A good lunch & a promise

I am having a delicious lunch today: A salad with grilled salmon, half an everything-bagel, and a peach from a central California farm stand I visited last weekend.

The salad is romaine lettuce, a small vine tomato, some cucumber, and a sprinkling of radish sprouts, topped with a cold piece of grilled salmon. All great ingredients, but the key is the vinaigrette. My recipe follows:

Simple Vinaigrette

• Olive oil
• Mustard
• Vinegar
  
• Salt
• Pepper

Making a vinaigrette from scratch is easy and takes about 1 minute, and it raises a salad to a whole new level. I've never measured the amounts of the ingredients I use. Instead, I just add and taste as I go along.

Take a small bowl and add to it a small amount of mustard. Add a few dashes of some type of vinegar you like (I usually use red wine, but cider or white are also fine. Balsamic is only good if you want a really strong tasting dressing). Stirring the mixture continually with a spoon (or a whisk if you want to be fancy and have more dishes to do), slowly pour in the olive oil. Stop pouring when it looks like you have the right amount of dressing for your salad. Salt and pepper to taste. Adjust with more vinegar or mustard as needed. Keep playing with the relative amounts until the dressing tastes good.

The only thing that can go wrong as you keep adding and tasting is you end up with too much vinaigrette. But vinaigrette stores very well in the fridge, though the oil may harden and need to be returned to room temperature before using again.

I promise to make a video soon showing how easy it is to make, with a couple of my favorite variations using ingredients like honey, herbs, shallots, or cream.

A new post

1. The sushi chefs at Hide do not do omakase, as it turned out the other day. So we consoled ourselves by trying out the sweet shrimp. They serve you the sushi first, glistening pink flesh that is crisp-tender when you bite down (in the manner of very fresh shellfish - not green beans!). Then the head, delicately fried, on a separate plate.

2. Dealing with employees may be the hardest part of running a business. Do you give up on a person because he or she is not measuring up 20% of the time? What about the really good 80%?

* Addendum, 08/17/08. Yes, you do give up on that person. And you learn from the experience and move on.

A passing

This is very difficult to write.

A good friend's death is hard to put into words, especially in a space as weightless as a blog. And because of the vanity that goes along with any writing, it can feel like you are doing something wrong by writing at all. This touching tribute to Chris Ewell by a mutual friend changed my mind. I hope you will have time to read it.

There was also an obituary that ran in The Sun, the newspaper where Chris and I worked together.

Observation: When a journalist dies, as opposed to anyone in any other profession that toils in near-obscurity, there is an unusually large amount of words put into print about it. That does not mean that the world of journalism is self-absorbed. The heartbreak is just as real.

Christian Ewell, center, with close friends.

Cooking video: Ramen!

This is my first cooking video ever! Thanks to Eric for the great camera work, editing, and laugh track. Scroll below the video for ingredients and cooking tips.




For a quick, yummy, and complete meal, all you need is (love) and:

1 package of ramen
1 fresh egg
1 handful of spinach leaves
1 green onion stalk

A good way to make Ramen Noodles with Poached Egg:

In two cups of boiling water, add ramen and contents of seasoning packet and allow to cook on high for about a minute.

As soon as the noodles are soft enough to break up, make a sort of nest in the noodles for the egg you are about to poach. Crack an egg (in a bowl first, if you want), and slide it into the nest. Take care that the egg does not slide to the bottom of the pot, or it will overcook and possibly break!

Turn the heat to low-medium and add spinach to the pot. Simmer for about 2 minutes more. Finish off with a sprinkling of sliced green onions, and pour everything gently into a bowl: Some soup first, then some noodles, then finally your softly-poached egg on top of the noodles.

Monkfish liver

Ate monkfish liver for the first time the other night. It was a pale, grayish-beige mixture piled in a big mound on top of rice wrapped in nori, and garnished with some thin curls of green onion. It looked a little daunting. But the taste was very mild, and the texture a bit like cooked fish roe and a bit like foie gras. The chef had taken spoonfuls of it from a bowl in the fridge, so it was cold. Ankimo is filling and left me more satisfied at the end of this meal than any previous sushi meal.

