i remember when michelle phan was ricebunny from xanga... aka manly man man haul post

circa 2003, i was blogging on xanga about my nightly binge drinking, the newest restaurant i tried... rant and rave about some meaningless topics.....

wait a minute... i guess not much has changed.

michelle phan was a young asian gamer girl that blogged about how she loved digital art and about the latest game shes into.

fast forward, 2010, the better half, the other half of bibimblog, shows me some videos on youtube about make up tutorials, shopping hauls, fashion.... hey wait, is that michelle phan?

apparently, she done did GOOD for herself. she was one of the pioneers of the asian hollywood movement. she basically created an industry where literally hundreds of people are following her lead.

michelle made it big. six figures from advertising on her youtube channel? make up line through lancome? yeah she getting paid.......

but this isnt a post about her.

this is a post in response to something she helped created.

shopping haul videos.

the better half showed me these last year and seriously? i just wanted to kick most of these girls in the face.

"ooohhh i just bought this shirt, its so nice. it goes with this and that."
"i just bought the new mascara that works real well to make me look more like a whore!"
"i just received the naked pallet from the manufacturers that you can never get, neener neener"



OH YEAH?!?!?!?

HERES MY SHOPPING HAUL POST!!!!

manly man man shopping haul

so i needed to grab a replacement floor lamp for one that broke. no problem. its temporary anyways until we get some recessed lighting in that room.

the lamp was the reason i went.

being a manly man man, and this being a haul post, for the integrity of this blog, for the purposes of purely scientifical things, i picked up these must have items

its a pretty simple 20v cordless compact drill. my old cordless drill found a new home at my shop, so i needed to replace it. hell, it was a 10 year old cordless drill, it was about time i replaced it anyways. one of the things i didnt like about my old drill was that it was big and bulky. this is a nice sleek compact cordless drill. and hey, its got a belt clip.

but what happens when you need to do more heavy duty work?

i dont care how many volts, amps, how much impact your cordless drill produces. when you have a heavy duty job, you need a corded drill. i got some 5" x 1/2" anchor bolts i need to install on some pallet racks we installed in our shop recently... this should do it just right. 

of course i needed some other knick knacks. 1/2" diamond tipped masonry bit. grabit drill bits to extract stripped screws. and of course, you can never have too much wd40.

grabit drill bits is something everyone should have in their tool box. if you havent had to deal with a stripped screw, you will. and when you do, unless you got one of these, youre pretty much shit out of luck. these basically drill into and grab the stripped screw so you can extract it properly without damaging anything.

*this post was written while i smoked a cuban cigar, drank some single malt. i also scratched and spit alot*

suh suh kalbi, (aka standing up kalbi)

about a decade ago, i was working in seoul. man. i could write a book just on that....

although i wasnt as interested in food as i am now, i still did spend a fair amount of time eating some damn good food.

as you can imagine, when it comes to kalbi, koreans consider it almost a religion.

back then i found two amazing places. they both made some of the best kalbi i have ever tasted in my life, but they were on the complete opposite spectrum as you can get.

buh du namu jeep (bamboo house) is high society kalbi. although its pretty casual, as it is a kalbi house where you cook your food at your table, it is frou frou also, with the price tag to match. you have basically two servers to every customer, bentleys in the parking lot, full bows by all staff...

it was definitely good. no doubt about it.

this is not a post about them.

this is a post about the kalbi joint on the WAY OTHER side of the spectrum.

suh suh kalbi

suh suh kalbi has become to known as a "style" of cooking kalbi in the last decade, where you stand around a converted oil drum (some places actually provide seats!) and eat some damn good kalbi. (suh suh means standing up)

its pretty common in korea to have a bunch of copy cats once something becomes popular. infact, you get entire neighborhoods of restaurants serving the same dish once one place becomes popular, for example, the marinaded raw crab neighborhood in shinsa dong in seoul.

this post is about the "original" suh suh kalbi restaurant in shin chun, seoul.

side note.... actually, taking a step back, this cooking style was pretty common decades ago... in the 50s 60s and into the 70s when korea was coming out of an active war and developing into what it is now. bare bones wasnt a style then, it was a necessity.

back to the suh suh kalbi restaurant that made its mark in modern times.

yes, that is a line out the door.

