Feb 23

36H & 9H Pork Belly sous vide

This pork belly is based on the Heston Blumenthal sous vide technique for making 36 hour Pork Belly.  The brine I used is a simplified version of a recipe from a cooking class at ToTT taught by Stephan Zoisl.  Unfortunately, there is no online recipe for the brine, but a quick search on “pork belly sous vide” will return a number of great posts and how-tos (two of which I’ve included below).

The general cooking process for tasty sous vide pork belly is as follows: brine the belly, sous-vide, sear/boil the skin, and serve.

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Feb 22

Poached egg (sous vide) in tsuyu

Sous vide cooking makes poached eggs ridiculously simple.  Set the water bath to 64.5 °C / 148 °F, add eggs, and cook for 45-60 minutes (does not have to be exact).  If you prefer your egg yolks more runny, lower the temperature by 1 °C.  Voila- perfect consistent poached eggs that you can make dozens at a time.

A nice Japanese twist is to serve the chilled poached egg in a tsuyu broth and garnish with tobiko, wakame, and green onions (a bit of ginger is also nice).  It makes for a refreshing, slightly tangy starter.

Feb 22

Don’t Panic

This is Wen Jr at 21/22 weeks.  We have this ultrasound a week earlier than planned because G was starting to worry that she couldn’t feel any kicking or movement.  While I tried my best to assure her that it was normal, we ended up at an all-night clinic talking crazy to a doc (apparently you can’t hear a baby move around with a stethoscope), and of course searching the web for answers.  So, sometimes the best thing to do and for peace of mind is just to go see the baby doc.  And as it turns out, the baby’s fine, growth normal, and yep, still a boy.

Eventually Junior will grow large enough for his kicks to be felt through the placenta, tummy, and extra thick skin…  (I always thought G to be rather thick skinned, and now we have medical proof).  But until that day, I’ll have to remind G, and myself, to relax and don’t panic.

Feb 21

Hormones overload

Last Friday night, I was crying in the car as we headed home from the 24-hour clinic because the doctor didn’t have a doptone machine to read my baby’s heartbeat. Apparently, a stethoscope is not adequate to read heartbeats through all the amniotic fluids. The doc might have sensed my impending breakdown because he waived the charge on our consult.

This morning, we made an emergency visit to the gynae even though our next appointment is just a week away because I was still worried all weekend about not feeling any baby kicks. The gynae cut short my apologetic ramblings by telling me that it’s normal to be worried and that she has mothers who come by almost everyday. My weight gain of 3kg in five weeks was also a good sign since I didn’t put on any weight in the first 15 weeks. I definitely felt much better with just those words alone because it meant I wasn’t the only crazy new mother in town.

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Feb 20

Every band needs at least 9 girls in hot pants

Bloomberg has a fascinating news segment about the second wave of Korean pop and on how the hit makers are eschewing traditional media and building brands in the social media era.  It’s also interesting to note that companies measure and monetize the success of a hit song not only with YouTube views, but also with the number of “tribute” videos that said song spawns.  As the Monocle host observes- the Koreans are learning to embrace what the music industry should be in a digital age where the tangible goods no longer matter.

Skip to 10:40 for the segment.  http://www.bloomberg.com/video/66834590/

Feb 19

Nutella Hot Chocolate

My new favorite comfort drink.  Been making these a lot lately.

  1. Mix 1 big spoon (2 tablespoons or so) of Nutella to 1 cup of milk and heat to desired drinking temperature.   Don’t worry, the Nutella will dissolve as the milk is warmed.
  2. Optionally, froth the drink with an immersion blender for that “cafe” touch.
Feb 18

And the secret ingredient is… Tofu!

Long before Iron Chef aired its tofu-themed battle, Sasanoyuki had already been serving tofu-based meals for a few hundred years (open since 1691).  While the Iron Chefs and challengers typically create 4 or 5 dishes based on the theme ingredient, this restaurant delivers at least 9, that’s right 9, dishes where tofu is the star.  While it may be hard to imagine how this humble curd could be served up in so many ways without patrons leaving in bland disgust, our meal here really opened my eyes to the possibilities of tofu-based cooking beyond just adding it to soup.  Second to the all-beef based meal at Sutamina-En, the lunch at Sasanoyuki was my other favorite of the trip.

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Feb 18

Mmmm… Sushi for Breakfast

G and I were too tired (lazy) to head over to Tsukiji fish market at 430am to watch the tuna auctions, but we did make it over at what we thought was a very early 6am for a sushi breakfast at the “#1″ sushi stall in Tsukiji – Sushi Dai.  Turns out we weren’t the only ones.  When we arrived there were already at least twenty people waiting already.  So we queued.  After one hour the line had barely moved, but die die we would wait a couple more hours if need be in order to eat our fill of the freshest raw fish in town!

After two hours of waiting, we finally made it into the tiny twelve seater stall.  The omakase cost around 3500 Y, and included 10 nigiri of the chef’s choosing + 1 “gift” of our choosing.  Soup and a tuna maki were also included in the meal.  Not a bad deal considering the cost and quality of the fish.

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Feb 16

Sutamina-En – Yakiniku!

Tucked away on a side-street at the northern edge of Tokyo is a gem of an yakiniku restaurant, Sutamina-En (Stamina Garden). We were initially hesitant to make a trip so out of the way, despite the strong recommendation of a well-traveled foodie couple. But, since we were on a foodcation and Japanese wagyu is one of our favorite foods, we decided to make the pilgrimage.  This turned out to be one our favorite meals of the trip!

Sutamina-En is well known amongst the locals and is frequently featured in magazines and on TV shows.  Since they don’t accept reservations, we showed up before opening on a Friday evening to stand in line.  When we arrived there were a couple groups waiting.   A short 20 minutes later and the door opened for business.  While no English is spoken here, we were tipped by the same couple that mandarin however is.  Turns out, the 老闆娘, 帶 “姊”, is a fellow Taiwanese and a very excellent host.

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