Cooking With Kaya Ep. 4/ Cooking with Mona Ep.1/ Or, Whatever… This week’s Episode: Sorbet! (it’s French for sherbert)

Don’t embarrass me kids.

Did somebody just fart?

Hey DeliciousTings blog fans!  I’m talking to you, Mom, sis,  and that anonymous bot sending me spam comments (nope, I don’t need Jimmy Choo shoes or Cialis – or maybe..?)  Anyway, have I got a treat for you today.  Let’s start off by playing a little game.  Here’s a list of items:  a dining room table, several chairs, 80s style round stools, a tiny step stool with legs that look like crayons, a compact stereo receiver, a child’s scooter, 2 kids bikes, 2 adult mountain bikes, an Italian coffee maker, the seminal 70s era book “Free to Be You and Me”, a ping pong table. What do all of these things have in common? Well, along with a bunch of other items that I can’t recall, these are all things that I’ve found on the street and brought home!  Oh my God, I just realized I’m hoarder.  Oh well. Know thyself, am I right?  But why exactly do these things give me so much unmitigated joy?  1) They’re free.  2) They’re still totally useful and they work!  Anybody who knows me will tell you that yeah, I’m into value (some might even say “cheap” – I say “frugal”) AND I hate wasting things.  If something can still be used, then I’m damn well going to use it and if they’re not quite useful, then I will MacGyver them until they are useful (I mean, within reason).  So yeah, other peoples’ trash can very well be my treasure.  I think I honed my scavenging ways  when I was living in Brooklyn and needed to furnish my apartment – the first time I had my own place. People in Prospect Heights, where I was living at the time, would throw out really good stuff.  Here’s an example. I was walking home at night on a block with a bunch of brownstones and happened upon this beautiful wooden dining room table, legs detached from the table top that somebody had put out. Score!  The only thing was this table was heavy and there was no way I could haul it the three blocks back to my place. So, I hailed a taxi (this was before Uber and Lyft), loaded the table into the trunk and then used the remaining strength I had to haul that table up four flights of stairs to my apartment.

That unadulterated joy of finding cool and useful stuff on the street has stayed with me and now that we live back in the Bay, it’s something I’ve probably passed on to my kids as well. In fact, just the other week, as we were driving back from grocery shopping, Kaya spotted a kid’s mountain bike out on the curb, that somebody was giving away. It was perfectly fine except for a couple of flat tires. We brought it home, pumped up the tires and boom! Kaya’s got a bike with two hand brakes and gears.  After her first sesh with the  bike, I asked her,  “Kaya, what do you think of your new bike?” “I LOVE it!” she gushed. True story.

So where am I going with all of this? What could this possibly have to do with a frozen nondairy dessert that is spelled with silent “t” (thank you, French language)?  Well, one of my most recent street finds – one that gives me almost as much joy as the bike gives Kaya – is a Donvier Ice Cream Maker. Now anyone who grew up in the 80s knows that the Donvier Ice Cream maker was the shit when it came to small batch homemade ice cream.  Okay, maybe it wasn’t all that. But when you’re a young kid and you see it in a fancy kitchen store and think of all the possibilities of homemade ice cream and spend $30 of your own hard saved up money to buy your dad a father’s day gift in the hopes  that he’ll be into making ice cream every day of the week, then believe me it’s the shit.  We ended up using it maybe three times.  Something about the recipes for ice cream included with the maker seemed a bit too complicated.    Then we put it on a shelf and promptly forgot about it.  According to my dad, he gave it away several years ago during a move. And that was the end of ice cream making in our house and the end of our relationship… Just kidding! I love my dad.  We get along great. But back to the story.  So, imagine my delight, when I spied a genuine Donvier ice cream maker in it’s original box.   Sure the box was a little worse for wear, but the maker itself – the plastic container, the plastic attachments and most importantly the cold storage barrel- were in impeccable condition.  You see where I’m going with this right?  Call me a nostalgic sap, but as I’ve gotten older (it’s fair to say approaching middle age (WTF!), I’ve definitely been reminiscing about my childhood and that’s become even more the case now that I myself have kids.  So here I am, walking along the streets of Oakland when I’m gifted this literal blast from the past.  An ice cream maker that I loved as a kid, that represented something I could share with my own father has now reentered my life so that I can share the experience of making a homemade frozen treat with my kids.  I told you. Sappy.

