hello poppets! i havena forgotten you, but i have forgotten to blog. i am, alas, no longer in san francisco, but i probably have a few words to say about it. stay tuned for the inevitable ferry building marketplace post, and maybe another one, too....
**just a note: i would have normally have put this on my los angeles blog, but a lot of you are world travellers, so you might be interested in this post. i do talk about food eventually :)
i haven't been to san francisco in eons, so i thought it was about time. the last few times i did go, i drove, but with gas prices being what they are--along with the fact that i was going alone--made me decide to fly instead. also, virgin america airlines was offering a promo rate of $39 each way. sold! i later found i could pay $15 extra for a bulkhead or for an exit row seat; then when i got to the airport, they asked if i'd like to upgrade to a first class seat for $50. i would like, thankyewverramuch, but because i had paid for the legroom upgrade, my first class seat only cost another $35. whoo! $89 each way still ended up cheaper than what i would have spent on gas, so i was happy.
the flight was delayed for a sucktastic three hours; in the time i spent travelling to the airport, checking in and waiting i could already have been in sf had i driven. no matter--any irritations were melted away when i got on board: mood lighting! chillout music! happy flight attendants! apologetic captain dressed all in black! also, comfy leather seats with power outlets so i could charge my phone in flight (not just in first class, too).
and the best part? a coolicious touch screen at every seat with on demand movies, videos, live satellite television, 3000+ mp3s, games, chat rooms, and seat-to-seat chat.
how crazy awesome is that?! although, on a 50-minute flight, not many people are interested in chatting. emailing, texting, and books/articles to read are forthcoming.
if you are hungry or thirsty, you can use the touch screen to order food and drink, then pay using a credit/debit card (no cash is accepted). i forgot to check that category, but i know archer farms snacks are available. in first class, there was a little lunchbox on offer, which held three little containers and a whole lotta cutlery.
there was a soba salad with a sesame dressing, panna cotta with a pecan praline sauce, and balsamico-braised shiitake mushrooms. it may not look exciting, but all three were very good, the soba salad in particular (actually, it might be the best soba salad i've had, not that i've had many). small, but filling.
i've read a few reviews about virgin, none of them particularly good, but i had a great time, and thought it was definitely worth the price. i'm fairly certain the $39 was a temporary promotion, but as long as the prices remain competitive, i will definitely consider taking virgin again. i would, however, like to try a longer flight next time.
kenko fish spa therapy, my new favourite place in the whole hyoooniverse. here you sit in relaxed, simple splendour--all sunny and calm in the day, all moody and calm at night--with your legs immersed in warm waters up to your knees, like summertime on a dock of a country pond.
only you are in the middle of a kicka** shopping mall, in the heart of the golden triangle tourist and entertainment center of kuala lumpur.
and there are hundreds of tiny fish eating off the worst of your dead skin and callouses. wha-!!!
yeeeheeee! once you realize they are not there to eat you alive (although, seriously, at first you have to wonder, as they can be quite voracious), it is a very pleasant (dare i say mirthful?) experience. ticklish, tickly, nibbly, fish-lippy kisses. there are two sides to choose from--one has smaller fish, the other has much larger ones. however, the little fish can be more aggressive than the big ones, but um, you might just want to start with the smaller mouths just the same.
the fish--garra ruffa, more commonly known as doctor fish, more comically known as reddish log suckers--are native to the central and middle eastern parts of europe and western asia, and have long been bred and used in turkish spas as therapy for psoriasis sufferers as the fish eat the affected or dead skin, leaving new, healthier skin to grow. it isn't considered treatment, but i have to say as someone with mild psoriasis, my feet and skin have never felt better. true, a really good scrubdown is all that is really necessary, but a half hour as feeding fodder for the fishies is a far more entertaining option.
i recommend going in the morning, as there can be quite a crowd in the afternoon and nighttime. the water is changed out and ionized at night, so i figure the pools must be cleaner at in the a.m. (although you are required to clean and scrub your feet before entering the spa area--still), and the fish are definitely hungrier. you have been advised.
kenko reflexology and fish spa pavilion, 168 jalan bukit bintang, lot 5.01.09 (5th floor, near gsc cinemas) kl(039802) malaysia tel: 603.2141.6651.
kuih (plural: kuih mueh): local, traditional-style cakes and morsels that use native ingredients and are generally sweet, occasionally savoury, and sometimes both. typical main ingredients are some form of glutinous rice, coconut, and gula melaka (palm sugar). you can find them anywhere there is food; in kl, there is food everywhere.
