A Korean Visitor

Our house has enjoyed a Korean student staying with us for the past month. Yebyul Oh is moving to NYC to study and intern and met my son while they were both in Hong Kong. Becoming friends she told him about her stay and he asked if we minded having a house guest for a few days, which turned into three weeks, but she earned her keep by helping around the house. She is not a professional in the kitchen, but she is very creative and loves to try new foods. She can visit any time, because she really loves my fusion cooking!

She gave us the honor of cooking our last meal together. Well, she will visit every now and then, but this was a great opportunity to taste something Korean families make in their homes. A visit to a local Asian market proved to be fruitful. We bought a big box of Korean Pears.

After obtaining all the ingredients for Kimchijeon and Dakbokkeumtang I found them in a discussion with another Korean woman about what chilies to use for the Kimchijeon soy sauce. My son went for the small Thai, which are very hot.

Once home she was busy preparing our Friday night meal...with some help. It was nice to sit back and let them make the mess and clean it all up. All I had to do was sit down at the dinner table. Ahhh...

Come back and enjoy the meal post next week!

NYCFA (Food trucks!)

What what what???

New York City Food Truck Association

We don't go into the city as nearly as much as we would like, so when I got the opportunity to be a secret shopper for NYCFA I couldn't refuse. We were going into the city for the weekend and back home on Monday, so it all worked out.

How did this all begin?

It’s became a great entrepreneurial move for someone who wanted to start a restaurant when credit was tight. Also for consumers because these businesses tend to be very affordable (and) convenient — they come to you. We saw a surge in food trucks a few years ago in NYC and in Hoboken. All over matter of fact.

You can't afford rent in some areas of a city, so these guys do themselves and us a favor. The food truck business process- figure out a short menu that is consumer friendly, lays out nicely, easy to put together, buy a truck, license it for food via the city health department, and find out legal locations to park. Build it and they will come- sound familiar? Of course it can take time and education on the entrepreneurs part before jumping into this... I always joked about it.

In some areas of Dallas, especially the Hispanic neighborhoods , you can find the best taco stands- Portable push carts with hot dogs and tacos and breakfast burritos and ice cream, and some of the best outside of a restaurant, or even your own cocina.

So they have always been around in some form or fashion selling hot dogs to gyros in limited fashion.

Complaints are often lodged against the trucks, because they can cause traffic jams and park illegally even if only for short periods of time. Cities are trying to work with these companies because even they realize what a boost it is to the economy these days.

What does NYCFA do for food trucks?

NYCFA helps spread the word and educate the public by providing a public service message...

Food trucks are great for NYC. They stimulate culinary innovation, draw tourists, provide jobs, and contribute revenue to the city. They offer a valuable service to New Yorkers, help energize the streets, and are an important part of the social fabric of the city.

If you have a food truck in the area you pass and think "Hmmm, I wonder what the food is like?" Just stop and try it sometime. You will be helping out the little guys! This trend has been taking off in other cities besides the north east. We did it! And it was all good.

Above photo- Red Hook Lobster Pound- $16 Lobster Roll
I found it a bit pricey, but it was good. Reminded me of a place in Northfork LI, and similar price.

Kimchi Taco Truck- $4 for beef rib, chicken, and pork tacos with Koren flavor twist...and tasty!

Mexicue- $3.50 for two smoked chicken tacos...very filling and my favorite...

Where can I find these food trucks in NYC? The NYCFA lists the companies which in turn list their whereabouts daily. We found these guys just in front of the new Conrad by Hilton Hotel off 102 North End Avenue. We needed to find a few to review, and what do ya know our hotel listed them outside our hotel. How convenient!

Grilled Chicken and Frog Legs

Before leaving for work last week I took the small amount of my Cayenne Vanilla Dry rub (cayenne blackening powder mixed with vanilla sugar- easy to make) I had left and rubbed down some chicken breast, thighs, and frog legs. And then wrapped the pieces in bacon; pieces without skin to ensure a moist out come when grilling; make sure they are all the same size so they cook evenly, placing the frog legs on the cooler section of the grate as you grill.

Cajun Blackening Seasoning Recipe

1 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon ground dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground dried thyme
2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Makes about 1/4 cup, and the difference between my recipe and a regular blackening is the extra cayenne, but the vanilla sugar will balance that one out.

Vanilla Sugar

1 vanilla bean (split and bean pod fully extracted)
1 cup fine pastry sugar

blended in my small chopper until fully combined and sugar should be placed in a dry container until use.

Some sights I read say immerse the bean pod into the sugar and leave, but I feel it does not fully extract the flavor like scraping the bean and mixing the two.

Mix both together a day ahead and use for grilling rub.

I am sure my posts lately have been rubbing it in about my son living with us again, but I have been so happy having him around. He loves to grill, and we do plenty of it when we are together. This rub was a hit with him and hubs.

Let's have one more look at the table...

Different Regional Ways to Enjoy Rib Eye Steaks

I was approached by a fellow blogger who follows my site, Nicole, who asked if I needed a guest post. Being so busy with my new personal chef job and my son now living with us again, I couldn't say no. She is going to talk about a tasty steak meal easy for anyone to make...

