My Favorite Food Movie: Tampopo

Some weeks are busier than others.  This is one of those weeks where a lot of things are happening at the same time and I barely have time to think about new things to cook or foods to explore.  Still, I don't want to leave the 1 or 2 of you who read this blog without material from me so I decided to share my favorite foodie movie of all time:  Tampopo

Released in 1985, this movie is about one woman's quest to make understand the nuances of making ramen after being told by a passing truck driver that her noodles are terrible and takes her on an adventure of personal and culinary discovery.  What I like about this movie is that it is very quirky and unapologetic about it's feelings on food and foodies alike.  Right from the beginning we are invited in on a conversation between a "master" and a "student" talking about how to approach a bowl of ramen correctly thereby maximizing the eating experience.

As the movie goes along we meet a lot of interesting characters and the camera becomes us in this journey and a few times will move from the main character and change physical directions in the middle of a scene to follow a complete stranger just because they seem to be more interesting at the time.  If you've ever seen someone running and wondered where they were off to, this movie tries to answer those types of questions.

From a foodie standpoint, this is also where I learned about established my love of Omurice.  This particular scene in the movie spoke to me when I first saw it and really illustrates how even the simplest of foods can be viewed as the finest haute cuisine depending on your point of view.

Despite having been released over 25 years ago, I still really love this movie.  If you love food and have some time, put this on your Netflix list and give it a lookie-loo.  If my description still doesn't entice you, how about the fact that the film score are excerpts from Mahler's 1st and 3rd Symphony? 

Thanks for reading!

Eat My Perspective (Buttered Toast)

I was craving buttered toast today as I sometimes do since I was a little kid.  It occurred to me that I always toast my bread then add butter, no different then as I would get them at any diner in the US.  Writing this blog has really forced me to look at food in different ways and wondered what would happen if I buttered my bread first before toasting? 


I started with two pieces of white bread from Watanabe Bakery, my favorite place for bread:

Taking two pieces, I buttered one on both sides using 2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter (1T on each side).

(Buttered one on the right)

After toasting in a standard toaster oven for 2.5 minutes, I took them out at the same time.

(Pre-buttered toast on the left)

I then buttered the dry toast with the same amount of melted butter on each side as the first toast and let it sit for 1 minute to absorb the butter

The results were a little surprising as I really didn't think of what I would get from this experience.  I actually didn't think there would be much of a difference, but I was wrong.  

Since butter is essentially fat, the buttered bread ended up being "fried" in the toaster and what I ended up with was a bread that was very crispy with just a hint of butter in the bread.  Can I get crispy bread without the butter?  Most certainly, but this was a whole other level of crispy.  I would definitely use this when eating something light like a BLT or with a pate'.

The buttered toast, by comparison, felt very heavy and the butter ends up getting in the way of the high quality bread.  It also doesn't yield the same crispness that was so appealing with the first toast.   While this is the way I've eaten it since I can remember, I think it was a bit of a revelation how much more I like the butter before toast method. 

End of the day, it's up to the individual but I thought this experiment on a food everyone takes for granted was a good way to perhaps change our perspective.

Thanks for reading!

My First Challenge (Part III) - Pork, Mushroom, Tomato Curry

It has been a couple of weeks since my last Food Challenge entry and I felt the need to take a few more off the board.  Unfortunately, my craving for more curry took over the task of the challenge.

Based on the moderate success (or failure) of my last curry, I needed to redeem myself with another shot at a recipe from Addicted to Curry, the manga that centers around a curry shop and it's curry savant chef.

The one that caught my attention was a recipe for Mushroom Curry.  I am a big mushroom fan and am always looking for a way to include mushrooms into dishes that make sense.  Still, other than Shitake mushrooms, there really aren't many varieties in Hawaii that would be able to stand head to head with the strong flavor of curry powder.  Due to this, I decided to add some sliced pork tenderloin (an alternative to the mainstream beef choice).

