skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Today is THE day to celebrate the color of red - for love and for luck!
I'm not that superstitious, but there are certain things I do each year to kick off the lunar new year to a good start. Some of them may sound strange, but tradition is tradition:
- Don't wash your hair today
- Don't cut your nails or hair today
- Wear new pajamas to bed
Basically, the new year comes with good luck, and you don't want to get rid of it by washing or cutting it off. And of course you want to start fresh by wearing new pj's. Let's kick off the year of the Tiger right!
As for VDay, my husband and I aren't that into it, partly because it's a "greeting card day." But I'd make a special breakfast to set a romantic tone for the day, like:
Happy Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year!!!
I had a lot of yogurt left over from baking Martha Stewart's Spiced Carrot Cake, so I turned to her trusty recipe vault and found a Superfood Smoothie that would put to good use the blueberries, oranges and yogurt I had in my refrigerator.
I'm not afraid of fat (hence my love for ice cream and potato chips - it all comes down to moderation), so of course I used full-fat yogurt. It was a delicious and healthy recipe, and was a very satisfying meal. I'd make it again any time.
I have a lot of carrots and was trying of ways to use them. I had used them in savory dishes - my turkey spring rolls, carrot soup and Vietnamese spring rolls, but I still have about 3 pounds left. So I turned to the trusty Martha Stewart recipe vault and found a sweet application for the carrots - Spiced Carrot Cake, which I made in mini bread pans. 
The recipe wasn't bad, but it didn't have the combination of spices I had imagined - it called for only one spice: either cardamom or cinnamon. Personally, I would use both spices and add nutmeg, or just use all-spice. On the plus side, the cake was moist with the help of yogurt and oil. That said, I don't see myself returning to the Spiced Carrot Cake recipe again.
I thought Tony Bourdain was a straight forward, no nonsense kind of guy, a man of integrity and pride. So I thought his show (one of my favs, by the way) was independent - no product placements, no features on restaurants paid by management. I was wrong.
Last week, while I was watching the Prague episode with my husband, a scene showed Bourdain paying for a delicious meal with a card. My husband and I both had the same thought and immediately turned to each other. What was it, what was wrong? It was a close up shot of a Chase Sapphire card! Not so subtle huh. Then a commercial followed, and what commercial was it? Take a wild guess.
Did you spot it too?
I have trust issues, especially when it comes to ground meat. It is somewhat of a mystery to me what they put into meat that's been processed. What part of the pig or cow did they use? Did they add anything extra? Who knows?! So I decided to grind my own meat. That way, I know what went into my meat, and I can control the amount of fat that goes into the ground meat.
Since I've been dabbling into pork, I decided to make ground pork. I put my trusty KitchenAid to the challenge with the help of the food grinder attachment. It wasn't an easy or a clean task, but I thought it was well worth it for a peace of mind.
I got some pork shoulder and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes after I cut it into cubes. Briefly freezing the meat makes the grinding process a bit easier - the meat is more firm and less sticky. I started off the first pass with a coarse grind, and wanted to follow with a second pass with the fine grind. The coarse grinding was much easier than the fine grinding, which took a lot more time, so I decided to just do half of the meat in the fine texture. I then mixed the two evenly to make sure I had equal distribution throughout, and it came out well in the end. Instead of making the usual delicious Turkey Dumplings, I made Pork Dumplings with the ground meat!
Japanese pork bun enthusiasts swear by those by Momofuku or Ippudo. My preference? Ippudo, hands down.
The Japanese pork buns of these two rivals have delicious pork sandwiched between so-called Peking duck pancakes (I don't agree with the pancake label, but that's another story). What makes Ippudo my pick? Their delicious sauce that makes the pork so moist and succulent. Ippudo's pork bun (Hirata Bun) is a slice of pork belly with lettuce, mayo and a spicy sauce wrapped in a steamed bun. The lettuce adds freshness and a crunchy texture to the soft pork belly. And as if the pork isn't rich enough already, they had to add mayo to seal the deal. While Momofuku's pork bun is good and its slice of pork belly is thicker, it didn't pack as much of a punch as Ippudo's. Ippudo's sauce kicked Momofuku to the backseat - it has a touch of spiciness and is flavorful but not overpowering, and there's just the right amount of sauce to perfectly complement the pork.
If you look at Momofuku's version above, you'll see a rather thick piece of pork that's pretty light on sauce. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but just not as good as Ippudo's. If there is a word I can use to describe what distinguishes Ippudo's pork bun from Momofuku's, it's harmony - it has that melt in your mouth goodness.
My brother and I have been debating over which Japanese noodle joint in NYC is the best. We have visited both Ramen Setagaya and Ippudo, supposedly the two best picks in the city because they are ramen chains straight from Japan. Surprisingly, we agreed on most of the points, the biggest of which is Ippudo's delicious pork buns (to all the Momofuku proponents out there - David Chang's pork buns aren't THE best, and same for his ramen for that matter). Despite Ippudo's less than perfect ramen, we would be happy to return any time for its pork buns (more on the buns in another post).
Back to the Ippudo vs. Ramen Setagaya debate. Here is my assessment: on the noodle front, Ramen Setagaya wins; on the broth front: Ippudo wins. I've tried both the Akamaru Modern and Shiromaru Hakata Classic at Ippudo (bad photo below from a weak camera I borrowed). The former has a bolder flavor with the use of miso paste while the latter is a classic ramen, but both use the same house-made average at best noodles. I knew their noodles were off at first bite - the exterior was fine, but the interior I thought was rather gummy. It simply didn't have the luscious feel I was expecting from noodles.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed Ippudo's broth, which I thought was less greasy as Ramen Setagaya's. If it weren't for Ippudo's pork buns, I would not frequent Ippudo more than Ramen Setagaya. I do have to say that since making noodles is such a fine art, I would have to vote for Ramen Setagaya as having the best ramen in NYC. I know I'll continue to debate over these two ramen joints with my brother. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
Posts
