Berkeley brunch and coffee favorites

Tuesday brunch with the girls at La Note on Shattuck:

-Brioche french toast with lavender honey

-Pain perdu au chocolat

-Lemon gingerbread pancakes with poached pears and blueberries

Image: http://thevegetarianfoodie.com/2011/03/02/la-note/

Followed up with thrift clothes shopping and coffee at Sacks on College--my second favorite coffee place in the East Bay.  

Apparently I have a lot more work to do for my feature writing class.  I need to take a week from work and just hole up for a few days researching, outlining, writing and editing.  Nowadays I don't want to do anything when I get home--eating and sleeping is all.  My instructor said to go beyond my personal experience...my two days behind the fish counter.  I like reporting and interviewing--as long as I have time to prepare and actually have the time to research.  Only working half of a day on Friday, thank goodness.  

tell that to my frying pan

Like Rapunzel in Tangled, my kitchen is equipped with a handy frying pan--or was, until my parents took it on a camping trip from which it was not to return.  So it was absolutely necessary to find a replacement.  Got a cheap 8-inch pan and put it to the test:

1.5 lb chicken thigh fillets--marinated in a dash of soy sauce, sriracha sauce, salt, pepper and a little lemon juice and then pan fried.

Chop some roma tomatoes and the chicken into cubes, mix with basil and eat on a baguette or over polenta.  It was quite good accompanied by a Barefoot cabernet sauvignon, finished off with strawberries dipped in whipped cream.

Song of the day: Dasha's cover of Jessie J's Domino.  

slow sunday

Yesterday was Saturday--the worst day of the work week.  Haven't had a Saturday off since...September. The gloomy weather this week seems to have put customers in a general weird mood too.  That being said, it was nice to follow up a hectic work day/week with a cup of black soybean tea.  It smells like red bean soup but is definitely more palatable--and you can eat the beans after they've been steeped.

For this lazy Sunday, I have Dia Frampton's cover of Colbie Caillat's Bubbly on repeat.

Totally unrelated to food, but this video is pretty ingenious:  Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

Thinking of making egg noodles with crab meat, parsley and lemon zest again sometime this week...

feature clip

This is me acting as an investigative journalist for my feature writing class--

Feeling like a complete amateur in an apron free of the stains of a seasoned fish cutter, I met the eyes of a cold, dead King salmon.  Having just finished dismembering a crustacean for someone else's dinner, I debated whether I was in the mood for lunch anymore.  

Before my uncle gave me a job as a cashier at this Japanese fish market, I never understood the appeal of raw fish.  My request to pop over to the fish department on my day off was met with bemusement.  I was assured that I would not find my experience at all to my tastes.  Why would a girl who won’t eat raw fish want to hang out with a rowdy bunch of boys covered in scales, wielding knives?

...

fish days part 2

“How are you with a cleaver?” Blankly, I stare back at Phil: as a sporadic vegetarian with no experience prepping seafood of any kind, the answer is obvious.  My second day behind the fish counter started at 8:35.  A large tray of Santa Barbara uni (sea urchin roe) was the first challenge to tackle: separating the individual roe and blotting them with a paper towel before repackaging them into .2-pound packs.  These mustard colored pieces look like tongues and have the consistency of miso paste. 

Soon after I got a lesson in shucking oysters—Miagi oysters from Tomales Bay.  Use a towel as a buffer in case the tool punches through the shell, start from the back end and twist the shucking knife to loosen the shell.  It took a few tries and some shards of shell down the front of my sweatshirt before I got the hang of puncturing the shells which lift with a satisfying pop like opening a soda can. 

Prawn time.  I learned to slit the backs just enough to expose the tract to be removed—submerging the prawn while scooping out the guts makes for a cleaner process.  The day continued with more dismembering—whole crabs from Eureka that arrived neatly stacked and packed on ice.  Don’t stack the crabs flat on their backs, nor standing vertical.  Angling the crabs in the case at a slight angle prevents the juices from draining out.  

When choosing a crab, test its weight—a dense feel is better than a light body that could be dry due to cracks.  Two deliveries had arrived within five minutes of each other, it was lunchtime and there was a crowd of customers waiting to be served.  “Just follow me,” said Phil, launching right into the next lesson.  Wedging a thumb between the base of the top shell and the body makes it easy to separate, keeping the butter contained as well.  The gills slip off easily; a twist should remove the tail end and mouthpieces.  Rinse or spray with water to thoroughly clean the inside.  “Speed is key,” as I quickly learned.  After pulling the legs and claws off, the pieces are ready to be cracked.  The body is then cleaved in two halves that are each separated into thirds for more easy access to the meat inside. 

During the lunch rush I occupied myself by doing dishes and packing yuzu topiko.  Styrofoam boxes filled with iced sides of salmon kept arriving along with frozen packs of ikura, another shipment of black cod and a 30-pound side of tuna.  After some more scaling, one of the guys looked me over, concluding, “You’re not dirty enough, go roll around in some fish.”  No thanks, I’d like to keep my apron clean for a little while longer. 

fish days 1

9am on a rainy Tuesday, with rain boots at the ready, I am prepared to take on the gloomy weather…and a challenge of a different nature.  “You are way to excited to be here,” was the first greeting from the fish counter staff.  While most of the guys wouldn’t be on duty until 10, the early shift had been busy setting up since 7am.  My requests to work with the fish department for a day to two had been met with bemusement.  After many assurances that I would definitely not find the work to my taste, I was doubly confident that I would prove myself capable of shifting gears from the cash register to the fish counter. 

