Recipes: A Philosophical Statement

This blog is alive!  I had to tackle some deadlines in the past couple of weeks in my academic and professional life.  While busy with those, I have been taking notes of ideas for my upcoming posts.  I am excited. :-)  It is certainly nice to be relaxing in the Santa Monica mountains outside Los Angeles as I write this post.  I am here for a friend's wedding weekend celebration.  The food so far has been delicious.  I tried Lebanese Knafeh for the first time.

People are often shocked when I tell them that I just tried a new recipe on them and that I had thrown out the recipe.  I do clearly remember the recipe-keeping system in the 1970’s and 1980s that I grew up seeing in different kitchens.  Quilted binder with inserts for index cards/recipe cards.  Boxes, plastic or decorative, to hold index cards.  Some people would devise a filing cabinet to store recipes.  Alternatively, some others would keep them in a cabinet or drawer with no organizational method.  I never had those as an adult but thought I should be a conformist.  I decided to go digital.  Whenever I found a recipe I liked, I would store it in on my computer.  I have a file system set up on my computer with awesome names like: appetizing appetizers, badass breads, bodacious breakfasts, C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T, daring dressings, go fish, sexy salads, scrumptious sides, viva la pasta and voluminous vegetarian.  

That worked for a while.  Truthfully, a SHORT while.  I am finding that I want to try new recipes.  I don’t like to make the same thing again and again.  There are some exceptions to the rule like pesto (which I will discuss in a later post), my chicken pho (that thing is so good!), and my famous chocolate mousse.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am a wanderlust.  That rings true in the kitchen.  I like to explore unknown territories in the culinary arts. 

I grew up in a home where meals were repeated often.  Think roast turkey, roast chicken, roast beef, beef tacos, chicken fajitas, pizza, Kraft Mac and cheese, hamburgers, and spaghetti with meatballs.  I was sick of eating the same thing again and again.  I vowed when I was a teenager that someday my kitchen WILL NOT be like that.  I just didn’t know what that entailed. 

Back to my digital recipe database, I realized that having the database, I was limiting myself to sticking with the ‘familiar’ dishes;  basically reliving my childhood of repeated meals.  And I keep on finding recipes that interest and intrigue me.  I stopped consulting the database and dived into trying new recipes constantly.  It excites me.  It’s an adventure in itself.  Besides, there are too many recipes out there waiting to be tried and I felt that if I just limit to those within my comfort zone, I would be missing out on new tastes as well as learning new cooking techniques.  In the past few years, I have done some things in the kitchen that I have never done.  

I also learned that I get bored easily.  I thrive on trying new things and experiences.  Whenever I try a new recipe that is so good, the first tasting experience is pleasurable. And when I decide to to repeat the recipe, the experience is not as exciting and the taste is not quite the same.  Of course there are exceptions to the rule… I've been wowed by some recipes that I could really remember how it taste.  That memory is treasured and I make the same thing again in a few months or years.  I am not in a rush to try a favorite recipe again. 

I am blessed that my friends have been willing to be my guinea pigs as I try new stuff on them.  Someone recently commented that it was rude to try something new on someone without trying it myself.  I disagree… I think it’s part of the adventure—exploring the taste together.  It makes for a good conversation.  I rarely make repeat recipes for my friends.  My close friends know me well enough to know that I am adventurous and I would drag them with me.  And they happily tag along. 

Que Nappe!

I live in a beautiful place with a yard.  There are many herbs all over.  I have peppermint, spearmint, sage, chives, oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, and cilantro.  I also have a lot of garlic.  Sadly, the drought in Rochester has not been kind to my lettuce.  Danny (my foodie friend) also grows his food.  He's more experienced than I am though.  He has a lot of vegetables and some fruits.  A lot more herbs.  He introduced me to chocolate mint which is much stronger in flavor than peppermint and spearmint.  He gave me a bunch.  I steep some leaves for my daily morning drink of hot chocolate mint tea.  Yum.

I noticed that the owner of my place left behind an Ice Cream/ Frozen Yogurt Maker in the basement. I told Danny I wanted to try making dark chocolate-chocolate mint ice cream.  He was game!