i had more than my share of different kuihs, not all of them photographed as they were more important as food than as models. here are some of the ones that didn't get gobbled down straightaway.
after our dinner, miss boo took me to a market area of kampung baru, where she bought me putu bambu, very similar to the filipino puto bumbong, which are also steamed in pieces of bamboo. small lengths of bamboo are cut down, and a dryish glutinous rice flour mixture is packed into them. they are placed upright onto a special steamer. once they are done, they are pushed out of the bamboo length, topped with fresh coconut and gula melaka, and the process is repeated endlessly into the night. these were lighter in flavour and texture than the filipino version (mainly because the pinoy version adds ube, or purple mountain yam), but just as delicious.
pulut inti is a cute little pyramid of steamed glutinous rice, topped with a mound of coconut and gula melaka. the thing that sets it apart from the rest is the unique shape, and the fairly equal ratio of coconut to sugar to rice.
pulut udang is similar to the pinoy suman, in that it is glutinous rice steamed in banana leaf, but it contains a sweet-savoury filling of chopped dried prawn or anchovy, mixed with a bit of sugar. a little odd, but tasty combination.
my favourite of all of them, however, would have to be the kuih ketayap--a small pandan flavoured crêpe wrapped around a gula melaka and coconut filling. there's something about the moist, spongy pancake in contrast with the nutty, sweet interior that i really enjoyed. if anyone has a recipe for this, send it my way!
i have more photos...somewhere....will have to add them on as i come across them....
well of course i had to go to a market. i went to imbi market, which i had read about on boo's blog, and in the inaugural issue of time out kl, in an article written by eating asia's scribe, robyn eckhardt. our hotel provided complimentary breakfasts (pretty good as far as hotel buffets go), so unfortunately, i didn't go to sample the famed hainan coffee and roti kahwin, just to poke around a bit to see what kinds of fruits and veg were on offer, maybe peek into the wet market (or maybe not), and check out the stalls.
i was v. tempted to bring back some of the beautiful dried seafood on offer--cuttlefish, oysters, and scallops of every size--but knew that cute but pesky US customs dog would sniff it out. i think, though, with a little experimentation i might be able to recreate the bursting bulbs of smoked garlic, which were offered up in various stalls. don't know exactly what i'd do with it besides a smokin' (literally) pot of tau ew bak, a thick, soy sauce based stew like hawaiian shoyu chicken, only with giant, glistening chunks of pork. mmmmm. so not halal.
temptation gave in when i saw the sisters crispy popiah stall. popiah are the regional version of the filipinolumpia sariwa, a savoury rice or wheat flour crepe painted with a sweetish-soy and bean sauce, then filled with fresh vegetables, yam or turnip noodles, prawns, and whatever else to the maker's choosing. i'm not sure why the sisters' version is so lauded, but i wonder if it is the 'crispy' in the name that is unusual; their popiah had a generous amount of batter bits that were indeed very crispy and added lovely texture to the wrap. count me as one of the many fans.
i think my favourite vendor, though, was mr. wong, the owner of the chinese pastry stall (name temporarily escapes me, but i'll have a rummage for the card). an earnest and engaging young man, his father and uncle had popular shop in chinatown on petaling street, but he moved the four-generations-old business to the market when his uncle retired. when he saw me taking photos, he showed me his own digital camera, filled with photos of him making the pineapple jam that filled many of the flaky crusted pastries in his case. it takes him four to five hours just to peel the pineapples, never mind cutting and cooking them down in a giant cauldron. one jam making session makes just enough for four days' worth of sweets, so on top of his duties at the stall, he must go through the day-long process for the jam alone, at least twice a week. it is worth it--the fresh flavour of the pineapple still evident under the caramelization, just a tiny bit tart and not too sweet.
although all the pineapple jam filled pastries were lovely (the one with salted egg yolk and jam was especially interesting), i think his top creation would be the mini-egg custard tarts. the crust is impressively flaky, with a silky, light egginess within; you can easily eat one or two in seconds flat.
i have just returned from a rather whirlwind trip to kuala lumpur; or, rather, have just almost recovered from return--spent all of saturday from dawn to pre-dawn sunday in transit. as i was there for a conference, i didn't really have time to explore KL properly, nor did i get to try all the food that i wanted, but not for lack of trying.