I’m happy to say, we’ve already used the maker three times and instead of getting bogged down with complicated ice cream recipes, I’ve just decided to wing it, which is kind of how I approach cooking in general (and life, truth be told).  Since it’s still summer, though nearing fall, we’ve been using strawberries because they’re in season and also because we can get really cheap delicious strawberries in the bargain section at Berkeley Bowl (remember, I’m cheap).  These almost work better than the normal strawberries because they are so ripe and full of strawberry flavor.  Who cares if they’re all bruised?  I just cut out the bad parts and since I’m going to mash and freeze them anyway, it doesn’t even matter. So we’ve made strawberry ice cream twice (the second time I pretty much nailed it -it’s all about the half and half)).  The one other time we’ve used the Donvier, we made strawberry, lemon, mint sorbet.  Fortunately for you guys, I captured that occasion on video. This is what I’m talking about: confluence. You see it’s that time of year again where Kaya and I had a week to just kind of hang out before she started school (2nd grade!) and we had the time to make another cooking vid together. For this cooking session, unlike the previous two years where we opted for savory dishes (fried chicken and then chow mein) we decided to make something sweet and frozen (remember the Donvier). To up the sweetness of the video, we added another key ingredient: Mona (aka Second Daughter).  You might remember her first appearance from C and K Make Granola.  She’s the wild-haired 1 1/2 year old asking for crackers. Well she’s almost 4 1/2 now and it’s fair to say, she’s ready for prime time, or a night at the Improv. Don’t believe me? Watch the video.

Okay, but first things first.  Here are the ingredients for our Strawberry Lemon Mint Sorbet

2 lbs strawberries
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2 tbsp of fresh mint (or to taste)
3-5 tbsp sugar (or to taste)

And this is how we do it.

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What’s Good in the ‘Hood, Episode 1: Chi’s Mentaiko Pasta

One of my new favorite dishes: mentaiko spaghetti

What’s up people? Or spam bots? Or whomever/ whatever has had the unique pleasure of perusing/ scanning these words that I’ve just typed. Well, I had the unique pleasure of hanging out with my neighbor, Chi. She happens to be really funny and a really good cook. I met her through this social media app for old people (yeah, I’m trying to lean in to being old) called NextDoor. For the uninitiated (young people with lives), it’s this site that focuses on connecting people based on where they live, specifically their neighborhoods. So, people post news, alerts, items for sale or to give away or queries about house painters or electricians. A couple months back, in an effort to kick up a little more action on this here blog, meet some neighbors and get inspired by new recipes and home cooks, I put up a post asking neighbors if they would be so kind as to let me film them cooking something. The reaction was overwhelming. That is, overwhelmingly “meh”. But fortunately for you, my loyal fans / bots, for me and (I’m sure Chi would agree) for her, Chi was one neighbor who responded. We struck up a conversation et voila: last week I had the opportunity to hang out at her house as she prepared a really simple and delicious dish called mentaiko pasta that she had first tasted when she lived in NYC and ate it at place called Basta Pasta.

Chi in her kicthen

 

Where do I start with this dish? Did I already mention how simple and delicious it is? Oh yeah, that was just the paragraph before. I told you I was getting old. Okay, long story short, this is a Japanese take on pasta that uses seasoned pollock roe (fish eggs) as the basis of the sauce instead of a tomato base. If you like caviar of any sort, if briny, oceany salty flavors are your jam (“jam” not in the fruit preserve sense, but in the “one of my favorite things” sense) then. You. Will. Love. This. I guarantee it. If you don’t like those flavors, well then don’t bother. In the words of Chi “It’s a waste of good roe.” So, more for us. It’s one of those dishes that grows on you not only in the time you’re eating it – each bite is better than the last – but long after you’ve put your fork down and licked the last remnants from your plate. You’ll sit there, perhaps typing up a blog post that three people will read and your mouth will instantly begin to water as you conjure up the flavor. Have I whet your appetite enough? Well, here’s the recipe as written up by Chi.

mentaiko spaghetti

  • 2 TBS butter (melted)
  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • 4 TBS Mentaiko (spicy pollock roe)
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • Spaghetti noodles
  • roasted nori (seawead) – cut into fine slivers

Set spaghetti to boil.
While the spaghetti is cooking, mix melted butter with olive oil, set aside.Scrape pollak roe from the egg sacks, add to oil and butter mix.Add lemon juice to taste and mix thoroughly.Drain pasta, and add mentaiko paste wile warm.Plate sauced noodles, and sprinkle with cut nori. Serve to Clarence.

