Keep Calm and Carry On: The Diary of Foodie and Gourmet

After our excursion to Mitsuwa, for dinner, my parents and I ate at one of our favorite Korean restaurants. This is in fact one of the first Korean restaurants we really ever went to in New Jersey, and it is a Fort Lee staple! In fact, So Kong Dong is so famous, that it even made an appearance on Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservation." A Jersey boy himself, and an alumna of my high school, in his New Jersey episode, Bourdain revisits his old neighborhood and sees how things have changed. After visiting Mitsuwa he eats lunch at So Kong Dong, just like us! Click here to watch the NJ episode of "No Reservations." To watch Bourdain in Mitsuwa scroll to about 29:12. To watch Bourdain at the Korean restaurant scroll to about 32:34. Whenever we come here, there is always a huge wait. In fact, it's usually so crowded that there is barely anywhere to stand. You can either huddle at the small entrance or awkwardly wait along diners. Neither situation is ideal. ...

The Japanese reads, "Japan's Osechi" In Japan, New Years is the big holiday. Much like Thanksgiving in America, this is the day when the Japanese feast. Every year, bless her, my mother creates a Japanese "osechi" feast. "Osechi" refers to traditional New Years foods and this tradition began in the Heian Period (about 794-1195 AD). Every family does osechi different, but for the most part, each dish has a special significance. I will save those explanations for a later post that will have pictures from this year's New Years feast. In order to prepare, my family ventured to the giant Japanese grocery store in NJ, MITSUWA. This is a mecca for Japanese in the tri-state area and even non-Japanese. Mitsuwa was stocked and ready to prepare with everyone's New Years preparations. The banner basically reads, "Thank you for another year. Our end of the year sale." For New Years, mochi balls piled on top one another is symboli...

This past Thursday, after a semester of torture, I decided that I needed to refocus on remind myself why I am studying science. For this, I enlisted the help of my father. Thursday are his operating days, so I spent the day in the OR with him. I have been coming to the OR since high school. I remember, one day, it occurred to me, "I know that my dad is a surgeon and he always tells me 'I am in surgery all day', but what does that mean? What does he do all day?" That's when I asked dad for the first time if I could come to the OR with him. He was delighted and so happy to share that part of his work with me. (I'd gone to his office dozens of times, but never the operating room.) Normally, having your kid come watch you in the OR would be a bit difficult, but since my dad's practice has its own surgical center, it was a piece of cake! What luck. Since then, I try to go to the OR with him as often as possible. Even if it's the same cases I have seen d...

Due to crazy schedules, this year, I was unable to make my "Dickensian-Style Victorian Christmas Feast." How sad. After watching the Victorian episode of the Supersizers, I was inspired three years ago and decided that I would celebrate Christmas like the Victorians. Here are some highlights (in my opinion) of my Christmas dinners past. Brown Windsor Soup:  This delicious soup is more like a beef consomme. A British favorite during the Victorian and Edwardian period, this soup has lost favor in the UK for reasons that are a mystery to me. The dish does take a while to make, but it is totally delicious! Essentially, you need braising beef, carrots, onions, celery, etc...and you let those ingredients cook together for a couple of hours until they disintegrate. Then, you strain the soup, so that you are left with just the liquid. Sure it seems like a waste of a good beef stew, but the concentrated flavor of all of the ingredients in the soup make Brown Windsor soup, in my...

A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas. Ours was incredibly low-key and relaxed. Santa did indeed visit us (yay!) and we had lots of fun enjoying our presents. My father lit our fireplace and with a roaring fire, remained in the living room, pretty much all day, reading. I too read my new "James Bond Archive" book, which is essentially a giant book of all things James Bond. In fact, it is so bit and heavy, that after a while, my legs went numb because the weight of the book on my legs cut off some circulation! what a big book! I left the envelope there as comparison table of contents that is one big book In my family, since we all tend to enjoy the same movies and TV shows, DVDs tend to be for "the family" rather than the individual. This year's collection included "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and the new series of "Upstairs Downstairs." On a more individual note..."The ...

This year, for Christmas dinner, my father and I made our annual Beef Wellington. When I say annual, this is really only the third year or so that we have made it, still...it's quickly becoming a family tradition. Inspired by anything British and Gordon Ramsay, after watching a Christmas special of sorts, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at a Beef Wellington. Was it a crazy idea? Yes, a little. Did that stop me? Absolutely not! Using Gordon Ramsay's recipe as a guide, I have slowly begun to master what is a very traditional British dish. Fluffy pastry, rich pate, and juicy meat...it's like happiness wrapped and baked in an oven! This year, due to crazy busy schedules and a lack of certain ingredients, my father and I had to make some compromises and this wellington was not as good as my past endeavors, however, it was still pretty damn tasty. The recipe I will share with you is my main recipe without the deviations. Enjoy! Ingredients: - about 2 lb of roastin...