Peach Farm

One of my oldest and dearest friends was in town for the week and we decided to meet up in Chinatown for a little dinner nosh. She suggested Hong Kong Cafe which I like a lot and so as I was waiting, I got a call from her "I'm on my way, but how would you feel about Taiwan Cafe instead?" I was down for it but being that I just came from work, I was schlepping a huge amount of heavy things with me and I needed to find an ATM for some cash. Most places in Chinatown are cash only, which would be fine, but there is not an ATM in chinatown, ANYWHERE!!!

I walked down the few blocks to Taiwan Cafe where HyeJohn was waiting and she said "um, I need an atm too". Oh boy, so a few minutes later we decided to go to Peach Farm instead. Not a huge loss at all. Lucky for us Chinatown has a plethora of really good food options. And lucky for us, Peach Farm takes credit card.

We walked down the stairs to what looks like a sketchy basement rec room. It's got beaten up carpet and the walls are coated in layers of food grease. The air is thick with lots of food being cooked up and lots of people. They also have the required huge fish tanks of live seafood. I gotta say, I know the idea is to show the customer exactly how fresh the food truly is but sometimes those tanks kinda bum me out. The fish look awfully bummed out. I mean, yeah they are about to eaten and who would be happy about that, but I dunno, I guess I like to be under the illusion that my food is kinda happy and content before become dinner. Whatevahs....

Luckily for me HyeJohn likes to eat as much as I do. How else do you think we could be friends for so long.

There was a bit of a wait for a table and as we waited, HyeJohn moaned about how hungry she was. Well, I had topped at a cute newish Vietnamese sandwich place diagonal to the Hong Kong cafe and got a beef sandwich to try. I offered it to HJ and before I could really explain why I had the sandwich or anything really, she had taken the bag from my hand and was munching away on the sandwich and said it was good. I'll post about the sandwich place another time. Anyway, it was quite amusing to watch her wait for dinner while eating a contra ban sammie.

So as you know HJ was hungry and so was I. We decided on having a seafood dinner set for 2. I also wanted some dumplings b/c I had seen some get served up to a table as we waited to be seated and they looked delicious. I also watched some oysters get served up to another table and was able to beg HyeJohn to let us order oysters too but she said "um Leah we can't order everything!". Um why not?

Alright so the food started coming fast and furious. I like that everything comes out piping hot as it's ready. Yum!

We started with the crab and maw soup.


This was my least favorite of the dinner set. Whatever maw is it's "spongey" as HJ put it. Yeah, she's right. The soup relied heavily on corn starch to thicken it up and I tend to hate soups that are falsely thickened that way.


Next came the dumplings, which you can see above hiding behind the clams in black bean sauce. They were quite delicious. Nothing extraordinary but decent and being dumplings they certainly hit the spot.
Next came the star of the dinner, the crab cooked with ginger and scallions. Messy and hard to eat but really yummy and worth the sticky fingers!

The clams and the Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce were my favorite of the entire meal. The black bean sauce was so good. I seriously wanted to just scoop up the sauce and put it on everything! Black bean sauce on toast, black bean sauce on chips, black bean sauce on...well, you get the picture. And the broccoli was perfectly cooked. It was still crisp and the sauce to veg ratio was perfect!

And this was the dinner set for 2! It was a lot of food and the couple who shared the table with us looked both amazed and a little disgusted as we plowed our way thru the entire meal. Seriously, we ate it all! But it was really good. I like Peach Farm because the food is better than decent, fresh and yeah a little greasy but seriously perfectly executed.

HyeJohn and I left after making little piggies of ourselves and laughed that everyone there probably thought "damn those Koreans can really eat!" And the truth is yes, yes we can.

Reasons I Don't Like Living in Fenway

Up until now, I've been fairly happy with my 'hood. I have El Pelon, Rod Dee and Eastern Standard within walking distant and a (GHETTO) grocery store right across the street along with a movie theater. A staples, bed bath and beyond and best buy are also right there and it's nice to have them. The usual city conveniences with some unusual ones.

However Fenway also have some really frustrating things about it. And as time goes on, I've started to notice it more and more. That said, welcome to my rant.

1.) There are no cute little locally owned coffee shops or bakeries close by. Hell, I'd even settle for a Finagle a Bagel in Fenway. The only thing we get is a Starbucks (downstairs in my building) and guess what, in the new residential building going in close by, there will be yet another Starbucks. Don't get me wrong. I do occasionally indulge in Starfucks but they are so stupid expensive and such a huge, kinda obnoxious chain that I really try to not buy all my drinks from them. I think that if this neighborhood had some stuff that felt a little neighborhood-y like a small local bakery or coffee shop, it would be a nice touch. So for now the neighborhood feels kinda sterile and corporate like. But I want a baked that morning muffin dammit!

