Moonstruck Chocolatier

eat a snowman, then eat all his friends.  these hefty handcrafted chocolate truffles are by moonstruck chocolatier.   moonstruck is based in portland, OR,  but will ship their chocolates anywhere.

if your life has not been like a box of chocolates then just buy yourself a box!  24 piece wrapped box $50.  a small price to make someone happy. check out all the flavors in this box at moonstruck.

a box assortment of chocolates shaped like hearts, windmills and seashells.  16 piece box collection $32.  this includes milk chocolates and dark chocolates in various flavors such as caramel, coffee.

not cupcakes.  these are chocolate truffles shaped and decorated to resemble miniature cupcakes, in cupcake like flavors – strawberry cheescake, sour cream fudge and german chocolate cake.  boxed cupcake truffle collection 4 pieces for $13.  moonstruck chocolatier currently offers their fall and halloween collections of chocolate bats, white chocolate filled ghosts, and a hand painted jack-o-lantern filled with gummy worms for $7.50.

copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved.

Imperial Palace Chinese Banquet

salt & pepper fried squid/seafood rolls. the first appetizer is usually something fried and crunchy.  these rolls were filled with squid and other seafood with some mayonaisse. i’m not crazy about mayo but these were hot and crunchy so they were still good.

Imperial Palace is my favorite Cantonese restaurant in Flushing, NY. Flushing is the second largest Chinatown in New York City, after the one in Manhattan.  It is a great place to eat Chinese food in terms of authenticity and price value.

walnut jumbo shrimps are delicious. the big shrimp are usually dusted with lotus flour and deep fried. then it is doused with a mayonaisse sauce, and served on top of a bed of steamed broccoli.  at imperial palace restaurant they add candied sesame walnuts which add a nutty and crunchy counterpoint to the succulent shrimp.  this is one of my favorite classic dishes.

king oyster mushrooms and snow pea shoots – this dish combines 2 of my favorite foods. i love eating mushrooms and king oyster mushrooms are large mushrooms that can be cut into slabs.  they have a  smooth texture and are chewy. snow pea shoots are the tiny shoots of the snow pea plant, it is the tip of the growing plant with small leaves and thin curly tendrils. it is very tender and have a great deal of flavor.

DUNGENESS CRAB OVER STICKY RICE – the BEST dish – cantonese division!! i arranged this chinese banquet at imperial palace for THIS dish.  as the dungeness crab is streamed over the sticky rice, it’s juices infuses into the sticky rice, and the scallion adds just the right touch of freshness to the sweet toothsomeness of the sticky rice.  i grabbed an empty dungessness crab shell that had crab juices in it, scooped some sticky rice inside the shell to absorb all the crab juice – a sublime experience.

this dish is worth a trip to flushing. the #7 subway train takes almost an hour, but the LIRR from Penn Station goes to Flushing in 16 minutes. (i time it every time) and it’s only $3 each way.  i arranged this chinese banquet for 90 people, and the only non-Chinese people in the restaurant were in my group.  I noticed that at nearly every table in the restaurant, they had ordered this dish!! if you like dungeness crab, and you like sticky rice, i think you will absolutely love this dish.

hugel et fils  gewurtztraminer 1975 vendange tardive -  a delicious honeyed mellow late harvest gewurtztraminer wine which went really well with this menu. the thing i love about most chinese restaurants is that they allow you to BYOB and do not even charge a corkage fee. riesling and champagne is also a good wine to drink with cantonese cuisine.

shark’s fin soup. a normal item on any chinese banquet menu.  for those of you who object to the idea of eating shark’s fin, you should know that the monterey bay aquarium’s seafood watch had an article which shows that 50% of sharks are killed as a by-catch of fishing  for the other more ‘acceptable’ species of edible fish and seafood like tuna and bass.  so if you really care about not harvesting sharks for food, then stop eating all the other ocean fish because the fishing industry for the OTHER  fishes and seafood  kills 50% of all sharks.

crispy skin chicken. another typical chinese banquet dish.  chinese people like the chicken to be cooked just barely this side of pink so that the meat is moistly soft and silky tender, and the bone is bloody, while the chicken skin is thin and has a crunchy snap.  it’s a simple dish, and when executed correctly, is wonderful.  this is one of those dishes that cannot easily be made at home because it takes skill to get that crispy skin while not overcooking the chicken meat.

he’s not pretty but he’s soooo sweet!!  this 3 lb. steamed black fish had the most sweet succulent flesh. freshness is of paramount importance in chinese cuisine, which is why good chinese restaurants have tanks of live fish, crabs, shrimp and other sea creatures swimming around in.  i call them crab condos.  this black fish had some serious dentition but it was one of the silkiest fish i can remember ever eating.

abalone and black mushrooms.  another classic banquet dish. abalone was always one of my 3 favorite foods as a child and still is now.  chinese black mushrooms (shiitake) is also great if you love mushrooms, which i do.  both abalone and mushroom have a similar smooth and firm chewiness so it’s textually compatible.  they are braised in a brown oyster sauce over long skinny chinese broccoli called ‘gai lan’.

sake. this bottle of sake is from one of the liquor shops in flushing on main street.  most chinese restaurants serve beer and a  very limited wine list because they are family restaurants and most chinese  families do not drink booze with dinner. if you go to flushing chinatown for dinner and you’d like to bring your own wine,  this is a convenient option.

