chicken adobo

to all the Filipnos out there that are reading this, please refrain from judging a Chinese girl who felt like making adobo. actually, i take that back, i'm specifically talking about Ruby and Ron. see, i came into work today and told them that i had made adobo. immediately they ask "what kind" and i tell them "chicken. it's pretty good, i think." with the quickest retort they say that it should be pork. and that i can't say it's good without having a Filipino person try it. i then told them to "eff off, jerks!" except i went with the explicit version of that. then i told them that i know what good food is, as you can clearly see considering my blog has been taken over with about 85% food posts. unimpressed, they asked if they could smell it to make sure i wasn't a liar about it being pretty good. confident that i'd made a damn good adobo (it really isn't very hard anyway), i let them smell it and what was their response? "oh damn it smells like my mom's!" yeah that's right, assholes! a Chinese girl can make adobo, alright? 

so few ingredients involved. easy cooking, that's right up my alley!

it doesn't look like a lot of liquid but once the chicken begins to release juices it becomes quite a bit.

the end result. effing yum!!!

please don't mind that crappy noodle thing you see. that was poor judgement on my part thinking that i could potentially save some calories by using shirataki noodles (a very low calorie "noodle") in place of rice to soak up all of that adobo goodness. i was wrong and those noodles suck. but damn, do i love me some adobo!!

chicken adobo

ingredients:

-12 chicken drumsticks

-oil

-1 c soy sauce

-1 c white vinegar

-1 head of garlic, chopped

-2 tsp black peppercorns

-1/2 tsp ground black pepper

-3 bay leaves

directions:

1. heat oil in pot on medium heat

2. add garlic and heat until just browning

3. add chicken to pan and saute until about half way cooked through

4. add soy sauce, vinegar, peppercorns, pepper and bay leaves to pot

5. distribute chicken so that coating of chicken is even

6. simmer on low for approx. 25-30 mins or until chicken is cooked through. chicken should be falling off the bone.

7. serve with rice!

oh yeah, i forgot i had roommates!

i'm pretty certain i have the best roommates that ever lived hanging out at my place. aside from them being awesome people, we all have pretty varying schedules, so it's rare that two people are in the house at the same time, much less three. seriously, it feels like we each have our own house and on occasion we have a friend who's stopping by or has spent the night. but oh yeah(!), that's my roommate! as adults, it's sort of spectacular because we get our own space, privacy and alone time. sometimes i don't even realize i have roommates until i find hints around that house that someone else has been around. remember that time i came home to a christmas tree? that was sort of the sweetest and most thoughtful surprises ever! (i'll never forget that, Fern. that was so awesome!) tonight i came home to these.....

because maybe i got a little bit dramatic one morning when i found an empty spot in the fridge where my almond butter used to be. haha! thanks, Fern! you didn't have to get me another almond butter. we can share....though i know you eat that shit up like tomorrow isn't promised. 

 i came home to find Mane n' Tail shampoo and conditioner in front of my bedroom door. i love finding random stuff by the door for me. granted, i asked Natasha to buy this for me. but nonetheless, i sorta forgot i'd asked for it, so it was a nice little surprise to come home to. and if you're wondering, yes, that's shampoo for horses. they use them for show horses so that their manes and tails are strong, healthy and shiny. humans started using it a long time ago and, in fact, on the back it lists "directions for humans" as well as "directions for horses."now my hair can be as nice as a pony's! 

Mom's Tofu House

i sort of feel horribly for never posting about asian foods. i feel like i'm not giving it it's fair share of the spotlight and it makes me feel guilty a little bit. because as much other food as i eat, i probably eat more asian food than anything else. maybe it's because it's not generally appealing to the sight. but once you get into it and taste the bold flavors of asian cuisines, it's hard to ignore that they're probably more flavorful than most cuisines. 

last week i felt the need for Korean food. i haven't had any in a long time so it was sort of necessary to fill that hunger. i called Marjie, one of my best foodies to join me along for the ride. we decided to go to Mom's Tofu House in South San Francisco. 

banchan- an array of side dishes presented to you at every Korean restaurant. they even gave us that chive pancake for free, which was extra nice of them.

japchae- clear noodles of chewy deliciousness. i love this stuff! 

kalbi (aka galbi)- short ribs marinated in a korean sauce. savory. sweet. fatty. just magnificent.

house chicken wings. they are deep fried to a nice crisp and then slathered with their house sauce. i'm not really sure how to describe the flavor of this. i want to say it's sort of sweet and ketchupy with a little bit of tang.

someone tell me why Korean food costs so much! more often than not it's just marinated meet that's grilled. who told them that they could charge an arm and a leg for this stuff? i think after tax and tip we paid $52 for the two of us. absurd, i tell you! though i guess i keep on coming back so they must be doing something right. 

