toastykitten

• Scallion Pancakes with Ginger Dipping Sauce - from Ming Tsai
• Hot and Sour Soup - from Jean-Georges Vongerichten
• Grilled Beef Heart - from Chris Cosentino

It was all very delicious. I'd been complaining that we hadn't really cooked much Chinese food lately - and damn it, I don't have any Chinese cookbooks. The closest thing I have was my Ming Tsai book, and I'd loaned that one to my sister. I collect recipes when I browse, and I just randomly add them to my del.icio.us account for later reference. Last week, while cleaning them up, I just noticed them sitting there. Mark was loathe to change our hot and sour soup recipe, but I insisted on trying something new. I thought that we might be able to get all the ingredients from our local markets, but alas, that was not to be and we made a trip to our local Chinese market.

We hardly ever go there, and every time we do, we sort of smack our foreheads and go, "why don't we come here more?" (Maybe because it's not two blocks away, like the Safeway is. But man, is it so much better.) An entire row full of soy sauces and vinegars! Rice crackers! Live, fresh seafood in the back! We were originally going to do a stir-fry and rice to go with the soup and pancakes, but then Mark spotted the beef heart.

In case you haven't heard, Mark has recently become obsessed with eating offal - the stuff most Americans (including me) don't really eat anymore - brains, organs, tripe, etc. I'd seen a recipe for beef heart in an issue of Common Ground, a free monthly magazine focused on environmentalism and spirituality that I occasionally pick up for reading on the train from Chris Cosentino. Chris Cosentino owns Incanto and was also on The Next Iron Chef. He advocates eating offal because it tastes good, and also thinks that if you eat meat, you should be willing to eat all the animal so as not to let it go to waste. He mentioned that for people who are not used to eating offal, that beef heart is a good way to ease people in, because it has a texture close to that of steak. We said to ourselves, ok, we can do that. We started asking the local markets if they carried any. Nobody had any on hand, but they could order it if you wanted to wait a few days. We sort of forgot about that until we saw the organ at the market. Then a light bulb went off. Duh! Of course the Chinese would carry beef heart! They carried tons of it.

The market we went to has adopted the dubious Japanese practice of wrapping everything in plastic and styrofoam. It's kind of annoying. Anyway, beef heart is really cheap. For a heart that was about a pound in size - it was less than two dollars.

For the hot and sour soup recipe, we left off the shiitake mushrooms. Neither of us is particularly fond of them. We had tons of wood ear mushrooms, though. It cooked faster than our other recipe, and tasted great too. One of the differences was that we used black rice vinegar or as it's called on the label - Chinkiang vinegar. It's good stuff.

The beef heart did taste like steak, except a little spongier in texture. Because it is so lean, you have to be careful not to overcook it. It was pretty good.

The scallion pancakes were good too, but definitely very very unhealthy.

I am so sick of the iPhone. Yes, it'll change everything forever, with the nifty rotating browser! But how does it work, as a PHONE? Is the reception good? Do your calls get dropped?

I just finished reading this Wired article on Hans Reiser, the Linux programmer who's accused of murdering his wife. The whole thing is really strange. Three items I thought were odd, in a really bizarre article: The author describes the Oakland hills as "quiet and idyllic". Uh, quiet, maybe. Idyllic, no. He also mentions that Reiser first met his wife in Russia, where he had been several times previously using the Russian bride service. Okaaay. Three: Reiser has this obsession with manhood, and thought that teaching his son to play violent video games (which his wife objected to) would help prepare him to be "a man", because he otherwise wouldn't get that kind of education living in Oakland. (That is so funny I don't even know where to begin.)

Oh my god you know how I was bitching about our government and their stupid "English-is-the-official-national-language" thing? Apparently England has this thing where they offer free English classes to migrants, although they are considering limiting access. *sigh* And then I read that people are getting pissed off about having to "press 1 for English". Are you kidding me? Are you really that frickin lazy? And dumb?

We recently watched Sid and Nancy, which was a movie about Sid Vicious and his turbulent relationship with his groupie girlfriend. Neither of us know anything about the Sex Pistols, so we were both sort of befuddled when they cut to him not singing or actually playing any instruments while on stage. Maybe the movie itself is technically good, but I found it really hard to care about the title characters, because to me they both seemed like really unlikeable people who just screamed everything they thought. (And also mentally ill with no one to give them proper medication.) I thought Nancy seemed like a low-rent Courtney Love, and then I found out via Wikipedia that she did want to play the role, claiming that she "is Nancy Spungen". I mean, do you you really want to admit that you are a drug-addled groupie?

