Pagolac Restaurant Bo 7 Mon (7 Courses of Beef) - Westminster (Little Saigon)

Shortly after I posted about Vietnam Restaurant's 7 courses of beef, Clara of I Heart Food 4 Thought and I Heart Cuppycakes offered to take me to her family's favorite, Pagolac Restaurant in Westminster. While I didn't need an introduction to Pagolac, it's been a Little Saigon staple for years, I welcomed the chance to meet up with her anyway. I invited Gourmet Pigs and Ila of I Nom Things to join us.

Thach Che Hien Khanh - Garden Grove (Little Saigon)

I've been getting my che (Vietnamese pudding) at Thach Che Hien Khanh for a long time. Well before they expanded the restaurant. Well before they opened a second Thach Che Hien Khanh in Westminster on Bolsa Avenue. Well before they even had a rope to make people form some semblance of a line.

Two people were needed in order to get any che. Back then, I usually went with my friend DP, who introduced me to the restaurant and to a lot of other Little Saigon eats. One of us would wait in the car (because there were never any parking spaces), while the other fought through the crowd to score some dessert. Then we had to do a fast getaway because the cars still kept coming.

This was, and still is, the place to go in Little Saigon for che.

Ask Wandering Chopsticks 4

After Christmas eve happy hour at Kenny & Zuke's Delicatessen for pastrami cheeseburgers, pastrami on rye, and Reuben sandwiches, lil' sis, my four nephews, three of their friends, and I trekked over to Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon for some photos.



A Christmas tree had been installed in the center of the square and was all lit up for the holidays. As I snapped photos of the kids doing one goofy pose after another, I couldn't help but think of when they were little and how quickly time has gone by.

Sauteed Bok Choy with Garlic

Right after lil' sis's best friend finished making the Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Eggs, and Lettuce, I decided we might as well cook the bok choy since it was already on the counter.

Quick and easy.

As if you really needed a recipe!

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Eggs, and Lettuce

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Eggs, and Lettuce
from lil' sis's best friend

Chinese Tomato Egg Shrimp Stir-Fry

The peeled and deveined shrimp were part of a Chinese tomato egg shrimp stir-fry dish. This simple, slightly sweet dish is best enjoyed during the summer when tomatoes are at their peak. Nonetheless, the tomatoes are cooked enough in this dish that, even in the middle of winter, they provide a nice burst of freshness.

Chinese tomato egg can be as simple or as complicated as you'd like. Here, lil' sis's best friend adds shrimp for natural sweetness. The tomatoes do release quite a bit of liquid, but that's OK. The extra sauce was perfect spooned over white rice. It was even good eaten cold as leftovers.

How to Devein Shrimp With a Toothpick

While lil' sis's best friend was occupied cooking Chinese spare ribs with Coke and soy sauce, he put her other friend to work peeling and deveining shrimp.

It was too "eww" and "squicky" a chore for lil' sis's fastidious other friend, he of the Alexander McQueen scarf incident.

So I showed him my ba noi (Vietnamese paternal grandmother)'s trick to devein shrimp quickly with a toothpick. After peeling the shrimp, just slide the point of a toothpick in the middle part of the shrimp (I do it after the third "section") underneath the vein. Then gently pull the vein out.

Chinese Spare Ribs with Coca Cola and Soy Sauce

"Honey, I'm home!" I quipped as I walked in the door.

The best sight for a woman to come home to after work?

Not one, but TWO men in her kitchen cooking dinner. Ooh, yeah! :P

Bun Rieu Cua Tom Oc (Vietnamese Crab and Shrimp Paste Rice Vermicelli Noodle Soup with Snails)

As I said, Bun Rieu Cua Tom Oc (Vietnamese Crab and Shrimp Paste Rice Vermicelli Noodle Soup with Snails) was the beginning of a furious week of cooking. Bun rieu is one of my favorite Vietnamese soups. It's also the most laborious on account of shelling the crab. It's also one of the most expensive meals I've made as I spent about $30 on ingredients. Ironically, it wasn't the fresh crab that was so expensive as I went with the cheaper rock crab that are usually $1.99/lb at the San Gabriel Superstore. The tomatoes, especially out of season, were almost the same price as the crab. But a proper bowl of bun rieu cua tom oc also includes a pound of shrimp, periwinkles, curled rau muong (Vietnamese water spinach) stems, sliced banana blossoms, pork spare ribs, fried tofu, and more. Yes, there are a lot of components to bun rieu, but made properly, it will also be one of the most satisfying of Vietnamese soups.

As with a lot of my cooking, I had a craaaaving. A craving in which I knew I would not be satisfied with a restaurant version of bun rieu. This is not a recipe I would have attempted until now. One of the benefits of blogging is that I recall flavors of dishes much better than I have in the past. Before, I would have been satisfied thinking something was "good" or "good enough." These days, I find myself picking apart the flavors and textures and ingredients of favored dishes. Am I turning into my momma? Ack!

