Banana Lumpia

Hawaii's tropical climate and the abundance of banana trees around my parent's home means constant banana goodness.

The variety they grow is called apple bananas which is different from what you normally find in the grocery store. These are short and stubby and unbelievably sweet. It's no wonder bananas are one of my favorite fruits.

Growing up I remember Mom was always looking for ways to use up the bananas whenever a bunch became ripe. I have fond memories of her banana bread and banana pancakes. I especially love her banana lumpia. We cooked some up a couple of times during this trip.

Lumpia is the Filipino version of an egg roll. They can be sweet (like these filled with banana and cinnamon sugar) or savory (filled with meat and veggies). There is definitely a technique to rolling them--you want to make sure they are tight otherwise they become a sloppy mess as you are frying them.

Yes, it saddens me to say they are fried; their one negative characteristic. I hadn't eaten anything fried months prior to this, and almost felt guilty as I consumed these crispy, golden treats. Almost.

Chicken Kalamungai (Marungai)

Tonight we tackled one of the things on my mom-needs-to-cook-while-we-are-here list. Growing up I was always her helper in the kitchen, usually washing the dishes as we cooked or prepping ingredients (chopping, peeling, etc.). However, since I've lived all of my adult life in a different city (mostly different state) I haven't had a chance to really learn her recipes. Therefore, I was determined to make it one of the priorities during this trip. So we started with her chicken kalamungai soup (a.k.a. chicken marungai and papayas). Pieces of chicken and green papayas in a savory broth flavored with tanglad (a.k.a. lemongrass) and kalamungai leaves--it is so good.

The most time-consuming step of this dish is picking the kalamungai leaves. We would usually sit around the table "talking story" while we did this so the time actually flew by. Brian pitched in to help during this step and we all enjoyed a great conversation.

Seeding and peeling the papaya also takes a little time as the skin can be difficult to work with. Once those two things are done though, it's just a matter of gathering the remaining ingredients and cooking. One item of note: the milk that oozes from the papaya when peeling can irritate the skin of some people. Luckily it isn't an issue for me.

The undisputed star of this dish is the distinctive tanglad (pronounced tahng-lahd) flavor of the soup. It is the knotted mass in the photo below and Mom has a big bush of it growing in the back yard. While the entire stalk is used, most of the flavor comes from the thick section near the base of the stalk rather than the actual leafy portion. The other key ingredient is the kalamungai leaves. It's a bit bitter when you bite it, similar to kale.

Mom, like many other great cooks, has a lot of her recipes in her head. As a result she "eyeballs" amounts instead of following a written recipe. Trying to get accurate amounts in order to document the recipe was rather challenging but I think we are close with this one.

Recipe:
3 cups kalamungai leaves, rinsed
4 green papayas, seeded-peeled-cubed
1/2 cup onion, chopped
5 lb. chicken fryer, sectioned
1 tomato, sliced
3 stalks tanglad (lemongrass)
1/2 cup patis (fish sauce)
2 Tbsp oil
handful of Hawaiian salt
pepper
garlic salt (optional)

1) In a large pot add onions to heated oil and cook until translucent

2) Add chicken and brown.

3) Add tomatoes and hot water to cover chicken. Stir and bring to a boil.

4) Add Hawaiian salt, pepper, garlic salt, tanglad, patis. Stir and bring to a boil again.

5) Once boiling add papaya and simmer until papaya is soft (about 20 minutes).

6) Add kalamungai leaves and cook for another 5 minutes.

We usually eat this served over rice with a dash of shoyu. It tastes even better the next day when the flavors have had a chance to really meld together.

Crab!

Our first night in Hawaii Mom arranged a cookout so we could spend some time with everyone apart from the actual wedding night which would be hectic. Most of Uncle Jimmy’s kids (and their kids) made it as did Dad, my brothers, and their families. We had a great time and the spread was absolutely delicious: shoyu chicken (chicken braised in a sweet soy-based sauce), sour pork (grilled pork mixed with onions and tomatoes and dressed in a soy/vinegar sauce), noodles, smoked fish, steak, fresh crab, patele (Puerto Rican dish similar to an enchilada), and of course, rice. A mango cheesecake topped off the meal.

