See Slo Blog

The Perfect Bowl of Ramen.

The problem with (most) people and preparing instant ramen is laziness.  I know the package says you can just add hot water, wait for three minutes, and enjoy, but if you just put in a little more time and effort, you can really make yourself an amazing bowl of noodles.

Start with your favorite package of ramen -- mine is spicy Shin Ramyun, which you can pick up at all Asian grocery stores (and even at some of the bigger western chain supermarkets in the "International" section).  Now, the trick is to actually COOK the noodles until they're well done.  Forget your hesitancy to bust out a pot/turn on the stove, or rationalizations that you like your ramen al dente; cook your ramen in boiling water for at least ten minutes on high heat until the noodles become clear (make sure to stir every now and then so the noodles don't burn/stick to the bottom of the pot).  Once the noodles are see-through, you've got yourself some nice chewy ramen.  I also like to crack in an egg or two at the end to add some protein into the mix, and if you have some leftover veggies in the fridge, throw those in too!  The bowl below has some leftover spinach with minced garlic. 

Really, all it takes to make the perfect bowl of ramen is a few extra minutes and some additional garnishes of your choice.  I hope I've convinced some of you guys and gals to keep that in mind the next time you bust out your hot water pot and styrofoam cup full of instant noodles.

Captain Crab! You aiite...

Sunday evening I wanted to go to Boiling Crab in Alhambra with my parents to see what all the hype is about surrounding the local cajun seafood craze that's going on.  I heard from a few people (and confirmed through Yelp) that Boiling Crab is apparently where it's at, and that other imitation places fall really flat.  So, we got there around 5:50 because I read that it gets insane after 6, only to find that the wait was already over an hour and a half! Crazy. If you know me, and if you know Momma Lo, there's really little food worth waiting an hour and a half for, especially in the blistering heat.  I'll wait maybe forty five minutes for chicken and rice in NY, but that is a serious, serious exception to the absolute extreme.  Anyway, we made our way down Valley to San Gabriel to eat at Captain Crab, instead.  Overall, it was pretty good, but I wasn't blown out of the water. 

Personally, I went in with a huge bias because I LOVE me some blue crabs from Baltimore (like, to the point where I once trained out from NY three times in two months just to get some before the season ended).  Eating at Captain Crab was the first time I had "real" cajun style seafood before, and I shouldn't have expected it to be of equal/close awesomeness to the crabs in Baltimore, but I couldn't help it!  Anyway, I'm not sure if this is really how seafood is prepared down South, but everything was personally a little too watery for my taste.  Don't get me wrong -- the seasoning and sauces were delicious, but there's something I find very unappealing about sticking my hands into an industrial size plastic bag of liquid cajun goop and seafood.  As for the crabs, they ran out of blue crabs, so we could only get dungeness.  While my mom complained that they weren't fresh out of a tank, I thought they were still pretty plump and sweet.  Except, I would have appreciated it if they had broken down the crab for us and thrown the pieces into the bag.  Blue crabs are easy (and fun) to go at with a mallet, but a COOKED dungeness crab? That takes some work.  There's really no need for a bib when you're munching on blue crabs in Baltimore, but I see why you need one for these. 

Overall, Captain Crab was affordable and tasty, but not tasty to the point where I am salivating at my computer right now, as I often do when I'm blogging about a recent food adventure.  I'll definitely be checking out Boiling Crab when the wait isn't horrendous to see how it matches up to Captain Crab, but I'm not expecting much...

Sweet potatoe fries -- bomb, especially dipped in the sauce

A pound of fresh shrimp, corn, and sausage in spicy cajun seasoning -- shrimps were delicious and probably the highlight of the meal (would go back to snack on a few pounds of these, instead of getting crab), corn was terrible (either frozen or old, then grilled), and sausage was tasty, but too soft for my taste (kind of felt like hot dog)

Dungeness crab in medium spicy Captain's Mix sauce (a combination of cajun, lemon pepper, and garlic)

WTF, it's only Wednesday? Edition 6. kiiiiiss of LIFE!

