Browse Category: yum

Scotchfest 2010

Saturday was Scotchfest 2010 at our place and we had a great turnout.  Friends from all over came to partake in the festivities – including Dayantha and Krissy!!  We had a total of 11 different whiskeys to taste and some were much better than others.  Here’s the lineup:

  • Glenrothes
  • Glenlivet 18
  • Clynelish
  • Aberlour
  • Glenmorangie
  • Auchentoshan
  • Glenkinchie
  • Talisker
  • Bowmore
  • Coal Ila
  • Laphroaig

Each participant got a shotglass labeled with his or her name and the different whiskeys were poured and tasted one by one with some food in between.

Meanwhile, Jack was snackin’ on cheese and crackers, watching “Up”, and feeding carrots to his pal Koa.

We served salami and cheese as well as smoked salmon with creme fraiche as appetizers.  Then the main item was the prime rib sandwiches with sauteed onion, horseradish aioli, and arugula on an Acme roll.  When eaten with some salty Kettle potato chips, it was perfect.

Everyone had their favorite Scotch of the night and pretty much everyone did not appreciate Talisker, which most said tasted like Band-Aid.  Nice.  By the end of the night, some were drinking more of their favorite while others broke open the 100-proof Captain Morgan and Coke.  I think everyone had a good time.  Most left before 12 am but some of us were still going until 4 am…including me.  Good times…

OK…let’s try this again.  Click here for photos.

Bananas are only good in muffins.

I hate bananas but for some reason, I like banana-nut bread.  I’ve been using the same recipe since 2003 and it has never failed me.  I also make muffins instead of a loaf so I get a little extra crust.  They come out moist inside, not too sweet, has a light banana flavor, and crusty on the outside.  Jes had a bunch of bananas that got neglected last week so I made some this weekend and thought I would take some photos of the process.

Here are all the ingredients:

I mixed all the dry ingredients together and then all the wet in a separate bowl.

In the meantime, I creamed the Crisco.  Yes, I used Crisco. You got a problem?!  Then I added sugar and eggs.  Once that’s all creamed, I alternated between adding the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients for a total of 4 additions.

Next I added the chopped walnuts (instead of pecans) and greased the muffin tin.

I used a disher to scoop out equal portions that filled the tins half-way.

In the 350-degree oven they went for about 30 minutes (until golden brown on the top) and then cooled on a rack.  Tasty.

It makes about 24 muffins if you fill the tin only half-way.  Make sure they cool completely before storing in an open or loosely-closed container.  If you close it all the way, they sweat and get sticky.  I like them on the drier side to keep the crust chewy.

Holiday Weekend

It’s weird to have a national holiday fall on a weekend.  July 4th was on a Sunday this year so it meant it would be a regular 2-day weekend for me.  Since I didn’t request Monday (today) off, we hung out in the city and had a regular weekend with a sprinkling of illegal fireworks.

On Saturday, we slept in and had brunch down the street.  We scored a table outside and tied up the dog to my chair.  He was pretty well-behaved with the occasional growling at dogs walking by.

The rest of the day was spent running errands and Jes made mushroom, swiss, and bacon burgers.  They were tasty.  I almost forgot what beef tasted like.

On Sunday, I woke up a bit earlier to go for a little run and had some oatmeal to offset the fatty burger from the night before.  In the afternoon, Jes and I took the bus to the Fillmore Jazz Festival for a little jazz, street food, and sunshine.  We went two years ago and had a good time.  That was also when and where we discovered Kim Nalley, a jazz singer that has lost of charisma and a great voice.  She performed there again this year and we got off the bus just in time for her performance.

We also picked up some pork buns, duck buns, boba for me, beer for Jes, a Puerto Rican pernil made with pulled pork, tomato, avocado in a soft flat bread.

We walked around some more and stopped for cheaper beer for Jes (at the local liquor store) and I got a cup of frozen yogurt from Fraiche.  Yum.

Later that evening, we made another set of burgers and headed out for some fireworks around Fisherman’s Wharf.  Unfortunately we didn’t give ourselves enough time to get out there for the 9:30 show and ended up walking a long way to see a bunch of illegal fireworks along the way.  Oh well. We’ll have to try again next year.

I went back to work today and managed to cram all 8 treatment sessions together by starting early and working through lunch.  I was done with the kids by 2:30 and out of the hospital by 3:15.  Awesome.

Good enough…

On Sunday I was in the mood for some home cookin’ so I took a shot at making my mom’s Moo Paloh.  It’s basically pork, hard-boiled egg, and mustard greens stewed in a sweet/savory broth served over rice.  In addition to this dish, I made my favorite pork-stuffed cucumber soup and Jes cooked up the remaining mustard greens with the pork that I pulled out of the soup’s broth.

Paired with our 2003 Nickel & Nickel Chardonnay and it was a yummy Sunday dinner.  The Moo Paloh didn’t come out as good as my mom’s but it was good enough for my first try.

Sun and Surf

We’re back from Hawaii and we truly made the most of our last full day. Yesterday I woke up early and headed out to Starbucks for a quiet morning with a cup of coffee and free internet. Jes got to sleep in and I watched the rain come down. By the time Jes woke up, it had stopped raining and we were ready to take on a full day of chillin’ before catching our red-eye flight the same evening.

Breakfast was at a place called Eggs ‘n’ Things. There was a very large out front and we ended up waiting about an hour for a table for 2. Luckily the wait was worth it. I had a scrumptious coconut waffle that was made super thin with just the right amount of crunch and chewiness. To make it even tastier I dipped the waffle in coconut syrup and guava syrup. MMMM…

The rest of the day was spent at the beachside bar. We snagged a table with a good view of the beach and watched the sunbathers get soaked by an unpredictably high tide. The waves were extra active that afternoon and it looked like a lot of fun. We didn’t go in that afternoon since we had already checked out of our hotel room. It was still fun watching though.  By the way, you like my new floppy hat?  It’s dorky but totally saved my face and ears.

We met up with Yoon for ramen around 1:15 and then headed back to the hotel for some more people watching and a refreshing beverage. We sat and sat and sat until the sun went down. It was so nice to be able to do that with nothing better to do.

We eventually made it over to a cute little Japanese place that served really traditional items including the most amazing broth I had ever tasted. It was so rich that it was served in a tiny tiny bowl.

Yoon later picked us up from the hotel and we caught out 11 pm flight home. We were sad to leave but also had a wonderful time. Sometimes 4 days in Hawaii is all you need to rest and reset.

Aloha from Hawaii!!

Aloha! Jes and I are on our annual long weekend in Hawaii and it’s gorgeous out here. We flew out on Friday night and arrived around 10pm HST with Yoon picking us up. We were starving so we stopped at a local sports bar that served a tasty BBQ pork loco moco and salt and pepper shrimp. We stayed at the Sheraton the first night since the Moana was sold out that night and got upgraded to their deluxe ocean view room overlooking the Moana. Yippee!

On Saturday am, we lazied around and had the requisite McDonald’s spam, eggs, and rice platter with a side of fresh pineapple. Ah…what a great way to start the day. I also ended up taking two naps before 11am. Boy, I must have really needed this vacation.

By 11:30, Yoon came by to pick up Jes. She hooked him up with a friend that needed crew for a sailing race in Kaneohe Bay. Nice! So I stayed behind and did some shopping, had Yoon’s favorite kim chee fried rice from Choi’s Kitchen, and took another nap.

Dinner was at Orchids and we had some tasty local fish there. By the end of the night we were both passed out by 9:30. It was certainly a good first day of our vacation.