Chambers Eat + Drink / Muka

this past weekend i played the usual 3rd  5th 7th wheel with a married couple (Jeff and Libby) and a newly engaged couple (Eva and Jared). Libby's just started law school (high five, ladyfriend!) and Eva is in a general sense always busy, so it was nice to get everybody together to hang out and catch up. Jeff bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate E&J's recent modification from boyfriend/girlfriend to life long loves. cheers to you two!! 

we had dinner at Chambers Eat + Drink, a spot i've been meaning to check out for a while now. it used to be Bambuddha Lounge for a long time but i'd say this is a nice upgrade. walking in, you might think it's uber pretentious, but then you look out the window and realize that there's a pool out there and attached to it is the funky Phoenix Hotel. but then again you've probably just dodged some of San Francisco's finest homeless as you walked through the tenderloin from your parking spot to the unmarked doors of Chambers. how pretentious could a place be if your car is being watched by a homeless man you've just paid $1 to "keep it safe?" nonetheless, our crazy homeless will never stop me from attaining good food.

plus, once you walk through the doors, this place tells you to "be amazing," and i'm for positivity!

we shared:

truffle dip

i wasn't sure what to expect but the dip itself seemed to be pure butter with truffle flavor. it was spreadable but not gooey at all. i probably wouldn't order it again. i like butter, but damn!

sizzling kobe tri-tip

the rock that the beef sits atop is really hot so that it sears the meat. eat this quickly as overcooked beef is always a shame. 

hamachi ceviche

this was quite lovely as a ceviche dish. the little blood lime pieces added a nice texture. i do, however question their decision to use such small yukon chips.you couldn't really fit a good amount of ceviche on any of those chips so i'm not sure what their thought process was on that one.

escolar with forbidden rice, charred avocado and maitake mushrooms

i loved this dish! it felt pretty light overall. the fish was cooked sort of medium rare. the rice came in the form of a patty. the maitake mushrooms along with the charred avocado gave it a nice smokiness. i didn't care for the red sauce along the sides though.

after dinner we weren't quite ready to part ways, so due to my quick Yelping skills, i found Muka. it's a (literally) underground wine and dessert bar. dark and bustling with people, it was a nice way to end the night out with a few beers for the boys and dessert for the girls.

chocolate mousse

this was surprisingly really good. i'm not typically a mousse person but it was nice and light. on the bottom there was a little bit of a crispity crunch which i'm not 100% positive on what to call it. it wasn't quite a cookie and it wasn't quite a wafer. this dessert essentially tasted like a giant Ferrero Rocher. and who doesn't love those??

salted caramel tart

this was more like a salted chocolate tart. overall i enjoyed it. 

Rock The Bells

Redman, lifted into the crowd.

i'm not sure what it is about me, but the moment i find myself with a bit of free time, i do this really tiring thing where i fill up my schedule so that there's no room for lounging or catching up on tv. this past weekend i initially had no plans and thought to myself "hmm...that's weird," but welcomed the idea of doing a whole lot of nothing for a couple of days. then during one very short conversation with a friend, the notion of chillin' on a couch was thrown out the window and by 4pm friday afternoon i had a ticket to Rock The Bells.

what does this entail? Rock The Bells is a two day hip-hop festival. that means huge crowds. a lot of rap. a lot of Humbolt County grown haze. which means a lot of snacks. as well as a lot of time laying out on a blanket. and while this all sounds like it's worthy of the category "chill-things-to-do," i assure you, it's tiring as all hell. i mean, dancing was absolutely involved, along with a lot of head bobbing and thrown deuces in the air. it's a wonder how my arm is still attached to it's socket and my neck isn't sore. oh....that sounds bad. anyhow, ten-ish hours of alla that for two days in a row is sort of exhausting. 

Smart Food white cheddar popcorn and good ol' Cracker Jacks never tasted so good! that salty sweet goodness hit the spot. this, of course, is amongst a ton of other snacks such as Gushers, Fruit by the Foot, Peachie O's and sandwiches. all very necessary.

so the line-up for this gig was pretty damn awesome. we kept it old school and focused on the stuff i'm used to hearing. i sorta stopped listening to a lot of hip-hop half way through high school so i couldn't even tell you what track is Kid Cudi's or whether or not i like Tyga. on day 1 we saw Jadakiss, Salt-N-Pepa, DMX, Wu Block, a couple of songs from J Cole, Ice Cube and Redman/Method Man. day 2 consisted of Mix Master Mike, Slick Rick, Supernatural, Common, Atmosphere, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and Nas.

i'm sort of dumbfounded about Salt-N-Pepa not singing Let's Talk About Sex. it seems like a song they'd have to perform, but i guess that's not the case. i didn't know who Supernatural was prior to sunday, so i was surprised at what a crazy good freestyler he is. he asked the audience to hand him random things and he'd put it in his rap. i'm not really sure how someone would work Cheez-its into lyrics off the top of their head but he made it happen with ease. who i really came to see though was Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. i remember listening to the radio on my old ass boom box late at night waiting for Crossroads, First of the Month, or Days of Our Lives to come on so that i could record the songs on mixtapes. of course i'd only keep them on cassette tapes until i finally got my hands on their singles. remember those? damn, the good ol' days. 

that's a good way to sum up what Rock the Bells was. it brought me back to the good ol' days. 

