baby rambutan

on the day we visited the graves to honor my kids’ great-grandparents….

the in-laws decided to be bold and daring and try out a “new” restaurant.
when we walked in we were a bit alarmed due to the strong scent of incense (they must have been praying to the ancestors too) and the scarcity of customers at that time, 5:30 p.m. on a Sunday evening.

i’m not sure if i was swooning from hunger, but i am sure that this fish head soup was the best:
the waiter had picked out a black cod and presented it in a bucket to my father-in-law, and it promptly flopped and flipped and almost escaped. a demonstration of freshness, no doubt about it.

milky, yet clear (i don’t quite know how to describe, i know), it tasted like the firm white flesh had been extracted and distilled into this gingery, crisp concoction. the fish head was cut up and served alongside, with mustard greens (it’s not on the menu though–but a special posted on the wall and you can only know about it if you bring a Chinese friend with you.)

after the first soup course, we were stoked, and each dish successively and promptly put forth from the kitchens did not disappoint. my favorite that evening was the calamari in shrimp paste, pictured on the bottom right.

as the evening wore on the tables got filled and all around us were little families enjoying a Sunday dinner out. i only wished they’d turned off the two big screen televisions showing first a basketball game then “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” but that’s just me.

my tummy’s rumbling now, just thinking about it. i think it’s time we go back and sample the frogs’ legs, the seafood in taro pot, the pea pod stems in crabmeat, no, wait maybe the fried pork intestines…with hundreds of items on the menu, and specials posted on the walls, it’ll be a tough decision.

South Garden
217B Quincy Avenue
Quincy, MA
(617) 328-6628

so who isn’t on a health kick these days? you just can’t escape it even if you don’t have any health issues (lucky you *inggit*envy*)–tv and print ads and emails all beseech you to watch your weight, read food labels, work out, eat less, and on and on.
one of my sincere efforts is to avoid cooking deep fried foods.

but alas, the allure and the lure of lumpiang Shanghai (meat and shrimp rolls) got the better of me. i justified it by using ground chicken to replace some of the ground pork, and tried to have the rolls not spend too much time in the deep fat fryer (crucial to use, so that you know how hot the oil has gotten).
the star of this blogpost though is The Dip. i was in a hurry to cook and couldn’t find my recipe for the sweet and soy-y dip so i dug out my dog-eared 22-year-old edition of Galing Galing by Nora Daza for a sweet and sour ketchup-y sauce to which i added some fried garlic.

1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water (or chicken stock)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. cooking oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsps. ketchup/catsup
2 tsps. cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp. water

in a glass cup, combine vinegar, sugar, salt and water and mix well.
heat a saucepan and add cooking oil (you can use as little as you need to coat the pan). brown the minced garlic until fragrant. add the vinegar solution and bring up to a gentle boil and then add the cornstarch solution, stirring constantly until thickened.

i added a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper too.

any guilty feelings after imbibing these forbidden deep fried goodies were assuaged by the opposite lumpia variation.

after having some fresh lumpia in California–traditionally made with heart of coconut, (the inner core of the coconut trunk, which is not available here)–here made with jicama (singkamas) and other vegetables: green beans, carrots, snow pea pods, celery, all precisely julienned…i had a hankering for some more.

if only i could findeureka!i think i’ve found that prefect white crepe i’m longing for, with a bit of a spongey texture in its thinness, just like my Ma used to get fresh from the lumpia-makers of Nepomuceno Market near Kamuning and Cubao….

i’ve been having problems with this webhost, and in the time it took just to write this post i’ve managed to trawl the www and try a few recipes for the crepe. this is it, at least for now:
a white and fine textured crepe that doesn’t overwhelm the vegetables with too much egginess.
(based on a recipe from recipezaar.com)

200 grams all purpose flour
50 grams tapioca starch
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 tbsps. canola oil
525 ml lukewarm water

blend dry ingredients, then add the egg. whisking constantly, add the water in a steady and slow stream. whisk until well blended; use a stick blender if batter is lumpy. cover tightly with plastic wrap and let stand in the refrigerator, for at least an hour, up to overnight.
heat up crepe pan to medium hot, lightly oil it, then pour just enough to cover the pan with a thin layer (i used about 1/3 cup for my crepe pan).
when top is set, flip carefully–don’t let it brown, or else it will crack and not drape over the lumpia like a velvet shawl….

we have been waiting for this new grocery to open up–news had been buzzing around the web, ever since our favorite (one and only) Japanese food purveyors in Cambridge closed down.