 Carmelizing my onions

My 3 mushroom medley (porcinis hidden under the white buttons)

Add spices, tomatoes, mushrooms and cook

The final product (I need a better camera)

At the end of the day, I ended up with a more Indian curry as opposed to a Japanese style curry.  What I liked about this one was the sourness of the tomatoes as well as the use of yogurt (and the liquid from the tomatoes) over a stock as it's soup base.  Visually, it's not the prettiest of curries, but I would recommend it as an alternative over the usual beef curry, especially if your local Farmer's Market is having a sale on mushrooms come this fall. 

As for my spice list, here is the most recent update: 

1. Cardamom
2. All Spice
3. Cloves
4. Almond Extract
5. Pumpkin Spice
6. Garam Masala
7. Vanilla Beans
8. Saffron
9. Nutmeg
10. Ground Mustard
11. Turmeric
12. Coriander
13. Sage
14. Thyme
15. Celery Seed
16. Tarragon
17. Cumin

On a side note, I did try to use the Almond Extract with some yogurt the other day (it seemed to make sense), and it tasted awful.  I have the feeling that this one is going to be a bit of a challenge lest I just give in and make some Almond Cookies.

Thanks for reading!

My Favorite Things (Roast Duck Kitchen's Roast Pork)

Working on the road as often as I do, it's important to know where to get good, quick, satisfying food.  It's always such shame to spend $7-$10 on a meal and leave unsatisfied, full of calories that you wish wasn't in you. 

Roast Duck Kitchen is located in the Aiea Shoppping Plaza and is tucked away on the 2nd story of a 3 story strip mall.  Those familiar with this mall, it's just diagonal of Koa Pancake House at the top of the escalator.

  My friend recently turned me on to this place due to my love of all things pork.  For some reason, despite the "duck" part of their name, their roast pork is what you want to come here for.

At $8.95/lb you get a succulent and very flavorful piece of pork belly that really makes you understand the true potential of the lowly pig.  Where most Chinese places tend to over-season their pork skin, Roast Duck Kitchen, shows self-restraint and roasts the skin with a nice spice mix that enhances rather than cover the flavor of the pork.  It's also cooked just enough  so that the skin will easily separate from the belly so you can have each piece as individual pieces of gastronomic glee. 

So is it worth the trip here?  If you are one of those who think pork is the ONLY White Meat, then yes.  For the rest of you, stop by if you are in the area.  These porky jewels make for a fulfilling shared snack, a nice side dish, or a main protein for dinner. 

Thanks for reading!

Restaurant Review (Paco's Tacos-Hanapepe)

Today, my work took me to Kauai which also meant I had the opportunity to have lunch with a friend who I hardly ever see but shares my love for food.  He recommended a fairly new taco stand called Paco's Tacos that I think opened up earlier this year and happened to be only 5 minutes from where I was conducting business for the day (Nice!)

Paco's Tacos is located in the small sleepy town of Hapapepe.  Some of you may know this name if you are fans of the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch as the movie takes place in this part of Kauai.  The night before, I checked on Yelp to see what I could find about my lunch destination.  The reviews were mostly from the locals in the area and all positive so I was apprehensively optimistic.

I ordered three different items (ala carte) to get a good idea of their cooking (Carne Asada taco, Carnitas taco, and a Chile Relleno).  The average price for most of the ala carte items range between $3.50 to $5 with plates as high as $14.95.

When I received my tacos they looked really good and I sauced it with a nice roasted chile salsa (which ended up being the highlight of the meal).  The tacos, overall, were rather bland and my friend and I both agreed that there was a lack of impact with both types that we ordered.  I wondered later, if they actually used salt and pepper prior to cooking their meats because they had a semi-boiled taste to them and was pretty bland.  The Chile Relleno unfortunately yielded the same result as the tacos since not only was it bland but the cheese was an obvious 3 cheese blend that I know I've purchased at Safeway before.

