Life In Da Burbs

Great news for all you cured ham aficionados. For the first time ever, Spanish Iberico Ham will be legal to serve in the US. It's passed all USDA and FDA inspections, and debuted in Washington D.C. on Dec. 6, 2007. reference to : NY Times Article And according to the article... the even more sought after "jamón Ibérico de bellota" will be available in the summer of 2008 for twice the amount. Not too shabby...

My wife is a big fan of Mapo Tofu and Mapo Nasu. It's a simple chili tofu and eggplant dish that goes nicely over a hot steaming bowl of rice. Perfect for the chilly weather we are facing here in NJ/NY. So when I stopped at the local Asian Grocery last night to pick up some produce, I was pleasantly surprised to see some great asian eggplant, and very good soft tofu. The butcher had just ground up some nice pork belly so that was also a plus. Amendment to an earlier recipe - Mapo Tofu April 5, 2007 ***before adding the ground pork, add the doban jan, chili, and hoisin sauce and cook it for 1 minute on high heat. this will help bring all the flavors together and your ground pork will cook in it and absorb the flavors better. "Koto-Koto" The Japanese word "koto-koto" describes this video image. It's an onomatopoeia for something simmering in a thick sauce. The thick sauce is a result of corn starch being added in the final step of the dish.

Twelfth Annual Grand Tasting Thursday, November 15, 2007 at The Hyatt Regency Hotel 2 Exchange Place, Jersey City 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm tax deductible donation: $65 Our 12th Year is Bigger and Better! Our largest tasting yet in the largest location ever! This year the event takes place in The Hudson Ballroom and will feature over 400 wines, saké, beer and spirits from all over the world and food provided by a dozen of the area’s finest restaurants. Light Rail, Path, NY Waterways at the door. Sparrow wine ambassadors floating the event to answer any questions and assist in any way we can to make this a memorable event . Purchase tickets at Sparrow Wine & Liquor Company ...

Made some dinner tonight for the wife. She wanted lamb chops so I headed over to the nearest supermarket to pick up some goods. 2 hours later... Voila! Tonight's menu was Cauliflower Soup, a Mesculin Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette, and Lamb Chops with Mushrooms and Roasted Vegetables. Cauliflower Soup : Made with Cauliflower, Chicken Stock, Milk and Seasoning. And making good use with my Braun 200w Immersion Blender. Simmer cauliflower in chicken stock for 20 minutes. Hit it with the stick blender and add milk or cream. Season and ladle in bowl. Serve hot or cold. Mesculin Salad : Greens, Tomatoes and Mizkan Salad Dressing It is what it is. Easy breezy... Lamb Chops : Roasted Lamb Chops, Portabello Mushroom stuffed with Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms French rack of lamb, score the fat cap, season and sear in high heat to seal in the juices. Coat with a layer of mustard and place in oven at 400 for 10 minutes. Remove for 5 minutes and throw it back in the oven for another 10 mintues. Thi...

Courtesy of the NY Times By ALEX WITCHEL Published: October 31, 2007 I KNOW that denial is not just a river in Egypt, because I'm drowning in it right here in New York. Even though one stepson left for college nine years ago, the other five years ago, I am still cooking for four. Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times Recipe: Mistral's Chicken With Garlic (October 31, 2007) Truth be told, I'm usually cooking for six, because as masters of the last-minute bait and switch, these boys trained me well. An hour before dinner, a pair of pleading eyes would invariably appear beside me at the stove. I would hear a woeful tale of a starving friend, home alone, bereft. It was never mentioned that, say, the friend's parents took off for the weekend house in Connecticut without him because he was late again. I found out stuff like that later, after eve...

Sushi of Gari - Highly Recommended Japanese, Sushi 402 E 78th St, New York 10021 Btwn 1st & York Ave Phone: 212-517-5340 Fax: 212-288-9235 I've been obsessing to go to Sushi of Gari for a while and today was the day my dreams came true. My wife and I got a call from a friend from Japan and he invited us to have dinner in the city. Good sushi was due and we made the call to visit Gari. My first, my wife's third time. When it comes to sushi, I'm a purist.. and I gotta say, I didn't want to "love it", but it was just that good. Gari himself wasn't there, but this place definitely gives Sushi Yasuda a run for his money... Polar-opposites when it comes to the execution of sushi... but like anything good, when you are the best at what you do, you're doing something right. Sushi of Gari is Extremely PRICEY but well worth the experience. So unless you print money in you...

I don't really keep up with Japanese fashion and or celebrity gossip... But this "Ebi chan" seems to be in the spotlight a lot these days. She was just spotted by an acquaintance in Soho today doing a photo shoot for a magazine. Naturally, I looked her up and Yes... she is quite attractive. This is just tooooooo good. Ever see "What Women Want"? Mel Gibson's character is talking about the 'good old days'. When models wore bikinis and posed under water falls... Seems like those good old days are back in the advertisement world? Well at least in Japan!