E-Fu noodles are the best noodles – ever! i have always associated E-Fu noodles with chinese banquets because it’s usually served at the end of the 10 course meal along with fried rice.  E-Fu noodles are braised noodles – the braising gives the noodles a soft texture which you cannot get with sauteed or boiled noodles.  also being braised in soy sauce and stock allows the noodles to absorb the flavor which is why E-Fu noodles don’t have a sauce slapped on top of it like other noodle dishes – it doesn’t need it.    this is my favorite type of noodle.   at imperial palace you don’t need to book a chinese banquet to try it, you can just order it off the menu! i was too stuffed to take a photo of the fried rice or the sweet buns and sweet soup served at the end.

imperial palace restaurant is my favorite cantonese restaurant in flushing. 136-13 37th ave. flushing,ny

copyright Jo Jo Kwong 2009.  all rights reserved.

I, macaron – Arnaud Lahrer

2 dozen macarons from arnaud lahrer.  his pastry shop macarons et chocolat is behind montmartre in paris. (i got these macarons in sept. ‘07 but didn’t blog it til now)

when i heard that pastry chef arnaud lahrer had worked for pierre herme for years at fauchon before opening up his own pastry shop, i was quite curious as to how good his macarons were, especially since he had won a pastry award in 2007.  i was sorely disappointed.

these small macarons, just slightly over an inch wide, at first seemed cute and inviting. however, as i bit into each one, i was hard pressed to find some good or distinctive flavor in any of them.  this is shocking when you consider that he worked at the side of the master for years.  it’s even more shocking when you see that baking bloggers all over the internet are making beautiful macarons with impressive and exotic flavors.  lastly, when you consider that his pastry shop is in paris – the apotheosis of french pastry skills – these flavorless macarons are totally befuddling!

the white filling is rather odd – looks more like fondant than either ganache or buttercream.

most of the flavor of a good macaron comes from its’ filling, which is typically a flavored chocolate ganache or a fruit jam.  these arnaud lahrer macarons seem to contain some kind of sweet white filling with no discernible flavor other than sugar.  the caramel flavored one did have some burnt sugar taste, but the rest were truly forgettable.

where’s the flavor ? — are these FONDANT MACARONS ??   nearly every one has this white filling except for the chocolate one.

fondant is made of sugar and water. buttercream would at least look more yellowish and taste more buttery.  skimping on your expensive ingredients to cut cost is one thing, but this is beyond stingy.  this is like being the mc scrooge of macarons !   i offered the box to 2 children, who each took one, and did not come back for more. the fact that i would even share these macarons from paris tells you that i was not the least bit enamored of them to begin with.

i was so disillusioned that i threw the remaining box away.  quel dommage !

arnaud lahrer won the meilleur ouvrier de france award 2007 for pastry, so perhaps he made great cakes and macarons for the competition but is cutting corners on the macarons in his shop.

**the caveat of buying french macarons -  they ALL  look pretty.  those perky colors, the cute almond meringue shells with their requisite ‘feet’, the lush fillings,  the sheer variety of flavors offered up is quite enchanting.   however,  the proof of a good macaron is in their TASTE.   do not let appearances fool you because ALL macarons look brightly enticing and cute…. even the bad ones.

…. and if they come from paris, the expectation for excellence is all the greater, and the more feverishly one wishes for it to be fantastic. but the arnaud lahrer macarons did not deliver on its’ promise.

when you go to paris, save your money and buy macarons from the master, and my favorite – pierre herme.  (he now has 3 shops in paris)

once you’ve had the best, you cannot stand the rest !! (if they’re mediocre)   that’s the risk one takes when trying out new and unknown macarons. obviously provenance and hype is no guarantee of goodness.  macaron lovers want to try out every new macaron maker, hoping to find another great macaron, but if it’s subpar and doesn’t satisfy,  you suddenly wish you had gotten the better one, with a poignant mixture of humbled hindsight and relentless remorse.

only the best one is where your soul will find redemption!

***see my post on pierre herme macarons. stick with the best !

other good macarons:  gerard mulot, jean paul hevin.

copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved.

Fancy Food Show 2009

Not Cheese. These are moscato raisins dried on the vine. They have a softly chewy skin, and moistly sweet on the inside.  Something so simple as Moscato grapes left to dry on its vine, concentrating its’ natural sweetness yet retaining each grape’s moist texture. This is like the Bentley of raisins.

