Coffee Bunny Chronicles

Roast Duck for dinner

2010-09-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

Spring Purples

2010-05-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

Pomegranate and Roasted Pistachio Gelato

Chive Flowers from Larbo's Front Yard

Farmer's Market

Purple Asparagus

Ieat's Chashu

2010-05-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

I followed the chashu recipe to the T (http://ieatishootipost.sg/2009/10/video-blog-ieat-learns-to-cook-chashu.html) and it turned out to be the blandest slab of pork ever. I should have known better.. how could 4 tablespoons of soy sauce & 3 tablespoons of saké be enough to flavor a big piece of pork? Is that why there isn't any shots of the protagonists actually eating the darn thing? Perhaps if I went on to cook some ramen I would have wept into the bowl and it'll taste less bland. Excuse me now while I go re-purpose my boiled pork. Thanks but no thanks guys.

A dinner of piggy parts at Larbo's

2010-02-19T20:23:00.001-08:00

Gnocci

Rolled-up Spleen

Heart & kidney stir-fry

"Velvet Cake"

Poached pear on velvet cake

Larbo met a pig the day before and brought parts of it home, starting with the insides. Hence we were invited to a cook-and-eat dinner. I like innards although J is not a fan. I think we only figured out how to handle the kidney decently (Slice across its length, remove big white vein inside, slice, score slices, soak in white rice wine). So I learnt that all these parts we see so commonly in Singaporean hawker stalls have been through some kind of processing that I can't even begin to understand. My grandma knows how to handle intestines, but I've only enjoyed the finished product and not had a chance to see her at work. Hand me brains and I know what to do with it though. -_-;; Oh well. The health inspector will never allow that. Nor the spleen actually (L: now how did that get into my pocket?). Renée's gnocchi are better than Bouchon's, to us. I got so excited by dessert that I forgot to take pictures of the warm, moist and yummy banana cake. Thank you so much for the great company and food Larbo!

CNY Dinner crib sheet

2010-02-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

Lunar New Year Dinner

2010-02-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

2 roast ducks!

十全食美

一帆风顺

鸿运当头

Digging in!

发财好事

黄金满地

新年快乐！

2010-02-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

新年快到了。You know by the mad rush of chinese people at grocery shops, snapping up much in sight. We weren't any different. Was a good haul, I'm excited. Now about converting it into presentable food..

Accents

2010-01-24T11:19:00.000-08:00

Tell me how much a nation knows about its own language,

and I will tell you how much that nation knows about its own identity.

- John Ciardi

(Quote via http://www.singlishdictionary.com/)

Sunday tea

2010-01-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

I was reading "Eating- A memoir" by Jason Epstein and was most pleasantly surprised to learn that the famous Yuen Ren Chao's wife had a cookbook which he wrote on her behalf in English. It's a real geeky thing to be impressed by, these connexions life makes, but wow.. I knew him as the linguist we quote on Chinese grammatical stuff in my masters thesis.. and now there's Mrs. Chao and her first cookbook to attempt authentic Chinese techniques and recipes in English. It has been two weeks ago since I learnt this and I haven't found anyone who's as excited to know of this but me. The serendipity of it all welling up inside me with no one to appreciate how cool it is. Now that I've come to terms with my un-ebbing excitement about this, I've grabbed a copy off Ebay. Can't wait to see T at the conference and share this little nugget of fun fact with her.

Beaujolais & Boeuf Bourguignon

2010-01-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

It appears that watching "Julie and Julia" inspires this in most of us. It's more effortful to make sure that everything browns properly, including my mushrooms, but the end result is worth it. The taste is a complex, rich beefy brownness, with the red wine and herbs so well integrated that you can't single them out. We used only 1 cup of Syrah and 1 cup of beef stock. So in the end there wasn't a need to reduce the sauce. I liked how the carrots tasted, so I'll use more next time.

