This is a bittersweet post for me. It is also the reason I have reemerged from my blogging hiatus.

My 90-year-old paternal grandmother, whom we called Ah Ma, passed away three-and-a-half weeks ago. In addition to being sweet like grandmas can be, my memories of Ah Ma largely revolve around food. When I was younger, every time Ah Ma would cook a whole chicken for dinner she'd save me one of the legs because that was my favorite cut of the chicken. Even when she wasn't cooking, she would constantly ask if I was hungry and would practically force feed me regardless of what my answer was. Food was her way of showing love.

It makes sense though, of course, as Ah Ma was the chef in the family. Every time we visited her and Yeh Yeh (grandpa) for the holidays, she would cook up a feast of traditional dishes from their native Chiu Chow (Teochew) city in China. We're talking a specialty local cuisine that you can't order at typical Chinese restaurants! There was a variety of dishes she made, and embarrassingly I cannot remember most of them now, because as a kid there was only one dish that really mattered as far as I was concerned: Ah Ma's deep friend shrimp balls.

It wasn't just me though. Everybody else in the family loved those shrimp balls, too!

Back in 2009, perhaps sensing a need to preserve our family tradition, I asked Ah Ma to show me how to make her shrimp balls. I had posted the recipe on my old blog back then, but I have since made this myself a few times, and I can now present the improved version—a combination of Ah Ma's original recipe with my own tips and proportions added.

Since Ah Ma moved back to Hong Kong a few years ago (a place she had called home for several decades before moving to Canada in the 1990's), I have been the one who has taken on the responsibility of making Ah Ma's shrimp balls for my family's holiday gatherings. It is the one tradition that I really cherish, and hopefully I will get to pass it on to my own granddaughter someday.

Mash shrimp using the flat part of a cleaver. That’s what my grandma would do anyway, but I have since discovered that processing the shrimp in a food processor makes the job a whole lot easier!

In a large bowl, combine the mashed shrimp, water chestnuts, ground pork, shallot, eggs, salt, pepper, and chicken powder. Mix well. My grandma would say to stir only in one direction (i.e., if you started stirring counterclockwise, do not reverse and stir clockwise), but I really don’t think it matters.

Add flour and mix to combine. Do not overmix.

Heat oil on high in a wok or a deep skillet. The amount of oil used depends on the size of your wok/skillet and the size of the shrimp balls. In general, use enough oil to cover half the diameter of the shrimp balls – for example, if your shrimp balls are 1” in diameter, then fill wok ½” deep with oil. Once the oil is boiling, reduce heat to medium high.

Mold the shrimp batter into rounded tablespoons. Dip a spoon into a small bowl of water before scooping the shrimp balls and placing it into the oil-filled wok (this prevents the shrimp balls from sticking to the spoon).* Alternatively (and this is what I do), use a 1½-inch melon baller or cookie scoop to make evenly spherical balls. Roll the shrimp balls around in the wok so they fry evenly on all sides. Fry until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Drain shrimp balls before serving.

Shrimp balls are traditionally served with a tangerine sauce that is not available in North America. The closest store-bought sauce I have found is a golden plum sauce, though a sweet and sour sauce could possibly work as well. Nothing beats the real thing though! My dad got me a bottle of tangerine sauce from Hong Kong and it only has three ingredients so I'm going to see if I can make a homemade version. Will update if successful!

Yields about 24 shrimp balls.

*Ah Ma had this crazy cool technique of massaging and squeezing the shrimp mixture into perfect little round balls. I don't know how she did it because my attempts are never anywhere near the right shape (which is why I cheat by using a melon baller instead), but I'm glad I documented her kickass technique in a video:

Posted by Clara at 8:11 PM Categories: recipes - Asian/Asian inspired, recipes - side dish

Greenhouse Tavern (Cleveland)

First of all...sorry for the long hiatus. Last May I resumed blogging after another long break. I had fully intended to get back into it over the summer, but after only a couple of posts, I stopped.

But I have a great excuse! I was actually in the middle of working on my third post when R. and I decided, rather abruptly, to buy a house. So the ensuing few months were filled with inspections, packing, moving, unpacking, meeting with contractors, designing, remodeling, fighting with contractors...the whole shebang. It was pretty nuts, to say the least. But we looooove our new house, and after seven weeks of take-out, we have a spanking new and TOTALLY FABULOUS kitchen with a giant island, a super strong range hood that ducts outside, and two dishwashers. I absolutely love cooking in my new digs!

