I used to hate scrambled eggs. They’re gummy, flavorless, and bland. Or so I thought.
The first time I sampled Cafe Clem’s scrambled eggs, I immediately saw the light. They’re fluffy! They’re creamy! And they’re steamed-scrambled, and while that sounds like an arduous process, the results make for my favorite local brunch in downtown Berkeley.
Cafe Clem is a daytime casual French joint with a small menu and a cute outdoor patio to boot. My favorite dish there has become their les oeufs Lucas: steamed-scrambled eggs with creme fraiche, goat cheese, basil, roasted tomatoes, and levain toast. I can’t think of much else I’d rather do on a lazy weekend morning than enjoy that underneath the sun.
Thanks, Cafe Clem. Scrambled eggs are no longer the food nightmare of my youth, but rather, a weekend treat.
I’ve just returned from a trip to Tokyo and jet lag aside, it was everything my sushi-laden dreams are made of. I’m no early riser, but I even had sushi for breakfast one morning at Tsukiji fish market. The sushi was as good as I remembered it from my last trip a few years ago, and I’ve been craving it at home since I returned.
Thankfully, good sushi is within reach at home. For me, the toughest part is making the vinegared rice. I haven’t mastered it yet but I’ll keep trying until I get it right. It’s a great excuse to eat more sushi.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sushi rice
1 2/3 cups water
1 4-inch piece of kombu seaweed
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 to 15 toasted nori seaweed sheets
any assortment of the following filling ingredients: sliced sashimi-grade tuna, sliced sashimi-grade salmon, salmon roe, sea urchin, crab, barbecued eel, egg omelet, shiso leaves, takuan pickled daikon radish, sesame seeds, sliced cucumber, sliced avocado, green onions, soy-simmered shiitake mushrooms, umeboshi plums, soy-simmered kampyo gourd strips, cooked spinach
1. Make the vinegared rice: soak the kombu seaweed in the water for about one hour to make the stock. Wash the rice 30 minutes prior to cooking and drain on a sieve. Put the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small pot and heat slightly until dissolved. This completes the vinegar dressing. Place the rice and stock into a rice cooker and cook according to cooker instructions. Transfer the rice to a large bowl and sprinkle with the vinegar dressing. Using a flat wooden spoon, toss the rice with horizontal cutting strokes while cooling the rice with a hand-fan. When tossing is completed, cover the rice with a clean cloth moistened with water.
2. Place a nori seaweed sheet on a maki-su bamboo mat. Put the vinegared rice lightly on the nori sheet and spread over the sheet, leaving 3/4-inch at the top and bottom uncovered.
3. Place filling ingredients of your choice horizontally on top of the rice.
4. Lift the edges of both the bamboo mat and nori sheet nearest you and bring over to meet the far edge of the sheet.
5. Gently but firmly press the bamboo mat around the roll to shape it. Push both ends of the rolls towards the center firmly a few times using a cloth or plastic wrap.
6. Cut in sixths or eighths crosswise. Clean the knife with water between cuttings. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger.
Tomorrow marks the first day of fall, and while every cafe and restaurant has you convinced that pumpkin spice-flavored everything is the answer to all our problems, I’m leaning in a different direction. No disrespect to squash-flavored caffeine, but I’d rather go for a warm, comforting bowl of chili to herald the changing season.
This spicy beef chili is time consuming but oh so worth it. Bonus: the heated leftovers taste even better.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pounds chuck steak, cut into 1/2-inch dice
salt and pepper
1 pound hot Italian sausages, casings removed and meat broken into small pieces
1 small white onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup water
One 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained
One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained
One 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained
Shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green onions, and sour cream, for serving
1. In a large pot, heat the oil. Season the chuck with salt and pepper. Add half of the chuck and cook over moderately high heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a plate. Repeat with the remaining chuck. Add the sausage and cook until browned, breaking it up with a spoon, about 4 minutes. Add the sausage to the diced chuck.
2. Add the chopped onion to the casserole and cook over moderate heat until tender, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, paprika, cumin and the chuck, sausage and any accumulated juices. Cook, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and their juices and the water. Cover and sim-mer over moderately low heat for 1 hour.
3. Stir in the beans and simmer uncovered until thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt. Serve the chili in deep bowls, passing the cheese, scallions, and sour cream on the side.
Fancy an authentic po’ boy but can’t make it to Louisiana? How about Healdsburg instead? Seriously, some of the best New Orleans cuisine I’ve had this side of the Mississippi is in none other but Sonoma County. Go figure.
The Parish Cafe is only a couple of years old but it’s already garnered a following. Wanting to stay on the healthier side, I ordered a blackened catfish po’ boy and it did not disappoint. Fresh-tasting and full of spicy flavor, I could have easily been eating this in NOLA. The Parish Cafe’s lunch menu is primarily po’ boys but next time, I’m also going for the specials, like the gumbo and muffaletta.
Any airs I had about being healthy went out the window when our group ordered a plate of beignets to share. Now, this might be blasphemy, but these beignets were actually better than any I’ve tasted in New Orleans. It took every ounce of self-control to not order another plate of these.
The Parish Cafe is open only for breakfast and lunch, so go early. And while the menu isn’t all Creole or Cajun, their Louisianian transplant chef has made sure it’s all New Orleans and all delicious.
When I travel, I try to take it easy on my last full day in a new city. So on our seventh day in Toronto, Nishan and I enjoyed a lazy morning before heading over to Khao San Road for a Thai lunch. Named after a street in central Bangkok where the chef grew up, Toronto’s Khao San Road is in the middle of the city’s entertainment district and exudes a hip, laidback vibe.
We started with the Bangkok-style pad thai. Flavored with tamarind, shallots, chives, fish sauce, peanuts, and lime, this was easily some of the best pad thai I’ve ever tasted.
We also had a plate of the pra grad prao. I usually cook this dish with chicken, but here, we ordered it with beef and topped with with a fried egg. A wonderful choice. After all, everything tastes better drizzled with runny yolk, especially when it’s combined with chili, garlic, and basil.
Afterwards we took the metro to the Royal Ontario Museum where we checked out their special exhibit on Mesopotamia. My favorite thing about the museum, though, was the building itself. Originally built in 1912 in a Neo-Romanesque style, the museum added a deconstructivist crystalline-form in 2007 made of glass and aluminium sitting on top of a steel frame. The crystal’s walls do not touch the sides of the heritage buildings.
Later that evening, we were lucky to catch Nuit Blanche, an annual all-night or night-time arts festival. Toronto’s Nuit Blanche included private and public art galleries open all night long, with the center of the city itself being turned into a de facto art gallery, art installation, and performance space. The evening even included a special installation of Ai Weiwei’s Forever Bicycles.
Whether or not we realize it in the states, Toronto is a world-class city. There’s just so much brewing beneath the surface.
