Food, Not Filler

Dinner at Sakae

Michelle — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:18:32 +0000

In Burlingame, CA is a wonderful gem of a restaurant: Sakae. It appears to be a tiny hole-in-the-wall run-of-the-mill sushi shop. But if you go, sit at the sushi bar, and put your appetite (and wallet!) in the hands of owner and sushi chef Hiro and Jun you are in for an amazing treat. We [...]

Shakshuka: Comfort Food

Michelle — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:39:41 +0000

Last year we ate at a newly opened Israeli restaurant and had a wonderful dish of ‘Shakshuka’. It was eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce and was quite good. We’ve since made many variations on this dish, it’s quick and easy comfort food if you have some tomato sauce and eggs handy. We’ve [...]

Cantaloupe from the Garden

Michelle — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:56:36 +0000

We planted cantaloupe this year and now have a nice crop of ripening melons. The motivation was to use them in smoothies, but they are so sweet and syrupy, they usually don’t make it to the blender. This one is so ripe, syrup is running down the outside: Here’s a quick video on cubing a cantaloupe: The [...]

Summer Candy: Figs!

Michelle — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:42:16 +0000

One of the many delights of California summer foods is fresh figs. So syrupy sweet, they are like candy. Our backyard fig trees are still too young to bear much fruit, but Allen Wilson of Wilson farms offers his bounty at the Santa Cruz Farmer’s Market: We need to remember to buy enough so that some [...]

Tandoori Experiment 2

Michelle — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:00:01 +0000

We had an almost successful first try at using our ceramic cooker as a tandoor oven. We made some changes and tried again. Recap of issues from the first try The first attempt resulted in chicken that was unevenly done — the edge pieces were well cooked, but the middle ones were not quite done. We had [...]

Green Peach Salad

Michelle — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 04:10:16 +0000

Too Many Peaches! We have several fruit trees in the yard, one of them in its third season since planting. It’s produced a bumper crop too large for its small frame to support: The tree needs stake support and also needs to be relieved of some of its fruit. But they aren’t all ripe yet. [...]

Real Hazelnut Mocha

Michelle — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:59:35 +0000

We’re coffee snobs. After tasting expertly (and lightly!) roasted beans, used within 2 weeks of roasting, and pulled as espresso by a barista who knows how to properly extract it, we were ruined for run-of-the-mill coffee. And yes, run-of-the-mill includes the likes of Starbucks and Peets. Thankfully, there are a number of [...]

A Good Grill Grid Lifter

Michelle — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:17:38 +0000

One of the accessories we wanted for our Big Green Egg kamado-style grill was a grill lifter, a gadget to remove a too-hot-to-touch grill to get at the charcoal beneath. We looked at the crooked-stick ones sold by barbeque stores and at the clamp-like one by Big Green Egg. The Big Green Egg [...]

Tandoori Marinade

Ken — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:40:33 +0000

This run of tandoori marinade was modeled on a vindaloo spice scheme. The ingredients and approximate quantities are as follows: 1 cup whole goat yogurt (plain cow’s milk yogurt is just fine) 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves juice of 1 fresh lime 2-3 tablespoon piece of fresh ginger root 2-3 tablespoons of garlic cloves 3 Dry whole chili pods 1-2 tablespoons paprika 2 tsp [...]

Big Green Egg as a Tandoor Oven?

Michelle — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 05:32:44 +0000

We decided to try using the Big Green Egg (BGE) as a tandoor oven. Features of a traditional tandoor A tandoor is typically a cylindrical clay oven, open on the top. It can be heated by charcoal or gas (in modern versions). It runs at temperatures from 500 to 800 degrees F. Very long skewers of marinated [...]