Goodbye 2011

CNN with Kathy griffin and Anderson Cooper is high-larious!

This is my last post for 2011! I am spending my new year's eve with my kapaFAM! Dinner was awesome. We were so hungry that we didn't even say prayer or toast!! Haha! We had House of Prime Rib-inspired dishes...my prime rib came out a bit too well. Boo. Oh it's okay, my momma was awesome and cooked tinola, pancit, mungo, and baked whole tilapia stuffed with tomato and scallions. Yum! We are still sooooooo full!

We were also so excited that we did the countdown for New York! We jumped with coins in our pockets! Okay, we are all heading out now. Not quite sure how the night is going end but rest assured we are going to have a good time!

Happy 2011 everyone!

xoxo,
Jo

2012 Blogging Resolutions

Hi everyone!

Can you believe it's going to be 2012 in just a few days? My blog[baby] is going to be 5 years old in April, and I can't help but notice the changes it has gone through.

Honestly it has been really hard for me to write in the last couple of months. Not only because it was the holiday season...I suppose it is a culmination of things like side projects with kapaMEALya, writing for other outlets, being tired after the 9 to 5, etc. etc. etc, I wish I were a housewife so I could write all day long, but that ain't the case so I gotta work with what I got in the time that I have.

I remember when blogging was fun(er)...not that it's not fun now, but as I developed my blog and wrote "articles" as opposed to "here's a post just because I feel like blogging," I sure felt that pressure to make things PERFECT.

Perfection will be the death of me.

I remember my first posts on this blog. One picture. A couple of simple paragraphs. Done. Now it's 5-10 pictures, doctoring pix, super long copy to match with vocabulary I don't even use on a daily.

Resolution #1: keep it simple

I remember walking into the Borders store at Westfield Center in SF (RIP) and getting completely sucked into "Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth" by Tucker Shaw. His book was a simple one - just a collection of photos of what he ate for 365 days. There was a week where he only ate chicken noodle soup because he was ill. He didn't go to Michelin-starred restaurants all the time. A bagel here. A muffin there. Simple.

Maybe I shall go back to simpler formats for 2012. Less pressure. More fun.

Resolution #2: blog everyday

Yup, everyday. It goes along with the "keep it simple" rule. One photo and a few lines on copy. Done. I only wrote 2 posts in December and the latter one was super short while the other was a full essay.

Simplicity. Constant simplicity.

Resolution #3: be Jo

My downfall is that I get bored. I get bored because I'm not excited about my content. I start to write but stop in the middle because I lost my passion for it. I lost passion because I'm so into my writing that I start to sound the same in my posts.

How many other words are there for "delicious" again?

I don't even know if I what I just said made any sense whatever, but I guess what I'm saying is that I need to get a life. Writing is great, but I have a life that has nothing to do with it. I want to get back to doing other things like hanging out with family, traveling, or EATING OUT WITHOUT A CAMERA!

Is that possible?

I suppose the pressures of writing have gotten to me. I just need that *spark* back. So please be patient with me as I try to rediscover what is important in my writing life and style.

At the end of the day, I want to come out with content that not only is delicious, but thought-provoking at the same time.

With that said, have a wonderful new year!

xoxo,
Jo

PS: okay, I admit, I'm vain :) gotta love The Family Feud app for iPad!

Maligayang Pasko 2011 - A Delicious Christmas

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a great Christmas weekend! I was a bad blogger. I didn't take many pictures from Christmas dinner on Sunday night. I neglected to charge my camera(s) and since I was so busy preparing everything, I just didn't get to take any. My bad. It's okay. I had a great dinner nevertheless.


I actually started preparing for Christmas on Friday night. After work, I made my infamous Red Velvet Cookie Whoopies. Part whoopie pie, part cookie.


My formula is: one scoop per cookie and one scoop of cream cheese frosting goes in between each pair of cookies. It works.

Not the best pictures because I used the cam on my Droid, but they'll do. I used to make these a lot, but I have only made them twice this year. Hopefully I make them more in 2012.

Keat and I spent Christmas Eve-ning with the Kwan Cousins and Chef Cousin Dave made some of his bomb fried spaghetti. TO ORDER. Oui oui. Delicious.

Cousin TAK made up some, what I call "Naughty Hot Chocolates." He gave me a little Bailey's to give me a little more warmth. Delish. We also played a White Elephant gift exchange and we came out with some awesome porcelain mugs!

