Palak Challenged

Cooked a couple Indian dishes for dinner tonight: a lamb stew/curry and palak paneer. The lamb dish was a first attempt, and with the pressure cooker to boot (a wedding gift that's sat unused for the past three years). C and I both thought that it turned out very well, and given that there's virtually nothing to it other than throwing prepped ingredients into the pot, it will probably be entering my standard repertoire.

And just so I have a record of it somewhere, here's the recipe:

1. Mix well in bowl:
   • 1 lb. of meat (I used boned shoulder of lamb) in 1" cubes,
   • 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
   • 1" piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
   • 1 medium-sized tomato, peeled and finely chopped
   • 1-2 fresh, hot green chiles, cut into fine rings (do not remove seeds) 1 teaspoon chili powder
   • 1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
   • 2 teaspoons garam masala
   • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
   • 1/4 cup plain yogurt
   • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
   • 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in pressure cooker and saute 4 finely chopped cloves of garlic till medium brown.
3. Add seasoned meat and stir a few times
4. Cover pressure cooker and cook lamb for 15 minutes at full pressure.
5. Reduce pressure quickly. Uncover and cook over high heat, stirring gently until the sauce is thick.
6. Sprinkle with black pepper and stir again.
7. Eat.

The other dish, unfortunately, was not as successful. This was my third attempt at palak paneer and the best so far, but still no where close to what you'd get at a restaurant. I tried following a friend's recipe this time, but it was fairly obvious as I got close to the end that it just wasn't going to be right. I'm also not familiar enough with the ingredients to figure out how to fix it and get the desired result.

If anyone has a foolproof method of making good palak paneer, I'd love to learn.

Pastrami

I was in NYC over a month ago and I'm still dreaming of a meal I had there! What I wouldn't give to have another pastrami sandwich from Katz's Deli. The juiciest, most delicious pastrami I've ever had. Mmmm...

Churn

Tried my hand at making ice-cream over the weekend. For my first solo attempt, I thought I'd try something a little different so I took a basic vanilla ice-cream recipe and added a twist: after heating up the cream, milk and vanilla bean, I steeped a couple bags of Mighty Tea's Marrakesh mint green tea before continuing on as prescribed.

I'm pretty surprised with the results, because the flavor of the tea really came through. So much so that the mint overpowered the vanilla, which was a bit of a disappointment. I like the idea of using tea to flavor food and will have to try it again.

Coffee in Juneau

If you ever happen to be in Juneau, Alaska and are looking for a good cup of coffee, check out the Heritage Coffee Company. They've a couple locations in town and they roast their own beans. Bonus points for offering free wifi!

Kotetsu

On my way to the airport, I decided to give Kotetsu another try. Knowing it's exact location made it so much simpler this time, which was fortunate because it was raining and I did not have an umbrella with me.

Unfortunately for me, the menu was in Japanese only, and the waiter wasn't very good with English. The two basic choices were soba or udon, and I opted for soba and just went with the waiter's recommendation, which I understood to be soba with daikon.

What I got were two courses. The first one was a small bowl with soba in a hot broth, and the second was a big bowl with soba in a cool broth and daikon on top. I can't say I was terribly impressed. Especially from a place that had been given a Michelin star. The hot soba was a little soft, and both were ... very subtly flavored? Perhaps I'd just ordered the wrong thing for my tastes.

In any case, after lunch it was off to the airport to catch the plane back home.

Third Time's A Charm

Woke up at 5:00am today again to go the Tsukiji Fish Market for sushi. And finally! got there around 6:00am and still had a 40 minute wait. This place is truly tiny, with a long bar that only fits about twelve tightly packed people at a time.

And was it worth it? Having to wake up at such an ungodly hour (and if you know me, you also know how unlike me this would be) and still having standing in line? In a word: yes. This place showed me how amazingly good sushi can be. The biggest surprise I've had here is how tasty ama-ebi can be in, something I was never particularly fond of until I tried it here. Don't worry, I won't bore you with pictures of sushi.

Since we were there so early, we were able to watch the tuna auctions:

After this, it was back to the hotel. The wife had to get back to work, and I had to finish packing.

Back To Work

The wife had to go in to work today, but she did sneak out for lunch with me. We attempted to go to Kotetsu, which is supposedly well-known for their soba. It also recently got a Michelin star for its soba kaiseki, which is only served at dinner, but if it's good for dinner it must also be good for lunch, right?

Unfortunately, it took us forever to find the place, and by the time we'd located it with the help of some locals, they'd already closed for lunch. What a waste.

On our way back to the subway station, we ran across another tonkatsu restaurant, and thought we'd give it a try. It was good, but perhaps not quite as good as Maisen.

After lunch, the wife headed back in to work, and I went to Shinjuku to check out a couple used camera stores in the hopes of finding some gear for cheap. In theory, with everyone in Japan always on to the latest and greatest, the slightly old and used can be had at a steal. No such luck (at least for DSLR-related stuff). Everything in Japan costs more, including their used gear.