Fancy Food Show 2009 – Hundreds of Thousands of gourmet food products in the block long cavernous space of the Javits Center, which means hundreds of thousands of gourmet foods to sample and taste.  I tasted A LOT  of superb CHEESES.  At this year’s show there were numerous booths which had whole leg of Bellota Jamon, and Serrano Jamon, as well as other types of cured meats. I saw at least 3 whole suckling pigs, roasted to a crispy crackling brown.  Cheese and Prosciutto.  Pastries and Chocolates.  Chips and Sauces. After 2 days of tasting cheeses and cured meats, chocolates, cookies, coffees, pasta sauces, snack chips, candies -  my palate cried out for……… FRUIT !

I was dying for some plain, unadorned refreshing  juicy fruit.  My salvation was the Sid Wainer booth, a purveyor of fine foods including the most beautiful fresh vegetables and fruits.  On their counter was a bowl piled with clusters of tiny champagne grapes.  Each grape is smaller than a salmon caviar. As these miniature grapes popped in my mouth releasing their cold delicate sweet grape juice, it felt like the best thing I tasted at the whole show.  It was certainly the most transcendent.  I scarfed downed a couple of bunches happily.  This 3″ baby purple artichoke is from Sid Wainer, as well as the moscato raisin clump above .

Bacon Lip Balm – everything should taste like bacon? Only if you want to smell bacon all the time, and this lip balm does smell exactly like a very smoky bacon. As scientists tell us that 90% of ‘taste’ is actually smell – I fear this bacon lip balm is gonna make me want to eat bacon day and night.  Bacon fans will love this, vegetarians, not so much.  Brought to you by Justin & Dave, who created BaconSalt and Baconnaise.

Artisanal cheeses at the show are always of a high quality, with each cheesemonger offering at least a dozen cheeses for tasting.  Some truly fabulous cheeses. But, how many hand made goat cheeses do you have to try before IT ALL TASTES LIKE CHEESE ??   After my 85th sample of fine artisanal cheese, as I was being regaled by the Italian owner about how this was his grandmother’s cheese company, and after her death he left his career as a naval officer in Italy to expand his grandmother’s cheese company, a wave of sludgey moraise infused my body as his voice  seemed to fade away into the distance. My ears started tuning out because I noticed that my tastebuds were saying — IT ALL TASTES LIKE CHEESE !!  I could no longer distinguish what was so special about this goat/sheep’s milk blend vs. any other fine cheese. I was suffering from  Cheese Fatigue. At that moment, if you gave me some Velveeta, I would have said – it all tastes like cheese………..

Almond Butter Squeeze Pack  – I like this product because it gives you no-mess one oz. serving packs of almond butter anywhere you go.  It’s a healthy snack and although it’s perfect for when you go rock climbing or camping, since I engage in neither activity, I think this is a good thing to keep around your desk or in your car for those times when you’re starving and tempted to get junk food.  Good for dieters to keep on hand. Comes in 9 flavors including Cinnamon, Maple, and in Peanut Butter, Hazelnut Butter,by Justin’s.

Carica Fruit from Chile. Carica is one of the few fruits on Earth that cannot be eaten raw.  It must be cooked in order to soften it enough for human consumption.  It has a mild delicate flavor, somewhere between a pear and a white nectarine with a firm toothsome bite.  It now comes in plastic vacuum packs, which the personable rep Daniel happily demonstrated  “You can’t break this!!” by dramatically throwing a pack on the floor in front of my feet !

The One You Remember – Lemon Zest Madeleines. I really liked the lemony flavor of this madeleine, surprisingly good considering it’s a packaged bakery item.  It tasted of butter and just enough sweetness.  If your last name is Proust, no need to pine for your one unforgettable love because you can simply keep a bunch of these on hand.  Donsuemor also makes madeleines in Chocolate.

Choc-O-Lait – a.k.a. Hot Chocolate on a Stick. This is my favorite new invention at the 2009 Fancy Food Show.  You just dunk this Cube-O-Chocolate into a cup of hot milk,  and within 10 seconds you get a pretty good cup of hot chocolate! There is no measuring with a spoon and getting cocoa powder all over your counter, no dripping spoon to find something to rest on, the little wooden stick becomes a lightweight stirrer. This is made with Belgian chocolate and comes in  4 flavors – Dark, Milk, Hazelnut and Cointreau.  My fave is the Cointreau.  It comes in various sizes: 2 cubes to a pack, or a nice tall box. I like the Mug Pack which comes with their signature Choc-O-Lait porcelain mug  & saucer and a 2 cube pack of hot chocolate.  This item would make a great gift for any chocophile.  I had very low expectations for an ‘instant’ product, so I was quite surprised at how good this tasted.  This is a new product from Belgium.