And here’s where Chi shows you how it’s done.

 

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Cooking With Kaya Ep. 3: Welcome to Noodletown!

What’s so funny? Noodles.

Hello, All!  Um, Mom, sis, I’m talking to you. Well time certainly does fly when you’re not blogging, eh?  Yes, It’s been  a year since I published my (self-annointed) masterpiece “Cooking With Kaya Ep. 2: Fried Chicken!!!” As you might recall (especially if you’ve just re-read that brilliant entry) Kaya and I made the fried chicken video (which received an unheralded 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – no need to fact check that) the week before she entered kindergarten.  Fast forward one year to the present, or the present of few weeks ago.  Once again, Kaya and I had a week and a half to hang out before she started school – this time 1st grade! And so we conspired to make another postmodern masterpiece/ recipe video for a dish that both have a deep and abiding love for: stir-fried noodles  aka chow mein.

Now I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by saying that noodles in whatever form (soup, pan fried, deep fried, saucy, dry) are soul food for Asians.  Its the perfect peasant food: a starch (it could be rice, wheat, buckwheat, potato, buckwheat, mung bean, semolina, etc.) in long strand form that when cooked correctly is chewy, springy, slurpy and soaks up whatever sauce or flavor surrounds it.  Marco Polo definitely knew what was up when he brought them from China and introduced them to the West.  I don’t even know if that story is really true, but it sounds good and if it is, I’d like to think it’s because Marco knew that a life without noodles was really not worth living. I know that in my own experience, whenever I’ve been traveling or in a place where noodles are not well represented, the first thing I’ll gravitate towards when I’m back on familiar ground is a big bowl of pho, pad thai, chow fun or chow mein.  One of my favorite meals as a kid was my mom’s chow mein. She’d make it with thinner Hong Kong style egg noodles with celery and pork.  Obviously they were delicious out of the wok, but we’d eat them with a dollop of Dijon mustard and a drizzle of black vinegar. I have no idea if this was a Chinese tradition, a Hong Kong mash-up or a family predilection.  All I know is it was delicious.  And so now that I’m a parent – you know circle of life and all that – I feel that is my privilege to introduce to my kids the joy of eating noodles.  That’s how culture is passed on folks.  Trust me. I was an Anthro major so that basically makes me an expert.

The go-to chow mein in our house is a Shanghai style chow mein, made with thick wheat-based noodles. We buy packages of these fresh noodles at our local 99 Ranch.  They should look something like this.

This is a package of fresh Shanghainese noodles that I actually froze so I can use at a later date.

This is the after shot of these noodles. That’s what I’m talking about! I usually eat them with a healthy spoonful of sambal and and a drizzle of black vinegar. It’s heaven in a bowl.

It’s a really simple recipe that that draws on my time working at an Asian Fusion restaurant back in the day when Asian Fusion was THE new thing, at least in the Bay Area. Yes, I’m totally dating myself since that was a long ass time ago and Asian inspired food has long since entered the mainstream. It’s also a recipe derived in part from watching my parents cook and cooking with my sis.  Shout out, Cheryl! Don’t we look hella young in those videos?

Here’s the basic recipe. As usual, because I’m not a baker, amounts are approximates.

Ingredients:
2 lbs Shanghainese noodles (fresh, uncooked)
4-6 carrots
1/2 head of red cabbage
1-2 tbsp of chopped garlic
1-2 tbsp of chopped ginger
salt to taste
white pepper to taste
1/3 cup of mushroom soy
3 tsp of sugar

Now check out this most excellent and entertaining vid to so how we do it:

 

Did you notice that unlike most of the other posts on this blog, this recipe is vegetarian? In fact, it’s so vegetarian is vegan?!?  Yup, I got you, my non animal product eating brothers and sisters!  But I’ve also got your back if you like to eat the meat.  So as a bonus, because you deserve it, I’m including the following recipe for The World’s Easiest Stir Fried Chicken. I kid you not, this will take you 15 minutes to prepare and it adds a bit of chicken protein to whatever vegetarian or vegan meal you cook up, but especially these noodles.

Case in point:

Chow mein topped with the worlds easiest stir fried chicken.