So it was back to the hotel and work for me as well. Not for long though, as we had a 7:00pm reservation at Rokusantei, the original Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba's flagship restaurant in Ginza. On our wait out, we ran into Mathieu, one of the wife's co-workers who'd just flown in and invited him to join us.

What can I say about Rokusantei... It was a novel, tasty, delightful surprise. Delicious in a distinctly Japanese way. There were nine courses in a wonderful progression of flavors. The highlights for me were the chawanmushi, the ultra-fresh uni (which was still moving!), the salad, and the beef. The uni in particular was a real surprise because I'm not usually a big fan, but this time I found the flavor to be very light and sweet. Oishii!

On our way home, we walked by Dalloyau, a pâtisserie well known for their macarons. Even as stuffed as we were, just the sight of those little morsels of scrumptiousness had me salivating. I would definitely have bought some, were it not for the fact that they were already closed. C'est la vie.

Sakur-a-choo!

We woke up at 6:00am this morning to eat some sushi at the Tsukiji Fish Market and we still weren't early enough. By the time we got there, it was a little over 7:00am, and it was a three hour wait for a seat!

There's a specific place I always go to for sushi here, and for the past couple years it's gotten extremely popular because it got listed in a few guide books.

Since the wife didn't want to wait around for that long, we decided to try again tomorrow and looked for breakfast in the outer Tsukiji Market. It's been something I've wanted to do anyway, but never got around to it because I always go for the sushi. We ended getting ramen instead, and wandered around trying out whatever caught our fancy.

After breakfast, the sakura hunt was on. First stop: Ueno Park. We decided to skip the museums there, so we didn't spend too much time at this park, but we did enjoy walking down the sakura-lined main avenue and wandering around the lake.

From there, we hopped on the subway and made our way over to Kudanshita, where we were distracted by all the food vendors along the path to the Yasukuni Shrine before making our way to our original destination: Chidorigafuchi, the north-eastern moat of the Imperial Palace, and Kitonamaru Park. After that, it was just a short walk over to the Imperial Palace East Garden.

Unfortunately for me, yesterday's allergic reaction was only a hint of the horrors to come, and by this point in the day, I was seriously suffering from teary eyes and a constantly running nose. My sneezes were also drawing same dark looks from the Japanese around me. I've been cursing myself for not thinking of bringing my allergy meds especially since I was here to see the sakura blossoms. *sigh*

So we decided to head on back to the hotel, where the wife had seen a pharmacy, in the hopes of obtaining something to get my allergies under control. But since we didn't really want to call it quits just yet, we went by way of the Tokyo station, where we did a bit of exploring in its bowels. Which may or may not explain this shot:

While at the Daimaru department store in the Tokyo station, we also picked up a couple bento boxes for a late lunch, which we ate when we got back to the hotel. The amount and variety of food available in the basement of Japanese department stores is just staggering.

A short nap and some allergy meds later, we headed back out, this time to the Roppongi district. We walked around for a bit, saw the Maman (Louise Bourgeois' spider sculpture), and decided it was time for dinner.

I'd randomly picked a restaurant out of the guidebook we had, and as luck would have it, they were out of business. Instead of looking for something else around Roppongi, we decided to go to the Sakura Onsen in Sugamo. They had a restaurant there as well, so after dinner we both soaked for an hour in the glorious hot hot baths.

We'd "discovered" this onsen through our concierge, and was one I hadn't been to before. It's definitely my favorites in Tokyo at this time. It's much cheaper than both Oedo Onsen in Odaiba and LaQua Spa in the Tokyo Dome and have baths that go up to 42°C. The only downside is that they close at 11:00pm and don't have a steam room on the men's side. Oh, and the restaurant is only so-so.

All in all, a good day. The soak at the onsen was the cherry on top.

Back in Tokyo!

The wife's working in Tokyo for the a couple weeks and convinced me (it didn't take much) to spend a few days with her here. The timing is especially good because we're just in time for hanami, or flower viewing (and almost always referring specifically to cherry blossom (sakura) viewing).

Even the runway that we landed on was lined with sakura trees, so we're off to a good start! Here's a shot of the street next to our hotel, the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel in Shibuya.

And with a room on the 33rd floor, we had an amazing view:

That green patch on the top of the roof of the building in the lower right is actually a soccer field!

Based on the advice of the concierge, we went to a nearby restaurant named (appropriately enough) Sakura for dinner and had a delicious meal.

French Laundry

After trying to get a reservation for more than a year, we finally made it to the French Laundry last Saturday for lunch, where we spent five hours working our way through nine courses of oh-so-delicious food. I won't go into detail about the individual dishes; sufficed to say that they were all very good. My only complaint is that I liked C's dishes more than mine!

One of the biggest surprises for me was the water they served. It's local water, but they're using Nordaq Fresh, a relatively new super-duper water filtration system that removes everything you don't want (impurities, VOCs, bacteria, etc.) but leaves everything you do (minerals, salts). And while you normally wouldn't think twice about water, the stuff they served made us all sit up and pay attention, because it was really, really good - clean, fresh and invigorating. Even better, it's local water, so there's no need to ship it from halfway around the world. I hope more restaurants start using this system soon.

