Today also happens to be Fig Neuton Day, but we’re going to focus on the international celebration today.  (Besides, I forgot to try to pick up some Fig Neutons).

With all of that in mind, allow me to introduce you to a condiment I’ve never felt necessary to pick up off the table until today.

Chili paste, you scare me.  Just a sniff is enough set my nose hairs on fire and my mouth watering like it’s gearing up to put out an out of control forest blaze.

Today we’re celebrating, and without a Fig Neuton to save me from the fire, I added some chili paste to my sweet corn sauce and smothered it all over a sole fillet. 

Yes, it looks quite disgusting, but haven’t we learned to see past looks yet?  Upon tasting my new concoction my mouth is filled with a deep creamy flavor…until the spice kicks in.  I would show a photo after the first bite but nobody really wants to see a grown man cry. 

For the record, I did finish my lunch and have already marked it in my planner to buy Fig Neutons for next year.

How spicy was your hot n spicy day?

I woke up and checked the news, aka facebook, and noticed a lot of chatter about the 49ers game.  I immediately became homesick as I haven’t seen a game since 2008.  With this small bout of depression in mind I decided to grab a burger for lunch.  As luck may have it my first choice of burger joint was closed which landed me on the door step of Liberty Exchange.  I was skeptical about going in as I had planned for a slightly less expensive lunch but one look at the big screen and chanting “9ers” fans in the corner sealed the deal.

Onemore stroke of luck occoured to me as I left for work feeling much better.  Today is strawberry ice cream day! 

Is it only me, or is Haagen-Dazs’ strawberry ice cream cone a San Francisco 49ers fan?  Look at it sporting the red and gold so proudly!  The company itself is decked out in the team colors.

With this new found state of mind I’d like to propose that from now on, next to the 7 layer dip and the chicken wings, every 49ers fan should also have on stock strawberry ice cream from Haagen-Dazs.  They secretly support our team.  That makes it extra delicious.

Happy Strawberry Ice Cream Day!

I was quite concerned that I would have to find some round about way of celebrating this holiday due to ingredients being so hard to come by sometimes.  Fortunately for us all (mostly me) there is a place called Main St. Deli which will from now on will be the go to place for all of my deli needs.

Even John Jr. was happy to be there!

Main St. Deli is one of the F&B (food and beverage) outlets at the Langham Hotel and they do the deli market justice.

First of all, my menu was my place mat.  Just look at it in all of its paper glory.  They had everything from pizza to buffalo wings to Hot Pastrami Sandwiches!

I’ll be back to Main St. Deli at least another 10 times just to try the rest of their sandwich menu!  It was so hard not to go for the reuben right away.

Before I even place an order the server brings over a good portion of sauerkraut and a giant sweet pickle!  Unfortunately I was a little distracted with the baby and the menu to get a picture of that though.  I finally drool over the menu long enough and ordered a Paulaner (German beer), a pastrami on rye, and buffalo wings.  Yes, I was hungry.  Also, it is quite difficult to find decent buffalo wings in this city so I had to go with my gut and give these ones a go.

With great food and great beer the next thing you’re going to hear is that the service sucked right? Wrong.  Dining with my two and a half month old was a pleasure thanks to the great staff who were extremely attentive without hovering over me the whole time.

What a happy hot pastrami day indeed!  How are you going to celebrate today?

January 13th is peach melba day, and although I am posting this on the 14th I promise it was celebrated on the proper day.  Ok, enough excuses…on to the celebration!

A peach melba is simply cooked peaches with ice cream and a raspberry sauce.  I decided to take a crack at it myself as I don’t recall ever having this dessert before.

First I halved the peaches, removed the pits, and simmered them, skin on, in a vanilla syrup for about 3 minutes per side.

Then I removed them and allowed them to cool slightly before removing the skin.

Second was the raspberry sauce.  I kept it simple and tossed a pint of raspberries, 3Tbsp of powdered sugar, and 1tsp of lemon juice into a food processor.  I decided the sauce was a bit thick so I then added about 3Tbsp of port, blended it all together and ran it through a sieve to remove all the seeds.

Next step is to pop the peaches back into the lemon syrup just long enough to get them hot again, assemble, serve, and enjoy!

I saved 3 halves to play with later as I may have an idea for a twist on this classic.

Happy peach melba day!

January is hot tea month! (yes, it is also soup month)
What better way to celebrate than to take part in some local tea. 

