September 2009

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream

September 29, 2009

Call me a geek, but I love “tech” stuff. I got my first digital camera over a decade ago and www.wired2theworld.com (our travelogue web site started in early ’98) was one of the first ones of its kind out there. Now everyone and their brother has a blog.
When Twitter arrived on the scene, I was quickly hooked. I didn’t quite get it at first, but then I realized the more people you follow with similar interests, the more fun it becomes. Once I had people following me back, the conversations started flowing and it became really interesting.

One of the things I love about Twitter are the incredible people I’ve met in the food blogging world. I’ve learned so much from them in such a short period of time. Some are funny and make me laugh every day, some have inspired me, and some have shared photography and blogging tips. Mostly, they …

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Easy Tuesday Dinner; Pasta with Pancetta, Arugula and Pecorino

September 22, 2009

I finally got my mother to part with the remainder of the pancetta we made. Of course, I had to promise to make her dinner in return for her parting with the divine piece of pork.

Next month we’re going to Rome for a week . So, in honor of our upcoming trip, here’s my best attempt at a recreation of my favorite pasta of the trip, trofe e cicoria e guanciale. Technically, guanciale is bacon made from a pig’s cheek, but pancetta is close enough.

This pasta is a great addition to the Easy Tuesday Dinner series because it’s done in the time it takes to cook the pasta (about 10 minutes). It’s even faster if you buy your pancetta diced and cheese already shaved/grated.

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Food in Saigon Vietnam-Days 12 and 13

September 20, 2009

Day 12

Following in Bourdain’s Footsteps

After a sobering hour at the War Remnants Museum, we head for lunch at a place listed in my notes; Bac Hai (25 Ng The Minh Khai St) famous for its Pho and featured by Anthony Bourdain on his show, No Reservations. It’s very good pho, and we’re happy to have some as we’ve been pho-deprived for a couple of days. This bowl of noodles is served with many more condiments and herbs, a different in style from those we had in Hanoi. Our Pho Tai Bap is 20,000 VND per bowl.

Once again, we are on the hunt to find (and try) ass-weasel coffee (also known as Ca Phe Chon). Lori has found the Trung Nguyen shop we had been looking for yesterday, and we go in for our special coffee. David and I order Ca Phe Sua Da and Lori gets hers …

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Food in Saigon Vietnam-Day 11

September 17, 2009

Day 11-Saigon

Cholon Market is the largest indoor market in the Chinatown area of Saigon. We went there with our friend Lori and some local young people she’d been put in contact with before we arrived. We thought this would be similar to our tour with the Hanoi Kids. We were wrong. They spoke very little English and seemed pretty uninterested in talking to us. After taking us way out of town to visit an interesting and very old pagoda, we went over to the Cholon market. The market itself held very little interest (for us) in the main section, but the food parts are always fascinating for me. We wanted to try some of the local food, but the girls we were with looked horrified at the prospect so off we went for lunch…

(more photos of this market at http://www.wired2theworld.com/vietnam2009Day11saigon.html)

Quan an Ngon

Not surprisingly, the place our volunteer guides …

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Food in Saigon Vietnam-Day 10

September 16, 2009

Day 10-Saigon

Thanh Binh (140 Le Thanh Ton) is in a narrow storefront room, opposite the market, brightly lit with fluorescent lights and filled with formica tables. But we’re not here for the decor, we’re here for the food. We order goi cuon (shrimp and pork summer rolls) for which they are known, bun bo xao, bun cha gio and cang cua which are crab claws in tamarind sauce. Most items are $1-$2 but the crab is 150,000 VND (about $8) and worth every penny. With a round of beer, dinner is 291,000 VND for three (about $16).

After dinner, we walk around the market building, observing the set up for the outside night vendors. On one side it’s all food vendors, cooking in outdoor “restaurants”, and wow, does everything look amazing. We agree that we’ll have to come back another night.

From there, we walk around, a little aimlessly, …

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Homemade Ginger Syrup and the SodaStream Soda Maker

September 13, 2009

Over a year ago I was reading an article in the LA Times about reducing the carbon footprint of the food we eat. It occurred to me that the Pellegrino bottled water we loved to drink is shipped here all the way from Italy. Suddenly I had a vision of a giant cargo ship stacked with shipping containers filled with green glass bottles chugging its way across the ocean. I was horrified at the thought and vowed right then to stop buying it.

But there was a problem. We love our bubble water. So, we switched to buying carbonated water from Trader Joe’s which comes in plastic bottles and is manufactured locally. Still, I felt bad. We would drink almost a bottle a day, and even though we recycled the bottles, it seemed like a lot of plastic going in the bin, not to mention the cost adds up after a while.…

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