The Journal of his Delights

Last Wednesday, I brought the above chocolate chip cookies to work, and it was officially dubbed “The Day of the Cookie”. Yes, they were that good — a crisp outside but still chewy inside, with chocolate running through them in layers and chunks.

They’re probably the best cookies I’ve ever baked. Perhaps the black and white chocolate chip cookies I made in London might outdo them, but since I haven’t been able to reproduce those, I don’t know that they’re any competition. I wonder— if I somehow merged the two cookies, would it produce a super-cookie?

Here is the recipe for the above Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. Three things to note:

1) Use good chocolate! This is true for any chocolate chip cookie, but it’s absolutely critical in this recipe. It calls for 20 ounces of dark (at least 60% cacao) chocolate, which means the cookie will live or die by its quality. I used Scharffen Berger semi-sweet (62% cacao).

2) I decided not to go with the disks. Instead I just chopped up baking bar chocolate. That’s my preference anyway since it provides a variety of sizes (including shavings), and I like that kind of diversity in a cookie.

3) I followed the recipe and let the dough sit in the refrigerator for 36 hours. It made a huge difference in the taste, picking up a kind of toffee flavor in the process. Yum!

The International Herald Tribune just posted an article about the history of the chocolate chip cookie and ways in which to make it fabulous. The next time I’m making cookies — I’ll definitely be trying these techniques out!

Thanks to Kim for pointing out the article.

In my last post I forgot to mention Truly Mediterranean. It’s a small place, not much more than a counter, but this restaurant makes a mean shawerma. At $8, it’s a little pricier than I’m used to, but the thing is enormous and is totally a meal all on its own. They certainly don’t skimp on the meat.

I’ve also tried their falafel, and it’s pretty good. You can find Truly Mediterranean on 16th St. in the Mission, just off of Valencia.

Saturday, May 26th was the first ever Cafe Day. Here’s how it happened:

Frank and Elysia are new friends that I met through Natasha and Shane. Elysia is a graphic designer, and Frank is a writer. And they both love food, which means we hit it off smashingly.

One night, Elysia mentioned that she doesn’t illustrate or paint for herself anymore. Whenever she creates, it’s always for work and/or family. This is something I’ve heard many times - how a person gives up their art, whether it be painting, music, photography, writing, or whatever because it gets squeezed out of their lives. It saddens me immensely. I want people to reclaim that part of themselves!

The three of us got to talking - looking for ways to re-start Elysia’s personal work. It turns out that she needs people around her, and that’s how Cafe Day got started. We picked out a day when the three of us were free, and planned to bring our sketchbooks/notebooks to a cafe.

And it turned out really well! The weather was gorgeous - it felt like summer, and the company was very nice as expected. We sat outside, nibbled on sweets, and sketched/wrote to our heart’s content.

Elysia didn’t feel like she was productive enough, but she wants to repeat Cafe Day next month which is a great sign. As for Frank and I, we worked out the guidelines for a writer’s circle we are founding. (Which we are calling Work in Progress.) Once we had the groundwork settled, he sketched some figures for a book of short stories that will be coming out soon, and I polished some of poetry. After the fuss with Artemis, I decided to go after some low-hanging fruit, i.e. pieces that were conversational in tone and therefore didn’t require the same kind of strenuous effort.

As of the weekend, I now have seven poems completed, so it was a productive time. I also identified another four poems to include, but those will require a greater investment, including one, Third Chance at Resurrection, which is a personal favorite and needs Artemis levels of polish. I’m looking forward to it! (Isn’t that perverse?!)

All in all, it was a great day, which I’m hoping will become a regular event. As for Work in Progress, the next step is to recruit a few more writers. (We’re looking for another three.)

With that in mind, I went to Borderlands on Sunday. Borderlands is a wonderful bookstore in the Mission District that specializes in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. It’s got a terrific selection, and there are events aplenty as well. In fact, one of my favorite authors, Lois McMaster Bujold, read from her new book on Saturday. I would’ve attended, except that I felt that Cafe Day was more important. I did pick up a couple of books though, and the folks at Borderlands were amenable to us leaving a flyer. (Once it’s produced…)

And of course a visit to the Mission means a stop at Tartine - the best bakery/pastry shop I’ve found. Ever. The first time I had one of their eclairs, it was nearly a sexual experience. People on the street stopped to watch. Or maybe it was more like gay porn given the cream leaking out everywhere. In any case, it was amazingly yummy. Usually eclairs are a disappointment but not this one. The pastry was perfectly textured, the chocolate was Scharffen Berger, and you could see the specks from the vanilla beans in the cream.

The first time I ever saw a bowl of Tartine’s bread pudding, I wanted to put my face into it. It’s made with brioche, and yes, it’s that good. They also have a fantastic country loaf that is crusty on the outside and wonderfully spongy inside with a slight sourdough tartness. Happiness indeed. *sigh*

So, if you’re in the Mission, stop by Borderlands, pick up something interesting to read, then head over to Tartine. There’ll be a line, but be patient - it moves fairly quickly. If there are no tables, then just head up 18th Street to the park and have a picnic.

Take it from me, it’ll be a day well spent.

