Salsa Blanca
This sauce might strike some of you as a bit strange. In fact, it will likely strike almost all of you as a bit strange. When I first discovered what was actually in it, even I, a lifelong consumer of this sauce, found it quite …
Recent Posts
How To Bake Without An Oven (plus a stovetop pizza recipe)
When we were planning our build, for whatever reason, we could not find any good information about ovens for vans or RVs. We found a few vanlife articles, but in every case, the person was installing a propane-fired oven that was explicitly intended only for …
Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
Poke (pronounced poh-kay) literally means to slice crosswise into pieces. Effectively, to cube. And its origins are every bit as humble as that name implies (at least compared to the profusion of variations now available).
The first poke was eaten simply as a means of quickly making up something delicious with freshly caught reef fish. Back in pre-contact times, the natives would cube the fish and flavor it with sea salt, various seaweeds, and kukui nuts (also called candlenut). This type of poke is still sometimes available, but there are many new variations which are more popular in Hawaii and elsewhere. Continue reading Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
The Plate Lunch (Huli Huli Chicken and Mac Salad)
The plate lunch is as Hawaiian as it gets. You can find them all over the place, and they always have the same formula: a meat, two scoops of rice, and one scoop of macaroni salad. Common meats include Hawaiian favorites like kalua pork, huli …
Spam Musubi
Spam Musubi is one of those dishes that could only come about in Hawaii. It stands as an example of exactly what is so interesting, comforting, and delicious about Hawaiian food.
In Hawaii, spam is a highly regarded food. Oahu is home to that famous navy base, Pearl Harbor, of which we all know the significance during World War II. Beyond Pearl Harbor, the Hawaiian islands served an important role as a foothold and rallying place in the Pacific. Many battleships moved through there, and along with them came the wartime food. Continue reading Spam Musubi
How to: Cook Perfect Rice Every Time
There was a long period of my life where I was afraid to delve into Asian cuisines. It was not the strange ingredients or new flavors, no–it was simple ineptitude at cooking rice that kept me from exploring these amazing foods. Whenever I tried to …
Vietnamese Pesto with Claypot Pork
This is a dish that might fall into what we would call “fusion cuisine.” I’ve never particularly like that moniker. Everything we eat nowadays is fusion of some kind. Pizza is fusion. Empanadas are fusion. Most modern dishes involve techniques and ingredients that originated in …
Chè Chuối – Banana Sweet Soup
This sweet soup is a delicious vegan pudding made with coconut milk, tapioca pearls, and ripe bananas. With only 2 tablespoons of added sugar, it is also an amazing, healthy dessert. Continue reading Chè Chuối – Banana Sweet Soup
Vietnamese Coffee Martini
Before traveling to Vietnam, I had no idea that they were known for their coffee. To be honest, when I landed in Ho Chi Minh City, I knew an embarrassingly small amount about Southeast Asia in general. Fortunately, I started filling those gaps immediately.