They're slippery. They're slimy. And they're alive.
This coming week, Fine Living Network will be airing episodes of our favorite Iron Chef Japanin which creatures of the deep are battled every night at 11/10 Central. Watch as these chefs attack and cook living sea creatures in a way that makes you wonder if you're a bad person for watching. This is an excellent week for anyone who hasn't had enough Halloween, or likes Animal Planet and wishes Japanese chefs could be involved.
Not for the squeamish, these squirmy seafoods do get slaughtered right in front of your very eyes. Mother nature would be proud watching the food chain established so aggressively, but your mother might think you need therapy. You be the judge!
First we hear about Dunkin Donuts going to Shanghai and offering things like honeydew flavored doughnuts, then we find out that Costco in Taiwan is pretty much the picture of bulk Asian food awesomeness. (I didn't even know that Costco was anywhere except the United States).
Teczcape documented a trip to Costco in Taiwan, and though the ridiculously long lines at the rotisserie chicken counter and the requirement that all payments are made in cash are nothing to envy, I couldn't help but covet the bulk bags of kimchi (in the picture, lower left bag in the cart). It's Costco, so who knows about the quality of the kimchi, but at least it's not Kirkland brand!
White tablecloths, outstanding service, and the flakiest croissants that'll ever melt in your mouth. You'd think Paris would be the Best City in the World for food, wouldn't you?
Especially when it's Frenchman Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin Guide, confirming the choice, right?
Nope. The best city for food is half-way around the world, Tokyo, Japan, which won 191 total stars, twice the number awarded to Paris, and more than three times the number awarded to New York.
Additionally, eight restaurants in Tokyo won top honors of three stars, whereas Paris had six. As if stars weren't enough, three of the eight three-star winning restaurants in Tokyo serve French food. Guess you're flying to Asia if you want to do a foodie tour!
I was looking at the Aug./Sept. 2007 issue of Saveur magazine and reading a great article about Hmong farmers in California by Andrea Nguyen, one of my new favorite writers. (If you want to subscribe or buy and download the issue click here.) The Hmong are a semi-nomadic people who have lived in parts of China and Southeast Asia for centuries. Always on the move, recently a large portion ended up leaving Asia and immigrating to the US, especially California, where a great many are farmers growing their fantastic produce. While traveling in Asia I had the chance to try some Hmong cooking. Their cuisine relies on extremely fresh produce and meats that are cooked simply and full of flavor. One thing that I really enjoyed was the Chile-Scallion relish called Kua Txob Tuav Xyaw Dos (pronounced koo-AH za too-AH sher daw.)
It's a spicy, tangy, herbal, slightly salty, rough paste that is used as a relish and condiment. Always made fresh each day and put on the table the relish is put into soups and stir fries, used to boost up the spice level to your own preference, and served by itself as a garnish for plain or sticky rice.
The best way to get the best consistency to the paste is to do it by hand in a mortar and pestle. Preferably a nice solid one like a Thai mortar and pestle. They are an immense and heavy piece of stone that sits solidly on your counter so that you can let the solid pestle thump satisfactorily down on the ingredients. I realized after reading the recipe that I had the few, simple ingredients growing in my garden. It's easy to make and only takes a few minutes. Time to make the Kua Txob Tuav Xyaw Dos.
In the past it wasn't so, but now it looks like Asia has taken on the challenge and stepped up to bat in the organic produce game. Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and most especially China have moved into the game. So far China is producing 85% of the organics in the region, but the other countries are gearing up and increasing production every year. The quality they produce is very good, with China growing excellent crops at great prices.
Europe and North America currently consume a vast majority of the worlds organic produce with Asia only just starting to join in, but they are starting to catch up. Since organic still costs more to produce each of these countries consumes less by far than they export. The West consumes organics for a variety of reasons from perceived health benefits to sustainability, animal welfare, humanitarian reasons, and environmental concerns; while the East's focus is primarily on the supposed health benefits. Although "Buddhist countries like Thailand and Singapore also tend to favour organic production because of its perceived harmony with nature."
There is a tendency that as production goes up, prices should come down, and so organic foods will be more in demand domestically in Asia over the next few years as well. So expect to see more and more of the world's high quality organic produce coming from Asia in the next decade as additional countries join in, and production rises dramatically.
