What's in the beef?
Mystery meat?
Showing posts with label meat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meat. Show all posts
3/23/2011
3/21/2011
Wood & Vine
Wood & Vine is across the street from The Pantages, next door to the new W Hotel.
Do you know what Charcuterie is?
I had no idea what it is till I visited Wood & Vine with my buddies, Jimmy and Brian. According to Wikipedia, charcuterie is basically a type of cooking that celebrates prepared meats and aged cheese on a platter for everyone to enjoy! On the platter you will usually find preserved meats, pates, galantines, and specially aged cheese... I mean... wow!
None of us knew exactly what to order so we pretty much ordered everything on the menu, ha! (well, with the exception of lamb and goat/sheep cheese)
Oh there's more !!!
Ya know, we ate Bone Marrows... no big deal... as a matter of fact, we all agreed that it was the best dish of the night! definitely a must try if you are a fan of meat.
We were still hungry, soooooooo we ordered Grilled Scallops with Truffle Grits... again, no big deal.
A great meal comes with a great dessert. Well, Jimmy was raving about these Profiteroles... chocolate, puff pastry and ice cream... and yeah... that plate lasted about a minute after it was presented... hah I mean who wouldn't eat that?
I am so glad Jimmy was kind enough to set up this dinner date for all three of us :) Thanks Jimmy!
Also, I'd like to give a shout out to Mike Di Ricco:
"DUDE! See what happens when you cancel dinner on us? YOU MISSED OUT!!!"
If you want to visit Wood & Vine, make sure you email me first before you go, cuz I'd like to come along, plz :) (eatwithjoe@gmail.com)
Do you know what Charcuterie is?
I had no idea what it is till I visited Wood & Vine with my buddies, Jimmy and Brian. According to Wikipedia, charcuterie is basically a type of cooking that celebrates prepared meats and aged cheese on a platter for everyone to enjoy! On the platter you will usually find preserved meats, pates, galantines, and specially aged cheese... I mean... wow!
None of us knew exactly what to order so we pretty much ordered everything on the menu, ha! (well, with the exception of lamb and goat/sheep cheese)
- Country Pate
- Chicken Liver Mousse
- Pork & Olive Rillette
- Pork Torchon
- Spring Garlic & Bacon Terrine
- Point Reye Blue (California cow cheese)
- Stinking Bishop (England cow cheese)
- Mustard seeds / pickled cucumber / honey comb
Oh there's more !!!
Ya know, we ate Bone Marrows... no big deal... as a matter of fact, we all agreed that it was the best dish of the night! definitely a must try if you are a fan of meat.
We were still hungry, soooooooo we ordered Grilled Scallops with Truffle Grits... again, no big deal.
A great meal comes with a great dessert. Well, Jimmy was raving about these Profiteroles... chocolate, puff pastry and ice cream... and yeah... that plate lasted about a minute after it was presented... hah I mean who wouldn't eat that?
I am so glad Jimmy was kind enough to set up this dinner date for all three of us :) Thanks Jimmy!
Also, I'd like to give a shout out to Mike Di Ricco:
"DUDE! See what happens when you cancel dinner on us? YOU MISSED OUT!!!"
If you want to visit Wood & Vine, make sure you email me first before you go, cuz I'd like to come along, plz :) (eatwithjoe@gmail.com)
2/21/2011
All Joe Can Eat Korean BBQ
Two words: FOOD PORN
An hour before I got off work, I received a text message from Beth... "Jake wants to threat us Korean BBQ tonight and it's all you can eat". Well, that made my day! Free Korean BBQ and its all you can eat?! I purposely left my Subway sandwich at work, just so I can eat more at dinner :)
Moodaepo 2 All You Can Eat BBQ - Meat/Drink/Music/Flirt (Flirt? hahah)
An hour before I got off work, I received a text message from Beth... "Jake wants to threat us Korean BBQ tonight and it's all you can eat". Well, that made my day! Free Korean BBQ and its all you can eat?! I purposely left my Subway sandwich at work, just so I can eat more at dinner :)
Moodaepo 2 All You Can Eat BBQ - Meat/Drink/Music/Flirt (Flirt? hahah)
We showed up to the restaurant, and the place was BANANAS !!! Its a dance party / bbq! It was packed with people waiting in line, the place was setup like a dance club, crazy lights and loud music! All you could hear was that stupid Far East Movement G6 song... But the wait was so long... its nothing like the G6.