Enjoy your Wednesday, folks!

Happy July 4th! What? It's August, already!?

Ah well, here are some photos from the little July 4th BBQ we had at home a month ago.  Normally for BBQs we like to go all out and take a more Asian-influenced route -- marinated bone-in galbi, crab, shrimp, squid, clams, chicken hearts and gizzards, kimchi and other spicy pickled goods, Korean potato salad, and sometimes a steak or two for good measure.  Since we didn't have guests over this July 4th, we took it down a notch in regards to the amount of food we prepared.  But, overall still an awesome menu and a super successful day of grilling.  Enjoy!

Gotta have the crudites to munch on throughout the day.  And yes, everything is fresh. Ok, I lied. I cheated with the carrots -- I bought a bag of baby carrots!  The rest I picked and chopped up, swear.

Mushrooms and onions getting grilled

Bone-in ribeye getting some fat grill marks
 
Brats on the left, crab in the middle, chicken wings on the right

Finished meat products

Finished crab -- yes, I see the green onion sprig in the bottom right corner

DIY mexican corn, minus the crema mexicana. The creme definitely works better to get your cotija on the cob, but I think brushing the corn with butter while grilling it does the trick (and shaves off the calories you get with the creme)
 
My mom had two. She also had her first corona and lime and loved it. Guess she was feeling particularly festive, haha.

Comfort Food

Every now and then someone will ask me to list my comfort foods.  For some reason, I'm always hard-pressed to come up with a good answer right on the spot.  I know that the first food items that pop into mind are usually mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, grilled cheeses and tomato soup, maybe some fried chicken, the list goes on.  Comfort food to me definitely encompasses many of those dishes, but one of my favorite comfort foods that I, for some reason, always forget to mention is rice porridge or "xi fan". 

My sister once commented that having porridge reminds her of our grandma, and I wholeheartedly agree.  Having porridge now doesn't just remind me of how my grandma used to always cook it, it reminds me of her voice -- "nini, xi fan hao le! (steph, porridge is ready!), and of her smile and her laugh.  And that, I think, is the essence of what comfort food really is.  It's food that reminds you of family and home.

Now, the Lo household took your typical porridge dinner up a notch tonight.  Normally we just have the porridge and your go-to canned fixings -- spicy fermented tofu (dou fu ru), soy gluten with peanuts (mian jing), pickles, maybe some canned sardines in spicy tomato sauce, and of course pork sung (rou song) and fish floss (yu song).  We definitely had ourselves some rou song and yu song tonight, but we also whipped up some other tasty delights to go with our meal.

Millet porridge (xiao mi xi fan)

Taiwanese pork sausage (xiang chang) with garlic

Firm tofu (dou gan) with some green onions and sesame oil

"Scrambled" eggs with scallions

And some cold tofu with "thousand year old egg", chopped green onions, soy sauce, and sesame oil on top

Starving in Seattle? Not Likely.

What's up party people.  I know.  It''s been a while.  It's been a damn long time since I've posted on here and I want to apologize.  And to those five or six people that still seem to be checking up on my blog everyday, thank you!  I'll have to admit that, for a while, I was getting sucked into the dark side of Twitter and becoming very unmotivated to actually write anything more than 140 characters.  Also, if you've kept up with that, then you know that I've started a separate account just to tweet about my food adventures (www.twitter.com/seesloeat).  Excuses aside, I'm back and ready for action.  And what better way to re-kick off my posts than a blog about the good eats I had in Seattle this past Memorial Weekend.   Here are just some of my personal highlights.

Buffalo Deli -- Joey introduced me to this place last summer when I went up for the Capitol Hill Block Party, and now every time I think of Seattle, I think about how delicious these subs are.  The owner is super awesome and originally from New York, so the last two times I've gone to the store, we always talk about how chill Brooklyn is, and how she's looking to buy property in Red Hook.  Anyway, I always get the house sub here, which in theory, is super simple -- deli meat (turkey pictured here), lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cheese.  BUT, it's their house made oil and vinegar combined with the perfectly crusty/soft baguette that makes this bad boy so dang tasty.