Unfortunately, I got so caught up in visiting that I didn’t think to take pictures of the table, but I did get some of Brian working on the crab. Fresh samoan crab that were plucked out of the water only a few hours before consumption—no condiments necessary. My brothers and step-brothers thoroughly enjoyed showing Brian the best way to get into the crab in order to maximize meat retrieval.

I think Brian is starting to understand why I am the ‘seafood snob’ that I am. When you grow up eating seafood this fresh it is difficult to enjoy anything else.

First Class Chow

If you were ever curious about what they serve in first class...here you go. This was my meal on our Delta flight to Hawaii (Brian had an unsavory pasta dish that I failed to photograph).

The chicken, green beans, and pearl onions were decent, but the squash souffle (middle of the plate) was actually quite tasty. I never could figure out what the sauce was though. As for the wine, much too dry.

The real china and silver was a nice change from the paper and plastic you normally get in coach. Overall though, I was disappointed. I guess I expected more.

Arts in the Heart

This weekend is the annual Arts in the Heart cultural festival (Friday - Sunday) so Brian and I went to it last night. We had a great time.

The featured country this year is the Philippines so I was especially interested in attending since I am half Filipino. We arrived at around 5:30pm to perfect weather (high 70's) which held throughout the evening. We started with the art booths and browsed an assortment of jewelry, photographs, wind chimes, pottery, and other hand-made art work. We didn't purchase anything but did enjoy looking at it all.

By the time we made our way to the food booths/global stage area, the opening ceremony was about to begin. We watched the introduction of the countries and then decided to get some food.

There were two booths I really wanted to stop at--the Philippines and the Pacific Islanders. In reviewing the food menu I found online earlier in the day, I knew I also wanted to sample the desserts from the French booth. I barely ate that day in anticipation of trying all this food!

As we made our way to the Philippines booth, I was happy to see so many people lined up in front of it. We ordered the chicken adobo over rice, pancit (noodles), lumpia (similar to an egg roll), and maruya (banana fritter).

We also stopped at the Korean booth and got some bul go gi (skewered beef) and chop che (noodles). We figured this was enough for round one of our food sampling so we headed over to a bench to eat.

Overall I was disappointed with the food from both booths. The adobo was not vinegary enough, the pancit was too vinegary, and the bul go gi was tough as leather. The lumpia was decent as were the Korean noodles. The best thing was the fried banana fritter though it was wrapped in what appeared to be phyllo dough rather than dipped in batter before frying.

Here is my dear hubby chowing down--I love how supportive he is in trying the foods from my culture!

We walked around for a bit more and then decided it was time for round two. So we made our way over to the Pacific Islanders booth.

The Chamorro plate we ordered included hineska (sticky rice), tininon monnok (chicken martinated in a Guamanian sauce and grilled), monnok kadon peka (chicken cooked in a spicy sauce), lumpia (similar to an egg roll), and pancit (noodles). We also got the mama ais dutse (frozen blended banana/orange drink) and the blue Hawaiian shaved ice slush. Armed with all this food we headed over to the dining tent.

This selection was much better than what we had earlier. My favorite was the monnok kadon peka—it tasted more like chicken adobo than the adobo we got from the Philippines booth. Their pancit and lumpia was great as well—Brian especially liked the veggie and beef filling in this version of lumpia.

The drinks were just okay. Here is mama ais dutse.

I’ll share a little secret…my big, manly husband has a soft spot for fruity, blended drinks. He was thoroughly embarrassed by the sunflower cup though so guess who had to carry it to the table!

We were stuffed by the time we were through so it was a good thing that the French booth was a no-show. I did stop by the German booth to pick up a piece of plumb cake which we ate later in the evening as we enjoyed the singer/songwriter contest at the community stage. We capped off the night with a stroll back to the car atop the levy along the river walk. I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival!

Foodie definition

From wikipedia.com:

Foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. The word was coined in 1981 by Paul Levy and Ann Barr, who used it in the title of their 1984 book The Official Foodie Handbook.

