Rainy day treat at Ramen Shop.

Corsair Triple Smoked Malt Whiskey

This whiskey out of Kentucky had all the peaty goodness of a good Islay Scotch but a clean finish that paired well with Japanese flavors. I could drink this all the time. Nice pick by my wonderful and incredibly talented illustrator/bar manager friend extraordinaire, Chris Lane.

tsukemono and pork/squid fried rice

Best fried rice in the East Bay. And OMG, the tsukemono -- Ramen Shop has someone who only does pickles, and it shows. The black radish -- the small slices vegetal, the large ones spicy, taking advantage of natural radish variation -- was to die for. 

sesame-miso ramen w/ ground pork belly

Broth so rich and thick, noodles with a firm chew, ground browned pork belly nuggets like little treasures to be dredged up from the bottom: a perfect bowl.

Go get some!



YES.

Kit Kat Specialty Store Opening in Tokyo

All y'all know I'm not a big sweet eater, but I make room in my Japan bag every year for amazing Japanese Kit Kats.

I've only had green tea, sakura, hojicha, strawberry, blueberry cheesecake, and soy sauce flavors, so you can bet your sweet ass I'm making it over to Ikebukuro (also home to Namja Town and its Gyoza Stadium and Ice Cream City and lovely microbrews, oh yes) every time I visit Tokyo.

This is a big deal, people.

Happy Independence Day!

I just got back from a week in one of the most iconic of American of cities, New Orleans, Louisiana. First time in Dixie for this one, and it was lovely.





















































Music, stunning architecture, excellent (if rich) food, some of the best beer around, and some of the nicest folks I've encountered. Definitely shortlisted as a place I could settle, and I can't wait to go back.

More domestic goddess business, gardening edition:

Yee! Radishes are finally coming up...

...and my kale is looking healthy...

...as well as my container chard, haphazard but growing fast:













Now to just get a bit of time to learn to brew beer...

Oi, it's definitely persimmon season.

With persimmons peaking this month, there isn't a better time to explore the fruit, and, if all goes well, add it to your holiday repertoire. Two main types are available commercially - firm, flat Fuyus and soft, acorn-shaped Hachiyas...

My dad put a Hachiya tree in for my mom when they moved back to the States from Japan, and so I grew up watching my mom place firm, bright orange, pointed globes in the kitchen window, carefully turning them each day until they were so soft they were almost collapsing on themselves. Those ripe Hachiyas were always too sweet for me, but my mom loved eating the jelly-like insides, and she regularly baked persimmon cake for me and my sister from my dad's recipe.

I'm still not a fan of plain old sticky sweet Hachiya pulp, but there's nothing I like better than a crisp Fuyu cubed into a salad, or sliced and served with a strong cheese.

I'm still surprised when I meet people who don't know about this beautiful and versatile fruit, especially since it has such a long history among so many different cultures. When I finally buy a place of my own, a persimmon tree is definitely taking up some space on the property.

Dad's Persimmon Cake

1 cup shortening (trans-fat free versions available -- I like Spectrum)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
3 eggs, room temperature
2 cups Hachiya persimmon pulp
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13X9 glass pan.

Blend first 3 ingredients together until smooth. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Add persimmon pulp, flour, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and nuts (if desired) and mix for 2 minutes. Thin with warm water if the mix is too dry.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes.

Blackberry pickins (and what is now my official blackberry picking shirt)



















And courtesy of our bartender friend, the best way to drink gin or rum: the Blackberry Cobbler















I love summer!

Oh yeah!

Foraging Fruit Gains Popularity












Supporters of this movement hold two basic principles. One, it’s a shame to let fruit go to waste. And two, neighborhood fruit tastes best when it’s free.

“There have always been people harvesting fallen fruit,” Ms. [Asiya] Wadud [pictured] said, “but there’s a whole new counterculture about gathering and eating public fruit. This tremendous resource is growing everywhere if people just start looking around.”

Also great about this article: more Oaktown, and more of my favorite thrifty ways.

I've got free fuyus, figs, lemons, plums, and squirrel-nibbled avocados on seasonal rotation in my neighborhood -- what about you?

And from free fruit directly to the compost bin:

S.F. OKs Toughest Recycling Law In U.S.

Throwing orange peels, coffee grounds and grease-stained pizza boxes in the trash will be against the law in San Francisco, and could even lead to a fine.

The Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 Tuesday to approve Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposal for the most comprehensive mandatory composting and recycling law in the country. It's an aggressive push to cut greenhouse gas emissions and have the city sending nothing to landfills or incinerators by 2020.

People very often will not take it upon themselves to change for the better -- especially if it puts them out a bit -- unless they are forced. The haters and libertarians are crying foul about this recycling program, but c'mon, what else is there to do? Where do we think our Earth is going?

So I say good for San Francisco, and I think it's about time, but there has to be real enforcement. Hard to imagine in a city that cannot seem to do a thing about it's shameful homeless population, no matter what programs are put into place. We'll see.

Weekends don't get any better than this.

Chicken and waffles at Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland:















Heavenly. Don't believe me?















Check out their Gourmet mag write-up here. Yes, they are that good.

And never let it be said that I don't make my own contribution to food coma weekends as well. Yay for the first peaches of the season, and yay for peach upside down cake:















To round out the food theme, I even got a prezzie. New lunch tote from my man:

A couple of very good eats...

Caprino Cremosa al Tartufo















This is an Italian goat milk cheese (chevre) supplemented with cream and dotted with black truffles. Oh my, is it amazing.

I bought half a Caprino Cremosa on Sunday from the "past their prime" cheese bin at the cheese counter in Market Hall. Thrifty, I am, so this is where I go to try out the random cheese I really can't afford to buy full price. And every now and then, I get one that makes me come back and shell out the big bucks for another one -- in this case, not but a few days later.

Also, heirloom tomatoes are out in full force! I picked up a bunch of beauties at my neighborhood farmer's market on Sunday. And while I devoured the first few with just a sprinkling of sea salt, I just ate a perfect Cherokee Purple with...nacho cheese. And tortilla chips, of course. Divine!

I haven't been cooking much lately since I've been on this detox diet. What's the fun with vegetables, vegetables, more vegetables, tofu, tempeh, and a little grain?

Okay, if you know me, I suppose there's plenty of fun to be had with those ingredients, but I guess I've just been cranky without my beloved hot chiles.

Tonight, however, I felt like cooking something fabulous for myself. Inspired by recent trips to Chez Simone and La Note, I decided to have a ratatouille omelette.















Looks good, non? Though a little ratty around the edges, courtesy of my small spatula (and a little blurry overall, courtesy of my one handed camerawork).

It was so delicious, I decided to commit the recipe to le blog. I constructed it with what I had in my fridge and pantry, so obviously it requires no special ingredients, but it was still quite an impressive finished dish.

Ratatouille Omelette

You can be a rebel and use other vegetables (for example, I omitted the more traditional zucchini in favor of meaty mushrooms), but for me, ratatouille definitely requires five things -- garlic, onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, and eggplant.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium globe eggplant, sliced into rounds 1/2 inch thick
3-4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
8 oz crimini mushrooms, quartered
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
5 or 6 basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

4 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/3 cup grated parmesan, divided into 4 portions

chopped parsley for garnish

Note: I spray my eggplant slices with an oil sprayer before baking, but feel free to brush the slices with oil if you prefer. I also prep my vegetables while the eggplant is baking and cooling.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush or spray eggplant slices with oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake eggplant for 15 minutes or until tender but still firm. Remove from oven and cool.

Heat olive oil in a one quart saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and saute until onion begins to turn translucent. Add bell pepper and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 or 5 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften. Meanwhile chop eggplant into rough 1/2 inch cubes.

Add eggplant and canned tomatoes with juice, incorporating it into the other vegetables. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in chopped basil leaves, then remove from heat and set aside.

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Mix rosemary into the beaten eggs. Pour half of the eggs into the skillet and sprinkle with 1/4 of the parmesan. Cook eggs until firm but still moist. Add 2-3 tablespoons of ratatouille to the eggs and fold the eggs over the ratatouille.

Plate the omelette and spoon 1 or 2 tablespoons of ratatouille over the top. Sprinkle with another 1/4 of the parmesan, and parsley. Repeat to make a second omelette.

Serves two, with plenty of ratatouille left over to eat on crostini, or with a little rice for lunch! :)

Yay for strawberry season!


















Strawberry shortcake from one of the best things about our neighborhood, Bakesale Betty's.