Salumi's -- Once I heard this was Mario Batali's dad's place, and that they served up some of the finest cured meats in the pacific northwest, I knew I had to go.  The line was out the door at around noon and took about 25 minutes to get through, but the end result was delicious.  I got the special of the day, which was homemade sausage with peppers and garlic spread on a baguette, and also picked up a small container of salami; both were the bomb-diggity-bay.  The place is a little pricey (also, I don't recommend the baked four cheese pasta; it was average. and average should never cost more than 7 dollars), but anyone who loves smoked or cured meats has to check this place out.  Would definitely go again, but set the waiting-in-line cap to 20 minutes.  Anywhere past that, I'd rather just go to Buffalo deli for my sandwich fix.

Folklife Festival -- Checked out  Folk Life (yes, it is exactly what it sounds like -- a weekend full of folk music, vendors, and good times) the same day we got Salumi's, saw a sign for hot bratwursts, and didn't even hesitate to get one.  Honestly, before I die, I want to try as many sausages as humanly possible (and get your mind out of the gutter if you just chuckled to yourself and thought, "that's what she said").  This spicy brat was perfection in a roll.  I've had many sausages and hot dogs in my life, and I'll say that this one had THE most beautiful "pop" in every bite. 

Pike's Market -- We got an assortment of stuff from Pike's for lunch one day.  Fresh King Crab legs, a crab roll, shrimp roll, chowder, and smoked salmon.  It was pretty much the best lunch to have ended my weekend in Seattle with.

With that said, I'll catch you all again soon, because I'm definitely commiting myself to bringing sexy ba--my blog back.

Food Adventures in Taiwan: Chapter 13

Dinner @ Mitsui

Mitsui serves up several innovative Omakases at different price points and some of the freshest sashimi in town, in a clean, hip, and trendy atmosphere -- sort of like Nobu, but with less of a western influence, and better quality and tasting food.  On top of all of that, they specialize in providing fresh crabs flown in from Japan.  Of course, this means you can't really go walking in looking like a total bum, you should probably make a reservation, and you should have yourself some money to drop (although, you actually end up spending less than you would for a comprable meal at Nobu thanks to the power [or lack thereof] of the yuan]).  It's good to note that there are several locations, but the two on NongAn Rd are better than the newer location on DunHua Rd.  We went to the newer one two years ago, and the interior design and decor are a lot cooler than the locations on NongAn, but the food just isn't as great.  Also, I'm sure you're wondering why there are two Mitsui locations on NongAn Rd (in fact, they're right next to each other), but I can't offer you a valid explanation.  One is the original location, and I'm assuming they opened up the second one as a spillover restaurant due to increasing demand for/popularity of the original location; both, are presumably equal in quality and taste.

Anyway, my mom and I opted to not get the traditional Omakase, but rather, designed our own meal.  We purchased a Hokkaido King Crab, told our waitress we'd like a first course of sashimi, and two other hot appetizers, and she basically just recommended what she thought was the best in the house that night.  This place is awesome because you can get your crab served all sorts of ways -- we had ours grilled on a bed of salt with some ginko nuts and lime, steamed and served with seaweed and ponzu sauce, and raw on the side as our shabu shabu "protein" (Yes, my mom and I love shabu shabu).  The only mistake we made, or that my mom made, was to order the entire flipping crab.  We were originally going to order half of one (the minimum order), but my mom didn't want someone's leftover half, so she decided to ball out and get the entire thing.  In the end, yeah it was too much crab, but it was delicious and I annihalated all the leftovers the next day anyway, so no complaints here!  The meat is definitely a lot sweeter than the king crab from home, and the way it's prepared assures that every bite is super tender.  I'm a little sad that I only took a few photos of this particular night out, but I'll leave you with one shot of the crab and a few dessert pics.  Enjoy! =)