i did get to meet with the fabulous boo_licious and her equally fabulous boo_liciousman on my first proper night there, but unfortunately the trials of travel, weak appetite, and the suprisingly effective words of paul mckenna made me lackluster company. i hope to one day return in better form and as a better guest. miss boo so kindly took me out of the touristy pocket i was trapped in for most of my stay, and into kampung baru, the oldest residential area in kl, a historically preserved area where modern development is strictly regulated. we went to CT Garden (CT Roses) for my first taste of nasi lemak. nasi lemak translates to 'rice in cream': white long grained rice cooked with rich coconut milk, which is scooped out, topped with sambal and a quarter of a hard boiled egg, then wrapped in banana leaf. it is eaten as is, or with any number of side dishes. it is a cheap, filling breakfast staple--but can be found throughout the day and is especially popular as post-club grub--and is said to be the (unofficial) national dish of malaysia.
i let miss boo pick out the accompanying dishes, which were chicken livers and cow's lung (paru) marinated in soy sauce, lemongrass, and chilis then grilled, brown squid (dried cuttlefish which has been rehydrated) sautéed in a chili sauce, fried tempeh with ikan bilis and peanuts, fried chicken, and otak-otak, a blend of fish and chili paste grilled in a palm leaf. everything was very tasty and fresh, and i particularly enjoyed the otak-otak, which had the consistency of a firm mousse, and although made from mackerel and liberally spiced, was not overly assertive in any one flavour. also, the fried tempeh might be my favourite preparation of this soybean product, both complex in flavour and crunchiness.
but truly the standouts for me were the lovely company, and the view of the sultan sulaiman sports club, and the petronas towers beyond.
seriously, it's an advertiser's dream. nasi lemak: 60 sens, grilled cow's lung: RM 2, view from the outdoor dining area: priceless.
*
KL in reality sort of daft punk'd any idea i had of it, but i don't think i even barely scratched the surface. i've been gone for just over 24 hours and already itching to return. jumpa lagi, KL, next time i'll be better prepared for you....
** special thanks to MamaBok for facilitating the boo_licious/banana meetup. terima kasi!
i don't think i've ever made a fruitcake before. i've never been a huge fan of it, but i've had some that have been very good, so i'm not of the type who chucks it out of windows when one crosses the threshold--mainly because most of them are so heavy, i'm sure to kill an unsuspecting passerby. i do, however, get the urge to bake them, even though i know they are a hard sell. i brought one to the guys at the bank today and they were all like, "so what goodies did you bring us today?" and i carefully said "oh. a cake." pause. "with fruit." dingdingding! oh, the disappointment and the accusation hanging in the air! "a fruitcake?!"
yeah, well, there's really no hiding it. i can't even claim it's not like a traditional cake made with all fresh or dried fruit, or some sort of pierre herme creation. it's not lightweight, it's not soaked in tequila--it's a number-one-bona-fide-brick of butter, sugar, eggs, and fruit. i adapted a recipe from jeffrey steingarten--the other one who ate everything--that was adapted by annie over at bon appegeek; she is a hardcore fruitcake fanatic, so if she liked the recipe, and if jeffrey steingarten liked the recipe, there's a pretty good chance that i...might not. hey! like i said, i'm not a big fruitcake fan. i don't know why i wanted to make it, maybe it's some sort of sick manifestation of holiday spirit or something. (you know what? it probably is. i mean, i've been watching straight-to-basic-cable holiday movies all week--diva whose ghost of present is the bass player for duran duran? seen it. sabrina the teenage witch kidnapping the cha cha king for a family dinner? seen it. also, who's been scanning the FM dial for a chance to hear mariah carey for the fifteenth time? that day? nyahh. say what you want, it's teh awesomeest.)
so anyway. i've never read steingarten's book, don't really know the exact mods that annie did to his cake, and there's talk of some sort of "fatal flaw" in the crust. i wasn't worried too much about it, though, because the ingredients list reads like a french pound cake recipe with the addition of a lot of stuff--i can do that. the french pound cake--quatre quarts, literally "four fourths"--is made with equal amounts of four ingredients: flour, eggs, butter, and sugar; only a little variation on that, and some advice taken from one of the dozens of googled fruitcake recipes i've looked at for weeks: the addition of 3.5 pounds of fruit. yeeeeeeahboyyyy. can't mistake that for anything else then. i used a mix of dried and candied fruits, chopped them up to 1/4-inch anonymity to protect the innocent, which made the cake more like a jammy poundcake than dough studded with sugary unidentifiable lumps. walnuts added some needed texture, and like annie and jeffrey, i didn't bother to liquor it up. didn't need it. also didn't get the hard crustiness as described by both, but i baked them in smaller loaves, so the cooking time was reduced significantly; what i got was a beautifully golden, sugary-coated shell that made the cake irresistible directly out of the oven. of course, all that fruit and sugar makes it molten-hot, so perhaps you'd like to wait for it to cool completely, or even refrigerate it for easier slicing.
