Honda Ya-Tustin

sashimi bowl

takoyaki

synchronized eating

steamed crab shumai

chicken salad with mayo cod roe dressing

seared tuna with ponzu

zaru tofu

ika sashimi

When asked what cuisine I couldn't live without, my answer comes out pretty readily. It's Japanese. I mean, Spanish is pretty exciting, French is wonderful, Vietnamese is my idea of comfort food. But when it comes down to it, if not for Japanese food, there would be a great big gaping black hole of culinary misery in my life.

What I find really great about Japanese food is that there is a duality about Japanese cuisine--the elegant minimalist side most obviously embodied by sushi and sashimi, which is probably what it most popular. Whoever first decided that fish can be eaten raw, well that person is just miraculous.

But just as wonderful is that Japanese food also includes saucy fatty gluttonous foods that often include all sorts of mayo, deep frying, and big flavors. I'm not sure but I think a lot of Japanese bar food may have developed with the onset of Westernization (think: mayo).

And also presentation: Japanese food is just so beautiful to look at. Japanese sweets are unbelievable. I can hardly eat them, they're so delicately made.

That's not true. I can eat them.

When I was in Japan last Winter we saw these tiny candies (the size of a pinky toenail) with really detailed faces painted on each one.

My family loves Honda- Ya because we can get both sides of Japanese food at once.

We always order takoyaki there, which I think can be qualified as Japanese street food) are these doughy balls of octopus and bonito flakes. I have fond memories of going on a road trip in Japan with my mother's side of the family and stopping at the Japanese equivalent of a truck stop and ordering takoyaki from a street vendor and passing around the styrofoam plate around the car.

My mother always orders the chicken salad at Honda-Ya, which is okay but I think the mayo cod dressing is a little heavy on the mayo for my taste.

Sashimi, of any kind: always good.

Anything with ponzu sauce I will inhale.

Not pictured:

bitter melon, bacon, and stir fried tofu

tanuki udon

side note: it looks as if I may be going to Japan this coming Winter! It's my grandmother's 80th birthday and to celebrate she wants to take a trip to Japan with all her daughters and their daughters. no boys allowed. We're still trying to decide between Vietnam and Japan. I might be rooting for Vietnam since I've never been.

Honda Ya

556 El Camino Real

Tustin, CA 92780

714.832.0081

A Good Gathering

requisite

honey brined chicken

jab chae (glass noodles with vegetables)

bean sprout rice

soups (also requisite)

saeyoung and patricia

marinated tofu

no one ate this but me

i found orange cauliflower at the market and i couldn't resist

butternut squash fries

maple dipping sauce

peanut sauce

my favorite guacamole : thai guac

mango cherry salsa

I love cooking with my mom and sister.  Once in a while we'll have extended family over for large weekend dinners.  We say it will be a simple meal, but it never is.  Simplicity just isn't in our blood.  We meticulously plan. We make several trips to the grocery market (the korean market, the american market, and the last minute trip to Ralph's).  We toil. We barely sit down to eat but somehow manage to gorge until our stomachs are disgustingly rotund.  We then clean for what seems like centuries.  And then we pull out leftovers from the fridge and eat again.  

These make up some of my happiest moments.  We're oddly cheerful when we cook.  We have a sense of collectivity, of doing something together and enjoying what we made together.  Call me sentimental, because there's no denying it, I really am.  

This last Sunday we had one of these large dinners.  I was in charge of appetizers because I believe that's my favorite part of a meal.  I made a Thai guacamole, which is my favorite avocado dish, hands down.  Also, I made a mango cherry salsa, inspired by the fruit we had in the fridge.  Also, butternut squash fries with peanut sauce and a maple dipping sauce.  Saeyoung made a strata, which she will post about very soon (yes, she also blogs here *nudge nudge saeyoung cho).    She also made her famous peach drop cookies, which are always excellent.  Mom, being the faithful Korean that she is made jab chae, spinach soy bean soup, tofu salad and bean sprout rice .  Doc, faithful to his grill, made korean short ribs and a very tender honey brined chicken.  

Very pleasant evening. 

Chocolate Honey Cake with Caramelized Banana Filling and Nutella Frosting

Did you know that I have a brother?  His Name is Brian and he just turned fourteen.  For his birthday I offered to make him a cake.  Brian requested a chocolate cake.  Now, my natural inclination was to add all sorts of things to this simple request for a chocolate cake.  Lavender came to mind.  Sour cherries came to mind.  Caramelized figs and pears with chocolate ganache came to mind.  

