Memosne: August 2014

Gluten Free Hiyashi Chuka!


Hiyashi chuka!! Since I've gone gluten free, I've faced the unique problem of being Asian and gluten free. Not to make this a race issue (damn my lower intestines), but for a rice based culture a lot of East Asian food has gluten in it. Foregoing the obvious noodles, pancakes and breaded/fried things, you might be surprised to find that soy sauce has gluten in it as a preservative. 




So of course in the world of Japanese cuisine I have to abstain from my beloved tonkatsu, tempura, ramen, curry...the list can go on forever. However, cooking with dog, the famous Japanese cooking channel, recently uploaded a "diet version" of the Japanese summertime favorite, Hiyashi chuka. Instead of the regular ramen noodles Chef and Francis use Shirataki noodles. In this recipe I made the slight adjustment of using tamari (a gluten free soy sauce) in place of regular soy sauce, but everything else is pretty much naturally gluten free.


Shirataki noodles are great for you. Not only are they naturally gluten free and low in carbohydrates, they're also naturally PACKED with fiber. Instead of noodles made from rice or wheat flours, they're made from konjac root, which is part of the yam family. Konjac comes in many forms (blocks, noodles, little bundles of noodles, balls, etc.), but it usually comes in two colorings: white or brown speckled with black. Both kinds are slightly translucent. 


The only downside to Konjac based cakes or noodles is that it naturally has a very strong fishy odor. Luckily this problem can easily be solved with a quick boil before using.


The rest of this summer dish requires minimal cooking and is very easy to assemble. I simply cut cucumber, tomato, egg, and Virginia Ham...and ta-da! You have a refreshing and light summer dish to eat on those hot and humid nights. 


Although I followed the recipe pretty much to a t, the one thing I did for you guys is compare the two different sauce recipes that she used.

Sauce A: 

- Lemon Tamari -

100ml Hot Water (3.38 fl. oz)

1/2 tsp Torigara Soup Base - Powdered Chicken Soup Base

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

2 tbsp Tamari

1 tbsp Vinegar
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Sesame Oil


VS. 

Sauce B:

- Sauce - (180ml/6.1 fl oz)

3 tbsp Tamari

4 tbsp Vinegar

2 tbsp Sugar

70ml Water (2.4 fl oz)

½ tsp Ginger Root, grated
1 tsp Sesame Oil


Between my boyfriend and I, we both preferred Sauce B over Sauce A. Obviously both sauces have the same sweet, salty, and tangy notes, but Sauce B has a much stronger flavor because of the ginger. The chicken powder sort of dulled down the original citrus notes of the lemon and gave the whole sauce a milder flavor. 


I hope you like it! 

Thrift Shop: Davis Square Flea


Macklemore, you were right. Thrift shopping, consignment shopping and flea markets are very fun. Even though you only explicitly stated thrift stores in your song, I feel you. I FEEL YOU.


Boston is steeped in so much history, going to consignment and thrift stores in the area is always really fun because you stumble upon some really old things. The West Coast, or at least the places that I looked, always seemed pretty "modern" and I've yet to find anything that makes me exclaim "Wow! That's old!" Here in Boston, I find that I'm regularly being surprised at how old things are or when shops were founded. The other day the boyfriend and I found a book written in the 1700s for $7, we didn't buy it, but dayum! That's pretty old.


Like this beauty right here. A 1960s Playboy. Quality reading I tell ya!


Perusing flea markets, yard sales, and purchasing knick-knacks and other random bric-a-brac has become our new hobby. We've been trying to decorate the interior of our apartment without breaking the bank and "vintage" things seem a good way to do that.


The flea market we've been to most often is the Davis Square Flea. The market's hours are every Sunday from 10am - 4 pm.


They have a rotating series of vendors and craftsmen who bring a wide range of antique furniture, prints, hand-made jewelry, vintage clothes, books, etc. It's a pretty fun place to walk through if you have time.


They even have food offerings too! One of our favorite vendors, Atomic Flat, offers a "vintage" glass soda collection.


Although we haven't found much in the way of apartment decor, I have found some cute things that I'm pretty pleased with.


The things that I purchased are a bit more "girly." For everything above, minus a matching necklace for my sister, I spent $45 dollars. Not bad for a silk scarf, two vintage necklaces, a pair of Salvatore Ferragamo Shoes, and an adorable hat!


The necklace falls like a choker and I thought it'd be cute to wear it paired with a shirt with a collar. Peter pan collar, collared shirt, cut out collars...it seemed nice. 


Honestly, I don't think I'll ever have a practical reason to wear this hat, but I liked it and it was cheap so it came home with me. I was inspired by Dita Von Teese's vintage hat collection. Hat's from the past are so beautiful. Now I'm looking for an adorable pillbox hat! 


