Exploring

Today I went exploring. I live in a semiwalkable neighborhood and some days I just feel like walking. This feeling was born in Thailand. Almost daily, a partner and I (usually Anslee) would walk off into unexplored Thai territory. Each time I'd find some little nugget of excitingness. It's not nearly as fun to explore the area around my condo as it was to explore the area around Ban Rau, but it's close.

Like today, I had to go to the bank to do a couple of banking errands. The bank is about 3/4 mile away, so I figured while I was out I'd check out the a few stores across the street. I was on the lookout for a saucepan: the only cookware item that I needed, but didn't have. I wanted a good quality one for less than $7. I knew it probably wasn't going to happen, but I intended to deeply enjoy the exploratory walk. I checked out Tuesday Morning, but they only had one saucepan and it was $35. Then Ross: nada, cheap stuff for $14+.

Then... TJMaxx had something really interesting a small wok hanging front row, center on the pot rack. I fondled it, satisfied with its weight, wondering if this item was actually what I wanted all along. I am making orange chicken and "lo mien" stir fry tonight... Plus it was the least expensive item in the whole cookware section. I decided to hide it near its home on the pot rack for possible retrieval and check out the next store. Target had an entry level saucepan on sale for $7.99 and the Paula Deen one that makes me drool, but in the wrong color. There are two more stores in the area, but the little wok at TJMaxx had started to ping in my heart. I quickly made my way to the back of the store, pulled it from the hole I had stuck it in, fondled it a bit more, read the packaging, wondered if it would actually work well for both uses, decided it would, patted myself on the back for finding a frugal product with multiple uses, and took it to the checkout line.

A sweet Japanese lady was waiting in line in front of me. I don't usually talk to strangers, but she seemed as happy about my little wok as I was. We spent our couple of minutes together talking about homemade food, Asian cooking, and Eastern travel. She asked what kind of things I cook. I said "well, tonight I'm making orange chicken and stir fry, hence the pot." She smiled approvingly and said "well, tonight I make Japanese food." She made my day. Cashier #2 became available and I wished her a good dinner as she walked away. I guess she made the day come full circle. Asian people and older foreign ladies make my world a wonderful one.

I see friends shaking hands
Saying "how do you do?"
They're really saying
"I love you."

***Update***
Wow! Wow! Wow! This orange chicken is the_bomb.com. I put in waaaaay too much pepper flakes but I still can't put it down. Stay tuned for the recipe tommorrow.

Kegun Steak and Sushi, Douglasville, GA

I love hibachi restaurants! I was introduced to hibachi during college and haven't been able to get enough since. Hibachi is the best for a celebration. This weekend we were treating our good friend to a housewarming dinner in his new hometown. I found a place on Restaurant.com, Kegun Steak and Sushi. I've always had good experiences with the restaurants on the site so I was happy to give this one a try.

I've been to several hibachi restaurants: Fuji Hana in Kennesaw, MoMoYa in Douglasville, Wasabi in Douglasville, Kani House in Dalton, Miyako in Austell, a great place in Jacksonville, FL- don't remember the name but def remember the experience, and a few others. I'm in no way an expert, but I've had enough to form an educated opinion. Well, sadly, my opinion of the Kegun steakhouse is that it sucks. Every single item was a disappointment to me.

First, the decor was ok, but pretty dated and the layout of the restaurant was totally confusing. I was really disoriented; it felt just awkward. We waited for a few minutes for someones attention, then finally our waitress led us to a table. I recognized her from the video on Citysearch's website. In the video she seems personable enough, but in person she was quite distant and tweaked out of her head. She seemed to be dodging our extroverted friend's attempts to break the ice or just was distracted. In the video she spoke at length about the restaurant, but she could hardly make a recommendation while we were ordering. We ordered a sushi roll (the hurricane) to start with, but were super disappointed when it was totally different than what we expected from the description. It was tiny, came on a plain white dinner plate (=totallyunimaginative), and did not have strips of yellowfin on the top like I had assumed from the description. We gave it a try. It was decent tasting, but didn't satisfy so we decided to order another. We explained that we really like the thick rolls with strips of salmon, yellowfin, or other raw fishes on the top. The waitress said she was sure they had plenty like that and handed me a menu. I was looking for a suggestion- there were only a dozen or so rolls on the menu- I was sure she'd be familiar with one like I was talking about, but she could offer none. I picked out another (the most expensive, thinking it would be the best).

The dinner came with soup and salad. The soup tasted more like french onion soup than the clear soups I'm used to from hibachi restaurants and was overloaded with salt and iceberg lettuce swimming in (gross) ginger dressing was the most depressing salad I've ever had ('specially since that's my favorite part.) The second roll came at the same time as our cook and was as sad as the first roll (at 3x the price :< ). At this point I must apologize to the cook. He was great. He pulled out all the good tricks. He was young, energetic, and talkative with our guest. So, I'm sorry for dragging your place of employment over the coals. Thank you for doing your job well. But as fun as the cook was, his food was just as disappointing as everything else. The rice was sub par and bland with freeze dried vegetables scattered throughout. The fresh vegetables were very good. The shrimp appetizer was decent, but the 2 peices of shrimp couldn't save this shipwreck. I had steak and salmon. The steak was pretty tasty, but thin, and the cook took it off the grill at just the right time: just as the blood disappeared. The salmon, however, might as well have been a salt block. I kept scraping at the "teriyaki" sauce but it really needed to be hosed off. I could only finish about half of my meal (big red flag! since I eat as much as I "think like a fat girl").

