western spaghetti

Not quite edible, but still deliciously amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM&feature=user

corn and avocado salsa

By popular request! This salsa is great for parties and bbqs, and since there's no cooking involved, you can prepare most of the dish well in advance. Since it's chunky, I recommend serving it with tortilla chips that are shaped like scoops or little bowls.


1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
1 Red Onion, diced
1 large Tomato, seeded and diced
2 Avocados, diced
1 1/2 cans (15.25 oz) Corn (or about 4-5 fresh corn)
1 - 2 Jalapeños, finely diced
1 - 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 Lime, juiced
3-4 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 handful Cilantro, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

Chop all vegetables to about the same size as the corn. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, gently mix, and enjoy! For an added kick, add a few teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes.

Toss with Romaine Lettuce, a little zesty Ranch dressing, and topped with some pieces of Tortilla chips for a lovely fresh Tex-Mex-y salad!

lighthouse tofu

I love spicy foods, and I love eating with friends who also crave the heat. In order to get my Korean food/spicy fix and introduce my favorite suburban friends to a type of cuisine, I took them to Lighthouse Tofu, a Korean restaurant (a local chain) that specializes in fresh soft tofu soup ("soon-du-bu").

Ethnic restaurants such as Lighthouse can be obviously intimidating to first timers. The restaurant is usually packed and the patrons are overwhelmingly Korean The walls are decorated in a faux-Korean newsprint wallpaper, keeping the restaurant's no-frills, clean, simple dining philosophy. The menus are kept in plastic table top displays, and it's immediately clear that they mean business-- there are several types of soon-du-bu, a handful of other Korean dishes, and nothing else.

Each table will be given four side dishes to share, two types of kim-chee (napa cabbage and cucumber), sautéed bean sprouts, and a spicy marinated seafood. In addition, each diner will get a bowl of rice and a bowl of a milder type of kim-chee that is served in a chilled broth. If you run out of any of the side dishes, don't hesitate to ask your server for more.

We ordered a seafood pancake dish ("hae-mool pa-jun") that is served with a soy sauce dipping sauce. It was freshly made, cooked to perfection with a crunchy crust but still soft in the middle, filled with oysters, clams, calamari, crab meat, and vegetables. I've definitely had better seafood pancakes are other restaurants with more seafood, but I was definitely not disappointed with this order.

Lighthouse's best non-tofu dish is their spicy sautéed octopus with vegetables and thick udon noodles. It's served in a hot-stone skillet and not for the faint. Its spicy flavor is paired with a slightly sweet and salty undertones. A word of warning for chopstick novices-- the noodles and octopus are slippery and the red sauce will stain your clothes. Don't be afraid to ask for a fork to enjoy this dish and save your shirt.

The main attraction is the soon-du-bu. It comes in several varieties (seafood, seafood and beef, oysters, mushrooms, beef and kim-chee, pork and beef, beef, or vegetable) and five levels of spiciness (white, mild, medium, spicy, or spicy spicy).

It's served boiling hot in a stone bowl with an optional raw egg on the side. Koreans traditionally will crack and stir a raw egg into the soup, and the residual heat of the soup will cook the egg. The soup is spicy, salty, and incredibly filling.

The rice that served at the beginning of your meal is scooped at the table from a hot stone bowl by the server. They will then pour barley tea into the stone bowl to create a rice soup with the rice that is still remaining. Let it sit there and soften while you eat your entrées and ladle it out into the empty bowls they've set just for this purpose. It's a great, nutty, mellow way to end your fiery meal. Babies love it, too!

Having grown up in Los Angeles where there are a plethora of amazing authentic Korean restaurants, I've often complained of the lack of great Korean restaurants in the DC-area. Lighthouse Tofu is definitely one restaurant that could compete with other Koreatown restaurants.

sunshine salad

Thanks to my favorite suburban momma for this recipe!

(serves 8-12)

2 bags Mixed Greens

1-2 Oranges, sectioned (or if you're lazy Mandarin Oranges from a can)

Candied Pecans (below)

1 can Artichoke Hearts, bite size

1 can Hearts of Palm, bite size

1/4 Red Onion, thinly sliced

1 pint Cherry Tomatoes

Citrus Vinaigrette (below)

Toss the lettuce, 1/2 the orange slices, 1/2 artichokes, 1/2 hearts of palm, 1/2 red onion & 1/2 cherry tomatoes & vinaigrette.

Plate on a large platter then 'artfully' arrange the rest of the toppings on. Sprinkle with pecans.

Candied Pecans

1 cup Pecans

1/2 cup Sugar

1tsp - 1 tbsp Hot Paprika (to taste)

few dashes Salt

In pan, roast pecans till just about half done. Add sugar till melted then stir in paprika and salt to coat all nuts. Place nuts on parchment to cool.

Cirtrus Vinaigrette

juice of 1 Orange

juice of 1 Lemon

juice of 1-2 Limes

6-10 Mint leaves (chiffonade)

salt & pepper to taste

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (equal to the amount juices combined)

Mix juices, basil, salt & pepper then stream in olive oil while whisking. For a little extra tang, add a splash of vinegar.

grilled peach and arugula salad with balsamic reduction

I went down to Charlottesville a few weeks ago to visit my friend and some of my favorite Virginia wineries. The Weather Gods were smiling on us the entire time so we took the opportunity to grill on the roof deck.

