I ate a raw oyster for the first time this weekend. It tasted like cocktail sauce and fishyness. And oysteryness. Here it is. This is the guy I put in my mouth.

Remember the Walrus and Carpenter in Alice in Wonderland? This photo made me think of that. For the people who aren’t familiar, basically, the Walrus & Carpenter lured these baby oysters out of their bed and ate them, all the while singing the most joyful Cabbages & Kings song. Oh the horror.

The jury’s still out as to whether I’m going to put another uncooked oyster into my mouth, chew, and swallow.

Round these parts, people come up with any ol’ excuse to throw a festival. Music, summer kickoff, arts and crafts, Folklife, name-of-a-city-in-the-suburbs, whatever. This time, it’s Asian-ness. The Asian Festival.

Can’t have a festival without food and crowds of people. In this case, quasi-ethnic foods.

It’s supposed to be chicken satay. Just supersized.

I don’t know what the leaf wrapped things are but this guy is frying up some eggs in the egg iron griddle. That’s a lot of eggs for one order.

This dish reminds me of Taiwanese oyster pancakes. Minus the green leafy vegetables. And the red ketchupy sauce. And the tapioca batter. And the oysters. Ok nevermind. They’re about as similar as the Gipsy Kings and Dire Straits.

And dancing. Have to share some culture beyond just food. You don’t want people thinking all Asians do is eat eat eat, even though that is pretty much all Asians do.

I love how these girls danced in front of a big bottle of beer. Really they were walking around on stage looking mostly confused. Reminded me of Chinese school dance performances.

Seriously girls, this is how you do it. Easy peasy.

There were tons of crafts stalls for you to poke around and shop too. Get in touch with your inner Asian.

One of my favorite summertime activities is going to the farm to pick peaches! The weather wasn’t too hot, 80s thereabouts.

Just look at this peach. It’s tree ripened and very juicy.

See? Even the beetles think they’re yummy. They were having a feast here!

Spent this loverly Saturday evening restaurant hopping with cousins from in and out of town. First it was Lebanese Taverna, which I thought was delicious.

I’d go back. I actually liked the Tabbouleh here and I’m not usually a fan of it since it’s so strong.

Then we stood around pondering the meaning of life. And we decided life is about food. So we went and had some more of that.

Oro Pomodoro for pizzas. It’s very reminiscent of 2 Amy’s downtown, only better.

Actually, I’m more of a fan of thick juicy pizzas. But as neopolitan style pizzas go, this was excellent.

We were stuffed by then. Oh, but wait. Ice cream. Then as per usual, rounded out the evening with cards, bluffing and trash talking, making no sense whatsoever, and junk food.

Seems I blog about every haircut I get don’t I? Minor obsession. Anyway. My hair was getting a bit raggedy and frayed, seeing as how the last time I got a cut was October of last year. Originally planned to wait another month because I didn’t think it was at the length I wanted it to be yet. Then I changed my mind because seriously, when no amount of product can make your hair look healthy, it’s time for a cut. I went to a different lady this time. She did a decent job length-wise. And I liked that she used scissors rather than a blade.

Pardon the frizzy look. I’m starting to think I have straw for hair no matter how often it’s trimmed.

Unrelated: I had no idea what a chocolate babka was, but I just had a mouthful of it and it’s so yummy, I want to eat the rest of the loaf sitting in our kitchen area. It’s like a chocolate cinnamon roll with more chocolate than roll. Oh delectable goodness. A nap right now would be icing.