We attempted this experiment two weeks ago.  I found this recipe online:  http://www.thelittleepicurean.com/2014/07/dark-chocolate-mint-ice-cream.html.  We were looking at this recipe and we were wondering about this word: nappe used in a phrase "nappe consistency".  We looked each other realizing we didn't know what it meant.  It was fun learning a new culinary term.  Nappe is a French word tied to the consistency of the sauce.  Ideally it should not be too thick, thin, nor lumpy.  A whisk is used to help bring a mixture to nappe consistency.  Most recipes would say whip until all the lumps are gone and the sauce is thickened, not too thick.  Nappe is one lovely word that sums it all up.

Once the mixture hit 180 degrees, he kept on stirring until it was 'nappe'.  Then we poured it into a container to be refrigerated overnight to "mature".  I loved how the recipe used the word 'mature'.  Essentially, it really means that the mixture needs to be thickened even more to be mousse-like consistency.

The next evening, we met again to put the mixture into the machine.  We watched it churn into soft-serve ice cream.  Then it was off to the freezer for half an hour before it could be devoured.  Yum. Freezing it overnight made it 'mature' into hard ice cream.

Not bad for first-timers who didn't know what the heck nappe meant.

The Lobster Quest

When I decided that I wanted to revive this blog, I knew I had to write this story.  Last June, my friends, Amy and Cindy, and I explored New England to celebrate my 40th birthday.  Before we started the trip, Amy was very vocal about her wish to have a lobster dinner.  I told her that it was more of a Maine thing.  There would be many restaurants with signs set outside on the sidewalk advertising their price per pound.  We might see something like that on the Cape Cod which was not part of our itinerary.  Nevertheless, I made it my mission to find lobster for her.  And she never got her lobster dinner in the end.  Our meals were amazing though.

Day One: We were exploring Martha's Vineyard.  We wanted ice cream after walking a great length all over one part of the island plus a jaunt on the beach.  I quickly searched on Google for the best ice cream on the island and found one-  Ben & Bill's Chocolate Emporium.  Their selections were out of this world.  But I caught glimpse of one INTERESTING flavor and exclaimed, "Amy!!! This is for you!"  She walked up to look at what I was pointing at and made a face.  I insisted, "You said you really wanted lobster so... this is for you."  Of course, she was not willing to try that flavor.





















Yes... you saw that right... lobster ice cream.  Ew.  The very idea!  I wonder who actually orders this flavor.  How often? Privately, I do sincerely hope that Amy doesn't ever regret her decision for not trying this one.  After all, she dreamt of nothing but lobsters before this trip.  From the looks of it, she seemed to enjoy the flavor she settled on.  I know I did.  It was Kahula brownie- dark chocolate ice cream.

Day Two: We explored Newport, Rhode Island.  Amy was still hopeful for lobster.  I studied the menus in the area and saw lobster quesadilla, lobster pasta, lobster bisque, lobster pizza, lobster ravioli, lobster-stuffed salmon, etc etc.  Not a lobster plate.  I keep on looking anyway.  I was a bit concerned that I might end up seeing something weird like maybe lobster creme brulee or lobster chunks dipped in dark chocolate to appease those who are craving for lobster!  I saw neither.  WHEW.  Martha Vineyard won the honors of being the only place to serve lobster in dessert.  We did however feast on delicious lobster salad BLT sandwich for lunch at the American's oldest tavern, the White Horse Tavern (est. 1673).  Later on, we wanted dinner.  Amy was still holding on to her hope to eat a lobster meal.  We agreed to look for a place on the marina.  When we got to the marina, it was clearly impossible to find a good parking spot and the whole place was crazy crowded.  We decided to make our way towards our next stop: Concord, Massachusetts.

