Lollyphile: Philed under "P" for Phailure

The suspense. The anticipation. The promise of pork.
There was a time when I was a man with dreams. Dreams of sustainable, organic, cured bacon wrapped in a sweet blanket of sugar and impaled upon a stick.
Sadly, it was not meant to be.

It's true; I placed an order for lollyphile's much vaunted maple-bacon lollipops. Two orders, in fact. One was for a friend.

Timeline of phailure:
October (time of ordering): informed that there's no way to include a message with my gift of maple-bacon lollipops. The gift to my friend will have to be anonymous - I can only hope the confections will speak for themselves.

November: A month later. No lollipops. No follow-up. I write them and hear back a week later to discover that they're backlogged. Promised they'll arrive soon.

December: No lollipops. No follow-up.

January: No lollipops. Informed that they shipped the lollipops (though one order sent to wrong address), but as they cannot track orders they don't know what happened.
No offer to refund order. Not going to replace the order.

...so not going to shop with them again. 

...bummer, was thinking of signing up for their candy-of-the month club... I hear you get your first order five months after you sign up ;)

...Oh Wendy's ~ who cares about your beef?
Where's the pork!?

Onions are Guilty and Should be Locked Up in Jail.

Well, cooking camp is a huge success so far. So successful, in fact, that I barely have the energy to drag my body into bed at the end of the day.

The title of today's post is a quote from one of my favorite students. She uttered it shortly after getting my attention today and intoned it with utter conviction and sincerity. What does it mean? Yea, I have no idea; she didn't enlighten me.

I don't have the energy to write up much more, but I'll post camp menu so far. Will post links to the recipes and maybe reviews when I get a bit more juice in me:

1. colored bread dough sculptures (turned out so well!)

2. three pizzas (traditional pizza, white pizza, homemade dough, dessert pizza)

3. hummus, baba ganoush, and spinach cheese dip

4. peanut soup & sugar and spice nuts

5. m&m cookie mix and cocoa mix

Random food musings

I have to admit it; lately I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about food.

Now, this usually isn’t all that unusual for me. I think about food a lot. However, as of late I’ve been thinking about food a bit more broadly than simply pondering what to cook and eat next (a preoccupation that takes a not-insignificant portion of my days).

At least part of my culinary ruminating stems from my preparing to teach cooking lessons at a local summer camp. The camp itself is situated in a local community garden, which means I have access to all sorts of fresh and exotic ingredients. In walking the facility and planning the menus I initially wound up with an entirely vegetarian menu. Reflecting on this, I think it has as much to do with a desire to connect these kids back to the natural cycles that provide us with food as it does with healthful eating, access to the gardens, etc. I was struck by two thoughts today in market:
1. How very little we know about what’s going into the things most of us choose to eat
2. How very little we know about how to prepare the fresh, whole foods that are readily available
I’d like to work more fresh fruit and veggies into my diet. The funny thing is… I get pretty intimidated in the produce section. I’ve always thought of myself as a foodie and cook, so if I’m overwhelmed by simple, fresh produce, how do most other people feel?

Which leads me to the other part of ruminations. I’m reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, an account of how various food products are raised/produced, grown/assembled, and eaten/distributed. I definitely fall into the target demographic for this book (young, moderately health-conscious, and yearning for simple improvements to make in my own life), and it is having its intended effect on me (unabated culinary paranoia and a distrust in the industrial food complex). Will it have any lasting effect on me? Maybe. I did cut fast food out of my life shortly after reading Fast Food Nation. It wasn’t that their science opened my eyes to unseen evils. I think it’s fairly universally accepted that Fast Food is only marginally food at best. And, truth told, I find the science of both books falls short at times (as a statistician and self-proclaimed evaluator, the last sentence applies to just about everything I read, anyway). However, what these books seem to accomplish is to provide me with a reason to take actions that I already knew I should take.
My most recent plans are to start regularly hitting the local farmers’ market, increase the variety of fruits and veggies I eat (I don’t eat meat too often, but my faux vegetarian palate has been pretty limited), and to maybe (maybe) start a small compost pile on my patio garden.

