I went with the to go joint of the Curry House. Pork Katsu with mild curry. Yummy. Didn't forget the red stuff this time. It's pickled ginger, but very mild. I just put it in the rice for the crunchiness.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Splash
What do you do when you get Japanese whisky and want to add a splash of water? You get Japanese mineral water of course! I tried adding Sparkletts water to my glass, but wasn't too impressed. There's a Japanese market a block from work so I dropped by to look at their selection of water. They sell water there called Sweat Water. That's right. Sweat. It's a drink to help replenish what you lose during exercise. I don't even want to try it. I'm thinking it tastes like pool water after you've had some fresh water and jump in. Go ahead. Try.
Lunch (last week)
Made some sandwiches with the left over honeybaked ham. Whole grain bread, swiss cheese, and large slices of the ham.
This is my wife's sandwich. Ate mine before I could snap some pictures. Almost missed taking a picture of this one too. Mine is the same except without all the nasty mayo she has slathered on her sammy.
Yogurtland
There's Cefiore and Pinkberry's and a ton of other joints. Been to Cefiore and Pinkberry's. I liked em. The other day walking back to work from lunch, we went to Yogurtland. The difference between Yogurtland and the other two is that this place is self serve. You pour your own yogurt and scoop in your own toppings. They have a ton of available yogurt flavors and similar toppings to the other two places. There's a Yogurtland close to where we live so we will be frequenting them very often.
What I like so far. Taro yogurt with mochi, coconut, and sliced almonds.
Just be careful because they charge you by the ounce. A coworker didn't notice when he went to a similar place, maybe the same one, and he ended up paying more than $10 for his yogurt.
What I like so far. Taro yogurt with mochi, coconut, and sliced almonds.
Just be careful because they charge you by the ounce. A coworker didn't notice when he went to a similar place, maybe the same one, and he ended up paying more than $10 for his yogurt.
Dinner (the other night)
We had some left over honey baked ham. This was supposed to be ham fried rice, but I cut the ham too large and decided to try something else.
Key ingredient in fried rice, the rice. We have yet to purchase a rice cooker. For now, this small pot works. Basic technique to make rice, boil water, ratio should be around 1.5 parts water to 1 part bigas (raw rice). You should rinse the bigas first to get rid of the dust and some debris. I am lazy so I usually just throw the stuff in unrinsed into the boiling water. Once the water has boiled down, turn the flame down to simmer and cover for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, voila, a pot of rice. Easy. For an easier way, buy a rice cooker. Measure everything, push a button. Even easier.
What I ended up making with the ham. Way too much oil though. Had to use a few paper towels to try and get most of it off. I used a peeler to get thin slices of potatoes and fried them up with the ham.
Eggs. Over easy for my lovely lady and scrambled for me.
And there we have it. Breakfast for dinner
Maybe I'll add plantains to the ham and potatoes and go Cuban with the dish next time.
Key ingredient in fried rice, the rice. We have yet to purchase a rice cooker. For now, this small pot works. Basic technique to make rice, boil water, ratio should be around 1.5 parts water to 1 part bigas (raw rice). You should rinse the bigas first to get rid of the dust and some debris. I am lazy so I usually just throw the stuff in unrinsed into the boiling water. Once the water has boiled down, turn the flame down to simmer and cover for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, voila, a pot of rice. Easy. For an easier way, buy a rice cooker. Measure everything, push a button. Even easier.
What I ended up making with the ham. Way too much oil though. Had to use a few paper towels to try and get most of it off. I used a peeler to get thin slices of potatoes and fried them up with the ham.
Eggs. Over easy for my lovely lady and scrambled for me.
And there we have it. Breakfast for dinner
Maybe I'll add plantains to the ham and potatoes and go Cuban with the dish next time.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Vacuum Brewing (French Press without the mud)
Here is how I vacuum.
Buy or roast beans. With coffee, freshness is key. Buy beans that were recently roasted, within a few days if possible, and only grind to brew.
Grind the beans. Experimentation is necessary to find out what you like. Right now I'm sticking to 8 grams of coffee per 4 ounces of water. The Bodum scoop measures out 8 ounces of ground coffee.
