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Showing posts from 2009

Shaoxing rice wine - learning the taste

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This is part 2 of the Shaoxing rice wine series. Click here for Part 1. Determined to investigate taste differences between different grades and producers of Shaoxing rice wine, the Yangs and I scoured the Bay Area for 5 bottles ranging from low-end $2.99 to the highest-end we could find 20-year-aged at $21.99: 1. Shaohsing Huadiao Rice Wine by Kuaijishan Shaoxing Wine Co, 17% alc, $2.99. 2. Nu Er Hong Rice Wine, Yuequan brand, 17% alc, $4.99. 3. Aged Shao Xing Rice Wine, Pagoda Brand by Zhejiang Celeals, Oils & Foodstuffs I/E Co., 17% alc., 8-year-aged, $5.99. 4. Shaoxing Rice Wine by Zhejiang Gu Yue Long Shan Shaoxing Wine Co, 18% alc, 8 year-aged, $5.89 for 500ml. 5. Kuaijishan Shaoxing Rice-Wheat Wine with Caramel color added, specially designed for state banquet, aged in china jar for 20 years, 15% alc, $21.99 for 500ml. We then opened all of them at once and tried them at room temperature in 3 different ways: with a Chinese meal, by themselves without food, and blind. Our me

Shaoxing rice wine - meet the Yangs

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You can serve him 2-buck-chuck or $100 bottle of fine Bordeaux, he will discern the differences, texture, flavor, concentration. He will appreciate a high-quality German Riesling with Chinese food. "Oooh, this is so much smoother!" he will exclaim with his eyes enlarged and voice raised in a moment of child-like discovery. It's dinner time. "Would you like some more Riesling, baya?" I'd ask my father-in-law. But no answer would really be necessary, his eyes already reaching for another pour of the Shaoxing wine. Cheap and strange tasting, this is the wine of his childhood, the only choice of the local people in his hometown two hours away from Shaoxing city in the same Zhejiang province. A man who has seen the world, he can drink whiskey and vodka, sake and wine, but nothing will ever give him more comfort than warm Shaoxing rice wine, the finest in all of China. At $2.99 it could cost 10 times that much, and it wouldn't change a thing. And who am I to a

Linda's Port

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As I've said: "never say never to a wine" . Just when I've given up on Port, comes this little number. Nothing like a divine gastronomic intervention to spur me into a learning frenzy. Hopefully some of that will rub off on you as you come around to this marvelous pairing. For most, Port is an easy drink - sweet and fruity, with an alcohol kick - I mean, what's not to like?! For me, after I got through my initial stages of wine affair, those turned into negatives that I usually try to avoid. Here comes the 3rd phase, when "bad" is good again - when you shed the preconceived notions and open yourself up to everything (even the darn California Cab, but that's a story for another day). So as the coolest ever birthday party Rona and I hosted for our friend and wine buff Dan was moving into its closing stages (or so we thought!), my taste buds signaled to my eyes that it was time to scan for a desert pairing. About 40 fine bottles, including magnums were

The other side of Japanese culture

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Japan - land of contradictions. Refined and healthy, as the stereotype would have it. But look deeper - rough and indulgent emerges. The culture that captivates me with its attention to detail and eye for quiet beauty, my first visit to Japan allowed me to see past the obviousness of the Japanese subtlety, and into the other side. Food. Kaiseki dinners, bento box lunches, sushi & sashimi on one side. Beautiful, light, healthy . Meet okonomiyaki with yakisoba. Omelet covered with thick layer of salty brown sauce and mayonaise, fried on a greased teppan grill, served with noodle stir-fried with bacon in melted lard. I suppose enormous amount of pickled ginger inside the omelet is aimed at neutralizing the ill-effects of the fat. Apparently a local favorite in Kyoto. Fashion. Kimono? Forget it. Japanese ladies these days are screaming to stand out. And in doing so, they all seem to look the same. Long brown-dyed hair falling over doll-like whitened faces, above-knee boots, 4-inch heel

Iron Chevsky meets Iron Chef... almost

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Did you know that Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi, the longest tenured Iron Chef in the history of the legendary Japanese television series Iron Chef , has a restaurant in Tokyo? Sure you did. Chinese food is popular in Tokyo - seemingly the only foreign cuisine more popular than that is McDonald's. (Ok, well, maybe I am exaggerating... but only slightly.) As the son of Chen Kenmin, regarded as the father of Szechwan cuisine in Japan, the 53 year old Tokyo-born Kenichi is often credited for exceeding the skills of the father, likely fueled by the international exposure he got from Iron Chef. Combining authentic Szechwan flair with Japanese aesthetics and attention to detail results in the most mouth-watering presentation one can imagine. Rona has been captivated by Chef Kenichi's star performances on Iron Chef so much so that she got his cooking book and started making his recipes at home. What husband would protest such good fortune? Not me. So naturally on our first stay in To

Going off the beaten path for udon and tempura in Kyoto

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A world’s great cuisine must have a noodle dish. Certainly, the French would realize sooner or later what the Italians, the Chinese and the Japanese have known for centuries. A simple noodle can be sooo satisfying. Of all the different kinds of Japanese noodle, when done right, udon is perhaps my favorite. The right place is usually not going to be in the middle of a touristy area, nor will it need to be expensive. The right place should be a secret, known by locals and guarded from foreigners, unless of course the foreigners have local friends who don’t mind driving them an hour away from the city center into the inner sanctum of the Kyoto suburbs, a place only for those in the know. Right? Wrong! Ok, not exactly. Our friends know a good udon when they see one. Though hardly a proverbial hole-in-the-wall, they've been coming to Hanamaru for years. Since opening in 2001, Hanamaru has become Japan's largest udon franchise chain. The shop is located at the outskirts of Kyoto, as

Meditating Shojin-Ryori at Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto

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An hour after arriving to Kyoto, as soon as we drop off our luggage at the Matsubaya Inn ryokan, we head for our first site – Daitokuji Temple. In the city famous for the breathtaking grander of its Zen Buddhist edifices, Daitokuji is quite a modest specimen. Then why? But of course: Izusen ! This famous shojin-ryori establishment specializes in Zen vegetarian cuisine. Meandering our way through the twists and turns of the temple grounds, only peripherally taking note of the 700 year-old architecture, we finally locate Izusen, and are seated in a tranquil outdoor garden. Two kaiseki-style omakase tasting menus priced together at ~$90 boast a dramatic display of food, parceled into a progression of many small dishes. Definition: Shojin Ryori Type of vegetarian cooking introduced into Japan together with Buddhism in the 6th century. Shojin is a Buddhist term that refers to asceticism in pursuit of enlightenment, and ryori means "cooking." In the 13th century, with the advent

Experiencing authentic robata-yaki in Tokyo

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Shinjuku is a metropolis inside a metropolis. One of the liveliest neighborhoods in Tokyo, Shinjuku grows out of the Shinjuku station - the world’s busiest railway and metro hub. In a neighborhood that pulsates energy 24x7 like no other on earth, Hiro - a friend of a friend, led us to a quiet oasis of a restaurant – Ushi-no Yotare - a traditional robata grill, translated as “around the fireplace”. Hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the street, located in a cozy little space on a third floor of what appeared to be a hole-in-wall entrance, he took us back to an ancient time when a family sat around a sand pit or an irori – a charcoal-fired hearth, glowing coals in the center, grilling humble but sublimely satisfying foods. Historically inexpensive fare of the commoner, in Today’s Tokyo, a meal like this will run you about $80/person to start with, and can easily go up from there. The main ingredient of each dish is harpooned onto a wooden stick with one end tipped toward the ho