I was in Japan recently. I didn’t go in with a food plan or have much time to explore, but still had some great, mostly-cheap eats. One highlight was near Yurakucho Station in Tokyo: “One of Yurakucho’s most interesting draws is the lively restaurant district built up under the brick arches beneath the elevated train tracks of the JR Yamanote Line. Known in Japanese as Gado-shita, from “below the girder”, these favored watering holes of Tokyo businessmen occupy virtually all of the free space under nearly 700 meters of track.” ...

A chilly, dark evening without plans in a strangely quiet city had me craving the buzz and chatter of a social Italian restaurant. I showed up at La Ciccia (Sardinian) in Noe Valley as they opened and got a spot at the bar. And what a dinner! Out of respect for their “no cameras” sign: Tender, creamy burrata (the best I’ve had) on arugula, with very good olive oil. Freshly-made fettucini (perfect) with tomato ragu, sausage, veal, and olives. ...

Sliced tangerine, satsuma, grapefruit, lemon, with pomegranate, feta, balsamic vinegar. Spaghetti boiled to al dente, drained, a little water reserved. This pasta water, heavy cream, olive oil, and lemon zest boiled, then tossed with the pasta, along with grated pecorino and two lemons’ worth of juice. Delicious! (hat tip to holly)

I spent a week biking 400+ miles in Maine recently, a convenient excuse to try a broad selection of local beer. From scribbled notes / quick memories: 3 Tides / Marshall Wharf Brewing (Belfast): Cant Dog Imperial IPA: By far my favorite beer of the trip. IPAs aren’t even one of my favorite styles– I don’t like them too bitter, piney, or one-note (and I’m not a fan of the Cascade and Columbus hops used so frequently). But this 10% ABV beast was nearly perfect– the alcohol helped subdue the bitterness, there was a nice balance of citrusy hops (but not overly grapefruity– more orange/pineapple?), and a bit of malt sweetness. To compare to gold standards: I’d choose this over Pliny the Elder any day, and it’s getting near my favorites Maharajah and Pliny the Younger. Bravo! (A+) ...

Early August brewing -> Labor Day bottling party with friends -> obligatory caps: A few weeks later: I’ve had a cyclic love-hate relationship with IPAs over the years. While I love so many bitter foods (nettles, beetroot, sorrel, tonic water, chicory, escarole, campari), many IPAs including broadly well-regarded ones like Pliny the Elder are a complete turnoff to me. After a few years and a disappointing visit to the Oregon Brewers Festival, I’ve figured out that I don’t like the heavy bittering hops, astringent hops, or the piney Northwestern hops (especially Cascade and Columbus), but can enjoy the smell and a range of the more fruity, dank, or spicy hops. And while I like many session beers, I generally like my IPAs balanced with plenty of alcohol and malt, pushing me into the Double IPA / Imperial IPA territory. ...

This was by far my favorite Thai(ish) restaurant in the US. I like it far more than already good Pok Pok or the (I feel somewhat overrated) Lotus of Siam. First, the “stir fried rice cakes with green garlic”: A surprisingly smooth, creamy, stiff texture almost like a fried rice pudding, with fresh, flavorful green garlic. A good start. And then: The pad see ew was fantastic– their homemade wide flat noodles with just a little chewiness and a smoky flavor, a locally-made tofu, wild mushrooms, and some toothy greens sauteed in soy sauce. ...

I recently had my favorite bowl of ramen in the US, at Ramen Shop in Oakland (edging out Shin Sen Gumi Hakata Ramen): The veggie ramen shown above (“shoyu broth with meyer lemo, chanterelles, salt-cured egg, broccoli di ciccio, shaved carrots, negi, and mizuna”) was very good, and I tend to like shoyu or salt broths over miso broths, but it was the “garlic miso ramen with smoked king salmon, pork belly, shoyu-marinated egg, frisée, gypsy peppers, and shungiku” that blew my mind. Such a rich, creamy, yet not too greasy broth, and noodles with a nice bite. ...

Another food-inspired trip to Portland (Oregon) with friends. We ate well. In a few quick cell phone photos: Highlights: Evoe: This place still blows me away. I wish I could cook this effortlessly, casually well. Two chefs at a counter with a simple stove, fresh ingredients, and simple delicious plates prepared to order. Charred greens with egg and anchovy. Piperade (a Basque dish of peppers and onions topped with a soft egg yolks). A salad made from translucently-sliced thin raw squash, soft cheese, and good olive oil. Peach-speck-purslane. Two types of peppers, sauteed with salt. ...