Anyway, I am back because I am working on a very special post. But in the meantime, I present the post that I was working on before being interrupted by life itself:

Back in May, I took my annual trip to Cleveland. On our first night there R. and I checked out The Greenhouse Tavern on East Fourth Street Downtown. The contemporary American gastropub—whose chef-owner Jonathon Sawyer is the reigning 2015 James Beard Award for Best Chef (Great Lakes)—is a place about which I had heard high raves and have wanted to try for a long time, so I was very excited to have finally had the opportunity.

The weather was nice on the day we visited so we opted for patio seating, but the restaurant interior, which is kept rather dim in the back corners, has an undeniably hipster vibe what with all the bicycles fixated on the walls. The creative menu, which focuses on organic, locally and sustainably sourced ingredients, aims to have something for everyone.

Although we were curious about the Roasted Pig Head and would have loved to try the Fred Flintstone Beef Short Rib, we were advised that these items were for 2-4 people to share (two if both have large appetites, so closer to four for us!) and would take 45 minutes to prepare (time we didn't have) so we will have to bring along some friends for that next time. Instead, I opted for the Seared Market Fish (walleye was the fish of the day, served with olives, potato confit, and brussels sprout), while R. ordered the Fried Brussels Sprout to share (maple aioli, lemon, fresh mint, raw red onion) and the Ohio Beef Burger (certified angus beef, raclette cheese, tomato, pickles). The staff also surprised us with two complimentary starters: Red Basket Farm Cabbage Salad (parsley root, fermented mustard, pumpkin confit, kale cirsp) and Chef's Garden Beet (poppyseed yogurt, radish). For full disclosure, R. had had a few drinks and blurted out that I am blogger. I suspect that is why we received the extra food, and as I don't like the idea of using my blogger status to get freebies, I made darn sure R. won't blow my cover again in the future! We didn't skip dessert, of course. Both the Ginger Coconut (with tapioca, fresh ginger sorbet, pudding, and sweet soy) and the Buttered Popcorn Pot de Creme (with caramel and sea salt) were exquisite. Definitely worth a repeat visit!

Restaurant info:
2038 East Fourth Street, Cleveland, OH 44115
(216) 443-0511
Table reservation recommended Posted by Clara at 9:55 PM Categories: Travel Dining - Cleveland

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Habitat (Downtown) Posted by Clara at 6:56 PM Inaugural Dinner Lab in Pittsburgh: El Jefe de Malay Update (5/9/2015): The Slanted Door (San Francisco)

Sorry for the break in my San Francisco posts—but I went out of town (again!), and didn't manage to get all caught up on my blog before leaving...and since coming back I've been super, duper busy. Like working ~60 hours a week busy!

Let's time travel back to May. It was our last day in the San Francisco Bay Area and I had managed to secure a reservation at the James Beard-anointed 2014 Outstanding Restaurant, The Slanted Door, located in the same Ferry Building where just a few days prior I had enjoyed a feast of oysters at the Hog Island Oyster Company. (Once again, advanced reservation highly recommended!) After a long, four-hour journey from Napa Valley where we had spent the day (a trip that should have taken one hour—Bay Area Traffic Monster strikes again!), we were glad to have made it there on time.

The Slanted Door serves upscale Vietnamese cuisine—no $6.95 pho here! The atmosphere is lively and space boasts a beautiful view of the bay, and the service was excellent. The food, of course, was top-notch. We ordered two appetizers for the table: the Green Papaya Salad (with pickled carrot, rau ram, crispy shallot, and roasted peanut) and some Crispy Vegetarian Imperial Rolls (with taro root, cabbage, vermicelli noodles, and roasted peanut), which we were quite happy with. For entrees, R. got the Pan-Seared Day Boat Scallops (with tat soi and pineapple-coconut sauce) and I had to try the famous Grass-fed Estancia Shaking Beef (8-ounce cubed filet mignon, Sausalito watercress, red onion, and lime sauce). And what can I say? The food was delicious and much deserving of the "Outstanding Restaurant" honor. There was no better way to cap off our weeklong trip to the Bay Area!

P.S. The door is not slanted!

The Slanted Door
1 Ferry Building San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 861-8032
Web | Facebook Posted by Clara at 11:05 PM Categories: Travel Dining - San Francisco Bay Area

Okayama (San Jose, CA)

After spending the afternoon in Monterey Bay and Carmel, our plan was to drive the two hours back to my godparents' neighborhood for some sushi. Well, two hours into the trip, and we were still stuck in stop-and-stop traffic on 101 and not even remotely near where we needed to be... (Pro tip: Do not—I repeat— D O  N O T drive from Monterey Bay back to the San Francisco area at the end of a holiday weekend!) Knowing that we wouldn't be able to make it back to our 'hood until 10 pm, we needed a Plan B for dinner somewhere enroute.

