a glimpse into a christmas family gathering redux

another year, another christmas. if i was freezing in chicago last year, this year, i was in relatively warmer irvine to celebrate the holiday.

like my other side of the family, there were lots of food. for the gathering, i attempted to make nancy reagan's persimmon pudding cake, which turned out ok, not great. making it was an adventure in and of itself, which involved, on christmas eve, going to a regular supermarket and 2 asian markets before finally finding persimmons. then "puree-ing" the persimmons without a blender... yeah, that was definitely an adventure. but, the cake turned out fine and the brandy whipping cream (not pictured) to top the cake was great.


i also made these sugar cookies and had fun "decorating" trees.


my cousin made this pastry bread with brie and toasted walnuts (bottom right) and it was good i ate at least half of the loaf.


amanda made this seafood pajun, a korean dish that's basically a seafood pancake (but not breakfast pancake sweet). you dip it in a sauce made of soy sauce and white vinegar.


more dessert.


the ham, the quiche and chicken.


my cousin also made this crab meat (real crab, thank you very much) dish with cheese and eggs.


let's just say i was really full even before lunch started. but that did not stop me from eating all the way through dinner.

like my other side of the family, this gathering also involved a talent show, albeit on a smaller scale -- but that is more a function of size than quality. see, my granparents on my mother's side did not really have as many children as my grandparents on my father's side. as a consequence, there are fewer kids to show off their talents.

to start off, joey danced the tango with his mom.



then monica and loren showed off their musical abilities.



mark showed off his ice-skating chops (via video).

unlike my other side of the family, this side's gathering includes non-blood relatives, which makes for a more expansive story sharing. as always, there were lots of hooting and hollering, lots of teasing, lots of laughter and lots of bubbly and red wine.

it was definitely a fun celebration, as always.

hatfield's: good food but don't believe the hype

i took a girlfriend out for a birthday dinner the other night and she chose hatfield's because she heard a lot of hype about the place. this being her birthday dinner and all, i acquiesced.

we started off with the following amuse: (left) a shot of cauliflower soup - served hot with an understated sweetness and (right) deviled quail egg with smoked trout - possibly my favorite of the night. the trout did not overpower the quail egg.


for my appetizer, i ordered the croque madame with prosciutto, quail egg and hamachi on brioche. i love quail eggs. i love prosciutto. i love hamachi. and i love brioche. unfortunately, the hamachi did not work. it had a weird taste. but then again, i kinda like my ham and cheese with egg just that, i.e., ham, cheese and egg on bread.


the birthday girl had the scallops on a bed of something that i do not remember right now. clearly, it was not memorable.


i had the roasted duck on a bed of quinoa and mushrooms, and butternut squash. i actually enjoyed the duck.


the birthday girl had the pork loin with chinese broccoli and yam puree. i thought it was ok.


i believe this dessert was a chocolate cake with peanut butter. again, it was just ok.


below were mini cupcakes with peanut butter. they were not too sweet.


the verdict? it was good but nothing to fawn over. the space was small and intimate and the service amiable. the price for two without drinks was about $120.

the bazaar: jose andres goes to la

prior to my summer trip to spain, i started getting addicted to jose andres' tv show on pbs called "made in spain." never heard of him till then but once i did, i immensely enjoyed his show.

fast forward to the late fall and jose andres has opened a new restaurant in la. so, i just had to try it. the whole experience was fun. while there may have been a few misses, there were more hits. so this place is definitely a place i will want to go back to.

first off, we had the jamon iberico de bellota. these yummy slices of swine come from meat that has been fed acorn. it was good.... but for the fact that i had some really good ones in spain. i wish the slices had more fatty goodness. but this plate was better than i had anywhere in the us.



this canned sea urchin was quite a pleasant surprise. i have gotten over my uni phobia but to have this canned delicacy was a revelation. that is, not all canned foods are bad.



this simple plate of bread with tomato and olive oil was great. unlike your typical bruschetta, the tomato was pretty much mushed. but that's ok.



aaah cheese. ever since i visited andrew's cheese shop in santa monica, i have been a fan of idiazabal (left), made out of sheep's milk. and the sample below left did not disappoint. similarly, the murcia (goat cheese) (center) was a great departure from the goat cheese i have had in the past. this version did not suddenly make me a fan of goat cheese but i definitely won't be shunning this version. finally, good ol manchego (right). need i say more?



this simple salad of thinly sliced apples with leeks topped with grated manchego cheese was crisp and refreshing.



this wild mushroom risotto topped with melted idiazabal cheese would have been really really good but for the fact that it was a tad bit too salty.



the seared trout with jamon serrano was very good. the fish was far from dry and very juicy and the jamon on top gave the dish a great texture.



the pork sausage on a bed of white beans was also good. a friend said the sausage was too salty but i thought it was perfectly flavored.



this lamb loin with truffles was delicious. thin cuts of meat and the truffle was very rich and yet light at the same time.



the galician lobster with potatoes was good but nothing spectacular.



the sauteed shrimp with garlic was good. full of flavor. but i don't get the foam. but that's just me.


finally, this paella style pasta with monkfish and shrimp was really good. the angel hair had a nice crispness to it that was not overdone but still soft enough that did not make you miss the rice that usually goes with paella.



we enjoyed two bottles of wine. i preferred the crianza from rioja. it was not too full bodied like the other bottle and i thought it went better with the dishes we ordered.





finally, the flan. it was good but not spectacular. not too sweet.



