eG Foodblog: Chufi - Old Favorites and New Adventures

[Pan]

Happy Anniversary, Klary! I, too, find your rats really cute!

About petai: I like it and eat it on occasion, but do you notice how it affects your urine? (Yeah, asparagus does, too, but petai does even more, and you ate both in the same meal! )

[C. sapidus]

My pestle and mortar is really not much use. It's one of those ceramic ones.. yes, I should get a proper one. The thing is, I'm lazy.. I would really prefer the foodprocessor to do this job for me.. and this comes from someone who prefers to whip eggwhites, cream and all sorts of batters and doughs by hand, just because I HATE to clean the foodprocessor!

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Rather than lazy, I prefer the term efficient. But yeah, I am as efficient as the next person, and I know exactly what you mean about cleanup. For small jobs – grinding a few teaspoons of dry spices or mashing up garlic and chiles for nuoc cham - a granite mortar is way easier to clean than the food processor.

Besides, a granite mortar has a certain functional beauty.

[Chufi]

I'm having breakfast right now. It looks the same as yesterday's (joghurt, granola, rhubarb).

I made lunch to take to work, and it looks like yesterday's lunch: sandwiches with young Gouda and rookvlees (but not otasted, ofcourse).

I'll get to your questions later, now I'm off for a day of 'regular'work!

[Chufi]

Just one question for now:  What do Yuki and Dozo mean?  I'm intereted in your rats' names because they sound Japanese!  (Sorry if this question has already been asked.)

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Hi Hiroyuki.. yes, I always like to give my pets Japanese sounding names, somehow it seems to suit them. Yuki (or actually, Yukiko) is a character in one of my favorite novels, Tanizaki's Makioka Sisters. And isn't 'dozo' Japanese for please, that's what it sounds like to me when in Japanese movies people are offered food or a drink. I hope this is not an offensive use of a Japanese word to you

Happy Anniversary, Klary! I, too, find your rats really cute!

About petai: I like it and eat it on occasion, but do you notice how it affects your urine? (Yeah, asparagus does, too, but petai does even more, and you ate both in the same meal! )

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I am SO glad you said this!! We actually did not have asparagus and peteh in the same meal. But yesterday evening after I went to the bathroom I made a comment to Dennis about the phenonemon you are describing He said he had not noticed it and that I was imagining it! So thank you for proving I was right! It's a weird thing isn't it?? I did not know there was another foodstuff besides asparagus that does this!

[Pan]

Klary, the effect of petai on urine is well-known in Malaysia. You definitely weren't imagining it!

[Hiroyuki]

Hi Hiroyuki.. yes, I always like to give my pets Japanese sounding names, somehow it seems to suit them. Yuki (or actually, Yukiko) is a character in one of my favorite novels, Tanizaki's Makioka Sisters.  And isn't 'dozo' Japanese for please, that's what it sounds like to me when in Japanese movies people are offered food or a drink. I hope this is not an offensive use of a Japanese word to you

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Not offensive at all. Just interesting and INTRIGUING!! Yuki in Yukiko means snow!

I just want to add one more thing: You have read a Japanese novel that I haven't.

[Chufi]

Lunch was the sandwiches I brought from home, and a banana and half a litre of milk that I bought in the cafetaria. And numerous cups of bad office-coffee...

Tonmorrow I will have some time to go grocery shopping, and maybe a little excursion in the city. Any requests for something in particular?

Oh and I could use an adventurous recipe for scallops. I tend to simply panfry or grill them and serve them on some salad leaves... but would like to do something different this week. For a first course, so it has to be light and preferably not with a very creamy sauce. Spicy is ok!

Hiroyuki, I can't believe you haven't read the Makioka Sisters! But I guess that's the same as Dutch people never going to see Rembrandt's pictures

And for everybody else, this is on-topic, because they discuss food a LOT in this book. They seem to be eating all the time!

[Chufi]

Do you  have a set of American measuring utensils, or are you comfortable enough to convert imperial to metric in your recipes?

Your food photos are fantastic!

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Thanks Jennifer!

