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Viewing Category: Food
2009 Mar 02
Yesterday Mariko said to me, “I have on my calendar written that you were planning on making the raised garden today.” Oh yeah. I vaguely remembered saying that. Well, I had the afternoon with the kids, so I might as well spend some time out in the back putting together the raised garden. Bay and I made a quick trip to Home Depot to get the supplies. We got the wood cut to size (they never seem to charge for extra cuts beyond the single one you get for free), but at checkout I was shocked to see the price. However, when we did a search online for pre-fab cedar garden beds with similar dimensions (11’ x 4’ x 11"), we found that they ranged from $300-400. So we actually saved quite a bit of money, and the cedar planks I got were about 1.75” in thickness and have held up quite well in the other beds we’ve made.
Since I made this kind of raised bed before, yesterday’s construction went smoothly. In fact, I didn’t have any problems at all! It was a really nice experience too. They afternoon wasn’t too cold, the kids played nicely, I had a couple of cold beers, and the baseball game was streaming on my laptop. The hardest part was making sure the ground where the frame would end up was level, and even this went smoothly and quickly. At this point, I was thinking that this was going too easily. The only thing left to do was move the frame from the patio into position. It was pretty heavy, and having another person there would have helped, but the frame went down into the dirt without any problem. It was almost too easy! (Now I am really suspicious of what will go wrong)
When Mariko got home, I had already cleaned up the tools, had the kids done with their homework, and was enjoying my third or fourth beer. She looked outside at the new garden bed and said it was beautiful. Woohoo! Success!
Next step will be to add some good dirt and have it ready for planting. It will actually take quite a bit of dirt to fill, but maybe we can just do a portion of it. I have some extra wood laying around that I can use to section off the bed, so that is an option. When it comes around to planting, we’ve decided to have the kids take care of their own sections of the bed, and decide what they want to grow. I’m excited about my own section, and have some plans which involve lots of peppers and hopefully cilantro. Yes, I’m thinking salsa! But we’ll see. Anyways, I’m planning on spending some more time out in the backyard this summer, and taking care of the garden is pretty fun.
 
2009 Feb 26
I was just chatting with my pal Mikey about the martini he recently enjoyed in Hollywood, and it occured to me that I don’t know what a martini tastes like. But I know for a fact that I have had one before. It was a super-long time ago when my brother and I were coming back from Hawaii and had gotten upgraded to first-class. The flight attendant came by and asked what we’d like to drink. I said “I’ll have a vodka martini.” She said, “Would you like an olive or twist?”. My brother leaned over to me and asked, “What the hell is an Oliver Twist?!” Next time I’m out, I gotta get a martini. With an olive.
2009 Feb 23
About a year ago, I decided to not eat beef, pork, or chicken anymore, and I have been pretty good at doing so. Most of the credit of making this even a possibility has to be given to my wife who is an awesome cook. She’s been able to make lots of great veggie and seafood dishes for me. She and the kids still eat meat, but not as much as before.
The reason I wanted to quit red meat was because of the environmental impacts of the livestock industry. The U.N. report ”Livestock’s Long Shadow–Environmental Issues and Options” is pretty shocking. Read this article at the U.N.’s news site for a summary. I’m not going to list out statistics, since those can be found pretty easily through a search on the Internet, but I’ll just say that when you consider the pollution (air and water) that is produced, the amount of food needed to be grown to feed the livestock (70% of US grain production, most of which could be fed to people instead of animals), the amount of water needed for livestock (2,640 gallons of water to produce one pound of edible beef), the amount of the world’s land that is dedicated to livestock (30%!), the amount of energy required to sustain the industry, and the deforestation of rainforests in order to build cattle ranches, it’s really not too hard to make the decision to eat less meat. (ok, there were a few statistics, and they fluctuate depending on the source, but I am being conservative on those)
The thing about eating meat is that to make a positive impact, you don’t have to quit meat altogether, but just eat less of it. I read this article by Kevin Purdy on Lifehacker about a “Flexitarian” diet, which is basically restricting your meat intake to just dinner. (obviously there’s more to it than that, so read the article) That’s actually pretty easy if you think about it! You get your meat fix, and still reduce your environmental impact.