Seared tuna over rice

2010-01-24T10:34:00.001-08:00

The Pike Brewery

2010-01-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

Monk's Uncle tripel ale & Pike Stout

Pacific Manila clams & Penn Cove Mussels

四季 (Shiki) Sushi, Seattle

2010-01-15T13:41:00.000-08:00

Chef Ken's deft hands

Omakase sashimi

Tonkatsu

Chawanmushi

View from top of the hill

We found our way to this rather hole-in-the-wall japanese restaurant. The food is fresh and perfectly done without pretense. The scallops were the sweetest I've tasted so far, and J's really happy with his Tonkatsu. The place is empty-ish; there was another couple who left soon after we came in, and then there was a regular who walked in by himself, sat at the bar, ordered sushi, and then a sashimi. Finally, no one's asking for rolls. It was an off-season just after the new year so Chef Ken was forthright about the lack of variability in the ingredients. There wouldn't be any fresh uni as the fishermen haven't really gone back to work, live sweet shrimp and fugu was of course out of the question. If I do return one day, I'll make sure to make special orders for those items if they are in season. We chatted a little with Chef Ken, and he learnt that we were visiting from out of town. After we were done with the meal, he tried to tell me in a mixture of Japanese, English and hand gestures to go climb up the hill. "Go up until you see the flashing yellow light, turn left, and there will be a vast expense of the city skyline." is what I figured from his gestures and animated enthusiasm. Granted, I did hear "yellow", "blinking" and "left" in there somewhere. If left to his own devices however, J would not have deciphered a thing. Good that we all have our strengths. :) A steep climb up the hill after a sumptuous Japanese meal was new for me. Doubts did cross my mind. 'Why the chef wanted me to spill all that wonderful food on the hillside?' 'Did I really understand what he said??' At the end of it however, left after the yellow blinking lights, was a breath-taking view of the Seattle skyline indeed. Life is good.

Lai Lai, Seattle Chinatown

2010-01-15T13:19:00.000-08:00

Century egg congee in claypot

Wanton mee

Dumplings

A pink-tinged spoon

What a lovely find. I was craving congee as I do whenever I'm within a mile of any Chinatown, so we found this place that serves them in a claypot. I think the last time I had congee in a claypot involved frog's legs at Geylang. Long time ago. Anyhow, best congee I had on the trip so I was hardly distracted by the other items. According to J, the wanton mee and dumplings were Cantonese style. He finished half of the bottle of red vinegar with the noodles. Lai Lai sells their homemade dumplings and noodles too, which I thought was really cool.

Uwajimaya, Seattle

2010-01-15T12:50:00.001-08:00

Sashimi

Ootoro

Kumamoto oysters

Beard Papa

I could live here! It's like the perfect Japanese supermarket, there's fresh sashimi, live seafood, oysters, cooked foods like grilled black cod, tempura everything, and so on. Oh, and Beard Papa cream puffs. There's no other cartoon mug of a man that excites me more than his. It sounds just slightly pathetic, since it's not that uncommon back home. But even then, I have to have one every time I pass a Beard Papa outlet. Tastes pretty much the same too. I shared one this time, and thought back when I could scarf down half a dozen in a day- I'll have a vanilla, then a chocolate, and then decide I like vanilla better. Haha. Oh here they list the caloric value. I'm actually surprised it's only 220 calories each. Almost makes me want to have another. And there was a nice security guard guy standing next to Beard Papa who offered me a packet of soy sauce after I opened my box of sashimi. Thank you sir, I only stopped short of the next step because I didn't know where to pour the soy sauce since the tray was covered by shrink wrap and not the usual clear plastic lid. The guard also watched shopping carts for ladies who were shopping alone. How sweet! Wished I had more time to hang out at Uwajimaya, there's Kinokuniya in there too, and it would have been nice to just idly wander the aisles and ogle at kawaii japanese stationery. Ahhh.. being in such a place just restores a sense of balance and equilibrium within me.