we organized a little trip on a sunny cold Sunday afternoon to Medford, to look for our favorite green tea soy milk and soba noodles (chasoba); the kids had a grand time looking up and down the candy and soda aisles, which were blissfully not crowded. yet?

husband wanted to give the takeaway sushi counter a try. in the process #1 son bumped into his Japanese language professor who took the opportunity to grill him on his skills.


after a long wait: fresh, beautiful, perfectly assembled sushi and sashimi. very well worth the time spent. their pickled ginger was the best, crispy and all-natural. (pictured in the trays above, next to the little splotches of lime green wasabi paste.)

i picked up a tiny jar of the real thing, freshly grated Japanese wasabi. the difference is unmistakable: the searing hit of the paste is very subtle at the start but then you get that brain buzz, all in a good way.
it was just like that, on our way home we were buzzing with excitement, happy at the thought of this new place not too far from home.

not like here, a much longer ride to Burlington, and the two times we’ve gone, both on Saturday evenings the chaos was too much that we were not able to enjoy the shopping experience much.
we vow to return when all the fuss and novelty have died down, hopefully. they have food stalls and a bakery with the most delicious red bean doughnuts.

and when we finally made it back, after a quick hop into Chinatown, double-parked in suspense on Harrison street, to pick up a roast duck, i tried to sooth #2son’s craving for miso soup with ingredients we had at home: dashi no moto, miso paste, silken tofu, udon noodles, the magic wakame seaweed, and sliced scallions.

yesterday, it was.

more and more snow–the photo does not quite capture how fast and furious the flakes were falling.

banh xeo, for pancake day (Shrove Tuesday) at our neighborhood pho palace…this was a disappointment. not much flavor; thankfully our only child for the day, #2son, loved the crispy egg crepe. (daughter was off on a trip with her friends, #1son at college. their winter/spring breaks don’t jibe anymore).

comfort food: a bowl of bun, noodle salad, with all good things as toppings (grilled pork and shrimp, meatballs and shrimp cake).
so why is today another (painfully flat as ) pancake day?
i’ve just had my not-quite-yearly mammogram (i am always reluctant to book this appointment), and to you my blog sisters…you know what i mean .
have you had your check-up yet?

sometimes the path from “A” to “B” takes some convoluted twists and turns. the craving was for lobsters…as in $2.99 per pound medium size lobsters–i kid you not! the price was too low as to be worrisome…we haven’t seen prices like these since we were teenagers, and we’re talking Maine, straight-from-the-dock prices! good-luck-to-the-lobstermen kind of prices…–
but to get to that, first i had to have chocolate cake.
of the three-layer-punch-in-the-face variety.
i take my job really seriously you know, the job of checking out chocolate cake or brownie recipes that tout themselves to be the best.
now, i’ve proclaimed that i won’t buy any more new cookbooks or food magazines at all. but i forgot that i did subscribe to two family oriented magazines last year, to support my kid’s public school.
when the first issue arrived, the first thing i noticed was the purported “best chocolate cake recipe ever!” which i dutifully decided had to be put to the test.


i was tempted to stop icing the cake right then, and eat the rest of the frosting straight up with a soup spoon….

but i had good self-control. for a change.

then i had to hie off to the newly opened fish mongers at the 4th edition of summer shack. it is a New England institution by now, Jasper White’s humble down home chain of restaurants that evoke hearty New England chowders and lobster bakes. we went to the original location in Cambridge years ago for a mothers’ day dinner–it is so memorable to me because it was the weekend before i’d have to find out if a lump on my leg was something to worry about or not (NOT, as it turned out)…so i was determined to have a great good time.
the food was divine, and i remember sharing a broiled lobster platter with my then 2-year old youngest child, and the fish lumpia (spring rolls) that were so terrific we had to order more.
this 4th franchise has a fish store, and our first peek last weekend the fish monger whispered that there’d be a sale on lobsters, this weekend.
there i was, buying, incredulously at $2.99 a pound…”give me FOUR!” wheee….i was almost in a diabetic shock state from hunger, having just swum 30 lengths at the pool, having just popped a cracker dipped in fish pate from the sample counter, having just walked out to try and get a nice takeaway lunch from the supermarket round the corner…when i literally walked into the towering gent, the what, 6 foot 4 inch tall– the one and only Jasper White himself, seeing some dining customers out the door.
“murrrmpphffaffff!”
i tried to swallow the mouthful of cracker.
“how nice to see you! i’m a fan!” i know, so lame….
he graciously, gallantly shook my hand, laughing,” happy new year!”