I'm almost done reading Extreme Cuisine: The Weird & Wonderful Foods That People Eat, by Jerry Hopkins. The foreword, of course, is written by Anthony Bourdain. There's some interesting stuff in here, but I doubt I will ever come up with the willpower to make myself eat ant salad, even if some varieties of ants "taste like honey".

I thought about the arguments that vegans make about how eating meat is immoral. I am not going to make any moral judgments about that, but I'm wondering about how vegans would suggest managing overpopulation of certain species? For example, crocodile and alligator meat were once banned, but once they started regaining their population, they had to be managed, and crocodile farms were born - for leather, meat, etc.

Hopkins makes a lot of arguments for adding other species to our diet as a "protein source", but I'm wondering why we even need to add another protein source. From all I've heard and read, most Americans consume too much protein anyway.

Amusing to me is the fact that the most befuddling items of consumption were started by the Chinese. Who the hell thinks up shit like bird's nest and thousand-year eggs (not actually a thousand years old)? Apparently, we do. (But I'm still American enough that I always turn that shit down.)

Halloumi, the grillable cheese. It's yummy, especially grilled. It's too salty by itself, but Mark tells me you generally eat it with other stuff anyway, like with tomato and pita bread, which soaks up some of the saltiness.

I am still sick and was diagnosed with bronchitis. Yuck. Anyway, I hate our health care system, but what else is new?

I have been busy sleeping and watching tv and re-reading Bloom County, which despite its goodness really, really depresses me based on its all-too-familiar relevance. I mean, the last cartoons I just read were going on about Falwell and homophobia! (Did we even get anywhere?)

Anyway, this is what I have been watching these past few days:

Rome, Season Two: HBO rules. Sex, violence, corruption, and the Republic! What's not to love? The writers take a lot of freedom with historical accuracy, but the important points - Caesar's death, Octavian's rise are all done pretty well.

Heroes, episode before the finale: Ando better not die. That is all. I find Jessica/Niki's split personality plot too stupid for words, and if Tim Kring says that her superpower is being "superstrong", why not just let her be superstrong without being crazy? That would make so much more sense than the stupid changes in personality.

Bill Moyers Journal: Everyone's probably forgotten about the "Buying the War" episode by now, but the ones after it are also equally good, if not better than the first episode. This last one I watched interviewed a female black Princeton professor about race, in which she also pointedly made the case that she can converse on other topics besides race, a gay Christian man who goes to Europe only to be confronted with Islamic fundamentalism (I didn't like this segment that much because I think his assumptions were flawed), and an interview with Harpers' magazine president on the Free Trade agreement.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter. With lots of recipes.

Found via Serious Eats. This link is for Mark.

Don't people read anymore? I like Anthony Bourdain, but the first sentence of his narration on the L.A. No Reservations episode put me off completely for the rest of it. He said that "Dorothy Parker said of L.A. that there's no there there" which, as far as I can tell, has not been corrected anywhere. Gertrude Stein said it, and she said it about Oakland, and it's the only thing anyone ever quotes about Oakland, which always annoys me.

I think he should totally do a show about Oakland. We've got good food here! It will end up with my dad cooking dinner.

So Mark and I bought some live lobsters to cook over the weekend. Mark decided to not do the "boil alive" technique, but to use the "butcher knife between the eyes" technique. I now know why people freak out over killing lobsters. Lobsters keep moving after they die, and one of them was foaming up at the mouth afterwards. It was pretty gross.  Next time we'll just toss them in the pot or something.

I need something more cheerful to talk about, so I am going to make a post of the best burgers I've had in California. This is by no means a comprehensive list (since I haven't traveled much), nor am I a burger expert. (Mark probably is.) I know what I like, though - a good meat-to-veggie ratio, a good bun, and great condiments. Places get bonus points for their fries or unusual sides.

1. In N Out - There is nothing more Californian than the In N Out chain. It is owned by a Christian family that pays their workers decent wages and gives them paid vacations, health care, etc. (Suck on it, Wal-Mart.) Anyway, the only way you can tell it's owned by a Christian family is that at the bottom of the soda cups there are little not-even verses - just something reference Bible verses - like Exodus 3:10 or something like that. Some people get worked up over that, but I find it hard to make a big deal about it when you don't even think to look down there most of the time. Anyway, the best thing about In N Out is the freshness. Everything - meat, tomatoes, onions, potatoes are shipped to each location daily and everything is made to order at the location. This means that your meat is not microwaved, your fries didn't come in a frozen package, and you eat a wonderfully good burger for really cheap. There is a secret menu where you can order stuff if the stuff on the regular menu does not entice you. One warning - if you're in Southern California, you may have to wait a while for your stuff, because it's always crowded, and they don't start on your order until you give it to them. In N Outs in Northern California are less crowded. (I am not a big fan of the fries, though. They're a little too mushy for my taste, but some people like them a lot.) You can get a veggie burger but it's just the burger without the meat.
   
