Friday, December 19, 2008

Korean BBQ meets Mexican Tacos

Kogi @ Silverlake!!!!

I found them. But found them late. Not really my usual hour to nosh since I'm no longer a nocturnal creature studying for some final or another with hunger pangs distracting me from actual studying!

But curiosity got the better of me.

My first bulgogi taco and korean style chicken bbq taco!

Good eats!!! Yum! It works!

I'd be really happy if they got to my hood just a bit earlier.....

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Not your ordinary caramels

I've been a big fan of Jean-Paul Hevin chocolates for almost 4 years.
Because they do not have a retail outlet in the U.S., (and because they are a touch pricey), I haven't had a chance to try EVERYTHING they have to offer.... if I did, I'm sure my dentist will kill me.......

When I did go to one of the JPH boutiques in Tokyo, I felt like Charlie going to Willy Wonka's factory! I believe their first Tokyo store was in Isetan Department Store in Shinjuku. Japanese department stores are known for the basement levels to be treasure troves of food shopping. It's like hitting Dean & Deluca, Citarella, Zabar's, and various renowned artisan food vendors in one fell swoop! I could live there.......

Getting back to the JPH boutique, it was simply amazing.
The store was a separate enclosed area within this gourmet food shoppers paradise, regulated for temperature and humidity to keep the chocolates in optimum condition. They also controlled how many people were in the store at one time. Extreme? Possibly, but done in such a gracious way that I didn't take it as being snobbish. All I know is that I spent waaaaaay too much in that one store on that long ago trip.

A recent care package from Japan came with a chic parcel with a familiar logo.
Jean-Paul Hevin!!!!!!

Wait, caramels? hmmmmmmmm..... so my friend obviously noting my new found fascination with caramel (with my blog title), sent me an assortment of caramels to try!

vanille!

Well, all I can say is tres bon! I've never had caramels that had such intense flavor and richness. Although caramel is mostly composed of sugar, these caramels do not have a cloying sweetness to it. Leave it to the French to take candy to another level! And leave it to JPH to make me fall in love with even more of their products...... Santa, if you are listening, can you open a JPH boutique in Los Angeles please?

Friday, December 12, 2008

Obsessed with Tea

A couple of postings ago, I used a tea from Kyoto to make cha-gayu.

Ho-ji cha ほうじ茶 (roasted green tea) is usually is considered as a lower grade of tea.The exception is when it comes from Kyoto. And, this one happens to be that exception!

Yum! This is soooo fragrant that I am constantly thinking of how I can utilize it in cooking.

So, I decided to go a bit Italian this time.... Ho-ji cha infused panna cotta!

Despite the infusion of the tea, the color of the panna cotta remained quite light, and the flecks of tea actually resemble scraped vanilla beans.


I didn't sweeten the panna cotta too much as I wanted to use a traditional Japanese sugar syrup as a sauce. Kuromitsu is a syrup made from unrefined sugar, (often from Okinawa) and is rich in minerals. Kind of like molasses. A homemade version would melt down chunks of brown sugar with a bit of water. However, I found a ready-made version at a Japanese grocery store. :-D

As I thought, the tea flavor held up nicely to the syrup. There is an almost cloying sweetness to this syrup, but the panna cotta has an afternote distinctly of the ho-ji cha!

I wonder what I should make with ho-ji cha next?
Or, maybe I'll just brew a cuppa and simply enjoy.