Anyway, I’ve emphasizing the negatives (fear of processed foods, uncertainty in the produce aisles) for a bit of contrast with a happier experience I had today. Part of the Omnivore’s Dilemma is the discussion of the meanings of food. It argues that eating food says something about who we are: what we choose to buy, where we choose to shop, etc all serve to define us to some degree. It’s a concept that I rarely think about, and (as often as not) dismiss as mumbo-jumbo. Yea, there’s a difference between being a strict organic vegan and living off an exclusively off Pizza Hut, but are there really any meaningful distinctions for “normal” everyday people?

Well, today I had a weird bonding moment over food. I was being rung up at the grocery store when my cashier stopped, looked down at the fruit I was buying, and started grinning.

“Sapotes? You really like Sapotes? I didn’t even know we had these here – I haven’t seen one since my childhood. My grandmother used to have a tree growing out in her yard…”

My cashier was a young Hispanic man. I had watched, in the way we all sort of vacantly look around while waiting in lines, as he had dully rung up the last few customers without a word. At the sight of these sapotes, however, he decided we had some small, instant camaraderie. In just a few moments as he spoke of growing up in Mexico and seeing sapote trees everywhere, he shared a little bit of what sapotes meant to him. They were more than fruit… they had all sorts of context. Childhood, happy memories of his family, and a country he no longer lives in. When I told him I was trying them because I couldn’t find any cherimoya, he got even more excited and told me about the cherimoya tree he was raising in his yard. Where he got the seeds, what the tree looks like, etc.

It’s funny – if I saw him again I doubt either of us would recognize the other. We’d both look at each other with the dull, indifferent look that’s so often tossed around, “I’m just looking at you – not looking to interact with you” … but at least for today we had a nice moment. Two people for whom sapotes mean something (albeit radically different things: comfort/home versus exotic/foreign)…

I guess the point isn’t what specific meanings ours food hold. I think the point is that we take the time to give our food meaning.

June Adopt-A-Meal

I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to think of a witty, self-denigrating way to restart this blog after such long neglect. Failing to find the right words myself, I decided (in the name of expedition) to borrow someone else’s:

“The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up."
~Author Unknown

Well, as luck would have it, I’ve stumbled my way towards a few excuses to begin updating more regularly. We’ll see if it pans out. All too often, I find my excitement at the prospect of blogging surging… only to dash itself in futility against the cold, unyielding face of my laziness.

My first excuse to blog is hardly a new development, though I suppose I hadn’t really considered it as blog-fodder until recently. For the last year-and-a-half or so, I’ve been going to a local homeless shelter to prepare monthly meals. More recently (perhaps under a year ago), the girl who was organizing our team opted out of leadership to focus on medschool. In her absence I’ve since taken over organizing our efforts and planning our meals.

So, I thought I’d start keeping track of our meal plans. Maybe I’ll post the costs to track the cost-per-person. Maybe I’ll just review the recipes. I’m not sure yet --- we’ll just see where it goes.

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June Adopt-A-Meal
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This month I decided to go with an Asian twist on traditional American eats. On one hand, having seen the meal plans posted in the shelter I know the residents must be dying for a little variety in their diets. On the hand, my natural inclination is to gravitate to exotic and unusual meals… sometimes to the detriment of those with ‘narrower’ (read as: normal) palates. I definitely don’t want to frighten or put off the residents with foods that are too exotic and unfamiliar, but this pairing struck me as a decent compromise.

I ended choosing to do a play off of fried chicken and pasta salad by adapting two Japanese staples: Chicken Katsu and a cold Soba Noodle Salad (the dessert, a mango cheesecake, was, as usual, store bought).

Main Course: Oven-Baked Chicken Katsu
Adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oven-Fried-Chicken-III/Detail.aspx
(scaled up for 35)

Chicken Katsu is one (of many) of my true culinary loves. Unlike many of my current favorite eats, however, my love affair with the breaded bird began long ago in grade school. To this day I hold a number of fond memories linked to what I then knew only as “chicken thingies.”

You see, while most of my childhood friends would nosh on modest sack lunches (half sandwich, chips, piece of fruit, boxed juice), one of my childhood best friends had been blessed with that greatest of inventions, the bento box. I don’t know what kept him from revealed the magic word “katsu” to us. When pressed to name the delicious, sauce-drenched fried victuals, he would modestly reply that they were simply “chicken thingies.”
Needless to say, lunch each day would consist of use trying to coerce, cajole, or trade our way into possession of some of the magical chicken thingies.