While driving north, I was looking for places to eat along the way.  It appeared that Providence, Rhode Island had some good options.  There was an Italian restaurant with lobster options but not a full lobster.  There was an eclectic place with vegan options but not a lobster.  Then there was a Peruvian restaurant- no lobster on their menu.  We decided to go with the Peruvian place, Los Andes.  Upon arrival, I saw they were serving lobster paella for their special.  This place was a classic reminder of how we should not judge a book by its cover.  Their outdoor presence was not impressive.  When we walked in, we saw it was a gem.  It was a beautiful place, well-decorated.  We were led outside to the garden where there was a fire pit in the middle.  How lovely.  We saw all the plates on our way outside.   We were literally drooling.  We agreed to try three different dishes so we could share.  I loved the juiciness of their steak and chicken with spices oozing into the fries and rice.  It was an amazing meal.  We ended the meal with tres leches cake.  It was my first time to try this cake.  I'm not a cake person but I found this moist, flavorful cake pleasing.

That meal was so memorable that I text Amy and Cindy from time to time saying that I was really craving Peruvian food.  I doubted that my small town of Rochester had something decent.  I did look it up but when I found a website of a supposedly local Peruvian restaurant, the page was full of Chinese symbols.  They assured me that when I come back to DC to visit, we'll get Peruvian food.

Day Three: Concord.  No lobster.  I am pretty sure Amy really enjoyed our dinner at Bondir Concord.  Many restaurants are closed on Sunday evenings in Concord which was baffling to us.  Luckily for us, Bondir was a great find.  We shared a couple of appetizers: tuna carpaccio with avocado and grapefruit and duck egg with lentils.  We shared three different pasta dishes.  Then we shared two desserts: dark chocolate mousse and citrus tart with olive oil tarragon gelato.  The gelato... wow.

We had to go home the next morning.  Bummer.  Amy didn't get to wear a humongous plastic bib nor crack apart a lobster.  Nonetheless, our lobster quest was filled with many scrumptious pleasures.

The morals of this story: 1. If you have Amy over, be sure to serve her a full lobster.  She'll be one happy gal.  2. Expect the unexpected because you'll be surprised whatever pleasures await you!

In Memory of Daniel Stephen Foster

More than six years later... I found myself once again aching to write more about my culinary and dining adventures.  What made me start and stop?  Let me share how I started this blog.

I am a wanderlust.  I love traveling.  I have lived in different places.  In 2004, I decided to start writing stories of my travel adventures.  Those were sent via email.  The response was amazing.  I continue to share my travel stories via email and social media.  I love sharing stories.  My readers love it.

One of my closest friends, Dan Foster, and I had our own adventures as well.  We would travel together.  Sometime, we made discoveries in his town of Rochester, New York or in towns where I lived which was quite several.  Dan and I bonded over my cooking.  Dan was one of my first guinea pigs when I first moved to Rochester back in 1998.  He came to my place almost on a weekly basis to try food I would make for him.  Those early years in Rochester were what I call my experimental years as I taught myself more skills in the kitchen.  Believe me, there were more bad dishes back then than now.  Like the one time I made tortilla soup but accidentally put in cayenne pepper instead of chili powder.  That sent us into tears (Think... "OH MY GOSH THIS IS SOOO HOT!!!) followed with peals of laughter over this silly mistake.  After I left Rochester, I continued to cook.  It became my favorite thing to do.  It calms me.  It's therapeutic.  I love seeing people be awed by what I just fed them.  It's the ultimate pleasure.

In 2007, Dan decided to see how I would do with a camera.  He had just discovered the science of photography and loved cameras and lenses.  On one of my frequent visits to Rochester, he lent me a digital SLR camera and said, "Show me what you can do with it."  Uhm... I knew those simple compact cameras but I did not understand SLR cameras.  I said okay... and I played.  Indeed I did.  I came up with some decent shots. Dan later decided that we were quite a pair.  He loved the science of photography and I had discovered the art of photography.  One day after I got home from work when I was living in San Diego, I found a package from Dan waiting for me.  Inside it was a digital SLR camera with two different lenses and a book on exposure.  Inside was a note from Dan saying that he thought I had potential and that I should take up photography.  We talked for hours about photography.  We went on field trips together just to photograph.

In 2008, while visiting him in Rochester and cooking for him as usual, he said that he wanted to photograph me cooking.  I willingly went along with it.  I was making some kind of summer salad with chicken, couscous, grapes, onions, etc while he followed me all over the kitchen with his camera.  Those are some of the pictures he took that day.

  I was telling Dan about how Kosher salt has different grain as
compared to other salts.