After acquiring a really tasty bottle of dipping sauce from Trader Joe's this week, I realized that Asian wraps, rolls and other dipable items are found in takeout containers more often than they are made in the home kitchen. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course, especially if you know a good takeout place, but making the food is part of the fun of eating. This is especially true of finger (or chopstick) foods.
Asian Wraps & Rolls uses easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorials and techniques to walk you through the process of making these fun foods at home. The book spends a lot of time going over ingredients, some of which may be unfamiliar to you, as well as popular sauces and condiments, before getting into wrap construction. Recipes include Warm Mango and Shrimp Rolls, Wok Fried Wontons, Vegetable Spring Rolls and Pork and Betel-leaf Wraps, just to name a few. Once you have the basics, you can always use the methods used in this book to branch out and try your own flavor combinations.
I remember a friend once telling me that it is considered to rude to get up and step away from the table to use the restroom in the middle of a meal. Either "take care of business" before sitting down at the table, or wait until after dinner is over. Well, now you don't have to worry about it either way, because the bathroom is the restaurant!
Well, not exactly. This is a toilet-themed restaurant. Patrons sit on toilets at a table that looks like a glass top over a very large basin/sink. Sitting on toilets might be weird enough, but eating out of dishware that looks like toilets and urinals? Uh, no thank you. I'm not exactly sure which country this restuarant calls home - it looks to be Chinese, but for some reason, something as silly and weird as a toilet-themed restaurant just screams "Japanese!" to me.
The idea of eating cereal with cold milk for breakfast, a staple of the Western daily diet, is not a popular concept in China and other parts of Asia, but cereal company Kellogg's wants to change that. The food giant controls 40% of the global cereal market, but only 2% of its sales come from Asia. With a goal in mind of doubling their revenue in the area by 2009 or 2010, the company is buying up local cereal companies and trying to tailor new products, including hot cereals and cereal bars, to the local palates.
While buying locally producing companies can certainly boost sales in the area, will Kellogg's really be able to convert such a huge population to being cereal eaters? It doesn't seem likely, but given that the company has set a generous deadline, they might just be able to pull it off - even if they have to target the already-present "Western" population in residence.
I have no idea why I'm reading Men's Health. Regardless, the magazine has an article that encourages men to cook these seven dishes from around the world at home, to keep them lighter than the restaurant versions that are always loaded with too much pasta, rice and potatoes. Men's Health says that the "secret isn't tiny, Frenchman-like portions; it's a redistribution of nutrients." Hey, if it makes you look like Mr. Cooking Guy in the photo, I'm all for it!
The recipes are for:
Curried Shrimp Kebabs with Basmati Rice (Indian)
Sausage and Pepper Pasta (Italian)
Steak and Bean Burrito (Mexican)
Pork Fried Rice (Chinese)
Teriyaki Salmon Bowl with Broccoli (Japanese)
Cajun Chicken Fingers with Sweet Potato Fries
Broiled Lamb Chop over Cucumber Tomato Salad (Greek)
The recipes are for one portion though. I'd double it, and make dinner for yourself and your date!
I love baby bok choy. Regular bok choy tastes great, but I think I am beginning to have this fascination with all
things teeny tiny cute and miniature. Of course, baby bok choy tastes a little different - they're sweeter and more
tender.
Cut baby bok choy lengthwise into quarters, rinse, and dry off. (You can rinse
before you cut, but it's easier to get any sort of nasty stuff that's caught between the leaves if they're
sliced open). In a saute pan with high sides, bring about ¼ c. water or vegetable
broth to a boil (The bok choy will give off some water later, too). Add 2 Tbsp. Korean
ggoh-choo-jahng (spicy red pepper paste), 2 Tbsp soy sauce, and about 4-5
cloves chopped garlic. Reduce to simmer, and add bok choy. Let braise until bok choy are
tender.
Grains, beans, and other legumes make up a large part of the Asian diet. In fact, at the Korean market, entire aisles can be dedicated to beans alone. Koreans add beans to white rice, creating a "mixed" steamed rice. My mother did this a few times when we were kids because there are a lot of health benefits, but when we saw bowls of steamed rice tainted with giant red, purple, and black beans, we wouldn't touch it. She made two pots of rice every night after that. One with plain white rice, and one with a mixture.
