Top of the Class: Clyde Common

Greetings from Portland

When I looked outside the hotel room window in the morning, I noticed the white cotton-like fuzz falling from the sky. I watched the little icy flakes dance in the air, then fall slowly and peacefully on the ground … and wondered if I had just witnessed what people often refer to as … snow. The local news reported that many schools in the Portland area were closed this day and wished that I too can stay in for a snow day. But the bitter reality of adulthood is that you need to suck it up and drive to work in the snow because the company did not pay hundreds of dollars to fly me from Los Angeles to Portland so that I can make snow angels all day. I sure miss being a kid sometime.

I actually had the chance to feel like a kid that night, when Tiffany and I ventured out to Southwest Portland to check out Clyde Common for dinner, a restaurant that captured one of the top spots in Portland Magazine’s Best Restaurants list in 2008. We arrived at the restaurant which is connected to Ace Hotel, around 7:30 p.m. and were seated immediately on one of the long community tables where we shared the table with a foursome already enjoying appetizers and glasses of beer and wine. We were handed a menu printed on a notebook-like paper, with today’s date stamped on top like the one you get when you check out a library book. I almost wanted to handwrite my name on the menu in pencil and turn it in to a service staff. I felt like I was back in elementary school, with my classmates sitting next to me in this slightly more sophisticated and epicurean cafeteria.

We examined the menu as if it were a homework assignment and suddenly realized that we were assigned in a class far more advanced than our current culinary aptitude. Mind you, Tiffany and I take pride in our love for food and consider ourselves slightly above average when it comes to our level of knowledge in unique cuisines and ingredients – but not this night. We were virtually clueless as to what the majority of the items on the menu meant or how they tasted and we needed some serious hand-holding from a friendly service staff to tutor us in what to order for dinner!

For instance, can someone please tell me what the heck “lomo,” “aquavit,” “pappardelle,” and “pork rillette” are? Or better yet, please tell me how a beef tongue hash would go with my 2007 Domaine du Cros Marcillac. After studying the menu with items like pork rinds, beef tongues, marrows, and chicken livers, I realized that Clyde Common is a place with the Midas touch that can turn not-to-desirable animal parts into something new and adventurous, almost in a Fear-Factor-meets-Iron-Chef kind of way. I loved this restaurant’s commitment to using fresh, local ingredients that promoted sustainability, and its practice in using up everything in an ingredient.

Tiffany and I started the dinner by sharing an order of salad with Belgian endive, fennel, citrus and oil-cured olives. I was pleasantly surprised with the portion of the salad since many Portland restaurants only serve a tiny, kindergarten-sized plates. The freshness of blood oranges balanced out the slightly bitter flavors of the lightly-dressed endives and fennel.

My choice for dinner was grilled mackerel with roasted sunchokes and salsa verde. It is not typical to see mackerel — other than sushi or Japanese restaurants that consider this fish to be a staple of home cooking — on a menu at upscale restaurants. This fish is often considered as bait and even the hard-core fish lovers stay away from it. I would admit that this dish is pretty potent and is not recommended for a fair-weathered fish eater, but if you are a fearless eater like myself, do try it because the combination of pungent and salty fish, sweet roasted sunchokes (which tasted like a cross between red potatoes and parsnips) and a tangy, vinegary chimichurri-like salsa is top of the class.

Tiffany ordered the tagliatelli with wild boar ragu and granda padano, and although I’ve committed to stay away from meat (I still eat fish), I had to take a bite. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the ragu was out of this world. I like boar meat because it has a very distinct flavor without being too gamey.

By the way, the grilled hanger steak you see on top belonged to a very nice gentleman who sat next to us at our community table. I had to ask if I could take a picture of the lovely steak he ordered because it was so beautiful and he was kind enough to let me (he asked me if I was a food critic … haha). The steak came with cipollini onion, marrow, toast and horseradish sauce.

The dessert menu was one of the most impressive things about Clyde Common and you’ll see why when you find out its unique offerings of sweets like rosemary crème burlee, avocado ice cream, chocolate and scotch ice cream roulade, absinthe cake, and meyer lemon tartlet with pomegranate syrup, just to name a few. We decided on parsnip cake with cream cheese frosting and clove ice cream because we had never heard of putting this root vegetable in a cake and were too intrigued not to try — and it was delicious!

If this were school, Clyde Common will receive one of the top grades in the Portland culinary classroom where the competition is fierce and the expectations are high. It should also receive an extra credit for going beyond the usual repertoire and trying something unique and adventurous!

