Anchovies ready to disintegrate

Gotta love the cured anchovy. Gutted, salted, matured and then packed in oil. Once given some heat on the frying pan, they simply dissolve to add an amazing complex taste to any sauce. I am trying something new here by making a sauce to cook some oyster in.

Hawaiian Sea Salt

Sea salt from Hawaii. It is red because Alaea is added to it. Alaea is volcanic baked red clay (naturally occurring) that is red from its iron oxide content. It adds a great flavor to the salt, and kind of mellows it out. I picked it up at one of my local gourmet stores. It’s the standard table salt used in Hawaii.
I tired it first on pasta, and then on mozzarella. Adds great textures with salty bursts.
Hope you like the close-up shot I took.

Polish beer

The Polish can’t screw in light bulbs and they install screen windows on their submarines. However, they seem to know how to make a not bad beer. It’s a civilized medium bodied beer (yeh civilized, unlike other beers whose name start with a B and end in a “weiser” (there might be a “u” and a “d” in there too)). I’d probably chose a lot of beers before this one, but hey, I always love to try new things, and I’m not gunna say it’s that great, but I was still impressed… impressed enough that I wouldn’t mind drinking this again. Not much head, but still very effervescent on the tongue. Smooth, pretty drinkable, and a balanced pilsner taste.

more pasta

More pasta… just threw it in the pan with some mushrooms, lots of garlic and cilantro. Good stuff

Thai octopus curry

It all started with an octopus and curry. And then after 2 hours of slow cooking the octopus WOWOWOWOW. Sooo tender and tasty. Absolutely the best octopus I have ever had. And I am really tired so I am going to sleep now, sorry for the short blog after a week of not doing so… things be going on.

Crisp fish rice

I got this bottle of ‘stuff’ in Chinatown called Crisp Fish… its basically tiny lil fish, salty soy beans, and chili oil. Just having it on top of Japanese rice… a simple something to whip up and still pretty tasty.

My first meme

I’ve been tagged!! by The Baker at she bakes and she cooks. I have never been tagged before! Thanks Baker! So here goes my meme.

4 jobs I’ve had in my life:
* Kitchen assistant at The Pearl of Siam
* Associate / demo chef at kitchen appliance store
* Starbucks barista
* IT consultant

4 movies I could watch over and over again:
* The Fifth Element
* Indian Jones and The last Crusade
* The Thomas Crown Affair
* Dumb and Dumber

4 places I’ve lived:
* California (short time)
* Northern New Jersey (most my life)
* Southern New Jersey (short time)
* New York City! (present)

4 TV shows I watch
* Family guy
* Seinfeld
* South Park
* Dirty Jobs

4 websites I regularly visit
* Google
* FoodTV
* Engadget
* The Luxist (another place I blog at)

4 of my favorite foods:
* Foie gras
* Lobster
* Garlic
* Ramen

4 places I would rather be right now:
* On top of Denali (Mount McKinley)
* Eating at Per Se
* The outback
* Riding a horse on an untouched beach somewhere tropical

4 people I’m tagging for this meme:
* Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini
* J at Kuidaore
* Obachan at Obachan’s Kitchen & Balcony Garden
* Lisa at Oslo foodie

Fish snack

Picked up this interesting snack in Chinatown. Bleh… no good. Tasty like blandish cruppy oil. semi-yuck

Fresh Roasted Red Pepper Linguini

So I got some Fresh Roasted Red Pepper Linguini from 1-800-gourmet. It came pretty quickly, in an insulted box with ice. I put together some of my favorite pasta ingredients from when I am cooking with gourmet pasta. So, this super fresh pasta only took about 3 minutes to cook. After sautéing the garlic till it softened, I added the anchovies. Once they dissolved, I chopped up everything else and threw it in to bring to temperature. Then I added all the pasta right to the pan with a bit of the pasta water. It was sooo tasty. The pasta was really good, couldn’t believe how unique it was. The anchovies and plenty of garlic really added some great flavor.

Murray’s Cheese Shop

Murray’s is the oldest cheese shop in New York City. It’s about 66 years old. They have at least 250 cheeses on hand at all times. 100 permanent, and 150 rotate around. I think the most expensive cheese I got from them was about $27 per pound (sorry, I forget what it was). Murray’s has quite a stunning client list supplying: Alain Ducasse, Café Boulud, Daniel, Jean Georges, Tasting Room, Per Se, French Laundry, and many more.

Oh, what that you asked? Yes yes, that picture is taken by me…Oh, thank you, yes.. it is very artistic. Thanks.