Scrambled eggs

Until recently, I never understood the appeal of scrambled eggs. They seemed unimaginative, overly safe. Often hard and rubbery, and vastly inferior to a soft-boiled egg or eggs over-easy. But after taking the time to watch some other cooks and read up some on scrambling technique, I decided to give it another go. This morning, I made a really good plate of scrambled eggs and was very tempted to crown myself a scrambling queen.

Eggs
Milk or cream
Oil or butter
Salt
Cheese, optional but a very nice addition

Break the eggs, and mix them up a bit with a dash of milk or cream. Add salt. Heat a saucepan to medium-high heat with some oil in it, and add a dab of butter for richness. Pour the eggs in and give them a few seconds to adjust.

Stir the eggs continually with a wooden spoon, preventing the bottom layer from cooking and hardening. The egg mixture should gradually thicken as a whole. Lift the pan occasionally from the heat, if the bottom is cooking too quickly. Sprinkle in a bit of grated cheese and keep disturbing the eggs.

Timing is very important. Turn off the heat when the curds are still soft and glistening. By the time they reach the plate, they will be just right. Very soft, and very flavorful because of the milk, cheese, and butter.

Turbotax stalker

I wish that, instead of stalking my blog, the people over at Turbotax (Intuit) would just refund me the 30 bucks already.

charger.intuit.com (Intuit Inc) [Label IP Address]

California, San Diego, United States, 0 returning visit

Date	Time	WebPage
7th April 2008	08:27:04	No referring link lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
7th April 2008	09:22:21	No referring link lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
7th April 2008	09:35:27	No referring link lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
7th April 2008	11:14:05	lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/03/sushi-night.html
7th April 2008	11:14:11	blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=turbotax&um=1&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d&sa=N&start=20 lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
10th April 2008	16:10:51	blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=turbotax and customer service&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wb lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
10th April 2008	16:47:46	No referring link lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
10th April 2008	16:53:02	No referring link lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
10th April 2008	17:04:47	No referring link lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
10th April 2008	17:09:38	No referring link lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html
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11th April 2008	10:19:34	No referring link lauraloh.blogspot.com/2008/04/turbotax-sux.html

TurboTax sux

I just finished doing my 2007 taxes online using Turbotax, and had a nagging feeling as I worked through it that I was getting charged twice as much as last year. In fact, it ended up costing $64 plus tax to e-file my federal and state taxes, versus the $29.90 I paid last year for the same service. After filing my 2007 returns, I went back to the Turbotax homepage to find that they had a "free edition" for federal returns that I swear was not offered to me when I logged in as a returning customer. My lowest price was $29.95. (It's very unlike me to overlook a freebie, so it must've been in 4-point font at the bottom of the page, if at all.)

As usual when I feel like I've been taken for a ride, no matter for how small an amount of money, my head gets hot (literally) and I can't rest until I have had it out with some poor customer "service" representative. This time, it was via a chat that I am copying and pasting below. Remarkable, that in the 21st Century it is now possible to have electronic transcripts of these infuriating exchanges:

Please wait while we find an agent to assist you...

