Pickle Smoochers

Long ago, Krista hosted a pickling party at her firehouse home.



That's Krista looking hott in the purple. Prettiest ginger in the world. Toni on the left and Sai, center. Missing from all my photos is the instigator of all this business, Kara. It's nice that my friends are overachievers because that means all I have to do is show up with some cash for the cost of goods and put in some sweat equity.



We pickled radishes, green beans, and cucumbers.



I wish I had taken a photo of the radishes after they sat for a bit. The brine leeched the red out of the skins and the water turned pink like the color of a bleeding dawn. (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers reference, and I am teaching simile to my eighth graders. Practice [poorly] what you preach, I guess.)



Toni brought jalapenos, which we added to many a jar. They added a real bite. It was awesome.

I ended up reusing the brine a couple times throwing in carrots or onions, which worked fine but didn't have the same intensity as the initial pickles.

I'll post the recipe soon (fine, probably not). In which case, try the links above. Those girls are on top of their shit.

We met at fat camp.

This post is dedicated to Kim, whose love for food and cooking inspires my own. Sunday dinners at Kim's apartment were always filled with amazing food and company. Up until she left for Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago, we made sure to have Sunday dinner together every week. I'm also pretty sure that when I named this blog, I was subconsciously thinking about our single days together. She used to tell dudes who were hitting on us that we met at fat camp.


I made pulled pork sammies, mashed taters, and roasted carrots for our final (for now) Sunday dinner.

The following photos are from Kim's bachelorette/bridal shower weekend that happened back in April.


We had a bridal shower Sunday dinner for Kim in the Diner airstream. The food was awesome, the airstream was awesome, and the friends were awesome. I keep dreaming about the chicken liver mousse or something. It was retarded (i.e. awesome)--like Corky from Life Goes On.

We had a bachelorette party/trip that was pretty tame. We stayed at Kate's Lazy Meadow upstate. It was very cute and very retro.


Look at the cute kitchen we didn't use!


Creepy busts that Kim and Tu tried to terrorize me with at night.


This is what we ate. Hostess fruit pies are even more awesome when you pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds.


Awesome totem pole chimney.


We were on a safari or something.


City slickers.


You can rent cute little airstream trailers too.

Kim, I am so excited about seeing the life you make with Tom in Hong Kong. And I can't wait to meet baby Maia. I miss you so much, mama.

Fill 'Er Up

These are old photos from my trip back to California that I'm finally getting around to posting. I swear, I'm getting a real camera soon.


Vegan Vietnamese Bun Bo Hue, or Spicy Fake Pork Noodle Soup, Hue Style at Di Lat in San Jose. The word for vegetarian in Vietnamese translates to bland. This was definitely not. Regular bun bo hue is one of my favorite dishes. My mom's is soo good and so spicy. Still no place in NY that can make it.


And the reason I was eating vegan, dear Helena. She recently adopted a wholly vegan diet. She's been really tolerant, if only a little judgmental, about my all-meat inclusive diet over the course of our gazillion year friendship. (I love you, H.) I also find Vietnamese vegan to be the tastiest vegan there is. If you are ever in San Jose, go to Tofoo House for awesome vegan Vietnamese Banh Mi.


Banh Bot Chien which translates roughly to fried flour. I don't know what it is exactly except that I love it. The dipping sauce is like a sugary soy sauce. I could probably Google what the hell it is, but why don't you do the research let me know. A recipe would be great, too, ta very much!


Oh, Hannah. You are a muffin and a half. Little Vietnamese Babies (LVBs) love their pho. In restaurants the bowls usually come with a pair of scissors to cut up the noodles. Also, LVBs do not like cilantro or scallions in their pho, thank you very much.


Here's my bowl of pho. I got the Xe Lua, which translates to train. Yeah, there was no stopping me. I think Hannah could have gone for a dip in the bowl. I finished the whole damn thing, too.


But wait, you say, that's not the same bowl. You have continuity issues. I say, God you are so linear. This is the after bowl of the next bowl you see, which is actually not pho. Not pho? you say. Why, no. Read on to find out what filled this bowl.


Hu Tieu Mi Nam Vang. This is the fatty express. Wide rice vermicelli and egg noodles combo with shrimp, pork, and the most delicious broth in the world. The best place to go in San Jose for this stuff is Samkee.


Mi Xao Don Thap Cam. Combination Crispy fried egg noodles. I didn't eat this. My nephew did. The young ones like to eat this kind of stuff. I loved it as a kid too. Ok fine, I had a little taste. It made me want to be a kid again.