The wait was worth it tho... We had beef tongue slices, briskets, spicy chicken, squid, pork belly and some other meat... We ate so much I don't even remember the exact list of meat we ordered.
The meal lasted about 2 hours... till the place closed down and they literately had to take our beer glasses away! At the end of the night, we suffered food coma and excess gas!
Viewer discretion is advised... MORE food porn images below
Viewer discretion is advised... MORE food porn images below
1/31/2011
火鍋 - Hot Pot 101
If you've been reading my blog, you should have a general idea of what a hot pot is. But if this is your first time, and you have no idea what a hot pot is... today is your lucky day!
火鍋 - fire pot or hot pot. Hot Pot is a traditional Chinese dish that's been around for over 1000 years! Basically, a hot pot is a simmering pot in the middle of the table and the ingredients are being placed in the broth throughout the whole meal... usually the cooked food is eaten with the dipping sauce.
I love hot pot! Hot pot is a great conversation meal when you want to have friends and family over. Now let me show you how I prep my hot pot!
Step 1 - Equipments
Get a portable gas stove burner! I spent around $15 on my burner... You can order it via the internet as well, here is a link.
Get a pot! you can either get a metal pot or a clay pot. I have a "half-and-half" pot, it is made specially for spicy and non-spicy broth.
Get a mesh strainer! It's not required... but it makes scooping food much easier!
Step 2 - Grocery Shopping
I do most of my hot pot grocery shopping at Asian supermarkets like 99 Ranch Market or Shun Fat Supermarket. If you don't live around an Asian market, don't worry I will show you different alternatives to preparing a hot pot meal :)
Here is a shopping list if you want to do it right. (ingredients vary, can include but not limited to):
Step 3 - Prepping
Start the broth. Mix a can of chicken broth water in the pot, fill the mixture up to about 70% full. Throw in a few large chopped pieces of green onions and large tomato slices (slice em like oranges). Let it simmer on the stove while you prep. If you want a spicy broth, you can get some "numb-spicy" sauce at the Asian markets.
Prepping is the most important stage of creating a memorable hot pot experience. Since everyone is cooking their own food, all your raw ingredients should be served fresh. Vegetables should be chopped to nice bite size and the meats should be sliced (sliced meat cooks faster than meat chunks). Seafood should be washed and cleaned throughly, remember to store the seafood plates in the fridge until it's time to serve.
If you are serving fish balls, Just leave the balls out on the counter (on a plate) and let it defrost a little while you prep.
During the whole prepping process, your broth should still be simmering on the stove.
Step 4 - Setting Up the Table
Make sure everyone has their own
Put the portable burner in the center of the table and all the ingredients anywhere around the main pot. Once the table is set and all the cooking ingredients are in position, you can then remove the broth from the stove and place it on the portable burner. Turn on the burner to high heat... wait for the broth to boil (If your broth has trouble getting to a boiling point, check your gas cans... it might be out).
There are more photos of ingredients in this slideshow! Click the play button!
Once the broth is boiling and you got your own dipping sauce... you can start placing the ingredients in the broth! Now, let the hot pot madness begin!
火鍋 - fire pot or hot pot. Hot Pot is a traditional Chinese dish that's been around for over 1000 years! Basically, a hot pot is a simmering pot in the middle of the table and the ingredients are being placed in the broth throughout the whole meal... usually the cooked food is eaten with the dipping sauce.
I love hot pot! Hot pot is a great conversation meal when you want to have friends and family over. Now let me show you how I prep my hot pot!
Step 1 - Equipments
Get a portable gas stove burner! I spent around $15 on my burner... You can order it via the internet as well, here is a link.
Get a pot! you can either get a metal pot or a clay pot. I have a "half-and-half" pot, it is made specially for spicy and non-spicy broth.
Get a mesh strainer! It's not required... but it makes scooping food much easier!
Step 2 - Grocery Shopping
I do most of my hot pot grocery shopping at Asian supermarkets like 99 Ranch Market or Shun Fat Supermarket. If you don't live around an Asian market, don't worry I will show you different alternatives to preparing a hot pot meal :)
Here is a shopping list if you want to do it right. (ingredients vary, can include but not limited to):
- Chicken broth - I like the canned broth from the Asian markets, I'm sure the fancy Whole Foods broth works as well. It's just broth, right? hah
- Mushrooms - preferably Enoki mushrooms or Shiitake mushrooms.