These shoes were actually the most expensive, and the least useful. Buying vintage shoes is always sort of a gamble, the quality on these were fine, but they were obviously worn. However, my feet are super wide, while these shoes are super duper narrow. I don't think I'll be wearing them very often.

But overall flea markets/thrift things are super fun! If you're in the Somerville area I highly recommend Davis flea!


Hakkasan: A Review


When I was visiting my Uncle last month, he told me he really wanted to go to Hakkasan. Just by hearing the name, I thought it was a Japanese restaurant. Who knew it was a Chinese restaurant! (Probably everyone, but whatever.) This is actually the first time I’ve seen Chinese cuisine “elevated” towards a Western standard in the states. I’ve been to elegant restaurants in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, but reading about Hakkasan made me genuinely intrigued. I’d actually not heard of Hakkasan before, despite their myriad locations, and I must admit…I am generally very picky about Chinese food. I am my father’s daughter after all.


I’m not usually picky about anything else, but to me…I feel like I know Chinese food well. I mean, I did grow up with it. I also often feel like Chinese food is misrepresented by stereotypes and generalizations. Chow mein, fried rice, lemon chicken and spring rolls Chinese food does not make. Taking into account my love for Japanese food and Japanese “fusion-type” cuisines I've sampled, I was interested in seeing an “elevated version” of Chinese food. The best Chinese food I’ve had was when my dad was taking us around Hong Kong, the place where he grew up, and we were eating rice noodles in hole-in-the-wall type restaurants with maximum seating room for ten people. It was fun.


Going into Hakkasan feels a little pretentious. The restaurant is located by Westfield Center in the downtown area of SF. That area is always pretty busy and filled with tourists, so the juxtaposition from the busy street to the tranquil lobby is kind of abrupt. From the street entrance, you’ll step into a lobby with a dedicated desk and host/hostess to greet Hakkasan’s customers. The lobby is also heavily incensed, as in they burn a lot of it to create a certain atmosphere. I’m sure some people like it, but it gave me a vague headache. Being greeted at the bottom lobby, you then step into a sleek elevator that's been designated to take all of Hakkasan’s patrons to the main restaurant floor.


The décor was very chic and for some reason, at least for me, vaguely reminiscent of Las Vegas. Lots of dark shiny surfaces contrasted with high shine metals. The decorative accents they added were cute and reminded me of being in a “tearoom.” Latticed partitions, octagonal windows, and the occasional orchid now and then hinted to the kind of cuisine they served. The service was friendly and I enjoyed chatting idly with our server. He was very friendly and was very knowledgeable of the non-gluten items on the menu. He also told us that the SF Hakkasan location was hoping to bring in some Michelin Stars this year (sadly, they did not) and the requirements for restaurants to earn them. A very interesting conversation.

Left to Right: China Doll and Kowloon Cooler
My uncle and I went to Hakkasan for their lunch service, so we opted for a little taste of everything by ordering their lunch set menu and some drinks. It’s no shock to anyone in my peer circle that I can’t hold alcohol, and it’s uncharacteristic of me to order drink with food. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised they offered blended non-alcoholic drinks alongside their cocktail menu. Usually it's just a boring array of sodas or some fancy juices.

My uncle and I ordered China Doll, which is a tamarillo fruit, pistachio, apple, and peach juice concoction, and the Kowloon Cooler, which consisted of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, lychee, apple juice, cranberry juice, and lemon lime soda, from their non-alcoholic drink menu. While I didn’t enjoy the taste of the drinks paired with the rest of the food we ordered, they were perfectly fine on their own. My berry drink was tangy and refreshing, but had quite an “earthy” aftertaste. My Uncle’s Lychee concoction was sweeter and equally as refreshing, but was brighter and didn't have the "earthiness" mine had.

Fried Dim Sum Selection: (bottom) crispy prawn dumping, (middle) xo scallop puff, and (top) roasted duck and pumpkin puff
From the lunch set options they gave us, my Uncle opted to order the dim sum appetizer set, and they give you a choice between having your appetizers fried or steamed. Due to the gluten, I couldn't personally taste them myself, but my Uncle looked like he enjoyed them. And to be totally honest, anything fried is pretty yummy. 


The trio of dim sum yummies included: a crispy prawn dumpling, pumpkin puff, and an xo scallop puff.


I asked if I could get the steamed dim sum set and supplement it with three shrimp dumpings (they're traditionally covered in a rice wrapper versus a flour one), but the waiter said that the trio of samplings were fixed and you can't modify them.


