Mother's Day, two weeks late! (More to the point - Cafe Hiro!)

Alright, I'm all about the tardy posting. This post is long overdue, and I have soooooo much to rave about, but quite honestly, it was the pics that my mom sent me that put me over the edge. I kind of wish we'd had more pictures of the food.

Mmm, the food. Well, it was super good!

Also, just to get my crassness out of the way - it is not cheap!!! But I will probably crave it a couple of times a year, so I can just plan for that. What bums me out is that I always drove by this place and totally, fully, gungho dismissed it because ONE time I walked by at night, it looked very deserted (totally thought the place was going to close shortly thereafter!) and the menu looked weird. I remember walking over there to check it out, willing to give it a shot ... and I've eaten at EVERY other restaurant in that complex on that corner. Mmm, Sweetee Thai! And even the sushi place, and the revolving door of joints that have occupied the western corner - I think it's Dragon King Chinese food there now. Also, I knew a PERFECTLY nice exchange student name Hiro when I was in college, but I have to admit I found him VERY unnattractive, and the bad associations with the name of the place, etc., etc., etc., .... I know, I am crazy.

So, fat lot I knew, passing up Cafe Hiro. Actually, what I really passed up was throwing lots of money at them over the years!!! Then again, maybe my tastes have changed since way back then as well. I was on a huge California Fish Grill kick for a few years ... I will definitely say that place is the ONE joint that made me love. to. eat. fish. Love, love, love love love. Amazing, amazing grilled salmon with garlic butter on rice, and a cute teeny little raisin and almond-sliver coleslaw that they forget to put in my to-go bag half the time. I also like the calamari (strips of the steak, I think), and the scallops are decent too. But those last two are the frozen breaded kind. The clam chowder is excellent as well. But the salmon. Go for the salmon. I think it used to be $5.95 or $6.95, when they just started, and now it's $8.95, which is okay. I was fully expecting it to be $12.95 last month, considering how they were raising prices every other month for a while. Their $1 Taco Tuesdays (only fish tacos) are CRAZY - get there early, or be prepared to WAIT!!!! They used to have breaded fried shrimp taco deals, and those were my absolute favorite. I don't think they have that on special on Tuesdays anymore. But I really was NOT into fish AT ALL before I tried that place ... so thank you, thank you!!!

Bye bye, Fish Grill!

OK then. So I checked out the raaaaaaaaaaaaave reviews for Cafe Hiro from yelp.com, and we hit it for Mother's Day: Dad, Mom, me, both sisters, and middle sister's fiance. Whee.

We made sure to stop by and make reservations for the evening on our way home from church, and yes, they did take reservations for 6 people ... but only for 7:30pm. It was a bit later than we wanted, considering work and such the next day, but we went ahead and took it.

I will say, the decor is beautiful, and cute, and they have a little river rock feature right up next to the window by our table. The wait was so. Freaking. Long. But we came in during the big dinner rush, so I think they were just swamped. Coming in later, the wait was certainly not as long for the table next to us. I swiped one of their seat cushions before they came because sitting on the hard wooden bench was not cutting it for me.

We ordered sooooooo much food - I love to do that when I first hit a place, to get sort of a feel for things.

Appetizers:

Calamari Friti: fried calamari covered with Parmesan cheese and parsley.
* Super, duper, yummy yummy - the cheese gave it a nice saltiness to the fried crunch and tender calammmmmmaaaaaari.

Crispy Fried Tofu: four pieces of tofu, deep-fried with onions in a spicy apple-ginger sauce.
* These were just okay. I think the tofu was nice and soft, but not as crispy as I like it. Dirty Chinese restaurants have better, super-soft, milky and crispy fried tofu with the most amazing sweet/savory sauce. I think this had some scallions and grated daikon on it as well.

Crispy Salmon Spring Roll: salmon spring rolls with sliced onions and a plum sauce.
* The server said there were two pieces only, which I didn't think would be a problem with that many appetizers for 6 people. However, TWO PIECES means ONE roll, cut in half - albeit served beautifully. They tasted okay. Nothing mind-blowing. Never had a salmon egg roll/chimichanga before. A picture of this can be found here.