There is nothing quite like a steak that has been cooked to perfection. Whether you like to pan fry or grill your steaks, you most likely have a favorite marinade or blend of spices that you enjoy. Sometimes it’s nice to keep the seasonings simple and let the flavor of the beef stand out, but there are times when it’s exciting to try something completely different. Incorporating flavors from different countries or regions is a great way to jazz up your favorite steak recipe. While most of these work best with rib eyes, you can use the cut that you like best. Here are some tasty ideas to get you started.

If you like Italian food, you can use traditional Tuscan flavors when you prepare your steaks. You can start by rubbing the meat with olive oil and garlic and further seasoning it with sea salt and ground pepper. If you grill the steaks, you can also grill some fresh tomato slices at the same time. When the steaks are done, you can top them with the tomatoes, some fresh mozzarella slices and some fresh basil leaves. For extra flavor, you can drizzle some olive oil over the top.

For a Greek-style feast, you can rub the rib eyes or your steak of choice, with olive oil, salt, cumin, ground oregano and lots of pepper. After grilling your steaks, you can top them with some crumbled feta cheese and a few Kalamata olives. If you like spicy food, you can also add some hot peppers on the side. The feta cheese will melt slowly into the steak, and the result will be incredibly delicious.

Chipotle peppers are commonly used in a variety of Southwestern dishes, and they go very well with steaks. Chipotles are smoked, dried jalapeno peppers that often come canned in adobo sauce, careful because they are definitely spicy. You can tone the heat down by mixing them with butter to create a very flavorful sauce. You can combine chipotles and butter in a food processor or a blender then drop a spoonful of the mixture over your finished steaks. You can also add some chopped cilantro to your plate for additional flavor.

Either way you choose, its grilling season, so across the board, whatever method you choose, you will be in for a treat. Spend the perfect evening encompassing that style and find your favorite sides to accompany. Look at this as an opportunity to prepare a side of potato pancakes or lemon orzo. It’s never too late to make your dinner a theme party!

Nicole Adams
Omaha Steaks

I have not received any compensation for this guest post, nor will I in the future. I have enjoyed Omaha Steaks via my hubs step-dad and feel this product is a good one.

Spring = Inspired Water

Vegetable garden planting has most likely taken place, flowers are popping up, meaning the weather is getting warmer, which means we are having an early spring, and I imagine everything will need lots of water.

I found it warm yesterday and found myself drinking lots of water. In our home we drink filtered water, lots of refreshing filtered water since I received my Mavea water pitcher last year.

I was contacted by Mavea and offered another chance to give one away. So I did. Randomly choosing someone off of Facebook and twitter we sent out the a Elmaris XL. They are offering colors now- with a campaign of 'Add a splash of colour to your life'- green.

One thing Theresa mentioned to me, as well as I like, she likes the easy and convenient on-line purchasing of these products and having them delivered to your house. My family as well as hers do all of our shopping on-line, mostly Amazon.com, but they do carry these products too. You also simply purchase the replaceable filters at various sites.

Theresa keeps her pitcher in the fridge, and we keep ours upstairs. We bought a larger size container for the kitchen counter, but needed another one to refill our bottle during the night. I add ice in the top section and let it melt, so during night it keeps the water cool.

We had the opportunity to visit Theresa Sunday and see what she thought of her prize. I was visiting the area and had not seen the pitcher before it arrived at her house. I was pleasantly pleased with the green color and size of the pitcher.

As I have said before, cookAppeal has chosen (a few years ago) to no longer shill for companies, but here in my house we believe in products like this. The Mavea water filter pitcher is well worth taking up space on my blog. If you have the opportunity and need a product like this, try it!

You can find them on Facebook- Mavea Inspired Water

Beer Battered Cod and 'Our' Dirty Rice

How we forget life can be so busy when company shows up at our doorstep!

My son arrived from Asia not quite two weeks ago and its been crazy. He requested I make so many things he has not had for the past year and half, my head is spinning. He also will be living with us, not sure how long, but I am a happy mom. He is almost 25 and is trying to finish up his Translating and English studies. We are so proud of him.

Okay back to the food. I made a simple batter recipe and add a dash of your fav beer, in this case hubs and son love Yuengling, a PA/NJ beer that is spreading out in distribution. 

Once you pan saute the cod (I do not use much oil as in my southern frying roots) remove almost all of the oil, if any, but about two tablespoons and add a pinch of flour and spicy seasonings to make a rue of sorts or in this case a gravy. Once it begins to turn golden add a few cups heavy cream and thicken. Last minute I tossed some shrimp into the oil before making gravy. A nice fresh squeeze of lemon and zest to give it a nice fresh flavor!

In a separate pan I sauteed some sausage, shrimp pieces, cilantro, seasonings, and then added rice (wild rice here) to open up the hull for quicker cooking. Add stock and begin cooking. just before it cooks  we added asparagus and tomato pieces left from night before. Makes for a good dirty rice! Not original recipe, but a fun one.

My son has been cooking for me as well. Funny how when our kids grow up they mimic us.

Busy Busy Busy

My son has come home from Asia and decided to live with us for a while. He has been in St. Louis working and going to college, and was in Korea teaching English for a year, but wants a change of pace and to finish up his college semester here. 

His being back the past week has kept me busy. We have begun to cook, so I will catch up on some food post soon. My life is a whirlwind at the moment!