Saturday night the wife and I went over to our friends Lindsey and Jesica’s house for supper. Lindsey is a vegetarian, but her significant other Jes is carnivorous and had a hankering for some pork, so I thought I’d oblige her. I wanted to do a braised pork belly, but the wife rejected that idea (she’s got weird texture issues, but that’s a story for another post) so I settled on a a pork shoulder [...]
I love glutamate. From fish sauce, to anchovies, to MSG, glutamate is the tastiest amino acid ever. I add glutamates, in some form, to pretty much everything these days and because my wife doesn’t really care for anchovies (she humors me sometimes), my glutamate delivery mechanism of choice in most cases is fish sauce. Good quality fish sauce, like Tiparos, is a ridiculously easy way to add tons of flavor to sauces, soup, stews, braises, [...]
My wife gives me crap every time we go to our favorite taqueria, La Venadita, because I always order the same thing: chilaquiles. La Venadita is a very authentic, traditional taqueria and everything they do is great. The food is exactly like you’d find at any of the countless carts, stalls, and mercados that litter Mexico City, and I’ve had almost everything on their menu, but chilaquiles is the only thing I want anymore. They’re [...]
Full Tilt Ice Cream After another decent-but-not-great dinner at Island Soul, the wife, a friend of ours, and I walked the couple of blocks to Full Tilt Ice Cream. I’d had a hankering for the chocolate coconut curry (CCC) ice cream ever since they tweeted about it a few days before, and I had had to satisfy my need. Fortunately the Columbia City store still had some CCC in stock, so I ordered up a [...]
Here’s a quick run down of the places we’re eating in and around Columbia City over the last few days. All-Purpose Pizza There’s a lack of pizza delivery options here in Columbia City, with Pizza Hut and Domino’s being the mainstays. Fortunately All Purpose Pizza & Ale House delivers to our ‘hood, and while we haven’t had much luck with the salads or pastas, the pizza kicks ass. All Purpose uses a sourdough crust that’s [...]
3 tbs bacon drippings or vegetable oil3 lb chuck shoulder, trimmed and cut in to 1/4 inch cubes8-12 Ancho, New Mexico, and/or California chili pods 1 large onion, finely chopped2 tbs Mexican oregano3 tbs crushed cumin seed or ground cumin 1 tbs salt 4 minced garlic cloves, to taste 2 x 7.75 oz can hot Mexican-style tomato sauce (such as El Pato Salas de Chili Fresco) 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained1 cup chicken [...]
Food Party, which bills itself as a ‘non-reality’ show, is my new favorite television series. The show airs on IFC and follows the culinary adventures of Thu Tran and friends. I can’t begin to describe Food Party, so I won’t bother trying, but you should definitely watch it for yourself.
Meatloaf is one of those abstract dishes that just begs for mucking around with. My own personal favorite is heavy on the fish sauce, fennel, and herbs, and is simply out of this world. 1 lb lean ground beef or turkey***1 lb ground pork1 fennel bulb1 large onion, cut in half3 cloves of garlic, mincedhandful of fresh herbs, minced or 3 tbs dried herbs (anything will do,though I’m partial to fresh italian parsley, sage, or [...]
Last night our friend Kiki came over for a little Wednesday night potluck action. Kiki brought over a wonderful pesto, goat cheese, and arugula pizza that she made, while the wife and I whipped up sausage and eggplant ‘casserole’ from Mel at Bitchincamero and a biscuit bread pudding a la Homesick Texan. The sausage and eggplant casserole was more like a strata than a traditional casserole (whatever that means), and it gave me a chance [...]
I fully intended to make a nice chicken-veg-pasta soup last night (with De Cecco acini di pepe!!), but after walking the dogs and doing some work around the house, I just didn’t have enough time. So, the wife and I decided to check out one of the restaurants in our ‘hood that we’ve been eyeballing for a while. Columbia City is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Seattle and has a wide range of [...]