Creamy Crab Cake: creamy crab cake breaded and deep-fried to a golden brown with a tomato sauce.
* This was probably the most disappointing thing, actually. I have to admit it. The portions are smaaaaaall. Not what I am used to, or what I prefer!! The crab cakes were little square-soap shaped, and the outside breading was nice, but the inside mostly had the consistency of mashed potato. I didn't taste much crab at all. Never had anything like this before, and probably won't order it again.

Before the entrees, we got the soup and the salad - mine didn't come with either, but we shared. They had the daily soup, a pumpkin soup, which was pretty nice - it had the texture of a pureed potato soup, and I think it was a pale pale orange - I like it okay, but I'm not a huge root-soup fan.

The salads were VERY nice! On the menu, they have the Mesclun Salad: mixed greens with a sesame-miso dressing. The salads are NOT very big, but the dressing is awesome. Nice and sweet and tart and I love miso. Not TOO dissimilar to the lovely, lovely, LOVELY dressing at Sango Sushi, just down the street. Interesting that it doesn't get rave reviews on yelp.com. But it's cheap!

Entrees:

These were fuuuuuuun!!

Front row, left to right: (Chicken? I forget what he ordered) Curry, Pork Cutlet (like Tonkatsu), Pasta Carbonara
Back row, left to right: Roasted Chilean Seabass with Asparagus, Roasted Chilean Seabass with Mushroom Risotto, Uni Spaghetti

Curry: I didn't try the curry, so I have no idea how it was. It seemed okay, though? I will say, the best curry I remember having was indeed at Curry House (the one in Cypress). The curry is brown, sometimes even a dark brown, like beef gravy, not yellow, or orange, or tan, or what have you - I guess it is a Japanese, not an Indian curry. Mm, Curry House.

"Kurobuta" Pork Loin Cutlet: Tender "Kurobuta or Black pig" Pork Loin Breaded and Fried to a Golden Brown w/ Demi-Glace Sauce or Citrus "Ponzu" Sauce, and Sauteed Vegetables
Okay, I admit this one was a little strange. My dad tells me that this is a special delicacy, this black pig business - because it has a solid chunk of lard rind on it. I'm sorry, but I can't eat that! I eat unhealthy enough as it is! I don't remember being wowed by it or anything, but I think the breaded crust was nice.

Carbonara: Spaghetti with Crispy Bacon in a Cream Sauce **Add Chicken and/or Spinach and/or Mushrooms
My sis had the spinach, since she loathes and detests mushrooms. No idea why! It was really, really, really rich. White sauce, that's all I remember. I think she was asking what was in it - eggs in the sauce, maybe?? And I like my bacon crispy, not carbonara. It's not something I would usually order if I'm eating out, I guess. Because I have a sick love affair with marsala, rather.

Roasted Chilean Sea Bass with Asparagus: Roasted Chilean Sea Bass with Asparagus, Tomato and Garlic-Lemon Soy Sauce.
My sis ordered this off the specials menu, but I think they have it regularly. It was sooooooo good. What a great piece of fish, I can't tell what it is, anyway. Some people say they think it's not Chilean seabass. I had great Chilean seabass at Kabuki, too, though. It was very very good, boiled asparagus, from what I could tell.

Roasted Chilean Sea Bass with Mushroom "Risotto": I have no idea why "Risotto" is in "quotes". It was yummy, as well. Great, great fish! Portions small. :( Very teeny weeny. I don't remember the risotto that well, but gee, I loved the fish. Here's a pic!!

Sea Urchin/ "Uni Spaghetti ": Sea urchin spaghetti with toasted seaweed.
I'd seriously never heard of this, but it got rave reviews on yelp, so I finally ordered it since it was the ONE thing I was DETERMINED to try, which nobody else seemed interested in having. I love the uni. But maybe it wasn't totally fresh? Bah, what do I know, I think it was the first time I'd ever had uni. I heard about it before - never had it on sushi/nigiri. My former mentor teacher my first year of teaching, she was from Lebanon - she told me she remembered going down to the port and finding sea urchins, breaking them on the rocks and sucking them out RAW. Um, sounds fun, I guess.
But back to the pasta. It did have a briny, fishy, sea-smell. But I kind of love that. Great sauce, great pasta al dente, I freaking HATE and loathe wasabi, so I picked the smidgin of that off, and the toasted nori seaweed is a fun touch. It reminds me of the gruel/rice porridge/congee for breakfast, with the jars of roasted sesame or dried shredded fish or pork sprinkles. And the sesame seeds. Hooray!