It wasn’t until years later that I rediscovered, and subsequently devoured, katsu again --- I was finally reunited with my long lost childhood love. And this time, I finally learned her name. Oh, Katsu, how I missed you!

To prepare the katsu I followed the link posted to the letter but substituted panko breadcrumbs in place of the usual and kicked the heat up to 375 degrees. All in all, it was a great success I think! The chicken was juicy on the inside, crisp on the outside, and just different enough from the typical fried chicken to be engaging.

I’ll probably make this again at home with two substitutions: use yogurt in place of mayonnaise (I bought the yogurt but forgot to bring it in to the shelter) & bake it on a wire cooling rack to keep the bottoms from getting oily/soft.

Oh, and what really makes katsu… well, katsu… is the sauce! The creatively named “katsu sauce” is sort of like Japan’s answer to steak or Worcestershire sauce. Its complex flavor isn’t easily likened to any other taste I can think of. It’s basically a delicious, sweet take on BBQ sauce with less ‘tang.’ At any rate, in order to make the sauce go further I diluted it with apple juice (Katsu sauce’s main ingredient is apple sauce, so it’s not nearly as odd of an idea as it might sound) --- which really worked quite well!

Vegetable/Side Dish: Soba Salad
Adapted from: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/SOBA-SALAD-106167

One of the challenges of cooking at the shelter is providing healthy vegetable options that the residents will actually eat. We’ve had good luck with simple roasted veggies, but most other options (including salads) nearly always fall flat. Many of the residents range from overweight to obese, so I feel like it’s especially important to offer healthy and healthful options. This month I took a shot at disguising our veggies in a pasta salad.

In making the salad I actually browsed several recipes and picked and chose from elements that I liked. The end product more or less followed the recipe above but was composed of:

• 36 oz soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles)
• 6 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
• 6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 large jicama, peeled and diced
• 3 small bags of frozen corn
• Several (maybe 9) sliced green onions
• 1 large package of frozen soybeans

It seemed like the end product went over pretty well. I think cold soba noodles are one of the best summer foods around, and the recipe worked out well as a platform to sneak some veggies in.

All-in-all… I think the day was a success!
Perhaps I’ll write more or think of a way to rate or assess this day’s cooking…
…but that’s a task for another day.

Oh, and I only had to go to five grocery stores to round up the ingredients. Seriously, what kind of grocery store goes around with no soba noodles or panko breadcrumbs? Madness!!

Restaurant: Saladang Song

I've gotta Saladang Song my dang a long ling long
(My apologies to Ministry, but there are only so many puns you can make with the words 'Saladang Song')

Food: 8/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Service: 9/10


My subjective Grade: A-
Best for: showing off what a hip scenester you are.
In a perfect world I'd dine here: now and then as a date spot


Details:
383 S. Fair Oaks Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 793-5200

I've had pretty mixed results when it's come to choosing Pasadena dinner spots to entertain my folks. This week I took them out to Saladang Song. I was especially nervous considering that I hadn't yet had a chance to scout it out myself. The reviews of Saladang Song definitely ran the gamut, too. Depending on the reviewer, Saladang Song allegedly serves either the best or worst Thai food in town - with little middle ground in between. "Is an interesting exterior really reason enough to pick a dinner spot?" I asked myself (The entire restaurant [front courtyard and all] is set behind a tall outer wall of alternating concrete and metal lattice panels). Apparently it is.

By the way - I have NO idea why the restaurant owner decided to open this place next door to his first restaurant, Saladang. I haven't tried the original spot yet, so I can't weigh in on the differences between the two, but that struck me as more than a little odd.

Still, all in all, the experience wasn't half as painful as it could have been. At least belly dancers didn't erupt out of the back room like the last time I took them to Malagueta.

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Food: 8/10

• I've always found ordering at new places to be a little bit daunting. Inevitably I end up wanting to try several dishes and live in fear of winding up with buyer's remorse. As a result I'm a definitely a fan of tapas, buffets, dim sum, churrasco, and other approaches that allow for sampling several dishes. However, whereas trendy restaurants have quickly learned to lure customers into overspending on small plates, family-style dining remains a fairly solid, consumer-friendly tradition in my mind. I was fortunate to have my family along for Saladang Song, as it allowed me to sample a fairly wide selection of dishes... some of which were gems and some of which were duds.
  