Oh man, I have to watch myself around that place or I'll become 500 pounds. Today I treated myself to HALF a fried chicken sandwich -- the sex of food.













^^ Betty (Alison) and her legendary sandwich

Bakesale Betty's Fried Chicken Sandwich
Serves 4

You'll have some breading left over, even after dipping twice. This makes a hefty sandwich in all regards - you'll need two hands to eat it.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each
Kosher salt to taste
1 quart buttermilk

The vinaigrette

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

The coleslaw

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 jalapenos, seeded, cut in half and sliced crosswise
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, and very thinly sliced
Kosher salt

The breading

1 pound all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt + more to taste
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying
4 Acme Bakery torpedo rolls, sliced lengthwise

Instructions: Season chicken breasts with kosher salt. Let sit at least 5 minutes. Fill a wide, shallow nonreactive bowl or casserole dish with buttermilk. Add the chicken and soak in the refrigerator for 1 hour up to overnight.

For the vinaigrette: Combine mustard, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil until well blended.

For the coleslaw: Macerate onions in red wine vinegar, and let sit at least 20 minutes. Remove onions and discard vinegar. Toss onions with jalapeno, parsley, cabbage and salt. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly coated.

To fry chicken: Pour vegetable oil into a large stockpot. Do not fill up more than halfway, or the oil could splatter. Bring oil up to 365°, using a digital thermometer/candy thermometer to monitor the heat. Prepare the the breading while waiting for oil to heat up.

In a wide shallow bowl, mix flour, cayenne, salt and pepper. Pull a chicken breast out of the buttermilk one by one, letting excess drip off, and dredge completely in flour. To create a thick crust, place in buttermilk and dredge in flour a second time. Do not drain or shake off excess buttermilk or flour during the breading process.

When the oil is at 365°, carefully place chicken pieces into oil one by one. Let it cook for a minute before disturbing chicken, then help it "swim" in the oil with tongs, until it is evenly cooked, about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and drain on paper towels. Season immediately with salt.

For the sandwich: Place fried chicken breast on bottom of torpedo roll and top generously with coleslaw.

I've deliberately omitted the calories and fat content, but if interested, you can find them here. Trust me though: you'll be much happier NOT clicking that link. Just enjoy the truth in the chicken sandwich of the gods.

Huckleberry ice cream and strawberry-ginger sorbet from Ici

I read an excellent article today in local and seasonal focus, free foodie mag Edible East Bay about one of my favorite foods, the sea vegetable.

Growing up with a Japanese mother, I was introduced early on to the tastiness of seaweed. I’ve also been privy to its use as a component in tissue engineering, thanks to my college friend Tim who would routinely begin the evening with an entire flask of Taaka, his confidence unshaken that someday he’d get a new liver that would be grown in a vat.

But I was unaware of the huge sea vegetable industry in California and Ireland, and seaweed's almost unreal health benefits. I think everyone should try to integrate just a bit of this superfood into your diet; to encourage folks the mag included a luscious recipe in the article, which I will use here to therefore encourage you, ma peeps.

Cooking savant, instigator of creative pantry-clean-out suppers, and nutrition nut that I am, I love recipes that seem loony and jacked up for most people but are good for you and taste divine. Plus, for all my dirt-twirler peeps, this one’s vegan, and cheap! Trust me, this one’s a goodun…

Sea Palm Fettuccine with Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Pesto:

1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 bunch cilantro
2 tbsp olive or flax oil
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt to taste

Puff pumpkin seeds on stove over heat for 1-2 minutes. Combine all pesto ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add salt to taste.

Fettuccine:

2 oz sea palm fronds
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 tbsp ghee or olive oil
2 1/2 cups water
2 red bell peppers, chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
Sea salt and lemon to taste
Cilantro for garnish

Freshen the sea palm by soaking them in a large bowl of water for 20 minutes. Toast the pine nuts for 3-4 minutes. Drain the sea palm. Heat olive oil or ghee in a saucepan, add garlic, and then sea palm; sauté for 3 minutes. Add water and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.

Sauté peppers and zucchini. When sea palm is tender, drain and add to vegetables. Stir in toasted pine nuts. Add lemon juice and salt to taste. Distribute between 4 plates, top with a dollop of pesto, and garnish with cilantro. Serves 4.