Apparently it rained yesterday, so it was clear blue skies over Los Angeles and a very mild 16 degrees Celsius.

Tonight? Mansaf!

Sunday, my Japanese class went on a field trip to Karatsu for the annual autumn festival celebrated there. Approximately 10 students of very mixed Japanese language ability and three teachers (with their boyfriends) attended.

I really enjoyed myself. There were a lot of food stalls with the predominant theme being “food on a stick”. As you’d expect, that meant a lot of yakitori. But not just yakitori, there was corn on the cob, crepes, omelets, and even a lone kebob stall. There were also games where you could win prizes. The highlight was the parade where 14 “teams” associated with a particular float came running by pulling their float.

There were many families in attendance. Also quite a few young people really dressed up for the occasion, not to mention what appeared to be a number of dates. There were three young women (pre-teen) who were standing next to me along the parade route. They were attempting to be surreptious (but not succeeding) in examining/talking about the hair on my arms. I was very, very amused.

Afterwards, our group went to a restaurant and enjoyed a nice communal meal. Plenty of good conversation, although I’m afraid I need back off on the cream puff stories. I’m likely to develop a reputation for being a glutton.

Some sample pictures are below. I’ll try and post a slideshow tomorrow.

One of the benefits of being a foreigner in Fukuoa is that, unless he/she is very outgoing, the people who hand out flyers/leaflets on the street mostly leave you alone.

Oh, and just in case I haven’t talked about food enough, apparently Canal City, on the top floor, has a Ramen Stadium! Something like 15 different ramen restaurants serving versions of ramen from the different regions of Japan. Just how frickin’ cool is that?!

(Thanks to Lowie’s friend, Yumiko-san, for letting me know about it.)

I think this is a ramen from the middle regions of Japan. This is based on an impression from the pictures, so I could be terribly wrong. Above are hard-boiled eggs to be enjoyed with the meal. To the right, Pao Gyoza. That’s assuming I read the katakana correctly, of course.

One of the cool features of having friends in far flung places (including cities you’ve recently moved to) is that they can introduce you to all the local places with the really delicious food. For example, just other night, Lowie took me to a local nabe restaurant. Not quite a hole-in-the-wall, but close. It’s one of her favorite places - partly for the food and partly because of a friendship developed with the head chef.

It truly is a local place. No gaijin other than us - just neighbors and business people. The staff was kind and helpful. And the food… well, it was terrific. Nabe is a one pot dish, often a soup or stew. Usually it’s eaten in winter, but in modern Japan, it can be eaten at any time. It’s also a communal dish, so the company you keep is very important.

This particular nabe was heavily influenced by Korean flavors. It included meat, dumplings, vegetables, and a huge mound of mushrooms. So good! And then later, they added Korean style noodles. I was a happy, happy man.

Continue Reading »

One of the features of the past month spent traveling the United States was the sheer quantity and quality of food. I ate so much! From the barbecue at Phillip’s in Los Angeles to my mother’s stuffed cabbage rolls to the culinary delights of the Bachmans in Portland. If anything, and this might be a first for me, I may have eaten too much. The boy is definitely feeling a bit big at the moment.

Probably nothing is more representative of the food experience than the night my family went to The Village. It’s a place in Duarte, a small city located east of Los Angeles, and it specializes in Middle Eastern food. They have a decent selection on their menu, but it’s rare - very rare - for my family to get past the appetizers (mezza). Here… let me demonstrate why… what you will see below is a sequence of stages, all part of the full mezza. Continue Reading »

Today’s another travel day. I head to Pennsylvania to attend the wedding of a dear friend of mine. Four days in Scranton to be specific, approximately two hours outside of Philadelphia. I’ll be renting a car once I hit Philadelphia and driving to Scranton. It promises to be a very long day, but I’m looking forward to seeing Jamie and I wouldn’t miss her wedding day for the world.

My last day in Portland? I got my hair cut by my stylist from when I lived here. I had intended to surprise her, but she got curious about her appointment and peeked at the last name. I also did a little shopping to take advantage of the lack of sales tax in Oregon. Later I met up with Kim at Powell’s, and we went on a mini-food-crawl. Starters at Ringlers, dinner at Shanghai Tunnel, and dessert at Voodoo Donut.

Ringlers is a McMenamins is pub. It’s part of a chain in Oregon, but they specialize in converting unusual properties into pubs. Elementary schools, churches, anything really is fair game. They have decent food and beer. Ringlers is a small place with a first floor open to the street and warm, cozy lower floor.

Shanghai Tunnel is another two floor pub. The ground level isn’t very interesting and kind of a dive. The bottom floor however takes advantage of the old shanghai tunnels that exist under Portland; tunnels used to smuggle people and goods in decades past. Literally, people would be kidnapped (shanghaid) and taken unto to ships to work as sailors. There were also other darker uses for the tunnels, I’m sure. A part of Portland’s shadow side. (Which every city has.)

And finally Voodoo Donut. A tiny place with a wide assortment of weird and unusual donuts. Want bacon on your donut? That’s the place to go. A donut dusted with Tang? Yep, that too. There’s even one shaped like a human figure with a pretzel sticking out of his abdomen - the voodoo donut that is the namesake of the place.

A nice way to finish my stay, I think.