Food Adventures in Taiwan: Chapter 12

Shabu Shabu @ Orange

Like most shabu shabu places in Taiwan, Orange has an awesome prix fixe menu, where you get your choice of an appetizer, a plate of fresh sashimi of the day, choice of meat (and/or seafood), and dessert.  They also use these awesome copper pots that you can only purchase in Japan (I only know this because when I went to Japan in the summer of 2006, we ate a bomb shabu shabu place [my runner-up to Orange] that used these copper pots.  My mom fell in love, and we ended up convincing our waiter to let us buy a used one for $300 dollars and lugging that pot all the way back home).  Anyway, we actually went to Orange two days in a row, so here’s a collection of photos from both trips.  Enjoy!

There’s nothing I hate more than bruised, soggy, vegetables, so Orange gets extra points for always presenting the cleanest and crunchiest veggies.

I know what you're thinking.  "Isn't that just corn?"  Well yeah, it's corn.  But it's corn flown from some magical region of Japan that has perfected the art of growing the sweetest, crunchiest corn, that does not get stuck in your teeth!

Korabuta pork - or the japanese black-haired pig.  Giving up red meat would be so easy, knowing that I could still eat this.  Unfortunately, it's rare/expensive in the United States.  That basically means I inhaled this pork in Taipei like it was my job.  In Taipei, it's cheaper than Japanese Kobe, and even US Prime Ribeye, but it's so much tastier.  It's lightly marbled, without being oily, and kind of muscle-y, allowing for the perfect chewy texture. 

Crab that's sweeter than the sweetest Dungeness, has tons of "egg", and is easy to eat without a cracker or chopstick.  Like king crab, the meat slides right out of the shell, but it's a lot less stringy in texture.

It was the first time I'd ever had these clams.  They were sweet, but honestly I didn't think they were that special.  I just put the picture in because they look cool, haha.

After you're done with your shabu shabu, the servers use the broth and house-made sesame sauce to make spicy sesame noodles.  Chewy, aromatic, and delicious.

To close the savory part of the meal, the restaurant uses the remaining portion of the broth to make porridge with egg, scallions, and seaweed.  With a little bit of white pepper, this is the perfect meal clincher.

I don't think people give enough credit to chinese dessert making.  This is just a simple housemade flan, but it has the perfect consistency (not too soft, not too hard) and isn't too sweet or milky.  If you go after normal lunch hours, you should request this in the beginning of your meal, because they only make a certain amount each day.

There you have it!  My favorite spot to get shabu shabu in the world, in ten pictures.

I don't think we should see each other anymore...

This post is long overdue, considering it revolves around an experience that occurred during my trip to Paris in November, but better late than never right?  Brace yourselves, this is a long one -- It's the story of how I kicked foie gras out of my life -- yes, foie gras. 

My love for foie gras came in phases:

• Phase 1: My mom introduced me to foie gras in the 8th grade at the St. Regis Aqua in Laguna.  She actually ordered both the seared and cold versions, and I HATED both; I did not see any appeal in either of the oily dishes.  Suffice to say, I steered clear of foie gras for a while. 
• Phase 2: A few years later, a drastic turning point came in my life where I suddenly began to like foie gras.  No particular restaurant set this off, but I started to agree to split foie appetizers with my mom. 
• Phase 3: Addiction.  It became almost a default choice at any french or new american restaurant to try out the foie appetizer -- I was completely infatuated with the idea of the dish, served seared, cold, over french toast, as a popsicle covered in chocolate (this was actually an amuse bouche, but it was tasty) -- you name it, I'd eat it. 