i swear, he was right there!

ask me about the chocolate cake recipe, which was fabulous! i’m still too stunned right now….

so we dug ourselves out of the snow…and into town for a glimpse into the movie magic of


The Great Hall

the diabolically pink professor’s room
i just had to be very sneaky and feel like a secret agent with my hidden camera (under my folded up down coat). they were heavily guarding the Cedric Diggory robes too well, i’d have thought that would be the most popular attraction given the Twilight craze, but there wasn’t a thick enough crowd for the Secret Agent to hide behind! the exhibit, which has been in Boston since September, is phenomenally crowded, this second day of the year, and rightly so: such finely crafted and minutely detailed props and costumes. they didn’t cut corners on the special effects. you’ll also be able to quickly guess that the actors and actresses aren’t that tall. they just seem larger than life, thanks to movie magic.

ball gown and dress robes, left to right: Viktor Krum, Hermione, and Ron

the only disappointment i felt was the absence of anything pertaining to Luna Lovegood.
so you know what i’m talking about now, yes? if not, then you must think i’m crazy (which i assure you i am), but you also must have just wandered out of the Sahara? or tundra?….

after an afternoon at the museum we were treated to a hot pot dinner, which just hit the spot. the freezing spot! cooking our dinner over the kim chee broth (alongside a mild version)–reminiscent of our New Year’s eve fondue feast, but this time we felt quite self-righteously healthy.
for dunking, you choose from beef, pork, lamb, chicken, seafood…among many others; they also give you a platter of vegetables alongside: tofu, Napa cabbage, watercress, corn, shiitake and enoki mushrooms, and bean curd skin.

for the dipping sauce sister-in-law recommended a little bit of everything (XO sauce, raw garlic, scallions, chilis, kim chee bits) in the Japanese soy sauce. i say, Amen, sista!

and if there’s an exotic ingredient on the menu i’m so going for it….beef tongue please!

Shabu-Zen
Brighton Avenue, Boston
reasonably priced, and great fun especially with kids tall enough to reach over the pot…

The Harry Potter exhibition runs until February, hurry up and go!
Museum of Science

“the things we ate did last summer….
i’ll be burning off remember all winter long…” –a line from one of my dad’s favorite songs.

and in my cookspeak, that means,
happy mother’s day! to all you mommies and to your mommies.
we’re still digesting a 12-course banquet from another new place, Grand Chinatown ( 21A-25 Billings Road, Quincy, MA 02171, (617) 472-9928), and the unanimous verdict seems to be mostly thumbs up. (we only give it minus points for the smudges we found in the drinking glasses and somewhat sticky plates, and the frazzled service which we easily forgave, it being Mother’s day eve thereby being packed with happy noisy families…i highly recommend the salt and pepper squid, and the deep fried duck with taro paste, and the yang chow fried rice). they also serve dimsum!
it is a good moment to reflect on how grateful i am to have all my kids close to me this mother’s day. to see husband with his almost 81 years young mommy, and 85 year old baba…if only, if only, my own ma were not too far away.

recipe? i found it here, and i’ve been daydreaming of biting into ever since, i think for weeks and weeks now. it is quite addictive, not too rich, not too sweet, but the soft tender crumb and creamy cheesy cakey texture is really beguiling. i found a quaint little cupcake tower, and then i decided, this is the perfect mother’s day gift i can give to my kiddies, to whom my every mother’s day should be dedicated, in my own honest opinion.

this week’s theme for the weekly Pinoy photoblogging event is just the beginningtama ba ang translation ko mga katokayo?.
(another tough one, madam admin, you’re good at making us think!)
i chose this soup that husband and i had today at a new seafood restaurant serving food from the Fu Chou region of China. just starting out…
he and i are very wary of trying new restaurants. we just feel gypped each time that we try out a newly opened establishment, with no reviews to rely on, and then be presented with atrocious or measly servings.
yesterday he surprised me with a precious day off! we always try to sneak away to lunch if possible. pho? dimsum? cheeseburgers at that pub?
we settled, with some trepidation, on Ming’s Seafood Restaurant, Newport Avenue, corner Block Street, Quincy, right across from the Wollaston Station.

eel in red wine broth with ginger and wolfberries
right away we were struck when we read the first menu they gave us (there were three!). no English translation.
hmmm.
i asked for one, the server gave us two–one regular, one all seafood.
it was overwhelming. and much of the cuisine was unfamiliar to husband who is of Cantonese origin–he knows mostly Hong Kong-style cooking.
though we only sampled two dishes (fried rice noodles with seafood, and eel with red wine and ginger broth, both perfectly cooked and sauced and seasoned)–we are now determined to try out as many items on the menu as we can–razor clams, frogs’ legs, goose intestines, sea prawns, fried shrimps with tea leaves…they got us intrigued. that’s when we had a whiff of something great in store…we sensed the presence of a master chef on the premises.
simply the start of some grand adventures in eating.
you just have to open that door.