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20153804,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines Heidi Klum's Risqué Story of Falling for Seal WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24, 2007 08:05 AM EDT By Mike Fleeman Seal, Heidi Klum and Oprah Winfrey Photo by: George Burns / Harpo Productions INC. If Seal and Heidi Klum 's children ever ask about how their parents fell in love, the couple may have to make something up. "I met him in a hotel lobby in New York City and he came in just from the gym and I was sitting there and I was, like, wow," Klum tells Oprah Winfrey on her show's Superstar Couples episode set to air Thursday. Wow, as in Seal was wearing bicycle shorts. "And I pretty much saw everything," says Klum. "The whole package." From that moment on, the passion never died. The couple, in a rare joint television interview, say on The Oprah Winfrey Show that they've worked to keep those early feelings alive. "The most common hiccup,...

courtesy of NYTimes How to Get Junior to Eat His Veggies Turns Out to Be (Too) Common Knowledge By MOTOKO RICH Published: October 19, 2007 Jessica Seinfeld, the comedian Jerry Seinfeld 's wife, has a hot best seller with "Deceptively Delicious," a cookbook for parents of picky eaters. Ms. Seinfeld's celebrity and an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" have helped propel the book to the No. 1 spot on the hardcover Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous list in The New York Times, where it will make its debut a week from Sunday. Skip to next paragraph Heidi Gutman/NBC Some recipe ideas in Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious," are in another recent book. But a number of readers posting on Amazon.com and Oprah.com and other Web sites have pointed out some similarities between Ms. Seinfeld's book, which was published this month by Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins, and another cookbook pub...

Ladies and Gents, Saturday 1:00 pm Central Park Sheep Meadow - Adjacent to Tavern on the Green map My (george) cell : if you are lost. 201-673-3522 Here is a quick list of who's coming and who's bringing what. 1 - 2 - As far as Drinks... Let's settle on BYOD (drinks) 3 - Attendees : George (Junko) - Tsukune & Shuumai Gina (Ryan) - Tandoori Chicken & Temari Sushi Anisha (Neil) - 3 types of NamaHarumaki Ayako (Caleb) - ? Monika (Mike) - Katsu Sando Cordy - Inarizushi & Veggie Babaganoush Pat - Australian Anzac Cookies Devin (Ayano) - Pumpkin Pie, Octoberfest/Pumpkin Beers? Kohji - Utensils (Napkins, Cups, Plates and Forks) Maybe : Mia - Store bought something Reina - Store bought something (Dessert) Mana - Store bought something Hope the weather cooperates. Dress in layers guys!

Date : Saturday (Oct 13th) Location : Central Park... one of the Great Lawns - TBD Time : 1 pm Reason : Get together Activities : Picnic, Football, Frisbee, Ninin-Sankyaku, Potato sack race, etc... dear all... please prepare 6 to 8 portions of your dish so that everyone can have a bite. George (Junko) - Tsukune & Shuumai Gina (Ryan) - Tandoori Chicken & Temari Sushi Anisha (Neil) - 3 types of NamaHarumaki Ayako (Caleb) - ? Monika (Mike) - Katsu Sando Cordy - Inarizushi & Veggie Babaganoush Pat - Australian Anzac Cookies Kohji - ? Devin (Ayano) - Pumpkin Pie, Octoberfest/Pumpkin Beers?

I had the pleasure the other day of watching Chef Yosuke Suga of L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon cook on my kitchen stage. It was the 2007 New York Mutual Trading Restaurant and Food Show and we invited a few chefs to come down, and cook using our Artisan Japanese Ingredients. It was so much fun to see professionals doing their thing. Chef Suga just happens to be the most amazing Chef I've ever seen. His technique and movements in the kitchen are perfect. No wasted movements and everything he does is perfect. For instance, he quennelled some freshly made ice cream using just one spoon and 2 brisk scooping motions. My eyes almost popped out in amazement. It was perfectly shaped and pretty awesome to watch up close. Here is a dish he created a few months ago and got his mentor Joel Robuchon excited... Le foie gras fumé en duo d’anguille caramélisée aux saveurs orientales It's pretty cool to get a pat on the back by a culinary legend... But according to Chef Suga, it was more l...

Harry Smith hits the kitchen with chef and cookbook author Hiroko Shimbo and learns to cook Japanese cuisine ahead of New York's Japanese Food and Restaurant Show. Japanese Cooking Lesson (4:15) (CBS) Learning about Japanese cuisine is about learning to think small and intense rather than big and explosive, the way many Americans cook (think jambalayas, burgers with five toppings, chilies with seven toppings, Chicago-style hot dogs with too many toppings to even count). Cookbook author and food consultant Hiroko Shimbo, who is running the demonstration kitchen at the ongoing Japanese Food and Restaurant Show in New York, dropped by The Early Show to give co-anchor Harry Smith a quick taste of some of the small dishes with huge flavors. "Japanese cooking is very light," she explained, "because it is based on water and fire." The 14-year-old Japanese Food and Restaurant Show features Japanese food products, including rare artisanal ingredients m...

