use real butter

I’m in, you guessed it, Silicon Valley. I’m visiting with Elena and my grandma, which is kind of fun since I get to chill out with two people I really love and care about. Elena picked me up from the airport last night and we had 45 minutes to spend her birthday together. We talked until 2 am, in the dark, just sharing lots of thoughts and stories. That was pretty special.

This morning we picked up some coffee for grandma and went over to her place. For lunch, we had sushi at Umi Sushi – they remembered me and Grandma from the last time Jeremy and I took her there in December! The wife of the owner said she remembered us and that her husband (the head chef) was coming to work any minute to prepare our order (instead of letting the other chef do it). We felt so special. He loaded our order with such generous portions and special kinds of fish that we couldn’t finish all of the food (unheard of for me and Elena when it comes to sushi!). At the end of the meal, he asked if he could see the iphone – hee hee.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: korean glass noodles

I have to admit that I wasn’t exposed to much Asian cuisine other than Chinese when I was growing up. It was a big deal when my mom started cooking more western style foods when I was in junior high. When Dad began his foray into gourmet cooking, he went for the big splashes like rack of lamb or roast pork loin – something that makes your guests go “wow!” while you serve it up with a flourish.

I had been eating sashimi since I was four or five years old, but wasabi was my only introduction to Japanese food and it was prepared unceremoniously at our house as opposed to a sushi bar. And on rare occasion in Washington D.C. my parents would take me to a Vietnamese place for pho and then they’d order all sorts of things I refused to eat like tripe… When I went to college, I began to frequent the sushi bars, Thai restaurants, and other joints around the LA basin serving up good authentic Asian fare. Imagine my surprise when I took my parents to our favorite Thai restaurant and their reaction was, “meh.”

**Jump for more butter**

Happy 4th of July! It’s Independence Day here in the States and my feelings about this holiday are pretty predictable… not a huge fan, but easily dazzled by sparkly fireworks at night.

What I love about the fourth is most obviously the fireworks. The mosquitoes (mozzies for the Aussies) not so much.

Joey Chestnut unseated the reigning champion, Takeru Kobayashi, at the annual Nathan’s hot dog eating contest on Coney Island today. He ate a record 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. *erp* Takeru Kobayashi downed an impressive 63 in the same time, but was also suffering from a mouth injury. Competitive eating is serious business and totally fascinating and unappetizing at the same time! No hot dogs for me today, thanks.

We had our July fourth bbq for lunch today. I find the large meal in the evening makes for that fat, sleepy feeling, whereas the large meal at lunch gets worked off with the activities of the remainder of the day – if you don’t go lie on the couch “for a minute”. If you’ll recall, I baked the ribs covered in foil in a slow oven overnight for 8 hours. This morning, I found the meat to be tender and delicate – as in, ready to fall off the bones. Perfect.