Bún

First, a few things about Los Angeles: 

Maybe this is just the area I live in, but all the Vietnamese restaurants in my vicinity are overpriced and not that great.  Sure, they tout being organic and stuff but the pho broth is always lacking flavor and the banh mi sandwiches are always too overstuffed with unnecessary fanciness.  I had no idea Vietnamese was so hip, but of course Los Angeles would adopt Vietnamese cuisine as trendy, of course.  Still, the best Vietnamese food in Southern California is in Westminster's Little Saigon, I think.  Oh Grace, we'll have to go back to Westminster for those crunchy pork spring rolls.  

Okay, strange aside about Los Angeles' ability to ruin things with fanciness, over.  

One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is Bún, which is a combination of vermicelli noodles with picked carrot and daikon, cilantro, nuoc cham, and often topped with a type of meat.  My personal favorite Bún meat is lemongrass chicken.  I've never tried making it but I recently bought some daikon and carrot pickles at Nijiya Market at Sawtelle and thought they'd be put to good use in some Vietnamese food.  I didn't have lemongrass chicken but I did have a frozen salmon filet, which I marinated and baked in a miso/honey/soy sauce glaze.  I baked the salmon before going to school so that I could quickly assemble my dinner when I got home and as a result, Bún was all I could think about all throughout class.  I made a simple nuoc cham out of fish sauce, water, sugar, and lime juice.  I don't think I've ever seen Bún with salmon, but I can't imagine why it isn't done because it was a combination that made a lot of sense to my mouth.  

Another aside: I love cold noodles.  Why aren't there more cold noodles in the world?  It's like eating a carb-y starchy salad.  

Les Figues Garden Party

israeli cous cous with feta, roasted garlic, butternut squash, pine nuts, cranberries, and pine nuts

caramelized onion and goat cheese corn bread

because of this my whole apartment smells like butter and onions

tomato tarte tatin (my go-to recipe)

cupcake tray

devil's food and raspberry cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing

vanilla and fig cupakes with honey cream cheese icing

the icing takes the longest

fig filling

vegan cookies and cream cupcakes 

 cookies and cream icing

Today was the Les Figues Garden Party, from which both my oven and I am recovering from.  There is nothing to say, the photos say it all, I think.  Except, I'll say that the event went well and it was especially lovely because my mom and her husband came and because i got to sit and talk with good friends.  

Penne Pasta With Chicken and Vegetables

I've been meaning to make my own version of Mark Bittman's broccoli rabe pasta and so I offered to cook dinner for my mom and her husband the other night.  Only, when I made it, it was nothing like Mark Bittman's recipe except for the inclusion of garlic slivers and toasted bread crumbs.  I'm was trying to use leftovers in the fridge so instead of broccoli rabe I used broccoli and green beans, oyster mushrooms, and the tiniest bit of bell pepper (mostly for color).  I think the key to this recipe is the bread crumbs toasted with olive oil.  Something about the way the bread soaks up the olive oil is amazing.  Despite having created a decidedly European meal, my mom insisted on eating the pasta with kimchi, because apparently a meal is just not a meal without at least one nod to Korean food.  

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, slivered

1/2 cup broccoli

1/2 cup green beans

1/4 cup bell peppers

1/2 cup roughly torn bread crumbs

salt and pepper

pasta of your choice

1 cup of chicken, cut into strips

2 oyster mushrooms, sliced

shaved parmesan (or cheese of your choice)

1. cook the garlic slivers in a few tablespoons in olive oil until brown and then set aside

2. in the same oil toast the bread crumbs and then set aside

3. blanch broccoli and green beans and set aside in an ice bath

4. cook pasta in salted water and drain

5. saute chicken in a large pan with salt and pepper until browned 

6. add bell peppers and sliced mushroom until cooked

7. add blanched broccoli and green beans

8. add pasta to the pan

9. add 2 tablespoons of olive oil

10. salt and pepper to taste

11. take off heat and toss with garlic slivers and bread crumbs

12. serve with a generous helping of shaved parmesan reggiano

Dirt Can Solve All Your Problems

holy dirt dessert

nancy, in the process of solving all her problem

pleasantly soupy pizza

Cooking with friends is pretty high up on my list of favorite things, and when those friend happen to be Nancy, Janice, and Jeff--well, even better.  Janice and Jeff invited us over to their house to make pizza, which was the simplest thing we could think to make while shopping (and partaking in free samples) at Trader Joe's.  We put fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, bell peppers, and roma tomatoes on our pizza.  Rolling the dough was kind of hilarious and for some reason we could only manage to fill up like  7/8 of the pizza pan.  It looked like someone had sliced off a wedge of our dough.  Besides our pizza turning out inexplicably soupy, the pizza was very delicious, and also very filling.  

