Homemade Takoyaki and other Japanese Delights

I really bonded with Christophe (also known as Note!) and Meghan on our way back from MagFest. They had spent 3 years living in Japan and invited me to their Brooklyn home to make tako-yaki! If you've been watching my eating habits for the last 6 months, you'd know that I have been obsessed with the little gastropod cakes. It was a lot like a fondue party! Other friends Josh and EMi arrived with an epic bag of craft beers (left). We set up an electric grill with a tako pan in the living room and we all got to help. Meghan ladled the batter, I put in the squid (we didn't have octopus), Josh and EMi worked on the mushroom fontina balls (pfff vegetarian) and Christophe added pickled ginger and scallions.

Once the molds were filled, they were left to cook. When the skin is formed, you carefully take chopsticks and flip the balls quickly. It took all the power in my body to resist from eating the undone ones. I was soooo hungry. While we waited, Meghan brought out miso soup and edamame.

 

 Hot off the grill pan, the ika-yaki (is that right?) were topped with Kewpie mayo, tako sauce, seaweed flakes, more pickled ginger and bonito. I love the large sheets of bonito because they wave in the air when steam hits them. We made another half-pan after the first batch. I loved how crispy they got on the outside and gooey on the inside. Squid was actually much easier to eat and didn't have the chewy ew-factor of octopus. For dessert, I helped make mochi for our red bean soup. I ate two bowls of it, #fattie. We had been talking all night and sipped on things like chili tea, sake and plum liquor. I had so much fun hanging out! My turn to cook next time!

My first surprise sandwich deliveries to Manhattan!

 

My random sandwich project at Escoffiette is starting to get exciting! I decided to not limit myself to Brooklyn deliveries and got a couple orders for Manhattan. Here are the sandwiches from that day:

• Bresaola, smoked mayo, duck salami, and onion jam on rosemary foccacia

• Braised bratwurst, onions, chopped leeks and dill on walnut bread

• Stewed chicken, balsamic carrots, dill, and onion jam on french bread 

• Moroccan tuna sandwich (preserved lemon, olives, cornichons) on french bread

I actually ate that last one (and hence, didn't have a photo) because my delivery at MTV invited me to sit down and hang out, which I was very happy to do ! Special thanks to Peter, Mark and Jimmy for being my guinea pigs! 

Interested in helping test the service? Read about it here.

 

  

My trip to Magfest #9 - Day 2, Evening + Unexpectedly Meeting Michel Richard

The sun started to fade away from the cracks between the curtains and more people started to fill into the concert hall.George and Jonathan walked onto the stage with their trademark highlighter-bright hoodies. I made sure to shimmy my way to the front for this audio assault. After several false starts of what sounded like The Best Christmas album, they actually began the set with a chill track called "Whales." See the video below!

Philly's resident power trio of chip, Cheap Dinosaurs, closed out the chip showcase and we couldn't have asked for a more appropriate set to amp us up for playing more games. 

 I was fiercely hungry after the show and decided to check out Finn & Porter, the restaurant in the hotel (because sorry, MagFest, your in-house catering wasn't very healthy). It wasn't crowded and there was a sushi chef, I got really excited. I braced myself for really high prices, but the chirashi wasn't actually that bad. It was $12.00 for a bunch of raw fish over rice. We didn't know we were buying into a 2 hour meal. Not only did our order take forever, there was one lone server handling almost the whole front of the house. My bowl of fish was gone in under 5 minutes. They also gave us 2 soy sauce packets per person. As we were finishing up, a couple of us left to get cash from an ATM. We ran into a distraught friend who told us that MagFest was going to go bonkers because the ATM was broken. We went back to tell our server and ask if we could have separate checks for cards and she gave me the dirtiest sneer as she walked away. Hey, I'm sorry you're slammed at work but it isn't my fault ! It was such a negative experience that this restaurant doesn't even deserve a hyperlink. And yes, I'm still pretty mad about it.

We needed to relax! Our hotel suite quickly turned into a crazy party complete with 90's rap jams, Bomberman projected on the wall, refreshments and a surprise set by Dauragon that almost got us kicked out of the hotel. Pardon the extra dirty video, I recorded it on an ipod touch (didn't even know you could do that).


Dauragon C. Mikado @ MAGfest 9 from Dauragon C. Mikado on Vimeo.