Bamboo Sushi, Portland

2010-01-15T12:14:00.000-08:00

Daiginjo flight

Sashimi

Tempura Udon

The sashimi is so-so. The udon is a tiny portion, cold and the egg was sour, like it was poached in vinegar. I don't think it's normal. Perhaps we should have stuck to rolls, since that's what people here eat mostly anyways. Between delicious and sustainable, at least Bamboo sushi was one of them.

Coffeehouse Northwest, Portland

2010-01-10T21:45:00.000-08:00

Most excellent cup of cappuccino. The barista even looked in my direction after I took and sip and asked how it was. Marvelous. And I loved your latte art too.

Typhoon, Portland

2010-01-10T21:26:00.000-08:00

Lamb shank

Tom Yum noodles

Stir-fried vegetable

It was a chilly evening and we walked into a nearby Thai food restaurant, thinking that something spicy might warm us up. It was promising initially, we saw Thai cooks working in the kitchen and there were delicious aromas wafting from its direction. Unfortunately every single item presented to us was too sweet; it's American Thai food, not Thai Thai food. At the end of the meal we were left with a sick cloying feeling of having had a dessert version of a meal and not real food. I wonder if people realise how much sugar they are inadvertently consuming.

Bouchon at Yontville

2010-01-10T20:47:00.000-08:00

Pistachios and butter

Epi Baguette

Gnocchi

Steak Frites

The gnocchi seems to be many people's favorite, but we found it lacking in flavor. The fries accompanying steak frites were indeed crisp and tasty. The caramelized shallots helped the flatiron steak. The house red is by winemaker Celia Welch and was the highlight of our evening.

Wishes for 2010

2009-12-31T23:01:00.001-08:00

Happy 2010!

Hog Island Oysters, Oxbow Market

2009-12-31T22:56:00.000-08:00

Buster's Southern BBQ, Calistoga

2009-12-31T22:35:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-31T21:51:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-31T21:33:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-31T21:26:00.000-08:00

Wine Dogs

2009-12-31T21:13:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-27T23:31:00.000-08:00

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

Roasting and grilling!

2009-07-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Summer zucchini, fennel, multi-color cherry tomatoes

Kebabs

Beef Short Ribs

Cupping at Columbia Street Roastery

2009-07-25T20:23:00.001-07:00

Desthil's Beer Battered Cod

2009-06-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T09:53:00.001-07:00

猪脚冻 (Pork Trotter Jelly)

2009-04-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T12:13:00.001-07:00

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.

Dinner with friends

2009-04-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Lobster Claw on Sushi Rice

Mushroom soup

Creme Brulee

Had some friends over for dinner, some pictures of what we had.

Weekend Brunch

2009-04-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

Mushroom Swiss Omelette

Brown Sugar Pepper Bacon

Sunday Morning Fried Rice

Columbia Street Roastery Espresso Crema

What we had for brunch this weekend. Got new coffee beans from a local roastery instead of our usual Black Cat from Intelligentsia. It's got marvellous golden nectery crema. Taste-wise, I prefer the sweet syrupy cocoa flavors of Black Cat. Nice to have variety. Ok, now onto uploading some stuff I haven't kept up with blogging..

Clouds in my coffee

2009-03-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

Leaf

Twig in a heart

E.T.?

Fire-breathing Dog

Rabbit?

Was an apple, but I took a sip & it's a strawberry now

Heart

Red & Green

2009-03-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

Rosemary Ribeye

Roasted Red-skin Potatoes

Roasted Kale

Broccoli Rabe

Some usual suspects which make regular appearance on our dining table.

Steak is first browned on a cast iron pan to get a nice crust, then sent into the oven to cook further. Medium-rare is how I like it. Red-skin potatoes are tossed with olive oil, salt & black pepper, & roasted. Cooking for Engineer's website explains the process well. Kale is tossed with olive oil & salt & roasted in oven too, takes a mere 10 minutes or less. Broccoli rabe is simply boiled like Kai Lan or Cai Xin, then tossed with oyster sauce. Is as good stir-fried with salt & garlic.

