7 posts tagged “food”
I've been out of commission for a week. (Sinus headache, congestion, sore throat, coughing, body ache, etc.) The likely source: my 5 month old who started daycare this month. She has also been suffering (drippy nose, coughing, high temperature, listlessness, ear infection, etc.) With her drippy nose, she has trouble breathing and has trouble sleeping. I've sat up many hours this week keeping her body upright with her head on my shoulder to help her sleep.
I have a decent repertoire of entrées and side dishes that I can cook. I think most of them taste pretty good (to me.) I don't really pay too much attention to the food's presentation. My sister reinforced this point to me a few years ago.
We were slicing ingredients to make pancit (Filipino noodles) and she pointed out that I was chopping up one vegetable out too finely and another too coarsely. She wanted the ingredients more proportionate in size, which makes sense if you think about it. I just didn't think about it enough. My main concern was and usually still is that the proper ingredients are added correctly so that flavor is right. I didn't care too much what it looks like.
When I click through some of the food blogs that are out there, I think about posing some of the meals and dishes that I make. This week would have been a good week to show off some savory goodness that exited my kitchen (and entered my tummy.) Some of my dishes over the past 7 days include:
- dungeness crab feast
- pan fried steak
- scallops wrapped in bacon
- Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce
- baked chicken with KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce
- stewed apples*
- roasted pork shoulder
- crab cakes*
- fried shrimp chips
- soy sauce chicken
I suppose I could also add rice cereal* to the list since we introduced our 4 1/2 month old to solids this week. Savory goodness? Yes. Photogenic food? No. Too bad my food isn't pretty.
*a Kanto first
Last week, the company that I work for moved its headquarters 12 miles south. Trying to see the glass-half-full angle on a longer commute into the heart of San Mateo Bridge traffic every morning, I'm looking forward to all the different lunch spots that are now within easy driving distance.
I took a carload of co-workers to one of my favorites: Jersey Joe's in San Carlos. Philly Cheesesteaks from Jersey Joe's remind me of the cheesesteaks I had growing up in Massachusetts: Grill-fried tender shredded steak, mushrooms, and onions topped with melted American cheese served on a real French roll. A few of my co-workers never had a Philly Cheesesteak. A few of them never had a good one and I was happy to introduce them to one.
I like to get away from the office at midday, eat lunch alone and read sometimes. I won't share all my lunch spots with my team, but my co-workers would have discovered Jersey Joe's soon enough. They're already looking forward to the next stop on Kanto's Peninsula Lunch Tour.
If you get a bunch of non-Bay Area natives together, the conversation eventually leads to someone commenting on the lack of good pizza in San Francisco; then someone else agreeing; then yet someone else saying that the pizza at [insert name of their favorite pizza parlor] isn't so bad. I suppose it doesn't have to be about pizza. It could be about barbecue ribs, cheese steaks, sisig, five alarm chili, or another regional specialty that "isn't as good as back home." For New Englanders looking for whole fried clams in San Francisco, Woodhouse Fish Company may be the only game in town.
Last Saturday my cousin and I ventured out to Woodhouse Fish Company (2073 Market St @ 14th St.) solely to get this taste of home: Whole-Belly Ipswich Clams (aka whole fried clams.) For those not in the know, clam shacks around New England offer clams battered and fried using the whole inside of the clam, belly included -not just the fried strip that are commonplace on seafood menus. Woodhouse sells them, and they pass muster.
Woodhouse serves their clam plate with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and a few wedges of lemon. The plate did not include fries so we ordered fries as a side plus a side of broccoli blanched with some diced garlic. They may have to work on their batter. Some pieces clam weren't wholly encased by the batter's fried goodness. But the fact that the clams were whole, and tasted great made up for their half-naked look.
Definitely worth a trip back for more clams or other tasty looking menu items like the chowder or the hot cheddar crab melt.
What are your favorite weird food combinations?
Submitted by Dulce.
Corn and Cheese Ice Cream! (otherwise known as Mais-Queso or Mais con Queso) Some people knock it, but I like it. It's available in Asian/Filipino markets in the freezer section. It's not a staple flavor in my freezer, but it's in the ice cream rotation with Cookies n' Cream, Cookie Dough, Mint Chocolate Chip, and some other flavors.
What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
Submitted by Megan.
Ox Brains.
When I was 18, I visited the Philippines for the first time. I was there on tour as a performer but I was able to spend a little bit of time away from the group to hang out with family -blood relatives that I had never met before. One such relative was my cousin Emil. He's a few years younger than me, but he could get around Metro Manila fairly easily. Emil would meet up with me and our group from time to time at different locations.
One night a group of us went out to eat. Emil, TJ (another Filipino cousin, but a complete stranger to Emil), me, and Tony (one of my best friends in the group) ended up in some outdoor shack that Emil recommended. Emil went to the window to get us some food...and what did he bring back: Ox Brains.
After some coaxing from our host and not wanting to offend any more that we may have by our initial refusal, Tony and I tried a forkful. I don't really remember what the twisty, gelatinous gob of goo tasted like, but I can say that I tried it. TJ did not. He thought that Emil was nuts.
Are there any snacks, food or candy that are no longer made that you desperately miss?
Remember when McDonald's Apple Pies were more like fried apple turnovers? Mmm....
