8:30pm dinner for one

Chicken drumstick pan-fried with garlic and parsley, and leftover braised salted-fish eggplant from R&G Lounge (my favorite dish there!) reinvented with some zucchini and chili flakes.  All over coconut rice.

Normally not terribly noteworthy except that--after more than two weeks without cooking at all, smelling garlic sizzling throughout my apartment was amazing.  As was biting into a flavorful, juicy and homemade chicken drumstick as I settled down to watch a cheesy romantic comedy (27 Dresses with Katherine Heigl), washed down with some Mango-Tango Odwalla mixed with sparkling water.  

I think I'm going to finish it off with a small square of Bhumi's birthday cake (homemade German chocolate cake with toasted almonds and coconut, which Candace made from scratch).  This, my friends, is the life.

Subtle romance: my favorite clip from Fallen Angels

I can't believe this movie is 15 years old, and that I first watched it almost five years ago.  I was reminded of it today when we were watching Chungking Express and I thought to myself, sure, I kind of like this movie but there was something about Fallen Angels, the sequel/companion film by Wong Kar Wai, that spoke to me.  Maybe because the characters are much more shockingly odd, and the film itself that much murkier, sad and ardent.

I don't remember a whole lot about the film (you can find an analysis of it here) except this one scene where Cherry and the Mute are sitting in a cafe after they've been chasing down her ex-boyfriend and Mute realizes he's falling in love with her.  I love the way the shot is set up, with hapless Cherry gazing obliviously in the other direction while Mute, whom we have come to know as someone unworthy of respect, yet whom we want to indulge despite ourselves, leans towards her and breathes her in with such dreamy enjoyment that you really wish she'd come to her senses already.  Meanwhile, the world behind them buzzes with activity, but you can't take your eyes off this quiet moment of stolen intimacy.

I don't think this scene is supposed to be taken literally, but I think it captures an element of misappropriate longing that anyone with a little wistful strangeness in them will recognize right away.  There's something about the bold, unrequited movement in this scene that I like very much. I screen-capped it for your viewing pleasure, followed by a very excellent fan-made vide o that centers on the weird but beautiful Takeshi Kaneshiro's character, the Mute.

Enjoying some really terrible contemporary R&B on Pandora courtesy of Jason Derulo.

So here's a dirty secret: one of my longest-standing Pandora stations started with Mandy Moore's "Candy."  It spews the most saccharine sugar-coated bubble-gum pop ever, and after 3 years of careful tweaking, it does exactly what I want it to.  

Every once in a while I get fatigued listening to it so much, and try my hand at creating new stations.  Some of the ones I've created and abandoned: Tori Amos radio, Norah Jones radio, Sheryl Crow radio, Vienna Teng radio, Black Eyed Peas radio, Zero 7 radio, Buena Vista Social Club radio, Counting Crows radio, Explosions in the Sky radio.  Et cetera.  The problem with Pandora is that when they try to expand the variety on a given station, the stations start bleeding together.  Also, when I'm trying to focus on work, I have to listen to something upbeat -- because jazz, folk, and anything smacking of angsty indie rock-band, will put me right to sleep.  It's best saved for lazy weekday evenings at home.  Or yupster cocktail parties.

A couple weeks I tried a variation on my Candy radio station: Lada Gaga.  It's been pretty good - nothing like electronic dance pop to keep me going.  But this morning, I had a flash of brilliance and created a station using that terrible song "Whatcha Say" by Jason Derulo (I literally had to google "mmm whatchu say" because I had no f-ing clue what it was called or who sang it).  
BINGO.  Pandora immediately obliged me by offering a steady stream of truly insipid and repetitive lyrics, smooth young black male vocals, thick with synthesizers and softly driving beats.  It totally amazes me that there exist so many songs that sound so alike in their stupidity, with such varied themes as 1) cheating on your 'shawty', 2) making love, 3) dancing in a club, 4) cheating on your 'shawty' by making love in a club with some other girl.  So terrible but so great.
  • Chris Brown, "Forever"
  • Jay Sean, "Down"
  • Jay-Z & Linkin Park, "Numb/Encore"
  • Jesse McCartney, "Leavin'"
  • Kanye West, "Stronger"
  • Mario, "Let Me Love You"
  • Ne-Yo, "Mad"
  • T-Pain, "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')"
  • Akon, "Beautiful
  • Usher, "Love in This Club"
  • Drake, "Best I Ever Had"
  • ...and on
The only way this station could get more awesome is if I could design a station around early-90s R&B groups, when R&B was actually good.  Zapp & Roger anyone?

