Daddy's Mistake

Uh oh, Danger...

As I was perusing the aisles of a local Asian market, I spotted something familiar, yet strange.

SPAM Singles.

Truth be told, I didn't grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. My parents immigrated here and we lived rather plainly throughout my youth. None of this farm-to-table nonsense. Cheap cuts of meat, lots of canned corned beef, canned vegetables and whatever else twenty bucks could by at the grocery store - and according to Mom, twenty bucks in the early 1970s could buy you a weeks worth of groceries.

As such, we ate a lot of SPAM in my house. Not as much as people in Hawaii, but quite a darn bit of it. So much so that opening a can of SPAM with that old twist tab wasn't odd, it was fun and we argued over who got to open the can. From there, it was salty, hammy goodness mixed with rice. Until...

One day my Dad did something wrong, creating the dish that would be memorialized in our house as "Daddy's Mistake."


Now that's weird - even for SPAM.

I don't quite know how it really happened (I'll have to ask Dad one day), but it was SPAM served with hot, steamed white rice, fried egg and ketchup. Mash the eggs and rice together and season to taste with the ketchup, serve with fried SPAM and you're in business!

I know some of my gentle readers are recoiling in horror as they read this, but rest assured, it's not as bad as you think.

Now that I'm older, the problem with SPAM (besides the obvious industrial aspects) is that the cans are quite large. For SPAM Musubi, I can make eight musubi from one can. That's simply too much SPAM for one person. God knows I'm not going to eat it more than once, what would I do with the rest of the can? Julienne it and make it into Island Style Noodles???

Okay, I like SPAM, but not THAT much! The ubiquitous use of SPAM in Hawaii freaked even me out.


Three thin slices.

Personally speaking, I'm a contrasting texture freak. Meaning with all these soft ingredients, like the rice and eggs, I want a textural contrast. I want some crunch. This translates into a desire to fry SPAM thin and crispy (or as crispy as the industrial nature of SPAM will allow).

The brilliance of SPAM Singles is that I can eat it and not waste any. It's enough. Actually, it might be more than enough, but we're going for it anyway. After slicing the one into three thin sheets, into the frying pan they went - probably at too hight a temp. Perhaps the best way is to start with them in a warm pan and heat it up gradually until it crisps (more testing to come).




Once done, add some butter to the pan, crack a couple of eggs and go to town. Layer the eggs over the rice, break the yolks and mix until the rice is evenly coated in yolk then add ketchup to taste. Eat with SPAM.

The memories are almost as vivid as Adobo Sandwiches on Road Trips To Florida.

But those are stories for another day.

Tooling At The Gem Show

This is what I see at a gem show.

I really must be a simple creature. All around me, I'm surrounded by gold, jade, emeralds, rubies, gold, silver, Rolexes, Breitlings and diamonds galore - all I can see are tools.

Every few months or so, my mom enlists me to drive her to a gem show somewhere. Today, we're in Chantilly, Virginia - just a few minutes from Dulles airport and a nearly two hour drive (damn that NoVa/DC traffic) from home.

For me, it's a non-issue but the array and selection of jewelry is amazing. Everything and more that you've never seen at Zales or Jared. If there's some kind of jewelry that you want, they probably have it here. Need to find the perfect engagement ring and wreck yourself of $15,000? They are only too happy to help. Want to find that right estate (read:used) watch (preferably a gold and platinum, diamond encrusted Rolex Daytona)? They've got plenty.

What you don't have (read:I) is the experience and knowledge to take advantage of the situation. It reminds me of antiquing - that honored practice of going out on weekends on antique furniture hunts only to be taken by the smarmy dealer with the pencil moustache whose studio artists have demonstrated their mastery of distressing techniques.

Color, cut, clarity - who the hell knows and understands these things??? To pass the time, I ask a vendor to show me a 1.15 carat diamond. He tells me it's $6,500. Huh? Are you serious? He encourages me to look at it through a 10x loupe and I see flaws. Nothing too dramatic but flaws nonetheless.

In the parlance of diamonds (and I presume emeralds, sapphires and tanzanite), they're called inclusions and those, along with color, clarity and weight determine just how much the diamond will cost you. To me, these prices are outrageous and a total extortion.

Diamond lovers (and their sellers) will tell you that it's one of the world's most rare and exotic gems. Complete and total hogwash. Diamonds are a dime a dozen. If that weren't true, you wouldn't be able to buy a diamond encrusted saw blade on the internet for thirty bucks. It would cost you thousands.

Let's face it. Diamonds are everywhere and the psychosis that is DeBeers has invaded our mindset. The saying goes that you should be able to afford two months salary. That's 24% of your yearly pay. Does that sound reasonable?

But I digress.

