Kare Raisu (Japanese curry rice) is bit of an anomaly to most people, at least it was to me when I first heard of it. However it's one of the most popular Yoshoku (Japanese interpretation of Western cuisine) dishes in Japan and has about a million different variations. Wait... I probably already talked about this in my previous post about microwave-ready Curry Rice.
Fish tacos are awesome. Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize this until like two years ago and am mad at myself for not eating them sooner. Also, I probably have no real bearing on what makes a fish taco great, considering the first and main place I ate/eat them at is Baja Fresh. Oh yeah, and I don't know anything about what type of fish you're supposed to use in them; up until about 10 seconds ago I thought Mahi-Mahi was just a type of tuna.
Anyway, I just went to said Baja Fresh and apparently they've changed over from Mahi to Wahoo for their fish tacos/burritos.
Good thing I typed that sentence out above the picture: redundancy win!
I have no clue what Wahoo is either, but I assumed it must be "better"... or maybe just cheaper? Of course the way they prepare it probably negates any specific flavor differences, not that I would notice any in the first place.
Ye old "two fish combo"
I tried the grilled one first. It really tastes like... nothing, actually. It's kinda like having a hot piece of dense vegetable matter or something stuck in a tortilla with more somewhat flavorful vegetable matter surrounding it (in this case cabbage, avocado and tomato). The only real taste from the fish was the char marks on the outer flesh.
Now the crispy version, well that's a whole other can of worms. I can't tell if it's just the batter or if the actual frying process does make the fish flavor come out, but it's way more tasty. Also, they put this mayonnaise-y sauce in there that's slightly spicy and delicious. Whenever I eat Mexican food, I'm all about putting hot sauce on it, but it's completely unnecessary with this taco.
Hopefully I remember that the crispy ones are better next time I go, but I'll probably either forget or just feel bad about eating TWO fried fish tacos and still get a grilled one.
This is my tea station at work... more specifically it's the right side of this table in my office where I put all my tea stuff. When I can maintain the rhythm and routine, I will drink tea every morning via a convenient method of using my tea infuser/tumbler and this Zojirushi water heater. It still kinda impresses me how I can do it so easily within an office, which seems to add to the zen-like experience of tea drinking over all... maybe.
Anyway, the mesh screen on my tea infuser is starting to develop larger holes in it from regular use. In addition to that, it's not a superfine screen to begin with. It would normally be a problem for most people, except I happen to almost exclusively drink sencha. Specifically, most of the sencha I use is fairly brittle and either ends up getting broken into smaller pieces, or just turned out that way via it's processing to begin with. There's also usually a good amount of what I like to call "shake" (also referred to as fannings or dust).
Anyone got a bowl?
I usually buy good quality tea in the first place, so it's not like this shake is bullshit grade stuff you would find in a Lipton-esque tea bag (although it closely resembles what you would find if you emptied one), but if I don't separate it, then it gets through the screen of my infuser. Drinking tea fragments in your brewed tea isn't a bad thing either and it's something that happens 90% of the time anyway, especially if brewing via a traditional method (kyusu, etc).
So several months ago I started to try and remove as much as the shake as I can before hand, which is actually pretty easy. I just put the tea into the lid of the infuser and use it like a flour sifter, moving it back and forth until no more small particles make their way through. A lot of the time its a bit depressing too, seeing just how much shake there is in some of the more expensive teas I buy and knowing that it's "going to waste". Seriously, I'll buy a 3oz can of shincha for like $50 and probably end up sifting out 30-40% of it out onto the table. Sometimes I don't know if it's my fault for acquiring a new found sense of OCD or if the tea producers are just not being as careful during the processing of the leaves as they should be.
I didn't end up doing anything on Independence Day this year, at least nothing special. Since I was going to waste the day anyhow, I thought I should at least eat some fast food: a truly American past time. On top of that, why not go to Sonic again, since it is "America's Drive-In".
I love spicy stuff and was going to get this new Blazin' BBQ burger, which sounded pretty amazing considering it has fried jalapeno, regular jalapeno, habenero sauce and pepperjack cheese... but I was suffering from a hangover and the thought of all that spice made my stomach start filing papers to get clearance from my esophagus for "reverse digestion". So I went with "The Ring Leader" instead, which is basically a bacon cheeseburger with grilled onions, and an onion ring. Honestly, I would've preferred a normal burger, but since I started this blog I'm making myself try new things.
Where's Michael Douglas when you need him? (see below)
Despite it looking like shit (most fast food does), it was so-so. Wait, I take that back, the onion ring situation made it kinda gross. I'm not a connoisseur of onion rings or anything, but I didn't like this at all. The breading on it was doughy, like a piece of bread that wasn't cooked enough. So that taste just spread across my tongue when I bit into it and then the onion slipped out of the fried coating, like onion rings always do... it was a fucking mess. I can't even remember tasting or seeing the grilled onions either, maybe they're what really made it taste strange? Who knows.
Overall, this burger is almost complete bullshit though. I mean, can you really expect anything good to come of this idea? Fried stuff needs to be on it's own, not sandwiched in between greasy ass cheese and meat on a bun. I should've gotten the BBQ one instead, lesson learned.
Saw this at TJ's the other day and thought it would be a good side dish for some fish or something. However... it was the weekend, I was hungry, lazy and impatient, and ended up cooking and eating the entire bag by itself.
If you've never had quinoa before, it's like a grain-rice-corn hybrid thing and is fluffy and slightly crunchy. It's one of those things that you probably never had unless you have a vegetarian/vegan friend, or are one yourself.
As you probably see, this has bits of zucchini and sweet potato mixed in, as well as a bunch of seasonings. I swore I tasted a hint of cinnamon, but there wasn't any. Funny thing is that I think the same exact thing every time I make TJ's penne pasta... which makes absolutely no sense. Anyway, this Quinoa is super easy to make, just dump it in a covered bowl and microwave. If I recall correctly, quinoa is one of those things that takes awhile to cook normally, so this is much better. Also, I don't ever see myself cooking it from scratch in the first place.
I would recommend it though, just don't eat the entire bag by yourself like I did.
Again, all I have to say is thank god for Wegman's... if it weren't for their insane mission to stock as many amazing food products as they do, I wouldn't have become the avid tea drinker that I am. They're planning on opening new stores in Maryland and a bunch of people were complaining about how "un-green" they are and that they're trying to muscle out competition, but all those people need to shut up. To my knowledge, they were one of the first chain stores to not only carry Ito En products, but to sell them cheaper than anywhere else ($1.50 per 16.9oz bottle... suck on that Whole Foods!)
Today I decided to make some Japanese curry rice (kare raisu) at my office for lunch. For those of you not familiar with the dish, here's what it normally looks like:
As you can (kinda) see, it's not really anything like Indian curry, except it does use curry powder/garam masala. It's more like a thick stew with curry spices, apparently it's based on "English curry"... I could Google it to better inform myself, but I don't feel like it.
Normally kare raisu is made with potatoes, carrots, onions, some kind of meat, various spices and quite often something sweet like apple and/or honey. It's very popular in Japan and is eaten in restaurants and made at home; families and restaurants usually have their own secret recipes. Per the name, it's served with short-grain sticky rice, or sometimes over a big piece of fried pork (tonkatsu). And... sometimes over spaghetti... the Japanese have some interesting takes on Western food, but I'll talk about that some other time.