With extra thick socks and jeans tucked into rubber boots, I was initiated into the ranks with a black apron and white latex gloves.   First task, remove the head and guts of a bucketful of smelt.  These locally caught “fries with eyes” were being prepped and sent to the deli for cooking.   Working along the back wall faced with stainless steel work surfaces, my first of several teachers of the day filled me in on inner workings of the fish department.  Over a growing pile of decapitated smelts, I learned that the market relies on 13 suppliers for the wide variety of seafood it offers.  Upon arrival, fish are checked for imperfections before being cut or packed on ice.  Some of the signs of good quality fish include clear eyes, shiny skin, and firmness when touched.  Whole fish like salmon and tuna are systematically taken apart—the best pieces going out as fillets or sashimi blocks.  Whatever meat is left is close to the bones and often striated with sinew, yielding small chunks to be used in poke. 

After the heads had been pinched off of the smelt and their bellies removed, I was introduced to scraping.  Expecting to use a dull knife to remove the thin stringy layers of tuna from the skin, I was surprised when I was presented with a well-used, slightly dented metal spoon.  With admirable patience, the guys put up with my slow progress removing chunks of tuna flesh, checking for stray scales.  With my trusty spoon in hand, I was led over to another workstation to pack salmon and flying fish eggs into small containers.  The red, green black and bright orange salmon roe had the consistency of cooked couscous grains. 

Eventually I upgraded from a spoon to a metal tool similar to a coil of saw blades, very effective for sending the plastic-like scales of a kampachi flying.  Once that task was done, it was back to the spoon in order to pick away the meat from the bones of what had recently been a large whole salmon.  Along the counters, the fish boys were at work cracking crab, shucking oysters, cutting tuna blocks and filleting black cod.  In between picking over a monkfish liver or restocking prawns, the fish department staff fills orders for customers.  All experienced fish cutters, the guys also know nuances like which customers expect exact weights, which like ice to keep their purchases cool, and which like to take the crab butter home with them. 

...to be continued.

kale chips

My four o’clock snack: kale chips chased down with lychee sake, finished with komochi.

A customer brought in a bag of her kale chips for us cashiers to fight over—she’s one of those cute little old ladies with apple cheeks, silvery white hair, who loves to cook for her grandchildren.  She made it sound so easy I bought a bunch of kale to duplicate her delicious chips:

For about 3 cups of kale leaves—remove leaves from the stalk, wash and thoroughly dry using a salad spinner.

Toss to coat with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Arrange in a single layer in a baking pan.

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350°F until crisp but not yet browned.

Chilled lychee sake goes nicely—followed by komochi for dessert.  It took two drops down the stairwell to break apart the mochi I’ve been storing in the freezer since…December at least.  

After some tea and some mochi (dipped in sugar and soy sauce), it’s time to face the rest of this gloomy Sunday with a nap.    

taking a break

Breakfast at 10 pm?  Why not.  It’s been a long day. 

I like to pretend it’s morning and recapture the energy only found at the start of a new day.  Here’s a favorite, well-tested waffle recipe for crisp golden squares of goodness for anytime you need a break from life.  

Waffles:

1. Combine:

1 cup flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ T sugar

with

2 egg yolks

1 cup milk

2 T vegetable oil

½ teaspoon lemon extract

zest of one lemon

(Alternatively, add orange extract and zest—this version works best with a Nutella topping )

2. Whisk together:

2 egg whites combined with ½ T sugar

3. Combine both mixtures and whisk until smooth

4. Cook on waffle grill—the 2 T of oil in the mixture should be sufficient to prevent the batter from sticking. 

5. Eat.  With sliced strawberries, Nutella, powdered sugar…

And to accompany this session of therapeutic waffle making:

Banana Pancakes—Jack Johnson

Sunday Morning—Maroon 5

Bumblebee—Joseph Vincent

Your Body is a Wonderland—John Mayer

Chasing Pirates—Norah Jones

I’m Yours—Jason Mraz

Drop Baby Drop—The Mana’o Company

Be Ok—Ingrid Michaelson

Oh Darling—Landon Austin

American Honey—Lady Antebellum

Here Comes the Sun—the Beatles

Valerie—Amy Winehouse

Take a Break—Joseph Vincent

Keep Your Head Up—Andy Grammer

Yellow--Coldplay

Bubbly—Colbie Caillat

Waitin’ (Doritos Mix)—Landon Austin

Excuses—the Morning Benders

Don’t Kick the Chair—Dia Frampton

Who Says—John Mayer

Forecast—Jason Mraz

Put Your Records On—Corinne Bailey Rae

I’d Rather Dance with You—Kings of Convenience 

attempts at sushi

After seven months on the job, I’ve learned a lot—about pickled vegetables, filleted fish, the best Japanese beers; about people; and about eating. 

Even though I’m a bit of a disaster in the kitchen, I’ve started to improvise with whatever vegetables and noodles happen to be on special from week to week.  The credit undoubtedly goes to my coworkers for recipe ideas and encouragement. 

So here’s my lazy version of sushi with radish sprouts, enoki mushrooms and avocado; an easy alternative for those of us who can’t seem to make pretty sushi in roll form. 

1 package Korean seasoned seaweed (12 pieces)

a handful of enoki mushrooms, washed and separated

a handful of  radish sprouts, washed and separated

1 sliced avocado

2 cups of cooked sushi rice seasoned with rice vinegar

(sesame seeds)

(wasabi and shoyu)

Assembly line process is best—line up the seaweed rectangles on a cutting board or directly on the serving plate.  Arrange the enoki mushrooms and sprouts across the seaweed sheets first, then add a spoonful of rice to each sheet.  Top with slices of avocado and garnish with sesame seeds. 

Haven’t tried it yet, but I’m sure this would be even better with slices of raw hamachi.