Was I surprised at the outcome?  I suppose I really wasn't as anyone who knows good Mexican food is aware that it doesn't really exist in Hawaii.  I will say that I would like a bottle of the roasted chile salsa to take home if they ever decide to sell it that way.  At the end, I did enjoy a Fried Ice Cream that was dipped in a nice batter then rolled in corn flakes.

Other than that, I wouldn't really make the stop and you would be better off just not looking for good Mexican in Hawaii.  I hope someday to be proven wrong but it's been a difficult search.  Oddly enough, it doesn't really stop me from always looking so I guess I'm an optimist at heart. 

Thanks for reading!

Obon Festival Food

It's summer, and for me growing up, that means Obon Festivals! In brief, Obon festivals are Buddhist religious ceremonies that remind us to honor our ancestors in a happy joyous way.  It also gives a good reason to leave the house, do traditional dances around our pagan drum tower and eat festival food.  

Over the weekend, we took advantage of my little one taking a long afternoon nap and allowed ourselves the opportunity to stay out late as a family and take in the festival (and eat).   For me, the usual foods that I remember as a kid at Obon are Teriyaki Beef sticks, Andagi, and Yakisoba.   At this particular festival, they had a nice food stand that was selling Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki, two of my favorite fast foods when I visit Japan.  Because you don't see too many Okonomiyaki places in Hawaii they commanded the longest line and I had to wait nearly 30 minutes to purchase my two orders ($5/each).  Since I was there, I also bought a tray of Takoyaki ($4) eventhough I wasn't hungry enough to eat it.  I waited 30 minutes so I figured this justified my time in line. 

To my surprise, the Okonomiyaki was quite tasty for being served at a festival.  The food was hot all the way through and yielded a two fairly crispy pieces of bacon cooked on top.  My only concern otherwise, was the 10 year old boy who was putting the sweet soy glaze and mayo on the dishes sould have put a lot more on.  But I'm sure he was told to budget the sauces since they had a long night ahead of them. 

As far as festival food goes, this was pretty good.  I also ate some beef sticks ($1.50)  and Spam Musubi ($1.50), but neither are really worth mentioning about.  The Takoyaki was fairly average as well but, again, I stood in line for 30 minutes for the stuff so I was darn well going to eat it!.

 Boy and Girl Festival Cookies ($3 for both)

Thanks for reading!

WTF? (What's That Food?)-Star Wars Sushi

Sometimes, you just find a blog post worth sharing.  Thanks to You Offend Me You Offend My Family for this great Saturday food post.  Click on the link below.

Star Wars Sushi

What's for Dinner? (Chicken and Pea Curry)

You never know when a recipe will present itself and just speak to you.  Being a foodie on many levels, I tend to look for food opportunities from various sources.  I'll go to new restaurants when it pops up.  I search for food blogs through Google based on what I'm craving that week.  I watch all Food Network programming like it's speaking directly to me.  For today, my recipe comes from an unlikely sources...Manga.

Some of you know that I still read comics as well as manga.  What makes manga great is that you can pretty much find a story based on any topic that you might be interested in.  Recently, I've been reading Addicted to Curry which is pretty self explanatory.  Basically a chef helps an old friend's daughter run a curry shop that is on it's last legs.  Because said chef is a curry savant, everything he makes is amazing.  What's nice about this manga is that at the end of every few chapters, they will include the recipes of whatever curries have been discussed.  I decided to try to try the Chicken and Pea Curry to see if the recipes have any merit. 

I followed the recipe as written, which also provided the bonus of letting me use Turmeric which is a spice listed on my Food Challenge.

My Spice Mix

Mix to carmelized onions

Add to chicken, peas, carrots, and broth

Voila!!

Overall, it's a little spicy and a not as savory as I would have liked.  The recipe called for 4 cups of water and eventhough I knew I should have substitued half of that with chicken stock, I stuck with the original measurements.  The only modification I made was to add about 3/4C of corn starch slurry to thicken the mixture.  If you like more soupy Indian style curry then just forego the corn starch.  