I do have a cup measure, and a set of measuringspoons. I have it memorized how much a ' stick' of butter weighs, and I have a conversion chart hanging on the wall in my kitchen.

I do prefer to weigh though! But at least it's better now that I know that a cup is not the same as a Dutch coffee cup. You can imagine my first baking experiments from American books were a disaster..

[yunnermeier]

Yay for Chufi! I am really looking forward to your blog!

Chufi messaged me last week that she was in Weesp a few weeks ago and saw the house I used to live in (posted the picture in my foodblog last year) and talked with my host dad! hahaha

Can't wait to see what you'll be cooking the next few days:)

[Chufi]

Yay for Chufi! I am really looking forward to your blog!

Chufi messaged me last week that she was in Weesp a few weeks ago and saw the house I used to live in (posted the picture in my foodblog last year) and talked with my host dad! hahaha

Can't wait to see what you'll be cooking the next few days:)

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Good to see you here! even if I missed you in Weesp!

the eGullet world is really a very small world.

[Abra]

How about this Scallops with Shiitake in Lapsang Souchong Broth? I've had it bookmarked forever to try, and it sounds very Dennis-y as well.

Have you seen the movie of The Makioka Sisters? It's really good, although I haven't read the book for comparison's sake.

It's funny about the petai. With asparagus, they used to say that some people "had" the effect and some didn't. But now they've decided that some people can smell it and some can't. Those who can't smell it think they don't have it. Maybe petai is the same way.

[Lori in PA]

Hello, Klary! I have been too, too busy to be much immersed in the egullet world lately, but somehow I'll just have to find some time to read your blog. The sandwich photo got to me -- I miss all that lovely thin-sliced dark European bread. I took myself right to the fridge hoping we had some leftover deli meat to make a puny Americanized twin of your beauty, but no. Instead, I came across some Manchego cheese and recreated a simple salad we had awhile back at Jaleo, a tapas restaurant in Washington, DC. It is just sticks of apple and the cheese, drizzled with olive oil and garnished with a sprinkle of sliced scallion. I've been munching on it as I've read through the first two pages of your blog, musing at how your Dutch beef and cheese sandwich brought me to a Spanish cheese and apple salad! Blog on.

Oh, I fancy sauteed scallops served over asparagus risotto.

[Pontormo]

Every single rat I've had does this. If I leave it long enough they'll only leve a thin, perfectly round strip of peel. I think they're trying to tell me they'd prefer their cucumbers peeled 

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There are so many recipes that call for seeded cucumbers....

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Regarding the inspiration for Yuki's name, thank you for the explanation. Having read the novel more than a decade ago (gorgeous; response to modernization in Japan and beautifully sensitive to female protagonists, if merciless), I hadn't a clue. Criterion has just started to release DVDs of classic Japanese films by Mizoguchi and Ichikawa. The latter directed Sasame-Yuki (Fine Snow is Japanese title), the adaptation of the novel that Abra saw. From what I understand Europeans have greater access to DVDs considered less marketable here in North America. Back to culinary matters:

I look forward to seeing more posts related to your decision to cook with ingredients you are not used to buying or preparing. If any of these end up in Southern Italian food, I'd love to see where you pick up foods imported from Italy and to compare what you find to what is available in a cosmopolitan city in the United States.

Also, your trips to outdoor markets are always interesting, should the spirit move you.

Edited May 8, 2007 by Pontormo (log)

[rockdoggydog]

Yay! A Klary blog! Congratulations to you and Dennis!

Rocky

[Megan Blocker]

Klary, Degustation here in NYC was doing a really yummy scallop dish last year...very simply seared, then served on top of a tomato-garlic puree...would probably be good doctored with a bit of heat!

[hathor]

Come on Klary.....sweetbreads are soooo good, and Dennis would be soooo happy. And I'm being bad!!

Those Indonesian shrimp look so good. I'd love to be eating them right now! I made the mistake of catching up on your blog while I was hungry. Now I'm STARVING!!

[therese]

I also loved "The Makioka Sisters" (and I also can't believe Hiroyuki hasn't read it!). Have you read Tanazaki's "Some Prefer Nettles"? Lots and lots of food there as well, particularly food as in indicator of social class, etc.

