Filipino Family Food

A friend, Flo, visiting from Seattle invite me and some friends over to her mother's house to have some homemade Filipino food. Yum.

A few of us met at the home of Flo's mom at about 5:00. I was first, not always the case but it was this time. There were a four other's invited over for dinner. Two of her friends from high school (Lowell, go Indians! Class of '77. They are known as the more P.C. "Cardinals" now.) plus a married couple that I've become friends with via Flo. Flo was in the midst of preparing a Filipino vegetable dish consisting of egg plant, squash, uh, and other vegetables. There was also the addition of shrimp paste. I wasn't sure if I had tried shrimp paste before but I'm game to try almost anything (ALMOST anything). It ended up totally delicious. Meanwhile "mom" had already completed or was in the midst of preparing a pancit dish, lumpia, chicken adobo, deep fried fish with a sweet/sour sauce and I think some other things that I've forgotten. Oh yea, there were the boiled peanuts mom had me try before dinner. I had never tried boiled peanuts thinking they would be kind of strange. They WERE kind of strange but in a good way, a bit mushy in texture but it was tasty.

The night ended in the Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel with the Lowellites and myself (the married couple had to go home with their child). I had never been before and it was a fun experience. The lightweight I am, I ordered a virgin fruit drink that was pretty tasty. The conversations were interesting and beautiful singer and band were great (70's music, yea!).

Thanks Florinda!

The Mar Family Picnic 2008

(NOTE: I am so sorry that I don't have any pictures for this post. I had the camera but my brain was not functioning well.)

It was time for the annual Mar Family picnic. I look forward to this every year. The Mar family is over 125 strong. We never get everyone at these picnics but there are the core people that attend and smattering of the rest. This year's attendance was maybe about forty-five. With the family getting older, my cousin has been doing a great job of keeping the tradition alive. These past few years have been potlucks.

These are really good potlucks. It is a mix of Asian and American foods brought together that has evolved through the years. Uncle Harry always has to bring donuts from Rolling Pin Donuts in San Bruno. A nice mix that has to have some yeast raised sugar donuts. This year there were lo mein and chow mein dishes (two chow, one lo). All homemade and all made with chicken. There was plenty of chicken: Chinese style fried chicken (one garlic and jalapeno seasoned wings and one batter fried drumsticks), chili lime wings, and boneless teriyaki chicken thighs. Salads: green, pasta with shrimp, potato, and macaroni. Delicious chili. Stir fried vegetables. Pulled pork sandwiches with bbq sauce and cole slaw. Good 'ol american sub sandwich. Desserts: chocolate bundt cake, peanut butter brownies, chocolate chip cookies, butter cookies, macaroons, candy. Root beer on tap. Chips. Salsa. I can't think of anything else, but I know there was more.

I had a nice day with my niece Ava. We hung around the food tables snacking on little tastes of cookies, brownies, madelines and and the "crunchies" left in pan of fried chicken.

It was a good day.

Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes......

Test numero uno......

Sharon has been having such a craving for cupcakes ever since finding a delicious blog called Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit. (NOTE: Unfortunately, the blog's creator has ceased producing new entries but all her recipes are still available online.) I was going to see her so I thought I'd put together a cupcake for her.

She had also sent me a link to an article she found on SFGate that was written a couple of years ago about, well what do you know, cupcakes! This first entry was created from a recipe found in the SFGate article from Flo Braker for a Basic Vanilla Cupcake. I followed the recipe exactly as written in the article; butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, etc. The batter consistency was great and while it was baking the aroma was intoxicating. The color came out a nice golden hue. While they were cooling I proceeded to eat one while they were still warm. It was tasty but could be tastier and butterier (?). Maybe more vanilla-y-er (??). I need to think about a frosting/icing/topping of some sort. I first thought a burnt caramel frosting sounded good. But I wanted to go simplier and just made a chocolate ganache with some chocolate, cream and butter, then added some confectioner's sugar to give it the consistency I wanted. I dipped the cupcakes instead of spreading them. I then made a simple decorating icing with confectioner's sugar and milk to drizzle on top for a bit of contrast. You see the results. Experimental but they turned out okay. I gave seven of them to Sharon. I ate the rest of them myself in the next two days. I guess they were a little better than just "okay."

What?! I can't hear you!!!!!

I was making my way down 18th Street to meet a friend at a new neighborhood eatery called Kasa. It was a Thursday night and I expected some people but not a large crowd. About a quarter of a block before the restaurant I began to hear a lot of loud conversation. I looked around me trying to find the club I was expecting to be walking past. The din was getting louder and louder when I finally realized that the sounds were coming from Kasa. The restaurant windows were open allowing the chatter from within to spill out on to the street. I thought walking past Badlands was loud but it was nothing compared to this. I was early so I waited outside a couple of minutes for my friend Dara (names changed to protect the innocent, unless she later gives me permission to use her real name). She also could not help notice the noise when she arrived. We went inside and the sound was deafening. The decor was modern with stainless steel and wood. There were high ceilings and all the surfaces hard which helped increase the volume of the acoustics. Wow.

