Salad daze

Main course

Dessert Trio

Su su...Sushi nite!

In the shadow of reading the newest book by Michael Pollan, "in Defense of Food-An eater's manifesto" we had a few couples over for sushi night. Jessica Li, a student of mine, interestingly enough she is Chinese for crying out loud... but her parents taught her the way's of sushi. One of his guiding stars towards better eating of 'real food' is "eat more like...the japanese", and understand the cultural traditions and procedural contexts of their foods. so, we just had to be supportive of such a forward thinking and health advice! Maribel made some homemade ginger icecream, yum (sweetened with agave)! Quoting Mr. Pollan..."traditional diets resemble other venacular creations of culture such as architecture." And what a beautiful culinary structure the japanese have erected!

To provide you with somebackground on eating sushi in Japanese, it is often eaten when celebrating special occasions. Chirashi-zushi (scattered sushi), maki-zushi (sushi rolls), inari-zushi (brown bag sushi) are commonly cooked at home, following family recipes past from mother to daughter (this is how Jessica learned). In as in traditional sushi restaurants we selected the best and freshest ingredients.

What to do when eating Sushi:

• Clean your hands by an oshibori (hot towel)
• Put soy sauce for dipping in a small dish provided.
• To eat sushi, it's common to use your fingers. (I didn't know this..hmm)
  
• When dipping sushi in the soy sauce, do not dip whole sushi. Just dip the end of the sushi as you eat. (it should be used as a subtle accent)
  

muy bueno burger

The kids always make fun of me that I think that I'm on the Food network and that I'm always plating my food for a show. Well, I don't know about that, but I do know that I like good food and I can't help but consider visual presentation. Here is my answer to a fabulous burger (the fast buster..eerrr or breaker). The patty has a inner layer of creamcheese mixed with sharp cheddar, topped with with sexy swiss cheese, a roasted yellow bell pepper, lettuce, cilantro and a homemade sundried tomato & basil remoulade.
it is, indeed, a muy bueno burger!

a crappy new idea for a restaurant

Toilet themed restaurants are not something new in Taiwan (I know you won't believe me); it has been around since 2004 with people dining in a toilet like environment (yes, it is unbelievable) and eating from a mini toilet bowl (ditto).

One would think, especially one with good taste, that this business idea won’t last long. But both you and I would be dead wrong. With the recent exposure by foreign press and bloggers, it seems that these eateries are becoming a bizarre-food icon from Taiwan… something like eating fugu in Japan and live octopus in Korea or spam with your eggs in Hawaii.

Just in case you didn't believe me, here some pictures from Modern Toilet, a food chain (yes a chain) that operates 12 toilet themed restaurants in Taiwan. Happy eating and....well you can guess what comes next.

Clark’s Christmas Noggin' Nog

This is a delicious Schaffer family Holiday tradition! You may want to double the recipe- this stuff goes fast! (Try using this eggnog to make wonderful French toast or add a dribble to your hot cocoa)
Ingredients:
(Almost) 1 Cup Agave (or 2 Cups sugar)
8 eggs
_ Tablespoon cinnamon
_ Tablespoon nutmeg
_ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rum extract
2 Cups whipping cream, whipped
3 cups milk
Whip sugar, eggs, and milk together on high for 15 minutes. Heat to 140 degrees on the stove. Cool and add spices, extracts and whipped cream. Beat until well blended and foamy. Serve immediately. (Can be enjoyed chilled or heated.)
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Eggnog literally means eggs inside a small cup. It is used as a toast to ones health. Nog is an old English dialect word (from East Anglia) of obscure origins that was used to describe a kind of strong beer (hence noggin). It is first recorded in the seventeenth century. Eggnog, however, is first mentioned in the early nineteenth century but seems to have been popular on both sides of the Atlantic at that time. An alternative British name was egg flip.
It all began in England, where eggnog was the trademark drink of the upper class. "You have to remember, the average Londoner rarely saw a glass of milk," says author/historian James Humes (July 1997, "To Humes It May Concern"), former speech writer and adviser to four presidents. "There was no refrigeration, and the farms belonged to the big estates. Those who could get milk and eggs to make eggnog mixed it with brandy or Madeira or even sherry." But it became most popular in America, where farms and dairy products were plentiful, as was rum. Rum came to these shores via the Triangular Trade from the Caribbean; thus it was far more affordable than the heavily taxed brandy or other European spirits that it replaced at our forefather's holiday revels."
An English creation, it descended from a hot British drink called posset, which consists of eggs, milk, and ale or wine. The recipe for eggnog (eggs beaten with sugar, milk or cream, and some kind of spirit) has traveled well, adapting to local tastes wherever it has landed. In the American South, bourbon replaced ale (though nog, the British slang for strong ale, stuck). Rich, strong eggnog — the richer and stronger, the better — is no stranger to holiday celebrations in New Orleans, and at this time of year the drink takes its place alongside syllabubs on the traditional southern table. (Syllabub is a less potent mixture than eggnog but just as rich. Made with milk, sugar and wine, it straddles the line between drink and liquid dessert.)
Eggnog goes by the name coquito in Puerto Rico, where, not surprisingly, rum is the liquor of choice (as it is these days for many eggnog lovers in the U.S.). There the drink has the added appeal of being made with fresh coconut juice or coconut milk. Mexican eggnog, known as rompope, was created in the convent of Santa Clara in the state of Puebla. The basic recipe is augmented with a heavy dose of Mexican cinnamon and rum or grain alcohol, and the resulting drink is sipped as a liqueur. In Peru, holidays are celebrated with a biblia con pisco, an eggnog made with the Peruvian pomace brandy called pisco.
The Germans make a eggnog or rather egg soup with beer (Biersuppe). Here in Iceland, we do have a soup here that resembles eggnog somewhat but there´s no alcohol in it. It is served hot as a dessert. Other than that, we have nothing that resembles eggnog and no eggnog traditions.

Yuca do it!

Yu can do it! (get it?...oh well) Venezuelan food is one way to celebrate "la Navidad". Pan de jamon, yuca (yucan do it....) and sancocho. The only thing missing here is the classic christmas dish, Llacas ....(because they're so time consuming to make!).