To escape the po-po, I went downstairs to play a shit ton of DDR (got schooled by the Red Power Ranger) and retro arcade cabinets. Got pretty far on Frogger and decimated on Mappy, it is SO HARD.  After I took a bathroom break, there was a dance circle forming and as I walked by, a crazy asshat decided to start doing the worm. On his way down, he kicked me in the bum very hard. My immediate reaction was to turn around and yell "F**k you!" He looked very hurt and acted like he didn't do anything wrong. Instead of saying sorry, he complained that I cursed at him. I said, "What do you do if someone surprises you with a kick in the ass?" Really. It was getting very late and spent gamers were passing out on the floor in our hotel suite. I had the most-awesome-extreme distinction of staying at someone's house in Maryland, in my own bed. I quickly took up the offer and woke up to an amazing bagel brunch complete with lox. At the time, I had no idea that the jolly Frenchman sitting next to me was none other than Chef Michel Richard! He kept poking at me and told me that I ate a lot for a girl my size. If he had seen the food at MagFest, he'd be starving too. Of course, I failed to tell him that I'm an aspiring cook in New York City but I have a feeling that this won't be the last time he pokes at me.

All in all, MagFest was a great time and good opportunity to bridge the gap between music and gaming. While some of the edges desire some polish, it's a fan-run event that refreshes the palate of commercial franchises. 'Cause sometimes in your face marketing and limited demo play leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

My trip to Magfest #9: Day 2, Afternoon

And the music chipped on at the Magfest #9 concert hall. After Note! 's rousing set, Danimal Cannon took the stage (left). Armed with a dmg and a guitar, Dan appeared unphased erstwhile playing 2 additional sets in other bands. 

I was excited to finally meet Wizwars, but due to some issues, he was unable to perform with Dark Warriors. Nevertheless, the band fared well and managed to get me to dance a little to the surfy bits (below).

Our host extraordinaire, Zen Albatross, threw down some heavy beats. Check the video below! The man curates shows, put together a history presentation about chip music AND played a set. I'd have ripped my hair out from the stress of such a thing.

Ok, now brace yourself for one of the greatest chip, NO... music discoveries of 2011. Noisewaves had me swaying with my eyes closed like I was at an Explosions in the Sky show. If you've ever had a penchant for the gentle destruction of post rock, swishing landscapes and soft IDM sounds of the NES, Noisewaves is your haven. I don't know about you, but I'm also always warmed a little more when the bands you like are super awesome to hang out with. I wish Shawn and Ryan didn't live all the way out in Michigan! I was so eager to share this performance with the world that we all sat around my computer in the hotel room and watched it upload.

Excuse me, I'm going to listen to their Live from Magfest 9 album ALL DAY. brb.

My trip to Magfest #9 - Day 2, Morning

My recent trip to Sweden taught me a few things about sleeping in difficult, loud situations. I awoke for my first full day of Magfest, well rested on a couch-bed. I peeled off my very dark eye-mask, pulled out my ear plugs and beanie. The first people to spring awake were Shawn and Ryan from Noisewaves, they were jolly and re-energized for soundcheck later that day. People started to groan and wait in line for the bathroom. I dressed quickly and made my way to the "retreat" part of the hotel where they were servicing staff meals. I'm not sure how I was qualified to eat there amongst the cogs behind the fest, but I got my plate of buttered pancakes and bottle of gatorade. Real fuel, it wasn't. Not that I'm complaining about free food, but hey..if you've been reading this blog for a while you'd understand.

I watched the chip showcase bustle to fruition. Don and Alex set up their visuals; known separately as NO CARRIER and enso, together as Cosmic Morning.  Ryan from Noisewaves checked and tightened his drum kit. It looked like he drew on the bass head with a marker. Mister Zen Albatross was running back and forth across the room setting up a projector for his slide presentation, "A Brief History of Chiptunes." Joey from Cheap Dinosaurs tuned his guitar. I ate a bag of chips.

Festival guests started to flood into the concert space for the presentation and Noisewaves was still soundchecking. Cheap Dinosaurs were on deck to check and I wondered if people were getting impatient or more curious about what was going on. 

After all of the bands were checked, everyone sat on the floor to listen to Josh / Zen Albatross talk about chip music. He went pretty far back! I hoot n' hollered whenever he mentioned Pulsewave, the Tank or Blip Festival. I also live tweeted the whole thing, which made his phone chirp a bunch of times while he was trying to talk. Bemused Dauragon and I joked that we should have made the whole presentation into a drinking game. Alas, festival security would let anyone with bottles pass through the doors. The presentation closed with a Q & A with some of the performing chip artists. I left to get lunch and this time it was "tacos" that more resembled burritos. Man, gamers really don't like fruits or vegetables huh? More Gatorade injected into my body and I jetted back to the concert hall to see Note! take the stage.

