But I'm a fun-gi....

Went to Jasmart on 23rd & Lex hoping to get fish sauce without having to go down to Chinatown (I'm averaging 1 bottle a year--by myself!! :P). Did NOT find fish sauce--instead found mushrooms, chrysanthemum leaves, and (baby bok choy...sold by...THE PACKET?!?!).

Do not know what I'm gonna make with them--probably a steam packet with fish sauce (maybe soy or MISOOOOO), lemon, butter...like at Typhoon on St. Marks & 1st ave (fanplasmic japanese 'tapas' and whatnot...plus they're open super late. Cow tongue was good--so's other shiz but that's for another post).

So I bought enoki mushrooms too but I couldn't find a suitable idea for how to shoot them (as in pictures, not...pistols). Plus...why bother with ordinary enoki when you can feast your eyes on BEECH MUSHROOM!!!! ^_^ They're much bigger than enoki, but they're like enoki crossed with the Super Mario mushrooms :)

I also got "maitake" which just reminds me of shitake but less fun to say, maybe like SHIKAKA! (anybody for what movie that's from? it's a little tran-sian. :)) Anyway, according to Wiki:

Grifola frondosa, referring to a mythical griffin, commonly known as Sheep’s Head, Ram’s Head and Hen of the Woods or Maitake, is an edible polypore mushroom. It grows in clusters at the foot of trees, especially oak. The Japanese call it "maitake" (pronounced [maitake]), literally meaning "dancing mushroom." Hen of the woods should not be confused with the similarly named edible bracket fungi, chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus), also known as "sulphur shelf".

But anyway...I really do love mushrooms (the Princess Toadstool kind, not the druggie kind). When I was about 10 or 11, I used to just sautee mushrooms in a wee pot with onions and soy sauce and eat it. by itself. when I was 16 I ate rice and bbq sauce. by itself. The other day I ate leftover Southern fried chicken with basil marinara tossed in, with rice, and tabasco sauce. IT WAS FRICKIN" DELISH. *shrug*.

The chyrsanthemum leaves tho...I know in Vietnamese cooking it's used in "canh"/soupy soup or tossed in with meats. I don't even really know what they're called in Vietnamese--I didn't even know what the hell they were with the label from Jasmart, I had to google it from the Japanese phrasing on my receipt. BY GOLLY I WILL MAKE SOMETHING OF IT!! Think spinach meets arugula with a less citrus/bitter flavor. Look u can see the little chrysanthemum bud in the middle rightmos area :)

I like cold honey chrysanthemum tea from Cha for Tea (in Ca, a little too sweet) and Lee's Sandwiches (also in CA, not as sweet, way too much ice). I honestly bought all this stuff from Jasmart just so I could take pictures with them--but maybe 2% to experiment with various mushroom flavors, possibly making fancypants mac & cheese with fancypants mushroom for my "roast on the roof". EH. we'll see.

All right, one more shot of the shroomies--but the little beechies nestled in the big beech shroomies! :P

:)

RAAAAMEN/ippudo...

went to ippudo post volleyball match. all the j-folks were psyched and a half for the 2ish wks leading up to the opening. all attempts to sneak in for the soft opening failed miserably (except for traitorous/defector Kino's). We were all taken back by how shi-shi/hip the place looked given the nature of EV japanese joints around st marks--great ambience tho, good looking sake bar and booths--i'd say u'd get laid takin' yo lady friend here. or ur lady man friend. whatever floats yo boat. just get the shochu or sake + hard liquor drinks instead of the courvoissier, even Leon Phelps would concur.
I didn't bring my D80 so none of the artsy fartsy food porn pics (borrowed Kaoru's camera--and it had been so long since I touched an SD500 that i just couldn't remember settings. that and it takes too much thinking and i wanted to eat so WHATEBBS!). Just lots and lots of fatty rich ramen colors :) Here is a picture of Lei's, the shiromaru moto (regular ramen pork brothness).
We also got the glazed chicken or whatever it was with lotus chips. Lotus--big thing I'm sensing...this was also at Typhoon. (<--love love love asian tapas there, and the 50% off sushi which by ny standards is awesome in terms of taste, not just the pricing.) Me, Kaoru, Muju Charlotte all got the Akamaru modern (like the shiro maru but with Ippudo's secret sauce: red miso + garlic oil etc). ME LIKES. the broth is def thicker, the noodles are made on site--the Berkshire pork pieces just fall apart b/c they're so tender. But--it's 15 bucks.
All the online reviews and previews (like Gothamist's) all note that the key to it being of thicker consistency and general all around ab-fabulousity is owed to the pork bones stewing for 15-18 hours and reducing the broth 3 times in all. I LIKE REDUCTIONS. mmmMmmmMMMmm. they always pack a punch (i like intense flavors and salty foods--but that's okay b/c I have low blood pressure so then I won't black out or have heart palpitations w/ my savory tooth :P)

