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| Beautiful eggs that I couldn't bear to crack. OK, I eventually gave in - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2015
UnRecipe: An Egg-splosion of Flavor!
Don't give me that look of, "...but Easter was, like, FOREVER ago." You still have more than a few brightly-hued hard-boiled eggs sitting in your fridge, staring at you, begging you for a Special Purpose. Begone, glazed-over stares into the fridge! I present to you the BEA Sandwich. (Bacon Egg Avocado). *Boom* (that's me, dropping the mike on the stage and walking away)
Monday, April 1, 2013
UnRecipe: Eating Easter and the Sacrilicious Mushroom Log
I realize Easter Sunday was yesterday, but since this isn't a particularly traditional Easter meal, I'm posting it on a non-traditional day. I wasn't raised in a particular faith, just your typical Godless Heathen Asian Household. But we did dye eggs for Easter, which was something I really enjoyed. Even that acrid, sour smell that permeated the house as you'd drop the PAAS dye tablets into coffee mugs full of heated vinegar -- I'd dye those eggs like a boss, to get them as saturated with as much color as possible, knowing we'd be cursed with rainbow-hued egg salad sandwiches for a week. I don't dye eggs anymore, but I continue to hold eggs in high regard, since they are a pretty magical and wonderful food. So Happy Belated Easter -- let's Put an Egg On It!
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| Happy Easter - put an egg (or two) on it - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Mixed Plate: Ham, Eggs, Tulips and Not Paying Retail
Easter weekend came and went, which had me thinking about favorite things about the holiday -- the childhood joy of coloring eggs and the resulting Technicolor Dreamcoat-hued egg salad that completely skeeved me out, the giant chocolate bunnies I'd receive from family or friends and the savage joy of biting off those ears first. Everyone knows it's the part that tastes best. Even the annual eating of Peeps -- well, more like one Peep. I'd wind up with a package, thinking this will be the year I develop an appreciation for those marshmallow sugar-coated little cuties. I take a bite, it feels like you're eating packing material dipped in sand, and I throw the rest away, completely disgusted with myself for being an idiot to think this year would be any different. The old traditions have gone by the wayside in lieu of new ones, namely hitting the casino for brunch and browsing the outlet malls. What would Jesus do? Apparently, not pay retail.
The Prime didn't totally make a mockery of the Easter holiday -- well, just a half-mockery -- as I managed to fit in a visit to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Quite honestly, it's one of the most stunning things you'll ever see, driving up north towards Everett and being suddenly inundated with fields of solid color. It's literally like a rainbow punched you in the face. Rows and rows of bright yellow daffodils, alternating rows of tulips in warm orange, reds and pinks; it's a beautiful sight, even on the grey, blustery Easter Sunday I was in the neighborhood.
I didn't have my big camera with me because the original intent of the trip was a heathen-filled day of casino buffet-eating and outlet mall shopping, but an Easter miracle allowed my dinky phone camera to take photos of the tulip fields that didn't look like total garbage. If confession is good for the soul, I should be totally up front in that the only reason we wound up in beautiful fields of flowers on the Lord's Day was the shops weren't open yet and we had a couple of hours to kill. Along with trespassing in a daffodil field clearly marked NO TRESPASSING and taking photos, my partners in crime and I managed to escape the incoming rain as we tiptoed through the tulips at a garden that actually invited visitors to tromp through their fields. Somebody up there liked us and approved of our retail pre-func with the flowers.
You'll discover tulips you never knew existed, in rare colors, shapes and sizes, and you'll likely make it a point to visit the area every year. While this April was unusually cold and not as many fields were ablaze with blooms, it was still a thing of beauty. My friend Stacie, aka, SJBe, was sweet to get me a bouquet of favorite tulips to bring home as a souvenir, which I must say, tulips and bulbs in general are the best blooms for lazy folks like myself. They're hearty, they last longer than most flowers, and the just scream springtime cheerfulness. The colorful romp in the garden fueled us with energy to battle the crowds at the outlet mall, which if there was a soundtrack for the day, we'd have had Tiny Tim's quirky "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" for the first part and GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle" for the outlet malls. You know where you are? You're in the jungle bably, you're gonna diiiiiiiiiiiiiiie. So sayeth the wisdom of Axl Rose.