20 degrees fahrenheit outside.... and thats only half the line, the same amount of people are waiting inside.

we got there around 7pm. we waited an hour. we got a few orders in.

they ran out food.

they only make 400 servings per day. they open around 3pm. when theyre out, theyre out.

why all the fuss?

its damn good kalbi.

yes, it is that good.

the place is bare bones.

concrete floors, smoky as hell... you can see the years of smoke on the walls. 

theres barely a door. 

a few handfuls of converted oil drums into table/grills

their menu isnt as extensive as other kalbi places.

beef kalbi. 500grams. 14000 wons.

thats it. 

and consider yourself lucky if you get a serving. our party of four, that left home at 6pm, drove an hour to arrive at 7pm, waited till 8pm for a table... 

we got 5 orders... and thats it. 

we couldve ate 8 orders.... but they ran out. 

we swore we would NEVER come back..... all that damn driving, all that effort....

well, maybe not... the place is too damn good not to come back.... 

so first tip. come EARLY. like 3, 4 pm 

second tip, ask for a plastic bag to put you jackets, sweaters in. it protects it from all that smoke. 

third tip? eat.

with your orders of kalbi, they will give you sliced garlic, peppers and bowls of marinade.

fourth tip. dip the cooking meats in the marinade, put hella sliced garlic in one bowl of marinade and place the bowl on the grill. 

glorious glorious beef kalbi. im not the most patient person in the world. something has to be worth it to go through all this... and a decade after i first tried this place, on my recent visit during december 2011.. it was glorious. 

suh suh kalbi in all its glory. 

the meat is good quality. the marinade is second to none. the charcoal they use has a lot to do with the taste, as per the restaurant. the "charcoal" is a round, pressed charcoal they produce in korea, that they have used for decades for radiant heating.... wait, is this even legal to use for cooking?

whatever... its good. 

if you are ever in seoul, it is DEFINITELY worth the trip. 

its on the northwest side of seoul, near the shin chun subway stop. 

happy eating. 

OH and did i mention i have the marinade recipe? decade of trial and error by many peoples.... and finally some tips from the owner to my mother... i got it. 

recipe to come in a later post. 

when life gives you a stalled crabbing season, make it a weekend trip

well, thank goodness the actually significant lock out has been resolved. most every year, there seems to be some sort of posturing done between the crabbers and the wholesaler but they usually stamp out the details before the very important local san francisco crab meal night, thanksgiving.

this year they didnt. talks stalled till just this week. we finally have some commercially caught dungeness crab in our markets!

of course, stalled talks didnt stop us from having some of these ill fated tasty creatures....

some of our buddies LOVE the outdoors. we love to hang out with these guys because theyre always doing something, whether its racing around local racetracks on motorcycles, fishing in the bay or like this particular trip, crabbing and having a little picnic.

we were supposed to go up with them when the recreational crabbing season started, but we didnt make it our.

we missed out. they pulled limits. but we did get to share in the bounty. fresh crab right when the recreational season starts... thats a good beginning to the dungeness crab season.

we wanted to make sure we were there for next visit. and we were.

a little bit north of the oyster farms in tomales bay is lawsons landing. its a recreational area with rv/camping, fishing and crabbing. clam digging is very popular out here also. we will most definitely be here when the clam digging gets good.... geoduck (mirugai) hiding out? yeah, we are there.

you couldnt ask for a more picturesque view. kids playing in the sand. calm clear water in front of you. dungeness crab being pulled from the pier and boats coming in setting traps or bringing the latest haul in....

unfortunately, i must have brought some bad luck with me because our haul wasnt as good as our buddies last trip, but you really cant go wrong here. a bad day at lawsons landing is better than any day behind a desk. and no fear, cause the oyster farms are right down the highway. a little past nicks cove, you hit hogs island. grab a bag of oysters or two, and youre just fine again...but who really cares. how often do you get to be a crabber?

maybe it wasnt all my bad luck. the fishing reports out of lawsons landing says the crab haul was great in the beginning of the season, but since tapered off.

stuck sitting on the couch, watching tv on a sunday afternoon wishing there was some fresh dungeness crab around or out on the water on tomales bay? no brainer.