(maya maya na ang Tagalog po…)
tuwing may nagbubukas na bagong kainan di ba nakakaengganyong subukan at tikman, sabay nakaka-kaba rin, baka masayang ang pera at pagod nang pagdayo? ang ating oras at araw ay mahalaga, kaya nung ginulat ako ng aking kabiyak na siya’y hindi papasok nung Miyerkoles, nagpasya kaming kumain sa bagong gusaling malapit sa amin.
kami’y nahirapang mamili sa kanilang menu, para sa akin dahil walang Inggles, at para sa asawa kong pinanganak sa Kowloon, kung saan ang salita nila’y Toisanese at Cantonese (mula sa dating Canton at ngayo’y Guangdong) hindi niya kilala ang mga ulam na galing sa Fu Chou at, sa kanyang pandinig, ang salita ng mga maninilbi ay Fookien (hindi kami tiyak, pero ang alam namin ang nakararaming mga Chinoy sa Pilipinas ay katutubong Fookien din).
sa mga unang tikim ng mga hiniling naming dalawang putaheng pancit at sabaw kami’y namangha sa kagalingan ng tagaluto…malamang siya’y isang bihasang chef na natuto sa China, tunay na tunay: ang pancit ay hindi mamantika pero malutong at napakasarap ng mga lahok at salsa nito. ang sabaw ay tamang tama ang timpla, ang isda ay sapat sa pagkaluto. bukod tangi ang pagkain sa kakaibahan.
bukod sa mga pagkaing dagat–hipon, scallops, pusit, lobster,sea cucumbers, razor clams, tahong, talaba, iba’t ibang isda– meron ding palaka, bituka ng ganza, dila ng pato , atbp.

pihadong kami ay babalik balik sa lugar na ito upang tikman ang iba’t ibang ulam. ito ay tiyak na simula pa lamang ng mga bagong karanasan sa pagkain ng lutong Fu Chou. ka-akit-akit ang posibilidad na marami pang matututunan ukol sa lutong-Chino.

i have been drifting far far away from this blog, i just can’t pin me down long enough to sit down and write a proper post…
but it’s time to reflect on the staycation vacation week that was. we took another closer look at the city we take for granted–though what we really wanted was a log-cabin-cozy-fireplace kind of a getaway, or a Jollibee-pilgrimage type of visit to the Big Apple–we had to stay close to home for many reasons.

they had sleepovers and playdates and school projects, so off we went on several day trips, mini-field trips.
Nokia 6085
he requested a bowling expedition. calculated shots vs. Dad’s forceful ones? he easily won over Daddy!


Boston Public Garden, Nokia 6085
we visited Mama Duck and her babies, especially since the second to the last one, was recovered from a trash heap after going missing for a few days.

we drove around Boston and when we saw a coveted free parking spot on the North End’s Hanover Street, famous for Italian restaurants and bakeshops, we just had to scramble out of the car and be tourists…for 15 minutes!



there was also the requisite malling day for the teenager girliegirl, on one of the several rainy days…in Providence, Rhode Island. (where there’s a Popeye’s.) here they are, while waiting in line, arguing negotiating over what milkshake flavor to pick till mama stepped in and said, “i’ll pay, and it’s strawberry cheesecake flavor.” done.
we capped off the week with our first cookout and bonfire on our fireplace pit and made s’mores. i think i might have had more fun than the three kids…

daughter at the moment before smooshing together the toasted graham crackers and the melted marshmallows and Scharffen Berger 70% cacao melting squares….do you know how to make s’mores???

pictures above taken from my Nokia 6085 and daughter’s Canon powershot SD800 IS…my Konica point and shoot battery died, and it’s too expensive to replace, and am mulling over what camera to get next…it better be a keeper!
should i get another point and shoot with more “bells and whistles”, or a beginner DSLR??? any suggestions, recommendations greatly appreciated. but i think i already know the answer, *sigh*….