WHOLE GRAIN PASTA

I'm not a fan of whole grain pasta, i like the white stuff that makes ya fat! Period! Whole grain anything suck. But... it is good for your health. So if you're a diabetic, it's a good product for you.

There's a lot of brands out there, just choose the one that fits your price range and have a go at it. 

We locals here in Hawaii love macaroni salad, usually made with elbow macaroni, the refined white ones. And some shredded celery, peas, carrots, maybe some crab or tuna meat. But the high calorie stuff is the mayonnaise that's mixed with the salad.

So for a healthy macaroni salad, you could use some whole grain pasta, and use a vegetable based vegan mayonnaise like Vegenaise. It's pretty tasty, and much more healthier. Me, I like the refined stuff. But I should eat healthier. 

Happy eats during this Thanksgiving.

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© 2015

BACK TO BASICS IN THE KITCHEN

Basics, sounds boring! I tell you what, without basics in anything, you lose all the time. For instance. A baseball player gets lazy in the batter's box, he'll strike out. A free safety not studying wide receivers, he'll get burned for touchdowns. A cop that doesn't practice self defense or shoots his Glock at the range will get killed! Basics! Get back to it, and in the kitchen basics is very important.

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Here's a question, is it safer to use a dull knife or a sharp knife? A dull knife is much more dangerous, you want that knife to slice, chop, mince with ease like a sharp razor, so always keep them knives sharp. 

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How do you prevent crying when slicing an onion? Just remove the roots of the onion, take a paring knife and slice around the root, digging out the core. Here watch this video.

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How about frying some chicken in a fry pan? When do you know that the oil is hot enough? Toss a small piece of bread in the oil, when it sizzles and turns brown that oil is hot enough to fry your gramma's fried chicken recipe, don't forget to save me a few thighs, I'm a thigh man.

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There you have some basics, until next time be safe y'all!

        

© 2015

TEA BOX EXPRESS AT QUEEN KAAHUMANU CENTER

Tea Box Express in the Queen Kaahumanu Center by Stevan Holt is the newest addition to the second floor at the mall, next to Hot Topics and close to Macy's Men's Dept. A smaller version of Tea Box compared to Stevan's other shop in the Maui Mall about a mile down the street, this one will feature hot and iced teas to go. 

Here's a video of Stevan Holt the owner telling it like it is.

The Tea Box Express's front facing, it is right next door to Hot Topics second level Queen Kaahumanu Center.

Stevan looking on, if you didn't know Stevan is a former rock guitarist, and if you look on the walls, you'll see his heroes, the Beatles and Jimi on the upper left hand corner near the ceiling.

Hard working for the 4pm blessing and opening.

Good Luck Stevan!!!!

        

© 2015

JAMES KUDLICH THE FOODIE AT TEDDY'S BIGGER BURGERS LAHAINA MAUI

James the Foodie Kudlich

at Teddy's Bigger Burgers in Lahaina Maui mauling a Western Burger

       

© 2015

WHERE TO GET FILIPINO FOOD IN LAS VEGAS?

Who would have thought, looking from the outside looking in, that there's good Filipino food in the desert of Southern Nevada... Well there is, and if you go there for a vacay soon, especially you Hawaiians, all you need to do is catch a cab to, or drive to Fiesta Filipina Cuisine at 3310 S. Jones Blvd, phone: 702-252-0664 

Quick-serve Filipino dishes like lumpia, pancit and caldereta, with quaint and casual setting. It gets busy at the 12pm to 3pm hours, and tapers off from 6pm to 9pm.

