Wishes for 2010

Happy 2010!

Hog Island Oysters, Oxbow Market

Buster's Southern BBQ, Calistoga

Pork ribs

Beef tri-tips

Our first southern bbq. Seems like it just has a dry rub, and is served with sauce on the side. We like it because you can taste the original meat flavors.

Scopa

Grilled calamari

Meatballs with smoked mozzarella in tomato sauce

Nonna's tomato-braised chicken with sauteed greens & toasted polenta

Pizza Margherita

Wonderful meal at Scopa. Pipping hot meatballs and braised chicken served in cast iron pan and pot. Great for a cold wet evening. We couldn't bring ourselves to finish the pizza though. Crust was dry and cheese didn't taste fresh. Overall 5/5 if we ignore the pizza.

Hitching Post II

Had the best seat in the house where the action is.
Didn't really understand the raw vegetable appetizer.
Bean soup. Was ok.

24oz. Angus Rib Chop. The grilling gets a nice char on the steak. Wished it was better quality beef, supposed to be cornfed midwestern beef, and it tastes the same as that from Meijer back in Champaign.

Fatted Calf at Oxbow Market

Wine Dogs

A long train ride with chicken soup at the end of the tunnel

Drive-by shooting of scenes from train car on the California Zephyr. Pho Ga from An Nam restaurant in San Jose.

Roasting and grilling!

Summer zucchini, fennel, multi-color cherry tomatoes

Kebabs

Beef Short Ribs

Cupping at Columbia Street Roastery

Desthil's Beer Battered Cod

We love Desthil's fish & chips. For $10.50 you get 4 big pieces of cod with crispy potato wedges served with a grilled lemon. I tried the Top Sirloin with mashed potatoes & sautéed green beans ($15.95) and it was good for a restaurant steak too. Nicely medium rare. It's great to see people busying with the brewing tanks, holding charts and tasting stuff out of the tanks. Something I never see at Brewerkz no matter what time of day the numerous times I've been there. I'm excited about Desthil coming to Champaign. :)

A heart and a leaf

猪脚冻 (Pork Trotter Jelly)

I remember having this dish at my grandma's when I was little, and I always craved it years after. It's a Teochew thing to make pork jelly, and I think it's a brilliant idea. Especially if you know how much we like to have porridge. It pairs excellently with plain porridge, and is really convenient because after you have a batch of pork jelly, all you need is a bowl of porridge and it's a meal. It's also like paté, and good for a snack. I have not found 猪脚冻 anywhere outside of my grandma's kitchen. Perhaps some obscure hawker stall in Chinatown might have it, I'm not certain. Well, the best thing to do if you want something is to make it yourself. So here is the first recipe I'm posting. Most recipes online are in Mandarin, and are more basic, this is our version flavored the way we like. 

猪脚冻 (Pork Trotter Jelly)

Pig's trotters ~3.5lbs 

Fish sauce  1/2 cup

Sugar 90g

Garlic, 1 head, peeled into cloves

White peppercorn, cracked, 1T

Star anise, 4

Cloves, 4

Cilantro, as many stalks as you like

Gelatin, 3/4 sachet

1. Boil pig trotters in water to get rid of the scum. Then wash them.

2. Using a fresh pot of water, add pig trotters, fish sauce, sugar, garlic cloves, cracked peppercorns, star anise, cloves and cilantro. Boil till the trotters are soft, about an hour.

3. Retrieve the pork trotters and shred the skin, tendon, and meat into a 9x9 glass baking dish.

4. Remove fats from soup and sieve it.

5. Add gelatin to boiling soup. When gelatin is dissolved, pour into baking dish.

6. Refrigerate. When gelatin is set, slice to serve.

Denver & home thereafter

Was in Denver for conference, mostly hung around the CBD due to that. Had a fantastic time trying food within walking distance of where I was. We wondered what issues the blue bear might have.

Panzano's

The first evening there I had a nice dinner at Panzano's. Above is the sweets we shared: Chocolate Mousse Tart and Crostata di Rabarbaro, a strawberry rhubarb tart in oatmeal crust. My main course was a seafood stew which I enjoyed immensely. 

Biker Jim's Gourmet Hot Dog Stand

Who can miss Biker Jim's hotdogs? I stood in queue for about 20 minutes for my reindeer hotdog. I love the idea of caramelized onions on my dog. I guess I must say that it's the best hotdog I've had from a stand, even though there were some charred bits on my dog. Reindeer just has a heavier, earthier flavor (臊味) than other more common meats. If only I had the time to try all the different kinds of hotdogs..

Cafe Berlin

The other wonderful meal was a early dinner at Cafe Berlin. The waiter was knowledgeable, intelligent, and made good recommendations. We had a beer sampler, I had a very delicious split pea soup and Jagerschnitzel (breaded veal cutlet with mushroom cream sauce). My companions had pork chops and Rouladen. 

The Return Home

It was only three days away, but I sure miss home and my bed! J picked me up at the airport, and there was dinner at home waiting for me! :) Duck is one of my favorite meats and one which is not easy to get right whether at home or outside. J roasted it till the outside was crispy and prepared a herbal sauce as accompaniment. The Suncé Pinot Noir paired well with the duck. I even saved the carcass and it became..

Four-bird Soup 

The Teochew in me loves Salted Vegetable Duck soup. And generally soups which have tomatoes in them, which gives it the salty-sweet-sour taste. With my leftover fowls, I boiled Szechuan vegetable (didn't have salted vegetable at hand) and a bunch of tomatoes, a few slices of ginger, some cloves of garlic. The end result is a flavourful broth J christened "四鸟汤 (Four-bird soup)". It's great to be home.