Come to me, Mr Bento!

When I’m sick (yes, I’m sick again), I tend to putter around a lot online. And when I putter around online, sometimes I’m lured into buying things.

Hence, my order last night for the Zojirushi Mr Bento!

Isn’t it awesome? Mr Bento comes with its own carrying case, as seen here, and there are four inner containers, one of which is meant to be used as a soup bowl, because, according to some of the reviews (this helpful one in particular), it keeps soup good and hot. This might be ideal for those of you who like a hot lunch at work, according to this review and this one.

Plus, Zojirushi is a brand I’ve come to respect, because everyone knows they make kick-ass rice cookers (my parents own one), and a quality Japanese brand is well-known for having a cute animal logo. Seriously, don’t buy a rice cooker without a cute animal logo on it. I think my parents bought me one sans-logo and it didn’t work for me. Other logos can be acceptable, depending whether or not they are cute. My parents gave me a rice cooker that’s been cookin’ up the white stuff for over ten years now, and it has this cute little raindrop logo with a little asterisk-looking flower inside. The brand is a Japanese one, Aroma, with the “o” replaced by the cute little raindrop-flower combo.  I’ve seen Aroma brand products online recently, and they seem to be missing the logo.  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t trust these non-logo models.  Cute doesn’t always equate to well-made, but in rice cookers, it may be a deciding factor.

I found out about Mr Bento from the website ThisNext, “a shopcasting network where you can discover, recommend and share things you love. Everything on ThisNext is recommended by real people like you.” Shopcasting? “Shopcasting is a way to spread the word about things you love. ‘Shopcast’ is a word that combines shopping and broadcasting. What podcasting did for audio is what we’re doing for shopping—broadcasting taste and knowledge of great products recommended by people like you. Right now, we support several tools that help you shopcast lists and tags on your blog or website.”

Yes, it’s a website that allows people to recommend products and create wish lists online for others to read about. Aside from the blatant pro-consumption “let’s go shopping!” attitude, ThisNext can be a fairly useful way to show friends some of your favourite items, as well as to get all of your wish listed items scattered among several websites to collected together in one neat and happy place.

And, yes, it’s a good way to learn about other products you may not know about, like Mr Bento.

I’ll post a review about Mr Bento once I use it for a few of my lunches at work, but you may also want to know about another Zojirushi product, Ms Bento, that’s also for sale. It’s smaller, with two containers instead of four. With regards to the “shopcasting” site (I say that with a bit of a cringe), you can see my ThisNext profile, look at my recommendations and wish list (my birthday is the 27th of August, by the way), and perhaps make a friend of me with your own ThisNext page.

The Language of Baklava

I finished Diana Abu-Jaber’s memoir The Language of Baklava, which I checked out from the library, and I may have to get a copy of this book. It’s a wonderfully written memoir filled with memories and food recipes, much of which hailing from Abu-Jaber’s Jordanian heritage from her father’s side, but some others that are pulled from other places.

Much like Kim Sunée’s Trail of Crumbs, which is another memoir mixed with recipes, Diana Abu-Jaber’s recollections place a major focal point on the food, which is sensuously described. The recipes seem more attainable, and there are a few that are vegetarian-friendly. The people Abu-Jaber describes, especially her father, are shown lovingly, and I’m particularly fond of her Auntie Aya, the only daughter among many sons. The appearances she makes in Abu-Jaber’s book are memorable–especially the conversation she has while making sweets with a teenage Diana on page 186 that I’ve included in my favourite quotes on my Goodreads profile:

“Marry, don’t marry,” Auntie Aya says as we unfold layers of dough to make an apple strudel. ‘Just don’t have your babies unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“How do I know if it’s necessary?”

She stops and stares ahead, her hands gloved in flour. “Ask yourself, Do I want a baby or do I want to make a cake? The answer will come to you like bells ringing.” She flickers her fingers in the air by her ear. “For me, almost always, the answer was cake.”

Seriously, best reasoning ever.

Being a child of mixed-heritage, I can relate to some of the emotions Abu-Jaber describes with her dad, Bud, and the friction that happens when two cultures and age groups collide, especially during the teen years.  Like Bud, my mother (and father) didn’t want me dating boys, so I used to sneak hanging out with some of them, but lucky for me, I didn’t get into too much trouble.  Well, depending on your point of view.  (To my parents reading: I turned out okay, didn’t I?  All right then.)

It can be hard to pass along culture and language to your children when they’re growing up in an environment different from the one you were raised with, but the easiest conduit of culture is, and always has been, food.  My knowledge of the Filipino dialects is nonexistent, but I can make sweet rice and fried rice, and would love to eventually attempt a vegetarian version of Philippine adobo (it exists!).  I remember the food heritage from my mother and my Philippine aunties, as well as the southern foods made by my father’s family.  Thanksgiving when I was younger would feature fried rice with bacon alongside a slab of ham covered with pineapples, coleslaw, pansit and deviled eggs.

