Don’t you hate it when you’re all ready to make something and realize that you either don’t have enough of a key ingredient? Or worse yet, it spoiled?!
That’s what happened to me. I had a beautiful yellow bell pepper but I waited too long to cook it. Since I had mentally gotten ready to cook, there was no turning back. I went to the grocery store really quick and got bell peppers. They didn’t have any yellow ones so I grabbed a couple of red and green ones.
Tu Lan is a hole in the wall Vietnamese place off of Market St in San Francisco, CA. It’s in a shady neighborhood, but I’m willing to travel far and wide for good food. =) I found out about Tu Lan after reading this, coincidently, right before I went to San Francisco.
(Btw, 25 cents = 5 minutes of parking. FIVE minutes!!!)
One of the owner’s sons (I THINK he was the son, not sure who he was, really)started making conversation with me and was kind enough to give me suggestions on what to order.
“What’s so great about the fried rice?” I asked.
“Grease,” he said. “Lots of grease.”
Hello everyone!!! The site was down for the past few days due to a major mistake on my part. A HUGE hats off to my friend A, who literally saved this site! And of course, thanks to all 3 of you for reading! 
This is one of my favorite dishes to eat. The combination of sweet, salty and spicy goes amazingly with the textures and the unadulterated flavor of tofu and the rice cake. Yum!!!
How many servings of fruit do you get on a daily basis?
I try to eat about 3 servings a day. Instead of eating these separately, I thought it might be fun to make a salad. So I peeled and diced a peach, an apple, and a kiwi. Then I added a teaspoon of cream cheese just to see what it would taste like. It sounds gross but it was really yummy.
I like to eat Vietnamese food on a regular basis. But since I don’t know how to make Pho, I thought I’d make what I do know how to make – summer rolls.
Vietnamese food became very popular in Korea a few years ago, and now there are a bunch of Vietnamese restaurants that are Korean owned. I think the tastes do vary, as every cuisine does, according to its new culture. I’m no expert but I do know when I like something!
Just read this very interesting New York Times article about nutraceuticals.
Neutra-what?
“These additives are often called nutraceuticals, broadly defined as ingredients that are derived from food, and that offer health benefits associated with that food.”
I picked up some cilantro, some yellow squash, red heirloom tomatoes and zucchini from my favorite place ever (the farmers market) the other day. =) I can’t wait to see what great autumn produce they have this week!
While reading Serious Eats, I had bookmarked this recipe for pico de gallo with Tilapia and thought I’d give it a shot. I ventured out to a Chinese grocery store in my ‘hood. It was about 9 pm, which clearly means that the fish is not as fresh as it would be earlier in the day. However, I decided to take my chances (I’m such a rebel) and chose to go anyway.
Rice cakes (Dduk) traditionally are a big part of Korean cuisine. Unlike these, the texture is soft and chewy.
There are so many different kinds of Dduk. Some are used in cooking, and others are for snacking on. The cake shape, content, and color vary. Sharing dduk symbolizes sharing of kindred spirits. People eat it during happy and sad times. You will find Dduk in funerals and also at birthday celebrations in Korea.
The weather is growing significantly colder by the day. It’s time to bundle up and wish for hibernation!! Well, before I start worrying about being cold… I’ll just enjoy the brisk air, beautiful foliage and apple cider!
This dish was created after picking up a lovely eggplant from the farmers market. I’ve never cooked with eggplant before so I thought I’d take an easy stir-fry route and experiment with more complicated dishes next time. Feel free to leave me your favorite eggplant recipe in the comments.
If you want to eat this, be my guest!
Like the NYT link states, “Apply directly to thighs.” Well put.
(Image courtesy of Food Network.com)
© 2010 All photos and content by Esther Chai, unless otherwise noted. All Rights Reserved.