When we got home that night, which was just a few minutes before midnight, my family and I did our gift exchange.


My little sister SAM, SAM's daughter Jayla, Momma, myself, and Bubz

We opened the gifts from my sister first...

Matching Christmas penguin footsie pajamas!

Momma opening her gift from me.
It was a white Ellen Tracy jacket with gold buttons. I hope she liked it!

Could it be?! My hubby got me the one thing I wanted this year!
This is one of the first pix I took on my new iPad! I was so excited to start using it. I really have the best husband in the world! He says that it help me with my writing. Gosh, he is so supportive of my passion. I love him.

After we opened our presents, we knocked out!

I really needed to rest because of all the cooking I was going to do in the afternoon. The menu?

Meal inspired by the House of Prime Rib!

Our mess of wrapping paper!

In the morning, Keat made sure to take the rib roast out of the refrigerator. Putting a cold roast in the oven just doesn't make sense. The recipe/procedure I followed is by my friend and fellow blogger Chef John over at Food Wishes. At about 2 o'clock Christmas Day, I started buttering my rib roast. There were about 4 bones in it, so it would feed 8 people - total weight was about 7.5 pounds.

It took about 2 sticks of butter to cover the whole thing, as follows:

Using an offset spatula made it so easy. Just make sure the butter is soft. I added a simple melange of parsley, black pepper, and kosher salt in the butter. Once I started applying the butter, I noticed it firming from the coolness of the meat. In the end, it looked like a weird-looking cake with buttercream spread. I thought it looked gorgeous.

The directions are SUPER easy. Just click the link above. The only thing I would change is probably leaving it out to sit in room temp longer and leaving it longer under the high temp in the oven. My family, turns out, likes their prime rib more on the well side. I also made au jus which really helped with those who wanted their meat more done. I simply swished their cut of prime rib in the jus until the pink went away.

Here is my plate. I have a piece of prime rib sitting in au jus accompanied by mashed potatoes made with heavy cream and topped with bacon, and Pioneer Woman's creamed spinach. It was SOOOOOO easy to make this creamed spinach, it's ridiculous.

There are other things I should have done when making this meal. I should have used an elective knife. My knife, though brand-new, didn't cut it as smoothly as I wanted.

This is Cousin Starr's plate. I put the bacon over the spinach this time. She likes her meat on the rarer side, so if making a prime rib for different people, maybe do it exactly how Chef John suggested and do the "au jus swish" for those who want it well done. Once you overcook it, you can't fix it.

Another thing I WISH I had more time for was making the Yorkshire Pudding. I found some great recipes for it online (was going to use Claire Robinson's) and I had great great pan drippings from the roast. Alas, the guests were arriving and I hadn't showered, so I had to clean myself up and skip the Yorkshire pudding.

ANOTHER thing I WISH i did was take a picture of the House of Prime Rib-inspired salad I made. Chip and Lara got to our house a little later that expected (AHEM haha) and they were bringing the dressings for the salad as well as the horseradish for the meat.

So yes, we did have the salad which consisted of sliced beets, iceberg lettuce, boiled eggs, and the Thousand-Island-ish dressing. I actually mixed the Thousand Island with Bacon ranch. YUM!

I then mixed some sour cream with the grated horseradish. Horseradish is really really potent, so muting that with sour cream worked.

Our dinner table was a smorgasbord of food from Chinese, to American, to Filipino. It was really really really delicious and it was equally awesome to have my family, Keaton's family, and our dear friends there, too.

So what about the day after Christmas? We took some leftover roasted chicken and made sopas - a soup of macaroni, chicken, veggies, and milk - so comforting on that chilly day! I took the chicken skin and broiled that until a little crisp and put them on top. Adds nice crunch and saltiness.

Well, I hope you all had a glorious holiday season. I really am excited for 2012 and all the things in store. I can only thank God for blessing me and giving me a wonderful family and delicious food to eat.

Until next time, loves!

xoxo,
Jo

Merry Christmas / Maligayang Pasko!

I hope you all have a great Christmas this year! Eat lots and love lots!

xoxo,
Jo

EDIT on 12/28: A new post is coming soon! Below is what I ate on Christmas! All made with love by me!

Filipino Soup for the Soul - Workshop in Oakland

"Hi, my name is Joanne and I am here because I have been stalking Aileen on the Internets..."