The Greatest Show in the Food Biz!!! October 1, 2007 (Monday) 10am to 5pm At the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building. Please visit the website : www.nymtc.com

Try over 300 types of Sake at the Puck Building tonight. 6pm to 9pm. $90 at the door. But it's well worth it. 300 sakes and plenty of tasty snacks by various cool restaurants in the city. Yours truly will be pouring and answering all your Sake questions. Joy of Sake link

the president of iran is in town this week due to the united nation's general assembly. he's also expected to speak at columbia university today at 1:30pm. let's see what this a-hole has to say and how he fairs with bright american students during the open q & a. meanwhile, the city is packed, traffic is a mess and there's and abundance of dudes in dark sunglasses and earpieces everywhere.

Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007 - It's a great day indeed, when your alma mater wins their season opener, your best friend marries the love of his life, and your arch enemy is humiliated by a 1-AA school at home. Wolverines fall from No. 5 to unranked in Week 2 poll Associated Press Updated: September 4, 2007, 4:56 PM ET NEW YORK -- Thud! The final fallout from a disastrous opening weekend for Michigan came Tuesday, when the Wolverines dropped all the way out of The Associated Press Top 25, an unprecedented fall from No. 5 to unranked. Since the AP poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989, no team has taken a bigger tumble in one week. After an opening college football weekend filled with blowouts and highlighted by Appalachian State's stunning 34-32 upset of Michigan at the Big House, there was little notable movement in the Top 25 other than the Wolverines. Southern California was voted No. 1 by the media panel, but the Trojans lost some ...

I hadn't really dabbled in the kitchen for some time so I woke up Sunday morning determined. I looked in my fridge and decided to whip up a soup the wife would be impressed with. Kabocha with Jidori Chicken Soup (Served Hot or Cold) Take the carcass of 4# chicken, season and roast (at 400 degrees) along with 6 cloves of garlic on the same roasting tray for 45 minutes. Take carcass and submerge into 500cc of boiling water. Add 3 T of salt and 2 whole shallots. Gently simmer for 40 minutes and remove stock for later use. Let the carcass cool and shred meat and reserve for plating. Break down 1/2 a Kabocha and cut up into 1 inch dice. Sautee in 4 quart pot, along with the roasted garlic cloves for 10 minutes then add 300cc of just made chicken stock. Let simmer and cover for 20 minutes. (Kabocha should be fork tender) Then add remaining stock and bring out stick blender. Puree till smooth. Add 3 T of cream and pulse another 5 to 10 seconds. Bunch in the middle of a soup bowl 2 T...

J is back from her 2 week vacation in Japan. It's nice having her back ( and telling me what to do... ). This weekend has been pretty low key. I wake up, and I naturally go to the kitchen to make her something to eat. We would then watch some TV and catch up on the past few weeks. She tells me all the fun stuff (shopping, dining out with friends, stories about our little nieces, etc..) she got to do in Japan and I got to share my domestic happenings with her. As for me, while she was gone, I took advantage of my new found freedom. I watched ESPN when ever I wanted. I watched Movies when ever I wanted. I could order Pizza or Buffalo Wings at what ever time I wanted. I ate Cup Ramen a few times and kinda liked it. Went out to the Golf range when ever I wanted. Did laundry when ever I wanted. Get the pattern? Doing what I wanted, when ever I wanted. Basically, not having to check in 24/7 like a paroley out on bail for 2 weeks. I was an outlaw! But in the end, it's nice having th...

http://dudesonfoods.blogspot.com this is my other blog. i share this with 2 other writer friends.

心込めての家庭料理。 手羽タツタ　と　にら卵

well... top 3 for sure L'Atelier Joel Robuchon at the Four Seasons Hotel New York City August 3, 2007 Executif Chef Yosuke Suga *** Menu *** Amuse Bouche - Citrus Gelee with Foam Sauce Appetizers : Sauteed Sweatbreads with Veal Jus Smoked Eel with Foie Gras Lobster Salad with Pickled Daikon Foie Gras Ravioli Soup Entrees : Seared Scallops Lollipop Frog Legs Pan Seared Foie Gras with Grapefruit Sauce Quail and Foie Gras Foie Gras Stuffed Roasted Squab with Cabbage and Bacon Japanese Hanger Steak Desserts : Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Baba Rum Bitter Almond Souffle Macarons