Stir Fried Mushroom Lettuce Wrap with pine nuts, and pistachios 
So instead, I got the lettuce wraps. I feel bad, but I just naturally am not wow'ed by lettuce wraps. I think it was my initiation with lettuce wraps from P.F. Chang's, but I just think they're meh. These lettuce wraps, obviously with the addition of pistachios and pine nuts, didn't taste very "Chinese" to me. Of course we can get into the whole debate about "what does Chinese actually taste like?", but let's focus on the wraps. It was very nutty, the mixture didn't really seem like a cohesive filling, but instead an amalgamation of nuts that someone had thrown together. I was very generous with the filling, but even so, I still had a couple of spoonfuls left over when I had finished the lettuce leaves. It was ok, but I didn't feel satisfied after eating it nor would I order it again.

Stir fried Black Pepper Ribeye Beef 
For my Uncle's main dish he ordered the stir fried black pepper ribeye beef. Due to the soy sauce this dish wasn't gluten free either, but I still nabbed a bite. I'm more strict on myself about gluten now, as I developed a headache and had all the other unpleasant side effects of eating gluten, but it was tasty. It was savory, tender, and mildly sweet.  Very good and addicting, my uncle enjoyed himself and ate everything on the plate. He even gave the fried noodle cornucopia a try.

Spicy Prawn with Lily Bulb and Almond
 As for myself, I went for the spicy prawn main. Honestly, in retrospect, I don't think this was gluten free (it's not denoted on the online menu), but the waiter told me it was at the time. Despite not being gluten free, it was delicious. As I stated before, I didn't think that gluten in small amounts would hurt me, but it does. ::lol:: Gluten allergy, who knew? The shrimp was delicious though, it was plump, juicy and not overdone. The curry sauce they paired it with was spicy enough to give a slight kick, but not enough to feel like your whole mouth was burning. The sauce was creamy and addicting as well, while the almonds and lily bulb gave the dish the textural notes it needed to keep it from being monotonous.


When choosing the lunch set it includes a bowl of bok choi and your choice of steamed or egg fried rice. The bok choi was nothing special, just some normal bok choi that was gently flavored with garlic. I was very glad that a vegetable side dish was included in the meal. At this point it seemed very meat heavy.

Sweet and Sour Pork Tenderloin
This dish was an additional main that my uncle and I ordered to make sure we were sated at the end of the meal. Since our lunch sets had come with bok choi, we elected to go with a viand. This dish was also recommended to us by our waiter, who said that the dish was quite popular. It was good! The pork was tender and the sweet and sour flavors balanced each other out completely. There's nothing worse that ordering a "sweet and sour" dish and having all of one aspect, but none of the other.

Everything was evenly coated in the sweet and sour sauce, the pork was tender, and the pomegranate seeds, pineapple, and red onion added little bites of acidity and freshness that the dish needed. Even though I like pineapples, when they're served in savory dishes like this, I pick them out and don't eat them. I think it's something about the texture of cooked pineapple that I don't like. 


Overall the meal was above average, the ambiance was wonderful, and the service was great. We had a wonderful experience with our waiter just shooting the breeze. Nothing really wow'ed me or was original in my opinion. I would definitely go back to Hakkasan, but only with friends. For some reason, I feel like I would choose other places to go to eat than Hakkasan if I had the choice. The environment that Hakkasan creates is one of a chic nightclub or a swanky lounge, if I wanted to go on a date or spend some family time here I think I would feel out of place. It lacks that sort of intimacy that some restaurants offer their diners. To me, it seems like Hakkasan is a place to go before clubbing or if you want to explore something new with friends.


Thanks for reading! I hope you give Hakkasan a try!

Price: $$$ out of $$$$$
Kid Friendly: Yes! They're very accommodating and I did see some kids playing about in the booths next to our table.
Repeatable: Yes! With friends.

A Study Of Narcissism


Blogging is something I've done on and off for over four years now. It's something that I'm passionate about.

However, if you've followed my blog at all (or even clicked on the archive link in the sidebar) you'll notice that I blog in cycles.

I've always been a bit hesitant to reveal my feelings on the internet, because once it's there it stays forever, but I think I've reached a point in my life where I should be honest with myself: I'm incredibly unhappy...when I shouldn't be.

Now, this isn't a cry for attention or a call for pity, but instead a place where I make a promise to myself (with you as my witness) to actually take steps to make myself happier. I've posted goals here before and I haven't really followed through with them, because I haven't addresses the root of my unhappiness: low self worth, anxiety and depression.



When I first started to blog it was to galvanize myself to do something (however small that "something" may be) and to have some sort of documentation that I *was* doing something productive.

The more I posted and the more I got into writing and creating blog posts...the more concerned I became with how narcissistic I would appear. How I would open myself up to people who would criticize me for my writing, my looks, my style. Instead of developing myself, I became afraid of people and what they would think of me. I was embarrassed to take outfit photos outside or stand up just to get the right angle on a food shot. I felt like I was drawing an excessive amount of negative attention to myself. Even though people always say "Who cares what other people think?" I find it hard to live by that, but it's never to late to start. 

Who cares what other people think? I'm going to make myself happy.