Lazy Sunday

2009-02-15T14:12:00.001-08:00

Big Prawn Mee

2009-02-14T15:32:00.001-08:00

One of my favourite hawker food is big prawn mee at Zion Road Food Centre. Every time I visit the uncle will go, 美女，好久不见eh! Which is kind of embarrassing and funny at the same time. I've tried sending J to buy the prawn noodles when we're there, but then he doesn't seem to get as big a portion as I do for the same price. :| Anyhow, what I love about the Zion Road prawn mee is the aromatic broth, which is savory, peppery, and brimming with prawn-y flavor. Plus Uncle's cheerful and generous, sending me off with, 要汤可以来拿! I take up the offer and always go back for second servings of hot peppery broth. I have tried other prawn mees, including the famous one at Cambridge Road Hawker Centre, but I found the latter sweet, like there's a little too much sugar in it.

So there comes time when a girl starts getting nostalgic for some prawn soup, but is far from home and has to try making some of her own. This dish has been two months in the making, because of the sheer amount of prawn shells needed to cook up a good broth. For the past months I've been religiously accumulating prawn shells in the freezer. We've even switched to buying raw shell-on prawns even though they're inconvenient just so that I can collect shells. We managed to buy some nice biggish raw frozen prawns with heads on, and some exorbitant Californian Kang Kong from our local Asian grocery. Two lobsters were also sacrificed in this quest. First we stir-fried the prawn and lobster shells, then boiled up the broth with pork, shallots, garlic, white peppercorns and star anise. By the end of it, the broth had a concentrated prawn-ammonia-lobster bisque-like smell. The final product pretty much resembles the prawn mee I know and love. Yup, I went back to my pot for a second serving of piping hot broth.

Weekends

2009-02-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

Penguin Shallots

I love the weekends. I don't have to rush out of the house in the morning, I can sip my mug of coffee slowly, think about what I'll like to get done that day (the plotting and scheming about what's on the menu is usually done by Friday evenings. Told you I can't stop thinking about food, right?) During weekends we cook leisurely, try out new recipes, then analyze & savour the fruits of our labour. The first try is usually not perfect, we typically discuss what what we've learnt and what to tweak on the next try. Today is no different. Something's brewing in my pot..

Alio e Olio: Weeknight Staple

2009-02-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

Being busy grad students with not much of a life outside research (I jest, but then again, not that much). Our days end pretty late, and by the time we get out of class/ lab, it's pretty dark out, even at 5pm (yah, that's Winter for you, people). So it's kinda depressing, hunger-cum-grouchiness-inducing (Did I mention that I can get reeeally grouchy when I'm hungry?) So here is a weekday night staple we have every week or so. Some people may claim that it's very simple to make but it took quite a few trials before we got our Alio Olio the way we like it. Sorry you purists out there, in Singapore it is referred to Alio Olio. At least it's still commonlty found, for here I'm only seeing cream-based or tomato-based sauces.

Dim Sum Brunch

2009-02-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

Being stuck here while my friends jet off back to Asia during the Winter break to hang out with family and have delicious food is just a tad depressing. Don't even ask me what they ate. Unfortunately I know. Arrgh.

The other incident that sparked this off was the discovery that frozen Xiao Long Bao can be decent. I mean, how cool is that? J spotted a pack at our local rip-off Asian grocery store (they once charged me US$1 for 3 stalks of green onions, Kang Kong (Water Spinach) costs US$5.50 a small bundle, that's SG$8 for Kang Kong!), and we decided to give it a try. It turned out pretty good! Even in Singapore many places which sell Xiao Long Bao cannot make it, so this is an exciting discovery indeed. Then we thought about how good it'll be to have some dim sum. Heck, we can try to make some, right?

So the past week was spent experimenting with making our own dim sum. After a week of trial and error, we created some delicious dim sum for Sunday brunch with friends.