and i got an idea.... setup a camp sight, bring bikes to get you from one spot to another, bring the caja china, throw in a whole pig, toss in crab traps, catch a halibut, dig out some mirugai..... FIND SOME SEABEANS!!.... cook up a storm and enjoy the night.

man, the busy season kicked my butt

so my day jobs busy season is just about to start to wrap up. it really did kick my ass. of course i did make sure to take time out to enjoy life and tried a bunch of new things, but i cant believe more than a month past without a blog post. i gotta keep this thing up and running. more effort stat!

so im excited about thanksgiving. im finally deep frying a turkey... actually two! of all the times ive used my turkey fryer for all sorts of reasons, ive never used it to fry a turkey.

excited.

dude, seriously, i almost died on that mountain!

ok maybe not, but i thought i was dying. lack of oxygen. altitude sickness... hurry call in the helicopters.

at one point in my life i was in shape. now the only shape im in is round.

but as im quickly approaching the mid 30s, i decided its up to me to get back in shape.... everything is up to me. if i want to succeed, i need to chose to succeed. if i want to get into shape, i need to go out and do it.

someone told me recently during a conversation about starting a new business, if you strip down everything to its basics, the only reason people dont start their own business is fear. if you want to do, theres no other real reason anything will hold you back.

so i went hiking.

koreans love hiking. i had no idea until i started working in korea back in 2000. went on a couple hikes. i went in shorts, some airmax 95s, a tshirt.... them natives came all out, hiking boots, collapsible sticks, backpacks.... they looked like swedish koreans. i think i now understand why they like it so much. its not just a faddy exercise. its not just another reason to eat and drink somewhere cool.... its the mental challenge at any level you set for yourself.

and playing dress up is fun, no?

mission peak in fremont ca isnt something that should "kill" anyone. but when you havent done much training wise, it can be a bit challenging. i wasn't really prepared for it, drinking the night before probably wasnt a good idea either. i didnt bring enough water... mentally, i was there though. kinda. just needed a push.

the hike up wasnt that bad... well at least until you reach that rocky trail that leads you to the summit. then i started to feel the 2500 feet altitude change! i was almost completely spent. the last 500 feet or so were the hardest of the hike. i took a few steps, then a minute to breathe. rinse lather repeat.

on the way down, i had even more trouble breathing,  got extremely light headed, started seeing stars..... i wanted to sit there and just sleep.... good thing i had my trusty trainer aka better half with me. now i want to be able to say she was comforting me, asking me if i was ok, if i needed help...... but that just wouldnt be true. she did what she was supposed to. she got me off my ass and forced me to start hiking down. the altitude WAS getting to me. a few hundred feet down, i started to feel much better. then a few miles later, when i got winded again, she pushed me down more.

i swear, close to the bottom of the hike, i started to do some serious lamas breathing. little kids, seniors.. all doing this hike were looking at me like WTF did that poor guy just go through.

i LITERALLY had to force each and every step.

i had to ask some random older gentlemen for some water. he took one look at me and hes all have it all!

after the hike, i had this complete content feeling. sure it was a "moderate" hike, but its something i wouldnt normally do and it was something i really had to push my out of shape self to complete. its something to be very proud of.... (i redeemed myself somewhat the following weekend with a 9 mile hike (no elevation change), where i did just fine... )

it didnt matter that many of the people around me finished the hike faster and without all the drama.

i did it.

ive come to realize this is very key in life.

it doesnt matter some 25yr kid made 100million dollars with his totally useless internet company and youre still stuck at your 9-5. the important fact is that you are doing your 9-5 the best you can.

it doesnt matter if a new business idea fails or succeed, the important thing is that i do it.