[Catriona]

I'm boring with scallops too, I'm afraid - seared and with a squeeze of lemon or sometimes a champagne reduction.

I'm loving your beautiful photography, chufi!

[Hiroyuki]

I also loved "The Makioka Sisters" (and I also can't believe Hiroyuki hasn't read it!). Have you read Tanazaki's "Some Prefer Nettles"? Lots and lots of food there as well, particularly food as in indicator of social class, etc.

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I have read other novels of Tanizaki, but not that one (I mean, "The Makioka Sisters"), whose original Japanese title is Sasame Yuki (Fine Snow).

Interestingly, some things Japanese (novels, movies, etc.) are more popular overseas than in Japan... The movie Tampopo is such an example. It was here on eGullet that I learned that this movie was so popular overseas, much popular than in Japan!

No more off-topic remarks from me.

Chufi, in honor of your third foodblog, I think I'll have some herring some day during this week.

Do you ever eat herring roe (kazunoko in Japanese) in your country?

Edited May 8, 2007 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Chufi]

I'm home, it's late and I'm tired, but i can't go to bed without giving you at least a picture report of my evening!

We had dinner with eGulleters markemorse and IlCuoco, and our respective spouses. markemorse had kindly offered to host a dinner that would offer many unknown and adventurous flavours!

I arrived to find markemorse writing me out a to-do list I was to prep the shrimp, make the salad, and make the mayonaise.. which I was happy to do ofcourse..

Fortunately when IlCuoco and his girlfriend arrived they immediately set up a mangorita-making-station..

oohh they were really good!

Cooking : cornbread being made

appetizers:

tequila marinated shrimp wrapped in bacon, grilled, with barbecue sauce and rosemary mayonaise

here's the best thing I've tasted in a long time. Quesedilla's with duck confit, caramelized onions, tomatillo salsa.. can you imagine how good this was.. thank you markemorse for making this for me!!

Then I was put in charge of frying the plantains. Big mistake.. I wasn't born to do this.. and after 3 mangorita's it's hard.. but I'm having fun..

plantains are looking pretty sad though..

Aruban black beans, hearts of palm salad with mint and lime, cornbread, and amazing jerk pork with a spicy jerk sauce. I'm hoping markemorse will chime in tomorrow and tell a bit more about the food, especially the beans which were terrific.. and the jerk sauce which was wonderful, sweet and spicy and deeply flavored.

this picture really does not do the food justice!

we had no room for dessert but we ate some anyway.. ginger lime creme brulees being bruleed to perfection:

we drank mangorita's, (did I mention the mangorita's?? ), beer, banana beer, and german Gewurztraminer. We had a wonderful time. Thank you markemorse and IlCuoco for making this happen! And thank you to the respective wives, girlfriends and husbands (that sounds as if there were a dozen of them ) for joining us and putting up with the foodietalk!

I'll be back tomorrow with some more details, answers to questions etc.. but I first need some sleep!

Edited May 8, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[markemorse]

ooek. good time had by all. mara and i are taking our full bellies to bed at the moment but will elaborate on the evening's festivities tomorrow...thanks to IlCuoco (+ Nic) and Klary (+ Dennis) for a very nice evening. Andy (pork host) came by right after you guys left and took all the leftovers...

mem

[jgarner53]

Oh wow, that jerk pork looks fantastic! Tell us more about it please! Cut, seasonings, cooking method???

[holds out glass] Can I have a mangorita, too?

[Domestic Goddess]

[holds out a HUGE glass] Can I have a glass of mangorita too?

[Abra]

Wow, nice dinner! What makes that mangorita so very green?

[Smithy]

appetizers:

tequila marinated shrimp wrapped in bacon, grilled, with barbecue sauce and rosemary mayonaise

here's the best thing I've tasted in a long time. Quesedilla's with duck confit, caramelized onions, tomatillo salsa.. can you imagine how good this was.. thank you markemorse for making this for me!!

we drank mangorita's,

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Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!

With or without the mangoritas (however you spell them ), that sounds fabulous!

Rosemary mayonnaise, eh? What a concept! I'll have to try that, and soon.