Siew MaiThe Siew Mai has a whole shrimp in it, with pork, shrimp & mushroom mixture. They were kinda jumbo too, with a generous topping of fish roe.

Beef Balls with Water ChestnutsThe beef balls were infused with fresh ground ginger and cilantro. The black moss might be an extra thing, but it was fun adding it. Oh, the beef balls are sitting on braised Fu Zhok.

Xiao Long Bao

Disclaimer: We didn't make the XLB. But no one asked for seconds of it. Hehe.

Pork Ribs with Black Bean Sauce

Turnip Cake

Turnip cake turned out beautifully at our second try. The first was lacking in flavor because the turnip we bought didn't have much taste to it. So we were careful about selecting our turnips the second time around. It's rather traditional and has Chinese sausage and dried shrimp in it. Those were bought from our Hong Kong eating/shopping trip.

Braised Egg with Molten Core

Yes, this is not exactly a traditional dim sum dish at all. We used to either go to a dim sum place or Maratuma for ramen with soft-core egg on lazy Sunday brunches while we were in Singapore. Hence the braised egg found its way onto our menu because it's a Sunday brunch thing for us.

"Malay Cake"

We had some amazing "Ma-Lai Gou" at a dim sum place when we were in Hong Kong last year. It had the fragrance of burnt sugar, and was springy in texture. We were pretty puzzled it's called Ma-Lai Gou cos it wasn't like any Malay kueh we've tried before. It's more like Ji Dan Gao (steamed egg cake), but better. (I guess this kind of "inspiration creation" happens all the time, just like the Singapore Spice, but I'll leave that for another time). So anyhow, we were so enamored of this cake that we want to make our own. The amazing thing is that it has a taste reminiscent of molasses and brown sugar but those aren't in the ingredients list. There's honey in it though. What you're seeing is attempt #4. I know it doesn't look very pretty, but yum.

Coffee Jelly with Vanilla Ice Cream

Another non-traditional dim sum item. It's more of a Japanese dessert. Also reminds me of when Starbucks had coffee jelly drinks.

Har Kao

This is a lonely looking Har Kao which never made it onto the menu. We weren't satisfied with how the skins turned out, so it goes on the to-do list. Hopefully we'll master making thinner skins in due time.

Morning Coffee

2009-01-27T23:24:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned before that I get a coffee made for me every morning? This is how it looked like. To me it's a white shelled turtle who's gotten ahead of the hare and is, erm, looking left.

Happy 牛 year.

2009-01-25T21:39:00.000-08:00

Being amid cornfields is not very festive or Chinese New Year-like, but we make do. Today we had a meal of braised pork, soft-core eggs, tofu and salted vegetable with rice noodles. Almost feels like we've got our own personal Chinese grandma watching out for our tummies already. The braise gravy was prepared the night before so that the aromas of the galangal, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, sichuan peppercorns, soy sauce, etc can come together. This gravy is such a thing of beauty. Once created, it can be used again for duck, vegetables such as kailan, and it is heavenly over a hot bowl of porridge. The slight spoiler is that our pork belly today did not have any skin on it! We bought it from a Korean supermarket and perhaps pork bellies for their use mostly do not involve the skin. This is rather strange to me given that the pork skin such a crucial part of the pork belly experience! I kind of feel cheated that our pork skin has been stolen, the dish would have been much better with sheets of pork skin sitting there springy and chewy in our wonderful braise sauce. That being said, as happy endings go, I do hope that our pork skin is in a happy place re-birthed as crisp crackling or as a puffy deep fried snack which will make someone's day.

Hi there

2009-01-25T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hi. I guess today is about as auspicious as any to start a blog, so here it is. :) This will be mostly about food, hopefully good food, maybe, just maybe a bit of life as it sneaks up on me now and then. But mostly food. Since that's what I think about all day anyways.

Good that you can join me. Make yourself at home, have a coffee, and enjoy.