1600 penn

Inside the White House kitchen.

pretty cool.

for a snippet of WH chefs, see my previous post

vegans need not apply

In addition, or rather, in contrast to being the racial mixing pot that is my immediate and extended nephews and nieces, I have discovered that each has his/her distinct food preferences. 

(1) The fish-lover: my niece Ashlynn. Absolutely loved all my fish market pictures, too. "That's so funny!" she says. Although I am not sure exactly what she finds funny. 

(2) The meat-eater: my niece Sophie. Already notorious for a voracious appetite that belies her diminutive stature. AKA, "vacuum cleaner." Favorite word is "more!"

(3) The vegetarian: my nephew Pierce, aka "chocolate" (so dubbed by my grandparents, who exclaim Obama's election victory as particularly significant for our little "blackasian"). Loves fruits and vegetables.

duck, duck, goose

starfruit, yum

more international fine dining

A couple of years ago my family went on African safari.

I quickly discovered how to tell how long someone has been at a camp:

(a) Noobie status (0-2 days): Will diligently pick out the insects that inevitably bonzai dive-bomb into your soup.

(b) Veteran (2-3 days): Carefully spoons mouthfuls of soup around the drowning insects.

(c) Bushmaster: (4+ days, has read "Out of Africa"): Treats the insects as part of the soup.

Typical table setting:



Animals like it raw:

eating my way around the world: TPE and HK

Ah, pomelos. So delishhhh ...

Taipei food excursions:

Yeh Sushi, Hsinyi and Dunhwa Roads intersection, Taipei (click to enlarge)

Traditional tatami sit-down style:

Best beef noodles IN THE WORD:


More to come from this trip.

desparately seeking shawarma

"Good luck finding good shawarma [in Hawaii]," she said.

Challenge taken. Cut and paste from my reply to shawarma-girl:


I asked my friend who lived in Bahrain and married a Lebanese girl, and this is what he had to say:

"My Mariposa said Schwarmas are Greek, Turkish and Arabic…anyone that wants to open a shop…ha-ha. She claims it actually originated in the Middle East however it is mostly Turkish who specialize in it. Yes, Greeks eat schwarmas…don’t forget to make the yogurt or humus that normally accompanies it. I would analogize it to humus, in that it’s a matter of contention between Arabs, Greeks and Turkish on the founder of schwarma and humus."

Then I recruited my friend who grew up in Michigan, which apparently has the largest Arabic diaspora in the US, to go to this restaurant with me. I think its supposed to be Egyptian (Pyramids is the name of the place ...). They served shawarma ... but, with the bread and meat on separate plates. My friend says that is definitely not authentic.

So next I asked a pretty well-traveled chef I know, dave millen, and he said "go to Olive Tree. It's owned by this guy I think his name is Youbas, and he claims he's Greek but he isn't" (Almost like a well-known local surfboard shaper, Kimo Green, except you go order a board from the guy and find out he is really a haole boy from Philly originally and his real name is Jeff). The key, chef says, is good pita bread - not the fluffy stuff they sell at supermarkets - and good marinade.

I'm at Olive Tree and the shawarma is served inside the bread this time, BUT, in a patty. I thought the meat was supposedly shaved off a rotisserie (which reminds me, really, of Taiwanese sao-way-ma). when i bring this up to millen, he says the shave meat is gyros, but otherwise shawarma and gyros are pretty much the same thing.



Now I'm all wrapped up about shawarma, so I have to go borrow this other chef's book, The Arab Table (she got this book as a gift from another chef, who is a corporate chef for J.W. Marriot, and he'd just returned from a trip to the Middle East -- apparently, this guy's gig is to travel the world opening kitchens at Marriot Hotels). According to The Arab Table, shawarmas are supposed to have shredded meat off a rotisserie, but then the author provides that you can make it at home without shredding the meat, and the key is, indeed, marinating for 2-3 days.

I don't know.

I am surprised that I never had it in Iraq. According to wikipedia, shawarma has been made popular in the United States particularly by American troops returning from deployments in the Middle East. Do you see shawarma? I don't.



I think I am moving on to other big questions for now. Like - people blocking the left lane on highways so you can't pass - but if they are technically within the speed limit (yet impeding the flow of traffic), are you justified in getting annoyed?

the Old Man and the Sea; at the fish market

I believe it was in the introduction to Breakfast of Champions that Kurt Vonnegut summed up his interpretation of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. In The Old Man and the Sea, the old man goes out to sea and, after eight-four days of futility, he comes across and catches a big fish (an eighteen-foot marlin). But the fish being so big, the old man can't haul it into the boat. Instead, he lashes it against the boat and starts heading back to land. Unfortunately, the blood trail of the big fish attracts numerous sharks. By the time the old man reaches land, there is nothing left of the big fish but the bones. The lesson, says Vonnegut, and what the old man should have done upon making his catch, is this: fillet the fish, throw the rest away. 

<*} ) ) > {

Fishing. So instructive.

Having said that, a good fish cutter is hard to find. One who can fillet and get the maximum yield, and quickly. I'd do everything I could to hire that dude if I ran a sushi joint. Nelson shows how its done:

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Its open season for fishing in the main islands.

Most people are not aware that the Hawaiian islands are more than just Oahu, Hawaii (proper) - aka Big Island, Maui (including Lanai), Kauai (including Nihau), and Molokai. The Western Hawaiian Islands stretch the distance of California to Texas. Takes fishermen about 2 weeks just to get out there.

http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PROJECTS/HawaiiReef/hawaiihome.shtml

Some of the goods, including my favorite, TUNA! Grade 1 Bigeye being sashimi quality, followed by Yellowfin (Grade 2), and then Skipjack for poke. The core (small cylindrical extract) allows the buyer to see the fatty content.

The BEST grade 1 tuna is the Bluefin. Unfortunately, the Bluefin is greatly overfished, and quotas, according to the ICCAT, remain too high. Members of "the 46-nation International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas voted in Marrakech, Morocco, to grant a quota of 22,000 tons for 2009. That is 7,000 tons more than what scientists from the same organization had recommended."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/25/new-bluefin-tuna-fishing-quota-criticized-1/

where's the beef?

According to an article in the Economist, Burger King is attempting to challenge Mickey D's status in China as the true "king" of burgers. One problem facing both BK and Mickey D's, however, is the food preferences of the Chinese. The Chinese traditionally are not big fans of beef, preferring, instead, chicken (especially with the mad cow scare some years ago). So, in addition to adding China-specific chicken menu items, BK and Mickey D's are now waging marketing campaigns to promote beef.

Me? I loves me my chicken, too. Fried chicken or herb-roasted. But I am also a fan of beef. Enough so that I am ready to try DK Steakhouse's $79.95, 8oz, kobe-style steak tomorrow night. DK's has its own dry-aging storage, which he's been kind enough to agree to let me take a look at. More from DK's after my visit ...

In the meantime, bringing you the world's most heavily fortified Mickey D's: going to Iraq via Kuwait's Ali Al Salem Air Base ...

Drive-through was not an option.

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DK's dry-aging unit.