Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Cleaning Lady

Ahhh. Cleaning. I hate cleaning.

You see, I am not a good housekeeper. I like to keep things as it is. Blech.

While I can keep wishing that I had one, somehow getting the job done myself gives me a bit of accomplishment and of control. You know I really hate it and it is not often that you see the bedroom floor looking like this.

In fact, it only looks like this because I did this.

I should have just shoved everything under the rug, but you know, I cant. BAAAAH!

Why I put how messy my house gets still mystifies me but I think what I offer is this: YOUR HOUSE IS NOT AS MESSY AS YOU THINK IT IS. And I don’t even have kids to contribute to the mess. Right now, that’s all me – because I choose to do all the mess in the bedroom and half of the living room(other half is purely my husband’s domain – and while he will disapprove of me posting our present state of residence – im still not showing his side. Its just fair, right?!)

Im already annoyed at this. I still have to vacuum, clean and mop the kitchen and hopefully get the beddings washed. It is mighty ambitious, but you know what they say – you gotta reach for the stars.

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• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Go to Allthingsfadra.com and link up in there.

Desi Style Chinese Food at Himalayan Hut

Desi [d̪eːsi] or Deshi [d̪e(ː)ʃi] refers to the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent and, increasingly, to the people, cultures, and products of their diaspora. It may also mean "native" or "traditional." Common examples are "desi ghee," which is the traditional clarified butter from India, as opposed to more processed fats such as vegetable oils. "Desi chicken" may mean a native breed of chicken. Heritage varieties of vegetables and other produce can also be qualified as "desi". "Desi diet" refers to a diet and food choices followed by Indians around the world. (taken from Wikipedia)

I am still finding a hard time pointing out what the word exactly means – all I know is that its meaning varies by use.

Desi Style Chinese Food is a cross between Indian Food and Chinese Food. I have heard lots about this cuisine before but I have not tried it until this trip.

Himalayan Hut is aptly named because we sampled dishes with Chinese, Indian, Nepalese and Bhutanese influences.

The General Location of the Himalayas Mountain Range

 Upon seating, you will notice a jar of chili sauce. Adding this is entirely up to you. It is more of an invitation, not a warning.

To accommodate all clientele, they have two menus. The regular menu and the Desi Menu. The regular menu is more tongue-friendly. The dishes from this menu are adjusted to the American palate that is not used to the heat and the spice that they normally put in their dishes. Since we came here for authentic, we ordered everything from the Desi Menu.

Soup

Hot and Sour Soup

Manchow Soup

Spoonful of Manchow Soup

The Hot and Sour Soup is very different from what is commonly served in Chinese restaurants. This is a heartier and more robustly flavored soup. It is generously filled with chunks of chicken.

According to Wikipedia, Manchow Soup is a dark brown soup prepared with various vegetables, scallions, and chicken (in the non-vegetarian version only), thickened with stock and corn flour, and flavored with relatively generous doses of soy sauce, salt, garlic and chili peppers. It may also be garnished with chopped scallions.

Appetizers

Pan Fried Chicken

Piece of Pan Fried Chicken

Desi Style Pan Fried Chicken

Small Green Chilies in the Desi Style Pan Fried Chicken

We had the Pan Fried Chicken TWICE because when we first asked for it, we said we wanted it spicy. The owner was apprehensive that we could take the spice so she gave us the non-desi version first. The dish contains chopped pieces of deboned chicken thigh and almost each piece would have a piece of crispy chicken skin attached to it. We liked this one, but after proving to the owner that we can handle the spice, the Desi Style came out. When this dish landed in our tongues, it tasted like victory!

Desi Style Pan Fried Chicken is not as crispy as the regular version. This one has a thick dark brown sticky sauce that boasts the complexity of sweet, salty and spicy tastes all rolled into one. 

Noodles and Dumplings

Shrimp Hakka Noodles

Beef Momos

The Shrimp Hakka Noodles has a familiar but different taste. Similar to the Pan Fried Noodle served in a Chinese restaurant, this is a noodle dish that must not be missed. There is nothing really special about it except that it tastes good and very comforting. The Beef Momos are similar to dimsum with a different dough and filling. The tomato based dipping sauce that comes with it makes the dish sing.

Lunch Entrees

Ginger Chicken With Rice

Hot Garlic Fish with Rice

Mushroom Datsi

Fluffy Dumplings

Part of the Lunch Special Combos, we got the Ginger Chicken and Hot Garlic Fish with a side of plain and fried rice. It looks quite similar to some Chinese Takeout dishes, it tastes different, but familiar. These dishes were not spicy at all.

