#120 - Fun date!

One of the really nice things about catching up with friends from different areas of your life is that you don't have the same old conversations.  Tonight was food, food, more food and some technical conversation about food - specifically, fat content in butter and the various brands, prices in different places and...never mind, on to the evening.

In which dinner plans go awry and confusion ensues
I caught up with a girlfriend from LCB.  We both thought that things would be relatively calm and quiet as we had planned to meet for dinner early on a Friday night.  6.30pm saw us a little bit perplexed as Plan B was completely packed.  Our chefs would not have been impressed by our preparation.  Or rather, the lack of it.

Plan C required a 30 minute wait so on to Plan D we went.  It was actually quite fun, a new Chinese restaurant we had both passed a few times but hadn't tried yet.  There was a little bit of confusion initially because the sign for the parking lot informed you that the entrance was behind you, so around the block we went.  Then a little more confusion because upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted in Japanese.  We asked the friendly waitress if the restaurant was Chinese or Japanese (note:  the name of the restaurant was something something Dragon).  She said it was both so in the spirit of the place, we ordered Japanese and Chinese food.  They came as little sharing plates (a Chinese/Japanese fusion-y pork bun for which I broke my no pork rule because it tasted like sticky, sweet, kind of teriyaki deliciousness instead of pork; Japanese fried chicken which was crispy, hot and everything fried chicken should be; cucumber with a sesame and chili dressing reminiscent of the cucumber dish at Ippudo in New York / Sydney; fried rice with Japanese curry; and crispy stir fried ong choi which was just wilted enough to be cooked but crunchy enough to feel healthy).

In which we carry out some research (aka dessert)
As you know, I'm not a big fan of the "or" option if there is an "and" option.  We went to dessert at this little place around the restaurant - I think it was called Little Oven.  My girlfriend saw a couple of things on the board which interested her and I saw a few more.  Since we were carrying out research and having talked patisserie tech speak over dinner, we were ready to dig in and try the interesting sounding things on the menu and here are the photos.  Of course we couldn't choose just one - that's like asking a parent who their favorite child is.  LM chose the more interesting sounding ones.  I have to admit I stuck to the more standard ones but how else can you establish a baseline?  You can't fake it on a standard...

PB&J cake

Verdict:  PB&J cake - white sponge was dry but the PB&J part of it was very nice as was the frosting.

S'More Brownie / Fluff Brownie (?)

S'More Brownie - both LM and I prefer our brownies a bit denser.  This is a light, fluffy brownie - almost like a cake.  So if you want something slightly lighter, it's actually a very good option.  And the scorched marshmallow was just burnt enough to get a nice little crunch on it, almost like a creme brulee.  I didn't see if they actually put some sugar on it to get the caramelization but at that point we kind of didn't care, it tasted good.

Coffee Cake

Coffee cake - moist, not-too-sweet with a nice, thick crunch on the top.  Perfect with my tea despite its moniker.

Vanilla Ice Cream Sundae

Vanilla sundae- rather a disappointment.  The ice cream was too light and fluffy - more air, not enough fat content.  But then, I like my ice creams nice and dense - you know, like Haagen Daas (oh geez, how do you spell that?) or Ben & Jerry's.

Pretty fruit decoration - I'm going to steal this one!

LM and I still have our cooking party planned - postponed from a couple of days ago till next week due to random road work.  However, we did manage to come up with a shopping list and a couple of things we want to experiment with in the kitchen.  And we came up with a (partial) menu for our snack/lunch on the day as well so I am feeling pretty organized after the dinner debacle.

She also told me the results of her butter research:  not good.  So we have a couple of theories to try out and if they don't work, someone who might be able to provide an answer.  I can't wait to play!

All in all, one of the best dates I've had in a while.

So until next time, may you have as much fun on your date/s as I had on mine and keep smiling!

#119 - Party time!

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a huge fan of junk food, sugar or deep fried food unless I have a particular craving for that food.  (Also - apologies for how this looks - I don't know what's wrong with it so I can't figure out how to fix it...)

Fried mac 'n cheese balls

Aka deliciously disgusting things from Cheesecake Factory:  fried mac 'n cheese balls (try saying that 5 times fast!).  So generally I'm not a big fan of Cheesecake Factory.  Probably because I find that a lot of their food tastes sweet to me - I'm not sure if they actually add sugar to their sauces and such but I suppose I prefer my savory foods to be really savory.  These mac 'n cheese balls tasted like an old college favorite from diners on the East Coast - fried mozzarella sticks.

Parking can be a bit of a hassle in Waikiki, so we did the clever thing:  tag team!  One person (yours truly) ran inside to pick up and pay for the telephoned order - no joke, it was early on a Saturday night (almost late afternoon) and there was a long line.  I think I heard someone say it was a 1-hour wait.  Say what?!  So I passed by all these poor souls who hadn't thought to call in and got caught in the take-out line which is where you pay for your telephone order.  They had a lot of different cheesecakes - good to get a preview of the cheesecakes we'd ordered:  red velvet and original for me (yes, I ordered 2 different ones), a mud something-or-other (the most chocolate-y one) for another friend and...the oreo one for my sister.  Not sure why but I preferred the cheesecake layer of the red velvet best.  I can't find my photos but I think you can probably google photos so I won't bore you with those.