Dara noticed the crowd looked hip and very non-ethnic. A possible clue to the authenticity of the food. The staff of the restaurant also looked hip and non-ethic. Another clue about about the food. It did make me think even though I did know by doing some research that the recipes are from one of the owner's Indian upbringing in London and India. Ordering works like many other Indian places. You order at the counter and pay for your food at the register, but here your order is put together immediatedly so you have it to take with you to one of tables or to one of the counters that line some walls and the windows. It was still so very loud. Picture being in a club on the dance floor trying to talk to someone by pretty much putting your mouth on their ear while the music is blaring, but here there is no music, just people talking. I even commented to one of the servers on the other side of the counter asking him if his ears are ringing when he goes home after work and he said, "They're ringing right now." Okay, enough about the loudness.

So, the two ordering options are the roti rolls or thalis. The roti rolls seem to be the main draw and most people describe them as akin to a burrito. Take a roti (a type of flat bread) and fill it with a meat or vegetarian option plus some onion and condiments. It is served on a stainless steel tray (that looks like something recycled from an army mess tent) with some raita and a small vegetable salad of diced cucumber, carrot, onion and bell pepper in a very light dressing (a very forgettable side dish). The thali is described as a deconstructed version of the roti rolls plate with one meat or vegetarian choice plus the addition of some daal and basmati rice. Dara and I opted for the roti rolls for dinner. She ordered a two-fer (one lamb and one aloo jeera (potato) for $8.95) and I ordered a three-fer (chicken tikka masala, aloo jeera, and karahi paneer (indian cheese) for $11.95). Chicken tikka and Kebab (of turkey) are the remaining two regularly offered fillngs. There are Indian beverages available, I chose a mango juice. Dara chose San Francisco water. The roti rolls are fill as you stand at the counter. I was noticing a green condiment that was being put into every roll. I have an extreme dislike of cilantro (coriander, chinese parsley, whatever you want to call it) and I know it is used a lot in Indian cuisine. So I asked what it was before it was put into my roll. Sure enough it was a Cilantro Coconut chutney. I declined, so a spicy red sauce was suggested instead. I accepted. We sat at a counter that lined the windows at the front of the place. The paneer roll was good, tastier than I expected. Dara had me try her aloo roll just to see what the cilantro coconut chutney was like and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. She was right that it really didn't taste "cilantro-y". Her lamb roll was tasty and bit gamy. I liked the chicken tikka masala the best of the ones we had. The red sauce I had on all my rolls gave them a kick that worked well with a cooling bit of raita added to each bite. My eyes were bigger than my stomach so I never got to my aloo jerra roll so I wrapped it up and took it with me (it made a nice lunch the next day). Three rolls are actually a lot of food.

Dara and I concluded it was okay but we probably wouldn't go back. The price for a single roll is a bit high at $5.95. The price gets better when you get three and it could be shared for a light lunch. Still, we couldn't get over the volume in the room. A search at Yelp didn't show any mention about the noise. Maybe I would consider a takeout order. I'd recommend a try.

meal in the murkiness? Or something like that.....(part 2)

The dining room at Opaque

To enter the dining room , our instructions from Mocha were to place our left hand on the left shoulder of the person in front of you, with Mocha leading the way. We could use our right hand to run along the wall to our right. We walked single file through a doorway turning right, then left, then right again and now we were in complete darkness. We were led to our table which felt like it was directly in front of us. Sharon sat to the left and I sat to the right. As we sat in our swiveling leather chairs, Mocha described what was in front of us on the table. From left to right were our forks, directly in front our napkin, next knives, then the bread plate (traditionally on the left). Mocha would hand things to us by first having either Sharon or me place a hand on the closest corner of the table to where she would serve us (my left hand or Sharon's right hand). She would then take our hand and present whatever she was giving us. A very good method as opposed to just trying to hand it to us in midair. It is darker than dark in the room. Of course you try to see your hand waving in front of you. (you can't) You try to see things on the table. (you can't). But it's not a scary experience. It turned out to be a very relaxing experience for me. After determining my surroundings and table placement the rest of the evening went very smoothly.