The Mushroom Datsi is a Bhutanese Dish that consists of mushrooms, lots of green chillies and Amul Cheese. A possible winning drink pairing with this is alcohol. The dish's taste go from creamy to spicy and back.

Lastly, these dumplings were fluffy and light. Truly a sight to behold! Unravels like a cinnamon roll, there is no filling inside but the texture of these fluffy dough balls is just good!

I like that Himalayan Hut's interiors make you feel that you are inside a bamboo hut.

Sadly, the exteriors is not as inviting as the interiors. Now that you know what you are getting into – go ahead and have an authentic Himalayan meal.

Himalayan Hut
75-18 37th Ave
Jackson Heights NY
718 426 6888

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Special thanks to Jeff Orlick for organizing this wonderful Himalayan Expedition. I had a wonderful lunch with you, Jared Cohee and Elyaqim Mosheh Adam. Please visit their blogs.

Stream of Consciousness Sundays: Dollar Slice Pizza With Strangers

I popped my dollar slice of pizza cherry yesterday. I was coming from class and I needed some nourishment before going to the MoMA so I stopped for a slice. Nothing on 6^th ave was interesting and since it was probably the 5^th slice place I saw, the offer was too good to pass up.

The place had three tables nd all were taken, but they were all dinign alone. In true NY Fashion I asked to share the table, the young guy on his lunch break did.

As I sat down, I asked him how the slice was. He said it was the best dollar slice he has ever eaten. I was impressed and we went on talking about food. He asked me what I did and I said I am a photographer with a day job and I told him I take a lot of food photos. He asked me what the weirdest thing I have eaten was and I said “I don’t know, weird to you might be good to me.”

 Then I said I love liver.

He gave me an eew face.

Turns out this guy rolls with celebrities! Well, he drives a luxury bus for hire (kinda like a celebrity trailer, but you know, in bus form) and he’s met tons of them. Beyonce, snoop dogg, nick cannon – he showed me his phone photos and well, it really is one of those New York stories from strangers. 

We exchanged cards, walk a couple of blocks uptown and separated somewhere by Bryant park. He showed me his bus and we parted ways.

Thank you for sharing your table with me, Juan. 

Juan's business card, taken at my house.
I forgot my camera AND phone at home that day.

***********************

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Go to Allthingsfadra.com and link up in there.

Fried Whole Fish: Make It, Debone It & Eat It!

Growing up in Manila (Philippines), fried fish is usually on the dinner table. I loved having fried fish for dinner because this means that I can douse my rice pink with banana ketchup. As a child, I didn’t know what fish sticks are, and I first learned about fish fillet from McDonald’s Fillet O’Fish Sandwich.



It is a bit burned, I know.

Knowing how to debone fish at the dinner table is one of the best eating skills I learned. I get looks from fellow diners whenever I suggest ordering a whole fish dish at an Asian restaurant. I googled and surprisingly enough for me, it was a topic of conversation on Chowhound.

I am so handsomely fresh!

I always buy fish from the Asian supermarket. When buying fish, make sure the eyes are not red and they look healthy. The flesh should also spring back when you poke it. This particular one squirmed after I poked it. Sold! Fish in Asian supermarkets are always fresh because WE LOVE FISH!

These guys in the green apron will clean and gut your fish.

Fish minus the styrofoam packaging? FRESH PRIDE!

Picky about freshness? Live fish and lobster is available too!

Cooking the Fish

Ingredients:

Imitating a mermaid centerfold pose.

1 Tilapia (BUY ONE THAT WILL FIT IN YOUR FRYING PAN.)

Cooking Oil for Pan Frying

2 cloves of garlic, Crushed

Rock Salt – iodized is fine as well.

• Clean and rinse your fish again. Make sure you have no part of the guts left in the cavity.
• Cut slits on the side of the fish and put a very light sprinkling of salt all over, including the inside of  the cavity. The slits allow the fish to cook inside.
• Heat the cooking oil on your frying pan on medium high heat. Don’t waste olive oil for frying fish.
• Flick a little bit of water in the oil. If it violently goes out, it is hot enough. 

My G-Section (where they removed my guts from)

Grace under pressure

• Gently but quickly put the fish down in the oil. DON’T THROW IT IN THE PAN. You don’t want to burn yourself. Put the garlic in as you fry. Leave it alone. The garlic helps in giving the crispy brown coating. Turn the heat down to medium low heat. You want the insides to cook before burning the skin.
• You will know the fish is ready to turn after the frying cackling sound goes down and the fish is easily released from the bottom of the pan.
• After flipping the fish, flip your garlic too.