As we sat down to eat, Dan was commenting how he really loved reading my stories.  And that I should maybe consider start writing about cooking and dining.  It is, after all, one of things I love doing.  True that.  We started brainstorming about how I would do it.  That brainstorming session took months as we came up with many different ideas.  Then I decided I would do a blog.  I was apprehensive about going public with my writing but was willing to take the plunge.  Then next... the brainstorming session for blog names.  One night while cooking in one of my favorite kitchens that I have affectionately called my chem lab.  It was in a lovely apartment in San Diego that I called, "my yellow box."  It was in that kitchen and home that my creative spirit became very much alive and present.  I went aha... Gastronaomi!  Gastronomy.  It just fit!  I excitedly texted Dan and told him I was going with "Gastronaomi".  He loved it.  And then I began.  He was my first follower.  If you look under the "Followers", you'll see "Dan".

I loved posting about my cooking and dining adventures.  I was just starting out with this blog.  Then life had surprises in store for me.  Quite too many, if I may add.  I stopped.  I couldn't write anymore. I left that beautiful yellow box with the chem lab I had grown to love so much.  I went on to live in Hawai'i.  I started a new blog called, "A Stowaway Wahine's Aloha" which chronicled my experiences of living in Hawai'i for nine months.  It was indeed a fascinating experience with many challenges and adventures that I continue to look back on.  The best thing I got from Hawai'i was my dog, Chocolate. :-)  Chocolate continues to be dragged all over the map as he follows me loyally to different places.

I left Hawai'i to return to San Diego.  I was living in a condo in San Diego where I did not feel truly at home and I didn't feel attached to the kitchen.  Then Dan got even more sick.  I was flying back and forth whenever he was hospitalized.  He passed away on June 11, 2012.  Then I moved to DC to pursue my Ph.D.  Then then then then...  you know how life goes.  Then I got diagnosed with cancer in January 2015.

It was the cancer that made me re-discover my love of writing.  I wrote about my cancer journey (naomicancerjourney.blogspot.com) which I continue writing to this day.  Because my cancer was front and center of my life at that time, it was all what I could write about.  Now that my cancer is in remission and no longer the main focus of my life, I realized that I missed doing this food blog.  I told a new friend also a foodie whose name ironically is Danny about my food blog.  He took a look and said I should try it again.  I said, "Maybe..."

Just last month, I found a new home allowing me to be reunited with my kitchen toys after having them in the storage for seven months.   I was cooking one night in the kitchen when I realized I had the exactly same feeling I had when I cooked in that chem lab back in  San Diego.  That was when I knew I was truly at home again here in Rochester.  I have come full circle.

In one of our last conversations together, Dan told me that he truly hoped that I would eventually go back to writing because he enjoyed reading my stories and he said he was pretty sure there were other folks who shared the same sentiment.  In his final letter to me which I received after he passed away, he wrote,

"Always enjoyed learning cooking tips because I find it interesting, so have much enjoyed times when you demonstrated different ideas and techniques for cooking." 

Dan's spirit lives on....

I look forward to sharing more cooking and dining adventures.  I am not sure how this blog will turn out... that's part of the fun, isn't it?  It's a journey.

Let's get cookin'!

Farewell, Vienna!

I am back in my own chem lab again. Always GREAT to return so I can cook my own food. Eating out so often can get exhausting after a while.

I managed to smuggle some spaetzle and delicious chocolates back home to extend my Viennese experience. I plan on sharing those with my local loved ones so... if you live far away from me, please do take the pleasure in visualizing yourself eating those things. I will need to learn how to make semmel-knodels (dumplings) and spaetzle. If I could make my own pasta, I am pretty sure making spaetzle will be a breeze. Perhaps I could experiment with different variations, other than spinach spaetzle.

On Thursday, I cooked lunch for the two wonderful hostesses. Luckily, I had purchased the right ingredients even though some items were boxed with unclear pictures and words that I could not find in my German food dictionary. No one died from my cooking effort using German ingredients. It turned out to be a GREAT lunch. It was soup with dumplings.