i know you're sceptical, but i stand by it, like i stand by mariah carey's christmas song--it's sugary, it's sweet, it's definitely seasonal, but it also has substance, quality ingredients, and darn it if it doesn't make you want to dance around the christmas tree.
oh, you humbuggers you. here's some darlene love for you then.
fruitcake
3 1/2 lbs of any combination of dried fruit and candied fruit you like--i highly suggest using a lot of citrus peel in the mix (i used 8 oz each of candied orange peel, lemon peel, and pineapple, golden raisins, chopped dates, 4 oz of finely diced candied ginger in syrup, and made up the rest with a dried fruit blend, then chopped down to 1/8"-1/4" pieces)
1 lb of nuts, your choice (i used roughly chopped walnuts)
1 lb of flour, sifted
1 lb of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 lb of white sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoonful of salt
preheat oven to 325˚F.
in a large bowl, combine all fruit and nuts, mixing well. set aside. cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. add vanilla and salt. fold in flour until completely incorporated. mix fruit/nut mix into batter. transfer batter into well greased pans. bake until golden, and toothpick inserted in center comes out relatively clean (roughly 35 minutes for small muffins, 1 hour for small loaves, and 2 hours for large ones).
i am at the tail end of a cookie baking marathon--mexican wedding cookies, an odd hazelnut chocolate cookie with which i was experimenting, and chocolate chippies. new to this year's lineup: bill clinton's oatmeal cookies, from chef sherry yard's "desserts by the yard." i make a lot of oatmeal cookies, and even though they don't look like much (when do oatmeal cookies ever do?), they might be some of my favourite--possibly the only favourite anything i share with the former president. they are crispy on the outside, but chewy with oats, brown sugar, and wine-soaked golden raisins (i added some dried cranberries as well) on the inside. you can futz about with the temperature and time if you want a softer, chewier cookie, but imho, they don't turn out quite so well. stick to the plan, stan, and enjoy.
love that cnn. i was looking up the significance of the jewish holiday, hanukkah, which began last night after sundown (thanks, bramble!), and came across this:
During Hanukkah, Jewish people celebrate the miracle of the tiny bit of oil that miraculously burned for eight days. This miracle is remembered by lighting a menorah for eight days and eating fare cooked in oil or laden with cheese.
um, i think there might be more to it than that. but hey, food is important in religious holidays--that a celebration should include deep fried dough and dairy goodness can only be a good thing, right?
this isn't fried in oil, but it is definitely laden with cheese: a dark chocolate chocolate chip cheesecake from the whimsical bakehouse by kaye and liv hansen. the recipe was adapted from this mocha chocolate chip cheesecake--just omit the espresso. also, all the fiddly decorative bits and chocolate glaze are nice but unnecessary--this cake is good enough on its own. it is creamy, not too sweet, rich, but not too heavy. a lovely addition to any holiday feasting.
miss zarah of food and thoughts is in the holiday spirit and planning on offering a new post for the next 24 days. i love the idea of her christmas countdown, but doubt that i can match her largesse. however, it doesn't hurt to try, does it? so, hopefully, for the run up until the 'mas i will attempt to double my output--from one post a week to at least two. >gasp< i know. it's mind-boggling, innit. i've just read that cathy from my little kitchen plans to join in as well--anybody else up for the challenge?
a little mod love for some mod love led to this. thank you matt from abstract gourmet for finding the video for this obscure but lovely little ditty--and happy valentine's day to you all.
chirashi sushi, or "scattered sushi": sushi rice--mixed with boiled lotus root, shredded carrot, brown enoki mushroom, and bamboo shoots--topped with shredded egg omelette, salmon roe, salmon, prawns, pickled ginger, and um, some boiled mountain greens. i regret to say that i didn't make this myself, but it was a special bento from my favourite japanese supermarket/deli, tokyo mart. it was offered in honour of hina-matsuri on friday, march 3rd. hina-matsuri means "doll's festival", and it is meant to celebrate young girls' health and happiness.
i don't really know why chirashi is considered typical food for this festival; i would imagine it's because it's fresh, healthy, and colourful. is there more?
the dolls pictured above are not the type of doll, hina ningyo, brought out for the festival. those are considerably more ornate and formal. however, given the spirit of the festival, these kokeshi make a lovely standby, and are no less welcome.
DISCLAIMER: this is a personal journal with no desires to be anything but. it contains my opinion with occasional fact thrown in; recipes have been tested where noted, in an unairconditioned kitchen in the tropics. YMMV. for my sake and yours, consult a professional!
