chez pim

anatomy of an ugly salad

Once in a while you find there's little you could do to save a plate of food from being ugly.  You composed it with pretty things: bright green butter lettuce, blushing watermelon radish, slivers of red chili, a beautiful piece of skirt steak--sometimes I can hardly think of anything prettier than a perfectly grilled steak.  You dressed it up in a gorgeous Celadon plate made by hand by a talented friend.  You tried pretty much anything but the upskirt shot and the pictures still came out looking positively ugly.  The homeliness of this plate of salad was rather confounding, especially considering how delightfully delicious it was, as evident by the five minutes flat it took for you know who to polished off his first serving.

Despite it all, this ugly salad is something I do quite often when I want something quick and light for supper.  It's a vaguely Thai salad, with a dressing made with lime juice, fish sauce, chili powder, sliced shallots, mint, and cilantro, with an added (and indispensable) nuttiness from roasted rice ground into powder.  In Thailand, the grilled beef "salad" is a mostly protein affair, with grilled beef slices tossed with the super spicy dressing and served with fresh vegetables and steamed sticky rice on the side as respite from bites of the spicy salad.

Top Chef preview....or, how to blog without blogging

Let's see how many blog post I can do this week without really writing at all.  Well, the magical elves (redundant?) at Top Chef headquarter have been sending me these sneak previews each week, so I guess I'd just put one up for them.

What's my take on Top Chef thus far?

Dale: A pretty good cook who could possibly win but for Hung having taken the only Asian-Dude-Winner spot already last year.

Richard: What's with the faux hawk?  Seriously.

Spike: What's with them lesbian-hatin' words?  I'm sure a lot of it is from editing but still..

Nikki: She should've been off long ago.  Seriously, how did she make it this long?

Andrew: Andrew who? 

Stephanie: She's this year's Top Chef.  Mark my words.

The antipodean dude: Self taught, eh?  Hit the books again, mate.

Lisa: Seriously would you please wash your hair like once before the season is over (or before you're kicked out)?

lost...

No post today I am lost somewhere in this universe.  Blame that Alex.

Chez Pim on Iron Chef this week, again

I've been meaning to tell you, my second appearance as an Iron Chef judge is on air throughout the week.  Check out the schedule and see if you could catch one?  I'd love to hear what you think.

Some dude on some blog wanted me off the show already.  Ha.  I guess I've arrived.

more New Orleans love: Casamento's

A very happy cutie pie waiting for oysters at the counter at Casamento's, one of New Orlean's legendary eateries.  Everybody goes there for the fresh raw oysters.  David and his best friend Josh are known to practically move into the restaurant for the afternoon, downing dozens and dozens of New Orleans oysters between them with nothing much more than a drop of Tabasco on each one, oh, of course, and a lot of beer. 

As for me, I dream of Casamento's when I'm not in New Orleans, but not about the raw oysters.  I dream of their Oyster Loaf.   I dream of this...

Cafe du Monde's beignets: how many ways can you say fabulous?

There are simply not enough words in the English language--même le Français--to describe how much I love beignets at Café du Monde in New Orleans.  The crispy, pillowy goodness of fried dough, arriving in triplicates buried in a mound of tooth-achingly sweet powdered sugar, were just far too much for my senses to process.  They caused a temporary bend in my space and time continuum, and before I knew it there were mere crumbs left on the plate where three, six, nine of those babies once were.  Aided and abetted by the bottomless cup of sweetened, milky, nutty, chicory-infused New Orleans coffee, I couldn't resist but to ask--no, beg--for more.

still lifes from dinner in a dark(ish) room

Vimeo and a new (old) cooking video

Strawberries are making their return appearance at farmers market across the country.  Here's a fabulous--and fabulously easy--recipe to turn them into a three-star dessert.

I posted this homemade video nearly a year ago here on Chez Pim, but the quality of that original video was quite appalling I'm surprised it got any viewing at all.  I'm reposting it again on a spiffy new video hosting service Vimeo.  I discovered them very recently thanks to a bunch of hilarious short videos on Boing Boing.  Vimeo streams far better quality videos than other services I've tried.

So, here's a new (old) recipe to greet new berries and the new season.  Have fun watching!

On Feeding Bob

Meet Bob.  Yeah, I've given my starter a name.  He's now called Bob.  He's kind of a blob anyway, and I actually don't have any human friend called Bob.  I know quite a few Roberts, but no Robert I know is a Bob.  So there, I can call my starter Bob and no one shall be offended.

Here's a photo of Bob when he's just been fed breakfast.  Bob eats his breakfast at the same time Ella does hers.  Who's Ella?  Why my kitty of course.  Ella and Bob are both fed breakfast while I wait for Miss Silvia to heat up.  Miss Silvia is my espresso machine-she has to heat up properly before I could make my coffee, for my own breakfast, and David's.  You know who David is.  This is not getting too confusing for you, is it?  I've still got you with me, right?

So, about feeding Bob.  It's quite important, the feeding of Bob.  Keeping Bob bubbly and lively is the key to baking happy bread.  Like this one for example.

Gorgeous, yes?  Should I name my bread too?  Now that'll be too much I guess.  Ok, no then.  Back to Bob, shall we?

Taste of Asia at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

If you're around San Francisco on the weekend of April 25, you might want to check out this fabulous event at The Asian Art Museum: Taste of Asia.  The event is a benefit for the Asian Art Museum.  Friday the 25th is a dinner with food from famous Asian restaurants in the city such as Yang Sing, Betelnut, Po Leng Lounge, Yoshi's, Dosa, and many more.  Tickets to this dinner are $125 per person. 

Chez Pim readers can claim $10 off, just mention Chez Pim when you make your reservation.

On Saturday, April 26th, there will be culinary seminars at the museum.  At 11am, I'll be moderating the panel "Culinary Adventures through Asia" with James Oseland, Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford.  Then at 1pm, I'll be participating in the discussion "Talking Food - 2008" with Kevin Blum from The City Dish, Marcia Gagliardi from tablehopper.com, Bee Yinn Low from Rasa Malaysia, and Nish Nadaraja from Yelp.

Hope to see you there.