Milk at Safeway

Sale price until next Tuesday, June 16!  Thanks for the scoop, Cy!!

KJ's Fried Chicken

KJ's Local Grindz fried chicken plate ($10) is supah ono.  It seems that the number of pieces vary per plate according to size.  We've had four big pieces and we've also had six smaller pieces.

If you're ever in the Kaneohe area, you should try.

On Da Desk

The YouTube tutorial I watched for this drawing demonstrated negative watercolor painting, but it was too hard for me to do it "negatively", so I used colored watercolor pencils instead and colored in the trees instead of the background.



Here's the video:

Painter's Tape Art Experiment

The other day I decided to do more fish again. 

This time I wanted to try using painter's tape to mask out the fish shapes.


The technique involves painting layers of background and adding more fish with each layer. The pretty colors are Prussian Blue, Phthalo Turquoise and Quinacridone Magenta. 


It kinda failed because I went too far and added in a Payne's Grey color on my final layer to darken. Plus that, the tape was junk at keeping crisp lines. 


So I went back with a paintbrush to soften the jagged edges and then I drew in the details with a black pen. It was fun anyway.

My Kim Chee Tofu Soup

I almost messed this up by putting twice the amount of red pepper flakes than needed. When I realized my mistake I ended up scraping out whatever I could. So typical of me. Luckily it still came out gooooood. 

I can't remember where the original recipe came from so I can't give credit, but I did tweak it a bit so maybe it's okay.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 pound-ish ground pork

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon ginger, grated

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup kimchi, chopped

2 tablespoons Korean red pepper paste (gochujang)

1 tablespoon Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru)

1 1/2 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon

1 cup kimchi juice

6  cups water 

1 block tofu, cut into cubes

PREPARATION

1. Combine garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and fish sauce in bowl. Add ground pork, mix and let marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Fry pork mixture in a pot. When half cooked add onion, stirring, until softened. Add kimchi, gochujang, gochugaru and Better Than Boullion.
3. Add kimchi juice and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a brisk simmer and cook for 20 minutes. 
4. Add tofu just before serving.

Here's the Better than Bouillon (and Kona)

Dog Rescue

So intense!

Cold Ginger Chicken Sauce

My pal Annie gave me some ginger so I decided to try make this today. I was surprised at how easy it was  . . . well . . . except for all the mincing. I followed the recipe on the Foodland website here.  



I didn't have chicken (LOL) so I ate it on rice. Came out yummy. What a surprise!

Ingredients

3 1⁄2 pounds

chicken

2 tablespoons

sesame oil

1⁄4 cup

peanut, vegetable, or corn oil

1⁄2 cup

ginger, finely chopped

1⁄2 cup

green onions, finely minced

1 teaspoon

salt

Instructions

1. Place the chicken in a covered stock pot filled with enough water to cover the chicken.
2. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 25 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat and let the chicken stand in the cooking liquid until just warm (about another 25 minutes).
4. Rinse the chicken under cold water, pat dry, and rub lightly with sesame oil.
5. Cut the chicken into pieces and arrange neatly on a platter.
6. Refrigerate until the chicken is cold.
7. Heat the peanut/vegetable/corn oil in a small saucepan. Once it is hot, add the ginger and green onions.
8. Cook for about 30 seconds, then add the salt.
9. Pour the hot sauce over the cold chicken and serve.

KJ's Local Grinds

The players on one of Wendell's softball teams have been holding practice sessions in Kaneohe.

Yesterday Wendell picked up lunch for us from KJ's Local Grindz.

Wendell and Landon both chose chicken which is what they're known for. I ordered a BBQ cheeseburger. Everything was really ono!! Thanks for the tip, Mich!

I only remembered about taking pictures when I was down to my last few bites. I liked it so much that I already put in my order for another cheeseburger the next time he goes that way.

H Mart in Kakaako

Not sure when I'll be brave enough to venture out again, but H Mart is finally open!!!  Thanks for sharing, Dd!

Green Curry with Pork and Sweet Potato

I made this on the same day that I made the garlic chili oil. Good thing since the chili oil turned out too spicy. 

The curry came out good except, to tell you the truth, I didn't care for the pork. I used pork belly and even though I drained out all of the oil after frying, it was still a bit too pork fatty for me. Luckily, I enjoyed the sweet potato and bamboo shoots.


1 pound pork, sliced
4 tbs. Thai green curry paste
1 tbs. shoyu
1 tbs. brown sugar
1 tbs. ginger minced
2 tbs. fish sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. chili pepper flakes
1 medium round onion
1/2 can bamboo shoots
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
2 steamed sweet potato, cubed

Brown pork.  
Add garlic, ginger and onions. 
Add shoyu, sugar and fish sauce.
Add curry paste and bamboo shoots.
Add coconut milk, chili pepper flakes and sweet potato.