Seeing Abu-Jaber’s version of growing up pulled between two cultures, in addition to her unique personality (very likable) and lovely writing, really makes this book a fantastic read, especially for people who love food and love reconciling culture clashes on the dinner table.

If this sounds like a book you may be keen on, you can read an excerpt and even order a signed copy on the official website for the book and Diana Abu-Jaber by going here. If you live in Orange County, you can borrow a copy of the book from the library, too.

2008: The Return of the Green Fairy

For those of you who didn’t know, the ban on absinthe in the United States has become relaxed enough for a few distillers to start selling the drink on US shores. The United States now joins the European Union with a renewed look at an old and vilified drink. Per this article from the New York Times, “One reason legal barriers have fallen is that, as The New Yorker reported in 2006, the regulated chemical thujone, found in wormwood and once thought to have been the cause of absinthe’s lure and its dangers, did not show up in any significant quantities in analyses of historical absinthe. So these authentic replicas, despite containing wormwood, do not pose a legal challenge” (emphasis mine).

This revisit of the Green Fairy in the US can be attributed to an attorney by the name of Robert Lehrman, hired by Kübler of Switzerland, makers of… yep, absinthe. The inquiries began in 2000, and the regulations were only loosened late last year, so Lehrman had a seven-year fight on his hands. Granted, this is good for the Kübler distillery, but also good for other distilleries who are willing to be subjected to the rigorous approval process by the US government.

In Alameda, California, St George Spirits distillery has become the first in the United States to introduce American-made absinthe onto the market since 1912. At the moment, I’ve only been able to find information on only two other makers of absinthe who have been given the green light to sell in the US market aside from Kübler and St George: From France, Combier Distillery’s Lucid Absinthe Supérieure, imported by Viridian Spirits LLC, and a South American brand I haven’t been able to find further information on aside that it might be Brazilian in nationality. I found Absinto Camargo online, which is a possible candidate for this mystery. Any help in clarification would be greatly appreciated!

When Hao and I had initially found out about the loosening of the ban, we went to the nearest Total Wine (also known among friends as the Alco-Mall) to see if we could possibly procure a bottle. We roamed the aisles with no success, and upon asking a store employee, I found out why: it’s too new. Having done more research online, which I am now sharing with you, with only a small handful of distilled versions of absinthe being sold legally inside the US, there isn’t enough product to flood the market, or at least the shelves of our local Total Wine… yet. Perhaps within this year, as more absinthe producers apply to import into the US, or as more home-grown distilleries create some Yankee absinthe, we may see a bottle or two show up at Total Wine and ABC Liquors, along with other mom & pop liquor stores.

If you’re interested in consuming the Green Fairy, you will probably want to do a little research in order for you to figure out where you can purchase absinthe, as well as what brands to buy and what “Absente” to avoid. One of the websites I recommend is The Wormwood Society, which will explain to you the current US policy towards absinthe (10 mg of thujone per liter or less is acceptable for sale and consumption), and has recipes for absinthe cocktails, lists a review guide, showcases top-rated bottles (some made and packaged before the ban, making the bottles nearly a century old!) and a segment on “Absinthe Science,” dispelling the myths and hype of wormwood.

For more on absinthe, follow these links:

Websites

• The Virtual Absinthe Museum - Loaded with FAQs, absinthe history & lore, as well as a place to buy prints of absinthe posters and so forth, the Virtual Absinthe Museum is a wonderful primer for people wanting to learn more about this illustrious liquor.
• La Fee Verte - This website has a ton of information, especially notable for its Buyer’s Guide, which should steer you in the right direction as far as what absinthes may be right for you, and which ones you should avoid. There’s an exhaustive list of different brands from all over the world, and some of these have ratings and reviews. Very comprehensive!

News articles

• Reason The Green Fairy Gets a Green Card
• Wired Barely Legal: American Absinthe Passes the Taste Test
• The New York Times Absinthe Returns in a Glass Half Full of Mystique and Misery

Where to buy

• Absinthe Classics - Six ranges of absinthe are sold on this site, sent from the United Kingdom by courier to the United States and Canada, as well as other parts of the world. Prices are given in Pounds Sterling, so please use the online currency converter to figure out how much it will be in your nation’s currency.
• D&M Wines and Liquors - Currently selling Kübler and Lucid on its website.
• K&L Wine Merchants - Also currently selling Kübler and Lucid, as well as some liquors made without the grande wormwood, which would explain why the bottles are half the cost of the real absinthes.
• The Jug Shop - Selling Lucid and Kubler, but is also listed as a seller for US-made St George… but out of stock at the moment.
• HiTimeWine.net - Also selling Kubler and Lucing, with a listing for St George, which is also out of stock.