*somehow i don't have any pictures of myself or the people i was with. errrr i guess i don't have very many pictures at all. that's not typical of me. i'm not sure how that happened. oh wait, yeah i do.

be amazing

already am, thankyouverymuch!!

and so are you!!!

....or you could just be awesome. that'll suffice for a good life as well.

what. a. goof.

so i posted to instagram with the caption "someone's learning to be more girly!"  my cousin's response: don't say that, you sound like a tranny! haha!!

well that was short lived because i instantly turned back into a goof....
it's not easy for me not to be a dork.

what. a. geek.

The Corner Store / Chile Pies

there's a new restaurant opening this friday at the corner of Geary and Masonic in the old Hukilau location. Chef Nick Adams of Salt House has opened up The Corner Store. it's official open date is tomorrow but i went yesterday during their soft opening. they are serving up your typical American food but with a slight elevation. i'm not sure how else to describe the restaurant except to say that it felt easy. you walk in and see the open kitchen and a bar lining one wall. there's a lot of natural light that shines through, making it a very enjoyable spot to have lunch with a friend and chat for a bit. 

fried green tomato and burrata sandwich with garlic aioli. really good! the tomatoes are lightly battered with cornmeal, which i love! matched with the creaminess of burrata and you've got yourself a winner! 

burger with bacon. a very good burger. the meat was super flavorful.

and then because my friend and i wanted to catch up more, we headed to Chile Pies just a few blocks away. i got their house slice which is an apple pie (with green chiles and cheddar) a la mode and topped with red chile honey. the green chiles gave the pie a slight savory element and the red chile honey gave it a slight kick. overall i enjoyed it but would probably prefer a solely sweet pie next time. 

rants from an x-ray tech

from: regina
to: patients

-it's super bizarre when i ask you how you're doing and you give me no response. i ask you if you are able to stand and you stare at me blankly as if we're from different planets. i do your whole exam thinking that you speak another language and the only way to communicate with you is through a brief game of charades, and then when we're done all of a sudden you say "thank you so much," in perfect english. what. in. the. f*ck?

- when i ask you to turn and face the wall to your right, i do indeed mean you RIGHT! then when i turn you around towards the correct wall and say "this wall, not that wall," and you respond with "but you said my right," i curse your parents for not teaching you fundamentals.

-when i ask you to lie down on the table, i'm not sure why you insist on being diagonal. nowhere in the history of anywhere do people mean "be weird" when they ask you to lie down for an exam. oh, and when you ask me where your head goes, it's probably going to be the side where the pillow is, dontchathink?

-you're here for a chest x-ray because you're sick and coughing up a lung, right? do you live and die by the phrase "misery loves company" or what? cover your mouth when you're coughing in my face, you jerk!

-if i tell you that you need to hold "reeeeaaaallly still" for a few minutes for a CT scan of your head, why do you think it's okay to lift your head up out of the holder and say "now?"

-on that same note, when i ask you to "take in a deep breath," and you pause for a moment then say "okay tell me when," i've likely already taken your subpar x-ray. are you ready to take a second one?

chronicles of a chunk: part V

you know how when you were in middle school and you went to summer camp or camp with your class for a week? you had fun meeting new kids your own age, roaming the woods, tasting the random forage that the nature guide pointed out, getting scared on the night hike, sleeping in a cabin for the very first time, chasing squirrels and understanding the meaning of the word "homesick?" remember that? all good times, right? wrong! remember those trust and team building games/exercises? they were supposed to teach you to let go and trust others, as well as teach you to work together. well there are two in particular that i hated with a passion.

the trust fall- you are standing on a plank or a table or something that is high above the sea of people behind you. you're faced away and they are supposed to stretch their arms out to catch you when you completely go limp to fall directly into their arms. most people have a fear that they're going to be dropped on to the floor causing bruising and embarrassment. for me, i was terrified that all of that heaviness i was "hiding" underneath my baggy sweatshirt and baggy jeans was going to be discovered once each persons hands would feel the weight of me when never failing gravity would plow me into their weak little arms. poor arms, they didn't stand a chance. i truly hated it. and while i was never aware of anybody really making fun of me for my size (aside from my brother, but he was a tiny little twerp anyway. love ya, bro!), i was always fearful that they might start.

