The two big food events today were lunch at Amerasia with Ioana and shopping at El Super.
Ioana has enjoyed Ming Dynasty, so I thought she would like Amerasia. She loved it. She kept saying, Amerasia is the best!”
We ordered steamed buns filled with BBQ pork and sweet bean paste, fabulous, pork steamed dumplings with water chestnuts, a very interesting beef and ginger open dumpling with an intricate assembly, and my favorite tofu stuffed with wood ear and reconstituted shiitake mushrooms. When we were finished the owner offered us a complimentary plate of “crispier”, which are twisted fried noodle dough hot from the fryer and dusted heavily with powdered sugar. I thought the crispies were really delicious but Ioana went wild again and told me a great story about when she was growing up in Romania when she and her sister were at their aunt’s house for the summer her aunt would make something called mickelbeese… that was exactly like the Crispies if they took their nap properly in the afternoon that they would eat as a warm snack with tea. I love those indelible food memories. I mentioned the hardened food critic in “Ratatouille” that had a flashback to his childhood at the taste of the mouse’s ratatouille and before I could finish saying ratatouille, Ioana was saying, “Yes, Yes, Yes!” Needless to say it was a great lunch. Foods heaven.
After meditation I did a 1 ½ hour shopping tour of El Super’s big Wednesday specials on Mexican produce, fruits, cheeses, and meats. I bought a pineapple, a papaya, green onions, ginger, white onions, the largest chayote I have ever seen, tomatillos, Pasilla chilis, potatoes, flour tortillas, requeson cheese, flat pieces of Oaxaca cheese, morcilla sausage, four smoked pork chops, Roma tomatoes and limes.
When I arrived home a little after 8:30 I heated a bowl of rice and Mapo Dofu in the microwave. It tasted better the second time it was heated.
I drank a beer with it and felt like I was ready to tackle some new creative Mexican cooking, having been inspired by the food we ate in Mexico.
Bon Appetit
No comments:
Post a Comment