It's true. Aileen Suzara, founder and writer of Kitchen Kwento, is worth stalking. She strives for local, sustainable, healthy cooking while keeping Filipino flavors and recipes alive. Talk about admirable. A couple of months ago, she invited myself and members of kapaMEALya to "her farm" in Santa Cruz. She had been living there for 6 months as she participated in a farm apprenticeship program associated with UC Santa Cruz. We were treated to a glorious veggie potluck and a tour of her farm. It was truly a learning experience.

I literally ate the BEST apple of my life there. Find out more about Aileen and her farm in this fantastic feature on Adobo Nation:


I really met Aileen on Halloween of 2010 at Filipeanut's Halloween Party. From then on, we have "stalked" each other and here we were in December 2011 making soup.

I saw she was holding a workshop called "Filipino Soup for the Soul" at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (which is amazing in itself, btw), and I jumped on Eventbrite right away to buy a ticket.

Not only were we going to collaborate in creating Filipino soups, we were going to "talk story," reminisce, and in the end, share what we have produced. That's what I would call the "perfect" meal.

- Tinola -
This chicken soup infused with ginger and garlic brings back so many warm memories about my Inang. It is a very low-maintenance soup. All you have to do is saute the aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger), add all the other ingredients, and let cook in liquid. It's super easy one-pot cooking.

You can use several veggies for tinola. I have seen it with spinach, green papaya, and chili leaves. Today we would be using baby bok choy and opo - a tender gourd.

Aileen demonstrating how to chop an onion.

We browned chopped onion and garlic to create some flavor.

We used boneless chicken thighs as well as rice wash water as the liquid base.
The starch from the rice makes a soup with a silky mouthfeel.

We let the onions, garlic, julienned ginger, and chicken cook a bit before
adding the rice wash water. While that cooked, we moved onto the next soup.
- Sinigang -
I love sinigang because of its tang. My mom makes the best sinigang with pork spare ribs and bok choy. This is another soup that makes me feel at home wherever I eat it.


You have to forgive me. I don't quite remember all the leafy greens that Aileen put in the sinigang, but of course I know the tomato, sitaw (long beans), gabi (taro), aaaaaaaaand...

salmon heads!
Hello, lunch!

These are guavas which can also be used to sour sinigang.

We were not going to take any shortcuts today. We used REAL tamarind!

After using hot water to soften the compacted tamarind, we added this to the soup base made with rice wash water as well. The soup had a nice brown color from this.
If we had made the soup with a seasoning packet, the broth would be clearer and thinner...but who wants to use a packet with so many preservatives and salt?

As Chef Dom says, "Think outside the packet."
- Soup's On! -

Chicken Tinola

Salmon Head Sinigang

Everyone was excited to try our finished products!
You're going to have to forgive me again. I didn't take pics of the soup in my bowl! I was so eager to dig in that I forgot! Can you believe that?! All hope is not lost, here is Kitchen Kwento's Facebook album! Check it out!

Photo courtesy of Aileen Suzara
I had an amazing time. Even before the soups finished cooking, we were already asking when the next workshop is! Sadly, Aileen will be leaving the Bay Area again for another farming venture come 2012. I am hoping/wishing/praying that another Filipino cooking workshop will be done before then!

*hint hint nudge nudge*

Maraming salamat to Aileen, the kitchen team Aimee and Toussaint, and all my fellow cooks. It was an honor and a pleasure. It was fun to collaborate and share memories with you all. Until next time!

xoxo,
Jo

Bouchon & Domain Chandon Yountville - A Day Full of Surprises

Another trip to Yountville. Every girl needs some quality time with her ladies, and YV is the perfect place to do so.

First stop: Sweet Goodies

Bouchon Bakery
Address: 6528 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599
Phone Number: (707) 944-2253

The last time we came, we got to Bouchon Bakery too late, so we were not able to grab some goodies. We weren't going to let that happen this time. I knew that there was a fire at the Bakery in September so their macarons were not going to be available. It was all good. Anything from the bakery would be great.

I was correct when there weren't any macarons to be found, but I did make it out of there with a couple TKO's, bouchons, a pumpkin muffin, a blueberry muffin, a coffee cake, and a bread pudding! From the look on my sister and husband's faces, they liked them a lot.

Next stop: Lunch!