Some of the menu items include.
CHOP SUEY
PINAKBET
LAING
GINATAANG KALABASA Stew
TORTANG TALONG Egg battered eggplant

BISTEK WITH ONIONS
BEEF MECHADO
BEEF CALDERETA
SINIGANG NA BAKA
PICADILLO

LECHON MANOK
CHICKEN ADOBO
GARLIC FRIED CHICKEN
CHICKEN WITH COCONUT MILK
CHICKEN AFRITADA

SINIGANG NA BANGUS Simmered milkfish
SINIGANG NA HIPON
GRILLED TILAPIA
SINIGANG NA KANDULI
GRILLED BANGUS

MAHA BLANCA
BIKO
TURON
CASSAVA

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© 2015

THE DIP, THE SAUCE, THAT DELICIOUS CONCOCTION YOU COULD DRINK

"Hey pass the dip man!" "What?" "Pass the dip, these lumpias are awesome, but don't hog the dip man!"
The dip is that tasty sauce in a ramekin that goes well with finger foods, like wontons, egg rolls, chicken strips, fish sticks, shrimp cocktail and any small foods. To me, a dip should be so tasty that you could actually drink the darn thing! Seriously. I mean have you ever tasted a delicious dip and just kept spooning it in your mouth? Yeah! Don't lie!

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So I been thinking of dips lately, just to share my insights on it. I mean, whenever you go to a sports bar, one of the main dishes that is served is the universal hot wings. Or hot buffalo wings. These come in mild or spicy, and served with a ranch dressing and celery sticks. Who the heck came up with this thing? Ranch dressing... it's usually mayonnaise with sour cream and some other powered herb and spice. 

WIKIPEDIA

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And the dips that go with egg rolls, those egg based dough wrappers that have vegetable fillings with pork or shrimp, Asian style, well with these you can get dips like straight up vinegar, or vinegar and garlic, sweet and sour, Sriracha mayo, honey mustard, the list goes on and on. Asians got more variety I think.

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Here's a dip you can make with some simple ingredients, and you probably have them in your cupboard. This will make about a cup of dipping sauce. This is going to be mild, and it will have some reddish color, and some sweet. I call this dipping sauce "dipping sauce"...haha.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup Sriracha hot sauce

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup mirin

1 tbsp. raw sugar

1/4 tsp. minced ginger

1/4 tsp. minced garlic

1 dash salt

1 dash white pepper

1 bay leaf halved.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, stir well, serve chilled. Use for wontons, lumpia, egg rolls.

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Until next time Ron.

          

© 2015

THE HANGER STEAK, A SMALL BUT VERY DESIRABLE CUT OF BEEF

The Hanger Steak, is a cut of beef from the "plate" section of the steer or heifer, butchers with their knowledge understood that this cut is tender and kept it for themselves, hence it was commonly called "butcher's steak." 

Because it is from the plate section, it is mistakenly called "flap meat" or "skirt steak" but if you aren't a beef aficionado then you can mistakenly refer to this cut as such, yours truly is no butcher, so there you go, hey we are learning together as foodies. Restaurants sometimes offer this cut and call it "bistro steak."

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In Mexican cuisine, the hangar is used as filling for tortillas, simply salted and peppered, and grilled over hot coals and cooked rare to medium rare to retain its tenderness and always cut across the grain for tender bites.

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In some regions in the United States, the hanger is sold in abundance, while certain parts might have it displayed in the supermarket sparingly. Generally weighing at 1 to 1.5 pounds, you can purchase a whole hanger to grill at home. Marinating this cut is key to retain tenderness, soy sauce, garlic and ginger, sherry wine, vinegar, sugar, and any citrus like lemons or lime, maybe some tangerines even.

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In Filipino cooking, much like Mexican and South American, we utilize a lot of the same ingredients. I once bought hanger, and seasoned it with apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and lots of garlic. Due to the acidity of the vinegar it cooked the meat, though not heat from fire. Once over the hot coals, I just seared the outsides and it was good to go. I served it with white rice, and friends loved it, again cut across the grain and not with the grain.

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So there you have a little info an the "hanger" and where it comes from, isn't blogs great? Not too long to bore you, but just enough info to get you going. Recapping, the hanger steak comes from the plate section much like the "skirt steak" but is much more flavorful and tender. If you have a friendly butcher in your market, ask him some questions about different cuts of beef, most butchers love it when we ask them questions, why? Because they are so into cutting meat and not talking to anyone, they'll feel special. Because they are.

            

© 2015