Foodie Tuesday, 3 days late: Wouldn't you like to be a pepper, too?

I am quickly developing a penchant for purple and blue food items that are supposed to be another color.  What do I mean?  I'm thinking purple potatoes, purple cauliflower, purple carrots.  Besides being extraordinarily high in anti-oxidants (much like blueberries, the so-called "brain food"), I think they're more delicious than their conventionally colored counterparts.  They're nuttier, earthier, and generally richer in flavor.

Plus, I don't think I'll ever get tired of the novelty of eating something purple that is not grapes or eggplants.

So the other day I was wandering the produce section at Berkeley Bowl when I came across this strange thing next to the green, red, orange, and yellow bell peppers.  A purple pepper!  I'd never seen anything like it before.  Of course I grabbed one just so I could take it home, cut it up, see what's inside, and know what it tasted like.

And whaddya know, inside it wasn't purple at all, but white.  Maybe a tinge of green, but I was delighted to see the beautiful contrast of colors.  I turned to Google for some purple pepper recipes, but came up rather short.  Apparently it's a shame to cook the peppers because that kills the gorgeous color, and anyway purple peppers are actually the least ripe of all peppers and the least sweet (left on the vine, purple peppers will eventually turn green, then yellow/orange/red).

So I just sliced it up and stuck it in a salad.  Can't say it had a ton of flavor but it added a nice crispy texture.  I'll definitely be getting them again.

P.S. The title of this post refers to the old Dr. Pepper slogan, which I first heard in the movie Short Circuit (I know, I'm dating myself now).
P.P.S. Yes, I created a new tag called "Purple Things"!  Stay tuned for blue corn pancakes!

Eat a Chicken Wing with Little to No Mess - from Food Wishes

via lifehacker.com

Where o where have these instructions been all my life? Thanks to Grant for the tip - though it doesn't have any instructions for those of us who like to avoid the fat as well. I guess there isn't much point to eating chicken wings if you're not going to eat the fat.

My favorite lines: 

“If any meat comes out with it, just, you know, suck it off the bone.”
“You dip it, you eat it, it’s fantastic.”

Angel Island Hike

I've looked forward to visiting Angel Island since I took a class on Chinatowns in college and learned about the Chinese poetry carved into the walls of the detention hall at the US Immigration Station.  Finally, last weekend, we went in honor of Sushmita's birthday and it could not have been a more perfect day for the 5-mile, 3-hour hike up to the summit of Mt. Livermore.  Beautifully sunny and clear, except for a foggy portion of the ferry ride over.

The island has several microclimates ranging from what looks like rolling grassland to chaparral to dense forest.  When we turned the corner into the area where our ferry docked, it looked like something out of LOST, with the fog rolling up and over the mountain and dissipating into the bright October air, with greenery embracing the little jewel of a cove that housed several sailboats and a visitor center.

The hike itself wasn't too strenuous--Sushmita and I joke about how our style of hiking should really be called a "leisurely stroll through the woods," and we always take plenty of snacks and a picnic to have as a reward at the top.  Most of the trail led us through shaded forest on the east side of the island, and only the last bit took us to the area that suffered a fire not too long ago.

From the top, we could see a 360-degree view of the entire bay area, from the City, to the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge, Marin headlands, Tiburon, Richmond, and all of the east bay.  We had turkey sandwiches, cherry tomatoes, two kinds of cheese, fruit, brownies and--the best part--apple juice in the same juice boxes we had as kids.

On the way down, I was very careful and picked my way around rocks and things to avoid having my knee sublux like it does every once in a while.  From the bottom of the mountain, it was still quite a ways to the immigration station, but it was worth it because I finally got my picture of the poetry in the walls, barely visible after years and layers of paint.  All in all, a great day.

Mastering chowders

There are plenty of foods I have trouble denying myself.  A good chili.  Corned beef hash and eggs.  Fries dipped in ranch sauce (my east coast friends balk, but trust me, it's a match made in heaven).  Spam musubi.  Biscuits and gravy.  And, of course, clam chowder.

My love for chowder began early, even though it was usually out of a can.  Back then, I didn't know mashed potatoes could be made with real potatoes (hey, I thought they came out of Betty Crocker box, in freeze-dried flakes, such a sad childhood I had).  So it's no surprise that the first time I suspected that clam chowder could be made at home was well into my college years, when my uncle, who used to work in a restaurant, told my dad how to make it.