If you already have the spices, this is extremely easy to make.  I think the whole process from cutting the chicken to putting it in a bowl to eat took about 40 minutes.  If anyone makes this, let me know what you think.  It is probably too spicy for my 3 year old but hopefully my wife likes it.  If anyone wants the modified recipe, just leave a message in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

Restaurant Review (Manago Hotel Restaurant)

I'm lucky to have a job that allows me to travel to almost all the other islands in the Hawaiian chain.  While I go there for work, I do make sure that I make efficient use of my time to know where to eat and make sure it's worth the time and calories (believe it or not, I'm trying to lose weight).

Today, I found myself in Kealakekua, better known to foodies as Kona Coffee Central.  For me, being in Kealakekua means only two things (work notwithstanding), coffee and pork chops.  Today, I want to introduce some of you to the humble yet fabulous Manago Hotel. 

A landmark in this area, it was once a small overnight truck stop for truckers making the trip from Hilo to Kona hauling goods and assorted items.  Today, it's a small inn that has about 28 budget, no-frills rooms and one spectacular restaurant. The restaurant here, in my opinion, is what keeps this place afloat.  It's always bustling with locals with the occasional tourist on their way back from kayaking in the bay.  And while they have a pretty standard greasy spoon menu, any local foodie worth mentioning will tell you that there is only one thing you come here for, the pork chops.

In a throwback to days gone by every order of lunch comes with unlimited bowls of rice, veggies of the day, mac salads, and seaweed salads of the day.  Today, I was lucky to get a particularly delicious ogo salad, tossed with Maui onions and grape tomatoes.  So delectable was the seaweed salad that I asked for a second serving before my pork chops even arrived at the table.  What's I found amazing is that at $7/lb the salad is thrown in with all the other sides at no extra cost and you can eat as much as you like. 

As usual, I ordered the locally renowned pork chops.  At $9.25 you get two chops (about 4-6 oz each), pan fried with a little salt and pepper.  Today I also opted to get a side of grilled onions and a boat of brown gravy, which I ended up not needing because it camouflaged the taste of the pork too much.  What makes the pork chops so great is that the owners of the hotel are also owners of a pig farm on the island and therefore use their own product to supply to the restaurant.  This does not happen very often in Hawaii. 

While this is not a place that I can go to all the time, I am always grateful for the opportunity to eat here.  To me, the food is very reminiscent of the food my Grandmother used to serve me back in the mid-70's (particularly the ogo salad).  If you like simple, honest food and down-to-earth staff and cooks, please take the time to visit here if you can.  It's worth the trip up the mountain from the tourist traps of Kailua-Kona or the posh resort living of Waikoloa. 


Manago Hotel
82-6151 Mamalahoa Hwy
Captain Cook, HI 96704

Thanks for reading!!

Restaurant Review (Pancakes & Waffles)

While there are a ton of breakfast places for one to eat in Honolulu, there are only a few that are noteworthy and even less that not overrun by hoards of tourists thinking they are eating where the "locals" eat because they found it on Yelp or TripAdvisor.  I will admit that these places (Eggs & Things, Cinnamons, Boots & Kimo, and Original Pancake House) are very good but, there is often a wait of no less than 30 minutes or as long as 2 hours just to eat breakfast (as a good friend of mine experienced recently).

Pancakes & Waffles opened a few months ago to moderate fanfare and is located in Palama which is an older part of town and off the beaten path and in between tourist sites.  What makes this place great is their ability to make generous portions of food for a fair price and high quality.  Noteworthy, is their Fried Chicken and Waffles ($8.25 or $9.25 to be covered with brown gravy).which makes it the reason to visit on your way to Pearl Harbor or the Swap Meet.