2. Johnny Rockets - This is another burger chain. It's not as great as In N Out, and it's more expensive, but it's more of a diner than a fast food place. Their burgers are huge and filling and yummy. I like their onion rings better, and one of the best things about this chain is that you can get Vanilla Coke here. Not the canned shit, but Coke flavored with real vanilla. (Or real vanilla flavoring. It tastes awesome, trust me.)
   
3. Fatburger - I'm putting this on here because Mark said so. I had it a couple of times while I was in UCLA, and I didn't really see what the big deal was. At Fatburger, besides the regular menu, they give you the option of customizing your burger further, so if you want chili and bacon on your existing giant burger, you can. You can even put an egg on it - the very idea of which revolts me, but is nirvana to some. There are a lot more locations than I thought there were, but none that are close to us.
4. The Counter - This is a nice burger joint located in Palo Alto, near Stanford. The menu lets you customize your burger even further than Fatburger does, and the meat is fresh and humanely raised, for those of you that care about that stuff. I recommend picking three toppings, and a sauce if you really want one because anything more gets to be a bit much. The burgers come piled high, and depending on how much stuff you picked, you may have to eat it with a fork. They are sooo good. There are lots of good veggie options if you're not a meat eater or don't feel like a burger at the time. Some of the best things on this menu are in the starter section, such as the Sweet Potato Fries. Oh my god those are delicious.
   
5. Tommy's - Tommy's is an L.A. institution. There are Tommy's all over the place in Southern California, and none, sad to say, up North. Tommy's is famous for its burgers with chili. You can have variations of burgers with chili, but that's about it. It is a heart attack on a bun, and it is delicious. You may lapse into a food coma afterwards. It's really messy to eat, but that's beside the point, isn't it?
6. Marvin Gardens - This is located in Belmont, and sometimes Mark goes here with his co-workers for lunch. It is a small pub/family restaurant. Most of the lunch crowd are the mechanics that work around the area. It's been around for over 30 years. In addition to the burgers, there are pizzas and sandwiches, which are also pretty good. I don't think their online menu is comprehensive, though - I could have sworn there are lots of burger options. The ones I've had had always been so large I could barely finish them. They are grilled right there, and it's really good.
7. Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers - This is mostly a Northern California thing, I think. The burgers are fresh, and good meat-to-veggie ratio, and lots of great sides. I never finish a burger here, but that's because they're so huge.  It is decently priced, and in addition to the burgers, I love the Deep Fried Vegetable Basket. You can hear people's kids going, "But Mommy, look I AM eating vegetables!" 
8. Joe's Cable Car - We went here for someone's birthday and we haven't been back since, but we totally should. For one thing, even though it's in San Francisco, this restaurant has FREE PARKING. That is worth it, right there. But another thing is that the burger meat is freshly ground, at the restaurant, and you can safely eat your burgers medium rare here. They'll make it medium rare anyway, unless you specify otherwise. If you come with a huge party and order a lot, everyone gets free mugs to take home. Their burgers were so good I don't even remember the sides.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there's plenty more I missed.

This post from the Whatever on In N Out vs White Castle actually made me laugh out loud. And I hardly ever do that when reading.

Anyway, Scalzi is right. White Castle burgers ARE NOT burgers.

And In N Out makes the best fast food burger ever. I'm not so much a fan of their fries, but I LOVE the burgers. No other one even comes close!

As for best non-fast-food burgers, there are a number of contenders in California that I'll have to look up later.

This week I am addicted to:

• Google everything
• GMail - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE
• GTalk - I need more people to get on this so I can waste time at work.
• GoogleReader - I have stopped reading my Bloglines account because GoogleReader is sooo much more efficient. They just rolled out this new thing where it gives you statistics on how often you read your feeds, which feeds haven't updated, etc. It's perfect for my nonstop quest for information overload. I can tag the posts I like, star the ones I want to read later, even share them if I want on a separate page for other people to use. (Not that I've used that feature.)
  