The ultimate search during my week in Austria was for the BEST chocolate dessert. And I found that in the "Schokozauber" at the Cafe Central. This translates into "Chocolate Magic". I wholeheartedly agree with this description. It was like I was under a magic spell while savoring each bite of this amazing dessert. I was sad that I found this magic on my LAST day in Vienna. Some people say that a bit of magic is good. I suppose that could mean too much magic can be too much? :-) What exactly is this magic? I am not sure... it tasted like chocolate mousse / creme brulee/ hazelnut praline combined into something spectacular and covered with dark chocolate ganache, topped with a golden leaf. The magic shall remain with me a bit longer for the sheer pleasure of nostalgia!

Thank you, Vienna, for sharing the magic with me.

Cooking at Home in Vienna

Last night, my host and I decided to cook dinner at home. That was a nice ending to the 'living in Vienna' day. I shopped for food, worked in a library, commuted by U-Bahn (subway), and relaxed at the dorm. She bought some kind of meat - she thought it was pork roast but it was hard to figure out because it was already marinated and rubbed with spices. I had some spinach spaetzle and vegetables. She had some vegetables as well.

My host once lived in France for a while for work so... of course she would serve some fresh cheese and crackers with red wine from Sicily. The microwave oven here is multipurpose: it bakes, grills, broils, defrosts and zaps. Without any instructions in English, I was able to figure out how to get it to bake. While waiting for the meat to be done, I thought the spaetzle had to be boiled in water like fresh pasta in America. It was in a similar type of packaging. Luckily I read the front cover to see that it just needed to be pan-fried or microwaved. So it was ready to go. Whew. Glad I did not ruin perfectly good spaetzle! With what we had available, I made herbed goat cheese sauce for spaetzle. I sauteed zucchini and garlic. I made a simple mixed green salad. Dinner was ready to be served.

I never eat pork at home so I was not sure what to expect from the pork roast. At the first bite, I suddenly realized it was not pork... it was corned beef! My friend and I laughed. When traveling to a foreign country, you have to be open-minded and willing to put whatever food in your mouth blindfolded. I have not eaten corned beef in years. I remember hating it when we had it for St. Patrick's Day one year. This one was honestly flavorful and not as salty. We ended the meal by sharing a truffletorte from Demel. We all agreed it was more orgasmic than the sachertorte! The meal was simply sensational. I loved that we put in the time and energy to prepare a beautiful meal in a simple dorm kitchen.

Always a Gastronomical Adventure in Europe!

Vienna! I think I am starting to enjoy Austrian food more than German food. There are still some traditional German food here but there's also the Austrian variations and specialties that make it even a wholesome experience for me. :-)

My meals in recap:

Saturday lunch: SPAETZLE with cheese! That was my favorite dish in Germany when I visited last fall. A friend and I went to the Rathauspark where they had food stands. I spotted the word 'spaetzle' and got all excited. I dashed there and ordered some for myself. The Austrian variation has dried onion topping on this dish. The first bite I took sent me whirling in food heaven. I was grateful that I had an opportunity to eat this dish again after four months. I am spoiled.

Saturday afternoon warmer: hot mint chocolate. This one was so rich and thick... it felt like we were eating pudding... we did digest it with a small spoon. It was too thick to drink. Delish!

Saturday dinner: goulash. This Austrian specialty was something I always loved every time I came to Austria. This cute small place in the NachtMarkt (Night Market) served the best I have ever tasted. There was a right combination of spices and flavors. YUM. It came with a knodl (dumpling). I am tempted to go back for one more before I leave. If it happens... it shall happen.

Sunday dinner: Italian! I was fortunate to find someone who wanted a gastronomical adventure with me. We shared three courses together. I LOVE sharing food... I taste more that way. I think I am sending a vibe to the universe to put people who like to share food in my life. I am blessed. We had potato-truffle soup. Wintertime in Europe means.... truffle time! Ahhhhhh! That was followed by tagliatelle with truffle sauce. Yes... I can't get enough of the truffles. Then the salad cleaned our palate in preparation for the sachertorte we purchased from the place where the dessert originated from, Demel. This was certainly a memorable Valentine's Day meal!

Ahh... am I making you drool yet? More to come! :-)