Even though the heartier winter greens like kale and collard greens have disappeared from the Farmer’s Market, the seemingly delicate spinach remains. Although spinach cooks away to almost nothing, I prefer it cooked to raw. I know they say that cooked spinach loses most of its nutrients, but it’s got to be better for you than, say, a chocolate chip cookie.

Bubby’s is a mystery to me. It sits on a corner in DUMBO right by the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Has GREAT GREAT views, giant windows on all sides for maximum natural light and scenery viewing, one of the biggest restaurants ever!, affordable, and best of all fantastic food. My general impression of big restaurants (big meaning the amount of square footage it has) is usually a soulless and non personal entity that only serves crappy food at high prices. But Bubby’s is something different. I walk in and feel refreshed from the high ceiling and the abundant natural light. The hostess and waiters are always friendly. The food is so very good and the amount of food that they give you for the price they’re charging, am I dreaming? I always barely finish my plate of food because there’s just so much! Plus they give you biscuits and jam to start off! Hell yeah!
Click to continue the adventure…

Sometimes my mom would buy pig’s tongue and put them in stews or soups. She usually slice them up and we would dip them in soy sauce and eat. I love pig and ox tongue. Nowadays when I go to Chinatown to buy roast pork or duck for dinner I would get 1 or 2 pig’s tongues. These pig’s tongues are cooked in soy sauce. So last Friday afternoon I decided to go to Chinatown to grocery shop. I wanted to make a big pot of stew that I can eat for a whole week. I thought of something simple. A stew with pig’s tongue with different kinds of mushroom and vegetable. I also decided on making a pot of curry with pork ribs but that will be another post. So I went to Chinatown and bought 4….yes 4 pig’s tongue, shiitake mushroom, enoki mushroom, brown beech mushroom, and baby bok choy.

To make the stew I poured whatever was left in my bottle of chicken marinate and oyster sauce. Then I added water and gave it a stir. I also added some 5 spice powder, pepper and salt. Turned the heat up to high and brought it to a boil. I took a sip of the liquid and was surprised to find how tasty it was. Sorry but I didn’t measure anything. Before the liquid started to boil, I sliced all 4 tongues and the shiitake mushroom. Once the liquid was boiling I threw them in. I cooked it on high for about 5-10 minutes then lowered the heat to medium. While that was cooking I cleaned and prepared the brown beech mushroom, the enoki mushroom and the bok choy. I cooked the tongues and shiitake for about 30mins before putting in the brown beech. Gave it a good stir then cooked it for 15 minutes before putting in the bok choy. Stirred it again. Cook it for another 15 more minutes then turned off the heat. Threw in the enoki mushroom and scallions that I had sliced up earlier. The heat of the stew will cook the enoki mushroom. Done

[Spoilers Ahead] I would have been happy with either Carla or Stefan winning, but Hosea? I can’t argue that Hosea didn’t make the best meal during the finale, but throughout the competition I don’t remember a single dish he made being described as better than “pretty good.” Both Stefan and Carla had their low points, but they had some great highs as well. Unfortunately Carla took herself out of the competition by relying too much on Casey’s influence, and Stefan made mistakes of his own. Hosea was there as the guy who didn’t make as many mistakes as the others and won the whole thing. This season has been been the battle of “who cares?” and the finale just continued that theme.

jim lahey shows off a pizza bianca

If you read my post about my first visit to Sullivan St Bakery, you may be wondering why I went back. Didn’t I vow never to return? The answer is very simple and (to me) surprising: they invited me.

Click to continue…

I’m happy to report from personal experience that the Park Slope branch of Hanco’s is now open for business. At $7, the sandwiches are a bit more expensive than they should be, but the tofu sandwich is amazing as always. And the spicy version is as outrageously spicy as it should be. At $4 the small bubble tea was a little disappointing, but that’s not what you go to a banh mi shop for anyway, is it? They were doing a brisk lunch business while I was there, and I know I’ll be back, because where else in Park Slope are you going to get a Vietnamese sandwich?

Hanco’s Park Slope — 350 7th Ave, Brooklyn