I enjoy the flavors of good restaurant salpicao, but I’m often turned off by the frequently dry and tough texture of overcooked beef. A shame since this heavy-handed overcooking often ruins a great, tasty marinade. Not so here. Ren’s cubes of choice tenderloin are perfectly seared, so they remain succulent, [...]
Fettucine with Parma Ham, Peas and Arugula in a Cream Sauce
Ever read The Secret? Drawing its principles from the Law of Attraction, it tells you to will life-changing events, such as increased wealth, health, and happiness, through the power of positive thinking (and feeling). Well, that’s kinda how this bowl of pasta came to be. Never a big fan of [...]
Seared Rib-Eye with Arugula and Roasted Peppers
My mom is the most tech-UNsavvy person that I know. She never learned how to text, she thinks Hotmail means Richard Gere, and the iPad that we bought her as a birthday gift last November is still in its original packaging. On several occasions, she’s asked me why I keep [...]
Spaghetti Bolognese
Like it were yesterday, I still remember the first time that I ever tried spaghetti bolognese. It was 1985, I was 10 years old, and we had just landed in Los Angeles on my first ever visit to the US. After checking in to our hotel in Anaheim, we sat [...]
Gamja Jorim (Korean Spicy Potato Side Dish)
In tune with Ren’s recent fascination with gochujang, she prepared this wonderful Gamja Jorim side dish to complement our takeout of Chooks roast chicken. Putting her own unique spin on this popular Korean banchan, her version is spicy, savory, and sweet, and went smashingly well with the roast chicken. I [...]
Bibimbap
My first encounter with bibimbap was in the mid to late 90s when my Korean friends Kimbo and Sung ordered it at the Woo Lae Oak restaurant in Maryland. Recalling that time fondly, I remember that Bill Clinton was recently inaugurated to his second term, Princess Diana had just died [...]
Reneelicious Chicken Adobo
Experimenting with different ingredients, Ren made this terrific bowl of chicken adobo for dinner tonight. Look into any Filipino cook’s notebook of recipes and you’re guaranteed to find one for this quintessential but often reinvented dish. Everyone has their own unique spin on it. Some are salty, others sweet. Some [...]
Japchae
Ren had been wanting to make Korean Japchae noodles for quite some time now, but she couldn’t find any dangmyun noodles in her triumvirate of go-to groceries – Waltermart, Garcia’s, and Metro. Then one day, while shopping for some specialty food items at Rustan’s, she decides to bite the bullet [...]
Randylicious Buffalo Wings
What exactly is an authentic Buffalo wing? I’ve been wondering this myself ever since all these wing-centric restaurants started sprouting like mushrooms throughout the city. Sunrise Buckets, Wingman, Buffalo Wild Wings, Wing Stop, Chicken Charlie, Flaming Wings, Buffalo Wings N’ Things, and Bonchon Crispy Chicken are but a few of [...]
Randylicious Paella
Ren can cook. So can Randy. If this Lamb Osso Buco Milanese with Gremolata is Ren’s signature dish, then the classic Valencian specialty that you see below is her brother’s. Barely two days home from the US to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his 30th birthday, Kuya Randy graciously made [...]
Grilled Harissa Shrimp and Couscous with Pine Nuts
As much as I enjoyed the fantastic lunch we had at Brasserie Cicou, I don’t think that I’ll be able to develop a sincere appreciation for French cuisine. Not that I don’t enjoy it, I do. It’s just that I don’t see myself as sophisticated enough to ever truly appreciate [...]
Sauteed Chicken Chunks with Harissa and Couscous by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman
While reading up on harissa online, stupid, politically detached me just learned, for the first time, about the Tunisian revolution that happened in January of last year. This “People Power” revolution ended autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s 23-year reign, forcing him to flee the country in exile and usher [...]
