Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung
the flowers has ris
I wonder where the asparagus is?

Please excuse my grammar. After suffering through a hard winter of rain and cold we Northern California folks are enjoying warm weather. I know that we are really spoiled here. The last place I lived before California was Connecticut and our winter would be considered spring there. On a recent trip to the farmers' market I spied the new crop of asparagus standing there like little soldiers at attention calling out to me. They said buy me, eat me. Well I sure will.

I traditionally grill or oven roast my asparagus. A little olive oil and salt and pepper close the deal. This time I was inspired by an article in The New York Times, written by Mark Bittman and photographed by Ruby Washington. The restaurant in question was Momofuku. I would provide a link here for the article but it has already expired. The NY Times charges for articles older than a week. If you want to see it Google Momofuku on the their website and pay the money. Mr Bittman seems like the kind of guy I would want to hang out with. I extend the invitation, Mark if your in the Bay Area email me, we'll do lunch. Let's give credit where credit is due.

New York Times Food Section- number one
Mark Bittman- stellar reporter
Ruby Washington-magnificent photos
Momofuku- cool name

I suppose now would be a good time for a recipe. The important part of this is the sauce. I did, in fact, oven roast the asparagus and created the sauce in a saute pan. I used four tablespoons each of butter and white miso. The original recipe called for a teaspoon of white wine vinegar but I substituted rice wine vinegar and Meyer lemon for the acid addition. Stir it all together over medium heat . You get a sauce reminiscent of Bearnaise.

Spring on a plate

Dolce Citrus Martini

While channel surfing the other day I came across The Cocktail Kings. The premise for this TV show is that two handsome gentlemen, with way cool English Accents, travel the world and make original cocktails representing the city they visit. Their names are Dimitri and Colin. Kind of an Iron Barman competition exists between the two, with bar patrons judging who makes the best drink. How do I get a gig like this? This is jealousy rearing its ugly head. Yeah, I know I fit a different demographic but I have over ten years of barman/bartending experience and a really cute American Accent. Oh well, I’ll just hang my head in silence.

Wait a minute! If I can’t have my own show I’ll compete on my level. Call me the blogmeister! After my visits to the local farmers market I’m inspired to create my own special cocktail, using (mostly) local ingredients. I’ve scoured the San Francisco Bay Area sourcing the very best for you, my beautiful bar patrons. A name, we must have a name. We shall call it The Dolce Citrus Martini and it is marvelous darling.

sweet citrus

Dolce Citrus Martini
1 ½ oz Hanger One Kaffir Lime Vodka
1/2 oz orange liqueur (triple sec, Grand Marnier,etc.)
Juice of half Caracara Orange
Juice of half Meyer Lemon
Juice of half lime

Place in cocktail shaker with a copious amount of ice cubes
Shake vigorously
Taste and adjust for desired sweetness.( bartender perk)
Pour into sugar rimmed martini glass (rub rim of glass with lime and dip into sugar)

garnish with orange slice
Serve

As always you should drink responsibly!

Check out the Cocktail Kings website and take the quiz. Cheers Mates.

Emeryville Public Market

We were hanging out in the East Bay yesterday, visiting my starving artist kids. It was time for lunch and old cheapo Dad was paying. I'm normally not of fan of malls or their food courts. The Emeryville Public Market is a rare exception. A large open area with lots of food stalls representing many ethnic flavors. No chain restaurants here, so if you need a Sbarro or Mickey D's this is not the place. It reminds me a little of the LA Farmers Market, or maybe like a bazaar with individual owners preparing street food from their country. Throw in a little neon and you get the picture.



Don't expect fancy because it isn't. If you bring a group every one gets to choose the food of their taste. There are lots of tables, but we decided to run over to the kids' loft nearby. Most of the combination plates cost about $7. My daughter advises you get bigger portions if you order "to go". Lots of good food with enough leftovers for dinner, you gotta love that deal.


Thai food - curry beef , pad thai chicken and shrimp with green beans


Afghan Barbecue chicken, curry chicken, rice, salad,naan and a free soda



Bento lunch box - miso soup, teriyaki chicken, California Roll, rice and noodles

You say Kebob I say Kebab

I finally got around to trying Food Network Chef Duran's recipe for Loole Kebabs. First I did a little research. Thank you Google for asking me "did you mean". Seems like a number of versions of this recipe exist depending on how you spell it. Lule or Loole/ Kebob or Kebab each offer a little different twist. Some used lamb and others beef or a combo of both. I stayed with the beef because I had some in the fridge. Feel free to experiment.

The recipe is easy to put together until you get to forming the meat around the pre soaked chop sticks. Nothing like having your hands in a meaty mash for fifteen minutes. Controlling the tube shaped kebabs on the grill was a bit of a challenge as well. The end result is worth the effort. Everyone loved the spice blend. They jumped off the plate like hotcakes. Using the seasoned meat in hamburgers or meatloaf would be a good plan as well.

Off the grill into pita bread was very good. My son decided to enhance the pita with some peanut sauce - most excellent!

Trader Joe's Makeover

The cat is out of the bag. Novato, where I reside, has a new Trader Joe’s. This is not earth shaking news for most people. Here, it has created quite a stir. We have the standard name brand supermarkets and a cool seasonal farmers market. However, in the past serious gourmet food shopping required a long journey out of town. I wasn’t interested in letting the world know about our acquisition before now because I was afraid the place would be crazy. Trader Joe’s was smart enough to build large and staff heavy. Welcome to town, you’re doing a great job.

As I’ve written before, I have an addiction to T.V. food programs. In order to wean myself away, I started watching home improvement shows. Now I have another vice in home makeover shows. I decided on a makeover of my own, this time with food. On a trip to T.J’s I challenged my food stylist skills to a test. I picked out some common products and redesigned them. They say you eat with eyes first. I think many things in life are about presentation. Sometimes you have to change the way you look at things.

For breakfast I made honey yogurt with vanilla almond granola and berries. Add bento box to make it special.




Here’s an easy change from plain to fancy sushi.





All that fancy dishware didn’t break the bank. The bento box was purchased in S.F. Japantown for $1.50. Asian serving dish purchased at Ross for $2.99.

San Francisco Japantown

I was excited to escape the house this last weekend for a short journey to San Francisco’s Japantown. We arrived at 10 a.m. before most of stores and restaurants had opened and scored a premium parking spot. At first glance the mall seems like any other tired, old strip mall in California. Upon further inspection you realize that the place is clean and well maintained. It doesn’t feel touristy, more like a community you are lucky enough to be invited into. What makes it special to a food person like me is that it seems every other shop is a restaurant. Each restaurant has their menus posted outside and some even have plastic replicas of each menu item displayed under glass.



Workers were arriving and beginning to set up shop for the day’s business. A couple of restaurants were open for breakfast serving a cadre of mostly older Japanese men. May’s Coffeehouse was serving up American style breakfast and some good looking bowls of noodle soup. Murata’s Café Hana was doing a brisk business of coffee drinks and fine French Pastries.


Hana Cafe

We decided to check out Radisson’s Miyako Hotel. Everyone in the lobby seemed to be happy and smiling. A beautiful little garden adjacent was peaceful and quiet. The hotel’s Dot Restaurant was serving both Japanese and American menu items at a reasonable price for a city hotel. We got a little laugh when we followed the signs to the hotel store. It turned out to be a computerized vending machine with toiletries and snack foods.


Hotel “Store”

One of the most fun stores was Ichiban Kan, a Japanese style dollar store. We purchased bento boxes and kitchenware to add to our burgeoning collection of kitchen “stuff”.

It was lunch time and the mall was active and alive. Several groups of clean cut teenage kids played the universal courting game. It was time to make a choice for food. We choose Mifune Don, a hole in the wall serving up good food cheap. We split an order of expertly fried potato croquettes with sweet dipping sauce. I opted for the Niku Soba Noodle soup. I usually get undon noodles so it was a new experience. The soba noodles had a nutty, musky flavor that was nice. My wife had Tempura Donburri which consisted of tempura shrimp and vegetables over rice. With tax and tip the bill was $24. We left full and happy.


Niku Soba


Tempura Donburri