I really don't know how we ever survived in the stone ages before smartphones, but since we're in 2014, R. did an Urbanspoon search and found Okayama in San Jose, which was open 'til 10 pm and along the way. By the time we arrived at 9:15 pm, we had been sitting in the car for 3.5 hours in what should have been a one hour drive between Monterey and San Jose! We were exhausted and ready to stuff ourselves.

Located in Japantown (a fact we discovered only once we got there), which seemed to be a very heavily residential neighborhood, Okayama was not so much small as it was unassuming. Given the hour, we got down to "business" right away. I ordered nigiri sushi a la carte: Toro (fatty tuna; $8), Hamachi (yellow tail; $4.75), Sake (salmon; $4.50), Unagi (fresh water eel; $5.25), and Hotate (scallop; $4.25). Each order came with two pieces, so the prices were quite good. Everything was amazing, but I was particularly impressed by the melt-in-your-mouth fatty tuna that was just phenomenal. R. got the Mango Tango Roll ($10.50) with salmon, cream cheese, and avocado, topped with mango and thin lemon slices, which we also loved. Since we are big fans of mochi ice cream, we ended our delightful meal with some Mango Mochi Ice Cream (may have been two orders as pictured).

I really can't begin to express what a great find this was. My godparents kept commenting that Okayama was better than the Japanese restaurant that they had originally planned to take us that evening, and I'd have to say this was easily a Top 3 meal for me during my weeklong stay in the Bay Area. And to think, we owe this all to some nasty Californian traffic!

565 N 6th St, San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 289-9508 Posted by Clara at 11:17 PM Monday, June 23, 2014

The Fish Hopper (Monterey Bay, CA)

On Memorial Day, we drove two hours down to Monterey Bay to check out the aquarium. After a few hours of octopuses, bat rays, and jellyfishes, we were hungry for a late lunch. We wandered down the street and into The Fish Hopper, a restaurant with nice views of Monterey Bay (dining by the water seems to be the theme around these parts!). I ordered the Sand Dabs ($17.95) as I had been wanting to try this Pacific white fish, and Monterey is supposed to be the place to get them! At The Fish Hopper, the sand dabs are breaded and grilled, topped with diced tomatoes (on the other side of the plate) and a light basil sauce. The fish was very fresh and the melt-in-your-mouth meat was cooked just perfectly. It was just a quick stop at The Fish Hopper as we had other places to be so I didn't try any other dishes, but this certainly seems like a great option amidst the many touristy options.

Fish Hopper
700 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA
(831) 372-8543
Web | Facebook | Twitter Posted by Clara at 12:09 AM Skates on the Bay (Berkeley, CA)

After four days in San Francisco proper, we trekked over to the suburbs of the Bay Area to spend some time with my godparents. On the first night, we visited Skates on the Bay, a waterfront restaurant at the end of the Berkeley Marina with breathtaking panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay. If you're lucky enough to score a window seat, I'd imagine it would feel a bit like sitting right on the water because of the way the building juts out into the bay. Although our table was farther in, we still had a stunning view of both the Golden Gate Bridge and the new and very modern eastern span of the Oakland-Bay Bridge. In fact, with bay views gracing three sides of the restaurant, I don't think there is a bad seat in the house at all!

Of course, seafood was the only natural choice for us in a setting like this! R. and I shared a scrumptious Pan Seared Crab Cake to start ($18.95), with succotash, sweet corn puree, and fresh herbs.

My entree was the fresh and delicious Limoncello Scallops and Prawns ($33.95), with polenta, snow pea sprouts, asparagus, and limoncello sauce.

R. had the Almond Milk Poached Alaskan Halibut ($34.95), with toasted pasta pearls, almonds, asparagus, and charred cucumber vinaigrette. He thought it was just to die for!

I was far too full for dessert, but R. couldn't resist the Hot Fudge Waffle Sundae ($8.95), with vanilla bean ice cream, fresh strawberries, candied pecans, housemade hot fudge and butterscotch sauces, and whipped cream. In fact, I was the only one at the table who didn't order dessert...and so the waitstaff brought out a Creme Brulee for me, on the house! What a lovely surprise!

To be honest, due to its location, I had been worried that Skates on the Bay would just be the kind of tourist trap that wouldn't live up to its hype. Luckily, the amazing food and service proved those fears wrong. Add to that the gorgeous view, and Skates on the Bay really has it all.

Skates on the Bay
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