Fried Golden Brown. The slits open up the fish.

Crispy on the outside, flaky on the inside. Yummy all around.

My mom's favorite part of the fish. (I am not kidding.)

Dipping Sauce

This is entirely up to you. When I was a kid, I loved banana ketchup. I doused banana ketchup on my rice to make it turn pink.

Chili Soaking in Vinegar, Kikkoman Soy Sauce
This bottle is different because 
it is imported form Japan. It smells and tastes
different from the Kikkoman Soy Sauce made in US. 
Yes it looks like a water bottle 
but Kikkoman has looked like this back in the 80s. 
When bottled water was not common.

I was feeling very traditional so I made some lemon-soy-vinegar. I keep three kinds of vinegar on hand: Balsamic, Regular White/Cane Vinegar and Spicy Vinegar. Start mixing one teaspoon of vinegar and soy sauce. Add whichever needs more, then squeeze some lemon.

Deboning

Fish generally have a thorny skeleton that runs through the middle of its body. I have scribbled them in different colors so you can tell which I am talking about:

• Blue – This is the Main skeleton. This is what is represented as fish bones in cartoons.
• Purple – On the main skeleton this runs on the vertical, if the fish is lying flat like this. This will intersect with the middle part of the blue skeleton. Expecting it to be there avoids accidentally swallowing the fish bone.
• Yellow – this runs on the side of the fish.
• Green – this is the fish’s “ribcage” these are extra long bones and protects the guts of the fish. YOU CANT MISS THEM.

The *fish rib bone*

Knowing where these bones will be will make your whole fish eating easier. If this is your first time eating whole fish, DON’T WORRY ABOUT DOING IT WITH CUTLERY- EAT WITH YOUR HANDS! It takes practice to debone fish tableside. Learning about the fish’s anatomy will make it easier for you to navigate the whole fish that is usually on a buffet table.

Fish head? Well, you can eat that too. My mom loves it. I am not a big fan.

Eating tilapia that has been cooked as a whole generally has a better taste than a tilapia fillet. I still don’t understand fish sticks, and I will not buy deboned/filled fish unless it is a slice of salmon with the skin intact.

Rogue 24: The Forthcoming DC Restaurant That Previewed in NYC

There has been negative press served up by Washington Examiner’s Jana Irwin for not having this pop-up restaurant in NYC instead of DC – and I say, it is all sour grapes. Let the wonderful Chef RJ Cooper what he wants to do. NYC people are willing to shell it and eat it. NYC people go to DC for business or pleasure. And it is true. Food trends do tend to trickle down from NYC outward.

I made it a point to make my reservations a week after LTO’s (Limited Time Only) pop-up restaurant opened. There was no way that the service will be en pointe on the first week - it is a pop-up, 24 courses and the staff is not used to it yet. I was right. I have heard stories of walkouts because the food had too much time in between courses. While we can point fingers at everyone – I will chalk it up to birthing pains.

The entire progression of the meal is as follows:

snacks/soft-crunch/cold-hot
Pork Chicharrones and Deconstructed Salsa

headcheese/pretzel paper/fried grilled mayo
My first taste of headcheese. I am not disappointed. Mmm.

quail egg/spring textures/anchovy
Poached quail egg, anchovy powder. Better eaten whole,
the quail yolk goodness pops in your mouth.

Tweezers as an eating utensil! 
(a good chopstick substitute, IMHO)

shima aji/black lime/yeast/puffed rice
Hamachi with puffed wild rice and yeast emulsion foam. 
Yes, you eat it with huge tongs! A good chopstick substitute, IMHO

The Caviar Course. 
Served in a caviar tin with mother of pearl spoon.

osetra/new classic garniture/gin infusion
Black caviar, creme fraiche
This is probably Robin Leach's Caviar Dream. I swear!

iberico lomo/melon/coffee/manchego/almond
Compressed Watermelon
A refreshing palate cleanser.

langoustine/chawan mushi/ginger/chorizo
langoustines with chorizo oil

catalina sea urchins/squid toast/lardo/clamato
squid crisp with aereated seawater, lardo and clamato
Clamato. I like that word.

smoked rap oyster/smilax/meyer lemon
oyster suspended in liquid charcoal, meyer lemon foam
I was apprehensive with eating charcoal... it was good!

