Finally! But first, a transformation!

All right, I'm tired from being productive with job stuff, making a mess of the kitchen, and going to the gym so I will try to keep this blog post fairly short.

Today (Monday) was all around a delicious day as I figured out what I wanted to eat for lunch and dinner. I didn't feel like cooking anything elaborate for lunch,but I was bored with our usual easily microwavable meals, so I stuck my head in the fridge to see what was in there. As a result,

these rather boring leftovers (somewhat tough tri tip steak, hash browns, steamed green beans) from last Friday night

became this delicious sandwich! I actually liked the reheated-steak sandwich with Swiss cheese, sourdough bread and tomatoes a lot more than the freshly cooked steak by itself - as my friend Valeria said in a comment on my last post, never underestimate the power of sandwiches! I think it was actually my dad who taught me this trick - if life gives you leftovers (or weird canned foods or a lack of hot dog buns) make sandwiches! Previously unappetizing food can be saved this way.

What the "Finally!" in my title refers to is what I made for dinner: a recipe I have been wanting to attempt for around two weeks now - Japanese karaage (fried chicken)!




I have missed it so much. Since a number of you reading this probably already know how to make it or have a pretty good idea, I am not going to post the full recipe I used, but for those who aren't familiar with it, I soaked the chicken (boneless, skinless, thigh pieces with excess fat cut out) in a marinade that consisted of soy sauce, ginger, sugar, sake, and garlic. I then coated the chicken in cornstarch and then fried it in some very hot canola oil. Very hot. The chicken was never burned but some other kitchen implements were...hence the mess mentioned at the beginning. While it was a pretty simple recipe, I was very happy that my karaage tasted almost exactly like some of the ones I had eaten at restaurants in Japan. I served it over broccoli and steamed white rice.

Drink - Nigori (unfiltered) sake. I forget which brand right now but it was from Kobe and in a small pink bottle.

And in other food-related news of interest, on Sunday we went with Matt's family (including an aunt) to a good Mexican-American style restaurant in the small mission town of San Juan Batista.

It was called Los Jardines (the gardens) which should seem fairly appropriate with this picture here as most of the restaurant was outside in areas like these (look towards the back). Sunday had been a very hot day (easily over 100) but by evening it had cooled off so of course we ate outside. Los Jardines was also actually a fairly decent sized restaurant for such a small town.

But how was the food?


Carne Asada (roast meat, in this case beef), with rice and beans. Such a big portion but I was very hungry by this point (we had just gone to a Catholic mass in a very hot church) so that's ok! This food was delicious. Unfortunately not pictured, but one of the best parts of this meal were the flour tortillas that were also provided. I am so used to store-bought, chemically preserved flour tortillas that having freshly made tortillas was amazing. I need to make it a point to eat fresh flour or corn tortillas more often because the ones I have in the fridge just aren't the same. My taste buds and mouth can so easily tell the difference in both flavor and texture.

Okay, enough for tonight, I am getting hungry! More food to come...stay tuned...

Eating Out

These past couple of days it seems we have been eating out a lot, whether it be for a social reason or simply one of convenience. I really do enjoy cooking, but sometimes, especially after that frustrating time from my last post, sometimes it is nice to take a break and enjoy a different meal or snack that, unlike a planned homemade meal, may be a completely spontaneous choice.

The first meal from this series was simple, but satisfying. Matt's mother Carol took me to walk around downtown Los Gatos late morning Friday, September 25. We found that most of the restaurants in the area she wanted to visit, Old Town, were too expensive, especially for lunch, so we wound up eating at a "Le Boulanger". It is just a sandwich place, nothing really fancy, but they don't seem to have any locations outside of the Bay Area (I checked) so it was different for me anyway.

Besides, I really really liked this sandwich. It consisted of chicken with hoisin sauce (a Chinese sauce), cucumbers, monterey jack cheese, and cilantro on sourdough bread. It was delicious and unique enough that I think I may try and recreate it at home. My usual sandwiches are pretty bland because I won't eat most normal sandwich condiments (mayonnaise, pickles, mustard, etc).

