So when I was gifted tickets for this past Saturday to a reception and dinner at E&O Trading Company to launch his new book, I was ecstatic. And what’s more, dinner was being prepared by Chris Cosentino of Incanto, Alex Ong of Betelnut, Tim Luym of Poleng Lounge, and Sharon Nahm of E&O Trading Company.

Anthony Bourdain in person is much like he is in writing or on television – well spoken with a touch of humored snarkiness, and really tall. I was pretty nervous approaching him, seeing as how I was the first person pushed forward to get my book signed, so I didn’t chat him up as I’d intended. A few glasses of champagne later, however, I went up to him and asked him to consider visiting Iran for his show. He lit up and said it’s at the top of his list for countries he wants to visit and his crew is planning on it for the fifth season. We spoke about that and his visit to Beirut for a a while and let me tell you, I was giddy inside. Giddy enough that I went back a third time and asked him for a photo:

Tony, if you’re reading this, call me, okay? We can go to Iran together. I’ll show you around the best eats. My grandmother cooks a mean ash-e reshteh!

After we snacked on hors d’ourves of fried corn fritters, stewed oxtail, seared scallops, deep-fried tripe with citrus salt, and peanut-ginger bites, a pleasantly buzzed Anthony gave a brief speech on how inside every great cook there is an old Chinese man. He made a couple of jabs at Rachael Ray and her ilk, and we were seated for dinner.

The lighting was too dim to get any presentable photos of the banquet-style food, but we were served the following:

King salmon with serrano peppers, kaiware sprouts, and Meyer lemon ponzu

Green papaya rainbow salad with kaffir lime nuoc mam dressing, pomelo, green mangoes, and toybox tomatoes

Kauai prawn rendang with spicy coconut kaffir lime sauce

Shanghainese red cooked pork belly with jasmine rice “jook”

Hot and sour braised short ribs in an aromatic broth, chilis and mustard greens

Whole roasted stuffed pig trotter with savoy cabbage and mustard

Long life braised E-Fu noodles with conpoy, Dungeness crab, straw mushrooms and Chinese chives

Celebration jasmine rice with aromatic spices and fresh turmeric

Fresh market vegetables, stir-fried Nonya-style

The company around us was great, and we were delighted to have discovered like-minded people who understand the importance of offal and stinky tofu. Afterwards we moved on to dessert, which included:

Grapefruit foam soda

Lemograss chocolate lollipops

Truffles

Mock pork belly (made of yams)

Alex Ong provided everyone with artisanal Filipino sea salt to take home, and the chefs were friendly and gracious enough to sign my menu and take photos too:

With Chris Cosentino of Incanto.

My signed menu!

It was an amazing evening. I’m still glowing and can’t wait until the next time Bourdain is in town. Hopefully next time he’ll give a longer speech and you know, take me up on my offer as his tour guide. So what do you say, Tony?

melody’s bounty.

how could you not buy british bistro bear?

on to the cooking:

penne with tomatoes, rosemary and wild mushrooms

mango-mint agua fresca

here’s the recipe for the agua fresca:

1 1/2 lbs mangoes
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup lightly packed mint leaves
1/4 cup lemon juice
ice cubes
mint sprigs for garnish

1. cut and discard pits and peel from mangoes. cut fruit into chunks.

2. in a blender, whirl the mangoes, orange juice, mint leaves, and 2 1/2 cups water until smoothly pureed; pour into a pitcher. stir in lemon juice.

3. pour agua fresca into ice-filled glasses. garnish with mint sprigs.

my aunt and cousins came over earlier this week for a stay. i cooked and we ate – everyone was happy. purveyors of all things delicious, shahriar brought me aloocheh and shahrzad brought a rosewater and pistachio flavored gelee.

sour ropes have nothing on aloocheh. it may not look as pretty, but it tastes delicious. kind of like tamarind paste, but with a more fruity flavor.

speaking of which, i think i still have some lavashak stored away in the cupboard. yum.