(insert 100 more cliches here)

you really cant get more homemade than this

nice laquered tray of love from mom

you really cant get more homemade than this.

the peppers were grown on the "buh ran dah" or veranda or patio for you that dont speak engrish, in korea.

the daeng jjang was made by my mom. she cooked the soybeans, made meji and tada, homemade daeng jjang.

these peppers and kaen neep were preserved in this homemade daeng jjang for seven months.

now i know you can find ban chan at the local korean market.... but this? like comparing local organic milk with powdered milk.... like dominoes artisanal thin crust pizza.

i just had to share this.

i like visiting my mom.

another year another beer, but SUPRISE!

i remember i used to make a huge deal about birthdays. whether it was my own or someone elses, i would make sure theres some celebrating.

i used to think you had to do this.

one of the main reasons was because you never know if you were going to be around for another one.

well, ive been around for about a dozen more birthdays. maybe ill be sticking around for a bit longer.

i started making less and less a big deal about myself for my birthdays and focused on others. i started a short lived (maybe renewed next year) tradition where i would gather up about 100 or so friends and hold a fund raiser centered around food, benefitting our local food bank.

this year, i kinda wanted to keep things quite. i actually just wanted to spend a nice quite weekend with my lovely girlfriend, maybe go out of town. have a nice little dinner...

as you can imagine, i was pretty happy when she told me we were going to have a nice quite little birthday celebration, something during the day then dinner at TFL.

first off, she totally was feeling the vibe i was giving off, i wanted to do something a bit quite. secondly... she got a reservation at TFL!?!?!?! wow.  how the hell did she pull that off and right on my birthday too! this is looking real good!

well, even though i was very curious about the day time activity and how she managed to score a TFL reservation, i didnt snoop around for more information. i trusted her. and i wanted things to happen organically. she said the day time activity will be fun, then a nice dinner. simple. done and done.

the morning of, we wake up and drive to napa. maybe i shouldnt have drank so much at home the night before. im praying the day time activity isnt something active. please god, no mountain biking, horseback riding. the drive up alone, i felt like digusting yellow bile was swilling around in my stomach like a toilet flushing, just waiting to explode. at times, i felt like the inside of a magic eight ball.

we make it to our destination. we drive into what seems like an office park.

wtf?!?!

OH!!!!

OHHHH!!!!!

the meritage resort and spa! dude. score!

ive never been here. im excited... oh wait, whats this? a spa in a cave? ok this is getting very interesting.

we proceed into what is perhaps the coolest spa i have ever been to. yes, its in a cave. we check in. relax. then we are escorted into a room for our couples massage. almost instantly, im off into pampered lala land. man this couldnt get any better. no active crap. stomach is settling in. its been forever since i got pampered.... im thinking. man, this woman is just a little pint size full of amazing.

after a super relaxing couples massage, we decide to relax by the pool, grab a small bite, grab a glass of wine.... im telling you. at this point, there is not a care in the world. got an amazing woman by my side, hella relaxed, nibbling on some shrimp cocktails, having some wine....

everyday should be like this

we relax poolside for a couple hours.
im told there is one more thing we need to do before our dinner at TFL.... WOOHOO DINNER AT TFL!!!

we drive into yountville because she informs me there is something to pick up at ad hoc.... im thinking wtf?!?! pick up something at ad hoc?... are we eating a small bite before dinner at tfl? does she know its going to be like 7 courses of full on food awesomeness in yo mouth?

we walk into ad hoc.... did i mention i love ad hoc? i love the concept. i love the food. i love the atmosphere. i had the pleasure of dining here since they opened up and during the fours years ive been eating here, i have NEVER had anything close to a bad meal. everything has been great to amazing.

i love that ad hoc takes any dish and make it the best they can possibly make it. the thomas keller lineage shows through.

anyways, we check in with the front desk. i see a packed house... its always packed here. its so popular now i had a tough time making reservations the last few times... damn stupid yelpers.

she escorts us outside to the back for some reason... oooh, thinking maybe we are going to addendum. i havent seen the take out window in action, ooo we are picking up some world famous ad hoc fried chicken to go!




nope.

damn you

SURPRISE!!!!!!

there is a giant table set up in their garden.