Desserts:

Panna Cotta - A soft and creamy pudding with fresh seasonal fuits.
Walnut Creme Brulee (they have it spelled Creme Crulee on the site :P)

I like the creme brulee okay - I admit to not being much of a discriminating critic of creme brulees. I haven't met one I didn't like, including the septuplets at the Wynn Buffet a few years back! It wasn't too nutty, which was good.

THE PANNA COTTA WAS MINDBLOWING. I love cream. Hate milk. Non-fat milk, sick. It's like drinking white water. Better now than before, when the first non-fat thing came out, but STILL. I'd much rather have my cereal with half and half, and I once lined up 30 creamers at the little campus cafe in college, and I downed them like shots. Never again.

The panna cotta, which was often mentioned in the yelp reviews, was seriously amazing. I will try making some my dang self, I think, since it's basically sugar, cream, and gelatin. Right??? Gah. I love the consistency, like a thick, slightly chunkified yogurt, it was very smooth and silky and creamy and sweet, and the fruit was great. One of my favorite desserts of all time now, and I think it is super easy to make. Hooray!!!

And to add: I dragged my parents back here to Cafe Hiro about two weeks after Mother's Day, because I was craving that awesome, amazing, weird uni spaghetti.

We ordered the calamari rings again (still very good, but slightly too salty this time), I got the Roasted Chilean Seabass with Mushroom Risotto AND Uni Spaghetti (numm!!), I made my dad get the Osso Bucco because THAT got great reviews as well, and my mom got the BBQ Beef Salad.

We ate everything. Seabass STILL great and awesome, but I am still disappointed by their portion sizes. I would like to try the uni risotto sometime, maybe with the grilled scallops!!! My dad liked his Osso Bucco okay, and I thought it was okay. Reminds me a lot of pot roast, basically, but the meat was good, the sauce was nice and dark.

He got it with the rice.

The surprise of the night, which I will DEFINITELY order again (only $7.50, I think!!) was the BBQ salad! Wow, that salad is amazing. So good. The meat was so good and tender and amazing. I think it was medium well. It was definitely red in the middle, and I'm sorry, but I like my meat bacteria-free FUR SHUR. If all meat tasted like THAT, though ... bring on the redness!! Great salad, with a great dressing, again. We did get the soup and salad with our entrees, and this time the "pumpkin"/squash soup was greenish. Tasted about the same. Maybe slightly bland and watery??? But seriously, it was all of about a half-inch of soup in a platter and not very much. DON'T COME HERE IF YOU WANT HEAPS OF FOOD!

I wanted to get a dessert, but didn't feel like justifying the cost. And I already had the two entrees. I liked the uni spaghetti again, maybe it was a bit salty this time too ... but I had my fix and won't need one for a long time, I think.

Next time - scallops and that amazing BBQ beef salad!! :)

A review with pictures

another review

Found a new blog.

Not sure if I will add it to the blogroll yet. I will have to peruse more. Gorgeous pictures, though. Californian meets Frenchy and moves there and starts buying up antiques.

Tongue in Cheek - stories and things collected while living in France.

I thought it was interesting to start from the beginning.

Wikipedia and the Eiffel Tower

On my next trip to Europe (hopefully next summer? Since tentative-though-initially-firm plans for a trip this summer are now axed), I will visit Paris and look for an Eiffel Tower snowglobe, probably (though not preferably) made in China.

I have a snowglobe from Venice that I bought for €5 in 2006, my sister gave me one from New York (at my request) for Christmas 2007, and I guess I'm still greatly influenced by that movie Equilibrium, and the scene with Christian Bale when he finds the room with artifacts ... including an Eiffel Tower snowglobe.

I don't think I've yet encountered THE ONE, but I particularly like this one:

Though I could live with having this one:

And this is a very nice and pretty picture as well:


Now, I've read that the very first snowglobes were actually of the Eiffel Tower, sold as souvenirs for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair), though the wikipedia article about snowglobes states they appeared in the EARLY 1800's in other parts of France. In any event, it is clear that one of the earliest known snowglobes is of the Eiffel Tower, from the late 1800's. This paperweight museum in Wisconsin has one. I want one.

I still remember going down to see the fireworks on the Eiffel in 1998. My memory is fuzzy, and I don't think I took many pictures, but it was Bastille Day (July 14), similar to our 4th of July. I guess they also call it the 14th of July over there, as well.