Edible Clay! For those of you who don’t like hot chocolate,  why not try drinking some CLAY?   That’s right, clay is good for you!  Why? because it contains all the essential MINERALS that your body needs and is probably not getting enough of because of the modern diet filled with high calorie but low nutrient sugar-laden foods and snacks.  Actually many of which are representated at the Fancy Food Show heh! …  Many primitive cultures around the world actually dig up clay deposits, and carry a cone or a ball of clay from which they nibble on to get their daily minerals. You simply mix this with any liquid such as water or juice.  It’s natural Bentonite clay from the earth, I prefer this to a laboratory made mineral pill. Redmond clay. Mud pie, anyone?

Staud’s Jams – This Apricot Jam blew me away! I can’t read German but this Apricot Jam was the most intense apricot-y  preserve I’ve ever tasted, like pure apricots cooked down for hours with very little sugar,  and Apricot is not even one of my most liked flavors.  Staud’s is an Austrian company, and I’ve seen this brand in gourmet shops but never tried it before, now I’m sold.

Korean Sea Salt. To me, SALT is SALT. and this new one tastes SALTY.   There is a whole category of gourmet sea salts, the most famous being the gray French Fleur de Sel from Guerande. Newer iterations range from Black Lava Salt from Volcanic Hawaii to Viking Smoked Sea Salt, and now the latest is Solar Sea Salt from Korea.  translation- it’s dried in the sun.  Duhhh………… I think they will have a hard time competing with French and American fancy salts.

Freezed Dried Honey Lozenges from New Zealand. This is pure honey from one of the cleanest non-polluted places in the world.  Honey is a natural anti-microbial and these are perfect for a sore throat, or when you just want something sweet.  It’s better than candy because honey contains antioxidants.   Airborne Honey is a line of various types of honey from New Zealand.

PINE NUT OIL and Virgin Coconut Oil. I LOVED the smell of this toasted Pine Nut Oil from China. However, it is not available yet in any store in the U.S.   There are various International Sections at the Fancy Food Show, they are usually sparse and forlorn, nearly empty booths with very little product on display, some do not even provide samples – no samples means I’ll just past them by.   Downstairs, the Korea section flowed into the China section.  The China sections comprised big wide booths with a few product packages on display but no edible samples.  I noticed it must have been lunchtime as each Chinese exhibitor was eating – Chinese Take Out !!    At the Fancy Food Show !!! HAHAHA!!

Pine Nut Oil is sold to distributors in gigantic 500 gallon drums, and the rep told me that they do not have a distributor here yet.  I think this Pine Nut Oil would be insanely good on a salad or drizzled on top of toast and meats.  Just needs good packaging and distribution.  The Virgin Coconut Oil is from India.

Not Chocolate.  This is an Aged Pu-Erh Tea Brick. This is from Numi Tea Co.  Pu-Erh Tea compressed into a brick is the ancient Chinese way of packing  this tea, prior to the Ming Dynasty. Tea bricks were easy to transport along the tea route to India and Tibet.  Pu-Erh Tea bricks can also be aged for decades.  It was interesting to see this tea brick by Numi since most of their tea are sold as teabags.

Pre-measured Spice & Herb Kits from World Cuisine. Have you ever wanted to make  a Mediterranean recipe that required exotic spices like Sumac and Za’atar, hunted them down for your dish and then your jars of spices just sat there going stale for years?  I once actually trekked out to Sahadi’s in Brooklyn to buy Sumac, forgetting that I live a mere couple blocks from Kalustyan’s,  D’oh!

World Cuisine Institute has solved the gourmet cook’s problem of having to buy many jars of spices and herbs and not being able to use it all up.  The aroma and flavor of all spices and herbs are derived from its’ oil which are highly volatile compounds.  As soon as it is ground, it starts to lose its aromatics and go stale quickly.  This is the Lebanese Recipe Pack which contains Sumac, Za’atar and Salt – enough for one recipe .  They have larger spice packs, the Indian Chicken Curry pack has 9 spices and herbs for 2 lbs. of chicken. The Moroccan Lamb Tagine has 10 spices.  This saves time and cost as you only purchase the spices as you need them, and they’re pre-sorted for the flavor profile of each world cuisine. An easy way to improve your repertoire of dishes.

Himala Salt. This is himalayan pink salt in 1″ bottles, and the cutest sample of the show.

Dagoba Lavender Blueberry chocolate. Smells like lavender but not much blueberry taste.  Dagoba’s chocolates taste much better now than they used to.  I also liked their Milagros 68%.

Overall, I was not that impressed with the chocolate offerings at the show.  Nothing new or exciting.  What happened to the chocolate vendors?  It seemed like there were many more chocolatiers and companies in past years.  The chocolate booths at this year’s show seemed to be mostly large manufacturers like Guittard, Callebaut and Valrhona.

Cabernet Pear Tart from David’s Cookies. This tart was even better than the warm chocolate chip cookies they were handing out.  Big sections of pear over a layer of almond pastry cream on a butter cookie crust.  David’s Cookies also makes cheescakes. and cookies.

