In my non-stop food adventure in New York last weekend, one of my absolute favorite stops was a long, leisurely lunch at Mario Batali’s Casa Mono. If you didn’t think he was already king of New York with all his restaurants scattered around, after eating at Casa Mono you will be convinced. I have been wanting to go here for years, but always heard the wait for a table was horrific. They take reservations so planning ahead is key. It didn’t seem all that busy the day we went at 1:30pm on a Friday, but for dinner you will definitely need a reservation.

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It is confirmed once again, the Obama’s have good taste!  I happened to eat at the same restaurant as them, on the same night, hours later, on my trip last weekend to New York. I did not know this until the next morning since our reservations were for 10pm.  

Earlier that evening I had met a dear friend from high school for a drink in Nolita.  We had a mini-reunion after almost 10 years of silence. Living on opposite coasts didn’t help, but Facebook is good for something. A yellow cab whisked me off to my next destination to meet up with friends at Blue Hill New York. 

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Here’s another recipe idea using the five spice powder. I promised more recipes and have had requests. I recently tried one where you just sprinkle it on duck legs and let them slow roast in the oven.  Super easy and super tasty. The chicken wings are easy too, despite the seemingly long list of ingredients.

I served this as finger food at a Chinese New Year Party. I like eating chicken wings, but not in public and I usually don’t order them unless I know they will be fried and crispy, or dry and crispy. The best ones are the Japanese ones that are salty and lemony and deep fried. I don’t want to deep fry for a party so these ginger honey wings will do just fine and can be made a couple days ahead and warmed up for the party. Wings have to be slow roasted so most of the fat has dripped off. The goopey, slimy ones that some places serve are kinda nasty. Let’s avoid that.

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This is a family style dish from the Northern region in China. Usually you can find these on a menu of a Chinese restaurant that serves dumplings. My mom always kept homemade ones in the freezer. If you like pan fried dumplings or gyoza, these taste like you are eating the outer fried dough of those. If you have had these before you will remember the flaky, layered texture of each bite. They are nothing like a pizza crust. That is from the the the flattening, the rolling, the twisting, then the flattening again.

It’s a great vegetarian alternative to dumplings and can be served with various soy dipping sauces. You can slice up slivers of ginger, douse it with some hot sauce, or keep it simple and just add sesame oil. 

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I came home from a long week at work to a surprise gift box of artisan cured salumi, from Salumi in Seattle, the specialty meats shop of the dad of the celebrity chef, Mario Batali. This mysterious box of meats was sitting on our kitchen counter. There was no gift card and no invoice. I first saw this shop on some Anthony Bourdain show. People were waiting in long lines for sandwiches and then the family had a specially prepared meal awaiting Bourdain. There was a tour of the room with hanging, curing meats. This is also the one place I know of to order guanciale from. Yes, that gamey, rich pig jowel I have grown so fond of. 

More and more these days, I had noticed that resturants were using the word ’salumi’. What is the difference between salami and salame? From what I can tell, salami is plural for salame but salumi refers to assorted other cured meats like prosciutto or bacon. So if you really want to sound like a proper foodie, saying ‘please pass the platter of salumi’ would be more appropriate then saying ‘please pass the platter of salame’ if it’s a platter of charcuterie that includes prosciutto, etc. A couple years ago when I was in Rome at we picked up some Abruzzo salame at the Campo di Fiori. That is the city it came from and is the same way other salame like, Genoa, got it’s name.

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A French-Moroccan friend of mine used to love talking about food so much that anytime I saw him or heard his name, my stomach would grumble. He was the person who first shaved whole, black truffles onto a salad for me, possibly about 12 years ago. Sadly, I have since lost touch with him but the memories of the food tales he used to tell are deeply ingrained in my memory and at this point, I am sure I have added in my own twist of what those stories really looked like.

One thing that he would cook was a roasted chicken with preserved lemons. Although, if my memory stands correct, I think his wife, the classically French trained chef, did all the cooking. He did all the talking. But, like many people who have left their homeland, there will always be a void or gap to fill that no restaurant will ever succeed at and that is home style cooking, aka, what mom used to make. This is when it’s time to roll up your sleeves.

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This may be the best kept secret in Glendale. I am so reluctant in letting this cat out of the bag. But as it goes, I was told the secret by Bob’s mom, Gloria, about this wonderful Sunday treat that has become my latest, neighborhood hangout and favorite Sunday activity.

Bob is a black lab that my dog, Guinness, has become buds with for the last several years. Bob’s parents are total foodies and travel to Italy to taste all the good stuff right from the source. One sunny day, shortly after all the holiday buzz was dying down, Bob and Guinness were having a play session on my front porch. During these play sessions, we humans interact as well and compared food notes. I was tipped off on a Sunday special at Palate in Glendale which was voted one of the best 10 places in LA for 2008. I forgot what magazine or poll that was from. Palate had been on my short list of places to try and since it’s only about 10 minutes away from me, not a huge commitment. I was waiting for the next special occasion, but the words ‘affordable’ and ‘delicious’ don’t need to be repeated.