Bouchon
Address: 6534 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599
Phone Number: (707) 944-8037
Cuisine: French

After grabbing our loot from Bouchon Bakery, we had to figure out where to eat lunch before heading to our wine tasting. Bouchon is just steps away from the bakery, so why not? We didn't have a reservation, but it was not going to hurt to try. There were so many other places to try like Chiarello's place across the way and a bunch of other spots down Washington.

It was okay because we got in! w00t!

I went to Bouchon Bistro in Las Vegas last year during my *surprise* bachelorette weekend. The one in Yountville is a lot smaller, but the interior with it's burgandies and velvet banquets is gorgeous. We perused the menu. My ladies are rad. We usually don't order the same thing because we want to share with each other. We coordinate so everyone has a taste. We made our decisions and waited for the server...however! The server began to recite the specials of the day and our decisions made from the menu were thrown out the window.

Daily Special: Lobster Beignets with Pickled Huckleberry and Squash Puree
This was one of the specials and we were lucky to grab the last ones from the kitchen. I love how it looks like a painter's palette.

Not the best shot, sorry, I was rushing. I do admit, I found them to be a little small. When I thought beignets, I pictured the fantabulous ones I ate at Brenda's a few months ago. Okay, I understand this IS Kellerville. Dainty portions.

No matter the size, I loved how SWEET the lobster was. The buttery sauces and pickled berries both complimented with rich and tart flavors. We even used our bread to sweep up the remaining sauce. Delicious.

Daily Special: Seared Scallops with Huckleberry-Foie Sauce
Prior to the deliverance of the daily specials, I was set to order the steak frites. Something about seared scallops always makes me stop and change my mind. Plus she said my favorite 4-letter "F" word - FOIE.

Presented in an All-Clad pan, the scallops were served with a kale cake, lobster knuckles, mushrooms, and that luscious sauce. I wish they had more of it on there! It was sweet yet had this richness and velvety mouthfeel. Glo-ri-ous. You know how scallops are supposed to melt in your mouth? Yes, these did. This was a very filling entree. I was struggling after 1.5 scallops. Great to have girls to share with...but then again, they were struggling with their's too...in a good way of course:

Jenn's Poulet Roti
This is on the regular menu at Bouchon: roasted chicken, bacon lardons, cippolini onions & Lyonnaise potatoes with chicken jus. Seriously this is everything you would want in a roasted chicken entree. LARDONS give hard-ons. Remember that. The chicken itself was tender and the onions were nice and sweet. Delish.

Daily Special - Rozz's Braised Lamb Shank
The plate also consisted of mushrooms, beans, and radish. I'm not a lamb person, but of course I tried it. It was good! The meat just fell off the bone because it was braised beautifully.

We decided not to order wine because of our upcoming wine tasting and we didn't get dessert because we already bought sweets from the bakery earlier. We asked for the check and were completely surprised by what the server told us:

Server: Do you recall the blonde lady who was sitting at the next table when you were seated?

Us: Yes...

Me in my head: Oh crap, we pissed her off with our talking. -sidenote- we were talking about restaurants and I did notice her looking over. I thought we were annoying her, so we quieted our speech.

Server: She said she would pay for two of your entrees because she appreciated young ladies dining at nice restaurants...

We were floored. Completely, utterly floored. I mean, who does that? I was ready for the server to say we ruined the lady's dinner or something, but this was a shock. Truth be told, this totally made our day. I asked if she left her name or how to reach her because I wanted to send her my gratitude, but the server said no. Even as we were walking out of Bouchon, we were wondering why someone would bless us like that. Wherever this awesome lady is, she knows who she is and what she did and I hope something great will happen to her too. Praise God, that's all I can say.

Final Stop: Bubbles

Domain Chandon
Address: 1 California Drive, Yountville, CA 94599
Phone Number: (888) 242-6366

Oh Domain Chandon, I heart thee. We are treated like royalty whenever we are here. Let's just say we didn't have to spend a penny at the tasting room, expect for one truffled popcorn...but then again we got another order of popcorn for free-ninety nine. I guess it does pay to be a Chandon Member!

As far as wine goes, we tried everything from (my favorite) the sparkling red, rose, classic extra dry riche, reserved Chardonnay brut, and a few more I don't remember (ha!). Bubbles, gossip, and blackmail conversations are the best especially on those comfy couches in the reserved member section.

Bliss.

Every girl needs a day like this. Thank you to my ladies, Rozz and Jenn.