• The menu breaks down more or less along the lines that one might expect: there are the requisite number of appetizers, noodle dishes, rice dishes, curries, a few unusual drinks, etc. Everything we ordered was gorgeous - definitely in line with the carefully manicured, trendy appearance of the place. As previously mentioned, however, some were hits while some were misses:
• Hits: We started with a vegetarian combo that was certainly a hit (the taro cakes, in particular, were a hit with my folks - we decided the closest analogue we could come up with was French Toast). A duck & rice entree also solicited praise from the two duck fans at our table.
• Misses: I have to admit that ordering their Pad Thai was a mistake. Seeing as it's such a quintessential Thai item, I thought it would be a good reference point to compare across other Thai restaurants. Now, I had read reviews warning that Saladang Song is by no means a 'traditional' Thai experience. I was fine with that - I've certainly had my share of good experiences with the bastardized takes on 'traditional' foods served at Fusion restaurants. However, their take on the Pad Thai was to rob it of all the typical depth of flavor and seasoning I associate with Thai food, and replace that lost flavor with... well... a beautiful presentation? Sure, you could have varnished the thing and installed it as a piece of art somewhere (the entire mass of noodles is artfully wrapped in a thin layer of egg, which results in it looking very much like a gorgeous omelet). Trouble was that it was bland. Not disgusting. Not made with poor ingredients. Just devoid of depth.
• One other miss: I'm always drawn to ordering novel items, so when I read their dessert options and came across "tubers served in a light syrup," I was sold. I was imagining a light, refreshing dessert akin to the shaved ice creations you might find in Japanese restaurants and tea shops (where they also use unlikely items in desserts - like lima beans). Anyway, imagine my disappointment when my dish turned out to be a bowl of boiled carrots, potatoes, and taro swimming in a thick pool of plain sugar syrup. Hot boiled carrots, potatoes, and taro. It was hot, it was heavy, and it was sickening sweet. I sort of imagine it's what you'd get if a unicorn wandered by and threw up in your bowl. Yea, I should have known better, but still... yuck.
  

Atmosphere: 10/10

• High ceilings, liberal application of concrete and metal throughout, floor to ceiling windows, a gorgeous walled-in courtyard/patio, water features, and creative lighting... yea it's got the trendy modern thing down to a T. If you like that sort of thing, you'll like this sort of thing. I know I did.
  

Service: 9/10

• Their staff really was quite attentive. I drink like a fish (doesn't matter what's in front of me - I unconsciously drink the way others unconsciously eat), so one of the first things I notice is whether my glass ever goes empty. I'm sure I had somewhere in the ballpark of six refills while I was there - and I don't think I ever managed to completely empty my cup before someone rushed over to tend to it for me.
  
• Our bill took a little bit of time to receive... and they forgot my entree order altogether. We had to ask a second time for the Pad Thai - at which point I think they put in a second order with the kitchen.
  

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Eating Saladang Song:

The combination (vegetarian) appetizer plate is a fair amount of food. I'm guessing that paired with an interesting entree or two (perhaps a pair of rice dishes), the net result would be more food than needed for a date.
Oh, and although I doubt I'd have to warn most people in the first place - ditch the boiled tuber dessert. The coconut ice cream was the big hit at our table.

Restaurant: Mamma's Brick Oven

What a bummer - looks like this one's changed hands. I've removed the review as I haven't had a chance to try the pizza since it changed owners.

Only discovered this as I noticed some old comments from the owner that he owned the rights to the image paired with the review and would sue if the picture wasn't removed.

Well, the image has been removed. I would have done so sooner, but I only noticed the comments now. It's unfortunate that I wasn't approached in a polite manner, as I would have happily edited my post to reflect their new pizzeria. I gave pretty high praise and would have happily redirected customers to their new location. 

To the owner, my actions were out of ignorance... not malice. Wish you could have started by just explaining the situation rather than jumping to threats. Would have happily replaced this write-up with a review of your new spot. Used to love your pizza, too. Bummer.

Restaurant: Burger Continental

Burger Continental...
Burger (bûr'ger) n: A sandwich consisting of a bun, a cooked beef patty, and often other ingredients such as cheese, onion slices, lettuce, or condiments.
Continental (kon'te-nen'tl) adj: Live music, belly dancing, and a menu leaning decidedly closer to Greece than McDonalds.