Why, honestly, would u pay 15 bucks (2+ for extra portion of ramen) when u could go to Sapporo or Ramen Setegaya for 8 bucks? Quite frankly, I've seen horribly shi-shi-frou-frou attempts at making certain asian comfort foods (and cuisine altogether) go high class w/ wagyu beef and whatever whatever that completely delineate from the original flavors and comfort that the "poorer" dishes imbue *coughshittycafevietnamintribeca* and it's not that Ippudo tries to fancy-pants up the ramen...it's just that u can tell the difference with whatever forethought and attention goes into making the ramen on site, the broth with the triple reductions, and how the consistency and texture of the ramen(s) here are markedly different in a more interestingly complex way than at other places--for such a simple dish anyway. And on that note I will continue eating my cheapie ramen :)
I was really hoping that after the soft opening they'd feature the gelatinous cube of something or other that changes the broth flavors as it dissolves, according to that Gothamist article. Oh well. I'm sure they'll get around to it.

EEeeeeeeEEEeeeEEeeeEeeels...

Unagi-don/eel rice bowl. Apparently I have a penchant for poor/country folk comfort foods (see entry on canh chua rau day and whatnot...). I caught the eel with my bare-muscled-hands. The little bastards eluded me numerous times, but just before day's end, one of them darted in my periphery and like a gazelle--or something really crazy phonetically, maybe OCELOT--i went for it and here you have....MY UNAGI RICE BOWL with the...pickled...daikon...or something. BEHOLD:
I frolicked home with the eel in my little reed basket. (I keep thinking of the poem "L'Anguila" or whatever the crap it was called--about the eel in Italian Lit). Anyhoodle, the wild daikon that grows (yellow and pickled natrually) in my backyard yielded magnificent perfectly cut wedges (as if bought at a store and cut with a very sharp Wusthof knife!).
We had seaweed salad also but I don't think you'd really give a shizz about it. BUT we did have dessert: a green tea swiss roll. with red beans inside. mmmmMMmmMmMmm.
Ever since I was little I loved the swiss roll cakes--given the french influences growing up (briefly) in Viet Nam we had a lot of yule logs for "father Noel" and all that crap and wandered off to get a eucharist one xmas when I was 5 b/c I was curious as to what people were waiting in line for. I was promptly plucked out of the line when they noticed I had gone a bit..missing.

Mike & I had also picked up some "aloe soft drink" (non carbonated) from the JasMart and he had to be fancy and drink it in a wineglass whereas the uncouth beast that I am chugged it out of the bottle.Analysis:

1. Green tea swiss roll = moist, light, a little crumbly, but adequately intense in green-tea flavor, not so sugary, red beans add a nice flavor and texture. BUENO (this is from the-prepackaged refridgerator section of JasMart).

2. Frozen Unagi = meh! for 5 bucks it could serve 3-4 people. This I got at the Sunrise...mart...thing in Soho (broome & spring?--I'll activate links later). You could oven bake it, microwave, or boil in the bag. I'd say for 5 bucks it makes a good alternative to a $12-$18 rice bowl. I didn't make the egg thing but whatever that's easy to put in some other time. The texture was a little flakey but still very soft--at Tono Sushi or Tokyo Pop and a couple other places, the unagi is broiled lova-ly and it just...melts in yo mouf! There was frozen unagi that sold for $11 per filet as opposed to my $5--this might just make up for the difference in texture.

