Heston Blumenthal is my new hero.

Not so long ago, my friend, Nick, told me about his attempt at bacon ice cream. Needless to say, he was almost banned from his mom's kitchen for it, but that only propelled us into finding more unconventional uses for bacon.

That was about a month or so ago, and since then I hadn't really thought about bacon ice cream until now. Through a bit of link association (you know, when you start reading one thing, find and click a link to something interesting, and on that page you find another link, so on and so forth), I ended up on the blog archives of Ice Cream Ireland. Once again, bacon ice cream had resurfaced into my conscious, but this time in the form of Egg and Bacon ice cream.

This little gem is from "Kitchen Chemistry", which aired on Discovery Science in the UK. Through another bit of link association on Youtube, I came upon Heston Blumenthal's mini-series, "In Search of Perfection", in particular, the search for the Perfect Burger.







With an opening theme song almost as catchy as the Katamari theme and the very charismatic Heston Blumenthal as your host, I found it extremely hard not to like this show. And now I have another really bad reason why I will be late to work today. :)

Bodacious Barbecue!

Yesterday, Kevin and I went to this great little mom and pop place in Renton with wonderful service and some great sweet tea called Bill's Bodacious Barbecue. Kevin and I felt like going out and enjoying the sun, which seems to be making more and more of an appearance finally, so we headed out in search of food and a park to enjoy the rest of the afternoon (as we got a late start to our day). As we began our drive, we were deliberating what to get (fast food? Panera? Famous Dave's?), but Kevin could tell that I ultimately didn't want any of our usual fares. Suddenly, he asked me again, "Do you want barbecue?" Knowing full well he didn't mean Famous Dave's which I had already shot down, I said, "...Sure..." and before I knew it, Kevin had turned into the Ikea parking lot to make a shortcut and drove back around to where we came from, and then headed in the complete opposite direction than what we had started.

We drove up to a place that didn't look so charming on the outside which made me apprehensive of what I might find inside, but once we stepped in the door my mind changed a little. There were well done murals of a forest and a mountain (most likely Rainer), a nice big flat screen up in the corner, and, of course, the display cases showcasing some very homestyle-looking desserts. Carol, Bodacious Bill's wife, took good care of us at the register, helped us decide what to order, and gave us great directions on how to get to a very nice park by the water near the Fry's in Renton (I know, strange location, but really a nice oasis in the business district jungle).

So we munched on tender, smoky ribs, beef brisket, corn muffins, and red beans and rice (for Kevin) and potato salad (for me). I think the star of the meal (not including desserts, because they each deserved a star of their own) was definitely the ribs; the meat was tender, juicy, and just fell right off the bones. The beef brisket, too, was soft and flavorful, but half of me wished we had just gotten a whole slab of ribs. The barbecue sauce was tangy, not too sweet, and had just the right amount of spice to give it a kick, but not to mask everything with a peppery fire. I'm not quite a connoisseur of cornbread, so I personally thought it was dry compared to the cornbread I had made out of a Jiffy box and to which I added sundried tomatoes and garlic for Thanksgiving last year. But once I slathered butter on it, I couldn't help but gobble the golden morsel up in a flash. Kevin said the cornbread was good (he drizzled a bit of honey on his), and he loves cornbread, so if you can't take my word for it, take his.



The sweet tea was the best I have ever had, and was served full in cups the size of my head. Who can beat that?



The blackberry cobbler and sweet potato pie were great enders to the feast. We had eaten so much before dessert, though, that we had to end up taking them home barely touched... which is no problem to me, because I have a feeling I will fully enjoy eating some reaheated pie and cobbler with some of the Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream I have stashed away in the freezer at home. :)


My favorite dessert anytime, anywhere. :) Anyway, we took a nap/lazed about in the park for a good hour or so after our feast, then went to Fry's to drool over all the electronics we were too broke to buy. We consoled ourselves by watching Iron Man, which was a really great movie! Hopefully, it's the start to a string of movies that look really good that are coming out this spring/summer. Next up, Speed Racer, Indiana Jones, The Dark Knight, Wall-E.

I should find a good recipe for sweet tea and ribs and cornbread (homemade this time!)...

sheer joy

It's one of very few things I will miss about Washington, but eating Aplets and Cotlets seem to do my soul good once in a while. I guess it's the memories that come attached to it (my mom would let us have one late at night once in a while as a special treat), but who can resist the apple- or apricot-flavored jelly candies with delicious crunchy walnuts inside? Cola-flavored gummies come in close, but not too close..