On my recent visit, I decided to try something different from my usual Portugese Sausage Omelette and ordered the Fried Rice Loco Moco ($7.25).  For the unfamiliar, this is a multi-layered feast starting with a base of ham fried rice, a homemade hamburger patty (1/3lb), two egg (over easy), and covered with brown gravy.  What I liked about this particular rendition of a Hawaii staple was the quality of the hamburger which was obviously made in-house and grilled to a hot, juicy perfection.

For the more dainty diners, all orders are served on paper plates with plastic cutlery., but tough it out and you will rewarded with a breakfast on par with the tourist spots but with very little wait.  For the local reference, think Koa Pancake House but one level higher.  

Pancakes & Waffles  
1284 Kalani Street Suite 100
Honolulu, HI 96817  
(808) 847-7770

Thanks for reading  ‎

My First Challenge (Part II)

So I decided to try and tackle my challenge today with a couple of dishes.  We had planned on spending the day at the pool with a few people over so I thought this was a good opportunity to make something worthwhile.

The first dish I made was a slow cooker pot of chili.  I got the recipe online a few years ago and really enjoy the flavor.  In relation to my challenge, I was able to knock Cumin off the list.  I love the taste of this chili but I do find that I need to double the amount of cayenne and add about 3/4 Cup of cornstarch slurry to thicken the concoction. 

The second dish was not really a dish but a dry rub mix that I used on some ribeyes to grill.  I found this rub on the blog Serious Eats and found it to be a very nice change from the usual salt, pepper, and garlic that I usually do for steaks.  Besides that, it allowed me to knock off Cumin and Ground Mustard off my list.

Admittedly, this would probably be more suited for ribs, but didn't taste out of place on a grilled ribeye with the paprika adding a nice depth to the meat.

The only change I would have made was in the application.  Since this was a new rub, I was not as liberal as I should have been.  If I had to do it over, I would have really packed it on and the resulting crust would have been magnificent.  Ah well, maybe next time when I do a pork chop.

So after this challenge the list of spices read as follows:

1. Cardamom
2. All Spice
3. Cloves
4. Almond Extract
5. Pumpkin Spice
6. Garam Masala
7. Vanilla Beans
8. Saffron
9. Nutmeg
10. Ground Mustard
11. Tumeric
12. Coriander
13. Sage
14. Thyme
15. Celery Seed
16. Tarragon
17. Cumin

Two down, fifteen more to go.

Thanks for reading.

Restaurant Review (Bishop Street Cafe)

Today, I had rare opportunity to actually have lunch with my wife during a weekday since our schedules happen to coincide.  She introduced me to one of her new "cheap eats" places, Bishop Street Cafe, a very small yet efficiently run eatery that you order on the inside but dine on the outside.

With regards to the food, the prices are set very reasonably for lunch, ranging from $1.19 (grilled focaccia bread w/pesto dip) to $8.25 (Grilled Salmon Teishoku).  The menu ranges between three types: Italian, Japanese, Salads.  I ordered the Yaki Buta Don (grilled pork over rice) which came with a small cup of miso soup for $6.  My wife had a pasta dish tossed with oil, pepper, gargonzola cheese, tomatoes, and basil.  This came with a side green salad for another $6.  I thought I took a picture of both dishes but, unfortunately, only my lunch was saved to the phone (sorry folks).

Overall, the food was decent (pork was a bit dry), but for the price and considering the downtown location, I would certainly recommend it if you are already in the area but not as a special lunch trip with friends with your car.  If you like starch, this is the place as almost all their dishes are very heavy on the rice and pasta, and low on protein,  which would help explain the low cost of all the items on the menu.  Also worth mentioning, the service was fantastic and we got our food within 3-4 minutes of paying for it. 

Thanks for reading!

Pondering Your Morning Coffee (Part II)

With my lovely son waking me up at 6:30am I had an early opportunity to try my salted coffee. 

As you can see, all the grains were absorbed into the brewing process.

With my favorite mug in hand, I cautiously and eagerly poured my first cup (black). 