To make the process a little quicker, pour boiling or near boiling water into the bowl. It will take a while to get water hot in the bowl because the flame needs be low as the bowl has a narrow bottom. A high flame would just melt the handle. The flame in the picture is at medium low. First time I brewed with cold water it took almost 10 minutes for the whole process. Also note that with vacuum brewing, there will always be a little bit of water that does not make it to the upper bowl. Because of this, it is recommended to always make a full pot so more water is exposed to the grounds. A half bowl will result in a slightly thinner cup as the leftover water will dilute the brew.
Original plastic filter and Cory rod. I am now using only the Cory rod as there were stalling issues with the original plastic filter. Carefully pour the ground coffee into the funnel (upper bowl) without moving the Cory rod. Some wait until the water has made it north before adding the ground coffee. I'll just add the coffee first for now though.
Place the funnel onto the bowl and as it is preheated water, the water should instantly start going north to brew the coffee. Using preheated water also ensures that only optimum brewing temperature water is going north to saturate the grinds. Depending on how much agitation there is in the upper bowl after most of the water has reached the top, it might be necessary to mix the grounds to make sure all of the grounds are saturated. I am using chopsticks. Make sure you use something plastic so you don't break the glass and be careful not to move the rod. Update: Just read up on a thread where it is recommended that you stir going in straight lines not circular as it affects how the grinds settle near the rod and circular stirring increases the chances of stalling.
After all the water has gone to the upper bowl, I keep it on the flame for an additional 30 seconds then take it off the flame and place it on a cooling surface. Ensure the surface is not wet as this might crack the bowl. Brew time will be determined with experimentation. I am planning on adding time to see what the cup will taste like. Update: I am now leeting the coffee brew for a minute, not 30 seconds.
Once the lower bowl has cooled off enough, the coffee will start to make its way back down. Shouldn't be more than 30 or so seconds. Any longer and it might be stalling.
After the coffee is done going south, remove the funnel. There will still be some suction, so be careful when removing the funnel. Pictured is the rubber seal moving down a little as the suction was a little strong when I removed the funnel.
Enjoy a freshly vacuumed cup of coffee.
Time for clean up. Only a little bit of coffee grind made its way down. Vacuum brewing results in a cup similar to french press, but less sediment and slightly less body.
Buy or roast beans. With coffee, freshness is key. Buy beans that were recently roasted, within a few days if possible, and only grind to brew.
Grind the beans. Experimentation is necessary to find out what you like. Right now I'm sticking to 8 grams of coffee per 4 ounces of water. The Bodum scoop measures out 8 ounces of ground coffee.
To make the process a little quicker, pour boiling or near boiling water into the bowl. It will take a while to get water hot in the bowl because the flame needs be low as the bowl has a narrow bottom. A high flame would just melt the handle. The flame in the picture is at medium low. First time I brewed with cold water it took almost 10 minutes for the whole process. Also note that with vacuum brewing, there will always be a little bit of water that does not make it to the upper bowl. Because of this, it is recommended to always make a full pot so more water is exposed to the grounds. A half bowl will result in a slightly thinner cup as the leftover water will dilute the brew.
Original plastic filter and Cory rod. I am now using only the Cory rod as there were stalling issues with the original plastic filter. Carefully pour the ground coffee into the funnel (upper bowl) without moving the Cory rod. Some wait until the water has made it north before adding the ground coffee. I'll just add the coffee first for now though.
Place the funnel onto the bowl and as it is preheated water, the water should instantly start going north to brew the coffee. Using preheated water also ensures that only optimum brewing temperature water is going north to saturate the grinds. Depending on how much agitation there is in the upper bowl after most of the water has reached the top, it might be necessary to mix the grounds to make sure all of the grounds are saturated. I am using chopsticks. Make sure you use something plastic so you don't break the glass and be careful not to move the rod. Update: Just read up on a thread where it is recommended that you stir going in straight lines not circular as it affects how the grinds settle near the rod and circular stirring increases the chances of stalling.
After all the water has gone to the upper bowl, I keep it on the flame for an additional 30 seconds then take it off the flame and place it on a cooling surface. Ensure the surface is not wet as this might crack the bowl. Brew time will be determined with experimentation. I am planning on adding time to see what the cup will taste like. Update: I am now leeting the coffee brew for a minute, not 30 seconds.
Once the lower bowl has cooled off enough, the coffee will start to make its way back down. Shouldn't be more than 30 or so seconds. Any longer and it might be stalling.
After the coffee is done going south, remove the funnel. There will still be some suction, so be careful when removing the funnel. Pictured is the rubber seal moving down a little as the suction was a little strong when I removed the funnel.