I have read that after you stop eating meat, you might have an aversion to seeing meat in the market or on people’s dinner plates. For the most part it never really bothered me, but lately I’ve started to get an uneasy feeling about seeing meat. It doesn’t really look like food, but just animal muscle and severed body parts. This surprised me, because I used to love meat. A good, thick, juicy burger couldn’t be beat! But now, it’s hard to even think about eating it. And when I see all these mentions of bacon on the Internet, it sickens me somewhat. Maybe sickens is not the right work, but it still baffles me. Do these meat-eaters know about the impacts of that kind of diet on the world, and if they have, do they not feel the least bit of guilt? Is the pleasure of eating meat so great that you care about it more than you care about a sustainable world or even world hunger? I’d like to give people the benefit of the doubt and just think that they haven’t read or heard about the U.N. report. But when I see that photo of the giant piece of grilled meat wrapped up in bacon, I can’t help but be a little put-off by such wastefulness. Like, this chunk of flesh might seem like a “cool” novelty to some people, but the resources that went into that thing probably could have fed a family of vegetarians for a month.
Now I have to admit to being a hypocrite of sorts. I have cheated several times this past year, and each time I felt a little sick. Not physically sick afterwards, but guilty and also, the taste was kind of gross. Just too much intense fat-flavor I think. When I cheated, sometimes it was because of habit. For instance, when I was at Dodger Stadium, I had to have a Dodger Dog. (But is that really meat?) Then there’s our Jamaican feast at Xmas time where I had a bit of jerk pork, and our Hawaiian Xmas feast, where I had a taste of Kalua pig, and at Thanksgiving a taste of dark meat. The other times were also special occasions, like our omakase at Takao where I had a little piece of beef, a mini-sausage with Valentine’s cheese fondue, or a tiny quail leg at a friend’s restaurant. But apart from that, it’s been seafood and veggies. I guess you could say I am a ”Pecsetarian”. Someday I’d like to quit eating fish too, but at least getting red-meat out of my diet is a start. And by the way, there are some guides to seafood which recommend which types of fish are better to eat where the ecosystem is concerned. I actually saw the sushi-guide at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, of all places!
After a year I’m pretty sure that I won’t be going back to red-meat. If there is some miracle in which humans can produce livestock without the severe global impact, of course I’d have to reconsider. But these days, even without thinking about the environmental impact, eating mammals and birds doesn’t hold any appeal to me.
2009 Jan 27
Last weekend Mariko and I took a cooking class at Central Market. She has been to a few before, but this was my first one, and it was great! I love oysters, so Mariko signed us up for “The World’s Your Oyster” with Chef Scot Loranc. The class was a hands-on type, as opposed to the others where you just sit and watch (and then eat), and therefore the class size was limited to 16 students. We were separated into four groups and each group had a chance to learn how to shuck oysters. When our group’s turn came, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that our oysters were the Kumamoto variety. They were smaller and actually easier to open than the larger types such as the gulf oysters. One of the other students and I actually sneaked a couple while the chef wasn’t looking. It was just too tempting! Chef Scot Loranc is a great teacher and everyone enjoyed his style and depth of knowledge. He was funny and nice, and generous with the food too! We had so much to eat, everyone was stuffed! During his shucking instructions, he was handing out oysters on the half-shell with a variety of different sauces. They were all really good, but I actually preferred to have the raw oysters without any sauce. Besides the oysters on a half shell, Chef Loranc showed us how to cook four oyster dishes, including Oysters Rockefeller, which were amazing!! Definitely my favorite of the four. The others were oyster po’boys, deep fried oysters with corn and tomato relish, and smoked oysters with jalapeno cream sauce. It’s funny, but when the oysters went on the smoker, the smell reminded me of a memory that was buried for years. When I was maybe nine years old, my family went camping up the coast of California for a couple weeks. At Drake’s Bay, my dad bought a bunch of oysters and grilled them on the campfire. That smell of oysters cooking at the campsite was the same as the oysters on the smoking rack at class. Back then, I didn’t like oysters, but now I love them. Funny how the sense of smell can evoke memories from long ago. Anyways, all the different oysters tasted great, and we also got to enjoy some Turbo Dog beer and wine. My favorite oysters were the Kumamoto and also the Blue Point varieties. I definitely recommend the cooking classes at Central Market, and especially Chef Scot Loranc’s classes.
