One man's by-catch...

Ohhhh mannn!

Apparently, there is a surfeit of squid in the Pacific Northwest this year. It's called a "by-catch" there, and described as "unusable". Imagine, all that squid going to waste...

C'mon, guys. Have some imagination. I'd rather eat a nice roasted squid over pollock (the main catch) any day. Even better, it could be eaten raw as squid sushi or sashimi. Or if you're too squeamish about it, cut up into rings to be fried as calamari. Want something exotic, use the ink to color pasta. Dried like jerky, they are a popular snack here in Taiwan, and almost all protein. No insult to octopuses, but there is no tastier and more versatile cephalopod the squid.

The Alameda Swap Meet

Going by the recommendations found on the invaluable Chowhound, Quyen and I decided to go for lunch at the Alameda Swap Meet the day I fly out of L.A. It was quite the experience.

I was quite taken with the boldly pastel signage outside the swapmeet.

But the real attraction ofcourse is the food. Here is Quyen with our first stop at a Taco stall. She started light with a Taco with pork Al Pastor. I'm still not quite sure what that term means. Meanwhile, I pumped for the sopes you can see in the foreground -- a thick, corny disk liberally slathered and splattered with refried beans, pork cheeks, cilantro and cheese! The stewed pork cheeks were so tender they fall apart in your mouth.

After the taco stand, we wandered around the market and got various snacky items like the hot corn with lime and chili powder, which was unusual, but not particularly outstanding. We also each had an agua fresca. Those Mexican refreshers were very fruity, which is good, but also very sweet, which is not so good. I felt like we were basically drinking fruit flavored simple syrup. Still, I kept taking little sips. The lime was better than the watermelon because the sharpness of the lime cut through the sugariness of the drink. It was even better after some of the ice cubes melted into it.

We then decided to take on one more big dish. I was in the mood for seafood, so we got a seafood torte for only $8.50. It was enormous! Here I am, poised to spear.

And here is a closeup of the salad. As you can see, there was a great quantity of shrimp, as well as octopus and "abalone". The only annoyance was the equally enormous quantity of fake crab which had to be gotten out of the way. If only we spoke Spanish, we could have told the woman to leave it out altogether.

I have to say, this was not tip-top quality seafood. But it was fresh enough, and where else can you gorge yourself on such a large amount of seafood for $8.50?

All in all, the Alameda swapmeet is a great place for lunch. It wasn't until after we headed out to the parking lot that we realized that we were the only non-hispanic people we saw at the swapmeet that day!

My L.A.

Technorati Tags: vietnamese, L.A.
What does L.A. usually mean to people? Lots of highways? Rodeo drive? Rollerblading in Santa Monica? Well, perhaps it is all of those things. But to me, going to L.A. always means visiting my friend Quyen and eating lots of yummy food, especially Vietnamese food that her parents prepare. Here's me with a Vietnamese sandwich, which is a favorite way to start the day here Chez Quyen, along with a big glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

This is the third time I have stayed with Quyen's family. Her parents own a pharmacy and are quite busy, but somehow they find the time to cook some truly delicious feasts for Quyen and I. For instance, yesterday we had broiled catfish Vietnamese style.

The catfish was still swimming just hours before, and the sweet flesh is cooked to moist perfection under the broiler. It is served in a rice paper wrapper along with rice noodles, herbs, lettuce and sauteed scallions. I love the herb plate at Quyen's house. Along with the usual mint and cilantro, there is rau ram, perilla, sorrel and a fishy tasting herb. The rice paper is not soaked, as many cookbooks erroneously recommend, but swiped with wet gauze so that they become pliable but not sodden. Everybody has their own rolling style. I started off making neat little rolls much like you would see in the restaurant, but quickly adapted Quyen's style, which is to make an open-ended roll that holds much more filling. Quyen's mom, on the other hand, likes to stuff so much fish and veggies into her roll that they barely hold together, and usually fall apart after the first bite. Quyen's dad goes one further and just puts all the ingredients in his bowl with the rice paper on top!

There will be more good food today -- Pho for a late breakfast and "korean" barbeque for dinner. And tomorrow it will time for our other L.A. ritual: Outlet shopping!

Austenite Omnivores of the World, Unite!

Technorati Tags: tasteability, blogging
Welcome to Taste and Tasteability, the blog of two avid eaters. Quyen first started to cook in the cramped dorm kitchens, and she attracted some odd looks for washing big knives in the bathroom and mixing cookie dough in the hallways. She is currently a grad student in Durham, North Carolina, where she enjoys hosting weekly dinner parties and cooking for her fiancee, who would otherwise be subsisting on a diet of tacos and fast food. And occasionlly, she finds time to work on her dissertation ...

Angelica lives on the other side of the world in Taipei, Taiwan. She likes to think that being as omnivorous as possible is part of her life's mission. Taipei is a wonderland of street foods as well as an odd melange of authentic and inauthentic foods from around the world. When she manages not to eat at the night markets, she enjoys concocting new dishes (and cocktails!) from local ingredients. She has successfully converted her husband to cooking and he is in many ways more fanatical than she -- he managed to recreate a chili in Taiwan that won rave reviews.

Yes, dear readers. We know that "tasteability" is not a word. What we are trying to convey here is the two sides to enjoying food that we think are important. On the one hand, there is the world of fine dining, of truffle mousses and peking duck and a confit of something drizzled with a thinggummy coulis. But along with such tasteful offerings we must balance what is just plain tasty: A good tuna noodle casserole, warm cookies and cinnamon grahams. We hope to be posting about all our culinary and gustatory adventures on this blog. As Julia Child would say, Bon Apetit.

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Strawberry, chocolate, ice cream, jelly.