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Hmong Times - Whole Foods.

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:02:38 GMT

Hello!

Here is the current article on my Tasty Reads food column. It's about Whole Foods, the national chain grocery store that specializes in organic and all-natural products. Perhaps not as fun or pictured filled as my other stories but super informational and a great place to check out.

- Happy eating and living!

I've been star-strucked!

Tue, 06 May 2008 12:25:05 GMT

He may not be a celebrity to you, but he is to me! Meet Gar Hargens. Principal architect and owner of Close Architects in Minneapolis. Here are a few homes that he either designed or took part in designing the homes:

and this,

and finally, this!

This house sits on a cliff in West Side St. Paul. A while back I wrote about this home, and describing how much I would love to see this home and how unfortunate that I don't know who the owners and architects are. Such great fate heard my call!

One thing that made this home a great commision was that all of the design and build cost only $180,000! The owners wanted a very modern look, but was strict on their budget and Gar worked with all of those parameters.

He doesn't have a British accent, dark-rimmed glasses or fold his arms in a pretentious way. Sure, the bow-tie maybe intimidating, but he is totally what I imagined a kind, thoughtful architect would be. He was eager to talk, soft spoken and kindly listen and understood my enthusiasm when I mentioned various building projects from the past and present, and totally understood the "Howard Roark" thing.

(sigh) why can't he be my uncle.... Lol!

Btw, I met him because a family member of mine needs help designing her home and she called the firm/ Gar for a consultation - so this wasn't a personal project, darn IT! I was just there to tag along and smile like a foolish jr. high school girl.

- Happy eating and living!

Wasabi.

Mon, 05 May 2008 09:32:46 GMT

It's a newer sushi restaurant on Washington Ave, near the Metrodome. It's kind of amazing, in this unassuming building, there are 2 restaurants, a bank, a salon and an interior design firm.

Inside is a very vaulted ceiling with exposed rafters and trusses making every noise bouncing here and there. There are also a couple of tempayakki grills. Sushi places can be rather identical but what made me think of this place were their prices. It's a little more easy on the wallet, for example their nigiris are $3 where it's usually $4.5 or even $5 for two peices.

Shrimp with vegetable tempura w/ lots of panko bread crumbs. MMmmm, why can't more things be deep fried with panko bread crumbs; peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, spaghetti and meatballs, tennis rackets

Husband's entree: Steak with terriyaki sauce. Unfortunately the only thing good on the plate was the salad. The steak tasted - STEAMED-like, w/ no flavor and lot of narly or grisel peices.

Me: Chef's 16 peice with 2 rolls. I felt like I got ripped-off from this. Usually it's pre-decided by the sushi maker with what fish will be used with the simple idea that a LARGE VARIETY of fish will be used, but as you can see there are so many same fish nigiris! I know, I sound like a total food-snob, but you see? We would have gotten a better deal if we chose the nigiris a-la-carte with very different pieces, instead of 3 orders of yellow tail and 2 orders of salmon - you know what I mean?

So, although I love sushi, I think that this was the most uneventful, boring, not great tasting sushi dinners I've had; and it doesn't take that much to amuse me either.

Thankfully, I found some solice from their bathrooms.

- Happy eating and living!

May's Deli

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:15:15 GMT

About a month ago, I finally had the opportunity to stop in May's Deli. It's a Hmong owned establishment nearing it's 2 (or 3) year mark; located inbetween Wheelock and Larpenter on the frontage road of I-35-E. They serve a few plates of Chinese dishes like fried rice and General Tso's chicken which I quickly ignore but cater to more of their sandwiches.

It's a really tiny place with just 4 tables, but the lady/owner says that their busiest hours are during lunch where people (Amelikas too) just grab and go a sandwich or two - great idea!

Here is the BBQ pork sandwich. I HATE IT! when I order something and then later I see something even better on the menu! They had a "special" sandwich which has the BBQ meat and meatballs too. This was very good. The bread, which they get from Truong Nan - a smart move, is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside - not mouth cutting here . HOWEVER, I don't think I tasted any of the mayo or pate spread which to me is soo essential in these sandwiches.

They also had pho on their menu - it seemed like it was just recently added to their menu. It was good, nothing extraordinary (a little bit on the plain side and less oily broth). All the cuts of meat where there except for the tendon (the silky white stuff near the bone which after boiling long enough will melt in your mouth).

They also serve a variety of smoothies and tapicoa drinks. Here's the Nab Vam. I mentioned this before a long time ago, but there's just something about Hmoob tri-colors and Vietnamese tri-colors that makes me prefer the latter much more. The tri-color here was the usual tapicoas with the simple sugar syrup and the coconut milk. Now, with Vietnamese drinks, there's always mung beans and I'm pretty sure - but coconut jam! That adds this rounded 3rd dimension flavor of coconut and sweetness to the drink.

This is a cute place, and on the way to my mom's house. Although I won't have time for the pho or their food dishes, this will be the ideal place to stop in for a sandwich and a smoothie.