You'll see that I really really like to play with the stupid digital zoom on my camera. Mid-way through, you'll find a little boy dancing along to the music. Never too early to start 'em, huh?

My trip to Magfest #9 - Night 1

The 9th annual Music and Gaming Fest (Magfest) was held last weekend in Alexandria, VA at the Hilton. Four days of 24 hour free play gaming, music and people letting out the battle cry of Colossus from the X-men arcade game. Magfest is an event by fans and for fans. It didn't appear as organized or smooth as PAX but refreshing to not have corporate sponsorship shoved down your throat. All of the games were free to play and not just demos! As a casual gamer and more importantly A GIRL, I was pretty intimidated going in but I soon found my place with the Dance Dance Revolution crowd.

 

I had actually arrived in Washington DC pretty late on Friday night with Note! who insisted on stopping by what he considers the best rest stop on the way to DC, the Delaware Welcome Center. I agree, it was the nicest rest stop I had ever been to! At the hotel, I went through registration and got my badge, eagerly awaiting to meet up with my friends. I luckily ran into Zen Albatross who was about to go to our hotel suite. What great timing! I was worried about cramming 10 people into a room, but we were ballin' with a two room suite, complete with couch bed. New friends, Shawn and Ryan from Noisewaves were passed out in sleeping bags from their long trip from Michigan, others were just chattering and Joey from Cheap Dinosaurs was screen printing t-shirts on a tarp. With barely any time to really sit down, we were already heading back downstairs from our 20th floor hideout to catch Metriod Metal. I spied on a guy who was using a foot controller to play Super Metroid along with the music!

Somewhere in there, my dear friend Emi and I brushed up on our DDR (meaning, we failed). The gaming hall was divided up into different categories: retro gaming cabinets, body/motion games, LAN and console. I wish I had found some pokemon trainers to murder...err, I mean battle.

Eating Sweden (Sort of) Part 5

 It was our last night in Stockholm and we wanted to get together with good friends to have some authentic Swedish food at Pelikan. We had all been poisoned by the flavor of Ikea's linty meatballs and I can testify to you today that I will never eat at IKEA again, for I have experienced the REAL THING. We gathered together the legendary chip-Swedes of Stockholm, kind of like Pokemon: Role Model, Covox and Random. They unanimously told us to get the meatballs, so we did ! Before we got to the main event, plates of pickled herring and cheese arrived with crunchy flatbread.

I grew accustomed to putting butter on the Wasa-like flatbread and piling yummy things on it. The herring came pickled three ways: in cream, horseradish and finally in mustard. It also came with a slab of white pressed cheese speckled with cumin seeds. I didn't recognize anything on the other cheese plate, but it was a delightful mix of bloomy, blue and pressed.

A note about herbs: the thyme in Sweden was so delicate! It was so soft that you could simply eat the stems, unlike some varieties here in the states--which are woody, chewy and dense. The table next to us ordered the boiled pig's knuckle. Pelikan does not mess around, the things are as big as my head!

I can't express to you how deeply fulfilling my inner was. After all of my airport strife, sickness and trudging through the snow, solace landed on my plate. Tender meatballs as big as my fist, bathing in silky gravy and accompanied by real lingonberries, buttery mashed potatoes and sour pickles. The only tragic part of this was that I was so full from the appetizers that I could barely eat just one meatball. All of the guys shook their heads at me in shame. How could I blaspheme the best meal on our trip? I vowed to heat them up the next morning for breakfast and I did, bright and early at 6am!

Eating Sweden (Sort of) Part 3

The 2pp crew and I celebrated New Year's eve with a hearty teppanyaki dinner in Stockholm at Murasaki. We were skeptical at first because it was the first thing we saw outside of the metro stop and the downstairs looked empty. We ascended some stairs and discovered a classy looking lounge that led into a cushy dining room with an amazing snowy view of the nearby square. I pointed out a prix fixe 3 course dinner that roughly came out to $15 a person, couldn't be all that bad! As we peeled off layers of snow clothing, our first course of nigiri arrived. Tuna and salmon that melted in your mouth, I couldn't believe it. The teppanyaki (Japanese bbq) courses arrived and we got double orders of salmon and duck. Pieces of salmon as thick as my hand, amazing duck with fat to render on the grill; we were in heaven. 