2.) The restaurants in my building kinda blow. Cambridge 1 I will let slide because the owners are super cool and really nice. They also did a really great build-out on that restaurant space. But Burtons....um WTF? It's a suburban Boston chain. Think a tier above Applebees and you've got Burtons. The food is passable but not something I would ever seek out. Let's put it this way, the last time I ate a meal at Burton's there was like three feet of snow so I wasn't about to even walk a block to go to El Pelon. But by the time I was done with my meal, I had wished I had risked life and limb to walk the block down to El Pelon! And the space right next door to my store has yet to have a new tenant. They've been trying to lease that space to a restaurant now for over two years. I've heard it's finally getting leased out but let's hope to god it's to something/someone who can cook already! I will say that I've heard rumors as to what's going in and I'm not very happy about what I've heard, so I'm choosing to ignore the rumors and hope for some damn sushi.

3.) Lack of local anything! This kinda piggybacks on #1. My shop is pretty much the only non-chain, locally owned thing in this area that's getting developed. It kinda sucks that my landlords are more interested in cash than getting cool local businesses into the 'hood. I suspect more "chain" businesses will go into the new building right along with the new Starbucks. Sigh.

More and more Fenway is feeling like a mall neighborhood. If a Cinnabons and Panada Express appear, I might just jump ship.

Spicy

(More on this photo later!)

It's really no secret that I love spicy food. I also love pickled foods too but I'll save that for another entry entirely.

Luckily I'd dating someone who also likes her food spicy too. The first time we ever met, I introduced her to a little friend of mine, I like to call Green Papaya Salad. Yeah, I really like to put it out there when first meeting anyone...if you can't take the heat, well, we might not be well suited for each other. Thankfully, she was able to take the heat and then some; I kinda love her for it.

Another joy we've discovered is our ability to host small dinner parties and invite our friends over to dine with us. Lately, it's been mostly her friends (you guys need to represent already!). It's a great excuse for us to spend a leisurely day together. In the afternoon we try and get started on the dinner and sometime we fall really behind. I've had to learn to go with the flow more when I feel like we fall behind in our prep. She has to deal with another cook in the kitchen with her. And we manage. But more than managing we also have a really great time.

And this particular evening E wanted to make lasagna. I know she doesn't care much for ricotta so I asked what she was going to use instead. She replied, "well goat cheese, of course". Did I mention how much I love this woman?

E also decided she wanted to make the pasta yet again. Simple but time consuming indeed. I was actually worried we wouldn't have enough food. When I mentioned this concern, she reassured me that over 3lbs of beef, veal and lamb ground meat mixture would be enough. I let her do her thing and I did mine. I decided I wanted to make a Kentucky Derby pie. I had watched an episode of Martha Stewart and it was all about the Kentucky Derby and I watch her make this pie. I found a recipe on the front web page of Saveur and used that. I was delighted that it called for bourbon. I don't really drink a lot but I really do like the flavor that various liquors and distilled stuff impart on food.

When the guests arrive. We usually start with cocktails and cheese. And depending on how far along dinner is finished, we move into a meal. I'm a big believer in salad with dinner. I was raised with a mom who always served a fresh vegetable salad with every supper. It was just my family's way. So salad is always offered, along with bread and dessert (of course!).

And, of course, the star of the show:
It was mammoth. This picture really doesn't do it justice in terms of size (that pan was deep). But I think the picture does capture the general yumminess of the situation quite nicely. E had not only used goat cheese in place of ricotta but, instead of the usual chopped spinach, she used kale. And it was spicy too! I think that one of the things that lasagna always misses is a little punch of spice. It's nice and comforting with pasta layers and cheese and meat but a little zing would be nice. I love that E likes her food spiced well and spiced well kinda on the spicy side. The lasagna was kinda amazing. It was tangy, spicy and the kale gave it a different texture profile. The homemade pasta was a bit thicker than I would have liked but over the course of the week (there were ALOT of leftovers even though everyone who came was stuffed), the pasta really loosened up and picked up more of the flavors of the sauce. It made for crave worthy lunches and dinners for me for an entire week!

My pie was a lot more simple:

Well, partially because I cheated and bought a frozen pie crust (please don't revoke my Daring Baker badge!!!) due to our time constraints. But pie is basically a pecan and chocolate chip cookie in a pie crust. Ridiculously easy, it came together in a matter of 10 minutes. How'd it taste? It was okay. I really liked the bourbon flavor...maybe I was a wino in a former life? However, it wasn't really a show stopper which was okay because it wasn't like I toil forever over this pie. But the biggest surprise for me was how decent the crust was. I was shocked that a frozen pie crust was actually worth eating. It was adequately flaky (not super) and buttery. I liked the crust. But I've been dying to make my Mom's crust on a rhubarb pie but sadly, I've hardly seen any this season.

And as a random aside, I wanted to post this picture of friend Cris's shirt:
Her head is purposefully cut out because she didn't want her face in the picture (Cris is a really hot chick just a little FYI). Anyway, her shirt is a "peace of toast". Hahahaa, how awesome in that? Well, sorta keeping with the subject title on this entry, this picture was taken during lunch at Mary Chungs in Cambridge and let me tell you, their food is loaded with hot! I've always loved Mary Chungs and even now just writing about it is making me crave some dun dun noodles. Yum. I wrote a review of them on yelp so I won't repeat it here. If you feel like seeing it, go to yelp and type in Mary Chung for Boston as your city.