Please note I cannot personally vouch for any of these retailers online, having not yet purchased absinthe by any means at the present time. In other words, I’m providing this information for you to do as you like with. Don’t come crying to me if the shipping costs are painful, your booze gets lost, or it turns out you don’t like the flavour of absinthe after all.

What I’m reading, what I’m keen on

Per NPR’s recommendation, I’m putting The Fortune Cookie Chronicles down as a “to-read” book in my Goodreads profile. It looks awesome, especially because it’s about food and exploring one’s heritage as an Asian-American.

Right now, I’m reading Kim Sunée’s Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home.  It’s wonderfully written, although sometimes Sunée has a way with words that seem too fanciful for me, too much like the poet she seems to be.  I still have a bit more to go until I complete the book, but an interesting thing to note is that at the end of many chapters, Sunée includes recipes, often those which pertain to the point in her life at the time: whispery eggs with crabmeat and herbs, croque-madame, Jansson’s frestelse, chocolate cake with mascarpone-chestnut cream, kimchi soup.  In sharing these recipes, the author shares part of her history, her personal food memoir, along with the written words of her life and emotions as she finds her place in the world.

Kim Sunée has a website, which includes a lovely blog and a travel & food section, which I hope to explore should I ever find myself in the cities… and with the money to back up my appetite and aspirations.  Any and all who may care to sponsor my dream, please contact me!  I will write a book and include you in the acknowledgements!

Take-out Diary #1: Ethos

I’ve been wanting to try out Ethos, the sorta-new vegan place on Orange Ave near Antique Row and Lake Ivanhoe, since it was recommended to me by my friends Fran and Joe, as well as a random vegan guy who was at Redlight Redlight when I went there last (see Beer and Cupcakes entry). If vegetarian restaurants get me excited, vegan restaurants fascinate me, as I’m interested in seeing what one can make sans diary and eggs. I mean, I know it can be done, and can be done often, but I want to know if it can be done well.

So, en route to taking Hao to work today, we called up Ethos for take-out. We managed to park on the street with no problem, just as two young women were about to speed away on mopeds, and popped inside.

The interior of Ethos looks incredibly homey, with plenty of wood accents. The design could have just as well been suitable for a neighbourhood pub or even a solid, reliable apothecary. Vegan cookies and other pastries were in a glass case, looking mighty tempting as we waited for the woman doubling as a server and cashier to bring our food out from the back and ring us up. We first saw her carrying a large tray loaded with good-looking food as she headed out to an outside patio area I didn’t investigate while we were there. The wait to be rung up wasn’t long, as the food was ready and wrapped in eco-friendly take-away.

After dropping Hao off, I took my dish, the “Healthy Trio,” to my parents’ place in Oviedo for a late lunch. The description for my trio on Ethos’ online menu is “Black and green olive tapenade, homemade hummus, and tomato-mango salsa served with toasted bread, tortilla chips, and fresh seasonal veggies.” On the whole, I was very satisfied with what I had ordered. The tomato-mango salsa tasted more of cilantro than anything else, which isn’t bad considering I love cilantro, but I had expected more of a mango flavour. This very slight disappointment was more than made up for by the bread; it appeared to have been homemade, and I couldn’t figure out if it had olive bits or perhaps some other flavouring, but it was gorgeous with the olive tapenade. Carrots and celery were provided for dipping, although I’m not very fond of the latter, along with blue corn chips, which were great with the tapenade and the salsa.

Later on in the evening, I spoke with Hao, and asked him how he liked his Peanut Pasta Salad: “Rotini pasta, broccoli, red and green peppers, onions, and Thai basil, tossed in a mild peanut sauce and garnished with cucumber.” He wasn’t as fond of it as I was with my meal; “It was too dry.” Perhaps if there was more peanut sauce to spread around, it would have hit the spot, but sadly, the Peanut Pasta Salad missed its mark with Hao.

Next time, I hope to be able to eat in the restaurant, as opposed to taking food out, but if the need strikes, I know at least one item on the menu that’ll satisfy, which gives me reasonable expectations for the rest of the menu.

Open Source Food–oh, so sexy!

If you’ve perused my linkies, you will find a link to Open Source Food, which has recently been revamped by its amusing and talented yongfook (watch it–that last link might not be work-safe). It looked good before, and it looks great now.

For those of you who don’t know, Open Source Food is an excellent way to share recipes with the rest of the internet community, by photographing your dish du jour (or drink du jour) and posting its recipe for all to see, vote and comment upon. I was a fervent user for a little while, until I lost access to a digital camera. I’ve been vowing to add more recipes, including one for a recipe-less Filipino sweet that I make by instinct. You think I’m joking, but it’s true; I need to measure out the sugar and all as opposed to my normal means of preparation, the ever-so-sophisticated “dump-and-taste” method.