Fast forward --> Paris November 2008.  It seemed like only the right thing to do -- to try the foie gras at almost every restaurant we went to (Strike #1); we were after all in a regional paradise for foie lovers.  After a few awesome meals from a small tartine eatery to Le Jules Verne, came dinner at Helen Darroze's restaurant (who is a large proponent of foie, and sometimes referred to as the protege of Alain Ducasse).   One of the appetizers on the menu was, of course, seared foie gras, but the catch was that you had to place a minimum order of two.  This caught me slightly off guard because I'd never had foie gras prepared in a way that feeds a minimum of two people.  My mom and I brushed off the disclaimer (Strike #2), which is where the night went downhill.

After awesome bread cart and freshly cut prosciutto action (photos on that later), our server wheeled out a cart with a nice metal platter on it.  Sitting on that platter is what looked like what you would imagine five zong zi combined into one lotus leaf would look like.  I raised my eyebrows inquisitevly and watched as our server delicately unwrapped this heaping mass, only to reveal the LARGEST HUNK OF FOIE GRAS I HAD EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE.  My jaw dropped, not out of excitement, but sheer horror.  Where did they get that mass of liver!?  I then smiled in my head, and naively thought "Wow, how awesome.  Just like bread or cheese carts, they are going to cut us each a fresh slice of this foie!" (Strike #3). 

Our server cut the entire thing up into 8 chunks, putting 4 on one plate for myself, and 4 on another for my mom.  I looked around the table confused, shifting my eyes and raising my eyebrow to Sophia and my mom.  The waitress placed the plates in front of us, and all I could think was, "I'm fu**ed".

(Picture taken after giving a portion of one slice to Sophia)

Anyway, I decided to just man up and try to eat all of it (Strike #4 -- already completely out of the game at this point).  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the foie was a little too runny, oily, and tender for my taste -- it was practically oozing animal cruelty.  In the end, I could only get through about two slices.  Combined, my mom and I probably left 3 - 4 slices on our plates -- a waste, I know.  But if we had eaten all of that, I'm sure we would have spent the rest of the meal in the bathroom.  Our waitress must have expected it though; I don't even think she really asked us if we were done before taking our plates away.  "Got em!", she probably said to herself.  After she took our plates, I muttered "I'm never going to eat foie gras again for the rest of my life". 

Next to getting chased by rabid cannibals in the woods, my worst nightmare would be this monster of a liver chasing me around the streets of Paris shouting "Eat me!"

Fast forward --> We stopped by 3-Star De Karmeliet in Bruges after Paris, and I didn't dare to even think about ordering foie gras.  The next time I had foie was probably in January went I went to Taiwan, but I gave half of the meager portion to my mom.  It's been four months, and I haven't touched the dish since then.

And that my friends, is how I ended my not-so-secret love affair with foie gras.

fin.

Baoguette

Checked out the relatively new Baoguette in Gramercy today for lunch, and was pleasantly surprised.  For about $18 dollars, we got two sandwiches, a box of shrimp summer rolls, and a Vietnamese coffee -- a little bit expensive, but it's New York City, so whatever.  From what I can remember, they have four banh mi selections -- A classic "baoguette", bbq chicken, spicy catfish, and the sloppy bao (spicy curried beef).  I opted to get the classic, which consists of pork belly, homemade pork terrine and pate, and of course all the typical fixings.  The baguette was soft in the middle and had the perfect crunch on the outside, and pickled radish, cilantro, and pork pate are basically an unbeatable combination.  My biggest problem was that they either forgot to put in raw chillis or, as a house-recipe, use sriracha instead of chillis.  Banh mi without chillis isn't even banh mi at all, c'mon!  Also, it was bordering on a a little bit too salty (which is a lot say, considering I love salt) and my sister's was dripping meat juice (which, is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your own taste -- I personally like my banh mi on the drier side) (and yes, I just said meat juice).  The summer rolls were delicious and better than the ones I've tried at numerous Pho shops in the city, and the Vietnamese iced coffee, was...good, but a little too sweet (it's probably better diluted with some more ice).  The place isn't anywhere close to the awesomeness of Lee's or even banh mi from Golden Deli, but overall, I found the entire experience to come in at probably a 6 out of 10, which means I will definitely be returning for more Baoguette!