Need a Can Drainer?  Emeril has one for you. This was a freebie given out at the Emeril booth. I don’t buy any canned foods but I thought this could be used like a mini colander to wash small foods, like a few berries??

Pancake syrup and Jams. Not everything at the Fancy Food Show is “fancy”.  There are plenty of mass market products like this line of fruit flavored syrups.  The Lazzaris jams are from Italy.

Copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong.  all rights reserved.

Yasuda is Sushi Man

“i am not chef, i am sushi man“. so i asked him : “can i call you sushi man?”

scene: sushi yasuda on east 43 street, sushi bar, corner

time: 9:45 p.m. exactly

dinner: omakase

yasuda san appeared promptly at our appointed time. (there were 3 other sushi chefs on the line) i had specifically requested him because, well, since it’s his name emblazoned on the restaurant marquee why would i want anyone else, hmm?  i didn’t want to lug my dslr camera and make a spectacle of myself, so i didn’t take any photos.. all the better to savor, feel, chew and taste each sushi the instant that it leaves his hands. these photos are courtesy of chris chen.

stand up finger napkin – it’s the japanese custom to eat sushi with your fingers because chopsticks may break up the sushi rice. authentic sushi rice is barely held together – it’s not supposed to be gummy rice grains stuck like glue. pick up each scrumptilicious sushi wth your fingers, and clean them on this moistened finger napkin. this suits me perfectly as i often eat with my fingers, even in fancy restaurants i’ll eat like a savage and pick up food with my digits.

kimo – i love monkfish liver, but i thought it was called ankimo, so i asked him what is the difference between kimo and ankimo? he very thoroughly explained that ankimo is the monkfish liver, and kimo is the whole organ of the fish. uhhh… i didn’t quite get it but as long as it tastes good, a kimo by any other name would taste as silky smooth. the kimo was on the specials list. it was 3 small discs of kimo, smooth and firm, with 2 pieces of soft cooked chicken liver and 3 pieces of cooked uni in a light shoyu. i would have preferred this dish to be all kimo.

flash fried arctic char – also a special. a slab of breaded char completely hidden under a small mountain of grated daikon. the grated daikon was suffused throughout with a delicate light brown sauce. really outstanding taste. yummy…

uni (sea urchin) is one of my two favorite sushi/sashimi. yasuda started me off with a santa barbara uni sushi. (i wanted to eat both types of uni side by side but the maine uni sold out a couple minutes before) santa barbara uni is sweeter, milder and has a softer creamier mouthfeel than the maine uni. near the end of the sushi parade he made me another uni sushi. the unctious uni melts in your mouth right into that sublime rice and becomes a seamless delight.

eel me in …….. ORDER THE EEL here. any eel at sushi yasuda will make you shut up and swoon. and trust me, it takes a lot to make me swoon. anago (sea eel), unagi (freshwater eel) are my favorites, so as long as i get any varieties of these i am happy as a giant geoduck clam. here, the natural sweetness of the eel flesh itself is truly something to behold. this is not your average eel blitzed with that syrupy brown glop that you find at lesser japanese restaurants. notice the signature yasuda rice – each grain distinct and subtly seasoned. its specific density perfectly supports and merges into that crazy sweet flesh draped seductively on top. the word “yoga” means “union”. this is ultimate sushi yoga.

wow, he works fast! sea bream, anago, arctic char, white king salmon, oyster, yellowtail, toro, sea scallop sushi, came flying out of his hands and onto the green banana leaf. this might be the result of decades of experience. these  names are just a few of the sushi that i ate. i don’t know what all the fish were – but it doesn’t really matter because it’s all so succulent! each piece of sea creature is pristine, tender and lovingly forged into a bite size morsel. each piece is sauced perfectly by yasuda so there is no need to dunk it in soy sauce which i think would ruin the subtle individual nuance of each variety of fish. the whole point of omakase is trusting the chef to give you the best that he has on hand and balancing the flavors for you. and i like putting my brain on hold. in fact, i’m putting my brain on hold right now heehee……….

peace passage oyster sushi - i’ve never been a big fan of raw bivalves. you have to slurp raw oysters down because you don’t really wanna chew their sandy bellies. so i was pleasantly surprised by how fleshy and firm this oyster was – it was 80% briny oyster meat that i could chew with only a tiny belly. it tasted of faraway deep cold ocean currents.

ikura sushi - awesome. yasuda cures the salmon roe himself. they are thin skinned transparent orbs which bursts into mild liquid explosions of flavor. ethereal and pure tasting.