With the first sip, I did notice a slight reduction of bitterness, but what really made an impact was the aftertaste.  After drinking a couple of sips down, I notice that there wasn't the usual odd burnt tail that usually accompanies auto-drip style coffee, and the overall experience is much more well-rounded and satisfying.  Please keep in mind that I was already using 100% Kona Extra Fancy (my 2nd fave bean) but even the improvement to this was noticeable.

So what does this mean?  For now, I need to experiment more and find where the salinity breakpoint is by increasing the salt a few grains each day.

Thanks for reading!!

Pondering Your Morning Coffee

Coffee is one of those components of food and beverage that I've always had a passion for.  By "passion" I mean, I own Auto-drips, French Presses, Vietnamese Coffee Makers, Stovetop Expresso Makers, and 2 types of grinders.  I would be one of those coffee snobs that complain about Starbucks in a way that make most regular drinkers roll their eyes.  I even have two dedicated roasters that I exclusively buy from.  One is in San Francisco (Wrecking Ball Roasters) and the other is Bayview Farms in Kealakekua, HI (I physically go there once a month for my stash).

With this in mind, I am always looking for new ways to improve my drinking experience.  Today's experiment involves adding a dash of salt to my grounds prior to brewing.  While this sounds weird, it utilizes the same chemical phenomenon that you get when you add salt to underripe fruit.  The salt will mellow out the edgy tones of the coffee and make it feel more full-bodied on the tongue. 

I first read about this technique on http://blog.khymos.org/, which is a gastronomy website that takes food in different directions and promotes the idea of molecular gastronomy.  Utilizing the procedure mentioned in an old article on this website (http://blog.khymos.org/2010/03/31/testing-salt-in-coffee-with-tim-wendelboe/), I added 16 grains of Hawaiian salt to my Kona grounds which will hopefully yield 3.5 cups of enhanced coffee.

If I got the ratio wrong, then I'll just try again tomorrow.

In the meantime, I leave you with this tidbit of information.  If you want to know the difference between gourmet coffee beans and supermarket beans, take a look at this picture:

The coffee on the left are the pre-roasted beans that you find in a gourmet store.  Every bean is picked to be uniform in size, color, and weight.  The beans on the right are whatever beans are left to sell to general wholesalers and is only measured out in weight per roasting batch.  End of the day, if you don't care about these things, then no matter.  For me, I like tasting the difference. 

Thanks for reading!!

My First Post, My First Challenge

Welcome to what I hope will be the first of many entries to come. I decided to start a food blog after realizing that I spend most of my time of Facebook posting pictures or writing about what I've eaten or what I've seen during my day that are food-related.

For this first entry, I want to challenge myself and thought by putting it online for the world to see that I will be able to hold myself accountable.

It dawned on me a couple of weeks ago that I have a lot of spices on my spice rack that isn't being used as often as I would probably like. Oh sure, when I bought that bottle of nutmeg or vial of saffron, I thought that I would make fabulous and exotic dishes with it. The fact of the matter is that if I probably only use about 15% of the items that are sitting on the rack just begging to be used.

The challenge is this:

Over the next few weeks, I will require myself to make dishes that use at least one of the following items on my "rarely used" spice list as follows:

1. Cardamom
2. All Spice
3. Cloves
4. Almond Extract
5. Pumpkin Spice
6. Garam Masala
7. Vanilla Beans
8. Saffron
9. Nutmeg
10. Ground Mustard
11. Tumeric
12. Coriander
13. Sage
14. Thyme
15. Celery Seed
16. Tarragon
17. Cumin

As you can see, some of the items will be easy to knock off and some will be a little challenging.  Still, I want to be able to use these and thereby clear out my cabinet and perhaps be a little more efficient with my food spending.  Any recommendations for future dishes using these ingredients are more than welcome.

Thanks for joining me on this blog. I hope you find it enjoyable and fun.