Luna New Year's Eve at Basil

Wednesday, Lunar new year's eve, we all had to work late preparing for the coming meeting on friday. so we - a small group of people from work decided to dine simple on the eve since some of us had to go back to work after dindin! We settled on Basil - a yummy Thai restaurant near work. the appetizers were delicious, first time i had the roti - a slightly sweet thai pan fried pancake with eggplant curry topping. the curry puffs were also excellent, again a first for me, i don't order curry on my own since it's not my favorite dish but the puffs were yummy. for entree, i had the pad keemao, it was good but my favorite has to be the appetizers...
Try to roti at Basil next time you're in the SOMA neighborhood...
http://www.basilthai.com/

Happy New Year - Year of the Rat

back in Viet Nam, we always had some kind of yellow dogwood flowers, yellow mums, or orchids...for Tet (Lunar new year also known as Chinese new year). we don't have the yellow dogwood here in San Francisco so i went to Whole food and got some forsythia instead. yellow and red are for good fortune and luck in the new year. And so i wish all my blog viewers/readers good health, good fortune, good luck and everything will go your way in the year of the rat. so chuc mung nam moi, cung hee phat choi or happy new year!!!

The right macarons... finally

Finally i was able to get the right look and the right texture on the macarons. the feet were even and at the correct height, not tucking under the top (mushroom like). the shell is more delicate than all the ones that i made before. they finally look right, YES!!!
so here's the recipe i found on the internet (i copied it down and forgot the source, very sorry! i owed whoever posted this recipe on line)

225gr powder sugar
125gr almond flour
100gr aged egg white
25gr sugar - i used super fine.
pinch of salt
1/2 tea spoon cream of tartar

preheat oven at 325 degree F. i've tried baking at different lower temperature and resulted in cracked tops. of course this only applies to my oven.

use heavy duty baking trays, i did not double up the tray. i've tried baking with double trays and outcame again the cracked tops and wrinkled tops.

i left egg white out for over 60 hrs by accident, definitely not neccessary. leave egg white out uncovered anywhere from 24-72hrs(i read that on line). weight egg white after aging, not before. i aged 6 egg white and had some left over.

mixed powder sugar and almond flour, i ground them again in coffee grinder to get finer texture. sift through medium sieve.

beat egg white at low speed, add salt, increase to medium speed, add cream of tartar. beat until frothy, add sugar in a steady stream, increase to high speed, beat until stiff peak.

add all meringue into almond/powder sugar at once. again i mixed with my very clean hand and used a flexible spatula to scrape the side and the bottom of the bowl. mix fast and a bit more forceful to get the meringue into the dry ingredients. the mixing process took about 30 seconds for me.

pipe batter at whatever size you want. i piped mine at 1 1/4" and the batter spread to around 2" in diameter. tap hard under the tray for even spreading and to get rid of peaks. i left the piped macarons out for 1 hr for the skin to form.

bake at 325F, it took around 9 minutes for each tray. rotate half way to get even baking.

sandwich with whatever flavor you like. i used up all my leftover caramel fleur de sel this time.

What to eat with saffron rice???

i got some japanese eggplants from the japanese grocery shop in Japan town, naturally! i prefer japanese eggplants, the color of the skin is a beautiful deep inky purple and the taste is much more delicate with a sweeter aftertaste than regular eggplants. i wanted to roast some eggplant and cook some sausages to go with the saffron rice. so off to Wholefood i went. i got some mild italian sausages, red bell pepper and chives.
wash and dry chives, eggplants and bell pepper. i dried them with paper towel to prevent splatter later. cut chives in 1/2" length. in a hot pan on stovetop, add some olive oil, add chives to the hot oil and take off heat, transfer the chives with oil to a bowl immediately to stop the cooking, let it cool.
stab eggplants all over with a fork to let the steam out (during the cooking process later). preheat oven at broil 500 degree F. in a roasting pan, add olive oil, add eggplants and bell pepper, roll them in the oil to get even covering. cover with foil, poke a few holes in the foil to let the steam out. cook under broiler for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the epplants and bell pepper are cooked thoroughly. once done, immediately put the bell pepper in a paper bag and keep the bag tightly closed, let the bell pepper cool down inside the bag for 15 -30 minutes. the skin on the pepper will blister from the steam and come off real easy. you can roast the pepper over open flame (which will be faster and has better smoked flavor) if you have gas stovetop. while waiting for the pepper to cool down, cut the eggplants to whatever size you prefer, sprinkle some salt and pepper, add the chives and toss. peel bell pepper, remove seeds and dice.
add olive oil to roasting pan, add the italian sausages, drizzle some honey, roll the sausages around to get even oil and honey covering. cover pan with foil, poke a few holes in foil to let steam out, cook under broiler for about 40 minutes, flip sausages half way to get even cooking. when the sausages are almost done, remove the foil and brown the sausages directly under broiler for about 3-4 minutes on each side. the honey will help speed up the browning. take the roasting pan out of the oven, let the sausages rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting. slice the sausages and toss with diced roasted bell pepper.
for lunch, i packed the sausages with roasted eggplant on a bed of saffron rice... and bon appetit!