the restaurant is spaciously elegant, with honeyed wood floors and walls rising up to a 20 foot ceiling. between the sushi bar and the tables is a wide expanse of open floor space which is quite unusual considering the cost of commercial real estate in midtown. six or eight more tables could easily fit on it, but by not doing that, sushi yasuda has a calm and quiet civility. however, this may account for the fast pace of the sushi. within an hour, he’ll make at least 22 pieces of sushi for you. as soon as i put one in my mouth, he puts another one on the leaf before i’m done chewing. if i’m engrossed in a conversation, chewing and talking, the sushi quickly starts piling up on my leaf. it’s a sushi autobahn. the fast lane make-n-eat-your-omakase-in-an-hour pace may be due to all that empty floor space where they could have put more tables but did not, so they really need to turn those seats fast.  or perhaps it is best to  savor every fresh morsel in this temple of sushi without the distraction of speech.

clearly, for yasuda, his rice is the soul of his sushi. can rice have soul? yes.

there are a few other japanese restaurants in manhattan that serves superb raw fish and sashimi, but yasuda san takes great pride in making sushi with a capital S. after eating about 11 sushi, i slowed my eating down to chew on the sushi rice so as to zoom in on its unique texture and flavor. each one of his sushi bears the mark of its maker. it is individually molded and shaped to form a a soft springy bed for its lovely cover. he places the importance of his rice above his fish. ask him for sashimi at your own peril ……

sushi rice – having a curious mind, i asked him how many years of making sushi rice before he got it “right”, having been in cooking school,  i prefaced my question with “chef”.  yasuda stopped what he was doing, turned around from his work board, stood still facing me with both arms by his side, and said: “i make rice every morning and afternoon, every day. many many years, when i am old, i still make rice every morning and afternoon, every day. i make rice.” then he dipped his chin slightly, smiled at me and said:

“i am not chef. i am sushi man.”

ladies and gentlemen, i give you naomichi yasuda, the best sushi man of new york. just don’t call him a chef.

*my thanks to chris chen co-owner of the dessert truck for the sushi photos. my thanks to elyse pasquale for the photo of yasuda.

copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved.

Blue Potato Chips

BLUE CHIPHENGE.
these megaliths are ridge cut blue potato chips from the trader joe brand.

blistered all over. with curved ridges in tones of blue purple with an orange center, i find these blue potato chips quite beautiful. for some reason, they are not greasy at all… just noticed that the bag says 33% less fat.

blue chips - the preferred snack of wall streeters. just kidding, any other streeter can crunch on them. they have a deep potato flavor, and are the thickest ridge cut potato chips that i have ever had, their textured sturdiness makes for a perfect dip chip. most other chips break when you dip them into anything, even something soft like salsa. these guys are blue potatonators – indestructible! they’re also low in sodium so you really taste the blue potatoes. *note – don’t eat these while talking on the phone because the crunching will be deafening.

smoked whitefish salad from acme fish co. i used the chips to scoop this up. bought this in the lobster place which is inside the chelsea market on 9th ave. and 15th street. it’s a bit on the salty side which goes well with the blue potato chips. smoked whitefish salad is really yummy. other dip options – guacamole, salsa, cream cheese with scallions, chili, sour cream, egg salad ….

today i saw and bought a bag of ridge cut sweet potato chips.

copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved.

copyright 2007 eat2love.wordpress.com

CAVIAR

sturgeon caviar is one of the pleasures of life. these svelte and silky, glistening, briny little orbs popping and melting inside your mouth, tasting of the sea itself. the mild and smooth egg white being the perfect foil. 2 types of eggies are better than one. sturgeon caviar deserves to be put on a pedestal.

caviar malossol from paramount. malossol is the russian word for “little salt”, which means that this caviar is preserved with a minimum amount of salt.
1 spoonful of caviar supplies the daily requirement of vit. B12 !
fun fact – sturgeon are fish that have no scales, and a long flat snout.

dig in…. but not with metal spoons, not even sterling silver.. oops.
steel or silver alters the taste and color of caviar, it’s better to use those little mother-of-pearl caviar spoons. caviar should be served very cold on ice.

the birds of valhalla eat caviar …… mmm mmm mm. actually i have no idea what they eat in valhalla. but sturgeon caviar sounds mighty fine anywhere.

*valhalla is the god odin’s hall in norse mythology. he had lots of warriors.

*all antique jades and silverware, collection of the author.

copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved. copyright 2007 eat2love.wordpress.com

My First DURIAN !!

not sushi. these pudgy clumps of durian flesh look like giant sushi but the resemblance ends there. i was a durian virgin all my life until now. i had seen them in chinatown for years and have always been very curious about their taste because they look so distinctive, but having heard that they smelled bad, i was scared to try them, especially since they’re as big as a football. if i took one bite and hated it that’s a lot of durian to be stuck with.