After a long day of weathering the retail masses and not even having the satisfaction of finding anything worth buying beyond a cup of coffee, I peaced-out Easter Sunday with Brinner (breakfast for dinner). I bought a ham for no other reason than it was 99 cents a pound and I could freeze the meat and save the bone for split pea soup. Day of rest, remember? The feast of Easter Brinner was composed of poached eggs over a hash of ham and sweet potatoes, using a method of poaching eggs that I was happy to discover via Bon Appetit magazine. They had a quickie microwave trick, cracking an egg into a cup of water, enough to cover the top of the egg, and giving the egg-water mix a spin in the microwave for a minute, with a saucer placed over the top, presumably to focus the heat and make for an especially clattering ruckus should the egg explode. Luckily, there was no eggs-plosion (har har), but I admit, I over-microwaved the egg, resulting in more of a soft-boiled stage than truly poached. The method is sound, I just need to fuss with the timing on my microwave a little, but I was pleased to find such an easy shortcut method for preparing eggs in my favorite way. I have a lot more leftover ham to perfect the nuke-time on my microwave, so despite Easter having hopped along like Peter Cottontail, the joy of eggs will remain.
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| The Easter miracle - tulips before retail - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
The Prime didn't totally make a mockery of the Easter holiday -- well, just a half-mockery -- as I managed to fit in a visit to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Quite honestly, it's one of the most stunning things you'll ever see, driving up north towards Everett and being suddenly inundated with fields of solid color. It's literally like a rainbow punched you in the face. Rows and rows of bright yellow daffodils, alternating rows of tulips in warm orange, reds and pinks; it's a beautiful sight, even on the grey, blustery Easter Sunday I was in the neighborhood.
 |
| Tiptoeing and trespassing through the tulips - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
I didn't have my big camera with me because the original intent of the trip was a heathen-filled day of casino buffet-eating and outlet mall shopping, but an Easter miracle allowed my dinky phone camera to take photos of the tulip fields that didn't look like total garbage. If confession is good for the soul, I should be totally up front in that the only reason we wound up in beautiful fields of flowers on the Lord's Day was the shops weren't open yet and we had a couple of hours to kill. Along with trespassing in a daffodil field clearly marked NO TRESPASSING and taking photos, my partners in crime and I managed to escape the incoming rain as we tiptoed through the tulips at a garden that actually invited visitors to tromp through their fields. Somebody up there liked us and approved of our retail pre-func with the flowers.
 |
| So that's what happened to ABBA - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
You'll discover tulips you never knew existed, in rare colors, shapes and sizes, and you'll likely make it a point to visit the area every year. While this April was unusually cold and not as many fields were ablaze with blooms, it was still a thing of beauty. My friend Stacie, aka, SJBe, was sweet to get me a bouquet of favorite tulips to bring home as a souvenir, which I must say, tulips and bulbs in general are the best blooms for lazy folks like myself. They're hearty, they last longer than most flowers, and the just scream springtime cheerfulness. The colorful romp in the garden fueled us with energy to battle the crowds at the outlet mall, which if there was a soundtrack for the day, we'd have had Tiny Tim's quirky "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" for the first part and GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle" for the outlet malls. You know where you are? You're in the jungle bably, you're gonna diiiiiiiiiiiiiiie. So sayeth the wisdom of Axl Rose.