Chinese herbal teas are quite popular in Hong Kong with a shop selling their brews in just about every mall and MTR station.  Today at work they are serving 5 flowers tea which is probably my personal favorite of the Chinese herbal teas.

5 flower tea consists mainly of honeysuckle, crysanthamum, silk cotton, plumeria rubra, and pueraria lobata.  The combination can help to remove heat and dampness.  If you have a sore throat, insomnia, or indigestion this tea may be helpful for you.  Unlike many Chinese herbal tea, this one actually tastes good!

What is your tea of choice this month?

This chestnut cream topped, cake filled chocolate cup from Chez Shibata was also filled with a marzipan praline! Now…normally I would never eat such a monstrosity as I prefer more savory flavors, but this cake was surprisingly good! It may even be quite fitting to actually have cake as part of the celebration, as if it were marzipan’s birthday.

How do you enjoy your marzipan?

I had a hot toddy this evening at Shelly’s Yard in SOHO.  Like most mixed beverages there isn’t exactly a right or wrong way to do things…just some general guidelines.  Unfortunately this bartender took the cheapest way out.  It was basically hot lemon water with some cloves and cheap whiskey.

I had slightly higher expectations as I had been looking into making one at home and the recipe I was going to go with involved tea, honey, and rum.  I think I’ll still have to try this recipe before I decide I never need to have another hot toddy again…but if it tastes like the one I had tonight…that one will def be the last!

How was your hot toddy day?

January 10th is bittersweet chocolate day, and how appropriate to have a what tastes better when you have to choose between two delicious chocolates!

Today I tasted 2 chocolates made by Artisan du Chocolat.  One made with cocoa sourced from Haiti and the other from Panama.  Both chocolates are 72% Cocoa which technically puts them too high on the cocoa level to qualify for bittersweet chocolate day…..but I liked it so were gonna go with it anyway!

” ‘Bittersweet chocolate’ is chocolate liquor (or unsweetened chocolate) to which some sugar (less than a third), more cocoa butter, vanilla and sometimes lecithin has been added. It has less sugar and more liquor than semisweet chocolate, but the two are interchangeable when baking. Bittersweet and semisweet chocolates are sometimes referred to as ‘couverture’. Many brands now print on the package the percentage of cocoa in the chocolate (as chocolate liquor and added cocoa butter). The higher the percentage of cocoa, the less sweet the chocolate is.” -Wikipedia (Types of Chocolate)

On to the comparison!

Due to a simple packaging error, Haiti was given the opportunity to be tasted first as to me, the lines should be facing upwards when I open the box.

The aroma of the Haitian chocolate has (for me) strong coffee notes and for some reason after taking a good wiff I wanted a pretzel.

The Panamanian chocolate’s aroma is a bit more intense with mild coffee notes giving way to tobacco and toasted almonds.

The Haitian chocolate broke quite evenly and had a much creamier texture than that of the one from Panama.

Where the Haitian chocolate melted in your mouth and covered your palate with a long finish, the Panamanian chocolate was crunchy until the last bite and left your palate feeling clean and refreshed relatively quickly.

The champion…..Panamanian chocolate!!!  Happy bittersweet chocolate day.

Who’s your bittersweet champ?

The majority of my time there (if my memory is indeed a memory and not a dream) was spent chasing chickens and looking for their eggs.

Today for apricot day, aside from reminiscing about that day on the orchard, I enjoyed a pack of Emmi Swiss Premium apricot yogurt.  The yogurt has a great smooth consistency but it was lacking quite a bit in the apricot flavor department.  Next year we’ll use the dried ones I think.

Happy apricot day!

Happy soup month!

It just so happens that January 8th is English toffee day.  It also happens that english toffee isn’t something you can just pick up at 7 eleven whlie running off to work.  With that being said, January is soup month.  This is how I celebrated today.

At work there is a daily soup served in the cafateria.  It is typically a traditional Chinese style soup but they do make western soups from time to time.  Today’s soup is a double-boiled pork shank soup with lotus leaf and winter melon.  On the nose, all you get is the pork aromatics.  It’s upon tasting the soup that the magic really happens.

The lotus leaf adds a deepness and a slightly bitter taste while the winter melon adds viscosity and sweetness rounding off a well balanced soup.

When people are asked, “What is your comfort food”? The number one response is soup.  What soup is comforting you this January?