Enjoy a freshly vacuumed cup of coffee.
Time for clean up. Only a little bit of coffee grind made its way down. Vacuum brewing results in a cup similar to french press, but less sediment and slightly less body.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Cory Rod
After a few brews with the Santos, no matter how coarse the grind, the Santos was stalling. After five minutes, the coffee was just trickling very slowly south. By that time, the coffee has already been overextracted and it's just a wasted pot. Reading the forums, there were numerous recommendations of using a Cory rod for the Santos as its oem plastic filter is known to be problematic. The only places these are now available, as the Cory is no longer made, is either ebay or antique shops. They are very readily available in ebay so I purchased one there.
The Cory Rod arrives in the mail. Very well packaged to protect the glass.
The glass Cory Rod
Perfect fit. Will brew a pot soon.
Brewed a pot this morning. Didn't have my camera handy, but works well, for now. Did a finer grind than I tried for the Santos and no signs of stalling and clean pot. No grinds made it down the tube. Still don't know how it works as it's just a glass rod, but I guess it's the pores on the bulb of the rod. Will have to be very careful as it's glass on glass.
The Cory Rod arrives in the mail. Very well packaged to protect the glass.
The glass Cory Rod
Perfect fit. Will brew a pot soon.
Brewed a pot this morning. Didn't have my camera handy, but works well, for now. Did a finer grind than I tried for the Santos and no signs of stalling and clean pot. No grinds made it down the tube. Still don't know how it works as it's just a glass rod, but I guess it's the pores on the bulb of the rod. Will have to be very careful as it's glass on glass.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Pilsner
I was reading the Food section of the LA Times a few years ago and they had a story about micro brews. They had a few suggestions. Two of the ones I wrote down was Northcoast Scrimshaw, which I found right away and liked. Reminded me of Rolling Rock. And the other was called Trumer Pils. The story talked about how most pilsners are shipped here from Europe and during the trip over here, the elements and everything else messes with the flavors and we don't really get the true pilsner flavor. Basically to taste how they taste it over there, we'd have to go there. Trumer Pils was supposed to be a good representation of a true pilsner. So ofcourse I had to try it to see what a true pilsner tasted like. So off to my local BevMo I went to look for the Scrimshaw and the Pils and I found the Scrimshaw right away and it took me a couple years to finally get my hands on the Trumer Pils. I just didn't look hard enough and finally got around to asking an employee about it when I was there to get something else. Good beer.
Trumer Pils all cold and ready to go.
The lovely lady serving the beer
Trumer Pils all cold and ready to go.
The lovely lady serving the beer
Whisky
I'm in my 30s now and have two kids, so might as well try some growed up drinks. I'm going to try and discover whisky. In one of the forums I frequent, there was a discussion on whiskys and one of them was for a Japanese brand that happened to be at our local BevMo. And to top it off, it was behind a locked container. Can't go wrong with something recommended and locked up, must be good stuff! Depending on where it's from, it's either considered whisky or whiskey.
The box from the BevMo
Out of the box.
Opened up. Will take the fancy in the glass pictures when I get a proper whisky glass, yes, there is a glass made specifically for whisky.
The box from the BevMo
Out of the box.
Opened up. Will take the fancy in the glass pictures when I get a proper whisky glass, yes, there is a glass made specifically for whisky.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Bodum Santos
One of the presents my hot sexy wife got me for Christmas was a Bodum Santos stovetop vacuum brewer. I've only had coffee made with it since I opened the box. I took pictures and tried to post them up, but was having connection problems. Will get them up soon. Meanwhile, I'll just enjoy another cup. It is very quiet. For some reason I thought I'd hear gurgling from the boiling water and a popping sound after the water went back down, but nada, it is very quiet. I still have to work on my technique. First few times I just put the upper bowl on right away, but after reading the forums I'm supposed to put the upper bowl on after the water is either boiling or very near it so that all the water that comes in contact with the grounds are in optimum brew temperature. I also found the grind that would stall the brewer the other day. It's at 8.5 on my mazzer. Discovered that it is very dangerous to pull out the upper bowl before the big splash when the water has all gone down hill as there is still plenty of suction. Good thing I apparently waited long enough because there was only a slight resistance but not enough to break anything when it did let go.
Water already on the way down. Will upload the pictures of the earlier process soon.
Coffee on the way back down
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