Unfortunately, bun rieu is one of those soups with which people often take short cuts. Every recipe I stumbled across online used canned crab paste. I used to think my second-youngest uncle's wife's bun rieu was great. And while it still is, I was disilllusioned when I saw her open a can of bun rieu crab paste. *Sniffle.* Even a consultation with my favored "Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart" cookbook turned up the use of canned crab paste. Nooo!!!

No canned crab paste for me! I was on my own with this one.

Peruvian Roast Chicken

I had been craving Peruvian roast chicken like crazy lately. I wavered between going to my favorite Pollo Mania - El Monte or trying to make my own.

Buy?

Make?

Buy?

Make?

Argh!

So I did both!

Guamanian Red Rice

The Crock Pot Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup) was just the tail end of a week of furious cooking. So I'll just blog backwards.

A while back, Canine Cologne of Pink Candles at Ridgemont High had posted a recipe for Guamanian red rice. I've never eaten Guamanian food before and was intrigued by the use of annatto seed powder to color the rice, rather than tomato paste like my Com Do Ca Chua (Vietnamese Tomato Paste Rice). Her secret ingredient, that she learned from an older Guamanian woman, was the use of roasted chicken base paste. Since I couldn't find the chicken paste, I had forgotten all about the recipe until Canine Cologne mailed me a tub. So nice and so unexpected! She had earlier generously sent me gourmet chocolates and handmade earrings!

Canine Cologne used celery leaves and chicken paste in her version. I didn't have any celery on hand, but, since I knew Santos of The Scent of Green Bananas lived in Guam, I checked her blog to see if she had another version. Sauteed bacon and onions, no celery. I had that. So I combined a bit of both recipes for my version. Since the chicken paste can be hard to find, I'd say it's optional. Or you could just roast a chicken and take a spoonful of the congealed juices, which is what it seems like to me. I bet the paste would be great with rice pilaf too.

"Rock and Rose" and "Violets are Blue"

Want a sneak peak at my cousin's fall 2010 collection?

Crock Pot Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

While dining at Little Fat Sheep - Monterey Park recently, lil' sis' best friend whined, "Chi (older sister in Vietnamese), when are you going to make me pho?"



Feeling guilty since they've been friends for more than four years, and since he's pretty much a fixture, I agreed to cook pho for him and a few friends. Then, right afterward, I remembered I had made pho for him more than two years ago, when I originally blogged my pho recipe. And made sinh to bo (Vietnamese avocado shakes) afterward since he had never had any before.

Lil' sis said I was such a sucker, but I figured it would give me a chance to revamp the recipe.

My Crock Pot philosophy (not that anyone necessarily needs one for the Crock Pot) is that when I cook with it, I want a recipe in which I can dump in ingredients and then forget about it until it's time to eat.

While I normally use beef marrow bones, parboil the bones to remove excess impurities, simmer for hours, refrigerate to remove excess fat, and then simmer again, I wanted to cut out all those steps. So I used less fatty, but more expensive oxtails. I also skipped charring any of the spices. I dumped everything into the Crock Pot and went to work. When I walked in the door later that evening, the best beefy, spicy scent filled the air. Now, I understood the appeal of Crock Pot cooking!

Banh Pho (Vietnamese Flat Thin Rice Noodles)

While most non-Vietnamese associate the word pho with Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup), banh pho actually refers to the flat, thin rice noodles. There are two types of banh pho noodles, which are sometimes called rice sticks (I have no idea why.).

San Ya Restaurant Korean BBQ & Noodle - Los Angeles (Koreatown)

Before our dinner at Little Fat Sheep - Monterey Park, the boys had asked me to take them out for Korean barbecue.




Yup. That sign was the dinner price.

A while back, Tony of SinoSoul told me he stuffed himself on $9.99 all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue with a choice of eight meats. Whoa! That beats the $9.99 all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue with a choice of four meats offered at Hwang Hae Do Korean BBQ - Artesia.

So I mentioned it to my trusty Korean barbecue sidekick, the oldest '87, and off we went to check it out.

Little Fat Sheep - Monterey Park (Closed)

After I told lil' sis's best friend and her other friend about how much I liked the new Jazz Cat Restaurant - San Gabriel, they immediately went that evening. As typical, it was at least a 45 minute wait. So I suggested Little Fat Sheep in Monterey Park.



This time, I remembered to bring along my camera, I just forgot to put the memory card back inside.

Doh!

So lil' sis's other friend and their friend, Nick (who reads my blog and has been in suspense waiting to see himself mentioned (Hi, Nick!)), offered to take photos for me with their cell phones. Lil' sis's other friend won out since I see him more often and it was less of an imposition. I must say, his iPhone photos came out pretty nice!

Jazz Cat Restaurant - San Gabriel

I was sad when the original Jazz Cat Cafe - Alhambra stopped letting us cook hot pots table side. Then, they stopped serving hot pots at all. Then, they closed down completely.

Because they had opened a new location in San Gabriel.

Yippee!



The grand opening was in late October. I tipped off Tony of SinoSoul so he could be my guinea pig since he likes to be first. Ha! He complained about the long wait and disproportionately high counter to chair difference at the bar.

