cook: san francisco vietnamese american garlic noodles and lemongrass shrimp

Today is my husband's birthday, but we celebrated yesterday by hosting his mother and sister for lunch, meaning I cooked. I wanted to re-create in some way the birthday meal we ate at Gao Viet Kitchen, but instead of lobster I grilled shrimp and to the garlic noodles I added blanched bok choi. This recipe I found online I thought approximated the sticky and unctuous sauce that was on the grilled shellfish at my new favorite Vietnamese fusion restaurant.

 

I used grapeseed oil instead of peanut oil and rather than bash and macerate lemongrass growing in my neighbor's garden, I resorted to a tube of lemongrass paste. 

I also wanted to make a caramel sauce to add to my arsenal of Vietnamese sauces from a recipe I saw in the library book below. 

  

I happened to have palm sugar which I tried to melt in my Turkish coffee pot.

 

However, the palm sugar was NOT melting into a caramel like white sugar does, and so I hastened the liquification by adding fish sauce. In the meantime, while the caramel sauce was coming to a very low simmer, I worked on my grill paste. I spent most of the morning assembling the mise en place chopping and mincing.

 

To the heating lemongrass oil, I added lots of ground garlic and thinly sliced shallots.

Lastly, I added thinly sliced red and green chilies and a couple teaspoons of red chili flakes. Grill paste done.

And then it was go time and a blur of laying shrimp into my cast iron grill pan and slathering them with the lemongrass sate before grilling for 7 minutes under a low broil; slicing and de-seeding cucumbers and dressing them in Chinkiang vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and minced garlic, and then putting sliced cucumbers and sauce in the fridge until serving time; 

boiling baby bok choi and fresh noodles and heating in a separate pan, garlic and butter before adding fish sauce, oyster sauce, Golden Mountain seasoning sauce, sugar and then heating and tossing noodles and vegetable with sprinklings of Parmesan and chopped scallions.

I had intended to make Imperial rolls, which needed to be started the day before, but that changed to me calling a nearby Pho restaurant to order Imperial rolls to nope, just go with garlic butter noodles, bok choi, cucumber and grilled shrimp. And it was just enough to feed four plus a little bowl of leftovers. I MUST cook the garlic butter noodles again though to go with the canned crab still in my fridge. And I've still a little jar of the lemongrass sate too. Shrimp again? Or calamari perhaps?
 

clay: the week’s projects

The kiln gods at the high school studio produced a mug I love.    

On the bisque, I adhered first a Western underglaze, a wash of marine blue to fill in the nooks and crannies of texture and then a coat of Amaco electric blue followed by a couple coats of a Western celadon gloss. In the interior of the mug, I painted a few layers of just the celadon. And then I crossed my fingers that I’d end up loving the outcome.

And I do love ❤️ this glaze combination. I plan on making more of my ocean mugs with this glaze combo of blues and celadons. And no cooking posts this week because I've been eating leftovers.

At Saturday clay studio, I brought out of the kiln room the two pitchers I’d been working on these past couple weeks. I’m not in love with the rutile green and celadon. Did I not stir the glaze enough before dipping or painting? Next time I’ll try warm green and celadon.  

 

I don't have a lot of this reclaimed clay and was going to make plinths on which to prop mugs for pop-up sales displays. However, I saw this soap dish online and decided I wanted to re-create it. 

I'm now noticing in retrospect that I needed to fold or curve up the four sides of an oblong shape.

And I'm wondering if I'm going to have to stilt the dish if I decide to glaze the dish as it was pictured.

And so yesterday in the studio, I made two of those organic shaped soap dishes and one conventional type. They're getting bone dry on a shelf for me to pop on the green ware shelf next Saturday. 

I'll likely paint wax resist and then dip them in the bucket of gloss white at the high school studio. And I'm going to ask Cecilia's niece to make a low-scented soap on which to perch on them. Something lightly almond scented with oatmeal and honey perhaps for exfoliation and moisturizing. Handmade soap to go on handmade soap dishes for holiday gifts.