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into pieces (don’t even think about using breast meat)
1-2 tsp of sesame oil
2 tbsp of fish sauce
1-2 tbsp of soy sauce
1-2 tsp of sugar
1/4 tsp of corn starch

And here’s how I do it:

 

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Your Brain on Trump (aka How to Fry an Egg)

There comes moment in everyone’s life where you just have to take a stand. In the era of Trump, that’s not so hard.  He’s an asshole AND a dick and basically a terrible, piece of garbage human being.  So I decided, I really needed to make this public service announcement about the dangers of Trump. If you’re a Trump supporter, I’m sorry to offend and feel free to boycott this blog. Also, I know that’s probably not going to happen because because I’m pretty sure there are only three readers of this blog: me, my sis and my mom and we definitely didn’t vote for Trump.  Anyway, for those of you who grew up in the 80s in the “Just Say No” era of American Drug policy, will be familiar with the following motif.  For those who are not (I’m talking to you, millennials) prepare to have your brains blown, or fried.

Ingredients:
1 egg
butter
Tapatío hotsauce

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Cooking With Kaya (kind of) Episode 2: FRIED CHICKEN!!!

Fried chicken faces in effect.

Time flies.  The older I get, the more that’s true. It’s been over half a year since the last post, which I’ll admit is kind of standard for me (which might explain the fact that this blog has a readership of about 6.3 people).  More hard to believe, it’s been almost a decade since I started this here food blog. In that time – the posts in this blog provide documentation – Shefali and I got married, had a kid, moved from Brooklyn to Oakland, had another kid and well, continue to just live our rather ordinary lives.  One of those markers of ordinary life came couple weeks ago when Kaya started kindergarten. But before her official start,  she and I had an opportunity to hang out – quality time, just father and daughter.  So I thought, what better way to spend time together bonding then making another food video?!  Genius, right?!  Kaya, was maybe a little less enthusiastic.  I mean I’ve been subjecting her to these vids since she was a fat little baby (when we both looked a lot younger).  So, she wasn’t really feeling it, having her own thoughts and all, but I’m her dad and I can still make her do stuff, so that’s cool.  You’ll see in the video.

In any case, I wanted to make something that despite the passage of time has remained a constant in my life: fried chicken. I. Love. Fried. Chicken. It’s got to be up there in my top 5 of all time favorite foods. I will never turn down a piece of fried chicken.  It has been there for me, always. For example, when I was maybe five or six and my mom accidentally chopped the tip of her middle finger off with a cleaver when she was cutting up a roast duck. Now, I actually look back on that episode with fondness  because 1) well, it wasn’t my finger and I was napping when it happened and 2) because while my mom and my dad rushed to the emergency, finger tip packed in a cup of ice so doctors could sew it back on, my aunt and uncle took me and my sister to Kentucky Fried Chicken (before it was rebranded as KFC) where we feasted on salty, greasy goodness. Later when I was a teenager and my parents had a night out, they’d let me eat whatever I wanted and I always got a box of frozen Banquet Fried Chicken (spicy) and I’d polish off about three or four pieces in a sitting.  As an adult, I’ve been fortunate to have my horizons expanded – at least when it comes to fried chicken. From southern style (American) fried chicken to to Japanese karaage chicken, I’ve made room for all of them in my heart and stomach.  I’d say pretty much everybody around the world loves fried chicken and everybody does a version of it. In my  humble opinion, it’s all good. I’m a globalist. I admit it.

I found this vendor in a bus stop in Antigua, Guatemala.

I found this fried chicken in a market in Pai, Northern Thailand. I tried to have at least one piece of fried chicken a day there, often for breakfast.

I’m happy to say that love for chicken that is fried has been passed on to my daughter. Nature? Nurture?  Does the fried chicken come before the fried egg or vice versa? These are deep questions, I know. Welcome to my life. But I digress. One of my favorite versions is Thai style fried chicken. It’s got a lighter skin (rice flour instead of wheat flour) and the meat is often marinated beforehand (basically, brining does the same thing) so that the meat has a lot of flavor as opposed to just the skin or batter (don’t get me wrong, I love that too).  It’s also reminiscent of the fried chicken my dad used to make for us when we were kids and he was getting really into cooking.  He used bread crumbs for his coating though. Anyway this is the version I decided to make with Kaya.

Here’s the Ingredient list (amounts are approximates, as usual).

Marinade Ingredients
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup fish sauce
3-5 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of ginger
3-4 tbsp of lemongrass
bunch of cilantro
2 1/2 tbsp of sugar

5 lbs of chicken legs (drumsticks and thighs) – you can also use little wings and drumettes)
rice flour to coat chicken pieces
oil to fry

And here’s the all important video for how we do it. Watch, learn and enjoy.

 

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