however, as i was walking along hester street near grand street on the northern edge of chinatown, i saw a fruit stand right off the corner that seemed to have nothing but durian, and lots of ‘em. what caught my attention was that the seller was opening the durian with a knife, gently lifting each edible durian flesh sac out of the durian’s five compartments, and laying them neatly in a styrofoam container for each customer. the box of durian fruit meats looked like small beige beached whales. the durian hull with its’ hard spiky thorns was yet another deterrent to my trying durian in the past - how does one open this spiky thing? fascinated, i stared as he opened each durian neatly without stabbing himself on the sharp outer thorns, i became more and more sold on the idea of buying one, knowing that all the dangerous work was done by the vendor. i stood right next to him and could not smell any funky odor at all. (and i was prepared for the worst) then i looked over and saw an older guy opening the durian with his bare hands! he eyed the durian carefully, picked a spot and put his thumbs together and gingerly poked his thumbs into a tiny hairline space between the jabby thorns, and skillfully pulled the hull open and down like he was unzipping the durian. naturally, i wanted to buy my durian from him!

durio zibethinus is the only durian of the nine species of durian trees which produce edible fruit that is exported from thailand to nyc. it’s native to SE asia, where it is known as the king of fruits. it does look impressive, a green giant alien pod with sharp pointy thorns covering its’ entire surface. “duri” is the malay word for thorn, durian means thorny fruit. each of these lethal looking monsters are about a foot long and weighs 3 to 7 lbs. depending on the species, it can have a green or brown hull and pale yellow to red flesh. what’s interesting is that the various species have different odors. in singapore and other SE asian countries, durian are banned from hotels and subways due to its’ smell. over there in the sunny tropical heat, durian is a much loved flavor and is used to make all sorts of pastries, candies, cookies and even durian ice cream.

durian tastes mild and sweet, with a vegetal odor. i was quite surprised that it was not “stinky” as i’d heard so much about. most interesting was the texture – the outer sac membrane was very thin and the inside was creamy and very soft, as soft and mushy as custard or pudding. it had a floral sweetness and a flavor that is distinctively durian, unlike anything else that i’ve ever tasted. durian is not as sweet as peaches or mangoes so it will never be my favorite fruit, but it was a very interesting experience. at least now i know what a durian fruit tastes like! inside each individual segment was a big pit.

are you a durian virgin ? i had heard that some single women referred to themselves as “born again virgins” which i thought was a great idea, as if …. you could start over fresh.  however, i don’t know if  ‘fresh’ would be the right word to associate with the highly aromatic durian.

if you are at all curious about what a durian tastes like, or have an adventurous palate, go to the corner of hester & grand street and look for the 2 guys opening durian. (they are the only vendor that i’ve seen who open it for you) it’s $1.60 per lb. the medium size one i got was $8. and what if you don’t like it?  – give it to your curious friends!

exotic chinese food – durian 109

copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved. copyright 2008 eat2love.wordpress.com all rights reserved.

* my thanks to amigoh for the thorny durian photo. all other photos by me.

NO-COOK Grilled Chicken & Mango

the right of assembly belongs to us all. this really smoky flavored char grilled chicken breast with satin smooth sweet mango is so delicious that i can eat it on a regular basis. and the best part is — NO COOKING !

i love great food. i loved being in cooking school and learning from many famous celebrity chefs, and dining in their fine restaurants even more. at home however, i go through phases and right now am in a not-cooking-much phase. especially in the summer. and don’t possess a grill.. and don’t feel like grilling .. nor cooking …

*side note – does that zig zag sauce look oddly familiar? i’ve seen the latest harry potter movie in IMAX 3-D twice already and was replicating harry’s scar. i love anything in IMAX, i wish all blockbusters were shown this way.

the magic no-cook ingredients. this is a 12 oz. package of grilled chicken strips from trader joe. it really has that grilled taste where those grill marks are. it comes in other flavors like chipotle lime, teriyaki and balsamic rosemary for $5.49. i ate 4 or 5 strips while i was plating the dish above so the dish only shows part of the chicken in the package. i used one mango. there are some artichoke hearts to the left of the chicken strips because i had some on hand. the package says “heat & serve” but i was too lazy to heat them so i just let them come up to room temperature. when it’s cold, the cooked chicken breast meat can be a bit hard but if you let it marinate in your sauce for awhile, it becomes moist.

*tasty tip – a great way to add flavor and moistness to any cooked meats is to add citrus juice. you can add orange or grapefruit juice, or squeeze a couple of lemons or limes. if you have time, let it marinate overnight. you’d be amazed how this one simple thing will pump up your chicken breasts with fresh flavor. (and give you a good dose of vit. C) juice up your meat, people!

dipping sauce - my sauces are usually of the throw-everything-i-have-in-it variety. i had mango vinaigrette, pesto, ketchup, raw honey and sea salt so that’s what this sauce consisted of. very good ! other options, if you have it, are mustard, chili sauce, guacamole, jam, salsa, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, balsamic vinegar or bbq sauce.

