A way of viewing the past

Most folks are doing roundups for the year. We segment time and decide to look back. Well rather than recycling content, because you can just as easily go through archives. I’ll take a little look at some restaurants from my home county, from which I moved this year. In case you ever happen to make a journey into Harford County.

Savona – An Italian deli. A nice addition to Main Street. Solid mozzarella and prosciutto. Could do well with a little balsalmic on it, but all in all some quality meats. I had my first chinotto here. They sell a lot of random Italian goodies as well as wine. The owner’s husband is a wine buyer for a big restaurant in Baltimore.

Thomas Street Cafe – A nice little sandwich shop. I love their Rachel, which is a turkey Reuben with coleslaw instead of sauerkraut. They also had great New England clam chowder. Also if you get a chance they have an amazing roast beef special with caramelized onions and cheddar. Ask for whole wheat. Check out their Goldenberg’s Chews.

Carried Away Gourmet – Opened by a chef from Johnson & Wales. Variety of great specials with a focus on salad, panini and soups. The best is in the late summer/early fall, they run a fantastic special on Maryland crab soup.

DeDannan’s Coffee and Tea – Serve a nice breve. Run by an Irish family. Black & white silent film screenings on Friday nights.

Some days you wonder why you leave =D.

Review: Bob’s 88 Shabu Shabu

First off Bob’s shabu shabu is not Japanese. It’s Taiwanese or Chinese-style, depending on how you view it, and if you’re from either country. As a Chinese person I would say Chinese, and some Taiwanese person will slap me. And of course then I would come with the thunderous rain of my Han ancestors.

Nationalistic ambitions, aside. In all its incarnations, Mongolian hotpot, steamboat, shabu shabu, fondue, what the Korean one is called… dip your food into a pot of steaming broth or sorts and then into dipping sauce. It’s pretty hard to go wrong. A vat of boiling chicken broth and some decent meat, fishballs and veg alongside some sha-cha jiang mixed with soy sauce and sesame oil – you’ve set yourself for a solid warming meal.

From what I gathered Bob’s isn’t so different from what I get at home, so I was hesitant to go. Then I found out about the added delights of stinky tofu, pigs’ feet and duck tongues.

Beary Christmas!

I’m not PC. So Merry Christmas!

Recipe: Ketchup shrimp

I believe this is actually a Cajun dish, but it’s something that my mom makes it and puts an Asian spin on it. It sounds weird and a little gross, but it’s a really nice sweet and spicy dish. *edit: I think it is actually Asian after all.

Unfortunately, my cooking abilities don’t usually focus on measuring, so my instructions are a little vague.

Ingredients:

• Shrimp (deveined, try and separate, but do not remove shells – this will help increase the flavor absorption)
• Garlic, chopped
• Ginger, sliced
• Scallions, cut into thirds
• Ketchup
• Sriracha sauce (optional)
• Jalapeno, chopped (optional)

Heat some oil a pan. Add garlic, and ginger to brown. Add scallions and shrimp. Squeeze enough ketchup to cover shrimp. Squeeze sriracha to taste. Add jalapeno last.

Cooking Daffy

The other evening I had some guests over as I made my dad’s roast duck by myself for the first time.
The menu included:
Tom yum soup with shrimp – basically Thai hot and sour soup made from mix and chicken broth with shrimp, limes to garnish
Jellyfish with cucumber – a light vinegary salad
Mom’s pan-fried dumplings – Mmm… mom’s best
Roast duck – fun preparation and care in the oven, wonderfully delicious

Scallion pancakes – not as good as mom makes, but decent. Some were not friend in enough oil, so they weren’t as tasty
Potatoes roasted in duck fat – I was trying to emulate a Delia recipe, but I think the oil wasn’t hot enough
Spinach sauteed with garlic – standard dish
Coconut rice pudding with apricots and pistachios – sweet golden sunshine, but maybe a bit too sweet

I hate to pat myself on the back, but having roasted two ducks and preparing all the other food by myself, it was a pretty decent couple days work.