• GoogleNotebook - I just started using this seriously today, as a to-do list. It's easier than using the Google Homepage, which I find overly fussy.
• rice crackers - I just bought some over at the Nijiya Market in San Mateo. It rocks - not only does it have all my required snacks, it contains a ton of unfamiliar vegetables and fresh sashimi and mochi ice cream. The Bay Area does not get better than this!
  
• crossword puzzles - I am in the middle of reading an Umberto Eco book, and I can't help it; the book is not that compelling, so I read a chapter or two and then finish the rest of the train ride with the crossword puzzle book.
  
• stationery - I wrote a few cards to people. You know what I'm really tempted to do? I'm tempted to make up one of those holiday letters that normal suburban people send out to everyone on their address book telling them what happened over the year. Mark got a couple from some family friends, and they are so cheery! Stuff like "I got elected president of the local photography club" and "we toilet-trained our kid really early and let me tell you it was tough!" I don't know why, but I find it adorable. It's not like we hear from them otherwise, but it's just nice to hear from people. Also, Daiso, a Japanese discount store just opened in the Serramonte Center, which means that there is more cute stationery waiting for me.
  
• good food - I finally convinced Mark to stop shopping at Safeway for our produce and start shopping at Lunardi's, which has more expensive stuff, but is way, way, way fresher than anything we get at Safeway. I don't really have anything against Safeway; it's just that Safeway, despite its attempts to compete with places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's by stocking nicer stuff, has an awful produce section. Both of us are trying to eat healthier, but we kept finding that we would waste a whole week's worth of mushrooms if we didn't eat them all in three days. With Lunardi's produce, we could keep stuff up to two weeks, because everything was much fresher, even the non-organic stuff. So maybe we're actually saving money in the end.
• askMeFi - I am fascinated by a lot of the questions asked here - ranging from the blunt "How do I tell my wife she's fat?" to the more whimsical "What's the deal with French book spines?" to the philosophical "Why should I follow the news?" - there's always something of interest. And occasionally I find something that helps me.
  

While I have recently been obsessed with eating good, fresh, non-processed food, I am also equally obsessed with bad-for-you, highly processed junk food and fast food places. So is Mark - when we are together we make every effort to cook together and consume some vegetables and some vitamins for dinner. But when we are alone we eat junk - for my part, it's because I find it boring and not fun at all to cook just for myself.  So I resign myself to eating frozen dinners and potstickers a lot. It's not a totally healthy way to live, but sometimes you just want to eat junk.

1. Fish sticks. Mark hates these, so I only eat them when he's not around. Same with dried cuttlefish and shrimp  chips. He claims they smell too fishy, which is probably true. I have no idea why I like fish sticks so much, but I know why I like the dried cuttlefish and shrimp chips. We always ate them growing up, and we would always take stuff like that on road trips. When we were in China, we weren't necessarily interested in the fake designer bags or tourist trinkets - we headed straight to the snack shops wherever we were.
2. Pot pies. I really like Marie Callendar's pot pies. They are just yummy - and when I found out that they were an actual restaurant chain, I went to go eat at one. It was very good, but after a while it gets super-salty.
   
3. Chips. I love chips. Cheddar, ranch, barbecue, etc. I LOVE THEM ALL. Until I went to China and discovered that they had Willy Wonka-inspired flavors. Kim-chee flavored chips, anyone? For Mark, I brought back Thai Curry Crab and Bacon flavored chips. I have not tried either one because of the smell. The reports from people who've tried it says that the Thai Curry Crab-flavored chips taste like Indian food. It will also make your breath noticeable from about a 10 feet away.
4. Ice cream. There are certain places and types of ice cream that won't compare to anything else. Like Fenton's in Piedmont, which has the giant sundaes and homemade, fresh ice cream. And sorbets. I really like sorbets, especially mango ones. Oh, and It's It ice cream is its own separate category. I overheard someone say that at someone's wedding, they didn't serve cake, but just had a ton of It's It ice cream sandwiches. You can order them online, but you have to buy them by the case.  I am SO doing that.

Today I discovered that the local grocery store sells White Castle burgers. Which means I bought them. We are totally going to eat them while watching Harold & Kumar.

P.S. I forgot to mention that in certain L.A. McDonald's establishments, they have re-released the McRib - processed pork product formatted into the shape of a rib. According to Mark, "It's fucking awesome!" and he and a friend, when they headed to L.A. last, went and bought some, then bought extra and there are now frozen McRibs in his freezer. Just in case.