I tried to post these food pics on the midmo blog but the picture thing is acting up over there. Has anyone else had that problem?
Due to finally getting to see Personal and The Pizzas up close and personal, I've been rocking the Mosquitoes CD around my house, and I discovered this morning that you can access one of the best songs on the record, "Hong Kong Flu", online here.
Just wait for a sec and click on the play button on the right. I came thisclose to seeing if I could really buy a ringtone of it but when they texted the code to my phone it said it would cost ten bucks.
This blurry soup below is a new culinary fixation/sensation. Remember in my Quan Nemh Ninh Hoa article (yeah, right) when I said that when you go to that restaurant you get the nem nuong? Well, for the most part this is what everyone there is ordering but the other night I wanted a seafood soup so I got this delight. It has a delicate fish broth, peppery fish cake (JD do you know the name of this stuff?), hunks of hamachi (sometimes a little dry), and one little meatball that seems like a mix between fish and pork that is the treat to savor. You can choose between rice noodles or udon, which is cool. The udon version is $5.99 and it's a full meal!
And the fish are back in the vases on the table! This picture also shows the funny condiment trays with the raw garlic cloves and chiles.
25 comments:
That's Cha Ca. Cha with question mark tone, Ca with rising tone.
(I think). I love that stuff.
Lots of restaurants also have it as an appetizer. And you can usually get it at delis too. Get a bug hunk and take it home to do with as you please.
It's weird, though, in Hanoi Cha Ca is something totally different. It's chunks of fish sauteed in (I think) butter with dill and turmeric. I had it when I was there; it was amazing.
I don't get how the same name applies to two totally different things in the north and south. It's like if hamburger in LA meant a ground beef patty on a bun, and in SF it meant beef stew.
My veri word is fable. Maybe I just made all that up?
JD
Scott got rolls that had cha ca inside, and also the thing that I think of as "the crispy delivery device"-the fried tube of eggroll with a couple of little shrimp inside. and they gave us an orange, porridge-y dip that was warm.
What does the work "song" with two little hats on it mean? Is that pork chop? They sell it by the pound there.
"Suong" I think is literally "rib" but I could be wrong. But, yeah, it's basically a pork chop. Suong Nuong (close but not quite pronunciation would be soong noong) is that grilled pork chop you get with the rice plates.
JD
Also, my mouth got so excited when I ate the little meatball that I was worried it was from MSG. How can you tell when you're eating MSG? I've never detected it in anything. I'm not against it.
I can't tell either. I don't think it has a taste of its own does it?
I don't worry about it either. Isn't it a natural by-product of the fermentation process that creates soy sauce? I thought I heard that somewhere. I think the MSG hysteria is stupid. Billions of people in the east eat it daily and are at least as healthy if not more so than westerners.
JD
In those cha ca rolls I got, the fish patty looked the same as the ones in the soup but I didn't detect any of that peppery flavor.
-miller
There's another kind called Cha Que, that has big cracked black peppercorns in it. I thought that one was from pork, though, but I'm not sure now.
JD
MSG "allergies" is a US only thing. I learned about it in a class on mass hysteria (we also covered witch burnings and the Nazi party). If you tell enough people the Saddam was in cahoots with Osama, then war with Iraq is inevitable.
We've always been at war with Eastasia. No wait, we've always been at war with Eurasia.
MSG occurs naturally in kombu; it's what makes dashi good (you'll also find glutamates in soy sauce and parmesan and tons of other stuff, but I'm not sure they're of the monosodium variety). You can actually see the little crystals of it on the surface of a good piece of kombu. I don't have a major problem with MSG, but two minor ones. First, if it's overused, it can really impart a chemical taste. Second, it's a shortcut to good umami flavor. Nothing inherently wrong with a shortcut, but you don't get the cool collagen-to-gelatin richness and other flavor compounds associated with traditional methods of umami creation (like in the shoki broth, for example).
But it's ridiculous that people are afraid of MSG in Chinese food, especially since 90% of mass-produced snack foods are quietly loaded with it.
Ben
why do i have such problems with the work chili and pluralizing it? i do. i turned it into a word that is actually a street in davis
on npr the other day (don't you love convos that begin with that statement?) they were talking about the phrase "tightening the belt" and how it's always used in a preemptive way. that makes no sense because presumably you would tighten your belt after you already started to starve and lose weight. if you did it before you started starving you would just get a stomachache, it would not stave off the hunger.
You should feel lucky that your work even gives you chili.
-miller
verification: farighea
What you get from the work chili.
don't be jealous that your work has discontinued the chili. it's an important cost-cutting measure
The employees took matters in to our own hands today by collecting $3 from everyone & getting Rico's party pizzas.
-miller
you should have gone with the totinos. big mistake.
I believe this may have been my first Rico's pizza ever.
-miller
And?
-Natalie.
Would eat again.
-miller
If you would like to know how much msg is in your food next time just bring me along and I will sample each dish first and based on the severity of red hives on my face and lips you will know the precise saturation, what with your science background and all. I'm not sure about the hysteria part. I tend to slip into a comatose state, but maybe others have found this hysterical. Maybe they've even left me on the U st steps to die while they went in to play Bubble Madness. Just saying.
jamattack!
It was funny and I believe bust a move.
-Natalie.
People die from peanuts, yet peanuts are not demonized. Anyone can be allergic to anything. Because you have a negative reaction to msg has nothing to do with whether or not it is generally harmful.
JD
"it's a shortcut to good umami flavor."
yes! and it makes everything taste like doritos. living in africa, every country's traditional cuisine has been destroyed by maggi cubes (or the local equivalent), bullion cubes that are heavy on MSG.
i can detect MSG in an instant, cause it makes my lips and teeth tingle. i guess i don't have a problem with MSG as just another flavoring in the palate of flavorings, but it's almost always overused and unnecessary. if it's so great, then why don't good restaurants use it?
josh chapstick
Yeah, blogger photo uploader has been dicking around.
come on google!
-hk
Ya know, I'm pretty sure the little meatball in that soup had msg. Both of us felt our mouths tingling. Disappointing.
I wasn't demonizing anything or making a case for the state of my nation. Geez. I don't care what you eat. I have many food allergies so I take some precautions. Also they really did leave me to die, and yes natalie, you're right it was for Bust a Move. I'm sure you would have dragged me inside if it was just for Bubble Madness. ha!
jamattack!
Post a Comment