I had a business meeting/dinner last night at Yasuda Sushi. Near the UN, the restaurant is often visited by foreign dignitaries and x-pats from all over the world. Plus their sushi is some of the best I've ever had.... period. My co-worker and I invited one of my favorite Food TV / Radio hosts to sit down and just chat about what we love, food. We had a blast! MC is one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met in the biz. His passion for good food is intense and to top it off, he's a great person. **more to come

I have been dining out a whole lot recently. It's been a lot of Japanese food so I don't feel that bad.... Afterall, it's good for you. (right guys?) Starting from last week, it's been a parade of gastronomique delights. 7-12 Yakitori Totto 7-13 Hiroko's Kitchen 7-17 Sushi Seki & Aburiya 7-18 Aquavit 7-19 Lan Restaurant 7-20 Aburiya 7-21 Hamptons & Chanto 7-24 Yasuda Sushi & Sakagura *7-25 15 East *7-26 L'Atelier Robuchon *7-27 Pho Trang *pending - not gone yet, but scheduled to dine.

Murray's 4.5# chicken Purple fingerling potatoes Onion Garlic Ginger Paprika Butter Salt & Pepper

I was back in Michigan this past weekend and got to hang out with a few friends from the college days. A couple of years have gone by since the last time we met. For the most part, all was well and everybody is moving on with their lives and working hard. This is the Original Beaner's where I definitely spent many mis-guided hours hanging out while I really should have been studying.

Bay Scallops cooked in sake, white Soy, grated ginger root and dash of butter. Asparagus sauteed in olive oil, shallots, black pepper and finished with soy salt. Pork ribs simmered 3 hours in Chinese 5 spice broth.

Ratatouille, Egg and Tapenade. Makes for a great summery first course. Bread Basket : Croissant, Chocolate Croissant, Baguette, Cornbread, Scone, Brioche

TV Dinner my way. Dinner Saturday night was a quick steak with sauteed mushrooms, green olives, miso paste, and castello blue cheese. Served with sliced ciabatta bread and truffle butter. NCIS never tasted this good.

ブタカクニ A サンが皆に作ってくれたPORK、最高だった。 THANK YOU!

So I'm due for an update from the James Beard Awards last Monday. There were some surprises and some clear winners of the night. But the evening is not about winner or losers, but really on the foundation of America as a gastronomique center of the world. Can "America" become the focal point of international fine cuisine? Foundations such as the James Beard certainly have pushed us into the right direction, but from their embarrassing corruption scandals a few year back, to the old boys networking still going on today, I fear we are still at a full lengths behind the Crème de la Crème . That being said, we have some of the best chefs doing wonderful food in our kitchens today. They need to step up to the challenge and not get side tracked with fame or glory and stay in the kitchen to propel our next generation of young chefs to do the same. We must create a rich history to cement a foundation for our future. Nobody ever says they want to "Stage" in America... A...

The James Beard Awards ... It's going to take place Monday night at Lincoln Center. Let's see who's going to take home Best Chef 2007?

Got up early today and made some breakfast for J and I. Vegetable Medley, Black Olives, Soft Omelette, Sausages.

Dinner tonight. I had ordered a fresh roaster from FreshDirect the other day so I decided to roast it tonight with some red potatoes and cauliflower. J and I loved it. Quite Provencal don't you think? You can bet I'm gonna make stock out of the bones.

This could be my best batch ever. I experimented with a few new ingredients today and it came out even better than before. I'm extremely happy to discover this new "kakushi aji" (hidden flavor) that really gives a better balanced flavor. It's more complete. Hope the wife enjoys it as much as I do.

I'm on this sweet tooth kick right now. My folks just came to visit from Taiwan this past week and brought back some goodies from Asia. Here is a Yoku Moku set from Japan. This would make any Frenchie envious for sure. It's not just a "butter cookie" but an elegant balance of almonds, chocolate and cookie. Man, is this good. Yoku Moku is mostly famous for their Butter Cookie "Cigares" though. 超おいしいいいいいいいい！

I'm not sure if I've ever shared this bit of information. But one of my favorite Japanese treats is Hiyoko. This is a sweet white bean paste filled pastry packaged in the shape of a little chick. Hiyoko translates to Chick in Japanese.

海鮮皿うどん　と　ソボロご飯

J and I had a craving for Korean ChapChae noodles so I attempted to make it tonight. All things considered (for one: having only had it twice in my life), it came out darn good.

J and I met up Ayano and Devin for brunch today at Artisanal Bistro . This is the sister restaurant of Picholine . Yes, the same Picholine that is credited bringing back the cheese cart to fine dining in Manhattan. Any who, brunch was great. We all ordered the Prix Fixe. Here are some pictures we took during the meal. Click here for more pics Oh, we also got to sit in "La Cave" which was a treat in itself.