Holy freakin Christmas folks

Oh my this has been a wonderful Christmas indeed. I am going to have to do some reading and report back soon.....


Merry Christmas to all

Dots Delicatessian 4262 Fremont Avenue North, Seattle (206) 687-7446

This hole in the wall delicatessen nestled on the hill side of the great neighborhood of Fremont in the greatest city in the NW Seattle Washington. This little shop is the home of all of my hopes and dreams it is even next door to a book store dedicated to cook books that gives out local Molly moons ice cream on hot days and has food demos.......but I digress when you walk into dots there is a deli case featuring a rotating selection of all local freshly butchered meats. AND a simply food-gasmic selection of house cured meats, pâtés, terrines, mousses, sausages, salamis, and oh god they have the best head cheese. S a Seattle native I am used to fresh, local, and often pretentiously priced fine foods. But dots is for the every day person. They have 4 small tables so you can stop for lunch and grab meat for dinner or have a quiet dinner. They do not open early or stay open very late. They run out of things only because they are so damn good. And it will not rape your bank account. The walls are lined with old and new antlers and a I pad register. They are friendly knowledgable and they have beer on tap..... Well they have a tap serving only one beer brewed by one of the best breweries in the USA Fremont brewery. They redefine delicatessen. Simple, good, pure, local. If you are ever in Seattle I highly recommended stopping for some pâté and a pint......

Till next time
God speed space man
Falcon Archer

Kim chi bitches

Ok so let me start this entry off with a little fact about myself. I am a VERY firm believer that the best Kim chi is made by little old ass Korean ladies. Now I say that with the utmost respect and love. Kim chi is alive its cultured and when someone with many years of fermented goodness under there belt the Kim chi responds and blooms to its full potential. My Korean friend we will call her Yeojin Park (originally from New Jersey but now residing in the PDX) thinks I am a little crazy.
I am.
But I also love a good challenge. So I decided to start making myself into a little old Korean lady so some day I can make some bomb ass Kim chi like the little ladies with wrinkly hands at the H mart.

Step one torture my Korean friend for safely guarded Kim chi recipe:

Check
Collect ingredients
Check
Follow instructions
Check mostly

And now
For my final result

Luck peach???

Have you read lucky peach???

If the answer is no stop reading and order all of them off amazon (there are only 5)

If yes then you have done a good job at life.

I just finished the 5th issue. It has been out for a hot minute but I have been really busy with work and Pre holiday bullshit .so it has been sitting on my table. But I sat down smoked and read it. It was soooooo good it is strange that my favorites have been issues 1,3, and 5. So I feel like David Chang needs to know that I have very high expectations for issue #6 break the cycle David!!!

Ha ha ha I just realized that you might think I didn't absolutely love 2 & 4 (well I did).
This "Chinatown" issue is spicy and vinegary it made me want to run out and go Chinese food hunting.

Other of my fav food magazines include:
Meat paper
Gastronomic

My love for two men

I want to talk about foie gras.

Please try not to judge me, I come to you as a simple omnivore.
Eating meat and loving life.
The first time I had this umami, piece of heavenly deliciousness I was in France in a small town named Paris. I was very young only 13 and I had the most amazing experience discovering France for a months and a half. Unfortunately I was suffering from an underdeveloped pallet and I did not appreciate all the wonders that is French cuisine. But later, I became obsessed with the stuff. It is sooooo good. I will eat it day and night. I recently discovered salt cured foie and oh man was that like a little piece of heaven. They serve it at my favorite deli in Seattle, Dots Delicatessen. A full overview of my favorite spot ever will appear in a later entry.
My rejuvenation in the world of the forbidden food came after watching a TED talk with a NY chef who goes by the name of  Dan Barber. He is not only a James Beard award winning chef but a lover of foie and and a very funny man. in his TED talk he focuses on a man in Spain. The foie god Edward Sousa who makes humane foie gras.