Clyde Common

1014 SW Stark Street, Portland, OR 9725

★★★★☆

Engery Booster: Homemade Granola Mix

I started training for the Los Angeles marathon in May. This will be my third marathon and this time, I’m determined to complete the 26.2-mile race in a reasonable time. Trust me, I’m not trying to run it in four hours, five hours, or even under six hours. I just want to be able to finish it while the sun is still up and the roads are not empty. My boyfriend jokes (or is he?) that, instead of a stop watch, he will buy me a calendar. Needless to say, I’m very slow. I’m actually slower than slow walkers. But that doesn’t stop me from taking on the challenge, darn it! And I’m happy that my colleague and friend Noelle have decided to run it with me. (By the way, I don’t run marathons because I like to run. In fact, I think running is evil. I just do it to collect medals because I’m a medal whore.)

Proper nutrition becomes extremely important when training for something crazy like a marathon. I know the energy bars can come in handy when you’re looking for a quick boost, but I get skeptical over the kind you buy at stores. First off, they look and taste like crap. Second, I can barely decipher the ingredients that are in them. And lastly, at couple bucks a pop, the cost can really add up.

I still want the nutritional benefits of the bar without compromising them with the mass-produced kind, so I decided to take the matter into my own hand and make my own, using the ingredients that I can actually pronounce. I used Alton Brown’s delicious and easy homemade granola bar recipe I saw on Good Eats.

Alton’s recipe called for several ingredients that I wanted to avoid – butter and honey – so I replaced them with canola oil and agave nectar respectively. Agave nectar, I learned, has lower glycemic index than regular sugar and honey, which, ah who cares, it just tastes better! And as for butter, I’m on a mission to eliminate as many animal-based products from my diet as possible. I was afraid at first that these substitutions would compromise the way these granolas form their shape and would crumble, but I figured I would rather eat a healthier, crumbly bar than an unhealthy solid one. It did make the granola slightly crumbly so instead of making it into a bar, I decided to enjoy it as a mix.

Homemade Granola Mix (adapted from Alton Brown, Good Eats)

8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats (approximately 2 cups)
1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds (approximately 1/2 cup)
3 ounces sliced almonds (approximately 1/2 cup)
1 1/2 ounces wheat germ (approximately 1/2 cup)
6 ounces agave nectar (approximately 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar (approximately 1/2 cups packed)
1 ounce canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

6-7 ounces chopped dried fruits (I used two kinds of raisins and apricots)

I got all the ingredients at Whole Foods. I love browsing through its dry food section because I could always find beans or grains I’ve never heard of that look interesting. (Note: There is a bottle of honey in the picture you see below, but it wasn’t used in this recipe … the bear just wanted to make a special appearance )

Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan and toast in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. In the meantime, prepare the wet ingredients by combining agave nectar, brown sugar, canola oil, vanilla extract and sea salt in a saucepan and cook until brown sugar is dissolved.

Combine the oat mixture, dried fruits (chopped to edible size) and the liquid. Make sure to do this immediately after removing the oat mixture from the oven. Pack the mixture tightly and evenly in a glass baking dish and bake in 300 degree oven for about 25 minutes (don’t forget to lower the oven temperature). By the way, the golden dried fruits you see are Hunza Golden Raisins and they were so delicious!

Remove from the oven and let it cool completely … and the result, a delicious homemade granola! Oh, and the total price of the entire thing came out to about $8.00. Now, you can’t beat that!

I’m going to go for a run just so that I can eat this

Sweet Reincarnation: Candied Lemon Peel Strips

I used about five lemons each day during The Master Cleanser detox and given that I was on the program for 10 days, you can figure out how many of these little citrus fruits I went through! After several days of squeezing lemons, I began to realize how wasteful I was being for throwing away all the precious lemon peels. Citrus peels have so much potential – they can turn into delicious homemade marmalade, a lovely potpourri or even herbal tea. I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do with them at the time, but I froze some in the freezer anyway in hopes of reincarnating them into something marvelous in the future.

While I was browsing through one of my favorite knitting blogs, Fig and Plum, I stumbled upon the recipe for Martha Stewart’s Candied Citrus Peels and instantly knew this was the answer for my leftover lemon peels.

I couldn’t remember exactly how much lemons I used here but I think it was about 10 medium-sized ones. I sliced them into a small, bite size strips that is easy to eat. The original recipe calls for 6 cups of sugar and 6 cups of water to make the simple syrup to cook the peels in, but I used 3 cups instead for both sugar and water. I don’t know why 6 cups are required since mine came out fine (still sweet and syrupy). I can’t imagine using 6 cups of sugar in anything – that just seems way too much!