We finished with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream and a thin crouton of pound cake while waiting... and waiting for the lady come around with the bill. I was prepared to be hit as the prices were your average to above average hibachi prices, but got total sticker shock when I saw she didn't include my restaurant.com discount. When I asked her about it she walked away, came back, and said she'd lost it. After acting like I would be responsible for her mistake (she said everything but "sounds like a personal problem to me"), she went away again and came back with approval to discount it without the certificate.

All in all it was super disappointing. I can't recommend it at all and I won't be going back. The Kegun Steak and Sushi restaurant gets no spork, no spork at all.

Top Secret Salad

So I'm having trouble writing this post. I made one of my top secret recipes tonight. I know its a little paranoid, but I would like to maybe eventually publish a cookbook or something like that and there are a few things I have dreamed up that I don't want to talk about till then. Tonight's salad is one of the most interesting, but amazing ideas I've ever had. Since I told my love I'd be making it again he's been smiling from ear to ear.

I'm still having trouble writing this. I'm giving too much away and quickly erasing. All I will say is that it is a salad and a dressing that are out of this world. I blurted out the name of the salad over dinner with my sister/brother-in-law in NYC and am hoping they've forgotten it. Like I said, maybe I'm a little paranoid.

Ok, I'm definitely going to stop talking about it, so I don't blurt something out that will forever be cached in cyberland, but I will talk about the little amuse boucheI made to go with dinner:

Crab Rangoon
Preheat the oven to 350 while mixing

3 oz cream cheese (I used FF, but feel free to fatten them up- they'll taste a bit better)

3 oz crab meat (I used imitation, but feel free to use the real thing- I'm a cheapskate)

2 t chopped green onion/scallions

1 t minced onion

1 t minced garlic

1 t dried mushroom

1/2 t finely grated ginger

1/2 t finely grated carrot
1/2 t Worcestershire sauce

1/2 t rice wine vinegar

1/4 t lemon juice

1/4 t garlic juice

a few drops of sesame oil

a few drops of soy sauce

a bit of S&P

Spoon 1 generous teaspoon of the mixture on one of

10 wonton wrappers

then fold to look like this: Spray with a cooking spray, butter, or light oil and bake until browned and crispy (about 10 min).

So this is basically 1 part cream cheese, 1 part crab, 1 part Asian friendly flavored vegetables, 1/2 part Asian friendly flavored liquids baked in a wonton wrapper- 1+ t filling per wrapper. This recipe should make about 10. I adjusted it to make just 4 and by sticking to that ratio I just explained you can make as many as you want. If you can't get the fold right try something else. Some people have made them like burritos, raviolis, fans, triangles, or whatever. Try your favorite origami pattern. Just play with it.

It won't taste like the ones you'll get in a takeout box, they'll taste better- fresher, healthier, "realer"... I sprinkle a little bit of soy sauce on each one. I really liked these and will make them again. Next time I'm going to try to add a little bit of heat with some red pepper flakes, the crisp flavor of cilantro, and even more veggies- maybe water chestnuts and fresh red peppers? Like I said, play around with it.

Mediterranean Fish Night

Its a new week. Time flies by now that I'm an adult. I'm really not enjoying that part of growing up. But anyway, this weekend was pretty great. We traveled out to the new location of an old favorite, Oz Pizza in East Point, and tried another sushi/hibachi place out in Douglasville, Kegun Steakhouse. I'll get around to reviewing them sooner or later. Preview: Oz Pizza- Gold Spork (I may have to make a Platinum Spork category for that one) and Kegun Steakhouse- No Spork (no! no! no!).

Tonight I'm trying something I've done a few times before, but in a totally different way. I'm making Moroccan Salmon.

I found an awesome recipe for a Moroccan rub to use on grilled chicken back in the day. I believe it was in a Bobby Flay cookbook in the library, but I could be totally wrong on that one. Anyhow, this rub is really great and I used to use it on braised chicken at least once a week last Winter. But because Chicken Night was cut from the Summer Menu so we haven't had it in a while.

Then I found some hummus on sale. A $4.99 family sized Athenos Hummus for $1.69 to be exact. I couldn't pass it up. I only have one flex night to make a chicken meal and I already had planned for that one, so I decided to have a Mediterranean fish night. Favorite rub + Salmon? Hmm... yes!

Moroccan Rub
Rub

2 clove minced garlic

1 T EEVO

1/2 t Cumin

1/2 t Coriander

1/2 t Paprika

1/2 t Cinnamon

on 1 lb meat and grill.

I'm actually not grilling the fish. I broiled it for about 5 minutes and baked it about 25 minutes (until it was flaky, cooked throughout.) I'm serving this with some homemade whole wheat pita breads (one recipe per day, so wait until the topic comes up again or google it) and the hummus, broccoli, and blueberry panna cotta for dessert (see note about pita).