- Happy eating and living!

Pop!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:03:23 GMT

Pop! (there really is an exclamation mark) is a neighborhood restaurant that's about 1 mile from our home. I've wanted to try it for soo long and we did!

It's a really cute place. There are orange and blue covered walls with old hardwood floors and Andy Warhol prints hanging on the wall. It's an American/Mexican influenced restaurant because some dishes like the tamales and empanadas are...well Mexican. It's also slightly a "bistro" where the food is served/presented with more integrity and there's a small wine list.

Instead of bread, there's cornbread. Not too sweet or plain with dots of jalapeno. It comes with butter that is very sweet - interesting.

My hubands appetizer, corn tamale with chicken, herb sour cream and salsa. This was my first time trying tamale; I love it! It was piping hot and had a good constrast with the salsa.

My appetizer, beet salad. This was also a first for me: beets. I must say that it's my new friend. It's crazy sweet like ketchup but without the guilt of having your weeks worth high fructose corn syrup. It was good with the wilted spinich - but I can only take bleu cheese so much.

Husband's entree: salmon with risotto. I'm responsible for picking his dishes everytime we dine out and I felt bad... I wished I ordered another dish or their special for that night: ribs. It wasn't bad, the risotto was cooked perfectly and had like this tomato-y and cheese-y flavor. I guess sitting next to the kitchen widow and seeing "cooler" dishes being executed, I kept looking at the grass is greener on the other plate kind of mentality - but it was good though.

My entree: Walleye sandwich. Trust me, I'm not the one to ever order a sandwich for dinner but I read on another foodie's website who went on and on about how wonderful this sandwich was. It's a long fillet of walleye that's panko deep fried with greens tossed in vinegrette, herb tartar sauce and bacon. It was good. Gosh, this is the complicated side of me talking, but with something delicate like fish, I hate for it to be smashed inbetween thick bread (in this case, those take and bake baguettes you get at Cubs) because the flavor of it all can be absorbed by the bread. Although with that being said, the fish, bacon and greens were great.

Dessert: Chocolate lava cake with banana pudding, chocolate and coconut sauce with ice cream and toasted coconut flakes. This pretty much tastes like how it looks - good, but the thing that stood out was the toasted banana pudding (it's under the chocolate cake). It's thicker custard with good banana and nutty flavor.

Overall, I wasn't super crazy about the dishes we ordered, but I'm SO glad that this is in my neighborhood! After getting first class seats to watching all the other dishes, I think I will know what to get next time. It's really an adorable place where there's just enough noise, just enough sizzle from the kitchen, just enough creative dishes, just enough this and that.

- Happy eating and living!

...just 1 or 2 houses...

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:36:26 GMT

I can't help myself! Here are photos of houses that I took. The following are houses on Summit Ave.

****Then the following are 2 houses I saw on the Home Tour that went on this past weekend****

1) Queen Anne home in North Minneapolis.

This was a VERY old home with many stories behind it. Currently it's a duplex with the homeowner on the lower unit and a newly-wed couple on the upper unit - so sweet and enriched, considering that they live in North Minneapolis were it can be rough.

2) Uber modern home.

I just had to see this house! It's in the Highland area near St. Kate's College. It use to be a regular one and 1/2 store tudor type of home, but the owners (husband = architect, mother = writer) tore it down and did a lot of the work themselves over many YEARS.. it's still being tweaked here and there.

This curved wall is actually reflected on the inside of the home; infact the shower has that curved wall too!

The front door and main living space is upstairs, while all the bedrooms are downstairs. This picture is of the ceiling ornament - Je l'aime!

Spectacular powder room! I love 1/2 baths and the intense insanity/creativity you can do with them.

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Here's a great garnish - deep friend green onions. Sliced them thin, lightly tossed with a little water and cornstarch slurry and deep fry until golden brown. Add it to anything: salads, meats, potatoes.

- Happy eating and living!

Hmong Time - Fawm Kauv

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:25:26 GMT

Good day everyone. Here is my current article in the Hmong Times food column.

I don't think steamed rice rolls get enough praise. Anyways, I wrote down a recipe-kind-of article.

Remember when you were a kid and your mom would spend one whole afternoon making these one by one. I would always search for the roll that had the most meat! Lol!

I like to use the whole bag (12 oz) of the rice flour with about 4 tablespoons of cake flour from preventing the steamed rice rolls from becoming too gummy and chewy.

The batter is usually about 2 parts water to 1 part flour - just incase you're ever stuck with that half bag of rice flour or if the instructions on how to mix the batter is rubbed off on the back of the package.

Meanwhile, making the meat filling.. ground pork, a little ground beef with onions and cilantro - season heavily.

You know, the tricky part. Ladle about 1/4 cup of less into warm pan, swirl and cover with lid.

In about 4 seconds it should be ready.

I like to roll the sides first (unlike my eggrolls) since the rice pancake can be hard to work with - to ensure that it's completely incased.

Take BIG bite.

I grew up eating steamed rice rolls with hot/SPICY pepper sauce, but I know there are some out there who prefers a sweet spicy sauce instead. This is such a fun snack to make!

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On a side note and important one at that: Whether you want to be oblivious to it or not, foodie or non-foodie, we will have to spend more $$$ to get the same amount of food. Check this article out about rice shortages.

It's not that there's a shortage of rice, there's actually plenty of rice from where it's growing. But with the U.S. $ dollar so low, this makes imports from other countries undesirable being that they will have to ship more into the U.S. - thus the countries are watching their own needs so that they do not ship out too much.

THEN, there's the corn/enthenol industry. Acres and acres of crops that once grew wheat, soy or other products were now recently replaced by corn to make bio-fuel. Naturally that raises the price of the less grown wheat and other produce. Bakeries have risen their prices of baked goods let alone produce items as well.

AND, of course since a lot of animals we consume are fed with corn, prices of meat has gone up too.

PLUS, let's not forget that $3.45 is shown at my nearest gas station (more for diesel fuel) which are what big truckers use to transport so many nation-wide crops to our local groceries. Of course, that cost will be trickled down to us.

FINALLY, all of this is topped off with a very weak dollar with us little people having to use more dollars to purchase the same amount of food/products - especially when many people's income hasn't gone up in proportion too.

GEEZ!!!!!!

- Happy eating and living (well, try to at least)!

My attempt - it's silly though.

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:13:54 GMT

That's right! Bahn Mi sandwiches! Why did I even do this? Perhaps, sometimes I find myself craving the crispy - even mouth cutting bread with the pickled carrots and salty meat with fresh cucumber. Here's how I started it:

I already knew AHEAD of time how much I would loath doing this, I'm still nursing a slight blister on my index finger from cutting all these carrots and daikon into matchsticks.

Pickling the medley, the pickling juice is roughly 3 parts water, 1 part rice vinegar, 1 part sugar and pinch of salt - boil until dissolve, LET IT COOL COMPLETELY, then put it in a jar with the orange and white for at least 2 hours. There are other recipes that require you to salt the carrots and daikon to release some liquid but I believe that leaves them pretty wilted and not firm like how these are.

Here's the "BBQ pork", which isn't even pork, it's beef chuck. And I didn't grill it outside and instead just used liquid smoke.

Bada-Bing, Bada-Boom here's my generic version. I purchase some pate at whole foods and use butter with mayo as the spread too.

*Lesson from all this: Thank goodness for Saigon and May's Deli! My attempted sandwich was alright at best, plus the bread (1 day old baguette - wrapped tightly & refrigerated) was very finiky in taste and hard to get it right. I mean I still had to purchase the bread and spread anyways, it wasn't like it was all homemade - PLUS I didn't get make any of the mouth watering meatballs that are sooo good in the sandwich.

So, yeah. Next time if I'm craving a Bahn Mi sandwich - head out to a place where they make it and not make it yourself. - Muahhah.

- Happy eating and living!

Hmong Times - THE FEAST!

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:35:38 GMT

I've lived through countless of these weekend feasts when I was young but now with older eyes and a greater respect for food - I think I am really seeing this for the first time. The article is about my homage to the moms', dads', uncles and aunties who like a hurricane successfully operate the FEAST.

- Happy eating and living!

Finally!

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:24:10 GMT

Since I can remember, my every attempt at making curry noodle soup was always...not so good. It was always missing the "3rd" dimension, the "MMmmm" part of it. It got to the point where whenever I had other people's curry noodle soup, it would automatically taste better than mine. . I mean I tasted versions without coconut milk, with ground pork, and with DEER meat - all tasted better BUT!

This time, I have to say it came out alright. Now of course you will say "duh!" when I tell you that during all my previous attempts I never put in:

Well, I've used bay leaves b4, but never put in Galangal/Blue Ginger. During my shopping trips, it was either out of stock or too expensive (yeah, I know sounds dumb). With the addition of 2 chicken boullion cubes, a little sugar, white vinegar, salt and fish sauce to the garlic and curry spiked broth AND the rich, citrus-y galangal root - I really enjoyed my curry noodle soup for once.

I do want to say that I LLOOVVEE curry noodle soup with a passion. I love it so much that it's best if I don't have it too often, otherwise it can turn into a straight feast of nothing but the stuff breakfast, lunch and dinner. Perhaps some of you can relate.

*****OH, By the way the annual Minneapolis / St. Paul Home Tour will happen April 26, 27.

Visit MSPHomeTour.com. A lot of the homes look really great and promising. This is not like Parade of Homes where they try to sell you houses/condos and the house is very staged. Instead, the home tour is a welcoming of neighbors who CREATIVELY spent and work hard at their homes and want to showcase it to others. It's a great tour!.

- Happy eating and living!