Anyway, despite having a normal simple dinner at home, we both decided to go out to eat again later with some of Matt's friends. As we were still pretty full by that time, Matt and I just snacked on the bread and had one drink each. As some at our side of the table had predicted would happen, appearing here are some pictures from Friday night at "Romano's Macaroni Grill Italian Restaurant".


Matt enjoying his "White Peach Sangria Martini" (at least, that's what I think it was, and it is in a martini glass). I had a "Leaning Bellini" in a silly glass that didn't photograph very well.



Ryan and Eileen with their delicious looking "Seafood Linguine" which I will definitely be ordering next time I go to this place and am actually hungry.

Finally, to conclude this post, here are some photos from Ikea which we went to on Saturday to look for a nightstand solve the crisis of Matt's alarm clock either being on my side of the bed (really disliked that) or on the floor on his side (also not a good idea). On the way out we decided since we have now gone to Ikea at least 3 times in the past month, it was high time to buy their dessert (we'd already had lunch there on another trip).

Matt had frozen yogurt.

I had their cinnamon roll. Delicious.

Okay, that's a long enough post from me tonight. Until I find or make more food to photograph or some more good food photos to reminisce about, I think I'd better get some sleep so I can continue to try make safe, fully concious decisions in the kitchen. As much as a kitchen catastrophe might be interesting to blog about, I usually prefer my food to not be completely scorched.

Disastrous (well, cooking-wise at least) Day

Well, it happens. Sometimes as enticing and straightforward as the recipe appears, the result doesn't taste quite right in the end. Today the San Jose Mercury News ran some great looking Spanish tapas recipes. Tapas can be a lot of work, but I have made some successfully before (even if they were Argentinian and not Spain Spanish) and I already had a lot of the ingredients for one so I decided to give it a try. The recipe was for fried cod fritters, and I had my boyfriend fry some sausage since I figured the amount for the fritters alone wouldn't be enough for both of us for a meal. Despite my best efforts at following the recipe, the fritters tasted more like soft potato pancakes and kind of looked like a soggy mess with some bits of tasteless fish. The sausage turned out to be more turkey flavored than beef and even good olive oil couldn't save it. Oh well. We tried.

As I clearly have no desire to post any photos of my less than satisfying creation, I will instead reminisce on some past summer days of more delicious food. This is dedicated to my wonderful friend Liz who has won my heart over my NCC friends and even my boyfriend for showing me that someone besides just me is actually reading this blog.


A photo flash to the past of a delicious tempura appetizer from a sushi place on August 01, 2008 in Cincinnati, OH. I don't seem to remember the name of the place but it was pretty good.


I remember the name of this place though. This is "Buckhead", a restaurant located on the other side of the Ohio River so it is actually in Kentucky.

Liz and her niece (not her child!). I ate there with her and some of her family while visiting her at the University of Cincinnati on August 02, 2008.

I somehow don't seem to have any pictures of the food I ate there (too hungry from the long wait maybe?), but I seem to remember that the cheese boulders were absolutely delicious.


Instead here is a shot of the Ohio River and some of Cincinnati. Not my best photo of it, but Cincinnati is definitely one of Ohio's prettier cities, at least skyline wise. Dayton's is too small and Columbus's is just dull.

Ah...those were the days...even if they were only about a year ago, haha. Thank you for the great memories Liz!

California Coastal Cities - Carmel and Monterey

On Monday, September 21st, we went to the cities of Carmel and Monterey for some relaxing site-seeing. Unfortunately, the weather was not what it was supposed to be and so I was unable to go swimming at Carmel Beach, and because it was cold we didn't stay very long in Carmel either. I only ate a couple things at a local bakery, and while good, not worth blogging about. I was too hungry and ate the cookies before I could take a picture of them anyway. Maybe I'll go back and try out some of their restaurants when it's supposed to be warmer there.