30 or so of my closest friends old and new. all here. on my birthday. surprise birthday dinner for me. at ad hoc. one of my favorite places in the world.

it was more than i could handle. seriously. im already not great at accepting simple compliments and even though i may seem like the type to be loud and very much the center of attention, when it comes to true attention, i get all flustered and weird. it took me a good 30 minutes or so to let it all absorb in.

my girlfriend planned and organized a surprise dinner for me, in yountville, at ad hoc, special dinning area and all, with a gang load of my closest friends..... i know how hard it is to get a dinner set up in the same city for a handful of people. how the hell do you get hella mofos up into the napa valley, keep it all a surprise and pull this off?

words escaped me most of the night.

 i went around to talked to these amazing people that came up to do all this, all the while an amazing meal being presented by the wonderful staff at ad hoc. chef david came up with a few special things here and there for our dinner and i have to say, yes, it was good. really good. i loved hearing some of the things people were saying about the food. some of the most simplest things were the highlights for people. we forget how good a bean can actually be, not just because it was cooked and prepared perfectly, but because it started from when that bean was growing.

pole bean and potato salad

tomato gazpacho

beef carpaccio with porcini mouse

fried soft shell crab.... OMFG GOOD

world famous ad hoc fried chicken

saffron risotto

grilled short ribs

no dinner is complete without cheese

a couple from the selection

dinner was amazing. obviously. the drinks were equally amazing. paired up wonderfully with the meal. i was so happy to see my friends enjoy a meal with me at one of my absolute favorite places in the world.

two hours or so into dinner, i began to think of some things that almost made me tear up.

i lived a long three decades or so. not particularly a hard life by any means, but a long one nonetheless. and through all the transformations ive had in my life, i always held on to the notion that i am a good person. i always thought of myself as the type that tries to leave every place slightly better then when i arrived. there have been many hardships as of late and no matter how strong you are inside, they do wear you down.

this night, it made me feel as though i had lived a good life. i may not have my name in forbes, i may not be a famous chef, i may not be particularly rich, but as stupid as it may sound, i am rich in life. i have an amazing woman that organized all this for me. i have amazing friends that helped with the organization and took time out of their busy lives to come out and be here for this.

it really made me truly happy. one of those rare moments in life where everything makes sense.

it was getting a bit dark now and it was about time to go home. dinner was amazing. my friends are amazing. my woman? well im sure you know how i feel by now.

oooooh whats this? a seperate dessert from what ad hoc is serving? OOOOOOO LOOK AT THAT! dude, my woman is hella funny. she knows i dont really do cakes, sweets, desserts. my idea of dessert is coffee, sambvca, a late harvest (fill in the blank).....

she got a whole suckling pig for dessert!! score!!!!!

wait what.... thats not a suckling pig.... wait what?!?!!? THAT IS A CAKE?!?!?!

holy crap me!

YES this is a cake! the evening was settling down, then this bad boy pops out. the table was again buzzing with life. my girlfriend had some how found a cake that could impress a group of people that are not easily impressed. everyone had to take a second look. even the staff at ad hoc had to take a second look.

this whole thing is edible. its a red velvet cream cheese cake. those apples are rice crispies.

incredible. absolutely stunning. just look at the stupid doofy grin i have on my face. i couldnt believe it. now course if you want one of your own, well, the girlfriend did her homework finding the right person to do this. obviously she found someone with amazing talent. debbie does cake .debbie does amazing. im still shocked when i see this picture. just look at that!

what a way to end the evening.

its pretty obvious, i had an amazing birthday, a birthday i wont ever forget. its truly one of those events in your life that you will recall on your deathbed.

life should be full of these types of memories.

surrounding myself with good people, doing what i need to do in my life and most importantly finding someone that shares that goal with me, i think i am well on my way to ensuring my life will be full of these types of memories.

chef david cruz, thank you for an amazing meal

special thanks to seb and simone of s + s gastro pub for helping out with everything. even cooking me a seperate special bday dinner the week before to throw me off. you guys are great friends.

special thanks to chef david cruz and all the amazing staff at ad hoc for an amazing meal with patient and attentive care.

thanks to all my amazing friends for making the drive out and celebrating with us- sammy, aycin and averie, chum, will and jocelyn, jason, hendizzle, tom, tiffany and jeff, thai guy mike, dave, cheryl, kristen and aaron, elaine and dave, arnold and christel, aaron and jennifer, kevo... thank you for taking time out to come be part of this.

and to my special little pint size woman of awesomeness. words can not express my gratitude. if i can make you feel half of what i felt that evening, you will never have a bad day. thank you for all that you have done, for who you are and what we will do.

oh wait, did i mention there were party favors?

bacon marmalade anyone?

wait so were NOT going to the french laundry?