COLUMN: Seattle restaurants offer their wares to customers

While not a Seattle resident, I do read the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, specifically the Wednesday and Friday editions and I always enjoy reading what food columnist Rebekah Denn comes up with. This week she came up with an article called good things come in small packages (note lower-case spelling) touching on local chefs who create product that customers can either take home or order online. This is good for Seattle expatriates who may want a taste of home.

Find out more by clicking here.

(P.S. I want to try the Bacon Jam made by Skillet Street Food, if you want to cut directly to the chase, jam right here.)

ARTICLE: Dick's Drive-In celebrates 55 years in business

Hip-hop heads know it's the place where the cool hang out, and Seattle-ites know it's still one of the best bargains in town. Of course I'm talking about Dick's Drive-In, and Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Leslie Kelly recently put together an article honoring this Seattle institution.

Here's a link to the article.

WEBSITES OF INTEREST: Rouxbe & FoodTube.net

If you're looking for a website that has comprehensive recipes AND videos to find out how to make it properly, look no further than Rouxbe.com. If you have the ingredients, or are about to head to a market with no ideas on what to make, check this place put.

Looking for more cooking videos? Take a look at FoodTube.net, where you are able to cook exotic dishes without paying exotic prices, or prefect your favorite comfort food dish.

In honor of President Barack Obama: how to make Spam Musubi (YouTube)

This is not of me, but of someone making something that has become a Hawaiian snack food staple in the last 20 years, which has also become a favorite of Barack Obama's: Spam Musubi.

It's fairly simple:
one nori (seaweed) sheet
Spam
rice

The concept is basically this: a musubi is a Japanese rice ball and is usually contained in a bento that you eat alongside your main dish (i.e. fish, chicken, or whatever). Sometimes there's ume inside. Hawaiian-style bentos can have Spam, so someone years ago decided to combine it by playing a slice of Spam inside and boom: instant nirvana.

There are enough recipes and variations on how to make a Spam musubi, some make sushi rice to give it a certain flavor, but you can just make plain sticky rice and put it in there, maybe sprinkle some furikake, or have one of those small shoyu things that come out of the plastic fish, whatever.

If the concept of eating Spam and rice seems gross, let me ask this: do you cook/grill the Spam? That's the way we Hawaiians eat Spam, and it's good. Do you need a Spam musubi maker? When the craze for them began, most people simply used the Spam can because the size is perfect. So if you want to start out lo-fi, check the above video. If you like what you make, then you can go to your closest Asian store (usually a quality one) or search online for a musubi maker.

If you are serious about making them and need to find a few quality variations, click to this page at LunchInABox.net. This lady lived in Japan for ten years and the ways of Japanese cuisine grew on her. Check it.

Cook Book: making New Farm macaroni and cheese

A friend of mine posts a recipe online for a vegan macaroni & cheese, and I decide to make it. What happens when a meat-eater confronts a meatless meal? Find out.

PART 1


PART 2

Dinner @ Hacienda del Sol, Pasco, Washington

Sunday, January 4, 2009
Hacienda del Sol
5024 North Road 68
Pasco, WA 99301
(509) 547-6392

Here in town, they recently replaced a Chinese buffet place that, to be honest, was a bit lousy. It tasted like Chinese fast food, kind of like Panda Express but worse. It was replaced by a Mexican restaurant called Hacienda del Sol. Pasco has a healthy Mexican population, so there's no shortage of restaurants and great taco wagons. I've wanted to expand on my Mexican cuisine, and it was new so I had to try it.

This visit was my third visit, so obviously I've become a fan. They have dishes that I have not seen anywhere else, and the flavor of the dishes I've had so far have been real ono. They have a combo section, which is good to try out the various dishes on there, so I decided to try the #22, which is a Chalupa and Chile Relleno:



It looks small, but you get a lot of food on the plate, including rice and beans. I tried the chile relleno and the chili pepper inside was nice and sweet, not hot at all. I had mine with ground beef, and when I got to the end I discovered there was some egg with it (it caught me by surprise). Then I tried the chalupa. I could have eaten about two more. I was half way through the chalupa when I realized I couldn't eat anymore, but I did finish it off. The chalupa is crispy and flavorful, far from the variation Taco Bell tries to make. If you have a big stomach, you can probably take this down easy, but if not, you can definitely get a container to bring it home. You're literally getting two meals on one plate, and whether it's the next day or later that night, you'll still have something good to consume.

Next time out I'll try some of their chicken and seafood dishes. Last time I had a burrito with a sweet type of lettuce and tomato salad on the side, which reminded me of what they serve at Tsukenjo in Honolulu. This is perfect when mixed up with the rice and beans.

The atmosphere is very nice, the service very courteous and they make you feel as if you were at home. Highly recommended.