I never actually tried it myself, until now.

About a year ago, when I was still working at Google, I gave active feedback to the culinary team there, both positive and constructive, to the point that they knew me well by name, if not by face.  When one day they made clam chowder that blew my mind, I made sure they knew it.  It was just the right consistency - thickish and creamy, not chalky, with perfectly tender potatoes and juicy, flavorful bits of clam in every bite.

The sous chef at the time, Jef, was so pleased that he told me to swing by the kitchen one afternoon so he could show me how to make it.  I'd never been behind the scenes at a Google kitchen before (though if you work there, you can do culinary internships and all kinds of good stuff).  He already had a big pile of diced mirepoix simmering in about a pound of butter in an enormous stockpot.  He told me he'd cheated a bit and pre-roasted the yukon gold potatoes in the oven, but that if you really wanted to thicken the chowder naturally you'd let the potatoes cook together with the stock and let the starch do its work.

This time, I decided to make a smoked salmon chowder using the lessons I learned in the Google kitchen and loosely based on this recipe, and I already had some very nice Norwegian smoked salmon waiting to be used up in my freezer.  I also started with mirepoix, but used a lot less butter - just about 3 tablespoons or so.  Let it render down, then added an equal amount of flour to make the roux.  I then added water, and it was already starting to look like a chowder even though I hadn't added one lick of cream yet.  I added dill weed, several healthy sprinkles of smoked salt, pepper, and vegetables (frozen white corn and fresh asparagus).

I let the vegetables cook down to tenderness and then started to add the half-and-half, little by little (the Google chef had used just milk but I guess it didn't matter).  It really didn't need that much cream, and as soon as it reached my desired creaminess I threw in the salmon, which I had hand-flaked, along with the cheese.  Oh, and I forgot the garlic.

In the end, the chowder had a nice consistency but I felt it was just a tad too fishy.  It probably would have been better to use fresh, not frozen, smoked salmon.  Duly noted.

Discovering Rodrigo y Gabriela

After more than a week-long hiatus (I was in Half Moon Bay at a work retreat), I'm back!  And the first thing I want to tell you about is this amazing guitar duo, Rodrigo y Gabriela.  Thanks to my coworker Nate for the recco.  They started as a thrash metal band from Mexico City and earned money playing background music at seaside resorts.  Finally they decided to move to Dublin because they heard about the city's thriving indie music scene.

Now they are more of a flamenco band, but influenced by all kinds of music. Their first album debuted at number one in Ireland, and they've been slowly making their way back to the new world ever since.  I never really thought I was a fan of flamenco until I went to Beijing two years ago and fell in love with the Xinjiang Boys, a Uigher flamenco band who played Gypsy Kings covers every weekend at Cheers in the Sanlitun district.  I've been missing their masterful sound ever since, and R&G are promising to fill that gaping hole in my heart.

Here's an excellent cover of Metallica's "Orion."

And here's a more extended clip of Rodrigo y Gabriela playing their rendition of "Diablo Rojo" at the studio of Indie 103.1 in LA (how I miss that radio station!) and talking a little more about how they rose to stardom.

Brown Sugar Kitchen

I've been wanting to get brunch at Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland for like, ever.  My brother was the first to tell me about this amazing place that serves "upscale soul food" - that is, down-home eats from a classically trained chef.

I thought I was over the concept of chicken and waffles years ago, in LA, when any friend who visited inexplicably wanted to go to Roscoe's.  Eggo waffles + mediocre fried chicken = less-than-transcendent taste experience.  I got tired of it fast.  But enter BSK - delicate "home" made cornmeal waffles sidled up next to masterfully crisp-fried chicken.  A match made in heaven.

Beyond the chicken and waffles though, BSK has an impressive offering of other delicious down-home southern treats.  We got the smoked chicken and shrimp gumbo (with okra!) and the beignets as well.  But I was so tempted to order at least 5 other things including the buttermilk biscuits, cornbread, shrimp and grits, dirty rice and oyster po'boy.  Guess I'll be making my way back to Oakland in the near future.

Note: The best time to go to BSK seems to be soon before it closes, like 2:30pm.  Otherwise you can expect at 45 min. wait on weekend mornings.  Also allow 30 min. for your order of chicken and waffles!