In 1998, France, the host of the World Cup, just ALSO happened to have won the finals the day before, so it was quite a big dust-up. There were parades during the day, some jets flew overhead, and lots of flags. Lots and lots of flags. I remember one of my traveling partners taking a really cute shot from behind of a toddler waving a little French flag, and trying to be surreptitious and sneaky about it. I have never encountered anyone in Europe who has denied me the request of taking a picture of their child, but maybe they aren't as paranoid about some things as Americans may be. Also, it's nice to take candid shots of children sometimes, rather than the deer-in-the-headlights look they may adopt.

Anyway, we trudged down to find a decent viewing spot, and I totally forget where it was. What I remember is that the fireworks were horrendously late. Over an hour, I think. I can't seem to remember if the French are known for not starting on time or something. Probably not. And they turned off all the lights on the tower for the fireworks. When they finally got going, I remember red, and blue, and pink fireworks shooting off from the top of the tower and off to the side. It wasn't AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING (I was quite impressed by the fireworks I'd seen in Florence in mid-June, during the Feast of St. John the Baptist, which we totally caught by accident - the first time I'd ever seen happy face fireworks and heart-shaped fireworks ... and also stood in the street for an hour breathing in motorscooter fumes because nobody turned anything off), but it was very very memorable. But come on! Fireworks! On the Eiffel Tower!! When I am in Paris, France!! It was a nice experience.


Especially since after the fireworks had finished, because they'd started so late, we'd missed the last metro back to our hostel and had a lengthy walk in the middle of the night.

Paris, 1998. The bakery down the street from our hostel had the best croissant I'd ever tasted in my life. I took my sister to Europe in 2004 and we stayed there again, as well. I got us lost. Waaaaaaaaay into the outer industrial arrondissements, when I was JUST trying to walk us down to Notre Dame and maybe catch a glimpse of the Eiffel. Oops. Guess it's pretty bad when there's an intersection of TWO STREETS WITH EXACTLY THE SAME NAME. However, I DID buy a creme brulee at another little bakeshop and it was divine. And at least we went to Sacre Coeur (fond memories!) and having read up beforehand on scammers, definitely saw all them dudes with the bracelets ripping people/couples off.

So, on to more wikipedia. I don't know WHAT it is, but somehow I always end up on that site. I'm a big ole nerd, basically. The internet is the best library that has ever, ever, ever been invented and I am grateful for it every day. I love to read. I love to research. I look everything up and find it all fascinating. And apparently, Hitler told this guy to demolish Paris and sack it before leaving, including busting up the Eiffel tower, but he didn't. I love this guy, I guess!!

Generally, I try to take everything with a grain of salt, but sometimes I get a little too excited.

I love the wikipedia article about the Eiffel Tower because it also has some seriously neat photographs.

This page has another history of the tower, with a picture of the plans!! Wowee. This site is another nice page.

So somehow I found this picture:

Which I just thought was ... totally mesmerizing, and fairly shimmering with pathos. I thought it was a picture of Russia, or someplace. But no. I totally had my mind blown.

*Warning - the next part of this particular post gets kinda intense with WWII-related material, so be forewarned - it's not exactly happy stuff.

This picture is from the wikipedia article about Oradour-sur-Glane, a town in France near Limoges. It was obliterated by the Nazis (a good portion of the perpetrators were actually from the French Alsace, as well, though that part gets left out sometimes) when 642 of the townspeople were killed in one day - the men rounded up and shot, mostly in the legs, so they were too injured to run before being burnt in the barns, and the women and children barricaded in the church, machine-gunned, and torched as well. There were 6 survivors, including one seven-and-a-half year old boy. The only one to survive the church was a woman who was shot five times, but able to climb up a ladder in the rear of the church and hurl herself through a window that was 10ft off the ground so she could hide in the garden between a row of peas or cabbage. The rest of the men survivors pretended to be dead so they would not be shot, and only ran out of the burning barns when they were starting to be burned themselves. There was a mason amongst them who was able to make a hole in one wall so they were able to escape. I think at least one of the men is still alive today.

And then I'm thinking to myself, am I uneducated? Why have I never heard of this??? I think there have been several films made about this specific event, but honestly, until today, I had never heard of it, much less of WWII tragedies in France involving mostly civilians. I know there was the French Resistance, and Normandy, but ... anyway.