But for lunch time with Gourmet Pigs, we only had a slight wait and were seated in a booth. That makes all the difference in my enjoyment of Jazz Cat.

Happy Sheep Cafe Shabu & Grill - San Gabriel

Since Larkin's wasn't open the day we ended up at The Oinkster, we went back the next day. And it was closed again!

*Ahem.*

I just wanted to point out that I make a pretty good Southern fried chicken and cream gravy and I am not driving out to Eagle Rock unless it's really worth it.



Mrs. SinoSoul and I were craving hot pot, so we ended up at Happy Sheep Cafe Shabu & Grill in San Gabriel. This used to be Little Fat Sheep, but I guess they've split from the main branch in China?

The Oinkster - Eagle Rock

When I first started blogging, I was sad if a restaurant didn't live up to expectations or felt I had to justify if I didn't like a popular restaurant. I guess I still feel that way because I really don't enjoy lambasting non-chain restaurants. When I like something, it's fairly obvious. There are few places that are so awful that there's nothing to recommend them. Rather, I think most of my dining falls in a huge gray area -- not horrible but not great either.



And yet, even with all the delays in posting, my blog has been a way for me to document where and what I've eaten. So although nothing compels me to blog the lackluster meals, I do so anyway. Or maybe I'm jinxed with restaurants I eat at right before Thanksgiving? I felt that way last year when I revisited and still felt "meh" about Charlie's Trio Cafe - Alhambra.

And I felt that way about The Oinkster.

Lil' Sis' Pumpkin Marbled Cheesecake

Lil' sis doesn't cook very often when she comes home.

"Do you really want to eat my cooking?" she says.

Sure! Why not? Especially if she makes pumpkin marbled cheesecakes. :)

Pate Chinois (Canadian "Chinese" Cottage Pie)

I've always loved English Cottage Pie. Who doesn't love baked mashed potatoes on a bed of ground beef and vegetables? I've usually stuck with peas and carrots, so when I saw Miss.Adventure @Home's variation of pate Chinois with corn, I was intrigued with the French Chinese name.

According to Wikipedia, the French Canadian dish may have originated with Chinese cooks during building of the North American railroads in the late 19th century. The Chinese cooks probably made it for their English railway bosses, substituting creamed corn for the gravy in a shepherd's/cottage pie. French Canadian railway workers brought the recipe back home and it spread throughout Quebec and the Northeast U.S.

Another possible explanation for the origins gives credit to Lionel Guimont, a linguistics student at Laval University. Guimont met someone from Maine, who was visiting Canada, and referred to the dish as "China pie." "China pie" could have been a popular dish in lumber camps and mills kitchens in China and South China, two towns in Maine with a large population of Quebecois forestry workers. Workers returning to Quebec translated it into French as pate Chinois, instead of pate de China.

Either way, I find both explanations give an intriguing glimpse into how food and its name have been adapted from its origins.

Triple-Deviled Eggs with Black Pepper, Paprika, and Sriracha

This recipe was inspired by a recipe I saw in the Oregonian's FoodDay years and years ago. I've long lost the original recipe, but remembered the addition of Sriracha and the "triple-deviled" part. Unfortunately, the original recipe was not available online. Not that it matters since I probably would have made my own variation anyway, but I do try to give proper credit where I can.

Anyway, I haven't made this recipe for years. Not because there was any reason to or not to make it, but sometimes I need a little incentive.

Homemade Gravy

I thought everyone knew how to make gravy? Just add milk and flour to meat drippings and whisk.

Lil' sis had three Thanksgiving dinners and during one of them, she text messaged me to ask how to make gravy.

Add milk and flour.

I guess she figured it out because she didn't ask me more questions.

Crock Pot Bo Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew)

With a turkey in the oven and space on the stove needed for cooking other dishes, I turned to my Crock Pot to free up some room. I had resisted buying a large Crock Pot for a while. I was perfectly content to let my stews simmer on the stove top for hours. I didn't need yet another appliance clogging up my limited kitchen space. And yet, the bright red pot went on sale again and again. It was calling to me, I tell you.

So I finally gave in.

My attitude with the Crock Pot, and hopefully some adaptations of my usual recipes with it, is the same as most of my cooking -- to wash as few dishes afterward as possible. While I could have browned the beef on the stove and added it to the Crock Pot, that really wouldn't have done much to adapt the recipe. Instead of frying the annatto seeds to release their color, I decided to try heating it in water in the microwave with good results. Colors were released without the use of oil. After simmering all day, I didn't really think skipping the browning made much difference to the beef, in the end.

Turkey Liver Pate

Normally, I toss out the liver when making my turkey for Thanksgiving. But this year, when I was about to do so, I saw how nice the liver looked. (Well, as nice as liver can look anyway.) And because I had baguettes on hand for my Crock Pot Bo Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew), why not some pate to go with it?

Quick and simple recipe that yields about two ramekins. After all, how much pate do you really want anyway?