NO-COOK grilled chicken & mango – think of this as the meatlicious cousin of the famous No-Knead bread ! ..if you neither cook nor bake, or don’t feel like it, this is the solution. i love eating delicious food that requires no prep, no cooking, no fuss ! you cannot throw together a faster, simpler meal than a meal like this. and it’s highly nutritious while being easy to assemble.

a 22 lb. gentle giant was my dessert. big and juicy ……….

copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved.

copyright 2008 eat2love.wordpress.com

Wild RED Salmon

smoked ham, wild red salmon, caramelized onions & pesto roll ups.

most people don’t cook. i don’t know anyone who actually cooks, or even knows how to cook, nor have any interest in cooking whatsoever. in new york city, there is so much fantastic food here that there’s no need to, and no time either. i’m usually too lazy to cook, so when i eat at home i simply assemble good foods. my criteria – it has to be easy, highly nutritious and delicious.

i don’t rarely eat bread. i’ve studied nutrition for years (and have cured every single chronic condition that i’ve ever had from asthma, allergies to bad cramps), and i almost never eat wheat, grains or legumes except for the rare bowl of black rice or joong. even when i was a teenager i instinctively avoided things made with wheat flour and detested beans (yuck). i remember when i was 15, my favorite snack was to fix myself a triple decker tuna fish sandwich. i would cut all the crusts off and the sandwich was a huge pile of tuna fish and the bread was just a vehicle to enable me to hold it. my body knew that it needed adequate good protein. fresh artisanal bread is tasty but from a health perspective, it’s really bad for you since all grains are starches which is quickly converted to glucose in your body.(excess starch calories is stored as body FAT) glucose is NOT protein. did you know that over 70% of our bodies’ tissues, immune system cells, hormones, neurotransmitters are all constructed of protein?

breads & pasta are high calorie and low nutrition. legumes – soybeans are almost 20% fat, why do you think processed food mega companies use soy oil? because it is plentiful and extremely cheap crap (ditto tofu). wheat & soybeans are two of the world’s cheapest crops, and very fattening – which is why the meat industry feeds grains & soybeans to cows, chickens and pigs to fatten them up quickly and profitably. i won’t bore you about nutrition here, so if you are interested in knowing why grains and legumes are not suited for human consumption, there are many medical experts who have written great books on the topic. if you want to avoid diabetes and obesity, you might want to read dr. joseph mercola’s book the no grain diet.

delicious and easy to make roll ups. this is made from tasty components that you can buy anywhere. the only thing that i cooked is the caramelized onions. if you don’t want to cook onions you can substitute marinated artichoke hearts, or an onion chutney, or roasted red peppers – all of which come in jars. the smoked ham, pesto and limes can easily be purchased at any whole foods, fairway, trader joe or deli. i usually make roll ups with smoked turkey slices ……. no prep, no cooking, no fuss – it’s EASY, FAST & YUMMY!

wild red salmon is the nutritional star here. * it’s red salmon, not pink salmon. wild red salmon is a high quality protein and it is the tastiest food source of omega-3 essential fats of which we are all deficient in. it comes in a can from vital choice. once you’ve tasted wild red salmon you will never be able to eat pink salmon ever again because the red salmon tastes soooo much better! i like the canned wild red salmon because it’s so convenient and non perishable. it’s perfect to have around for those times when my fridge is empty and i don’t feel like going out nor eating restaurant food. it’s like nutrition insurance. it’s such an awesome health product that the great dr. perricone sells this canned red salmon in his stores. i usually order 2 cases at a time, so that i always have it on hand. instant access = great tasting nutrition anytime.

wild red salmon is safe to eat. a few years ago, it was the scandal about farmed salmon – the “pink” color of farmed salmon comes from a colored dye fed to the sickly fish. now, the FDA has banned the sale of 5 types of seafood from china, and rejected many seafood shipments for containing drugs.(read article) vital choice wild red salmon is tested free of all pcb’s and mercury, and it’s deep red color is naturally occurring from the wild red salmon eating krill in the ocean. i’ve been eating wild red salmon for years and i am now sooo glad that i did.

pop top. it comes in regular cans (red salmon from alaska) as well as the easy pop top cans (red salmon from canada border). vital choice also sells frozen wild fish fillets. they are a great company. when i was disappointed that they were sold out of the pop tops, 20 minutes later they called me to tell me that the owner of the company had a private stash of the pop top cans, and they sent me his pop tops.

the human body stores excess starchy carbs (bread, pasta, cookies) and sugar calories as FAT. meanwhile, our bodies cannot store protein, which means that it is crucial to eat high quality protein every day, that is, if you want to be healthy and look good. ermm…… maybe you don’t, but i do.

*** the red salmon tastes so good that i can just eat it plain (yah sometimes i’m that lazy) (you still love me don’t you?). an easy way to make red salmon salad: buy pesto sauce, open can of red salmon, add pesto, squeeze lime, mix = good !

copyright 2009 Jo Jo Kwong. all rights reserved.

copyright 2007 eat2love.wordpress.com