new hummingbird feeders

Hummingbird feeders are some of the worst ripoffs of consumer goods. Most are very poorly design and made. The prices for one of this cheap plastic thing that cost may be $0.30 sold for 50 folds. I never want to pay over $5 each. The secret is to way for autumn when the stores are making room for Christmas merchandise.

texas barbecue brisket - part 2

I learnt by mistakes of most things all my life, and making brisket is no exception. Fortunately for me I am an introvert. When confronted with a challenge I turn to myself to seek answers, as well as to read between the lines from those I respect and trust. This is my 3rd or 4th attempts in making smoked brisket. Do not trust the hypes on the internet, especially from those self-professed pit masters. They would lead you to believe it take decades of experience to make a edible brisket. With a lot of things there are more disinformation and "the dead leading the dead phenomena abound. When I first set out to make the authentic Texas barbecue brisket I thought it is some mystical thing that you can only learnt from the famed masters. Not until I turned inward and to read from those I trust and respect. Think out of the box is the password of this game.

a photo blog - feb 2016

This post is mostly photos of the dishes that I made recently.

a photo blog - jan 2016

venturing into indian cuisine

I am so excited that I am taking a foyer into Indian cuisines. I have always intrigued about the cuisines of the nation but find the myriad of spices intimidating.

indian lamb stew with coconut

While I have dabbled in trying my hands on Indian dishes before, I have never invested time to prepare them from scratch. As one of my new year's resolutions is to cook this cuisine by preparing with authentic ingredients and techniques.

alaska king crab ravioli - 帝王蟹意大利餛飽

We just have the most unbelievably mild weekend here in Portland, Oregon. The day time temperature reaches around 60 F for both days, with fog covered nights. To enjoy the weather I went for walks many times a day to take it all in, and the best part, I didn't drive or ride in a car. No shopping, and no errant. 

this and that - oregon jan 2015, part 3

When I go shopping at An Dong Market, I always walk through all the isles to see if there is anything new. Seldom there isn't as they always have some surprise in store for me.

alaska king crab and clam fettuccine - 帝王蟹和蛤意大利扁麵

Yesterday was a rare dry day here in the great Pacific Northwest in the normally soggy Oregon. I took advantage of it to go grocery shopping and my timing was great to avoid the worst traffic. I never plan my grocery shopping like most of my purchase, I let chance unfold and my instincts to decide what to buy. The truth is there are some exceptions, like the items that I use all the time, ginger, garlic, scallions etc. I usually go to the Portland East side because I can generally get what I need for the week with the least amount of fuss. I do shop at my nearby supermarkets but mostly for when I don't feel like driving across town.

lobster and goat cheese ravioli

Today I decided it is high time that I give my recently acquired new kitchen tool a go. The tool is one of the cheapest acquisition in recent time, but is one that puts a smile on my face.

this and that - oregon jan 2015, part 2

I came across this Manfrotto tripod at Costco a while before Christmas. At first it was more of a curiosity. It seems  a common compact design but it caught my eyes because of a number of unusual features that stood out. I was expecting another cheap low cost tripod at the warehouse store. I played with it a bit but someone has already managed to damage the articulating ball-head that I could not tell how to lock it. I would left the store without thinking much of it.

this and that - oregon jan 2015

I was hard pressed to come up with a meaningful title for this post, so I resort to the catchall "this and that". This post is more of an photo album than a blog post.

a chinese sous-vide

I have experimented with sous-vide recently. Doing so I realized that Chinese (and may be in many Asian countries too) have a version of this low temperature slow cooking.

a seafood paella

My first taste of real paella occurred during my brief visit to Amsterdam a few years ago. While Amsterdam is a great city, for a first time visitor finding an restaurant that serves edible meal can be quite challenging, especially in the tourists districts. I knew all too well to avoid the usual tourist traps. I would use my instinct to survey the restaurants, and by observing carefully the clienteles. It is generally a good sign when you see what appears to be mostly local regulars. Better yet if the staff or owner welcome them warmly.

material girl - part 2

Brunnhilde likes to help me cook. When we travel we do a lot of home cooking on the road, so for her a sets of well appointed kitchen cookwares and service only make a lot of sense. When I first acquired a camper my initial tendency was to only put not so good cookware and service in there.

vintage manual meat grinder

I have been making many batches of sausages now. I make a lot of andouille and also want to make Spanish chorizo. Both types are traditionally made with big chunks of meat.

roasting coffee at home

Sometimes I feel like Robinson Crusoe in that I try to do everything myself. When I started to get serious about preparing good cups of coffee I didn't think that I would ever bother to roast my own coffee. I invested in semi-commercial espresso machine and grinder. I was buying craft roasted coffee typically for between $12.50 to $16.00 a pound a few years ago. Out of curiosity I order one half pound of green coffee together with my usually supply of espresso roast. The bag of green coffee was left on the shelf for a long time.

an dong market 安東超市 - part 2

While I have written and mentioned my favorite Asian grocery store before I didn't have the photos I want to use in the blog posts. I really like this store and I would hope with my posts would help the exposure of this wonderful and yet under-recognized Asian grocery store on the East side of Portland, Oregon.

pining for a vacuum bag machine - part 2

I have been deliberating of buying a vacuum bag sealing machine on and off for a long time. I have not purchase one due to my skepticism with common household small kitchen appliances. I have began making my own sausages and more recently smoked salmon. Making sausages (cured meat in general) and smoked salmon are much more work than preparing a meal. You want to make a big batch for the effort to be worthwhile. It also cut down waste as well as lower cost through the economy of scale.

pining for a vacuum bag machine

Over the years I have pondered buying a vacuum bag machine to protect food in the freezer. I have resisted adding another small kitchen appliance that may turn out more trouble than it's worth. I have come close to buying the FoodSaver brand at Costco countless number of times each time I saw it on sale. However I know all too well the problems with buying consumer grade specialty machines like this. I had estimated the payoff versus the cost before the inevitable demise of a "toy" machine. In the end I had always decided against the temptation.