I found the picture mesmerizing, and started looking up more information about it. What I find utterly fascinating is seeing the pictures - some pictures before June 10, 1944, some immediately after, and some taken quite recently. It is compelling for me to find vintage pictures and compare them with contemporary pictures at the same location, from the same vantage point, or of the same subject.

Anyway, seeing old pictures of the town, with more recent pictures, is just fascinating - there are pictures of the church, the post office, and of course, the doctor's (now thought to be the wine merchant's) car abandoned in front of the building. There are several very good sites, but this one is a particularly beautiful and comprehensive one.

It is a bit sad and depressing, especially once you start watching some of the videos from youtube, but it's one of those things that just feels more human not to ignore or overlook it.

So then, in terms of pictures, the WEIRDEST thing I found was pictures on wikipedia with captions such as "This image was selected as a picture of the day for July 04, 2008. It was captioned as followed: English: Car and buildings in Oradour-sur-Glane" and "This image was selected as a picture of the day for June 05, 2008. It was captioned as followed: English: Champagne Pool, Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland / New Zealand."


I was like, wait, what day is it???? I CAN SEE INTO THE FUTURE!! Quite cool, actually, to come upon that by accident - and I only clicked on the picture because I recognized it from my trip last year!

Not quite the same impressive effect, eh??

Anyway, wikipedia has already chosen the pictures of the day for all of June and July if any curious readers would like to check it out.

I will end this post (finally!) with one of the most beautiful pictures I can ever recall seeing.

Food.

Whoo, it's been a long time since I posted!!! (As Tiffani and Lauren pointed out on Thursday ...)

Speaking of which, yes, we got together on Thursday for "A Taste of Seal Beach"!!

From the Long Beach Press Telegram:
Seal Beach event

"Taste of Seal Beach" will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the McGaugh Elementary School open house.

Area restaurants will donate menu items to benefit the school charity, Seeking Excellence in Education for our Kids, or Project SEEK, which gave $104,046 for the 2008-09 school year in February.

Tickets for Taste of Seal Beach are $10 for adults and $5 for children and will be available at the door of the McGaugh gym, 1698 Bolsa Ave.

Lauren emailed to ask if we'd be interested in attending, Little Miss Foodie that she is. It was nice to see them again, and I should have brought my camera, because I like to take pictures of get-togethers and sometimes forget to. And K is a CRACK-UP. "Meow." It would have been nice to take a picture of the food, as well.

I think it's amazing that the restaurants donated the food! How fun. The line was semi-long, but not too bad, and then they gave everyone a school lunch tray to fit everything on. We were going to go outside to sit and eat, till the little middle-school bouncer girls informed us that we could leave ONE TIME ONLY!!!! Hmm. So we went back into the gym, and just as we were about to claim 2 plastic garden chairs, they were snatched up. So we stood around a table and ate. I just wanted to clean the plate off so I could have room for every booth there!

There were a couple of standouts, fer shur, and places I will probably bring my family to if we get the chance. I went back to the list Lauren included in her email, since I wanted to remember what-all places were there.