 |
| Can you find the Easter eggs? - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
After a long day of weathering the retail masses and not even having the satisfaction of finding anything worth buying beyond a cup of coffee, I peaced-out Easter Sunday with Brinner (breakfast for dinner). I bought a ham for no other reason than it was 99 cents a pound and I could freeze the meat and save the bone for split pea soup. Day of rest, remember? The feast of Easter Brinner was composed of poached eggs over a hash of ham and sweet potatoes, using a method of poaching eggs that I was happy to discover via Bon Appetit magazine. They had a quickie microwave trick, cracking an egg into a cup of water, enough to cover the top of the egg, and giving the egg-water mix a spin in the microwave for a minute, with a saucer placed over the top, presumably to focus the heat and make for an especially clattering ruckus should the egg explode. Luckily, there was no eggs-plosion (har har), but I admit, I over-microwaved the egg, resulting in more of a soft-boiled stage than truly poached. The method is sound, I just need to fuss with the timing on my microwave a little, but I was pleased to find such an easy shortcut method for preparing eggs in my favorite way. I have a lot more leftover ham to perfect the nuke-time on my microwave, so despite Easter having hopped along like Peter Cottontail, the joy of eggs will remain.
Monday, April 5, 2010
UnRecipe/FoodTrek: Good Fridays and Sunday Casino Royale with Cheese
Many people sought family time and quiet spiritual reflection over this Passover/Easter weekend. I went to the Tulalip Casino on Sunday to eat-it-like-I-stole-it for $19 ($21 and change after tax, plus tip), and had shellfish and bacon on Good Friday. For these edible transgressions I will most likely be cast into the charnel pits of Hell, but at least I'll go knowing I had a full stomach.
I'm a good person. I pay my taxes, return my library books on time and try not to swear like a sailor in front of impressionable toddlers. But let's say I'm more spiritual than religious, so yes, I went forth on Sunday and burdened several plates with the unholy buffet combinations of cashew chicken stir fry, mass-produced Eggs Benedict, pepperoni pizza, barbecue beef brisket, and sorbet. I won't frighten those who are faint of heart with photos, but suffice it to say, if there is a hell, I'm pretty sure my lower intestines are there now. To be honest, there are, in fact, no photos of this event, and I would have totally taken snaps of this Insane Clown Posse Breakfast Buffet of Earthly Delights, but casino security totally put the NO CAMERA shutdown in my face the second I walked in. So, that was my Easter, in a three-plates-piled-high sort of nutshell, with only my heartburn as a witness.
On Good Friday, when everyone was having their loaves and fishes, I put together a dinner of seared scallops over asparagus with an orange cognac sauce and crispy bits of bacon. The swine definitely tipped the scales towards Totally Not Good Friday, I know, but having a non-four-legged, swimmy meal wasn't the original intent behind the meal. The genesis (har-har) was strangely enough, a bottle of chive oil. I noticed the chives in the strawberry pot of mixed herbs were getting long and they just grow better with regular haircuts, so I snipped them all down. Way too many chives to use before they wilted, I buzzed them in the blender with oil, strained out the solid bits, and now have a nice bottle of bright green goodness to flavor my way through the next month of meals.
I've made no bones about my love of frozen stuff from Costco and made no attempt to hide the sins of my impulse buying. Giant bag of frozen strawberries? Yes, please, and make it three. I had a few frozen scallops leftover from an ill-conceived bulk purchase of aforementioned frozen critters, and so I thought a flavor-heavy sauce using orange and cognac, and a finishing drizzle of the chive oil would be a good way to finish 'em off. Plus, oh snap, asparagus is on sale and they do go well with all those ingredients and flavors. This is how meals come to be at Wasabi Kitchen Stadium, pure happenstance. Plus the orange I had in the fruit bowl was getting questionably soft, so when there is threat of janky produce, make sauce, because booze and heat will kill everything.