Food: 7/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Service: 8/10

My subjective Grade: C
Best for: cheap eats and people watching
In a perfect world I'd dine here: Twice. Once to see it for myself. A second time to horrify my friends.


Details:
535 South Lake Ave
Pasadena, CA 91101
www.burgercontinental.com

A regular of Pasadena, I used to always wonder about the black-painted, faux German cottage entrance to Burger Continental. Reminiscent of Clearman's North Woods Inn, the outer facade of the restaurant seemed to whisper of untold culinary and people-watching delights. All of this stood in stark contrast against the relatively bland backdrop of the commercial strip-mall that constitutes much of Lake Avenue.

Tantalized by this oddity, Azu eventually stumbled upon their website. If only we had known first that the city of Pasadena posts the results of their Public Health Department's Food Establishment Inspections...

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Food: 7/10

• BC has an eclectic menu which crosses international boundaries with reckless abandon. Menu options range from the burgers, sandwiches, and pizzas one might expect to categories like "Continental Baja Baja" and "Armenian and Greek Specialties." On both of the occasions that I've eaten at BC the main dish has been tasty enough considering the low, low price, but their hummus was bland, their baba ganoush was inedible, and their pita was hard enough to cause bodily harm (whether eaten or used as a bludgeon by your fellow diners in their frenzy to get to the salad bar). Why so many other reviewers have claimed that BC has the best Mediterranean food in Pasadena is beyond me...
• BC's salad bar merits it own bullet point. It actually held some interesting items beyond your standard salad bar fare. While many of the veggies were soft enough to require the use of a spoon, other items like a tray-full of salmon and another with sweet, creamy noodles and crab are worth experiencing.
• There are also breakfast, lunch, and Sunday buffets... I haven't been brave enough to venture out for one, but perhaps I'll have to take a third trip back in the name of research...

Atmosphere: 6/10

• From what I've seen, BC has three dining areas:

1. There appear to be a couple of tables in the front of the restaurant. I've never been seated here, so I won't comment on it beyond saying that it would place one dangerously close to the salad bar and the herds of hungry customers it attracts.
2. There's a single, long small building near the rear of the restaurant that has several tables crammed in it... I'm not sure what the original purpose of this building was, but I don't think it was originally intended as a dining place. I'm actually not sure if the building was originally part of BC... it has an invaded feel to it. The view is of a wall, the brick courtyard (see below), and a parking lot. The space is pretty cramped, so if you want to avoid belly dancers, it's probably a good place to be.
3. The last dining area is the largest. Between the previous two locals lies a covered brick patio. While there are several smaller tables around the perimeter, the majority of the space is taken up by long tables to accommodate the huge groups that frequent BC for birthday parties and other celebrations. It gets pretty noisy; a fact that isn't helped by the live music. It also gets pretty congested with customers fighting their way to the salad bar. On the occasion I was seated here, my corner of the patio smelled strongly of bleach, and I had a clear view into yet another building in the back which I assume is a kitchen. I assume it was a kitchen, as I could see what looked like an enormous band saw (I assume for butchering purposes) and several white tubs. The view inside the building was pretty unsettling, as it looked more like a dirty industrial setting for a horror movie than a place where food should be prepared. Maybe it's where they keep the belly dancers between performances?

• On both dining occasions, I escaped from BC before the belly dancers were unleashed. Whether their performance would improve or detract from the ambience, I can't say.
• Oh, I forgot to mention the pigeons. And flies.
  

Service: 8/10

• The wait staff, on the whole, are pretty good. On both occasions, they showed us to a table promptly and were pretty good about refilling drinks, etc. Better still, the second time we went (with some friends in tow), our waitress was a character and ended up passing some friendly jibes on to our shell-shocked friends. It seems like a family owned & run operation. They are sometimes slow with bill, however.

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Eating Burger Continental:

Salad bar... green muck (I think they were once green beans, but I couldn't muster the courage to try), sweet, creamy crab noodles, & salmon in white goo.
Entree... a fairly tasty Greek Gyros Kebab plate.
Beverage... Lipton's iced tea.

...they'd actually make a great late night dive like Pink's, but sadly they close @ 10:30 or 11:30