Although the terms foodie and gourmet are sometimes used interchangeably, foodies differ from gourmets in that gourmets are epicures of refined taste who may or may not be professionals in the food industry, whereas foodies are amateurs who simply love food for consumption, study, preparation, and news. Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food. For this reason, foodies are sometimes viewed as obsessively interested in all things culinary. There is also a general feeling in the culinary industry that the term gourmet is outdated.

TakoSushi Part Deux

You would think with reimbursement for corporate travel I would always be eating at new and fancy places. The truth is, I am usually so busy whenever I am traveling that I barely have time to squeeze in meals.

I say all this because I just spent the past 3 days out of town on business yet didn't get to eat anything interesting. Therefore, I decided I needed some sushi for lunch today. I went to TakoSushi and tried two new rolls in addition to the pork potstickers.

Right off the bat you notice these are not your typical potstickers. Guotie dumplings (a.k.a. potstickers as they are known in the west) are usually pan fried and then steamed.

These were deep fried with the bottom half cooked longer in order to resemble the classic potsticker look. The pork filling was flavorful and overall these were pretty good. However, the original method of cooking, which happens to be healthier for you, results in a more interesting texture. These dumplings were served with a spicy soy-based dipping sauce.

The two sushi rolls I got were delish!

• Shrimp Tempura: tempura shrimp, mayo, avocado, cucumber, masago
• ChopChop: chopped scallops, spicy mayo, scallions, asparagus

The shrimp tempura roll included a generous amount of masago (other places often skimp on this) and the tempura was cooked perfectly.

The scallops in the chopchop roll were raw and very fresh. The spicy mayo gave it a nice kick and the crisp, raw asparagus finished it off in a refreshing way. I would definitely order both rolls again and I would also recommend them too.

My rating: 4 out of 5

TakoSushi
Surrey Center
437 Highland Avenue
706-736-9191
http://www.tako-sushi.com/

P.S. Yes, the images are terrible. I forgot my new camera at home so I had to revert back to the cell phone camera.

My kitchen

I miss my kitchen. It was the one room in the entire house that I was always instantly comfortable in and the one that was always my “domain."

It evolved over the years just like I did and it certainly saw its share of culinary triumphs and disasters. While I look forward to moving into our new home and creating even more memories to cherish in our new kitchen, this one will always be special...

Chocolate Crunch Brownies

Our neighbors came over for dinner last night so I indulged and made a dessert--first one in a while as we are consciously cutting back on the sweets. I got this recipe from my friend Wendy about 6 or 7 years ago and it is now one of my go-to chocolate recipes. The end result is multiple-layers of pure decadence: a rich, fudgy brownie topped with crunchy peanut butter/chocolate krispies held together by marshmallow cream (or in this case vanilla frosting).

Recipe:
1 cup butter-melted
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup flour
6 Tbsp baking cocoa
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 - 7 oz jar marshmallow cream (or 1 container of vanilla frosting)
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups rice crispies

1) Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs. Stir in flour, cocoa, vanilla, and salt.

2) Spread in greased 13x9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 min. LET COOL COMPLETELY!

3) Spread marshmallow cream over brownies.

4) Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter in microwave for 2 minutes (stir after the first minute). Stir in rice crispies and spread over top.

5) Chill for at least one hour before serving.

NOTE: You can totally cheat and use a box of brownie mix instead of making the brownie layer from scratch. I also prefer to use vanilla frosting instead of the marshmallow cream.

Kinja II - Hawaiian Soup

As I walked into Kinja II this afternoon, I knew I wanted to try something different. Since they have a pretty wide selection of Korean dishes that aren't listed on the menu, I asked the waitress for some ideas. After learning that I liked soups she suggested the Hawaiian Soup so that's what I got.

It was hearty, filling, and very spicy--pepper spicy. It was good but way more intense than I am used to so it opened up the sinuses! Generous pieces of chicken, mushrooms, onions, scallions served up in a rich broth with cellophane (clear) noodles. It reminded me of the "chicken long rice" dish I had growing up, only kicked up a few notches. It was served with a side of steamed white rice.

Even though the food was not completely to my liking, I still enjoyed the meal because I learned that the waitress (who I have referred to in previous posts as the older "mom" lady in the back) is married to someone who is from Hawaii and has family on the Big Island. Turns out the three women who work there aren't related like I had assumed, but they share a familiarity and comfort that can only be attained through years of close friendship.