For my forth batch, I wanted to try something more adventurous. I’ve always liked sour beers, but many of them take 6 to 12 months to ferment… but I heard from a friend about another way to make a sour beer using a starter, and I’d recently had a Leipziger Gose I enjoyed, so I decided to try something in the general Gose vein: Per Wikipedia: “Gose is a beer style of Leipzig, Germany, brewed with at least 50% of the grain bill being malted wheat. Dominant flavours in Gose include a lemon tartness, a herbal characteristic, and a strong saltiness (the result of either local water sources or added salt). Because of the use of coriander and salt, Gose does not comply with the Reinheitsgebot. It is allowed an exemption on the grounds of being a regional specialty.” ...

I’ve always been a fan of rye as a grain, and wanted to brew a beer where it was taken to extremes. Thus: became: The details: Browsing around, I read about Roggenbier, an older rarely-made German beer style made with as much as 50% rye, dating from a time and region where barley was not as plentiful (and according to Wyeast Labs, similar to a dunkelweizen but with rye instead of wheat). Other reading suggested that much of the flavor of rye doesn’t come through in steeping– you really need to mash it (and get enzymes to convert the starches to sugars), though other homebrewers I’ve talked to disagree. In any case, this seemed like a good excuse to make a grain-heavy beer, though still with some malt extract as backup (I’ve promised myself I’ll keep my brewing low-tech, at least until I’ve brewed five times successfully and am sure I’ll keep doing it). ...

I hadn’t made pizza in many years. But now that I have a pizza stone and a peel, I have no excuse. I made a basic dough (flour, olive oil, water, yeast), with 3/4 king arthur all-purpose white flour and just 1/4 hard winter whole wheat to be on the safe side… but it rose and kneaded fine so I’d try 1/2 whole wheat next time. I made it in the morning, kneaded it for 10 minutes, let it rise all day, punched it down, and patted it out by hand into a round (I may try rolling it next time). ...

I impulsively picked up some grass-fed korean-style shortribs at Olivier’s Butchery, marinated them in a mix of shoyu, toasted sesame oil, red chiles, and crushed garlic for a few hours, then cooked them on a hot dry cast iron skillet (3 minutes each side) and tossed them on a bed of rice and toasted nori. Note a bad dinner for 20 minutes of actual work and $6.

Jotting down notes and photos for my second homebrew batch (a mutt which started as a British-style Extra Special Bitter, with the addition of some rye for flavor, then split into multiple 1-gallon batches to try additional experiments). A note on an ESB (Extra Special Bitter)– it’s a British ale style that’s not actually especially bitter, more similar to a Pale Ale than an IPA. From the BJCP: “An average-strength to moderately-strong [4.6-6.2% ABV] English ale. The balance may be fairly even between malt and hops to somewhat bitter. Drinkability is a critical component of the style; emphasis is still on the bittering hop addition as opposed to the aggressive middle and late hopping seen in American ales. A rather broad style that allows for considerable interpretation by the brewer.” ...

Jotting down recipe and brew day notes for my first homebrew batch (an IPA), mostly as notes to my future self . This is a dense info dump without many photos after a more general brewing photos post. Beer Stats: 6.2% ABV, 40 IBUs, fermented on the cool end with an american ale yeast, dry-hopped with Simcoe, 1.062 OG, 1.014 FG Grains: (mostly extract, partial mash) 7.5 lbs liquid malt extract (the bulk of the fermentables) 2 lbs 2-row (basic malted barley, adds a bit more flavor than just the extract) 0.5 lbs 40L (crystal malt, adds a little caramel sweetness and color) 0.5 lbs wheat (adds a little body and flavor) Mashed grains in 3 gallons of 155F water for 45 minutes (pot covered and wrapped in a towel for rough temperature control), sack of grains removed, water heated, malt extract added, boiled. ...

My first homebrew, a summer IPA: I enjoyed the process, so hey, maybe I’ll keep doing it. This weekend I shared this first batch with friends, bottled a second batch (an ESB), and started fermenting a third (a mostly-rye ale). I’d decided to keep the equipment and process simple (just one pot and one fermenter, working with local water, etc), at least until I’ve brewed five or ten times and have a better feeling for it. In photos, an amalgamation of the first two batches: ...