320 Main - I can't remember!!! They were there, though. Maybe they were the place with the wraps? There was one place where I had a BBQ chicken in an avocado wrap. It was a bit soggy, but would probably be quite good hot and fresh.
Beachwood BBQ - pulled pork sandwich (some slaw on it, too, interesting) and root beer, which I declined.
Blackboard Bistro - I got a turkey, lettuce, and tomato on wheat with mayo. Maybe it was a turkey BLT, which I see on their menu.
Bogart's Coffee - iced vanilla latte, which was REALLY good. Yikes. Even better with some of Starbuck's half-and-half thrown in. I almost went back for the mocha just to try it out. I have cravings for iced coffee now, probably half due to McDonald's commercials on TV recently.
Cold Stone Creamery - at first I thought I missed it, then I realized that I DID see cups of ice cream and passed on them because I don't have much of a sweet tooth ... and I'm swimming in self-control, natch.
El Burrito Junior - stingy spoonful of spanish rice (like Rubio's), two tortilla chips, and a spoonful of watery salsa/juice/puree. Ha! Weirdos. I think they thought I was back for round #2 because apparently I look like a greedyguts. Or maybe they misinterpreted the meaning of my obviously-used tray and appearance at their station. I wasn't leaving till I tried everything!
Finbars - I BELIEVE this was the place with the freaking amazing pasta. It was simple, and basic, but really good. You KNOW food is good when it smells and tastes good after you've been eating for a half-hour already. :) It was multi-colored rotini with sundried tomatoes in an aglio e olio. Yum! They also had a meatball in marinara sauce, which was just okay. How is Finbar's Italian, though? Sounds Irish, like a Finnegan O'Malley and ...
Hennessey's - maybe it was a big Irish boycott, because I don't remember this place either.
Islands - they had chicken strips and caesar salad. Whee, the caesar salad was super good!! I saw ONE halved chicken strip in honey mustard sauce left when I got there, and asked for it, and chick tells me, "Sorry, we're out." WEIRDO! Maybe it was her dinner??? Then they cleaned up all the rest of the dozen cups that were set out with honey mustard and barbecue sauce. Heh.
Jamba Juice - I think they had smoothies with granola - mango or blueberry. I went with mango and it was just so-so.
Mahé Restaurant - tuna roll. It was okay. Kinda bland.
Marie Callender's - a very nice spinach salad with orzo, walnuts(?), and citrus dressing. I think this was also the place with tri-tip!
McDonald's - hamburgers and cheeseburgers, I think, and maybe coffee. Like I took up room in my stomach with Mc-Heavin'-Donald's. I already had dinner there 3 times last week with the 25¢ Chicken McNuggets!! Used to be 5/$1, though.
Naples Ribs - Louisiana Sausage Bites and BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad ... YUM!
O'Malley's - some dang spicy chili, yo. Were these "the most popular" items from each place? Because friggin' spicy Irish chili is not anything I would have ever considered. The guy was very nice, though!
Patti Bakes - cheesecake, man. Little mini cheesecakes in mini cupcake papers. I only tried the plain one. The guy next to me was raving about them and asking his wife, "Hey, hon, would these work if we got a bunch of these?" And he asks Miss Patti how much 100 would be, for some kind of party, I'm assuming, and she actually says she doesn't know, because she usually sells them in batches of a dozen. I'm like, does she need business, or does she not?? He's asking for 100 and you can't give him a price?? 12x8, man, come on!
Panda Palace - pretty sure they didn't come!
Pick Up Stix - pretty sure they didn't come either! What's with the Asian food no-shows.
Rubio's - maybe I got this place mixed up with El Burrito Jr. Oops.
Starbucks - like, duh. What else.
Taco Surf - a little taquito! I forget what was inside. Flesh, right, probably?
Tropical Juice - a pink berryish slush.
Walt's Wharf - seriously awesome clam chowder. Wow! It was one of the first things I tasted and one of my favorites, but then again, I am a full on seriously out of control clam chowder FREAK. I went and asked for seconds, which they had no problem giving me!
Woody's Diner - at this point, I have no clue, because this took way longer to type than I had anticipated. I kind of think they weren't there, though.
Yucatan Grill - there was a super yellow rice, and some ahredded beef, I think it was. He also had fried plantains as well as tortilla chips with salsa. I only tried the rice and beef. I looked up the site and apparently it's Mexican/Caribbean! That explains the plantains, I guess.
Z Pizza - I had the pepperoni. They also had cheese, and a mushroom onion, I think, as well as veggie wraps which looked a bit soggy.

Well, freak. So the Finbar's pasta dish was QUITE memorable. And pasta aglio e olio is very easy to make. I remember making it all the time in college, on the cheap. Soooooooo much garlic. One time one of my housemates (senior year) felt sorry for me watching, me eat only garlic, oil, and pasta, so she gave me a mini can of spaghetti sauce. It turned out nice, actually, and mixed better than I thought it would. Too much garlic = flatulence, though, so you gotta watch it.

So I was all inspired this week and decided that I was gonna make it for dinner. Then last night I passed by El Pollo Loco and I haven't been THERE for ages, so I had my usual chicken tostada salad (looooooooove it) with some $1 drumstick legs and CHURRRRRRRRRROS. SO. GOOD.

And I was brainstorming lunch today, and realized I have both clams AND half and half, along with half an onion in the fridge, so I could make a basic plain clam chowder ... AND the pasta ... and then I started craving some couscous.