- Vegetables - tomato, broccoli, cabbage, napa cabbage, green onion, and/or tong hao (garland chrysanthemum)
- Meats - meat slices is the key! thinner the better. You can find thin meat slices easily at any Asian markets, but if Asian markets aren't available... I'm sure you can ask any butcher to slice the meat for you :) Seafood is encouraged, get some shrimp, crab meat, clams, oysters, etc. Personally I love the surf and turf style when it comes to hot pot, it adds more additional flavors in the broth.
- Fish balls - where can one get fish balls? Asian Market! If you don't have access to an Asian market... yer-shit-outta-luck. (there's no substitute for good fish balls... sorry)
- Hot pot dumplings - you can purchase specially made hot pot dumplings at your local Asian market as well... freezer isle :)
- Condiments - soy sauce, Satay sauce (must have), Sriracha (rooster sauce), and sesame sauce.
- Taiwan Beer
Step 3 - Prepping
Start the broth. Mix a can of chicken broth water in the pot, fill the mixture up to about 70% full. Throw in a few large chopped pieces of green onions and large tomato slices (slice em like oranges). Let it simmer on the stove while you prep. If you want a spicy broth, you can get some "numb-spicy" sauce at the Asian markets.
Prepping is the most important stage of creating a memorable hot pot experience. Since everyone is cooking their own food, all your raw ingredients should be served fresh. Vegetables should be chopped to nice bite size and the meats should be sliced (sliced meat cooks faster than meat chunks). Seafood should be washed and cleaned throughly, remember to store the seafood plates in the fridge until it's time to serve.
If you are serving fish balls, Just leave the balls out on the counter (on a plate) and let it defrost a little while you prep.
During the whole prepping process, your broth should still be simmering on the stove.
Step 4 - Setting Up the Table
Make sure everyone has their own
- dipping dish (small plate or bowl)
- plate
- rice bowl (I like to have my hot pot with a nice bowl of rice)
- chopsitcks (forks are not allowed)
- soup spoon (its optional, but if you want to taste the broth at the end of the meal... you definitely need a soup spoon)
- napkins or paper towels (hot pot can get pretty messy)
Put the portable burner in the center of the table and all the ingredients anywhere around the main pot. Once the table is set and all the cooking ingredients are in position, you can then remove the broth from the stove and place it on the portable burner. Turn on the burner to high heat... wait for the broth to boil (If your broth has trouble getting to a boiling point, check your gas cans... it might be out).
There are more photos of ingredients in this slideshow! Click the play button!
Once the broth is boiling and you got your own dipping sauce... you can start placing the ingredients in the broth! Now, let the hot pot madness begin!
1/21/2011
Body Parts and Cages
Introducing 龍山寺 Longshan Temple
This temple is one of the most popular temples for the civilians to come and pray. Most of the people pray for health, money, lottery numbers and more money. When you walk in to the gate of the temple you will smell the burning incense from the faithful believers.
Body parts and cages? well, this madness didn't happen inside the temple...
When we were done visiting the temple we noticed that there's a small alley market next to the temple. We decided to check it out. We thought there might be some street food... well, there's definitely "food"... uncooked "food"... It's more like a butcher alley!!! Chickens in cages... body parts from chickens, pigs and cows... Last time I saw a live chicken getting butchered was in college... oh college days...
Not free range chickens
Black chicken, white chicken, yellow chicken... you name it!
Charlotte's Web? aw Babe...
Check out more photos from the slideshow below... this is bananas!
This temple is one of the most popular temples for the civilians to come and pray. Most of the people pray for health, money, lottery numbers and more money. When you walk in to the gate of the temple you will smell the burning incense from the faithful believers.
Body parts and cages? well, this madness didn't happen inside the temple...
When we were done visiting the temple we noticed that there's a small alley market next to the temple. We decided to check it out. We thought there might be some street food... well, there's definitely "food"... uncooked "food"... It's more like a butcher alley!!! Chickens in cages... body parts from chickens, pigs and cows... Last time I saw a live chicken getting butchered was in college... oh college days...
Not free range chickens
Black chicken, white chicken, yellow chicken... you name it!
Charlotte's Web? aw Babe...
Check out more photos from the slideshow below... this is bananas!
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