When it comes to menu planning, Annie and I are from different schools of thought. Annie first builds a menu, then decides which ingredients she needs, and plans everything out before the actual execution of dinner. I start out first with the ingredients that I have on hand, then maybe come up with a menu, and start cooking before I completely figure out the order of execution. It frustrates Annie to no end when I am cooking, as the timing and rhythm are thrown off while I am still working out what I need to do next.
It’s insane, I know. Most times, she needs to step in and take the reins. But sometimes, SOMETIMES, the food I cook actually turns out better than expected.
This is the story of the evolution of my grilled pork tenderloin and halibut dinner.
Even though I’m from Kuala Lumpur and lived there most of my life, I very seldom ate Char Koay Teow there. I’m pretty picky about my CKT. There is a simple reason for that: my dad hails from Penang. ‘Nuff said!
Ok, I’ll elaborate for those not in the know.
I’m sure there will be some who will challenge my opinion, but I really think that, outside of Penang, there are very few good Char Koay Teows to be had. When I was living in KL, it didn’t matter that I went many months without eating CKT because I knew that a trip to visit relatives in Penang was always on the horizon. I would soon be able to get my fix. Continue reading 7 Tips for Making Mouth-Watering Char Koay Teow→
In our previous post on Secrets to Making Spam Musubi, I talked about the type of rice (short grain) and type of Spam (regular, NOT low-fat) to use in making this perfect Hawaiian meal-to-go. Now I want to talk about the 3rd major ingredient: the nori (Japanese dried seaweed).
In the Asian aisle of your local supermarket, you will probably be able to find Japanese nori for making sushi. It is extremely flat, slightly bitter to the taste, and tough like construction paper. This type of nori may be great for making sushi, but it is not so good for Spam musubi.
Spam musubi is one of those quintessential Hawaiian foods, like kalua pig and lomi lomi salmon. Nowhere else in the world has something quite like the Spam musubi. Based on the Japanese snack food called onigiri, the Hawaiians melded it with their love of Spam to form this perfect, one-handed meal-to-go.
I love Spam musubi. So do a lot of our friends, though they (like most Mainlanders) started out with an aversion to Spam. “SPAM?!” they’d exclaim as they crinkled their noses, “why would anyone ever want to eat SPAM? Continue reading Secrets to Making Spam Musubi→