You have been connected to 02_Mahdi Ali.
02_Mahdi Ali: Thank you for contacting Intuit. My name is Mahdi Ali. Could you please wait for a moment while I read your question?
Laura Loh: yes
02_Mahdi Ali: I understand that you you filed your federal and state returns and you were charged $29.95 and you realized that you could have filled your federal returns for free.Am I right?
Laura Loh: i was charged $64 total for fed and state returns. i did not see an option for free federal return any time during the process. but then i finished and logged out, went to the turbotax home page, and saw that there is free federal filing for easy returns available
Laura Loh: the "free edition"
02_Mahdi Ali: Laura How are you doing today?
Laura Loh: I'm doing all right. Thanks, and you?
02_Mahdi Ali: I am fine.
Laura Loh: good good
02_Mahdi Ali: Lauara Have you efilled your returns?
Laura Loh: Yes
Laura Loh: Just 5 minutes ago
02_Mahdi Ali: Laura Once you have efilled your returns We cannot do any thing now.
Laura Loh: but it isn't till the end of the process that you are told how much you are charged
Laura Loh: that doesn't seem right
02_Mahdi Ali: I am sorry Laura.
02_Mahdi Ali: I can understand your problem.
Laura Loh: well, I used to be a fan of turbotax. but now, not so much.
Laura Loh: don't think i will be using it next year, or recommending to anyone.
Laura Loh: too bad, because it would have been many years of income for your company. but one incident like this makes an impression on a person
02_Mahdi Ali: I am really sorry Laura.We cannnot do any thing now.
02_Mahdi Ali: You can file your taxes free next year.
Laura Loh: if i had not efiled yet, do you agree that i could have done the exact same thing for free this year?
Laura Loh: for federal
02_Mahdi Ali: I am really sorry.
02_Mahdi Ali: Laura Have you filled your federal returns for this year?
Laura Loh: yes. my question is, am i correct that i could have filed federal for free this year, and that i mistakenly chose a more expensive version that i really didn't need?
02_Mahdi Ali: Yes Laura You are right.
Laura Loh: ok. thank you. i know there is nothing you can personally do.
02_Mahdi Ali: I am really sorry.
02_Mahdi Ali: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
Laura Loh: no, thank you.
02_Mahdi Ali: You may receive a survey from us through email in approximately 24 hours asking you about my performance on today's contact, as well as comments you may have in regards to the TurboTax product. So we can continue with our promise to provide our customers with the best support available, please take a few minutes to complete the survey.Thanks again and have a good day!

Sushi night

I'd been shunning salmon sushi for various reasons interesting only to me.* But on Wednesday, we ordered some, for a change. It was streaked with fat and delicious.

A note on the sushi chefs at Hide. I like the funny middle-aged chef who stands in the middle spot the best of the three. He teases customers good-naturedly and always looks like he is enjoying his work. Which either means he is a happy man, or he is a good actor. Regardless, if we ever order omakase, I would want this chef to be our man.

Ambition for next time: Monkfish liver.

*Ha, I almost forgot the purpose of this blog. So, the reasons I had not been ordering salmon sushi were (1) it's so commonplace, (2) I eat cooked or smoked salmon all the time, (3) it's one of those "safe" fish that a lot of sushi beginners eat, so less cool-seeming, (4) I have a slightly OCD acquaintance who is into sushi and told me he eats nothing but a big plate of salmon sushi every time, (5) raw salmon can have a slightly overpowering taste sometimes, and feel a little too rich on the tongue. But now all these things don't matter anymore -- salmon is delicious again!

Two reasons not to vote for John McCain

I used to think McCain was rather harmless, but then I saw these clips.

Street scene

Once in a while, the entertainment industry pays a visit to our corner of downtown. This afternoon it looked like they were shooting a music video. Or maybe a scene for one more of those "Stomp" movies.

Revolving Sushi

Another sushi excursion, this time not at Hide Sushi but at Daichan Kaiten Sushi, one of these sushi bars with the conveyor belt. We only got a few of the dishes off the belt, and ordered the rest from the chef, who sat us right in front of him. This night was about gobbling up lots of types of sushi for pretty cheap.

Consumed:

Frothy mugs of Kirin
Ono (explained as "white tuna")
Inari (adorable, miniature stuffed tofu skins)
Hamachi (middling)
Uni (good, but so small they were almost circles instead of ovals)
Unagi (perfect soft, flaky flesh and crisp exterior)
Salmon skin roll (fine)
Scallop Dynamite (filled with mostly other things besides scallops, and tiny bay scallops at that.)
Tako (unimpressive octopus, sliced too thin)
Edamame (warm, salty)
Spicy Scallop Roll (the bay scallops, tasty and overflowing, redeem themselves here)
Seared Tuna (ordered it, then regretted the "seared" part when the chef picked up a glistening red hunk of tuna. But then tasted it. Spectacular.)
Banana Tempura (smashed flat, then fried. Drizzled with chocolate sauce and on the house, the best kind.)

The ono was pure white and clean-tasting. But I'm not sure what type of fish it was, exactly. Searching on the Net didn't help. I learned that white tuna is usually called shiro maguro, and is white albacore tuna, or sometimes a fish called escolar. That Hawaiians eat a fish called ono, "after the Native word for 'delicious,'" (Wikipedia) but this fish is known elsewhere as wahoo. And that black marlin also sometimes poses as white tuna on sushi menus. V. confusing.