Now before you watch i have a few words to say about animal cruelty:
I believe that PETA is a good thing. There are more animals that need a voice then not. But I do not think that banning foie is the answer. I believe that like many systems it just needs to be changed. Revolutionized, for modern times. I believe that by taking such a black and white stand on an issue that is very grey and has a proven solution that PETA is shooting itself in the foot.

Take a look at this TED talk and tell me what you think. But I warn you, you might fall in love with two men at the end of the video.

A poem for my shun

A precious piece of cutlery,
My shun
To find a grip most comfortably.
A slice a dice,
Makes my life nice.

For Oprah she was wrong,
The best tool, it can't be wrong.
Engrossed in muscle
memory,
scalpel, needle, tactile feeler.

You were my first, my favorite.
Rust
Buff

Dull
Stone

Top 5 reference books on my shelf

Top 5 reference books in my culinary library:

#1 on cooking by Harold McGee
#2 salted by Mark Bitterman
#3 sauces by James Peterson
#4 herbs and spices by Jill Norman
#5 Larousse Gastronomique a world culinary encyclopedia

I have found these to be my most referred to books in my kitchen. They range in price but are excellent for any heavy duty cook. The only one of these to be mandatory reading from my culinary school was (of course) On Cooking by the great Harold Mc Gee. But I do wish that. There had been more reference books. I love them. For example herbs and spices is a DK book. Full of beautiful color photos, this book has just about every herb and spice one might need. and few you probably never will. If you do not know this Salted was written by a local from Portland Mark Bitterman. Mark and his wife own a small shop called The Meadows it is a salt, chocolate, bitters, wine, and flower shop in the NE on Mississippi ave. If you have not made it up there yet I highly recommend it. It is like a chapel of salt with high walls of little jars, and best of all you can try all there salt and bitters. It's fuckin awesome. #3 and #5 are staples of any culinary school graduate I should have to explain why they are on the list and if for some reason you do not have either go get them both and be a happier and more educated cook forever more.

Till next time,
God speed spaceman
Falcon Archer

Tools in the kitchen part one

I have in my recent years as a foodie and culinary student realized that i have a serious problem with useless kitchen gadgets. So I threw out all the things that I deemed as "useless objects" in my kitchen : cheese slicer, butter knives, that thing that only cuts apples for children, etc. as I was about to throw out the forks my (wonderful, handsome, and VERY "western") boyfriend came home and for some reason freaked the fuck out. Apparently he "needs" all of these useless tools......I do not. We got into a very funny argument about the usefulness of the "fork" and the "butter knife" both of which i deemed unnecessary because they only had ONE function. fork = shovel.

I feel that we are too refined as a species to be eating with shovels. We are no longer cave men or peasants; In fact even peasants in the poorest parts of the eastern world have a more gracious way of eating than Americans. We need to be using chopsticks. A refined and precise tool. For the modern man, and women.

The chopstick is the second most useful tool in a kitchen besides the knife. It was invented in 1766 BCE in china and has spread throughout the Asian world. Some westerners do not have the "skills" to use this finely tuned, and superior tool. However if you take the time to learn to use them you may never go back to the fork (or mouth shovel as i call it). I must admit that ever since I discovered the chopstick my life has never been the same. This sexy, sleek, and powerful tool is like little tongs and we all know that tongs are by far the best line cook tool EVER. So I would like to encourage all of you western type bipeds to start using ONLY chopsticks for a week and see what a world with out the mouth shovel is like.

I CHALLENGE YOU:

There are many choices so pick one of the following. my personal; favorite and household staple is the "heavy metal" Korean.

Here are several different types of chopsticks (there are many more):


the "fatty" Chinese (plastic or porcelain):



the "skinny" wooden Japanese:


the "heavy metal" Korean (and spoon):


the "westerner" chopstick



the "shorty" for children:


and we must not forget the disposable chopstick:




so remember foodies........DOWN WITH THE FORK!
till next time,
god speed spaceman
-falcon archer