eric135

Hey Joe Truck... mobile filipino food...

 Hey Joe Truck

I miss my mother's cooking. The last time we were together, before they left for the Philippines, I did get a chance to eat some egg rolls and pancit, but I haven't had either since. 

I'd heard about a food truck that makes filipino food, and I have been stalking it for the past several months but never met up with them until a few days ago when I found out they make it to Paradise Valley Mall, just a few miles away, the second Thursday of the month.

The pancit and lumpia were excellent. Not as good as my mother's but I'll bet every filipino says that. The only problem we had was that it was just so damn hot that day (gotta love these Phoenician summers). I could feel my dark filipino skin getting a few shades darker by the minute. I watched roomie's Danish pale skin turn pink; it reminded me of the way you can watch shrimp turn pink after just a few seconds of steaming, poor thing.

I'm looking forward to the next Thursday that it's at the mall, about a month away.

As you can see, I've been pushing the watercolor paints around again. I've been using watercolor pencils rather than my pans. I love the portability, and the fact that I can either make marks using the pencils directly, or by just loading the color off the pencil onto my water brush and then applying to my journal. It's a very economic way to paint (I think I'm losing more color by sharpening my pencils than by actual strokes/marks), and uses much less water so my journal paper doesn't buckle as badly.

 

Prime Rib at Claim Jumper's

 I've had a couple of nights off, and we decided to go to Claim Jumper's for dinner.

We don't usually go to Claim Jumpers. But we wanted to broaden our horizons and go someplace that we don't usually frequent, and wasn't on Tatum Blvd between Bell Road and Cactus. So we went to the Claim Jumper's near 27th Ave and the Loop 101.

I've also eaten there before and to be honest it was way too much food. I've had a to-go box that weighed five pounds, and once I ordered some chocolate cake and ended up with basically the same as a whole cake.

I went with the Prime Rib. It's my favorite cut of meat, and I rarely get to eat it because, unlike my second favorite cut of meat (rib eye), I can't really make it at home. It was sixteen ounces of very delicious red meat -- and I ate it all. It came with a large portion of asparagus, some roasted vegetables, and some Texas toast. We decided to forego the usual appetizer and salad so we could finish our huge meals (roomie got a full rack of ribs).

It was a decadent evening...

Lidia's Family Table

I have always loved watching chefs on TV. I missed out on Julia Child and the Galloping Gourmet, but I thought Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet was great. And of course, I've been watching all of my favorites on the Food Network (Rachel Ray, Ina Gartner, Giada DeLaurentis, Tyler Florence).

But I love Lidia's Family Table, which is on Public Broadcasting. A few things I've already learned:

• "Real Italians" would never use a collander to strain pasta. They just scoop it out of the boiling water and add it al dente to the sauce.
• "Pasta water" (the water used to boil the pasta) is an important ingredient all to itself, and can make or break a lot of past dishes.
• A "Hot Spot" is a part of the skillet where you push away any cooking ingredients, and where you can caramelize individual ingredients, usually a few tablespoons of tomato paste, or some garlic.
• When placing pasta on a serving bowl, it's best to make a tall pile rather than spread it out, it keeps the heat in better.
• Simmering pots can be kept partially open by putting a long wooden spoon across the top of the pot at an angle, so that when the top is applied, it is kept ajar. Lidia seems to like the 11 - 3 positions, or the 1 - 5 positions.
• Pasta should always finish cooking in the sauce.
• Adding sardines is a good idea, just don't tell your kids or your non-fish-eating room mates.
• My grocer didn't know how to ring up a fenyl bulb.

I've already tried her recipe for pork ribs (which were delicious even though we don't cook with wine). Tonight, we're trying her recipe for Pasta with Sausage and Fenyl. There are my usual problems:

• I find that the suggested cooking times for pasta are not long enough. I don't end up with al dente. I end up with HARD. And I don't live in Denver. And I do add salt to the water. It just seems for, say, 8 minute pastas take me about 10 minutes.
• This might be my pan, but when I try to saute, stuff burns and sticks to the bottom of the pan if I'm not really careful. I can not turn to the camera and chit chat. I can't go off and do some sou chef duties (not sure I spelled that right). I can't work on another dish. I have to concentrate all of my energy on making sure those "delightful brown bits on the bottom" don't become my usual "layer of darkly carbonized sticky goo with a low smoking point."
• The idea of boiling pasta in one pot and cooking the sauce in the other, and have the right amount of each at the end, makes me anxious. I am just totally fretting and freaking out about having too little pasta, or too little sauce. I am sure this anxiety is born from the same place in my brain that has a terrible time matching packs of hot dogs with packs of hot dog buns.

Oh well. We're off to Italy tonight for a try at Lidia's Pasta with Sausage and Fennel. For a backup, we have part of a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, and a 4-day-old 7-layer burrito from Taco Bell.

Wish us luck.