I had fun reminiscing with Yung (that's her name, by the way) about Hawaii and explained I was heading there in a few weeks. She talked about her in-laws and relatives, and even referred to her "aunties"--I love hearing familiar words like that since all I ever hear around here is the more formal version that my nieces and nephews call me by: "Aunt Brandee".

I probably won't order the soup again but I will definitely make my way back to Kinja II. There are more dishes for me to try and now a new and unexpected tie to home.

My rating: 2.5 out of 5

Kinja II Sushi Express
1944 Walton Way
706-737-3333

New toy

While we were at Mai Thai this afternoon Brian declared that my cell phone camera simply would not do if I was going to be a serious foodie blogger. So I got a sweet new toy...

It's not the newest technology of point-and-shoot cameras, but it was deeply discounted at Radio Shack plus the memory was on sale--only $111 for everything! The only real difference between it and the new PowerShot A580 and A590 is the megapixels (7.1 vs. 8.0). The 7.1 megapixels is more than adequate for the photos I need to take for this blog so it was a bargain.

We are amateur photographer wannabes and already have a heavy-duty Canon DSLR (EOS 350d) but that bad boy is too big to fit in my purse and pull out at restaurants. So this little cousin should more than suffice.

No more poorly pixelated review images! Yea!

Mai Thai

After church today Brian and I decided on Thai food for lunch. We had passed a couple of Thai restaurants yesterday when we were out running errands and I suspect that is what inspired our decision. We went to Mai Thai in Evans.

We started with chicken satay which are skewered pieces of chicken that are grilled and served with a spicy peanut sauce and tangy tamarind cucumber sauce. This version we found slightly lacking. The actual chicken was tasty with a hint of smoky curry flavor, but the peanut sauce (which is usually the best part) was downright bland. The cucumber/ carrot/ onion salad in the tamarind sauce was lovely; light and pallet cleansing.

For the main course I ordered pad thai, a common noodle dish that is one of my all-time favorite Thai dishes. The first thing I noticed as the plate was set before me was the pink hue of everything. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, especially in pad thai. It is true that you eat with your eyes first and the color may have ruined the dish for me overall. Plus there was none of the complexity that you normally find in pad thai; there were obviously different components within the dish—noodles, shrimp, egg, scallions, bean sprouts—but the flavors melded together in a most unusual way. The menu description listed peanuts as one of the ingredients but I did not see or taste any.

Brian ordered the Gai Pad Med Ma-Muang Him Ma Parn which is a very long name for stir fried chicken, cashews, onions, mushrooms, carrots, scallions, and peppers in a savory broth. It was an absolutely delicious dish and healthy to boot considering all the veggies and method of cooking. Steamed white rice accompanied our meal.

We wouldn’t normally order dessert with lunch but were intrigued by what we saw on the menu. We got the sweet sticky rice and custard dish as well as the Thai coconut pudding. We had never had either before so had nothing to hold it up against—which isn’t always a bad thing. Both were delicious but the sweet sticky rice and custard was our hands-down favorite. It reminded me of the Filipino rice dessert that we called boot boot back home in Hawaii (there may be another more traditional Filipino name for it but I'm not sure what it is). The custard was not “pretty” but that didn’t matter as soon as you got a spoonful in your mouth. It’s silky smoothness perfectly complemented the warm/sweet rice layer. The coconut pudding dish was a cold, gelatin-like dessert bursting with coconut flavor and included, of all things, sweet corn kernels. Yes it was different but the two actually went together very well. The white “cream” topping was a bit undecipherable, though I think I detected a hint of coconut cream flavor. The desserts saved the meal for me.

It’s a quiet little hole in the wall restaurant with simple Thai decorations/pictures adorning the walls and soft asian/classical music playing in the background. Prices are moderate—there is a lunch menu but I guess it is only for Mon-Fri as we did not get the lunch prices today. Our waitress was attentive though she frowned when she saw so much left over pad thai.