Two years ago, it was the e. coli spinach, this year, it’s salmonella tomatoes. And the list goes on despite us having two different agencies (Food & Drug Administration and Food Safety & Inspection Service) making sure our food is “safe.” Here’s the problem with that setup: There’s overlap and conflicts of interest and poor coordination. We have the FDA inspecting packaged foods and FSIS inspecting the meat. Yet it’s the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine that approves animal drugs. Then, while FSIS is trying to make sure the meat is safe, another agency in the USDA is marketing the meat on behalf of the meat producers. Sketchy. So on the one hand, while the cattle & beef lobbyists push for less testing of mad cow, we’re also contending with the risk that we have seen this disease in our livestock and consuming tainted beef can kill. So is the USDA supposed to protect us or the cattle industry? South Korea isn’t taking any chances.  I believe it was Congresswoman DeLauro who’s started to campaign this idea to create a new food safety regulatory agency that’s strictly protecting the interests of the public. Though, I’m not sure whether the USDA or FDA are interested in letting go of the money & control any time soon.

Peeeeezzzaaahh! I’ve been on a pizza kick for probably the past 5 months.  Really, it’s no longer a “kick” once you exceed 30 days. It’s an addiction now.

Aside from Ledo’s pizza, which I’m currently having for breakfast right now, I’ve made a few from scratch too.

Maybe not totally from scratch.  The dough is pre-made from Trader Joe’s. I lay it out on a lightly greased cast iron skillet without the fancy pizza dough twirling. My method is more of a pull, squish, tug.

Then I load it up with whatever’s available. This is like junk-pizza.

Don’t forget the cheese. It’s what makes a pizza, a pizza.

The crust rises a little during baking and it doesn’t come out soggy.  That may have something to do with the iron skillet, though I’ve heard good things about pizza stones too.

Tom Sietsema gave this local Peruvian restaurant very positive reviews. So I went to check it out last weekend with a couple of friends. It’s very reminiscent of La Flor de la Canela, which happens to be owned by the same family. And so it would make sense that the menu offerings are similar. I didn’t even realize it when I was ordering that I pretty much got the same thing from Canela as I did two years ago when I went to La Flor. The only difference was the side dish. Instead of yucca fries, it came with lentils.

My take: The food is a bit on the salty side for my tastes but still good. Very similar to La Flor. I didn’t go back to La Flor for 2 years though so I don’t want to get carried away raving about it. Great ambiance though.

I got this recipe from a manager in my office. It’s unbelievably easy and delicious. Who doesn’t like applesauce?

1. Take whatever apples you like (she recommended golden delicious), I used red delicious. It’s great for using up apples that are bruised or uncrunchy.



2. Wash and bake them, then let them cool.



3. Pick out the skin and insides and mash them up.
4. Add some cinnamon (nutmeg, and whatever spices you might like)



You know what to do next.

I went grocery shopping on Sunday. At the seafood department, there is a tank of live tilapia you can get freshly killed and cleaned. Just as an aside, I have pet fish, but I’m a fish-eater too. I understand some people wouldn’t want their pet’s kin eaten, but I’m not a vegetarian (because I am weak-willed and full of excuses about how good flesh tastes) so I’m the last one to cast any stones. So this lady orders a fish and I see the staff net it with barely any struggle. Then the fish cleaner starts scaling the fish. It’s alive. I’m such a spoiled ignoramus on this front, but it’s frightening to watch because I just keep imagining getting skinned alive. The guy finishes in about a minute, the whole process of scaling, gutting, cleaning, and bagging. It’s quick, but I wonder if it felt like an eternity for the fish. And I’ve read those stupid articles saying fish don’t feel pain. Any animal with a central nervous system to some degree feels pain. It’s a basic survival instinct. I’ve seen my fish flinch when they suffer a wound or are sick. They feel pain. Being the busy body I am, I ask the fish cleaner’s colleague about their fish cleaning methods. I wasn’t mean or angry or anything. Sort of just an inquiry. She nodded like she never thought of it and grimaced at the thought. Maybe a quick stab with a knife to break the spine would be the quickest way to kill it. I don’t know. I’m by no means criticizing the poor fish cleaning guy.  He’s good at his job and quick.  They’re all nice folks there.  And doing it day in and day out, it’s so easy to just not even give it a second thought.  That’s probably what I need to do. Stop thinking about it.  Ironically, this follows my fish recipe entry.  That’s the kind of sense I make.