First, you would need to boil the peels twice to get rid of the bitter taste. Put the peels in a pot full of cold water and bring it up to a simmer. Turn off the heat right when it starts to boil and drain. Repeat. By this time, your kitchen should be smelling lemony fresh!

Next, make the syrup by combining the sugar and water and bring to a boil until sugar dissolves completely. Add the strips to the boiling syrup and cook until each strip becomes translucent, about one hour. The syrup you see on the picture looks dark and that’s because I used the evaporated sugar cane sugar I purchased from Whole Foods which came with a tint of brown. If you use the regular, granulated sugar, the liquid should be translucent.

You can use the leftover syrup to sweeten up an ice (or hot) tea, or pour it on yogurt to add a lovely combination of sweet and slightly tangy. I let the liquid cool and poured it in a jar. It should keep, in the refrigerator, for about 2 weeks.

After letting them cool for a bit in the syrup, transfer the strips to a wire rack (I put newspaper and paper towel under to avoid a “sticky” situation) and let them cool. Once cooled, roll each strip in sugar (this is a fun part). Let each strip dry on the wire rack, about 30 minutes.

I was really happy with how these candied lemon peels turned out. I’m actually not really a candy person and those little mysterious fruit jelly things I used to get at Christmas used to scare me a bit. Even though this homemade version truly reminds you of that confection, these taste 100 times better because you know exactly how they were made and where the lemons came from. The candied peels are sweet but they still have the slight bitterness of the lemons which I love. There is definitely something to be said about being able to make your own food or snacks and regaining the power to determine what goes into your body. Don’t be fooled, however, that these are still candies and there are loads of sugar in them … but as in everything, they are heavenly in moderation.

I packaged mine in cellophane bags (I was able to make four bags) but Jessica from Fig and Plum packaged hers in a little clear jar which was totally adorable and very festive (she made them as holiday gifts!). I’m going to give the candies to my friends Noelle and Gabriel, who are also the graduates of the lemonade cleanse, my dear friend in Nashville who’ll be celebrating her birthday in February, and my parents   I hope they enjoy them!

Dressing It Up! Yamato

I once waited tables at a local Japanese restaurant called Yamato in Agoura Hills — just like all the other Japanese girls strapped for a little cash. Looking back, I have no idea where I got the energy to hold a regular 8-to-5 job and drive over to the restaurant afterward and work until 11:00 p.m., and still manage to go out to eat with friends after closing.  And all this while enduring the hideous kimono dress we waitresses had to wear!
Running around like a mad woman on crazy busy Friday and Saturday nights were tough but not as tough as serving delicious food on an empty stomach. I usually didn’t have enough time to eat before starting my shift so I would go hungry most of the time, and ending up salivating over all the dishes that came out of the kitchen and the sushi bar and fighting against the sizzling aroma of steaks and seafood from the teppan tables. You have no idea how many times I wanted to just dash out of the restaurant with a tray full of sushi rolls!

I got hit with the sudden urge to go to Yamato the other night — a feeling very similar to the craving I had when I was working there on an empty stomach years ago. I thought about sushi many times during my 10-day fast but I was a bit surprised to find that my craving was more toward the American sushi than the traditional kind. And it was the sushi and sashimi from Yamato that I craved the most.  So my boyfriend and I headed over there on Saturday night to tame my craving and to walk down the culinary memory lane… and thank goodness I didn’t have to sport that lame kimono this time!  (The dress code had since changed and service staff are now wearing a white dress shirt and a pair of black slacks.  Why couldn’t they have implement that when I was there?)

Among the many delicious food on the menu, there are three things in particular that I love from this place – two are sushi rolls called Double Sake Punch, a salmon lover’s delight, and 911, a spicy tuna roll covered in avocado and chili oil, both pictured above.  (These rolls just killed me when I used to work there!)  I always thought naming the sushi roll 911 was a bit inappropriate but I guess it’s just an innocent attempt to emphasize how hot this roll is from the chili oil. And last but not least, my all-time favorite item from Yamato is its house dressing.

The dressing here is seriously so delicious that I try to replicate it at home by mixing onion, daikon radish, ginger, garlic, vegetable oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce in a blender, and although it comes out close, I could never duplicate the exact flavor. I usually order the sashimi salad as a way to enjoy the dressing (pictured on top). The combination of crispy lettuce, juicy tomatoes, crunchy pickled gobo (burdock), airy katsuobushi (bonita flakes) and pieces of fresh sashimi dipped in ginger dressing is refreshing and mouth watering. I usually alternate dipping the fish in the dressing and the citrus ponzu sauce to add a little variation to the dish.

