Cute Egg Molds

When I was growing up in Hawaii, we’d sometimes go buy school supplies at the Japanese bookstore. They always had lots of cool or cute stuff that you didn’t find in the regular stores. The Japanese always designed things that were a step above anything else.

Apparently, they didn’t limit cute design to just erasers and gadgets. They’ve found their way into food as well. Annie got these cute little egg molds sent to her from Japan via Singapore.

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Linguine alla Carbonara

Before I met Annie, I generally preferred my pasta sauces to be red – tomato based. I avoided “alfredo” type white sauces because…actually I really don’t have a good explanation of why I don’t like white sauces. Anyway, these days Annie usually makes pasta sauces with cream, olive oil, and vermouth, keeping it light so you can actually see all the other ingredients.

This linguine alla carbonara recipe (based on a recipe out of “Lidia’s Italian American Kitchen”), contains bacon, olive oil, onions, chicken stock, linguine, egg yolks, grated Pecorino Romano cheese, and s&p. Our additions included portobello mushrooms, thyme, and some toasted onion powder from Penzey’s.

Oh, it was sooooo good. Made even better by that special onion powder.

If you can get your hands on some, I do recommend it.

Aloha, Nate

Goveas Mexican Restaurant (San Jose)

Here in San Jose, there is no shortage of Mexican restaurants. Most of them are good, with some better than others. If you avoid the chains and go for the mom-and-pop type establishments, you’re sure find some gems.

Goveas is one of those restaurants where you can get a good meal at a decent price. Located in a strip mall at Tully and Quimby Roads, across from the Eastridge Mall in east San Jose, it’s a small joint with maybe a dozen tables, one waitress, a couple of cooks, and the owner. Decor isn’t much to look at but you come here to eat the food, not the decor, right?

Annie got the chicken enchiladas. They were yummy. She didn’t care for the white, sour-cream based sauce though.

My chile verde burrito. Great flavor, quite filling, and only $3.25! Can’t go wrong with that. Only thing I don’t get is why they have to serve it on a searingly hot plate.

They do an excellent chicken mole as well. This place has become our default Mexican restaurant.

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Hours:
Mon-Thu 10:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Fri 10:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Sat 9:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Sun 9:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.

Aloha, Nate

Hearts, eyes, and frog eggs

Our Vietnamese neighbor’s son was having a birthday party, and we were invited to come over and join in the celebration. Even after stuffing ourselves with all the amazing salads, rolls, noodles, and fried chicken, we couldn’t say no to dessert – a lovely bowl of hearts, eyes, and frog eggs.

No, there aren’t really animal parts in this dessert. It’s actually made up of hearts of palm, dragon eyes (longan fruit), and what Annie calls “frog eggs” or biji selasih, (otherwise known as the seed of Holy Basil), swimming in a cold, sweet syrup.

It was so good, I had seconds, and thirds, and took home a container full to enjoy the day after. 🙂

I wish I knew where they got the Holy Basil seeds. I’ve only seen them sold in the Asian grocery as a drink. I wonder if the Indian store has them.

Aloha, Nate

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