For dessert, Janice promised that we'd rid our lives of our metaphorical crutches if we ate holy dirt from New Mexico.  And because this sounded good, we ate it.  It was very gravelly.  

Myers + Chang

I got together with an old friend in the South End at Myers + Chang. They describe themselves as: "We are inspired by Taiwanese soul food and Southeast Asian street food, all done with a great deal of care." 

We were seated at the bar in baby pink bar stools. Though I generally prefer to sit at the table as far away from the kitchen a

s possible, the bar is positioned so that you can watch all the cooking as it happens. It was a lot of fun to watch! 

The very indie waitress advised us that customers generally order family style. Had my family gone to Myers + Chang, her advice would have been very unwelcome, because the portions really weren't "family -sized." As an appetizer, we ordered the sweet potato fritters.  They were absolutely delicious! Though deep fried, they didn't make me feel too guilty. The sweet potato puree inside had a great texture with some small chunks and a surprising spice. 

Anticipating these so called "family portions," Nate and I decided to share an "Rock Scottish Salmon" dish. A small filet of salmon was placed on top a bed of rice. It was topped with ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, cucumbers, scallions, and deep fried garlic strips. 

Nate and I were confused as to what the banana-shaped garnish was. He took one for the team and bit into what we discovered was a large piece of lemon grass. He coughed for several minutes in shock. haha I was relieved the chef drizzled some sweet miso flavored sauce on top of the rice. It was just the right amount! 

More than the food, I think the ambiance was the real winner. It was very hip and young with it's bright colors, eccentric wait staff, and funky flavors. 

The check was delivered in a gold piggy with some cute little marshmallow-like cookies. The price was reasonable, but I'd definitely suggest an entree per person, especially if they have an appetite like mine. They have some fantastic gluten-free and vegetarian options that I'd like ot try next time I visit Myers + Chang.

http://www.myersandchang.com/index.php?p=384

1145 Washington St. 

Boston, MA 

South End 

Chocolate Cupcakes, improved and now only 62 calories!

Okay, so I tried the chocolate cupcakes with a few changes.  I took out the chocolate chips just to make them a little healthier and put less applesauce.  Also i put a little more salt because i have a thing for salty sweets.  The result was a fluffier, lighter, more delicious cupcakes.  And now they are on 62 calories per cupcake! 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1 cup applesauce

1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt plus an extra pinch

1/3 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup splenda

Instructions: follow the same as here

Also, this recipe only seemed to make 7 cupcakes

Umami Burger

tempura onion rings with umami ketchup

so-cal burger

scallop burger

house pickles

I rarely crave red meat, and and I almost never opt for hamburgers but I've been meaning to try Umami burger because I've heard such great things.  I ordered the scallop burger which was maybe a little too wasabi-esque but they were quite generous with their scallops. I was struggling with whether to order the scallop burger or the truffle burger, and I have a feeling I would have liked the truffle burger better. The so cal burger was great with perfectly roasted tomatoes.  The sides were where things kind of fell apart.  The tempura onion rings were too greasy.  Something about the tempura batter wasn't strong enough to hold all that oil.  The fries weren't bad but they were pretty run of the mill.  More importantly for $4, they gave us way too little.  I'm talking like 6 onion rings for $4.  That's just silly.  I ordered the pickles because what goes better with a burger and fries than pickles but something about the overly arranged pickle plate was kind of hilarious.  They're just pickles.  They don't need to look like a Japanese zen garden.  What's worse, I was still pretty hungry after finishing my meal.  I went home and had a bowl of rice with dumpling soup....

That being said, the service was very good.