A simple dinner

Usually my sister starts a list of things she wants me to cook for her about 2 weeks before I come home.  Coincidentally, this stopped when she had the babies...but I do still get requests.  On one occasion, I didn't actually have the ingredients nor had I prepared so we had to improvise a little for the Korean sushi (kim bap) by using vegetables and things from take-out dinners.

Of course the next time we were a bit better prepared - including having bought side dishes (pan chan) because seriously, who can be bothered to make all of these little sides at home?  We got all these at Palama Market.  The meat was from a different place that we tried for the first time - the marinade was lacking ginger and some "oomph" but it was adequate given everything else was seasoned sufficiently to hide its meaty flavor (rather than the flavor of the marinade).

I think we have fairly eclectic taste, given the Asian influence in Hawaii, my Mom's Aussie influence and the French cooking which I learned in London.  All of which sounds like the set up for a foodie joke about fusion cuisine but it isn't.

Roast Chickens

My sister also had a request about learning how to roast a chicken.  Since DC was still in town, she and I thought we could have a roast chicken dinner party - that is, we would demo the roast chicken, then my sister would make one a few days later under my supervision.  (They should allow supervision by responsible adults only - since there were none to be had, the job fell to me.)

Anyway - DC and I each roasted a chicken with our individual trussing methods.  She had a very complicated looking, very impressive trussing technique - even more impressive since she was still recovering from surgery.  I used the simplest trussing technique from Basic Cuisine.

A couple of different methods as well - DC's chicken gets roasted breast down for 45 minutes, then breast up for 45 minutes (times have to be adjusted for the size of chickens).  Mine got roasted on one side for 30 minutes, the other side for 30 minutes, then on its back for 30 minutes.  With lots of butter.

Of course that's not a complete meal.  We nixed the salad because there was so much food, but we needed to feed people veggies.  How do you get people to eat them?  Depending on my audience (especially this one) - I add cheese.  And since DC and I were trading tips (i.e. playing) we collaborated...a white cheese sauce on cauliflower and broccoli (aka bechamel with gruyere, topped with tallegio).  We used skim milk because some of the people at dinner don't do well with whole milk - but as a nod to "cutting calories", it doesn't really affect the taste or the texture so feel free to substitute skim milk in your bechamel sauce.  Once you add all the cheese, it doesn't make that much of a difference.  DC made green beans with black bean sauce.  Yum!  The veggies were a hit - not something I expected to say but if it works, why not?

And then - because it was kind of French, we did a sauce - too thick by conventional standards but since we were at home, we got to have it thicker.

A few nights later, my sister made a roast chicken with gravy.  Gravy, because she wanted to make it how Mom makes it.  Except she used butter on the chicken which makes the skin so crispy and delicious instead of Mom's bacon strips.  Big success, though true to anyone with talent, her chicken was not up to her standards.  Luckily for us, that means another roast chicken dinner for us to "taste"!  I couldn't really remember how DC trussed her chicken so we had to guess a little.  My simple method wasn't going to do it for lil sis...

She also made some really good zucchini (aka courgettes) with Ono salt (Hawaiian rock salt blended with herbs and spices for those of you who don't live here), garlic and olive oil.  Yum, I have already stolen this recipe though she doesn't know it yet.  I'm sure my willing guinea pigs will be happy to try my sister's zucchini!

Let the partying commence

I really wanted to ignore my birthday this year - it's just a reminder that time marches on while so many things on my list of things to do and places to visit grows faster than I can cross them off.  Since ignoring was not an option, I elected to go all-out.  That is to say, we did it my way.  Birthday dinner with family and close friends and for those who couldn't make the dinner, cooking parties planned over the next couple of weeks.  This didn't prevent us from having other cooking parties because what could be more fun than cooking with friends, then enjoying the fruits (or vegetables) of our labors?

But first, the most important meal of the day.  It's usually a bit of a chore to eat anything before early afternoon.  Typically I eat my first meal anytime between 1pm - 4pm (especially when I'm at work).  Don't worry, it only means my meal times are a bit skewed - not that I actually miss them because let's face it, you can't say someone skips meals if they have breakfast at 4pm, lunch at 7pm and dinner at 11pm - 12am.  Getting old is so much work...so of course I had to fuel up.  It didn't help that the company of my very cute niece consisted of an announcement "I'm hungry!" and luckily I had already been awake for over 4 hours by then.

It must also be remembered that one of the functions of family and friends is to ensure we don't take ourselves too seriously.  I successfully dodged earlier attempts, but unfortunately by sheer persistence, I eventually got caught sitting in a seat not meant for me.  Um...not much more to say than that!

Let's just go on to more partying - because what I really wanted for my birthday was just to hang out with my loved ones.

After a very quick shopping expedition for groceries (the ever reliable Palama Market providing almost everything we needed), AA and I planned a Korean dinner at my sister's house.  Lil Sis had to run a few errands so we cooked while she did her thing, then she came home to this and provided a little photobomb in the shape of bunny ears.

Before:                                                                                          During:

Mun Doo (dumplings)

Duk Kook (mochi soup)

Korean Kim Chee Stew (jigae)

After:

There are more parties yet to come so photos later - until then, may the small imperfections of your days only serve to highlight that which is happy and right.