fingerling trout/parfait/roe/meuniere
Trout with Trout Parfait, roe. The leaves pair so well with the trout!

liquid chicken/truffle/cepe/everona
You eat this thing whole, the liquid chicken explodes in your mouth. 
It was so good - THIS IS BETTER than the truffle explosion
I had at Alinea. I dont like truffles (fungi).

conger eel/seaweed/grapefruit/bbq/charcoal
BBQ eel with a seaweed and grapefruit gelee

olives/goat cheese/bell pepper/basil
The olive on the left is encapsulated olive juice.

turbot/radishes/green garlic/roe
Turbot is a fish, and this dish had a texture similar to fried tofu.

pain perdu/bacon/onion/caramel
Onion ice cream on brioche french toast, bacon tuile & salt caramel 
This dish is f*cking amazing. Yes, I said ONION ICE CREAM. 
Onion ice cream is not something i would eat in pints. 
This dish as a whole? Phenomenal!

quail/rhubarb/ramps/blood
Fried quail drumstick, roasted quail breast on rhubarb with 
pig blood pudding. The roasted quail breast tastes like chicken liver.
I LOVE IT!

lamb/blue ridge inspirations/peanut
Roast lamb with a peanut component. 
This is a lamb dish that I would eat. I am a picky lamb eater.

foraged in wild shenandoah
This is Chef RJ Cooper's tribute to his hometown. 

wagyu brisket/potato pave/morels
"Beef and Potatoes" with morels

A close up of the potato from the dish above. 
Yes, they are in LAYERS!

sheep's ricotta/walnut/long pepper/manni
Ricotta with Black Walnuts, Lemon Oil and Toast
This is very good dessert introduction. Mmm.

dragon carrot soda/tapioca/satsuma crema
Dragonfruit carrot soda, tapioca pearls, orange cream foam. 
I could drink gallons of this!

basil pound cake/lemon-rosemary/passion fruit
Basil pound cake with lemon rosemary sorbet, passion fruit spray 
and pine nuts. This is Chris Ford's winning dessert. 
MMM. I want more. *chest rubbing action*

The Rogue 25. Lemon Ganache with Roasted Hazelnut Macaron. 
This IS NOT part of the 24 course menu.

oliver & sinclair chocolate/acer ice cream/muscovado
Chocolate Pudding with Chocolate Strips, 
Wood Ice cream - yes, WOOD! and muscovado gelee

Happy Endings 1
Salt and Pepper Caramel

Happy Endings 2
Strawberry Marshmallow 
(These babies are soft as women's breasts!)

Happy Endings 3
Custard Truffle

The handsome and dashing pastry chef Chris Ford was once a colleague of my husband, and he has been posting excited statuses about it. I really was excited to see Chris and taste what he has been up to. I am also an avid follower of his blog.

Truth be told – this pop up saved us an 8-hour roundtrip bus ride. It was also my birthday. I proclaimed this dinner outing to be my birthday dinner, even if it is 10 days late.

Rogue 24 will be opening its doors in DC in the coming weeks. It will have a central open kitchen and the dishes will be served by the chefs who prepared them. I had also found out that Chef RJ Cooper aims to have one of the best restaurants in the world alongside The French Laundry and Alinea. Having gone to both, Chef, I honestly feel (and taste) that your food is at par with Thomas Keller’s and Grant Achatz’.

Chris, your exciting flavor combinations are great to eat after looking at all those photographs on your blog. I wish you the best and I know it will happen.

To Chef RJ and Chris, thank you for stopping by our table when we came to eat your wonderful food. The best of luck to the both of you, and I look forward to seeing Rogue 24 in that list. It truly was a very happy birthday dinner for me and my husband.

To Limited Time Only, I look forward to the upcoming chefs that will be cooking in your kitchens. You have my email address.

Disclaimer/Disclosure: Our Dinner was NOT sponsored in any way. We had paid the dinner in full, and tipped well. Chris Ford is a fried of ours but even if he wasn't I would still sing the same high praises (including handsome and dashing.) RJ Cooper does not know us personally, but my husband and I are Facebook Friends with him. The only *perk* we got was the "Rogue 25."

Photo Captions: First line of the caption comes from the Rogue 24 menu. The italics part of the captions is a combination of the waitstaff's introduction of the dishes and my opinion.

LTO (Limited Time Only)
171 E Broadway
New York NY 10022
212 228 3100

Rogue 24
922 N St. NW (Rear)
Washington DC 20001
gorogue@rogue24.com