Monterey on the other hand wasn't nearly as overcast, so we decided to have dinner there on Cannery Row. The last restaurant we ate at there was quite good, but expensive during normal dinner hours, so we wanted to try another one. Our decision was made very simple when one of the restaurants offered us a free sample of warm clam chowder as well as a coupon for free clam chowder bowls for two. Perfect. The restaurant was called "Louie Linguini's" and they actually still have the same free coupon on their website if you look them up. It was a casual seafood restaurant filled with silly stories and photos about the fictional character "Louie Linguini" and all the crazy encounters with various celebrities and world events he'd had. There was even a large Bruce Lee plastic statue by the bathrooms for reasons unknown.

Campiness aside, the food was delicious.

The main reason for going in. Totally worth it.

Way too much food for one meal (we had leftovers) and not healthy at all, but the shrimp was full of flavor and despite the heavy breading, not oily or greasy either.

And as promised by my last explanation, the environment of the place!

Cloudy or not, isn't Monterey gorgeous? I want to go to the master's degree university here someday.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. Who knows what will be cooked up next...?

Beginning - a real one this time

All right, this time I am determined to keep up with this blog on a more regular basis. As it already has a long formal introduction from my last post, I would just like to add something simple before I begin blogging about the good stuff. This blog is EDIT: Initially but not exclusively END EDIT dedicated to all my friends from NCC, especially those who lived in or regularly visited the room in Ward my junior year of college and who cooked for me, taught me to cook, or even bravely allowed me to cook for them . That includes, but is not limited to, Yusuke, Valeria, Peggy, Matt R., Tsuyoshi, Megan E., Jislaine, Jun, Michico O., Kimberly, Jack, Megan O., and so many more wonderful friends from International Club and elsewhere who really helped expand my knowledge and appreciation of really good food.

This blog will not be a pure recipe blog but simply feature all and any good food that I ate, be it at home, or restaurant. However, I decided my first feature meal will be one that I did indeed cook, because it was recent and I was particularly proud of it. It is so American (I am American after all) and not that complicated or gourmet, but still delicious.





This was thinly cut T-Bone Steak broiled with an Apricot Teriyaki Glaze (my first time broiling meat without setting an oven mitt on fire), twice baked potatos which I found seem to be a midwest staple but unheard of here in California, and a vegetable medley with brown rice. I don't think I need to include a recipe for broiling beef (I like medium rare) or for steaming the brown rice, but here is what I used for the potatos and vegetables:

Twice Baked Potatos (one variation anyway)
Cook potatos in oven or microwave until soft. Cut potatos in half. Scoop out the insides and put them into a mixing bowl. Mix with butter salt, pepper, shredded cheddar cheese, and nutmeg. Replace the potato insides and bake until slightly brown on top.

Italian Peppers and Tomatoes (using all fresh vegetables/fruits)
Heat olive oil in a skillet at medium heat. Dice garlic. Cut peppers and tomatos as desired. Add the pepper and tomatoes to the oil, as well as garlic, salt, pepper, and fresh basil. Serve over the rice.

Drink pairing - definitely a good red wine. We had French table wine, but a good merlot from any country should work well too.

Finally, as much as I talk about food, I would like to bring attention to the reason I gave this blog the title of "World Cafe" and not simply "World Food." The word "cafe" evokes the image of unique setting that one does not go to out of a necessity to consume food, but rather for the ambiance and often even the company of friends or loved ones. While some people may indeed to prefer to eat by themselves, in many of the cultures I am familiar with, eating is all about the event, sometimes even more than the food itself. This is basically my convenient excuse to post photos of things other than food, as each picture of food has a story that I would like to share behind it anyway. Besides, narrating my own story through food clearly should not be very difficult for me. Such is my life.

As for the story behind this food and why I was so proud of it? This was my first time cooking more than just dessert or a snack for my boyfriend's parents. I was very nervous and trying out some new things at the same time, so I was just happy it turned out well in the end.

My boyfriend Matt P. and his parents, Marc & Carol, in our dining room area in our apartment, San Jose, CA


The next entry will feature some restaurant food as that is what I would really like to talk more about, (the food is usually more photogenic than my food) but at least I have now written an actual blog entry!