I miss all the great food so much, but really, I miss all the company that came with the food. Can't wait to eat with you all again.

Chili Bowl

Andrew is mildly obsessed with the European football, ne´ soccer. His big game today concerned his team, Arsenal, versus Chelsea. Today also being Superblow Sunday (ha!), I couldn't pass up the excuse to make chili. I hoped the chili would help to soothe any disappointment the Gooners might cause my baby or at least replace the bitter disappointment with heartburn. Nothing like the contrast effect to improve a situation.

Pictures of chili always look disgusting. It's a good thing the photo I took is busted.

So I had this post all planned out and was so pleased with the chili. Well, I think I ate too much of it. So much of it that I ended up making myself sick. The title Chili Bowl has several meanings.

It was still delicious.

Turkey Chili

Ingredients:

3 lbs ground Turkey or Beef
1/2 medium onion, diced
2-3 bay leaves
handful of chili powder
handful of cumin
2 tsp cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
4 jalapeno peppers, diced
1/2 can of tomato paste
2 cans of beer, any
2 cans of diced tomatoes (the small cans)
2 cans beans (black or red--small cans)

Cooking Instructions:

1. Brown turkey in large pot over high heat. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add handful of chili powder and handful of cumin. Mix thoroughly.
3. Add tomato paste. Mix thoroughly.
4. Add diced tomatoes and beans. Mix again.
5. Stir in beer. Turn to heat to high and bring to boil.
6. Turn down heat and simmer.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

Again, I should not be giving out recipes, but seriously, go with your gut. Especially when your gut says, "Stop eating chili."

How much is that doggy in the window?

I definitely appreciate the simplicity of New York hot dogs, but why can't New York ditch the water dogs and go grilled like this yummy guy I hold in my hands courtesy of San Francisco? Bacon-wrapped, smothered in onions, mustard and ketchup, please.

p.s. I failed at my bucket list (no burrito), but I'm pretty sure I made up for it in other ways.

The Ol' In-Out (updated)

Dear Santa,
Thank you for giving me all that I wanted for Christmas--time with family and friends and delicious food.
Love,
Uyen

There are three things that I must eat every time I return to California: In-n-Out Burger, burritos (from La Victoria in San Jose; from El Farolito in SF), and pho. Not necessarily prioritized that way either. It's like a bucket list.

Fatty Tran aka Trans Fat aka the non-contributor to this blog kindly picked me up from the airport on Christmas Eve. Oddly, he wasn't hungry, but offered to take me to get something to eat anyway. We had originally planned on going to La Victoria, but ended up at In-n-Out.





I usually get just a plain old cheeseburger or hamburger, but Fatty encouraged me to get the double meat double cheese with grilled onions, which he always gets. I think he was living vicariously through me since he wasn't eating. My only complaint about In-n-Out is the smell it leaves on my hands even after a thorough washing. It's really disgusting. Think about it.



Eugene aka Catfish, who was visiting his family nearby, made a cameo appearance.



Fatty and I made both observed in different places in San Jose (him at Christmas at the Park and me at the airport) that there is a HUGE Indian population here. Our observations coalesced at In-n-Out. See, there's an Indian dude right behind me. There was also a group sitting to my right. Why does this sound racist? It's not! There are also lots of Vietnamese peeps in San Jose. Look, three of them are featured in this post. EDIT: I just realized that there's an Indian person in the background of three of the four photos.

Anyway, I need to get back to my bucket list. Time's a tick-tocking away.

Blackberry Patchwork Top Pie With Almond Crust

Being a teacher rules because I get to indoctrinate today's youth and I get all holidays off. Today was Veterans Day. Thank you, Vets! (Side story: I was teaching the youths about some Vietnam War stuff when I asked, "What does this headline tell you about the time period?" The headline was "Vietnam Vets Protest War." One student raised his hand and said, "That the people who took care of animals in Vietnam didn't like the war." Kids say the darnedest things!) Since I had the day off, I decided to bake a pie.

I realized why I should not bake by memory: I have a bad memory! So the last time I made a pie, my crust turned out dry because I got it in my head that one stick of butter equals one cup. And I never bothered to look at the measurements on the stick of butter. Oh, kitchen follies. Needless to say, today's crust turned out much better. I also added a half cup of finely ground almonds. I still work with a lead hand, so my crust always falls apart. Instead of trying to roll the crust out perfectly, I just let the cracks be and plopped them right on top of the pie. I'm like a jazz musician, I totally improvise. Yeah, man.