A more foodie-fancy ingredient that's been inspiring meals of pure happenstance has been specialty salts. I got a few small containers of them over the holidays from my foodie pal, Ms. Radish. Their strong flavors can overpower things, so they're used sparingly, but they add such a nice, richness to food. A dash of smoked salt on the scallops made for a pleasant little hit of flavor, plus it's great to sprinkle on roasting vegetables to give them some interest. And oh my holy Easter Sunday, it's great mixed with regular salt to season the rim of a Bloody Mary.
So maybe the selections of meals and buffets weren't totally Easter or Passover-friendly but I'm all about celebrating the seasons in my own special, socially-inappropriate Wasabi Way. Even if that means frozen shellfish, crispy swine, questionable produce, and a buffet concoction that would make Escoffier turn in his grave.
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| Digging on Swine and Making Good Friday Grrrrrrrreat! - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
I'm a good person. I pay my taxes, return my library books on time and try not to swear like a sailor in front of impressionable toddlers. But let's say I'm more spiritual than religious, so yes, I went forth on Sunday and burdened several plates with the unholy buffet combinations of cashew chicken stir fry, mass-produced Eggs Benedict, pepperoni pizza, barbecue beef brisket, and sorbet. I won't frighten those who are faint of heart with photos, but suffice it to say, if there is a hell, I'm pretty sure my lower intestines are there now. To be honest, there are, in fact, no photos of this event, and I would have totally taken snaps of this Insane Clown Posse Breakfast Buffet of Earthly Delights, but casino security totally put the NO CAMERA shutdown in my face the second I walked in. So, that was my Easter, in a three-plates-piled-high sort of nutshell, with only my heartburn as a witness.
On Good Friday, when everyone was having their loaves and fishes, I put together a dinner of seared scallops over asparagus with an orange cognac sauce and crispy bits of bacon. The swine definitely tipped the scales towards Totally Not Good Friday, I know, but having a non-four-legged, swimmy meal wasn't the original intent behind the meal. The genesis (har-har) was strangely enough, a bottle of chive oil. I noticed the chives in the strawberry pot of mixed herbs were getting long and they just grow better with regular haircuts, so I snipped them all down. Way too many chives to use before they wilted, I buzzed them in the blender with oil, strained out the solid bits, and now have a nice bottle of bright green goodness to flavor my way through the next month of meals.
 |
| Turning chives into chive oil - not quite a miracle, but mighty tasty - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
I've made no bones about my love of frozen stuff from Costco and made no attempt to hide the sins of my impulse buying. Giant bag of frozen strawberries? Yes, please, and make it three. I had a few frozen scallops leftover from an ill-conceived bulk purchase of aforementioned frozen critters, and so I thought a flavor-heavy sauce using orange and cognac, and a finishing drizzle of the chive oil would be a good way to finish 'em off. Plus, oh snap, asparagus is on sale and they do go well with all those ingredients and flavors. This is how meals come to be at Wasabi Kitchen Stadium, pure happenstance. Plus the orange I had in the fruit bowl was getting questionably soft, so when there is threat of janky produce, make sauce, because booze and heat will kill everything.
 |
| Using the salt of the earth. Literally. - Photo by Wasabi Prime |
A more foodie-fancy ingredient that's been inspiring meals of pure happenstance has been specialty salts. I got a few small containers of them over the holidays from my foodie pal, Ms. Radish. Their strong flavors can overpower things, so they're used sparingly, but they add such a nice, richness to food. A dash of smoked salt on the scallops made for a pleasant little hit of flavor, plus it's great to sprinkle on roasting vegetables to give them some interest. And oh my holy Easter Sunday, it's great mixed with regular salt to season the rim of a Bloody Mary.
So maybe the selections of meals and buffets weren't totally Easter or Passover-friendly but I'm all about celebrating the seasons in my own special, socially-inappropriate Wasabi Way. Even if that means frozen shellfish, crispy swine, questionable produce, and a buffet concoction that would make Escoffier turn in his grave.
 |
| Salt, in Still Life - Photos by Wasabi Prime |
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