When we were done with the meal, we even got a chance to check out the kitchen where all the magic happens. C. kept mentioning that it was smaller than she expected. One cool touch they had was a big LCD hooked up to a camera into the kitchen at Per Se in NYC.

A Slight Retraction

The last time I blogged about Barefoot I was deeply unhappy about the changes they'd made. This time I'm writing to retract my statement that I could no longer recommend them as the best place to go for coffee. While I can't say I'm ecstatic about the changes, I can at least say that I've come to terms with them and understand their reasons for it.

While I still miss the old milk, I have come to appreciate the new one as well. Barefoot is right; once I got over my disappointment that it no longer tasted the same, I did actually notice that the new milk lets the coffee come through better.

I did, however, get another surprise today when I ordered a cold latte. Apparently iced and cold lattes now comes pre-mixed using cold-brewed coffee by default (as opposed to using an espresso shot). This is probably a good thing if I was ordering an iced latte because throwing hot espresso on to the cold ice shocks the coffee. For cold lattes (no ice, just cold milk), however, I still prefer a real espresso shot. So now I have to remember to custom order my cold lattes. *sigh*

If only they'd publicize these changes instead of springing it on their poor unsuspecting coffee addicts...

Disappointment in a Cup

I've been a big fan of Barefoot Coffee Roasters ever since the wife discovered the place. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that they've changed my life -- how I've thought of coffee specifically -- and I've been recommending it to friends at every opportunity.

You can surely imagine my sadness and disappointment then when I say that I can no longer recommend Barefoot. They've recently redone their menu, increased their prices, and changed their source for milk. I can handle the first two, but that third is a killer.

Now I'm paying more for less (smaller cups) for lattes that taste worst (mainly due to the milk).

Woe!

Their claim is their new specially-formulated-for-Barefoot milk by the Strauss Family Farms is superior, but my tongue begs to differ. I can only dream of the days when they served Clover's Extra Rich Milk.

I guess I should point out that Barefoot still makes good coffee. It's probably still the best in the area, but they no longer make great coffee.

Troisgros

After 2 days of gray, overcast skies, the clouds have finally parted and allowed the sun to come out and play, and it's been glorious.

We drove down from Paris to Roanne, and we're staying at Troisgros tonight; a boutique hotel and restaurant with a Michelin three star rating. As you would expect, dinner was amazing, and the main course, a beef dish, was nothing short of mind-blowing. Normally, I'd reserve that for meat that's so tender that it just melts in your mouth like butter. And while this dish had a little of that, what made it so amazing was the texture and how it was just a joy to chew. It had the perfect resistance for chewing, and every bite just delicious. I don't know how else to describe it.

I'd mention how well appointed the room is, but I'm honestly just too satiated to write any more.

Element 114

I never used to be a fan of Barefoot's Element 114 blend, but they've recently tweaked the formula, and now it rocks! Definitely check it out if you ever get a chance.

Worms!

Went on another tour today. This time, it was to the Basilica de Guadalupe and Teotihuacán. Overall, I think the Basilica was much more interesting than the "pyramids" at Teotihuacán, especially the gardens behind the churches. The pyramids should really be called ziggurats instead, and while large, they're pretty drab. I may be a little jaded though after having been to Ephesus, Pompeii and the Parthenon.

For me, the highlight of the day was dinner at chef Patricia Quintana's Izote, which serves modern versions of old indigenous dishes. I ordered the crunchy maguey worms, the sautéed escamoles (ant eggs), and lamb shank wrapped in banana and maguey leaves. Once you get past the fact that you're eating what looks like large fried maggots, the crunchy maguey worms were actually rather tasty. Sort of like french fries... The escamoles was interesting, with the texture of corn kernels, but was a little lacking in flavor. As for the lamb shank, I've read quite a few reviews singing its praises, but mine was too dry for my taste. Flavorful, but dry.

Worst Clam Chowder. Ever.

While we were in Monterey, Charity and I stopped at Sly McFly's on Cannery Row, primarily because they claimed to have the best clam chowder in Monterey. This turned out to be a horrible mistake. The soup was like something from the glue factory with some salt and clams thrown into it. We didn't bother finishing the thing and just beat a hasty retreat.

Restaurant Discovery

I can't describe how excited I am over discovering Layang Layang, a new, good Malaysian restaurant.

I've only been there once, but everything we tried was good and authentic. We started with the lobak and roti bhuddist, and they're definitely the best I've had in the US. The entrees didn't dissapoint either. The kari lamb and belacan okra were perfect, and the ikan bakar was decent. For desert, we tried the fried ice cream and banana. Not too shabby, but when I hear fried banana, I'm thinking goreng pisang, and I've not had any really authentic ones in the US.

You can bet that we'll be going back!

A Good Food Day

Had lunch at Per Se and dinner at Babbo today. Mmmmm!