Aha!

I'm sorry I've been a little MIA lately. It's not that I've given up eating, it's just that a lot of my meals have been had out of the house. And by the time I think, "you should really be taking a picture of this", I'm done with my food.

But I've made two very important to me food discoveries that I want to share.

1.) I have a long standing love of brown rice. It's filling and hearty and it makes me feel like I'm eating something that is kinda good for me but it's still a carb (yay). But I also have this long standing issue with cooking it. My rice is always hard or just bad. I follow the directions to the letter on the packages of rice and still it sucks. Sigh. I'm kinda embarrassed of my lack of rice expertise for a very silly reason too. I'm Korean and while I was raise by a white family that didn't eat a lot of rice at all, I still think it's suppose to be ingrained (heh) in me to be a rice cooking master.

So imagine my delight when reading Saveur this month and there is a recipe for cooking the perfect brown rice that starts with the following intro:

Cooking brown rice, or at least cooking it well, is tricky...Unfortuntely, the labels on most packaged brown rice recommend an ineffective method that suggests boiling water and rice in a two-one- ratio.

OMG YES!!! THIS IS TOTALLY MY ISSUE!!!!

Saveur goes on to say that the key is to boil like pasta and then finish it by steaming it off. I'm so excited. I'm going to try their method and I'll let you guys know how it all goes. This Korean's gonna have game when it comes to brown rice!!! You know it!!

2.) I adore veggies from Chinese restaurants. My favorites tend to be peapod stems or Chinese broccoli but I like my veggies in the simple garlic/sauted sort of preparation. I like oyster sauce but not on my veg. Anyway, I was having lunch at Mary Chung (love that place!) and I was thinking about how I wanted to be able to make veggies like this at home. I look on line for a recipe and after doing a little bit of research, I think I might have found a sorta similar recipe. It's from Elise's blog Simply Recipes and it calls for mustard greens but I have a feeling any green will work.

Mustard Greens Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound mustard greens, washed and torn into large pieces
• 2 to 3 Tbsp chicken broth or vegetable broth (vegetarian option)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil

Method

1 In a large sauté pan, sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat until the onions begin to brown and caramelize, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook a minute more, until fragrant.

2 Add the mustard greens and broth and cook until the mustard greens are just barely wilted. Toss with sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 4.

I'm excited to try it. I have some kale and green beans at home I've been waiting to eat so this might be a perfect recipe to try with them. Again, I'll let you know how it goes.

Sadly, I Love Eating Stale Peeps

s n l - t o p c h e f from seriouseats on Vimeo.

Reason #1 For Why I Love Living In Boston

I live in Fenway and just a few blocks from one of the best food blocks in Boston. In that block is one of my favorite Thai places. Roh Dee is nothing much to look at and they are a cash only kinda deal but man of man, I swear some of the best pad thai come from out of that place. I can't think of a better night than Roh Dee pad thai and shrimp hot and sour soup taken out and eaten watching masterpiece sense and sensibility.

So simple, so tasty and so soul satisfying.

Sunday Dinners

I grew up in a family where food was very important. Certain foods always signified celebrations and milestones. Homemade cakes for birthdays, t-bone steaks on the grill in the summer and christmas cookies and mincemeat pies for the holidays. Yep, I ate well growing up and I still eat well.

One of the things I didn't get to have a lot as a kid was friends over too much. We moved so often it was hard to make lasting friendships and my Mom was so worried about what others thought of our house and how we lived (everything had to be immaculate for guests) that it was rare for me to have friends over for dinner.

But now that I'm older, I've learned to combine my love of food and my longing to invite my friends over for meals. This has become something of a regular Sunday dinner that everyone is invited to.

I like simple, full flavor foods. Lots of comfort food but always a nice veggie or salad included and of course some sort of dessert!

My crockpot is put to good use and I've found great luck using it for chili, brisket etc. It's a great time saver and I can make tons of food in it as well.

My girlfriend is also a food lover as well. And luckily she enjoys cooking and entertaining friends as much as I do.

Two Sundays ago, E was in charge of cooking dinner. It was a great home meal of roasted chicken, purple fingerling potatoes (roasted with chorizo...I later made the leftovers into mashed purple potatoes and they were quite good! ) with salad

(covered in prosciutto, my favorite!) and a tiramisu from whole foods.

And this past Sunday was a crockpot bolognese made with beef, sausage, red wine, milk and nutmeg and E's first try at homemade pasta. As documented below:





It was a delicious combination (seriously if you haven't already definitely try making bolognese a crockpot, you must!). And I'm quite proud that we now have a meal that we each can contribute to.

So if you're ever in Boston and in need of good food, good friends and it happens to be Sunday, stop on by. Chicken and waffles for dinner next Sunday!!!