Some of us may be familiar with adzuki beans after they have been cooked down to almost a paste. They beans are sweet and nutty, but they are made sweeter with the addition of sugar and honey and used as a filling in pastries like Japanese mochi and Korean dduk. Koreans also use the beans to make "jook," a sweet porridge.
Most American diners don't associate Asian foods with dessert. They think about sushi and spring rolls,
maybe even pad thai. Sweets are limited to a fortune cookie and a milky Thai iced tea, though there are many sweet
offerings in the countries that have inspired these foods. One treat, as an article in the SF Guardian pointed out, did achieve
success: boba (bubble) tea, though its heyday seems to have passed and there are no longer a dozen joints a day
springing up in college towns.
Two companies think that they can continue the trend and bring their Asian treats to mainstream America. One is Beard Papa, a chain that sells only cream puffs and has become very popular not only for its
high quality puffs, but for its novelty. They have done very well so far, and more locations are opening all the
time.
Planning on doing some traveling this summer? Looking for a list of the dining hot spots that you should stop
by for a memorable meal? Start with the go list from Food and
Wine magazine, which picks out 376 restaurants chosen by "plugged in correspondents" from 50 cities around
the world. They have the goods on restaurants like Michael Mina in San Francisco, Rockpool in Sydney, Ferran Adria's
Fast Good in Madrid and Felix in Hong Kong, including a picks at both the high and lower ends of the price range.
Now, it's not possible that a list like this, even such a large one, would have all the great eats of any given
city, but you aren't likely to have a bad meal by picking any of their choices. If you're traveling somewhere a little
off the beaten path that isn't on the "go list," or are looking for something specific, it might be best to
turn to another source of restaurant information. And the best resource, in my opinion, when traveling and looking for
good eats is still Chowhound. Take some time to browse through their archives and
look for recommendations, or pose a question on their message board if you're looking for something specific - like the
best mexican food in Boise, ID.
Durian is a large, spike-covered fruit from South East Asia, sometimes known as the "king of fruits," and
famous enough to make the list of 50
things to eat before you die. The fruits weigh anywhere from 2 to 10-pounds and are famous for their
unusually creamy texture and rich taste to those who like it, but the most famous quality of durian is its unmistakable
odor, described as everything from a combination of onions and sweaty socks to rotting fish and sewage. The smell can extend for up to 1/2 mile, drawing the many animals that like
to eat it, including pigs, elephants, squirrels and even tigers, right to the ripe fruits. The ripening process
continues even after the fruit has been removed from the tree, developing more pungency and a creamier texture. Due to
the texture of the flesh, which is that of thick custard, it is considered to be a delicacy and a treat to many people.
First, American markets had boil-in bag rice. Now they have Uncle Ben's ready made rice that you just heat up in
the microwave oven. So why can't Asian markets have ready-made rice? They do.
At the Korean market, I came across rows and rows of ready made steamed rice, that even came in their own bowl. No
need to dirty another plate! You simply pull back the vacuum-sealed plastic, stick it in the microwave, and minutes
later, you have perfect, fluffy steamed rice to eat with your kimchee. The rice also comes in different
"flavors" - brown rice as well as rice mixed with other grains like barley, oats, and beans.
I am not unfamiliar with microwaved rice. In college, my Mom used to steam entire pots of rice, let it cool,
package them into single size servings in zipper bags, then freeze them. All I had to do was unzip, re-heat, and I was
ready for a final exam cram session. If only we had known back then to market it and sell it...
In the past it wasn't so, but now it looks like Asia has taken on the challenge and stepped up to bat in the 
The idea of eating cereal with cold milk for breakfast, a staple of the Western daily diet, is not a popular concept in China and other parts of Asia, but cereal company Kellogg's 
I have no idea why I'm reading 
Most American diners don't associate Asian foods with dessert. They think about sushi and spring rolls,
maybe even pad thai. Sweets are limited to a fortune cookie and a milky Thai iced tea, though there are many sweet
offerings in the countries that have inspired these foods. One treat, as an article in the 
Planning on doing some traveling this summer? Looking for a list of the dining hot spots that you should stop
by for a memorable meal? Start with 
10 More Dirty Restaurant Tricks
5 Things You Didn't Know About Turducken
10 Catchiest Food Jingles We Love to Hate