Bewildered by the prices of diamonds, I walk around the show and find a booth that I haven't seen before: the jeweler's tool vendor. This guy has it all - anything and everything you need to work on jewelry. Mini anvils, tiny pliers and tweezers, the cool-looking loupe that diamond dealer was using to show me the flaws. I like this place. It brings me comfort in a sea of over-priced diamonds and bead-crazed women.

Like Home Depot, I want to go nuts here. All sorts of weird and exotic tools that I could use in the kitchen. Take that ultrasonic bath - how can I use that? It's only $150. Or that weird contraption that I don't even know what it is. I want to use it. Heck, I need to use it.

In the end, I leave with a bag of goodies. A couple of close out gram scales that were downright cheap, a loupe so I can posture like I know what I'm taking about when I talk about H color, and a couple of other items that will make a fine addition to my tool kit.

I leave the show for the long drive home with a bag of tools from a gem show. About right.

Sunday BBQ

The Secret Weapon: Velveeta.

At my core, I'm a very simple creature. I grew up in 70s and 80s America. An immigrant family, we ate cheaply and I grew up with very simple fare: Lipton iced tea, cheap cuts of meat and Kraft macaroni and cheese. For many years, I didn't know one could have a mac-n-cheese that wasn't orange.

So, when I finally got around to learning about food and cuisine, I found the upscale mac-n-cheeses, with their fancy cheeses, to be interesting and good but not as soul satisfying as that commercial orange mac-n-cheese. Yes, one could make a deliciously tasty mac-n-cheese with a bechamel base, four cheeses, lardons and penne pasta, and I can whip that up without a second thought, but it's the orange mac that's eluded me.


A smoker full of barbecue.

Eluded in the fact that the world now revolves around easy to make macs, like Easy Mac or instant mac-n-cheese. And while those can be decent enough, nothing is quite like the days of boiling the noodles, adding butter and milk and that orange cheese powder. Now, that's Classic Americana!

I've always fantasized about making the true down home, could be nasty and definitely bad for you, mac-n-cheese but never had the opportunity, until now. With a group of our friends guaranteed to eat it, we set out to making this Ultimate Mac-N-Cheese: One large block of Velveeta, 3 liters of macaroni, half a stick of butter and 1/2 cup whole milk. Stir it all together and eat with a spoon!


Smoked skirt steak.

From there, it's barbecue and more barbecue. With the smoker running at full blast, it doesn't make sense to cook anything any other way. Some kind of protein? Into the smoker! Old shoe? Into the smoker too!

On order for the evening is a taste of the old school Ono Grill. Some baby back ribs, a little brisket, a sirloin and a skirt steak and it's nearly non-stop meat. Want some veg? Does Velveeta Mac-N-Cheese count? As it goes, it's a couple of slices of this, a scoop of mac and a drink. A little while later, it's a scoop of rice and a couple of ribs and some sauce. Want dessert? There's more Mac-N-Cheese, and I think there's some cold, sliced watermelon somewhere nearby.


Making the Mac-N-Cheese.




Skirt Steak: All Sliced Up!




Gerry's fancy broiled breaded mac-n-cheese.




The girls watch Yo Gabba Gabba!




Smoked sirloin, beef brisket and racks of short ribs.

Welcome to The Vallarggio

The party gets underway.

The baptism of Ethan Kai brings everyone together for a night at Vallarggio. If you're familiar with Las Vegas parties, think Hard Rock Hotel's Sunday Rehab - East Coast Style. Lounge couches, tiki torches, open bar, large buffet and music: non-stop.


Making Lechon Liempo Ribs.



Scott and BrowserMetrics at the bar.



An attempt to make pseudo lechon Volcan.



The Lechon "Volcan"



Nacho and The Bob going deep.


The 3am Roll Call...


5:45am post party fire.

26 Beach - As Always

House Blend Salad - baby lettuce, feta, chicken, mushrooms, walnuts, fresh berries, sun-dried tomatoes, and served with raspberry vinaigrette.



Cesar Salad.



Chilaquiles Diablo – tortilla chips pan sauteed in our diablo salsa sprinkled with queso seco, mozzarella, red onion, cilantro, a scoop of guacamole & sour cream.



Tuna Burger



Chicken Curry Royal – eggs scrambled w/chicken, snow peas, bean sprouts, and topped with coconut curry sauce & served over brown rice.



P B & J – creamy Skippy’s peanut butter & Knott’s Berry strawberry jam.



Pepperoni Pizza.



Peaches N’ Cream – 2 French “croissant” toasts topped with caramelized peaches, a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream & melba sauce.



Creamsicle.



The Verry Berry – French toast topped w/an assortment of fresh berries & warm chocolate sauce, pecan syrup or melba sauce



The Polar Bear – 2 French “croissant” toasts with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, fresh berries, melba sauce & grated white chocolate.


26 Beach
3100 Washington Blvd.
Venice Beach, CA
310-823-7526
26beach.com

Intelligentsia Pasadena

Menus Intelligentsia.