Saffron rice with toasted almond

i went through my kitchen cabinets and found some Turkish saffron, i bought it last spring in Istanbul at the very shop in the photo (for real). it's the famous spice bazaar in Istanbul - the old town part of Istanbul. so i decided to make saffron rice for lunch on monday. i wanted to add some slice almond for the nutty texture and a nice mix of fragrants of all things from that part of the world. first, i toasted the slice almond in a heavy pan over the stovetop, stir often to get even toasting, or you can do it in the oven. once done with the toasting, tranfer the almond onto a plate and let it cool.
on stovetop, add olive oil to the hot pan, then add the saffon. i also added 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric powder since i love the taste and the color of tumeric - a nice complement to the saffron. stir them quickly and add the basmati rice (or jasmin if you prefer) to the pan. stir to get even cooking for about 2 minutes. add hot water, a bit at a time since it will splatter. water should be just enough to cover the rice, no more. you can add more water later if needed. sprinkle some salt, cover at let it simmer at medium low for a few minutes. add toasted almond, roughly mix it with the rice, cover and continue cooking at medium low heat until the rice is done. add more water during the cooking process if needed. the rice should be cooked but has more bite - a bit nuttier than regular steam rice.

Bulgoki at New Korea House

i went to Japan town for grocery on sunday but before i did my shopping, i stopped by the New Korea House for some bulgoki. it's been raining on and off on sunday so there wasn't many people in the restaurant. i ordered the pork bulgoki for lunch. on saturday and sunday, the restaurant does not offer the lunch menu so all dishes are at dinner price which is twice as much. although you get your money worth with the dinner menu because on the lunch menu, the pork bulgoki they serve is a different cut of meat, much more chewy and has more fat and tendon... the dinner cut of meat is much leaner and very tender. the meal came with toasted barley tea, a cup of daikon soup and potato pancake (or at least i thought it tasted like potato).
and then there's all kind of typical Korean condiments - kimchi, of course, pickled cucumber and daikon, sweetened black bean, fried tofu, fried and glazed potato... the condiments and bbq here taste more on the delicate side, not overdone with the garlic. i'm not an expert on Korean food so i'm not sure if less garlic taste is better??? but i know i definitely prefer delicate taste...
Lunch was yummy as always, now i must get on with my grocery shopping.
New Korea House
1620 Post street.
San Francisco, CA 94115
415.931.7834

Wednesday night at Absinthe

Hump day, i was heading home when a colleague asked if i want to meet some old friend for dindin at Absinthe. yes, of course! i told them that i was going to meet them there around 7:15pm. i got there early, reserved a table then i decided to go for a walk instead of waiting for them at the bar. A couple blocks from the restaurant is one of my favorite home boutique - Alabaster, i decided to window shop and see if there's a sale. Yes, there was indeed a sale - a store closing sale! i was sad for 5 minutes, that store had been my muse since...forever. it was very disappointing and sad. it had something to do with the new owner wouldn't renew the lease. i hope they'll find a new location and open the boutique again...
i got back to the Absinthe just in time, my friends got there a minute after... and our table was waiting for us, perfect timing!
it's Absinthe 10 year anniversary and they have a few things on the menu at 1998 price. i ordered the onion soup - my favorite - and the wild mushroom risotto. my friends shared a flat bread pizza for starter and both had the steak (at 1998 price) for the main course. And we ordered a bottle of Pinot noir from Sonoma, a bit sweet and fruity, not dry enough for me. it was good nonetheless. the food was simple and good. i love the space and the food here, always have, very cozy, relaxing with the dim lighting...

http://www.absinthe.com/index.html