We were first handed a bread basket. Or more correctly, I was handed the bread basket using the corner of the table technique. The butter dish was given to Sharon, for which she proceeded to put her finger in. Of course not on purpose, it was, in fact, dark in the room. Next was an amuse bouche from the chef. It was a grape tomato stuffed with goat cheese served in what felt like a mini Chinese soup spoon. It was not bad. And this is from someone who doesn't like goat cheese. Next came our first course. The ahi tuna was superb and seared just right. I loved the contrasting crunch of the shoestring potatoes mixed with the smooth wasabi mayo and sweet bite of the ginger. I really didn't try Sharon's salad. She knows I don't like goat cheese and she let me know that there was plenty of it on the salad. I tried one of the walnuts from her plate and she was right there was a good amount of goat cheese. Most likely the same cheese used in the amuse bouche so it wasn't too bad. Before the entree was served we were given a crudite platter of celery, bell pepper and broccolini with three different dipping sauces. We had the option knowing what the dip flavors were, or not. We chose to guess. Mocha told us that the usual result was 2 out of 3. That's exactly what we got. Sharon and I got the curry and wasabi sauces. The one we missed was a red pepper coulis. It was very bland and non descript. Oh well.

Mocha had our entrees next. For Sharon, Pan Seared Mahi Mahi, Warm Chick Pea Salad with Blue Lake Beans, Cherry Tomatoes, Roasted Lemon Sauce and Toasted Pistachio Nuts. My entree, Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato Puree, Roasted Broccolini, Green Peppercorn Sauce and Truffle Butter. Now for the big challenge. Mocha describes to us how the the food is plated. With the protein in front of you, your starch will be to the right and the vegetables will be on the left. For everything we had up to now we didn't need to use our forks or knives. I love eating salad with my hands and I convinced Sharon it would be fine for her to eat with her hands too. No one was going to see us. So this is when we would be finally using our utensils. Or would we? Well, Sharon didn't touch her silverware. She just dove right in, two fisting her food. I had beef so I had to use my knife, but I didn't use it too much. They had already sliced the tenderloin, so I used the knife just to get them to a more bite size piece. The rest I ate with my hands. Yes, even the sweet potato puree. There is something so freeing when eating with your hands, but I can imagine this driving a person with OCD crazy. I read somewhere a customer snuck his napkin out of the dining room to see how it looked after the meal. I know my napkin was a mess, I could feel it. I didn't want to see it. There was a sudden burst of laughter from across the table. Apparently while eating one of her delicious green beans, the lack of light caused Sharon to stick one up her nose. She ate it anyways. Yum. (teasing you Sharon) My tenderloin was cooked a perfect medium rare. The broccolini were just right. The sweet potatoes were fine. Sharon's mahi mahi was moist and tender. It took a little longer to get through the entrees but we cleaned our plates (I think).

The dining room wasn't super busy on the night we attended. I believe we were told that there were reservations for a little more than half of the capacity. This was good for me and Sharon because it left us with plenty of time to soak in the environment and have fun. The service wasn't rushed at all. As another little test of our sightless senses we were given a drawstring bag containing items for us to identify. We both got them all. Yay. A fun and doable game. After that was dessert.

The first thing we noticed about our desserts was that were each given the wrong dessert. Not sure if that was test for us or not but you can definitely tell the difference between a panna cotta and a chocolate cake. Mocha assured us we received the correct desserts but I knew we didn't. It really was no big deal since we were going to try each others anyways. It wasn't Mocha's fault, it is the kitchen that tells her which hand is holding which dessert. It's not like she can run her fingers over the food to figure out which is which. Maybe they could assemble the desserts on a different shaped plate to distinguish between them. Just an idea. Both desserts were really good. I tried the panna cotta first. It was smooth and creamy and the basil syrup gave it a unique flavor but not overwhelming. The bittersweet chocolate cake was superb. The vanilla whipped cream was a good foil to the chocolate. I felt the mint with the bing cherries didn't match very well and that the cherries, themselves very good, weren't the right consistency for this dish. I usually have no problems with a match of chocolate and cherries but it didn't seem to work for me this time. Not bad, just not great.

With the meal over, Sharon and I just lingered trying to take in our surroundings and challenge our other senses. Believe it or not it was difficult to listen to other conversations. Maybe it was the layout or the music playing in the background but even when trying to concentrate on other tables (not to be eavesdropping, but just as a test), I found I could only pick up words here and there and not full on conversations. I was thinking that our other senses would be "enhanced" but maybe that takes practice. We kept extending our time at the table but eventually figured it was time for us to leave. We ended up being there for a lost-in-the-moment time of about three hours. I loved the experience. It's really not something you can try at home. It does take this level of expertise and planning to carry something like this off. It is gimmicky and a bit pricey at $99 not including tip, taxes and drinks, but it is an experience that I would definitely recommend to anyone that can afford it.

(I thank you so much Sharon for planning this special outing.)