Also, Haagen Dazs is premiering (rereleasing? Apparently, it was sold about 10 years ago as well..) a new flavor of ice cream! Vanilla Honey Bee!! It is AMAZING. At first, the honey taste isn't so strong, but the more you eat it, the more intense it becomes! If I ever work on my own kind of honey ice cream (the ice cream attachment for my Kitchenaid is sooo expensive.. $80 T_T), I might add some swirls of real honey in it, but the Vanilla Honey Bee ice crea is perfect how the honey flavor builds as you eat. In fact, I told Lois when we tried some that people would be sad after they ate a scoop, because once you start really getting into the flavor, your ice cream is finished! I was speaking from personal experience, of course. :) So come try some at FREE CONE DAY, May 13, at University Haagen Dazs on the Ave!! :D

Dinner at Andy's on Friday night was amazing...kakifurai (fried oysters), and tiny fried fish, sushi and rolls, miso soup made up the bulk of the menu. Next time we will tackle macaroons with Frangelico-flavored filling! :D

In other news, I bought myself a new 7-inch santoku knife with a pink handle by Kitchenaid. I will post updates on said purchase once I get a chance to try it out. ^_^

Moving, sushi, movie, brunch.

Kevin and I spent the weekend together finalizing some things in the old apartment. We had to drop off a few things at my dad's, and naturally while we were there, my dad had us help him with a couple of chores (Kevin helped my dad move in some things from the patio to the garage so they wouldn't get rained on, and I had to help my dad figure out why his new wireless mouse wasn't working...sometimes going back to basics and starting from square one really helps). Then we had to have a late lunch, which wasn't bad...paksiw na lechon (with lechon, or Filipino roasted whole pork, from last week's barbecue), pancit, and mechado, with saba for dessert. I also got to eat (and take home!) some fresh young coconut. It was cool, seeing my dad hack at the top with a cleaver and crack it open and drink the juice with the straw, just like back home in Manila.

After we finished up at my dad's, we worked on the apartment a little more, then headed out to dinner at Wann's, which, fortunately for me, is located right across the street from my new apartment. We had the Kobe beef tataki (cold seared Kobe beef, marinated in shiso dressing), yakisoba, and of course the sushi appetizer. The sushi was fresh, and I especially enjoyed the hamachi (as did Kevin! I love sharing great food experiences with him). I never had Kobe beef before, and this was exceptionally tasty! I wasn't expecting the beef to be chilled, but I think that the flavor of the shiso dressing was highlighted better that way, anyway. I wish we had a slightly larger portion of the yakisoba, because Kevin and I finished it way faster than we wanted to. But it did bring back good memories of food back in Japan, like during street festivals when we were kids. One thing we didn't get to try was the brie cheese tempura with raspberry soy sauce...but I'll be back soon, so I'm not too worried about it. ^_^

After that, we watched Forbidden Kingdom. Let's just say, its a really cheesy movie that better belongs in the 90s era of martial arts movies (3 Ninjas, anyone?), but I really, really enjoyed it for what it was.

The next day, we ate brunch at Macrina, which is just two blocks away from where the old apartment is. Let's just say, I really regret not going there more often. The food was amazing! We ordered the Salmon Scramble, which was scambled eggs, smoked salmon, and creme fraiche on a bialy with herb roasted potatoes and some greens, and the Brunch Cafe Special, which was scrambled eggs with trout, and potatoes and greens. Both were AMAZING! Went deliciously well with our OJ and strawberry lemonade. I think the clincher for Kevin, though, was the buttermilk biscuit with raspberry jam he had for dessert. I had the Italian plum roll, which was equally good though lacking in plum for me. You know me, big sweet tooth. :)

So after we cleaned up the old place a bit more, we took some time to take advantage of the internet, which is still activated till the end of the month. Kevin did some homework, and I got caught up on the latest episode of Top Chef Chicago. At the end of the show, I really thought Mark was going home. Good thing they sent Ryan home instead, though. He was a bit of a cheeseball, anyway.

I cooked adobo for dinner that night. I don't want to talk about it any further than that I don't know what I'm doing, but it never stays the same and I'm really unhappy with it. I think I need to find an actual recipe and start from there and stop experimenting too much. lol

New forages for today: The World Ends With you (game for Nintendo DS, by the same team who brought you Kingdom Hearts. Anyone who knows me will tell you that KH is probably my most favorite game of all time), and working on the hat I started knitting in Cali last month.

Tuna in Curry? (aka, "It sounded like a good idea at the time...")

I was craving seafood on Thursday, so when I met with my ex-coworker, Lulu, for lunch, she suggested Etta's. I thought, why not, since she gets discounts for being an employee of Tom Douglas's and Etta's is supposedly known for their seafood. For appetizers, we started with the mini crabcakes were delicious (albeit too pricey...$13 for three 1.5-inch diameter crabcakes?!), especially with the green cocktail sauce. But the love affair unfortunately ended there.