In addition to sushi menu, regular combination dinner sets are also available. My boyfriend ordered a two item combo this night, with assorted tempura and a halibut steak.
Maybe I’m biased because I’ve worked here in the past and I have a special attachment to the place, but I really do enjoy the food here. Most of the sushi rolls are very non-traditinoal but they are creative and really fun to eat. Yamato have several locations but my favorites are this one in Agoura Hills and the one in Encino. Check them out, and make sure to tip those waitresses well
Yamato
28700 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills, CA 91301
★★★★☆

When Life Throws You a Lemon … You Master Cleanse!

I am a real skeptic when it comes to anything gimmicky so this may come as a surprise when I share that I did Stanley Burroughs’ The Master Cleanser. I must admit that I even surprised myself when I first decided to voluntarily go without food for 10 days … I thought I had gone completely mad.

But more than the urge for food, my sister and I felt that it was important for us to get rid of all the junk and toxins we’ve accumulated in our bodies over the years (both figuratively and literally), and we felt that detoxing was a great way to kick start a healthier lifestyle. We decided to do it together at the beginning of January when the spell of the New Year’s magic was still very much alive, as we probably would not have had the willpower (and the sense of urgency) to do something like this in, say, May. Just a bit of a disclaimer here — we did not do the cleanse as a weight-loss measure. That would be creazy. It was purely for detoxicating, just so you know!

We started this “lemonade diet” immediately after we enjoyed the traditional Japanese osechi ryori my mother prepared on the New Year’s day, and stayed on it for 10 straight days. Today was my first day off the cleanse! The entire process was not as painful as I had initially anticipated. I thought just drinking the mixture of freshly squeezed lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper day in and day out would be torturous (and not to mention boring) but I was surprised to find that I LOVED the drink. It was really, really delicious and I felt like I can drink it forever (and the cayenne pepper really gave the drink the kick that I enjoyed so much). There were certainly some tough moments when the food craving skyrocketed off the chart, but that happened only a few times in 10 days, which is not a bad odd. And they were cravings (mental), not hunger (physical).

Speaking of food craving, two things I craved the most during the detox were a juicy piece of rib-eye steak and a steak salad from The Yard House (strange). I would dream about those two dishes and drool in my sleep! Beef certainly made my detoxing period a bit difficult  … grrrr.

However, the interesting part was that my craving for steak slowly subsided around the 6th day and it shifted to much healthier options, like fresh vegetables, tofu and even tempeh and seitan! By the 8th day, I no longer care about the meat (I was so over them) and my attention was fully on vegetarian and vegan dishes. I spent the last two days of the detox looking through the copy of The Real Food Daily Cookbook and bookmarked all the recipes I wanted to try once I’m off the detox. It was a total gastro porn, I tell you.

The Master Cleanser, as well as any detox program, requires some commitment and I would have never been able to do it without the support of my friends and family (special thanks to my boyfriend for being so sensitive with my strange needs, Noelle for all the helpful advice and guidance, Gabriel for the inspiration, my sister for motivation, and my folks for providing me with moral support). But if you’re thinking about cleaning out your system, The Master Cleanser is not a bad way to go. There are many detox and cleansing options out there (very popular one being the raw food diet) so definitely study them and select the one that best suite your goal and lifestyle. I’m happy that I did this one After only 10 days, I feel energized, more aware, a little lighter around my waist, and more importantly, very refreshed. And the fact that there are two giant lemon tress in my parent’s backyard helped me and my sister significantly because those organic lemons can be very expensive.

What you see here is the vegetable soup I made as the first meal coming off the cleanse — and perhaps the most satisfying soup I’ve ever had. I was not supposed to eat the soup until tomorrow night but I just couldn’t resist tasting that lovely tomato-based soup. I put garlic, zucchinis, celery, carrots, onions, cannellini beans, spinach, corn, diced tomatoes, vegetable broth … you name it, they’re in there, except for salt, that is. My sense of taste and smell had heightened so much during the cleanse that I didn’t need any seasoning, other than pepper, to enjoy the soup. This change has certainly made me appreciate the flavors of each ingredient in its purest form. By the way, I was only able to eat half of the bowl. I guess my stomach has shrunk, thanks to the cleanse. (It’s like getting a gastric bypass surgery without the pain.)

Happy New Year!

Japanese osechi ryori — what a way to start a new year!