3. Aloe drink = ...? I'm just conflicted b/c the bodega under my apt sells the Korean aloe drink and it's a little sweeter but yummy too--a little cleaner/crisper in taste. The one I go at Jasmart u can taste the artificial sweetener tho it's lighter. BUT--the one at Jasmart sells for 2 bucks whereas the bodega sells it for FOH DOLLAH! >:( I'll buy both :)

English Fare...

Fish and chips can die for all I care. Pub food is decent now and then except well--not for a month of living in Oxford (which btw, there are 2 bus services that take you to London every 15 minutes). No notable pictures of "bangers & mash", or fish & chips, of fish/meat pies. Why? b/c why bother--except the fish was HUGE. Okay okay here's the fish and chips from The White Horse tavern on Broad Street in Oxford.

Indian restaurant above High Street by Cornmarket (Cafe Zouk)--pretty food & presentation, sufficiently tasty and distinct from major Indian fare, however the woman/hostess was pushy as ballllls.

Starting counterclockwise from top that's just papadum with various chutney, tomato/herb rice, Shahi Korma (chicken in some kind of cream sauce with ground almond and saffron), and preshawari naan. With a mango lassi :). And my utensils.

Didn't take any pictures of my crazy passion fruit/jasmine smoothie with flecks of something I can't recall, or crab (kwieatow?) pad thai (which isn't the usual pad thai-ness but fresher, a little more delicate, with more variant meatsies!!) @ Busaba Eathai in London (various locations but coworker/travelbuddy/fellowfoodie and I ate at the SoHo location by Store St. and Tottenham Court Rd). They don't have a site or menu. so boo, but it's all pretty "cheap" comparatively speaking--as much as most pub fare if you can believe.

Was wandering around Covent Gardens & Chinatown in London when I came across Abeno Too (on Great Newport St and Charing Cross Rd), and "okonomiyaki". Just fancy pants japanese omelet really, but eggs is never ever a bad thing :)

Some sauces on there which I can't quite determine but the white stuff seems like radish-y possibly mayo, and...won't venture a guess on the other.

And then of course...there's the Samphire & Prawn salad (with sea asparagus) @ the Slug and Lettuce restaurant chain at Oxford, but alas no pics of that. Or the Crayfish salad @ QUOD in the Old Bank Hotel on High Street by Queens Lane. The funny thing is the salads in England are actual salad, possibly frisee or rocket, romaine, actual veggies mind you, and full of meats and other contents instead of a giant plate full of iceberg crap.

What else do I have of London?....hrm....
well, there was the Tate Modern Cafe with at first turn freaked the crap out of me so much that I was visibly disturbed, facially contorted at the diminutive little pot ot deviled crab (think pate with that fatty glaze over too) with toast and somethign else...but MAN that actually was really filling and suck-your-finger-poke-somebody's eye-out surprisingly good :) Shame I can't find a picture. Anyway, for dessert we had Gooseberry Fool (beats me, looks like gelatin, mousse, topped with gooseberries--a little tart really, like a cross of grapes and kiwi).

We stayed in East London when we weren't doing daytrips. Happened indavertenly the best neighborhood (in my opinion) which is Spitalfield, home to the upmarkets, old and new Spitalfield markets I don't really understand the differentiation. Also, there's a stretch of Indian food there on Brick Lane. Nothing extraordinary. BUT, I can't remember the name of the pizza place but it was adjacent to The Spitz and it was open air, bench seating in an "alley" home to other restaurants nad shops--really relaxing.

and of course my faves...the candy. Didn't take many pictures of it, but just like the NYtimes article said, the chocolate quality is starkly different in Europe b/c they use less preservatives and emulsifiers, so even the KitKat was better! Here's where my loyalty lies--with Ferrero :) Kinder, blablabh same people.

This is like the Bueno bars (available in NY at my bodega anyway) except it's white chocolate..and shapped like a hippo :) They're also like 500 calories per piece. It's insane.

oh...and this is a cake store front in Chinatown, London UK. nothign special about it other than that it's Garfield. And colorful. me likes :P