the damage was about $112 per person with the tax and tip. not too bad considering the dishes were filling and very very good. the dishes we tried were primarily the traditional spanish tapas. the bazaar also had a selection of modern tapas, which we did not try.

i will definitely come back. after all, a lot more dishes await tasting.

the last game of the season: ucla v.u$c

all i can say is that thank god it's over.

let the rebuilding begin and a new season unfold.

meantime, as far as i'm concerned, the score was:

a glimpse into a family thanksgiving

this thanksgiving was the first time in the last three years that i was stateside. two years ago, i was eating solo at a fancy restaurant in prague celebrating thanksgiving with a nice juicy duck. last year, i was eating swine with a couple of brazilians, a couple of italians and a chilean who were strangers a week before in a beach restaurant in brazil. this year, i spent some time with my mom's side of the family. the location may not have been exotic and the food may have been conventional. but, that is what made it a good thanksgiving.

of course, the eating got started, not with eating, but with drinking. we had to have the bubbly. here's the appetizer table:


and oh yeah, lumpia. crispy fried pork lumpia to be exact. addictive. i think i ate half of this platter.


here's our thanksgiving table.


the stuffing.



my cousin joe's favorite: creamed corn. corn and lots of cream = corn heaven.


green beans with mushrooms. one needed to have fiber, after all.


yams.


and the bird:


juicy goodness.


and gravy.


here's my plate. yummy goodness.


oh of course we also had dessert. my auntie brought pinoy dessert. the top one was rice-based with lots of sugar. the bottom one was called turon - fried banana wrapped in a wonton-like paper with lots of sugar.


jello.



and yeah, the dessert i brought. i would like to say that i baked this cake. but that would make me a liar. so i won't. but this berry blossom cake from susina bakery was DA BOMB!



and finally, this was what we should be thankful for. at least, according to my cousin's kid:


personally, i was thankful to have a fun family who loves to eat, drink, and gossip (not necessarily in that order). like my cousin liza says, "that's our thing."

sybil and the new york times

on the heels of my 2 second appearance (at 1:19) on friday on tv (cbs2/kcal9) extolling the nickel diner's bacon donut, i found myself today on the pages of the new york times.

to be exact, there was a picture of people stretching/jogging and some photographer shot a picture of me bending/stretching. no one can see my face but i know my pony tail and my outfit (second from left).

this is no admission of guilt. the law says no one can stretch on the median, i.e. the grassy strip. i was on the street. with no grassy strip in sight. so there.

that being said, here are my two cents:

my understanding is that the santa monica ordinance prohibits any activity on grassy strips in santa monica except for walking and jogging. that means that those doing ab exercises or stretching exercises on the grassy strip are violating the law.

is this ordinance constitutional given that the grassy strip is on public property?

well, methinks that the city can regulate the use of public property based on time, place and manner (TPM). so, for example, i would think that if the ban is enforced at noon or 1 pm when no one in the neighborhood is reasonably expected to be asleep and not be bothered by the exercisers, the ban is probably too restrictive. the idea is that while people have a first amendment right to associate whenever and wherever, the government can still restrict that right based on TPM regulations.

but hey, what do i know?

oh right, i guess i have 14 minutes and 50 seconds of fame left...

ucla athletes rock!

we got rhodes scholars awarded to bruin football and rugby players. guess they're not wearing their IQ's on their jerseys.

go bruins!

just another friday night

on friday night, i mourned the loss of ucla to michigan (michigan!!!) from the night before. yep, it's basketball season and i had such high hopes. ucla has got to have its best incoming freshmen in the howland era although i must admit that there are no real big men on this squad. with kevin love playing in the nba, the 5 is tasked to alfred aboya.... whom i absolutely think is a hustler and a team player. and this article about aboya just made me want to cry.

but more importantly, even with the highly touted freshmen and the senior leadership of darren collison and josh shipp, ucla's seeming inablity to break a zone is puzzling.

so what to do on a friday night.... i inwardly pondered on the future of bruin basketball as i waited for my friends to show up at this newish sushi/izakaya joint (go for the izakaya not the sushi) called bimi. then, i went to see that james bond flick, "quantum of solace" (crap!).

we started off with a white fish carpaccio in hot olive oil. let me just say that this dish was delish. i liked the raw fish with the flavors of the olive oil. simple. yummy.



similarly, this corn tempura was excellent. not corn on the cob tempura. just ears of the corn in tempura batter and deep fried. the corn was sweet and but had that crunch of the tempura.



the crab dynamite roll was bland and a waste of calories.



the crunchy rice with spicy tuna was very good.



the rainbow roll did not stand out. let me just point out now that i also had the sweet shrimp (no picture). it came at $12, which was market price. but, it was not worth the money. the fried heads came lukewarm to cold and the shrimp itself was not as sweet. the rice was also not warm (but then again, as a rule, i prefer warm rice with the fish/shrimp on top as opposed to the cold rice most sushi joints have).



the uni fried rice below was too salty. the uni was not fresh either.



the roast duck was tender.



the ethnic chicken (i swear, that's the name of the dish) was very good. it had a sweet aftertaste.



there were other dishes we tried, like the miso soup (can't screw that one up) and other cut rolls, which were nothing to write home about. we also had a bottle of wine and it came to about $31.50 per person. the price was definitely affordable. if i go back, i will definitely have to skip the sushi and just go izakaya.

as for quantum of solace? can someone tell me what the plot was? cuz i just don't get it.