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I made buns this weekend and I hope that title got your attention. I was inspired by these Taiwanese buns from a place I tried in SGV (San Gabriel Valley), Kingburg Kitchen. Anytime I want to try something new and tasty in that part of town, my go-to-resource for great photos and info about tiny,traditional places is the LA based blog, potatomato. These twins seem to eat every meal out, so I can bet that they are gonna know just where to go in SGV. I didn’t care much for the other items on the menu, like the beef noodle soup, meaning I have had much better elsewhere, but the buns were really good and seemed like something I could achieve in my home kitchen. 

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New York  Style Cheesecake is one of those foods that may truly be an American invention, or at least made famous by Americans. It’s also a sweet that is hard to mess up. I don’t consider myself a baker at all, but it seems to be something I dabble in more and more as my sweet tooth starts developing in tandem with my baking skills. Every year, I get stuck making the same cheesecake recipe for Christmas. I secretly don’t mind since it’s a leftover we like having around. Sliver after sliver, night after night, and poof - the entire 5lbs of cheesecake is gone. 

It has been a fallback desert of mine for years. Every year I make a New Year’s resolution to try baking different desserts. Maybe I can stick to it this year with the help of some new books I got, like Baked, which uses salty sweet methods for a few things. Coincidentally, their cheesecake recipe is the first I have seen that has a sour cream topping like the one my mom always made. Mine is a little different with the powdered sugar but it serves the same purpose.

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Since my recent obsession with Five Spice powder, sometimes referred to as the ‘wonder powder’, I took it upon myself to make my home blend as holiday gifts for friends and family. I had to share the fact that roasting and blending your own is truly several steps above the store bought version and even though I recently posted the recipe, I know most of you barely have time to cook a meal, let alone roast and grind spices. 

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Ever since I first had one of these caramels at a friend’s wedding a couple years ago, I was hooked, obsessed, and a sweet tooth convert all at once. They were from Boule patisserie. I went and bought a $20 box of them and gave them as gifts that following Christmas. Since then, the lower brow version has come on the scene, The Little Flower Candy Company makes smaller, chaper ones that are quite tasty. And since then, I have been making them myself. Spending $20 now means gifts for about 8 people, not just one.

Now that’s what I call ‘less is more’.

Paula Deen would be so proud. Another form of butter, cream and sugar at its best.. salty, creamy, buttery, and sweet all rolled into a tiny cigar-like slug of love.

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Tis the season for soups, and stews, and roasts and braised meats. The trend of puréed soups has been prevalent for years, but carrot ginger and the like have had their limelight.  I love the idea of pairing flavors together and elevating a simple idea of puréed soup into something unexpected. This elegant, simple dish takes veggies and herbs and turns the typical vegetable soup into a luxurious starter or main.

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Come colder weather, I love braising meats and letting things simmer all day in a giant pot in the oven or on the stove. The entire house smells delicious for hours and the end result is ridiculously good you will want to invite a couple friends to come over and crack open a bottle of wine. Chinese braised meats are among the easiest thing to cook and have an impressive end result. They do not require browning prior to braising and they also don’t require wine or broth. The trick is to use a cut of meat that has bones and skin so it transforms the broth into a luscious broth as it simmers in it.

Making your own five spice powder is so worth it and what renders this dish so delicious. I know not everyone will go to the lengths to do this, so I decided to make some as holiday gifts this year. Cooking at home will definitely be more important to lots of people this coming year and is a first step to scrimping on funds but not on flavor.

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There’s nothing like biting into a star anise pod when enjoying a savory pork that has been braising for hours in this special Asian blend of spices. That is one not-so-fond memory of my childhood. My mom made everything from scratch and she never owned a Cuisinart let alone a spice grinder. When I say from scratch, I even recall helping her mince up shrimp and pork with a super dull knife for an hour to make wontons. Though the food was as fresh as can be and always good, we would devour our food and then be bitterly surprised by biting full force into either a slab of whole ginger or a star anise or some other Chinese spice thing that tasted more like medicine than food. bleck.

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liver and cream cheese spread with a pear champagne cocktail at Shoto-Club

One doesn’t immediately associate cocktails with Japan, but as I quickly witnessed and learned first hand, the Japanese are champions of perfecting everything in their own country’s traditions as well as preserving and amplifying traditions of other cultures in regard to food, fashion, and design. Basically, they are obsessive perfectionists and I loved every minute I was there. There was an eight page article in Bon Appetit’s September Issue about the Cocktail Revolution in Tokyo, which the author claims surpasses that of New York City and London. This, of course, sounded enticing, yet not surprising.

Men in Plaid at Shoto-Club 

I had never been to Asia, let alone Tokyo, and had no idea what I was in for in terms of navigating through the city. It’s not the kind of city where you jump in a cab every two blocks to go bar hopping, unless paying $40 a cab ride sounds like fun. The cabs all have automatic doors, meaning they open and close them for you, but the price is high since the subway closes at midnight every night. Tokyo is much like a virtual 4D maze of office buildings and sky rises and non existent or incomprehensible addresses.

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