get each person over the wall- so you have, i don't know...ten people on one side of a wall and you need to get everybody over the wall with nothing but your own strengths. the point is to work as a team. at this point everybody is sizing everybody else up. who is the shortest/tallest, who is the strongest/weakest, and worst of all, who is the heaviest. it's necessary to figure out the statistics to strategically get everybody over the wall. but to me, not only did i just fall into a bunch of peoples friggin' arms but now it's forced upon me to have them lift me up like dead weight? who thought this thing through? why didn't they think of the self esteem issues people are going through when they thought up this "team building" stuff? did they not realize that i was basically the equivalent of a large log? and worse off, what about the people who were even bigger than me? the reason i'm crying inside while you all attempt to raise me over your shoulders is because i don't want you to realize how gigantic i am.

so, to this day i don't like it when people try to pick me up. call it a complex.

Celo!!!

yeah, we had a moment.

Tina's in town with the cutest lil' man you'll ever meet. this guy melts hearts with one swift glance at his puppy dog eyes. remember him? i know i've introduced you to him before, but he was a little smaller back then. i know you remember, because who could forget the most beautiful baby eyelashes? 

now that he's a little older, he's a lot more fun. not that he wasn't fun to stare at before, but now i can actually interact with him because he's growing into being a little person. like for real. rather than watching him wake up, eat, move a couple of blocks around, sleep, repeat, i can actually play with him. he makes noises that vaguely sound like actual words now (just kidding. he says a few actual words too.) rather than just noises produced by random vocal cord movements. plus the kids got dance moves, and i love to dance. so i'm thinkin' we're gonna get along just fine. 

232:365 generations. 

great grandson and great grandma. 

whens showing my parents this photo with my grandma sitting close by....

me: look! pretty good pic, huh?

mom: who is that? why is the hair all crazy?

dad: it looks like Einstein holding the baby

me: uhh....that's the woman sitting next to you

"mommy, what's this fool doing? clearly i'm busy with this toy so why does she think it's appropriate to try to engage me in dancing? i can't be bothered."

"like....she just won't leave me alone. can we do something about this?"

tell me he's not the cutest little hapa baby evAr!! yeah, thems other hapas are cute too, but he's the cutest! 

SF Street Food Fest

so this past saturday the food event of the year (in my eyes) happened. that's right, folks, the SF Street Food Fest went down. i look forward to this event every year because it combines all of my favorite things: food, friends, festivals, sunshine (with fingers crossed), and people watching. 

ready with fork in hand!

i kept this very fork the whole time so as not to ruin the earth with an excess of unnecessarily used utensils. oh, you didn't know you could single handedly save the earth with one good move? well BOOM! i just did!.....just kidding, but it did make me feel the tiniest bit better about myself today. don't judge me, but it was held in my trusty back pocket all day long. something very a la Joey from Friends.

with Marjie, one of my favorite foodies in tow......

signals telling me that it was time to feast....

231:365

fake money, our "passport," and a map of the vendors also listing what they had to offer, we were ready to get grubbin'. 

State Bird Provisions- burrata with garlic bread

hands down the best thing they had at the festival! the bread was crisp yet chewy and ultra garlicky. the burrata added a nice creaminess. to be quite honest, with extra money left over at the end of the day, we went back for a second one. the second somehow wasn't as spectacular as the first but that probably has to do with the vendor trying to get a hold on the increasing demand for their food option.

Pinx- sweet potato pie waffle

just what you would think they'd taste like. very good and not too sweet. 

Azalina's- chicken kaya penang chilaquiles

this was a really great dish when you got bites in with the crushed raspberries. it was pretty spicy and had a deep penang taste to it. the raspberries sort of helped calm the heat with a sweetness. 

Azalina's- rose basil coconut drink

looks better than it tastes. but maybe that's because i wanted it to taste a little less like rose and more like basil/coconut. what kind of idiot orders a rose drink and expects it to taste less like rose? this one! *points finger at self* 

Zella's Soulful Kitchen- jacked up hushpuppies

with whole corn kernels, jalapenos and cheese in the center. i love hush puppies if they're done right, and these were just right. not too dense and full of flavor.

Tacolicious- grilled squid veracruz

the only disappointment of the day. this was lacking in salt and the squid was almost too tender, if you can imagine that.

Clairesquares- deep fried caramel pop

the most sinful dessert. so good though.

le inside

that looks like something worth the hours of running for to rid calories though, right?

15 Romolo- chicken wings boriquas

coconut milk and lime chicken wings. pretty good stuff!

Good Foods Catering- pork belly sandwich

tender pork belly with the skin on (thank goodness they did this. that's the best part!)!!! 

random street vendor- diabolito rasposado

shaved ice piled with raspberry syrup, tamarind syrup and chili powder. topped off with a straw of tamarind candy rolled in chili powder. not really my thing, but Marjie slurped it down.

what a completely satisfying way to spend my saturday.