a taste of tokyo in new york in boston

nom! thank you :)

tout chocolat

this dessert was dubbed the "gros pot," or big pot. the menu warned, "tout chocolat -- essayer de le finir!"
we valiantly took up the challenge, but failed miserably in conquering this massive bowl of chocolate mousse, composed of layers of dark, milk, and white.

Villa d'Este 

6 Rue Masséna 

Nice, France 06000

mon weekend c'etait génial!

token food photo (all loot from whole foods). no one really ate because 2 out of 6 people got motion sickness and started puking into the water (sorry tmi), and the rest of us didn't want to eat because we were grossed out lol.

els pescadors, or one of the best meals of my life

els pescadors is quite far from the city center of barcelona, but the pilgrimage is fully worth it, i promise. from the ambiance (quiet tree-lined square, multigenerational family restaurant) to the seafood--everything was perfect.

we found out about this gem from the american express concierge, who recommended els pescadors as one of the best seafood restaurants in barcelona, describing the terrace as "an oasis of calm in the bustling city." as we were staying on the ever-abuzz las ramblas during our time in the city, we were sold.

our taxi cruised for miles within sight of the beach before turning into a small alley, then finally dropping us off in a courtyard surrounded by iron lamp-posts, buildings, and trees. it looked so quaint and rustic--have you ever read chronicle of a death foretold?--just like that! i could almost imagine santiago nasar setting his eyes on angela in this little fountained square, peering after her in curiosity, desire piqued as she disappeared behind the old knotted tree.

that was the image in my mind as we sat down at the white tableclothed table, the boundary between restaurant and neighborhood blurred on the outdoor terrace. the maître d’ greeted us like old family friends before pouring us glasses of water and hauling over a giant metal bucket to present the fish of the night.



the menu, translated into a million different languages, is divided into several sections: starters, fish starters, foie gras (it has its own section!), rice, meat, salt cod, etc. we had quite a lot of difficulty choosing, as there weren't much descriptions aside from the names of the fish, but we figured we couldn't really go wrong with anything... and we were right.

whenever a dish came out of the kitchen, a team of waiters would bring it out to the table on the right, and plate it on the spot before bringing it to the guests. how special, that the plating gets done in view, in the outdoors :)

we started with the marinated seafood tinplate, a mixture of different sea creatures topped with potato chips.

a simple salad

tomato toast... a barcelona specialty it seems

seabass, with sliced potato and pepper

this was the fisherman's rice -- like a paella with different kinds of fish on the side.

and the best part --

i can't remember what flavour of ice cream this was, only that it tasted like a ferrero rocher and was amazing and i called the waiter over to tell him :)

Els Pescadors
Placa Prim 1, Poble Nou, Barcelona
Phone 93-225-2018
http://www.elspescadors.com

barcelona - the first meal

if i had a food blog ...  

... i might post tonight about heading out, under a mountainishly cloudy sky, to the original farmers night market in cecil, where i bought an entire bushel of apples -- "no. 2 macs" or macintosh seconds, some of which had little pocks in them that were caused by hail, explained the old woman who started at this market when it was on the city's north side and she and her husband's first night was the three kids and six bushels of green beans, all of which they sold (not the kids), in 1955 -- and 18 multicolored bell peppers (orange, red, yellow, green, mixed) for 3 for $2, and then headed to the golden pig, where i re-read and re-enjoyed your story on the wall -- the words of it and the truth.

-- an email i just received from bob batz, whose writing pretty much defines evocative, and who is the food editor of the pittsburgh post-gazette and one of my earliest and most treasured mentors.

p.s. here is my story about the golden pig to which he refers. a korean restaurant in the suburbs of pittsburgh, it was one of my most memorable assignments that summer. :)

la boqueria market, barcelona

we stumbled upon this jewel just a block away from our hotel on la rambla, a bustling pedestrian street in barcelona.

tired and parched from our tourist-ing, we stopped for coconut/strawberry and coconut/mango smoothies and a fruit salad. the latter was just meh, but the smoothies -- my gosh -- the smoothies were pretty much the best things we've ever tasted.

ah!

merci beaucoup!

labor day weekend in nyc

...was, in a word, blissful.

lots of pictures after the jump!

adventures in domesticity

some people, perhaps a lot of people, are under the delusion that i can cook. i'm not sure where they get this idea (perhaps because i eat a lot, which means my taste buds are developed, or because i won some school cooking competition in the past, which really had nothing to do with cooking) but anyways, i'm not just being a prototypically humble chinese chef who denigrates her own culinary abilities for the sake of lowering expectations only to blow them out of the water -- i'm being honest when i say that i really don't think i can cook.

anyways, a few weeks ago, for some crazy reason i suggested making dinner together with le garçon and he happily agreed, probably supposing that i had some secret giada de laurentiis double identity in the kitchen just waiting to spring forth.

as i walked to whole foods, where we were to meet and pick up the ingredients for dinner, i frantically called my mother, telling her about my predicament and begging for advice. what do i cook?? holy effing crap what if i destroy the kitchen???! she gave some pretty excellent tips that i hadn't thought of: ask what he likes, and then design a menu. "fish is easy! so is chicken!" she rattled off ideas. hmm, i think easy would be pouring cereal into a bowl, but okay.

we scoured the perimeter of whole foods, looking for things we liked. salmon piqued our fancy, and so did the idea of a very fresh salad with watermelon and feta. and for dessert, i decided to be ambitious, eyeing the gorgeous purple plums on display and deciding to make a rustic tart from scratch, with ice cream on the side.

back at home i coated the salmon in evoo, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and flopped it into the pan. ridiculously loud hissing noises and scary oil splatters everywhere sent me cowering on the other side of the kitchen, every so often inching closer to the stove and prodding the filets with a spatula.

"you're doing a great job!" he reassured (bless him). i winced, clutching the spatula as if it were a shield between the stove and i. (i have to admit i was kinda more worried at that point about destroying my clothes with oil than about how the food was going to turn out.)

completely butchering one of the filets and destroying its photographic potential by smooshing it in half, i determined that the salmon was just the right shade of pink to serve. we plated it, serving it with slices of lemon and quinoa (courtesy of whole foods' salad bar) on the side.



how'd it turn out? flipping FANTASTIC. the skin was perfectly slightly crisped, the meat was moist and flaked at the gentle touch of a fork, the creamy mild flavour perfectly accented with salt and pepper (and sips of white). simple, fresh, and delicious.



spinach, watermelon, feta, sliced almonds, and a bit of balsamic make an excellent salad.

by the time we finished eating i was so drained from the ordeal of making dinner that i couldn't imagine getting up and preparing a tart from scratch. haagen dazs to the rescue, along with dark chocolate and strawberries. simplicity is perfect.

we both agreed that this was such a refreshing change from eating out. more intimate, satisfying, and fun -- not to mention healthier!

happy exhausted chef. maybe i do have some giada in me?