When it comes to interesting interior design in the coffee business, I think Intelligentsia has done some truly interesting things over the past four years. From Silver Lake to Venice Beach and now the new Pasadena location, the design has been interesting and even innovative.

Unlike the Venice Beach location, Pasadena doesn't go overboard with the Gee Whiz design approaches, like the hard concrete bleachers, odd espresso pods and underused "Slow Bar." Instead, Pasadena borrows heavily from the current Farm2Table fad of repurposed chic urban style and traditional bar design - which is probably better because it's not causing customer traffic jams at the entrance.

It's Sunday afternoon and the place is hopping. A short line and a rather friendly girl greets us. She takes our order and we're on our way. The service is friendly and efficient. LAWeekly writes about the pretentiousness of The Intelligentsia Experience, I can't comment on it because I've already been recognized by Phil.


The girls consider the offerings.

For me, the new Intelligentsia shops have become "must visit" shops whenever they open. While I may not agree or think that the designs are the best, they certainly are different and progressive, which I think is something to be celebrated or, at least, investigated.

Where Pasadena doesn't go for innovative interior design, they've worked some truly nice touches into their bar: integrated drip trays line what seems to be the entire run of the bar, allowing the baristas to spill, drip or dump liquid at any point with minimal cleanup or fuss. Water gooseneck dispensers are strategically placed, as are pitcher rinsers at every workstation.

While I'm starting to tire of the reclaimed wood and artifact style of urban design, the lineup of three larger scales that act as both weighing devices as well as a worksurface for the hand brew bar is a nice touch. Maybe even nice enough to riff on when we build the next Spro.


A cappuccino from Phil.

Our drinks come and we retreat to a table in the back. The interior is nice and I'd tell you more but if you've been to any of the new farm2table style restaurants in the last five years, then you know exactly the interior of Pasadena.

As always, the drinks are solidly executed. My brewed coffee is sweet and tasty and it's been another nice visit to a new Intelligentsia.

Shin-Sen-Gumi

Tuna with soy sauce dressing.

Sometimes even chain restaurants get it right and the Shin-Sen-Gumi chain is one of them. Great tasting Japanese cuisine all across the L.A. area. We've been to the Gardena location before and this time the girls were in the mood for the shabu shabu teriyaki combination of their Monterey Park location. Enjoy. It was tasty.


Sukiyaki.



More meat.



Ian ready for it to begin.



Salmon Egg bowl.



Beef Bowl.



Fried Chicken.



Fried Oysters.



Fried Gizzards.



Beef Heart Yakitori.



Grilled Fish.



Yakitori Assortment



The hotly contested Yuzu Pepper.



Black Sesame Ice Cream.



Shin-Sen-Gumi
111 N. Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
626-943-7956
www.shinsengumigroup.com

Mottainai Ramen

Lucy looks to see what ramen she wants.

Al and Polly lately have been raving about a new ramen place in Gardena. Knowing that I'm a fan of a good ramen and that we have no ramen to speak of in Baltimore, they insisted on bringing us there. Of course, I'm only too happy to comply.

Located in the very Japanese marketplace not too far from the 110 Freeway (and the Hustler Casino), Mottainai Ramen is modern, bright and Japanese all the way. The staff is friendly and the ceiling reaching flames that come from the toasting of miso (I think) is very reassuring.


Melon Creamy Soda - kind of like bubblegum.

While the focus is on the ramen, there's a handwritten sign advertising their Mini Curry Bowl. I had to investigate.

The curry is traditional Japanese style though a little on the thick side. It's creamy and delicious as a proper Japanese curry should be with generous slices of chicken and fluffy white rice underneath. Excellent


The ramen broth sample tray.

Without a doubt, Mottainai is about ramen. So serious are they that they are only too willing to bring out a broth sample tray where you can taste their four broths to choose from. Miso, shoyu and two types of Yokohama broths compete for your attention but the miso is clearly the champion and the choice of the table.

After a complimentary side of chasu that's thinly sliced and oh so delicate, our ramen arrives. Mine comes with medium boiled egg with a runny yolk that adds extra flavor and texture to the ramen, along with a generous helping of corn butter. Yum!


Curry Mini Bowl.

Shake, shake, shake goes the little togarashi pepper shaker and I'm off to ramen heaven. The broth is delicious and everything is just right - except that I find the noodles to be on the toothy side without that usual chewiness that I prefer in a ramen noodle. Al and Polly assure me that this is an oddity because the noodles are usually more chewy. I believe them.

Whatever the case, the broth and extras are delicious and I make a note that I must revisit Mottainai on my next visit - just to be sure.


A side of char siu, compliments of the chef.



Miso Ramen with egg and corn butter.


Mottainai Ramen
1630 W Redondo Beach Blvd Ste 9
Gardena, CA 90247
310-538-3233
mottairamen.jugem.jp