Just as a warning, I usually don't cook using measurements so the exact portions of my recipes are estimates to the best of my knowledge.

2-3 Peaches
Arugula
3/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
3 tbsp Honey
2 large Garlic cloves, minced
1/3 - 1/2 cup Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)
1/2 - 1 Lemon, juiced
4-5 slices Bacon (or Pancetta)
1-2 tbsp Chives or Green Onions, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Cook bacon in pan (or bake in oven) until well-done. Remove and place on paper towels to drain excess fat. When cool, chop or break into crumble-sized pieces.

Mix balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic (set aside about 1tsp for vinaigrette), pinch of salt, and a couple turns of freshly cracked pepper in sauce pan. Simmer on medium-medium low for 5-7 minutes until sauce is thick. Set aside to let cool.

Wash and slice peaches. Spray non-stick cooking spray on peaches before putting them on grill to sear (about 1-2 minutes, depending on temperature) on either side.

Whisk olive oil, lemon, remaining garlic, salt, and pepper in large bowl. Toss arugula and green onions in dressing.

Plate salad underneath peaches, and drizzle balsamic sauce across peaches. Top salad with bacon crumbles.

(Additional option-- add toasted walnuts or pecans to salad for nutty crunch!)

l'ecole

I went up to New York this past weekend to wander around the city while I still had a chance to take advantage of the Chinatown bus. I used the opportunity to eat my way through the one of my favorite food cities.

L'Ecole is a restaurant run by the French Culinary Institute, which allows their students practice their creations and food lovers to have a wonderful dining experience at a very affordable price. The restaurant's atmosphere is pretty classy but comfortable; it would be a great spot for a date, even if they had questionable music gently playing in the background (Nelly Furtado singing about promiscuity doesn't enhance fancy food for me).

I had the 5-course prix-fixe menu dinner (appetizer, fish course, meat course, salad, and dessert) with the wine pairings. At the end of my meal, I must have weighed at least 20 lbs more than when I arrived there, but I didn't mind at all as I was floating in a post-meal dreamy glow.

I started with an amuse bouche, a light tuna tartare with watermelon. That was followed by freshly made gnocchi with peas and cherry tomatoes and pecorino shavings, which was paired with a sparkling rosé. The gnocchi melted in your mouth and the sauce was not too creamy, and although I would have liked a better pea-to-tomato ratio, I fully enjoyed this appetizer. The wine pairing was a brilliant choice; its brightness and acidity cut the buttery flavors of the gnocchi perfectly.

Next was a grilled bass with baby octopus, which was a bit underseasoned and underwhelming. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, especially in comparison to the other dishes I had.

For the meat course, I had the tenderloin and fingerling potato with a red wine reduction and parsley purée. The red wine reduction was subtle and a lovely sweet contrast to the tenderloin, which had a great caramelized crust. It was paired with a slightly spicy Italian red (Barbera), which was really, really enjoyable.

After that was a small spring salad with a light citrus vinaigrette (to cleanse my palate, the server told me). Then came the dessert. Fruit soup with a vanilla-ginger ice cream, paired with a Muscato. It was... glorious. Beautiful presentation (it was one of those dishes that are so pretty that it's hard to ruin and eat...), so much fresh fruit (plums, strawberries, melons, kiwi, blueberries...), just enough ginger to give a wonderfully deep spice to offset the sweetness of the ice cream and the soup... I nearly licked the bowl clean.

A parting gift was a creation from their pastry program-- a blueberry croissant, which I inhaled the next morning with my coffee.

If you're ever in the city, I highly recommend visiting! Just be sure to wear clothes with some breathing room (elastic waist, anyone?) and make your reservations well in advance as it tends to fill up pretty quickly!

prologue

I was four when my mother sat me down at the dinner table and sternly informed me, "If you're a Korean, you have to learn to eat kim-chee. If you can't eat kim-chee, you're not a true Korean." I hadn't yet developed a taste for kim-chee or anything spicy and balked at this declaration. The disagreement took a turn for the worse when my mom placed a plateful of pungent, scarlet kim-chee under my up-turned nose, a wordless demand. As all arguments between myself and my mother have ever ended, she won. I reluctantly opened my mouth to the enemy and let the burning sensation trickle through my body.

I can now look back at my life and pinpoint that moment as a turning point. Four-years-old may be a bit young to experience such a profound, life changing event, but there it was. It was then that my love affair with food began.

I attribute my palate to my family, whose axis has always been on a plate. My grandmother's impeccable touch for spices. My mother's simple and soulful dishes. My father's adventurous tastes. My sister's endless appetite. We gravitate around food and drink, both in its creation and in its appreciation.

Food is, in a word, everything. It not only nourishes the body, but has the power to transport you to a different time and place. Especially now that I never have enough time or money to travel, I use my tongue to take to all the countries that I can't visit in person.

I guess that's the beauty of living in a heterogeneous salad bowl (not melting pot!)-- ethnic restaurants and dishes all around, just waiting to be tasted, devoured, relished.

So here it is, a record of my eating adventures. I'm making my way through the world, one dish at a time. No editors. No forks. Just me, my fellow food-loving friends, and my ever-salivating tongue. Happy eatings!