Couscous. Seriously, if you haven't tried it, it is DA BOMB. So easy to cook, goes with everything, lovely consistency. My half-English auntie made it for dinner once when I stayed with them in England in 2006, otherwise I never would have tried it. She put some chicken and red peppers or sun-dried tomatoes in it, and I wanted to lick the pan. Didn't realize how easy it was to cook. Then I found some at Big Lots, and I was sooooold. It is yummy with mushrooms and shallots and peppery olive oil.

Anyhoo, I THOUGHT an aglio e olio recipe should be easy enough to find online, and then I remembered that I have the best pasta cookbook in the whole world:

I randomly got it a few years ago when I was browsing through Tuesday Morning (that store scares me now) and remember raaaaaaaving about it with the fellow kindergarten teachers ... once of whom is married to an Italian, so I don't know why she thinks she needs this book. I told her I'd get her a copy if I ever ran across one again, but I didn't.

I had only tried one recipe - the linguine/spaghetti alla vongole, and it was stunning. Seriously unbelievable. I did not realize how good easy, basic stuff could taste. My dad had gotten about a pound of fresh clams, I wanted to try a recipe, so I did, and the TECHNIQUE he used is what won me over. Never thought about undercooking pasta before draining it, then finishing cooking the pasta IN the pot WITH the clam broth. It made all the difference in the world!

Also: whee, butter.

I am happy to see that the reviews on Amazon are 5 *s across the board, with 21 reviews, and this blogger wrote about it too, on the other side of the world, and exactly a year ago!

So I referred to the trusty Hazan tome for a basic aglio e olio, the first recipe in the book. I remember reading it over before and not being SUPER impressed, because it looks so easy.

So I basically followed it, though usually I am an eyeballer and cook very informally - never use measuring cups or spoons or whatever, so I guess I cook a al Rachel Ray. I was also feeling very Rachel Ray because I neglected to throw the skins from the garlic and junk into the trash bag, but threw them in my "garbage bowl."

Garbage bowl. Seriously, I saw one of hers at Kohl's a few weeks back, and wanted to vomit. Her bowl LOOKS like it's made out of dried, crusty vomit. I thought it was the stupidest idea ever. And it's like, $20.

Feast your eyes:

I love the comments and reviews at Chowhound, and apparently some people really buy into this. Good gravy!

In terms of saving time, if one has a ridiculously enormous kitchen, I mean, maybe. I use the plastic bags from the grocery store, and always have. Dad taught me that. I have never ever purchased garbage bags, it's a ridiculous idea to buy things to throw away. I suppose it saves me a total of 5 minutes to throw stuff in a bowl instead of stuffing it in the garbage bag. My kitchen ain't big enough to justify that. And pukey salmon mottled plastic??? What was she thinking. I feel nausea just looking at it. I prefer my clear, gold-flecked $1 plastic bowl from Target (long live post-Christmas clearance!).

ANYWAY. I did the pasta, probably put too much olive oil in, but ... it was nice. Oil, and I had some leftover spring onion pasta in the pantry, and I broke out my brand new Oneida chopper since the thought of mincing all that garlic (5 large cloves, baby!) was daunting. It was so fast! But I made sure to rinse everything off right away since I wouldn't want everything all garlicky if that's the first thing I ever chopped.

That was all I had for lunch, I ended up not making any clam anything. Maybe for dinner, if I'm still hungry.

All this to say, I have discovered a truly GREAT kitchen secret with regards to chopping garlic.

I usually prefer to hand-mince it. Cut off the part where it is attached to the bulb (does that have a name??? I'd love to know), slice almond-shaped slivers, baby julienne, then cut across to a very fine mince. It's quite time-consuming. I tried a garlic press once, but maybe it was horrible because it basically just juiced them - maybe I need a sharper-bladed one?? I think I will make use of the chopper from now on, though the garlice gets so fine it sticks to the blades and retracts up into the body of the chopper and some goes to waste. Boo. And my neighbor swears by the jars of pre-minced garlic, but somehow that does not appeal to me.

And my dad always seemed to flatted the garlic before he cooked with it. He'd press on it with the flat of the all-purpose cleaver, just enough to break the skin but not crush the clove to pulp. I've seen this done with the bottom of a can, as well, but usually I use the heel of my hand. But that hurts sometimes.

Well, in the midst of my garlic prep, I realize HOW easy it is to actually peel garlic by just twisting the skin in opposite directions between the fingers.

This is like an epiphany for me. I wonder if/how many other people know this. It's what I'm going to do from now on!

Happy cooking!