When I arrived home after buying onions at Dean's produce, I saw I only had a little bit of mashed potatoes for the beef stew I was planning to cook for dinner. Really it was going to be beef bourguignon, but I was using Pinot Noir rather than a Cabernet Sauvignon. 

I also didn't have celery on hand as usual for a mirepoix and decided to add a starch factor with green peas.

And instead of drinking the rest of the wine with dinner, I saved it for another cooking endeavor and drank a buttery Chardonnay I liked. 

I bought this giant mango wood board on clearance for only $5 from Anthropologie. It's so ginormous that it can't be hung on my cutting board peg board, and so it's in my closet, which some I'll purge of other impulsive and impractical purchases.

But maybe I can hang it in my dining room if I get rid of a framed poster or the vegetable quilt hanging of which I was going to re-sew the border anyway. The board is rather perfect for pizza gatherings.

cook: easy almost homemade weeknight dinner

I had in the freezer the husband’s favorite meal of Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese, but a wife can’t dine on mac’n cheese alone. Luckily, I also had a supermarket shake’n bake crumbs for baked pork chops and had recently bought a bag of Brussels sprouts and found a quarter head of white cabbage in the vegetable bin. On to sheet pans they went and into 375 degree ovens. Halfway through the 70 minutes of baking, I rotated the pans.    

At the six o’clock hour, done.          

Gotta love a meal reminiscent of what a working mom would’ve cooked in the 1970s after a busy day at an office and school.

 

clay: pop-up at a harvest faire in a winery was a bust

I had the feeling that we weren't going to find an audience for our ceramic wares at the Verde Vineyards. I had commented to family and friends afterwards that the Real Housewives of Morgan Hill and Gilroy would not appreciate handmade and humble nor quirky and interesting art, and I was right. We almost broke even in sales. However, we did learn. I was glad that I didn't pay for a vendor pass for a canopy or 10' x 10' space. Meral and I were dismayed by some of the mass manufactured stuff that were allowed to be at an "artisan" fair. I think our lone table of ceramics, a soy candle maker, two lapidaries, a photographer selling prints of her work, and a bead jewelry artist were the only ones selling original work. Oh well. We forged on and set up our table. The lady selling clothing next to us didn't even sew or design the pajamas and sweaters and jeans and tops on her racks though she did sell her salsa in addition to jewelry and other accessories, which were definitely not handmade. Our sales table was next to hers.

I had brought four boxes of ceramics, and just of my speckled buff stoneware. I only sold a butter dish and a small vase. And Meral a vase and a bowl. But we were okay with that.

I talked to the social media person at the winery, and there didn't seem to be a lot of advertising for this harvest fair--the hashtag was for Gilroy commerce. The winery is a lovely venue, and there was one food vendor, which is something to consider when hosting and planning our own holiday market. Maybe I can talk to a local brewery to give space for an arts and crafts fair as well as the arboretum’s pump house at our Central Park.

I do like the idea of people being able to imbibe alcohol and snack from food trucks as they shop handmade gifts. Meral and I bought our lunch from the barbecue food truck--smoked brisket, turkey, pulled pork, poblano mac 'n cheese, charro beans and potato salad were their offerings.

I bought me a glass of Chardonnay and Meral a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon to sip with our lunch. I never did break out my Square device for any point of sales, nor was there room for any signage. However, I'll have to make a sign next time of my Venmo code.

I posted this meme on Facebook to announce that me and Meral were hawking our pottery at the winery, but next time I need to create posters and word-of-mouth if we're ever to host a holiday sale.

This adventure may have been a fail, but it definitely gave us ideas on how we can sell our ceramics. And so I'll be researching and creating advertising for a holiday market.

cook: salmon dinner

I spied this recipe on Instagram and even took pictures of it in order to re-create it. I love a medium rare salmon and thought slow roasting would result in that soft, juicy fish. 

Even though I roasted the salmon 5 minutes less than the recipe called for, I thought the fish was overcooked. I had some leftover crushed garlic and heavy whipping cream leftover from Ooni pizza night the previous week and folded it into cappellini or angel hair pasta boiled for 2 minutes. I forgot to reserve pasta water and instead just added hot water to the cream sauce to thin though grated Pecorino Romano thickened it again. Oh and I had sugar snap peas languishing in my vegetable bin, and so the green vegetable was tossed into the boiling pasta water too.  

