and maybe something from the fridge and run back out and make a meal. Something that can be cooked on a stovetop or gas grill(all that might be available if we really did have an earthquake).

So anyhow, that is how these two recipes came about-I have made both of these "recipes", so I know they are good.

I do tend to buy stuff if I kow I like it and it is on sale. rarely do I have to go out and pay ful price for something because I don't have it in the house. So, this meal still is not expensive overall.

Part One: The ingredients are fresh mushrooms, a can of artichoke hearts and a can of garbanzo beans. The fish (cod) is on sale at Henry's this week for $5.99/lb. You should not need half a pound of fish per person.

Put olive oil into a HOT pan, then put a pat of salted butter into the oil.

Quarter the mushrooms and cook them in the olive oil/butter hot pan.

Add the drained, quartered artichoke hearts to heat through,

as well as the drained chickpeas.

Since there is salt added to the water, and I use oil and salted butter, I do not add any more seasonings. This all is a medley of textures.

Now, salt and pepper both sides of the cod. A whole pound is a lot of fish.

Place into hot olive oil and resist the urge to flip the fillet.

Let it cook until kind of crispy brown on one side (about 4 long minutes- you can see the bottom part start to turn brown.

The flip, cook for about 2 minutes more (until the other side is crispy.

Serve the fillets on top of the vegetable mix.

Time to get three more ingredients!

Part Two: Jasmine green tea, crystallized ginger and pears.

Make a pot of strong tea.

I use about 3 Cups of water and 5 teabags. I let it brew and cool with the bags in the pot. Then I reheat, with some pieces of the ginger in the tea. There is sugar on the ginger and that is enough sweetness for me.

Halve the pears, core and peel-or don't peel- and slowly submerge the pear halves into the lightly boiling tea until the pears are very soft when you pierce with a knife.

Let cool a bit and serve, drained, with plain (butter) cookies. If you leave the pears in the tea longer, the flavor is deeper. The skins absorb most of the tannins and I like that flavor more. That is why I leave the skins on for my serving.

I cool the jasmine green tea with the ginger in it and drink it iced.

I hope everyone is feeling healthy and has a nice three day weekend. Thanks for reading this little bit of my life and recipe 'secrets'. I hope you have/had a nice Valentine's Day.

DZ Akins – for breakfast…and other meals…and snacks

February 12, 2009 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome to mmm-yoso!!! The food blog. Written by some friends who just like to talk about what, when, why, where and sometimes how they ate a meal. Enjoy yourself.

I am apologizing ahead of time for the appearance of this post.

Hi. I hope everyone is feeling OK. There seems to be some sort of virus going around and a lot of people I know are coughing. If you are, please stay away from me. I don't have time for that.

The other day, The Mister was home from work. We had just acquired a little money by participating in a game of chance and decided to go out for breakfast.

DZ Akins is an East County San Diego tradition. It is as close to a good Jewish Deli as we can get. The menu is 6 LARGE pages, listing every possible combination of meats and cheese for hot and cold sandwiches, salads, appetizers, soups and traditional meals as well desserts and beverages.

Of course, we got coffee and bagels with our breakfast. That was the easy part (The Mister got poppy seed and I got rye) (But we shared).

The Mister got the house made corned beef hash (you know, made with left over corned beef) with two poached eggs and home fried potatoes.

I got the chicken liver and onion omelette ($9.95) with tomatoes instead of home fries. I was being good.

Then I went back tonight, got a corned beef reuben with potato salad on the side ($12.95 and enough for two people)

and a cream puff ($4.50). My hands are small, I know. But still…

D.Z.Akins restaurant, delicatessen, bakery and fountain 6930 Alvarado Road San Diego 92120

(619) 265-0218

The San Diego Chicken Pie Shop- a revisit…pretty much the same.

February 11, 2009 Cathy Diner, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog. Cathy is writing today, because Kirk and ed (from Yuma) aren't.

Hello again. Everyone seems to be feeling under the weather lately. The 'rain' (we measure in 1/100ths of an inch out here) and 'cold' (there was frost on my car windows this morning, but is 71 now) seems to have wrecked havoc with everyone.

The other day, The Mister was starting to come down with (what now is) a massive head cold and cough and He wanted some comfort food. I did not want to cook.

So we went down El Cajon Boulevard. 015 In front of one of the colorfully decorated utility boxes, was the old standby, 016

The San Diego Chicken Pie Shop.

It has been in various locations since 1938, with this location unchanged since 1986 or so…

I did blog about this place in 2006, and we do eat here fairly regularly (Tuesdays and Saturdays if I can manage it, because the Pie of the Day is coconut cream…) and I figured I could take my camera and do an update. So here goes…

The cole slaw is the same, as always. Finely chopped cabbage and carrot in a light sauce that needs salt and pepper.

The dinner rolls are the same, as always. Fresh baked in store, hearty white bread. Soft crust. Fluffy insides. Served with real butter.

The Mister's meal came with a cup of soup. He chose the pea soup. Fresh made, with carrots, kind of lumpy. Very thick and chicken broth based.

The Mister got the chicken liver dinner (it includes the soup, rolls and dessert as well as the vegetable and whipped potato).

This meal takes the longest to prepare when you order it. The livers are lightly breaded in a flour and spice mix and then pan fried. Lots of juicy livers. Wonderful, fresh, tasty. As always.

A slice of fresh made pie comes with each of our meals. I got the coconut cream and The Mister got rhubarb. His had two crusts, mine had whipped cream. The crusts are different than the chicken pie crust. Flakier.

The interior is the same, the food is consistently the same (they sell between 2000 and 3000 pies a day- you can buy cooked or frozen to go.

There is one difference. Back in 1984, the Pie dinner was $3.10. Now it is $6.50. The liver dinner is now $7.00. Otherwise, nothing has changed.

Apparently time has moved on. Two years later, our orders, including dessert choices were the same as in my original post. Comfort food.

San Diego Chicken Pie Shop 2633 El Cajon Boulevard 92104 (619)295-0156 Open 7 days 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

In case there was any doubt, I got the pie dinner. Same as always- chicken, turkey and gravy inside the freshly made pie crust.

Midweek Meanderings

February 10, 2009 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so just a short post for today.

Bye-bye Lot 81, hello Frankie the Bull's BBQ:

Seen while driving down Morena Boulevard:

This was the former location of Lot 81. I'm sure that certain folks will be excited about the portion of the sign that says "Top Chef".

I'm guessing this'll be Top Chef's Frank Terzoli's restaurant. Since I've never watched the show, you all can tell me more….

1130 Buenos Ave (right off Morena)
San Diego, CA 92110

Awash Market and Liquor:

On the 2800 block of El Cajon Boulevard.

It was the "Ethiopian Restaurant" portion of the sign that caught my eye. I've been to Awash further up the street a few times.

How you know a fad is nearly dead:

When a shop opens in our neighborhood. This portion of Clairemont Drive, and this strip mall in particular (anchored by Hometown Buffet) is not known for cutting eating to say the least. So when I saw this sign……

I now know that there must be at least 1 fro-yo shop in every neighborhood in San Diego.

Hmmmm…..

Fusion Fondue and sushi?????

At the corner of Friars Road and Via Las Cumbres in Mission Valley. I dunno……

And speaking of seafood….

Or perhaps more appropriately Hwe (Hoe), there's a few new places as well. By coincidence, two of them are located in the same strip mall located at 4698 Convoy Street.

I hope you're having a great week. We'll be back with a restaurant post tomorrow.