June SF Underground Market

In May, I went home to Maui to meet my new nephew, Raidin. I call him Raidin Button, as in Benjamin Button because he sometimes wrinkles his face up like a wise old man in a baby's body.



I ate this for breakfast everyday:


And I spent the entire ten days eating my way through my favorite island eats that I had missed so much. For example, Da Kitchen takes island classics like loco moco and SPAM musubi to a whole new level of insanity - they coat their SPAM musubi in panko breadcrumbs, deep fry it and glaze it with a sweet teriyaki sauce! BAM!

Simply put, I'm in love with the food of the islands. It renewed my interest in and love of cooking dishes that are popular in Hawaii to share with the San Francisco community. I make everything from scratch, including making my own "SPAM" from a special blend of pork, duck and chicken.

For all of you who came to the March market asking where you could get more homemade "spam" and those who didn't get to try it before we sold out, I have good news! I will be selling more Maui Eats at the June SF Underground Market this Saturday, June 11 from 6pm -midnight.

Hawaiian Punch
Passion-Orange-Guava with a Hibiscus Twist

Homemade “SPAM” Musubi
Special blend of pork, duck and chicken! That's right--I made the "SPAM" myself. It might be my one and only proprietary secret (I've learned how to finally make this weird "mystery meat" in a respectable manner that takes away the mystery and puts Hormel to shame).

Soy-Glazed Tofu-Takuan Musubi
VEGAN musubi with glazed tofu, pickled daikon radish and seaweed seasoning.


Kalua Pig Tostadas
Slow-roasted pork cooked in banana leaves, cabbage slaw, smoky chipotle crema, and Maui onion* salsa.

* Note: Sweet Maui onions are a prized commodity. They are small, delicate and so sweet and mild that they are best enjoyed raw. I grew up with these bad boys, so I definitely notice when supermarket onions are bitter and sharp. I even used to help my friend, Lauren, peel and bag onions in the garage on her dad's Maui onion farm after school.

I am very excited to make Maui onion salsa with only the best onions around. What, you didn't think I would stuff fifteen pounds of raw onions in my suitcase bound for SFO?


You bet your sweet onions I did.

See you there!

French Macaron Smoothie

I used to think smoothies were a joke.

That some people high up at Jamba Juice are laughing themselves all the way to the bank because people thought they were being healthy when really they were sucking in an average of about 60 grams of sugar.

But after reading CrazySexyDiet (thanks for the recommendation, Mama Pea!), I started to come around to understanding that you can make smoothies that are filling and good for you by adding a general ratio of 3:1 vegetables to fruit. Let me be honest, adding that quantity of vegetables to a smoothie is not second nature and most times I stick to the tried-and-true combo of spinach-peanut butter-banana. Kris Carr suggested romaine leaves in her Green Guru Smoothie. Romaine leaves?! That's what I said. But it's pretty yummy, after all. I just try not to linger on the lettuce part.

This tropical green monster has been my latest favorite because you know I have soft spot for the islands.

TROPICAL GREEN MONSTER

INGREDIENTS:

* 1/2 avocado
* 1/2 banana
* 1 cup spinach
* 1 kiwi
* 1/2 cup chopped mango
* 1 Tbsp. peanut butter
* 1 cup apple juice

Combine in blender until smooth and creamy.

But I don't need to be eating lettuce and cucumbers for breakfast all the time. Especially not at 8 am on a Monday morning when I have conference calls. I sometimes consider just getting up out of my desk while people are still talking and booking it down to the bottom floor of my office building to buy a sugary snack and and some coffee from Peet's to help me get through the call. But now I don't have to do that because I have Mama Pea's Cake Batter Green Smoothie and I am perfectly happy to sit calmly while five lawyers fight for a chance to hear themselves speak.

I have also been slurping up Kath's Dough Boy Smoothies and they are fantastic!

And if Mama Pea says you can have cake batter for breakfast, then I think you can have french macarons, too.

FRENCH MACARON SMOOTHIE

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup rolled oats (do not use quick oats!)
* 1 cup almond milk
* 1 Tbsp. almond paste
* 2 Tbsp. almond flour
* 1 Tbsp. chia seeds
* 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste

Combine all of the above ingredients in your blender and place in fridge overnight.

Add in the morning before blending:

* 1 banana
* another 1/2 cup of non-dairy milk (soy, almond, etc.)

I can't wait for breakfast tomorrow. We'll call it dessert.

Kongnamul: Soybean Sprout Salad

Sundays are sometimes a blur. There is laundry, grocery shopping, bills, sifting through piles of random paperwork and receipts (why do I even keep these?) and cleaning the kitchen floor and then suddenly it's 4:30pm and I haven't even thought of what I should make for dinner.

I did manage to sneak in a wonderful Anusara Yoga class at Yoga Tree. It was hard work, but I felt so proud of myself for stretching through the tight spots and taking some time to breathe and clear the clouds, so to speak.

The rain clouds have been rollin in this week and it's been a little cold and gloomy around here. Perfect for some Korean Tofu Kimchi Stew. And definitely some banchan, which I like to call vegetable snacks that are generally very easy to prepare. You know I love me some Korean food.

Kongnamul is one of my favorite types of banchan. It's a crunchy soybean sprout salad with a hint of sesame.

It's really cheap, too-you can buy a whole pound of sprouts at almost any asian grocery/market for about $1.20. I like to buy the loose ones and not pre-bagged sprouts because those tend to get soggy and rancid very quickly.

Note: I made that cute little ceramic plate at Color Me Mine.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 pound of soybean sprouts
* 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
* salt to taste
* Optional: small amounts of chopped green onion, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, soy sauce


DIRECTIONS:

* Fill a medium pot about 2/3 full with water and 1 tsp. of salt and bring to a boil.
* Rinse the sprouts and discard any wilted sprouts.
* Toss in the sprouts, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes.
* Drain and rinse in cold water until cooled (or plunge them into a bowl of ice water if you like it extra crunchy).
* In a bowl, combine the drained, cooked sprouts, sesame oil, salt and any other optional items you may be using.

Ta-da! So easy.

This dish will not keep more than a day or so in the fridge (it becomes soggy pretty quickly), so I highly recommend eating it up fresh!