But in the end I had to edit myself because as delicious as the previously mentioned flavors seemed to me, I just wasn't confident that they'd suit Brian's palate and it is his birthday after all.  

I came to a compromise.  Caramelized banana filling and a Nutella frosting.  Approachable, right? The idea for the Nutella frosting came first and then bananas came to mind as a good pairing.  And I really do love caramelized fruit of all kinds.  

A small tragedy happened while I was baking this cake.  I really wanted this to be a tall 3-layer cake and everything was going well until I accidently dropped one of the layers and it split.  There's just no salvaging a broken layer of cake.  It won't ice prettily.  Sure I could have left it at a two layer cake, accepted my losses, but I felt almost comically resolute about this having to be a 3-layer cake.  It was about 2 or 3 a.m. and at that hour sometimes I lose a sense of practicality and common sense (though it could be argued that I lack that altogether).  So for me the logical solution was just to bake another three layers of the cake.  Again, I could have done the math to change the measurements to make one layer, but again...loss of common sense.  

I feel like maybe I put at lot of expectations on this cake, like I had high standards for it, or something.  Or maybe I was projecting a lot of tension onto the poor cake. In any case, while I was assembling the cake a small bit of the bottom tore off, the tiniest bit, an imperceptible bit.  I sort of lost it.  With my icing spatula in one hand I sort of leprechauned into the air and had a nano-second tantrum, yelling something about needing the cake to be perfect.  Saeyoung was a shocked witness.  It was weird.  I felt very out of body.  I think I need sleep.  

But yeah, the cake was pretty yummy.  

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup cake flour (you can also use all-purpose if you choose)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons cocoa powder, unsweetened (I recommend Valhrona or Callebaut)

6 ounces dark chocolate, unsweetened (I also recommend Valhrona or Callebaut)

1 stick of butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar + 1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup freshly brewed extra strong coffee

1/2 cup honey

1/4  teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2/3 cup buttermilk

Filling:

5 bananas, sliced at about 1/4 inch rounds

5 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons rums

Icing:

2 1/4 cups Nutella

2 sticks of butter

2 cups confectioners sugar

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1. preheat oven to 350

2. in a double broiler, melt the 6 ounces of chocolate 

3. when the chocolate begins to soften, add the coffee and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and whisk until smooth

4. in a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt and set aside

5. in a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and 3/4 cup of sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy

6. add the honey to the sugar and butter mixture

7. add eggs one at a time

8. add the vanilla

9. alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in three separate additions and fold until just combined. finally fold in the melted chocolate/coffee mixture.

10. divide the batter between three greased and floured 9 inch round cake pans 

11. bake for about 20 minutes

12. invert the layers and let cool completely

13. meanwhile, slice the bananas and melt the butter on a very large saucepan or griddle type pan

14. sprinkle about half the sugar onto the pan

15. arrange the banana slices into a single layer on the pan and sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top

16. let the butter and sugar bubble.  when they look brown and caramelized on one side, flip them

17. add the rum

18. remove from heat when both sides are caramelized

*note : if you do not have a large enough pan, you may need to do this step twice

19. let the banana slices cool

20. meanwhile make the frosting

21. with an electric mixer beat the nutella and butter

22. add the confectioners sugar, vanilla, and salt

23. add the cream

24. when the cakes have completely cooled, arrange one layer on top of a doily

25. take strips of parchment paper and line the sides of the cake by tucking the edges slightly under the cake for easy removal after icing

26. put a layer of caramelized bananas over the layer of cake

27. top with the second layer of cake and again place the bananas on top of that layer

28. place the third and final layer on top

29. ice the cake generously

30. remove the parchment strips

* the chocolate honey cake was adapted from "Sky High Cakes" chocolate almond cake with bittersweet chocolate ganache cake"

Sometimes We Are The Kind Of Family That Barbecues

roasted vegetables and portobello mushrooms for those of us who did not want doc's 2 pound burger patties

the assembly line

despite have an excellent grill, doc prefers this thing

doc doing doc things

ridiculous.  that's about the amount of red meat i eat in a year

balsamic glazed red onion relish

caramelized yellow onions

I think we're not really the kind of family that barbecues.  I think Doc would like us to be.  But once in a while a barbecue can be quite fun.  The weather was perfect for this sort of thing and there were kids in the pool and we were all communally preparing food--it felt very all american.  It felt like fourth of july.  The food was good. The clean up afterwards and general exhaustion afterwards was not.