Sushi Night

Went again to Hide Sushi with Eric last night. It was packed, so we could not land the sushi bar and were instead seated at a table. Both agreed that the quality of the food is not the same when you are not at the sushi bar, where the chef is either (a) compelled by your nearness to give you the best cuts, or (b) close enough to see you really love sushi and are not a chump who will swallow his best cuts without tasting. So it may be better to hold out for the sushi bar, however hungry you are.

Sushi consumed (in no particular order, since it arrived at the table all at once):
Maguro (Tuna)
Hamachi (Yellowtail)
Uni (Sea Urchin)
Unagi (Eel)
Scallop Special (Sushi topped with chunks of scallop and flying fish roe, in a pink sauce)
Saba (Mackerel)
Red Snapper with salt and lemon (The flesh is scored, maybe to allow the seasonings to penetrate)
Tamago (Egg)

Also:
Clam and scallop dynamite (Baked in a small dish with flying fish roe, mushrooms, mayo, and finished with a squeeze of lemon.)

Voting is f*#!@'d up

On voting. It's f***ed up because:

1) Voting instructions are cluttered and nearly incomprehensible

2) You are a nonpartisan voter, and you sign up to vote in the Democratic primary (because what else really matters, right now?). But what you get in the mail is a sample ballot with only the local initiatives that you don't care about -- no presidential primary information at all.

3) You realize you never received the information booklet that explains the local initiatives -- so basically if the gov't had its way, you would be voting only on the items you don't care about, and you would be voting blind on those too.

Epilogue: I outsmarted THE MAN. I borrowed a Democrat's sample ballot, I voted for Obama*, and I read about the local initiatives and voted on most of those too. So, HA!

*I like Hillary too. In fact, I was impressed with her (finally!) after her debate with Obama here in Los Angeles on the 31st. He fumbled a lot and spoke generally, and she talked like someone who has thought through the issues carefully and thoroughly. However, if she is going to win the nomination, which it looks like she might, I want her and other Dems to see the support Obama was able to gather, because I think they could do well as a joint ticket.

Sushi night

Hurray! This is the first installment of my to-be regular sushi report. Wednesday nights, every other week, at Hide (said Hee-day) Sushi on Sawtelle Blvd, in the middle of "Little Tokyo West" here on the Westside of Los Angeles. The goal is a deeper understanding of sushi, how to eat it, how to order it, and to get to know a great local sushi bar and the 3 sushi chefs who man it.

Sushi consumed, in this order:
Maguro (Tuna)
Hamachi (Yellowtail)
Unagi (Eel)
Mirugai (Giant clam)
Saba (Mackerel)
Ikura (Salmon roe)
Tamago (Egg)
Vegetable Roll (Avocado, cucumber, radish sprouts, gobo)
Uni (Sea Urchin)

Ambition for next time: Red snapper sushi with lemon and salt, and what looked like a piece of shiso leaf between the snapper and rice. The couple next to us, who appeared to be regulars, were having it and it looked good.

Klutziness & tea leaves

Last night I kicked over a small table in my living room. It held a glass of red wine. The wine went flying. Some of my books and a good portion of carpet got doused. It was spectacularly bad.

Continuing in the same vein, this morning at the office I went for a jar of green tea and spilled a bunch of leaves on the floor. As I bent over to pick them up, I thought about what I always think about when I waste any tea leaves: Wang Lung, the poor farmer in The Good Earth, and how on the morning of his wedding he gives himself and his old father a special treat, a couple of tea leaves to flavor their breakfast hot water. His father scolds him for being wasteful but then slurps up the tea greedily. And Wang Lung drinks his tea and then chews and eats the precious leaves.

LLPMS

Around this time of the month, I have a few bad days. I'm emotional and cranky. I see the world through shit-colored glasses. I am unreasonably annoyed by everything. People who are just trying to be nice, store employees who don't do what I want them to do, the way food tastes a little blander than usual.

I also get sad very easily. Yesterday, in my car, I cried as I listened to a segment of NPR's StoryCorps in which a woman described growing up very poor in Appalachia, and how one time she forgot about a school assignment to bring in an object related to farm life, and her mother after a long day's work stayed up all night to fold a barn out of plain notebook paper. The girl found it in the morning and was amazed by it, had no idea her mother was capable of such a thing. The barn even had working doors.

