In the chaotic kitchen of a recipe developer, you get a food blog called FoodMayhem.
I'm Jessica, an Asian-American, born and raised in NYC, and that's Lon, my Jewish, white husband. While professionally trained as a French culinary- and pastry chef, many of FoodMayhem recipes are my attempt to preserve and share authentic Chinese and Taiwanese recipes learned from my mom. We don't eat Chinese food every day, so you'll get a little bit of anything we find delicious enough to share: from our Eastern European side; recipes and techniques learned from my restaurant days; restaurant reviews, food travel tips; and a few other juicy bits along the way. Welcome to FoodMayhem!
It was Angie’s birthday and Angie is a Taste Bud, a term I’ve given to friends who share my love of food and have impeccable taste. I get restaurant recommendations from her all the time. You can thank her for introducing us to Degustation, Eletarria (closed now), The Red Head, and many more. She’s no stranger to the bakery scene either, so my brain was cranking. What would it take to impress her?
Mizuna is new to me, a green I found at the farmer’s market, with a little sign that said something like, great in salad. It’s slightly peppery but less so than arugula, which I love but Lon doesn’t, so I thought it would be a nice compromise. Even though I removed the thick stems and only used leaves, Lon thought Mizuna was a bit rough. It is certainly a lot stiffer than butter lettuce but I found it to be suitable for salad, so I guess it just depends on preference.
I decided on a salad of Mizuna leaves, heirloom tomatoes, avocado, and fresh red onion, with a Pomegranate Lime Dressing. You can decide on the proportions yourself, but remember to squeeze a little lime juice over the avocado so that it doesn’t brown.
Pomegranate Lime Dressing
~4 servings
Instructions –
Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil gradually. You can season the dressing or the salad, just before serving.
I had this recipe for Petite Lemon Curd Cookies bookmarked since way way back. It was actually physically bookmarked in my December 2003 edition of Gourmet magazine. I used to collect lots of food magazines and even though I no longer subscribe (my last issue was January 2006), I can’t bear to throw them away. I know that all the Gourmet and Bon Appetit recipes are available on-line, but there’s something special about these magazines to me. They signify the time in my life when I decided to break free of the Chinese-American mold (I was told I would be an attorney since birth) and devote my life to food. There have definitely been some tough times. Working with food is not very lucrative, and I’ll certainly never make what I could have as a lawyer, but as I finished up these pictures and sat down for a few afternoon cookies, I felt completely at peace and in place. I know this is what I was meant for.
Since I made the Carrot and Daikon Slaw, I’ve been anticipating a Banh Mi Sandwich, but when I started making dinner, I had a wild craving for some juicy red meat. The compromise was a Bahn Mi Burger. There’s no way that could be bad right? Not only was it not bad, Lon and I gobbled it down, barely coming up for air, and then agreed to make it again soon. We also contemplated opening a little shop that only sold Banh Mi Burgers and taro fries. Yes, we did have it with taro fries. It was perfect.