First off, I was expecting more seafood choices in their already small menu (I thought the damn thing was the wine list at first, and it only opens up to two pages), but that didn't happen. Also, we were in for lunch, where the menu does differ slightly, and, unfortunately for me, has less seafood choices. I should have chosen the Rub With Love King salmon (which is grilled with Tom's famous spice rub), but for some reason I was drawn to the Kaffir lime leaf coconut curry with albacore, bok choy, eggplant, and steamed jasmine rice. Perhaps it was the prospect of seafood in curry? I had had some pretty good seafood curry at Shalimar on the Ave last Friday, and, for no good reason, decided on a repeat performance. Needless to say, the curry lacked a certain punch, and was not worth the money for how little amount of tuna I got (though delicious those 1-inch cubes of delightful fish they were). I kinda wish I got what Lulu ordered, which was the dungeness crab salad, but again, I sill don't think it was worth it's price unless she got a miniature mountain of crab on top of a bed of lettuce.

Anyway, we didn't bother with dessert. After months of sampling anything I could get my hands on at the bakery (especially Tom's Famous Triple Coconut Pie... :P), we figured we might have better luck finding something sweet at Pike's, but then decided we were too full to want anything else.

Didn't do much else afterwards, except more training at Haagen Dazs. Then I was so hungry when I came home that I fried up some eggs and then smothered them in spaghetti sauce and Parmesan cheese... I know, I know, it's weird, but it was good...lacked carbs though (perhaps some rice?). Haha. I ought to improve on that dish a little more.

Aids in the Kitchen

So, I had to pack away my Kitchen Aid stand mixer the other day. :( Sad. I'm not too sure I'll be able to unpack it unless someone orders cream puffs or melonpan before I leave. But to some consolation, all the kitchen appliances in my new apartment are all Kitchen Aid! Lol. The apartment is tiny, definitely meant for only 1 person (or 2 people without as much crap). But it's okay, we just gotta put up with it until I finally get out of here this July.

Nothing to write food-wise...haven't been really able to cook much, or bake for that matter. Sigh. I wish I had just moved into a temporary apartment. :(

Today was a good day. (Think Ice Cube)

Actually, the title was meant for Friday, but I got lazy and didn't end up posting. Plus the internet was being wonky at Kevin's. I cooked myself some sukiyaki beef and pork for breakfast that I had marinated with pretty much anything I had on hand the night before: soy sauce, mirin seasoning, garlic, pepper, white wine vinegar, regular white vinegar...that, plus a couple fried eggs (is that what you call it when you crack the egg into the skillet and, once the white sets, add a little water and cover the egg so the top part gets steamed? or is that poached?) and a nice big ol' plate of white, fluffy rice...it was the best breakfast I had in AGES.

Then I headed over to my first shift at the Haagen-Dazs in the U-District. Scooping ice cream my first day was hectic (good weather means good business, usually...), a lot of groups came in, or just a bunch of people coming in all at once. The shop is really quite small (seats 6 customers), which can be nice. I learned a lot about maintaining the store, and making shakes and Dazzlers and such. I haven't learned everything just yet (Lois, my friend and manager of the shop, says she'll have me do ice cream cakes.. O_O), but it's exciting to learn new things and to be doing customer service again. I'm glad I get to learn another aspect of sweets, as well. It's too bad I didn't get a chance to really do any ice cream while I was at Dahlia.

Saturday was beautiful. We had a belated birthday barbecue for my brother (April 11) and me (March 30) at my dad's in Marysville. If there's anything I love about Filipino parties, it's how much food was there. Pancit, barbeque, fried rice, lumpia...so much food, and yet the highlight for me is always the grilled oysters. Cooked quick on the fire, and with a splash of lemon juice...mmm....After a long morning/afternoon of getting the run around Smokey Point and Marysville just to get two errands done, I definitely earned the two ice-cold Heinekens that accompanied my food binge.

Today, again, was a good day. What a difference the absence of one person makes, which makes me very sad. Not because said person is gone, but because I had such a limited amount of time to enjoy working at Dahlia since their dismissal. But, what can I do? I already committed to helping out Lois during her maternity leave (despite the cut in pay :( ), and I'm leaving soon as it is. Besides, I really don't like the idea of working my Sunday-Monday, 5am-1 or 2pm schedule until I leave, because it's hard enough to hang out with friends and Kevin before I move as it is, and I'm pretty sure they won't let me change my schedule for that reason alone (my replacement has the exact same schedule as me, with the addition of another day of work at the bread bakery). I know I'll have to suck it up later, but when later comes, then I'll suck it up. Right now, I want to just be able to enjoy as much of the remainder of my stay in Seattle as possible.

Tomorrow is my last day at Dahlia, providing Ellice (my replacement) or Garrett (manager) doesn't feel the need for me to be back again. Or unless they ask me to fill in if a morning person can't make it. It's bittersweet, it is.