I did not love this dinner. The salmon was meh. I don't care for the brown sugar and salt rub and will return to slathering salmon with butter and olive oil and a little salt. Also I think I prefer the high heat of 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 minutes more or less and then done--the interior of the fish is rare and to my liking. However, the chive, lemon zest and juice, and olive oil with 1/2 teaspoon salt poured on top of the cooked fish before it rests tasted amazing--that I'd do again. I also discovered I'm not a fan of Pecorino Romano--too strong though hubby seems to like it more than Parmigiano Reggiano. And adding greens to the boiling pasta is such a handy shortcut to integrating vegetables into a creamy pasta.

At least I tried a new cooking technique, and maybe I will try slow roasting again. I think that 200 degrees in a convection oven and checking the temperature of the fish halfway through roasting would've produced better results. This past Monday night, hubs and I ate a birthday dessert gifted by my beautiful assistant, Michaela. She bought him a chocolate chiffon layered with whipped cream and fruit and me a whipped cream white cake layered with blackberry and blueberry fruit. The cake slices came from my favorite Korean bakery, Paris Baguette. She even included candles in the gift box.

Patrick, of course, had to drizzle Guittard chocolate syrup on his cake. I love this bakery's fluffy and soft cakes because they're not overly sweet. Dinners this week have mainly been leftovers or grilled sandwich and soup.                                  

The weather has definitely been autumnal. All I've wanted to do is nest and rest.

cook + celebrate: pizza + seafood dining

It’s been a whirlwind of a week. Cecilia decided to throw a pizza party on Monday, and so I volunteered to bake her pies in my Ooni. The pizzas were phenomenal despite the burnt edge of one of the earlier pies. However, the last margherita with loads of arugula and basil was the BEST tasting.                         

 

Bay Area weather this week has been brilliantly warm and sunny. My neighbors, Helen and Nancy decided to take me to a birthday lunch at Half Moon Bay. I chose Barbara's Fish Trap.

Because we had a 30 minute wait, we walked the fishing pier behind the restaurant. I talked to the crabbers and fisherwomen--one red crab and a small croaker.

I knew I was not gonna get to walk the beach, being with two sedentary women, and the weather being too blazing for my hot flashes.

  

The seaside view, however, and my beer were enjoyable.

 

I especially loved fantasizing about sailing on this boat called Digression.

After lunch and a run to Half Moon Bay Nursery, I promptly took a cold shower and napped with Sadie before it was time to go to dinner. I basically exercised (swam a mile) and then slept most of my birthday. After eating an fried oyster sandwich, I wasn't sure I would be hungry for dinner. Nope! I told Patrick I wanted us to dine at Gao Viet Kitchen for my birthday. I ordered the Crispy Imperial Rolls. I noticed that Patrick ate more than one. I brought home what we didn't eat and wrapped the two left in lettuce and herbs as a late night snack.

I wanted something green, something salad-y, and the closest was the Mango Salad with Shrimp. It had too much bell peppers and not enough green mango. Really what I wanted was a green papaya salad with shrimp, but on the menu the papaya salad was served with beef.

I didn't choose to go to my original restaurant pick of PPQ Dungeness Island because of a few negative Yelp reviews and was urged by Cecilia to try instead the downtown San Mateo Vietnamese restaurant. So okay I ordered Gao Viet's grilled lobster with garlic lemongrass chili lemon butter sauce with garlic noodles. The shellfish was delicious and messy, and I'm tempted to cook this dish on my own for Patrick's birthday.

I told Patrick to take pictures of the dish and to messaged them to me because I had forgotten my phone. And I'm committing to memory all the embellishments like mint and scallions and red chilis (sweet chili sauce perhaps?) so that I can cook this at home. Patrick did say it was the best Vietnamese food he's ever eaten, and so now I'm on a mission to re-create this meal on Halloween weekend. 

October 5th, my 58th, was a pleasurable and happy birthday.