 

 I enjoy Japanese bbq, I get a kick out of cooking my own food. Asif and I were marinating tong-fulls of duck in teriyaki sauce and letting them glaze on the grill. Mushrooms soaked up the duck fat and little baby corn glistened in the heat. Paul L. was so enamored with the salmon, he started to eat it raw! It was getting close to midnight and we couldn't muster the energy to eat the 3rd course of ice cream!

We gathered the camera gear and trudged past Slussen to where a lot of Swedes were ringing in the new year. I shivered to the sounds of a really terrible cover band, it was entertaining to watch people go nuts to a rendition of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." As the clock neared midnight, the snow started to come down in bigger clods; almost blinding the fireworks across the water. What a new year it will be!

Eating Sweden (Sort of) Part 2

And shall we continue our adventure in Sweden? After I frolicked for a good 20 seconds, I got too cold and got sick. Maybe it was the snow fight or the whiskey, I don't know. I wasn't feeling good and spent a whole day laid up in the hostel while my cohorts began shooting footage around Stockholm for a documentary. We were invited to have dinner at our friend Johan's house. Oh, you might know him as Role Model or the creator of LSDJ. As we took the metro to his house, I practiced my Swedish by reciting all of the train stops after the announcer, "Skarpnack! Gamla Stan! Hötoret! Hagsatra!" If I said, "Hej" and followed it with any of the words I learned, it might sound like I know Swedish. When we arrived, we were greeted by a little dog named Nixon. He did some tricks for us! Johan's ladyfriend, Emilie, fixed us an awesome comforting meal of lasagna, red cabbage slaw and gingerbread cookes! I suddenly felt better after two large helpings and sitting by the fire afterward. Johan tried his hand at no-knead bread and he didn't think he did it right, so he squirted ketchup on it (I don't know why either).

The lasagna was fantastic! It had a white sauce instead of red, so it was a lovely degree of creamy on the inside. I personally love the crispy noodle parts, so I went for edge slices. Again, I had TWO slices. This is a big deal because I don't eat very much, but when I do love something, I can't get enough of it. I also couldn't get enough of Emilie's homemade gingerbread cookies. They were all fun animals like peacocks and sheep! I wish all things could be cured by a good meal, don't you?

Eating Sweden (Sort of) Part 1

Because I wanted to clean our my fridge before I left Brooklyn and didn't want to pay for expensive airport lunch, I brought a cheese sandwich and a whole tub of mache dressed in rosemary oil. This ended up being an amazing thing because I was trapped at JFK airport for 30 hours! You can read about that tragic saga by clicking here. I had a lot of time to explore JFK's terminals 2 and 3. I learned that you can't buy duty free alcohol and drink it while you wait for your flight to be canceled. The bars close at 9pm, sharp. You can find craft beer in bottles at Croque Madame kiosk, but they're expensive as hell.

When I finally landed in Stockholm, I (thankfully) caught the last train to Hassleholm (pronounced HASS-LEH-HOLM) to play a show with nordloef and skrattattack at Perrong 23. I arrived 2 hours before the show, freshened up and got pizza. Not just any pizza, guys. The Hassleholm special at Viking Pizza!

Sorry for the bad photo. It was a thin crust with onion, tomato, filet mignon, bacon and bearnaise sauce. The first thing that struck me about this pizza was that it was uncut! Both pizzas that I encountered on the trip were unsliced. I guess it's that Swedish people eat pizza with a fork and knife. I cut a quarter of the pizza out and folded it, like the demi-New Yorker that I am. The bacon was cooked but I'm the type of lady that likes my bacon nuked and crispy. The bearnaise sauce really threw me off, it gave the slice a richness I wasn't prepared for. Perhaps to make up for the crappy, flavorless cheese? It was sort of floppy and not-that-great-to-eat, but I'm glad to have tried it nonetheless. Both pizza places that I went to also served a vinegary cabbage slaw on the side, maybe to cut the fatty taste from the Bearnaise? I liked it !

The show went well and I met a lot of cool people. Folks at Perrong 23 are pretty awesome, it's like Cake Shop in New York but Swedish! You can check out the videos on The Shortsleeves Facebook page.

 

Sweden was snowy and cold. It blizzarded every couple of hours and when I first saw the trees, I thought, "Christmastown?!"

Oh Sweden, you've kicked my bum.

I like you Sweden. I wish I wasn't sick for 80% of the time that I was here. When I get back home you'll hear all about the Thai tiki lunch, New Year's Eve, Hassleholm, Teppanyaki, French hot dogs and loads of Vitamin Well bottles. This photo pretty much summarizes the trip: