Bites and Bolts

I’ve been toiling away for the past 3 months working on this very blog post. Ok, my laptop died(true). Then of course there’s the obvious–

“But Laura, you still have access to the internet! You joined Twitter. Couldn’t you come up with a better excuse?”

The answer, my 2 readers(and innumerable stalkers), is no. That’s the past however and I’ll really try not to let that much time go between my mediocre postings.  One *possible* wishy-washy excuse for me not posting as much is that I haven’t been eating out as much. Not to fear, I’m still rolling in( minimum wage) dough as always. It’s been more of a health thing, really. The good news is that instead of eating out at cheap noodle joints I’ve been cooking lots of meat at home. I feel like a wo-man.

Eggs are kind of meat–fetus meat, so that counts for something. On most occasions, I am a lazy, aherm…resourceful cook. I usually find some weird dish to make out of whatever I have in the kitchen. Enter today’s breakfast masterpiece, scrambled cheese and link eggs with more sausage links. Mm.

If for some unfathomable reason you like what you see, give it a whirl:

Ingredients:

-2 eggs

-2 TBSP half and half

-1 package sausage links(Farmer John’s): cut 1 link after cooking to add to scrambled eggs and eat the rest!!

-1 TBSP unsalted butter

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-1 green onion stalk, diced

-salt and pepper to taste

-diced salmon flakes

-1/4 cucumber, sliced

-a hunk of cheese, grated or cut into tiny cubes(approx. 1/8 cup)

First, for you multitaskers, get to slicing and dicing the ingredients either before or while cooking your sausages. If you want to wait to cook the sausages until your ducks are in a row, fine by me. I like garlic.

 I also like onions. And Kyocera ceramic knives. Ceramic knives cut vegetables like a dream. You can’t smash garlic with it though. Hence, the Henckel.

 Next, gently whisk your eggs together.

Add the half and half and gently incorporate it into the eggs.

Heat up your pan on a medium/low setting and toss in your butter and garlic.

Saute it just till you can smell the aroma come out and send your bowl of eggs into the fire! Let the egg mixture begin to cook and thicken a bit as seen below:

Add your little pile of cheese before the eggs cook too much, folding the cheese into the eggs gently rather than stirring it up vigorously.

 At this point, the eggs are pretty much done, so work fast to add the cut up sausage link and the green onion, folding them in. It’s best to cut the heat a bit before the eggs are well-cooked as the pan retains heat and the eggs will continue to cook after they are removed from the stovetop.

Next, garnish however you like. I have a jar of salmon flakes from Mitsuwa that I use to make onigiri. Since I’m not really eating rice so much(at all….errr..) and want to use it up, it added a nice salty contrast to the smooth eggs. I basically turned my back on potatoes(I know, what’s next, whisky?), so I added some cucumbers to cleanse my palate.

And if you really want to enjoy this, make a fresh cup of coffee in a French Press or other coffee love-intensive brewing device. More on that next time…

Esmeralda landed at IntelliVenice yesterday for retail sale. Today it’ll be offered up for pleasurable consumption. Brewed with the Cafe Solo, it’ll be a shareable 24ozs of coffee deliciousness for $15. That is, if you’ll even want to share it. I had my first taste of Esmeralda yesterday and I could go on and on about the aroma and the mouth feel, but I’d rather encourage you to drink it and let the coffee speak for itself.

This is a super limited lot of coffee, so don’t dilly-dally. Like Christmas, it comes but once a year.

I’ve heard phenomenal things about this coffee and have been eagerly anticipating it’s release into the wilds of Los Angeles. Looking forward to trying it out for the first time very very soon.

It’s times like these I wish coffee was hoardable like wine. It’s here just a moment in time and then gone till next season.

For more info on Esmeralda, read up here.

This just in: Equator Books on AK serving Blue Bottle Coffee.

Read up:  http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/coffee/blue-bottle-coffee-at-equator/

Well, you know where I’ll be today. Good god, I’m going to have the nastiest caffeine hangover tomorrow.

Looks like I’ll have yet another choice for food on AK now with the debut of NomNom, a mobile banh mi food truck. No need to go on a San Gabriel valley banh mi crawl. Let the food come to you.

Coming soon: my thoughts on Fishlips, the sushi truck.

Instant thought: I wonder if The Brig is getting more traffic considering how many of these fusion food trucks reference it as their parked location?

I’ve often thought that food and drink are an addiction for me. Of course I eat to survive, but the reality is that I can quite comfortably eat just about whatever and whenever I want(save daily omakase courses or medium rare prime rib dinners). You get my drift. Instead of hunting down my food, all I, or any number of people in the US have to do is simply walk into a grocery or enter their local restaurant of choosing to be presented with an array of nourishment options.

I don’t know about where all of you dear readers reside, but here in LA county there’s an amazing number of restaurants. And it seems to me, at least among my age group of 20-30somethings, that less people are cooking at home on a daily basis. Perhaps that’s because we’ve grown weary of making the same 10 recipes our mothers fed us on a yearly basis, or maybe it can be blamed on the high cost of living which in turn means cramming your life into a living situation with 5 other bachelors and a shared kitchen in which all your groceries(and beer) get eaten before you can so much as think about baking a chicken. And don’t even dream about busting out the Henckels set with those roomies around. I shiver to think of slicing tomatoes with the cutlery that currently rattles around in the community drawer of my house.

As a food addict…er, I mean enthusiast, I have often felt conflicted. When I grocery shop, I try to find fresh healthy foods. I read labels. I inspect, smell, and caress peaches. C’mon, they’re soft! I look at ingredients, fat, calories, and so on.

Yet when I dine out most of this focus disappears. That’s not to say I’m not one picky forager. I have and will continue to pick apart the presentation, the preparation, and the overall taste. However, when I eat out very freaking rarely do I have the luxury(if ever) to read the ingredients in addition to some fancy schmancy menu item poetry description of the dish or know just how many more calories I’m inducting into the ranks of my already well-stocked fat cell reserves. Without that information, I can try my hardest to eat healthy, but it ain’t gonna happen. Invariably, I end up eating some totally unhealthy food because I don’t want to be the biatch who makes their waiter go back and ask the chef 15 million questions and subsequently get their food molested.

The sad part is, the above is a best case scenario for me eating out. Since getting softcore into this foodiast thing, I have knowingly and willingly eaten stuff that is completely bad for you(and it doesn’t even take a dummy to know that) just because it was/is/will be the newest food craze or restaurant in town. Case in point: any number of tacos, gelato, xiao long baos, frozen yogurt(ahem, Pinkberry), or cupcake I’ve ingested in the past couple years. Even noodles have become the newest member of my junk food repertoire, and it is with much regret that I must say that ramen is not good for me. *tear*

Perhaps there are those who can eat equally unhealthy at home and away without so much as an occasional cringe, and I salute you. I used to think it would be a swell gig to be a salaried and award-winning food critic. Then I realized the frequency with which they are required to eat mass quantities of scrumptious free food and saw the long-term effects of such on these people. Heck, elite Yelpers are a great case study into the effects of too much eating and drinking even after a short year.

So since the beginning of this year I’ve been making a concerted effort to eat healthier and be more active. Getting a full-time job helped that situation immensely(not as a salaried food critic). The bigger change came about 3 weeks ago when I got some stomach virus going around. On my day off too-Murphy’s Law! I didn’t eat much for the week following that. I started cutting out noodles and white rice, crackers, chips, candy, all that crap. I was eating primarily lean meat, vegetables, and fruit. The good news is, I still am.

Because I like to be behind in trends, I recently subscribed to Netflix. Since frugal is my (other) middle name, I signed up for 1 DVD at a time. So in between waiting for DVDs in the mail I began watching food related documentaries instantly on my laptop. The first one was “King Corn“, then “McLibel” and “The Future of Food“. Food, Inc isn’t out on DVD yet, but I’ve already got it saved in my queue.

These movies may blow your mind; they may make you quit eating anything as you succumb to horrifying paranoia about everything you send down the old esophagus. Truthfully, what I saw in the movies came at only mild shock as honestly, I know damn well I haven’t been paying attention to what I eat. They were like a gentle wind at my back supporting my recent decision to start caring about what goes into my body. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s to question everything and research as much as you can, which can be good advice for just about everything in life.

Just get to the point already, will ya? Okay, point being that if you don’t care what you eat in or out of the house, fine–but you should. And if you’re the sort like me who was buying “organic” foods and cooking well at home but eating like a paid food critic outside the house–think again. The food industry has to get paid. That’s understandable. However, the mainstream companies we buy food from are doing it to turn a profit and use clever marketing. Research ingredients in the food you have at home, shop local and at farmers markets, take another close look at those labels when you shop, and I’m sorry to say it, but eat out less.

Major Linkage:

• Local Harvest/Farmers Markets/Family Farms/CSA/Organic Food
• Eat Wild-Grass Fed Beef
• Eat Well Guide-Find good food
• Food Routes-Where does your food come from? Buy Local.
• Slow Food-not fast food

And now, some shots from the Vegas McDonald’s from January during the CES show. Very cool interior design–right across from the Riviera Casino.

 

A few weeks ago after my last visit to Marked5, I kept hearing how delicious the pork or chicken sandwiches were. Well, usually the conversation bordered on someone walking around with a Marked5 rice bun wrapped creation in their hand while simultaneously emitting groans of culinary pleasure coupled with, “Oh.mlarg(incomprehensible).Garrrd!”