Warm and fuzzy thoughts

Okay, in the time that it just took Blogger to unfreeze and reload, the warmth and fuzziness has already dissipated somewhat. But I'm going to try to recapture it.

My ideal life:

• Home is a cabin somewhere pure and isolated, but only an hour's drive away from a big city
• A job writing and designing greeting and holiday cards
• A nice husband and health for him, me, and all my family and friends
  
• Kids, but also solitude
• A fast Internet connection and a good kitchen
  
• An organic garden with vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers
• Nice neighbors who can watch my house when I'm traveling overseas
• An energy-efficient private jet to bring friends over for dinner parties

Okay, that last wish probably won't happen. But everything else might be doable in this lifetime, no?

Rich people annoy me

In New York earlier this week, the things that annoyed me most were the rich people. I was scouting winter fashions, and that meant sometimes going to places like 5th Avenue and downtown, where the women walk around in floor-length mink coats and men charge by in sleek suits and giant shiny shoes. In my puffy jacket and comfortable sneakers, I felt out of place and more than a little annoyed.

Back here in LA, I got that same feeling again this morning watching a corporate executive-type ahead of me in the line at Winchell's. He was accompanied by a little girl, about 7, who from the looks of things was probably not his daughter, (1) because they didn't look like family, and (2) because he was petting her hair and asking her for all kinds of input on the donuts. Oblivious to the fact that it was morning rush hour for donuts, the big man decided to turn the donut-buying into a teaching moment. As in, if we order a dozen donuts, they actually round up and give us 14, so how do we get to 34 donuts? A dozen, another dozen, and a half-dozen. Very good!

The worst part, though, was this exchange between the big man and this young Hispanic guy who took his order:

Big man: "We want 34 donuts."
Order-taker: "You want to choose, or we can assort them?"
Big man: "What?"
Order-taker: "You choose, or we assort them for you?"
Big man (loudly, indignantly): "What? I can't understand what you're saying!" (Read: "Learn to speak properly, you immigrant.")

I was so disgusted that as soon as another store clerk was free and it was my turn (while the big man and the girl were still busy selecting their 27th donut or something), I sprang into action and stole a couple of glazed bars from under his nose. He wanted four, but only got two, the poor bastard.

Cumin chicken bones

In which I attempt to explain a strange-sounding but revelatory dish.

First experience: Yesterday
Location: Shenyang Restaurant in San Gabriel
Cost: $4.98

During one of my family's early visits to this Dongbei* restaurant, we were halfway through our meal when we noticed that one particular dish was on everyone else's table, but not on ours. It looked like a pile of dark brown meat and bones, and the other diners seemed to relish picking through it. We felt left out and resolved to try it the next time.

Yesterday, back at Shenyang, we ordered the dish -- translated as Cumin Chicken Bones -- along with some sesame-and-salt flatbread. It was even better than I could have anticipated. Two chicken "frames," the skinny portions of the chicken left over after the "best" parts -- breasts, wings, legs and thighs -- are removed. The frames are chopped into hunks small enough to be handled with chopsticks, then simmered in a sauce of sugar, soy, and perhaps fermented bean, all flavored with a generous amount of cumin seeds. On the plate, the simmering liquid has become a sticky reduction that clings to tender bits of meat, skin, and cartilage. Had it been served on a more fleshy cut of meat, the sauce would have been pushed to the sidelines. Here, nibbling on the bony pieces, you revel in the sauce itself.

The dish does not look attractive, and neither will you as you are eating it. The only way to eat it is to lift a hunk of bone with your chopsticks and attack with your teeth, tongue and lips. How much of the fragrant meat you get depends somewhat on skill, and somewhat on patience, much like picking through a steamed Maryland blue crab.

One more reason this dish seemed so delicious: It was another example of how Chinese cooking, like other old cuisines around the world, has found ways for people to enjoy every last part of each animal we use for our nourishment.

*Dongbei literally means "East-North" and refers to the three northeasternmost provinces in China, bordered by Russia to the north and Korea to the east.