I haven’t posted any of my cooking for a long while. I still cook a lot but none that are blog-worthy. And I did eat out a lot this year…. New Year , however, is different. While most Asians believe that an x number of round fruits bring good luck, I believe that filling your table (and tummies) with all sorts of succulent meats is the ultimate good luck of all.
As usual, we did the Tomahawk steaksThis is always a winner. So pretty and yummy.
You can find the how-to on this steak on this blog. It’s on last year’s New Year post.
We also had herbed salmon…and theee kinds of stuffed chicken—dirty rice, crawfish jambalaya and shrimp
And now for the piece d resistance — crispy roasted pork belly!!!
Dry brine pork belly (with skin) with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Wrap and refrigerate overnightIn the center of the pork belly, arrange chopped onions, chopped garlic and lemon grass. You can also rub garlic paste all over the meat side of the belly to make it more garlicky.Roll up the belly with kitchen twine to form a logBrush with milk and let stand for 20 minutes
Cover the log with aluminum foil, put on a rack and cook at 350 for 2 hours. Remove foil after two hours and crank up the oven to 450. Cook for 5 minutes for the top part, then roll to the side and cook for another 5 minutes. Do the same on opposite side. This is to mimic the rotating spit which is the traditional way.
Done! So beautiful!! And so photogenic too…The skin turned out really crispy, which is the measure of “success”
I’m really happy this turned out well. Now I don’t have to travel all the to the Philippines. Sorry, Mom! I’m now open to take orders!! Haha. Just kidding. But these things go for $175, so maybe I’m not kidding!!!
It started with the total eclipse, followed by first day of school, panic-buying at the grocery stores, tornadoes, a bitch of a hurricane, more tornadoes, then the flooding…and more flooding…and even more flooding. The last two weeks were action packed. Two weeks of my life I could certainly live without.
But life goes on. My family and I were fortunate enough to live through this historic catastrophe unscathed. And while i have never felt so relieved, my heart bleeds over my neighbors and friends who were not as fortunate.
Through it all, there was food. As the news broke that it was going to be a big catastrophe, I knew people would panic. So before leaving for work, I did my grocery shopping at 6 in the morning. My freezer was packed so I had to start cooking some stuffs to give them a longer life in case we lost power. I have ordered the most amazing oxtail from Wisconsin so I cooked that, along with some baby back ribs and steak (for sandwiches).
This is Filipino kare-kare. It’s oxtail with peanut sauce topped with vegetables.
This is my trademark tornado dish. We were hiding out in the safe room for almost a day, sneaking out to eat and this is what we’ve been eating. I don’t think I’ll be eating this anymore. Not good for my PTSD.
The following days of tornado and hurricane were harrowing. I had to make comfort foods. Noodles are the Asian mac n cheese. There is something about hot noodles that make me feel like i’m home and safe.
Noodle dish 1 – Beef Udon. I use thinly sliced rib-eye, the one that’s used for pho.Noodle Dish #2 – Pancit Bihon — stick noodle and vermicelli, with pork and chickenNoodle Dish #3 – Garlic Noodles
Yes, these are not calorie-friendly. We each gained an easy ten pounds during these most trying times.
Finally, Harvey is gone. The rivers have crested and we did not flood. We had bad case of cabin fever so we went out to celebrate. Beans was out helping his friends clean up the neighborhood and requested take-out. We went to our local Jap restaurant (Akashi) then to B’s wine bar.
Had a celebratory margarita and ahi tuna tower.Sashimi!!! Food without grease, finally.We topped the evening with some wine at B’sNot the best we’ve had, but it was just nice to be out.
Tomorrow, we bring the stuffs down to the first floor. It will be a long day. Like everyone else in the city, we will rebuild and bring everything close to what it was pre-hurricane.