My rating: 3.75 out of 5

Mai Thai
Evans Towne Center
4272 Washington Road
706-210-9008

Sushi clarification

A little lesson on the various types of sushi from wikipedia.com:

In Japanese cuisine, sushi is vinegared rice usually topped with other ingredients, including fish, various meats, and vegetables. Outside of Japan, sushi is sometimes misunderstood to mean the raw fish itself, or even any fresh raw-seafood dishes. In Japan, sliced raw fish alone is called sashimi and is distinct from sushi, as sashimi is the raw fish component, not the rice component.

There are various types of sushi:

• makizushi: sushi served rolled inside nori


• nigirizushi: sushi made with toppings laid with hand-formed clumps of rice


• inarizushi: toppings stuffed into a small pouch of fried tofu


• chirashi-zushi: toppings served scattered over a bowl of sushi rice

I have had all types of sushi listed above and am a huge fan of sashimi; however, I am a bit of a seafood snob so unless I am on the coast or back home in Hawaii where I know the seafood is fresh, I pass on the raw stuff. I believe so many people dislike fish because all they've had is previously frozen or old, unfresh seafood. I think they would quickly change their mind if they could try it fresh.

I say all this because I realize my reviews and posts about sushi all have to do with non-raw items and I didn't want you to think I was a faux-sushi fan. I truly do like all sushi, and especially love sashimi, but only if it is fresh. Maybe when we are home later this month I can get one of my brothers or dad to catch us something. Then I'll be more than happy to put together a post about sashimi!

Kinja II - Sushi

I decided on sushi for lunch today so I stopped at nearby Kinja II. I got the tem maki and california rolls and the salmon skin hand roll.

The big tem maki roll is my favorite so far--tempura shrimp, crab, delicate cucumber slices, and a smidge of mayo. The california roll is your average run-of-the-mill california roll with crab and avocado, good but nothing spectacular. The salmon skin hand roll was huge and included two big pieces of crispy salmon skin and two slices of avocado rolled up with the rice cone style in nori.

My rating (overall on all the rolls): 3.5 out of 5

Kinja II Sushi Express
1944 Walton Way
706-737-3333

P.F. Chang's

After church tonight Brian and I had dinner at P.F. Chang's. We had eaten there before (other locations in Birmingham and Atlanta) and the service was always excellent. But our waitress, Adrienne, kicked it up a notch further and made our experience there one to enjoy. I am all about customer service so when we get someone good they are amply rewarded. I don't typically tip 60% but Adrienne deserved it.

We started with Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps which included delectable morsels of spiced chicken, water chestnuts, and scallions cooked in a sweet chili sauce. The meat mixture is spooned into an iceberg lettuce "cup" which we topped with the special sauce that Adrienne mixed up for us and then ate the whole thing with our hands. As Rachael Ray likes to say--Yummo! The special sauce included all of the condiments on the table tray: generous spoonfuls of the chinese mustard and chili paste added to the potsticker sauce, a few dashes of the vinegar and soy sayce, and extra heavy dashes of the chili oil.

For our entrée we got the Kung Pao Chicken which is cooked "quick-fire" style with peanuts, chili peppers, and scallions. It was cooked to perfection and while we were warned about the peppers, Brian took me up on my dare and ate one. I think I saw smoke coming out of his ears as he quickly reached for the vinegar to extinguish the fire! We always opt for the brown rice there--I don't know if it's the type of rice (short-grain brown rice?) or how they prepare it, but to me it's wonderfully nutty and delicious.

We finished off our meal with the mini desserts. This whole idea of a mini dessert in a shot glass has really taken off and is a brilliant concept in my opinion. You get just the right amount, a couple of spoonfuls to cap off the meal. Easy on the pocket book, but more importantly easy on the waistline!

The atmosphere is classic Chinese with a modern bistro look punctuated with earthy and natural materials such as slate and wood. The dramatic lighting sets the mood and Brian even commented on how the big chandeliers really set off the room. I would definitely recommend P.F. Chang's to anyone. Fabulous food, wonderful ambiance, and great service--what more could you ask for?

My rating: 5 out of 5

P.F. Chang's China Bistro
3450 Wrightsboro Road
706-733-0161
http://www.pfchangs.com/menu.shtml