2008 Aug 26
For the past couple month I have been enjoying the sandwich price war between Subway and Quizno’s. Their $5 deals have been great. For that price, you could get a footlong Subway or a large Quizno’s. The Subway sandwiches included the Veggie Delite and Tuna sandwich, while the Quizno’s deal included the Tuna. (I don’t eat meat) But today, I went to Quizno’s and they had changed up their menu. The $5 deal applies to their “Deli Favorites” sandwich, of which Tuna (or Veggie) isn’t a part of any longer. Also, they have gone to a 6” or 12” format, ditching their small, regular, or large sizes. So, I spent $5 for a 6” Tuna, whereas before I was getting twice as much. I guess Subway has just won the war.
2008 Aug 23
Growing up in Southern California, we ate Mexican food quite a bit. And one thing that I always loved, but didn’t have very often was guacamole. In restaurants, it was one of those “extras” on a level above salsa. Only certain dishes came with a side of guacamole too, usually the dishes that were more exotic (ie. not combo #3, with flour tortillas). This made eating guacamole as a kid a rare occurrence, and all the more special. These days, guacamole is easier to come by in stores, but I still get the same feeling that it is one of those unique foods to be savored. I never order it on it’s own, but if guacamole comes with the dish I ordered, it’s guaranteed that I finish it.
2008 Aug 18
At around 5pm, there is a phrase that you can hear in Asian households around the world: “Can you make (insert number here) cups of rice?” I just heard that, but the problem is that we have a new rice cooker, and I don’t know how to use it! All the buttons are in kanji, except for one that says “menu” in katakana. On our old rice cooker, I memorized how to cook regular rice, cook in “rapid-mode”, and how to turn it off. But this new one is still a mystery to me… I guess I will get a tutorial tonight when Mariko comes home.
2008 Aug 08
We have a big pizza sitting in the freezer. I was hoping we’d have it last night, but we didn’t. Mariko made a really yummy pasta with mozzarella and zucchini, so I can’t complain. But I still am craving that pizza! It’s just waiting for me…
2008 Aug 03
 One of the great things about visiting California is all the great food there is to eat. Both my mom n dad’s cooking at home, plus the awesome Japanese restaurants around SoCal make certain that I will gain a few pounds. In fact, this past vacation, I gained about 2kg. (our scale is metric). It’s sort of a tradition that when we arrive, my mom has several submarine sandwiches + a big bowl of potato or macaroni salad waiting for us, plus my favorite chips, plain Lays potato chips. This trip is a bit different since I don’t eath beef, chicken or pork anymore. The sandwiches this time were basil, tomato, red onion, feta cheese, olive oil, and a couple other secret ingredients and they were awesome! I had maybe 2 1/2 sandwiches this time. The good food kept on coming throughout our visit, including an oyster pot pie, baked scallops, clam pasta, marinated shrimp, bruschetta, bagels and lox, oysters in wine sauce, and then the big dinner was a Jamaican feast of jerk chicken, jerk pork, rice & peas, plantain, and giant curry crab legs. Those were so amazing!!! I did eat a little meat this trip, a tiny piece of char-siu in my ramen, two dodger dogs, and a little piece of Jerk pork. Oh, and a homemade burger on the last night. I love home-cooking!
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