I dove headfirst into deep-fried goodness with the Katsu Pork ricewich(or at least that’s what I’m calling them from now on). It’s basically tonkatsu, or breaded deep-fried pork cutlet with tonkatsu sauce. There’s a  sprinkling of shredded cabbage to give some fibrous flair and it’s packed between 2 grilled rice buns for mobile munching.

As you can see from the photo, the pork was a pretty long slender piece almost like a big chicken finger. The flavor was better than the torakku beef, but then again this puppy was fried(plus I added some sriracha). For me,  it was way too much panko porkiness to finish(damn you, healthy eating!!), but that’s what hungry friends are for. To eat your leftovers after you’ve posed it and sampled the prime cuts.

Overall, I think I would really dig a tonkatsu curry sandwich–like a street version of this:

Marked5 does have a chicken curry ricewich. Anyone want to go 90/10 on it with me? Of course I retain all rights to pose said food beforehand.

My neighborhood taco trucks and I have an understanding. They park within approximately the same quarter mile on the same street at the same times on the same days. I would expect them to tell me they’re now driving all over LA County and I’ll have to track them via a Twitter account as much as I would expect them to diversify their menu by offering sushi. They serve tacos–it’s what they do and what they’re good at. If I want another country’s cuisine, I’ll gladly trek to a restaurant specializing in said cuisine.

So it’s safe to say that while I’m not a fan of Twitter-stalking my food, I’m also not easily won over by fusion culinary creations either. There are some who are a fan of the above activities, and for you, I present, Marked5.

My mid-afternoon meal at Marked5 occurred during a particularly empty period in my stomach’s history, when I just so happened to be in the proximity of their mobile eatery. Marked5’s menu is short and sweet, with a literal handful of Japanese fusion sandwiches including Chicken Curry or Katsu Pork.

I opted for the only non-deep-fried option, the Torakku Beef–a 100% Angus beef patty marinated in Marked’s house “torakku” sauce, served up inside a rice bun.

With some instructions on how to hold it, I approached the burger cautiously. It reminded me of some kind of massive onigiri especially with a piece of nori wrapping the outer rice buns. Although grilled, the buns were very sticky and no amount of pinky raising and careful unwrapping prevented pieces from breaking off and scattering around me. The main culprit? Massive quantities of syrupy sweet housemade sauce seeping into the rice.

The core of the burger lay nestled past the layers of rice bun, sauce, lettuce, cheese and tomato. The patty was well-done by default; being someone who prefers a nice pink midsection, the burger didn’t have much flavor cooked as it was. Although I wasn’t prompted for a preference, this might be something to keep in mind to ask when ordering.

After my onigiri burger encounter, I’d probably opt for the Katsu Pork or Chicken Curry next time–because everything tastes better fried. Marked5 also has a good offering of Japanese snacks and beverages in place of the usual coconut juice and Mexi-cokes. Ask your server for pairing suggestions–they’re a friendly bunch.

As an American, one of the most boring groceries I can shop in is Ralphs. Why? I can read *almost* everything. When I’m craving something other than chicken, hamburger, or Chef Boyardee, I prefer to relocate my food purchasing adventures to a store where I’m surrounded by foreign products.  One of the great things about shopping illiterately is that new discoveries are imminent.

“Oh, I thought these shrimp chips were ready to eat! How the heck to I cook these?”

-or-

“Hm…this doesn’t taste like string cheese…I think it’s a fish stick…”

Indeed–the laughs my food misshaps would get on episodes of “Stupid white people try to cook your food” (the pilot episode will be out this fall on Channel 18).

It’s no surprise that I fell for the colorful packaging on this cupcake container. Besides, it says it’s “kantan”! How could I fail? For the record, this was the vanilla cupcake, although there was a chocolate option.

Thank God for the clever Japanese instructions that provided easy to follow pictures for illiterate fools like me:

The container is basically just a waxed carton like a miniature popcorn bucket. Inside is a singular shiny pink cupcake mix packet.

I dumped this into the original packaging and added 1 egg.

Whipped it up with a pair of chopsticks, which btw, work pretty darn well compared with my normal fork egg whippage.

From what I could make out on the packaging, it’s ideal to mix it until the egg is incorporated, but not overmixed. Here is my impression of  the ideal chopstick to cupcake batter manipulation:

If I recall correctly, the container had a lid that needed to be applied before cooking.  That done, I popped it in the microwave for 1-1.5 minutes. What emerged was a scorching hot eggy sponge cake that paired wonderfully with brut champagne.

Here’s a clip I found on Youtube of a similar cupcake in action!